Stop & Shop and the Single Girl

This is everything I bought when I stopped at the grocery store today.

I think the only other things I could have purchased that would have screamed "I AM A HOUSEHOLD CONSISTING OF ONE 32-YEAR-OLD FEMALE AND HER CAT" any louder were a pint of Ben & Jerry's and a copy of People.

Strategery

So, on Wednesday morning I realized I had a loaf of potentially stale bread. I figured I would give it to my companion's father to feed to the birds, as he is wont to do with stale bread (and various other kitchen scraps). The half-loaf was going to sit in my car all day then become birdfood when we went for our weekly Wednesday night pasta dinner.

But then, lo and behold, what should appear in the New York Times? The article and recipe "What to Do With Stale Bread? Pudding, for Starters." It describes a strata -- an Italian "bread pudding" of sorts, the name coming from the layers of bread and tomatoes -- more than a bread pudding per se. Its billing as a "Savory Bread Pudding With Tomatoes and Herbs" tells the whole story.

Since I was using a slightly smaller baking dish than it called for, and I neglected to measure out my bread (just used it all , since I definitely didn't want any left over after it had sat in my car all day), I didn't really stratify it as much as I did a layer of bread, a layer of tomatoes (diced, and with most of the seeds taken out), and a layer of bread. And I probably used twice as much cheese as it called for. OK, maybe three times as much cheese. I used Gruyere and Romano (the recipe called for Parmiagiano, but I usually just have Romano around; it's my go-to dry cheese). Also I used basil instead of the herbs it called for.

I think it came out pretty good. Tasty, easy, definitely a comfort food. Although it's supposed to be a way to use up bountiful late-summer tomatoes (in addition to the stale bread), I think it would be a nice addition to a cold winter day. (Once winter arrives in earnest, I'll introduce you to my zucchini gratin, which is one of my winter comfort-food faves.)

Seen In Providence

Best bumper sticker ever:
GOD IS MY QUAHOG

No sign of these available for purchase anywhere. Just this:So I think I will need to make my own.

Savor Providence

Went yesterday with the aforementioned girlfriends to Savor Providence, a benefit for Trinity Repertory Company. It was excellent. Instead of being the usual "taste of"-style event, where you eat from paper plates in big tents, we actually went to the restaurants. You buy a booklet of "tastes" (uh, tickets, actually) and go around town during the four hours of the event to the participating eateries. Once there, you choose a menu item you'd like to "savor" and give them a ticket. Some places only had one food for everyone, others had a variety. It was really well done, and I especially liked how we actually got to go to the restaurants; it gave us a chance to check out places we hadn't been to, but also to "savor" some old favorites.

Highlights:

- This cheesy-tomatoey-baked-pasta dish at Al Forno was fantastic. We started here first at noon, and then went back at around 3:45 for seconds, it was that good. I mean, it was THAT GOOD. They were only serving this one dish (and drinks), which made it exceptionally well organized and speedy. Plus the atmosphere there is exceptional, too.



- A special shout-out goes to Costantino’s/Venda Ravioli, which, instead of inviting everyone in to the restaurant, served their ravioli right outside on Federal Hill. They were set up next to the fountain. Since it was such a beautiful day, it was quite lovely to sit there for a moment and have a bite. It was just like being in Italy. I suppose.

- I had always heard good things about Rue de l'Espoir but had never been able to make it there before now. It, too, didn't disappoint. They were offering a bunch of items off their bar menu; we opted for the "gooey grilled cheese sandwich" (pictured); the white bean, spinach & dried tomato crostini; and the so-called "trio of treats," although I am sorry to say I forgot precisely what all three of them were. One was a hummus, all three were to be eaten with grilled pita. All tasty nevertheless.

- We were excited to check out this new downtown spot, Local 121 (no, it's not the headquarters of the pipefitters' union; it's a restaurant which specializes in serving locally produced food). Mainly we were excited because they were billed as having some sort of homemade ice cream sandwich. But by the time we got there, they were fresh out of the dessert. "We expected, like, 8 people to show up," the waitperson said, "and we had, like--" "800?" I interjected. So instead, my companions tried some vegetarian "burger" thingies and I just had an iced tea. (I needed a break to make room in my tummy for the aforementioned second helping of pasta at Al Forno.) Probably the tastiest thing about Local 121 is the decor. It was smashing. Neat windows and wood in the bar. Huge, white leather (vinyl?) retro chairs and big tables in the dining room. Just very cool looking overall.

- CAV is just rad inside. (Did I say "rad"?) Because it is. It looks the way I would like my place to look if I lived in an old loft. Also "rad" at CAV was the lobster bisque served in shot glasses. What fun. Not as rad is how they seem to insist on capitalizing all three letters of the restaurant's name.

