Shrimp comment?
Sunday, 25 February 2007
I promise—making shrimp our entree for this evening was not intended as a comment on the Academy nominees….
Musings
Cholesterol special!
Friday, 23 February 2007
Made Spaghetti Carbonara for the first time today—last time, too. It would be difficult to raise the cholesterol in the dish; it has bacon, bacon fat, eggs, heavy cream, parmesano reggiano, and, just to make sure there’re plenty of carbos, there’s of course the pasta. Yummy. Worthy of only a rare indulgence!
Lasagne celebration
Tuesday, 6 February 2007
Lots of techno-wizardry around here, culminating in, tada!, an almost complete transition to a new server! Night after night of intense labors by the Guru…so I made another lasagne, which has become our comfort food this winter it seems, to honor these undertakings.
This lasagne has a backbone of goat cheese and ricotta, with special appearances by some barely sauteed zucchini layers. I missed the pesto I used last time (herbs today: mostly thyme and marjoram).
Oven 1; Me nada
Thursday, 1 February 2007
Ooops!
Reminded myself what a mess thermal shock can make of your oven.
Stick blender!
Wednesday, 31 January 2007
I made (with JCB’s urging) an impulse purchase the other day, replacing my dead immersion blender with a new one, courtesy of amazon.com. I got the cheap, discounted version, and it arrived today.
Now I can make Dracula Chicken again!
BTW, just what is “effortless cleanup”? Even the easiest cleanup takes some effort, right?
Crabcake trio
Sunday, 28 January 2007
Forgot to mention I had lunch on Friday with the incomparable TH at—her suggestion—Food 101, just up the street. The chef himself actually served our shrimp-and-crabcake specials, blew me away! And, YUM.
Food choice
Wednesday, 24 January 2007
We Americans, many of us, are lucky to have access to a huge bounty, daily, in supermarkets, convenience stores, and even stores like Target, a plethora of foods.
Some of us grab for what looks good (meaning we liked it the last ninety-nine times we ate it), and some of us are rather picky. That pickiness varies, however.
I’m picky based on 1) ingredients; and, 2) flavor.
I eat less meat that most of my contemporaries (but not all), and more than most of the human inhabitants of this globe. Offered above: vegetarian lasagne—whole-wheat pasta, long-simmering sauce from scratch, three kinds of cheese (should have been four), pesto added on top because I forgot to layer in the basil leaves.
See, one of a kind. Again, JCB would say.
…and you thought I’d never finish this entry without mentioning Michael Pollan’s The Omnivore’s Dilemma. Ooops.
Funky Starbucks
Sunday, 21 January 2007
I’ve never seen a Starbucks like this. It’s in an old building (in Starbucks terms) overlooking Lake Lucerne on the Stone Mountain Highway (US 78), just east of Stone Mountain, right in central Georgia. Even curiouser, when we stopped by late morning, over half the tables were crammed with adolescent male Jews in long black overcoats.
Tabouli time
Saturday, 20 January 2007
Hey, apologies for touting a TJ’s product once again, but this stuff makes some fine tabouli/tabbouleh. I have struggled with cooking then de-moisturizing the darned bulgur wheat, and using couscous totally eliminates that step, plus you can use some lemon juice and olive oil along with the hot water in the reconstitution process—yum!
Tabouli, like all true peasant recipes, is made with varying quantities of parsley and chopped veggies, with seasonings that vary among the cultures that make it. My favorite version has lots of parsley and lemon, with some crunch and color added by small red pepper and poblano pepper chunks.
Self improvement
Sunday, 14 January 2007
At the urging of KAH, I recently switched from relatively generic fish oils (Target, Meijer), to this fancy Omega 3.6.9 from Nordic Naturals. It differs from the rest of its ilk because it is “filtered” and I am letting myself believe that that is important….
Sometimes investigating jargon leads us to interesting vocabulary lessons. I recall some time ago when I encountered the word “subaltern” and had no idea what it meant. The usage was in the jargon of agency studies (and Anthony Giddens), and referred to the low status and powerlessness of the commoner masses (I think). The word, however, has an upstanding prior meaning. As a noun, it meant a low-ranking British army officer. As an adjective, it did refer to those of low status (hence its co-opting by social theorists), but it also has this meaning (thank you Apple Dictionary):
Over my head!