$24 for 8 different meals!

I'm a huge fan of John and Sherry at Young House Love and Young House Life.

They live in Richmond, VA, and these past couple of weekends they've been going to local events.  This weekend was the Broad Appetit street fair where you could sample the specialties from some 60 local restaurants:  $3 per sample plate; I guess it's like an outdoor tapas restaurant!

For $24 they had a wonderful selection of food, including what I'm sure would have been my favorites, seared scallops and shrimp and quinoa.  Take a look!

http://life.younghouselove.com/2012/06/broad-appetit/

Breakfast...

My favorite breakfast (when I'm not in a restaurant that offers biscuits and gravy) is scrambled eggs with pepperjack cheese, on a wrap, with some hot sauce to dip into...

So today, even though it's 2 days before my WW meeting, I decided to have a real breakfast instead of, oh, more weight-friendly fruit or water with a grape or two floating in it...  So I ordered my eggs and pepperjack on a wrap, picked up the little plastic cup and its matching lid, and reached for the Tabasco sauce...

Which wasn't there.

After the initial panic, I asked the grill guy for some hot sauce.

"Oh, sorry, we don't have any today.  We went through a whole case these past 2 weeks."

"Oh, sorry, we don't have any today. We went through a whole case these past 2 weeks."????????????????

For real?  I'm supposed to just accept that?  Why would you think I care how much hot sauce OTHER people were lucky enough to consume with their breakfasts or lunches when THERE.ISN'T.ANY.HERE.FOR.MY.EGGS???!!!???

So today's ephiphany is:  yes, eggs and pepperjack on a wrap IS my favorite breakfast, as long as there is hot sauce to dip into.

No hot sauce?

Waffles and maple syrup...

My 8th Eggplant

So I spent two weekends peeling, slicing, flouring, egging, breading, frying, tasting, and freezing 8 eggplants we grew in our garden. I must say I've never had such great eggplant - so few seeds, so much flavor.

And I've discovered, too, that after it's fried, I can freeze it, then thaw it in the microwave, than bake it in the oven with gravy and mozzarella, and it will taste fresh and delicious, just like's it's fresh from the frying pan!

I was so worried that it might get too watery or the breading wouldn't taste right...

Of course, I don't want it frozen for a long time so we'll be eating eggplant, oh, probably at least once a week or so until it's gone. It's a lot of work to risk freezing ruining it all.

I'm donating a batch to my sister when she's sans kitchen, during the cabinet remodel... She can use the microwave and the oven so she'll have a nice fresh dinner for herself and hers...

Cabbage Soup

So several years ago I ran across the Cabbage Soup Diet. It was created for overweight heart patients so that they could lose a quick number of pounds before surgery. It's NOT intended to be a diet anyone follows for a length of time; it could most definitely lead to malnutrition if overdone.

That said, I followed it to the letter the first time I did it and lost 11 pounds in one week. 11 pounds! Oh, did I feel awesome! It's basically water weight you lose, and it comes back on when you revert to your old eating habits. But it proved to me that I could afford to lose the weight so later on, when I was ready, I joined Weight Watchers.

Now over the years, though, I've tried the Cabbage Soup Diet again, feeling at times like I needed a quick diet fix. I couldn't do it. The basic premise is that for one week you are only allowed to eat the soup and a few other items: for instance, the first day is fruit and soup, no bananas. The second day is vegetables and soup, no potatoes. The third day is a number of bananas and soup, no other fruit, and so on. (I'm not sure I got everything in the right order; if you want a copy of the diet, contact me in the comments and I can send it to you.) What I discovered the second time around is I like texture in my food. I would have gnawed off my own arm to eat something crunchy, like crackers or potato chips, instead of spending a week not having to chew anything!

Anyway, Jack likes the soup. He's a soup person, and surprisingly, a bucketload of cabbage soup doesn't do anything gastric to him other than, and I quote, "give him energy." Pardon me, but WTF??? Energy? Without eating any food??? Not this girl!!!

But every once in a while he begs me to make the soup, and I do. And I did. On Sunday.

And surprisingly, this time around, the soup tastes good to me. I think I must have overdone the black pepper last time, like put it in and forgotten I had and doubled it, because all I remember from the last batch is I hated it!

Sunday's pot is quite tasty, if I do say so myself. So we'll be doing cabbage soup until it's gone, not to the diet extreme, but along with regular food. And I'm looking forward to lunch.

And it's only 8:13am.

One photo I owe you...

Blackberry Mint Tea, poured over ice.

I have nothing else to say but, "MMM, GOOD!"

We ate in Alexandria at the Jamieson Grill in the Westin on Courthouse Square.

I did everything but lick the plate.

