A Very Busy Food Weekend!

This has been a rather busy weekend. This is why I don't find myself awfully shocked on this Sunday evening that it's gone by already.

This was a very food-based weekend for me. This is not to say that most weekends don't involve food but I entertained twice this weekend and since I've become rather fond of entertaining, I like to make sure I plan the right menu.

My first event was Friday night. It wasn't really an event as much as my friend coming over to dinner and to watch "The Holiday" with me. This has become a tradition for us over the past three years. Usually we watch it at her house and she cooks but this year, we decided to watch it at mine.

Since she was coming to mine, it involved planning dinner. This was not an issue except she's a bit of a picky eater. I like a challenge, however. Most of my 'classic' dinner recipes usually involve quite a lot of vegetables and she's not a huge fan. She does, however, like strong flavours like garlic, onion, etc. Thus, I decided to make my thick and hearty potato leek soup. I use bacon as a base which sounds rather unhealthy but, actually, one serving of the soup still only has 7 grams of fat and 290 calories and considering it's nice and filling, it's pretty good for dinner. I also decided to be festive and for dessert, I made a gingerbread cake with caramel sauce and fresh whipped cream. And yes, I actually did bake this cake from scratch. I made it last year and it was a hit so I figured I'd try it again. It was a hit this year too. My friend seemed quite happy with the food I made and we ended up having a great evening while enjoying a great movie.

My second 'event' was my parents' coming to visit. They like to come down at least once before Christmas to stock up at Jungle Jim's on treats/food for the holidays. Normally, I make them a sit-down meal. This year, I decided to challenge myself while also 'treating' them. Usually, on Christmas night, my mum and I prepare a cold buffet for the family that takes a lot of preparation. The problem with this is that it's hard to enjoy the buffet as much when you've had to prepare it so I decided to make a mini buffet for my parents. This particular buffet included the following:

• Cheese and crackers (Cheeses: Wensleydale, Coach Farms goat cheese, Stilton, Seriously Sharp Cheddar, Gruyere and smoked Gouda)
• Steamed shrimp
• Smoked salmon
• Homemade guacamole and homemade tortilla chips,
• Black Bean soup
• An antipasti tray with prosciutto and salami and assorted pickled treats
• Roasted beet salad
• Crusty bread
• Homemade cheese straws
• Sausage rolls
• Cream cheese and watercress finger sandwiches
• A small vegetable plate
• Roasted ham with a cumin, garlic and thyme glaze

For dessert, I baked another gingerbread cake, whipped some more cream and used the leftover caramel sauce from Friday since it keeps for a while.

It was rather a lot of food but one thing I like about a buffet is that it's fun to have a selection and people love to nibble. While I had a lot of leftovers, there actually weren't nearly as many as you'd expect and I got to send my parents home with half the ham, the sausage rolls and shrimp since I don't actually like shrimp. I also have plenty of food left for the week and a nice cheese selection which not only will last me a while but I can also bring out when I have guests.

All in all, it was a very food-heavy weekend. The buffet prep took a long while but, sadly, I enjoyed every minute of it, even beheading, deveining and peeling all of the shrimp which I've never done before. I'll post my gingerbread cake recipe just because it's a pretty easy thing to make and seems to be quite popular whenever I make it.

Now it's Sunday night, my parents have gone and I'm alone with two sleeping dachshunds. I plan on enjoying the rest of my Sunday evening by relaxing since I don't seem to have much time for that.

Also, I think I might have to eat some leftovers. I have plenty to choose from.

Happy Monday and thanks for reading!

Embracing the Season...Bugs, Worms and All

I woke up today and thought it was Friday. Needless to say, I was disappointed when I heard the sound of the Rumpke Recycling truck and soon after heard the sound of my recycling bin being emptied and realized as I lay in bed that it was, in fact, Thursday.

I decided to embrace the fact that I still had another day to go until the weekend because, well, I quite like Thursdays. They’re on the downward slide of the climb towards the weekend. Also, during the regular TV season, they’re good nights for TV. Also…I just like Thursdays.

When I got to work and we had our morning meeting, my boss asked if anyone else felt like it was Friday. I was surprised that several people said yes and not just me. It must be the anticipation of the three-day weekend.

Even though we do have to work tomorrow, I anticipate it being rather quiet. That’s the thing with holiday weekends. People leave early and come back late so the days before and after the holiday are pretty quiet.

I don’t mind. In there, for me, are three lovely days away from the office where I get to hang out with my mother and my pups and just enjoy the summer days.

Even though summer isn’t my favourite season, I’m finding ways to appreciate it. Obviously, the best way that I appreciate it is through food. I love summer food. I love going outside, picking fresh basil and tossing it with tomatoes and fresh mozzarella to make the perfect summer caprese salad. I love seeing the cucumber on my vine growing to the size of one you actually buy in a store and knowing that I had a part in that cucumber growing. I love the promise of my own fresh tomatoes as the first flowers on my tomato plants appear.

Most of all, I love that everything is so…fresh.

That’s the thing with winter food. While I love it’s heartiness and the comfort food overtones of autumn and winter flavours, it’s not fresh. It’s heavy as cold-weather food should be.

It’s why I love the seasons. It’s so nice that when we’re finally getting tired of salads and grilled fare, it’s time to bring out the pumpkins, winter squash and stewed dishes. Then, when we’re growing tired of heavier winter fare suddenly the first asparagus and fresh vegetables appear in the stores.

So, even though I’m not a fan of the heat and humidity of the lazy days of summer, I do appreciate the fresh produce it gives me. I love grilling a piece of fish quickly and having it with two sides of fresh veggies.

I also love that I can sit outside in the evenings and appreciate the summer nights. Granted, these evenings are accompanied by the gentle ‘whirr’ of my Off battery operated mosquito fan but it’s still a nice way to spend the evenings. I do think that the mosquito fan works. The only thing is that it only works on mosquitoes. There are still plenty of other irritating little insect life forms that circle but since they don’t bite like mosquitoes, it’s not so bad.

I like to sit outside until it’s just about to get dark when the fireflies first come out. I find there’s something magical about fireflies. One minute, it’s dusk and then it’s filled with these little sparks of green glow that flicker out so quickly you wonder if they were ever there.

My only problem with the fireflies is that I have to remind Sookie constantly not to eat them. Unfortunately, she’s got a certain fondness towards eating bugs. Well, she doesn’t actually eat them as much as like to catch them with her mouth for sport. Of course, she accidentally kills them at which point they’re no longer fun and she spits them out. Sometimes, she brings them as a gift. It’s a little vile but a dog’s got to do what a dog’s got to do.

Rory, on the other hand, doesn’t like bugs. Her preference is worms- dried ones. I discovered when we were out for a walk one night after it had been rainy for a few days and then the sun had been shining for a few more. The rain had caused a mass population of worms to be washed onto the paths and roads. Then, when the sun shone, they dried up and their little dessicated corpses were all that remained.

To me, they were rather yucky little additions to our nightly work. To Rory, they were a sumptuous feast. It took me a while to realize why it was taking my little dachshund so long to catch up to Sookie and I when I realized she was trying to eat all the worms.

Yes, again, this is a little vile. However…worms are supposed to nutritious…right? I did try and stop her for a while but unless we just stopped going for walks, the sheer amount of dried worms that were out there made it impossible. Also, we had some on our patio. I just made sure to give her some teeth cleaning biscuits after she’d had her ‘feast’.

I will say that the eating of the worms and bugs are not exactly one of the best things about summer but, well, in the winter, I deal with snow-covered dogs who like to go out and roll in the white stuff and then come in and roll on the carpet to get the snow off.

Each season has its merits. When summer gets really hot, muggy and comfortable, I might start looking towards Autumn but, for now, I’m enjoying the fact that the summer bring fresh food, long days and fireflies.

I also like that it brings us a nice long Fourth of July Weekend. I intend to enjoy mine. I hope you do too!

Happy Friday!

Random Ramblings of An Uneven Week

I’m very glad that it’s Friday tomorrow. This has been one of those weeks that has been uneven. Sometimes, time has rushed by so fast I can’t seem to catch it and then there are other times when it’s slowed down to a crawl. Even though I know the weekend will go by way too fast, I still am looking forward to it.

I have a busy weekend ahead since it’s Father’s Day. The pups and I will head to my parents’ tomorrow night. My mum and I will be garage-sale-ing for part of Saturday and then I get to cook my dad a Father’s Day dinner. Interestingly, I don’t have the menu finalized the way I did with my Mother’s day meal. I have a rough idea of what I want to make but nothing completely finalized. Since I’ll have far prep/cook time than I had last time, I have to adjust.

I’m sure I’ll figure something out. My dad is a lot fussier than my mother when it comes to things like cooking. He can be a little…difficult. If he doesn’t like something, he’s not terribly subtle about letting people know. He tends to make faces and not eat it. Sometimes, he gets a bit dramatic and refuses to eat it. When we cook for him, my family has learned to make sure to always make things he’s going to like. It’s just easier that way.

Since it’s Father’s day, I’m going to try hard to make sure I do cook things he likes.

Still, before the weekend, there’s one more day of work to get through. I’m hoping it’s a good Friday since today wasn’t necessarily a good Thursday. It was a very inactive Thursday meaning that I didn’t have any luck filling any jobs nor finding anyone who was likely to do so. Like I said in the beginning, this week has been uneven- full of activity one day and then dead as a doornail the next.

So, it’s no wonder I’m already looking forward to the weekend. I’m looking forward to seeing my parents’ again since it’s been a couple of weeks as well as the rest of my family who will probably stop over on Sunday before I leave to pay court to my dad on Father’s Day.

