Steak & Blue

Adam and I stopped by Dave's Pasta last night for sandwiches and we tried the Steak & Blue which was very delicious. It's a bit pricey at $8.95 since it's a takeout place, but the flank steak is perfectly cooked and the sandwich is well balanced with the carmelized onions, blue cheese and greens. Be sure to get it pressed!

Tropicana Outcry

Adam has been pretty upset and outraged recently about Tropicana's new package design. Not only does he mention it everytime he buys orange juice at the supermarket, he voices his disappointment everytime he sees the Tropicana packaging or advertising. This has been happening a lot lately. Even though the new packaging doesn't bother me as much as it bothers Adam, I absolutely agree with his opinion. The new packaging is terrible, terrible enough to annoy my husband constantly, but not terrible enough for us to stop drinking orange juice. The good news is, lots of other people are upset about the new packaging and the uproar is so big that Tropicana is reverting back to their old packaging. I had to send Adam this article, "Tropicana discovers some buyers are passionate about packaging," from the nytimes. The following are Adam's reactions to the article:

Article: resembling "a generic bargain brand" or a "store brand."
Adam: Agree!

Article: Others described the redesign as making it more difficult to distinguish among the varieties of Tropicana
Adam: Absolutely!

Article: The symbol, meant to evoke fresh taste, had been supplanted on the new packages by a glass of orange juice.
Adam: Shows i didn't look closely. I had no idea that was glass of juice.

The New Kindle

I went to Amazon this morning to order a book for plasticmom when I noticed the announcement for the new Kindle on the front page. It looks really cool and it's shipping end of this month. MGDub has one of the first generation Kindles and she really loves it. This one is thinner, has more memory, a longer battery life and you can switch it to audio so it reads to you in an electronic book. How cool is that. I've always wanted one of these devices, but I have a hard time overcoming the psychological barrier of buying books. I haven't bought a book in a while because Adam gets them for me from the library. However, the new Kindle does look mighty tempting.

Potty Training

Our friends are potty training their adorable 2 year old these days and her reward is...coffee ice cream. Holy Smokes! I shouldn't be surprised that the kid has refined tastes, her parents are foodies.

Brunch at Upstairs on the Square

Wheezy and I checked out the brunch at Upstairs on the Square last Sunday and it was phenomenal. I was watching a Food Network show called, "Best thing I ever ate..." and Upstairs Eggs Benedict made the show so I invited Wheezy to come with since I do love Eggs Benedict. We sat down at 11:45am [very fortunate as you'll see later] and perused the menu. I noticed our "neighbors" had this awesome bread basket. I wasn't sure if we had to "order" bread, but I didn't see "bread" on the menu so I figured and hoped that the bread basket was complimentary. It was indeed and the bread was AWESOME! We both agreed that we'd be happy eating just bread. We each got a mini cheddar dill scone, a muffin, sweet bread with dried fruit, coffeecake with nuts and a sticky bun. The food was really good too and my Eggs Benedict were cooked perfectly with just the right amount of hollandaise. As we were leaving the restaurant, we spied a group of young men in blazers and bow ties, a Harvard acapella group there to entertain the brunchgoers at 1pm. Remember, Wheezy "hates" acapella and the idea of acapella makes her want to "murder other people" or "murder herself." I forget which one it was, homicidal or suicidal. Fortunately, we were done eating and on our way out before they started singing so Wheezy's lovely brunch experience was saved.

Hungry Zakun

Adam's much anticipated [by me] blog is finally up and running. Naming his blog was his first major decision. I like the colors, coordinates well with some of his new sweaters. Check it out sometime.

Awesomest Pens Ever

I've been obsessed with these Hi-Tec C pens from Japan ever since our 2007 Asian Vacation. They write really smoothly and they never skip so they're super reliable and they come of all these wonderful colors that make work a little more fun or at least more colorful. plasticmom was kind enough to buy me a full set this winter when she was in Tokyo so I have a cup of these pens on my desk at work that I count sometimes to make sure none have slipped away. You can get them here statewide at jetpens.com where they have an amazing selection in a number of pen nib sizes. Check it out!

Great Minds Think Alike...Jelly Doughnut Bread Pudding

Frugality is in! This place in NYC makes Jelly Doughnut Bread Pudding with their Jelly Doughnut leftovers. Sounds even more delicious than waffle bread pudding, but I don't usually have a bunch of old Jelly Doughnuts hanging out in my kitchen. MGDub, I have an assignment for you...

