A Funny

http://www.toothpastefordinner.com/index.php?date=082511

Grad School & Cupcakes

I started grad school this week! I am going back to school to be a Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP). I am now working Monday/Thursday/Friday, and having class on Tuesday evening and Wednesday morning. The new schedule is throwing my off a bit. Monday seemed like last week; I thought Thursday was Wednesday. My body has been protesting getting up at 0500 on Mondays. I am sure, just like any change, I will get used to it.

With everything going on in our lives, we've found a few new food short cuts. Trader Joe's Thai noodle bowls (just $1!) have been lifesavers. They have rice noodles and are super delicious. Those portion packs from Perdue have gone into quite a few dinners for us this week- Italian stir fry, pasta, with a side of rice & veggies. If the deli line looks to long, I've been grabbing the Applegate Farms lunch meat packages right off of the shelves of "normal" grocery stores. I love their oven turkey. It just melts in your mouth.

I tried out the Kinnicknnick's chocolate chip cookies (they were on sale), and was a little disappointed. They aren't as chocolatey as I had hoped. (Mind you, their "oreos" are so so so good.) My favorite cookies are still Trader Joe's ginger snaps and the "homemade" Betty Crocker chocolate chip ones I've been baking one at a time from out of my freezer.

For breakfast, our pantry is stocked full of "kid cereals"- chocolate pebbles, cinnamon chex, Rice Krispies. Nick's new thing is the Trader Joe's GF frozen waffles. To me, they taste a bit too fruit-sweetened. They are better than other GF waffles as far as toasting is concerned. They come out crispy and soft (versus cold or burnt). You still can't use the "frozen" button on your toaster (or they will burn), but who cares?

Let's talk about this whole cupcake craze thing. I find that just about everywhere now has either a frozen yogurt or a cupcake place on the corner. I do love our local Yogli Mogli (all but 2 flavors are GF!), and most fro yo comes effortlessly GF. My problem with this tend is that not too many bakery/cupcake places are into the GF cupcake making. The big deal cupcake place near work is Cami Cakes. People bring them to work for shower's, patient graduations, or for no real reason at all. Cami Cakes are adorable looking cupcakes with a tower of fluffy icing... but they don't have a single GF flavor. I do understand that baking GF and glutenous food in the same place is more difficult due to contaminants. Dedicated cookware and staff members who are serious about allergen sensitive cooking is more expensive. Only, I feel like there is a market for GF cupcakes that is being missed.

The past 2 times that I've driven by Gigi's Cupcakes for GF cupcake Wednesday, I've gone before 11:00am. Both times all of the GF cupcakes have been eaten. Gigi's has left me only with a faint memory of a carrot cake cupcake that I achieved a higher level of taste-being with oh so long ago. I went to The Cup in Brookhaven this past week (thanks to a Scoutmob) and picked up 2 red velvet cake GF cupcakes. While they do have a GF cupcake every day, they aren't all that close to me. When I went in after a long while since I got the Scoutmob, my only choice was red velvet cake. Red velvet cake is also (gasp, I know) my least favorite cake, so it was hard for me to really gauge the goodness of their baking. I will say the cake was very moist, and the cream cheese frosting very smooth and delish. My other latest GF cupcake experience was at our friend's wedding, where the bride ordered all of the chocolate cupcakes GF. I made sure to enjoy the first one (it was perfect) and hide one to take home for later. Too bad I can't just drive up to that baker's house and have one of Lily's wedding cupcakes whenever I want. Let's all hope this new trend leads to more GF goodness in the world.

Cleveland Eats

This weekend we made the trip up to Cleveland for my husband’s uncle’s Celebration of Life. His uncle passed a few months before the wedding and was cremated. The family was waiting until we all could be together in Ohio to celebrate him and spread his ashes. In true Mazzolini family tradition, we had a free for all of good food, grilling out, and a few cocktails during Happy Hour. Nick and I stayed an extra day to pass the time quietly together before returning to the mayhem of life in Atlanta.

On our family-less day, Nick and I ventured into Cleveland. We wandered Little Italy (nothing was really open on Monday), then drove forever to the area just out of the eastern part of the city. I really wanted to try this new Latin cuisine at Paladar. Paladar has two locations, one in Cleveland and one in Maryland. They host a large menu of various Latin flavors, spanning form the Caribbean to Brazil, have a rum bar, and a GF menu. We both selected our meals form the GF menu. To start, we had the garlic mango guacamole. As an antree, I chose tacos; Nick enjoyed a traditional Brazilian stew. My tacos were perfect. I chose to leave off the aioli sauce (I find it messy and distracting), and enjoy the flavors of the shaved potato circles, cabbage, sausage, and goat balance, enhanced by a squeeze of lime. The Cuban rice on the side was amazingly good. The guac was served with the mélange of dippers. While I dipped jicama, carrots, and corn tortilla wedges, Nick was served a basket of tortilla chips, plantain chips, and sweet potato chips. (Despite them being fried in the communal fryer, I did break off a tiny taste of each dipped in guac for “quality control” purposes.)

I think the next time I make guac, I will for sure use the mango-garlic inspiration served with a mix of chips and veggies. I also discovered last week that Whole Foods has hand made chorizo sausage, GF, that won’t break the bank. (Up until this week, Nick and I have been unable to find chorizo that is for sure GF.) Maybe sooner or later we’ll get around to having tapas for dinner again, along side of a tall glass of malbec. Until we make our next pretend escape to Latin America, it’s back to the grind in Atlanta. This coming weekend: Lily & Sung’s wedding. Next weekend: Melissa & Brian’s wedding in Savannah.