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tea and a movie

GeeksDoItBetter and I watched The Hard Word with Guy Pierce. It was a heist movie I picked up randomly because VHS is cheap as can be these days. But we both like heist movies, and this was the video we picked.

But, ummm… guys… you’re doing it wrong.

When you meet the characters in prison, you kind of think one of them might have a dark secret… well, the closest you get is confessed to the shrink to get into her pants and doesn’t affect the action at all. You’d think that the merry band of thieves might not trust each other 100%, but no, they’re brothers and they’re sticking together through it all. You’d think the obvious bad guy might be a misdirection from the sneaky bad guy, but no. You’d think that when one of the brothers gets sick before the big heist, it would be part of some clever plan and create opportunities for deception; but no, he just whinges a bit and gets on with things without it really affecting his job performance. When they lose the money, you’d think that it might be someone double crossing them to steal it all for his/herself; but not so much a double cross as the main guy being stupid enough to tell the Bad Guy where he stashed the money. Really. So you’d think that when the Bad Guy comes back to the six months later with another heist proposal they’d find some way to double cross him and steal all the money, but no, they just shoot him. *blink*

Not the movie I was looking for.

Also, it would have helped if the female lead could act… or even move her mouth when she talks.

And I tried a new tea over at [redacted]’s: Republic of Tea’s Yerba Mate Latte

tasting notes: deep, chocolaty brew. An exotic blend of cocoa and Brazilian mate, featuring small amount of natural caffeine. Rooibos, cactus flowers and almonds add depth to this deep rich brew. Add steamed milk for a creamy herbal latte.

It was every bit as rich and tasty as promised, but it was right on the line as to whether it should have dairy in it. On the one hand, it’s rich and desserty; but on the other hand, it’s green and red teas and not too bitter or dark. I ended up putting milk in it, and was pleased.

I have ordered a canister for myself. ETA: …or I thought I had.

salad -> pasta

Bought 6 pounds of ground turkey today and turned 2/3 of it into meatballs and 1/3 into 3 ounce patties.

I have two kinds of kale. One looked tasty and mild (and was being sold by the only booth at the farmers’ market run by city kids), and the other one is the kind of kale called for in this NYT recipe. I am tempted, though, to make that hot (instead of a raw salad) and serve it with my meatballs and some pasta. And by serve, I mean eat up all by myself! (Actually, since I think that will let me cut the oil way lower, it might turn out healthier.)

So far today, I have eaten nothing other than 3 peaches and the meatballs I plucked while hot from the oven (to test for doneness, of course… well, that and because I was hungry and they were tasty)… but I might be too hungry right now for more elaborate cooking. Good thing the recipe looks like it will be fairly quick to throw together on a weeknight.

food list

Food I have
Produce
3 red bell peppers
1 orange bell pepper
1.5 tomatoes
2 pears (not quite ripe)
scallions
collard greens (enough for 1 more breakfast)
lettuce!
carrots
elderly zucchini
1 grapefruit
1 lime
orange juice
dried tomatoes

portabella fajita leftovers
beet & leek coconut soup
fried leeks

Meat
1-2 oz of taco pork leftover
3 oz of steak leftover from Legal’s
6 oz of beef fajita leftovers
chicken, dark meat

Bread
tortillas, white flour or whole wheat flour

Meals?
Tonight
I’m really hungry – I don’t know that a salad will cut it.

ISO Foodies 4 soup help

I had beets and chicken stock and the brilliant idea to combine them together to make soup. And yet I have an irrational distrust of borscht (which I know kinda just means soup, but you know what I mean).

So I looked through my cookbooks (and gave a cursory glance at the internet) for beet soup recipes that were not called borscht. And didn’t find any of them appealing.

Instead, I made shit up on my own.

Here’s what I have done so far:

  • sliced thinly and sauteed leeks (white and green part) until thoroughly cooked. Season with salt as it sweats.
  • Add 5 cloves of garlic, minced, and 1/2″ of ginger, minced – saute for 3-5 more minutes
  • Add some fennel, 4 beets, and 1 cup of stock and let simmer for 30 minutes
  • Add a can of coconut milk (and if I’d thought to add some lemongrass at the beginning with the leeks, that would have been awesome) and the rest of the stock. Season with salt and pepper and 1 clove.
  • Let cook down
  • Refrigerate overnight and skim some of the fattiest layer

And then I tasted it, and it needs something else. I was kind of thinking that it needed a can of black beans (and my usual go-to friend for food agreed, but I’m having second thoughts. My mother argues that black beans would be the same kind of flavor family as the beets and leeks and that there needs to be contrast. One of the other beet soup recipes I have calls for an apricot puree swirled through the soup, and that might be right. We did decide that thai basil was not the right accoutrement.

food list

food I have
Produce
3 bananas
1 small potato
orange juice
2 grapefruits
5 beets w/ greens
collard greens
1.5 small zucchinis of imminent doom
5 leeks
buncha scallions
2 red bell peppers
1 orange bell pepper
inner half of a bunch of lettuce
leftovers from a portabella fajita
almost 1pt of leftover baighan bartha (eggplant curry)

*no carrots, buy more *done*
*no hot peppers, buy more

Meat
1/2 a container of stock
5ish 2ish ounces of pork slow-cooked with taco seasoning, orange juice, and stock (Mmmm!)

Meals planning
Thursday, June 26
going out for dinner

Friday, June 27
roast bell peppers (and zucchini?)
breakfast: Kenyan collard greens (buy a tomato) over a bagel with cream cheese
lunch: anyone want to meet for lunch?
dinner: spicy tofu with beet greens

Saturday, June 28
breakfast: grapefruit – stop by produce truck and look for other sexy fruit
Start soup – clean leeks, cook them down with oil (set some aside with a lot of salt for snack food), add carrots. And then figure out what kind of soup you are going to make from that. (ETA: Apparently, this soup should also include beets)
dinner: salad. So I have this intricate salad planned, but it’s missing an ingredient or two. Here’s what I’m thinking – lettuce (natch), carrots, raw zucchini, taco pork, banana, scallions, and then I’ve made a salad dressing with balsamic, tamarind juice, honey, mustard. My mother thinks this could also use some mandarin oranges… and maybe I could go orange segments, but probably my grapefruit would be too overpowering. I think this also needs nuts. I’m thinking cashews, but I only have almonds, walnuts, and pecans – and I don’t see buying a whole container of cashews just for 1 Tablespoon worth. But it needs a salty, doesn’t it? *Done – cashews were a tasty addition*

Sunday, June 29
take bagels to my parents
eat dinner at Legal’s (I think I’ll go to the wood-grilled wild salmon)
give mother – argh – I was just looking at something the morning and reminding myself to take it this weekend. Oh, and the heavy cream.
get from mother – books to repair, leftovers
return bras to Lane Bryant
stop by Whole Foods on way home (if still open) and see if they have more conditioner and 1lb of spring mix for a reasonable price

Monday, June 30
breakfast: bagel w/ roasted pepper cream cheese
make rice for baighan bartha, and put up portions for lunch.
dinner: quesadillas – use up portabella leftovers, some of the leeks, the last of the roasted bell peppers, and the last of the collard greens.

Tuesday, July 1
dentist appointment at 11am
therefore, have to do weight watchers meeting at 12:30, rather than 11:30
therefore, request medical time from work.
breakfast: mango from fruit truck
dinner: something with beets. And 1 potato (if it survives that long). Ooo… maybe I should put those in the soup. Are there any soup recipes with beets that are not borscht?

Wednesday, July 2
time for a dinner out

Thursday, July 3
dinner plans in

Friday, July 4
D&D