Mint Juleps at Grand!

This Saturday, April 25th, from 2-6, LUPEC will be making mint juleps in honor of the Kentucky Derby! And, everything at Grand will be 10% off. Sounds like tons of fun! But, alas, I won't be able to go. I'll be out of town. *sigh*

Songs for the Jet Set

I just received Songs for the Jet Set from eBay. If you are looking for authentic 60's/70's jet set music this might not be for you. Instead, this is a compilation of quirky, kitschy music that evokes that 60's/70's era when people still dressed up to go flying. Most of the songs have a happy, carefree feel to them. The standouts are "Leslie Phillips in Santiago" and "Kites Are Fun" by Tomorrow's World, "Barbarella" and "We Can Fly" by Loveletter, and the fun, sexy "I Am a Kitten" by the Fantastic Everlasting Gobstoppers.

The only song that doesn't seem to fit is "Schoolgirl Psychedelia" by the Fantastic Everlasting Gobstoppers. It has an edgy electronic sound to it that reminds me more of the 80's. I like it, but it just doesn't seem to fit with this collection.

If I have a cocktail party I'm playing this CD in the background. But, since it's only 30-40 minutes long, I may have to buy the other CDs in the collection - there are two more volumes of Songs for the Jet Set.

Scoville Sour

2.5 oz Hendrick's gin
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz honey simple syrup
1/2 oz maple syrup
1/4 tsp cayenne and espelette pepper mix

Now that I have a bottle of Hendrick's I've been making myself Scoville Sours.

I don't have any espelette pepper, so I used white pepper instead. I was told with white pepper the mix should be mostly cayenne, but that was too hot for me. I make my Sours with a half cayenne/half white pepper mix. If I get some espelette I imagine I'll have to readjust the cayenne amount.

The cayenne pepper goes well with the sweet and sour taste of the lemon, honey syrup, and maple syrup. I think the honey and maple give the drink's sweetness more depth than you'd get just using a simple syrup.

A note about the drink - it yields more than a four ounces. When making it, I either have to use a larger glass, or I end up sipping the cocktail from the glass before pouring out the last bit. Since it has cayenne pepper, hurriedly sipping the drink to make more room can be a little uncomfortable.

The cocktail used to be served at No. 9 Park, but when I was there for Restaurant Week I was told they no longer make them. What a pity!

(For those wondering, the honey syrup is one part honey, one part water, stirred over heat until the honey has completely mixed in.)

Fake subway maps

A few weeks ago I read about Transit Authority Figures' fake subway maps on Apartment Therapy. One of the maps is of Cape Cod, so I just had to order it! I received a nice note from the owners telling me the map should be shipping later this week. I'm debating whether to order the maps for Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. It'd be nice to have a complete set, but my spending was a little out of control in March, so I want to rein things in for a bit.

Google Sync for Blackberries

I downloaded Google Sync for my Blackberry a few weeks ago. It's a handy app that synchronizes your calendar and address book with GMail and Google Calendar. For the most part, I like it. Since I do not use MS Outlook on my home PC, I didn't have a way to enter addresses and appointments on my desktop. Everything had to be entered on the Blackberry, which can get tedious if you want to edit multiple addresses, etc. Plus, since it's Google, I can update my calendar and contact list from any computer as long as I have access to the web.

You can have Google Sync run in the background on your Blackberry to regularly update Google every two hours or so. Or, you can choose to manually synchronize. I chose the automatic option since I am prone to forget to regularly update things.

You can also choose how far in advance you want the appointments to be synchronized. I chose to have it update appointments scheduled for the next 24 weeks, the maximum period. The minimum period is four weeks.

There are a few downsides, however. For starters, any dates you already have scheduled on your Blackberry will not be uploaded to your Google calendar. Only appointments you enter after installing Google Sync will be added to Google calendar. I find this slightly annoying because I have doctor's appointments for next year that I've entered in my Blackberry already.

