Want Some Cheese with that Whine?

Hello fellow food lovers! On Thursday, I was not able to update the bloggity, which I attribute to my lack of time and a computer (My computer went ka-put. It sucks.). So over the past three weeks, I have been periodically stealing whatever free laptop I see lying around and using it to do my blogging business.

Thursday night, I just couldn’t seem to make it happen. I had a super busy day. Two classes, lunch with Biff, one class, and a trip to Flo-Rida’s. 

In between scooping poop and mopping floors, my aged bestie gave me a large chunk of gourmet cheese.

Prima Donna cheese

I was lurrrving it. I have never tried this particular type of cheese. I would attribute it to a mix between mozzarella and parmesan. Super smooth taste and hard texture. It was Heaven, even with the dog germs. It was a precursor to what was to come.

After spending time with the poopers, I ran to Biff’s app (apartment) and made a quick change (good thing no one got close enough to smell me). Then I hopped over the basketball game to sing the National Anthem. I was paid in restaurant gift certificates. They know me well. Vouchers in hand, I happily trotted back to the app to wash off the dog grime and spruce up for our evening escapades.

My weekly routine is as follows: Thursday nights, I stay with the Biff, and we usually go out and do something fun and fantastico. Ok, that is complete and total lie. We always PLAN on doing something fun and fantastico and go into the night with high expectations that get demolished about 95% of the time. The following day is usually full of whining and complaining about how horrible everything was the night before.

This week, Biff and I were invited to a house-warming party for some of our friends, and when I heard it would be a semi-formal wine tasting event, I didn’t ask any more questions. Biff and I beautified and headed out.

Greetings out of the way, we snapped a few cutesy shots and got to the eating business. 

Sabs, me, Biff. Cutesy.

More cuteness.

I felt so adult, sipping my wine, eating our cheese (specifically Brie which is my absolute favorite) and fruit, and discussing politics and the stock market, all in a dress and heels. 

The spread. More cheese was laid out eventually.

My plate of cheese and chocolatey goodness. 

Ok, so maybe there was no political or financial talk involved. But surprisingly, our hopes and dreams of having a good night were not dashed. Instead, we had a great time with good friends and good food. Wine without the whine. Perf.

On Friday, Biff and I decided to go to the local coffee shop that everyone loves. We had a gift card which made it that much better. Again with the free food. I love it. We ordered Mocha Mint Latte (me) and Yankee Doddle (Biff) and waited for the goodness to arrive. To my disdain, my Mocha Mint showed up with half melted whipped cream. 

Melted whip. 

I overlooked it and took a sip. It was lukewarm at best. "Kid’s temp", as Biff would say. I promptly sent it back to be heated. Biff took a sip of her iced Yankee and made her crazy tongue-out face. I knew something was terribly wrong. Being the tard that I am, I volunteered my taste buds for review of the product. It was basically syrup on ice. Disgusting.

When my coffee returned, it was probably 5 degrees warmer than it was when it was initialed served. Gah. After about 5 minutes of being polite, my anger could no longer be contained. I called the waiter and told him that our drinks were horrible. To my further disappointment, the waiter in his high-pitched, shaky voice, did not offer to get us new drinks or any type of compensation. We walked out drink-less and certificate-less. I proceeded to grumble, complain, and whine the whole way back to the app, unhappy with the experience (understatement). After that, my day seemed completely lack luster. All I could think about was bad customer service and horrible coffee.

I have yet to speak to my parents about Friday's disappointment. In a matter of minutes, I will be whining about my day to them. I need to find some cheese to go with it.

What's your favorite type of wine? Favorite cheese?

Onion and Garlic Sauce

I put this on top of Spaghetti Squash. It was so, so good. This would also go well with chicken, fish, or veggies.

• ½ cup onions
• 2 tbsp butter
• ½ cup white wine
• 1 tbsp white wine vinegar
• 4 garlic cloves, minced
• ½ cup low fat sour cream
• Salt and pepper to taste

Put onions, garlic, vinegar, and wine into medium sized sauce pan and bring to a boil. Take off burner and blend until smooth. Place back into pan and add sour cream. Simmer for 1 min. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!

Pretending to Be French

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Ooh, la la! Bonjour tout le monde!

I planned on discussing this in a later post, but since I read the article called, “The No Diet Diet”, I have really been dwelling on the earth-shattering ideas that were revealed to me. It’s not like I wasn’t aware of these concepts, but it was just really motivational to see someone being a part of the same battle that I face every day (I say that like its some momentous, life or death thing). When I am interested in something, I always want to know more about it, and in perusing the internet, I stumbled across the book, French Women Don’t Get Fat. The author is a French woman, which is fitting, and in the book, she shares the secrets of how French women manage to stay thin while living in the food capital of the world, or anywhere else for that matter. Cursed French!

