What The Fluff?

Marshmallow Fluff, an batch processed produced marshmallow creme, was invented right in Union Square so this weekend there's a festival celebrating Fluff and all of it's goodness on Saturday, September 30th. There's a Fluff science contest, baking contest, Fluff inspired foods and performances by the Flufferettes.

Saturday, September 30
3:00 to 7:00 pm
(Raindate Sunday, October 1)
Union Square Plaza, Somerville

Morphing into MGDub

I often ask randomly ask, "how clean is your apartment?" to gauge how busy and stressful her life is. The relationship between the two is invers, the more MGDub has to do, the cleaner her apartment. In the past, my business and cleanliness tended to be positively correlated though I have to admit, cleanliness was never particularly high even when I wasn't particularly busy. However, I've started to morph into MGDub, which is never a bad thing. I procrastinated this morning my organizing my pantry and labeling everything with my p-touch label maker. Part of it was motivated by the fact that Adam asks me about five times a day, "Where is blah blah blah?"

My favorite blogger

ljc is also wearing the mary jane crocs...I feel validated.

New Gear for plasticann

I got plasticmom a pair of navy blue crocs in Seattle and I've been coveting a pair ever since. I have to admit, I was initially "anit-croc" because I thought they were supposed to be rain shoes and I didn't understand why they had holes on top. It also seemed like the entire population of Seattle was wearing them. What won me over was seeing legions of little kids looking so cute and happy in their brightly colored crocs. I was shopping online for a laptop backpack last week at REI.com when I saw they had the new Mary Jane style crocs so I had to order a pair for myself. They arrived yesterday just in time to show Wheezy who was coming to our High School Musical party. I'm loving my crocs thus far and quick search online reveals that they make an bright orange mary jane style...perfect for Wheezy.

Mark, the Deli Guy

Adam and I stopped by Shaw's last night to buy food for our High School Musical party. Because our menu is high school cafeteria themed (mac&cheese, jello, tator tots and hot dogs), we stopped by the deli counter for some Pearl Kountry hot dogs where we met Mark the deli guy. We spent a good 20 minutes bonding with Mark over hot dogs, the Phantom Gourmet, donuts, etc. The following is a very small reconstructed snipit of our conversation:

Mark: Yeah, Pearl's are the best. My dad's thinking about opening up a hot dog cart over at Tuft's on game day.
plasticann: Have you been to Speed's hot dogs in Newmarket Square? I saw it on the Phantom Gourmet.
Mark: Of course, those hot dogs are unbelievable. I don't know what that guys marinates those dogs in, but it's just incredible. You can wait two hours for a dog, but it's worth it. He's only there for three days out of the week. Everything on the Phantom Gourmet is good. Well, the other day, my dad and I went to that new place in Davis, Spike's, and we were not impressed so that recommendation wasn't good.
Adam: Really, we used to live in Providence where the original Spike's was and it was always good. I guess now that they have a dozen locations, it's probably harder to keep quality up. Have you ever been to that place in Waltham, Carl's Steak Subs.
Mark: Yeah, I love that place, it's right by my house. I drive a truck so I'm all over the state and I always plan my route so I can go to my favorite places. [pointing to his belly] I didn't get my girlish figure eating salads.
plasticann: Are you going...
Mark: Do you guys know about that food festival they have on Landsdowne Street?
plasticann: I was just saying, are you going to the Phantom Gourmet Food Festival?
Mark: Are you kidding, of course. My wife's already bought the tickets.
Adam: Last year, we had this dynamite stick.
Mark: Wholly Cannoli, that place is awesome. There area a lot of great places here too, you know RF O'Sullivans, they have the best burgers.
plasticann: We live down the street from there.
Mark: Do you need a roommate? Just Kidding.
Adam & plasticann: Ha ha ha!
Mark: Now I'm really hungry, I need to call home and ask my wife to make me dinner when I get home.
plasticann: I'm hungry too.
Adam: When do you work here? We'll stop by next time and say hi.