Another drawback is that you cannot choose the automatic update interval. I would rather have it update every 3-4 hours instead of two. The reason for this is the third drawback: the automatic updates require a data transfer each time between your Google account and the Blackberry. This tends to drain the battery. Since using the app, I've noticed that I have to recharge my battery more often. It isn't a major problem, but it is a nuisance.

Easter Dinner 2009

For Easter I treated myself to a rack of lamb with spicy plum chutney (made by the Virginia Chutney Company). Because I really shouldn't eat an entire meal of meat I had sauteed cauliflower as a side.

To cook the lamb, I first scored the fat so the chutney could work its way into it while cooking. I then mixed some of the chutney with salt and garlic powder. My reasoning was that normally you'd rub salt onto the lamb, and since I didn't think the chutney didn't have any salt in it, I thought I had to add some. (It turns out it does have salt in it. Oops.) I was worried that if I added salt directly to the meat it would rub off when I spread the chutney on. I could be wrong in this. Anyway, after mixing the salt, garlic powder, and chutney, I spread it on the rack, covering the top part where the fat was, the sides, and the front (non-Frenched side). I cooked the lamb in the oven at 325 F for approximately 45 minutes.

For the cauliflower, I sliced two shallots and crushed a clove of garlic. I sauteed these on med-low with one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of canola oil (those not as health conscious could use two tablespoons of butter). Once the shallots were soft and on the verge of carmelizing, I added the chopped cauliflower florettes, pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes. I can't remember if I added garlic powder, however. I suppose it wouldn't have hurt ;) I sauteed the cauliflower for 20-30 minutes.

Overall, it was satisfying meal. I was worried that it would be too hot, since both the chutney and the cauliflower have red pepper flakes. But, this wasn't the case, and both provided enough sweetness to make me happy (I have a sweet tooth). However, I think others might have found adding red pepper flakes, onions, and garlic to the cauliflower may have been unnecessary. I had thought about just sauteeing the cauliflower with nothing but butter, canola oil, and salt and pepper to let the natural flavor come through more. Then again, cauliflower has a subtle flavor, so maybe not. I think next time I make a rack of lamb I'll pull it out a little sooner. As it was, it was a nice pink, but I prefer my lamb to be closer to red - I like my meat as close to rare as possible while still being cooked. This is easy to do with a single chop, but with an entire rack it's harder to pull off since you need to keep in long enough for the center to cook.

(If you don't want to go to the Virginia Chutney Company's website, the spicy plum chutney has plums [duh], white sugar, brown sugar, apples, vinegar, raisins, carmelized onions and ginger, mustard seed, salt, and red pepper.)

Whole Foods Market: A Fine Purveyor of Food Crack

Food crack: noun. Exceptionally high quality and good tasting food that elicits an "I must have this food NOW" reaction in humans that can be called addictive. Regular consumption of food crack is likely to deplete one's cash reserves.

I went to Whole Foods today to buy some lamb for tomorrow's dinner. My sole purpose was to buy lamb. However, because it was Whole Foods, and they had samples, I ended up buying more.

The first hit was in the produce section where, as usual, free samples of cheese and jam spreads to go with the cheese were available. Today the culinary money trap was robusto cheese with spice plum chutney. It was GOOD. Initially I resisted the temptation to buy some, but the longer I spent in the store the more I thought about it. I ended up circling back to the produce section to grab some of the cheese and a jar of the chutney. My rationalization was that I would use to the chutney with the lamb. My plan is to spread the chutney on the lamb and roast it. I have no plan for the cheese other than to eat it with the chutney in the next few weeks. Bad for my heart, but good for my bones.

The second hit was the Tonnino tuna in garlic and olive oil. When I was in Whole Foods a month or so ago a woman was giving free samples and explaining the product. She said it's high quality tuna, and very flavorful, and goes well with pasta (or "pah-ster;" she was British) and doesn't need mayonaisse. I was tempted then to buy a jar, but I had already had a bunch of items in my basket so I didn't get any. Today, I remembered the tuna and told myself it'd make a tasty lunch to take to work. So I bought a jar. Which was around $8. And very small.

