JennyUptown

"I like big butts and I cannot lie...you otha brothas can't deny..." Singalong anyone? "I want 'em real thick and juicy So find that juicy double" Mixalot....er, Al_Dente's in trouble. Beggin' for a piece of that... pork butt?

I never would have guessed any of the Baywatch crew could cook.

"I like big butts and I cannot lie...you otha brothas can't deny..." Singalong anyone?

That sounds GOOD, Janet! And simple too (which is key for me). Thank you!

Bunch of comedians. I'm leaning toward trying out Al_Dente's recipe or similar tonight. I have some asparagus and will either have that as a side or make something more decadent like...corn pudding? It's so freakin' cold outside.

I would love a recipe for brown butter - is it like the one served at Po with the white bean ravioli? Other uses for fresh sage + pasta would also be welcome.

Prepare foods for other people? Good lord, what are you all thinking? Seriously, I have never cooked for more than two people at once thus far. And those two aren't picky - they were just happy to eat. But recently I've been taking a leap, trying hard and cooking for my boyfriend who is himself a great cook. Not everything has gone well, but it's getting much better with practice.

Share recipes, por favor. PM me if you prefer.

I have just under a pound of "pure" (their quotes, not mine) round cubes. Round cubes would sound like jumbo shrimp to me if I didn't realize round refers to the cut, not the shape. I'm not really dying for stir fry. Something rich, perhaps, to go with this awfully cold weather.

Stew? Kebabs? Stir fry? Help me. Direct me. Lend me your favorite beef recipe. Pretty please?

YUM! I just finished my leftover half (chicken, hot salsa, extra black beans, no lettuce EVER) from yesterday when I introduced my visiting friend to the wonder of Chipotle. She enjoyed carnitas with mild salsa, and is looking forward to checking out the new NYC locations.

I tried! Seriously, after putting out an open call (and getting absolutely zero responses), I PMed several members who seemed like great potential bloggers...only to be treated like I had the plague. Sorry for the DC-centricity. In my defense, little of my own blog had to do with DC specifically.

Writing this blog for the last week has been like a gift to me. In thinking back about food's role in my memories, I've found myself remembering so much - and I've found myself remembering so much - and not just about food. The more I write, the more I enjoy the process. I want to keep writing until there's nothing left. When I was growing up, my parents, grandmother and I were what I now consider to be "small town middle class." To some of my classmates, I was rich. My parents both had good jobs, we ate well and occasionally went to restaurants. Life was good. But somewhere along the line, life got even better and we became what I think of us middle class for the rest of the world. Whereas I can remember eating in small, inexpensive locally-owned restaurants or even (eek) Red Lobster for our big night out on the town, in my teenage years, we tended to do it up a bit more, frequenting more upscale eateries. All the while though, I was the same finicky eater that I still am to some extent today. There are dozens of family anecdotes about my weird food fixations, among them: * As a kid, I would only eat cheese if it were completely melted. If Nana made me one of my favorite grilled cheese sandwiches and I could see a corner of the American cheese slice (white only, please – as a kid anyway) intact and unmelted. I wouldn’t eat it. I didn't eat cheeseburgers, just hamburgers. Macaroni and cheese (homemade only) was probably the only other cheese I ate until I was in my preteen years. It's a miracle my parents didn't disown me because eating in other peoples' homes was just about out of the question with me around. * Forget seafood, I wouldn’t eat most vegetables, or even yogurt. My parents were always accused of spoiling me and they didn’t really help matters when they used to try to pay me to try new foods. I can still remember Mom saying “Come on, Jen. One little piece of broccoli…$5…come on!” It didn’t work for broccoli, but I did try yogurt for about $7. * Although I have always loved kielbasa, Polish sausage, the skin made me squeamish growing up. So did taking the skin off myself. I’ve managed to get my parents to peel it for me. The squeamishness about peeling kielbasa has since worn off, but out of laziness, I still find a way to get other people to do it for me. I’m sure that if I were ever in a position to eat kielbasa outside of Mom and Dad’s house or other relatives’ homes, I’d peel away, but given the circumstances, I have no reason to. Even now that we’re all grown adults, my cousins still make fun of me. They were shocked when I finally admitted that it’s laziness alone that keeps me from making my own damn plate. I’m shameless.

Thanks, Pan! I was trying to type carefully and I think I caught the most egregious errors. When tired (or, drunk ) I tend to mess up one word for another like "timing" instead of "typing." I cannot believe I talked about watching the L Word. What a tangent!! "Mistakements" was funny to re-read. I meant misstatements, of course, but mistakements kind of sounds like a word that should exist in my world. Regarding my slacking over the course of the weekend, I have several reasons/excuses. #1 has been the presence of PLM. He has been around Thursday through last night and I feel like it's rude to do blogging in the company of others (coworkers and bosses excluded!). Reason #2 has been that I'm having too much fun with my visiting friend, Jen, at the moment. I have snuck away for 15-20 minutes to do some writing. Jen's in the living room reading magazines and chilling out on the couch. She said she's excited to catch up on the blog so I'm hoping to post something good. And here it is, Monday...last day of my blog (unless none of you are willing to bail me out - come on, I need someone to take over).

