these things can be scary, not always what you want
1. does anyone have a recommendation for a download source for the first season of big love? i've been trying to torrent, but i'm not having great luck getting a decently-seeded download.
2. i had dinner with starkeymonster last week and she fed me delicious artichoke and lemon pesto from dave's fresh pasta in davis, which i immediately started craving on cold tortellini salad, which is basically all i eat anymore (with very finely minced red and yellow bell peppers, red onion and purple scallion, sautéed briefly in olive oil and balsamic vinegar). unfortunately pesto is one of those foods where you think "this little tiny container is so expensive! i should just make this myself!" and then you try to make it yourself and somehow end up spending twice as much money. fortunately, pencil-thin asparagus was two bunches for a dollar at haymarket this morning, so, arallara, here is proof that we have been putting your grandparents' food processor to good use:
asparagus, lemon & spinach pesto
(a recipe that i completely made up based on a vague memory of having made pesto before. your mileage may very.)
ingredients
2 good sized bunches of asparagus
2 cups loosely packed fresh spinach leaves
1 head garlic, peeled
1 hot pepper of unknown origin (this one was red, which made for some nice flakes of color in the finished product) cut lengthwise and de-seeded
1 lemon
marinated artichoke hearts (i added the three that were left in a jar that was sitting in my fridge, you could either omit these entirely or add more, probably)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
directions
- grate the zest from the lemon and set the zest aside
- put the asparagus, the garlic cloves and the hot pepper in a baking dish, coat with olive oil, salt and the juice from the zested lemon
-roast until tender and just starting to brown
- dump the asparagus dish into a food processor and add the lemon zest, spinach, artichoke hearts and cheese.
- puree until smooth! add salt and pepper to taste. i found that there was enough olive oil left over from roasting the asparagus that i didn't need to add any at the food processor stage, but i suppose you could if the mixture seemed too thick.
if i knew absolutely anything about cooking, i would say that it seemed like there was a nice mix of muted (roasted vegetables and garlic) and bright (fresh lemon zest and spinach) flavors. anyway, i thought it was really good.
3. things i'm all set with: losing one-run baseball games, staying until two-forty-five when my office closes at one on fridays, formal shorts. seriously -- my previously-discussed attempt to assemble a grown-up wardrobe have been totally thwarted by the fucking omnipresent of formal shorts. FORMAL SHORTS. formal shorts are the most unnecessary item of clothing ever invented. if you work at an office where you think you can get away with wearing formal shorts, you probably don't need to be dressing formally at all. seriously. formal shorts = no, etcetera.
4. i've come to the conclusion that i just need to see order of the phoenix again, because apparently everyone else saw a movie that wasn't just an emotionally-blind random assemblage of scenes from the book with no real narrative coherency. and i'm seriously not trying to be sarcastic, i'm really puzzled that i seem to be the only person who was 'eh' on the movie. and i loved the fifth book, in all its over-the-top, melodramatic, last-days-before-war ALL CAPS glory. so i'm honestly, truly confused about the whole thing.
2. i had dinner with starkeymonster last week and she fed me delicious artichoke and lemon pesto from dave's fresh pasta in davis, which i immediately started craving on cold tortellini salad, which is basically all i eat anymore (with very finely minced red and yellow bell peppers, red onion and purple scallion, sautéed briefly in olive oil and balsamic vinegar). unfortunately pesto is one of those foods where you think "this little tiny container is so expensive! i should just make this myself!" and then you try to make it yourself and somehow end up spending twice as much money. fortunately, pencil-thin asparagus was two bunches for a dollar at haymarket this morning, so, arallara, here is proof that we have been putting your grandparents' food processor to good use:
asparagus, lemon & spinach pesto
(a recipe that i completely made up based on a vague memory of having made pesto before. your mileage may very.)
ingredients
2 good sized bunches of asparagus
2 cups loosely packed fresh spinach leaves
1 head garlic, peeled
1 hot pepper of unknown origin (this one was red, which made for some nice flakes of color in the finished product) cut lengthwise and de-seeded
1 lemon
marinated artichoke hearts (i added the three that were left in a jar that was sitting in my fridge, you could either omit these entirely or add more, probably)
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese
olive oil
salt and pepper, to taste
directions
- grate the zest from the lemon and set the zest aside
- put the asparagus, the garlic cloves and the hot pepper in a baking dish, coat with olive oil, salt and the juice from the zested lemon
-roast until tender and just starting to brown
- dump the asparagus dish into a food processor and add the lemon zest, spinach, artichoke hearts and cheese.
- puree until smooth! add salt and pepper to taste. i found that there was enough olive oil left over from roasting the asparagus that i didn't need to add any at the food processor stage, but i suppose you could if the mixture seemed too thick.
if i knew absolutely anything about cooking, i would say that it seemed like there was a nice mix of muted (roasted vegetables and garlic) and bright (fresh lemon zest and spinach) flavors. anyway, i thought it was really good.
3. things i'm all set with: losing one-run baseball games, staying until two-forty-five when my office closes at one on fridays, formal shorts. seriously -- my previously-discussed attempt to assemble a grown-up wardrobe have been totally thwarted by the fucking omnipresent of formal shorts. FORMAL SHORTS. formal shorts are the most unnecessary item of clothing ever invented. if you work at an office where you think you can get away with wearing formal shorts, you probably don't need to be dressing formally at all. seriously. formal shorts = no, etcetera.
4. i've come to the conclusion that i just need to see order of the phoenix again, because apparently everyone else saw a movie that wasn't just an emotionally-blind random assemblage of scenes from the book with no real narrative coherency. and i'm seriously not trying to be sarcastic, i'm really puzzled that i seem to be the only person who was 'eh' on the movie. and i loved the fifth book, in all its over-the-top, melodramatic, last-days-before-war ALL CAPS glory. so i'm honestly, truly confused about the whole thing.