In the exit row in front of sen. Kerry. Better than when jerry nadler slept across from me on the train.

If I don't blog again before Iceland, wish me luck. I probably will, though, as my US cell phone can text to blog.

Trail Blazer Mix!

On Friday, The Pedant and I begin a 10 day trip to Iceland, Oslo and Copenhagen. We are oh so excited - the highlights include vikings, snorkeling in Lake Silfra, puffins, vikings, Ibsen's house, old books, vikings, legos, cheese and vikings. Yesterday, TP and I went to the mall to acquire some extra things for the trip and then went to 3 supermarkets to make a trail mix. We are attempting to save some money on snacks and meals by packing some of our own food (including the mini packets of Barney Butter Almond Butter in my quart sized bag) with some rice cakes I bought), our favorite, Fiber 1 Bars, and trail mix of our own creation. So we bought the fixings for an incredible mix.

At Trader Joe's we got:
Shelled Pistachios
Dried Mango with Chili Powder
Dried Apples
Dried Cranberries
Sunflower Seeds

At Whole Foods we got:
Wasabi Peas
Soy Nuts

At The Teet we got:
Almonds
Wasabi-Flavored Almonds

(I'm sure I forgot something but you get the point.)

We will then add some golden raisins and regular raisins that we have at home.

This should be a splendid mix of sweet, nutty, spicy and tiny bit salty flavors. It will keep me full when TP eats every kind of pickled fish northern Europe has to offer.

Almond Butter Love

So I'm making my first official MDWDP endorsement: Barney Butter almond butter. I heard about it from one of the Self Magazine blogs I read and figured they had free samples why not try them. Turns out they are very good. Creamy but not too sticky like how peanut butter can be sometimes. And although it's calorically very similar to PB (which will always have a great place in my heart) it has more fiber and less saturated fat. m Plus it come sin little 0.6 oz packets that I thought would be great to travel with. Except apparently peanut butter is considered a liquid/gel, so I have to fit it into my quart sized bag or check it (which we're avoiding doing for our upcoming trip).

But it is a really great breakfast food on an English muffin* and with a nice bowl of fruit. Served me well this week.

*While defrosting my English muffin I noticed it said on the bag "Now made with no high fructose corn syrup!" I kinda never wanted that in my English muffin anyway...

In this economy...

A friend of mine commented on FaceBook that the phrase "in this economy..." should be banned from advertising, as it's more manipulative than true. But, as I said as Mark Antony in my sixth grade production of Julius Caesar, "so let it be with Caesar."

One wants to make an unforgettable impression in the job search, right? And, in case of emergency, have a secondary food supply? I know I do, which is why the Meat Cards concept - rectangles of beef jerky laser-etched with one's business information - appeals to me. Hopefully, they'll even use kosher jerky.

My sister says that, for this idea, I am "absurd," which just means that I am full of misunderstood brilliance, like Nikola Tesla.

Vegetarian Times Win - Again!

Monday night was a Vegetarian Times Win - which seems to be a pattern lately. The best magazine subscription ever.

We made 2 different dishes from the April/May 2009 issue. They didn't go together per-se, but worked well in their own right.

Whole-Wheat Shells with Asparagus and Peas

This was from their "Greening Up Your Kitchen" section. Normally, I dislike their preachy lifestyle guides - although I do try to live an environmentally friendly lifestyle, I don't need VT commanding me to do it and make all my friends do it - but they had some interesting ideas and recipes (i.e., a scone recipe since scones cook 10-15 minutes faster than bread; using toaster ovens instead of conventional ovens). This recipe is "green" since it uses the same pot of water to make the veggies and pasta. I made it Sunday night (it was to be Saturday evening's dinner but Chinese food trumped) and it was fairly simple and tasty. I did make some quick switches, which I won't do next time. (I didn't have enough fresh basil, so I used dried. Not worth it. I didn't have garlic oil, and instead of thinking ahead to soaking some garlic in EVOO for a bit I used EVOO and garlic powder. Also not good.) But it was refreshing and tasty. It has 1/2 cup fresh mint and lemon zest which give it a tang. Also, some feta, and I love crumbled feta.

Thai Eggplant and Green bean Stir Fry

This is from their "30-minute meal section" where the "secret ingredient" is coconut milk. This dish was a complete win. Basically, cut up and stir fry small eggplants. Then using the "coconut cream" (the part of the coconut milk on the top of the can before shaking it) you stir fry the aromatics - ginger, garlic, Thai chili paste and add in the green beans and 1 red onion (our red onion was very unhappy so no go for that) and the rest of the coconut milk. Let it stir fry to perfection. And it was perfection. We said next time either we can add in chicken, tofu or both to make it a more filling dish.

Vaguely Mexican Dinenr

Last night we had a vaguely Mexican Dinner - perhaps in preparation for Cinco De Mayo? Probably not, mostly because we wanted to do a crock pot dinner since I was working and The Pedant was out with friends. We decided to make a black bean soup which we've had before and it's been good. So TP set it in the afternoon and I made a salad when I came home. Which I am very proud of. It was:

Romaine lettuce
A perfectly ripe avocado (it was so creamy and delicious)
Sliced white mushrooms
A red onion
A can of corn

The dressing was great and light:
EVOO
Lemon juice (from a bottle - foodies don't yell at me!)
3 minced garlic cloves
Salt
Pepper
Splenda sugar blend

The salad came together nicely. There was a sweetness and tartness in the dressing which was binded with the avocado also. The corn added color and the onion wasn't too strong.

The soup was also really very good. It was the perfect dinner. I'm very excited for leftovers for lunch (with some fat-free crumbled feta on my salad!).