blue artichoke

Because President Bush is staying a few resorts over, there has been heightened security in the area. War ships lurk just off the coast and armed guards in Kevlar vests are stationed along the beach. Traffic is a mess, so we left three hours early for the airport. We got there with no problem and checked in OK, but then Air Force One showed up and the airport shut down. Our flight was delayed an hour while waiting for Bush to show up, board and take off. Gentleman Caller and I had a nonstop flight, so we didn’t have to worry about missing connections. We got airport tacos for lunch (one pork, one chicken) and waited in the crowded airport.

Once we boarded the plane, the trip was uneventful, until landing. Descent was a bit turbulent and both GC and I felt nauseated, then lightheaded as we left the plane. We breezed through customs. By this time, I felt shaky and on the brink of fainting. We thought maybe we got food poisoning from the Cancun airport tacos. On the shuttle to the long-term parking garage, an obese man sat beside me and spilled over onto me. When I'm nauseated, I can't stand being touched, so being crammed into a shuttle exceeding capacity with a fat man smothering me, I was so close to yakking. I extracted myself from underneath him and stood up, gulping for air and trying not to touch anyone. I felt lousy, but didn't get sick. On the drive back home from the airport, I put my seat back and snoozed. When I woke up, I felt 82% better. Gentleman Caller felt nauseated all the way home, but avoided yakking out the window. I made a simple gnocchi in sage-butter sauce with Parmesan cheese for dinner. GC felt better after dinner. I don't know what we caught. It could have been mild food poisoning, or it could have been that leaving Mexico made us sick. The end of vacation is so sad.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 08:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Intending to spend the day sunning my backarms (still white after all these days), I lasted through three songs on my faux-pod (fake iPod) and was too hot and sweaty to stay out any longer. We all went for lunch at Paco’s Tacos. I had coconut shrimp, which is now my favorite meal in Mexico. After lunch, my mom and I planned to go to Market 28 to bargain for treasures, but President Bush is in town, so all cars and buses into and out of Cancun city are being stopped and searched. We decided it wasn’t worth the hassle, so we shopped in the resort gift shops and took a bus to Isla Mall (before the checkpoint). The mall was disappointing; shops were too upscale or schlocky for us. We hurried back to meet up with Gentleman Caller (out boogie-boarding in the ocean) and squeeze in a drink at the swim-up pool bar before happy hour ended. Not quite done boogie-boarding, we headed back to the ocean, but a party-pooping lifeguard blew his whistle and looked menacingly at GC until he boogie-boarded on in to shore. We ordered pizzas for dinner and began the sad process of packing up to leave tomorrow.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 08:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

With only two full days left, I was determined to log some good times by the pool. Gentleman Caller bounced back and forth between boogie-boarding in the ocean and swimming in the pool, then he and my brother took a boat trip through the mangroves to a reef for snorkeling. GC wound up the day with sunburned shoulders; I with more defined tan lines. My mom went out partying with our cousins while the young’uns went to dinner at the palapa and turned in early after many drinks.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 08:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We had a lunch date with Mathias, our personal concierge, to discuss our villa and any questions we might have. Lunch was a buffet. The rest of the afternoon was spent lounging by the pool, walking along the beach, swimming in the ocean and, for Gentleman Caller, boogie-boarding. I did laundry and cooked up some appetizers for our sunset party. My cousins came over at 5:30; we pulled chairs out to the front deck and chatted, ate, drank and watched the sunset, which was rather disappointing because of the clouds. The menu: mini bean empanadas, guacamole, onion dip, Blue Grilled Cheese’s pizza dip, ham and cheese rolls, queso fundita, fruit salad, mixed nuts, potato chips and tortilla chips. And beer and wine. After the cousins left, the artichoke family started a game of Trivial Pursuit 90s Edition. Currently, my mom is in the lead, but it got late so the game is to be continued.

