White Beach and Banana Smoothie

In an attempt to get a few more fruits in my diet, which is often sadly lacking in any kind of vitamins (what can I say? That cheese sandwich is a winner), I've been trying to eat smoothies for breakfast. I have to admit that smoothies make me a bit nervous, especially with frozen fruit, because though that ice-creamy taste is the best, I don't want to kill my Cuisinart. I like my Cuisinart. I really should just get a cheap blender. But anyway, this was my first attempt this summer with smoothies (a little late, I know). There were white peaches on sale, and though I normally don't really like banana, it does give a smoothie that smoothie-like texture. I didn't really taste the peach, but it was tasty enough for something healthy.

White Peach and Banana Smoothie
(makes two glasses this size, or one tall glass)

1 white peach
1/2 a banana, frozen
2 big spoonfuls plain low-fat yoghurt
a few squirts of clover honey
a generous shake of cinnamon

Slice the peach into quarters, and halve the banana half again. Dump everything else in. Pulse carefully until everything's more or less soft, then blend until smooth.

MeBars? No, YouBars!

YouBars are a customizable energy bar that I got a chance to sample thanks to Blake Makes. My impression? I thought they were tasty, but small. They make a good snack but shouldn't be confused with a meal bar. At $30 for a 12-bar box, plus $7.99 shipping and handling in the US, that comes to $3.16 a bar for the three "popular" bars, or $4 a bar for a custom bar. That seems like a lot to me for a snack. Though I certainly understand that it's expensive to make energy bars with quality ingredients, this is definitely a luxury item that I can't afford right now. That said, of my sample, I really enjoyed the Honey Cashew Bar. Few ingredients is evidently a good thing, and I love the taste of the cashew butter. Great Date was also pretty good. I wasn't as impressed by the two custom bars, which I thought had too many ingredients. I do really like the crunch of the nutty rice cereal, though. If you're making your own, I'd say less is more and go with the cashew butter. You get to choose one or two nut butters, up to three types of protein, up to two nuts and seeds, up to two fruits and berries, up to two sweeteners, up to four "tasty additions" like chocolate or coffee crystals, up to two grains or cereals, and one infusion (fiber, vitamin, or greens). The package has the name you choose on it. They do, incidentally, have vegan options.

Tasting Notes: My Muscat Days

I first found Muscat when I was nineteen and living in Montpellier, France for a month. I was there to study French, but I fell madly in love with the region, where I hope to retire one day. The Languedoc, located in the south-central part of France, has a rich history and culture, not to mention amazing food and their own regional language (Occitan). Montpellier was recently voted best city to live in France, and I believe it. It's almost surprising it hasn't received more foreign press - though I love Bordeaux and Paris, I find it the ideal city to spend a week or so. It isn't overcrowded, very pedestrian-friendly, plenty of food and shopping, and some cool attractions such as the Roman aqueducts and the Château d'Eau. I associated Muscat heavily with that trip, where I drank wine with almost every meal we ate out, wanting the "French experience." At the time, however, I hadn't developed much of a taste for red, and even white I was drinking more out of obligation than anything. Muscat was perfect for my new-to-alcohol tastebuds, with its smooth, sweet, honeyed flavor. This photo was taken on my second trip to Montpellier, when I was 21 and on springbreak with my housemate in Ireland, Katherine. I was showing her around, and we stopped to sit down for a moment at a cafe in the Place Jean-Jaurès. I asked the waiter if I could have ice cream, as it was on the menu. He told me it was far too early in the day for ice cream. "Et du vin?" "Bien sûr." "Pas trop tôt?" *disbelieving look* "Non..." Of course, it is never too early in the day for wine, so here I am drinking a glass of Muscat at eleven in the morning.

My taste for the sweet apperitif has since diminished, though I still enjoy it on occasion. One of my most memorable fun nights in the dorm involved my roommate Kat, a bottle of California Muscat (an amber-coloured variety as opposed to the golden colour you see in the Languedoc) purchased from a snooty British wine connoisseur in Ellicott City, a strawberry cheesecake, and the L-Word. This particular Muscat pictured here is an interesting cross between the amber and golden colours, made by RJ Buller & Son in Victoria, a "Premium Fine Muscat" that I enjoyed with cheesecake in honor of Kat. It was good, and more alcoholic than sweet - almost like a sherry. I was thinking today about how my tastes have changed so much, even in the past two or three years. First I started liking tomatoes at sixteen or seventeen after a very strong aversion to them in childhood, then it was brussels sprouts, then artichokes, and finally beer. I wonder if I'll ever get over the urge to wretch at green bean casserole, though, or my aversion to pickles and olives. Perhaps. The funny thing about tasting is, you can never really go back.

A Tasty On-Sale Italian Wine

So I had intended to do a cool wine and cheese tasting series of posts, wherein I would tell you about the delicious bottles of red wine I purchased on sale from my co-op, along with the delicious inexpensive cheeses I purchased last time I was in Kalona, but the fact is that I drink wine so slowly that by now I've forgotten about most of the cheeses. Oops! I do remember that the plain Wendsleydale was quite good, as was a Danish blue and a local smoked Gouda. There was a brown cheese called Gjetost that was quite frankly weird, with this sweet caramel flavor, but I think it would be an interesting one to have on a cheese plate. This wine, featured with the evidence of Nicole's possibly-needs-improvement pouring skills, is a DOC wine from Douro. That doesn't mean a whole heck of a lot to me, but it was good, full bodied, and tasty for under ten dollars. It has 12.5% alcohol.

