(subtitle: or, How I Might Have Hepatitis)
Hello class. I have three lessons to share with you today:
1) When is it ever appropriate to ask a complete stranger for some of their food?? Unless you are homeless, or someone is holding a sign that says FREE FOOD FOR STRANGERS, the answer is NEVER.
2) Walking across town with a pizza box is like wearing a sign that says PLEASE START A CONVERSATION WITH ME.
3) Based on my lifelong research, I conclude that going out alone only turns out good approximately 20% of the time. The other 80%=having to talk to creepers.
For the first few weeks of living alone, I didn’t go out much but I’m finally started to try and venture out more. But yesterday I was reminded of why I don’t go out alone. Many times this summer, I’ve thought about sitting at a bar to have a drink, but then always chicken out at the last minute. Yesterday I had some time to kill in between errands, so I went to this restaurant/bar where people also hang out with laptops. I sit at the bar and order a mojito. A man 4 seats away from me tells me that it looks good, and I politely smile and say yes it is. Then a few minutes later, three sips into my drink, he sneakily ambles over to me and starts talking to me, then picks up my drink and says “Can I try it? Can I try your drink” and then drinks it through the stirry straws as I fumble incredulously.
Filed under: Life
I finally went to the Tactile Dinner performance that I talked about last week. The Tactile Dinner is a play that is part of the Fringe Festival, a theater festival of experimental, postmodern, anything-goes performances. It was less of a “dinner” and more of a play with audience participation.
I won’t say anything the deep intellectual meaning of this experimental art project, but I can say that as an amateur cook the it raised my curiosity about experiencing food without eating it.
I’m a little torn between giving everything away and sharing the experience with people who can’t go. Eh. I don’t have a lot of readers, so option 2 wins. Read on for the details: (more…)
Filed under: Life
I’m settling into my digs in Washington DC, but the food situation is bad. Bad even before getting to the cooking part. It’s difficult to get to a grocery store, and I had a really bad experience trying to get grocery delivery. Farmer’s markets are excellent, but a little bit far away so I can only get to them on weekends when they are of course, mobbed. I bought some peaches the other day and… OMG. Unlike any peach I have ever eaten up north. It reminded me of reading James & the Giant Peach and the part where he takes a bite from inside the peach, and I always *knew* that I had never experienced a peach like that. And now, I know. It was a million times sweeter and like, buttery in the mouth.
Eating out was also hard. Brian came with me to help me move in, and he stayed for about a week. We’re tight on cash, so we wanted to keep things affordable and it was difficult finding good places to eat for under $20 per person. We did find places, but it took a lot of research. I also get the feeling that DC isn’t much of a food town (I’m opening myself wide open for some flaming). Maybe it’s just not a food town for my tastes. I felt like with Providence, Seattle, and Chicago, I did my food research and quickly found lots of places within my budgets that I just had to go. That didn’t happen with DC. Maybe it’s just a suit-and-tie, country club kinda town with food to match.
What’s great about DC though? HAPPY HOUR. We don’t have happy hour specials in New England, so this is my first experience and it totally makes up for lack of good food.
It’s a crappy cell phone picture, but check out this bento lunch that I got today from a cafe/lunch spot Teaism:
So cute! It’s definitely American-sized though; too much food. Fried chicken with a ginger dipping sauce, brown rice with furakake, cold sweet potato salad with miso dressing, and cucumber salad. It was $10, which is a decent price for getting good quality, sort-of nutritious food. There are tons of places around here with cheaper lunch specials, but they all just seem really unhealthy or gross. I can’t wait to try the one with seared rare tuna, which costs the same.
I had an AH-HA moment tonight. I bought a bunch of fresh peppermint from the farmer’s market because it looked and smelled so good, even though I had no idea what to do with it. So I just put a few leaves in a cup, poured in boiling water, and it was sooo good. I happen to love mint tea and now I can drink it all day every day for like $1 a bunch.
Hopefully with more time for exploring, and more money, I’ll find better things to eat.
Filed under: Life
I’ve neglected this blog for months, but that doesn’t mean I haven’t been eating and cooking. Where have I been lately? Conquering the internet, mostly: My blogging/content-producing energy is being sucked up by school duties and my social media job, and most exciting news is that I’m on my way to Washington DC to do work on internet policy.
The cooking situation in DC is going to be a little strange. I’m living in a dorm that is equipped with a minifridge and microwave, and my kitchen will be a communal kitchen on my floor. And I’m only bringing one small frying pan, a rectangular cake/casserole pan, a small pot, and a small santoku knife. Oh, and the Magic Bullet blender. Plus, I’ll rely on public transportation, so my lazy ass isn’t carrying anything too heavy. It’ll be like a little experiment in what kinds of half-decent food I can make under these conditions.
Filed under: Life
Went to Chicago for Thanksgiving. I got to make pies in this amazing kitchen:
The turkey was beautiful, though I could not eat it.
