It's Not Green Beer, but It's Still Good.

Tonight we made a delicious Irish-inspired dinner in the spirit of Saint Patrick. I do love America's drinking holidays. Everyone celebrates being Irish once a year and then, two months later, being Mexican. I venture to guess that most people have no idea what either holiday is actually for. I find this amusing. Before we move onto the actual food part, let's learn a little bit about St. Patrick's Day, just in case there is a party pooper who questions your Irishness on Wednesday. (I mean, everyone IS Irish on St. Patrick's Day.)

FACT: St. Patrick's Day is the feast day of St. Patrick. It's a public holiday in Ireland, celebrated on the 17th of March. The 18th of March might as well be a holiday everywhere St. Pat's is celebrated, since most celebrators are hung over the next day.

FACT: The original color associated with the holiday, according to Wikipedia, was blue, not green. Green came about because of the association St. Patrick made between the holy trinity and shamrocks. Maybe people shouldn't be pinched if they don't wear green, after all.

FACT: This holiday was often celebrated as a one day break from Lent, where drinking was allowed. Hence the debauchery we celebrate today.

Whatever Your Luck American-Style Bangers and Mash
6 medium-sized red potatoes (Or white. Whatever suits your fancy.)
1 cup chicken broth (They come in convenient little mini-cartons now!)
1/4 stick butter (Remember: if it tastes good, it has butter in it.)
1-2 garlic cloves, minced (Or none at all. Whatever.)
1 package of the sausage of your choice (Bangers are beef sausage, for those desiring to keep it real.)
1 small or 3/4 medium white onion, chopped (Chewing gun really helps prevent tears.)
1 can or jar of beets (You might need 2 if you are a beet lover at heart.)
1 bag of salad (I told you this was easy.)
Feta crumbles (Tastes great with beets, but I'm sure it's not Irish.)
Walnuts (Optional)
salt and pepper (To taste)
Whatever salad dressing you like (I like vinaigrette.)

Start by cutting the (clean) potatoes into small pieces. Toss them into a large pot of water. Bring them to a boil and boil them until they are soft enough to mash.

While the potatoes are cooking, get your salad together. Drain the beets, and cut them into smaller bites (if desired). Toss them into your salad bowl with the feta crumbles and walnuts.
Start the sausages. We used the Foreman Grill, but you could pan fry them with the onions or grill the outside. Warm EVOO in a frying pan over medium heat. Saute your onions for about 10 minutes in the pan, or until they are soft.

By this point, the potatoes should be finished cooking. Drain the water out of the pot and transfer the potatoes into a bowl for mashing. Add the butter. Mash the potatoes until they are reduced to tiny pieces. The butter should melt into them while they are hot. Add the garlic and gradually add the stock, whipping the potatoes with a hand-held mixer. Salt and pepper them to taste.

Turkey Chili with Black-Eyed Peas

When my phone rang at work at 0705, I will admit feeling annoyed. Who calls someone just after they've hit the floor? The man on the other end of the phone was one of the pharmacists at the hospital calling to see if I knew how my family was. I was confused. (And grumpy.) He then told me about the Haiti earthquake. I was immediately into an (awake) patient's room flipping to CNN with my personal cell phone in hand. Thankfully, my family on the other half of the island of Hispanola was just a bit shaken up. Nothing serious happened.

About a month later, Chile's first major earthquake struck. Again, I missed the news story. My mother called me early (for her) that morning to let me know she talked to my cousin, Miguel, who lives in Santiago. In true Taveras form, he told his dramatic tale of running down 13 flights of stairs feeling like he was running through a washing machine. Everything in Santiago was pretty much in tact, as the earthquake struck much farther south. Miguel's biggest lament was that while not even a picture fell off the wall, he lost all of his booze.

After these two natural disasters, it seemed like each country- and my family- would have a reprieve. So, when my mother jumped on an airplane and headed down to Chile to see Miguel, I was not worried. My mother had planned the trip in January, and we both agreed that a major earthquake could not possibly strike so close to the date of the first. Aftershocks? No big deal. She'd be fine. For sure.

... And then, on my way home from work on Thursday, a call beeped through the conversation I was having with a friend. I raced to answer my Mom's friend (and other emergency contact), Rexanne. Rexanne told me my mother was okay, but she and Miguel ran down 13 flights of stairs in their pajamas that morning in the midst of a 7.2 earthquake (aftershock). While everyone is still okay, I am hoping that nothing shakes up Paris, the last foreign country home where I have family.

So here's to Chile, home to a city that has moved 10 feet on the map (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-03/09/c_13203099.htm) and to some amazing builders. (There is still nothing wrong with the building Miguel lives in.)

