that's hot

ever hear of bhut jolokia? I didn't either, until I read the news today. Apparently, it's the new hottest chili as defined by the Guiness Book of World Records. I'm a bit surprised by this. Are they are just finding this out now, it's 2007 after all. Haven't we already found all of the chili peppers that exist in our world? It's not like these were just developed in a lab somewhere in the middle of nowhere. They have been growing in northeastern India forever. Think about that the next time you order the vindaloo.

The heat of chilies is based on the amount of capsaicin in the chili, measured in Scoville units. Just for comparison, the ghost chili (bhut jolokia) is about 500 times hotter than a jalapeno. That's pretty damn hot! Don't look for it in any of my dishes any time soon, even though I like a little heat, I'm not insane... like some people I know. You know who you are ;)

Expecting to see it in the US soon? Well, maybe not. Even though export of this pepper is growing, just under a ton was exported last year. They are projecting 10 tons in the next year. It makes me wonder... who, except for the people who grew up eating this beast of a pepper can actually endure the taste described as "When you eat it, it's like dying." Hmm, sounds appetizing, doesn't it? For now, I think I'll stick to my tasty little banana peppers (photos coming soon!).

ghost chili

*k*

southwestern gazpacho

I wanted to try a new twist on an old favorite and here's what I came up with.

Southwestern Gazpacho Recipe
1 can low salt tomato sauce (15 oz)
15 oz water
1/4 vidalia onion
2 garlic cloves
1/2 medium cucumber seeded
juice from 1 lemon
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
1 tbsp olive oil
1 can corn (15 oz)
3 tbsp chipotle adobo sauce (or less to taste)

1. In large bowl, add tomato sauce, water, lemon, vinegar and corn.

2. In food processor, puree onion, garlic, cucumber and olive oil. Once pureed, add mixture to ingredients in the large bowl.

3. Add chipotle adobo sauce to taste.

4. Chill 1 hr and then enjoy.

*k*

midnight at jardines

our second day in Kansas City proved to be quite a history-packed fun time. We started off by heading out toward the town of Independence and visited Truman's home and a jail that Jesse James did a stint in. After a wonderful tour by an Alaskan park ranger who knew one of the NJ Devils, we headed on over to the Truman Presidential Library. After a while, paying $10-$15 for each and every exhibit gets really old, and so we didn't feel like paying to go into a library that we weren't going to borrow a book from. So we stepped inside, took a quick peek around and then took off.

Back in KC, we headed straight for the much touted, long awaited, KC BBQ. We went to the original, Arthur Bryants. The original one that we went to was located in the northwestern section of the city, and somewhat oddly, there were no other viable businesses in the area but the place was PACKED at a few hours after the mid-day lunch at 2 pm. It was basically a fast food joint (as opposed to a sit down place). We ran into the YES Network Yankee Roadtrippers there and traded a few "Go Yankees" cheers. I doubt we'll be on, but we did have to sign a release. The BBQ was fantastic, even though we're in meat country and I didn't order a sandwich. I had some french fries, which I was able to use as sticks for picking up BBQ sauce.

After that, we had some time to kill before the game, so we went down to the Plaza to grab a few brews at the Classic Cup Cafe. It had a hip trendy atmosphere and a great bartender named Curtis, who gave us a few tips about getting to and from the game and where to go afterward. So we headed up to Royals Land, watched the Yankees batting practice and cheered along with the rest of the 10,000 Yankee fans who infiltrated the Royals stadium as A-Rod hit his 499 home run. We sat next to a couple from rural Iowa who were big Yankee fans and talked about them visiting NY next year for the last year in classic Yankee Stadium. It was a great time.

From there, we headed over to a jazz club called Jardines for a nightcap. A few more beers and some great jazz music at a local haunt. After last call, we called it a night as we had a long drive ahead of us to St. Louis.

