I saw these being constructed as I waited for my own, and was intrigued by the combination of fruit + fruity pebbles + granola, so I asked the designers if I could perhaps photograph their yogurt cups.
Being rather boring, my own yogurt just had toppings of fruit.
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Thursday, March 6, 2008
vegetarian tacos
I was quite happy with how these turned out.
inspired by the purchase of:
soyrizo, meatless, soy-based chorizo (which was on sale at the grocery store)
while cooking on the skillet, I added:
great white northern beans and little red beans (previously crock pot cooked)
chopped tomato
chopped black olives
from our organic veggie box:
red leaf lettuce
roma tomatoes
avocado
topped with:
3-cheese mexican blend (shredded)
greek style plain yogurt
all on a:
soft taco flour tortilla (from the oaxacan market down the street)
inspired by the purchase of:
soyrizo, meatless, soy-based chorizo (which was on sale at the grocery store)
while cooking on the skillet, I added:
great white northern beans and little red beans (previously crock pot cooked)
chopped tomato
chopped black olives
from our organic veggie box:
red leaf lettuce
roma tomatoes
avocado
topped with:
3-cheese mexican blend (shredded)
greek style plain yogurt
all on a:
soft taco flour tortilla (from the oaxacan market down the street)
Tuesday, March 4, 2008
Real, Korean kimchi
Ever since our visit to Korea in January, I've been regularly craving kimchi. I didn't go out of my way to find any. I just put some in my basket while shopping at VONS. But while telling some people about this, the Real Live Koreans expressed dismay that I had been eating VONS kimchi and recommended that I get some higher quality kimchi from the Korean market.
So yesterday on my way home from campus I went through Koreatown and stopped by The Galleria at Olympic & Western in search of quality kimchi.
At the supermarket, it took me a while to get to the kimchi section. I entered near the produce and made my way across the store to the frozen section, and I felt a sort of buildup as I wondered when I would run into the kimchi. When I finally saw it, I was not disappointed. The humongous jars of kimchi I saw were Costco-worthy, and now I am really curious as to how long the huge jars ($18.99) would last a Korean family of four. Cathy at Epikorean tells me -- about a week, or two weeks MAX. The kimchi section had kimchi for sale in pouches, in addition to the stuff in jars.
I went home with this (pictured above) 48 oz. container of kimchi. I would say this is a mid-sized container, relative to the rest of the options I had available. I got nappa cabbage kimchi, which I think is the most generic (common?) sort.
About this kimchi, it's pretty spicy. It's more intensely red and spicy than the kimchi I've picked up at VONS in the past, and Alex said "it's because you're white and wimpy". I disagreed about my being white.
So now a question I have is, how much kimchi consumption is too much? Are there dangers of eating too much kimchi? As a probiotic, it's supposed to be good for your intestinal tract and improve your digestion. But all those spices have to be taxing on your system, right?
So yesterday on my way home from campus I went through Koreatown and stopped by The Galleria at Olympic & Western in search of quality kimchi.
At the supermarket, it took me a while to get to the kimchi section. I entered near the produce and made my way across the store to the frozen section, and I felt a sort of buildup as I wondered when I would run into the kimchi. When I finally saw it, I was not disappointed. The humongous jars of kimchi I saw were Costco-worthy, and now I am really curious as to how long the huge jars ($18.99) would last a Korean family of four. Cathy at Epikorean tells me -- about a week, or two weeks MAX. The kimchi section had kimchi for sale in pouches, in addition to the stuff in jars.
I went home with this (pictured above) 48 oz. container of kimchi. I would say this is a mid-sized container, relative to the rest of the options I had available. I got nappa cabbage kimchi, which I think is the most generic (common?) sort.
About this kimchi, it's pretty spicy. It's more intensely red and spicy than the kimchi I've picked up at VONS in the past, and Alex said "it's because you're white and wimpy". I disagreed about my being white.
So now a question I have is, how much kimchi consumption is too much? Are there dangers of eating too much kimchi? As a probiotic, it's supposed to be good for your intestinal tract and improve your digestion. But all those spices have to be taxing on your system, right?
Friday, February 29, 2008
coupons and other costs
I am trying to blog regularly, so I decided to make this comment a trackback instead of a comment to the post.
Jerome was highlighting some of his recent triumphs with coupons.
Coupons can be pretty great, although the one time my 'no purchase necessary' coupon was rejected at Ralph's has left me with slight fear of coupon rejection. I had gotten this 'Free box of any Kashi product under $4.50' for filling out an online questionnaire and sharing my very valuable opinions about whether I thought 'cheese and pimento' crackers sounded more appealing that 'sun-dried tomato and pepper' (these flavors just now made up on the spot). Anyway, my checkout guy refused to take the coupon, perhaps because it looked as though I had printed it out from my computer, despite the fact that the coupon was supposed to have some sort of code thing to verify its value. Oh well.