Speaking of paying court, I also can’t wait for Sunday night when the season final of “Game of Thrones” airs. I’ve become quite addicted to that show even though last week, the ending made me gasp out loud with shock. Even though I love to read and I’m usually horribly impatient to find out what’s going to happen next, I’ve enjoyed watching “Game of Thrones” so much that I’ve avoided reading the book ahead to see what was going to happen. However, since it’s going to be a year before I see the second series, I know for a fact I’m going to have to read the books. I can be patient…but not that patient.

I’m rambling but, as I always say, knowing is half the battle, right? Days like this inspire me to ramble. It’s actually quite nice to let my brain shut down and just wander freely through the odd thoughts I have sometimes. For example, I was wondering again if there are ever male miniature poodles. I posed this question to my mother. I suppose there are but does anyone ever picture miniature poodles being boys? I mean, they’re usually all frilled up and dressed in pink.

Also, why do people leave chicken bones all over the place? It seems like whenever I walk my dogs, there’s some bones discarded left over from a chicken wing and I have to drag the dogs away before they try to eat it. This is not fun. I’ve never actually seen someone walking down the street munching on a chicken wing so where do they come from?

Also, Possibl-Joe, the neighbour who lives behind me is chopping down most of his trees. He keeps cutting them down and then dragging them to the front of his house and dumping them on the strip of grass between sidewalk and road. There are so many, the sidewalk is impassable now. Yet he keeps going. There’s nowhere to put them so he’s putting them in front of his neighbours’ houses. At some point, the City will pick them up but I’m a little surprised he doesn’t wait until he has more space. Also, it’s a pain when I’m walking the dogs because we have to either cross the street or walk in the road. I don’t like doing either.

Also, I liked his trees. I don’t know why he’s chopping them down. I’m thinking he may be getting ready to put a fence up so his dog can run freely without being tied down. I’m sort of hoping he builds a privacy fence because while he’s pleasant enough to chat to, it would be quite nice to have a bit more privacy. If the neighbour puts up the fence, I don’t have to. I wish Dog Whisperer would follow suit but that will NEVER happen.

I’m also wondering about my seeds. This year, I planted several packs of vegetable seeds and yet, of all of them, I managed to grow four zucchini plants and two tomato plants. That’s it. Usually, I have far more success than that. Why didn’t my seeds grow?

I have a lot more random thoughts in my head but you probably don’t want to hear them. I actually apologize for sharing as many as I did. It’s just that, as I’ve said before, there are times when I blog that I don’t really know what to write and then it just comes out.

Hopefully, since tomorrow’s Thursday, my blog for Monday will be a bit more focused. Of course, it may be about food since I’m cooking this weekend but I don’t know. I guess I’ll have to see what comes out when I start to type.

I do appreciate you reading though. Thank you.

Have a great weekend and happy Friday!

Food, Glorious Food!

I haven’t had a food blog in a while.

This is actually pretty amazing given how much of my thought processes are devoted to food. I won’t share it with you because it’s a bit ridiculous but, well, let’s just say that whenever my brain is not focused on something specific, it tends to go to food.

It’s actually quite amazing that I’m not a 600 pound blob. I did get a bit blobby there for a while but fortunately thanks to self-discipline, I’ve managed to lose a little of the blobbiness. Also, it was most likely also due to the fear of my blobbiness showing through when I shed my winter clothing in all of its fabulous camouflaging layers in favour of a far less forgiving summer wardrobe.

Currently, my food obsession is due to the fact that for her mother’s day present, my mum is letting me cook dinner for her and my dad. I’ve decided to do a 5-course tasting menu which translates as five small courses. Since I want it to be surprise for her, I’ll wait until next week before I reveal my menu but needless to say, I’m a little too excited about it.

Planning a meal like this is a lot of fun for me. Not only do I get to plan the menu but I also get to go shopping for the ingredients and make out my time table. Then I get to cook.

This sounds a little nerdy but the fact is, I do know this and as I (and GI Joe) always say , knowing is half the battle.

I’m planning a menu that is geared towards my parents’ taste. It’s simple flavours that require a little complexion in cooking which is my favourite way to cook.

I still find it ironic that just a couple of years ago, my idea of cooking was to open a jar of spaghetti sauce and serve it with premade garlic bread and a bag of salad. Nowadays, I refuse to buy a jar of sauce- it’s so much easier to make your own and way tastier. Also, I’m a snob. I like to chop the veggies for the salad. I like to make my own garlic bread.

Nowadays, thanks to the wisdom and guidance of Mario Batali, Top Chef and the Food Network, I now am in love with cooking. It’s fun. It’s therapeutic.

And, best of all, you get to EAT. I love to eat.

So, planning an elaborate meal is a treat for me. I’m very organized, I think. I have a little notebook that I use. It’s actually a handmade notebook that my good friend at RadLinc crafts made for me. It’s very useful. I write down my ideas for the meal first. Then I figure out my ingredient list. Then I plan the shopping and where I need to go to get the ingredients. Finally, I figure out what preparation is involved, the schedule for cooking and how long it will take.

It sounds complicated. It is, I suppose. Yet it works. My mother and I employed this method during our last two thanksgivings and it made cooking for 14 people much, much easier. It’s very micro-manager-y but, well, whatever it takes.

Sometimes, I think it might have been fun to be a chef. Then I realize that it would not only involve having to work your way up in restaurants where you’d work with arrogant chefs who aren’t exactly the kind and cuddly type. I mean, just listening to Gordon Ramsey shout “YOU F-ING DONKEY!” and watching the cheftestants on “Top Chef” and their horrible behavior is enough to put me off for life. Granted, it’s a cooking competition so they’re not at their nicest but some of those chefs are MEAN.

I’m a realist. I think if I had my own little café where I had a changing menu that wasn’t too extensive would be fun. However, it’s not likely to happen because restaurants are hard work, no matter what the size. Also, while I adore cooking at home, I think the bloom would fall off the rose quickly if it became a ‘job’ and not a hobby.

So, I’ll stick to my pretensions at home and leave the restaurant cooking to real chefs.

Still, I do enjoy getting to cook for other people. It’s a lot of fun and it’s nice when they like what I cook.

Also, if I steal ideas from cookbooks, it’s forgiven for a home cook. Apparently, according to Gordon Ramsey, it’s a cardinal sin for a chef. I’ve seen him berate restaurant owners more than once for using cookbooks on Kitchen Nightmares. While I still use cookbooks, I’ve started to branch out and focus on ‘flavour profiles’ rather than straight recipes. This basically means knowing what works with food combinations and what doesn’t and then working with that. It’s a learning process but it’s definitely something I’m enjoying learning.

I don’t like Gordon Ramsey. I think that might be clear. While I think he probably is a good chef, I don’t like the way he shouts at people. I don’t like that he gets VERY close to them and makes them look at his sweaty face so he can Teach Them a Valuable Lesson. I also don’t think he makes very good Yorkshire puddings but that’s sort of irrelevant. Finally, I don’t like that sometimes on Kitchen Nightmares, he uses his high falutin’ chef ways to insult people instead of stopping to think that maybe what they were doing wasn’t necessarily wrong but just different to what he knows.

I digress. Anyway, I also don’t like that Gordon insulted my beloved Mario Batali. That’s probably really why I don’t like him. Mario taught me to cook so he is my Yoda. He doesn’t know he taught me to cook but that’s ok. I’m happy just using his fabulous recipes and techniques to make good food.

I’m actually also excited because at the end of this month, my friend Saz and I are taking a 20th ‘Friendiversary” trip to New York. Obviously, we’re celebrating 20 years of being friends. I actually managed to get us a reservation at Babbo for a decent time. Babbo, of course, is Mario Batali’s restaurant. I know he won’t be cooking there but it will be enough for me to eat from a menu he created.

In short, if you haven’t figured it out, I love food. This is why I blog about it quite a lot and why I think about it so much. It’s something to share and something human beings all have in common: We all need to eat. It’s a universally safe topic for most people. It represents culture. It represents geographic region.

It represents humans. I think that’s a pretty cool thing.

Happy Thursday and thanks for reading!

Homemade Gnocchi on a Home Made Weekend....

As I always say, weekends fly by far too quickly.

Tomorrow is, technically, a holiday. Unfortunately, it's not one that my company gives so I will be at work as usual. I'd complain but the alternative would be my old job- one that made me miserable and sad and bitter.

So, I'll take a two day weekend from a job I love vs. a three day weekend from a job I despised.

Besides, it's not like I haven't had a good weekend.

Like most unplanned weekends, this one was nice. Saturday was a gorgeous day. I got up early hoping to run my errands- a trip to Jungle Jim's and Costco- early. This is my usual trick- not only do I get things done early but also, I normally beat the crowds.

Not so much this weekend. It turned out that I wasn't the only one who thought an early trip to Jungle Jim's was in order. It seemed that half of Cincinnati had the same idea. Still, I did get my shopping done early even if I did have to navigate around people who were gawking in the aisles at the vast supply of hot sauces and the plethora of international ingredients available.

I shouldn't complain. I always have to remind myself that I used to be one of those gawkers before I became a 'local'. Of course, I don't usually expect so many gawkers at 9 a.m. but, well, I got my shopping done and that's what counts.

After the required shopping was done, I decided that the pups and I should take advantage of the beautiful day by taking a jaunt over to the park. We had a long, leisurely walk though the woods that lasted a couple of hours. I think by the time the day was done, the pups and I must have walked at least four miles together and that doesn't count my separate trip to Jungle Jim's which feels like a mile unto itself.

Needless to say, we were all a little tired by the evening. We took it easy and just enjoyed the quiet time.

Sunday turned out to be the opposite of Saturday. We woke to the sound of pouring rain. When I finally got out of bed due the fact that Sookie had become a living scarf on my neck and Rory a hat that was licking my ear in a desperate attempt to get me to let her outside to do her business, the temperature had dropped a little and there were big fat fluffy snowflakes mixed with the rain.

