new addition...

y'all, i have been wanting a thermos for a long time now. i love my travel mug, but some days [most days...] it doesn't hold quite enough coffee to get me through the day [or morning.] i could, conceivably, make coffee at work, but i drink decaf [or at least a split of decaf and regular] and i'm pretty sure my co-workers would notice [...and riot.] for about two months i'd been using a sleek, stainless-steel coffee thermos from home, but it held just barely more than my regular coffee mug [confession: i would take both the thermos AND my travel mug to work. like a bag lady, with mugs.]

all that has changed.

my lovely sister kept promising me that she had an old thermos in the basement [i'm really hoping said thermos did not come with the house. although, really, who am i kidding: i'd use it anyway.] for weeks upon weeks she taunted me with dreams of the stanley thermos, in its green, steel-sided glory...complete with handle.



greeting me this morning as i left for work [in addition to the adorableness that is my neice and nephew, having breakfast in their pajamas] was none other than the thermos. filled with coffee. so shiny. so beautiful. i felt prepared to conquer the world...or at least remain upright at my desk for more than two consecutive hours.

thank you, foo foo. you've made my friday bearable.
xoxox

snax

it's nice of mrs. freshley to offer up a snack with only 100 calories.
those of us who still eat food appropriate for third-graders are most appreciative.



i do, however, think she has an awful lot of faith in the consumer, seeing as how it's 100 calories, per roll, but two rolls come packaged together.




she is sneaky, that mrs. freshley.
sneaky indeed.

[yes. i ate them both.]

a whole other kind of dressing

guys. i'm totally obsessed with this caesar dressing. obsessed enough that i made some oven chicken [chicken, in a pan, with olive oil, vinegar, garlic, s&p, random spices/seasonings as you see fit - bake at 350 for about 40-50 minutes, depending on the thickness of said chicken; throw some potatoes and carrots in there a good 40 minutes before you add the chicken for an actual meal] on monday evening -- not for dinner, you see -- but to have COLD, for lunch, the next day over a salad supporting this dressing. so, so good. and so, so NOT bad for you. all hail, cooking light magazine from june, 1996. i'm not even a huge caesar salad fan, but...this dressing will convert even the most caesar-averse. it also won't kill you, like the zillion-calorie dressings that you find everywhere.

make it. make the chicken too. my grandmother used to make it every sunday; my mom used to make it a lot as well [speaking of: momma? time to break out the rommertopf.]
you cannot go wrong; the italian ladies? they don't lie.

creamy caesar dressing
from cooking light

1/3 c. plain, fat-free [or low-fat] yogurt
2 TBS fresh [or store-bought] lemon juice*
1 TBS olive oil
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp worcestershire sauce
1 tsp anchovy paste [if you shop at wegmans, it's in the canned fish aisle]**
1 tsp dijon mustard
1/2 tsp freshly ground pepper
1 garlic clove, minced [fresh or jarred]

combine all ingredients in bowl; whisk

*i used 1 1/2 TBS instead and it was still very lemony
** this was my first purchase of anchovy paste and i was ridiculously excited

nutritional information:
calories: 26/fat: 1.8g/protein: 0.8g/carbs: 1.6g/iron: 0.1mg/sodium: 124mg/calcium: 22mg

food! glorious food!

in recent years, i've developed an extreme interest and love for food.
how it's prepared, interesting dishes, ingredients i wouldn't normally want to place anywhere near my mouth...i don't know if i'd qualify as a "foodie", per se, but i'm definitely paying more attention to what i eat: how it looks, how it tastes, trying new dishes and recipes, etc.

i visit seriouseats.com with regularity, and it tipped me onto this site and it's post, the omnivore's 100. what a great idea! the list is highly varied, from pb&j to black truffle to pho. the post suggests pasting the list into your own space and highlighting which foods you've had and perhaps drawing attention to the foods you have zero interest in ever trying. like sweetbreads/#62...the thought of which sort of makes me want to vomit, no matter how many pages of anthony bourdain's writing i read that tries to convince me otherwise. [the wikipedia links to the more obscure items were provided by VGT in the original post.]

so, here it is. my omnivore's 100. the items i've consumed are in yellow. items that i have no intention of ever eating are in red.