*k*

the heartland of america

every year I take a trip with a friend of mine to visit a few baseball stadiums. Not only is it a fun way to see the parks of America's favorite pastime, but it's a great way to see cities that I would not normally visit. This year is Kansas City, MO and St. Louis. Our first stop KC - home to KC BBQ, KC jazz, historic fountains (who knew!) and of course the Royals. There has been quite a bit of eating and drinking (did you expect anything less?). We arrived around dinner time and decided to head down to Westport, one of KC's historic districts touted for quaint shops, bars and restaurants. It was a small nook butted up against State Line, Kansas, with about 3 blocks of businesses along Westport Avenue. We choose a cajun / creole place called Jazz - a Louisiana Kitchen.

As I entered the place, I was a little confused because while the awning said "Jazz...", the door said something else (Jimmy's something or other). Anyway, it was perfectly our speed. Full of historic charm, the lights are dim and the walls are hung with Mardi Gras memorabilia. This little hole in the wall on the Kansas / Missouri stateline had ice cold beers, suprisingly scrumptious food, a relaxed atmosphere, and live music 7 nights a week. The onion rings are gianormous, beer battered, thick cuts of onion. The Po' Boys are served with a heaping order of the best cole slaw I have ever had, and a few, ever so slightly sweet, but perfectly crispy hush puppies. I ordered the blackened Catfish Po' Boy - a stick to your ribs meal that left me satisfied for the rest of the night.

From there, we went in search of a place to watch the Yankees / Royals game, George Bretts. George Brett was a KC Royal and is considered one of the greatest third baseman in baseball history. The bar is located in Country Club Plaza in the southern portion of KC. This neighborhood was quite different from Westport that we just came from. Packed with hip and trendy restaurants and designer stores, this area is a little more upscale. This bar / restaurant maintained a relaxed atmosphere with a little more of a trendy feel. One of the best features was late night happy hour - how fun is that?!

our adventures in the midwest will continue...

*k*

whole foods vs. whole food market

what's the difference, you may ask. Whole foods are considered those foods which are mostly unprocessed or refined prior to eating. I'm taking about fruit, vegetables, some whole grains and even meats and seafood. It is not necessary for a food to be organic for it to be a whole food, and conversely, organic food is not necessarily whole food. Now that I've thoroughly confused you.... let me tell you what my beef is (or umm, vegetable since I don't eat beef). Trust me, I like Whole Foods Market, most of the time, but you really need to pay attention in order to not get hosed by the man.

Top Ten Tips for Shopping at Whole Foods to Salvage your Wallet

10. Buy local! not only is it cheaper, it's probably fresher and definitely has a smaller carbon footprint.

9. Know when organic is good. Bananas, avocados, mangoes - organic doesn't matter that much. They don't use that many pesticides and you don't eat the skin (where most of the pesticides reside). Apples, strawberries, lettuce historically have higher amounts of pesticides. Your choice, but your wallet will pay.

8. Watch the register! Half the time I'm in there, the produce isn't marked with a code, the sign says one price and when you get to the register, the cashier automatically thinks it's the more expensive organic variety. This has happened to me on many occasions, most of the time resulting in $5 or more dollars in additional cost on my tab. Yes, that means you have to remember how much your stuff costs - you might want to write it down.

7. Forget the veggie wash. At $4 a bottle, it's just another gimmick in my book. Plain old soap and water will do the trick.

6. Bring your own bags. You get $0.10 per bag off your receipt, if you have 10 bags... well you can do the math. The better part of the equation is reduce-recycle-reuse.

5. Avoid the organic, $5 per bag, potato chips (includes veggie crisps, terra chips, any kind of pirates booty, etc.). They are potato chips, they aren't any more nutritious for you than Herrs. If you wouldn't buy them at the Piggly Wiggly, why buy them at Whole Foods? Just because you buy them at Whole Foods does not make them a whole food. Plus, they are ridiculously expensive.

4. Even though the prepared foods are seemingly healthy because they are made at Whole Foods - watch out for the extra fat, sugar, sodium, etc. If you must buy prepared, stick with foods that aren't fried and are laden in sauces.

3. Use coupons. You might not realize, but every now and again there are coupon books at the registers. They have some coupons in there for every day food items. Might as well - better in my pocket than theirs.

2. Buy Bulk! Not only do you reduce packaging, but you save a few bucks too. At $0.75 per lb., bulk oatmeal is about 4 times less than buying the box with individual packets. Use your own flavoring (a little sugar or splenda, maybe a little honey) in place of the processed brand names. The same is true for rice, flour, nuts, beans, cereal and the rest of the bulk offerings.

