Rawr ...

This is my favorite photograph from last week. I have no idea what Chuck was singing. We were at an event that occurs weekly, which is unofficially called "Jody's Keg Party." Bonnie Tyler and all-you-can drink Grain Belt for $6. If last week is any indication, the youngsters have caught on to this place, but don't yet understand that $6 beer night doesn't grow on trees. One fancy-face opted for wine. Yeah, it probably looks classier than a keg glass. But what it really says to me is that she still gets an allowance.

This past week I picked up the book Living Raw Food: Get the Glow with More Recipes from Pure Food and Wine with the intent of starting something at our house called "Raw Food Monday." But I was too excited to wait a day, so I made two things ahead of schedule. And so far, so good.

In other news:

GETTING MOUTHY

Lentil Soup: I'm starting to see that if you've have one red lentil soup, you've had them all. And they are all good. They are not, however, attractive. And for some reason I can't remember where I got the recipe. But, like I said ...


What you can't see here, but what I assure you is here, is a square of bread like substance beneath a gravy-like substance.
Vegetable Pot Pie: My favorite part of this was when, after cooking up a sort of veggie gravy and pouring it into the dish, I rolled out some dough and thwapped it across the top of everything. Chuck's eyes went wide and he said "Oh. This is going to be good." The next time I looked at it, after it had baked awhile, the doughy crust was floating on the top and the gravy was bubbling around it. Sort of like a floating dock in the middle of a hot spring.

This was awesome.


Fresh Tuna Souvlaki: I sort of made this without the grilling part. We have a grill. One of us is afraid it will explode if we use it. The other one of us is afraid of it even if it doesn't explode. So I made the marinade, but baked it instead -- covered in foil for half, open for the other half. So good. We had it with couscous and roasted beats and greens with an awesome feta sprinkled over the whole meal.

I was never a feta snob until recently. A dude at the Co-op put feta in my hand, said "It's expensive, but I guarantee that is the best feta." He was right. Trust the hippie in the white coat, stocking the cheese.



Zucchini "Pasta" with tomato and basil sauce: Here is the first meal from the raw food cookbook. Why the "pasta" in quotes, you ask? Because the "pasta" is actually just shaved zucchini slivers. And the sauce is a mix of lots of tomatoes, garlic, shallot, and olive oil mixed in a blender, with basil added. Add thin strips of peppers to the zuccs, top with the sauce (and lots of salt and pepper) and stuff your face.

This is probably a better summer dinner, but it was pretty damn delish. I'll make this again.



Chocolate Chia Pudding: Another from the raw foods cook book. The chia seeds get this tapioca consistency. I wouldn't feed this to someone who didn't know what they were eating, and try to pass it as dessert. But I really liked it. It tasted like chocolate Malt o'Meal.

BOOKS
Homer & Langley: A Novel by EL Doctorow: How fortuitous. E.L. Doctorow’s novel Homer & Langley was released just as hoarding has become the OCD d’jour. In this novelette, Doctorow tweaks the legend of the Collyer brothers, two New York City, right-side-of-the-park eccentrics living together in a somewhat spousal situation.

Full review here. Spoiler alert: Totally loved this book.

Two Years, No Rain by Shawn Klomparens: The story starts with Andy Dunne, a weatherman on satellite radio, on the day that his wife is stripping him of all of their mutual worldly goods. She's been cheating on him with at least two of her clients. Andy is watching some young dudes load furniture into a moving truck and pouring beer into his face. Meanwhile, he's on year two of a debilitating crush on his married friend Hillary, who works in his building and has a hobby that includes curling up with a bottle of wine and talking to Andy on the phone late into the night when her husband isn't home. Sighing, asking Andy what he's wearing, hinting that she's interested in him.

I actually did not like a single character in this book, but not as violently as I usually don't like characters in books where I don't like any of the characters.

Full review will be here.

FALL TV
I would just like to say that my favorite new show is "Modern Family."

WRAPPING MY EARS AROUND
Pacha Massive: If You Want It: Sometimes, very rarely, music falls into my "I could run to it, and I could listen to it when I'm not running and still like it" category. This is a new release for this Bronx-based Electro Latin band. I really liked them a few years ago when they had a catchy song called "Don't Let Go." Unfortunately, that was many computers ago, and is lost to me until I download it again. I'm really diggin' this one.