MIS-adventures in UN-employment

My last post indicated that I would try to make something new from several of the Cooks Illustrated magazine. Well, although I did not make every single recipe that I set out to make, I did make most of them: Beef empanadas, check. Roasted smashed potatoes with crispy pan fried pork chops, check. Ultimate chocolate cupcakes with ganache filling, check. Chicken pot pie with savory crumble topping, check. Although I enjoyed all of these dishes there were a few that were standouts and are now permanently included in my Target binder. The chicken pot pie was awesome. The beef empanadas were amazing (I think it has something to do with the fact that there is tequila in the dough!). The roasted smashed potatoes were delish. The crispy pan fried pork chops were not my favorite. And, the ultimate chocolate cupcakes were not ultimate (fear not, readers. I am determined to make THAT recipe work). I promised to include recipes for the dishes that I really enjoyed. So, I spent some time in ...

I thought that might get your attention! A woman's place is also anywhere else in the house, including the couch with a remote control and Oprah on the tele (see previous post). In my quest to make something new everyday, I have made some excellent new things (berry crumble), as well as some things that I probably would not make again (hear that potatoes au gratin? oui). This week, my good friend Felicia has let me borrow a stack of Cook's Illustrated magazines, and I am planning on choosing one recipe a day from this stack. Cook's Illustrated is a sneaky publication, you can't just browse their website and look up a recipe, you need to *gasp* pay to access their recipes. Good thing Felicia lives around the corner and gets the magazine, because I am unemployed and it's not in my budget to buy a recipe. I suppose I could buy a recipe one day and the ingredients for that recipe the next...come to think of it, that may be THE big new thing in dieting...ahem, sorry...

After reading this post, I think you will all agree that my dad beats out Martha, hands down... Anyone that has ever washed their sheets (and I assume that all of you have washed your sheets at least once in your life. If you have not, you are a filthy, disgusting human being!) knows that one of the most frustrating things in life is folding a fitted sheet. Over the years I have tried several techniques, most of which end up with me yelling, cursing, and beating my fitted sheet into submission. And by submission, I mean crumpling the sheet up into a little ball and cramming into my linen closet, and just for good measure slamming said linen closet door. However, while watching Oprah this week- remember I am unemployed- the "Domestic Goddess" Martha Stewart peddled everything from her show (now on the Hallmark Channel), to her cookbooks, to her line of crafting tools, some of which were actually pretty cool and made me wish that I was a crafty little diva. But, I digress. Sh...

In my quest to make something new everyday, I have taken to going to the Farmer's Markets (FM) in the area for fresh produce, meat, and seafood. Much to my delight, these FM also have food vendors that sell you full meals! I know this defeats the purpose, but I consider it research. My research a couple of weeks ago led me to the Ranchwood Deli and Catering booth at the Adams Avenue FM. I was there with my friends Michele and Scott (the bastards are sipping sangria in Spain at the moment), who go to this FM weekly, and have a seafood guy they trust and buy from regularly. When we stopped by his booth, he was going on and on about this "parfait of meat" that one of the other vendors was making him. He described it as "a cup filled with one layer of meat, a layer of mashed potatoes, a layer of meat, and another layer of mashed potatoes". But, on this particular day, we were lucky enough to be witness to the ULTIMATE PARFAIT OF MEAT. Instead of the last layer of m...