New Recipe Sunday #2

This is nothing new. Nor is this a recipe. This is, however, the answer to "what's for dinner?" after a long day of housecleaning. Cleaning makes me cranky. Very cranky. So cranky that the second I was done with it I poured myself a (very)generous glass of wine while I put my feet up for a bit. The wine went to my head rather quickly; chopping anything would have been a dangerous endeavor. Everyone needs a quick, go-to meal in situations like these. Chicken soft tacos were the answer on Sunday night.

The best thing about making tacos is that there is so much room for personal expression. Maybe that's overstating it. But as long as it tastes good, you can pretty much do whatever you want in terms of fillings and condiments. Eddie and I are pretty basic. We just need some meat, cheese, guacamole and a good sauce or salsa. Of course using freshly made items would be preferable, but since we had so many taco-worthy items on hand in our cabinets I totally went the lazy route. I'm blaming the wine.

You will need:

• 1 lb. ground chicken
• 1 packet Lawry's hot taco seasoning
• shredded cheese
• guacamole
• jalapeno hot sauce
• tomatillo salsa
• sliced jalapenos
• tortillas

1. Prepare the chicken according to the directions on the seasoning packet. Set aside.
2. Warm tortillas.
3. Spoon chicken into the tortillas. Add toppings and condiments to your liking.

These tacos paired well with Novella's Synergy Blanc wine. It's a blend of chardonnay, pinot gris, sauvignon blanc and a bit of muscat canelli. It's available at Trader Joe's for about $5. It was also quite nice to drink on its own.

Cooking Notes: (a) I tried to make things a little healthier by using ground chicken instead of beef, low carb tortillas and light cheese. In the future I'd opt for regular cheese instead. (b) Eddie and I like spicy foods, hence the hot seasoning, sliced jalapenos and two spicy salsas. You can always adjust the heat level to your liking. (c) Trader Joe's makes a pretty decent pre-made guacamole. (d) Have napkins on hand (or a dog underfoot) for the inevitable spillage while eating.

Law & Disorder: The 90210 Edition

I was a huge fan of Beverly Hills 90210 when it first began airing. The characters were sophomores in high school, as was I at the time. As the years passed by many of my young adult milestones such as getting a driver's license, taking the SAT, going to prom and graduation were played out in a glamorous and idealized fashion on my tv screen, oftentimes just days or weeks before they happened in real life.

Recently, I've become addicted to the show's reruns on the SoapNet cable channel. My fascination started up again while the network was reairing the college years. Watching those episodes brought back so many memories ......... of my closet!

Floral print dresses and skirts? check
Baggy jeans worn w/ a bodysuit? check
Plaid shirts? check
Clunky mary jane shoes? check
Faux Doc Martens? check
Black velvet chokers? check
Dark brown lipstick (btw MAC ruled this dept.)? check

I swear there was one episode I recently watched where Kelly Taylor was wearing the exact same skirt I once had. I couldn't decide if that was a good or bad thing. :-/

I continued to watch the show faithfully until the post-college years. As ridiculous as the storylines were before college graduation, the show started its freefall into cancellation territory when Noah Hunter, boatman revealed to be billionaire, became a regular character. That was roughly at the same time that Kelly Taylor suffered from amnesia as the result of a drive-by shooting, David Silver became a musician, Donna Martin got a job in fashion design within the blink of an eye, Steve Sanders started a newspaper and Brandon Walsh became even more self-righteous than previously thought possible. See? Way too over the top. I know that Valerie Malone is missing from that recital of characters, but she was merely just carrying on in her skanky scandulous ways. Nothing new to report there.

A few weeks ago, the reruns moved into Season 8, the first post-college season. Like the first time around I began to lose interest. But as I was scrolling through upcoming episode descriptions on the DVR, something caught my eye. There is an episode titled "Law and Disorder"!




The primary storyline in this episode is Valerie's accusation of date rape against Noah. The DA refused to file criminal charges, so Valerie has brought a civil suit against Noah. wtf? it has been merely a week since the incident. A WEEK! there is no way in hell ANY trial starts up that quickly after an incident. and certainly not a civil trial. legal ridiculousness. The episode opens up with her testifying about being "roofed". what ever happened to roofies? you just don't hear about them the way you used to in the 90s. is ghb the date rape drug of choice these days? As she testifies, the rest of the gang roll their eyes in skepticism. As the trial progresses, defense counsel asks all sorts of objectionable questions concerning Valerie's past. Of course, her attorney never objects. Not that it really would have made a difference as the judge is totally weak and lets both lawyers get away with tons of inappropriate courtroom behavior. more legal ridiculousness. if i can't get away with that shit then neither should the actors playing lawyers. Defense counsel also calls Brandon, Kelly, Steve and Valerie's boyfriend David to the stand as character witnesses for Noah. having her boyfriend subpoenaed was fucked up yet brilliant at the same time. All of their glowing testimony is overshadowed by some damning words from Noah's own brother. The testimony from Noah's brother establishes that Noah was last seen heading to the Peach Pit After Dark's backroom with a drunken Valerie after Noah had served and handled her glass of wine.

