Animals dressed as humans.

3 Comments

One of my favorite TV shows of all time is “Friends.” I’ve seen every episode a ridiculous number of times, and my friend Ann and I used to quote it so much we basically had conversations in “Friends” dialogue. When it started syndicating in college, roommate Kristin and I established a ritual:  Wendy’s drive-thru run before rushing home to catch it at 7 p.m. I just had to hold the rolled top of the food bag tightly so “Wendy’s fumes” wouldn’t bleed into the fabric of her new Jetta.

Then I lived in New York, toured my visitors past the “Friends” apartment building in Greenwich Village and came to realize how outrageously unlikely it was that any of those 20-somethings could afford to live in such apartments. But willing suspension of disbelief is much easier when it’s so entertaining.

“Friends” was special because it captured so well the urban family that forms, especially in NYC, and the needling and squabbling yet love and support among friends. I think we all could relate. Plus, it aired over the course of my important formative years — when it premiered, we discussed it on Fridays in high school, and by the time of the finale, I was out of college and had been living in New York for 5 years. Keep reading »

Cooking Spree: Lemon Garlic Chicken with Parsley Rice

Leave a comment

It won’t surprise many of you that most of my food inspiration comes from television. I do enjoy a good food blog, and I peruse many a food section in magazines. But nothing captures my attention quite like watching a meal come together in action. Especially when it’s prepared by Ina, Giada, Nigella or Tyler.

If I’m not watching something in particular or if I’m just puttering around the house on the weekend, chances are my TV is on and tuned to the (new-ish) Cooking Channel. It’s the comforting background soundtrack to my life at home. Cooking Channel skews to a bit younger demographic, focuses on organic and artisinal cooking and highlights more global cuisine than its sister channel, the Food Network. I just couldn’t watch one more cupcake challenge, cake decorating competition or “meal” prepared by Sandra Lee. She just opens four cans … that’s not my kind of cooking.

I discovered or was inspired to create many of my favorite recipes — see beef stew or Shepherd’s Pie — from TV cooking shows. And I recently found another winner:  lemon chicken with parsley rice. It’s very nearly a pantry meal, since I had lemons, garlic, frozen chicken and even remnants of a bottle of white wine already on hand. It has also been a nice, light escape from the Italian feast leftovers currently overloading my fridge. Keep reading »

I am chopped liver.

2 Comments

I totally get it. I have a cute dog. A really, really cute dog.

But ever since Oliver arrived about two weeks ago, I’m just the anonymous handler behind the phenom.

Let me set the scene for you. I have lived in my complex for more than two years, and I may have nodded once at my neighbors next door as we passed on our way in or out. We’re not a friendly, mingling kind of bunch. Actually, when I moved in, a neighbor across the way greeted me but told me not to “expect brownies or anything. We’re not that kind of neighborhood.” Well, okey dokey.

Now that I walk the world’s cutest dog, everyone comes out of the woodwork. Like we’re incapable of exchanging pleasantries unless there’s a canine attached to us by a string. Keep reading »

Cooking Spree: Raspberry Tiramisu

2 Comments

Following a bleary-eyed week of little sleep but joyous puppy loving, I somehow pulled myself together this weekend to knock off another item on my 2011 resolution list:  home entertaining.

Some of my dearest ladies came over to experience my reinterpretation of the Italian feast. And to finish the meal after a hearty heap of pasta, I thought there was no better accompaniment than the Italian dessert classic tiramisu. During my New York days, I made tiramisu a couple of times but it’s been at least six years since … I don’t know why, because it’s so easy! The hardest part is tracking down real ladyfingers, which was simple in Queens but is a little more of a challenge in Charlotte. Thank goodness for Pasta & Provisions.

This time around I felt that the traditional chocolate-espresso tiramisu needed a lighter makeover, since the Italian feast of meat and sauce is on the heavy side and our weather has been in the 80s already (in March!). So this is a summer-ized riff on the classic recipe with raspberries, whipped cream and orange liqueur. It’s fluffy and creamy, yet tart and really not too sweet. Keep reading »

Cooking Spree: Cake balls

12 Comments

It has come to my attention that some of you don’t know about a little thing called cake balls.

