Tag Archives: pasta

Yes, actually, I can.

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You’re going to have to do indulge me bit – I have some ranting to do. But I do hope it is mostly relatable ranting!

 

So I’m 21. Almost 22 actually, but that’s splitting hairs. I have gotten the sense that the years from 20 to 22 are somewhat awkward. You’re not a teenager, but you’re still not old enough to be considered a “twentysomething.” Sure, you can drink legally, but the initial excitement over that dies down pretty quickly. (And studying abroad the year before where drinking starts from the age of 12 makes it even less of a big deal.)

You don’t have much. In my case, you’re pretty much stuck with a few hesitant glances at the register when you try to buy wine, and a fancy college degree that comes with just enough knowledge to need more than a part-time job flipping burgers but not quite enough experience to qualify you for any kind of “real job.” And the cherry on top? Even while you go about doing what you know you can do, there is a constant presence of someone “older and wiser” (read: condescending moron who think age = intelligence) peeking over your shoulder telling you how to do it.

Pardon my French, but – it’s a huge pain in the ass.

I was one of those kids who always seemed a little older than she was, probably because I’m generally pretty quiet and have always been more interested in sitting at the “adults’ table” and listening to their conversations than playing with crayons and eating chicken fingers. I told you I’m a nerd. But apparently, I stopped growing at around 17 and to most people, I look like I’m still there. I can’t even tell you how many people have asked, “Oh, you graduated this year? Do you know where you’re going to college?” I have tried to laugh it off, but really, it just pisses me off. I’ll recognize that a big part of it may be that in the summer I don’t wear makeup all too often and I’m often dressed to workout (usually because I’m either going to or already have and you are seeing me between showers), but to a certain extent I just find it ridiculous.

 

This has been a real struggle for me, and one of the worst things about it is that I’m not altogether sure why it gets to me so much. Any fellow grads having this issue? Let me hear from you. I feel pretty unique in this, and not in a good way.

I suppose I’m a little burnt out. College to me felt a little bit like a race to the end, and after I won the race and got my trophy, life went back to normal. I feel like I’m still standing in the middle of the race street in my running clothes, clutching my trophy for dear life, while a bunch of important-looking people push around me to get back to work. No matter how many times I try to stop someone and show them my very shiny trophy, they just brush right past like I’m invisible.

Sorry. I’m an English major – I’m prone to very imaginative metaphors. Go with it.

 

There are some days when I just feel like taking a megaphone, heading to the top of the Pru and shouting “I AM SMART AND I HAVE DONE LOTS OF THINGS AND AM GENERALLY A VERY QUALIFIED HUMAN BEING.” Or something like that. It just seems to me that people forget what college was after a few years, and no longer remember the constant-idea-making-machine they were after holding that diploma.

Look, I’m not saying I don’t know things. And I’m not saying I don’t have a lot to learn. And I’m not saying I don’t look like my 18-yr-old brother’s girlfriend when I am on the elliptical in my high school gym shorts.

But you know what? There’s lots I do know too. I probably even know more than your mom about certain things [ohsnap]. I clearly know enough about writing and food to have 1) written a blog about it for almost 2 years and 2) to get my own column about it. I certainly did not spend 3 months of my life reading American cookbooks from the 19th century and throwing around words like subversion and domestic ideology to come out not being somewhat of a know-it-all on the subject. And let me tell you, if you can successfully master the Italian transportation system in three months, you should be able to put it on your resume. I can’t say I haven’t considered it.

 

To the world – please stop underestimating the recently graduated. We’re really very capable and have quite a bit of knowledge still fresh in our brains. And to my fellow racers – may you find a very pretty place to put your trophy, and may you find a way to happily become one of those people around us walking to work. Emphasis on happily.

 

“I can do it just fine, thankyouverymuch” Spaghetti Limone Aglio Olio

Serve with a loaf of good crusty bread and a triumphant twinkle in your eye.

 

  • 1 lb fresh spaghetti (linguine or tagliatelle will work as well)
  • salt (for water)
  • 1 lemon, zested
  • 6 – 8 cloves of garlic
  • 3 T extra virgin olive oil
  • 3 – 4 T fresh parsley, chopped
  • scant 1/4 c grated parmesan cheese

Fill a large pot about 2/3rds full with water. Add a sizeable palmful of salt. Bring to a boil.

While you’re waiting, peel and either chop or smash (smashing is more fun) the garlic cloves. Then, because water takes forever to boil and you’re old enough to have heard the whole watched-pot proverb about a million times, zest your lemon. Chop it in half so that it’s ready to be squeezed. Go ahead and chop up that parsley, too.

Add pasta to the boiling water and cook until just al dente (a little undercooked is best).

In the meantime, heat the olive oil in a medium-large skillet. Throw in your garlic and keep smashing it around with your spoon. Let it cook until golden. Inhale. A lot.

Go drain your pasta – fresh pasta cooks in minutes, so it won’t need to be in there long.

Remove the pan with the now-golden-brown garlic from heat and add the parsley ( and red pepper flakes, if you wish). Add the pasta to the pan and toss it with the lemon zest, lemon juice (start with half the lemon and add to taste), and some fresh pepper. Top with parsley and cheese.

Serve to much impressed oohing and aahing and tell them you learned this recipe in school, where you also learned how to time-manage and generally be a self-efficient adult. Or just let the flavors speak for themselves. Either way, they’ll get the message.

 

College-age Nonmutant Perhaps-Ninja Turtles

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No turtles were hurt during this process. Well, no live turtles, anyway.

On Wednesday I mentioned a certain turtle-y challenge. On Friday, TGIF took on a whole new meaning.

You see, I showed my friend these adorable turtle pretzels on Kirbie’s Cravings (via Tastespotting, as per usual) and it was all over after that. We had to make them.

Now, yeast is on the ingredient list – but don’t let that deter you. I was a little anxious during the entire prep process because I don’t have a whole lot of experience with yeast – at least, not any recent experience. Unless eating my mom’s yeast rolls at Christmas counts?

Ahem. Alright, take off your rings, don your aprons, and tie back your hair. Let’s do this thing.

I followed the recipe exactly (except for one thing, but I’ll get to that later), so I won’t repost it here. Besides, a picture is worth a thousand words!

It calls for 4 1/2 cups of flour, so if you’re low, you might hop to the store. We did!

To begin, mix 1 tablespoon sugar and 2 teaspoons salt in 1 1/2 cups of warm water. I didn’t have a thermometer, so I just figured out the water tempt he old-fashioned way – stuck my hand under the faucet and waited until it felt like bath water.

Sprinkle a packet (2 1/4 tsp) of active dry yeast on top and let it sit for 5 minutes.

Tick tock, tick tock…

While you waiting, melt 2 oz of butter in the microwave. Please use butter – we want these turtles gross-margarine-chemical-free and not resembling the turtles from the Gulf.

When the 5 minutes are up, add in the butter and flour. You can try to mix it with a spoon, but after about 5 seconds I saw that it was time to go Ms. Frizzle on this dough – get messy!