Meanwhile, the secondary storyline revolves around SweetVirginDonna's transformation into DruggieDonna. Within a week of hurting her back in a car accident, Donna has blown through an entire bottle of Vicodin and is strung out in a major way. She tries to bum more drugs from Noah's brother. When he says "no", she attempts to get a refill at the pharmacy. The pharmacist actually does his job and won't give her a refill, stating that a new prescription would be needed. She pleads with him to no avail. It's all very Neely-esque from Valley of the Dolls. On a mission for pills, DruggieDonna heads to the clinic where her dad, Dr. Martin, works. She almost gets caught breaking into the medicine cabinet, but instead manages to charm her dad into prescribing a few additional pills. She quickly downs 4 pills at one time as opposed to the 4 pills per day as she had been instructed. Obviously she runs out of pills again, can't function while at her job and ends up stealing her co-worker's designs, submitting them as her own original fashions. BadDruggieDonna!

There is a third storyline involving David, the band he was playing keyboards for, a smarmy record producer and David's promotion from keyboardist to frontman. I had to fast forward through these scenes. They made my ears hurt.

Back at the courthouse, the jury has deliberated and is ready to announce its verdict. the jury is dressed WAY too nice. i have never seen a male juror in my county wear a collared shirt, tie and blazer. ever. is this how jurors roll in la county? we're happy if they are just wearing something clean without cuss words. The jury finds in favor of Valerie! Following her victory she utters the memorable line, "One minute I'm a slut, the next I'm Joan of Arc."

While everyone else is at the courthouse, DruggieDonna heads to Noah's boat and franctically searches through his brother's belongings for painkillers. She finds the painkillers. And then she finds a package of roofies! Josh walks in, followed shortly by Noah and the truth comes out: Josh had planted the drugs in Valerie's drink intending to date rape her, but Noah intervened instead when she began to feel poorly and ended up reaping the "benefits".

The episode wraps up with Noah heading over to the Walsh home to tell Valerie and the rest of the gang what really happened. It appears that no one really cares based on the lack of reaction. Noah then heads over to Donna's place. When there is no answer at her door he looks in through the window and sees her lying motionless on the floor with an empty bottle of pills and a glass of wine on the counter. Vicodin and alcohol is no joke.

So that's the 90210 version of Law & Disorder. I deleted the episode as soon as I finished watching. Season 8 really is as bad as I recalled it to be and this episode, despite the awesome title, did not persuade me otherwise. And it's only downhill from here to the end. I think I'll just wait until they get back to seasons 1 through 7. I don't think I'll be watching the show's reincarnation this fall either. Some things are just best left in their original form.

How to Keep Your Job

There's been some drama(!) at the Agency lately. So for all those out there about to start a new job with a probationary period of any length, here are some friendly tips for how to stay employed.

1. Arrive at the office reasonably close to your starting time.
2. If you say that you are out of the office at another location, actually be at that other location.
3. Leave the office reasonably close to quitting time.
4. Don't take a 3 hour lunch, especially when you arrive late and leave early.
5. Don't "work from home" without permission.
6. Don't throw temper tantrums.

And finally, for the men, control your spontaneous erections. Seek medical help, psychological help, tight compression shorts or whatever else it takes not to freak people out. One time may be excusable, but more than that and you might just be a sexual harassment lawsuit waiting to happen. No one likes taking on that type of liability (or seeing the tents that you are pitching).

No Recipe Sunday

No, I didn't abandon my pledge to cook a new recipe each Sunday after a mere week. We left SF much later than we anticpated on Sunday and were nowhere near home by dinnertime. Instead we (including Jack) ate here:

It's almost homemade, right?

Nopa? No Problem.

Friday the 4th of July was a long and painful day. Since I am not DIY-inclined whatsoever, pretty much everyone knew that Eddie would be doing the bulk of the work on the deck, but I still tried to help him out. But after helping to sand nearly half the deck and helping out with some of the painting, I was done. Kaput. Finished. My arm couldn't take it anymore. While Eddie continued on his quest for painting perfection I tried to not scream from the pain that radiated from my shoulder to my fingertips. No matter what I did or how I positioned myself it would not stop hurting. I even resorted to using Tiger Balm, which prompted Eddie to ask before we went to bed, "What is that smell?" Sexy, huh?

Much to my relief, I was a bit better by Saturday. I was still popping Tylenol every four hours on the dot, but I was feeling okay enough to head out for something I had been looking forward to for weeks: dinner with my closest friends FogCityDweller and Claire at:

www.nopasf.com

"NoPA" is local shorthand for the area of the city that lies north of the panhandle of Golden Gate Park. The restaurant Nopa is located at the intersection Divisadero and Hayes Streets. When my parents and brother first moved to the U.S., they lived in an apartment building just a few blocks away from this location. Back in those days, the neighborhood was cheap, somewhat dangerous and pretty undesirable. Now, however, the area has transformed itself into an up-and-coming hip little neighborhood.

