Tofubulous

For most of my days I've been in the "Tofu is a Satanic Creation" camp. Back when I dated the arty types, I had a few boyfriends who insisted I try it and love it. It's not a coincidence they are now in my Ex Files. But then one day last fall, down the street at our neighborhood Thai place, something strange came over me. I ordered pad see ew (also known as: The Best Dish On Earth) with tofu instead of chicken. And it was PERFECTION.

But I knew I couldn't just run out and whip up some yummy tofu lickey split, because these restaurant people had practice, right? Making tofu taste good could not be an easy task, because why had so many failed me before?

So I did my research. I asked my Twitter friends, I asked my real life friends, I asked the Internets at large. And I made it happen, people. I made it happen ree-aal goooood.

he could have just opened the door

just as i was flapping my yapper about how pretty and lovely and smart this city is, cc and i woke up to a broken-into car. sad face, upset tummy. some bad guy used a key (?!) to get into our lobby and then our garage, spotted our schmancy nikon camera strap only sort of hidden underneath a sweatshirt, and bashed in our sweet little v-dub's back window to grab it. he also found my new not-schmancy-but-still-loveable camera tucked into a side pocket. he must be a photographer.

the frustrating part (aside from the fact he got into our building uninvited and took our things) was the car = unlocked! the glass-bashing, which will run us about two-hundy to fix (thank you cc for hunting down the deal), was completely unnecessary, and made my car look all undignified and frumpy. ack.

the locks will be changed and we'll be extra-careful now about a) letting anyone non-tenant into the building and b) leaving anything in our car, but it's still creepy and unfair. ah, city living.

in happier news, i'm debuting my cooking skills tonight for non-family-members. we'll sit around our little white table by the window and enjoy the view of the bay, visible through the small space between two mansions. would you like to hear the menu?

tomato and basil (homegrown!) soup
garlic bread for dipping
green (spinach pesto i'll make in my processor) gnocchi
homemade ginger snaps (amy sedaris recipe)
pumpkin pie ice cream (cc is in charge of this one, "as long as you buy me the ingredients")

nom nom nom, says cookie monster.

realizations

isn't it sad when your mom drives you to an abandoned railroad bridge in the woods near your old high school for a lovely tour of the foliage and says:

"this looks like it's probably where the cool kids come to hang out"

and you look around and see lots of beer cans and old campfires and agree - then realize you never "came to hang out" there in all your formative years?

sigh.

in other news, we made a delightful batch of apple butter today and poured it into some leftover mason jars from our wedding. very laura ingalls wilder and very cool kid.

i'm on a real kick lately

of trying to create things at home that i usually buy. it started with chai lattes, because after years of overly sweet, not very spicy cups from all my neighborhood coffee stops (i'm excluding you, la boulange!) that existed in stark comparison with the real chai i fainted over in india, i was done. my lovely friend manjari heard my plea for help and brought over these tea bags, which i treat like gold, purchased from an indian food store and created by flavor angels. dropped in a saucepan filled with boiling milk (whole tastes best, but i usually do skim, argh) and a couple teaspoons of sugar and bam - spicy satisfaction, complete with milky film post-pour.

today, i re-created pinkberry for cc's berfday. (happy 3-1, buddy!) tangy, plain, full-fat yogurt + twoish teaspoons of honey + 1/3 cup of sugar + 15 minutes in the ice cream maker + raspberries and mangos on top = yumtown. perhaps we can finally stop making those 11:00 dashes down fillmore on the vespa, to pay $4.00 for 4 minutes of tasting?

up next? the grove's kc's salad. mustardy dressing and cranberries and pistachios and grapes and mystery ingredients. i. will. crack. that. code. so. help. me. god. (and my wallet.)

two treats yesterday

1) i drove my fine self to noe valley and checked out the san francisco mystery bookstore because apparently i have been living under a rock and never knew it existed? it must have been all that positive thinking that made my dreams come true! it's probably for the best in regards to our shelf space and wallets that the past two years i've remained clueless, but this place is awesome-o. rows and rows and rows of mystery and crime fiction, many of them in paperback form, many with deliciously campy old covers. i wanted to grab armfuls and run, but my arms are pretty skinny as it turns out and i only walked away (read: bought) with four. favorite moment? when i dropped a couple books on the floor and the shopkeeper whipped around and said "YOU DROP 'EM YOU BUY 'EM." with a totally straight face. comedy!

2) i cooked myself up a juicy steak. cc casually mentioned he'd had some for dinner and suddenly, frantically, i needed to have one for myself. i had not a clue how to cook it, but with the kind help of friends and the internets (sear 3 minutes on each side, followed by about 5 minutes in an oven set to 350 degrees - use an iron skillet with those grill mark things) i soon had a most delicious dinner in front of me. i cut up two tomatoes, sprinkled them with olive oil and salt and pepper, poured myself some lemonade and was ready to stuff. since it was a real dinner and all, i even sat at our table and used a napkin! i have to admit, the whole thing felt a whole lot better than the typical peanut butter toast i eat come the eating hour. i'm all growed up!

can you tell i should be working on my book right now but i'm not?

no, no i'm too busy to write, you see! i'm drinking a homemade coke float. and it's delicious. and important.

here's the recipe:

take a glass. it should be tallish.

put a few tiny (or large! go crazy!) scoops of haagen daaz vanilla frozen yogurt on the bottom. (i hate vanilla ice cream, but for some reason vanilla froyo is acceptable and even, occasionally, delicious.)

open a can of coke. real coke, not the stuff with the fake stuff.

pour it in.

guzzle and delight and sugar coma.