Waffle Pudding

We splurged and bought ourselves a new Belgian Waffle Maker with a cool flipping feature a few weeks ago. Since then, we've made waffles three times and it's become our recent Saturday morning routine. Yesterday, we enjoyed our waffles with fruit for breakfast, but because there's only two of us, we always have leftover waffles so I repurposed this weekend's extra waffles to make a chocolate banana bread pudding. The results were delicious and I was expecially proud of myself for creating a decadent new dessert using leftovers. I added the banana on a whim and it made the pudding extra moist.

Chocolate Banana Waffle Pudding

4-5 Belgian Waffles or 8 slices of bread, etc. torn up into inch sized pieces
2 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 mashed banana
2 cups milk
1 tablespoon butter
3 oz chocolate chips + a handful extra for the pudding
Dash of cinnamon (optional)

1. Heat oven to 350
2. Put waffles in a 9 inch square pan or a deep pie dish, scatter a handful of chocolate chips for extra chocolatey goodness
3. Gently heat milk, butter and 3 oz chocolate in a small pan over medium heat. Stir together until mixture is melted and incorporated. Approx 5 minutes
4. Whisk eggs, sugar, vanilla and baking soda together in a bowl
5. Mix heated milk mixture into egg mixture and whisk until smooth. Mix in mashed banana
6. Pour liquid over waffles
7. Place pan in a larger rimmed sheet pan/cookie sheet
8. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until pudding is puffed and firm
9. Remove and let rest for 10 minutes
10. Dish up warm and enjoy

Check out my new poll...look to your right...VOTE!

I found out about this free polling tool from Vizu today so I decided to check it out. It's free and you put a poll on your page or blog, etc. It's super easy and took me just a few minutes to create an account, create a poll and post it on my blog. Once you vote, you can see the results in real time. Right now, I have three votes from Boston and Oatmeal Cookies are winning out 2 to 1. I voted, I asked my coworker to vote and then there's the mystery third vote which I'm guessing may be Adam.

Happy New Year!

I can't believe it's 2009, but another year has come and gone. Adam and I have been enjoying hanging around at home over the holidays. My in-laws were in town for Christmas which was very nice since they're some of our most low maintenance houseguests. plasticmom is very low maintenance so it's a draw with the parentals. Adam and I ran out and got a tree from down the street the night before the big snow storm. We got a 3 footer Charlie Brown style tree and it was very cute and festive once we decorated it. Adam got a bunch of clothes from me and I recieved many wonderful gifts like a necklace, but mostly I made out like a bandit with a bonanza of home goods/cake related products:

Cupcake Courier
Mini-Cupcake Stand
Giant Cupcake Pan
Cake Stands
Cookbook
Tin of TastyKakes
Domino Book for Decorating

#9 & #10 Shamelessly plugging food gifts on behalf of friends

Well, Christmas is upon us and I'm determined to make it to 10 gifts this year. I had greater aspirations, but I guess I'll have to give it a better try next year. To round off our list this year, I'm shamelessly plugging two food gifts from friends.

The first is Charles Chocolates, Adam's friend Adam invests in this company and their chocolates are delicious. I especially like the chocolates inside an edible chocolate box collection, very "green" and yummy.

The second is Providence Granola Project started by two friends of ours from back in the day. I must confess, I've never had their granola, but it does look pretty delicious. I figure I know Keith and Geoff personally so I know who to talk to. They just started this venture last month so want to support them and plus it's for a good cause, providing opportunities for refugees to learn work skills.

Office Clutter

Our home office is a perpetual work in progress and right now it's pretty cluttered. I guess most homes have some sort of junk room or table or area and our office serves that purpose. I'd created a pile of things for Adam to sort through on one of his days off a few weeks ago and the following reconstructed conversation is about that very pile:

plasticann: [pointing to the pile] Adam...what's this?
Adam: A pile of stuff.
plasticann: Isn't this the pile you said you'd go through two weeks ago?
Adam: No it's not the same pile...
plasticann: [confused]
Adam: ...it's a bigger pile now.
plasticann: [cracking up] Good one!
Adam: I thought you'd roll your eyes and be exasperated?
plasticann: I could have, but that's pretty funny.

8. Fake Felty Food

I love food, I love cookies, I love fake food and I sure do love fake cookies. These felty pretend cookies are super cute and make me hungry.

