Not that I’m complaining. Oh no. But I’m not turning on the oven either.
Grilled lamb chops with tabouli and raita: I almost bought some lamb chops last week, then resisted temptation and put them back. Won’t make that mistake twice!
Lighter Sesame Noodles: I tried a variation of this recipe a month or so ago and it was really tasty. As I did before, I’ll use soba noodles. Mmm.
Veggie brown rice sushi rolls: I’ve never actually made sushi, since I normally like fish in mine and I’d rather let the experts do it, but the time has come to try. I actually have nori in my pantry. I think I’ll make some kind of cabbage salad to eat with this and maybe the noodles above too.
Vietnamese Salad Rolls: no recipe for these, though I linked to some examples about this time last year. Must’ve been hot that week too.
Migas: our last bag of corn chips looks like someone sat on it during delivery. It’s hard to dip chip shrapnel in salsa, but those little pieces should be perfect to scramble up with some eggs.
Cobb Salad: normally we cook bacon in the oven, but it’s about time I tried to microwave it, don’t you think?
Grocery List:
soba noodles
rice thread noodles
salad roll wrappers
bulgar
brown rice
eggs
bacon
lamb chops
chicken breast
tofu
avocados
cucumbers
mint
cilantro
red peppers
tomatoes
parsley
cabbage
bean sprouts
lemons
limes
garlic
onion
carrots
Does it seem like everyone is having babies this year, or is it just me?
No wait, that doesn’t sound quite right…. No baby-having here, but I sure know a lot of new little people!
I like to pick out baby presents, but even with a registry I can’t help but feel like I don’t have a clue what I’m doing because, well, I don’t. Recently, for local friends I’ve settled on a gift I feel more confidant about–food.
Rather than just write my offer in a card, however, I’ve come up with a food gift chart(.pdf) to fill out that helps me prepare meals guaranteed to be something in line with the preferences of the new parents as well as something that will survive preparation at my house and transportation to theirs. I ask for a complete run-down of allergies as well as likes and dislikes so that I know how much room I have to be creative with requests like soup or salad.
For delivery I choose containers that don’t need to be returned–my stash of quart-sized Nancy’s Yogurt containers has come in handy, as have oven-safe paper baking pans. This means no dishes to wash either, definitely part of the gift!
Though so far I’ve only given this to new parents, it’s a gift likely to be enjoyed by folks recovering from surgery, dealing with a kitchen remodel, or even as a birthday or Christmas gift for friends who (gasp!) don’t like to cook. You can select how many meals you want to give–I’ve done three so far, but even one would be welcomed, I’m sure. I only wish I had a good way to ship dinner to my out-of-town friends!
Making a carrot into a flute is much cooler than making one into a pipe. Not that I would know. If the above video doesn’t totally satisfy your vegetable music desires, check out this guy’s videos too.
The last time I was in DC I didn’t make it through my restaurant list, though I put a good dent in it. This time the first restaurant I hit was…McDonalds.
Ouch. (Really. I cut myself on a plastic knife trying to remove it from its protective plastic bag.)
Thing is, we weren’t quite in DC. We were in Crystal City, VA, pretty much just across the street from Reagan National Airport in one direction and McD’s in the other. Our presentation was in the first timeslot after lunch, and the in-hotel food options were all swarmed with fellow librarians. Eating something seemed like a better option than not eating at all, so there we were. Luckily, once we had a bit more time to explore we found some far more interesting food options just out of sight from the hotel.
One of the things I really wanted to try on this trip were pupusas. Conveniently, we found Sombrero, a “Salvatex and Peruvian” restaurant just up the street that served these tasty filled corn cakes along with fried plantains. I had one filled with cheese and loroco–a fresh, green, blandish herb I had never heard of before–and one filled with rebueltas–cheese and pork. They were quite tasty and I think they will make an appearance on our weekly menu sometime soon.
We also found some nearby Ethiopian food, cuisine a DC colleague once described to me as “the closest thing we have to our own regional food.” The restaurant we found, Harar Mesob, ended up being quite good.
Finally, I have to give a shout out to the quick lunch we grabbed from the French Meadow Bakery Cafe in the Minneapolis Airport. That’s right, the airport. Normally it’s hard to find tasty airport food, let alone stuff that you’d willingly select if you weren’t in an airport, but this place fit the bill. The menu includes organic, omnivorous, veggie, and vegan choices including fresh soups and salads, made-to-order sandwiches, and crazy looking baked goods. The next time I fly through Minneapolis I hope I have enough time to eat there again.