Knead, baby, knead!

I had to add a little water when it got on the tough side. I really had no idea what I was doing, because the original recipe only has directions for a stand mixer, so I just guessed. After about 5 minutes, I figured it was good enough. Place it in an oiled bowl and let it rise for about 55 minutes.

While you’re waiting, I highly recommend following our lead and making grown-up animal mac & cheese. No, that is not an oxymoron.

 

More turtle love!

The very cute mini cheese grater I bought in California as a joke ended up coming in handy. Worked pretty well, too!

We used a combo of parmeggiano (the good kind – no Kraft here, thankyouverymuch) and this Amish Colby Jack cheese. No idea how much we put in. All I did was cook the pasta (salt your water!!) until slightly undercooked, drain it, and then return it to the still-hot pot on low heat. Add in the cheese – reserve some of the parm for topping – a little milk (we had skim), and some garlic salt and pepper. The garlic salt makes this go from “good” to “we are making this again. soon.” Don’t forget it! We also threw in some frozen broccoli. Hence the “grown up” mac and cheese.

I served mine over some arugula with extra parm on top. Seriously, make this. It was so good. Next time, we’re adding tomatoes and red onion. Maybe some spinach.

Hungry hungry hippo!!

Ok, so your dough is probably about done rising now. I have no real spatial abilities, so I trusted my roommate when she said it looked about double in size.

I cut the dough into 16 “equal” pieces – they weren’t very equal, but we were fine with having a few babies. So, roll each piece out long. It will help if you do this on a floured surface! Then spiral them in to look like snails, like so:

You’ll want a cup of water on hand to make the layers stick. Just don’t drink it.

Now, pinch a head, feet, arms and tail out of the dough.

Mine.

Emily’s.

For obvious reasons, she was in charge of the turtle-forming after that.

Right about here you should get your oven preheating to 450 F and start some water boiling. If you remember to read things, you will put 2/3 cup of baking soda in the water. I did not, and there is a bowl of baking soda in a drawer under our counter feeling quite unhappy and useless. Oops.

Basically, you’re gonna blanch the turtles before baking. When your water is boiling, drop them in for 30 seconds and use a slotted spatula/flat spoon to get them out. I had to do one at a time because our pot is small and I’m not good at multi-tasking, but if either or neither of those is true for you, I’m sure you could do multiple at a time.

Swim towards the light, little guy!

This maybe because I forgot the baking soda, but they expand like WHOA in there! I ended up baking six at a time because that’s all that would fit on my Silpat (aka, the fancy French reusable silicone nonstick baking sheet. You see why it’s just called ‘Silpat.’).

Beat an egg as your roommate continues transforming snails to turtles, and brush some over the pre-baked turtles. (They should dry relatively quickly after their, um, bath.) A brush would be great, but we didn’t have one so I just used my fingers. You’re gonna bake ‘em anyway, germs schmerms.

The directions said to bake them for 6 – 7 minutes. We had to keep them in there for at least double that time  - I’m thinking the lack of baking soda in the blanching water had something to do with that.

A little too blonde after 6 minutes.

But definitely tasty!

Once they’ve cooled, you can use a toothpick, fork tine, etc to poke little holes for eyes. We had some cupcakes sprinkles hanging around…

Red eyes = tired turtle?

This one was looking right!

Tell me this is not the cutest turtle you ever did see!

I did the first batch plain, but in the second and third I tried some toppings. Because it’s me and I have to play with my food.

Coarse sea salt

Rosemary

Brown sugar & cinnamon

The brown sugar definitely won our hearts over – but all of them were absolutely delicious! And really pretty easy – in fact, if you have a fear of working with yeast, this would be a great intro recipe. Trust me, I have no idea what I was doing and they are better than edible! We are definitely making these again – I did NOT measure out 2/3 cup of baking soda to just let it sit in a bowl under our counter. Nope.

Moral: Make these, because they will make you smile.

And don’t forget to spring forward!


A Backwards Christmas

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Christmas is my favorite holiday ever. I even like it better than my birthday – and don’t worry, I will get to that too. 

But first – can we just talk about the blizzard that is currently covering every inch of Massachusetts?

 

 

The dog loves it…

 

…even though she comes in every time shivering.

She loves when I wrap her up in a towel almost as much as when I take her picture.
*coughNOTcoughwoofwoof*

Our perty tree. (The bottom half of the lights just fizzled out…but you don’t notice that at all. Not at all.)

 

 

 

Christmas morning was filled with presents, hiding from my dad’s video camera, and monkey bread made with extra dough my mom used to make her grandmother’s yeast rolls the night before.

 

Cinnamon-sugary, doughy goodness! The phrase “melt in your mouth” came to mind.
After presents and general Christmas lazing, my parents, brother and I set out in our three-year-old Christmas day tradition: we go to a movie and have an early dinner at Legal Seafoods.
This year, we saw The King’s Speech. MAN, it was good. It was wonderfully well acted and I fell in love with Colin Firth for the 12387654th time. Oh Mr. Dahcy!

We like going to the Park Plaza Legal’s in downtown Boston for the ambience. I pretty much just go for the rolls. They have wonderful fish, of course, and the restaurant’s been a favorite of mine for….um, pretty much as long as remember. I was the six-year-old who drooled over lobster and shrimp cocktail – clearly, I’ve always had impeccable taste ;) Unfortunately, the menu seemed more boring than usual – they must have changed chefs recently. It really wasn’t a problem for me; I barely slept the night before and was still suffering from a food hangover, so I just got an appetizer and stole bites from my generous fam.
Continuing the holiday journey backwards, Christmas Eve is probably my favorite day of the year. Good moods are in abundance, and I get to bake my happy little hands off! My mom has always hosted a party on Christmas Eve and we have a Honey-Baked Ham, her sweet potatoes (the droolworthiness of which was previously discussed here), and the party-goers bring their favorites. This year the spread involved baked beans, hot chicken salad, scalloped potatoes, roasted brussel sprouts (one of my faves!), and green beans. Unfortunately, no pictures are to be had…because I was a little distracted.
By this:

Pumpkin Gingerbread Trifle.

 

And Sticky Toffee Pudding (so good, it has to be capitalized).

 

Yes, I made both. From scratch. I baked for two days. And I was happy as could be.