Turkey Chili with Black-Eyed Peas
(from Shape magazine, February 2009)
Serves 4
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours, 20 minutes

2 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound lean ground turkey breast
1 large carrot, diced
1/2 large onion, diced
2 sticks celery, diced
2 jalepenos, diced
2 cloves garlic, sliced
1 red pepper, seeded and diced
1 yellow pepper, seeded and diced
2 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
2 cups canned black-eyed peas, rinsed and drained
1 28-ounce can no-salt-added crushed tomatoes
1 tablespoon tomato puree
2 1/2 cups water
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
Red pepper sauce (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. In a large ovenproof pan, heath half the oil over medium heat, Add turkey and brown for 5 minutes. Remove turkey and add remaining oil; saute carrot, onion, celery, jalapenos, garlic, peppers, chili powder, fennel, and cumin for 10 minutes or until vegetables are soft and begin to lose their color.

Return meat to pan and stir in black-eyed peas; add crushed tomatoes, tomato puree, and water. Bring to a simmer and place in the oven for 2 hours. Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper sauce to taste.

Super Blue

After getting up at the crack of dawn (5 am) for work during the week, I relish in my bed. I love to sleep in on weekend days. I don't sleep the day away; I just sleep in enough to feel caught up and yet still able to get some things done. A great sleep deserves a great breakfast. The latest addition to the breakfast menu is blueberries.

When I was a kid, I turned up my nose to blueberries. They weren't wildly sweet. I didn't even like them when they were fresh picked from the bushes of my back yard in Massachusetts. Despite my childhood feelings, I had the urge to pick up a package at the store a few months ago, and fell in love. I'm glad my tastes have changed, since blueberries are grrrrrrreat for you.

Blueberries are high in antioxidants, vitamin C, and vitamin E. They are great with cereal, in yogurt, on waffles, or by themselves. I've been eating them on waffles lately. My favorite waffle mix is Bob's Red Mill. They are fluffy and stretchy. Pamela's are a little more reminiscent of Bisquick. The Trader Joe's waffles come out crispy in on the outside, light, and stretchy on the inside. The only problem with them is they want you to make the whole box at once. It takes some math to divide it down to a few batches.

Here are the nutritional facts, via www.blueberry.org. Very convincing.

USDA National Nutrient Database For Standard Reference, Release 19 (2006)

		Blueberry (fresh)	Blueberry (frozen, unsweetened)
		1 c (148 g)	1 c (155 g)
Energy	kcal	84	79
Protein	g	1.10	0.65
Fat	g	0.49	0.99
Carbohydrate	g	21.45	18.86
Fiber	g	3.6	4.2
Calcium	mg	9	12
Iron	mg	0.41	0.28
Magnesium	mg	9	8
Phosphorus	mg	18	17
Potassium	mg	114	84
Sodium	mg	1	2
Zinc	mg	0.24	0.11
Copper	mg	0.084	0.051
Manganese	mg	0.497	0.228
Selenium	mcg	0.1	0.2
Vitamin C	mg	14.4	3.9
Thiamin	mg	0.055	0.05
Riboflavin	mg	0.061	0.057
Niacin	mg	0.619	0.806
Panthothenic acid	mg	0.184	0.194
Vitamin B6	mg	0.077	0.091
Folate	mcg	9	11
Vitamin B12	mcg	0	0
Vitamin A	IU	80	71
Vitamin E	mg	0.84	0.74
Vitamin K	mcg	28.6	25.4

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g=grams mg=milligrams kcal=kilocalories IU=International Units ug=micrograms ATE=alpha tocopherol equivalent

Settling in with Pea Soup

Two Fridays ago, I worked a shift the day before movers came to whisk me away to my new house. Trying to keep dinner simple, I ordered a GF pizza from Pizza Fusion. Not too long after eating a few pieces on the way home in the car, I discovered the pizza was indeed NOT GF. Oooops. (For the record, the box was labeled GF.) I called them to let them know the obvious error. The manager told since they've never made a mistake, the pizza was most definitely GF and not accidentally glutenous. Oh, fellow Celiacs, we know that since I've been GF for 6 years and all the other food I'd eaten was prepared by Yours Truly, I know what caused the symptoms of unattended Celiac Disease.

Enough of that.

I'm all moved into my new place, and have been enjoying the granite counter tops and *gasp* space that I have in the condo. (Anything beats my former tiny urban apartment kitchen.) I just really love it here. The only thing I miss about my old apartment is the natural warmth. The skylights let the sun into the apartment and warm the space, something I like to call "the Greenhouse effect." To help defeat the lack of sunny heat, I made some very simple pea soup last night. It took a whopping 30 minutes. I stole the recipe from Martha. (Martha Stewart.)

