Hungry Times Two

What did I have two, no....make that THREE, cups of today? It wasn't gravy, or Coca Cola, or Bourbon, or Cranberry Juice. It was TEA, wonderful tea. Ever since I was younger, tea has been a pleasure to enjoy, both hot or cold, sweet or unsweetened, as long as it's not adulterated as that Fruit Tea business you know I can't get behind, or Jasmine (too much like drinking Potpourri water to me). But - Japanese Green Tea, English style, Chai, Thai Iced - it's all pretty much marvelous to me. Luckily, Scott shares my love of tea. We jokingly have "tea and book time" (in bed too, but I swear, it's totally PG-13 rated) as our British alter-egos Russell and Margaret -- our first names, as we both go by our middles. Ol' Russ and Mags are just simple homebodies who like scones, a spot of tea, a good historical novel or quaint little series on the Public Television station, and a nice gentle rainy afternoon. Or something like that. Can you tell we've really t...

I introduce to you our new segment, "We've Got It Made." I know, right - cheesy yet oh-so-catchy. You may now roll your eyes, and continue reading, thanks. It's..wow...almost October, and while the last of the warm weather temps are fleeting and fading, we noticed our basil plants in our communal neighborhood garden are doing the same. Scott and I wanted to take advantage of the lovely herbs while they're still present and accounted for, so on Saturday night after a full afternoon of kayaking up and down the Potomac River, we set out to make pesto. Scott inspected the plants. And picked and picked and picked - two cups worth! I checked out the huge-ass pumpkins growing in the garden. And mourned the sad decline of beautiful sunflowers. Once inside, we combined forces to blend the basil, garlic, grated Parmesan cheese, pine nuts and olive oil, using the ever-handy The Joy Of Cooking's recipe . Indeed a joy. Yum. I boiled some fettuccine regate noodles (th...

Lately my breakfast of raw oats, sliced banana, Craisins , crushed walnuts or almonds, and other whole- foody types of things in a bowl, swimming in milk, hasn't really done it for me. It's healthy. Hearty. But kinda...uninspired. I told Scott this while we were shopping on Tuesday evening and he instantly and enthusiastically replied with " Weetabix !" Now I consider myself fairly cultured, so I'm relatively familiar with Weetabix - that funny little brick-shaped cereal. Every food culture has a funny little packaged food item. Much like the Aussies' Vegemite, the American Spam, and the Italian's Nutella , Weetabix is specialness, commerically contained. Or so I thought. We bought a box, I opened it on Wednesday morning, removed a couple "biscuits" from one of the plastic sleeves, and put them in a bowl with my usual banana and nuts. I sloshed some milk in there and made myself a cup of coffee. In the time that I poured the coffee and added m...

This should really a postscript to my post from September 14, the day o' my good husband's 32 nd year of birth, but sometimes it's hard to post photos as events are occurring and then time flies by, and any who ..... Behold the cake I baked for that special day: Those pellet/poop-like things forming the numbers are Ocean Spray Craisins . How resourceful/ scatological am I?!? The recipe comes from my new- ish cookbook The Healthy Hedonist - the Naked Carrot Cake. It contains the oh-so-nutritious oat flour plus four cups of grated carrots ( Oy . That was a lot of tedious grating, let me tell you), and other stuff that makes cake so awesome - vanilla, brown sugar, eggs, spices of nutmeg, cinnamon , all spice, etc. Only I didn't want it to be so nekkid , cause frosting, when done well and not all grocery-store lard- ish , is marvelous, mmmkay ? SO, I doctored it up with The Joy of Cooking' s Cream Cheese Frosting , and substituted the lower-in-fat and hard-to-pron...

I have some BAD groceries in my house. Know the culprit who bought them? I'll give you one clue - he's the dude with the penchant for pinching pennies! Sometimes I myself will shop in a thrifty/frugal/cheap-ass mood, and wind up reaching for the generic brands, examining the cost per unit prices, and even scouring that back table where they put the expired cat food, dented soup cans, old condiments and whatnot. BUT I never buy food that I know is probably crappy just to save a couple nickels and dimes. I cherish my dear sweet mate and love that my husband grocery shops, but some of the things he comes home with are troubling. Allow me to give several examples. 1) The generic brand "Fruit On The Bottom" individual yogurts. This kills me. First off, buy the big cartons of yogurt and spoon them into containers if you want to save money - the individual ones are more expensive and wasteful. Also, that "fruit" on the bottom is less fresh and more funky. It's ...

Scott and I are headed to a special place this weekend for a very special occasion: Charleston, SC, for a wedding in the family. Congrats, Jennifer & T.J.! Thus no Friday Shout Out; we will be navigating Reagan National Airport and enjoying some much-needed time down South instead. Shrimp and grits, I am coming for you!!! Here's a little moment o' zen for your Thursday: Falafel Song . If that doesn't do it for you, try Tabbouleh Song. Yum. I love falafel. It's vegetarian, crispy, and can be covered in condiments like hummus or tahini sauce. Droooooooool. I love love love Middle Eastern food. Iran, Iraq, Syria, Lebanon - you may have trouble and strife, not to mention some serious female repression issues, but I do enjoy your cuisine. Get some falafel up in your torso.... that video is so special. PS - In Google Analytics, it shows you what popular keywords lead people to your blog. Here's one that got us some page views: "Nasty husbands." Whaaaaaaaaa...