The trifle was something I had years ago at a friend’s Thanksgiving and became obsessed. It is one of the best things I’ve ever put in my mouth. I usually make the pumpkin mousse part with sugar-free, fat-free pudding mix and cool whip, and the gingerbread out of a box mix. But this year, I made it my mission to make my dessert as real-food-full as possible. It tastes better, costs less, and really is better for you.
For the pumpkin mousse layer, I used Kath’s Pumpkin Chiffon Pie recipe, just making the filling. It was perfectly spicy and thickened up beautifully overnight in the fridge. 2 things to keep in mind – 1) it is a good idea to make this well-beforehand, and 2) the mix will seem soupy before you add in the beaten egg whites, but don’t fear! It will set!
For the gingerbread, I used a recipe out of a (gasp!) Weight Watchers cookbook! [This one.] They actually have some really good recipes, regardless of whether you are on the WW plan or not. Their turkey chili is to live for. And, the gingerbread recipe called for 6 tablespoons of real butter and all real food ingredients, so I wasn’t worried. It was delicious!
I did not, however, use real whipping cream. I really didn’t want to use Cool Whip, because it does seem like a bunch of crap I really don’t want in my body, but I still wanted to make the dish a little on the lighter side (sticky toffee pudding is, um, NOT), so I used truwhip. It actually worked really well and tasted delicious and  quite frankly, I really like how those whipped toppings taste – and I know I’m not alone!

As for the Sticky Toffee Pudding, you may remember my first encounter with this dish that redefines delectable? It was the restaurant that I am going to work at this summer just 3 minutes from my aunt & uncles’ house in Georgia. It was a gooey, caramelly, thick plate of goodness, the likes of which my tastebuds had never before experienced. I decided right then and there that it would be the perfect birthday present for my brother. His birthday is in October and I am 1) never at home for it and 2) never sure what to get him, so I always bake him something, and this was definitely a good belated birthday present. The sauce, however, calls for 2 cups of heavy cream, and that was a bit much to keep just for the 4 of us alone, so the Christmas Eve dinner was the perfect occasion. It took most of a day to prepare, but damned if it wasn’t worth it. And, I’d be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy spending most of my day toiling over a cake to be enjoyed by others. It’s kind of my favorite thing to do. Ever.
It’s basically a super-moist cake made with dates and heavy on the molasses, which is then drenched in a bath of rich toffee and served very warm.

Good as it sounds? Nope. Better.

On with the rewinding!

Wednesday night, the fam and I ventured into Boston to see an improv show – anyone familiar with Sassy Gay Friend? If you’re not, you really should be. He is absolutely hilarious and I desperately want Saturday Night Live to create a sketch just for him. His YouTube videos are addicting – you just never get sick of watching them! I have them memorized and I still crack up when I watch them. Anyway, the actor is a Boston native and was doing a live show at a small improv company where he got his start (he’s actually from my hometown – one of Dedham’s finest!) The show made me cry with laughter multiple times, and I really wish he was my Sassy Gay Friend.

The theatre is right in Boston’s North End, which is our Little Italy. Italian restaurants (authentic ones – Olive Garden is a swear down there) line the streets from all sides, and you only have to choose one. That’s actually more difficult than it sounds – eenie meenie miney moe would serve you well. We chose Ristorante Fiore, mostly because we were getting cold and hungry and it was on the same side of the street as the theatre. We didn’t regret our choice.

A really tasty bottle of wine was ordered (because I can drink in public now – amen!), although the olive oil didn’t taste as “fresh off the boat” as I would have liked. I think Italy ruined olive oil here for me. Damn.

 

I ordered the bombolotti al forno, which was housemade pasta (an absolute must – any Italian restaurant that doesn’t make their own pasta should be embarassed, in my very snobby opinion) with a simple marinara sauce and housemade sausage topped with regiano and goat cheeses. Oh dear pasta gods.

 

The goat cheese just put this over the edge of delirious deliciousness. I actually asked if I could have it without the sausage, mostly because I just can’t eat much meat anymore and it doesn’t appeal to me much – but the waiter was mildly horrified and convinced me. I was happy he did; it added a ton of flavor and had the perfect sausage texture – tender and juuust crumbly enough with a slight kick of spice. I was so distracted by the wonderful homemade pasta that I didn’t think to take a picture of it, which I regretted sorely after I realized it, because it was beautiful! Bombolotti is very, very wide and thick tubes of pasta but this restaurant made several little tubes inside each piece – it kind of looks like the wheel-shaped pasta before it’s cut into individual wheels. A wheel log, if you will.
That probably makes no sense, so obviously you must go as soon as possible and try it for yourself. Hanover Street, on the left side. Trust me.
What is it about homemade pasta? I hate to say it, but I think it’s just something you have to experience. It has a different density, a different mouthfeel…it’s just so much more satisfying.
Anyway, where was I? Pasta gets me so very sidetracked. Oh yes, the Christmas break rewind. Well, I flew from Atlanta to home on Saturday, cutting my Christmas vacation at home to a mere 2 weeks instead of a blissful 3. But there is a method to my madness.
That restaurant that I mentioned I will be working at this summer? Well, it’s more of an internship than work. To attend the CIA, I have to have 6 months of hands-on food prep experience – read:I have to chop vegetables for 12-15 hours a week. Which I am totally fine with – the trick was finding a place that would have me! I found my “in” at this restaurant that is a couple miles down the road from my aunt & uncle’s house in Lilburn, Georgia called Three Blind Mice. It’s a really cool restaurant and the chef is super nice and was very accommodating for my situation – and every one on the kitchen is very supportive of my goal o be a food writer! I’m always a little apprehensive to tell chefs that I want to be a food writer; I expect the “oh, so you want to tell me what’s bad about my food for a living?” response. Thankfully, food writing is really becoming an established literary genre and the immediate thought was that I would write a book – that’s more than a career goal, that’s kind of a life dream of mine. But they made it sound a lot more possible than I believe[d] it to be, so yay!
So, last week I worked a 9-hour and 7-hour shift, two days in a row, followed by a 4-hour shift (Thursday was totally dead for the dinner hour and I was pretty much useless). I peeled and deveined shrimp for 2 hours straight. I took over the salad station. I made enough hummus to fill the biggest stainless steel bowl I have ever laid eyes on. Oh, and I learned how to use the torch that caramelizes the sugar on creme brulees. That was pretty cool. And I learned all that after just 3 days – get excited for this summer, when I will impart all my new knowledge to y’all!
[And I do expect to have enough material for a book after this summer. I've started taking notes. Definitely have a good cast of characters.]
Before that was finals and the presentation of my senior thesis. You know, the 20-page paper that determined whether or not I would graduate with the degree I’ve spent the past 3 years of my life working for? Yeah, that one. It owned my soul for the past 3 months. It felt like I gave birth to a child when the last copy was printed. But, it also kicked ass and I am now the proud owner of an intense amount of knowledge surrounding food writing and food in World War II America. If I ever got to write a longer thesis or a research book, I would totally devote it to examining how food in the 1940s helped shape American cuisine & food attitudes as they are today. It’s completely fascinating.
In fact, I actually enjoyed the research involved. Even though at one point I had over 30 post-it notes covering my desk and over 30 (yes, 30) library books on food covering my floor, printer top and window sill. It was so interesting, and it let me learn all there is to know about M.F.K. Fisher, the woman who basically founded American food writing as a genre. But she is more than a food writer – and you don’t have to subscribe to Bon Appetit or have an entire bookcase of cookbooks or even watch Paula Deen to fall in love with her writing. Her books apply to everyone. If you are in need of a New Year’s resolution, let me help you: read The Art of Eating. At the very least, The Gastronomical Me. If she doesn’t capture your heart, she will at least arouse your tastebuds.
And the week before that…I turned 21! I would say that all the responsibility and freedom that comes with being able to drink makes me feel different, but….um, I kind of spent the first half on my 20th year in Italy, going to wine tastings and aperitivo. But, I do not drink to get drunk, because I think that’s stupid and disrespectful to the drink – especially with wine, it’s someone’s career to craft every ounce that goes into that bottle. It’s not made to be chugged, thankyouverymuch.
Ok, off my soapbox.
Well, that’s my recap for the month. Miss me?
I know I was a bad, bad blogger during this semester. But please understand, I took 5 classes – 3 literature classes, 1 senior thesis, and chemistry – and balanced [barely] 4 jobs on the side (I blog for my school, I do some study abroad work for my awesome study abroad company, API, I work at the Writing Center on campus, and I’m the Italian tutor). It might sound like I’m blowing my own horn…and, well, I kind of am. I’m actually a little proud that I made it through in one piece, with all limbs and GPA in tact. But, I am definitely not proud of the neglect this blog felt, and hope to remedy that immediately and into the new year. I will be moving into the senior apartments for the Spring semester which means that I will actually HAVE A KITCHEN! It is very difficult to put my excitement about that into words – but I promise to try. I also don’t have classes on Monday or Friday, which is a first (and last!) for me. I really feel like I’ve lost my blogging mojo, and have every intention of getting it back.
That said, I will return tomorrow with a super easy and tasty one-pot, quick and warming dinner for all of my fellow blizzard shit-ins!
~Namaste~

