burp

chris and kristi took me to a going away lunch at bangkok thai, over by ansley mall here in midtown. holy yum. i had the garlic & pepper beef, which comes with a bangkok roll (fried spring roll) and rice. while that in and of itself was good, our waiter was a very smart man and had us marked. after we ate, he asked if we wanted ice cream. when he said "fried" we all paused... not out of hesitation, mind you, but rather out of jaws-on-floor-lost-in-daydream-
wonderland-of-fried-ice-cream-joys-and-goodness. we all said yessir. instead of rolling the vanilla ice cream in crumbs/cinnamon/coconut/honey like i have seen, they crust it with bread and serve it with maraschino cherry sauce. oh the food coma that ensued was both delightful and painfully hard to stay awake. our waiter shared his recipe so i shall be trying that. perhaps in the coming weeks while i have no job and all sorts of time to experiment with eating.

cookies for firefighters

moving truck arrived yesterday, and bryan is doing his best to fill that sucker up. he's doing an awesome job. between him and his dad, it took less than an hour to get the majority of the boxes in. some friends came by to help move the heavy stuff. i went out to grab pizza when they decided to move the 400 lb piano down the front steps, since i didn't want to see anyone die in their crazy scheme. however, god must have seen how silly their plan was, and he sent 6 firemen to move the piano! no joke, as they were navigating the piano down the side stairs, a fire truck came by, saw the boys, and 6 firemen jumped out, and lifted the piano down the stairs and into the truck! totally crazy. they get cookies today.

mmm piggies

bryan and i attended the les dames d'escoffier atlanta bbq & a movie. we had attended their day in the country last november, and had an absolute blast (not to mention a ton of great food), so decided this would be a fun thing to do before leaving the state. they had invited 4 different bbq places from around the atlanta area. there was a whole roast hog (so tender), 2 different kinds of pulled pork, roast pork, ribs (each meat with it's own sauce - vinegar based for the whole hog & one of the pulled porks, a HOT sauce for the roast pork, and a sweet vinegar/tomato/molasses sauce for the other pulled pork offering, as well as the ribs), baked beans (white beans, which we've never seen before for bbq usage, with onions & bacon), coleslaw (super yum, basic buttermilk dressing), brunswick stew (a bit too sweet & tomato-y for my liking), cracklin' cornbread (a bit dry but with good flavor), greens, apple cobbler (with an interesting cornmeal-ginger crust), and chocolate cake. we watched a short movie on whole hog bbq as well. while it cost $40 a head, and we certainly didn't eat *that* much food, we had a lot of fun. there were only a handful of people there, so we got the chance to chat with the dames some. the food was quite good, as to be expected. we look forward to seeing what their chicago chapter has to offer .

bryan and i had the incredible pleasure of seeing lucinda williams at the tabernacle this past saturday night. what a show. the show was absolutely fantastic in every way (except for the whore girls next to us wanting to get in/out of their seats every 2 minutes). we just love her. she is brilliant, a legend. i hope we get a chance to see her again soon.

the evils of girl scout cookies

girl scout cookies, in all their delicious glory, were delivered last week. while they may contain less fat than you think, when you desire to eat a whole box in one sitting it doesn't really matter if one serving only has .4 g trans fat. you just ate 20 cookies.

perhaps they should come in smaller boxes? i know, i know - to you, the smug reader at home, self control should be all we need. but try snacking on only 2 samoas while bored at work, or 3 thin mints while reading a book, and suddenly you'll find yourself halfway through the box and licking your fingers with no thought in your mind of stopping.

ahh, girl scouts. thank goodness this only happens once a year. and, i have to share (bryan is sneaky in his consumption, ensuring that he gets his fair share and then some).

besides, i deserve a treat after all the box packing i did this weekend. i plowed through much of our kitchen cupboards, and our dining room now looks like a storage facility. we had to take apart the table to make room. thank god we have a moving truck (ie, semi) instead of cubes. i don't envy my friends nor bryan, who will be loading it. i'll cook them dinner, though, i swear.

how i eat fish

i'm generally not a big lover of fish (or seafood in general for that matter), but bryan has been trying to break me in. sunday night was mahi mahi with blood orange sauce and salsa¹.

