Hungry Times Two

I'm *thisclose* to 40 hours of freedom - yep, one whole week of vacation. Downright indulgent, right ? My Mother Dear invited me to tour Nova Scotia with her and we're setting out this Saturday on a plane to Halifax. Just picture it: Me, Mother Margaret, a subcompact rental car, a GPS that hopefully works, and the open Canadian roads.

Holy heck, y'all. Who turned on the faucet of life and stole the nozzle? I'm ready for a slow down. I didn't get to blog last week but I managed to make some pretty nice stuff for an Easter meal with my mom. The main course was this tasty asparagus tart . You could scatter sawdust on puff pastry and it would taste good, right?  I subbed in some grated Gouda and Parm for the super-expensive Gruyere. (Besides, do you think my sad little Food Lion up the street carries fancy cheese? We're lucky it's not all Velveeta and Cheese-in-a-Can!) I ate asparagus every day last weekend (Fri-Sat-Sun) so I racked up on seasonal eats - thankyouverymuch BarbaraKingsolver . Served with the tart was a delicious chickpea & roasted red pepper salad , a green salad with a lovely Green Goddess dressing that made my mother reconsider her distaste for anchovies, a baguette from Your Dekalb Farmers Market , and a homemade pound cake. On Saturday eve, we visited Scott's...

Oh, how I lurve you, mint. You lend your refreshing, tingly herbal notes to many a fine thing: tea and tabbouleh, to name a few, and even the nostalgia of childhood, those Star Brights Mints my Grandmother Coxey used to keep in her candy dish. (I'd unwrap them and gobble them in secret, stuffing the plastic wrappers between the couch cushions. But nevermind that.) Our mint plant is doing remarkably well, so I plan on using it as much as I can while it's alive and kickin .' A great way to do so: a Rice Noodle salad with a Vietnamese lean. Yes, another Cooking Light recipe. I swear that cookbook is the best two dollars I ever spent! I made this salad last night, using baked salmon in place of the tofu. It was fresh and light and a great departure from the usual Jasmine rice and veggie stir fry we usually eat. Scott's contribution was trekking out to gather some herbs from our mint plant, currently "squatting" with our neighbors' garden goodness (inclu...

This weekend, Hungry Times Two was minus one, as Scott hightailed it to Charlottesville , Va. for a father-son trip. (I was a little, no - make that super - jealous as that's one of the weekend trip destinations on my list). As per ritual when it's just me in the house to cook for, I scaled it down a bit, with the usual stir fry for one that did not turn out well at all on Friday (rice undercooked; zucchini and eggplant overdone and in a salty sauce I didn't care for). What to do? Trash the meal for a snack of homemade popcorn, of course. *An aside: Since my introduction to kernels popped in a big pot with a lid, aided by a little salt (or Old Bay, or cayenne, or whatever seasonings you'd like) and olive oil, I haven't bought any microwave popcorn and have no inclination to do so. Why eat greasy crap imitation butter flavor when you can make real popcorn for pennies? And my tree- huggin ' self loves that there's less packaging.* Saturday, with hopes for find...

Yes, it was hotter than two rats fornicating in a wool sock (one of my all-time favorite expressions, and that's the clean version) this weekend. Yet we couldn't let 90 pesky degrees get in the way of some good times, could we? Naaaaah. We sucked it up and headed out for Alexandria and DC on Saturday, Baltimore on Sunday. In pictures I will demonstrate: We met up with one of my best college buds Kellie visiting from Asheville and toodled around an old 1940s munitions factory that was converted into an arts center - the Torpedo Art Factory in Alexandria. Awesome artist-in-residence studios with views of the Potomac, with lots of pricey fun stuff to look at. One throwback: An old-school soda machine. When was the last time you saw these? Especially the Mountain Dew! After a lovely time with Kellie, Scott and I decided to brave the National Mall and walk to Smithsonian's American History Museum. As luck would have it, one floor has Julia Child's kitchen on one wing and ...

So yesterday evening started out pretty crappy, with one of the Hungry Times Two peeps coming home after a No Good Very Bad Day. Refusing to sign our evening off as DOA, I set about making a dynamite ( said in the style of J.J. from Good Times ) meal from a kitchen that, from all outward appearances, didn't seem to be chock-full of food. Using Pam Anderson's (not that Baywatch one) book as my guide, I put together a pot of creamy grits with prosciutto, Parmesan and a little milk. I then chopped up for a salad some mixed greens, a Gala apple, toasted walnuts, an overwhelmingly stinky yet creamy hunk of Gorgonzola cheese, and cherry tomatoes. I also whipped up a pretty tasty dressing from olive oil, balsamic vinegar, a little OJ, and some Nature Seasoning (yes, of the Adams Family Seasoning Hall of Fame .) I poured glasses of a much-deserved Chardonnay and we sat our beleaguered asses down to what I thought was a pretty sophisticated arrangement of bites that took just half an...