Gorgonzola and "Apple Pears," on a Hoagie

This sandwich was a good idea, even if the phone photo I took is a bit unromantic.

Being Adorably Lazy and Rude at The Matador

So, last night the spouse and I opted for Happy Hour Dinner because we were both too tired to cook. I work the evening shift, so Happy Hour Dinner is our primary alternative to ordering pizza.

In the Eastside Seattle area, one of the greatest happy hour menus in the history of the (local) universe is available at The Matador in Redmond.

For the uninitiated, this restaurant/tequila bar is gorgeous. The brick building is decorated with obviously expensive metalwork and oodles of Día de los Muertos-style skeletons.

The only complaint I can muster about The Matador's Happy Hour is that they do not serve horchata. What kind of restaurant will serve tacos without serving horchata? It's otherwise a grand choice for upscale Tex-Mex in the Eastside, but I have no idea what's up with that. But otherwise, the place is essentially flawless.

So last night, over a glorious $5 mountain of greasy, awesome, complex chorizo nachos, my weary spouse and I shot the breeze. We debated mini-skirts.

My husband took the position that scant clothing in cold weather is too impractical to be sexy, and "looks stupid." Being dressed warmly, I was able to do the mental gymnastics needed to take this as a compliment.

Still, I defended our people-watching subjects. I countered that the "How to Be Attractive to Men" articles in lady-mags, and their devoted readers, do apply social pressure.

But I had to agree that this pressure doesn't reflect the actual male aesthetic sensibilities that I am most familiar with. The bottom line seems to be more about selling fashionable clothing than boosting sexual attraction. I felt smug in the assumption that fostering sexual attraction, generally speaking, has more to do with showing social compatibility, than with showing a culture-obedient wardrobe. (Generally speaking.)

And together, we old lovers shared greasy, heavily loaded chips and mutually enjoyed my lack of food shame or "date clothes" at the moment. I felt defiant, and comfortable in seasonably-appropriate layers.

PS: Please do not associate The Matador with smug couples being total dickweeds about fashion, while people-watching through the windows. The Matador is better than that.

PSS: I do still love keeping an eye on fashion, and occasionally "updating my look," even though I know that doing so doesn't necessarily make me any sexier. I do it for myself, and I have no illusions about that. I may even wear a mini skirt in cold weather someday, just to rebel against this blog post.

Whole wheat pasta & sautéed vegetables

I've just built and begun to eat a food experiment that turned out better than I expected it to.

I chopped one medium tomato and one medium zucchini, tossed them with a handful (2/3 c?) of frozen corn and sautéed the mix in olive oil over medium heat until hot. Once done, I tossed it with an approximately equal portion of whole wheat pasta, and added salt and fresh-cracked pepper to taste.

The corn makes the dish sweeter than more savory-oriented palates will like, the density of whole-wheat pasta won't please everyone, and the absence of true sauce on the pasta may meet with some open disapproval. But as a fan of simple pasta dishes, whole wheat pastas, and sautéed corn, I'm very happy with it. I will definitely do this again.

Remember This Soda: Mr. Q. Cumber

A road trip discovery, this soda tastes like fresh cucumber and cane sugar. We're halfway through the bottle and the flavor is still surprising. Very alive.

Good Idea, Bad Idea? Sparkling Kefir

This is my second glass of sparkling orange mineral water and kefir. "Of WHAT?!?"

Glad you asked.

Kefir is a healthful, yogurt sort-of beverage made from fermented milk. It's full of probiotics, protein, pro-whathaveyou. My husband doesn't drink it, but I grew up with it and I love the stuff. I prefer when it's of a good quality, and was packaged with a fruity sweetener in it.

"Sparkling orange mineral water" is store-brand carbonated water (soda water?) with a barely-detectable orange flavoring in it. Soda water seems to be a phase that I'm going through. Mostly, I've been mixing it with orange juice, and I've been very pleased with the results.

Today, I've been mixing it with kefir.

I have a bit of a head cold today, and my senses of smell and taste are dulled enough that I honestly can't really tell if what I'm drinking is any good. I can tell you that it's probably healthy? Fizzy sweet dairy reminds me of the Italian sodas that I used to get at espresso stands as a kid. But what does it ACTUALLY taste like? I don't know.

I know that right now I must like it, because I just fixed myself a second glass. I didn't have to do that. There's no one watching. I also know that I want to try adding sugar to it to see if I like it even better. I also know that I want to take a nap.

Photos have been omitted, as a courtesy, because it really doesn't look especially pretty.