the salsa consisted of blood oranges, cilantro, an arbol chile, some red onion, olive oil, red wine vinegar, grey salt, and black pepper. i found cute little blood oranges at the market that were a perfect ruby red, and had a lovely tart-sweet to them.

for the sauce, we reduce blood orange juice to a syrup. we then reduced red wine vinegar with shallots, added white wine and reduced some more, added heavy cream, and finished with butter, adding the blood orange syrup at the end.

we pan seared the fish in the cast iron. all in all, a very simple fish, with great results. it was delish. definitely added to the list for future summer parties.


¹ © 1996, M.S. Milliken & S. Feniger, all rights reserved

year of the ram

i found out today my zodiac year is the RAM. it's pretty dead on:

People born in the Year of Ram are elegant and highly accomplished in the arts. They seem to be, at first glance, better off than those born in the zodiac's other years. But ram year people are often shy, pessimistic, and puzzled about life. They are usually deeply religious, yet timid by nature. Sometimes clumsy in speech, they are always passionate about what they do and what they believe in. Ram people never have to worry about having the best in life for their abilities make money for them, and they are able to enjoy the creature comforts that they like. Ram people are wise, gentle, and compassionate. They are compatible with Rabbits, Pigs, and Horses.

i can handle that.

in other news...

while we had already made reservations to move using a cube type option, upon further review, we determined that it just wasn't going to be enough space. bryan called to find out more details on getting additional cubes, though we weren't very happy about having to deal with a bunch of cubes. in the end, we found out that getting an entire semi truck to ourselves would be more cost effective. i am much, much happier with this solution. it's what we wanted in the first place, but the labor costs on the loading/unloading made it prohibitive. we load the truck ourselves on this one, so it works out very well for us. in the end, storage at the destination works out cheaper space wise as well. that's all settled and i'm quite comfortable with it, so i'm pretty happy. we're heading to a package supply store this weekend to get boxes, bubble wrap, packing peanuts, etc. and make a serious go at packing up our lives.

i spoke to multiple banks this week, and i think i've got my plan squared away for all that as well. check that off the list!

slowly but surely we're getting it together. it's still a big move and we have lots to do but i'm feeling confident. just need to find a JOB now!

0 fashion sense

note to atlantans: it's 67 degrees out, not 94. save the tube tops and mini mini skirts. i'm dying for spring too. but there's no need for public nudity just yet. that's what summers in the south are for. and it's barely march, you know.

boxes, boxes, boxes

started packing this weekend. still pretty unorganized about it. packed up all our books and cookbooks - 16 boxes in total. also packed up extra bed linens, and summer clothes. :( not sure where to start next. i think i need to get some more packing supplies so i can pack up extra dishes and glassware, and other decorative porcelain items. i'm so scared of any of it breaking, so i need a large roll of bubble wrap. i guess i can probably start packing up pictures and that kind of thing too. which reminds me, i need to call the moving company today and make reservations!

still trying to find a job. stress.

it's all about the sauce

tuesday dinner was catfish po'boys & okra. po'boys are high on my list of southern foods. and, like most southern foods, i've developed a hand at making them. to me, po'boys are all about the sauce. the sauce should be so good you make noises. and there should be no lack of sauce.

we started by soaking some catfish in buttermilk. the catfish napped in said buttermilk all day. the okra got a bath before being fried as well. all's well that starts in buttermilk.

i made a flour coating, white flour and cornmeal, along with various spices (usually salt, black pepper, garlic powder, onion powder, and cayenne, though it may at times also contain thyme, parsley, and whatever else sounds good). we used this on the okra as well.

and the sauce. i make your basic remoulade. i don't think you should do anything crazy to your po'boys. let's not try to reinvent the wheel, folks. i use mayo, horseradish, dijon mustard, yellow mustard, hot sauce, lemon, pickle relish, and season with salt and black pepper.

the catfish gets fried, the rolls get warmed, and everything gets piled in along with some thinly sliced romas and some shredded romaine. served alongside some orka, all i need is some fresh lemonade. and perhaps some sunnier weather.