The First Meal

I only had the chance to gather a few kitchen essentials yesterday during the whole move (I will, no doubt, be getting the rest of my loot today and tomorrow). So my first meal in Bee Street was a few degrees less than glamorous, yet still delicious! My little red rice-maker-that-could is a small gift from the culinary gods for busy people. I threw some brown rice in the bottom pot, added some cut up yellow pepper, carrots, and broccoli to the attached steamer (genius addition to the rice making functions of this little piece of glory). I got in the shower and came out with a hot dish ready for me to devour. Add some soy sauce that was left behind from the last tenant (a good friend) and voila! Dinner is served.
I accompanied it with a Sea Dog Raspberry Wheat Ale--after all I had a hard day of moving!
Some boxes are still laying around the apartment, some empty which have no place to be stored and some not so empty that are begging to be unpacked.
In fact I think I can hear my magnetic spice rack yelling to be taken out of the Whole Foods reusable bag and be replaced in their rightful position on the front of my refrigerator.

Sitting in an Empty Apartment

The movers came this morning at 9 a.m. It is 1:40 p.m. now and I still have no furniture in my new place. Pablo and I are both sitting on his dog mat on the floor surrounded by boxes of clothing and no where to put anything....waiting....waiting...
We still have not moved any of our kitchen things though I packed up my new set of Wusthoff knives last night because I just could not stand it any longer to see them laying around the kitchen unwashed after people had used them.
Waiting for movers I guess is better than moving it all by myself so I really do not have anything to complain about.
So no complaining.

Moving Day

Pablo (my black lab mix) and I are moving out of Cannon Street! We have had some great times in this old house but circumstance has shown that a move is more than necessary for us now. The best thing about moving to my own little apartment is that I will have my own little KITCHEN! I cannot wait to open my refrigerator and have it filled with my own ingredients with which I can cook uninterrupted. The kitchen counters will be clean with no dried-on spaghetti sauce to speak of. The sink may have one stray dirty glass or bowl in it from my breakfast before work but will not be streaked with dirty grime, surrounded by filthy sponges.
Today and tomorrow morning will be the hard parts (the packing and the moving) but once I am in my new place...It will by glorious!
Now the question is...What should my first meal in my new apartment be?
A pasta dish? A couscous dish? Homemade pizza?

I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti (Book Review)

In this memoir Giulia Melucci recounts her past failed relationship with men and the food that she cooked during those years.  I finished the book yesterday (on the beach) and have still not yet decided if I love or hate it.  I read all 276 pages in a few short days, racing through each page trying to grasp at any positive similarities to Sex and the City or Eat, Pray, Love that are promised on the back cover reviews.  I never found any; no exciting sexual retellings nor profound self-discovery.  I could identify with the underdog-like voice that comes through as Melucci writes about struggling to maintain any positive male relationships in her life and I was enticed by the great recipes that are included in the text.  I was frustrated with Melucci for having me read about her boring relationships with the strange men that she is attracted to. She stays in relationships with these men for months after she should have ended it with them, declaring what she refers to as Stockholm's syndrome.  

While the recipes that Melucci includes in the text are not all vegetarian most of them can be slightly altered to make them so.  I have yet to try any of these recipes, though I suspect they will be delicious as most of them are adaptations from other cookbooks or online recipe sites.  If you enjoy reading about mundane, failed relationships and altered recipes I Love, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti is perfect for you.  If not, just stick to Sex and the City or Eat, Pray, Love and epicurious.com

Second blog, no pasta

As I was beginning to get my kitchen ready for pasta making I looked outside and realized that the SUN was out for the first time in a few days.  This prompted me to abandon my pasta making and head to the beach instead.  Now instead of eating fresh pasta I have eaten four bagels in the past day and a half.  A friend brought over a huge paper bag full of fresh Bruegger's Bagels as a gift for dog sitting over the weekend.  Having gone to the beach instead of grocery shopping and cooking all I have to eat in the house now is bagels, lots and lots of bagels.

First Blog, Fresh Pasta

I had been planning to make fresh pasta with pesto today for about a week.  My roommates wanted to help (now they are doing other things) so now it seems to be just me and a messy table to clean off before I start rolling out the fresh pasta sheets.