When Cooking Strikes Back

As I was thinking about this post, I thought about saying something about something homemade, and that what I made basically turned into a weapon, but I didn't think I wanted to have the CIA knocking down my door anytime soon. Then, I thought about the new shows that I've seen commercials for - "When Vacations Attack!" I'll never watch these shows, because I'm 99% sure that they would give me nightmares.

A couple of weeks ago, I bought some jalapenos to use for a fish taco marinade. When I was putting together the list, we were in the car on the way to/from the wedding in PA. Normally the default amount of jalapenos on the FreshDirect site is .25 pounds, HOWEVER on the iPhone app, the default is a pound. We wound up with a produce bag with 40 jalapenos. Not wanting to waste them, I thought I would try to pickle them. So I did. Last night, they were "done," so I took them off the pantry shelf and put the brine on the stovetop to boil before putting the peppers in the fridge.

Don't try this at home. Unless you don't live in a not-so-well ventilated apartment in NYC. Mr. D and I were coughing for at least an hour. Jalapeno tear gas. Just when you thought it must have vented out - the jalapeno would get down in the back of your throat and you'd have to cough again.

We'll be sad to see you go...

Some friends from Mr. D's work are thinking about moving later on this year. I may have stepped in it when I suggested that we take over their apartment (same size, slightly more storage, HUGE terrace). Her husband took it the way I intended, that it could save them some money and we could have a great apartment. She was a little offended, as if she didn't want us to have the apartment even if they weren't there...

Why it is so hard to get out of bed in the morning

This is what Sasha does as soon as one or both of us gets out of bed. Cute, right?

All the Wrong Things

Lots of things have gone wrong today.

1 - I woke Mr. D up and asked if he could still take Sasha over to the kennel (yes, I have a spoiled dog), because I was going to the dentist. He thought I wanted him to pick her up. Fix confusion.

2 - realized the only tights I had clean were maroon - the rest had fuzzies all over them.

3 - went to the dentist, where the alarm was going off because the dentist didn't know how to turn it off.

4 - the hygienist called in sick.

5 - when we went to reschedule, they had deleted my appointment anyway

6 - stupid Quickbooks online has been down for most of the past two days - driving me insane!

Home Cooked Birthday Dinner

Last night, for my actual b-day we went out to Jean Georges for dinner - it was delicious and amazing.

Tonight - we made braised lamb shanks with bourbon-soaked prunes, from Daniel Boulud's "Braise." Soo good. The veggies/prunes came out of the braise sauce and I made some orzo to go along with it. The meat just fell off the bones. Mr. D wanted to make the as his birthday dinner, and we both realized that as spring is coming, there will be fewer days when we can braise something without turning the apartment into an oven.
I contributed the dessert tonight - one that my friend J made one night when she and her husband came over for dinner. It's a ginger cake upside down cake with apricots on top. They may be a bit over-caramelized. If you think the pictures look better, it's partially because I took them using my new camera and partially because I used the autofix on my laptop.

Random Pictures

Hallo - some random pictures of things that happened this weekend (and things that are just in my house that I wanted to take a picture of):

First - this is Mr. D and I at the after party, which was at our hotel. This is before we started playing Phase 10. For those of you who are not familiar, I will explain at a later date. However, it is awesome fun.

These are the favors from the wedding. Note that we have 6. We originally had 9 or 10, as Mr. D went on a rampage and filled his jacket pockets with them. They are cocoa mix. I made him give some to his cousin's girlfriend (who is a super sweet person and decided that I was a nice person) some, because she only got two (they had a lot of favors that were extras, sitting on a table in the back).
While we were in PA, we went to the grocery store looking for Mr. D's favorite potato chips (Hartleys, BBQ waffle), which can only be found in central PA. They had Easter candy out, so I went looking for Russell Stover marshmallow eggs. The eggs I sought were not to be found. These delicious looking local eggs were - and they came in dark chocolate peanut butter. Yum. AND I thought we bought a box of twelve, but there are TWO layers. Double Yum. Literally.


Also hanging out in the living room is my Valentine's present from Mr. D, which was, no doubt inspired by the puzzle-thon held at my parent's house over Christmas. This one is extra nice, because it was a painting of Arles, where we will BE in May. It was a present for me, but something tells me he may have gotten it to keep me occupied.

Also - I made some one of Mark Bittman's soups last night for dinner, so we had the leftovers today. I put some sweet potato in it to make the picture look more interesting, so if the food police are watching, that's not how I served. Not that it would be a bad idea.

Traveling Weekend

We're off to a wedding for one of Mr. D's cousins. It's in central PA, which means we're driving to get there. Which means we're driving at rush hour out of the city.

In situations like this I'm not sure if it's better for me to drive or Mr. D. On one hand, my lack of driving aggressiveness will be criticized. On the other, Mr. D will no doubt convince me that he is going to give himself a stroke while we are stuck in traffic.