My feet started peeling.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 08:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Bolstered by our success at leaving Cancun yesterday, Gentleman Caller and I took an extreme adventure: a van ride to Puerto Morales, then through the jungle to a Mayan village. We traded in the van for bikes and biked through the jungle with six other people and our guide, Fernando. Fernando explained to us the process of extracting resin from certain trees and the low-tech manufacturing process to turn it into chewing gum. That was the only source of income for this particular rural village, so when gum production turned to synthetic materials in the 1970s, the village had no other source of income. We stopped by a one-room schoolhouse and watched the students play soccer, then pressed on through the jungle. The next part of the extreme adventure was a zipline. Wheeee! Gentleman Caller and I did the course twice, then changed into our bathing suits for snorkeling in the cenote, an underground cave. It was cold and dark and scary, but also really fun and, of course, extreme. After drying off and riding our bikes back to the van, we headed back into Puerto Morales for lunch, a buffet with chicken and beef tacos and breaded grouper with rice and black beans and beer. We returned to the resort and hung around until my brother and his girlfriend arrived, then showed them around the place.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 08:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We went to a welcome to Week 12 breakfast and outline of the week’s activities, then Gentleman Caller and I decided to head over to Isla Mujeres, a nearby island. Translated to Island of the Women, the name has disputed origins. One version has it that all the men were fishing when Francisco Hernandez Cordova and his expedition discovered the island, so it seemed that women populated the island. Another version points to the many statues of the goddess Ixchel, the Mayan Goddess of fertility, reason, medicine, and the moon. Getting there was quite an adventure. We took a local bus to the van parked on the side of the road in downtown Cancun. We squeezed into the van full of Mexicans and rode about five miles to the port, where we bought tickets for the ferry to the island. While we waited, an agent tried to sell us a timeshare. We’d get a free golf cart for the day to explore the island (5 miles long by 1 mile wide). Who thinks a day’s use of a golf cart for a several thousand dollar purchase is a good deal? When he saw that we didn’t, he asked, “Don’t you like to have fun?” We admitted that we do not, and got on the ferry. First stop was a restaurant. I had a quesadilla; Gentleman Caller had fish tacos. The island looks like a traditional touristy (but not commercial) Mexican village, with lots of open-air stores with brightly colored clothes and pottery on display. We headed toward the Playa Norte (North Beach), where GC swam and I attempted to get a diet Coke from a restaurant on the beach. When it still hadn’t arrived by the time GC finished swimming, dried off and admired the topless sunbathers, we decided to leave. We wandered around the shops and some ruins, then headed back to the port and returned to Cancun in time for a tequila tasting. We watched an instructional video, then met some famous tequila expert whose name I don’t remember. He explained the difference between good and bad tequila (good tequila is 100% agave, and is meant for sipping; bad tequila is 49% sugar and is for mixing. The sugars are what cause hangovers. Tequila should never be taken as shots). Tequila blanco is homogenized and bottled after completion of the double distillation process, and is usually enjoyed as an appetizer. Tequila reposado is “rested” from two months and one year in white oak barrels. It is usually drunk between meals or during a meal. Tequila anejo is aged for at least one year, and is a digestive, taken after lunch or dinner. After tasting several tequilas, we decided to walk back to our resort. Took longer than expected, so arrived tired, hungry and tipsy. We ordered a ham pizza for dinner.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

We’ve fallen into a nice morning routine: wake up, hop into bathing suits, grab breakfast while slathering on sunscreen and head out to the lounge chairs by the pool. I finished reading the slow food magazine and started If Chins Could Kill: Confessions of a B Movie Actor by Bruce Campbell. Bruce isn’t the greatest of writers, but his tale of how independent movies get made is quite interesting. Gentleman Caller isn’t one to sit still and soak up the sun, so he broke up the monotony with frequent dips in the pool. We walked over to another resort to meet my cousins and hang out by the kiddie pool. A quick swim, then lunch at the palapa. I had a pulled pork bbq sandwich that was better than some I’ve had in MO. GC had a chicken chimichanga and my mom had a grilled chicken sandwich; we all had a couple of beers. So far, I’ve had Dos Equis, Sol and Modelo Especial. I really like them all, but prefer Sol as a nice light refreshing drink for cooling off on a hot day. Two Sols in the middle of the day, however, lead to a nice long siesta. We rallied to get happy hour margaritas on the beach, watch the sunset, and pick up a roasted chicken and fruit salad from the take-away restaurant for dinner.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Much like yesterday. Bathed in sunscreen, then sat out by the pool in the morning. I’m avoiding sunburns like a champ, bobbing and weaving to avoid the sun’s harsh rays. Some freckles are sprouting on my chest and face. I’m now reading a slow food magazine, propaganda from the Slow Food dinner from a few weeks ago. In the afternoon, my mom and I went grocery shopping under ominous skies, but returned to the villa before the storm. After the rain, it cooled off considerably. Gentleman Caller arrived around 8:30 pm; I fetched him from the lobby, showed him around the villa and took him to dinner at Paco’s Tacos. He had shrimp tacos; I had pork tacos. We went for a walk on the beach, but there were lots of heavy machinery and trucks out there, rebuilding the beach, so we walked back through the pools.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My feet are still red, but 89% improved. I can once again shuffle around in flip flops. My face rash is gone too. Mexico and I are friends once again. I went out to sit by the pool from 8:30 – 10:30 a.m., slathered up in SPF 45 and with my feet wrapped up in a towel. I’m fast becoming an expert applicator of sunscreen. I lounged around the rest of the day in various shady spots. I finished The Awakening. There was an amazing thunderstorm around midnight. I raced out to the balcony to watch the lightning, but was instead pelted by rain, so I crawled back into bed and halfheartedly watched from there.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:41 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Face rash is greatly improved this morning as the bumps have evened out and the redness somewhat subsided. My topfeet are also somewhat improved; the color evolving from purple to fiery red to just plain red. I have sprouted freckles on my underchin. I sometimes get them across my nose, but on the underchin is an interesting development.

