I am SUCH a wino!

I guess the sign of a good night is a headache in the morning, or something like that.

So, yesterday was a visiting family day, which means authentic Mexican when we visit my family and oodles of wine when we visit his.

I love wine. Love, love, love it. The smell, the taste, the way the glass feels in my hand, the bottle art, that nice relaxed feeling that I get after a glass... I love everything about wine. I love it so much that I wish I could drink it all night and not get drunk.

(I've only ever accomplished that once, at Christmas: when we got to dinner at The Mr.'s grandma's house, I was still full from brunch at my mom's. I put away 7 glasses of champagne and stayed stone cold sober.)

Ah, but not last night. I had a glass of Green Apple Riesling in my hand before I'd even sat down -- and I really want to track it down and buy a whole case. It. Was. So. Sweet.

So, next we got into the Cabernet Franc, which doesn't seem to be available on the winery's site. I'm kind of disappointed, because I thought I couldn't stand red wine but I really enjoyed this one! It tasted a little bit like a barbecue, actually -- kind of a mesquite flavor, almost.

Oh, but then we had Pinot Noir from dog-knows-where-I-didn't-look with dinner -- another wine that I thought I didn't like. I guess the last one I had just wasn't very good? Beats me, but this one was delicious, and by the time we were finished with dinner, I was really wishing that I weren't so small.

But wait, there's more! Then we had a glass of Moscato D'Asti with the cake and ice cream! Aside from being super-sweet and sparkly, it's the same wine we had the night we got engaged (aww!). I could go for a case of that, too, especially since it has such a low alcohol content.

Ooh, and MY SENSEO IS WAITING FOR ME AT THE POST OFFICE!! Yay!

Senseo Watch!

It's in Chantilly!!

It'll probably come to the post office today! Then the post office will deliver it while The Mr. and I are at work, and we'll come home and find a note card that says O HAI WE BRINGED U A BOX BUT U WAZN'T HEAR! and then I'll pick it up in the morning before we go to visit families!!

Then I'll come home and set it up and make Hard Coffee (and, of course, post the recipe)!

The Adventures of the Senseo

MY SENSEO IS IN OHIO!!

:D :D :D

It should make it to VA by the middle of next week... although it's coming by DHL (which someone once joked stands for Delivery by Hurling and Lobbing), so who really knows.

But my Senseo is coming!!!

Monday Night Chicken

Weekday cooking sucks.

Seriously, it's already depressing enough that by the time I get home from work, I have to go to bed in 3 hours. And do you want to put a knife in my hand when I've just been sitting in rush hour traffic? Yeah, didn't think so.

That's what salsa chicken is for!


Ingredients

• 1 package of dry salsa mix (I found mine in the produce section)
• 1 16oz jar of pomegranate salsa (I have also used mango and pineapple salsas in the past)
• 4 boneless, skinless chicken thighs
• Grated parmesan

Directions

1. Rub the chicken thighs with the dry salsa mix, same as you would with any other grilling rub. If the thighs were frozen, you may want to "unroll" them so that the center is exposed. This will require making a few cuts, but will ensure that the meat cooks through.
2. Put the chicken in a baking dish.
   
3. Pour the salsa over the chicken.
4. Sprinkle with grated parmesan.
5. Cook at 375 degrees for 40 minutes.

But then you need a side!



Ingredients

• 1 cup Thai red rice (a.k.a. cargo rice)
• 4 cups broth (chicken, vegetable, beef... doesn't really matter)
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
  
• 1 large onion, coarsely chopped
• Freshly ground salt and pepper
• Large sprinkling of garlic powder (maybe 1/8 tsp)
  
• Pinch of cayenne
• Large sprinkling of basil flakes (1/8 tsp? Ish?)
  

Directions

1. Heat the broth and olive oil to boiling.
2. Add the rice and seasonings.
3. Cook for 40 minutes, adding the onion when half the liquid is absorbed.
4. Cargo rice is very thirsty. Keep an eye on it, and if the liquid is absorbed while the rice is still inedibly chewy, add more broth.
   

Free Senseo coffee maker! And, why coffee sellers should sell coffee by the ounce.

Someone over at PaperBackSwap linked to a site where you can get a Senseo coffee maker for $15 shipping!

Allow me to repeat that:

YOU CAN GET SOMETHING FOR NEXT TO NOTHING.

A few people ordered theirs a few months ago and have since received them. I ordered mine last night. It comes with some of the coffee pods, even!