And the number one tip for shopping at Whole Foods Market....

1. Don't get caught up in the hype. At the end of the day, do you really want your food bill to double with these new gourmet food stores? Shop smart and it won't.

*k*

rory blindsided

15 years from now in Rory's E! True Hollywood Story, she'll talk about how the show was fixed and she was blindsided by the fact that Amy won Food TV's Next Food Network Star. You could see it in her face before the envelop was opened, Rory thought this was just a formality. Think again, the writing was on the wall. I'm not even sure how the Food TV Producers eliminated her in place of Jag to begin with. She is the most likable and down to earth chef that have had since Paula Deen. Did you notice, Rory didn't even congratulate her and she couldn't even look in the camera after the announcement. weak...

Congratulations Amy!! I can't wait to see your show.

*k*

weight gain over time

I read this article titled "No love handles now? Give it a few years." It starts out just fine, acknowledging that most Americans will gain 1 to 2 lbs. each year as they progress through adulthood. They go on to say that studies show that eating healthy and exercising can help prevent it. THANKS FOR THE NEWS FLASH! Because without that bit of info, I would have continued to eat like crap and wonder why I'm gaining weight. If you happen to make it through the entire article, you'll see there are actually a few tips in there worth mentioning and below a few of my own.

- make small gradual changes that are easy to incorporate into your daily routine. If you're going to fast food joints a few times a week, pick one day a week to do something differently. Or if you feel like you're eating too much meat, eat one non-meat meal per week.

- brown bag it. When you make your own lunch, you can keep better track of your calorie intake and can incorporate more nutritious foods.

- indulge. Yep, that's counterintuitive. Let me qualify that by saying - all in moderation. If you're looking for something sweet, don't deprive yourself but limit it to a single portion size. I'm constantly trying to figure out how I can have that extra goodie and still be good.

- do something every day. walk, situps, pushups, use the stairs, something, anything. Got 10 minutes? If you're saying no, then wake up 10 minutes earlier.

- drink lots of water. Not only will it keep you hydrated, it helps your whole body function better.

There's no need to live through one boring meal after another. You can enjoy and indulge without overdoing it.

*k*

summer treats

what's better than a beer and a BBQ after a day full of yard work. Well if you have a sweet tooth, then how about a somewhat healthy frozen dessert treat?

Banana Popsicles Recipe (4 servings)
2 bananas
4 popsicle sticks
1 dark chocolate candy bar
1/4 cup milk (or soy milk)
1/4 cup chopped almonds

1. Start a double boiler - take a pot and put some water in the bottom, take a metal bowl and put it in the pot but don't let the water touch the bowl. Break up the chocolate and put it in the double boiler with the milk, until all of the chocolate is melted.

2. While the chocolate is melting, peel the bananas and put them on the popsicle sticks.

3. Go stir the chocolate before it burns. Then get back to work crushing the almonds. You can make this really easy by using a heavy jar or even a large knife to crush the nuts. Or, you can make it even easier and just buy chopped nuts. Lay out two plates - one with the bananas on a stick and one with the nuts.

4. Now the chocolate is melted. Pour it over the bananas and roll the bananas in the chocolate so that they are covered all the way around. Then roll them around in the nuts.

5. Put them in the freezer for at least one hour. Voila! So, did one of the bananas mysteriously disappear? Well, anyone who knows me will know where it went...

Enjoy!

*k*

snow in july

not snow snow, but snow peas. I love to make colorful food. It's so nice when you put it out on the table and it brightens everything up. When you're eating something that looks so vivid, it makes it that much more appetizing. I had some leftovers and I really just combined everything. There's no real magic going on here, so just have fun with it.

Snow Pea Summer Slaw Recipe (makes about 2 big servings or 4 small servings)
3 cups snow peas
1 medium yellow squash, julienned
1/2 sliced red onion
2 cups shredded cabbage
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp tarragon
1 tbsp basil
salt and pepper to taste

1. Blanch the snow peas and the squash. Put them in boiling water for about 1 to 2 minutes. Then immediately immerse them in ice water. What this does is takes any bitterness out of the vegetable. By immersing them directly into an ice bath, the retain their vivid color and crispiness.