That didn't last for long and the rain ended up staying as rain but for most of the day, the pups and I were confined inside except for their odd trip outside and our twice-daily walks around the neighbourhood which were cold, damp and chilly but good exercise nonetheless.

I filled my day by watching some TV, doing my taxes, making some gnocchi and doing some laundry. That's a good Sunday, if you ask me. I was going to go to H&R Block for my taxes like I did last year but it turned out that their online site is less expensive and much easier. Thus, I'm now done with my taxes. It's a nice feeling. I'm not sure about the gnocchi yet. It looks like gnocchi but I've yet to cook it.

Gnocchi is one of those things that I see almost every week on Top Chef. I've had premade gnocchi and restaurant gnocchi but never made my own. I decided to give it a go. It was slightly easier than pasta but working with potatoes tends to leave a bit of a starchy, gluey coating on everything. My next experiment I'm hoping will be a souffle. I've decided to make it my mission in life to cook everything that appeals at least once. Hence, the gnocchi. If I attempt a souffle, I'll let you know.

Now, Sunday is wrapping up. I have two drowsy puppies on the sofa next to me. My beef short ribs to go with my gnocchi are simmering in the crockpot and I'm ready to finish up this nice and relaxing weekend by curling up with the pups, watching some TV and enjoying the fact that on this damp, cold February night, we don't have to go anywhere. Even if I do have to work tomorrow, it doesn't get much better than that.

As I always say, it's the simple things in life that make you happy. It's nice to be happy.

Happy President's Day to those that have it off and Happy Monday to those that don't!

Sunny Weekends...

Sunshine does a lot for the mood and this weekend was full of it. As much as I adore snow, there are times when it's nice to see the sun. I think there's definitely something to that Seasonal Affective Disorder in which depression sets in during the winter months. Spending some time outdoors in the sunshine does wonders for the mood.

It was a little too cold to spend too much time outside but Rory, Sookie and I had a lovely time taking walks around the neighbourhood. We took two each day: One in the morning, one in the evening. I think the pups were pleased to get out. It was a little hard going at times. Even though the sun was slowly melting the snow and ice, there were patches that were a little hard for two little dachshunds and one unsteady human to maneuver. It's not really even snow anymore- it's just snow coloured ice, much like the stuff you see on snowcones.

Yet each time we walked, there was less ice and snow. The grass, flattened and soggy, is starting to show again. The pups seem to appreciate being able to walk on the grass, wet as it is, rather than have to trundle through the snow. I can't blame them- it has to be cold on the feet.

It's been a nice weekend overall. It's the first one I've had at home in quite a few weeks which is probably why I enjoyed it so much. I love going to my parents' because I love seeing them but there's something to be said to having time in your own home to do what you want.

In my case, I took advantage of the time to cook. I now have a fancy KitchenAid stand mixer with pasta roller so today, I spent the day making ravioli. It was relaxing and fun, especially when I put my iPod on my iHome speaker set and had fun dancing while I kneaded pasta dough, made filling and, finally, put it all together in the form of cheese ravioli and butternut squash ravioli.

I even made the ricotta myself. I've seen them do it a few times on the Food Network and Mario Batali kindly provides a recipe for it in one of his cookbooks. It was ridiculously easy and twice as tasty as the stuff you buy at the store. Tonight, for dinner, I'm going to have homemade ravioli with homemade ricotta filling topped with homemade marinara sauce. It's a nice feeling to know that I've accomplished something, even if it is only making food. To me, cooking and making things in the kitchen is relaxing. The only time it's not is when it involves baking becaue I don't find that particularly relaxing. It's ok when I have time but it doesn't help that my oven isn't the best and so baking isn't as easy as I'd like. I do like to bake at my parents' house because they have a nice oven. Also, my dad likes kitchen tools and gadgets and they have almost anything you could need for a good baking experience.

I'm trying to get my kitchen like that. I'm getting there. Yesterday, I bought a fish spatula from Williams Sonoma. My good friend Saz was kind enough to give me a gift card for my birthday so I took advantage of it yesterday. I'm very excited about my spatula. I think I mentioned in my blog a while ago that I thought I might use my gift card for this and it turned out, I did.

I don't know why things like fish spatulas make me happy. It's the same content feeling as having a day where all I have planned is to make ravioli, walk puppies and relax. I think maybe that's one of the reasons I've been feeling blue: I haven't had time to just relax at home for an entire weekend.

Now the weekend is drawing to a close. The sun has set and it's dark outside. I don't know what the weather is supposed to be like this week. I did hear a rumour that more snow is on the way. I don't mind. I never mind snow. It's just nice to separate bouts of it with a little sunshine.

Sometimes, we just need a little sunshine in your life. It chases the Pootle clouds and the January blues away.

Happy Monday!

Festive but Fast Weekends...

This weekend went by very, very quickly. Perhaps it's because it's the last weekend before Christmas but even compared to other fast-moving weekends, this was exceptionally quick.

However, for me, it was a very festive weekend which made it nice. Friday, I had a relaxing evening though I did do a little work. The thing with being a recruiter is that sometimes I get phone calls in the evenings from consultants who can't talk during the day. I never mind. It's nice that people feel comfortable calling me during their off-times. Still, I managed to kick back with the puppies, enjoy the season with some mulled wine and just relax.

Saturday began early. I've discovered that the key to a successful shopping trip is to beat the crowds. Since my parents' had planned on coming down this weekend for their annual Jungle Jim's Christmas Shopping Trip, this meant I got to prepare lunch for them. As an aspiring cook, I might get a wee bit too excited about this. I don't get to cook for people too often so when I do, it's an event.

This, of course meant that I had to take a trip of my own to Jungle Jim's on my own. I have learned through my time in living in fairly close proximity to the store and in being a foodie that it's hard to be a hardcore shopper when it's crowded with newbies and visitors from afar. Thus, when armed with a list and a purpose, I go during times when it's less busy. For me, this means before 10 a.m. on a Saturday or on a week night between Monday and Thursday.

Thus, I arrived at Jungle Jim's around 9 a.m. It was quiet. I managed to not only get everything on my list but also have time to look without being surrounded by too many people. Being the holidays, I did have a few splurges. I had to buy some nice wine, for example.

Then, of course, there was the chanterelle mushrooms.

I've been looking to try these for ages. They're popular on all the cooking/food shows I love. They're used a lot on Iron Chef America and I've been longing to try them. I even emailed Jungle Jim's to find out when they would have them. Thus, when they did have them, I bought some. I couldn't resist. I haven't tried them yet but I can't wait. I love mushrooms in general and they look fantastic.

And, on the plus side, I did resist the black truffles that were sitting beside the mushrooms even though I've been longing to try those too. In time, I'm sure I will. For now, I'll work my way up.

I managed to complete my Jungle's Jim trip by 10:30 a.m. and finished up my Christmas shopping by noon. By the time I was done, the crowds were beginning to be out in force. There's nothing more satisfying than getting ready to leave just as everyone else is arriving.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning my house. Then I got to spend the evening with a good friend having a lovely festive time ordering pizza, drinking wine, watching "The Holiday" which is one of my favourite Christmas films and drinking spiked hot chocolate. It put me in the Christmas spirit. I love that feeling.

Today, I got to spend the day with my parents. I made them lunch which was a nice treat for me. I tend to go a little overboard but I think it was worth it. Today's menu was:

• Arugula salad with toasted walnuts, roasted pears, gorgonzola cheese with shallot vinegarette
• Spaghetti with brown butter and Mizythra cheese (yes, the Old Spaghetti Factory recipe)
• Gingerbread cake with vanilla whipped cream (thanks, Ms. P., for the whipped cream suggestion!)
• A nice chianti

I had no liver and fava beans to go with the chianti but I think it was probably better and less bloody my way. It turned out pretty well, I think. We all ended up rather stuffed.

Afterwards, we went to Jungle Jim's. It was a nice trip but far more hectic than the previous days' visit. That's the thing with the holidays. Everyone has to shop. This means the shelves were more sparse, the crowds much thicker and it took a lot longer. Still, I always enjoy looking around with my parents'. It's always a new perspective. I think as a 'local', I get a little jaded as to the luxury of having such a nice store so close by. With my parents', I can appreciate the fabulousness of having such a place at which to shop.

Now my parent's are headed home and I'm ready to relax with the pups. They're currently out frolicking in the snow, hunting bunnies. One was sighted this morning and thus Sookie has been standing guard all day. Rory, meanwhile, got board with standing guard and has taken to licking the ice patch that has refroze after some icicles on the roof melted onto the patio this morning. I'd chastise her for it but...it's ice and she's a dog. There could be worse things she could be doing. Just as long as her tongue doesn't freeze.

It's just hard to believe that in a week, Christmas will have passed by already. It's sad. I'm trying not to look ahead and simply appreciate the now so that I can appreciate the time I can spend being festive and enjoying Christmas before it's all over for another year. I, personally, would be quite ok if we could also spend January baking cookies, decorating the house, watching Christmas movies and having parties.

I suppose we could but, well, it's just not the same, is it?

Nevertheless, there's still almost a week until the holiday and I, for one, intend to be horribly festive and twee in my efforts to salute this time of year.

I love Christmas!

Happy Monday!

A Slight Obsession with Food....

It has come to my attention, once again, that I think about food entirely too much.

I've always enjoyed food although, as a child, I was a horribly picky eater. I was one of those children that only ate 'safe' foods like fishfingers and chips (fishsticks and fries to my American readers), beefburgers (hamburgers), pizza (cheese only, please) and other kid-friendly foods. I simply didn't like my food messed around too much. I liked things plain, simple and kept quite separate on the plate.

