not really for me.

my roommate brought home a copy of "jamie," jamie oliver's magazine. it's printed on thick, matte paper and is truly adorable. here's what i learned:

• pig cheek and rabbit are also in fashion in the u.k. there's not as much pork belly as in brooklyn, but the pancetta and the streaky bacon (and rashers) are present.
  
• jamie calls for a knob of butter in one recipe. it apparently just means "some butter."
• TSG: traditional specialty guaranteed. defined below, by wikipedia (yes, wikipedia).

  Traditional speciality guaranteed is a trademark for an agricultural product or a foodstuff, which has a certain feature or a set of features, setting it clearly apart from other similar products or foodstuffs belonging to the same category. The product or foodstuff must be manufactured using traditional ingredients or must be characteristic for its traditional composition, production process, or processing reflecting a traditional type of manufacturing or processing. In other words, to receive a TSG status, the product does not have to be manufactured in a specific geographically delimited area; it is sufficient that it be traditional and different from other similar products.

• in britain, there is something called the good food producers guide, which tells readers which shops and companies are using sustainable practices. 1000 places. i should write one of there for america. or at least new york.
  

breakfast of teachers in a hurry.

i have been eating yogurt every morning for the majority of the school year; my favorite being from milk thistle. well, during the spring break, i had a shopping extravaganza at the fairway in red hook and emerged with a box of almond-vanilla granola that says "no corn sweeteners" on the box. delicious. and this week, it's my breakfast, with organic low-fat milk and sometimes fruit. and coffee. ALWAYS coffee. sometimes two.

late wednesday, a spicy soup.

how to quickly make a spicy soup (asian-inspired? maybe?):
1. boil a cup or so of water and dissolve a vegetarian bouillon cube into it.
2. lower the temperature so that the water is simmering and add a handful of soba noodles. soba do not need very long to cook so it's ok to actually turn off the stove after a few minutes.
3. cut up most of a carrot and throw it in with the noodles. (i don't like carrots soft, but i did want them hot.)
4. in another saucepan, saute onions and garlic in chili oil until soft. add defrosted peas (hey! it's what i had!) and then big chunks of mushrooms.
5. pour the veggies into the soba/soup mixture. crush some black pepper over it. or anything else you might want.

there you go. so quick. and fulfilling.

oregon.

things i like about oregon:

• i can find my way through powell's--eight years later and i can still find the history section.
• everyone is so liberal that i am a conservative.
• good food isn't revolutionary. it's just part of the lifestyle.
  
• coffee matters. there are drive-thru coffee carts. of good coffee. really good.
  
• beer is incredible. not just the deschutes brewery. the tree-hugger porter in the airport for $4.25 really proves what oregonians think is important.
• more sheep than people? maybe? i am unsure. but there are a lot of sheep. and trees.
  

marylander.

yelena and i having been talking about the smith island cake for months now. it's the state cake of maryland and it's exciting enough for npr to do a whole segment on it! so, i decided to make one last friday, and have a handful of people over for cake and punch (that's gold-leaf punch, kids, another recipe by damon at prime meats).

this cake has 9 layers (though the recipe says it will make 10). i have 3 baking pans, so i had to bake 3 layers at time, let them cool, and then remove the cakes & repeat. they were like thin pancakes. i think that the icing should've been thicker, but, well, it was sugary chocolately goodness.

and peeps for garnish. that was all yelena.

oh my.

ludo and i used to joke that french people must always have breadcrumbs in their armpits because of all the baguettes they carry around.

but, now, here's this: the sac à baguette! it's a reusable bag to carry groceries, with a special sack to in which to put the baguette! reforming all of your trips to the grocery store. for a price.

the kicker.

as we walked to the subway, adam saw this awesome sign. includes sopa de viagra.

what?!

staycation, all i ever wanted.

after i returned from portugal, i still had another week of spring break. adam had raved about a thai place in queens weeks before, and we took the afternoon to visit. that's what you do with weekdays free, right? eat? i mean, it was REAL THAI, not americanized thai.
sri pra phai. that's the name of the place. i have no idea how to pronounce it. the menu was enormous. a book.

i wanted to eat everything. we ordered a million things, it seems, and ate them all.
i tend not to photograph my food when i am in restaurant, unless i am traveling. but this was like being on vacation, as it included a queens neighborhood i had never visited and a train (the 7) that i rarely ride.
we even ate thai snacks after this feast. lots of weird gelatinous treats. they did not compare to the meal.
adam said it was even better the last time he was there! so, we'll have to go back. and attempt the remainder of the menu.

the simplest.

sunday morning: egg salad on whole wheat toast with tomatoes and lettuce. with carrots.

simple. lovely. the weekend. yes.

a whole box.

i ordered 12 fried pies from the backroads bakery in gordon, texas. i have incredible memories of eating fried pies when i lived in east texas, one of the few delicacies of the region i could eat as a vegetarian. (although, come to think of it, they were probably made with lard.)

the flavors: buttermilk, apple, lemon, apricot, chocolate, and apple. so much goodness.

photographs and reviews to come. but i am VERY excited.

ahead of the curve.

the nytimes wrote a story (a whole story!!) about people photographing their food. i was so, so ahead of the curve.

oh, that.

i'll write again soon. the end of spring break was full of laziness and little excitement in the kitchen.

but i did have picklebacks for tracy and yelena's birthday. 4 or 5. that's a shot of whiskey, followed by a shot of pickle juice, kids. no hangover. yelena says that's because of the pickle juice. the russians have such faith in pickles. but she might be right.