4 posts tagged “food”
Our team has a munchie drawer - and it's full of mostly healthy snackerage. Pretzels, 100 cal packs of various cookie/cracker combos, Goldfish and the like. I don't partake too often of the snack bin, but these little goobers are puzzling me. They are tasty, fat free, about 40 calories a serving. Freeze-dried Fuji Apples.
They taste really good - not processed, but they are so light, they melt in your mouth and it's a little like eating apple flavored air (in a puffed form.) The thing that blows my mind is that the package reads that: Each bag (.35 oz) contains 1 and 1/2 Fuji Apples. So I'm eating nearly 2 apples, but there is no weight to what I'm consuming, so it makes my brain itch a bit.
Fuji Apple Crisps. They are quite tasty and unlike a lot of snack foods, don't taste processed or preservative heavy - but they don't stick to your ribs or leave any type of satified feeling in your tummy, the way a bag of pretzels might.
I work in, what I call, a modren buiding. It's all glass and metal and concrete and looks a bit like a big boxy space ship. It has the "look of the future" about it. Unfortunately, it doesn't have great HVAC control. In the summer, it's comfortable and cool, but for 3/4ths of the year, it's freezing most days. Now, I'm not one of those cold-blooded, 115 lbs. waifs with poor circulation who are always cold, either. I'm the kind of gal who drives with her windows down on a snow-covered, November day. I enjoy the brisk.
Our office temps are beyond brisk. You hit warm spots, cold spots and icy spots as you walk through the building. Most days, my cubicle is like a walk-in freezer...with internet access. For some unknown reason, my formica style desk has these metal plates attached, so when you're typing, your arms are constantly touching cold steel. Most days, I'll be wearing a scarf...on occasion, I've even typed with gloves on. Baby, it's cold inside!
I've found, the best remedy is a hot mug of tea. It warms you up inside and keeps your fingers from forming frozen claws.
Much like cats and dogs, New Darrin (Dick Sargent) vs Old Darrin (Dick York), or Elvis and The Beatles...there is no middle ground. You're either a coffee person or a tea person. I'm firmly entrenched in the tea camp. I like it hot. I like it cold. I like it straight the fuck up. No lemon, no sugar, no milk, thank you. (I like my coffee that way too on the extremely rare times I indulge.) For a sore throat, I might throw some honey in, but mostly, I prefer it clean as a whistle.
This morning, in my cubical, I haveno less than seven different teas on hand: a box of STASH Green & White Tea, Ahmad's "English Afternoon" tea (blended and packed in England, mind you, which comes in a metal box shaped like a double decker bus! Woot!), a canister of Republic of Tea's Vanilla Almond (looooooove almond tea, which reminds me, I need to make a trip to Chinatown), single bags of Bigelow's English Breakfast, Earl Grey and TAZO's Wild Sweet Orange (which I swiped from my hotel room earlier this month and stuck in my laptop bag) and a can of Bentley's White Tea (Orange) or as they refer to it, "The Champagne of Teas."
I'm sure I have near double that at home. Off the top of my head I have the standards: Chamomile, Sleepytime, Peppermint, Earl Grey (my go-to tea!), Lipton Black (mainly for sun-tea), Madagascar Red Vanilla, Orange Pekoe, Almond, Green and I'm sure an assortment of many more. I'm not what you'd call a tea geek. I don't drink it every day, but probably more than a lot of folks in this Starbucks-on-every-corner kinda world we're living in.
I went with the Bentley's this morning. Hours later, I remain toasty and warm. Thank You, Asia, for taking a chance and brewing that first cup. We are mightily grateful.
Yeah. Yeah. It's a day late and several dollars short. Once again, work ended up dictating my day and while most of my department either took the day off or left by noon...I was waiting for a package that I needed for my trade show...blah blah...the end. Which is the exactly the reason I still need to blog those three goods.
Noodles & Company...Thursday was a beautiful day. I've been stuck in side my windowless cube too long. Fresh air was in order. Normally, I'm not a big fan of chains when it comes to eats, but I was duly impressed. We snagged a sweet spot on the patio and, more importantly, the food was really fresh and delicious. My pesto cravings were finally sated...or mayhaps inflamed. Yummy, yummy goodness.
Pinching Pennies (the fun way!)...I love me some movies. But, paying through the nose to see them...not so much. If you have a Kerasotes theater near you, get up on the Five Buck Club. After a couple weeks, you can see first run features for FIVE DINERO for any show time. The list of the eligible flicks is emailed to you weekly...so unless you're the kind of person who has to see things opening weekend, it's a no brainer.
