Tuesday, June 30, 2015

Boy, You're Gonna Carry that Weight a Long Time

Trying not to eat bread and cheese as much?  Looking for inspiration? Hummus atop your bunless burger alongside your other slammin' condiments. Brilliant!  Okay, nothing more to see here, move it along folks.....keep it moving!

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Once There Was a Way to Get Back Homeward

When you're very young you don't realize when you're meeting super cool and real people that while everyone is lovely and one of God's children with their own set of unique talents and offerings, a lot of who you meet will not carry that bright light.  Oh they'll be cute or handsome, talented, funny or even fascinating but only some emanate that gorgeous glow through their minds eye and out their entire presence.  You know, The beautiful light.  The light that shines love and a deeper understanding of the world as one complete thing, nothing separated.  That sense that they know and make you remember that you also know a much grander meaning way down inside yourself somewhere.  That glow reminds you that beauty, the warmth of goodness and unconditional love is real. All the important stuff that we have to shove down into our mental pants like our shirts before tightening that ole' belt and getting on with our day.
I have a friend who is more than a friend, who is family.  He lives an amazing adventurous purposeful life that I can only imagine.  But he has his own struggles and challenges.  He is not mainlining his one dream vision like a celebrity, he's being thoughtful, sorting out and making sense of this life he was given, just like the rest of us.  He doesn't profess much or claim to hold any key answers.
He's the only person I've met that owns this light and yet seems to be so reluctant to carry it.  Almost like it's a weight.  Makes me like him even more!
He's been in France studying philosophy for 3 years and we were lucky enough to go grab some local fare at Black Forest Brooklyn Biergarten to celebrate his return.  I had Kässpätzle (*) Homemade German egg noodles, smoked slab bacon, shredded Emmentaler cheese, fresh nutmeg, sauteed onions & house salad, (order w or w/o bacon) .
P had Geflügelbratwurst hardwood smoked chicken sausage with shoestring fries and sauerkraut.
M had the Bauernmädchen* Sour cream, shredded spicy citrus kale, roasted pumpkin, cauliflower & toasted almonds
Starters, Brezel* Warm German soft pretzel, shaved salt & mustard & my favorite, ChampiGnons im Bierteig* Beer-battered, fried champignon mushrooms & aioli.
I savor these lit up souls now and even learned to recognize fleeting sparks in all of us sinners but I fear the flame is not eternal, on this earth anyway.

Friday, June 26, 2015

Taking Care of Business and Working Over Time

Had to work a little overtime making me rushed and ill prepared for any cooking fun. No time to get food, I needed to use whatever I had.  This wasn't pretty enough to post but turns out a last minute decision to add feta to green beans and tomatoes is really great!  And because nothing was expected from this super quick after work dinner, I gotta give a little shout out to those sweet little turkey bacon-wrapped meatballs.  I got the idea since this particular brand of turkey bacon is so super thin that I burn it every time but it could help out by giving a little kick to the mix.  I only had about a 1/4 lb of ground meat so I grated lots of cauliflower, summer squash, onions, carrots and added oatmeal to stretch it out. Then to add them atop the green beans as if it were pasta, well hey girl, look at you all creative and acting all whimsical.  

Tuesday, June 23, 2015

Homage Salad

Homage to Texas Texas Restaurant in Times Square salad I used to love while working at Virgin Megastore!


Monday, June 22, 2015

Another Road Where Maybe I Could See Another Kind of Mind There


I'm not consistent on this but generally, I'm a late bloomer in life.  I'm sort of counting on this pattern now as I seem to be coming in severely under average for my age in regards to success.  But that's only if you count actual achievements they pay you for.  I have mastered scrambled eggs and I finally learned how to properly make a juicy chicken breast.  I masterbate in record time and need almost zero fluff. I know that I can comatize, daydream or YouTube it for exactly the right amount of time to still get my apartment cleaned and make a meal on my day off before my husband gets home and realizes he married a lazy troll.  I recently joined the social network after years of protesting because I'd heard it was just everyone trying to show how busy and cool they are.  I haven't found that to be true at all.  I love the random sharing and unexpected food porn. I am addicted to reading stray articles about things that are of no interest to me but suddenly essential to living my life.  I still sneer a bit at sentimental stories and emotional quote posters that are meant to strengthen your spirit because I hate being manipulated to feel gooey.  Midwesterners had that emotion snipped off at birth like a circumcision.  Keeping all your spit and vinegar is essential for surviving those brutal winters but secretly we cry inside.   I am a sucker for a good cat video though and as a closet voyeur of sorts I get to peek inside the world of my acquaintances.  It's like mentally getting keys to their apartment and them saying just lock up when you leave.
People should get a welcome packet when they join Facebook and Twitter, Instagram and such.  There are some social graces to be learned.  I still stumble around a lot. Like sometimes you get all excited and start posting comments on pages then realize no one there is your actual friend.  You have clicked in way too many dimensions.
Or you walk into someone's page and realize all this other stuff about them like their love of rebel flags or Star Wars or excessive use of emojis.  Or you mistakenly look at your relative's page and it's full of hootchie videos and all kinds of nastiness.  You close the door like you're mom did when she walked in on you doing something stupid, quickly backspace out and hope they didn't notice you were there.
There should be a Facebook dictionary with names for all these specific oddities and rules.  Like what's it called when you suddenly feel the need to grandstand about a subject you just became aware of about 2 minutes prior?  I just did that regarding breastfeeding.  What are all the lost posts called that not one person liked but you were sure was brilliant and fascinating?  
I read your endorphins kick in when you hear or see you have a notification.  That's powerful. And no side effects!  I'm hoping all this Instant gratification is not like emotional fast food.  I'm sure they'll find it's bad for you in some way.  For now I'm enjoying it like an Arby's Beef and Cheddar in the 70's, with a side of curly fries as it should be and a large Coke. Blissfully ignorant.  But whether online or in real life,  I love to study people all day (the one love I still cling to in retail)  and then go make food that relates to the world.  Glazed Roasted Chicken with pineapple and leeks and smashed sweet potatoes.

