Monday, August 24, 2009

Vertical Farming

An op-ed in today's New York Times discusses the amazing potential of vertical farming:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/24/opinion/24Despommier.html?th&emc=th

Is there any reason not to proceed with these structures?? Your lazy butts are in this too!!

Wednesday, July 15, 2009

Le Resto du Village!

Tonight was visit #2 for Brianne and me to the Resto du Village and it was just as good as the first time. Better for me, actually, because I didn't overdo it. Last time I had a hamburger (just wonderful- good meat, beautiful toasted bun) and a poutine (again, fabulous thick gravy, piping hot, the cheese was tasty but a little soft, steak fry shaped fries but they were well-done and perfectly double fried) and then got the block Québecois the next day. Delightful. That was Friday. Today I initially said no to another diner outing but then, following in her father's footsteps, Brianne used her greasy breakfasty wiles (involving the magic words "it's on me") to win me over. :D Thanks, lady!

This time I ordered the Déjeuner Poutine (yes, that's right, the poutine breakfast). It was a small dish of poutine made with hashbrown-sized pieces of potato (like home fries, not tiny ones; the potatoes were about the same size as the cheese curds), an egg, bacon, fruit, and toast. The poutine served as my savory dessert to the "regular" breakfast food. The egg was extra large and perfectly sunny-side up, the bacon flavorful and crisp but not overcarbonized. The fruit amounted to an orange smile and an equivalent piece of grapefruit, but the toast (brown bread) was toasted just how I like it with just enough butter to make it interesting.

The Resto du Village is probably the most exciting food find I've had in some time. It's just a few blocks away from my apartment and it's open 24 hours. Brianne noticed today that it's also a bring your own wine/beer place. That's right, you can sit and drink your own booze and endless coffee at any hour of the day or night and eat perfect breakfast food or burgers or Chinese fried rice or shepherd's pie or raw vegetable platters OR ESCARGOT!!

In other news, Myriade is in the running for Best Independent Café on the Krups Kup of Excellence challenge. I don't know exactly what that means, but I do know that they should win. Pick "Montreal" and then "Café Myriade" here.

In other other news, I've quit smoking for the umpteenth time. Can you even count to umpteen? Didn't think so. This time I've picked up a little nicorette inhaler (affectionately nicknamed (nic-named?) The Puffer) that seems to kind of be working. I mean, the chemical burns my throat when I exhale but otherwise I can't feel what I've inhaled. That's not a very satisfying sensation. The upshot is that I can walk around - outdoors or in - with what looks like a tampon applicator hanging out of my gob and get an itty bitty fix, or so the box tells me. Today was my first full cigarette-free day in a few months. Tomorrow will be another good one.

Thursday, July 9, 2009

black bean destruction party

Dinner was leftover beefy black bean soup with rest of Canada Day black bean/red pepper dip thrown in for texture and volume, garnished with leftover grated cheddar and Fritos. C'est la classe. Delicious.

Come to think of it, I think that frito pie/pepperbellies are the Midwest's poutine. They're both ragingly unhealthy and even tastier than they are caloric.

(Thanks, Rachel, for encouraging even the tiny updates!)

Sunday, February 15, 2009

Back on the horse

After an extended absence during which time my life has changed somewhat dramatically, I'm back to the blog.

I'm also back to eating cereal. I keep a collection of cereal in my kitchen but mostly just look at it while enjoying my toast. For the past month, my view has been a box of almond-raisin Müslix, a healthy-looking thing that was on sale, well, a month ago I guess. I tried some this morning and WOW! It's really good. And instant. I remember, now, why people eat so much cereal. Erik would always have it, so even since he's moved out I've felt compelled to buy it when it's on sale at the store.

If the cereal trend continues, perhaps I can go back to purchasing whole quarts of milk. Not gallons, not half gallons, quarts. I'm on pints now. Turns out I don't drink a lot of milk. Over the past two months I've had to throw away at least 3 quarts of milk that soured before I could even get close to finishing them.

That's the new challenge: to learn how to shop and cook for one. Since it's been a couple months already, I'm starting to get the hang of it but it was very difficult at first. I still find myself with obscene quantities of soup and stews from time to time...