When I was in high school and I went on one of my first real dates, I thought it was exotic to eat at the Olive Garden restaurant. Still being a picky eater, I was slightly alarmed and all the fussiness of the descriptions on the menu. I ordered fettucini alfredo which, at the time, seemed wonderfully fancy and grown-up. It became my staple at any Italian type restaurant. When in doubt, order the fettucini alfredo.

Then I went to college and...something happened. I began to eat everything. I don't know if it's because I was suddenly always hungry and there was always food or because my tastebuds changed but, suddenly, I began to try new things. I no longer just ordered fried rice and egg rolls in Chinese restaurants or cheese quesadillas in Mexican restaurants.

That's how it's been ever since. I try almost everything once. I've learned that sushi is not scary but actually rather delicious. I've learned that the Filipino typical breakfast of bangus fish with spicy vinegar, rice and longanisa sausage is pretty fantastic even though it's quite different from the traditional British breakfast of everything fried with a side of baked beans.

In short, I learned to eat because, well, food is just delicious when it's cooked well. I've learned to cook which also helps with the food factor.

It's just...well...that I now think about food. A lot. I mean, I suppose most people do, right? If you're hungry, you try to decide if you're craving something in particular or you're just generally hungry.

However, in my case, usually by about 9 a.m., I've already planned my lunch and dinner. Usually lunch is leftovers from the night before. Dinner's the fun part. I like to do a mental sweep of my pantry/fridge/vegetable drawer and decide what I feel like cooking.

For example, last night for dinner, I made a mini Thanksgiving meal for myself. This may seem slightly excessive for a single woman living alone but, well, if I don't cook for myself then a) I don't practice my cooking skills and b) I live like a bachelorette on microwave meals and take out.

It wasn't like I even had to buy anything special for this meal. I had bought a cornish game hen on sale a month or so ago. It was in the freezer. I already had parsnips in the cupboard because I generally like to keep root vegetables on hand because they're useful. I had potatoes. I had brussels sprouts. Voila. Put it together and you have roasted game hen with roast parsnips and potatoes and a side of brussel sprouts. The whole thing took about an hour to cook. I also have to admit that I made it because on Thanksgiving day, my mother and work together to get the dinner ready for our large family. By the time it's on the table, we're both so tired and sweaty from cooking the meal that we never really eat as much as we'd like because we've lost our appetites somewhat. Since I am a big fan of the roast turkey and trimmings, I figured it didn't hurt to spoil myself a little because that way, I won't feel so disappointed when I don't eat as much on Thanksgiving.

Hey, it makes sense in my head. That counts for something...right?

The nice thing was, I had leftovers of my vegetables and thus, today, I had my leftover vegetables for lunch. This meant there was no need to figure out what to have for lunch.

Instead, I decided to plan dinner. I've been wanting to try a recipe I had for Thai curried chicken soup. I had all the ingredients because I've been planning on making it for a while. All I had to do is defrost the chicken.

The soup turned out to be...fantastic. I know it sounds like I'm singing my own praises but, really, I'm singing the praises of Food Network Magazine who provided the recipe. It was the kind of soup where you just can't get enough of the broth.

I have leftovers for lunch, naturally.

I suppose my question after all this is...is this normal or am I just a bit food obsessed? Am I feeding my slight loneliness and tendency to be a bit of a puppy-loving hermit by indulging in food?

Whatever the answer, I blame the Food Network. Honestly. If my parents hadn't put Iron Chef America on while I was staying there a couple of years ago, I'd probably still be thinking that Tyson Chicken nuggets and McCain Smiles were a good dinner. Instead, I'm trying new recipes, finding new flavour profiles and trying things I never thought I'd ever eat.

It's not so bad. Of course, I have to be a lot more careful than I used to because with age comes a slower metabolism. Yet, it's still fun to watch Iron Chef America and learn something new.

It's also fun to treat each day as a new canvas for that day's meals. Tomorrow, for example, I have leftover soup for lunch. I haven't planned dinner yet. It'll give me something to think about tomorrow when work is a little slow.

Although maybe I should think about work instead.

But it's more fun to think about food.

Happy Tuesday!

Indecisive Autumn

We are having a very peculiar Autumn so far. It's usual to have an Indian Summer during the earlier part of the season. It gets cold and then, suddenly, it gets warm for a while. In our case, we're having our Indian Summer all over the place. A few nights ago, it was frosty outside. The days were chilly enough that a jacket was necessary for going out in the morning. Even during the day, it was nice to have an extra layer. When it's like this, it's too cold to sleep with the windows open and the body heat of two little puppies is rather nice to have at night.

Then it gets warm. It's done this a few times now. Yesterday, it was a warm, almost hot day. The night temperature got down to 63 degrees. For us, this is considered rather hot for a night in October. It means you wake up at 2 a.m. sweating because you've put the thicker comforter on the bed and the puppies are still burrowing under it, adding more heat to the situation.

We also haven't had any rain. When I say no rain, I mean literally no rain. We're almost 8 inches short for the year. We were supposed to get some rain today. Alas, no rain. Tomorrow, we're supposed to have heavy rain. I'm hoping this is true.

The thing is, while it's nice to have a variety of temperatures, it makes it a little hard to plan things like Autumn meals. For example, silly me listened to Frank Marzullo and the Fox 19 Storm Tracker Weather and I believed him when he said it was supposed to be cold and rainy on the Sunday of this past weekend. It ended up being almost 80 degrees and partly sunny. I had planned a nice warm Autumn meal- my mother's 'mincemeat' recipe with noodles and lettuce salad. I still made it. It was still tasty. Yet it wasn't the warm, comfort food of a chilly, rainy Autumn night. It was the rather overly heavy meal on a balmy Indian Summer night.

Tonight, we're trying for something a little less comfort food and a little more fun. Gorganzola mashed potatoes, grilled steaks with red wine-braised mushrooms and haricot vert beans with herbs. It sounds fancy but I'm just using up things I have on hand. The nice thing is that now I've mostly learned to cook, I can make a pretty good meal out of a few ingredients. It's all rather fun.

The other thing about this peculiar Autumn is walking the dogs. Some evenings, I need a jacket. Some evenings, I don't. It's hard to tell sometimes. Tonight, there was a slight breeze but not enough to require a jacket. It was enough to scatter the carefully raked piles of leaves that are sitting in heaps by the curb. I don't have enough leaves to do much raking. That's the nice thing about not having my own trees. The puppies would probably like some leaf piles but considering the mess they make with the few leaves we have in the garden, I think I'm ok with them having a nose in the leaf piles we pass as we walk.

Tonight, there were lots of people out raking. Larry the Potential Serial Killer was one. We haven't seen him since he stalked us in his car and I had this horrible feeling I was going to get trapped. Fortunately, Mike (he of the very large backyard and also the recipient of my unwanted pampas grass) saved us by being out for a stroll and stopping to chat to Larry not long before the puppies and I had no choice but to pass by. Thus, Larry was preoccupied and couldn't stop for one of his up-close-and-personal chats without being rude to Mike. He did, however, make an overly enthusiastic suggestion that I join him for a bonfire in his garden sometime soon.

We'll see about that. Given that I call Larry a potential serial killer, it's probably not likely to happen. He does make me a little uncomfortable. Maybe he can invite Mike instead. They both seem quite lonely. They're both unmarried men in their mid-to-late forties. They could have a famous time together!

Still, he's not the only one contemplating leaf fires. Someone had just started one as the pups and I continued our sojourn. While the smell of leaf fires is appealing, this particular one was a little smokier than the normal fire and the smoke was a little much. It was bad enough for us as we passed by. I can't imagine being the one standing over the fire.

Nevertheless, the fire made the air smell Autumnal. It would have been just a little nicer had it been crisper in temperature but it was still nice. I'm hoping it's not the last leaf fire we see/smell this year.

Although I think I'll pass on Larry's.

Happy Tuesday!

Too Much TV on an Impressionable Mind

It's already Sunday evening. I hate that Sunday evenings signal the closing of the weekend. It's been a rather nice weekend too so I'm sorry to see it pass.

I think the puppies will be sad too. They really like weekends where we get to stay home instead of going to my parents' house. Of course, it doesn't mean that they've quite learned the concept of 'sleeping in' yet but we'll work on that. I actually did get to sleep in until 8 a.m. on Saturday although technically, since Rory woke me up at 6 a.m. to go out, it wasn't continuous sleep. Today, she woke me up at 7 a.m. and there was no going back to bed.

On early mornings, I tend to be rather productive. I just think I need to train myself to go to bed earlier so it's a little easy to get up and be productive. Since I had a friend staying over last night, I got up and made the batter for crepes. It's sort of my 'thing'. Being a singleton Monkeypants is mostly fun but I do occasionally wish I had someone to cook for on a regular basis. Thus, I tend to like to cook for guests because I get to use my kitchen gadgets. I got a handy immersion whisk at a yard sale last week so I got to use that for the crepe batter. It's a fabulous device and it takes out all the lumps.

Since I had a guest in town, it meant a trip to Jungle Jim's. Because my friends tend to read this blog, they're generally curious about this grocery store which has me so enamoured. I like to give tours. I think Jungle Jims actually does official tours but I think mine isn't so bad. I think I'm quite informative and I offer the added bonus of being able to explain what odd-looking food items are. Thanks to the Food Network, I have become quite well-versed in weird ingredients.

I have learned that the Food Network has also made me into a bit of a culinary snob. I don't mean that I have high falutin' tastes. I mean that I tend to drop culinary terms into everyday explanation and not even realizing I'm doing it. For example, my friend asked me about making soup so I started to talk about the mirepoix. Naturally, she was, like, "uh, mirror-what?" Then she was looking around my kitchen and found my prep bowls so she asked what they were for. So I explained mise-en-place to her. The thing is, I don't actually mean to sound like a pretentious want-to-be-chef. I just watch far too many cooking shows. Worse than that, I watch the competitive reality cooking shows like Top Chef and The Next Food Network Star in which the contestants are young bucks who are all trying to out-chef each other. They make things like coulis and sabayon. They have fancy cooking technique terns like brunoise .

