18 posts from March 2008

The web is filled with funny food-related gags for April Fools' Day.

I think my favorite is this Kitty Litter Cake. A sure hit at the office!

I am not so clever as to come up with a food gag. But over at the Ward Street Bistro, I am offering up this Rhubarb Fool.

Four fools

You never know what Mr. Thrifty (and resident Costco Master)  is up to in the kitchen. Recently, he's been replacing the name-brand almond butter that we've enjoyed for years with a version he's found at Costco. But I had no idea until this morning when I caught him making the transfer:

Tale of two almond butters

There is a functional reason for the transfer, in that it's just easier to use the almond butter on a day to day basis out of the smaller jar.

We recently ran out the fat-free refried beans we get at Costco. But Mr. Thrifty found the next-best thing at our neighborhood grocery, Taco Bell brand beans - 70 cents cheaper than the other beans on the shelf!

Home "originals"

I predictably had an immediate negative reaction to Taco Bell taking residence in our pantry. But, reading the ingredients, they were just regular refried beans, nothing nefarious to be found. Honestly, I would have probably passed these by on the shelf, unnecessarily paying more. But when it comes to lower prices, not much deters Mr. Thrifty!

Last night, the Met finished it ill-fated run of Tristan and Isolde, whose whole reason for being was to bring together the two leading Wagnerian singers of the day, Ben Heppner and Deborah Voight. The only problem: due to illness Ben missed 5 of the 6 performances and Deborah missed 2. (Ben writes about his illness, which required hospitalization, here.)

Last night was the last performance of the run--and the only performance where the two actually sang together.

Heppner and Voight

The Met decided to broadcast the audio of the performance via their web site. So, last night Drake and I huddled around the computer and listened in. Sound quality-wise, it was somewhat like listening to Tristan on an old transistor radio, but it was still worth listening to. Lucky dogs in the theater who had purchased tickets to the last performance. They won the opera lottery there. Alex Ross wrote a brief review of the evening. Sigh.

The run has some implications for Seattle, as Janice Baird, who replaced Voight, will be signing in the Seattle Opera  2009 Ring. She got a lot of publicity from stepping in, particularly since in the first performance she covered, she stepped in mid-performance when Voight's illness cause her to run off the stage mid-aria. Baird made a very respectable Met debut and I think this will be a huge boost for her career (and will have a related effect on ticket sales for the Ring, which are scheduled for some donors/subscribers in the next month.)

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Tonight, we are off to the a Seattle Young Artists production, something we enjoy every year since it gives us the change to hear opera in a more intimate setting.

I've got a new recipe up on Ward Street Bistro -- one of our favorite dishes for Sunday dinner - Chicken Tajine. As usual, you can either download a printable recipe and/or see how to make it step-by-step.

Tajine

With Spring on it's way, I'm looking forward to featuring seasonal goodies over at the 'Bistro.

Now that I've got four whole recipes posted, it's starting to feel a little bit more like a real blog! But more are definitely on their way...

Tomorrow, my mother-in-law (Lorna) and brother-in-law (Todd) will be preparing potato salad with 40 lbs. of potatoes. It's for a gathering of the Roseville Volunteer Fire Department.

Drake was trying to think of suggestions to help them. He asks me: "is there a device that peels potatoes faster than using a peeler?"

A question just made for the Internet!

This baby would take care of the job in about 5 minutes, but at $2,250.00 is probably outside the Volunteer Fire Department's budget:

Hobart, yeah.

The RotatoExpress a less costly option, but does not look completely reliable to me. The example potato looks genetically modified to work specifically with the RotatoExpress:

As seen on TV!

Getting a little closer, potentially, are Tater Mitts. These are also as seen on TV, but of course not by either Drake or I since we don't have a TV.

These look a little scary

The commercial is actually kind of convincing:

Tater Mitts

It hardly feels spring-like today, but then this year Easter is the earliest its been since 1913. From Snopes:

We've got no real Easter plans. Drake decided to go this afternoon to the Met's high-definition re-broadcast of Tristan and Isolde. It's a big 5 1/2-hour Wagnerian time commitment that I'm going to skip today in favor of preparing an Easter dinner with baked ham, a potato gratin, and glazed carrots. Traditional, no?

Happy Easter, all!

I lead another all-day design workshop today, which went quite well, but boy, my voice is tired. About hour six I felt the hoarseness creeping it. Even though it was fun, it's also exhausting. I will soon be crawling into bed with a book. Ahhh...

Drake meanwhile as el presidente of our condominium association is leading the building's annual meeting. You might think as first lady of the building I would show up to support him, but no such luck.

The Sharper Your Knife, the Less You Cry: Love, Laughter, and Tears at the World's Most Famous Cooki

Kathleen Flinn

I just finished this book, by the way, given to me by friends. Boy, does it bring back memories of culinary school. It's actually quite a page-turner, not so good for me at bedtime (it kept me up!)

From NPR:

David Paterson, who became governor of New York following Eliot Spitzer's resignation in a prostitution scandal, was barely sworn in when he confessed an extramarital affair to the Daily News. On Tuesday, he admitted to affairs with multiple women, one of whom is a state employee. Melissa Block talks with Fred Dicker, state editor for The New York Post.

Fred Dicker is reporting on this story about Paterson's multiple affairs? Does anyone else find that just a bit funny?

It's not that I'm unsympathetic to middle-edge bumps and bulges. After all, I turned 50 this year. But still -- this from the Wall Street Journal makes me laugh:

Robert Verdi, 39, says he began craving a so-called mirdle, or man-girdle, recently after starting to develop a "muffin top." "I'm now at that weird age where I'm starting to have a little bit of a spare tire, that midsection squish," says Mr. Verdi, a New York stylist and TV personality. Feeling self-conscious while prepping for a recent date, Mr. Verdi took scissors to a pair of high-waisted women's Spanx so it fit him like an elongated tube-top beneath his fitted shirt and slacks. "I felt like I was wearing an Ace bandage, but I definitely looked flatter," he says.

...Dan Uram, a 37-year-old aspiring actor in Beverly Hills, Calif., bought a Solidea body shaper last year to give him an edge in auditions as well as in dating. He says the men's body shapers are part of men's liberation. They help level the playing field for men and women. "Lots of women wear girdles," he observes.

Still, there can be concern over having to explain the shaper in intimate situations. Mr. Verdi, who wore the cut-up women's shaper, says he worried about what his date would think of it. The date, however, didn't mind, he says.

This issue reminds me of an office Christmas party years ago a co-worker (who was on the heavy side) showed up in curve-hugging dress and a figure that was clearly being shaped by some type of industrial-strength undergarment. Rather than thinking she looked great, the guys simply said "wow, Lynden must be wearing one hell of a girdle!"

This week's post on Ward Street Bistro features a wonderful recipe from my dear Aunt Amy:

Savory cheese pastries