Some cousins are contemplating buying a place south of here, at Playa del Carmen, so we accompanied them to poke around the property and sightsee. I was also in search of the world’s greatest bartender, Clemente. Black Cake, Red Meat and I ventured to Playa del Carmen several years ago, as a refuge from the harsh Missouri winter. It remains near the top of my favorite vacations, partly due to Clemente’s skill at mixing drinks. I didn’t encounter Clemente this time, but I did discover a new drink, called a chilada: One-third glass of fresh squeezed lime juice, Bohemian beer, and a salted glass rim. This at my cousins’ favorite restaurant, listening to a mariachi band and sampling quesa fundita. Melted cheese, in a bowl, with a few tortillas. So simple, but delicious. My mom and I also split a vegetarian “taco”: a plate full of refried beans, guacamole, mushrooms, sweet peppers and cactus covered in cheese and served with tortillas. After lunch, we wandered around the market, turning down offers to get our hair braided and the persistent sales pitches from the merchants.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:40 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I woke up today with lots of red bumps all over my face. Something’s going on here. Either I’m allergic to my sunscreen, sheets or Cancun. I’m fairly hideous at the moment, with a bright red bumpy rash spreading across my face. Seriously, it’s monstrous.

I’m punishing the sun for being so mean to my feet. Shoes are torturous, yet I donned my flip-flops and very slowly shuffled my way to Wal-Mart. In Cancun! Who knew? I was in search of some Solarcaine or other such after-sun relief. No dice, but I did get some diet Pepsi, so I think the trip was a success. After our outing, my mom and I continued to shun the sun by reading in the shade on the porch of our villa and staring out to sea. I’m 2/3 through The Awakening, and think it is the perfect beach read. The setting is along the sultry Louisiana coast on the Gulf of Mexico and the description of the perfumed air, colorful flowers and languid heat could be describing the atmosphere of Spring Break Cancun 2006! My mom and I watched the sun set from our front porch. The sun seems to just drop from the sky; you can actually see it moving toward the horizon. Once the sun was safely tucked in for the night, we went for an evening stroll on the beach and stopped in the take-out restaurant in a neighboring resort for a fruit salad and fruity coleslaw. And then we made some mac & cheese for dinner.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:38 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

My mom and I both woke up early and headed out for an early morning stroll on the beach. We staked out some beach chairs by dangling towels and beach bags over lounge chairs and headed up the beach. We returned to the chairs and slathered on some more sunscreen and plopped down for some beach reading. We were out from 8:30 to 10:00 a.m. and in that short time, I managed to acquire an intricate pattern of sunburns. The most interesting pattern is on my right hand, but the best work by far is on my topfeet and stretches to my front-ankle and several inches up my shin. I have burns in whorl patterns with definite boundaries that closely resemble my fingers. Impressive indeed. This artwork didn’t appear until much later in the day. Thinking we were easing into sun exposure, we went in before the strongest sun of the day. I rinsed the sand off me and we went to Paco’s for a taco party. Mexican tacos are so much better than the American version of Mexican tacos. For starters, they are in a soft corn tortilla, topped with refried black beans and either pulled pork or spicy chicken and red onions. We also drank a few free beers and chatted up a retired couple. After stuffing ourselves with beer and tacos in the midday sun, we headed off to another resort for a cocktail & cheese party. There I had an onion roll with a mild cheese, some white wine and a pinã colada. We watched a movie about how Cancun is rebuilding their beaches eroded by hurricane Wilma. They vacuum up sand from nearby Isla Mujeres and put it on a boat that spits it out on the shoreline. Neat. We also watched some really strong and flexible people climb on each other and balance in very beautiful and unnatural poses. We returned to our villa and were invited to watch the sunset at our cousins’ villa. There we drank more beers and ate cashews and assorted appetizers while catching up with family and watching the sun set. I was happy to see it go, spiteful sun.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:37 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