Unexpected Austin

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Wednesday, August 11th 2010: Wake up far too early for a sunny day in August. Eat some melon. Head to airport. 
Destination: Austin, Texas.
Purpose: Training as a Peer Mentor for Academic Programs International.
[Just wanted to set the scene for y'all. Why the James Bond writing style?...If I told you, I'd have to kill you.]
Once I passed through security – always a barrel of laughs, that process – I proclaimed it breakfast time. And whaddya know, but there was a UFood Grill in the American terminal. I have heard of this particular restaurant and have always wanted to go, but all its Massachusetts locations are in downtown Boston, and it’s not easy to just hop down there. (Mostly because I refuse to drive in Boston. I value the lives of myself and my car far too much.) It’s a super casual dining place that features all health-focused fresh foods – AND tart frozen yogurt. If I haven’t mentioned it before, I have a frozen yogurt, erm, problem. The problem being that I love it and will get it at pretty much anytime of the day or night, irregardless of actual hunger. It’s usually worth it.
But, I also saw they offered smoothies, and that sounded perfect so early on in the day. I grabbed a yogurt and the Mango Madness smoothie – mango, banana, and orange juice.
It was a little heavy on the OJ flavor, but it was pretty tasty. And it made me happy to see a substantial healthy breakfast option in the airport. It made me smile.
I had a layover at OHare in Chicago, and was equally as successful in finding a healthy lunch option!
It was lacking in the protein department, and was seriously screaming for some avocado, but it was really fresh and tasty. The cilantro made ALL the difference, and I was really impressed that it was even there! When I think of airports and herbs together, I see a flight attendant asking me if salt counts. Go OHare and cilantro!
Got to Austin and eventually found the other 3 Peer Mentors who were with me – we were on the same flight the whole time!
I’m just going to say it now: I have never, EVER in my life experiences humidity like I did in Texas. It was what I think rain forests and green houses are like. It was intense and inescapable. But I actually kind of liked it – the air conditioning never felt too cold! 
Despite all the heat, we still saw plenty of runners and bikers and strollers out and about, sweaty and smiling. It was impressive. Insane, but impressive.
After getting to the hotel, my roommate Gab and I chilled in the room and literally talked for 2.5 hours straight. She had studied with the API Toscania program, and it was absolutely incredible to share our mutual Italy experience/adventures. In fact, the entire time in Austin was like the best therapy I could have asked for in the transition back to home life. I loved hearing about everyone else’s experiences and even though we all went to different places, we all had the common ground of loving every minute of it and it was amazing to connect with that. It was just the coolest group of people. I kinda wish we got to work together more as Peer Mentors. But before I get too wish-washy…
On to the FOOD. We definitely ate well in Austin. The first night, we went to a Tex-Mex place. As we should have.
 
[Insert here bowls of some seriously delicious salsa, guacamole, and queso. I always thought queso was just glorified melted Veleveeta cheese....I was wrong. It's amazing.]
I went with the fish tacos for my entree. It was a tough choice, but I’ve always wanted to try them, and I do love me some grilled tilapia. It was a good choice :)
The corn tortillas were soft (my fave!) and tasted homemade, and I never thought I would say this, but the best part of the dish was the Chipotle Ranch dressing drizzled on top. I usually opt for no dressing, because the plate typically arrives drowning under a cloying, bland, cheap-tasting white goo. But this was unlike no other ranch I’ve ever tasted. It was light but wonderfully creamy, well-spiced but not too hot, and accented the dish without taking any other flavor away. Basically, exactly what a sauce should be. One of the best tex-mex experiences I’ve ever had. (The only one that was better was a seafood enchilada in downtown Boston when I was around 9. It remains in my head as one of the tastiest seafood dishes yet to reach my mouth. I could eat one right now.)
After dinner, the group of us wandered around downtown Austin (ha! that rhymes with Boston!…maybe I need to get out more.). Austin is such a cool city! It reminded me a lot of Charlotte, North Carolina which I was totally not expecting. Most of our group ended up doing a bit of bar-hopping on the [in]famous 6th street, but my 20-year-old status and very tired self prevented me from doing the same. Luckily, my roommate and one other girl were also still 20, so I wasn’t alone. Yay for the youngin’s!
After a none-too-restful night, I awoke groggy but excited to get started. It was so great to actually meet the people I had emailed obsessively and see the building where that rather hefty check was sent to. The API Staff is just awesome. And a lot of them are Gillianasana readers, which just makes me grin like an idiot to know. [Hi everyone!!!] And the office decor is SO cool. The creative director Mark is, well, creative. It’s really colorful and fun, and I have plans to decorate my future apartment a la API. You’re all invited to my housewarming party. Bring chocolate.
We went out to lunch & I had my first one of these:
A fried pickle! And the consensus was that it tastes like…um, a fried pickle. Yep.
Dinner was really exciting. Like, really really exciting.
Italian! What else would get me so excited?
[That was some delicious focaccia. Nothing like the focaccia I had in Italy...but delicious nevertheless. Crispy, cheesy, chewy. God I love bread.]
Remember my first garganelli experience? I loved the shape, and when I saw it on the menu simply done with a tomato & basil sauce, my mind was made up quite quickly.
Simple is always a good way to go.
The dining experience in Austin was really fun. Great food + great conversation. It was, well, great!
And lo and behold, what was across the street from this Italian restaurant but a frozen yogurt shop. I was all over that like white on rice.
This was my first experience with pay-per-ounce fro yo, and I must say, I am jealous of those of you who have one nearby. Although my wallet sure is happy without them.
But who can say no to this??
Not I. 
I went the next night too.
The next and final day, we all gave our presentations about our personal study abroad experiences. It was so much fun to hear everyone’s, and made me want to go back. And then go everywhere they went. Global tour, anyone?
Earlier, we met with our program managers, aka the person I stalked via email for 3 months when I was dealing with the massive amount of paperwork involved. [Note to all those study-abroad hopefuls I just scared: most of it is now done online. I am jealous.]. Mine was absolutely awesome, despite the fact that I emailed her 3 times in a row in a period of 10 minutes, and it was so cool to meet her (and see a pic of her adorable son!). 
Another highlight was lunch.
Turkey+sprouts+lettuce+tomato+mustard+”avocado”. Apparently in Texas, when you see avocado on a menu, it means guacamole. Only one more reason I love Austin. More places should adopt that principle.
But dessert basically eclipsed everything else. There is a “cookie delivery service” nearby that the office orders from often, understandably. But the kicker? The cookes are delivered fresh from the oven.
In one word? GENIUS.
That was hands-down the best M&M cookie I’ve ever had. It was all gooey and melty and warm and if I didn’t have enough reasons to up and move to Austin, this would do it. I want to open a fresh-from-the-oven cookie delivery service. Seriously. Possibly one of the best business strategies I’ve ever heard of.
After our training was all over (*tear*), a small group of us decided to check out Barton Springs Pool, which is a public outdoor swimming area with natural water. (I don’t know how else to describe it; by “natural,” I mean not chlorinated. So before you start giggling about the concept of “unnatural water”…shutup.)
[I love that there is an award for "Best Swimming Hole."]
We ran back to the hotel and I fought with the hotel printer, and before I knew it, it was dinner time! We met at a tapas bar (we were going for barbecue, but the was an hour-long wait, and it was already 8 o’clock. Not happening.).One of the group studied in Barcelona, so needless to say, we asked him for recommendations. I
went vegetarian.
It was some fresh bread with some of the best grilled veggies I’ve had – and I have had a lot! It was leeks, artichokes, and asparagus in smoked olive oil + sea salt. The leeks literally melted in my mouth. That romesco sauce on the side was none too shabby, either. I wanted to partake in the bottle of wine, but that pesky age limit and my conscience stopped me. Oh, to be in Italy again.

