I have not been all that hungry all summer. I am not a hot weather person so I am in pure misery in Georgia from about June to October. Popsicles this summer have been the name of the game. I've found quite a few that I don't like. I think the only ones worth getting are either fudgesicles or the "real" fruit ones. All the others don't have enough fruity flavor/tartness. Fresh pineapple and cherries have also been really good this summer. I had one good batch of peaches and a lot of bad batches.
Although I haven't been eating much exciting food, I have been reading a lot about food. Michael Ruhlmann has been good summer reading. I read The Making of a Chef, The Soul of a Chef and The Reach of a Chef. The first one is about what it takes to make it through the Culinary Institute of America (as of the early '90s). The second starts with profiles on folks trying to become certified master chefs and moves onto how three different types of chefs handle their business and their approach to cooking. The third is more about how we've gotten to where we are as a culture with the Food Network, food blogs, etc. I was mainly familiar with him from seeing him on Anthony Bourdain's show and he seemed a bit bland but his writing pulls you in and the fact that he basically got the C.I.A. training while writing his book and then worked in restaurants gives him good perspective on his subjects. Also check out his blog.
I'm not much of a cook (mainly due to laziness) and have no desire to work in a restaurant but I feel like I have a new appreciation for the really hard work it takes to run and work in a restaurant.
My next food-related reading is on the life of Antonin Careme by Ian Kelly. Recommended: anything by Calvin Trillin, Bill Buford, Ruth Reichl, John Thorne.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Sunday, May 17, 2009
depression eating
OK, I'm not really depressed but at the same time I haven't really felt like eating. I've been pretty busy but not that hungry or motivated by food. I have been eating too much fried chicken which always indicates lack of imagination since it's my fallback. I even accompanied co-workers to KFC on Oprah Grilled Chicken giveaway day and was completely disgusted by the KFC "crispy" chicken. Ugh, even their mashed potatoes were completely disgusting. I don't understand how they stay in business or why Oprah has aligned herself with them.
My car is making me depressed as the "Check Engine" light has now been on for over two years. How? do you say? How did you pass your emissions last year? Somehow by the skin of my teeth, apparently. Because about a week after I passed last year (after over $600 in repairs), the "Check Engine" light returned and has haunted me since. I've had it looked at by my trustier garage of several years and they found it was the same problem as last year - a faulty valve that costs $100 and is a piece of plastic doo-doo. This thing lasted 116 miles before it caused my "Check Engine" light to go back on this time. I'm just about out of money to be spending on my car right now.
I am eating egg salad because I don't feel like eating anything because of this bullshit. Ugh!!!!!
My car is making me depressed as the "Check Engine" light has now been on for over two years. How? do you say? How did you pass your emissions last year? Somehow by the skin of my teeth, apparently. Because about a week after I passed last year (after over $600 in repairs), the "Check Engine" light returned and has haunted me since. I've had it looked at by my trustier garage of several years and they found it was the same problem as last year - a faulty valve that costs $100 and is a piece of plastic doo-doo. This thing lasted 116 miles before it caused my "Check Engine" light to go back on this time. I'm just about out of money to be spending on my car right now.
I am eating egg salad because I don't feel like eating anything because of this bullshit. Ugh!!!!!
Sunday, April 19, 2009
La Oaxacena, Jonesboro, go!
OK it would be helpful to take a Spanish speaker with you but the menu is in English. The only person at La Oaxacena, off of Mount Zion Road right below where it splits at I-75, is pretty damn authentic. The corn tortillas are handmade, the carnitas are for real, the carne asada is for real, real chorizo, and almost nobody else but Latinos. I went with a Cuban and a gringo and we created immediate diversity by walking in. Very friendly service, cheap, really good menu. Cheryl and Eric raved about the melon fresca. The soups come in gigantic bowls. They also serve breakfast, real flautas, and some odd corn-cob-on-a-stick-covered-in-lard-parmesan-cheese-and-cayenne thing that negated any health benefits from the corn. The salsa bar has cactus, mole, guac and regular salsa. This is not Tex Mex - closer to Baja, but probably even closer to the real Mex.
Sunday, March 8, 2009
eels
No I haven't eaten eels this week. That would have been the healthiest thing I've eaten if it were true. I ate at Zaxby's, Popeye's, Los Arcos (twice!), and Chick-Fil-A this week. Ugh. One night I had a smoothie and popcorn for dinner. That was probably the healthiest dinner I ate all week. blech. Very busy week at work, dogs are getting friskier coz the weather is nicer and my allergies are kicking in something fierce. Yard work is kicking my butt this weekend but I also managed to take down my old, sparky fan in my living room and buy a new one. I found a giant dead roach in the fan so that may have been what was causing the sparks. Also, gross.
Eels refers to the band headed by Mark Oliver Everett. I just watched the documentary Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives in which he got to explore his quantum physicist father's past professional life after not really knowing much about him while he was alive. His dad died when he was 18 or 19 and wasn't the most communicative of people. Apparently his dad was a super genius in the world of quantum physics and came up with the Many Worlds theory which, even after watching the documentary which gave the most basic, layperson way to explain it, I still can't paraphrase. Anyway, it was very interesting and he seemed like a cool guy so I looked him up and bought his book on line, Things the Grandchildren Should Know. Aside from his dad dying when he was young, his older sister committed suicide not long after their father died and their mother died of cancer around the same time. One of his cousins, a flight attendant, died in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. He was buddies with Elliott Smith. But he has an interesting perspective on it all. Any one of these things would have killed me. I will probably die a long slow death from bad cholesterol. If I'm lucky.