2. Put all the ingredients in a large bowl and toss together.

That's it.

the farmer's market

Yesterday, I was in upstate NY for work. It's quite far, but such a scenic drive through the rolling hills of Hudson Valley. I was lucky enough to drive through the Catskills for my first time during the summer. I think this would be a fabulous place to visit when the foliage is peaking. I might just have to do that (and take some pictures, so you can see it too!). I noticed lots of farmer's markets and fruit stands throughout my travels - some with roadside signs "Fresh Corn" or "Fresh Garlic." I never saw that one before, "Fresh Garlic." I ended up stopping and picking up some snow peas, plums (they were so sweet, like candy!), green and yellow squash and what else, more cherries. There are so many positive things about the farmer's market. First, I like that I'm supporting local businesses, and in many cases, family owned businesses. Next, I like the fact that the carbon footprint of my food is many times smaller than that asparagus from New Zealand. When there is asparagus right here in New Jersey, I'm not sure why are we shipping it from halfway across the world! I was reading about calorie density and it seems to make a lot of sense. Eat foods that are low in calorie density (i.e. high in water content) and you'll feel fuller longer and can eat more. Just so happens that most fruits and vegetables are low in calorie density - so eat up! And lastly, there's nothing better than fruit and vegetables straight off the vine. This is the third time in almost as many days that I have stopped at a farmer's market for some fresh produce. And now I'm running low, so I may need to stop yet again. :)

summer calls for a quick and easy recipe

these summer rolls are great for when you want to make something and eat it right away. They get a little dried out if you keep them for too long. But if you want to make them and keep them in the fridge, covered, for a few hours, they would be ok. The mango dipping sauce that goes along with it is tangy, sweet and a little spicy. It goes great to dress up the fresh veggies.

Let's start with the mango dipping sauce, since it's better if you can chill it a little bit.

Mango Dipping Sauce Recipe

1 medium mango, diced

2 tbsp finely chopped fresh flat leaf parsley

1/2 medium red onion, finely chopped

a few slices of pickled jalapeno (to taste), chopped

salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingredients in a bowl. Refridgerate until ready to use and up to 2 days.

Summer Roll Recipe (about 10-15 rolls)

1 cucumber, julilenned

Several leaves of basil (around 10)

Several leaves of mint (around 20)

1 cup of shredded cabbage

1/2 medium red onion, sliced thinly

bowl of water

Package of spring roll skin

1. Arrange all of your ingredients.

2. Take one spring roll skin and place it on a flat working surface. Dip your hand in the bowl of water and gently moisten the spring roll skin on both sides.

3. Start layering your ingredients in the spring roll skin. I place the basil first, then cabbage, onion, cucumber, mint. That way, when you roll it up, you have a nice looking basil leaf showing through.
4. Fold up the bottom, and then fold in the sides, then roll it up. The spring roll skin should be very pliable and should readily stick when you start rolling it.

5. Enjoy with the mango dipping sauce. :)

*k*

summer bulbs are blooming!

They have been poking out for a few days and today I finally have some blooms on the gladiolas. I love these, they are so beautiful!

life is a just a bowl of cherries

it has been 76 years since Lew Brown and Ray Henderson coined the phrase, and yet it is still iconic. What can be better than a sunny, warm Friday in the middle of the summer, a fresh farmer's market and a bowl of cherries. Well, I guess there's a lot of things that could be better, but just go with this one for me a bit...

Fresh Jersey cherries. If they last until tomorrow, I might just make something with them. :)


All of it just picked at the height of ripeness. I just love this time of year. I whipped up a fantastic dinner with all of this goodness, Tarragon Eggplant and Tofu Stacks. Recipe will follow after my photo essay.

Drawing the moisture out of eggplant helps to keep it from getting mushy later. If you happen to like mushy eggplant, skip this step. But I'm warning you, it will be mushy.

Yup, that's tofu alright. If you were fooled by the photo, just wait until you taste it!