Check this out! Our friends Eleni (a-lane-ee) and Joelle own Savor the Flavor catering and have started offering cooking classes . If their Facebook link shows up correctly, you get to see people cooking things from sushi to Italian to Greek (Eleni's family is Greek, so she's got special insight into ingredients and cooking methods for Greek cuisine). Way to go Eleni and Joelle - you're making better cooks of all of us!

I saw this article today and felt compelled to post it. Whole Foods is phasing out unsustainable seafood , so this will make it easier for people to do the right thing! If you enjoy having seafood, and want to keep on enjoying it, consider Whole Foods or simply consulting these resources .

To my co-blogger, my best dining companion, and my favorite tall blond man: Happy Birthday! Any man who dons a beard net to take a Celestial Seasonings factory tour is ok by me!

For three years now we've shared our eats - what we ate, what we hope to eat, and what we dream about eating. What have we liked best about it? S: It's been fun teaching a DC-based British photog how to peel shrimp, all via photos on this blog. E: I received a nice letter and coupon for a free jar (any size!) of Duke's Mayonnaise out of it after I shared my post on the company website. That's pretty damn cool. See, blogging CAN pay off! What's been the greatest challenge? S: Keeping it going. E: I agree. Also, trying to stay away from food writing cliches, though I do apparently like to use the word "goodness" a lot. What's the bad thing about food blogging? E: Besides all the calories? Trying to say something original and interesting about simple things like mayonnaise. Or pork. Or the pizza we ate last Tuesday. S: Uploading the pictures. E: Maybe it's time for a new blog program? S: No, I'm just a Luddite. What are the hopes and dreams of...

So, here's a random run-through of my summer. Erin's already gotten a lot the choice writing out of the way, so I'll leave this as more of photo montage with comments, etc. LuLu's, a great restaurant next to Richmond, VA's old train station and farmer's market. The sign itself has a cool Bauhaus-like vibe. That chef should be mixing up a batch of Duke's Mayonnaise, given that it's one of C.F. Sauer's signature products. Perhaps Richmond, VA is a hidden food-town? Funky painting at comfort, a Richmond, VA restaurant with few pretenses and knock-out comfort food. The name says it all - along Broad St., Richmond, VA.

Ladies (and dudes who read food blogs), the old cliche truly is correct: A good man is hard to find. Scott says he plans on posting here soon and I know that's true because he took photos last night of the evidence of his hard work in the kitchen (and a bad shot of me blending and cursing my over-salted hummus, but that's for another time). This blog needs to hear from the male counterpart of HTT , for real. Weary and ready for a glass of wine/foot rub/warm bath/instant transport to a Caribbean island/or whatever was most convenient and stress-reducing at the time, I came home to find my husband in the kitchen, trimming ends off of green beans and meat marinating in the fridge. Sweet! He was chopping sweet potatoes into wedges for roasting. Even sweeter! People, it's never good to have the women of the world always working to provide tasty eats. We work too, dammit, and it's hard coming home and settling right in to Domestic Goddess mode where we prepare yummy yet also ...

I'm eating string cheese and a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. What am I, a fourth grader???? Just thought I'd share.

It's amazing what you can find on these crazy Interwebs. Exhibit A: Yep, Little Debbie tries and tries to wear me down with her promise of cheap, sweet thrills but somehow I've managed to stay away from a box of Oatmeal Cream Pies in my own home for over a week now.* Scott's responsible for this devil woman's merchandise taking up space in my pantry. He has a bit of a sweet tooth for foods that aren't really, well, food. Looking at the box of OCPs, here's the ingredients: Corn Syrup, Enriched Bleached Flour (Wheat Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamine Mononitrate [Vitamin B1] Riboflavin [Vitamin B2] (Folic Acid)Partially Hydrogenated Soybean and Cottonseed Oil with TBHQ to Preserve Flavor, Dextrose, Water, Oats, Sugar, Molasses, Raisins, contains 2% or less of each of the Following: Leavening (Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Ammonium Bicarbonate) Whey [Milk] Emulsifiers (Soy Lecithin, Mono and Diglycerides, Sorbitan Monostearate, Polysorbate 60)Salt, Cor...

I'm a sucker for "energy bars" which I tend to view as a candy bar treat wrapped up in "Good For You" packaging. So many I have tried...the GeniSoy, Larabar, Balance, Cliff, Cliff Mojo, Kashi, the good ol' Natures Valley Granola bar (isn't technically an energy/protein bar, but...), Luna Bar (for ladies only!).... there may be others. At the moment I have two Luna bars stashed in my work desk for late-afternoon sugar cravings - the Lemon Zest kind. They are lusciously Lemon and I love them so much. My new cookbook includes a recipe for homemade bars (see below). I am interested in making my own because at the range of an on-sale reduced price of $1 to $3 or more per bar, they're kind of a pricey snack. Do you have a bar recipe or a certain brand you pledge allegiance to? Granola Bars These will keep at room temperature, covered, for up to a week; you can also freeze them. Substitute your favorite nuts or dried fruits for the ones suggested here, or u...