Taco Time!

I've been craving tacos for a while. This is really the easiest thing ever, not actually a recipe. I got some of those easy-to-stuff shells with flat bottoms, warmed them in the microwave, and stuffed them with warmed refried beans mixed with grated Cheddar. Then just a couple of torn pieces of lettuce and a little spoonful of sour cream and we have a happy camper! Yum.

Comfort Food

What does comfort food mean to you? Meatloaf? Mashed potatoes? A big tray of sticky buns? I think that for most people, comfort food has roots in childhood. This scrambled egg and toast with butter combination is something that makes me think of my father, and breakfasts that were never spectacular but were warm and filling nonetheless. Most of my other comfort foods weren't something I ate much as a child though. Biscuits and gravy, grits, veggie pot pie, mac and cheese, grilled cheese... you may notice a carb theme, here.

Another major comfort food for me is chocolate cake. Dense, delicious, terrible for you chocolate cake, preferably with soda, which I rarely consume otherwise. This is the cake and root beer I mentioned plans to pick up for my blogaversary. Sadly, the vegan chocolate cake slice was not nearly as good as vegan cake normally is. There's just something about the icing that I usually love in vegan cakes, but New Pi didn't do too well with this one. Ah, well.

Before I moved, I had some puff pastry I needed to take care of, and I developed this comfortingly fatting pastry pocket for a tasty dinner treat. It's basically just rectangles of puff pastry stuffed with canned mushrooms, whole grain mustard, and cheese. Boy is it tasty! Sometimes I just need a little fat and salt to get me through my day.

Restuarant Review: Miss Shirley's

I've been slacking on bringing my camera to restaurants lately. I wish I could show you the zucchini brie pancakes from the Golden West that I've been dying to recreate, or my very tasty eggplant with cabrales cheese sauce from La Tasca (sadly, the only really tasty thing on offer; the manchengo cheese was not that great, nor were the churros). But I did remember Friday morning, when I ate with my friend Jen at downtown Baltimore's breakfast-all-day place Miss Shirleys. They do lunch, as well, but I was far more enticed by their breakfast menu (and need to come back to order more!) I had fried green tomatoes, which were fabulous, and this veggie egg tower, which I had already dug into when I realised I should be photographing it. It's basically a variation on eggs florentine. Instead of an English muffin or cooked spinach, you have fresh spinach, tomatoes, avocado, and of course poached eggs and hollandaise. Delicious!

More from the Land of Restaurant Dining

The weekend before last, I went to a family reunion in the NC mountains, which was nice in terms of seeing family but also, of course, in terms of good old southern food. The night we arrived I gorged myself on hush puppies and cherry cobbler to a certain extreme. The next day my mom and aunt and I went out to lunch, and I picked a place in Boone called the Red Onion Cafe for its vegetarian selections. I got a kick out of this portobello sandwich complete with cole slaw. As you can see, I also indulged my inner sweet tea enthusiast.

I've also been doing restauranting in Baltimore, though I keep forgetting my camera. I went to lunch at a Turkish place called Cazbar and had acili ezme and imam bayildi, both very good but the latter was fantastic. Also Sunday I had brunch after church at Donna's, a well-loved Mt. Vernon spot. They do a fantastic portobello omelette with roasted red peppers and goat cheese, plus roasted potatoes, homemade rye toast, and fruit for only $8. As you can see, I did have one opportunity to bake recently. My roommate had some bananas that were overripe so I offered to make banana bread. I used a new recipe that I got from Simply Recipes via Cafe Fernando. It's supposed to be not too sweet, so I added cinnamon chips. Actually it's pretty sweet, so if I were going to add nutella I would take out some of the sugar. Still very good!