Ahem, I now present you with the finished dish. Let's just say, I would not be able to recreate this in the time allowed on the Iron Chef. Now I'll try and remember the recipe - I just kind of made this up as I went along.

Tarragon Eggplant and Tofu Stacks Recipe (4 to 6 servings)
1 medium eggplant
coarse salt
1 medium egg
2 tablespoons milk
1 c. Italian style breadcrumbs
1/4 c. tarragon (plus some extra for sprinkling)
Canola oil
1 package of extra firm tofu
2 cloves garlic
1/2 cup roughly cut vidalia onion
fine salt
paprika (optional)
1 tbsp chopped scallion (optional)
2 c. diced tomatoes (or a can)
shaved peccorino (optional)

1. Cut eggplant lengthwise and lay on a bakers rack or cookie cooling rack. Sprinkle with coarse salt. Coarse salt works best because you can wash it off later. Let the salt wick the moisture out of the eggplant for about an hour (go get a pedicure or something).

2. When you get back from the pedi, wash off all the salt from the eggplant and dry it off with some paper towels.

3. This would be a good time to prep the tofu. If you have an extra hand in the kitchen, they can start this step earlier. Cut the tofu long ways into 1/8" slabs. You should be able to get about 6 slabs.

4. Tofu also has a lot of water in it (duh, it's packed in water). So you probably want to drain it or else it will be mushy. Unless you like mushy tofu along with your mushy eggplant, then you can skip this step. I don't like mushy tofu. Place the slabs (sounds so appetizing) of tofu between layers of paper towels or kitchen towels. Place a heavy object or pot of water on top and let it sit there for a while.

5. Put about 2" of oil in a large skillet. Canola oil works well, Vegetable oil works too. You can even get fancy and mix some olive oil with canola oil. Don't use only olive oil. The smoking point of olive oil is too low to get the oil hot enough to fry this eggplant. Turn the burner on medium to high. While you're at it, you should pre-heat your oven too. 450 degrees.

6. Line the bottom of a baking dish with the tofu. Sprinkle the salt, tarragon, paprika, roughly chopped garlic, scallion, and roughly chopped onion on it. Set aside until the oven reaches 450, at which point you'll put it in the oven.

7. Start the assembly line going. Break the egg in a medium bowl (something big enough to fit the eggplant slices in) and whisk it together with the milk.

8. On a plate, mix the breadcrumbs with the tarragon. The tarragon is going to give this dish a little sweetness that you don't get with the typical Italian herbs like basil or oregano.

9. Dip the eggplant into the egg mixture and coat evenly. Then dip it in the breadcrumbs and coat evenly again. Do this with all of the eggplant and put them on a clean plate (umm, a dirty one would work too, but that's gross).

10. By this time, the oil should be piping hot. To check it, toss a few (emphasis on "few") breadcrumbs into the oil. If it bubbles quickly and rises to the top of the oil, you're in business. If it sinks to the bottom, the oil is not hot enough.

11. Carefully place the eggplant into the oil. Fry it until it is dark brown on both sides. Depending on the size of your skillet, you may only be able to fry one or two of them at a time. If you put too many of them in the oil, the oil will cool off and it won't fry as well. The object here is to fry it pretty quickly so it doesn't just sit in there soaking up all the oil. Should take a total of about 3 minutes per eggplant.

12. If you haven't put the tofu in the oven, you might want to do that now. Keep it in there until it's browned.

13. Continue frying eggplant until it's all done. Once each one is done, place it on a paper towel to wick the oil away.

14. Heat the can of diced tomatoes in the microwave for about a minute.

15. Start assembling the stacks. Place an eggplant slice on the bottom, next a tofu slice, next an eggplant slice and finally top the stack with the diced tomatoes. Shave a little peccorino on top and enjoy.

An alternative to this would be to roll up the tofu in the eggplant, similar to eggplant rollatini except without the cheese.

Wow - that took just about as long to type as it did to make it. I hope it's worth it :)

*k*

no more chances for the zucchini

I give up. Why does the darn thing continue to produce fruit when it just dies and falls off 2 days later. grr... that's it zucchini! you're not messing with me anymore.

restaurant crawl - the final chapter

We're both sated at this point and are resolved to the fact that my car is going to remain on 14th Street and we'll be walking home. A nice walk down Washington Street past lots of fabulous restaurants. We decided to stop, at quite possibly, the best restaurant in Hoboken, Amanda's.