If you don't like the expense of the pods, you can do track down this awesome thing called the Ecopad, which is a refillable, dishwasher safe filter pod for the Senseo. There's also the MyPod, which is like a regular coffee filter and not reusable. You're not locked into buying overpriced pods.

'Course, I'll probably end up giving away most of the pods that come with the machine. I assume that most/all are the full-leaded kind. Bah.

Speaking of which -- why are so few delicious gourmet coffees decaf? At the very least, why can't I buy an ounce or two of regular, instead of a full pound? See, regular coffee gives most of you a pleasant vroom! vroom! feeling.

It gives me the feeling like I've been strapped to the top of a speeding sports car while a mild electrical current runs through my body. Then I get about 60 minutes of intense concentration, followed by about 24 hours of insomnia.

So why is it that I can't have the same range of varietals and flavors that the jacked-up, overworked, and sleepless can?

Or at the very least, why can't I just buy an ounce?

More salsa!

I made another salsa the other night! It took 15 minutes and was so delicious. I would have gone to the farmers' market and bought more tomatoes for another batch, but after trundling in from a birthday party at 4 a.m.... no. Just, no.

Okay, so, a few tips and notes:

• Like all salsas, it has to sit overnight. Absolutely has to.
• The flavor was best after 3 days.
• It's really, really hot.
  

Ingredients

• 8 tomatoes, quartered
• 1 large onion, cut into chunks
• 4 garlic cloves, whole
• Juice of 2 limes
• 5 chipotles in adobo sauce, whole
• 2 tablespoons of the adobo sauce
• Small handful of cilantro (about 1/4 cup)

Directions

1. Process everything in the food processor until smooth.
2. Pour into a container (I use Gladware) and let sit for at least 24 hours.
3. Nom nom nom!
   

Lunchtime!

Well, it's not lunchtime right now. I just finished dinner, actually. But I did throw together a black bean salad to take to work tomorrow. When your only viable option three days a week is Subway, packing lunch sounds really good after three weeks.

It's a great summer lunch or side dish, and it takes all of five minutes. It's also really cheap and easy to make for a barbecue.

Ingredients

• 1 can of black beans, rinsed
• 1/3 cup frozen corn, rinsed under cold water until thawed
• 1/2 onion, diced
• 1/4 cup cilantro
• freshly ground salt
• juice of 1 lime, minus a little bit (just cut it into quarters, juice 3, and put the last quarter in a Corona or something...)
• 2T smooth salsa or a 1t hot sauce (to taste)
  

Directions

1. Toss everything together in a bowl.
2. Let sit overnight.
3. Take to work and eat instead of junk food.
   

Veggie tacos! Because when it comes to meat, I have prohibitively expensive taste.

I'm what you might call a reluctant omnivore.

Growing up, I didn't get any meat aside from hot dogs and stuff -- my family couldn't afford it. When I did get meat, it was usually something like a pot roast, which, ew. Meat flavored chewing gum, much?

So, meat politics aside, I never got into the whole carnivore thing. As I got older, people would sometimes notice my meat aversion and ask me, "Are you vegetarian?" To which I responded, "I'm not really a vegetarian, I just don't like to eat meat." To which they responded, "That's what vegetarian means, dummy!" Well, not really, I tend to think that vegetarianism usually entails meat politics, which... meh, whatever.

And then, eventually, I discovered a simple formula: meat + any alcohol whatsoever = vomit. Further, meat = body feeling funny. Then I read about what goes into meat. So I decided to stop eating meat. And I got looked at funny for that, too.

Whatever, I can't win.

The point is, I'll eat good meat. I will happily eat good meat. I will go all OM NOM NOM NOM on its ass. I'm flexible. But you gotta understand, I mean really good meat. We're talking grass fed, free-range, organic meat. You know, that stuff that's prohibitively expensive for most people, including me.

Holy crap, I just spent how long writing a defense of my dislike for meat?

Long story short, when it comes to meat, I have expensive taste.

So last night, I took a couple of veggie burgers and cooked them up much as one would cook ground beef, and used them for tacos. It was actually really tasty. You just kind of heat it a little, then chop it up with your spatula and cook the crumbles.


It's not going to fool my "vegetables are the stuff that food eats!" friends, but it sure was tasty.

The best part? The taco sauce I whipped up!


Ingredients

• 1 1/2 chipotles in adobo sauce, chopped
• about 1 teaspoon of the adobo sauce
  
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• juice of 1 lime
• pinch of garlic powder
  
• pinch of onion powder

Directions

1. Using a fork, stir all the ingredients together.
2. Adjust adobo sauce, garlic powder, and onion powder to taste.
3. Does this really need to be a list? It's super easy!