Lovely

http://kalman.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/26/back-to-the-land/

Let's grow plants and eat them and cook eggs on spoons in fires.

THE Cookie

... from, um, 2 weeks ago.  One of these days I'll stop feeling guilty about not updating and just live in the present.  But I have thoughts to share!

My last trip to Dallas absolutely flew by because I was so busy at work.  This has both positive and negative aspects to it.  One negative is having no free time to blog or watch endless episodes of The Office on Tuesday nights, but the positive is that it's over before I know it and I get to come back to planet earth New York.  It's funny, but every single time we land at LGA, I'm still amazed by the view.  It never gets old.  It's like, "Aaaahh, homecoming."  I like trying to figure out where we are and which bridges are which.

Anyway, not only was it a busy work week, but I was banished to the lowly Doubletree.  I used to stay at the Doubletree because it's where my project manager stays, and he's been on projects in Dallas for almost 3 years now, so I figured he knew a thing or 2 about the hotel situation.  I neglected to factor in that he's sort of strange and masochistic.

Exhibit A: Chicken.  The "chicken" that they serve in the cafeteria may or may not be derived from one or more of the following: chicken, dog, ferret, gerbil, donkey, sand.  I tried it twice, and then I said goodbye to chicken for the rest of my lunchtime career.  Tim agrees.  It is GROSS.  The worst chicken dish?  The Thai stir-fry with chicken.  So, what does Tim eat every Wednesday?  Thai stir-fry with chicken, of course!  I've asked why.  There's no good answer.

Exhibit B: Doubletree.  The Doubletree is nice enough.  They have free breakfast, delightful pillows, wifi, and a bar downstairs if you get desperate.  The rooms, however, are poorly lit, a little musty, and sometimes I find spiders.  (Fine, once I found a spider.  But it was a daddy long legs so I think it counts twice.)  Also, the workout room is itty bitty and one of the treadmills "skips" sometimes, making eventual injury seem all but guaranteed.  The Hilton, on the other hand is like a gift from heaven.  It's clean, new, has a cool view of the city, an Executive Lounge for Gold status members such as yours truly (I'm brushing that dirt off my shoulder), and free drinks!  And a real gym, like the size of the one I go to at home.  And Whole Foods is essentially around the corner!  Anyway, my point, after all this rambling, is that Tim has also stayed at the Hilton, agrees that it's superior, and continues to stay at the Doubletree for what I can only imagine are obscure and senseless reasons.

I caught on pretty quickly and have never looked back on the Doubletree, until... THE HILTON WAS BOOKED UP.  DUH NUH NUH!  So, I grudgingly checked into the Doubletree, pleasantly surprised to remember that there would be a silver lining after all...

The Doubletree Cookie.  They give you one of these hot, gooey, half-baked monsters at check-in.  I don't even want to discuss what percentage of this beautiful morsel is composed of butter, so let's just leave this one at "YUM."  When I stayed at the Doubletree regularly I used to have Cookie Monday every night when I checked in.  I would bring a light dinner to eat on the plane so as to leave room for dessert, then I would have my cookie and a cup of chamomile tea when I got to my room.  This sort of helped me feel less grumpy about starting the week away from home.  It was a nice tradition, but the Hilton's amenities more than make up for the baked good sacrifice.  Although, I gotta say... this is one helluva cookie.  Aaaaamen.

I also had some oatmeal troubles that week.  Yes, oatmeal troubles.  The OTHER silver lining to staying at the Doubletree is that they have oatmeal for breakfast downstairs.  For free!  And nice little fruit cups with watermelon and pineapple.  However, as I sat at work on Tuesday contemplating why I was still not hungry for lunch at 12:30 (I usually start grumbling around 11), I thought, "Did I really have that much oatmeal?"  And then the realization hit: that oatmeal was extra heavy that day... it was just a little too creamy... suspiciously creamy... it was made with MILK!  I asked the next morning, and it was confirmed.  Milk.  I'm ok with a little milk in things, but my tummy isn't crazy about dairy in general.  And I had no idea how much milk was in it, so I had no idea if it was even remotely healthy anymore.  And so, I was forced back to Starbucks and their extra instant oats.  It's masked well by the nuts and dried fruit, but the Doubletree oats are way better.  Because, of course, they're not actually healthy.  What about the cafeteria, you ask?  It's a good option, but means that I have to make 2 stops: one for coffee and then one downstairs at the cafeteria.  And so, the oat dilemma continues.

I added some Whole Foods granola to that.  Loooove buying bulk!  But this one was a little too sweet.  Natural Granola or something?  Gotta try something else this week.  And that's a Xmas Blend from Starbucks in the back... deeeeelish.  I'm not crazy about Starbucks's regular Pike Place roast, but the other ones are usually good.  And I really enjoy the holiday-spirited cups!  Yum yum!  Coming up next... car review, eating at home, and back to Texas I go.

Everybody Loves a Squash!

I spent the past 2 work weeks in Dallas, which meant little to no cooking, despite a $60 shopping trip at Trader Joe's?  (I bought a lot of nuts... and nut butters... and frozen shrimp!  OK, done justifying.)  But I did have a very foodie night last Sunday.  Katie, Joanna, Amanda, and I went to the 92nd Street Y to see the one and only Max Brenner speak about his and, coincidentally, my favorite topic: CHOCOLATE.  There were obviously samples, including a cocoa dusted, chocolate- and hazelnut-covered pecan and a perfect cup of hot chocolate (read: liquid chocolate).  It was actually really inspiring to hear the path he took to get where he is today, and it sort of jump-started that creative inner spark that I sometimes forget I have.  And it totally made me want to be a part of the food industry.  Still refining that plan...  "Max" (his real name is Oded, and he is Israeli and awesome) wrote a very cool, abstract cookbook, but in the interest of not spending money and not getting fat, I didn't buy it.  But it seemed like a solid piece of art.