Amanda's is a quaint and cozy French restaurant, with a vast wine list and lots of rich French cuisine. The offer prix fixe menus and wine tasting nights as well, so there is always something going on at Amandas. Sure, it's a fancy sit-down restaurant and we were two drunks dressed in shorts and flip flops looking for a top off to our restaurant crawl at the end of dining hour. They welcomed us with open arms (or was that empty glasses awaiting a fill of wine). We both had a Pinot Noir, typically my favorite varietal because we thought that would go well with the cake we were going to have. I had carrot cake because I can't resist working vegetables into every meal.

From there we had a nice leisurely walk home, after a fun adventure that started with the question "What's for dinner?"

I hope you enjoyed the restaurant crawl and maybe even try one or a few of them.

*k*

restaurant crawl - part 3

yep, we were still going strong. You can read about previous adventures here and here. We walked out of Lua and and half stumbled over to Sushi House Uptown (not sure if they have a website, so this will have to do). Sushi House is one of my favorite restaurants in Hoboken, but since Rob lives downtown, we have never tried their new uptown location. Boy were we missing out! Now mind you, when we started out on this trek, Rob was trying to persuade me to go to Sushi House but I didn't want to go because I just wasn't feeling like sushi that night. Little did I know that he was going to get me there at some point.

So we ordered a Tropicana Roll (in honor of our upcoming trip to Atlantic City, which was on July 2-3) and shrimp tempura. For the wine, I ordered a Chilean Savignon Blanc but honestly I don't remember it much at all (sorry! by that point I was three sheets to the wind). The atmosphere was cool and casual and there was a live jazz band playing in the background. It was completely desolate, which I can only figure that it was 4th of July weekend and Hoboken in general was light on activity.

The food came with quick and friendly service, and tasted amazing (as usual!). I have never had a bad experience at Sushi House and that day was no exception. Check back for the last round of the Hoboken Restaurant Crawl!

Thank you Sushi House!

restaurant crawl - part 2

in continuation of the restaurant crawl... after we left the City Bistro, we took a walk around the corner to Lua, my next restaurant review. This is an interesting place, settled along the northern corner of Sinatra Drive and 14th Street with beautiful views of the Manhattan skyline. The decor, while hip and chic for the millennium bar and restaurant scene, will certainly be dated and out of fashion 10-years from now the same way that 1980's style came and went. There is lots of frosted glass and colorful, yet dim lighting to which the pretentious clientele sip expensive martinis and lounge about.

Lua has an extensive wine list with lots to choose from in all price ranges so I ordered a Voigner. It had a nice aroma of grapefruit (again, similar to the City Bistro wine), and a mild acidity. It was a nice accompaniment to our appetizer. The menu is a hodge-podge of southwestern, with lots of Asian influence in some of the dishes as well as a Spanish influence in the Tapas section. I'm not really sure what they are trying to be in terms of their food. We ordered the vegetable quesadilla, which was filled with corn, mushrooms, pico de gallo and jalapeno jack cheese. It was good, but I probably wouldn't order it if I was going to order an entree as well, as it was a little heavy (ha! quesadillas usually are, we knew what we were getting into).

So, after Lua we walked sideways to the next restaurant. Stay tuned :)

what a scorcher

yesterday, it was 95 degrees at the beach and I decided it would be a lovely day to play a volleyball tournament. Brilliant. While it is a lot of fun, and we did much better than expected (me and my partner made it to the play-offs - woo!), the heavy heat was definitely a factor in our performance. I'm not sure if it's a matter of training your body to be able to react to heats like that or what. But a few tips for strenuous activity on hot days:

- be mindful of the temperature, the sun, and the humidity before you undertake heavy strenuous activity on a hot day.

- when you think you have had enough water, drink some more. I mean it. I drank at least 2 gallons of water yesterday but it was so hot and luckily it was dry, but the sweat just evaporated in seconds, so you don't feel like your sweating.

