In Praise of Toast

Now before you say, "Pssh - toast is boring", just hear me out.

This morning, surrounded by the icy leftovers of an early March snowstorm, I came to work and slipped off to the break room to get some hot water for my tea. As soon as I pushed the door open, I was enveloped in warm sunlight pouring through the windows and the scent of toasted bread - somehow unmistakeable for a bagel or an English muffin - and suddenly I'm friggin' Proust musing over his Madelines.

I have a long history with toast, mainly the Wonderbread kind, due mostly to the fact that it was the only thing I could eat - besides Ginger Ale and Saltines - when I was sick in bed as a child. You would think that this would cause toast to inspire negative thoughts (of nausea) in my mind, but instead it has achieved "comfort food" status. I am also not a big breakfast eater due to a weak stomach before noon, so tea and toast is what I usually turn to if I want something more substantial than yogurt.

In general, toast is best when served hot directly from the toaster or oven, golden brown and crunchy on the outside, hot and still slightly soft on the inside. This, to me, is the best way to ensure that the butter will melt evenly across the surface and the bread will sop up all of the jam or marmalade that you might want to pile on top (really, how delicious is butter + jam? and does anything act as a better foil to butter + jam than toast???). However, the best toast that I have ever eaten was served at the hotel where I was staying in Edinburgh, Scotland, on a weekend getaway during my semester Study Abroad. It was a heavy wheat bread, at least an inch thick, cold but perfectly toasted. They included with it a heavy little ceramic crock of pale, creamy butter that would make any stick of Land o' Lakes green with envy and, oh boy, was that the perfect breakfast to go with my fragrant cup of Earl Grey.

So you still think that toast is boring? Fine, maybe it is, but I'll take wholesome simplicity any day over sugary cereal or a giant, greasy plate of IHOP fare that will sit in your stomach like an anvil all day long.

...unless I'm hungover. Then I want McDonalds.

Behold! I am a candy maker.

Willy Wonka should give me that Golden Ticket and a job (and let me run around in the huge room with the candy teacups and the chocolate river because SERIOUSLY).

So it all began this evening as I was standing in front of the pantry eating chocolate chips out of the bag and I thought, "This is just sad", so I went about trying to find a more dignified way to get my chocolate fix. After I did some investigating into the pantry and discovered pretzels and pecans, I had a moment of divine inspiration - a.k.a What Would Ina Garten Do? - and I decided to combine the three ingredients to create a salty-sweet snack. Here is the recipe:

*Besides pretzels, chocolate chips, and pecans, you will need two glass bowls, a knife, a spatula, a cookie sheet, and some waxed paper. And a microwave and a refrigerator.

-Chop the pecans and put them in one bowl (you might have to repeat this step a few times).

-Dump half the bag of chocolate chips in one of the bowls and microwave at 15 second intervals, stirring between each nuking period, until chocolate is totally melted. This is Ina's easy way to temper chocolate :)

-Dip half of each pretzel in the chocolate, then dip it again into the chopped pecans.

-Lay the candy (woo hoo!) on the waxed paper on the baking sheet, and refrigerate until solid.

So you're probably like, "Whatever, my grandma could do that with her eyes closed", but I am proud that I came up with this recipe all by myself. Now I am off to spoil my dinner.

Whitesnake=Still Awesome

Aren't they pretty?

While I have yet to decide whether the invention of the Internet is ultimately good or bad for insomnia, it does at the very least give you something to do besides toss and turn for hours. When insomnia strikes for me, I often mosey over to YouTube to watch music videos (since MTV doesn't seem to be into them anymore). Early 90's R&B and 80's Hair Band videos are usually my favorites to watch because they remind me of a simpler time when the biggest things I had to worry about were homework and boys...although none of them resembled the hotties from Whitesnake. Easy to make fun of them now, but go and watch the "Is This Love?" video and see if it doesn't make you wish that you had a sweet pair of giant white pumps and Tawny Kitaen's hair.

Guilty Pleasure: Chasing Liberty

Have you ever had to pretend that you didn't like something that you really, REALLY liked because you were pretty sure that people would make fun of you for liking it? Well, to my delight I have discovered that the older I get, the less I care about what people think, so I'm willing to admit how much I love Chasing Liberty.

For those not familiar with the story, it is about the US President's daughter, Anna, who is tired of being sheltered and stalked by the secret service all the time, and she wants to be allowed to have a little freedom. Her father agrees to this while they are doing a goodwill tour of Europe, but, unbeknownst to Anna, he requests that a young *very cute* undercover agent follow her around and keep her safe while reporting back to him (her secret service code-name is "Liberty", hence the title). Hijinks ensue, the agent falls for the President's daughter and vice-versa, and then the drama occurs when Anna finds out that she has been duped by her father and lied to by the boy she loves.

Is it a rip-off of Roman Holiday? Sure, but Mandy Moore is delightful as Anna, Matthew Goode is adorably sexy as the secret agent, and they travel through Prague, Venice, and Berlin, so you get to see gorgeous European scenery. Best of all? There is a happy ending which involves riding through the streets of London on a Vespa while Puccini's "Nessun Dorma" plays in the background. Sometimes I wish Audrey Hepburn and Gregory Peck could have had an ending like that.

Somebody Should Get a Prize for This Idea

Okay, how brilliant are these wedding cakes made out of cheese? I think that millions of people have thought, "How kickass would it be to have a wedding cake made of cheese?", but they don't follow through with it because it's weird, or they are afraid of what their guests would say. Personally, I would say, "This is the best wedding ever, bring me more cheese."

Thanks to A CUP OF JO (one of my fave blogs) for finding the site.

Blogs That I Like - Rachel Eats

While checking out my blog roll, I will click on any and all links that look even mildly interesting. Sometimes this is a bad thing (porn hides EVERYWHERE, doesn't it?), but most often it is how I discover some of my favorite new blogs.

Rachel Eats is one of these, and it is gorgeous. An English girl living in Italy, Rachel likes to cook, write, and eat, and I'm so glad that she does all three so very well. Each blog post comes with a recipe and a story, sometimes current and sometimes nostalgic, and she describes the cooking experience so thoroughly that you feel like you are sitting in her kitchen. Her post on the stuffed fried zucchini flowers that accompany the meal at her favorite pizzeria (crispy pizza from a wood-fired oven) has inspired me to try to make my own, and I'm not a big fryer.

The image above is of Spice-Poached Apricots and Creme Fraiche.

Teaberry Gum

Just bought a pack of Clark's Teaberry Gum at the office cafeteria. I haven't seen it available for sale in a while, but I always loved the pretty pink wrappers and retro design. I had a real teaberry once (on an impromptu hike through Cranesville Swamp), and it actually did taste like the gum!