NB: This is a message from the present of the past to be read by you in the future. Doesn't that make your head explode a little bit? I wrote daily blog entries from Cancun, but didn't want to spend the money buying Internet access or the time away from the sun in the dreary business office composing entries, so here they are now, in the future of the past:

I think a near-disaster is part of every vacation, so I’m always glad when I get it out of the way early. I narrowly avoided the Spring Break Cancun disaster before I even left Missouri. I scheduled a shuttle to take me to the Kansas City airport, where I would catch the nonstop express to Spring Break. My mom called to ask me if I was sure I wanted to catch the shuttle to KC, on account of my flight originating in St. Louis. Wow! I almost missed Spring Break Cancun 2006! What a disaster! I called the shuttle, told them that I’m an idiot and rescheduled for a ride to the correct airport. I sat next to two high school guys on the plane, who were part of a larger group of high school students heading to Spring Break Cancun 2006! I tried not to listen to their conversation, as it was stupid and immature and all too similar to the conversations I had with Blue Grilled Cheese on our trips to Spring Break Panama City Beach in high school. Once in Cancun, I breezed through customs and immigration because I was the only one savvy enough to fill out the correct forms correctly. I caught another shuttle to the villa, unpacked and headed to dinner with my mom. Cheeseburger in paradise.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I think I've got the hang of vacationing in my own home, but sleeping in the guest room isn't quite as exciting as, say, spring break in Cancun. Yes, I'm actually spending spring break in Cancun. You'll be able to see me on the lesser-known "Family Vacations Gone Wild" videos. My mom and I are heading south of the border tomorrow, to be joined on Friday by Gentleman Caller and later by my brother and his girlfriend.

I used to be a great suitcase packer. I made a list and very rarely forgot things. Somehow, my packing technique has devolved over the years to a slightly less-efficient system. I get out my suitcase a few days in advance and start throwing things I think I might want to take into (or at least near) the suitcase. Then I spend several hours second-guessing my choices and take things out of the suitcase. Finally, I get so lazy that I zip up the suitcase and go. Upon arrival, it's anyone's guess what's in my suitcase. I went to Norway during the summer with no short sleeves packed, but a set of long underwear for when I went above the Artic Circle (which, incidentally, doesn't feel so arctic in the summer). I went to Poland with very few shirts and, because it was cold, ended up wearing all of them each day and rotating which one was on top. I've gotten more organized in every other aspect of my life, but packing is where I throw caution to the wind and make do with whatever I end up with. I know I've packed two bathing suits, sunscreen and some flip-flops. What more could I need?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 02:28 PM | Permalink | Comments (3)

Reading through some old cooking magazines, I came across a really interesting product test by Cook’s Illustrated (September/October 2005): plastic bags. There have been several innovations in plastic bag closures, but are they just marketing? Sort of. The old twist-tie bags don’t do a good job at all of keeping moisture in or odors out. Not surprising. The slide zipper-close bags are better, but leave a tiny opening around the zipper, allowing for airflow. The best plastic bags are those with a double groove seal that you press together. These form an airtight seal. The other factor affecting plastic bag performance is the thickness of the plastic. “Freezer” bags are generally thicker than “storage” bags, but not by much. The top recommended bags by the testers at Cook’s Illustrated are Glad Freezer Zipper Bags, which were the second-thickest bags tested and have an airtight and watertight zipper groove seal, and Hefty OneZip Storage Bags, whose zipper seal is watertight (though not completely airtight). Ziploc brand bags had consistently poor ratings. Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.

Finally, with that very important food storage question settled, I’m hoping to find a plastic wrap that will actually stick to plastic.

