Not Where You Need Them

As I sit here, drinking my morning chai, before heading out, a few thoughts came to mind.

I distinctly remember having more than three mugs in this apartment. I wonder what happened to all of them?

We have a ton of traveler mugs that keep your stuff warm for hours, but these don’t really do me any good since my car’s cupholders are horrendously small.

Why is it that whenever I need a mug, I can always find them in the dishwasher, waiting to be washed? I guess there’s something to be said for consistency.

I like chai, a lot, but I drink it without any sweetener. What happens if I blended it with a normal heavy-duty plain black tea? Perhaps I’ll try that tomorrow.

That is all.

Oh grill, how we miss you.

I know I haven’t posted much but I will try to update a lot more often. This is what we did the last time we grilled. It was an easy delicious meal. I didn’t get to take a picture of the steak because we ate it too fast.

Easy Grilled Zucchini and Red Onion

Mashed Grilled Fingerling Potatoes

copycat

Three weeks ago we went with Chris and Amy to Toast a coffeehouse located in downtown Port Jefferson Village serves breakfast and lunch and opens up for dessert, tapas, cheese plates and wine. I had just made blueberry bars so we decided to get a cheese plate. It had sopresata, smoke mozarella, and champagne grapes. It was surprisiley good. Last Saturday we were buying cheese at the grocery store and we found champagne grapes and sopresata. I decided to make my own little plate. It was good and did not cost me an arm and a leg. I couln’d find smoked mozarella and I had been wanting hummus.

Bread is life??

One of the things I like to do is scouting garage sales. I buy cheap toys and we occasionally find a good deal. Three weeks ago we found a bread maker. I had just told Joseph that I wanted to buy one and I was surprised to find one so cheap. Yes it does work. It works so well that we don’t buy bread anymore. It is so great. The best part is that it was five dollars. We also found vintage board games and other things here and there. So I decided to make a loaf of white bread at 10pm and waited for delicious bread till 12. One of the drawbacks is that it takes so long. Of course, I am willing to wait because it is so yummy. The best thing about it, is that I get to choose the size of loaf 1lb 1 1/2 lb or 2lb. I was making the 1lb but that was over my Wed. So I have opted for the 1 1/2lb.

Another advantage is that Joseph actually eats breakfast. Ok, so it is just a light breakfast. He cuts up the toast (Texas style) and adds Citron honey from Trader Joe’s. The other day he grilled toast. I am telling you Bobby Flay convinced us that we can grill anything. (I will post all of the things he has grilled later) The toast was so yum and crispy. So I called my mom the next day  and asked her how to make French toast. Of course she never made it for me. I actually never had French toast before. I never cared for it. I guess it was because it was something that she made for these two boys she would take care of. Their mom taught my mom how to make French toast and she loved to make it. However, it was only for them. She never offered to make it for me and I didn’t care. I never even saw her eat it. I wasn’t jealous or anhything it was just somehting that she made for someone else. So I called her up and I asked her to make French toast. There was a pause… She was quiet. I think she missed those two boys (she watched them for four years). So she was like you just whisk the eggs and dip the bread in it. That was it, that is all there is to this silly breakfast. I thought there was more to it. Of course some people do go all out. I decided to add some cinammom as per Joseph’s recommendation. Then I added the syrup. That was it, so simple. Later when I called my mom she asked me how the French toast came out. I was like oh, it was good, so casual.

basking in the weather

Yea, Yea I know it has been a really long time since I sat my but down and wrote a blog. I have been trying to soak up every least bit of summer left. We haven’t gone anywhere but we have been playing tennis, volleyball, going to the beach and having bbqs. One of the things I love about bbqs is that we get to eat outside. I get to justify to Joseph that we have to eat outside. It brings me back so many memories. When I was little my dad made a table and placed it right outside the kitchen. It was perfect for our elaborate meals. My mom always made two to three sides. It is a smart way to make the main dish go a long way. Of course, when my dad passed we stopped eating outside, bbqing at home and the sides minimized to one. Why my mom was even on a tortilla strike. For whatever reason she stopped making homemade tortillas. She would  make stacks and stacks of them and give them away. This sucked but she was so busy all the time. I graduated high school and started college so it wasn’t like I had much time to enjoy a meal. My mom wasn’t cooking a lot. We weren’t eating out or anything but the meals were just different. The weekly pot of caldo wasn’t made, the chiles rellenos were made only upon request, and we didn’t bbq. This made me miss my dad a lot. I was too busy to notice so nothing was said. I noticed a lot of things when I got married an moved a million miles away. I noticed I missed all the yummy food and of course my mom made sure I learned how to make it myself (Joseph still thinks I need work on the rice). I also noticed that loved to eat outside but it was hard to justify to Joseph why we were eating outside. My only good excuse so far is that the kitchen is too hot and I rarely agree to eat in the living room ( I grew up not eating in front of the t.v.). So it works, but if it is raining we are forced to eat inside. So now that Summer is over or approaching the end I will soak up what is left and enjoy it. Of course all of this rain makes it a little hard.

Fun With Herbs

LorY started an herb garden not long ago. Unfortunately, since we live in a second-story apartment, garden space is hard to come by. Also, it’s not just an herb garden. It is also home to Easter lillies, a rubber plant, and a few other plants that she’s picked up over the last two years.

When we were putting everything into their proper pots, she asked me if it would be worth labelling them. I told her that since most herbs are distinct, we should be able to tell them apart once they had grown.

Sometimes I wish she wouldn’t listen.

The other day she told me that there was an herb growing that she couldn’t identify but was probably sage. I told her I would look into it.

Today, as I stepped onto the balcony, as I am prone to do in the mornings, I looked down to see a plant that looked rather like sage. I rubbed the leaf between my fingers and got no hint of odor. Finding this odd, I licked my fingers and got no flavor. Finally, I plucked a leaf and began to chew on it. Still nothing.

When we arrived back from work, we stepped onto the balcony and I told her how I had sniffed the plant and gotten nothing and how it really didn’t give off any flavor to judge.

Stifling a laugh, she turned to me and said, “Babe, that’s a petunia.”

Sometimes, I’m not all that bright.