I am impressionable. I'm also obsessive. When I'm fascinated by something, I tend to absorb like a sponge. I can't actually do the things I'm learning about, necessarily but I like to know what they mean. It's annoying, even to myself.

Once upon a time, I was very anti-reality programming. I used to think it took jobs away from writers because they didn't need writers on these shows. Now, thanks to the slippery slope that was begat from watching Iron Chef America, I have fallen prey to the lure of competition, particularly that in the kitchen. Curses.

Sadly, my knowledge won't get me very far in my real life. Working at a software company puts a damper on the need for fancy cooking knowledge. It does help at Jungle Jim's when I'm browsing. I discovered that they have duck confit there. I'm always seeing that on Top Chef.

It's sad that TV has such an influence on me. However, I think, for the most part, those that I end up feeding don't particularly mind as it usually means they'll be eating something non-vile and, hopefully, tasty.

Still, for now, my flow of guests has come to a slow for a while. While I love having my friends stay, it will be nice to have some time to get some stuff done at home. For example, I have visions of turning my somewhat-unappealing family room into a Tuscan villa room. Of course, I'm not very good at decorating.

Maybe I should start watching more decorating shows.

Happy Monday!

Rapidly Passing Weekends....

Another weekend is almost gone and, as always, it went by so fast, I hardly knew it was here.

Well, ok, I knew it was here...but, as always, I wish it were longer. It was my first weekend at home in a couple of weeks. As much as I love going home to see my family, it's also nice to come home on a Friday evening, kick off my shoes and know I don't have to go out again.

This weekend turned out to be a blend of productivity and sheer laziness. My Saturday was rather busy. The puppies, early risers that they are, got me up around 7:30 a.m. I actually didn't mind, having dozed off while watching TV at 11 p.m the night before. My 'puppy schedule' now means "early to bed, early to rise."

Of course, being early to rise is not such a bad thing. I was out and about by about 8:30 a.m. I needed to go to Jungle Jim's and, on weekends, the best time to go is before the crowds hit after 10 a.m. The beauty of a 9 a.m. trip to Jungle Jim's means no 'tourists' getting in the way of actual shopping. Having been a 'tourist' once, I know the sheer fascination with the cheese counter alone. Ok, fine, even now I find myself fascinated with the cheese counter. Yet when you're a Monkeypants on a grocery-shopping mission, there's nothing more tedious than someone being amazed at the varieties of Brie. Don't get me wrong, I like Brie but, really, it's the first stop on the Cheese counter...move alone and marvel at the mass amounts of parmiagiano reggiano.

Yes, I'm a Jungle Jim's snob. I'm also a Jungle Jim's smartypants. Going that early on a Saturday is a sure way to snag some bargains. My favourite section is the 'reduced produce' area. Some people might sneer up their nose at this. However, as a 'foodie' and a lover of all things produce, it's my favourite section. I use so many vegetables when I cook that this section is a fabulous moneysaver. Yesterday, I managed to snag a tray of jalapenos- always useful- for $1. I also got mushrooms and peeled shallots for 79 cents each. I got a plantable pot of thyme for a mere 39 cents, some cilantro- which I shall use in my chicken tortilla soup- for only 39 cents.

My favourite bargain was fiddlehead ferns. When I found them, I actually had some ramps in my hands. However, I've now cooked with ramps. I liked them very much but I've also seen chefs on the Food Network cook with fiddleheads and, well, I was curious. So, having to choose between ramps and fiddleheads, I chose the unknown. For those of you who thick I'm insane, they're actually quite a spring speciality, much like the ramp. They're the unfurled new portion of the ostrich fern and they look like little tiny coils. I also paused over the morels which were reduced down to $10 for a little pot. However, as much as I'd love to taste morels, my job, alas, does not pay me enough to splurge for such delicacies. One day...

I spent far too long in the Jungle Jim's produce section. I'd like to wager I know it better than most people by now. They're actually looking for a produce manager and if I knew anything about managing produce, I'd be tempted to apply. I think I know enough about the actual produce part to be somewhat of an amateur expert already. Most of the time when I talk to people, they look at me when I'm insane when I wax poetical about my roasted cardoons or my fiddlehead ferns.

Ah well, to each his own. For the record, I made homemade linguine today and I served it with a sautee of fiddleheads, mushrooms, thyme, onions and garlic. It was, not to brag, rather delicious.

I digress...as I often do when talking about food. I spent most of the rest of the weekend in the garden. The puppies helped me dig holes and I quickly planted some of my tomato and zucchini seedlings as well as some Swiss chard seeds. I also have some asparagus coming up, finally so, if all goes well, I might have a healthy vegetable crop by mid-summer.

I also made time for a little Robert Downey Jr. When I found out the release date for "Iron Man 2," I did warn the puppies that while I loved them, I have loved Mr. Downey Jr. for a little longer and thus, I would be abandoning them for two hours. While it didn't happen on opening weekend for the film, this weekend, it was a priority. I'm happy to say that while "Iron Man 2" did not hold quite the entertainment of the first movie, it was still very entertaining. I think, honestly, it would have been very difficult to match the entertainment level of "Iron Man" merely because it was far deeper and far more 'fun' than most comic-book movies and that took me by surprise. This time, I expected it to be fun and, so when it was, it didn't exactly surpass expectations- if that makes sense. It was definitely a great way to start of the summer blockbuster season though.

However, on a side note, having seen a preview for "Twilight: Eclipse," I simply have to say this- did they give the entire cast downers? What's with the zombie-land, monotonal acting? Ok, so that's normal for Kristen Stewart but, well, Dakota Fanning used to...act, right? Do they issue some sort of law that actors in the Twilight movies can't have facial expressions? That if they dare let any emotion or, you know, acting show on camera they get fired? Just curious.

So, all, in all, in addition to the shopping, the movie and planting plants, the pups and I had a great weekend. I meant to do a lot today but, well, it was a cool and dreary Sunday and after I made my new batch of butternut squash ravioli, I just didn't feel like doing much of anything. In the end, Rory, Sookie and I spent much of Sunday relaxing and being lazy which, honestly, was a rather nice treat.

Now Monday looms nearer. I had a chat with my boss on Friday as to how redundant I feel at times and how I hate feeling like Harry Potter. He actually felt bad, as I knew he would. I don't know how long it'll last but I did feel like he listened.

And, so, even though it's the start of the workweek in just a few hours, I have just a little more hope than I had last week. Granted, that might not last for long but, for now, I'm going to let myself dream.

There's nothing wrong with that...right?

Happy Monday!

Therapeutic Weekends...

I can't believe the weekend has slipped by already. As always, it went by so fast, it seems like it was just Friday. Nevertheless, it's another Sunday evening- albeit a slightly chilly one- and it's almost time to settle down for the night before having to get up again for work tomorrow.

As I said, it's a cool night out there. When I drove to my parent's house on Friday night, it was 83 degrees, windy and stormy. By Saturday morning, it had cooled down to 45 degrees and it was a bit of a shock to the system. The wind had changed direction and blew cold instead of sultry, humid air.

Nevertheless, even with cool, windy weather, it was a lovely weekend. I had originally planned on taking my parents out to eat in celebration of Mother's Day. The problem is that now that I have learned to cook somewhat, I have this horrible habit of looking at a restaurant menu and being slightly outraged at how much they charge vs. how much it would actually cost to make. In addition, my parents live in a small town outside of Fort Wayne, Indiana. The only restaurants in their town are fast food or down-homey type of places. There is a Mexican restaurant but that hardly seemed like the place to take them for a really nice dinner. So, we would have had to drive to Fort Wayne which generally takes at least 45 minutes each direction to get there. If you're driving that far, you have to watch it if you want to drink wine. All in all, it just ended up seeming like it would be a nice idea to cook for them. Naturally, I made sure they wanted me to cook for them because there's nothing worse than offering and making someone feel like they HAVE to say yes.

But yes they said and so I attempted to make them the type of fancy meal we would have got if we'd have gone to one of the finer restaurants in Fort Wayne. It was also a lot of fun to cook. I find cooking slightly therapeutic these days and after an absolutely horrible day in the office on Friday, I was ready for some food-therapy.

I ended making four courses-
1.) Stuffed mushrooms with blue cheese and herbs
2) Pea soup with mint
3) Salmon with rosemary, baked in a salt crust with roasted baby red potatoes and sauteed green beans with garlic.
4) Tiramisu.

There was also wine because I tend to think wine goes rather well with food. Actually, I tend to think wine goes rather well with everything.

I'm pretty sure the meal turned out quite well although I did learn that if I'm going to serve mass amounts of food, I should learn to make my portions smaller. We had to wait for dessert until we had enough room in our stomachs for it. Still, it was so much fun to come up with a menu, go shopping for ingredients and then prep and cook them. I felt like I was in my own version of Top Chef. Even though I'm not a chef. Also, I wouldn't be the top chef. But on that show, they get to make a menu and then go to Whole Foods to buy their ingredients. They have a much bigger budget on that show than I did but I think I still managed to do pretty well with the ingredients although not at Whole Foods because there is no Whole Foods near my parent's house.

It ended up being a fabulous way to spend my Saturday afternoon/evening. While I was cooking, I got to talk to my mum which is always lovely. The puppies played outside and inside and the day passed very quickly. I've found that secret to a successful meal is planning and preparation. If I make my menu then plot out the timeframe I need to get everything done when I need it done, it makes things go well. I know, I know, I believe this qualifies me to be an official nerd/geek, whatever your term of choice. Yet it does work and it works well.

