Another Ferret

I thought I posted this already, but apparently it didn't work.  Anyway, here's another ferret drawing.  This one has a shortish tail but a nicely proportioned head.  Also, the french toast was delicious the next day with maple syrup, blueberries, and walnuts.

A Discovery

I found this while cleaning the fridge. Does vinegar go bad? It is deliberately aged, so does this mean my vinegar is just extra vinegar-y? Regardless, check it out. There are children who were born after the 'best by' date who are now in school.

(If you can't read that date, it's "04/10/07")

What I Should Have Done To That Squash!

The meal I made with pasta, butternut squash and sage (which I described in the previous post) was yummy, but not identical in flavor to the restaurant version I was imitating.  The squash at the restaurant had a little bite to it, a little tanginess that I wasn't able to replicate.  I didn't know why--I thought maybe it didn't caramelize well enough or something.

But today I was skimming a cookbook and saw a recipe for something with butternut squash and balsamic vinegar, and I realized it immediately!  That's what I should've added!  Balsamic vinegar next time, for sure.

Pasta, Squash, Sage

I made another tasty pasta dinner the other night. Normally my boyfriend and I eat a lot of rice, so this is somewhat unusual.

So this dish is a quick, fake version of a meal I had at an Italian restaurant last week. I had butternut squash ravioli with sage at the restaurant, but that's too hard for me to bother to make myself.  So instead I made penne pasta with diced butternut squash and sage. It was very tasty.



I cooked the pasta while in a separate pan sauteing the cubed squash and fresh sage leaves in Earth Balance fake butter, cinnamon, and chili powder.  Once the pasta was almost done, I mixed it with the squash etc., and cooked the whole mess together for a bit.

I felt like I added a ton of Earth Balance, and yet my dish was soooo much less buttery than the one I had at the restaurant.  I can only imagine how much butter they used there.

Oh yes, and credit to my mom for realizing the dish could be imitated at home.  Thanks, Mom! 

Restaurant, Book

Another idea: A Japanese/Mexican fusion restaurant called Tako Taco. (Tako is Japanese for octopus.)  Perhaps a cute cartoon octopus wearing a sombrero as the mascot?

Also, I am halfway through the book The City and The City by Chica Mieville.  I am absolutely fascinated by it.  I started it for a brand new book club a friend started, and I'm so glad I did.

Before I started reading it, I didn't realize that it was sort of sci-fi.  Sci-fi isn't quite the right word... There are two cities in Eastern Europe that are made up, where the action takes place, but otherwise the rest of the world is the same. The two cities, Beszel and Ul Quoma, are intermingled, geographically, but their citizens ignore ("unsee") each other.  There's some great made-up language, like "topologanger."

Ferrets

I usually draw a ferret on my to-go boxes from restaurants. (I had ferrets in college, not that that is really any sort of explanation.) My ferret drawings are ephemeral, gone once I'm done with my leftovers. So I've decided to record and post them here, at least some of them. You'll also get to see what I ordered, since usually the ferret has a speech bubble with that info.

Here is a recent one (he's saying "butternut squash ravioli").  The tail is a bit heavy but otherwise I'm pleased with him:

Ideas

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I keep a notebook in my purse that I use to write down all the ridiculous ideas I have, among other things. (Other things include stuff like the titles of books I want to read, drawings of expensive dresses I want but can't afford, haikus I've written about my softball team or Cadbury Creme Eggs, and encoded messages.)  I thought I'd share some of my ideas (which range from insane and impossible to just goofy) here from time to time.  A sampling:

• A tattoo of an accordion on a woman's stomach.  Why? Well, one concern with tattoos is that, depending on where you get them, that body part might not look as good as you age.  But think about this: the woman gets pregnant or fat, the accordion stretches out.  She gets stretch marks, the accordion looks 3D. It's perfect!  It's also just about the ugliest thing I can imagine, but that's not the point.
• Cinnabon Tower.  Build a narrow tower with a Cinnabon at the top.  Make it the right height so that by the time you get to the top, you've burned off all the calories in one of their giant cinnamon rolls.  
• Cup-holder bracelets.  Don't you hate when you go to a show or sporting event, and you want to clap but you can't because you're holding your drink? If you have a bracelet that can convert into a temporary cup holder, you can set your drink in there, free up your hand, and cheer away!

There's lots more.  

As a bonus, here's a haiku:

sweet milk chocolate shell

thick to guard precious contents

white and yellow creme

A dinner

I made "Pasta della Helen Werner" the other night, a dish named by me and invented by my sister, (you guessed it), Helen Werner.

Brown (pressed, cubed, extra-firm) tofu in a heated pan.  Brush it with a mixture of olive oil and spices of your choice (I used olive oil, balsamic vinaigrette, pepper, red pepper flakes, and garlic powder), and turn it periodically.  Concurrently be cooking pasta.  After the tofu is starting to get a little crispy, add chopped up asparagus.  Cook it around.  Add the pasta, cook it some more.  Continue occasionally adding more of the olive oil mixture while doing all this. Serve it with avocado sliced on top.

There was something that sounded really weird to me about tofu and pasta together, but then I thought, hey, there are tons of pasta dishes served with grilled chicken, so why not?  Also, pasta and avocado seemed a little scary, but the authors of The Veganomicon, my favorite cookbook ever, assure me it's yummy.

And indeed it was!

Shoes

I just got myself an excellent new pair of shoes.  They're Steve Madden flats, very comfy.  And although they look like they belong at New Year's Eve parties, I think I can wear them to work with pants and a sweater.

Also, I've already broken my New Year's Resolution, reading comments on articles.  But at least I still haven't read any on Slate. 

Resolution

My New Year's Resolution is seemingly small, but could be tough.  I'm no longer reading comments on articles online, unless it's on the AVClub (or on here or a friend's blog, obviously).  The comments on Slate, besides eating my time, were just making my blood boil.  I'd find myself getting mad at people I never have and never will meet.  Useless.

So here we go.  No more reading comments on Slate, or The Hairpin, or MLB, or (God forbid) Youtube, or anything else.