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- An oldie but a goodie: 3 Steeple Street. This was one of our favorite restaurants back in college. Well, that is, once East Side Mario's went away. I've always loved this place for the atmosphere, the food, and the history (it's housed in the "second-oldest existing industrial building in the United States," they say). Anyway, we had glasses of red sangria here (nice), and my companions had salads while I represented for meat lovers everywhere and had the pate de foie gras. And yes, those are onions on top--"red onion marmalade," is how they described it, I believe. Not too bad. They did leave me with quite the breath, though. And I don't mean heavenly.

The Cape

Went to Cape Cod with two of my best girlfriends from college. We had a great time: lots of laughs, great weather, fun times, etc. Also ate some good food. Highlights:

- We had a nice spread of tapas for dinner on a Saturday night. A ton of food, actually. This place, Embargo, was fun and the food good. Drawbacks: they had a bunch of TVs (for me, ordinarily a plus), but after a while they changed the one TV that was showing Olympics coverage to the Red Sox. Also they forgot to take one of the stickers off one of the apples in our pitcher of sangria.

- One of my friends recently went to Wisconsin. I had asked her, if she wouldn't mind, to consider bringing me back a Cheese Head. She obliged, but with a much more awesome Cheese Head that I had imagined. I think the packaging says it all.

Ketchup = a vegetable?

My three-year-old niece thinks ketchup is, in and of itself, a food.

US: "What do you want for lunch?"

HER: "Ketchup!"

US: "Don't you want to dip your fries in your ketchup and eat them, instead of just eating the ketchup off of your fingers?"

HER: (see below)

Cornflake Girl

So I had to make these homemade granola/energy bars for work. It sounded a little gross to me (the recipe calls for cornflakes and something called "apple butter" which up till now I was unacquainted with), it looks even grosser, but it actually tastes OK. A little too sweet for my tastes, but it's "healthy" and I can see where kids would like it and parents would feel good serving it to them because it's homemade.

Here is a link to the recipe: http://www.tasteofhome.com/Recipes/Granola-Fruit-Bars

One more note: After I cut them, I had to kind of form them into a bar shape with my hands. That, too, was kind of gross. This photo is what they looked like up close, before I cut them out of the pan.

Social Networking with Flavor

After not visiting AllRecipes for at least a year, I went to the site recently to look something up and discovered something fun. It has become sort of a community, where you call tell others about your “food triumphs,” post photos, and so on. A Facebook for foodies … a MySpace for mangiare … etc. It looks really fun if I had the time for social networking. But for now, I love that I can save recipes in an area simply entitled “My Stuff.”

High Times

The local civic club of which I am a member sponsored an event Friday night for which I was required to bake a massive amount of dessert. I chose my go-to favorite: Brownie Bites. You take a box of brownie mix (I used four boxes, for a total of 80 Bites), follow the directions for "cake-like brownies," (usually means add one more egg), and pour the mix into mini-muffin tins.

So this time, I bought a different brand (store brands both times. They work great, as long as you don't overcook them.) But it was after a long day at work on Thursday, and I guess I was anxious to get it done. So I didn't read the box too carefully. I thought it was a little weird when it said to add three tablespoons of flour to the mix to make cake-like brownies. But hey, I figured, it all works out pretty good because I don't have enough eggs if I'm supposed to add three eggs to each box. It's a different brand, right, so maybe that's why?

My big genius move is to mix each box of mix up separately, then pour the mix into a big Ziploc bag till I have all four mixed up and ready to go. Then I cut a hole in the corner of the bag and use it like a pastry bag to fill up the muffins. It saves time on transferring the mix to the tiny tins and on cleanup, too -- works out great.

Once I'm done mixing the brownies and put the first batch in the oven (with the Ziploc bag securely in a bowl in the fridge, hole-side up, so it doesn't all leak out), I set about licking the bowl (and the extra that I didn't scrape out so I could eat it.) Mmm, tasty ... and thicker, more fudgey and delicious than usual.

Now, I like to read as I eat. The nearest thing to me is -- what else? -- the brownie mix box. And then I see it: "High-altitude directions (3,500-6,500 feet) ..."

Whoops. I think they ended up coming out none the worse for wear. They were definitely better than the ones I overcooked for this same event last year. These brownies actually looked really nice, with crackley tops. Fortunately the event on Friday was such a success that there were no brownies left over for me to try. But the mix in the bowl tasted awesome.

Attention baristas:

Attention Starbucks baristas:

It is NOT COOL to replace the regular cold-beverage lids with the wussy whipped-cream lids with the giant hole whenever you run out of regular lids.

Pay attention and order an ample supply of regular lids BEFORE you need them. Or have someone drive the 2.1 miles to the nearest other Starbucks and take a bunch of theirs.