After dinner, I provided entertainment in the form of the movie "Crazy Heart" which my dad had been wanting to see. It was a decent movie, very slow and I admit, it seemed like it was very similar to "The Wrestler" only instead of wrestling, there was country music. Jeff Bridges was good though so it wasn't the worst thing I could have rented. If I'd wanted the worst thing I could have rented, I would have asked my sister to pick. She has this uncanny ability to find the absolute worst movie in the Redbox machine and rent it. This is how we ended up watching "Bruno" on New Year's Eve and watching Sasha Baron Cohen's penis talk.

I'm just teasing her and she knows it. It's endearing that she has this ability. She gets it from our dad so it's not her fault. Also, the Redbox, while convenient and cheap, isn't exactly the best source of selection. Since they closed all of the movie rental places in my parent's town and all they have is the Redbox or Netflix, there's not much choice in the matter. While I think both methods of movie renting are convenient and easy, it's not the same as going to a video store and wandering around, reading the backs of DVD's, smelling the microwave popcorn even through it's cellophane wrapper and wondering if it would be bad to buy a large packet of Twizzlers to go with whatever you rent. Even though places like Blockbuster became outrageous with their rental prices, I still think there's nothing like going to a Blockbuster and having a wander around. You could check out the new releases or take a trip down memory lane by looking at the older movie selections they had. I mean, you can't rent classics like "Gremlins" or "Point Break" from the Redbox.

All in all, it's been a very nice weekend. The puppies and I are home now, ready to sit down for the evening and start to wind things down. I'm hoping this week in the office is going to be better but given our office politics, I'm not holding my breath. I'll try to make the most of it and keep reminding myself that my life is not my job.

And, if not, there's another weekend only five days away.

Happy Monday!

Oddly Productive Evenings...

I've had a strangely productive evening so far and I'm not even sure how I managed it. I'm actually surprised I even had the energy given that, last night, we had thunderstorms that rumbled through the night. The puppies aren't afraid of storms, per se, but they were restless and had trouble settling down. This meant I woke up a lot as they moved, mostly trying to get closer to me. It's nice that I'm their security blanket although it would be nicer if I weren't trying to sleep.

Nevertheless, after a quite busy day at work- one of those where you plan a quiet day of working on a project and it decays into multiple 'rush' projects that all have to be juggled but not in any type of orderly fashion because, at any given moment, you're going to be interrupted- I thought I'd feel like coming home and doing nothing.

Instead, I managed to go to the library to pick up an audiobook to listen to as I drive to my parents' again this weekend. I'm going to listen to Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire as a treat. I just finished listening to Henry James' Turn of the Screw. It's one of those books I've always meant to read but never go around to so when I saw the audiobook...I grabbed it.

Is it wrong to say I disliked Mr. James' classic novel rather a lot? I know it's lead to a lot of critical essays', theses, discussions and the like as to whether the governess is insane or really seeing ghosts but, well, frankly, I thought it was a bit overrated. One of my biggest pet peeves is that the novel begins somewhere with a man who's going to read the story. It's a long beginning, a dragged out lead-in to the actual story. When it begins, you get to hear a gothic, supernatural sort of tale that doesn't end with as much of a twist as I was hoping. Also, I was thinking if Mr. James began with a narrator of sorts, shouldn't he end it the same way? If so, why bother with the whole long, somewhat dull introduction at all?

Anyway, I didn't care for it. That's my two cents. I decided Harry Potter was a safer choice because who doesn't love it when Jim Dale reads to them, particularly when it's my favourite of the Harry Potter novels.

Anyway, after the library, I ran to the supermarket since I invited a coworker/friend to dinner on Thursday and needed some supplies- particularly a bottle of wine since she doesn't like red as I do- she's a white/blush drinker. After that, I came home and uncrated the puppies which always take a while as we have to greet each other quite excitedly- I'm just as pleased to see them as they are to see me- and we ran around outside for a bit. Then I managed to rid my garden, temporarily, I'm afraid, of the dreaded burdock weeds that are taking over. We've had so much rain, they're the size of my head- no kidding. They're evil weeds- growing so big they obscure the actual flowers and so deeply rooted that it's almost impossible to dig the roots up. Nevertheless, for now, they're gone. Also, they're non-toxic and the puppies love them so they managed to dispose of some of them for me. They tend to rip them to pieces with their teeth but not actually eat them. It's quite useful actually.

We followed that up by making dinner. I decided to make steak skewers with gvegetables on the grill. I had marinated the meat in a blend of soy sauce and yuzu sauce- which is an asian citrus marinade/dressing I saw on Iron Chef America and had to try for myself. The yuzu was a fantastic marinade and the steak had a tangy flavour that was actually quite delicious. The skewers themselves were nice too- I used mushrooms, zucchini, cippolini onions, red peppers and red potatoes. I even remembered to soak the skewers so they wouldn't burn. I have to say, it's probably my most successful grilling attempt yet.

I followed up dinner with some more cooking preparations. I'm making split pea with ham soup tomorrow in the crockpot so I needed to prepare my mirepoix (soup base). It's ready to go now.

After clearing up and running the vacuum around, I think I'm actually ready to stop being productive for a while. Fortunately, I have Lost and Glee to watch tonight on TV which is why Tuesdays are my favourite TV night. Although I have to admit, now that Glee is now trendy, I fear it's starting to believe its own hype and it's losing the charm that made me love it. I'm hoping it's temporary. It's still better than most things on TV now though so I'll be watching it anyway.

Ironically, I'm still not terribly tired yet. I'm trying to figure out where this energy is coming from. I had one cup of coffee all day and virtually no sugar unless you count the starlight peppermints I eat at my desk. I'm a little curious as to why I'm so energetic. It's actually a little alarming.

However, ot's nice that it's time to sit down and enjoy the rest of the evening. I just hope that I don't crash halfway through Lost.

I do have a feeling that I'll sleep tonight...I just hope the puppies do the same!

Happy Wednesday.

The Rediscovered Joy of Cooking...

I haven't talked about cooking for a while. Mostly, I think I've been waffling on about Spring and puppies and Dog Whisperers. I apologize if I get tedious sometimes. My life is a little....routine at the moment in order to train the puppies so pretty much, those three topics are the things that are most prominant in my life.

I have managed to cook though. It took me a little while with the puppies. They don't quite get the concept of cooking. At first, they hid from the clanging of my pots, the chop of the knife and the beating of the meat. I have a nifty Mario Batali meat tenderizer with which it is remarkably fun to hit pieces of meat. It's also quite therapeutic.

Nowadays, the puppies tend to sit in the doorway while I cook. I've been slowly getting back up to speed and actually cooking proper meals instead of fast, easy stuff. Tonight, for example, I made Asparagus all Milanese as an appetizer (thanks, Mario!) and balsamic glazed cipollini onions (thanks, Jungle Jim's) with Swedish potato sausage for a main course (thanks, Sweden!).

It turned out delicious and it put me back in the mood to cook. It's not that I haven't felt like cooking but sometimes, you get to the point where it seems like a fair amount of effort to chop, slice and dice and you find ways to make dinners without that.

It also helped that I managed to get some great deals on some Mario Batali cookware this weekend, thanks to an invitation-only boutique my friend invited me to join. Mostly, the boutiques are clothes and accessories but every now and again, they have a good one. When they had a Mario Batali boutique, I was, naturally, excited. Sadly, by the time I had a chance to log in and see what bargains were to be had, I was a little late for some of them. When they sell out on the site, they're sold out.

Still, I did get a rather nice saucepan and an apron and my mum got a nice 4 qt Dutch oven. I made her buy it in chianti red since Mario's signature colour, persimmon, is the accent in my kitchen and I'm a wee bit possesive.

So, combined with new cookware and good ingredients, the urge to cook has struck me. It also helps that I've been watching reruns of Top Chef: Masters on Bravo. Unlike the regular Top Chef, the Masters version is very...classy. Instead of young chefs all vying to be 'Top Chef', Masters focuses on well-established, quite well known chefs who, if they win, will receive a $100,000 donation to their charity of choice.

The difference between the regular version of the show and the Masters version is the attitudes. Whereas the regular version focuses on competition which tends to get quite mean and snarky, the Masters version focuses on skill; the chefs admire each other already and have nothing to prove other than some friendly competition. Except Michael Chiarello who tends to remind me of a used-car salesmen, the competitors are actually really respectful of each other and pleasant to watch.

And...they can really cook. I'm not huge on Mexican cuisine. I like it but it's not one of my favourites but, I tell you, Rick Bayless makes me want to eat Mexican food.

All in all, lately, I've been hungry again. I want to learn new things about food. Since Jungle Jim's has managed to supply me with almost everything I have wanted to try- except, perhaps, Chanterelle mushrooms- I've been spoiled. I have yet to try truffles but until I get much richer, I might have to wait on those.

So, with a fridge full of ingredients and a desire to try something new, who knows what I'll come up with tomorrow.

But that's half the fun.

Happy Tuesday!

Mother Nature's Message....

It's really snowing out there. It hasn't stopped all day. I've enjoyed every minute of it. I went out to shovel this evening and now have what I'm calling "Mt. Snow" on either side of my driveway. I still enjoy shovelling. It's fun. The only problem is that I'm running out of places to shovel the snow. Mt. Snow(s) are bordering on four feet tall, no exaggeration. I tried to toss the snow over the mountains but that only worked for so long.

To top it off, just as I was finishing up the mammoth task of clearing my driveway, the city snowplows drive by. Now, I salute their efforts. I know it has to really be awful to have to go out in this kind of weather. However, I do NOT salute their efforts to block my driveway. Yes, dear blog readers, despite my 1.5 hours of shovelling, just as I was finishing up, the snowplow pushed more snow to the end of my drive, thereby creating another ridge to shovel.