I had the Salt and Pepper Calamari for an appetizer. Now keep in mind that (1) I don't eat the tentacles, and (2) I only eat it fried with spicy sauce for dipping. They delivered a platter that looked a bit light in color, and I was worried it wouldn't be cooked all the way through (to me there's nothing worse than under - or over - cooked calamari). My God, I wished I hadn't offered to share with my boss and my client! It was SO delicious, tender, served with smoked salt (for dipping) and green peppercorn aioli. I chowed down and ate it all. Except, I admit, the one tentacle they included on the platter...

Then for lunch I had the Jamieson Crab Cake Sandwich: a "crispy crab cake , old bay aioli, buttery brioche roll." It was too small. Not in real life, just for my appetite once I tasted it! It was the perfect size for lunch if you wanted to be full but not feel guilty for overeating. But it was so delicious that I wanted it to be twice the size!

And the star of the show, as pictured above, Blackberry Mint Tea, sold under the heading "Healthful Tonics and Teas." It was served hot, steeping over a pitcher of ice, with a glass of ice and a shot of simple syrup to sweeten it, if you so desired. I didn't personally find it necessary to sweeten the tea (I had it both ways, with and without the syrup), but then again, I'm an "unsweetened iced tea" sort of gal. I SO regretted not bringing my camera; I really wanted a picture of the way they served it, on a bamboo tray... Thank goodness Andi, my client, apparently never leaves home without her camera so she shot it and forwarded it to me this weekend! (And check out the teabag! Instead of a boring 'ole tag, it's a silk bag with a fabric tea leaf on the end!)

It takes so little to make me happy: food, drink, good company...

More later this week!

Smitten Kitchen - recommended to me by P. Love it! I quote her: "She's very funny to read, she loves good food as much as I do, but she writes about it so much better than I ever could." And the photos - mm mm, good! (Sorry, Campbell's!) They are so vibrant and bright - even if you don't like green beans, you'll want to dive right in!!! Even though I don't cook (well), I get Cooking Light, Bon Appetit, Simple and Delicious, and Everyday with Rachael Ray delivered to my doorstep - and I read them cover to cover - and I rip out recipe after recipe, fulling intending to try to make them someday soon...

We passed... The Board approved the variances necessary to begin seriously working on the addition to our lakehouse. YAY! The Board members commented that we lived in a beautiful area of the lake, that it was definitely the right decision to add on rather than try to find something else, that adding on to our mini-ranch would upgrade the neighborhood and our house would then fit in to the neighborhood... Personally I think we fit in a bit better than one other house on our street but it's way less visible than ours so...

My couple days off were fun - I completed my card swap: 12 "love" cards, but I'm not sure I really like them. But at least if I can't finish another batch I have something done. I put together the rack I bought for my embellishments. It's big. Jack's first comment was where are we going to put that? It will find a home wherever there is space, and when I finally have my room done in the addition (Lord knows when that will be!), it will have a home there... Unless I choose another organizing method and I sell the rack...

We went to a party at Nanina's in the Park for little Lenny's confirmation. First of all, "little Lenny" (who will always be "little Lenny" to us!) is not so little - he's 16-1/2 and has his driver's permit, a girlfriend who wears really cute mini-skirts and is over 6' tall - bigger than his dad!!! Wow. Do I feel old today...

The party was wonderful - the food, as usual, was out of this world and included:
marinated artichoke hearts, grilled vegetables (roasted peppers, eggplant, zucchini, anise, asparagus, portobello mushrooms), marinated mushrooms, mozzarella and tomato salad, crackers, cheese, fresh fruit (pineapple, watermelon, honeydew, cantalope), scallops wrapped in bacon, rice balls with tomato sauce, mini Beef Wellingtons, sushi, shrimp and mushrooms on mini toasts, beef marsala, penne with vodka sauce, bowties with Alfredo sauce, sausage and spinach, eggplant rolatini, chicken balsamic with peppers, chicken Cordon-Bleu, a carving station with turkey and chateaubriand, an official confirmation cake, a chocolate fountain (you could dip Oreos, pretzels, hazelnut wafers, fruit), chocolate-covered strawberries, apples and bananas, assorted cookies and Italian pastries, carrot cake squares, brownie squares, zeppolis with honey or powdered sugar, cream puffs with and without chocolate, and even more!! That's just what I remember!!!

When we got home, I went to the bathroom, changed my clothes, and Jack and I went for a walk - maybe 1-1/2 miles or so - around our neighborhood. We were a couple of streets over, on Amsterdam, and some little guy on a bicycle said, "Do you know the W's?" (names concealed to protect the innocent!) They're our next-door neighbors, we replied. "I thought so, I recognized you." And off he went, with legs pumping and head helmet-protected.

When we got back, we stopped next door and told the story. They figured out it must have been Y's friend, who's been over to the house several times.

Either we're very memorable, or it's easy to remember 2 of the very few Catholics in the neighborhood...

Today I have LOADS of phone calls to make, so I'm off to put a second coat of nail polish on my toes (yes, I'm at work!), pick up my breakfast, then start my day...

More soon!