Dinner last night: cashews
Dinner tonight: leftover meatloaf (made by Blue Grilled Cheese) and pierogies

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 06:12 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I get terribly lonely when Gentleman Caller is out of town. This always surprises me, because I covet quiet time and enjoy being alone. Unlimited quiet time, however, gets lonely. I prefer to be the one to take trips, not to be the one left behind. I'm pretending to be on vacation, which means I'm going to sleep in the guest room and use tiny bottles of shampoo and a mini tube of toothpaste. I spent the day cleaning the house, watching tv and reading Russian literature (Virgin Soil by Ivan Turgenev). I also made a curtain out of old CDs; I hung it on the porch. Feeling a need to stand up and move around, I made another batch of banana bread, currently baking in the oven.

Here's an off-subject question for you: What's your favorite book? Like some people who stare into a closet full of clothes and despair of having nothing to wear, I look at my rather-lengthy booklist and find nothing that looks particularly interesting. I go through reading phases and add copious titles to my booklist according to my current phase. I have lots of suggestions for books about economics, the media, voluntary simplicity, utopian societies, Russian literature, politics (or, rather anti-politics) and food; however, I'm currently not in any of those phases. On Blue Grilled Cheese's suggestion, I bought The Awakening to take to the beach, but am accepting nominations for titles to be added to the book list.

P.S. 6:45ish, Banana Bread Results
Banana Bread #6, Polka Dot Banana Bread
Recipe source unknown. This banana bread uses an equal amount of whole-wheat flour and all-purpose flour, as well as an equal amount of melted butter and plain nonfat yogurt. Also mini chocolate chips star as the "polka dots." I omitted the nuts. This recipe made a rather small loaf with big banana flavor. It is really moist with evenly distributed chocolate chips adding little gooey pockets to the moist banana bread. The use of whole-wheat flour doesn't significantly alter the flavor, but does make it a bit healthier, as does the use of nonfat plain yogurt. There isn't much sugar, but the chocolate chips sweeten it nicely. This is a good banana bread. The best? Probably not.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (14)

I went to one grocery store, one international market and one health food store today. My bare pantry leaves me with very few options, so I am allowing myself to purchase groceries once again, but in moderation and with the intention of using up all of one item before buying a similar item. Today I bought molasses, a blend of brown rices, some quinoa and gemelli pasta. I have wanted to try cooking with some new grains, but always had several varieties of rices and pastas in the cupboard, so couldn't justify adding more starches. But now I can, and I'm starting with quinoa (KEEN wah), a traditional South American grain that is high in protein, vitamins, minerals and unsaturated fat, but low in carbohydrates. It is ivory-colored and has a mild flavor similar to couscous, but cooks like rice (in about half the time). I'm so excited to try it out!

Dinner last night: artichoke frittata, corn on the cob
Dinner tonight: meatballs in saffron sauce, gemelli pasta

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 09:43 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Saturday's hailstorm was a mere prelude to Sunday's main event. Blue Grilled Cheese and I had a quiet day, recovering from the cookout and the Apollo Sunshine concert the night before. While sitting on the front porch drinking hard cider, we heard the tornado sirens start up. I turned on the tv and opened the windows so we could hear the weather forecast on the porch and we watched the dark clouds roll in, the temperature drop, the rain start, the sky turn dark and green, the cloud rotation pick up and the 80 mph wind start to sound like a fast-approaching train. That's a tornado, folks! The rain turned to small, mothball-size hail, then to bigger hail that would smash to pieces when it hit the ground. It got quiet and eerily bright. We thought about going inside, but stayed on the porch or in the street, watching the clouds twist and whirl. No tornados formed in our area, but the high winds caused damage elsewhere in Missouri. After things settled back down, we went inside for dinner. Blue Grilled Cheese made her famous meatloaf and her grandmother's fried okra. I opened a box of onion rings. Another hailstorm with tornado warnings swept across mid-MO later that night, splitting apart and straddling Columbia to the north and south, moving east. The hail woke me up in the wee hours, but other than a few dings on the cars, the Blue Artichoke household weathered the storm like a champ.

The next day (Monday, aka yesterday), Blue Grilled Cheese and I dropped off my car to have the open window fixed (a drop cloth wrapped around the door and taped to the window protected it from the storms). We then took Gentleman Caller's car to St. Louis where we drove around Forest Park and wandered around University City. On the way home, we found a Trader Joe's, Whole Foods and World Market. I never knew such wonderful stores were so close! This might be dangerous; I already started restocking my now empty cabinets with delights that I'll hold on to for some special occasion, or the next great purge. We got Mexican take out for dinner, drank a four-pack of granny smith cider and another bottle of wine and wrote tipsy poems for our ongoing coffee table book of poems.