I shovelled their mess. My drive was clean. It's now covered with almost two more inches of snow. I'd complain but I can't. It's too lovely. I peeked out my window and the reflection of the stark white earth onto the skies above is so bright that it almost seems like twilight. And not the syrupy, terribly-written vampire kind, either.

It's very pretty out there. Granted, I'm not looking forward to the morning when I realize that I'm going to have to shovel or get stuck. I'm not looking forward to the snarky comments about how I'm so 'lucky' that I live so close. I've decided that if enough people mention this, my response will be, 'Yes, I know. But fortunately, accident lawyers are happy to sue, regardless of the proximity of home to office!"

Sounds bitter, I know. However, there are times when Mother Nature tries to tell us that it's best to bed down and enjoy the fact that she's given us a 'time out' from life. Today was a good day because I got to watch the snow fall without having to go out in it. I managed to sew my sock monkey, make a batch of pea soup with mint for lunch today plus leftovers for lunches at work. I got my novel uploaded to Amazon.com for publishing on the Kindle ($1.99, a bargain ( I hope!). I made roasted Cornish game hen with roasted veggies for dinner, watch Jack Bauer and still have time to blog twice. All in all, it was a wonderful 'bonus' day off.

Long weekends are the best. Normally, a weekend consists of Saturday which, for me- and many others- consists of a day of running errands, getting all the stuff done that's hard to do after work druing the week. Sunday is getting stuff done around the house: Laundry, cleaning, tidying...whatever. That's it for a weekend...usually. But on three-day weekends, you have an additional day...a day to actually relax. For me, relaxing means getting all the things done I can't find time to do normally. I mean, how often do I really have time to sew a sock monkey? Yet on my third day of a three-day weekend, it's no problem. I can multitask: Watch DVD's while sewing. It's a perfect way to relax.

In the end, I have a sock monkey named Frankfurter. I have a book almost published into the e-reader zone. I had a nicely shoveled driveway, even if it's already covered again. I had good food and even better leftovers. And, finally, I watched Jack Bauer do his Jack Bauer thing and take those bad guys down with a flick of his wrist.

I confess, even though my logic and better-judgment prevails, the optimist in me, the dreamer in me hopes that we get an email from our company saying that since the weather sucks and the roads are quite terrible, it's better if we all work from home tomorrow, regardless of how far we live from the office.

Yet, unfortunately, there's a realist in me that knows my company doesn't care that driving is dangerous: We should try to make it in because work waits for no man...or woman.

Still, if I can't get out of my driveway, work will just have to wait. Mother Nature is giving me a message and I must obey...it's my way of thanking for the snow. Poor work...you'll just have to wait.

Happy Tuesday!

Purple Fingers and Decent Mondays....

We made it through another Monday. That's always an accomplishment, I think. Today wasn't actually a bad Monday. We had another birthday lunch for two of my coworkers, my boss was working from home and I got a lot done. Ignoring the fact that my boss doesn't like it if we work from home but often chooses to do so himself, there really wasn't too much to complain about.

It's even snowing again which, of course, makes me very happy. It was a nice beginning to the evening. Since I had lunch out, I didn't want to make anything too heavy for dinner. Since I'd made out menus for the week last night based on ingredients I have, I picked something light to make: Stuffed mushroom caps and roasted beet and parmigiano bruschetta.

I have to say, I might just be in love with cooking. The stuffed mushroom caps are always fun to make. I usually buy the big caps from the grocery store when they're reduced because they're near the expiration date. As long as you use them quickly, they make an inexpensive appetizer. I never use a recipe but more of a formula. I brush the caps with melted butter. I suppose you could use olive oil if you wanted to be a bit healthier but the butter adds a really nice flavour. Then I take some type of cheese, add some breadcrumbs to soak up a little of the oil when the cheese melts, an aromatic, usually chives, garlic or sweet onion and most often a herb to finish off the flavour, usually something that goes well with the cheese. Tonight, I made Fontina stuffed caps with garlic and fresh basil. I have to say, they were absolutely delicious. The roasted beet and parmigiano bruschetta was a Mario Batali recipe (naturally.) It, too, was tasty. I love roasted beets, they're sweet and juicy and when you add caraway seeds, it brings out a whole new flavour.

The only slight problem is that now I have purple fingers. To be fair, it's more like neon pink because I've scrubbed my hands rather a lot. I also had a bit of a purple kitchen as well as a bright red sink. It actually looked like I'd murdered someone when I washed the bowls and plates I'd used to prepare the beets. It was sort of interesting, if a little gory looking. I'm also a wee bit afraid my mouth is purple. Beets are delicious but they're messy.

Then again, I'm probably the messy one. I often make a bit of a mess while I'm prepping. I do clean between each prep though because I like my workstation to be neat and tidy- another lesson I learned from Mr. Batali.

What I don't get is those TV chefs like Giada and the Barefoot Contessa. They use their hands to prepare ingredients and yet they never seem to have a crumb on themselves. Also, they chop onions and their eyes don't water. I've read up on how to chop onions without crying and I've tried everything. However, I have overly sensitive eyes to begin with and by the time I'm done chopping the onions, my eyes are streaming, my nose is running and I can barely see.

I'm sure those TV chefs have artful editors who make sure the messy hands aren't shown, that the scenes are cut between sections so Giada and her fellow TV cooks can actually wash their hands before they continue. Me, personally...I'd rather see their hands messy. It makes them a little more relatable.

Yet there are some cooking shows that do let you see the mess. I watched Worst Cooks in America again last night. Anne Burrell taught her team to make pasta dough. I've watched her make that dough countless times on Iron Chef America when she was Mario Batali's sous chef. She's a pro. There's a technique to making pasta, you see. You make a pile of flour and then make a deep well in the middle, deep enough that you can crack eggs into it, swirl in the flour as you gently beat the egss. All of this has to be done without breaking the well which slowly forms a dough.

Last night, Anne Burrell's "students" were sent off to imitate her technique and make their own dough. I watched as one of her team attempted to make the well. I saw, immediately, that it was too high and deep and I knew what would happen. Sure enough, as the "student" tried to swirl the eggs into the flour, the sides collapsed, the eggs spill out and it was like a volcano erupting as the "student" tried to stop the eggs from escaping and ending up with a giant mess.

I knew what would happen because the first time I tried to make pasta, I, too, made a high and deep well. It was Mount Eggs erupting over my kitchen counter. I still managed to catch them and make it into a dough but it was pretty hairy there for a while. Now, I've learned to make a high but wide well into which I can crack the eggs, still have room to beat the eggs without collapsing the walls of the well and letting the eggs run away.

My point is that even though these are supposed to be the Worst Cooks in America, it was rather nice to see someone on television screw something up that we can all relate to possibly having done. I'm not a huge Emeril Lagasse fan; I used to like him but his "Bam"-ing got a little annoying and overdone and I lost interest. However, one thing I did like about him was that there were quite a few times when he broke a cake or did something wrong and he'd keep going, often laughing about his catastrophe.

It's always nice to know you're not alone when you do something silly. Of course, I don't think I've ever quite seen anyone on the Food Network stain their fingers- and possibly their mouths - with beet juice so maybe I'm alone in that. I'm hoping I can get it off. Otherwise, as Lady Aero suggested, perhaps I should just tell my boss I have contagious Pink Finger Disease and take a sick day.

Maybe I shouldn't take leftover beet bruschetta for lunch then....just in case.

Happy Monday!

Weekends, IKEA and Blobby Kitchen Messes...

Somehow, it's managed to become Sunday again without my being fully aware of it. That's the thing about weekends, they're tricky. I'm still convinced that there's some weird time-space continuam thing where time slows down while we're at work but speeds up as soon as we have some free time.

Since it's Sunday evening, my free time is rapidly moving by and Monday morning looms closer. Since I plan on spending part of the evening with Jack Bauer on "24", I anticipate wildly-ridiculous plot points, a miraculous recovery for Jack who was formerly dying and lots of "Damn it!" spoken with Jack's trademark inflection. Naturally, I'm still looking forward to it.

I can't complain though. I've had a very productive weekend. I managed to clean and organize and my house is feeling much better. I also got to go to IKEA which is always dangerous. You go there for one thing and come out with ten. For example, I was looking for some shelves for my pantry. I managed to find something better- a unit with interchangeable drawers from baskets to tubs to fabric ones. Because it was IKEA, it was inexpensive. I also managed to buy some towels, some candles, two toy mice/rat things- one for me, one for my niece- heat pads for hot pans, tupperware-like containers and a rug. All I wanted were the shelves. Curse you IKEA for your inexpensive products that are very useful and have odd names.

Of course, I realized when I got home that my shelf/drawer unit thingy really did need that worktop that I thought I could live without. Having it would give me much more storage space on top. Also, it would make my pantry look tidier. Since my kitchen currently looked like a bomb had hit it because I'd taken everything out of my pantry, I ended up going back to IKEA for the worktop. I emerged with the worktop...and a set of washcloths to match my new towels and a 79 cent vase that I thought would look nice in my bathroom. Curse you, IKEA!

I'm willing to concede that it probably isn't really IKEA's fault. I really need to NOT put things in that handy blue bag you pick up when you walk in the door.

Aside from my IKEA trips, I also managed to finally watch "Julie and Julia." I'd been loaned the movie by a coworker but hadn't watched it. Then my good friend, Saz, gave me it as a Christmas gift so I figured it was time to watch it. You'd think I'd have done so much sooner since I'm a blogger and a foodie.

I found the movie entertaining. I like the idea and I admit, I could relate to Julie rather a lot. As a yet unpublished writer, having a blog is one way to feel better about writing. I like her idea too- cooking your way through that many recipes in a year would be fun and a challenge. Since I've recently become obsessed with cooking, i think it's a cool idea. Yet, like so many of those, someone else had it first. Now everyone else would be a copycat.

