Garden Amendment

The other day I found out that all of my "watermelon" plants (that I grew from seed beginning over 4 months ago) are in actuality "zucchini" plants. That makes sense, because I planted the two sets of seeds next to each other in the same little peat starter pods. I guess that's why gardenistas always tell you to label your plants! Ha! Minor amateur gardener faux-pas! That really explains why all of my so-called watermelons look so much like zucchinis. And why the new zucchini plants look so much like the old "watermelon" plants. Good thing I love zucchini!

Soulard Farmer's Market

Yay, it's been a while since I last went to the Soulard Farmer's Market, but it is as awesome as ever, if not even better! There are the obvious signs of improvement; previously abandoned buildings redone as "Soulard Market Lofts", and the old parking lot across the street repaved and turned into an electronic pay lot.

Dorie Greenspan's Tartest Lemon Tart

Dorie Greenspan is a fancypants chef, cook, baker, food writer of delectable treats. Laurie, from Quirky Cupcake, runs a site called Tuesdays With Dorie, in which amateur cooks across the world all attempt a different Dorie recipe each week, picked by the floggers from one of her books. It is fascinating the way that one recipe can have so many variations among bakers. Participating in the blog sounds fun, but there are a couple of reasons why it is not logical for me.

1. It would get expensive buying all those special ingredients every week
2. I absolutely do not have the time for baking something new each week, it seems like each day is over before I know it!
3. I would probably weigh about 400 pounds if I had to eat an entire pastry every week. Not that I wouldn't LOVE to, or think that I couldn't, because I certainly would dig in and eat the entire dish if there were no consequences! I think I will try to keep my dessert-making down to about once a month!

Stuffed Zucchini with Turkey Sausage

Stuffed Zucchini with Turkey Sausage

I found this recipe on one of the flogs I read, Simply Recipes. I thought it looked mostly healthy, and I am just cuckoo for zucchini. I know, I know, another repulsive picture. Don't let it fool you though; this dish was delish! It was about a million times more difficult to make than I thought it would be (it took almost 2 hours from start to finish!), but absolutely worth it. Somehow (maybe it was all the pepper?), the turkey (okay, I used ground chicken, it was cheaper) actually tasted like sausage! It was amazing. I ate all of the leftovers, very yum! Next time, I would halve the amount of salt and pepper, but those are the only changes I would make. Well worth the time!

Dead Bird

The other day, Nunisha came over for barbecue and hanging off. A bird flew into the tiny window above the couch, snapping it's neck and (hopefully) instantly killing itself. It was very horrible. I'm sorry little birdie.

Alton Brown's Protein Bars

I just love that Alton Brown and his show "Good Eats". He is not just showing you how to put ingredients together, but giving you scientific information on properties of said ingredients, as well as neat and handy tips for making kitchen life easier. The other night on Good Eats was a rerun about granola bars and protein bars, and I thought we should try out one of the recipes.

Alton Brown's Protein Bars

These were one of the messiest treats I have ever made! One plus of this recipe is that it is not actually necessary to use a stand mixer. Another cool thing is that it exposed me to all sorts of things that I had never used before, like soy protein powder, wheat germ, and tofu. We used the leftover tofu to make a smoothie. Yum!

When these bars first came out of the oven, I tried some pieces that had crumbled off and thought them rather cakey, more like a dessert than a bar. After they had been refrigerated though, they became more dense, and I must say that I am completely addicted! I will definitely be making these again, they were delicious!

Who's there?

Huh. Couch looks different today.

Hmmm, seems to have grown some sort of lump-type protrusion.


Oh my! Pardon me! Meow meow Miss Pinky!

ickles and Lardee, Whee!

I am madly in love with ickles and Lardee, the two Milk Teef at My Milk Toof . If you want to see the most adorable and creative website EVER, just click the link, fool!



ickles has some new teef!

In the manner that people get songs stuck in their heads, I have always had words or phrases stuck in mine. Certain things I read or hear will keep popping up repeatedly in my mind at random times throughout the day. As soon as I first saw this website, I cannot stop saying to myself, "Lardee and Ickles, Lardee and ickles". I think it may be an obsession. They are just so damn cute, and have really been brought to life. I imagine the artist as thinking of them as her children. I know I would. Anyway, I insisted to the BF that I would call him ickles, and he could call me Lardee. No other interpretation of the word though; no Lardo, Lardass, or LardLard. Alas, the rule was broken, so now we are both Lardee!

It also deserves a mention that the artist who created these fantastic characters was just the sweetest thing ever when I contacted her to ask permission to post her work. Thanks Inhae!

Nom Nom Nom

I like to cook. I never claimed to be good at it though. I enjoy putting healthy and delicious recipes together, but most of all, I love to eat! There are about 50 bajillion or so food blogs (I call them Flogs) that I frequent, constantly printing out recipes, fantasizing about some, failing at others. These people are absolutely amazing; not only are they geniuses in the kitchen, but master photographers as well! It can be incredibly daunting to a girl with aptitude for neither. Here is a recipe I tried from one of the Flogs I visit called Simply Recipes:


Flank Steak Stir-Fry with Asparagus and Red Peppers

It was very tasty! It was also my first attempt at cooking with red peppers, which turned out to be quite successful. In case you haven't noticed that I am the worst photographer in the world, let me quickly draw your attention to that fact. It doesn't help that when referring to this post, the BF absentmindedly said, "The one with the trash?". Yes, he was referring to the picture, although I think it looks a bit more like vomit than trash. Still tasted great though!

I haz a garden

This year I have attempted to take up gardening, despite the fact that I am terrible at growing things. The idea of producing my own fruits and vegetables appealed to me, because I am always buying so much at the market! I dug up a 6 foot by 12 foot plot of land in the backyard (My man tilled it for me, thank goodness for him!), and have planted a few watermelon plants, some zucchini, spinach, garlic, and cantaloupe. The watermelon were started from seed indoors early in the season, all the rest began growth in the garden. The watermelon are just beginning to produce fruit, it is amazing! They are definitely the biggest of all the plants so far, the canteloupe were started kind of late as more of an afterthought because I had extra space. It is a fun hobby, I did not expect the feelings of actually caring for these plants as living things, having brought them up from practically invisible seeds. Now they are like my children!

No, no, don't be fooled. This is not professional landscaping, I did almost all of it by myself!

A watermelon plant

What's this? OMG, my very first watermelon! It looks like a juicy one!