I had to eat Tofurkey, because I’m allergic to turkey.
We met up with our friends, Nick and Phil, who live in the city and they brought us to a bar called Quenchers. Witness the Midwest-fabulous menu:
Nick ate this thing called “PB PB PB” – Peanut Butter, Pineapple, Bacon on Panini Bread.
I chose Frito Pie. Fritos, melted cheese, chili, a few marinated veggies – in that order.
Phil’s Tater-Tot Pizza. Tater tots, green onions, bacon, and sour cream.
Giant ass Pocky, next to my hand for scale. Seen @ Black Ink (?) in Beacon Hill, Boston.
“Instant” maki kit, seen @ Whole Foods.
For $4.50, you get a bowl of rice that cooks in the microwave, one sheet of nori, and a packet of soy sauce. It makes “10 pieces” (aka one maki roll). But you have to prepare and make your own filling so it’s not even that convenient! If you’re going to do half the work, you might as well do it all. A whole package of nori (probably 10x what’s in this kit) costs about $3 at my Asian market, and a bowl of rice is pennies. I also thought instant sushi in a box was really funny.
I don’t know how I let almost a month pass without posting, because I’ve still been cooking, and I’ve always got ideas about things to blog about. Witness all of my food adventures since I last blogged: (more…)
It’s been a long time since I bought a new cookbook. When I first started cooking about 3 years ago, the first book I bought was Everyday Italian. You can probably tell from my menu lists that this and its companion, Giada’s Family Dinners, is what I cook from the most. Yeah I know, Food Network pimps her cleavage and she has a funny bobblehead but I like her food. These were the few cookbooks that I looked at and thought, huh, I could eat these foods every day. They’re very easy and quick to make, light, and many of the recipes are not meat-centric.
I try to choose cookbooks the way I choose my knitting books: only ones that I’m sure I’ll need/use and that aren’t too trendy or gimmicky. So far, each of my books has its purpose and I like it that way.
Last week, I had a $15 Border’s gift card to burn. Inspired by the previews of the gorgeous new Alinea & El Bulli books coming out, and the adventures of French Laundry @ Home, I felt it was time for me to get a new cookbook. Oh no, I did not buy any of those masterpieces, I went a little bit more practical. Baby steps. I settled on the Les Halles cookbook, because of my new interest in French bistro and because it seemed challenging yet manageable. However, the book was $37 so I walked out of the store empty handed. Being the bargain shopper that I am, I went home and checked Borders’ website where the book was listed at 20% off. The book was a cheaper to start with, they accepted the gift card, I got free shipping, and I saved on sales tax. All in all, the book is now in my hands for $10 less than what it would have cost me at the store.
pretty embossed cover of Les Halles cookbook
I’m starting to have second thoughts about tackling these recipes. First apprehension is that I have to find the time. Not just to cook, but to make the accompanying stock, aioli, compound butter, and those other random sauces that you pour into a squeeze bottle and squiggle around the plate. Second, what if I can’t make most of the stuff because I can’t find the ingredients? I have to look in the phonebook for a butcher and fish monger! Pheasant, monkfish, skate? They sound so foreign to me! Ok, I admit this fear is silly. The ingredients aren’t foreign at all and I should be able to find them in a city like PVD or Boston. Third, I’m afraid of having to actually cook this stuff. I am really bad at cooking meat because I haven’t had much practice. What if I spend all of that time and money tackling ingredients and I screw it all up? Look for my screw-ups in the future.
Filed under: Life
On the first day of school, I left my Sigg water bottle in a classroom. I didn’t notice it was gone until I was home that evening, so I went back the next day and it was gone 
It was so cute and I only had it since March. There weren’t even any dents in it! I’m so mad at my myself.
You know what’s worse? I heard that Sigg is too popular now, and they can’t keep up with demand so stores are selling out/raising prices. Must I drink out of plastic like a plebian???
Filed under: Life
I am eating flan for breakfast. Because I’m an adult, and I can do things like that now!
I’m all moved in at my new house and trying to get back into cooking, which I haven’t been doing much of for the past month. You see, for the 2-3 weeks before our move, we were eating out a lot more with the excuses “We need to eat at [xxx] before we leave” and “We already packed up most of the kitchen stuff.” Then for the 2 weeks after we moved to our new place, I’ve been away for a few days here and there and still trying to get settled so still not cooking much.
But we finally did a full grocery shop for this week and I will be cooking again. On the menu is baked falafel (w/store made pita, homemade tzatziki sauce, veggies) and rigatoni with sausage, peppers, onions & ricotta. And Tiramisu Cupcakes!
To break in the new-to-me kitchen, I made a 2nd recipe out of the Vegan Cupcakes cookbook: Tiramisu cupcakes. Aren’t they adorable? More about the recipe after the jump…
mini tiramisu