Lest you think my friends and I were slacking off, we had a potluck dinner before the lecture.  I made a butternut squash/quinoa fiber mess, based on this recipe from one of my favorite cooking blogs.  I followed her recipe, but served it over quinoa and added some fresh baby spinach to the mix, mostly for visual pleasure.  It was a little orangey-beige for me otherwise.  And maybe a little heavy on the tahini dressing.  I think I didn't use as much squash as I could have.  Overall I really liked this, especially the quick dressing, and I would try it again, but probably without the quinoa.  Just not necessary.

Then I got a little silly.  What can I say?  I love organic fruits, like this one that I live with.

Hmm, I look a little like a monkey.

I would also like to thank two dedicated readers for giving me photos and recipes of their food creations!  I'm sorry I'm so delayed in putting them up here, but Ilene sent me the following recipe for a butternut squash lasagna (at least I think that's the one she ended up making!) and Kristen made all kinds of pumpkin fun.  That one is TOTALLY something I am making as soon as I have more than 2 ramekins in my kitchen.

First, the fruits of Ilene's labor:

And now Kristen's other pumpkin creation, a custard!  Kristen, where is the recipe from?  I think blog rules are that I can't post it unless I cite the source.  And, I mean, I'm sure my blog is being policed carefully due to the high traffic rates.  (HA.)  I can post a picture, though.

YUM!  And it's dairy free!

Time to get back to work, which is wonderfully relaxing this week, due to the fact that apparently the corporate culture of our client is to, um, take off the entire week before Thanksgiving, regardless of whether or not you have an incredibly huge deadline coming up in 2 weeks.  Hey, I'm not complaining.  Going to take advantage of it and work on my year-end review.  Happy Thanksgiving week!

An Early Giving of Thanks

Just in case I don't post again before Thursday, I wanted to throw out a little holiday spirit into the blogosphere.  Thanksgiving has pretty much always been my favorite holiday of the (secular) year, initially because of my absurd pre-pubescent eating abilities, but as I've gotten older it's because I really appreciate the message of it.  Even if it's just taking a moment every year to ignore my "problems" and think about everything I do have.  Namely, this year I can't help but think about the recent death of someone I know from high school in a sort of family friend capacity.  Without going into details, it was a completely tragic, freak accident, and my mom summed it up well when she said that when something like that happens, nothing else matters.  And when it comes down to it, I may be unhappy in my job, in my dating life, in my current winter boot situation, etc., but I have my family, my friends, and my health, and, really, nothing else matters.  Most of you know that I don't really do sappy well, but I am very thankful to have you all in my life.

Ok, now that that's out there, back to food.

I think I'm going to have to do another lightning round of highlights from the last few weeks, starting with Colleen's wedding!  Yes, one of my peers got married.  I'm still not totally ok with this idea, but it was really fun to go to a friend's wedding.  I didn't take pictures of the food (Katie and I were trying really hard to make friends), but I did snag a picture of the cake!  It's beautiful and kind of matched her dress.

The bride... and my date!

Katie and I actually had a pretty wild night at the hotel bar dance club with Colleen's friends and family after the wedding, so we were BEAT the next day.  But not nearly as hungover as expected!  We had a lovely buffet brunch at the hotel, where I snagged a box of Wheaties and a Special K (in addition to the omelette, waffle, and fruit that I devoured...) and then hit the road, in our awesome rented Toyota Matrix.  This car does not even deserve a spot in my weekly car review.  Thanks for nothin', Hertz.

I had to go to Dallas that coming week (see previous post... sorry, so out of order!), so I went to yoga Sunday night and then prepared myself for travel.  The week was kind of a blur, and then of course my flight home on Thursday was delayed, so I think I was still recovering from exhaustion that next Friday.  I thought it called for a little girls' night action.  Something social but not requiring energy.  Friends to the rescue!  Alex and Amanda came over, and we made...

Supercharge Me cookies!  I found these on Eat, Live, Run and was SO excited to try them, despite vegan-anything totally not being my bag,  They were SO easy to make, and even though we were nervous that the batter resembled a mess of oatmeal and flour more than a cookie, the oven worked its magic and they came out totally cookie-like.  A little dangerously so.

Thank goodness I had Amanda there to model them for me!  Seriously, you're looking at the next Vanna White.  P.S. We had already eaten like half of them at this point.  I brought out a bottle from my wine of the month collection for the occasion.  It was a Grenache, but I can't remember much else other than that.  I gave it a 7 out of 10 for being totally enjoyable but lacking a certain je ne sais quoi.  You know, like, some pizazz. And, yes, I am taking diligent notes on the wines from my membership.  It's been really fun to have wine delivered to my door.  I will miss it once I drink my way through what's left.

I have more food fun to share, but it's coming in a separate post so as not to overwhelm your hungry eyes.  You're welcome.

First Comes Gold, Then Comes...

PLATINUM!  Just a quickie announcement that I have achieved Platinum status on American Airlines.  THIS. IS. HUGE.  Real post to come soon, complete with actual food, since I know that's why you read this.