Meet Me in the Garden of Eden, Bring a Friend.

Joanna Newsom's newest album, Have One On Me has some of the most beautiful love songs I've ever heard. The songs that stand out in my mind right now are "Easy" and "Jackrabbits". I've sort of exclusively been listening to only that album. The whole thing is good. Every single song is good. There were a few songs, at first, that I wasn't crazy about but maybe they grew on me. The only thing I'm not *crazy about* is that some of the percussion is weird, like maybe they could've done with out it. But! neverthelessssss....

Tuesday night Zach went to his mom's house and spent the night. Yesterday when he was on his way home the van sprung a leak. A transmission leak. Aye yai yai. Anyway, his mom ended up driving him home, so I made dinner. I made Campanella pasta with a marinara sauce and a spinach salad with strawberries, pecans and a olive oil/balsamic/sweet-hot mustard dressing I whipped up. She was impressed.

Today I'm getting tattooed by Josh Visher. I think we're gonna do some shading, maybe some color, or maybe some more line work. There's a bit more to do. We'll see! Getting tattooed is kind of scary sometimes. Really, it's fine, but just right before I get so nervous and freaked out. I guess that's normal.

Anyway, gotta go re-clean the house!

xovernikins

Pie + Coffee Night, or "Operation: AGENT COOPER"

Last night was, I'd say, the most successful Apples to Apples night thus far. At least the most fun! I met up with Brie and Chris in the Mission. We bought ingredients for Tuna Casserole. If you want that recipe you'll have to ask me. I'm not posting it on the internets. It's so good.

Dana came over, then Keith and Dan, then Jess and Josh. So there were 8 of us. The more, the merrier! Somehow

"PIE" came up in conversation. We all decided to start "PIE + COFFEE NIGHT" AKA "OPERATION: AGENT COOPER" which might also fall on Tuesday nights. I think how it's going to go is every week someone showcases their own homemade pie (rather than a bunch of people make a different pie on the same night). There's talk of pumpkin, strawberry, apple, sweet potato, and a mixed berry pie. So if you want to get in on this then let me know.

The weather is weird. It keeps raining really hard then the sun

comes out. All my shoes at this point have holes in them and I can't afford new ones until I get a job. So

walking in the rain ends up me walking around with wet feet. It's so weird how when you're poor all of the sudden all my clothes start falling apart. I feel like a peasant. I look like a bum. Next thing you know you'll see me

walking around in a cloud of dust. Like Linus. Is it Linus? Wait. Pig Pen. Yes, you can start calling

me "Pig Pen" from now on. There's a picture of me and all my friends.

Fat Kid Food Forever, OR FKFF.

A week ago I posted this really long, detailed *blog* describing to you my dinner - which was a marinated top round beeeeeef with taters and this amazing brown gravy I made from the marinade, however, it got lost in the struggle. I've also seemed to have lost my recipe notebook, so until I can find it you'll just have to imagine it, in your dreams.

This morning I woke up in a funk due to bad dreams and just being really stressed out in general about life. I woke up late, like probably close to noon. Who knows. Anyway, I don't buy bread of any sort anymore, I make it. I felt like having biscuits and poached eggs. Ever since my totally successful Eggs Benny I've secretly been obsessed with poached eggs. Like, I mean, I think about poaching eggs all the time. It's ok, though, it keeps my mind off of how much life can eat a bag right now.

So I've never made biscuits before, so I was a bit nervous. They turned out fine, but they had sort of a bitter, salty flavor. I'm not totally sure why, I think it may have been because of how much baking powder I put in. Or the fact that I'm not totally sure if my baking powder is baking soda or not. I'm pretty sure it's powder, but not sure, I bought it in bulk and I didn't label it after I put it in a jar. Anywho! Here's the recipe!

Verni & Zach's Fat Kid Jalapeno Cheddar Biscuits of LOOOOVE:

2 c flour, preferably unbleached

4 tsp baking powder***

1/2 tsp salt

2 tbsp shortening (I just used butter, not into crisco or anything like it)

3 tbsp grated cheedddarrr, or more, you decide

about 1 c milk

1-2 chopped up and grilled jalapenos (NEXT time I make this I will chop the jalapenos ever so finely, I think that will make it better)

*** - I think that maybe this is why it had the kinda weird bitter flavor, but not sure

1. Preheat oven to 450

2. Start by mixing dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, salt) in a big bowl. Mix in cheddar and jalapenos, then rub in butter (or shortening of your choice) with your fingers. Gradually add milk while stirring with a knife (like a butter knife). It should start to turn into a soft dough.

