Thai Coconut Soup

Soup is a great best friend. 

It always wants to hangout with you.

It's down to hop in a thermos and go on a walk

or sit through a shameful amount of gossip girl on the couch.

If you get sick of it, it'll hangout in the freezer

until you're ready to be friends again.

Soup will even do you a solid and spill a little on your shirt

every once in a while to keep your ego in check. 

Soups got your back.

This thai coconut soup and I have been hanging out a lot lately. 

Like "i'd put him on my Myspace top 8" a lot.

It's super creamy and flavorful without being gluttonous 

and it makes you feel flossy even

though it hardly costs anything.

1/2 stalk lemongrass

1 tbsp red curry paste

1 lime, zest & juice

1 small white onion

2 cans coconut milk

1 1/2 c. vegetable stock

1/2  of a red bell pepper, thinly sliced.

cilantro, bean sprouts, and jalapeno for garnish.

Blend the onion, lemongrass, curry, lime juice and zest in a food processor or blender.

Fry the paste in a tablespoon of oil for a minute on medium heat, stirring constantly.

add the bell pepper, coconut milk and vegetable stock and whisk everything together.

Simmer for 10-15 minutes and add salt and pepper to your liking. 

Fill a bowl. Top with some shrimp or tofu or tears of joy.

             


                                                                  Until the next, dears!



                                              

New York City

                

New Yawk.

I heard that it was a concrete jungle that dreams are made of.

If your dreams are as lofty as seeing the naked singing cowboy

or peeing in the stall next to Alicia Keys,

then that isn't true. 

However, if your dreams are eating pizza 3 times a day

and passing a million cello players on your way

to everything, then it's true.

New York City is made of those dreams.

Since this city fulfilled a solid 50% of my dreams,

I am left with a sunny enough disposition to share with you

my favorite parts of it. 

1. Smorgasburg

Smorgasburg is a "Food Flea Market" located in Brooklyn. 

It posts up in two different locations each Saturday and Sunday to overwhelm

locals with tremendous amounts of delicious food.

Highlights -A Jon Bon Jovi themed Anchovy stand.

-A Rueben sandwich in dumpling form.

- Bacon cut as thick as a thesaurus and grilled with an amazing sweet glaze.

- Indain. Food. Tacos. 

2. The Highline Aerial Park

The Highline is an old elevated train track turned into a long stretch of park. 

The old tracks are over run with tulips, flowering trees and shrubs

and the mile long stretch of walkway is scattered with 

musicians, smiling babies eating popsicles, and beautiful arial views of the city.

3. The Met Roof

While we completely dropped the ball and forgot to buy yogurt

to eat on the Met steps like in Gossip Girl, 

we did remember to take a peak at the rooftop garden.

It was one of my first sights of the New York skyline, and being up

there as the sun was sinking, drinking an over-priced beer with a bunch 

of yuppies from all over the world 

was pretty spectacular. 

4. Pizza

Pizza was everywhere. All day. Forever. 

And everything else. That was my favorite part too. 

And for your listening pleasure, here is a playlist of adventure-y
happy songs that remind me of the trip. 

Until the next, babes.

                                              

Spring Vegetable Croque Madame

Croque Madame.

Loosely translates to "Crunchy Lady."

Which is quite fitting, because that is what I feel like these days.

The quarter life crisis is real, people.

College is over.

 You're in a land of pseudo-adulthood where

you own dishes that aren't plastic 
and could probably tie a tie if you had to,

but you still eat boxed macaroni and cheese for breakfast sometimes.

This is a land where nobody wants to give you a big girl job,

so you stalk companies and write cover letters

for hours and days

like a pathetic loser relentlessly trying to appeal to an unrequited love

until the universe has sucked the entirety of your soul out

with one of those straws you used to

get when you bought a lot of Nesquik.

And every time you go to work you're asked

"So any jobs yet?" "How is the job hunt coming?" "So, what's your plan?"