Nopa has an extensive cocktail and wine list, but green drinks were all the rage on Saturday night. The colors are a bit muted in this picture, but my Old Cuban (rum, mint, sugar, lime juice and cava) on the left was nearly flourescent green, while FogCity Dweller's Elderflower Gimlet (vodka, lime juice and elderflower syrup) was a very pale green. There were many other green drinks on neighboring tables. A quick perusal of the spirits menu revealed that other cocktails featured green tinged liquers such as absinthe and chartreuse. So much green ..... and it was nowhere near St. Patrick's Day.

Since I'm still getting used to blogging, much less blogging about food, I wasn't entirely comfortable with taking pictures of all of our dishes. I'm sure I'll get over that eventually. :-) I can tell you though that all three of us thoroughly enjoyed our dishes which included goat cheese crostini, flatbread topped with fennel sausage and beet greens, cauliflower soup, a grass-fed hamburger with pickled onions, braised duck legs and a brown butter-chevre cake for dessert. Here is a pic of the "friendship fries" that came with my hamburger. After I placed my order, the waiter commented that having the fries available for sharing would make sure that my dining partners would be always my friends. I like to think that the many years of friendship the three of us have shared is based on more than sharing fries, but these really were damn good fries. We later learned that they were fried in rice oil which created a perfectly light and crisp french fry that stayed light and crispy. No greasy fingers!

After dinner we hung out at Claire's place for a bit. By the time I got home Eddie was fast asleep. I found out from my dad (who was waiting up for me) that Eddie had been painting until past 9pm! The man really was on a quest for perfection. Much of his best work ended up being on the underside of the deck, which I didn't get a picture of, but as you can tell by this 'after' pic, he accomplished his goal of a beautiful, protected deck.

Tackling the I-5

The husband, puggle and myself set out for San Francisco over the long weekend. My least favorite part of heading to SF is the long drive up the I-5. Not only are gas prices exceptionally high along the corridor, but there is little to look at. In fact, when I head up on my own, I almost always take highway 101 instead, for its scenic value. It really doesn't take that much longer than the 5, maybe a half hour at worst.

Luckily, Jack is easily entertained and loves riding in the car. He can't get enough of looking out the window.

The photo above was taken as we were traveling along the Peninsula. I think we were in Burlingame or San Mateo. Can you see the layer of fog and cloud cover in the distance? Those clouds were over San Francisco. It was a very welcome sight. After weeks of 90-degree+ weather, I was more than ready for cool air.

By this point in our trip (almost seven hours in), Jack had enough of looking at the cars whizzing by and hunkered down for a nap.

And here is the primary reason for our trip. We volunteered to paint my parents' newly reconstructed deck. This is the 'before': an untreated redwood floor and railings that were last stained and treated several years ago. Stay tuned for the after!

New Recipe Sunday #1

Back when we were dating, Eddie made one somewhat odd request of me: to make a home-cooked meal on Sunday evenings. Since I already had an interest in learning how to cook and I knew how often he relied on Carl's Jr. for dinner most weeknights, I acquiesced. Now that we've been married for more than a year, I definitely cook more frequently, but it's hard to try out new recipes during the week. Trying out a recipe for the first time requires a certain level of time and attention that I simply don't have at the end of a workday. So inspired by our former Sunday night dinners, I have pledged to cook a new dish each Sunday.

So without further ado I present: Bucatini with Sausage and Peas (source: Food and Wine magazine)

You will need:

• 2 Tbsp. olive oil


• 1/2 lb. hot Italian sausage, casings removed


• 2 garlic cloves, minced


• 1 shallot, minced


• 2-1/2 cups prepared tomato sauce


• 1/4 cup heavy cream


• 1/2 cup frozen baby peas


• salt


• 1 lb. bucatini


• 1/2 cup freshly grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese
  
• 2 Tbsp. shredded basil
  
  

1. In a large saucepan, heat the olive oil over moderately high heat. Add the sausage and cook 6-8 minutes, until lightly browned, breaking up the sausage into small pieces. Add the minced garlic and shallot and cook for about 2 more minutes, until softened. Add the tomato sauce and bring to a simmer.


2. Turn the heat down to low and partially cover the the sauce. Cook for 30 minutes. Stir in the cream and frozen peas and continue to simmer over low heat for an additional 10 minutes. Season with salt to taste.


3. While the sauce is simmering, cook the pasta in salted water until it is al dente. Drain the pasta and return it to its pot. Add the sauce and the grated cheese. Stir over low heat until the pasta absorbs some of the sauce, approximately 2-3 minutes.


4. Top with additional grated cheese and the shredded basil and serve.

Cooking notes: a. If you can't find bucatini, spaghetti is an adeqaute substitute; b. If you can find ground Italian sausage, it will make things a little easier; c. For the tomato sauce, I used a very plain organic marinara from Trader Joe's.

Eddie's Rating: "Make it again!"

Right here would be a great location for a picture of the finished dish. But you'll have to use your imagination this time. Quite frankly, I was too lazy to clean off the tabletop to take a nice picture. Oops, my bad!