Today, we went back to Kansas City, where we saw no fountains and I left Blue Grilled Cheese at the airport. She left her chap stick tucked into my car window. And that is the end of Spring Break Missouri 2006! sigh.

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 04:24 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

What do you do when you avoid a nasty car wreck by mere inches? Or when your car window suddenly breaks (in the open position) right before a fierce thunderstorm with large hail? Or when your sump pump breaks during said thunderstorm and your basement turns into a river? When that happens, I have a cookout! Blue Grilled Cheese made some super guacamole, I made a Greek pasta salad (using up that box of rotini in the cupboard!) and fudgy dark chocolate brownies and Gentleman Caller grilled up some marinated chicken, sweet Italian sausages, Polish sausages, new potatoes and asparagus. Feast!

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 11:25 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I went to Kansas City (aka, the city of fountains) yesterday to pick up Blue Grilled Cheese, who is spending her spring break in tropical mid-Missouri. We went to the River Market and poked around all the ethnic grocery stores, then had some KC BBQ for lunch and drove back to Columbia. We took a walk, then sat on the porch and drank a bottle of wine. Three cheers for spring break!

Dinner last night: pizzas with roasted garlic, pepperoni, roasted red peppers, roasted onion and wild mushrooms

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 11:03 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Last night, Gentleman Caller and I went to a Slow Foods event, a charcuterie party at a local restaurant. The slow food movement, as described in the paraphernalia I picked up, "is a non-profit, eco-gastronomic organization that supports a biodiverse, sustainable food supply, local producers, heritage foodways, and rediscovery of the pleasures of the table." Lots of those words raise red flags to me, indicating a political agenda and moral crusade. Anything that can be considered a "movement' puts me on guard. I like the idea of Slow Food, and I'm really glad there is a chapter nearby. But in general, I like to keep my food free of ideology. Good food is good; it doesn't matter much to me where it comes from. (I'm totally going to be banned from future events for writing that!) I buy local when I can (and when local produce isn't cost-prohibitive), but I also buy frozen vegetables and meats processed at facilities far away.

That said, I really enjoyed the food at the party. Here's the menu:
Charcuterie platter with buffalo bratwursts & summer sausage, Volpi prosciutto, pickles and relish and assorted breads; spring green salad with arugula and Swiss chard, gorgonzola, pecans, apples and pickled black walnut vinaigrette; stewed buffalo roast with bbq sauce; roasted heritage turkey with wild mushroom risotto, smoked trout crostinis with goat cheese and walnut habanero sauce; a cheese platter; and wines from local wineries. Gentleman Caller and I both really liked the stewed buffalo roast. Gentleman Caller also liked the risotto and the trout crostinis. My other favorites were the charcuterie and cheese platters. It reminded me of the breakfasts I've had when traveling in Europe: good breads with an assortment of meats, sausages, cheeses and fruit. Sometimes I try to recreate such a breakfast at home; I'm going to try again this weekend.* This time, I'm going to make the rolls myself.

Dinner tonight: the chicken/basil lasagna I made yesterday

*An astute reader might wonder how I can put together such a breakfast with a bare pantry. I went wild at the grocery store this morning. Intending to purchase some chicken and orange marmalade for a Chinese chicken salad; tuna and hoisin sauce for an Asian tuna salad (both of these dishes to use up the bottled ginger in my cupboard); crabmeat to make she-crab soup for Gentleman Caller to eat while I'm out of town (to use up a soup mix in the cupboard); and bananas for future banana bread battles, I ended up getting all of the above, plus two kinds of cheese, some pepperoni, strawberries and blackberries. For the breakfast. And right now I'm going to make some bolillos (French rolls).

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 01:32 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

Old Blue Artichoke
Went to the cupboard
To get her poor hubby a snack,
When she got there
The cupboard was bare
So the poor little hubby had none.