Third Annual Zakun Brunch

We successfully pulled off our third annual brunch this weekend. On Friday, we had 45 yeses and 11 maybes so we were wondering how we would be able to pull off feeding that many people. In the end, we had 33 which was still a full house, but we managed to make way too much food and there were no melt downs...yeah us! Our friend Zave provided a much needed ride for our giant things of coffee and Wheezy was kind enough to come early and help out. Wheezy executed and created this awesome Festive Donut Kabob centerpiece that was the talk of the party. I take some credit for the initial idea, but the flawless execution was all Wheezy. The donuts are from Verna's down the street, we had the Cinnamon Raisin, Buttercrunch and Chocolate cut into smaller pieces. Wheezy skewered a variety of donuts and stuck them into a pomelo to create the donut arrangement. It's kind of like the edible fruit arrangement, but somehow we've managed to subvert that idea of by making it super unhealthy and arranging donuts onto a piece of fruit.

Menu

French Toast Bread Pudding

Sour Cream Coffeecake

Donut Kabobs

Fruit Salad

Cheesy Tator Tot Casserole

Bagels and Lox

Scrambled Eggs with Avocado and Tomatoes

Sausages

Coffee & Orange Juice

"Four Sock Monkeys Snuggling"

8. My current obsession and Zames' too...Sock Monkey

Over the summer I got obsessed with these awesome sock monkeys I saw at a few local craft fairs. I first saw them at the Davis Square ArtBeat this summer so I decided to get all the kids sock monkeys for X-mas this year. After I bought them Zess, Zames and Zhor in August, I really wanted one of my own so I bought myself a very cool purple striped sock monkey in September. Over Thanksgiving, I made the mistake of bringing my sock monkey with me to CA. One day, Zames discovered the sock monkey when he went into our room potentially ruining his surprise X-mas gift. The following is several reconstructed conversations that occurred over the course of three days:

Day 1:

Zames: [Sitting on our bed and shaking my sock monkey] What's this?

plasticann: It's my sock monkey, it's made out of socks.

Zames: [tugging at the ears] Why does it have ears?

plasticann: Because it's a monkey and monkeys have ears.

Day 2:

Scene: Early in the morning, plasticann is still in bed when she hears...

Zames: Sock monkey, sock monkey, sock monkey in there, sock monkey in there.

Day 3: plasticann hides sock monkey each morning to thwart Zames

Zames: Where's sock monkey?

plasticann: [no reply]

The kid is very persistent and has a good memory. I was hoping he'd forget, but each day he asked about the sock monkey just once. I sure hope he likes his X-mas gift this year because guess what...it's gonna be a sock monkey. Fortunately he doesn' read my blog.

7. plasticmom's favorite most perfect bowl

plasticmom LOVES her Emile Henry gratinee bowl. She bought her first one while visiting me in Seattle at the Sur la Table in Pike's Place two years ago. I remember she was all excited about this bowl she'd seen in the window and really wanted to get it, but it was "$3" and she didn't really "need" anymore bowls. After much debate and discussion, she returned the next day to claim her bowl. The bowl rang up at $13, turns out she missed the extra "1" in the price tag when she first peered through the window, must have been the glare. Nonetheless, she went for the bowl and has since purchased a second bowl.

She tells me the bowls are so perfectly functional, they're the only bowls she uses. She loves the little nubbin handles and she uses them for her soups, her noodles and even her coffee/tea. I have my doubts about the coffee/tea, but I appreciate her enthusiasm. I wanted in on these bowls so so I purchased some last week on my Sur la Table shopping spree. I got two yellow ones for home and a red one for work. Yesterday, we tried out the new bowls in the microwave and we were delighted to discover for ourselves how wonderful the little nubbin handles are, they don't get hot in the microwave and I can actually carry the hot bowl without potholders. Amazing! I think I might be in love with these bowls myself.

6. Felty

Corinna took me to one the coolest stores I've ever been to in Baltimore. It's called Blue House and it's a coffeeshop/home goods store. They had these wonderful felt products by Parkhaus Berlin that I feel in love with. I ended up buying myself some colorful felt coasters and Corinna was kind enough to remember my felt obsession and bought me some a small tote and bag as a maid of honor gift. That said, I recently discovered a local Boston company Etcetera Media that makes similarly luxuriously cozy felt products.

"All You Can Buy" at Sur La Table

Adam and I are out in the Bay Area for Thanksgiving and we've had many adventures already this week, but one big priority was spending some quality time at Sur La Table, an awesome kitchen/home goods store. I woke up yesterday and thought of fond childhood memories of "All You Can Buy" trips to Toys R Us on my birthday so I declared yesterday a Sur La Table shopping spree bonanza. Adam gave me some grief over the entire thing, but I enjoyed it nonetheless. I bought this giant 18 inch diameter cake pan so I can bake really giant cookies, I hope it fits in my oven when I get home. I also bought a square removable tart pan to class up my lemon bars. I also got a couple of plasticmom's favorite bowls and some other treats like a cool new zester. Yipee yeah!

