Le Creuset!!!!

I did it. I bought a Le Creuset dutch oven. It is the most beautiful piece of cookware I have ever seen. I've wanted one for so long but being as expensive as they are I held off. I finally decided to say to heck with it and get one.

What excites me the most is that it will last a lifetime and I will be able to cook pretty much anything in it. I can't wait to get little brown bits of meat stuck to the bottom to scrape off and make a tasty sauce with. As you can see I've got it all planned out.

I'm too poor right now to go out and buy anything worthwhile to make a meal out of so I broke it in with a hodgepodge curry I made. I'll make another post when I make a full-blown meal in it.

Slumdog Millionaire

What an amazing movie. I wasn't even aware it was playing in my town's tiny theater, but thanks to an email from a professor I as able to see it right before the Academy Awards.

I am still running on the high you get after seeing an excellent movie. At the risk of sounding cliche, this movie moved me in so many ways. I traveled to India about a year ago and saw firsthand many of the sights shown in the movie. The great part about this movie is that it showed the sad inner workings of India through the eyes of someone living it, which is a world many tourists will never know.

Everything about this movie was great. I was pulled in to the movie from the beginning scene and my eyes never left the screen until the credits began. I know this is sounding a bit over dramatic but I just can't convey how wonderful this movie is. I encourage you all to go see it! The music in the movie is great as well and I can't wait to buy the soundtrack and the movie!

Under Pressure!

Tonight I had a night off from work and thought it was a great opportunity to actually cook something. I went to the grocery store after class and got some items including the cheese of the month, Gouda. I'll figure out what to do with that later... Tonight I figured I'd try my hand at making something Moroccan-ish. I picked up an artichoke and some chicken while I was at the store and got to cookin'.

I put the artichoke in my new 3-in-1 pressure cooker after trimming off the pointy bits on the leaves. It cooked for 8 minutes.


I decided to try the Bare Chicken seeing as how I'm all for natural and organic foods and better treatment of animals.

I thought I'd let you guys check out the sizzling goodness for yourself instead of a picture. In the pan I had a few fennel seeds, a clove of garlic, half a small onion, and a tich each of garlic powder, allspice, and ground coriander. While that was cooking I made couscous and into the boiling water I put a pinch of dried sweet basil leaves. It all turned out really well. I don't know if the basil was a good addition to the couscous though. The chicken was also worth the price. I had a slice of roasted garlic bread as well that I dipped into the melted butter for the artichoke.

The finished product! Yumm!

Viva la Mexico!

Tonight I had a craving for quesadillas. I picked up a few groceries last night and got cookin' after I got home from work. I was inspired to make these after my friend Dee and I made some great quesadillas one night last week.

I started by marinating two enormous chicken breasts in lime juice and a sprinkling of Mrs. Dash's "Southwest Blend". They took a while to cook up because they were so big.


After the chicken breasts were done I rinsed the pan and sauteed a clove of garlic in olive oil for a few seconds and added in a medium onion. A little bit of added salt helps to speed up the cooking of the onions. Once the onions were turning brown I added a red and green bell pepper.

As soon as I added the peppers I saw the Mexican flag appear right before my eyes and the song below started playing!!!:

After all that excitement the filling was done and I shredded up the chicken.

Then came assembly...

The final product! They turned out great and I served them with sour cream, guacamole, and Paul Newman's peach salsa (shout out to my friend Cat!). And of course no meal is complete without a delicious libation! Tonight I had Widmer Brothers Drop Top Amber Ale, which was delicious!

¡Muy Sabroso!

My Current Addiction

So for my first post I thought I'd share a website that I'm addicted to. It's called Etsy and their About page describes them as: "An online marketplace for buying & selling all things handmade."

I forgot how I heard about this site, but I can't get enough. Much of my afternoons are spent browsing the vast amounts of merchandise that individual vendors are selling. What I like most about Etsy is the fact that shopping is personal again. I bought a necklace over winter break from a vendor and with my package came a handwritten note thanking me for my patronage. My other favorite feature about Etsy is the ability to save items or vendors to your "Favorites" so while you're browsing through, soaps, clothes, jewelry, and pottery you don't have to worry about forgetting that awesome necklace you saw.

The other day I stumbled on the necklace above and loved that it featured a centaur, the creature associated with the Sagittarius sign. I really like the vintage/aged look to it. I don't know if I'll buy it or not but it looks great! (I linked the vendor to the image so you can view their shop).

www.etsy.com (Make sure your homework is done before clicking!)