Alex and I went bowling last night at AMF Mar Vista and for 2 - $4 games we got 2 buy-one-game-get-one-free coupons. This is awesome because I think it will help our goal to bowl more frequently. We also bought bowling shoes to help with the process. Neither of us have ever owned bowling shoes. At $50 each (Zappos.com, price includes shipping) it will take us slightly over 11x bowling to recoup the cost. Barring traumatic injury or early death, I think it's doable. If we expect to live 60 more years, that would mean bowling at least once every 5.4 years. Although this is assuming that we'll both be able to bowl in our 80s. Maybe by then we'll break 100 regularly.
Finally, the other thing that is coupon-like but not exactly a coupon -- rebates. Rebates can seem like a good deal, but these days I'll only buy something w/a rebate if I would be willing to buy it anyway (w/o rebate), since the money often doesn't come back. I've never tried to hunt unreturned rebates down, but I've been burned too many times.
Jerome was highlighting some of his recent triumphs with coupons.
Coupons can be pretty great, although the one time my 'no purchase necessary' coupon was rejected at Ralph's has left me with slight fear of coupon rejection. I had gotten this 'Free box of any Kashi product under $4.50' for filling out an online questionnaire and sharing my very valuable opinions about whether I thought 'cheese and pimento' crackers sounded more appealing that 'sun-dried tomato and pepper' (these flavors just now made up on the spot). Anyway, my checkout guy refused to take the coupon, perhaps because it looked as though I had printed it out from my computer, despite the fact that the coupon was supposed to have some sort of code thing to verify its value. Oh well.
Alex and I went bowling last night at AMF Mar Vista and for 2 - $4 games we got 2 buy-one-game-get-one-free coupons. This is awesome because I think it will help our goal to bowl more frequently. We also bought bowling shoes to help with the process. Neither of us have ever owned bowling shoes. At $50 each (Zappos.com, price includes shipping) it will take us slightly over 11x bowling to recoup the cost. Barring traumatic injury or early death, I think it's doable. If we expect to live 60 more years, that would mean bowling at least once every 5.4 years. Although this is assuming that we'll both be able to bowl in our 80s. Maybe by then we'll break 100 regularly.
Finally, the other thing that is coupon-like but not exactly a coupon -- rebates. Rebates can seem like a good deal, but these days I'll only buy something w/a rebate if I would be willing to buy it anyway (w/o rebate), since the money often doesn't come back. I've never tried to hunt unreturned rebates down, but I've been burned too many times.
Sunday, February 24, 2008
penne rigata in white sauce
ingredients:
pasta, spinach (fresh or frozen), milk, white wine, vanilla, olive oil, butter, garlic, basil, salt/pepper
directions:
1. cook pasta according to box directions (whole wheat penne rigate used here, 8 min.). water is salted to ocean-ness, a la alton brown
2. while water is boiling / pasta is cooking, crush and mince garlic (1-2 large cloves, 3-4 small ones)
3. pour several Tablespoons of olive oil into pan, and allow garlic to sit in the oil for a few minutes. a couple of teaspoons of basil (chopped, dried in my case) too. add some white wine (maybe 1:2 ratio of white wine to olive oil) and pinches of kosher salt
4. put oil on low heat until pasta is cooked. drain pasta.
6. add spinach (approx. 2-3 cups frozen in my case) to heating pan. pour in some milk (whole), a few Tablespoons and a wee bit of vanilla
7. then pour drained (not rinsed, so it's still hot) pasta over spinach
8. toss pasta in oil and spinach, adding a small amount (1/2 a pat) of butter for taste. add kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste as well.
served 2.
tasty possible future modifications:
toasted walnuts
sauteed mushrooms
slow-roasted tomatoes
asparagus (if alex is not too averse)
pasta, spinach (fresh or frozen), milk, white wine, vanilla, olive oil, butter, garlic, basil, salt/pepper
directions:
1. cook pasta according to box directions (whole wheat penne rigate used here, 8 min.). water is salted to ocean-ness, a la alton brown
2. while water is boiling / pasta is cooking, crush and mince garlic (1-2 large cloves, 3-4 small ones)
3. pour several Tablespoons of olive oil into pan, and allow garlic to sit in the oil for a few minutes. a couple of teaspoons of basil (chopped, dried in my case) too. add some white wine (maybe 1:2 ratio of white wine to olive oil) and pinches of kosher salt
4. put oil on low heat until pasta is cooked. drain pasta.