More local to Chicago, the LaSalle Bank Cinema in Portage Park (off Irving Park west of Cicero) is also five bucks and plays old movies (most not available on DVD) from the 30's, 40's and 50's. Their only showtime is Saturday night at 8pm. I've been a couple times, and I love it...although be warned...it's thick with the blue-haired set. Occassionally, you get the folks, A) in desparate need of a hearing aid adjustment, "What'd he say?!!!", B) hacking up their last bit of lung tissue (gah-ross), or C) worse case scenario...are 24 hours away from their weekly Sunday night bath. Oof.
If you are a bit aware of your surroudnings, you can pick a spot clear of all three possible scenarios, and enjoy the likes of Brother Orchid, You Were Never Lovelier or My Darling Clemintine. Double Feature on Sept 15th? I'm all over that shiznit!
Friends...If there is one thing I am rich in, it's generous and lovely friendships. It boggles one's mind. Boggles, indeed.
I've decided that on Friday, I'm going to highlight three things that fill me with good. No rhyme, no reason, just three things, so if I ever need a bit of inspiration to get through my days, they'll be easy to locate.
Steven Colbert...has done it again. Recently, he broke his wrist which resulted in a cast and along the way, he got a few prominent folks to sign it. Folks like Nancy Pelosi, Tony Snow and the warthog, Bill O'Reilly. This week he had the cast removed, smartly turning it into a bit on the show, and is now auctioning it off for charity. The charity, Yellow Ribbon Fund, provides support to service members as they recover at Walter Reed and the National Naval Med Center.
So far the bidding is up to over $3,000 (when last I checked) with more than a week to go. He could have kept that momento for himself (or his progeny), but raising a bit of coin to help out some wounded soliders? Gets the hat tip from me. It goes to show that even a small act of kindness is still an act of kindness.
Nephews do listen...my 11 yr old nephew has already entered that pre-teen nexus where communication mainly consists of grunts of "whatever" and "will you buy me [insert insanely priced item]?" That is, when he's not hip-deep in his X-Box. On Sunday, I took him to see the latest Harry Potter flick (which I promised to take him before school started...woot! just under the wire!) and afterwards we did some school clothes shopping.
Shopping for school clothes with your aunt?...I'd wager, that's every 11 year old's dream!
Unfortunately,he caught the bug that most boys (and some girls) get, where they Must Wear Camoflage At All Times. I don't want to give myself too much credit, but instead of hitting Sears/JC Pennys/Target right off the bat, we started at some skateboard shop (that also sells clothes...or maybe is was a clothes shop that also sells board gear?) I explained that nobody should ever cover themselves in one solid color or print. That if you wear camo pants, you need to change it up with a colorful tee and a dress-shirt...and then pointed out both the "cool" store clerks (inked and pierced) and the hip ensembles hanging from the rafters.
It seemed to sink in. He gave me no trouble trying on clothes (a first!) and we discussed what worked and what didn't.
After buying a couple pairs of punk/boarder long shorts and a asymetrical polo, we hoofed it to Sears where we bought a couple of stylish tees and dress shirts to wear over them. You know...the way all the cool guys wear 'em!
He even picked out a dress shirt he liked own his own - a hipster/classic bowling shirt style. Miles away from his camos! Of course, by the time I dropped him off and was ready to head home, he was back to grunting...but the glimpse of a thinking being gave me hope for future conversations. Word.
Caprese Salad...Along with the thunderstorms and humidity and occassional funnel cloud, this has been the year of the tomato for the Midwest. Seriously. My pops threw about 9 plants in his back yard this summer and they've exploded with fruit. So much so that each time I visit, I head home with pounds upon pounds of goodness.
When offering up free maters to the neighbors, I was surprised by exchanges of fresh herbs from balcony gardens. Lavender, Sage and oooh, baby! Basil! I love basil. If only I could make a cocoon out of basil and a little pillow of oregano...oh, what dreams! One neighbor mentioned that she had been munching on the last batch of tomatoes like mad and making caprese salad every night.
Are you kidding me? I freaking LOVE caprese salad. Why hadn't I thought of that?!! I've been eating the maters like apples and with tuna and grillled and as salsa...every which way...but hadn't stop to consider the simple wonder of the caprese. I had everything in the house I needed...maters, basil, balsamic vinager...wait! Mozzerella! I hit the store the next day and I've been living the high life ever since.
Thick slice of mater, generous amount of fresh basil, balsamic to taste, slice of buffalo mozzerella...heaven.
Even yesterday's horrible storms (four counties have been declared disaster areas) could not abate my desire for the caprese. In fact, I think it was the shining beacon that got me through that awful commute home.
If I wasn't having dinner at Ellison Hall tonight...it'd probably do the trick again.