Saturday, June 20, 2015

Everybody's Got a Thing, But Some Don't Know How to Handle It


I don't think it's helpful to self loathe but sometimes I'm a miserable piece of shite.  I'm very happy and the next minute I'm wallowing in regrets and should haves.  So much anger at myself for turning out to be this half baked lopsided cake.  Making lists of proof I have flopped miserably. A failed masochist, where even my pain falls short of bringing me any real pleasure.
I raised three cats and that's not even true.  P did all the heavy lifting and loving, giving, nurturing, playing, petting, giving a shit.  Oh and the feeding and watering.  I clean the litterbox.
I want to be a good person that does productive supportive affirming things.  I meditate on it.  Everyday I fail at work because my patience breaks like those super thin garbage bags.  I'm over it.  I'm so over all of it. I sneer a lot and sigh loudly while people are talking to me.  It takes me 30 seconds to decide which pile of irritating fool I will put you in.  This is all at work mind you.  At home I find zen, usually.  Fellow retail prisoners can feel me on this one.  Dealing with the public each day UNLESS you're selling them music or candy, is very difficult.  It's taxing.  It leaves you so wary.  It drains your resources.  It makes you question every choice you made to get you to this one spot.
And then magically you get a day off and it's as if Technicolor comes into the world.  I feel energized, I make jokes and good ones!
I create and appreciate.  We find tacos and eat them while laughing and talking.  I see art in the streets and all around.  Nothing feels too important and yet so perfectly right.  I get to thinking maybe it's not all me. Maybe I'm not such a detriment to society.  Contributions are made in tiny gestures too.  Sure, I have a lousy job right now but its helping me pour money into a 401k and so I'm sucking it up.  I made a Greek burger over lettuce, onions and nicoise olives, lemon and oregano with grilled red onion, tomato and Feta.  I made homecut sweet potato fries with Sriracha and yogurt dip.  It was so good.  I still believe I'm a loser but I can see what life sees in me sometimes.







Monday, June 15, 2015

Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now

This is Veggetti coins basically....just your medallion cut zucchini sauteed and topped with a nice tomato and ground turkey sauce with lots of vegetables.
Reprogramming your brain as a cook to replace certain empty carbs with vegetables is a slow process but when movement happens it can be in mini landslide.  Take the Veggetti concept, vegetables cut to noodle shapes to replace white flour pasta.  Seems simple enough but then you realize you can look for any vegetable that would slice up well or hold a sauce and then the possibilities open up quite a bit.  I hope so anyway...so far mostly just using zucchini actually.  But zucchini is great because it is complementary with various herbs and can be used with white, red or no sauce at all.  It is inexpensive, stores well and is a great filler for turkey burgers, cut up in salads raw, in scrambled eggs, so there is never waste.





Saturday, June 13, 2015

Gimme One Reason To Stay Here

This was a rare Saturday off and chance to go stroll the neighborhood.  Beautiful day, sort of dreamy.  Ran into the Brooklyn Flea. It was not crowded.   And since it was our first time out there this summer the choice for tacos was spontaneous and easy.  It's not until after we've been a few times I noticed we don't try something new.  The truth is there is a lot of great food out there but I love me a simple carne taco.  Other things factor in too though. I like this stand. When I like something or someone I know it quickly. And then I really like it.  I like it a lot. I found my stand, possibly one of the last holdouts from the old Red Hook vendors. And there is a very efficient Mexican gay guy that always compliments me on my choice, he walks me through all the condiments and he runs a super clean station.  It's important to know which of the hot sauces has the most heat.  The system is self explanatory, he hands you your napkin and fork.  The counter is not cluttered.  He asks you before putting any item in your taco. And when he's done with you he tells you where to stand and what happens next.  How good is he?!


The other tables are less appealing to me somehow, just being honest.  Talking signage and general vibe.
Although I do side glance over at the guys with the pork and the beards at Porchetta.  That looks like something I should be eating.  Not sure why it would make sense but I trust a guy with a beard roasting up my meat.  
Matter of fact now that I think on it, it is confusing out there in the hot sun. You're hungry, you want something light that's easy to eat in a hurry and then they're throwing all this complicated shit at you.  Dosa, fermented crepes!?  It's all wonderful but I need my choices dumbed way down.  At least provide some helpful info before I throw down my hard earns.  How about some tasting trays guys?  Asia dog.  Got no clue, too many choices,  You gotta pick your dog, your bun AND outrageous toppings from a list named after people all off a board crammed with wild fonts and chalk colors?  Focusing is near impossible.  Give me 3 choices and a price I beg you!  The fries in a giant cone with the handy dipping tray is genius but if I ate that many fries my body would revolt. And a revolution will be scheduled at least once this summer because they look delicious!   I don't want to have to stand in another line for Japanese baby green ginger lemongrass raspberry herbal iced tea with organic honey.  I'm sure it's freaking fabulous but we're not in a resort with a pool.  We're in a steamy concrete lot with limited seating and even less with shade.



These pictures don't really do them justice but these tacos are exciting and the corn torts are homemade. All the salsas are fresh and vibrant.  Two tacos for $6 bucks and they're super easy to eat on the go and I will have room for dinner later that night.