It was really a great trip. Even better than I expected, and I was pretty excited to begin with! The job will be a lot of work, but studying abroad is something I’m pretty passionate about & I think it will really be fun. 
That wasn’t the only surprise; the trip seemed to trigger a bit if reverse culture shock. Perhaps it was all the talking about living in our respective countries and how much we loved and grew from it, but either way, I came home happy but a little hurtin’. But what it really did was remind me of what a crazy, confusing, beautiful experience studying abroad is and, for me, was. And I’d do it all over again.
Thanks, Austin!
I think I’ll be back ;)
~Namaste~
[P.S. - if anyone read this earlier, my mouse clicked the "Publish" button of its own volition when I was halfway through writing it. Hate it when that happens.]

The Maine Thing

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Um, yeah, remember a few weekends ago when I went to Maine? Well, remember how I promised to return with pictures? Yeah, blogger fail. Better late then never, though!

Family friends/former neighbors of ours bought a little cottage just a couple hours out of Mass. around Ogunquitt, Maine. The cottage was super cute – small, but cozy rather than claustrophia-inducing, with lots of light and they’ve decorated beautifully. Look how cute!
Our hostess called this her “Martha Stewart moment.” Love it.
We arrived just in time for lunch – and a lovely lunch it was!

Pasta salad, FULL of veggies. This was absolutely delicious! It is originally from the Silver Palate cookbook; I am planning on making it again (and again, and again….) and probably tweaking it here and there. I do love me a good pasta salad.
And fruit! 

Including these gorgeous local raspberries:
Even better than they look.
Now, why on earth would anyone go to Maine in July? 
The BEACH, of course!
It was a perfect beach day. Just look at this sky:
To get to the beach, you have to walk over some beautiful marshland. It made LuLu very happy – she is a much more cooperative camera when there is beauty to be documented!
Chillin :)
See the sailboat?
This struck me as very….biblical. The light, the tree…I don’t know. 
After lazing in the sun, we took a quick drive to Perkin’s Cove, a.k.a, the tourist haven. But it sure is perty!
I could not get over the restaurants there. I wanted to go to so many! We passed a French bistro located inside an adorable little cottage that could have easily been a B&B…or Snow White’s house. Forget eating there, can I work there????
We went to a really wonderful place for breakfast, Roost Cafe.
In an old barn, they created a quirky, fun ambience!
They even bake their own bread & pastries! I must have seen this bread basket get changed 3 times or so as we ate. And if I wasn’t in love already…
Check the menu.
Honey lavender granola????

And then, I saw the pancakes…
It was over. One order of the blue corn pancakes with Maine blueberry compote, comin up!
They were SO tasty and unique. Delicately crispy, and the corn meal gave it a great mouth feel and rich flavor. Actually, the chef came out and asked me how they were – the high humidity was apparently really messing with the pancakes’ rising. It took all of my composure to not follow him back into the kitchen and learn more. I was fascinated. I wanted to ask for a job. They have a great location, it’s a super fun space, they make their own bread and have amazing pancakes. After I graduate from culinary school, can I call you? 
Should you ever find yourself in the York area on US Route 1, you MUST stop. It was a great dining experience.
Brunch (it was around noon when we left) was followed by some serious antique shopping. In 90 degree weather. With humidity. But there was some cute stuff!

Our visit ended in the best way possible.
Peppermint soft-serve ice cream – with the necessary chocolate jimmies.

And I didn’t even mention the lobster we had for dinner….oh yes. We lived well in Maine.

~Namaste~

Over-The-Humpday Challenge DEBUT!

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I told you I had fun stuff planned! So, from now on, every Wednesday I will have an Over The Humpday Challenge to overcome. For the very first OTHdC (c’mon, you know you love the acronyms), I was very excited to put a new-found ingredient to some good use:
GARLIC SCAPES!!!
I first saw them on Angela’s blog, and then I spied them at our weekly farmer’s market with a sign that said “Last Week!!” and snatched a big ole bag of them up….with no idea what in the world I would do with them. Luckily, destiny called and lo and behold, the stand that sold the scapes had little recipes printed out from garlic scape pesto. Sounds like a good plan to me.
After reviewing the recipe, I decided to just use my regular pesto recipe and sub the basil & garlic clove for just the scapes. Into the food processor went:
-12 garlic scapes
-2 T pine nuts
-2 T extra virgin olive oil (pesto is raw, so the more flavorful the olive oil, the more flavorful the pesto!)
-5 T parmesan cheese
-pinch coarse salt (we actually didn’t have any, but it is recommended – makes it easier on the blades)
-water (about a glass) to add as needed
I did chop up the scapes to help the food processor a little. 
WHOA these babies are strooooong! This pesto was uber-garlicky, to the point of being spicy, but I and my taste testers thought it was great! I tossed it with some whole grain fusilli with a bit of basil torn and sprinkled on top:
I like to think my cooking professor in Florence would be proud :)
I made it a second time (SO many scapes!) and instead of pasta, threw it in a bowl with a can of cannellini (white) beans, fresh tomato, and black olives – this time adding a touch of ricotta cheese to the sauce. Again, success! We had plenty left over and ended up using it as the sauce for a bag of tortellini for dinner. TOO easy!
There you have it, ladies and gentlemen. Garlic scape pesto: a dip, spread, sauce, side dish, main attraction, snack, omelette filler….oh, the list goes on. 
OTHd Challenge: Garlic Scapes? Accomplished. 
~Namaste~

Barrific

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A food blogger walks into a bar…and reviews it! Bahahahaha…..alright, all done.

