I've just eaten an entire full size snickers bar for the first time in probably 3-4 years.
It was just as good as I remembered and worth every bit of 280 calories.
So, do you have a rare indulgence?
For me, I'd say ice cream, but I indulge in that very regularly. So I guess it's the occasional candy bar.
What's the best meal you've had this week?
Mine was from last night. Yes, I actually cooked! I sauteed some spinach and shallots and set them aside. Then I sauteed some thinly sliced chicken breasts (just salted and peppered), threw fresh cream, basic and crushed garlic in with them and let it reduce down a little. I piled the chicken on top of the spinach and poured the basil cream sauce over it all. Them I steamed some fresh haricot verts from the farmer's market and sauteed them with more shallots and a little lemon juice and garlic.
My food blogging has tapered off in recent weeks. This is due to my intolerance for standing for long in one spot and I do apologize. I haven't been cooking much at all. Nor did I really cook last night, but last night's dinner brings up a subject I thought I'd talk about today that sees a lot of action in my house – food recycling.
What do you do with your leftovers? Do you take them as originally eaten for lunch the next day or do you remake it into something else?
Often we just bring our leftovers for lunch. I do love a hot, home cooked lunch! Last week you saw that I made pork chops and black bean soup. Last night, when I decided again that I didn't feel like cooking, I surveyed the contents of my fridge. I dumped the sliced pork chops into a small sauce pan. Then I drained most of the liquid off the black bean soup and dumped the beans, onions and carrots into the pot. I sprinkled garlic and chili powder in the pot and heated over medium heat. Next I grabbed a can of whole green chiles and roughly chopped them. I poured all this into two flour tortillas with some shredded cheese and rolled them up. I topped off our green chile pork burritos with lettuce and black olives. Dinner was done in under 10 minutes.
While this isn't recipe-worthy because it was made with leftovers you wouldn't have (unless you cooked exactly what I cook, when I cook it), I thought it prompted a worthwhile topic for discussion. So tell me, do you recycle food?
There's a restaurant here in Durham that I've been wanting to go to for almost 3 years now. Magnolia Grill has received much critical acclaim and the menu always looks so inventive and tasty, without being too bizarre. Budgetwise, it's definitely a special occasion place.
Normally we regard this holiday as a greeting card holiday and wouldn't bother trying to fight the crowds for a meal, but with baby quickly approaching, we decided to go for it this year. Plus we're going a day early so it shouldn't be quite as bad. I'm looking forward to getting dolled up and digging in! You can bet I'll be reporting back on my experience.
How about you? How (or even) will you celebrate the day with food? Baked goods, chocolates, heart shaped pancakes, a special dinner at home? Do tell!
This spring I purchased and cooked baby turnips (along with their greens) for the first time (and second, and third). I had never had turnips before and really enjoyed working with a new vegetable. This weekend at the grocery store, I was moved to purchase 5 large adult turnip bulbs. I'm a little intimidated by them, but am dying to cook them up. I was thinking about a gratin or something. Do you have a preferred way you cook turnips? Want to share?
I currently work in my own little 10x10 office but in a few weeks I will be moving into a new building. The office spaces for non-management folks will be divided into "suites". This translates to 6 cubicles each in a large room. I've taken a tour and the space is nice. Upon first hearing about our new setup, I couldn't help but think back to the days of being in cube in a large bullpen of maybe 30 people.
There's a general hum. You can hear people's music, receiving and sending of emails, alerts, etc. All those things that are now missing from my silent office life. I remember getting used to them, learning to shut them out and get in my own zone. But then there are the little things your closely working co-workers do...you know what I'm talking about. The repetitive stuff that maddens you.
For me it was the perpetual throat clearing or coughing of nearby neighbors. Often they were sick, so I know it couldn't be helped but honestly, sometimes I just wanted to shout, "WOULD YOU LIKE SOME WATER??????"
So what will it be in the new setup? Bad breath, B.O., sniffling, gas, talking on the phone constantly? What are your work pet peeves? Help prepare me for what I might be in for...