Plan? My plan is to hit every person in the head

 with an oversized cartoon hammer.

And then go eat snacks. 

Because I'm a grown ass adult with a plan.

While all of your enemies are spinning in circles with cartoon birds

around their heads,

you should turn on your oven. 

350 degrees. 

Throw some asparagus and green onions in the broiler 

to get a little color.

Brush the bottom of a lovely slice of bread with some olive oil and layer it

with gruyere cheese, ham (or your preferred pork product,)

and your roasty vegetables.

Throw a fried egg on it.

Stab it a couple times. 

You'll feel better. 

What goes great with Crunchy lady sammiches?
Beet Chips! Sort of like Kale chips except that they are delicious and
not so disgusting that you want to die.


Until the next, crunchy ladies and misters.

                                            

Lemon Olive Oil Cake

Cake with no butter in it?

Yuppie ice cream flavored like trees?

My casserole loving, meat and potatoes, $3 gallon tub of vanilla family

would probably excommunicate me if they knew

of these unthinkable acts of treason that I was engaging in. 

But from the moment I read "Oregon Fir" on the flavors list at

Jeni's Splendid Ice Cream, I knew I was in for trouble.

The hardly sweet ice cream sings a happy little song about rosemary

on your tongue and makes you want the savory/sweet parade 

to last forever. Lemon olive oil cakes, this is where you come in. 

The cakes are dense and just a touch sweet, making them the perfect

candidates to hold down this pine ice cream fort. 

Sprinkle it with some praline pistachios, drizzle it with some honey.

You're going to be so happy that you'll

almost forget that you're turning into a yuppie. 

Ingredients:

1 c. flour

zest of 1 lemon

juice of 1/2 lemon

3/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

5 egg yolks

4 egg whites

3/4 c. white sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

-Beat egg whites, 1/4 c. sugar and salt until they form soft peaks.

-Beat egg yolks and 1/2 c. sugar in a different bowl 

until the mixture becomes a thick, pale yellow. 

-Add the lemon juice and zest and slowly add the olive oil while

mixing.

-Gently fold in the flour to the egg yolk mixture, then once thoroughly mixed,

fold in the egg white mixture. 

Bake at 350 degrees in a greased pan/tins until 

a toothpick inserted comes out clean. 

                                           

Until the next, dears. 

Around the Neighborhood- Bowtruss Coffee Roasters

                     

       

There once was a very unfortunately fated young lass named Hattie. 

She often found herself early to work in the morning,

 and was forced to bide her time in coffee shops that 

charged extra to put milk in your coffee. 

A kind of dystopia that was swarming with people who wore vests,

and spoke the words "hahaha" instead of actually laughing,

and probably found joy in the Dave Matthews Band. 

One grim day, young Hattie had reached her limits with such nonsense,

and was pacing down the street to surrender to the 99 cent 

coffee deal at the 711 on the corner. 

When, suddenly, out of the corner of her eye was a gleaming ray of hope. 

Let's call this gleaming ray "Bowtruss Coffee Roasters."

The air was thick with the smell of freshly roasted coffee beans,

people were happy,  and things were made out of retro 

camping equipment. 

She was greeted with a smile that said "Don't worry, it's gonna be okay now."

and left with a tummy full of warm, fresh, aromatic local coffee. 

And the milk-broke, Dave Matthews enjoying heathens in vests 

never darkened her doorway again. 

The end. 

Until the next, dears. 

Fall

Fall is slipping through our mitten clad fingers, kittens. 

Feet have crunched leaves.

Shadows have grown longer.

There were many games of football vs. football,

 and football always won. 

Midwestern eyes are wide in fear of the impending 
months of doom and drear,
 and all the giddy chain stores are already
dripping with Christmas. 

It's all coming to an end, and I'm doing my best to 
chase it out in style. 

May your fists be full of leaves and mugs of warm things.
Until the next, boogers.