Reviews, anyone?

Let’s start with Odwalla! They were recently on sale at Whole Foods, and, um, I had fun. What can I say, I see those yellow-and-red sale tags and all but jump for joy! Yes, this is what grocery shopping does to me. Totally normal.

This kind of reminded me of a cross between a Nutrigrain bar and a Fig Newton. Had that dense, datey feel with that vague berryness in NGs. I found it pretty boring, unfortunately. The whole berries were nice, it had a decent texture, but…meh. Not bad, just nothing special.
NEXT.
Another letdown. I made my brother try some too, for a second opinion. He took two bites and looked at me with a “why do you do these things to me” expression. I wasn’t exactly excited. This would actually be a great, cookie-like treat if the first and most prevalent flavor is dates. It’s one thing to sell a date bar and advertise it as such, quite another to name something “chocolate chip peanut”, one of the best combos ever, only for those flavors to be the least obvious. The few chocolate chips thrown in helped, but not enough. 

Now this is one tasty bar. The banana nut flavors are spot on and it tastes like a particularly good and chewy piece of banana bread. I loved every bite – even more so than the Larabar version! Yum!

Speaking of Lara…

Ok, I will start out by saying that I do NOT like coconut. Why, you ask, did I buy this? Well, I’ve found that in Larabars I actually can appreciate the flavor, and I figured with chocolate thrown in, how bad can it be! (The coconut cream pie is one of my favorite flavors!) But this was…sad. It was neither chocolatey nor coconutty, just some vague middle ground between the two that was lacking in any distinct flavor at all. Maybe I just got a bad one? Oh well. 
This is the Lara I know and love. Very cinnamony and the dates added a light, fruity flavor. Plus the added texture of the nuts, this is a great bar! Came just in time too; couldn’t have made it through the last 2.5 hours of my shift without it!
Clif bars are another favorite of mine to take to work. After 3 hours of nonstop movement, I definitely feel the need for some protein.
*Sigh* Let down again. This had a really weirdy soapy(??) taste to it that I could not get over! It wasn’t very peanutty or toffee-y, just sweet and blah. But it gets points for looking pretty.
This I liked very, very much! It wasn’t too sweet and those 3 fruits came out really well and meshed well too, to my relief and surprise. Most of the Clifs are waaaay too heavy on the brown rice syrup even for my sweet teeth, but this was really well balanced.
As was this guy:
This is probably my fave Clif so far. Just like a gooey peanut butter treat with crunchy chopped peanuts – perfect. I definitely recommend this to peanut butter lovers!
I know, this is a LOT of bars! They’ve been filling my camera since the road trip and I’m just now getting around to all of ‘em, oof! I would like to throw out my personal opinion (although I probably already have) on bars: I don’t like using them as meal replacements, and unless cirsumstances are unusual, won’t eat more than 1 a day. I have always had problems with hypoglycemia and for me, they are a great and easy way to raise my blood sugar quickly when I need it (you do NOT want to be around hungry Gillian. It aint pretty.) I also discovered that when working in the coffee house when I usually get about 3 minutes to chomp something down during a 5 or 6 hour shift while making coffee and generally running around, there is nothing quite as easy to eat as these. That said, I do prefer to snack (and eat meals) on whole “real” foods, mostly because I find them more filling and my body functions better with them. I am not defending myself or anything here, I just wanted it to be known that I do not live off 4 Larabars a day, nor do I recommend it. I like Michael Pollan’s saying a lot” “Eat food. Mostly plants. Not too much.” Word.
As for real food, there’s been aplenty of that going on as well:
Supercharge Me cookies. I’m determined to maintain a constant supply. They make the best pre-yoga snack. Ever.
Oh, and they are super DUPER if you add cardamom and nutmeg along with the cinnamon. Trust me.
Fresh bread! Nothing like it. 
WAAH I miss my little Italian bakery on the way home to the apartment!!!
Sorry. Random nostalgic moment done.
Fage, raw oats, blueberries, peach and cinnamon. Happiness in a bowl.
Cream of wheat with blueberries cooked in, swirled with applesauce. Yes, I love the taste…but look how pretty!
As for that preview? Pasta Alla Norma! My aunt & uncle were in town last week and I decided it was the perfect occasion to attempt to recreate one of my favorite dishes from my cooking class this past semester. I’ll  admit, it wasn’t as good…although I have a feeling that fact that I was in Italy made it a little better…but it was still a delicious plate of pasta!
1. Buy fresh pasta. It makes a difference. And start your water boiling now – it takes freakin forever to get there.
2. Start your sauce: heat a couple tablespoons of olive oil in a saucepan with some chopped garlic and half a chopped onion (or one small). When the onion becomes translucent, add in 3 cans diced tomatoes, give it a stir, cover and let it cook. Just keep an eye on it and cook it low; if I don’t burn it, I promise you won’t!
3. Get a big ole eggplant (or 3ish small ones) and cut it into rounds, pretty thin. Dust both sides of all of them with some flour – this will keep the oil from completely saturating the eggplant when it goes in the pan and leaving them crispy.
4. Heat up some more olive oil in a pan and start throwing the eggplants in. I gave them about half a monute or so, flipped them over, then put them on paper towels to drain and blotted the tops lightly with another towel. [Fyi, I didn't actually make these in my class - I worked on a different dish that day - so I was going with what I remembered seeing others do. Worked for me!]
5. Your water has GOT to be boiling by now, right? Good. Throw in the pasta and check it in 3 minutes – fresh cooks faster than dried. No one likes soggy pasta! Al dente just tastes better and will hold up the dish better.
To plate, toss the pasta in your wonderfully fresh-tasting tomato sauce. Top with the eggplants rounds, then with some basil, then with some parmesan or grana padano. 
Mangia bene!

