Ugh, the heat.

I don't care if they say the temperature has gone down a little the last
couple days.

I'm still eating salad for dinner.

Although I have taken an affinity to flavored sparkling mineral water.

cooking again. maybe

Started cooking at home again, starting small.
Sunday, I made a hamburger.
Monday, I baked some chicken and had a salad with it.

Bought some celery and mayo at the store tonight, so I'm thinking a nice
chicken salad with last night's leftover chicken would be tasty, especially
in this heat. Either that or grill up some hot dogs. *shrugs*

Ok, it's boring and it's simple and there's no challenge or artistry.

Beats "cut a slit in film cover and microwave on high for 3 minutes, stir
entree, microwave another 1 1/2 minutes. Let stand 2 months."

Laziness.

Still too hot in these parts to do any serious cooking, and as I ain't got
anyone to impress with my attempts, I'm going for the lazy.

So it's hot dog night. Cooked up a couple of them hebrew national quarter
pounders, melted some cheddar over them, and added a little spicy brown
mustard.

Who knows, maybe I'll get a little more creative over the weekend. If it
isn't so hot as it was last weekend, maybe I'll make a roast or something.
Should keep me well-stocked in leftovers.

the cleaning of the refridgerator, part II

So rather than just throwing things out, I'm trying to find new and creative
ways to work my way through foods I would normally like, but know that I
won't be preparing anytime soon.

Tonight's dinner, the miraculous mozzerella, pepper jack, marinated
artichoke heart and bologna sandwich. On white bread.

It didn't taste that bad, actually.

the cleaning of the refridgerator

Tommyknocker Almond Creme soda tastes like toasted marshmallows. No wonder
the ex-girl liked it.

Purge.

So the cleaning and separation goes on, and it was tonight that I finally
hit the pantry, which brings something into context (and an excuse to post)

Thus far, I'm being good. Anything sealed that I know I won't eat (short of
the box I put together for the girl on her way out), I'm throwing in one bag
for the possibility of a food bank. But most of what's left is opened,
half-stale crap. A 1/4 cup of french fried onions. Only used in a green-bean
casserole that I've found I'm abivalent over: Enter the concept that when
you aren't living through your own nostalgia, or living vicariously through
someone else's, honesty sets in. Trash.

A half-eaten sleeve of Ritz crackers: Even if I liked 'em, they're so far
beyond stale (we're talking years) that it ain't worth it. Trash.

A mouldy half-eaten bag of dried cranberries. Should've been better sealed.
No question.

Just about anything improperly sealed: gone.

Several year old candy of various origin: gone.

Jello: Fuck, I've got no interest in either the gelatin dessert or the
instant pudding. Couldn't quite bring myself to toss them though, so if I'm
not willing to give it a shot in the next few weeks, to the food bank they
go.

Pasta: Holy shit, I'm up to my neck in it. I think I'm going to live frugal
the next few weeks and burn all of this stuff off, the fancy nights just
meaning I can post something as I get creative, the shallow nights, living
off jarred sauces.

A purging is clearly in order if I'm going to be able to continue this blog.
It's high time I go rediscover my own culinary interests

A glimpse into the rest of the time....

So I tend to write about the highlights of what I eat, but here's today's
consumption in the name of contrast:

Woke up, got my usual morning coffee (three shots of espresso over ice,
topped off to the 20oz mark with iced coffee) It's the iced version of one
of those coffeehouse nonstandards, sometimes referred to as the Red Eye, Eye
Opener, Shot in the Dark, Sledgehammer....I call it breakfast.

Lunch was spent at the company cafeteria. I've discovered that the salad bar
there is the path of least discomfort (after trying most things. It didn't
earn its nickname of "vomitorium" for nothing) and I've found the best value
is to get the small cup of soup and small salad, so today's eatings was a
cup of terrible vegetable soup (I think they took last week's leftover
vegetables and boiled them until it vaguely resembled something broth), but
the alternative was the (costs nearly twice as much) chili, which had a
considerably nauseating greyish hue to it today, so I went with the
sucks-less choice. Under normal circumstances, I usually go half and half on
the salad plate with cottage cheese and whatever pasta salad (also
chock-full of leftovers, typically), but being monday, they had no pasta
salad, so it was an all cottage-cheese day. Truly, none of this sounds
appealing, but I could tell you horror stories about that place (the time I
wrung out the oil of the mini-churro that came with the mexican special
plate ought be enough to get anyone to swear off fried food.)

Dinner was of the frozen microwaveable style. It was the Lean Cuisine
"Sesame Chicken". Granted, I think that "lean" tv dinners are mostly a bunch
of hooey, but it was on sale, and when scanning the frozen dinner aisle at
my local grocery store, the criteria is usually "what's on sale" first, with
"what at least attempts to be healthy" second. The specialty organic tv
dinners (such as the "Amy's" brand) almost never go on sale, so Lean Cuisine
tends to win on weeks that they've got the price down.

I know, I should cook more for myself, reaping the benefit of leftovers as I
can, but I've been so fouled up lately that I just can't find the
motivation.

-transiit

Sophia's

So a cow-orker and his wife invited me out last night to grab dinner and go
watch the new X-men flick. After a half hour of sitting on their driveway
trying to figure out where to get dinner, we finally jumped in a car and
pulled out. Scant seconds went by before it was asked:
"So, where are we going, anyhow?"
"To get food", I replied.
"Yeah. Where?"
"I don't know. The food hut?"
"You like greek?"
"I like greek. I can get my some lamb."

So we went to Sophia's in Placentia (they don't seem to have a website, but
here's the info: 1390 N Kraemer Blvd, (714) 528-2021)

We got some sort of fried sausage thing for an appetizer (I don't know that
any of us were terribly impressed by it.). Randy got the calamari steak,
Leslie got the halibut, I got the gyro plate. Everybody seemed pretty happy
(well, except the "So this is greek beer, huh? Tastes like Heineken"
conversation)

And for reasons I never understand, whenever I go get food with them,
service speeds slow down to glacial.

As for the film, if you're a fan of either the comics or the first two
flicks, you can probably skip this one without feeling incomplete.

Seattle.

This one's a couple days late, but hey, life happens.

So I was up in Seattle this week on business, and we hit one of those
fancy-schmancy restaurants while we were up there: Salty's (on Alki Beach).
I can only presume that Alki beach has some reference to a basic Alkaline
nature, and not alcoholism, but I'm not an anthropologist.



So I got the "Pan Seared Eastern Scallops", which as their menu describes
comes with a Yukon Potato-Blue Cheese-Leek Gratin, Bacon-wilted Spinach, and
a Lavender Beurre-Blanc sauce. And that it was. Pretty darn tasty, as I
almost always love my scallops.

It ain't cheap, though, but at least they've got various metal sculptures of
sea creatures adorning their parking lot.

enter the mundane

So I've been eating frozen dinners and whatnot as I've just not had the
motivation to actually prepare anything of effort, but I came to a decision
tonight.

A couple garden burgers and a slice of gruyere on rye (with a little spicy
mustard and mayonnaise) is pretty darn tasty, even if it a bit of slapdash
microwave cookery.