- notice the color of your pee. I'm not trying to be gross. If it's dark or if you haven't gone in a while, you're dehydrated. Drink more water.

- Drink Gatorade or something similar also on hot days where you're sweating a lot and not getting replenishment of salts.

- know the signs and symptoms of heat cramps, heat exhaustion and heat stroke. These are very common ailments and very preventable.

- heat cramps: muscle spasms, usually in the arms, legs or stomach. Usually caused by not replenishing with potassium or other salts. Drink water and Gatorade or eat bananas. You can research other symptoms, causes and remedies. I'm not a doctor and so this is not a doctor's opinion.

- heat exhaustion: your internal air conditioner breaks and I don't mean the one in your house. I mean the one in your body. Symptoms are heavy sweating, headache, intense thirst, dizziness, fatigue, loss of coordination, nausea, loss of appetite, anxiety, tingling in extremities. Not fun stuff. I had it this weekend and got myself under control by immersing in the ocean, keeping my head cool, drinking Gatorade along with gallons of water. If you can, get into some air conditioning, or shade, relax, try not to do physical activity until fully hydrated again. Again, you can research other symptoms, causes and remedies. I'm not a doctor and so this is not a doctor's opinion.

- heat stroke: by far the most serious, and life threatening. Symptoms include high body temperature, lack of sweating, red skin, all the signs of heat exhaustion but more severe, rapid pulse, difficulty breathing. Can also result in convulsions, collapse, loss of consciousness. If someone has these symptoms, you need to cool them down immediately! Pour cold water on them, fan them, apply cold packs, call 911. Again, you can research other symptoms, causes and remedies. I'm not a doctor and so this is not a doctor's opinion.

Just please keep this in mind as we get to the dog days of summer when people are outside running, biking and playing outdoor sports. It's a lot more serious than people realize. Keep cool, stay safe, drink water.

:)

restaurant crawl

It sounds funny, a "restaurant crawl" but that's exactly what it was. Ok, so you have heard of a bar crawl, right? You walk from bar to bar having a drink or two at each and by the end you're hammered. Well this is similar, except you go from restaurant to restaurant trying wine and food and by the end you're stuffed and hammered. It was Rob's brainchild the other night when we were tooling around Hoboken. Of course, if it had wine and food in the description I immediately accepted. Here's how it went....

Around 7 o'clock on Saturday, we decided it would be a good idea to go out for dinner but we weren't quite sure where. We start heading out the door and I let him know I'm just going to move my car to a legal parking spot. We hop in the car and before I know it, we have decided to go uptown to 14th Street since we *never* go out up there.

We start out at City Bistro (if it had a website, I would have linked it here). City Bistro has a very nice atmosphere; however, I don't go there much because the crowd is a little snooty for my laid back pace. They have a wall of doors that opens up to the street, and on the day that we went, there was a very nice breeze throughout the bar area. There are three levels, with a bar on each and the top floor is a roof deck. I'm tempted to describe it as "casually upscale" if you know what I mean. We had a lobster spring roll and I had the house Savignon Blanc wine from a winery called Nimbus Estate. The lobster spring roll was very good, but I felt like there were too many flavors going on. Along with it being fried, it could have been crab and I'm not sure I would know the difference. But it was good and it came with a mango chutney (for anyone who knows me, if it has mango in it, I usually love it). The wine was fabulous!!! It was extremely crisp, and had a grapefruit bouquet with a very light feel. Perfect for a warm day.

Thank you City Bistro for having such an awesome house wine :)

The restaurant crawl will be continued...

*k*

zany zucchini part 2

I'm totally bummed about this zucchini business. I started with two plants. One completely shriveled up and died (turned yellow first) and then the second one started to get yellowing leaves. I started cutting them off and I stopped watering as much. But still my zucchini continue to turn yellow at the ends like the photo that I took today. So I did some research about it and it turns out that since I'm growing in containers, that my veggies may not be getting all the nutrients that they need. I made a mixture of miracle grow and tried it out. Stay tuned....

recipe doctor

I was watching the food network yesterday and saw a great looking salad from my favorite - Paula Deen. I know what you're thinking, that there has to be a cup of mayo and a cup of cream and a cup of sugar in it.... nope. It's an Asian Chicken Salad Recipe and here's what I did to it:

First - on the salad part, I used tofu instead of chicken. I cut up some extra firm tofu into 1/2" pieces and roasted it in a dry cast iron pan until it was browned on all sides. Then I added it to the salad.