5. Rosie & Johnny

Trumpette socks are adorable...need I say more? Great baby gift since the socks are frivolously wonderful and unnecessary. I secretly wish they made them in my size, but I doubt it'd be as cute.

4. Fancy Schmancy Gloves

Wheezy got me these fancy dishwashing gloveables with a wide oilcloth cuff. Fortunately we have a dishwasher, but they're protect my hands and enable me to use super hot water for the pots and pans. plasticmom took a liking to my spiffy gloves and promptly purchased a half dozen as gifts for friends.

3. Affordable Letterpress

I absolutely love letterpress stationary, but it's wicked expensive so I was elated last year when I found affordable letterpress stationary from Paper Monkey Press. They use really cool old school wooden letter blocks to print and you can choose the ink color. They don't provide a lot of options, but the results are awesome and you can't beat the price at $25 for 25 cards and envelopes. I ordered an entire suite of stationary for myself and I was so pleased that I ordered it pretty much for everyone else last year.

One More Day

Little Zim is turning four tomorrow. He's very aware that it's his birthday and I hear he's been counting down to the big day. Today he held up one finger. The following is a reconstructed conversation from last week between Little Zim and his dad:

Zim: [looking at a big box from Fisher Price in the doorway] Dad, what's that box for?

Dad: I don't know, looks like it might be a present.

Zim: [pensively pausing] I think we should put it away and best not think about it.

I should remind you that Little Zim can read, but I figured he's probably not reading this blog so there's little risk of ruining is birthday surprise. So for the boy who loves words, we ironically got him a book filled with pictures which brings us back to our holiday gift list....

#2 In the Town, All Year Round

2008 plasticann holiday gift list...

Five years ago, I attempted to and succeeded at blogging about 100 gifts. It was a bit exhausting and I didn't have 100 good ideas the next year so I lost a bit of momentum. The blog has been pretty quiet these days and I've missed it so I'm attempting to bring back the gift list. This year, I can't commit to 100 gifts, but I'm aiming for at least 50 so I'm going to start the count at 1 and keep going until Dec 25.

1. Snuggly Hat

I spotted this hat at a local outdoor store, Chinook, and I became a little obsessed with it. plasticmom may or may not have realized, but she bought me this snuggly hat as a gift. I wore it tonight and it kept my head toasty and the earflaps are just wonderful. Thanks plasticmom!

Lemon Bar Grudge Resolved

Overall, Adam has been a wonderful husband/boyfriend for the last [eek] nine years so I really have nothing to complain about, but I must confess that I've been holding a lemon bar grudge against him for a good part of the last eight years where I vowed never to make him lemon bars. It all started back in 2001...the following is a reconstructed conversation on that fateful night:

plasticann: Adam, I made you some lemon bars as a treat, but I left them at the office. I'm so sorry.
Adam: That's OK? Were they from scratch?
plasticann: No, they were from a mix, but it's a really good Sunkist mix and it's my favorite.
Adam: I only like lemon bars from scratch, you should call Zara and get her recipe so you can make them from scratch.
plasticann: Harumph! I don't make lemon bars from scratch, the box is very good. I can't believe you'd refuse to eat my lemon bars because they're from a mix. I'm NEVER making you lemon bars even from a box.

Thus for many many years, I refused to make Adam lemon bars even from a mix because I deemed Adam to be a lemon bar snob. I also refused to make them from scratch...in retrospect a dumb sticking point since I do love lemon bars, but I am a little shall I say lazy. Well, the other day, I had lemons so I flipped through a cookbook looking for lemon recipes when I found a lemon bar recipe that looked easy so I decided to bury the hachet and give it a whirl. The lemon bars turned out great and they passed the Adam lemon bar test so we've now resolved our lemon bar conflict and can now move toward enjoying the buttery goodness of these treats whenever we have lemons. This is good news since we both love lemon bars.

Bury the Hachet Lemon Bars

Crust:
7 tablespoons butter (nearly 1 stick)
1 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar

Filling:
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
zest from 1 lemon
Juice from 1 lemon (2 Tbs)
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt

1. Preheat oven 350 degrees
2. Place butter in an 8 inch square pan, put pan in oven until butter melts
3. Sprinkle 1 cup flour and 1/4 cup powdered sugar over melted butter, mix to form dough in the pan, press dough evenly over bottom of pan, return pan to oven and bake 15 minutes
4. Beat eggs with sugar until blended, beat in 2 tablespoons flour, lemon zest, juice, baking powder and salt until well combined
5. When crust is baked (15 min) spread lemon mixture over hot crust, return to oven and bake until pale brown 20-25 minutes
6. Let cool completely and dust with powdered sugar (optional)