I did resist other goodies there - the beautiful looking cooked shrimp, the intriguing shrimp salad, and the fresh looking tuna sushi rolls. Oddly, I'm never tempted by the chocolates at Whole Foods. That is probably a good thing.

I used to envy a friend who lived within walking distance of a Whole Foods. And, to some extent, I still do. However, the fact that any Whole Foods is at least a 20 minute drive from me is probably a good thing for my financial well-being.

Ladytron @ House of Blues, 4/8/09

Wednesday night I went to the Ladytron concert at the House of Blues. They were double-billed with The Faint.

The show was great! Ladytron opened with "Black Cat," which was a strong choice. On some songs, such as "High Rise," the vocals were overpowered by the instruments. Other than that, the band sounded great. The light show was fabulous, although an epileptic's nightmare (lots of flashing and strobe). I ended up liking "Soft Power" and "Seventeen" better live than recorded.

The last song, of course, was "Destroy Everything You Touch." Once again, the vocals were too low, but unlike "High Rise," they weren't completely drowned out and seemed to get stronger. Maybe one of the sound crew adjusted the volume. Also, at the end, a bubble machine in the ceiling turned on! It was a little strange, but when the strobe lights kicked in it was a cool effect.

Speaking of odd touches, right before Ladytron came on ELO's "Livin Thing" was playing over the sound system. I don't know if the band picked what songs to play during the set up or if House of Blues picked songs, but it seemed a little weird....

Happy "I'm Still Employed Day"

To celebrate surviving the first quarter without being laid off I went out and made a few purchase I've been putting off. I trekked to Marty's Liquors in Newton and bought some Hendrick's gin, Vya extra dry vermouth, and a bottle of Ararat Akhtamar 10 year brandy.

Now I can have fun playing around with the Hendrick's and seeing how it differs from the Plymouth in cocktails. I'm also going to look into cucumber cocktails, just in time for the spring and summer :)

Eating healthy, eating less?

After spending too much money on Restaurant Week, and eating foie gras two nights in a row last week, I decided this week I should brown bag my lunch, as well as eat healthier food. Since work is still keeping me busy, I knew I'd be more likely to succeed if I made putting together lunch easy. So I went to Sevan Bakery in Watertown and bought some sauteed chickpeas and Armenian potato salad. I also stopped by Arax Market, also in Watertown, and bought some nivik*, made with chickpeas and swiss chard (a quick search on the internet suggests nivik is usually made with spinach). I then picked up a head of Boston lettuce at Stop & Shop for sandwiches.

I was planning on some really nutritious, high fiber lunches.

Yesterday for lunch I had a peanut butter sandwich made with wheat bread, Welch's grape jelly, and organic peanut butter. In addition, I had a cup each of the nivik and Armenian potato salad. Today I went with a cheese sandwich (provolone, Boston lettuce, and mayo), one cup of the nivik, and some dates for dessert.

What I've noticed both days is that I am NOT feeling hungry by 3 or 4 in the afternoon like I usually do. Thus, I didn't go to the vending machine or the little convenience store in our building to buy a bag of chips. Today, I did start to feel hungry around 5, so I gave in and got some chips. However, my point is that by eating these healthier foods I may be feeling full longer, which is a good thing. In fact, tonight when I got home around 7 I didn't feel the urge to immediately eat something. In fact, I just had a small bowl of the sauteed chickpeas, and that's all I needed, at least for now.

So I guess those nutrition experts who say that eating healthier will make you feel fuller and help eliminate those late afternoon food cravings are right...

*I normally avoid cooked spinach, kale, swiss chard, or any cooked leafy greens like the plague. I hate the bitter taste and the wilty, slimy texture. However, I'd had nivik a few months ago at a friend's place and noticed that because of the other ingredients in the appetizer I didn't taste the spinach. So I looked specifically for this knowing it was a good way to get myself to eat one of those ever healthy cooked leafy greens.