1. Venison
2. Nettle tea
3. Huevos rancheros
4. Steak tartare
5. Crocodile
6. Black pudding
7. Cheese fondue
8. Carp
9. Borscht
10. Baba ghanoush
11. Calamari
12. Pho
13. PB&J sandwich
14. Aloo gobi
15. Hot dog from a street cart (jennifer and i eat way too many of these when in nyc)
16. Epoisses
17. Black truffle
18. Fruit wine made from something other than grapes
19. Steamed pork buns (in fact, i had these for lunch on tuesday)
20. Pistachio ice cream
21. Heirloom tomatoes
22. Fresh wild berries
23. Foie gras (i'm not saying i wouldn't try it...but after hearing how it's made i don't think i could choke it down without crying)
24. Rice and beans
25. Brawn, or head cheese
26. Raw Scotch Bonnet pepper
27. Dulce de leche
28. Oysters
29. Baklava
30. Bagna cauda
31. Wasabi peas
32. Clam chowder in a sourdough bowl
33. Salted lassi
34. Sauerkraut
35. Root beer float
36. Cognac with a fat cigar
37. Clotted cream tea
38. Vodka jelly/Jell-O
39. Gumbo
40. Oxtail
41. Curried goat
42. Whole insects
43. Phaal
44. Goat’s milk
45. Malt whisky from a bottle worth £60/$120 or more
46. Fugu (i prefer my food without the ability to kill me)
47. Chicken tikka masala
48. Eel
49. Krispy Kreme original glazed doughnut
50. Sea urchin
51. Prickly pear
52. Umeboshi
53. Abalone
54. Paneer
55. McDonald’s Big Mac Meal (i loathe the thought of a big mac; am wary of special sauce)
56. Spaetzle
57. Dirty gin martini
58. Beer above 8% ABV
59. Poutine
60. Carob chips
61. S’mores
62. Sweetbreads (see introduction)
63. Kaolin (yeah, no.)
64. Currywurst
65. Durian (according to wikipedia, the smell of this, "evokes reactions from deep appreciation to intense disgust." so, no.)
66. Frogs’ legs
67. Beignets, churros, elephant ears or funnel cake
68. Haggis (again, no. i watched a special on the food network about how it's made.)
69. Fried plantain
70. Chitterlings, or andouillette (no to intestines)
71. Gazpacho
72. Caviar and blini
73. Louche absinthe
74. Gjetost, or brunost
75. Roadkill
76. Baijiu
77. Hostess Fruit Pie (one of my favorite not-so-secret junk foods)
78. Snail
79. Lapsang souchong
80. Bellini
81. Tom yum
82. Eggs Benedict (the best of which, in Rochester -- in my opinion -- is found at Jines)
83. Pocky
84. Tasting menu at a three-Michelin-star restaurant.
85. Kobe beef
86. Hare
87. Goulash
88. Flowers
89. Horse
90. Criollo chocolate
91. Spam
92. Soft shell crab
93. Rose harissa
94. Catfish
95. Mole poblano
96. Bagel and lox
97. Lobster Thermidor
98. Polenta (my mom and i always talk about how we're going to make polenta, even though neither of us really care for it. but then we make pasta instead because we're hungry.)
99. Jamaican Blue Mountain coffee
100. Snake

this...

is the giant, melted gummy bear orgy...