Yet the thing I like most is that Julie took on the project so she could finish something. It's good to have a goal like that. For me, that's what the National Novel Writing Month challenge was for. I actually spent the evening editing that novel and as horrible arrogant as it sounds, I made myself laugh out load a few times. In my defense, I haven't read the book since I wrote it and though I can't speak for other writers, for me, at least, when I'm writing, it's like being in a different world. I often just write and let the words flow out and not know what I wrote until I reread it a few days later. It seems alien, foreign...not something I created. It's like stepping out of your body and observing yourself from a distant point of view. You think, "I wrote that? The demon says that?" Sometime, it's the characters writing the story. For this last novel, I can't say that was the case. It just...happened.

Yet, like it was for Julie when she finished her 365 of cooking Julia Child's recipes, finishing a novel in a month was a feeling of accomplishment. Granted, unlike Julie, I don't have publishers, editors and the Food Network leaving me messages but that's ok. I can live with that.

Though it'd be super fantastic if the Food Network called me. Don't you think "Cooking with Captain Monkeypants" has an interesting ring to it?

I'm kidding. My food tastes pretty good but it never quite looks....pretty. For example, I made radacchio pancakes for lunch (Mario Batali's recipe, naturally) and while they were delicious, it really showed me that I haven't got the hang of presentation. The pancakes looked a bit like uneven, discoloured blobs of egg that were not round but more like, uh, clouds...misshapen, slightly awkward, blobby clouds. I really must work on my plating. Still, when it's just me, it doesn't matter. I'm just afraid that if I ever cook for someone else, they'll balk at the sight of my blobby, odd-looking food that makes the plate look messy even when I try to wipe it the way I see the chef'\s on TV do it.

Anyway, all in all, it's been a very nice, productive sort of weekend. The nice thing is that there's another one coming up in under six days.

If only that pesky work-week wasn't in between.

Happy Monday!

Overpriced Pasta and Another Ode to Jungle Jim's...

So, sometimes when I sit down to blog, I have to do a check to find out how much I've ranted, raved or rambled about a certain subject. It seems that the last couple of months have been a little bit too much full of work. I also mention snow rather a lot but I'm afraid that's not likely to change. I love snow very much and will never get tired of writing about it. You'll notice that I've backed off Twilight and Stephanie Meyer. Having found out that there are some pretty fabulous snarky places out there that salute the awfulness of the book, I've found it cathartic to know I'm not alone. If you're bored, check out this fabulous parody. The illustrations are worth it alone but I couldn't have written anything quite so simply that nails Twilight the way this site does.

Anyway, I've also noticed that I blog a lot about Jungle Jim's. I don't think I can help that. I'm actually contemplating starting a new blog to replace my poor neglected TV blog. It's not that I don't like writing about TV but, lately, there's not much on TV to write about. Also, I watch more Food Network than anything else and I think that might get a tad boring. My new blog would take one of the new ingredients I bought at Jungle Jim's and detail what I did with it. I suppose it would be a bit Julie and Julia like except, well, it would have the Monkeypants spin. Also, I'd be completely honest if I accidentally dropped it on the floor and ruined dinner. Chances are, that blog would read:

Bought endives. Attemped to make a Batali recipe. Accidentally dropped endives and recipe contents on floor in dish. Dish=failure.

I went to Jungle Jim's tonight. I haven't been in over a week. It's shocking, I know. I received two lovely Mario Batali cookbooks for Christmas/my birthday AND I also got a great new copy of the Food Network magazine (if you don't subscribe, you should- it's excellent for recipes and tips). So, last night, I went through my cookbooks and magazine and picked out recipes I wanted to try. Then I made a list of what I lacked to make them- primarily fresh vegetables- in one of my handmade notebooks, courtesy of RadLinc Crafts that has bananas on the cover. Bananas are my secret symbol at work although my "sarcastic banana doodle" that was over my HP logo on my PC to parady the fact that I am the only one in my area to lack an Apple PC has mysteriously disappeared.

So, tonight, armed with my banana book, I went to Jungle Jim's. I was a good little Monkeypants and only bought three items that weren't on my list. I bought some chocolate covered Gingerbread pretzels that were left over from Christmas. They were only 99 cents. Also, I bought some salsify because, well, frankly, I was so excited to find it, I had to buy it. In case you're wondering, salsify is also called 'the oyster plant'. It is a root vegetable that has a faint oyster-ish flavour. I've never had it. To be honest, I'm not sure what I'm going to do with it but I saw it and I wanted to get some. The reason being...I saw it on Iron Chef America in the hands of none other than Mario Batali and I was fascinated. I'd never heard of it, you see. So, I did the Monkeypants thing and researched it. Immediately, I wanted to try it because it's related to the parsnip family. I adore parsnips. They're one of my favourite vegetables. If you've never tried them, let me know. I'll be happy to tell you how to use parsnips. They're a staple of the British traditional roast dinner.

The last item I bought was wine. My new budget favourite- Kenwood red table wine was on clearance! They only had a couple of bottles left. I was both excited by the reduced price and dismayed that I might have a hard time finding it in future. I bought the bottles they had left. How could I not?

Anyway, aside from the salsify, I stuck to my shopping list. Granted, it was quite a long list but it covered at least six to seven recipes. My shopping listed included cardoons which might not be familiar to you, as Lady Aero pointed out on my last blog. They're a bit spiny and they're related to artichokes. Last time I used them, I made a beschamiel sauce and fresh breadcrumbs, grated them with pecorino romano cheese and roasted them in the oven after blanching them in lemon water. It sounds like a lot of work but they were delicious and worth every minute. I have a couple of other recipes that use them so I got two bunches. I also got some beets to make some beet bruschetta. I bought fresh herbs, peppers and a radaccio lettuce. The nice thing about learning to cook is there are some pantry staples that you're never without so when it comes to cooking, the fresh stuff is the only thing you have to buy.

I can't believe I'm blogging about my shopping list. It's not that this is the only thing that I have to blog about, it's just that it's so much fun to learn to cook. Finding the ingredients is sort of, uh, thrilling although if you don't cook much, that probably sounds a little...scary...and odd. I can't help it...cooking is my new favourite thing to do.

Anyway, I digress...The only ingredients I lacked were small cipolini onions- Jungle Jim's only had the large- and the never-present fresh quail eggs. Ok, so I really didn't need the quail eggs but it's become a quest and Captain Monkeypants does love a quest.

The thing I was truly amazed at was that I didn't really spend that much money. I probably could make, without exaggerating, at least eight meals from what I bought tonight. I like to make a dinner and then have the leftovers at work for lunch the next day. Sometimes my attempts to cook aren't that successful but, for the most part, if I follow a recipe properly, it usually turns out pretty well. If you think about how much it would cost to eat something similar at a restaurant, it's a brilliant way to save money. For example, yesterday, I went to Romano's Macaroni Grill with the girls from work for my birthday lunch. Because I tend to prefer cooking Italian food, it always amazes me how much restaurants charge for a plate of pasta. For example, many of the weight-conscious girls ordered capellini pomadoro. Essentially, capellin pomodoro is angel hair pasta, basil, olive oil, fresh tomatoes and red pepper flakes. Retail cost of that, provided you cook enough to keep olive oil and pepper flakes around is, seriously, probably less than $4 per person. If you bought the ingredients, you could feed three people for what you'd buy in the store to make it. Total estimate would be about $6-$8 total to make it for three people. At the Macaroni Grill, it was $8.99 a plate or something like that. That's $27 altogether.

I know- sometime it's nice to go out to eat and not have to cook. I just find myself, more and more, figuring out how to make dishes I buy in restaurants. There are some things I just can't be bothered to figure out because I'd rather go out and get it. Yet pasta is fast becoming something I don't order because I resent the inflated price of it on a menu. Apparently, I'm not alone. Even after I started figuring out that pasta is one of the easiest and cheapest things to make, I read an article that interviewed chefs and what they expected when they ate out. Several of them said they refused to order pasta because it's so overpriced compared to the cost of making it.

That's not to say that if I went to a really good restaurant, I wouldn't order pasta. I might, if it was tempting enough but you better believe I want it to be homemade pasta that's something special. I admit, I even make my own pasta at times. It's really not as much work as people think and it tastes amazing. It takes time so I wouldn't resent paying for that in a nice restaurant. No, what I'm talking about is the Olive Garden/Macaroni Grill type of places that use Barilla pasta or whatever brand they prefer and serve it with pre-made sauces. They might taste nice but, trust me, you can make it at home for pennies compared to what they charge.

However, on the flip side, there are some things I'd rather get in a restaurant than make for myself but have no choice. Tonight, for example, I made Vietnamese pho soup. It's one of my favourite 'comfort foods'. When I lived in Los Angeles, there were pho places everywhere. You could get a bowl of pho- noodle soup with meats and herbs in a spiced broth- everywhere. It usually only cost about $5 for a bowl and I could never finish my helping. Here, in Cincinnati, it's hard to find. I've tried several places that claim to have it but it's just not the same. Thus, tonight, I tried a Food Network Magazine version. I have to say, it was pretty tasty. Not the same as the restaurants in L.A., of course, but still pretty nice. It wasn't that much work either. However, even though it tasted good, it just didn't give me that satisfied feeling that I always had when eating it in a restaurant.

So, there are two sides to every recipe, I suppose. Some are two easy and simple to make to merit paying restaurant prices and some are so hard and complex that it's just worth it to pay the price and eat it in a restaurant. For me, I'm still working on which is which. However, I'll keep trying new recipes. As long as I have Jungle Jim's to provide me with the ingredients, I'll happily keep experimenting. And keep shopping because, let's face it, that's just half the fun.

Happy Wednesday!