They will change your life. And your waistline.

I first discovered cake balls at my cousin’s wedding — I thought they were truffles, but instead I bit into this gooey, creamy, flaky, unidentifiable substance. It was delicious heaven.

When I got back to the office, I was raving about these wonders and my fellow-foodie coworker scoured Google for them. That’s how we found Bakerella, the grande dame of cake balls. Her blog is the go-to source for all cake ball varieties and amazingly inventive ways to decorate them, and her “cake pop” cookbook is on the New York Times bestseller list.
Keep reading »

On my high horse.

3 Comments

Today, I just learned as it comes to a close, is National Grammar Day!

If I’d known earlier, I would have thrown a celebration. With cake. And cocktails. And toasts to the few who get it right. Remember back when Facebook had a group called “I judge you when you use poor grammar”? Well, I do. Judge you, that is.

About 97% of my job on any given day is to edit other people’s writing, to catch typos, correct spelling and make the written word sound as smooth, intelligent and consistent as possible. I see a lot of carnage. At those times, I bless my librarian mother, my English-teaching grandmother and my mean-old journalism professors who gave no mercy when I violated the King’s English. It was brutal, yet effective, training.
Keep reading »

How does your garden grow?

Leave a comment

Here we go again. Since the end of February, we’ve been enjoying strangely-early, spring-like temperatures here in N.C. While I’m absolutely not complaining, that’s been a slap-in-the-face wake-up call that I need to get moving in my garden.

Last year was my first experiment with growing anything other than houseplants or herbs. I mean, I’ve killed bamboo. But somehow it was successful, and I enjoyed quite a bounty for my measly efforts. Along the way, I learned some lessons, so I had it together enough to start my seedlings early, the first week of February. Last fall, as our warm weather continued through November, I picked late tomatoes and saved their seeds by drying them on paper towels. When I was planting my other seeds this year, I just popped those off the paper towel, and they’re growing! Pretty neat.

Keep reading »

I bless the rains down in Africa.

4 Comments

I received some very important mail this weekend … my travel documents for South Africa! I hinted back in January about a big international trip I was taking and now I can confirm it. In May we’re going to Johannesburg, Cape Town and Pretoria. Really, they had me at “safari,” “winery tour” and “high tea.”

This trip will mark my second time crossing the equator, and adds another continent to my count: 4. Like most things, my father has declared that to be a competition, so we’ll just have to see who makes it to Antarctica first. My money’s on him.

I have a couple of months to study up, and I’m so excited I can hardly contain myself. I’ve already watched Invictus, and my grandmother keeps recommending various Nelson Mandela biographies. I’ll tackle those in my “spare time,” I suppose.

Oh, and I hear it looks like this. Whoa.


Cooking Spree: Chinese Takeout

1 Comment

For many years I lived in the heart of NYC, where anything you can imagine was delivered straight to my door:  food, groceries, laundry, cupcakes, wine, even prescription medicine. That came in really handy when I had the flu and could order Gatorade, a bagel and some chicken soup from the deli downstairs. You become friendly with your regular delivery folk, in an awkward, overly-familiar kind of way. When the laundry comes back, you try to meet their eyes, smile and thank them at the door while hoping they weren’t the ones folding your clean underwear earlier that day.

In Manhattan, almost all restaurants deliver, and you’ll find a folder crammed full of countless menus in every NYC kitchen. When I didn’t feel like cooking, I reveled in my ability to order takeout from anywhere at anytime. I explored the world’s cuisines from the comfort of my own couch — sushi, Indian, Thai, Italian, Mexican, Hawaiian, Greek. Now that I’m back in the suburban South, my options are limited to pizza. Or pizza. Needless to say, I don’t have food delivered anymore.

That’s okay, since I discovered how to make some of my favorite Chinese food at home. I give you sweet & sour chicken with coconut rice and sesame noodles. I won’t claim either to be authentic, but they’ll do for me.
Keep reading »