This will be an ultra-short post as 1. I'm not sure many people are following the blog (tis day 6 of the blog - I wouldn't blame you if you were bored with me) and 2. I am TORE UP from the amount of wine I have had to drink tonight. PLM cooked dinner for visiting friend (also Jen) and me. When asked for a recommended menu, I said "let's revisit the pork tenderloin." It was as delish as it was last time and this time we had it with wild rice and asparagus...and wine, lots of wine. PLM came over right from a long day of work (yes, it's Sunday and a holiday weekend, but whatever - it's what he does). I was excited to have PLM finally meet Jen and it was just gravy that he was here to cook for us. As always the meal was fantastic and the conversation was great. When dinner was over, we watched the new show, The L Word, about lesbian relationships. Did anyone watch it? Seriously, it was PLM's reward for waiting on us hand and food. By the end of the night, another friend, Roseanne, had joined us and between the three of us, we put away three bottles of wine (PLM had Beck's). I should not be typing right now and I apologize for any misspellings or misstakements. Back to the usual tomorrow.

Excellent evening at the home of JennyUptown. It was cold outside, but cozy in my apartment. As I was preparing to make risotto with the last of the prosciutto, PLM called to say he was leaving work and coming over. Changed that 8 oz of rice to 14 in a hurry because that man can eat! He arrived as I was sauteeing shallots and minced garlic in olive oil. The chicken stock was warming and I felt warm too. Risotto is one thing I feel confident cooking. I love the imprecision of it. Toasting the rice...stirring in a spash of white wine...some stock...stir...more stock...stir...taste...this should do it. PLM kept whining "I'm HUUUNNNNNGGGRY!" from the living room and said "where are the hors d'ourves?" I appeared with a box of Wheat Thins and went back to my stirring. When the rice had absorbed enough stock, I stirred in butter, a little cream and parmesan, before laying a few thin slices of prosciutto on top. It doesn't take much to make me feel proud of myself. For wine, we had a 1993 Merlot from Lamoreaux Landing (Finger Lakes, NY) that was surprisingly good. A gift from my wine-loving Aunt & Uncle some time ago. No dessert tonight. I wasn't expecting company, and we were too full anyway. My best friend Jen from NYC has arrived in town and I'm excited to see her. She's probably tied up until after brunch tomorrow, so I'm plotting what we'll do from there. A noted DC restaurant Palena introduced a bar menu with items hovering around $9 (a real bargain) so I'm planning to see if they are open on Sunday. That could make a nice dinner. On Monday, we may go to the Bulls/Wizards game at 12:30. Dinner will be Indian food with a group of friends. The long weekend is shaping up nicely.

Aren't y'all nosy? He knows me extremely well already - this blog ain't the half of it.

Wouldn't that spoil my fun? You know, that was the first thought that crossed my mind when he called me out re: the pizza. I figured he came across La Blog. But no, he does not.

Thanks for sharing JPW. That alone is blog-worthy. I think you should blog next. On a separate topic... I thought I was in the clear. It's almost 4 pm and not a word was said regarding the filched pizza. But then... <<sound of phone ringing>> JennyUptown looks at caller id and sees PLM's office number. Casual chatter about workload issues, the weekend, etc. Mid-casual chatter, PLM says "HEY, nice of you to steal the pizza!" If PLM could see through the phone line, JennyUptown would look like Yeah, so I got caught. I had both seen PLM and spoken to him via phone since this morning so I really thought my offense had gone undetected. Most mornings, I leave for work while PLM is still sleeping and then when it's his turn to get ready and go, he's usually in such a rush to get out the door that...well, I didn't think he'd notice. Nabbed! I told him that the pizza was too salty anyway, but he still gave me grief.

Is it just me or is this somewhat scandalous?

Don't think I didn't consider it. I am, after all, the evil one who stole pizza! There were other choices..."spirited horses" was one but I was never the girl who pined for a pony. I wish this calendar had been available. My 2003 calendar was devoted to Spain (I liked it enough that I bought it at only 50% off). I've never been and would love to go. I have no good reason for not having gone. Oh, the Olsen twins calendar was available, and full of shots of those luscious almost-legal young ladies looking dewy-eyed. PLM would never leave the kitchen if I bought that (and he wouldn't be cooking).

Amusing story that has nothing to do with food. If you only want to read food-related stuff, skip this post! I am notorious for saying "I'm on a budget" but excluding my social life from that proclamation of future thriftiness. This comes from my mother, herself a social butterfly (these days, she and my Dad go out more than I do!). When I was a college student, she would always admonish me to watch my spending and stop wasting my money on CDs/dumb novels/etc. But when it came to good times with friends, her motto would shift to "where there's a will, there's a way. I'll send you money. Don't stay home." But there are some areas of life where I'm really good at saving money. One example? Wall calendars. Why buy one in December when you can buy one for 25% of the original cost in January. Today, I went to Barnes and Noble (had a gift card) and pored over the remnants of what had once been a dynamic selection of 12-month wall art. I expected to have a limited set of options - wildlife, kittens-in-teacups, photos of Amish people, sports teams I don't like, etc. And, in fact, my choices were decidedly limited as it's January 16 (I should have gone last week!): Harry Potter, SI's Swimsuit calendar, the Make-Your-Own-Jewish-Calendar calendar, Nelly (the hip-hop dude, not the mean girl from Little House on the Prairie), Anne Geddes' babies (sure to freak out PLM) and... Quilts. Forced to choose from a real mish-mash of mostly-junk, I got a not-terrible calendar featuring Delaware's Shoreline. Incidentally I vacation there every year. This is probably not at all funny or interesting to you, but the other girl looking over the selection and I had a laugh, and I felt vindicated when I plopped down my $3.63 for Delaware's Shoreline.

Thanks, and I'm loving putting it out there but... if I don't get a volunteer for next week's blog, you could be stuck reading my blogging efforts forever and ever and ever and... I am happy to ramble on, and am enjoying this process immensely, however I promise: you will get sick of me.

I kind of feel like death right now actually. The leftover pizza...either from guilt or a salt overdose...

I had to get a tetanus shot in October for a cooking related injury.