It was supposed to be brunch..

But then, one of my college roommates was in town, so we had brunch with them and then made this for dinner (from one of Michael Ruhlman's posts): bacon an asparagus pizza with fried eggs on top. Mr. D popped it in, so I'm not sure how he got the crust so shiny - maybe just having the bacon on it did it. We also had a salad with it, to make ourselves feel a little healthier.

Cue my little sister commenting on food I make/eat that she thinks is gross. :)

Last Sunday

So, last Sunday was the last day of Baby Sis's trip.  We:

Went on an NBC studios tour

Ate Bo Ssam at Ssam Bar - deliciousness (and reaffirmed my love for bean paste)

Top of the Rock

Metropolitan Museum of Art

Made Beef Daube in the crock pot - really good!

Saturday w/ Baby Sis

Saturday's recap:
1. Wake up early - force Baby Sis to borrow coat, gloves, and scarf.
2. Go through security to get on boat for Statue of Liberty
3. Take boat to Liberty Island - Baby Sis and Mr. D amuse themselves by telling me the seagulls are going to poop on me.
4. More security at the Statue of Liberty, but not Ellis Island
5. Head home and nap/get ready for dinner - at which point I suggest that Baby Sis's outfit is not dressy enough (jeans and untucked button down) and loan her a skirt and some tights to wear w/ her knee-high boots
6. We wander around shopping in SoHo - which Mr. D tolerated fairly well. I found a cute dress at Bloomingdale's.
7. Dinner at Colicchio and Sons, in the back room. The food was amazing, and we had a very nice waiter, who assumed we were 20 years old and kept calling us "his lovelies"
8. After dinner, Mr. D talked us into meeting some of his friends to go bowling. Friends who I like, but, based on multiple experiences, should never plan things - generally, they just don't plan at all. For instance, there are 4 bowling alleys in manhattan. 4. They suggested meeting at 8:30 on Saturday. Since we're not super cool, our dinner reservation was at 6:00 and we made it to the bowling alley. Saturday nights are apparently club night, as our bags were searched AND there was a mandatory coat check. Mr. D went to put our name on the list, and the hostess said to come back in an hour and she MIGHT have a buzzer for us, but that it would probably be at least 2.5 hours!!
9. After getting special dispensation from the bouncer, we kept our coats and waited by the door for everyone to show up. Though it took persuading, we convinced the "planners" it was too long to wait. We wound up spending the rest of the night at a nearby bar

Random Email to My Sister

Me:Do you think these emails sound vaguely offensive:

cuch17@blahblah
titig@per@blahblah

Sister: yes

Me: why would someone leave them on their resume?

We may have to have a weekly recruiting column - people are sometimes not very good at promoting themselves.

PS - true story: when I was at Rice, they started giving out free emails when our freshman advisors were freshmen. They let people pick out their own emails then, and one girl picked gspot. She didn't realize the problem this presented until she had to tell her professor her email one time. She claimed she "saved" it by saying it was g.s.pot.

Weekend w/ Baby Sister

Baby Sis flew in for a visit this weekend, she's getting her master's, so it was her spring break. Here's the rundown:

Friday:
1. Getting ready to walk out the door and Baby Sis puts on her coat, which is a cardigan. Me: did you not bring a coat? Her: this is a coat, I'll be fine. Me: it's 40 degrees out. Her: I'll be fine
2. Great dinner at Snack Taverna (I heart Greek food), afterwards, we headed to Little Branch, a super teeny bar on the basement level nearby.
3. We put our names on the list - 45 min wait for a table, so we grab a drink while we wait. I have a Presbyterian, which has Ginger beer, lemon, some other things, and a fun metal spoon straw. Yes, I am 6 years old.
4. After an hour and a half, Mr D sees a couple tables that are ready to leave (ie don't have drinks), but haven't. He asks one of the hostesses/bartenders how much longer. Baby Sis and I are a dew feet away, but we are told they go on the defensive, saying they have a policy of not kicking people off a table - would Mr. D like them to kick someone off a table? Of course, he responds yes. And the girl who walked up behind him says - while you're at it, can you kick someone off a table for us too? This does not go over well with bartenders/hostesses/waitresses. Mr. D begins gesturing (in a both hands up, what is going on, what is wrong with you people type fashion). They say there is nothing they can do. We leave and go home.

This is all I could write on my commute today, so stay tuned for tips on how to go bowling in New York tomorrow.

PS - I really like Little Branch - they serve very good cocktails. They use fresh squeezed juices, and make classic cocktails. The atmosphere is great - very speakeasy. Most of the people who go there are not complete jerks. We got there at 8:30, and were told it would be 45 minutes - honestly, not that long to wait there. There are not many tables, and some are only for two people. We usually try to go at 7, right when they open, so we don't have to wait.

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