3.22.2007

Penne w/ Zucchini Fennel Garlic Tomato Sauce

No pictures. In an effort to utilize my produce before it begins sprouting in my fridge, I decided to use my extremely old bulb of fennel and a zucchini that'd been hanging around a bit too long to add to my pasta. I dribbled in some jammy beaujolais nouveau into my tomato sauce to give the sauce more depth and flavor, but I think I could have added more. I like drinking fruity soft wines like b.n. as an everyday wine. I recenltly bought a $6.50 pinot noir from this wine shop near my apt, so we'll see how that pans out. I've been reading from the bible lately...the wine bible, that is. I really want to try more Italian wines and compare notes on them (chianti, lambrusco, barolo, nebbiolo). Also, interested in learning more about French wines. Had a delicious Chateuneuf-du-Pape at Pigalle when I went there for restaurant week with my Mom, Jess and Steph. C-d-P had a distinct raspberry flavor, not sweet though, and a bit herbal and acidic.

Tonight, I'm going to make egg noodles with goat cheese cream sauce, basil and walnuts.

3.02.2007

The Orange Diet.

I've been subsisting on a strange diet of bananas, coffee yogurt, whole wheat pita + hummus, hot salsa + Lays chips, cranberry juice, grapefruit, lemon and various other yellow/orange/blush colored foods (butternut squash, orange bell peppers).

my favorite snack: (too bad freaking Shaw's @ Porter Sq charges $4.99/lb for orange bellpeppers! I am outraged! I paid $2.99/lb for 4 peppers last week and that was a SALE...I need to hit up MarketBasket)

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On deck: yams, cantaloupe, pummelo. Last night I cooked up some rainbow chard (same as swiss chard but with vari-colored stems instead of just the usual scarlet) a dark leafy green whose magenta, bright fuschia, and yellow stems have enchanted me since I first spotted them on lexculinaria's blog.

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I sauted the greens in olive oil, garlic, a squeeze of lemon juice, salt. They tasted good, except next time, I'll probably chop off more of the stems which I neglected to do since I was completely seduced by their color.

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Stems are rather tough, but, hey, at least I can skip the Metamucil.

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Although none of these foods are unhealthy in and of themselves (except the chips), as a whole, I think they are wreaking havoc with my digestive system. Too acidic or something. I woke up at 5:30 am with an aching stomach. (Then again, could be the fact that after dinner I decided to eat a huge bowl of noodles tossed with sesame oil, soy sauce, and scallions right before going to bed.)

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Wednesday Night Cocktails: Coconut Rum Sunrises (OJ+cranberry juice+cocorum+a lil bubbly; the drink was much prettier in person! rosy and misty)

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Curious about making chocolate pudding:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/recipe_views/views/230485
http://www.browniepointsblog.com/2006/12/10/the-often-maligned-chocolate-pudding/
http://orangette.blogspot.com/2005_07_01_archive.html

Damn the weekly archiving of NYTimes articles (which includes recipes..specifically Mark Bittman's minimalist chocolate pudding recipe I'd been meaning to cut and paste onto a document for myself)