I can't think of a punny title with garlic and spices after going to the gym at 6:30

Last night for dinner The Pedant and I enjoyed a pasta primevera concoction (and will continue to enjoy it this weekend) and had stuffed zucchini from the vegetarian slow cooker cook book. They were quite tasty (and I will enjoy them for lunch today!) but it lead TP and I to discuss that this cookbook, although quite tasty, should be renamed "The Moderately Spiced Vegetarian Slow Cooker Book." Each recipe is delish but often is just lacking in spices. And, we even add way more than necessary. For instance, for a recipe that serves 4, the zucchini stuffing called for one clove garlic minced. Now, I ask you, is it 4 vampires? 4 people worried about bad breath? 1 clove of garlic is NOTHING. I added 4 cloves of garlic and it still wasn't garlic-y enough. (Ed. Note: The recipe was called "Zucchini Stuffed with White Beans and Pesto" and we kinda overlooked that when it called for fresh basil and fresh parsley and just used dried. But still, dried herbs are usually more potent than fresh herbs...and this isn't the first time.) So, we may just make emendations to this cookbook, always.

I've been on the quiet side - mostly because I don't get as much web time at work (but it's super quiet now) and I've been too tired to post in the evenings.

Food wise, The Pedant has done a good job explaining all my sentiments. We went back to a local Chinese place this weekend and found out that, so far, it's been consistently fair. Granted, it's been 2 times in total, but that's enough. Their cold noodles and sesame sauce was interesting - spicy (good) but "soupy" (bad).

I've been reclaiming my love for sweet potatoes. They were on sale at the supermarket this week and for lupper (I'm working the late shift tonight) I had one with apricot jelly and honey. In college, I ate them often (Harley's suggestion). I will use the other two for sweet potato "fries" for dinner this week.

Onions in the Slow Cooker

Updating today to tell you about my attempt to create stuffed onions in the slow cooker. The recipe called for hollowing out onions (a process that made the kitchen seem like riot suppression had gone on in there) and filling them with chopped onion, shiitake mushrooms, and breadcrumbs mixed with a variety of Asian sauces, then left to cook in sauce diluted in water.

It was edible, but odd, probably because the recipe called for the use of hoison sauce in too many places. I think using Soy Vay Teriyaki instead would provide a less cloying flavor. Also, chili paste should be added to the stuffing; that would give the dish a little more flavor.

The Sherbs made a lovely and tasty spinach egg drop soup; that we're making again, with little to no variation (maybe some tofu and a few more veggies).

Stuffed to the Gills

I have eaten. Probably too much.

Let me not recall the gastronomic excess of today - it would be familiar to most celebrants of the holiday, except for a selection of wheaty Belgian beers and some espresso vodka - and go to a happier time, two days or so ago, when the Sherbs and I made a vegetable bread pudding in the slow cooker.

It was very tasty; basically it was soaking bread in pureed white beans, then slow cooking them. How could that be bad?

Beeftastic!

I forgot to post yesterday about the best article I found in this month's Men's Vogue (yes, I am a subscriber) - how older Spanish oxen make tasty, tasty beef. Made me hungry all the way through.

Foods I Should Not Eat

Men's Health (typical article: "better abs for better sex") has an article on the twenty worst restaurant foods in America. I have eaten far too many of them, or equivalents at other restaurants.

While I'll always be a fan of the Amish vanilla pie (basically a pile of sugar in a pie, like a pecan pie without the pecans), this nutmeg-maple cream pie sounds decadently delicious.

As I am having Thanksgiving with House Sherbs, there will definitely be more ice cream than one could possibly stand. That'll be a bonus.

More Chinese

Yesterday the Sherbs and I went out with my parents to Canton Cafe, which my father calls the "Chinese Frog Restaurant" for its penchant for serving a multitude of frog dishes, and my friend Isu-kun calls the "barbecue pork place" for his (and Al's) penchant for purchasing pounds of barbecued pork there.

"Oh look, frog congee," was the first thing my father said on being handed the menu.

We did not have that. While it was dim sum time at the restaurant, most of the diners in our party were not interested in experimenting with dim sum, so we only got some char siu bao and taro cakes, plus some desserts with sesame paste and red bean paste. For our main dishes, we got Hunan beef, eggplant in garlic sauce, and fried tofu and vegetables cooked in Chinese casserole style. Very tasty.