OH Hai Chitlins! I’m coming at you live from Freak Nature City it seems. First we have this Sandy broad roll through and eff shit up, and now suddenly it’s snowing. I mean whatevs, I’m cool listening to my Christmas tunes and drinking spiked eggnog while the wind whistles outside. It’s no biggie. Anyone else have AccuRadio’s Holiday channel streaming from now until December 26th? Just me? Oh well.
Oh hey y’all! How’s it hanging? I made some fall pizza for yunz (name that accent!).
We’ve been having some absolutely gorge fall weather in NYC this year. Easily the nicest, mildest transition from summer into fall we’ve had in the last five years. It is absolutely divine. The evenings have that nice buttery light with a slight crisp in the air, that smells so fresh even in the city. Makes me wish I could just grab it all in a giant hug and squish it.
You don’t get that? Just me? Okay then…..moving on.
Oh man Chitlins! Do you guys have farmer’s markets near you? Because the Union Square Greenmarket is just bursting with amazeballs summer produce right now. It’s a veritable panoply of choices, I can hardly control myself. The best part though, is that I’m not the only one obsessively taking photos of produce now. It seems like everyone in New York is fascinated with all the colors!
Chitlins, I proudly present to you a literal Pizza Pie! How freakin’ cool is that? The first recipe this month for Tuesdays with Dorie: Baking with Julia edition (TWD/BWJ if you will) is pizza rustica. I was kind of exorbitantly excited about making this recipe because I adore pizza but I don’t eat it often, which is sad because I live in NYC and am practically surrounded by pizza (and bagels, and annoying tourists but I digress). And then, I read the recipe and my heart sank. Pizza rustica is made with pie crust. My arch-nemesis. [dun dun DUUUNNNN!]
Oh my Chitlins, somehow Thursday snuck up on me this week. The BF caught a pretty heinous stomach flu that has left me torn between the desire to help him feel better and my absolute fear of catching it also right before my race this weekend. Not to mention I just can’t seem to make the days stick in my head; Tuesday felt like Thursday, Wednesday felt like Friday and I woke up this morning dead set that it was still Tuesday. I know, it makes no sense.
In case you’re getting any ideas that this is a healthy dinner option, just turn your butt back around and continue to surf the web. There is very little healthy about these delicious pockets, but they are easy; so take your pick. I don’t generally condone the use of crescent rolls as a shortcut for dinner, unless of course it involves wrapping tiny hotdogs in them, in which case sign me up. But sometimes a girl just doesn’t have the energy to make a dinner that takes more than 15 minutes. Sue me.
The other day I received a phone call from my mother, “Ace, I’m starting Pinterest I need you to call me and tell me how it works.” Yeah, I know, you’re thinking the same thing. “But she doesn’t even cook or bake, she’s already married and she doesn’t even have the patience to get all crafty. What in heaven’s name is she using Pinterest for?!” I was equally as baffled, but I figured I’d give her the benefit of the doubt and help her out.
My father is not very good at languages. It’s a well-known and oft joked about fact in our family. Sometimes he’ll grace us with his rendition of instructions written in different languages. Where some people are tone-deaf, my father is “accent-deaf,” and he speaks everything in a hopeless American accent that would make a native-speaker of the other language cringe. We find it hysterical. If it’s a matter of repeating what someone else has told him, he has better luck, sort of.
My mother is a bit better. For all her love of languages, there are often times where she will repeat a single word over and over trying different accents and emphases. It can be humorous, though after several attempts one begins to wonder if she merely enjoys hearing the sound of her own voice. Lovely as her voice is, one word stuck on loop can be a bit daunting at times.
On the off-chance that you haven’t lost all your teeth and aren’t blind drunk from the last several recipes I posted, here’s a little something to help abate the sugar rush. Chicken roll-ups with spinach, ricotta, mozzarella and a lemon herb butter.
While it is true I eat meat, I don’t generally cook meat for myself (unless it’s bacon, or even better than that, DUCK bacon), mostly because it’s expensive and I’m lazy. Vegetables often require minimal preparation, and even if you undercooked them you’re not liable to get sick. I, thankfully, like my bacon burnt to a crisp, to the point where it’s practically bacon dust and the kitchen is full of smoke and you can hardly see in front of your face. That’s just how I roll. Unfortunately, The BF, much like my father, cannot subsist on vegetables alone. And I am therefore, obliged to cook meat, that isn’t just bacon, once in a while. Continue reading
