Running a blitz

So I've discovered that probably the least painful way to "watch" the NY Giants lately (when I remember) is to put it on TV on mute, and listen to WNYE-FM (currently playing The Brazilian Music Hour, after an hour of Putamayo World Music, and shortly to be starting Mo'Glo) or WNYC (vicarious food thrills on Sunday nights with The Splendid Table, where Thomas Keller was the guest tonight). Of course, if they're on during the afternoons, I have to find other audio wallpaper to cover the car wreckage.

But no, I didn't spend all evening on the couch covering my eyes. Actually, I finally cleaned out my fridge tonight, since there were items in there that were older than my niece's children. (You think I kid, but some of the expiration dates were truly eyebrow-raising. Trust me.) There are now visible areas on the shelves. Shocking.

I also made some turkey spinach lasagna for tomorrow night, when I will feed my friend Sam "a home cooked meal" (vs. his usual quick meal a la Trader Joe), complete with some previously frozen dough I made from King Arthur Flour's chewy chocolate cookie recipe. (Bonus: I managed not to have a serving of the lasagna, despite the yummy smell, since I had already had dinner!)

As I may have mentioned before, I once asked Sam's sister Sarah what foods he may prefer. She responded wryly that as a bachelor he will like anything I make for him. Heh. Nonetheless, I did check with him that the turkey spinach combo was acceptable. The lasagna also was the impetus for the fridge cleaning, since I needed room to store it overnight!

Between the frosty (9 degree windchill) and/or wet weather lately (rained 3 out of the last 7 days), and going out for some veal lasagna with Sam last week (yes, I am an unreformed carnivore AND politically incorrect) at Lasagna Ristorante (tip to my NYC pals: don't order anything else except what the place is named after and you'll be much happier) I had the overwhelming urge to make lasagna tonight.

Our comfort food cravings were also satisfied when I treated us to dinner last night at Skinner's Loft in JC where my sweetie had strozzapreti with pork ragu, and I had apple cider-brown ale braised pork shank. Oooooh... SO. GOOD. And both were gigantic enough to feed both of us again today.

The evening was also enhanced by the grown up atmosphere at the restaurant -- subdued jazz music in the background, with a fireplace insert, exposed brick, and good service -- which invariably also has delicious food. You can see why it's one of our favorites in his neighborhood.

And during those periods when I'm not crying like a NFL player on the team that loses the Super Bowl, I can occasionally have some sane moments. Thank g*d. So tonight my engineer and I had another Talk (we had one last weekend too) and that also helped both of us defuse some stress.  Hooray!

So I can now retroactively rationalize, er, I mean -- justify my purchase recently of Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Vol. 1 which was on sale at Amazon for US$20 last week.  At 50% off,  I couldn't resist ordering it. (By the way, it is now $19.00 or 53% off! Holy...!)

And the other book is a cookbook from the pottery studio formerly known as the NYC YWCA Craft Students league, which has since morphed into the Brickhouse Ceramic Art Center where we've just wrapped up the last week of classes for the semester. I think the studio director was cleaning house before this weekend's holiday show and sale, so there was a sign on the counter last week: "FREE!! Take one!" Offering me a free cookbook... how could I resist?

Okay, long past time for bed!