~Namaste~

Restaurant Review: Bella Luna

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Instead of letting everyone in the house abandon me and leaving me to stalk the aisles of Whole Foods for dinner (not necessarily a bad thing, really), my mom invited me to her dinner date with a friend. And then put me on restaurant-search duty as the resident foodie of the fam. I was more than happy to oblige :)
I had read about Bella Luna, a funky restaurant/lounge in Jamaica Plain in a feature in the [Boston] Globe. It  was described as “satisfyingly groovy” and had a menu to match, so we figured, why not??
I couldn’t have described it better myself.  You walk in to a somewhat dimly lit space, most of the light shining out of big paper mache star lamps. The decor was funky, just shy of kitsch, and the service was great. Our waiter had an impressive knowledge of the wine list, too. Best of all, they have outdoor seating under bright red umbrellas. I love sitting outside. I think it totally ups the atmosphere and makes for an even lovelier evening meal.
If we weren’t charmed yet, each seat had a different plate with its own hand-drawn design:
Clearly designed by some aspiring artists. TOO cute!
And I loved the bottle the water was served in:
A restaurant I just went to recently did this too…maybe this a becoming a trend in the US restaurant scene?
To start, we 3 split an order of some seriously awesome fried calamari. For all you skeptics out these, I usually don’t like fried food because it tends to make me violently ill, but I couldn’t resist one golden, crispy bite – and it was SO good. Some of the best I’ve had.
We also split the Mediterranean Duet, warm pita bread with raw veggies and 2 dips: classic hummus and a spicy eggplant dip:
The hummus was only so-so, a little too creamy-chickpea-y for me. What can I say, I need my tahini and GAHLIC! But the eggplant dip was ca-razy good! Heavy on the ginger and with quite a kick of spice, and really tasty. The other two helped, but I pretty much dominated this plate.
For my entree, I just got a big salad – love me some arugula!
The shrimp was lovely and fresh, and the cheese was deliiisssh. Arugula and sharp cheeses like prmeggiano were basically made for each other. It also had pumpkin seeds, which I totally loved! Such a fun extra flavor addition. It was in a very simple lemon vinaigrette, which I felt needed a little work – it was a little too much like straight lemon juice. I think just a spice or two added to it could really make it incredible. But I was a very happy leaf-eater with this salad.

Mom got this beauty:
Arugula, goat cheese (!), cherry tomatoes, red onion and garlic oil.
Ok, I don’t know what kind of crack they put in their crusts, but this pizza was one of the best I’ve had. And I’ve had what I consider the best - fresh from the oven, in Italy, after making it myself. But this was up there. The crust was that perfect thickness and the arugula + garlic oil made it herby and delicious. I had a slice and then a couple more teeny tiny slivers when we brought it home. Whoa.
And Mom’s friend Barb (and just in case she reads this…HI!!!) got the wild mushroom ravioli:
I had half of a bite of my madre’s bite because it’s me and I avoid all things involving peas like they’re mosquitoes (and, actually, ravioli…but that’s another story), but the bite I had was some seriously phenomenal ravioli. The earthy mushrooms + creamy sweet cheese filling flavors were just spot on.

Dessert came in the form of lemon sorbet and tiramisu. Now, I will say that this is one restaurant where the “judge a restaurant by their desserts” rule does not work. We had great appetizers and wonderful entrees, but I was quite disappointed in the dessert. The sorbet, although refreshing and lemonade-like, had a very odd texture. It was almost like freezer burn-icy on the outside (which had a watery flavor) but then oddly chewy on the inside. Sorbet, to me, is supposed to be smooth and almost creamy, at least easy for a spoon to dig in. This was almost gummy, and there was nothing inventive about the flavor. The tiramisu was even more of a disappointment – I mean, I realize I’m horribly biased, but still. The sponge in the middle was watery and weak tasting, and the whipped cream on top tasted very artificial. And the chocolate syrup was no better than Hershey’s out of a bottle – not that that doesn’t have it’s place, but come on. That place is not tiramisu! I tried [multiple times] to take a picture, but the sun had long since set and LuLu wasn’t having it. Clearly they should just hire me to be the tiramisu chef! Haha, jk jk (sort of ;) .
Dessert aside, it was a lovely meal with great conversation and company, and that is what a meal is supposed to be.
~Namaste~

What’s in a Name…or Post Title

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Welcome to…
My yard. 
A.k.a, the Gillianasana photography-practice site.
No Flash
—–>
 w/ Flash.
Couldn’t decide.
All my mother. I bake, she gardens. Hobbies are important.
Especially when they become your career! Yesterday I zipped down to Providence, Rhode Island to check out the Johnson & Wales culinary school campus. It hopped to the forefront of my list when I read about their Culinary Nutrition program and decided it was definitely worth a visit. It was indeed, and I got a lot of really good information and now have way too much thinking to do. I’m going on a college tour road trip with my brother (a senior-to-be in high school) and madre this coming week, and on the way back we are stopping in Hyde Park, New York to check out the holy land  CIA – Culinary Institute of America. It’s the big one, where you go to be in the food industry. It scares me. 
That said, tomorrow we leave for Philadelphia and will be on the road until Friday night! I am bringing my mini laptop and will hope and pray to find hotels with wireless access or computers – but just in case I can’t, I promise I WILL return! With pics. LOTS of pics. I’m looking at this trip as a good time to practice my [food]photography skillllllz. 
Speaking of which…breakfast anyone?
Melon is one of those foods I could (and often do) eat every day and never get sick of it. Especially this kind:
Tuscan melon!
It is a lot like canteloupe, only smaller and I find a little sweeter and stronger in taste.I had this in, where else, Florence, and fell in love. Look for those indented lines in the rind. It’s amazing.
Blueberry Acai Dannon Light & Fit
Yes, another new flavor I was powerless to try. I actually really liked this – I could actually taste the acai and it blended wonderfully with the sweet blueberry! It’s kind of a hard flavor to pinpoint, but I find it a little tart and a little sweet at once, a bit like pomegranate. The only issue, other than the ingredient list, is the awful fake-sugar aftertaste. WAY too sweet. I wish it had just been sweetened with real fruit! Oh well, I ‘ll just have to do it myself.
Nothing like a waffle on a Saturday morning (er…afternoon…)
AB-squared: apple butter + almond butter. A perfect combo.
Did some shopping at Old Navy. Ugh, shopping. I can never find exactly what I want. BUT, I did get a pretty cute dress 50% off because one of the straps was broken! Sewing won’t even be necessary. LOVE that!
I came ravenous. Nothing a smoothie can’t fix – especially when it involves this:
Amazing Grass’s Amazing Meal Chocolate Infusion protein powder.
I used half the packet + 1 c. frozen mango + 1 c. almond milk + splash vanilla. I should have added a little extra cocoa powder, but didn’t.
Aglow with healthy goodness!
I didn’t love the Amazing Meal – it was a little too spirulina-y for me. But I didn’t hate it either, and liked it with the mango very much. Of course, I like pretty much anything with mango….Either way, as far as Amazing Grass goes, the Kidz Wildberry and Original Superfood powders are in the lead.
The liquid health theme continued with this:
I got it on sale at WFs last week. As usual with Kombucha, I have no idea what to make of this! What I love about it is the complexity of the flavor – it changes every second it’s on your tongue and definitely keeps me interested. This one went from berry-sweet to flowery and then very pine-y. I probably wouldn’t but it again, but it was a fun try. I wish the Honest brand would go on sale again!
Because my mother, brother and I hit the road tomorrow, we had to have Father’s Day a little early.
Dinner on the patio!
Including:
My grandmother’s salad: romaine, tomatoes, avocado, red onion in red wine vinegar+olive oil and S+P.
Grilled eggplant, marinated in balsamic + olive oil. Melt-in-your-mouth amazing. Probably one of my favorite things.
Roasted taters
Fresh pasta in a vegetarian sauce for me, lamb for the fam. [Don't worry, I had some tempeh for protein ealier!]
And my present to the man of the day:
Chianti, straight off the boat plane.
YUM!!
Tippy agreed.
For dessert, I whipped up some peanut butter-chocolate chip cookies (Dad’s fave)  using the Supercharge Me cookies recipe:
The first batch was gone before the second even left the oven. I think they liked them. 
Dessert also included this newbie:
Chobani Champions honeynana!
It’s not thick at all; it’s basically like regular yogurt, but I suppose that could very well be more appealing to kids which I assume are the target consumers here (although I know plenty of “grown-up kids” who would be attracted by the cartoony design). The flavor is great though! Unlike the chocolate, the cane sugar taste blends  in very well. It reminded me of a yogurt I ate all the time when I was little, but I can’t remember exactly which one – I think it was Yoplait Custard-Style Vanilla. SO good. Gotta love nostalgia foods :)
Time to go pack, pack, pack! 
~Namaste!~
P.S. Remember that surprise I mentioned? Check out the sidebar — I’m a Foodbuzz Featured Publisher!!! Dancing most definitely ensued when I got the email. I love Foodbuzz, and my absolute favorite blogs are all a part of its awesome community, so I’m super excited and proud to be too. Share the foodie love!