...that i ate.

it's hip to be square

nondate has been unable to find square waffles in florida [a problem, seeing as how he prefers them to round waffles. if you think this is a conversation we have regularly, you'd be correct.] he claims they don't make them anymore, but i kept telling him that WEGMANS has them regularly. i don't think he quite believed me until last nite when i found myself meandering through the frozen food section...and found these:



PUBLIX has nothing on my WEGMANS.
i'm using square waffles to lure him home.

sosupertasty

there are few things i like better than a really simply constructed salad on an exceedingly hot day. i made a very basic vinaigrette this morning [balsamic vinegar, olive oil, dijon mustard, honey and some salt & pepper] and packed my green glitter ziploc bowl with fresh romaine, non-homocidal tomatoes, garbanzo beans, as well as some tuna to be added in at lunch time. [i've come to prefer the packed tuna in the pouch vs. the can.] [hee. pouch and can.]

behold:

i'm not sure if the tastiness is translating via the image, but rest assured: it was sublime.

so fresh! so seasoned!

love.

remedy

there are some days when only a monstrous cookie from orange glory will make things better.
today is one of those days.

baked goodness

some random baking projects that i'm finally getting around to discussing!

in honor of leap day/year, my brilliant mother [4th grade teacher extraordinaire] created the following for her class and the teachers at her school:

frog army. for leap day. perfection.

[to make, just frost your cooled cupcakes with green frosting. slice large green gumdrops in half, lengthwise. use white melting chips and mini [or regular size] m&ms to complete the eyes. using a skewer/toothpick/your finger, trace a mouth toward the bottom of the cupcake. use licorice or red icing for the tongue. so simple! we adapted this from somewhere; when i find where i wrote the information, i'll credit the site.]

to reiterate: frogs. genius mother. cupcakes.
----

last nite's project was almost as good as the leap day frog army.

her school is having 'snow fun day', to coincide with the foot-plus of the white stuff that appeared in rochester over the weekend. again, from the brilliant mind of my mother sprang the idea: snowball cake! who doesn't love spice cake covered in frosting & coconut? mmm.

her students are ridiculously lucky. and what better idea as a teacher? get them hopped up on sugar, then have them climb a giant snow mountain and run around outside to expel all their energy.

help.

i cannot stop with the gummies.

juiced grapes

what you thought was a tiny, unripe tomato...

was really a GIANT, overstimulated grape!

[this is the roger clemens of produce.]

i bought this yesterday...

sort of looks like an aluminum bra, yes?
or costume molds from madonna's upcoming tour.

well, this is what it makes:



GIANT CUPCAKE CAKE.

i swoon.

(photos courtesy of target.com & surlatable.com)

everybody soups!

my very first soup...it's so pretty!

to be filed in: my belly

not your cheez.

i was putting some peanut butter on an english muffin this morning, subsequently holding my breath as i washed the knife (the smell of wet peanut butter makes me nauseous) when it struck me: what's the grossest thing i've ever eaten -- theoretically -- that tasted good at the time? i used to eat mustard sandwiches (if kendall reads this, she will gag -- i'm fairly certain this was her least favorite part of living with me) -- but i don't find them repulsive. the memories of eating spaghetti-o's and pac-man shaped pasta-in-a-can kind of make me want to cry but -- again -- it's not too weird, and they're oddly popular.

i think most disgusting thing i've ever eaten, that i actually liked, would have to be cheez whiz on a bagel.

joanne elaine adams. i blame you. you were my partner in crime for this endeavor on many, many mornings and afternoons. what were we thinking? granted, we were in the second grade and pretty much at the culinary mercy of our parents. but still. we should have known better.

for fictional appetizers.

ob-sessed.

must order for my imaginary dinner & cocktail parties.