Quiche Soup

Today is a snow day for the Seattle area, and being stuck at home is a perfect excuse to experiment with food. I was in the mood for a light breakfast soup to showcase my available frozen vegetables, and the end result turned out a LOT better than I'd expected it to.

Here's what I did:

Filled a small saucepan with water, added a little frozen spinach (about 1/2 cup), a little frozen vegetable medley (about 1/3 cup), and two extremely heaping tablespoons (closer to 4 tablespoons) of red-white miso paste. (Miso is my current favorite soup base, with ham hocks following in 2nd place.) I set the pot to boil until everything was hot and the miso was dissolved.

In a separate ramekin, I whipped two eggs and slowly tempered them by stirring in a little of the boiling soup. I continued to do this until the eggs were up to temperature and could be safely dumped into the soup without scrambling them.

The end result is creamy, beautiful to look at, and strikes a lovely balance between tasting rich while being low-calorie.



Estimated calories:
160 kcal for the two eggs
30 kcal x 4 tbsp = 120 kcal for the miso
15 kcal spinach
30 kcal mixed veggie medley
--------------------
= 325 calories for the whole pot of soup. Awesome!


If anybody actually decides to emulate this kitchen experiment, I have some advice:

1. Only use vegetables that you would willingly eat in an omelet or quiche. In retrospect, the vegetable medley was a questionable choice, but the spinach was spot-on.

2. The soup might benefit from the addition of ham. I was in the mood for a vegetarian breakfast and I found that the miso added enough savory saltiness for my own palate, but ham is delicious and would make the soup heartier.

3. Cheddar cheese should have been sprinkled on top. I didn't do this today (trying to keep it low-ish-calorie), but if I were serving a version of this soup to guests, cheese would definitely enhance the flavor in important ways.

4. Buttery toast also goes well with the soup. I did eat that, and I was glad that I did. Quiche benefits from crust, and this soup does well when paired with bread.

5. Fresh cracked pepper helps to dress it up, but please use pepper sparingly so that it doesn't overwhelm the rest of the dish. The same might be said for hot sauce, if anybody's feeling bold and wants to make the soup with hot sauce.

6. Please refrain from the spellings "eggsperiment," "eggcellent," et cetera. (Egg cetera?) I managed to restrain myself for the whole article, and I'm eggstremely glad that I did. Wait... NOOOO!!!!!

Technically Not Food: Homemade Face Mask

Salutations!

I have just done something cheap. It's not exactly food, but it was made using food ingredients, so I'm writing about it here.

Having found face mask prices to be a little spendy, I decided to DIY myself some pore-drying relief tonight. I am right now, as I'm writing this, wearing a homemade face mask made of baking soda and lemon juice. (Don't worry, a little Googling has assured me that lots of people use baking soda and citrus masks.)

Why it's delighting me:

1. Initially, when I squirted a little lemon juice into the ramekin of baking soda, it fizzed and expanded like a root beer float. I waited until the show was done before I smeared it around on my face, but it was still fun to watch.

2. It was assembled using ingredients from my pantry, making it nearly free.

3. I can already tell that the too-oily sides of my nose are drying out a bit, and this feels AWESOME. The face mask is nearly done, and has gotten all dry and crackly now. Sure, it looks ridiculous on a human face, the way all face masks do. But again, my skin feels like the oils in the pores are being absorbed, and that's my face mask bottom line today. Mission accomplished. (So far.)

4. Isn't lemon supposed to brighten skin or something? I'm not entirely up on these things, but it sounds like something a beauty article would say. (This is a food blog, so I'm not going to indulge in TOO much non-food homework. The lazy treatment is as good as this beauty experiment is going to get.)

5. It looks and smells kiiiiiiiiind of like lemon curd.

Photos:

Looks like lemon curd, right?

Looks like low-quality age makeup once dry.

BRAND NEW WARNING!!!

Update as of 1/18/12:

One of my friends read the blog (someone read it?!?), tried the mask, and said that it made her face sting, so she had to wash it off quickly. Therefore, I want to encourage caution. Every face has its own sensitivities, and this recipe definitely has some citric acid in it.

For what it's worth, I have good results with this recipe when I use it as a degreaser before my standard face wash (i.e. on a seriously unwashed face), and it has helped noticeably clear up my skin. It actually feels like a relief, on the occasions that I've used it. But I've only used the mask when I've had a lot of natural oils on my face, which in retrospect probably helps to protect my skin from the baking soda and lemon juice. On a clean face, it might really, really sting or burn.

Once again, I encourage caution.