Home-made pickles and Stinky cheese

Well, we're doing it again :)

Another teeny, tiny house bought for the price of a honda civic. Here we go again!

It's been vacant for upwards of five years...



First things first, rip up the nasty carpeting and check the subfloors and joists.

We'll keep you updated!

Learning to toss and using Tuma goat cheese

First things first, I saw THIS article on NPR and thought I would share, as the majority of blogs I read are written by mothers and fathers. What do you think about McDonald's new healthy menu? I'm glad they're taking blogger input, but I doubt most food bloggers actually eat at McDonalds. Am I wrong?

So, onto pizza! I found Tuma cheese at the farmer's market this weekend, and they said it was a goat cheese similar to mozzarella. You know what mozzarella is good on, right?

Pizza! Gustavo and I have been watching videos and trying to learn how to throw pizza dough. I've always just slapped it back and forth, but I think I'm ready for the big time now. This one, I got quite a bit of height with. It isn't anywhere near round, but I was pleased with the thinness.


Taste was decent--the tuma didn't melt as much as I thought it would, but it has a nice flavor.

I crumbled it for the next pizza--this one has a sauteed summer squash on it. Worked extremely well! This toss was a bit rounder, but I didn't attain the same stretch as the previous crust. Once we get it down, we'll post a video. In the meantime, I foresee a LOT of pizza in our future. (Yeah!!!!)


Unrelated, but did want to share my new sunglasses. Looking sexy on the bike commute...

Eggplant, tempeh and peppers in peanut sauce

The weekend started, as all good weekends do, with a bloody mary. I prefer mine with Spicy Hot V8, but other than that, its a pretty standard recipe. Oh yes, and a good way to use my endless supply of pickles...

We also had some deviled eggs, just for the fun of it. I hadn't had them in years, and it was a nice finger food to eat on the back deck. Again, pretty standard recipe, though I may have chopped up some pickles and added them (seriously, guys, I don't know how many more pickles we can eat)

This week's CSA bag was full of eggplant. After looking at about 5 great recipes that I didn't have all the ingredients for, I found one that fit the contents of my cupboard. This is a recipe from the Moosewood Cookbook (my old standby for decades!) Eggplant and Peppers in Peanut Sauce. I added the tempeh for protein and served it over brown rice. Not very pretty to look at, but it tastes quite good. I needed a healthy dose of siracha on mine.

Baked at 375 for about 15 minutes, stirring once..


Are you ready for it?? The worst camera phone food photos, ever. The impending storm kind of ruined my lighting, and I think my phone just doesn't do close up. One of these days, I may fix my camera. Maybe. Here is my ugly food :)

Oh dear.


I'll see if I can get a better photo during dinner tonight. That one is just awful, lol. Have a great evening!

Halibut with yellow tomatoes over fontina cheese grits and other weekend fun

Another giant bag of yellow grape tomatoes came from the CSA this week, so after searching epicurious for a recipe, I found this one, and decided it would be perfect served over some cheese grits. Yum!


Before going into the oven, with a cilantro vinaigrette over the top...

My plate (with extra tomatoes!)

Gustavo's plate (with extra halibut!)

Verdict: This is a pretty good recipe. As a personal preference, next time I make this, I plan on roasting the tomatoes for a bit, first, then adding the halibut. The tomatoes weren't cooked to my liking.

Below: homeless man receiving a shave outside the gas station.


Gladiolas make me glad.

Cat deciding whether or not he'll let me touch up the paint on our house..


He did :) Hope all of you had an excellent weekend!

Is it still bruschetta if there is cheese?

It is what it is: Toasted Bruschetta with Fontina, Lemon Basil, and Grape Tomatoes




I think I'll have some more!

New Orleans, Degas House, and what to do with a dozen cucumbers

Just got back from the American Library Association conference in New Orleans--between meeting authors, chatting with librarians and TONS of free books, I have to say it was a blast. I also, of course, have to include some pics of the food.


The Bed and Breakfast I stayed at was very reasonably priced and had nice proprietors! I would stay here again--location is superb. I can't find a direct website, but here is a link for contact information.

Bananas!




I brought my bike and biked to the convention center, as it was a couple miles from the French Quarter. Pretty cool--riding in New Orleans is a different animal than biking in Atlanta! Much slower, more laid back, and no one except myself (and this girl I met from Chicago) wore helmets.

The final night, I stayed at the Degas House. Very beautiful, though it was a bit scary as I was the only person staying in this entire mansion. Nuts, right? I had to leave before the tour, but I did get to see the house in its entirety the previous day.




It was raining, so I had a nice makeshift dinner in my room.



Came back just in time for 4th of July weekend--our weekend looked a lot like this:

And my CSA basket was full (!!!) of cucumbers. So many cucumbers!! What is a girl to do?

Pickles, pickles, pickles...

From left to right: Sweet / sour juliennes for banh mi, dill chips for burgers, and spears for just general consumption. Yum!


One more shot of my continuing banh mi fascination -- this one has baked tofu.


Hope all of you had a great 4th!