On the dressing part, I decided to make a wasabi ginger dressing - here it is:


Wasabi Ginger Dressing Recipe
1 tsp wasabi powder
1 tbsp water
3 tbsp olive oil
1/4 cup soy sauce
2 tsp fresh grated ginger
1 tsp minced garlic

I think this would also be great in a pita - nice and crunchy :)

thank you Paula!

*k*

positively fine changs

that is my interpretation of the P.F. in P.F. Chang's. We went to the china bistro while we were in Atlantic City and staying in the Tropicana. It was a fairly busy weekend down at the casinos so we made a reservation. When we got there, something happened with the reservation, but it wasn't the restaurant's fault. The concierge told us 8, but in fact they made the reservation for 8:30. So the hostess said that she didn't have anything for us immediately but there was room at the bar so we sat there while we waited for the reservation.

After a few minutes of cozy-ing up to the bartender, we decided that the bar was the place for us as the downstairs dining area seemed a little louder than we cared to enjoy at that moment. This worked out just fine. Somehow in this entire evening, I was able to talk my carnivore boyfriend to go totally vegetarian for this meal (not like he's never done that, but it's just a little unusual especially when dining out).

We started off with some tofu lettuce wraps. It is a tofu and soy sauce mixture and some other vegetables like red onion and water chestnuts. The idea is to wrap them up in some iceberg lettuce leaves and eat them like a taco. This was pretty good, a little heavy on the sauce but overall very tasty. My lettuce wrap fell apart at one point and that didn't make me too happy - some handi-wipes for the messy eaters (ahem, me) would have been useful. :)

Next we ordered 4 entree's / sides - sauteed spinach, asparagus, coconut curry vegetables and garlic noodles. Now, I'm looking at this stuff on line right now and I'm seeing that all of the calories, fat, and other food information is provided on line (YIKES!!). Well it was vacation after all but oh my gosh did we eat a ton of calories. I'm glad that we were too full for dessert - ha! So, of the entree dishes that we got, everything was mostly good. The asparagus dish was a little salty; however the spinach dish was particularly bland. My favorites were the coconut curry vegetables and the garlic noodles.

On the plus side, the price was extremely reasonable compared to the amount of food and quality of food provided. Overall, I would say it was a successful outing, but don't expect magnificance.

bbq dips

no, I'm not talking about that flakey friend that always seems to show up at every bbq, babbling away about her psychic. When you want something to munch on before the veggies (or for you carnivores, the burgers) are done grilling, try these little goodies that I whipped up this morning:

Chipotle Corn Salsa Recipe
1/4 cup frozen corn
1 15 oz. can of diced tomatoes
2 plum tomatoes, diced
1/4 medium vidalia onion, diced
3 cloves of garlic, diced
3 chipotle chilis in adobo sauce, diced
juice from one fresh lime
2 tbsp fresh chopped cilantro + some cilantro leaves for garnish
salt and pepper to taste

put all this in a bowl, and chill for at least an hour to let the flavors marry. This has essentially no fat and is all veggies - if you pair it with some healthy alternatives you can have you dip and eat it too. This can be made up to one day in advance. You can serve this with tortilla chips, or you can use it as a relish for the burgers, or you can brown some french bread on the grill and use this as a bruschetta. The opportunities are endless. :)

Now, if you have some folks who aren't into spicy food, here's a nice one that tastes so rich and yet it is so healthy and again, nearly fat free:

White Bean Dip Recipe
1 15 oz can of cannellini beans (white kidney beans)
4 oz plain fat free yogurt
1/4 tsp white truffle oil
1/2 vidalia onion
2 tsp herbs de provence
4 to 5 mint leaves

Put the beans, truffle oil and yogurt in a food processor and blend until smooth. Add in roughly cut onion, herbs and mint and pulse until onions are finely diced. Chill for at least 1 hour. Serve with veggies.

Enjoy your bbq!
*k*