if it's good enough for anthony bourdain...

maple bacon latte at pirate cat cafe. complete with bacon-bits garnish.

phoenix foodie

i ate a lot of betty crocker, including this red velvet cake with dark chocolate frosting. april turned out some delicious chicken tikka masala and nan that i am still thinking about.

culinary delight!

here is a photo of my dinner from last night, very exciting, i know. it's a bright red bowl of shrimp curry with butternut squash, sweet potato, and (my favorite addition) mango. i've made it countless times and it never tastes the same as i am always fiddling with the ingredient ratios. this time, i was very liberal with the red curry paste and cilantro, and hiding under all of that soupy deliciousness is a mound of my new favorite pasta, lemon pepper tagliatelle from tj's. the curry recipe came from, where else! nigella lawson, who is a holy figure here in the shoebox.

you can find a close variation of the recipe here.

birthday boy

it was nathan's birthday last week, but i didn't get a chance to bake him anything until sunday. here is a batch of guinness chocolate cupcakes with cream cheese frosting waiting for daddy to come home. i finagled the recipe from nigella's domestic goddess baking compendium, which is a masterpiece.

mid city supper

megan had a small dinner party tuesday night, and we were happy to be invited. it's always nice taking a break from bar & restaurant hopping to spend some quality time with friends at their homes. we got there just as the day was dusking, so i got a few pictures in of the table and shana & megan's awesome garden before our evening feast.




shana and hippo, say hi!

petunia's

in all the years i've been coming to new orleans, i've never heard of petunia's, and i don't understand why not. we ate the heartiest most indulgent breakfast here! even though the food was delicious, it was the interior of this french quarter restaurant i had to photograph. lots of pink!

too much food

i am always shocked by how much i devour at port of call. they bypass the whole side of french fries thing by serving up gaping baked potatoes heaped with sour cream, cheese, chives, and rocket red bacon bits. then you wash it all down with a monsoon the size of your head.

snowballs

this cute little hut on magazine street sells the most eclectic assortment of snowball flavors such as wedding cake, which tastes just like betty crocker vanilla frosting straight from the can. even i thought it was too sweet.

voodoo barbeque!

when we're in new orleans, nathan needs his barbeque. this trip, we finally made it down to voodoo bbq on st. charles where we watched the street cars pass as we gorged on award winning ribs.

brunch with bunch

on sunday, britten took nathan and i to brunch at cafe degas in mid city. the place is cozy and has a dining room that opens on to the sidewalk, which was quite lovely with the weather being so humid. midway through our meal it started pouring down rain, but cleared up in time for us to leave.

we chatted with several fellow diners while we waited for our tables. i met a woman with san francisco, santa monica, and kansas connections-- small world!

bunchie and i shared the peanut butter pie. it was like a reese's pb cup, only ten times more decadent, we couldn't even finish it. i must find the recipe.

solo brekkie

i couldn't quite get up this morning, so nathan was kind enough to gimme a break from the stepford program and let me sleep in. once i was up, i enjoyed a quiet breakfast by myself: bacon & pumpkin pancakes with syrup and cardamom cream!

my new favorite culinary delight is the cream, a simple combination of heavy cream whipped with a little sour cream and fresh ground cardamom. i wheedled it from an amazing dessert recipe by elizabeth faulkner. i've made it twice to rave reviews, so i'll have to actually post about it the next time i make it.

housewife

as this blurry action photo attests, i am making good on my solemn promise to nathan to cook him breakfast and dinner every day until i find another job. tonight, our lovely friends dan & leanne are coming over for dinner and i still don't know what i am making. oh, bother.

by the water

i'm stuck at work today, but looking at pictures from my last visit to the ramp do help a bit in providing some cheer. when the weather is beautiful in the city, this is where i long to be.

you can sip bloody marys by the water and pretend you're in new orleans. i've been doing that a lot lately.

apples

to all of my rose and radish friends, circa 2007: remember these? i dug out my apple jacket the other day and was reminded that there is a new version of the design that caught my eye on etsy...a grandpa sweater for apples!

2008 recap

i'm sorry i bailed on my beloved bloggy at the tail-end of 2008, especially since quite a bit happened that i would've liked to commemorate. here's a quick run through of some highlights:

above// shooting eat pray whatever in my bedroom. i was sooo tickled that we got to use a print i brought back from hammerpress in kansas city.

brenda's introduced a new breakfast item!

xmas in santa cruz.

my growing pyrex collection, thanks to carol sue!

a stroll down memory lane thanks to my oma. yeah, that's my dad. there were many drum casualties when i was growing up.

the view from our suite at the fairmont hotel on new years eve.

it was looking down at the financial district (one of my least favorite parts of the city) that i was unexpectedly overwhelmed w/ nostalgia and decided to spend my birthday at the punchline which is right next to the pyramid.

drunk people on nye, always funny.

i turned 29 on january 14th.

ted gave me a great present for my birthday: a framed picture of hisself from when he was little.

miette

it had been a while since i'd visited miette in hayes valley, so i wandered over on my lunch break saturday to see what's new and lo, gummy alphabet! being a totally obsessive compulsive snacker, i loved spelling out as many words as i could with the random letters i was given. "quasi plum" was about the best i could do.

last day

on my last day home, rick and i surveyed my parents' yard and started cooking up gardening ideas. our neighbor has a pomegranate tree and a mango tree that both have limbs that flirt with our property. i gathered ripe mangoes from the ground in our backyard. they are small and yellow and taste delicious.

reunion aftermath

i got up early sunday morning after the reunion and went to TJs for flowers and brekkie fixings. jordan & marienne came over for pancakes and brought jordan's girlfriend monica. i wasn't sure if i knew who she was even though he told me we'd all gone to high school together. when they arrived, i recognized her from grade school! we had lots of fun cooking and making a mess. jennifer & her cool dude, alan, came by later to help us finish our mimosas.

that's jordan pictured above tickling the ivories. he's always had tremendous talent with regards to classical piano. i'm not being sarcastic.


a cat named mouse. she's our little alfa female.


the beautiful chocolate goose that is destined to never be eaten.


we all hung out long enough to digest brunch and grow hungry again. it had been a while since i'd been to oki's dog, so i had the pleasure of forcing my friends to go with me and watch me eat the signature oki's dog; chili, pastrami, and cheese on two hot dogs wrapped in a tortilla. it's under $4 and there's a signed glossie of en vogue on the wall you can stare at while your arteries cry. if you no longer have the will to live, have the oki's dog with chili fries.

celebration