29 December 2004

heh!

Snagged from Charlene Dunn's blog... check it out sometime @ http://insidethemindofbewitchedkitten.blogspot.com/

THREE NAMES YOU GO BY:
1. Julia
2. jOoLz
3. baby pie


THREE SCREEN NAMES YOU HAVE HAD:
1. jOoLz
2. searchlight soul
3. fuctincalifornia


THREE THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. i'm a great cook.
2. i give great hugs.
3. i'm very tall.

THREE THINGS YOU HATE ABOUT YOURSELF:
1. my prodigious ass.
2. my dry skin. :(
3. sometimes i'm not as nice to my husband as i should be.

THREE THINGS YOU WISH YOU HAD RIGHT NOW:
1. a decent job.
2. a bigger oven... you try cooking dinner for 8 in the teeny thing i have now!
3. a 1920's bungalow in the shore that the aforementioned oven can call home.


THREE PARTS OF YOUR HERITAGE:
1. irish.
2. a melange of other northern european heritages.
3. if my cooking is any indication, i must have some italian in there somewhere as well.


THREE THINGS THAT SCARE YOU:
1. flyover interchanges like the 405/105... i get panic attacks.
2. dead rodents.
3. that i won't ever travel outside the US.


THREE OF YOUR EVERYDAY ESSENTIALS:
1. a good cuppa joe.
2. i'm staring at it right now.
3. a hug and a smooch from wen'l.

THREE THINGS YOU ARE WEARING RIGHT NOW:
1. beat up old t-shirt.
2. beat up old sweatpants.
3. beat up old birkenstocks. i know, i know... i'm dead sexy, ain't i?


'THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE SONGS/ARTISTS AT PRESENT:
1. "london calling" by the clash.
2. the first half of "i've seen all good people" by yes.
3. "monkey gone to heaven" by pixies.

THREE NEW THINGS YOU WANT TO TRY IN THE NEXT 12 MONTHS:
1. snowboarding.
2. making paella... thanks for the killer new pan joel!!
3. getting to chicago for a cubs game.

THREE THINGS YOU NEED IN A RELATIONSHIP:
1. being intimate in all its guises, physical and emotional.
2. the ability to have differing opinions.
3. nightly foot rubs. ok... almost nightly.

TWO TRUTHS AND A LIE:
1. i'm politically liberal.
2. i'm not a natural blonde.
3. i never use profanity.


THREE PHYSICAL THINGS ABOUT THE SAME SEX (or opposite) THAT APPEAL TO YOU:
1. height... gotta be taller than me.
2. linebacker shoulders... i like to hug and i have a big head.
3. hands that know how to knead bread dough.


THREE THINGS YOU JUST CAN'T DO:
1. remember where the &%$#@! i put my keys.
2. tolerate the fact that someone with a double digit iq calls the white house home.
3. think of anymore things i can't do.


THREE OF YOUR FAVORITE HOBBIES:
1. having my feet rubbed.
2. cooking something i've never cooked before.
3. updating my blog.

THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO REALLY BADLY RIGHT NOW:
1. i can't tell... my family might be reading this. *lol*
2. have another cuppa joe.
3. lose about 20 lbs before i finish this.


THREE CAREERS YOU'RE CONSIDERING:
1. chef de cuisine... i think i'd look good in a toque.
2. cookbook author.
3. political pundit.


THREE PLACES YOU WANT TO GO ON VACATION:
1. uluru. (google is your friend)
2. the entire country of spain, for at least a month.
3. the ligurian coast of italy.


THREE KIDS NAMES
1. not.
2. having.
3. kids.


THREE THINGS YOU WANT TO DO BEFORE YOU DIE:
1. #2 in the three places i want to go on vacation.
2. have a show on food tv.
3. somehow figure out how to do #2 on food tv's dime.

28 December 2004

dessert!! shit, i celebrated 4:20 and now i want choklit!

bittersweet chocolate cake

similar to a flourless cake, this one contains only a small amount of flour, which results in an incredibly rich, fudgelike dessert.

8 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate,chopped
10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 large eggs, separated
2/3 cup sugar
3 1/2 tablespoons all purpose flour
powdered sugar


preheat oven to 325°F. line bottom of 9-inch-diameter cake pan with 2-inch-high sides with waxed paper. butter sides of pan and paper. dust pan with flour. melt chocolate and butter in top of double boiler over simmering water, stirring until smooth. cool slightly.

whisk yolks and sugar in large bowl until pale yellow. mix in flour, then chocolate mixture. using electric mixer, beat whites in another bowl until stiff but not dry. fold into chocolate mixture. pour batter into prepared pan. bake until toothpick inserted into center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, about 25 minutes. cool completely in pan on rack. run small sharp knife around sides of pan to loosen cake. turn cake out onto platter and cool. sift powered sugar over cake and serve.

can be made up to 8 hours ahead.

*spew*

so earlier today my husband says to me... "hey baby you know why the wingnuts are against birth control? cuz white people aren't having enough babies and if white women don't embrace their god given role as baby factories, we will be overrun by brown and yellow people."

and the scary thing is - it's almost certainly true.

more later. it's 4:20 and i feel the need to celebrate.

hola!

k... i've tried my hand at this blogging stuff before and gave it up almost immediately. however, i didn't have anything specific in mind to publish when i made my previous attempts, and this time i do.

food and ideas to feed the soul, hence my title.

i hope you will check back frequently, and let me know if you've tried any of the recipes published here and how they turned out.

:)

tonight's dinner is: chicken parmigiano

3 tablespoons olive oil
1 teaspoon chopped fresh rosemary
1 teaspoon chopped fresh thyme
1 teaspoon chopped fresh italian parsley
Salt and freshly ground black pepper
8 (3-ounces each) chicken cutlets
1 1/2 cups simple tomato sauce, recipe follows
1/2 cup shredded mozzarella 1/2 cup grated parmigiano reggiano
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into pieces

preheat the oven to 500 degrees F.

stir the oil and herbs in a small bowl to blend. season with salt and pepper. brush both sides of the cutlets with the herb oil. heat a heavy large oven-proof skillet over high heat. add the cutlets and cook just until brown, about 2 minutes per side. remove the skillet from the heat.
spoon the marinara sauce over and around the cutlets. sprinkle 1 teaspoon of mozzarella over each cutlet, then sprinkle parmigiano reggiano over each. sprinkle the butter pieces atop the cutlets. bake until the cheese melts and the chicken is cooked through, about 3 to 5 minutes.

1/2 cup extra-virgin olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
gray sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
2 (32-ounce) cans crushed tomatoes
4 to 6 basil leaves
2 dried bay leaves
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, optional

in a large casserole pot, heat oil over medium high heat. add onion and garlic and saute until soft and translucent, about 2 minutes. season with salt and pepper. add tomatoes, basil, and bay leaves and simmer covered on low heat for 1 hour or until thick. remove bay leaves and check for seasoning. if sauce still tastes acidic, add unsalted butter, 1 tablespoon at a time to round out the flavors.