I'm making a carrot cake tonight for my hubby's 30th birthday. It has coconut, pineapple and fresh carrots. It will be iced with cream cheese icing (made with cream cheese, butter, etc.) So should I refrigerate it for the 24 hours before we eat it or leave it out (covered on a cake platter)?
We live in a very animal friendly neighborhood. One that even has it's own dog park. I love animals, well most of them (just kidding). As I tell you this story, keep in mind that we have no pets. We'd like to have a dog (someday), once our child is older. We're both definitely dog people. Neither of us are particularly fond of cats.
That being said, for the past 3 months or so a long haired tortoise shell cat has been hanging out on our street. This cat has taken to hanging out in our yard, relieving itself in our yard and new garden beds and most recently, leaving it's indigestion on our front porch.
With the amount of money and hard work we've put into our gardening and yard maintenance, this is more then a nuisance. It's one thing to have burned out spots in our grass and random plants from our own pets, but when it's someone else's? Well that really torques my jaw (as my husband would say). I've posted a message on my neighborhood listserve hoping someone claims their cat, but if I get no response, we're going to catch this thing and call animal control.
Anyone have any suggestions on how to snare a feline?
My parents divorced when I was around a year old. My mom and I ended up in NC and my dad settled in southwest Colorado. I lived with both throughout my childhood, though I spent most of my time in NC. When I lived in Colorado, we lived close to a small town (pop. around 1000 back then) named Olathe. There wasn't much there, but they were famous for their crop of supersweet corn. The general area along Hwy 550 is dotted with these small towns and everyone looked forward to summers and Olathe corn. It was featured in specials on local menus and I have fond memories of eating it straight off the grill.
A week ago I was in my local Kroger grocery store when I spied a stand of corn on the cob. As I neared it I was able to make out the sign, Olathe Sweet Corn. That was followed by a description of where it was from, etc. because I doubt anyone in Durham has ever even heard of the little town of Olathe. I was so excited I was practically gushing. Mark was in awe of my giddyness over corn. I had to explain. Olathe corn, wow, all the way out here. They even haven an annual corn festival now that brings over 16,000 visitors to the little town. We bought four ears and headed home.
I struggled with how I wanted to prepare the corn and decided on a corn salad so that we could savor it across a few meals. I boiled the corn, scraped it off the cob and tossed it with some olive oil, a little salt, a little red wine vinegar and some garlic powder. The corn was delicious. It wasn't as juicy as I remember it from my childhood, but it did take me back. It's funny how food has that power. Music does too. Anyone else have a childhood food that they have on occasion that takes you back?
I know I have some readers that either live or work in Research Triangle Park. I have been working here for over a year and occasionally some mornings, as soon as I exit the Durham Freeway, I smell burned toast. It's not my car. I can smell it when I get out at work. Anyone know what's up with the burnt toast in RTP? It's been particularly strong a couple of days this week. And yes I smelled this prior to having a spidey-sense of smell :)
I'm not sure if it's my favorite, but last night we had veggie burgers (the morningstar farms grillers), tator tots (the onion ones), a simple salad and some bush's baked beans. Dinner took no time to make, just the 18 minutes to wait for those tots to bake. What's your go-to or preferred quick and easy dinner?
I have a question for you parents and non-parents alike. In your opinion, what types of restaurants are appropriate to take young, loud children to? I'm talking about babies in stroller through bouncy 4-5 year olds that can't seem to be contained to their own table.
My boss said her and her husband use this rule of thumb, if there are paper tablecloths, it's kid appropriate. I think that's a good rule of thumb. Buffets, places with menus with photos of food on them, paper napkins, plastic cups, pizzerias, etc. I definitely expect kids.
I know I have a fair amount of readers that love to cook and I personally love cooking, but what do you do for lunch most days? I usually bring leftovers, or if I don't have them, I eat a can of soup, sometimes a salad or a "mean cuisine". Maybe 3 or 4 times a year I go out for lunch (during the work week). So what say you? What do you eat for lunch????