Maaahhk, the deli guy, basically lives my culinary fantasy life. I did briefly consider truck driving as a vocation, seemed so footloose and fancy free, full of hot dogs, subs and cannolis. Adam, while walking away, said wistfully, "I really want to go to Wholly Cannoli someday."

Bike Girl

I got a bike! Need I say more? It's a girl bike and it's that lovely shade of light green Martha Stewart loves so much. I also got a helmet (very important), a headlamp and a light for my helmet. It's been years (14 to be exact) since I last had a bike so I was very proud of myself for riding it home from the bike shop. I was very careful, stopping on the sidewalk to cross the street instead of making left turns. I took it out for a spin around Cambridge and was amazed by how far I could travel on a bike...modern marvels I tell ya. I went to Harvard Square and before I knew it I was in Central Square. I thought about riding over to MIT, but decided to ride over to Inman Square for some ice cream before going home. I would have made other pit stops, but couldn't figure out how to lock my bike so I had to skip the shopping and keep riding. I was happy to learn that traffic on Cambridge streets is pretty slow and sometimes there's even a bike lane. All I need now is to name my bike and find a bike basket.

The Breakfast Club


Adam and I ventured over the river to Allston for breakfast at a diner appropriately named, "Breakfast Club." (It's also around the corner from that leafy b-school across the river.) They don't serve sushi for lunch, but they do offer a slew of "library specials" inspired by the characters from the movie:

The Dork: two eggs any style with home fries and toast
The Princess: a Belgian waffle topped with fresh fruit and whipped cream
The Jock: scrambled egg-white omelet with veggies and wheat toast
Detention: two eggs any style with steak tips, served with home fries and toast.
The Criminal: two eggs, seasoned home fries and toast, with a choice of ham, bacon, sausage or corned beef hash

I was tempted by the Princess waffle, but I ordered the "Gucci" omelet instead, spinach, feta, Cheddar and bacon. Though the cheese to omelet ratio was too high for my taste, I did enjoy the combination. Homefries were pleasantly ungreasy. Adam enjoyed his pancakes and his sausage links came nicely browned. Prices were affordable and the coffee is bottomless.

The Breakfast Club
270 Western Ave (Cross Street: Everett Street)
Allston, MA 02134-1034
(617) 783-1212

What's Cuter than

cheerful Dave Lieberman earnestly teaching us how to cook on a budget? Dave trying to teach his somewhat clueless college aged kid brother how to cook a meal. We spotted his show last year and started TIVOing it. After googling Dave, I realized that I remember reading about him a few years ago. He strated a cable access cooking show while at Yale and apparently got a Food TV show upon graduation so he's actually super young, he just gradutaed 2003.

PS The food network somehow got the blurb incorrect.

plasticmom is famous, but she keeps a low profile

The following is a reconstructed conversation between plasticann and plasticmom about how plasticann got into college:

plasticmom: Did you read that article about Zrown in the Wall Street Journal?
plasticann: Yeah I did. It's about how Zrown and Zuke have raised their profile by taking kids with rich parents who might donate and kids with famous parents.
plasticmom: People always think you got into Zrown because you were smart, but I should tell them it's because I'm a big donor.
plasticann: That's Zuke, not Zrown. Zrown takes famous people's kids.
plasticmom: Right, I meant, you got into Zrown because I'm super famous.
plasticann: You are, you're the famous "plasticmom."

Cuban Sandwiches

After a day of unpacking (for Adam) and studying (for plasticann), we went over to Chez Henri for their Cuban Sandwiches from their bar menu. We usually get the pork cuban which is delicious, but we decided to also get the roasted vegetarian sandwich as well tonight. The roasted veggie sandwich is even more delicious and it comes with greens and housemade plantain chips to boot. The bar is small and it does get very crowded so we made it a point to get there right after it opened.