Even if you haven’t tried it yet, you’ve probably heard about FreeRice, the free, online vocabulary game that awards points in the form of grains of rice. To play, you choose the best synonyms for words like “farinaceous” or “filbert”. Every time you choose the right word, you earn 20 grains of rice and the next word is more difficult. If you miss, you don’t earn the rice for that question, but are given an easier word to try. The rice you win is paid for by the advertisers you see at the bottom of the screen as you play and is distributed through the UN World Food Program.
Unless you caught it on Central Oregon’s local news, however, you probably haven’t heard of FreeKibble. This site, started by a local 11-year-old, rewards your answer (right or wrong) to a daily trivia question about dogs with a donation of 10 pieces of kibble to the Humane Society of Central Oregon. The kibble is sponsored by local businesses, and it will be delivered to the Humane Society once a month.
Granted, winning donations through games is not the same as finding long-term solutions to any of the world’s hunger problems. If you’re going to waste time on the net though (no!) it’s probably more productive than browsing celebrity baby pictures.
I end up eating some weird stuff when I’m home alone. Last week everything seemed to involve pasta, so you won’t see any on this week’s menu!
Split pea soup: my favorite recipe is from Laurel’s Kitchen and includes barley but no ham. We eat it with cottage cheese, which sounds weird but isn’t.
Chicken with Roasted broccoli and raisin vinaigrette: not sure which part of the chicken yet, but probably thighs unless I can find some breasts that aren’t insanely expensive.
Roasted asparagus and shiitakes with fried eggs and Parmesan: this is from the March 2008 Everyday Food magazine–there’s a section in front of 50 no recipe meals and this is #40.
I have to admit, when we moved here almost four years ago from Seattle we did bemoan the absence of Trader Joe’s. I made it a point to visit one whenever we hit Eugene or Portland, usually making it my last stop so that I could tote home frozen potstickers and Greek yogurt along with my dried fruit and cans of coconut milk. At some point, the novelty wore off. I still go occasionally, but I’ve pretty much stopped using it as a way to bond with all the other people who have just moved here.
I’m going to assume it’s a general lack of local excitement that has made Trader Joe’s front page news in Bend, as they are today, for almost two years. (update: I just looked at the paper version of the paper and it appears that the story is not on the actual front page, just featured on the website. Sorry for the hyperbole. But still.) An article from the Bend Bulletin on April 21, 2006 reported that the Cascades Village Shopping Center had submitted plans that included a Trader Joe’s although at the time a spokeswoman for the company “declined to confirm” the news. While I’m all for cheap wine, I think I can safely say the build up on tomorrow’s grand opening has been (well) over the top.
This is not to say I won’t shop there. It seems like they’re a great company that deserves their reputation for treating their employees fairly (unlike, say, REI.) They do have some things that have been difficult or even impossible to get locally without mail order (oh please tell me they have pomegranate molasses, I’ve become addicted to the stuff and can’t find it anywhere in town.) But you won’t find me there peering in the windows tomorrow morning. I’ve made it this long without easy access to Baked Jalapeño Cheese Crunchies and Flax & Honey Flatbread, I’m not going to wait in a traffic jam to get them now.
Don’t adjust your dial, you haven’t been phished or redirected or anything. I was just ready for a new and improved title.
I don’t write about library stuff very often, but I couldn’t resist a little library-ese in the title of this post. I’ve never been very happy with the title of my blog (this is actually the second time I’ve changed it,) but until my post about the cooking show I forgot all about how Jeff and I used to joke that my trail name should be “travels with snacks.” He and I are always the ones who make sure everyone has food when we’re hiking, skiing, climbing, etc., and I even gave him a mushy card once that said something about snacks, back when we were first dating and did things like give each other mushy cards.
It’s not often that my contribution to infodoodads could have just as easily been a post here, but the site I reviewed, Foodsville, is pretty sweet if you’re at all interested in the history of food.
I have no doubt that two people can eat for less than $75 a week, but can they eat well? More about this blog...
Here looking for menus & grocery lists?
I try to post a menu and accompanying grocery list each week that will feed two adults for $75. See all menus and lists.
You also might be interested in my "tools I use" posts that discuss how I put together my lists and try to stick to my budget. I will be adding to this list somewhat regularly.
I'm still working out some kinks in the menu posts, so if you have any questions about the posts or suggestions to make them more useful, please let me know.
One of the things I really wanted to try on this trip were 
