Easy Breezy Beautiful

- Sweet potato, cheese and bean quesadillas
(self-explanatory, but the cheese has to be sharp and to balance the sweetness of the potatoes)
- Chicken meatballs
(egg white, 1lb ground chicken, some Worcestershire sauce, spices, salt, ketchup, minced garlic and onion)
- Sauted veggies with ginger marinade
(no, I don't make the marinade -- Stop&Shop, baby!)

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A Rambling Catty Post

I have an observation which may anger some of you. If it does, deal with it – no one, including me (gasp), is perfect (even Obama has large ears). Recently, I noticed that a myriad of people around the globe are completely bonkers over cats. I mean totally obsessed with cats. As someone who has never owned a pet (or is that politically incorrect?) -- sorry, let me try again. As someone who has never shared a house with a pet (I assume that caterpillars and random bugs living in jars on our kitchen windowsill don’t count), I can’t participate in the glee that emanates from the mouths of cute-cat photo-chainmail recipients. Cats with bows, cats with dogs, cats in beds, cats in hats. As much as I enjoy Seuss, I just shrug my shoulders and roll my eyes in an obnoxious fashion. It’s just a cat – get over it!

That’s why I was not at all surprised when my mother handed us some Trader Joe’s cookies marketed to cat people. Guess what they’re called? You don’t have to – I’ll tell you. Chocolatey [sic] Cats Cookies for People. Never mind that the package depicts a fat cat that looks a lot more like a tiger – it also reads in large letters, LOW FAT. So, as soon as I saw those magic words (OPP, you know me) I had to steal some from the kids (other people’s property no more!). At only 1.5 grams of fat per 15 cookies (9 grams of sugar), they’re way more preferable to Oreos – at least to me (I have never been able to get into the whole sugary white filling thing). So, these cookies are very similar to Oreos – sans the sticky insides. They're light, crispy and ... chocolaty. In fact, I like them so much, I think I’m becoming a cat person … only until TJ comes up with dulce de leche dog snacks.

If you spent your childhood in the US (or if you are a European who’s lost his taste buds), please tell me this – do you like Oreos because they taste good or do you just like the commercials? (My favorite one is the father-son kitchen-table conversation. There’s nothing like Oreos for bonding!) Or maybe it’s the process that appeals to you – the twisting motion, the licking... Gosh, it's so hard to figure out what the right way to eat an Oreo is... So, do tell me – what is so great about Oreo cookies?! Just have some Cats Cookies for People, people!

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Eine Kleine Nachtdining Tale

So, two of us were starving for some hearty food, and one of us was thirsty for something other than Cola. We decided to forego the usual haunts (Pakarang and Sakura, if you must know) and meet on Thayer. Urban Outfitters welcomed us with its enticing outdoor sale racks, and promptly disappointed with the indoor rags. After browsing for a couple of minutes, we came to the conclusion that our grandmothers would have more attractive clothes inside their attic chests, if they had attics (or chests, for that matter). Who knows, maybe UO was going for the homeless-chic aesthetic… Whatever it was, it was too sloppy, too ugly and too yard-sale-find-ish with distinctly non-yard-sale prices. On to the food.

Since we wanted to sit outside, we settled on oh-so-stylish Café Paragon. (I’m convinced you pay 15% for the restaurant name alone). But, who cares when there’s “Sun in the sky, you know how I feel…” I don’t know what possessed me to order the pizza in this place (my merlot?), when Nice Slice is practically next door and offers better grub at a fraction of the price, but I might have been motivated by the fact that everything else on the menu was either unappetizing for my taste buds or too appetizing for my wallet. So, we ended up with a bunch of Margarita pizzas (I set the tone since certain people just kept copying my orders, no names mentioned) and an $11 tuna tartar appetizer (yes, the damn appetizer was $2 more than the entrée!). But, I just had to have that dish since I was seduced by the Hemenway’s version. Paragon’s tuna was fatty, decorated with pleasant tangy aioli and accompanied by some dyed (pink) ginger and a surprisingly crunchy seaweed salad (I always imagined it to taste mushy). I did try to be fair (against my better judgment) and divided the dish into equal parts. So, yes, it was worth every penny.

The pizza, on the other hand, was no paragon; please pardon the pun and the unintentional alliteration. (Ok, stopping the insanity now.) I should have changed my order when the waitress was not sure how to answer, “Is it thin-crust?” Finally, she said, “It’s got some crust to it,” but by then, I was too famished to care. So, when it arrived, it looked exactly like it came from a box in the back of your freezer – the one that’s been there for a half a year, and better be eaten now or never. Yes, it had a somewhat thick and wooden crust and some nondescript cheese and forgettable sauce, but who cares? It filled the stomach, and we were having a good time.




