So, my mom works at Wegman's now. In addition to being--from what I hear--a great workplace, they have some great food. Yes, even their house brand.

This means that I got a gift bag of delicious goodies for my birthday!

• Three kinds of cheese
• Two kinds of bruschetta toasts
• Two kinds of bruschetta topping
• Spicy garlic pasta sauce (it's not liquid like you'd expect)
• Good olive oil
• Bread, for dipping in the good olive oil
• Basting sauce (maybe it'll make that fish edible)
• Thai green curry sauce
• Organic strawberry jam
• ....oh, and the rest of the pistachio cake
• A cloth grocery sack, of course!

So far, I've been into the bruschetta, bread, olive oil and one kind of cheese. Tonight? Spicy pasta with bruschetta! I may also finally open up the cherry wine for dessert, along with white chocolate truffles, but I'm in a team weight loss contest and doing miserably.

But you're taking my carbs when you pry them from my cold, dead hands.

Going out for less: Tapas edition

There are ways to still go out, even now.

Trick #1: Restaurant.com deals. They usually offer $25 gift certificates for $10, but I was able to get a bunch of them for $2 each. Two of them were for tapas restaurants, so The Mr. and I went to the first Friday night.

Trick #2: Tapas. Individual plates tend to run from $7-9.

We had to spend a minimum of $35 on food (alcohol wasn't covered by the coupon, bah!), so we got the 2-person tasting menu (warning, PDF!). We got--no lie--8 plates of food, which we annihilated.

The tortilla was my favorite. I've never had a Spanish tortilla before, and it. was. fantastic. It was more like a savory pastry than an omelet, actually

The Buey al Jerez was my next-favorite and The Mr.'s first favorite. This was grilled, marinated steak in a sherry mushroom sauce. Oh, but what the menu doesn't mention? The potatoes. The wondeful, delicious potatoes that looked like American homefries but tasted so much better.

As for the sangria blanca, well, I'm not saying it was cheap, but what I am saying is--it had peaches!! The Mr. turned up his nose at cinnamon in it, but when the pitcher came, there was no nose-turning-up at all. The cinnamon flavor was very faint and enhanced the fruit flavors instead of overpowering them?

Oh, and those peaches? Yeah, we dug them out of the carafe and ate them like the winos we are.

If awesome had a taste, it would be tapas. Oh, and saving $23 on the bill.

...Wait, you can't taste money.

Well, anyway, tapas = win.

Fish are friends, not food!

EPIC FAIL.

I ate salmon in a nice restaurant a few months ago and, surprisingly, I really enjoyed it. I say surprisingly because I've never really liked fish. As I later told my editor, "eating salmon was a really big step for me."

I have since eaten scallop (yum!) and octopus (tastes like chicken!).

See, I love food, as long as it doesn't come out of the water. Only land-faring eats for me, please-and-thank-you! Or so I thought for a long time. I really, really enjoyed that salmon I had over the summer.

I got it into my head that I could make fish, too, after seeing a really tasty-looking recipe in a magazine.

Boy, was I wrong.

It looked delicious. When I get home to my camera I'll add the picture. Really, it looked tasty.

I only ate about a third of my four-ounce fillet. The Mr. made it through half of his.

We gave the leftovers to the cat. Even the cat wouldn't eat it.

In case you're interested, it's pretty easy to make: just season the salmon with salt and black pepper, then cook in a skillet for 1 minute each side, then add 1/3 cup of balsamic vinegar mixed with 1 tablespoon of honey and simmer until the sauce reduces.

Too bad fish tastes like licking a pet store.

Food! Wonderful, tasty FOOD!

I can EAT again! It's great! Except for rebound congestion from the nasal spray I've been shnorking up, I'm mostly cleared up. Once I've kicked the nose candy Zicam, I'll be all better. The Mr. even got me a ginormous air scrubber to get the kitty allergens out of the air. It's pretty awesome, too--it works so well that I'll probably buy a smaller sized one to put on my nightstand and get rid of the morning stuffiness entirely.

So, between the colds, allergies and rebound congestion, I haven't been able to taste much for the past month or so. I guess the kitty allergens started to pile up. To make matters worse, I've caught every cold that's going around, which I suspect makes the allergies worse, keeps my immune system in the toilet and basically ensures that I never get well. K offered to take the cat in for a while while I get better, but there's just no way. I love the fuzzy little land shark. I secretly think that he just wants a cat but is too afraid to get his own. ;)

Aw, jeez, I started talking about my cat again. The point is, I can pretty much taste food, so I made some spicy lentils!

I have no idea what happened to the pictures, but it was delicious.

Ingredients

• 1 large red onion, or 2 small onions, chopped
  
• 1 lb of lentils
• 3 garlic cloves, chopped
• 1 green bell pepper
• 2 hot chili peppers, or your favorite hot sauce
• 2 cans of diced tomatoes
• chopped cilantro
• salt and pepper
• 1 tablespoon olive oil
• lemon juice
• bay leaf
  

Directions

• Cook the lentils by the package directions, adding a bay leaf to the water.
• Saute the garlic, peppers and onions in the oil in a VERY LARGE saucepan.
• Add the lentils and all other ingredients.
• Eat hot or cold.

Be sure not to overcook the lentils, because they'll get soggy and gross. You might want to try cooking them pilaf-style--I haven't yet because I don't want the extra calories from sauteeing the lentils in oil.

I think tomorrow or Thursday night I'll try making salmon!

Sick, still!

Why so empty?

Well, because I've had colds for the past 6 weeks. Every time I start to feel better, someone infects me with another cold! YOU try eating and enjoying food when everything tastes like chewing on sawdust. :(

Maybe I'll eventually get well... or I'll just drill a couple of holes in my face to relieve the stuffiness.

From the cooking mags: White Bean and Chicken Chili

This white bean and chicken chili came from the October issue of Bon Apetit (I like to say that I subscribe to so many magazines so that I get something in the mail besides my bills).

It is absolutely delicious. The whole batch has about 1,550 calories and makes enough for four people (or two people's dinners tonight and lunches tomorrow!).

The grilled cheese was a last-minute decision. I was picking up some bread to go with the chili and saw a loaf of Alpine Gruyere bread. So I thought, why not grab a chunk of Gruyere and make some small sandwiches?

So. Good. They were wonderfully gooey but also very crisp because I sliced the bread so thinly.

The chili was incredibly cheap, too. I had everything but the chicken and celery, which, now I have five more stalks of celery in my fridge and no idea what to do with them. Or the bean sprouts, really. Oops.

If there's a more inconsistent blogger out there, I don't know who it is.

I created this noodle-less Pad Thai the other night, in an attempt to get more protein and cut out empty calories like noodles. (I've had minimal success with weight loss: was down 4 pounds, then gained back 1.5 when the gym locker key ran away from my friend).

Carbs are harder to kick than coffee, mostly due to bread's lack of physical and mental side effects.

Anyway, here's how I did it:

Ingredients

• 1.5 lbs chicken breast, chopped and cooked
  
• 1 tomato, cut into chunks
  
• 1 green bell pepper, sliced
• 1c snow peas
• 1 bunch green onion
• 1T olive oil
• 5T pad thai sauce
• 1c bean sprouts

Directions

1. Heat the olive oil. Stir-fry the bell pepper and snow peas until just beginning to soften.
2. Add the chicken, cook until heated if necessary.
3. Add bean sprouts, tomato, green onion and pad thai sauce. Cook until hot and covered with sauce.

Side note: I need to learn to can in time to make goodies for Christmas. Where can I buy canning supplies in the Fairfax City area?