Doesn't have quite the same charm, but is almost true. I made a lasagna today that used up lots of little tidbits: chicken tenders, jar of basil pesto, tub of cream cheese, bag of frozen mozzarella cheese, box of lasagna noodles and some homemade marinara (I still have some marinara left). Woo-whee! I love using things up; I get a rush of satisfaction and self-righteousness. Gentleman Caller, on the other hand, looks into the bare cupboards with despair. No options! All that food and nothing to eat! I have, though, kept his part of the cupboard stocked with a variety of crackers, peanut butter, nuts and some rice cakes that have probably calcified into stone by now. I am, however, to the point where I will soon need to buy a few ingredients to use up what I have left. For example, I have a jar of shredded ginger. I don't like ginger, but Gentleman Caller does. So, I'll make a Chinese chicken salad or an Asian tuna salad for him, but I'll have to buy chicken or tuna to do so. With a handful of new ingredients, I can can achieve bare pantrydom!

Banana Bread #5, Marbled-Chocolate Banana Bread
Recipe from Cooking Light. This is not a traditional banana bread, because you melt chocolate chips and stir the melted chocolate into half of the batter, then alternate dropping the batters into the loaf pan and swirl it all together with a knife. Great fun! And messy too! But the bread looks really nice, is moist and dense and tastes quite sweet. Toasted, with some peanut butter, turns breakfast into dessert.

Dinner last night: leftover maple-balsamic pork tenderloin and polenta
Dinner tonight: Slow Food Charcuterie party (details tomorrow)

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 05:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We did not, as recorded yesterday, have pork chops and potato salad for dinner last night. Gentleman Caller had leftover Chinese food and I had a salad with fake-Morningstar Farm chicken and garlic-balsamic vinaigrette. This change in dinner plans happened because we decided to go to the movies. First we saw Brokeback Mountain. Then we saw Capote. We got some Reese's cups to eat during the movies and a large diet Coke, which we refilled between movies. Yikes, that's a lot of sugar and caffeine right before bed! Once I stopped chasing the cat around the house and settled into bed, I pretended to sleep until ~9:00 this morning, when I leapt out of bed, exhausted but energetic. One time I didn't sleep for three days. It was when I lived in D.C. On the fourth day, I decided I'd never sleep again, so I drove to Richmond to visit some friends. Once I arrived, I promptly fell asleep and slept almost 16 hours. Then I drove back to D.C. Sort of killed my already-flagging party-girl image.

Anyway, I've been fairly productive today, but I think it's about time to make muffins for tomorrow's breakfast, then take a nap.

Dinner tonight: garlic-soy pork chops & potato salad, for real

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 04:03 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Banana Bread #4, Orange Banana-Nut Bread
Recipe from Cooking Light. Had all the usual ingredients, plus orange juice and grated orange rind. I omitted the nuts. The bread looks nice and rustic, with a dark brown crust and a deep crack in the top that shows off the golden brown interior. The orange flavor is mild; it is more pronounced when warm but takes a backseat as it cools. This is a perfectly acceptable banana bread. But in this battle, acceptable isn't good enough. Bye bye.

Dinner last night: Chinese take-out.
Dinner tonight: pork chops and potato salad

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 12:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

I've been catching up on my blog reading and, as I read the entries of friends, foes and strangers, I realize how plain and pedestrian my own life is most of the time. For example, I have never written “i drank a few too many beers the other night and ended up with my knife out...” I'm susceptible to routines, which make the days pass with ease because they are utterly forgettable. Oh, I've had exciting adventures that make great stories, just none recently. I'm starting to feel the itch to move, to embark on a new career, to find a hobby or just do something different. Spring is in the air. Yesterday was warm and beautiful, so I got in the car, rolled down the windows, turned up my music and drove south to the Lake of the Ozarks. On the way, I pretended I was driving through the African bush or eastern European countryside. Instead, I drove to the outlet mall. So disappointing. I get this feeling every so often. Last time, it was resolved when I went to Poland, decided on a new career in teaching, quit my job in the restaurant and got married. I've given up on the career in teaching because I don't really like kids and don't deal well with parents, administrators or bureaucracy. I think becoming a college dropout was a smart move. I got a little too caught up in the itch. The time before that when I got the itch, I ended up moving to Canada for almost a year and earning a culinary arts degree. So, the question is, what am I going to do about it now?

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 03:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I wore the same pair of khaki pants for seven days in a row.
Today I switched over to the same pants, in dark brown.

Dinner last night: brown rice, peas and potatoes in a mild curry sauce, Indian cheese in a spinach sauce (both from microwaveable packets that have been in my cupboard for as long as I've lived in this house.)
Dinner tonight: leftover lasagna for Gentleman Caller; leftover hamburger from lunch for me

Posted by Blue Artichoke at 07:30 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)