Our gastronomic luck improved with the foray into Juniper. The relatively new establishment beckons with New-York style frozen yogurt (the easiest way I can describe it is – it tastes like yogurt that’s been frozen … you’ll understand once you taste it). Currently, they have two flavors (plain and blueberry) … well, three if you count the plain-and-blueberry combo. You can load it up with all kinds of toppings (gummy bears, strawberries, mango, chocolate-covered grasshoppers). Oh, good, you’re paying attention! But, if you don’t want to spend a dollar on two toppings or you are a purist who does not want to take away from the creamy-yogurt taste, rest assured that topping-free dessert still tastes great. I, of course, had to sample mine loaded with fruit (now I am thinking about writing a poem on the virtues of dairy with berries).

Some crazy woman decided that we should press our lady luck and get even more great dessert. When I’m thinking of sweets, I sometimes forget about the two-block line at Pastiche on Saturday nights. So, since Pastiche was not in the cards that night, we walked over to a nearby dessert place to satisfy the said woman’s sweet tooth. I’m not going to mention the name of that establishment since I don’t have too many complimentary comments to make regarding the experience (they did have comfy couches and great music, though – jazzy, breathy, sixties-style). The apple caramel pie tasted somewhat like – well, sugar with more sugar poured on top of it. The tiramisu was so old and stale that it was crispy. That’s a six-dollar two-day-old tiramisu I’m talking about. Do they realize tiramisu contains raw eggs?! Got to run now. ♦DiggIt! ♦Add to del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves

Another easy meal

Sweet potatoes

Cut them up, sprinkle with some extra virgin, honey, cumin and a bit of salt, cover with foil, stick into oven for 25 minutes (350 degrees)

Chicken

Slice into cutlets, brown on both sides, sprinkle with salt, pepper, spices, saute in vegetable broth until done.

Healthy yummy dessert

Cut up strawberries, put into a cup, add Australian creamy vanilla yogurt. Enjoy. ♦DiggIt! ♦Add to del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves

An easy three-course meal

Appetizer:

Potato Salad à la Ira:

- potatoes
- mushrooms (fried with onions)
- boiled eggs
- peas
- tuna

Entrée:

Pasta

-pasta w/cheese and butter

- leftover chicken

- zucchini (fried with onions)

Dessert:

Crêpes

(I'm not sure, but I think I stole this recipe from Esquire. So what that it's a men's magazine? Do you expect me to read The Ladies' Home Journal or something? ... I read that too -- Shhh!)

- cup of whole milk

- 3 tablespoons water

- 3/4 cup flour

- 2 eggs

- 1 teaspoon salt

- 1 tablespoon melted butter

- love (I came up with spreading the finished product with Nutella. Or, I might have stolen that too. From La Creperie on Thayer Street. Who cares -- it tastes good, non?)

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Did you say dessert?!

I have died and gone to heaven. … Well, dessert heaven, at least. But, all in order, please.

So, here’s your completely irrelevant and oh-so-amusing dose of weekly gossip. This past Friday, at a jazzy birthday party, we met a really cool couple. He was smart and attentive; she was brilliant and resourceful. They were crazy about each other, and it showed. Among the thirty or so odd people at the party, they were the perfect pair to sit across from – fun, entertaining and full of useful information.

What kind, you ask. Well, for instance, I learned that my sciatica is not stress-induced, as I suspected – it was caused by a pinched nerve that resulted from the wonderful childbearing experience – something about something pressing on my uterus, or something… Medical details are too boring to remember – who cares about the particulars, anyway, when all that matters is – the pain will haunt me for the rest of my life!?





On a less depressing note, the other piece of the aforementioned useful information I learned was that Sweet Scoops Yogurt is a much preferred choice to my regular standby – Skinny Cow chocolate-drizzled frozen yogurt bars. Come on, when was the last time you saw a skinny cow?! That’s deceptive marketing at its best, people! So, as I was saying – the yogurt. Sigh. I cannot find the proper words to describe its airiness, creaminess, ice-creaminess, sweetness – yes, it’s sweet, but not overwhelmingly so – just the right amount, and none of that nasty fake-sugar taste. You know what I’m talkin’ ‘bout, right?

The best part of this prolonged and annoying story is the fact that Scoops was on sale at The East Side Marketplace this week. It’s almost like winning the lottery, but not quite. Of course, I didn’t go with the girl’s suggested flavor – I mean, who in her right mind wants mint in their desert?! But I did find a lovely Madagascar Vanilla. Yes, I am one of those people who get offended at the bad rep vanilla gets. To me, the expression “too vanilla” is a compliment, got it?
So now, I just have to hope that FIOS will accidentally add Showtime to our TV package, so that I could check out another one of the gal’s recommendations – The Tudors. After tasting Scoops, I trust that woman forever. How could I not – she’s a lawyer! ♦DiggIt! ♦Add to del.icio.us ♦Add to Technorati Faves