(thank you, cb2)

http://www.cb2.com/family.aspx?c=230&f=3972

i want...candy?

i just pulled a semi-eaten bag of sour patch kids of out my purse, left over from a recent trip to the movies to see 'live free, die harder' with jimmy. for reasons that are entirely without concern, the majority of the spk's remaining were orange and yellow -- but when i opened up the bag, safely fastened with a rubber band, i wafted toward me a familiar scent. that scent was not sour patch kids, as one might imagine. it was fruit loops. i do not know why, or how, fruit loops infiltrated my sour patch kids -- who, it can be said, form a mean and ragged army when necessary -- but had better believe i shall get to the bottom of it.

also: i'm noticing that i have a lot of random candy on my desk. in general, i don't eat a lot of candy. but as i look around i see:

• 90% depleted bag of dark chocolate m&ms. we keep those around for bi-annual hell weeks.
• sweet-tarts suckers (is it one 't' or two? the logo splits it down the middle...)
• lemon heads

i also have a grapefruit. apparently just to balance things out.

birthdays, poo and the healing powers of rhubarb.

today is the wee bakery's 6 month birthday! happy birthday, wee bakery. i will bake you some wee cupcakes. were you an actual bakery, i could go to you and buy said cupcakes. but you are not. you are a silly, nonsensical internety entity. readership: 4
but i love you for giving me someplace other than my binding-less, drama filled notebook to focus my craziness.

in non-birthday related news (hi. buy me a dictionary. 'news' came out 'noos' on the first go around.): for reasons we have yet to ascertain, my niece has started to refer to herself as either a "doody factory" or a "poop factory" upon the production of a dirty diaper. hilarious.

in non-birthday and non-doody related news [noos]: i got nothing. it's friday, and i'm going to see ocean's 13 this evening. saw ocean's 11 on a first date with a former boyfriend, ocean's 12 pretty much crapped the bed...the fate of the ocean's legacy in my brain forever hinges on this third installment.

yesterday i gleefully sent my mother this recipe. today, she emailed back saying that a teacher at her school brought in some rhubarb so, "your assignment, should you choose to accept it..."
i believe the spirit of kitty grandma (my maternal grandmother) shall be dancing a jig over her granddaughter's new food project. happier, hopefully, than the time mom and i were making easter cookies and the porcelain cardinal fell off the shelf, a clear sign that we were being watched and should not omit the anise flavoring, no matter how much i complained. my grandmother was a brilliant cook and baker and certain things about her and her house will forever (hopefully) be inscribed into my brain: her yellow rice with mushrooms, the possum that temporarily moved into her porch, helping her pick strawberries in the back yard, getting stung by a hornet that nested in the front steps, seeing her drop a piece of chicken onto the floor while turning it over to see if it was done and unleashing a "sonofabitch!" -- the likes of which i've never heard again. her cat. her basement, lined with jars upon jars of home-canned fruits and vegetables. it was a veritable laboratory of food brilliant. going to the premiere of this movie -- in the town where she lived -- and the accompanying terror of sleeping in her house, or any house with windows, for at least a year. i've missed her everyday for eighteen years.

i feel old and sad. and anxiously awaiting that rhubarb.

carrot sticks of beratement.

nadia and i signed up for the 'self challenge' -- run by self magazine -- in january.
whoever does their internet marketing is on the ball because we receive no less than 4 emails per week with subject lines that read "welcome to week 9 of the self challenge" or "how to serve up the perfect turkey burger" and "an easy way to eat your veggies" (i found that one a bit, um, OBVIOUS.) this would all be well and good had we actually participated in the self challenge, you know, at all. now we feel as though we're being stalked. maybe as punishment. maybe this is how they do it at fat camp. i don't know. i did, however, receive the following email last monday:

"lose the bun with this leafy treat"

now, i'm fairly certain they intended the dual meaning of "lose the bun" (it's actually a recipe for chicken salad - meh - wrapped in lettuce.)
in which case: bravo, self.

but still.
STOP JUDGING.

bliss.

going to the theeee-aaa-tahhh this evening to see a very well-reviewed production of august wilson's gem of the ocean. very excited. theater junkie = me. having dinner with a group of friends prior to that. and prior to that nadia and i are taking advantage of ben & jerry's 'free cone day.'

theater.

wine.

ice cream.

my brain might explode from the fanastic-ness of this evening's activities.
creative & gastronomic bliss.
i'm simultaneously 5 and 55.
i love it.