unuggggh

No Mary-Claire, there is absolutely no reason to put three chipotle chilies in your milk-less Kraft mac & cheese. It will not make it taste any better, it will just make you really glad you live by yourself for the rest of the night.

No picture for this one. It was gross and I'm embarrassed I ate it. Being broke and digging into your Costco impulse purchases is more dangerous than previously believed.

well good morning, taco

Matt, the guy I'm dating, is a boy. Therefore he was apparently born with the I-can-cook-eggs gene, a fact I like to take advantage of whenever I can. Yesterday we teamed up for some pretty amazing breakfast tacos. They were basically just the tacos I'd made the day before but with eggs and no avocado. Oh, and also they were incredibly delicious.

If I hadn't been kind of hung over from the cheap beer I drank at the sweet Frightened Rabbit concert the night before I would have clawed his eyes out for the last one. Because everyone knows it's food before bros.

perfect bite

I have this deal when I'm eating a meal that I really enjoy- when I start to get full I begin to assemble what will me my last, most perfect bite. It includes what I deem to be the best proportions of all the parts of my meal layered together on my spoon or fork.

This is my perfect bite of taco fixins. I make and eat a ridiculous amount of tacos and I love to end it this way. The problem is, it's usually so delicious that I go back for another taco.

an ok egg

At my mom's insistence I tried to poach another, better egg. I tried salting the water like Sarah suggested, used a slotted spoon (which I'm embarrassed to say I had not thought of before), and put some vinegar in the cup i cracked the egg into to help it stay together more.

This one turned out a lot better. It was still a bit runny, but I'm getting there. I just need to cook it longer I think.

In other news, I made a pasta sauce last night that tasted exactly like barf. It even had the same texture and looked like it. Win some/lose some I guess.

yes i did.

post-inauguration hangover: bad.

left-over dips: goooooood.

obamamania

Yesterday I had a small, very last-minute party to celebrate Obama's inauguration. The idea of being able to listen to my president speak and not get angry and depressed was too exciting of an idea to enjoy alone. I invited some of my close friends over and made some dips to show GW off in style.

While I would normally make guacamole, I decided to branch out a little because avocados are expensive, dammit! I looked online and found a recipe for smoky, spicy avocado dip with cilantro. It was so light and refreshing, not to mention easy and only used one avocado. I think it may be my new BBQ offering.

The other dip was Kathleen's amazing jalapeno popper one. I had everyone do a show of hands on which dip was their favorite and this one totally won. Because it's delicious, and warm, and has a bunch of cream cheese in it.

This, close friends, a bottle (our five) of wine, and some Taboo made for a hopeful, and very grateful night.

your brain on drugs, poached, and served on toast

I tried to poach an egg for the first time today. Generally I avoid dealing with them, seeing as we have a horrible, runny, and sometimes stomach-achey history. I don't really understand it. I mean, college guys can cook eggs, so what exactly am I missing here? An adams apple? A Miller Light?

But today I couldn't avoid it. I'm broke and have little to no groceries, so it was time to get creative. I called my mom and had her walk me through it. It sounded easy enough, but I don't think I cooked it long enough and apparently should have salted the water? Any tips? Please??

Also, I've really become fascinated with eggs on pizza. Has anyone tried this?

resolution update

I am currently in the #6 spot according to Club Foot's Tetris scores. Progress is being made, people. As far as dressing more like Cabiria, I have been looking at patterns for pencil skirts and have been adding more neck scarves to my daily attire. Also, I watched Roman Holiday last night which, while lacking in out-right prostitutes, is set in 1950s Rome and therefore I'm counting it as research.

crunchy, processed heaven

So self-control has never really been a strong point of mine. I never really learned that if something is good a whole bunch of it isn't necessarily better. Because of this I have an embarrassingly long list of foods I've eaten until it made me physically ill (olives, pickles, tater tots, brats... yeah, it's been a long and savory journey).

Lately I have been toeing the line with my all-time favorite snack creation- big Cheez-Its dipped in cottage cheese. The acidity of the crackers mixed with the milky cheese makes me jump up and down in the kitchen. You may notice that the 24oz cottage cheese container pictured above is over half empty. I got it last night. Seriously. I need help.

the o&g

It's really not supper until there's some garlic and red onion in there. These things make everything better and they smell sooooo good. One of my all-time favorite smells is garlic on hands. I used to date a chef and whenever he came home from work I'd put his hand on my face and smell it until he told me it was weird.

snackalicious!

I have an amazing gift for comming up with delicious snacks out of nothing. Example: graham crackers dipped in cranberry juice. Try it! You'll thank me.

This week was no exception. Here is my latest creation- put three or four almonds in a jar of brown sugar, then spoon them out and eat 'em. Hot damn it's good!

i like cars.

One of the great things about renting a car for a week over Christmas was that I got to go to Trader Joe's and stock up. Two of my favorites: butternut squash soup and curried rice. Being able to put it in a special bowl makes it twice as nice.

alarm clock

Sometimes I wake up, lay there, and think, 'Man I want to go back to sleep. Work is for suckers.' Then I think of breakfast and what I'll eat and it gets me up. This may just look like some peanut butter and jam on toast, but oh no! It's natural almond butter with blackberry preserves on organic whole grain bread. That, paired with Regis' shiny face shoving money at me, is what gets me out of bed in the morning.

hot chocolate

So I never really considered myself a hot chocolate kind of lady. I don't know, I guess I felt like if I was going to have a hot beverage it should be tea or coffee. Then my sister Kathleen gave me a mug and a container of the stuff for Christmas and I'm hooked! Like really hooked. Like eat the powder with a spoon straight from the container hooked. There's just something about it that makes me so happy. Maybe it's the sugar.

dear mayonnaise, why do you never write?

Did you know I love mayonnaise? Boy do I! I didn't really discover that it was different from Miracle Whip until I was about 17, so maybe I'm making up for lost time? I used to make mayo sandwiches that consisted of just bread and a whole bunch of mayo. Mmmmm... But then I learned mayo shame and so I try to dress it up.

For example, I like to whip it with salsa or garlic powder and cayenne pepper for a dipping sauce with tots or fish sticks. This was great for a while, but I had to stop buying these two delights when I realized I had eaten an entire jar of mayo in less than a month because of them.

So now the new jar is just taunting me in the fridge. I've been experimenting with ways to eat it that wouldn't embarrass me if someone walked in. Sticking your finger in for a dab? Out. Mayo and tomato open-faced sandwiches? In.

new years resolutions...

1. Eat more vegetables
2. Get better at photographing food
3. Dress more like an Italian prostitute from the 1950s (see Nights of Cabiria)
4. Get the #1 spot in Tetris at Club Foot

This blog is to help me with resolution number two, maybe even number one, but I guess I'm on my own with the last two. I'll keep you posted on the progress.