Trying the Chocolate Chip Thing Again

Oh cookies, why are you always so volatile? Though I already have a favorite recipe, I thought I'd test something different, like everyone's been doing since the New York Times article came out. I have no time for those particular cookies with their multiple flours, so instead I found the most attractive cookie picture on Slow Like Honey's blog and decided to try those cookies - Martha's Chocolate Chip Toffee, that is. I love toffee. I especially love delicious gooey cookies as pictured on that blog post. As you can see, my first attempt didn't quite fly. See, I'd been craving cookies but didn't want to do the oven thing in the heat, so I came up with an ingenious idea. Make a batch, then pull off two-cookie chunks of dough and freeze them individually, thawing and baking in the toaster oven when in need of a snack. Of course, I always eat both large cookies at once, but you can't have it all. The first cookies I did were a bit overbaked, and way crunchy. The next two batches had the same thing happen because I forgot about them. The next few, though, were quite tasty, if not so amazing as SLH's picture. They were gooey and tasty, as long as I only baked them 11-12 minutes!

Cilantro Sauce, Zucchini Blossoms, and a Long Hot Summer

All right, blogreaders, I have to be honest. The past few weeks have been like pulling teeth, which is part of why I've been saving a lot of my posts for later. But I'm going to be posting a lot in the next few weeks, promise! Basically, I had several deadlines and at the same time was stuck with really crappy headaches because of my failing glasses. Unfortunately, the result is that I don't get a vacation this summer - the plan was to have a week and a half off in August, but because I could only work a few hours a day over the past few weeks, I have to work straight through that vacation.

The good news is that I did eventually get new glasses, and despite my jaw drop at the price, I can see so much better and I like the way they look as well. Apparently my astigmatism had changed monumentally, and the distance in my left eye as well, so she wasn't even sure I'd be able to see once the prescription changed, but they seem to be working so far. Hurrah! Now, a random question: Does anyone have a Tastebook? If you leave stuff out of one section, will they take that tag out? I wish I could customize, but I really don't want a freaking meat tag in my book, thanks.

So, this post was going to be for the last blog party, along with a tasty drink I posted on Yummr, but despite my timing failure, it wasn't bad. My favourite part was the cilantro sauce, which I found on A Veggie Venture. I didn't make the burritos, but instead tried it first on French fries and then on this falafel (not homemade, I'm afraid). I love the sauce. I haven't quite found something that it's perfect with, but I'll keep searching. I did the yoghurt-and-cottage cheese version, incidentally. Oh, and the fresh cilantro didn't kill me. I also added some sauteed squash blossoms from the farmer's market as a garnish, but they were disappointing. Too much butter, maybe, but they collapsed in the pan and didn't have much of a taste. Probably better for stuffing.

Red Wine Granita and a Confession

Dearest, darling fellow foodbloggers,

I have a confession to make. I'm jealous. I've been sitting here looking through all your beautiful posts, kicking myself for not commenting as always, bookmarking recipes... and all summer I've been reading about your trips to far off destinations - Cyprus, Italy, Greece, Croatia - many of which are places I really want to go. It makes me just a little bit sad. Don't get me wrong. I love your travel photography, and your stories about the food you ate. I'm thrilled that you got to go on such fabulous vacations, and that some of you get to go every year, but man. It's hard being the young, broke blogger on the block. I have been very lucky in my life. I've had opportunities to visit and live in Europe, and I'm far better off than most people in the world. With all the work I do with impoverished populations, I know I'm being a big fat baby. The smart thing to do would be to meditate, reflect on all my blessings, and stop being attached to material things.

But I have to admit it. I miss eating in restaurants, especially outdoors. I miss the ocean like a lost limb. I love my town, but it's smack dab in the middle of the country and I won't be leaving it until next August, with the exception of the occasional half hour trip to Kalona for Amish groceries. I'm starting to wonder if I'll ever actually make enough money to go on exotic holidays like the ones you blog about. Let's face it - I'm not the marrying kind. I'm never going to have double incomes, and if I do, we'll both be women and therefore statistically not making very much. But I'll try to be optimistic. I dream of one day having the money for a KitchenAid, and an apartment with plenty of cabinets, and enough bookshelves so my cookbooks aren't sitting on the floor, and ingredients - oh, the ingredients! I'm determined to one day make enough money to have culinary lavender, vanilla beans, matcha powder, orangeflower water, and all the other things I need to make those lovely recipes I see on your blogs. Maybe I'll even live somewhere with a Trader Joe's! So put in a quick prayer for me, or some good vibes if you're not the praying kind, that one day I'll be posting about gorgeous foodie vacations of my own. I'd appreciate it. :-)



Red Wine Granita

1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup water
1/2 bottle red wine

Stir sugar and water to dissolve and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let boil a few minutes, then remove from heat. Cool a bit. Stir in the wine, pour into an 8" baking pan, and cool completely. Cover and freeze about an hour or until crystals start to form. Scrape with a fork, or if you're using a non-stick pan like me, a small rubber spatula (the one that comes with a Cuisinart is perfect). Scrape every forty minutes or so until crystals are more-or-less dry.

My thoughts:

I must admit this isn't my favorite. A spiced variety could have been better, and I'm wondering if it would just freeze by itself without the sugar. The taste is too much like alcoholic grape juice. I needed to use up this bottle, which I really liked (Red Truck Merlot, I'll blog about it later), but it's naturally just a bit sweet and that was perfect. Cold red wine is also just a little weird, and it doesn't freeze as well because of the alcohol. The good thing about that is that you can keep it around forever, because it will never freeze into a solid chunk.