I omitted the non-soup part. It would be great with GF grill cheese, though. It might also make a great St. Patrick's Day food. Just sayin'.
You can find the recipe here:
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/green-pea-soup-with-cheddar-scallion-panini?backto=true

Green Pea Soup

Ingredients

Serves 4

• 3 tablespoons butter
• 4 scallions, white and green parts separated and thinly sliced
• 3 boxes (10 ounces each) frozen peas
• 1 can (14.5 ounces) reduced-sodium chicken broth
• 1 1/2 cups shredded sharp white cheddar (6 ounces)
• 8 slices rye sandwich bread
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice

Directions

1. In a large saucepan, heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium. Add scallion whites, and cook, stirring, until softened, 1 to 2 minutes. Add peas, broth, and 3 cups water. Bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer. Cook until peas are tender, about 5 minutes; set aside.
2. In a medium bowl, toss cheddar with scallion greens. Make 4 sandwiches with cheddar mixture and bread.
3. In a large skillet, heat 1 tablespoon butter over medium-low. Place sandwiches in skillet, and cook until golden, 3 to 4 minutes per side, adding remaining tablespoon butter to skillet to cook second side.
4. Working in batches, puree soup in a blender until smooth (filling blender only halfway to prevent spattering). If necessary, adjust consistency with a little bit of water. Season with salt, pepper, and lemon juice. Slice each panini into four "fingers, and serve with soup.

It's Snow My Darling!

When the northern portion of the United States is blanketed in snow, Atlanta is usually just cold and rainy. I arrived in the South at age 8, when my Dad accepted a job that took us from a place in Massachusetts where the apples grow to suburb of Atlanta that was just starting to bloom. I wondered when we moved down here if my classmates had ever seen snow before, if we could wear shorts all year round, and why the ground had clay instead of soil. One of those questions was answered when "The Blizzard of '93" hit Georgia. Unaccustomed to dealing with frozen conditions, the saltless roads turned into sheets of ice. I was snowed in a friend's house for the weekend.

A Southern "blizzard" was the best way to make me feel at home. My friend Andrea and I spent all weekend going in and out of the house, defrosting and redressing, so we could repeat an endless cycle of trudging through snow, sledding, and making snow sculptures. Every year after that, my Auntie Ann would send me a saucer sled that I didn't get to use for it's intended purpose*. (*Note: It did, however, get turned it into a nest of blankets for tv watching, and I did slide down pinestraw-covered hills on it.) The years that snow landed on our little suburb, I was happy. I loved waking up to the white silence and feeling the crunch under my feet. Although the snow usually disappears within a day or so, it makes the year feel complete.

In my young adult years, I considered moving back to snow-laden New England very seriously. There are a few things that keep me rooted here, besides friends, family, and a great job. With all my years here in Atlanta, I have truly become a Southern girl; I don't think I could handle long periods of uninterrupted freezing cold temperatures. And while I love snowdays, I don't want my fond childhood memories to be dirtied by daily routines of trucking through snow. Until things change in my life, I will be happy here in Atlanta with my one annual snow fall. Snow, for me, is still special.

Because this website is hilarious...

...I leave you this link entitled "How to Suck at Facebook." Enjoy!

http://theoatmeal.com/comics/semicolon

Young Frankenstein & Truva

I watched Young Frankenstein, the movie, for the first time in the 10th grade in our Intro to Theater class. A lover of Mel Brooks, this became a classic in my repertoire of movies I often quote. While the movie does drag out a bit, I definitely think you discover more jokes and nuances the more you watch it. Knowing that Young Frankenstein is one of my all-time favorites, my boyfriend got us tickets to watch the musical (also a Mel Brooks production) at the Fabulous Fox Theater.

If you have never been to the Fox, it is a magical theater built at the turn of the 1900's in a Middle Eastern style. Everything is lavish, right down to the shooting stars that cross the domed ceiling. The show aside, the theater is an experience all by itself. Naturally, I was quite excited to return to the Fox for a viewing of a great musical. The show itself was truly spectacular. It was fast paced, funny, and embellished on a few of the jokes in the movie by making them into songs. Even if you are not a musical lover (as I am not a musical lover), you will enjoy this show.

After a great theater experience, Nick and I drove a few miles over to Truva for a late lunch/early dinner. Truva opened up near-ish to Georgia State in what used to be Steak and Ale. It is a restaurant filled with Turkish cuisine and, at night, music and belly dancers. We arrived at about 4:45pm. Despite it not being filled to the seams with patrons and gorgeous women belly dancers, the atmosphere was not lacking. There is nothing reminiscent of old-world Turkish bars; Truva's decor is a modern lounge with open seating and relaxing feel.

Truva's menu is replete with choices of appetizers and entree's without being overwhelming. Truva cooks everything in olive oil. The staff was very sensitive to my food needs, and the waiter and manager made doubly sure I was well taken care of. For an appetizer, Nick and I split a Mediterranean salad. Although it was an appetizer, it was big enough for both of us to split. Nick and I each chose a lamb dish, paired with a glass of malbec. I had the chops, served with spinach and potatoes. The lamb was cooked perfectly to my specification of medium, and the side dishes were perfect as well. The food is definitely worth the price and worth a few more visits. The next time we go, we will go a bit later to enjoy the night scene with friends.