Obviously one of the most important things for French women is CONTROL- portion control and self-control. They indulge and eat whatever they want, but all in moderation. The French eat with all 5 senses- sight, taste, smell, sound, feel (in case you’ve had a momentary brain fart and can’t remember all of them)- and savor not just the taste, but the entire experience.

There were tons of other significant principles of the book, but the one that stuck out to me the most was passion. Having a passion for food. I always thought I had this passion. I love food. I love cooking, thinking about, looking at, smelling, tasting, and discovering food. But encumbering my complete, unfettered zeal for cuisine, is that guilty conscience asking, “What is eating this food going to do your figure?”  The day after indulging in not-as-healthy-as-I-usually-eat foods is always followed with a strict menu and more strenuous workout than usual to make up for the extra calories I might have packed on.

I want to be able to enjoy both sides of the process- the cooking, preparation, and creation, as well as the enjoyment and pleasure that comes along with eating it- without worrying about how it is negatively affecting my body (within reason obviously). So Wednesday, I wanted to experiment. I decided to drop the calorie counting and make believe that I was French.

Wednesday I was craving a sweet breakfast and a variety of different things. I wanted some sort of bread item, fruit, and a dairy product, and my mind suddenly jumped to calories. That’s going to be high. But, I pushed those diet thoughts away and decided to eat all three things. 

I find that I always feel the need to have two of something, like slices of bread or both sides of a bagel, for instance. But today, I fought those feelings and only took half a cinnamon apple bun. I paired it with cottage cheese and an apple. To add just a little naughty to my meal, I put some honey on top of the bun. No measuring.

I sat down at the table instead of in front of the TV or my computer with my breakfast and a cup of coffee. I wanted to savor all of the foods that were before me. I ate slowly and really tasted everything. Low and behold, I could not finish my breakfast (I was tempted to take my temperature)!

Fueled up for the day, I went to Journey’s End to spend time with my furry friends. After being sufficiently covered in dog hair, I came home to eat lunch. In keeping with the French feeling of the day, I made Tarragon Chicken Salad.   

Tarragon gives anything a French twist. I had a little scoop of the salad with a pickle. I leisurely ate away, not concerned with the fact that there was mayo and sour cream in this dish. It was delicious.

Later, my mom and I went window shopping. This seems to be our go-to for solving boredom. I came across some interesting apparel.

Hat/Scarf. Functional, practical, AWESOME

Feathered hat.

I'm sure the French would be appalled.

For dinner, I made another ethnic meal. I had a glass of wine to add to my ever-so-cultured day.

Cabernet Merlot blend. Quinoa with tomatoes, cilantro, and southwest seasoning. Butternut Squash.

Eating dinner without worrying about the calorie count or if I was eating too much, and paying attention to eat luscious mouthful was such a delightful experience. Exactly what I was going for. Now, I am not saying that health should go out the window. On the contrary, I am saying that being healthy should be pleasurable but balanced. Who wants to live their life thinking that every bite is a mouthful of calories? I don’t. I want to stop looking at food simply as nourishment, and start thinking about the experience. Food should be shared, enjoyed, and tasted, smelled, pondered, created, relished, appreciated, and savored. We should always try to take pleasure in the food we are eating. Sometimes, you just have to pretend to be French.

Tarragon Chicken Salad

In my attempt to channel my inner French woman, I came up with this delicious, simple recipe. Sometimes plain ol' chicken salad just doesn't cut it. Why not make it French?

Tarragon Chicken Salad

• 2 cooked chicken breasts (you can use rotisserie chicken),  chopped
• 1 large carrot, chopped
• 2 stalks of celery, chopped
• 3 tbsp. almonds, roughly chopped
• 1/4 cup sweet onion, finely chopped
• 2 tbsp mayonaise
• 1 tbsp sour cream
• 2 tbsp dried tarragon
• 2 tbsp white wine (give or take)
• salt and pepper to taste
• red grapes for garnish

Put chicken, carrots, celery, onion, and almonds into a mixing bowl. 

 In a separate container with a lid, combine mayo, sour cream, tarragon, and wine. Shake container until well mixed and pour over chicken mixture. Stir it up and season to taste.

 Cut a few grapes in half and garnish. Enjoy!