6. add spinach (approx. 2-3 cups frozen in my case) to heating pan. pour in some milk (whole), a few Tablespoons and a wee bit of vanilla
7. then pour drained (not rinsed, so it's still hot) pasta over spinach
8. toss pasta in oil and spinach, adding a small amount (1/2 a pat) of butter for taste. add kosher salt and coarsely ground black pepper to taste as well.
served 2.
tasty possible future modifications:
toasted walnuts
sauteed mushrooms
slow-roasted tomatoes
asparagus (if alex is not too averse)
Friday, February 22, 2008
rainbow blueberry banana bread
I thought it was going to be much more disgusting-looking, based on my peek into the top of the bread machine before the bread was done. All I saw was a dark bluish-green color, reminiscent of inappropriately mixed play-dough, dirty water in which one rinses watercolored brushes, and creatures from the swamp.
I guess that's what you get, since yellow + blue makes green.
We had a couple of overly ripe bananas, so I thought I'd give banana bread a try. Alex even had a recipe written down for some already. But of course, I can never leave well enough alone. I cut back on sugar and added blueberries to the mix.
The coloring wasn't uniform and the bottom was caked with flour because I didn't know how to use the bread machine. The batter probably could have been stirred a bit before starting the machine. Also, according to our resident bread machine expert, it helps to put the liquid ingredients in first.
I guess that's what you get, since yellow + blue makes green.
We had a couple of overly ripe bananas, so I thought I'd give banana bread a try. Alex even had a recipe written down for some already. But of course, I can never leave well enough alone. I cut back on sugar and added blueberries to the mix.
The coloring wasn't uniform and the bottom was caked with flour because I didn't know how to use the bread machine. The batter probably could have been stirred a bit before starting the machine. Also, according to our resident bread machine expert, it helps to put the liquid ingredients in first.
Easy Spirit -- darn comfortable shoes
In preparation for my campus visit last week, I upgraded elements of my wardrobe. So far I am very satisfied with the expenses incurred.
1. Pant suit set (obtained during Ann Taylor's suit sale) -- quality and classic. I do so much shopping online these days that I was very tempted to get an outfit online. But I did go to the mall, and I was pleased.
2. No-show trouser socks from Target. Pleased, although they are so thin that I'm not sure how they will fare in the washer+dryer. I felt it was necessary to get some socks because even I know better than to match the dark pant suit with my white athletic socks.
3. Black loafers from EasySpirit. I am especially happy about how well these shoes worked out, since I have been the victim of lovely but uncomfortable/painful/torturous (depending how long they are worn) shoes many times before.
As soon as I considered getting interview shoes, I decided that they should be appropriate but comfortable. I wanted to be comfortable, and it was likely that I'd have to do some walking on the campus. I was tempted to try the whole athletic shoes with suit thing, but decided that professional basketball players are the only ones who can get away with that. So for comfortable shoes I headed to EasySpirit. Because even their store name seems comforting.
Although I had never purchased shoes there, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I browsed their selection carefully before trying on a couple pairs. I was in the store for 20 minutes or so. During that time, several people and couples came into and left from the store. Not one of them appeared to be under the age of 50, which caused me to question whether it was okay for me to buy EasySpirit shoes.
But they were comfortable. So I did. And they are still comfortable. I think those older folks are trying to keep this secret for themselves.
1. Pant suit set (obtained during Ann Taylor's suit sale) -- quality and classic. I do so much shopping online these days that I was very tempted to get an outfit online. But I did go to the mall, and I was pleased.
2. No-show trouser socks from Target. Pleased, although they are so thin that I'm not sure how they will fare in the washer+dryer. I felt it was necessary to get some socks because even I know better than to match the dark pant suit with my white athletic socks.
3. Black loafers from EasySpirit. I am especially happy about how well these shoes worked out, since I have been the victim of lovely but uncomfortable/painful/torturous (depending how long they are worn) shoes many times before.
As soon as I considered getting interview shoes, I decided that they should be appropriate but comfortable. I wanted to be comfortable, and it was likely that I'd have to do some walking on the campus. I was tempted to try the whole athletic shoes with suit thing, but decided that professional basketball players are the only ones who can get away with that. So for comfortable shoes I headed to EasySpirit. Because even their store name seems comforting.
Although I had never purchased shoes there, it seemed like the right thing to do at the time. I browsed their selection carefully before trying on a couple pairs. I was in the store for 20 minutes or so. During that time, several people and couples came into and left from the store. Not one of them appeared to be under the age of 50, which caused me to question whether it was okay for me to buy EasySpirit shoes.
But they were comfortable. So I did. And they are still comfortable. I think those older folks are trying to keep this secret for themselves.
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