Eat, Drink, and Watch Parades

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HAPPY FLAG DAY!!!

Every June 14th, my little hometown has a parade. It’s always a fun day. I was in the parade for 8 years, first with my dance teacher’s studio, then for 5 with marching band. And now, I’m just happy to be the alumna who sits on the sidewalk and watches, glass of vino in hand :)
A blend from Montepulciano. I wish I had been able to go there – a little hill town in Siena – if nothing else for the wine. Next time!!!
Also had a little salad and…
Olives. I miss Italy.
What I really love about Flag Day is that when you walk around, you notice that everyone is just happy.  Kids are gearing up to collect as much candy as their ziplocs will hold, adults are chatting over grilling burgers and dogs, teenagers are maneuvering multiple conversations between friends and cell phones. And it’s the same every year. There is something to be said for tradition. 
I was obsessed with getting something from these guys when I was little. That blow-up Pink Power Ranger balloon was a must-have in 5-year-old Gillianasana land.
Check out the dog on the leash tied to her pants!! Loved it :)
I was one of them. RepreSENT. [The crazy looking kid in the back right would be my brother. Oh, he makes me proud.]
What’s a parade without marching clowns?
More doggies!
Yes, that is a stuffed dog on a gigantic fire hydrant. You see why I like this parade.
Wouldn’t it be nice if you could just rewind back to Saturday every Monday?
Let’s do it.
Starting with b-fast:
Melon + RASPBERRY Chobani!!
I’d heard good things, and decided to pony up thr $1.50 to try it. Good choice.
This was YUMMY! I really loved it. As with most Chobanis, the “fruit on the bottom” is more like jam and mixes perfectly without being cavity-inducing or fake-tasting. Yogurt-vana.
Again, most flavored Chobanis don’t stand against the sideways spoon test:
But it’s still thick enough to be a respectable Greek yogurt, and the flavor makes up for it. I definitely recommend it.
I also had one of my banana bread-turned-muffins:
Very tasty. Quite spicy – I like to add a lot of different spices and see what happens. Here I think it works!
Family friends came over for dinner and my mom put together some seriously delicious pasta:
Trofie al caprese!
Fresh pasta + grape tomatoes, halved + fresh cubed mozzarella + lots of fresh basil. She just dressed it in an olive oil+ balsamic vin dressing. It was wonderful, and so easy. A perfect summer dish!
I made more vegan chocolate-almond cookies for dessert, as per request of mia mama:
But I chose to devour this little guy instead:
A cannolli from our little Italian deli, Tutto Italiano. The best this side of the Atlantic.
It also inspired a new recipe idea I’m pretty excited about….oh, the suspense!!
On Sunday, I played working girl and helped a personal chef my mom knows who owns her own catering/chef company. She’s pretty much a one-woman show, and it’s quite impressive! Being curious about this kind of job, I asked if I could be her assistant – sous-chef, if you will – for a day and she kindly obliged :)
A big day calls for a big breakfast! Since I had to get up pretty early, I turned to an old standy-by: overnite oats.
Before bed. into the bowl went:
1/2 c. oats
1.2 c. almond milk
1 T ground flax
10 cherries, sliced up
cinnamon, vanilla, cocoa
The next morning, after a 30 second spin in the microwave to take off the chill, I cracked open a fresh Fage container and scooped 1/3c. on top:
Oats > ice cream sundae anyday!
All mixed up ;)
I think a combination of a tad too much cinnamon + sleepy tastebuds made this not as tasty as expected, but it had pontential. And kept me happy for a good 3-4 hours, which is quite a feat for me!
My morning was spent chopping veggies for salad, mixing up broccoli slaw, and shucking corn. A LOT of corn. It’s all good, I just pretended I was Pocahontas. I know what you’re wondering and yes, I can paint with all the colors of wind.
The event was a graduation party at a rather ritzy house. It was a really helpful, educational experience for me and while I’m not sure it’s a trade that’s calling my name, I did enjoy it. It was, however, a looooong day of chopping, stirring and standing. After passing out on the couch briefly when I came home, the only dinner that really appealed to me was in liquid form.
Green Monster it was!
Featuring this:
With almond milk, banana, cherries, a big handful of spinach and a splash of vanilla:
I was surprised at how much I liked the original flavor! It was a little grassy, but it added a nice flavor. My only worry would be that I would get tired of the same flavor in smoothie after smoothie. 
Do any of you use powders in smoothies? Do you use multiple kinds to switch it up, or do you have a solid standby that keeps you happy? 
In other product-related news, I’ve found a new waffle love!
Nature’s Path has really got the crispy-on-the-outside/soft and dough-on-the-inside thing down. And while I will admit there is not even the slightest hint of pomegranate flavor, the flavor it does have is delicious! Whole grain-y and sweet, almost honey-y. Exactly as it should be.
Man, I love toaster waffles. A lot.
I have a doctor’s appointment tomorrow AM, so I better hop off to bed.
Any other World Cup watchers out there? I’m hardcore Italia, all the way. Looks like it’s gonna be a tough cup to win!
~Namaste~