3. Lightly flour a surface - I used a wooden cutting board. Put your dough on the surface and flatten it. I just used my hands, but I'm sure a rolling pin works just as well or better. Flatten it to about 1/2 " thick. Cut out dough using a biscuit cutter. I didn't have a biscuit cutter, so I just used a big cup.

4. Place a greased baking sheet, bake 10 - 15 min at 450.

I ended up making 6 regular biscuits and then a big, deformed, weird one. You can probably make about 8 or so with this recipe, depending on how big your cutter is.

So then after that I broke up some sausage and threw it on a skillet to cook it. After that was done cooking I made a white gravy in the cast iron. I don't have the exact measurements for that. All you do is put some milk in your pan and then stir in flour with a fork or a whisk to your desired thickness, adding more milk to thin it out. Then, while constantly stirring, I added crushed pepper and a little salt (you don't need too much salt because the sausage is salty).

Zach had the gravy going while I started to poach the eggs. It was really good.

For Jaclyn

*@*@*@*@ I found my recipe book!

So this is what I had for dinner last Tuesday:

Beef round eye (marinated)

Steamed Broccoli Rabe (drizzled with my previously talked about Hollandaise sauce)

Tater, carrots and red onion (baked)

Beeeeeeef marinade:

~1/4 cup soy sauce

1 cup freshly juiced pineapple juice

1/2 cup water

3-4 cloves of garlic, minced

1 lemon squeezed, with a little bit o' pulp

1/2 a regular/largish red onion, sliced pretty thinly (not chopped)

2 shots of bourbon (I used Jim Beam, woof)

A generous squeeze of Sriracha

Salt & pepper to taste.

I let that hang out for a bit.

Meanwhile, I quartered some (5) yellow potatoes and cut up 2 carrots. I put some bacon grease and salt on a casserole dish, then put the taters and carrots around the edges, forming sort of a frame. After a little bit I took the meat out of the marinade and seared all the sides, then put it in the casserole dish and then poured about half of the marinade over the dish with all the onions and garlic. Then I preheated the oven to 450.

I let that sit in the oven (uncovered) for 20 minutes, then turned off the oven. NEVER OPEN THE OVEN - it lets the heat out. My beef was about 2.5 lbs. You're supposed to leave it in there 20 min for every pound. So I let it sit in the oven for 40 min longer.

Meanwhile I made a brown gravy!

Brown Gravy ingredients:

The rest of the marinade

1/4 c butter (1/2 stick)

1/4 c flour

1 clove minced garlic

1/8 c ketchup

1 tsp dijon mustard

a few splashes of red wine. I think I used a Cab Sav.

~quart of beef broth (that I had left over from St. Patrick's Day boiled beef brisket and cabbage, don't worry, it was frozen)

1. In a sauce pan melt butter over med-low heat. Add flour and stir for about a few minutes until golden brown and smells like pie crust. Add garlic, cook for about 30 seconds. Whisk in a cup of broth, then add in the rest of the ingredients, except S+P.

2. Bring to a simmer, whiskying, reduce heat to low, simmer about 20 min.

3. Season with S+P to your liking

As I was making the gravy I steamed some broccolini. I timed that so it would be done right when the meat was done. I took the casserole dish outta the oven and took the meat off of it and put in on a cutting board. PS, I made it sort of med-rare. Perfect.

I sliced the meat, scooped the potato/carrot/onion mix onto the plate, with brown gravy on top, then the broccolini with the rest of my left-over hollandaise sauce on top. It was totally delicious!!!! And it wasn't that expensive either.

For Dean

For breakfast I made a sort of Eggs Florentine.

The Hollandaise Sauce:
1/2 c melted butter (1 stick)
3 egg yolks
1 tbsp + 1 tsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 tsp Tapatio (the actual recipe calls for a dash of cayenne but I ain't got none, but I think any hot sauce will do, naw mean?)
2 tbsp hot water

1. Heat butt in sauce pan until hot and foamy but not browned.
2. In a small bowl whisk eggs with lemon juice, salt and Tapatio. Gradually whisk in melted butter, then water.
3. Return mix to sauce pan and beat over very low heat until slightly thickened. (I only did this for a short time because it can cause the eggs to start to scramble)

So then I poached some eggs, and cooked up some spinach. I cut some slices of my Onion Sage bread, toasted them, then spread some pesto (also homemade) over it, then sauteed spinach, eggs, hollandaise sauce, then I sprinkled a little smoked paprika over the tops. I love smoked paprika. I get it in bulk at Rainbow Grocery.

Anyway, it was really good. I was very proud of myself for not only making actually GOOD hollandaise sauce BUT doing a great job poaching eggs!!