Eels refers to the band headed by Mark Oliver Everett. I just watched the documentary Parallel Worlds, Parallel Lives in which he got to explore his quantum physicist father's past professional life after not really knowing much about him while he was alive. His dad died when he was 18 or 19 and wasn't the most communicative of people. Apparently his dad was a super genius in the world of quantum physics and came up with the Many Worlds theory which, even after watching the documentary which gave the most basic, layperson way to explain it, I still can't paraphrase. Anyway, it was very interesting and he seemed like a cool guy so I looked him up and bought his book on line, Things the Grandchildren Should Know. Aside from his dad dying when he was young, his older sister committed suicide not long after their father died and their mother died of cancer around the same time. One of his cousins, a flight attendant, died in the 9/11 attack on the Pentagon. He was buddies with Elliott Smith. But he has an interesting perspective on it all. Any one of these things would have killed me. I will probably die a long slow death from bad cholesterol. If I'm lucky.
Sunday, February 8, 2009
Sunday, February 1, 2009
Egg salad and nostalgia
Nostalgia has been the name of the game this year. I blame this mainly on finding elementary and high school friends on Facebook but also on the New York Times.
Today was a beautiful day so I grabbed all the newspapers in the house and dragged them to the backyard to sit out and enjoy the unusually warm-for-January-even-in-Georgia weather. I came across an article about malls failing in the horrible economy and they mentioned a website called deadmalls.com.
I got online to check it out and was transported back to all kinds of bizarre retail memories. I also got wind of the fact that many people are obsessed with old retail. Lots of blogs devoted to old malls, old discount chains, Howard Johnsons, strip malls, grocery stores. My favorite blogs that I've found so far have been
mallhistory.com, labelscar.com and mallsofamerica.blogspot.com.
I learned some interesting info about the history of malls in Atlanta, where I live now, but I also checked out info on malls in Maryland, where I'm from. I desperately tried to register at groceteria.com so I could answer somebody's question on the message board about where a Memco in Rockville used to be located. I loved Memco as a kid. My parents felt safe enough to leave me and my brothers in the toy or record sections by ourselves while they went grocery shopping. It was a wonderland of furniture, clothes, groceries, toys, etc - really similar to Wal-Mart but not as tacky (in my hazy, rose-colored memories, it was a wonderland but it probably was just as tacky as Wal-Mart).
Anyway, dead mall internet surfing led me to some websites on old tea rooms which led me to desire tea sandwiches and tea - thus, egg salad on toast for dinner. I suggest raspberry tea with Serenbe honey (in the unmarked jar, available at Serenbe, pay whatever they ask - it is that good).
This site: victualling.wordpress.com has some interesting links to tearoom sites.
Today was a beautiful day so I grabbed all the newspapers in the house and dragged them to the backyard to sit out and enjoy the unusually warm-for-January-even-in-Georgia weather. I came across an article about malls failing in the horrible economy and they mentioned a website called deadmalls.com.
I got online to check it out and was transported back to all kinds of bizarre retail memories. I also got wind of the fact that many people are obsessed with old retail. Lots of blogs devoted to old malls, old discount chains, Howard Johnsons, strip malls, grocery stores. My favorite blogs that I've found so far have been
mallhistory.com, labelscar.com and mallsofamerica.blogspot.com.
I learned some interesting info about the history of malls in Atlanta, where I live now, but I also checked out info on malls in Maryland, where I'm from. I desperately tried to register at groceteria.com so I could answer somebody's question on the message board about where a Memco in Rockville used to be located. I loved Memco as a kid. My parents felt safe enough to leave me and my brothers in the toy or record sections by ourselves while they went grocery shopping. It was a wonderland of furniture, clothes, groceries, toys, etc - really similar to Wal-Mart but not as tacky (in my hazy, rose-colored memories, it was a wonderland but it probably was just as tacky as Wal-Mart).
Anyway, dead mall internet surfing led me to some websites on old tea rooms which led me to desire tea sandwiches and tea - thus, egg salad on toast for dinner. I suggest raspberry tea with Serenbe honey (in the unmarked jar, available at Serenbe, pay whatever they ask - it is that good).
This site: victualling.wordpress.com has some interesting links to tearoom sites.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Celebrate Obama - real dinner on a Monday
Monday night is usually scrounge something out of the freezer night but tonight I managed to roast up some ruby red potatoes, toss them with olive oil, rosemary and garlic and eat with lamb tips from Trader Joe's. Yum! BTW, this is the third or fourth meal I've gotten from one of those packages of Burgundy lamb tips from TJ's. You throw it in a hot pan, sear it for a few minutes, cook for another 5 minutes or so on each side, done. So easy and so good. Oh yeah, and I'm having apple crisp and ice cream for dessert. I NEVER eat dessert. And I already did the dishes! Hail Obama! I feel the change already
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