Improv: Quiche.

A quiche made entirely from random free expired & semi-damaged shit acquired at work: Avocados (I am a huge fan of the cooked avocado), tomatoes, spinach, snow pea sprouts, raw milk cheese, in a homemade whole wheat pastry crust (by Owen, not me), with a baby arugula salad & Annie's organic buttermilk dressing. An exercise in the "work with what you have" model that we like to use around here, i.e. the Iron Chef Challenge Dinners invented by Rin & I.

1.30.2010: Free Dinner.

Eaten in bed drinking a 40 of King Cobra ('cause we classy like that) & watching Xenia the Warrior Princess on the laptop. Yes, really. Makes for an excellent Saturday night when it's January in Massachusetts & the weather is subzero. When will spring be here? End is pretty much ready for Farmers Markets & gardening.

I'm not dead.

I do want to share some food with you that I have painted (in the company of Liz for some of them) that I was lazy to post. :(


After extracting these guys from the garden this summer I had to take a picture. And then, of course, I painted them.


This is the way I wish breakfast happened to me sometimes. Emerald will have to work on that pancake flip though.




Eat more kale.

xo
Rin

Bacon Lasagna, Circa December 2009.

If y'all have been keeping up with my archives over here, you'll recall that the breathtaking Bacon Lasagna was invented one hot July night at Hugo's as a last minute inspirational dish for Izaac's bacon party (yes Izaac is only mentioned on this blog in connection to bacon). Then I made it for Melissa sometime in September & it again ruled. So for Melissa's welcome back to Noho from Europe dinner, I made it for the third time. It's always different. This time it had avocado, for some reason, & free fancy cheese from work.

Anatomy of A Bacon Lasagna (drawing inspired by this classic DnD post):

These were the layers: Vermont applewood smoked bacon, summer squash, roma tomatoes, gloucester onion & chive cheddar, raw sheep's milk pecorino, avocado, & shallots & garlic previously sautéed in melted butter & white wine. Then all baked together in delicious greasy melting layers of unspeakable delight. OMG!

While baking: a very classy cheese platter made of entirely free cheese & crackers from work. Go, work. Served on our reasonably new very stylish cheese platter from the Westfield Salvation Army.
& the main course served over noodles = a fabulous dinner party with Melissa, Nate & Owen, 12.12.2009, during which we also enjoyed the astonishing raver crafter supplies found in my attic that night, glow in the dark beads & sequined ribbons, anyone? Plus, as free glue glun!
& then we all obviously went dancing at the Basement, the end. (of that night).

And Life As We Know It Will Never Be The Same.

1.18.2010: The Great Chocolate Bacon Blue Cheese Burger Experiment.

Yup. That kind of says it all, doesn't it? Long story short, a drive home from work on a January night, past Burger King, OMG BURGERS, impulse trip to Stop & Shop for ground beef, come home to realize that the fridge happens to be full of free blue cheese from work & the fabulous Izaac's chocolate bacon (delivered to my register at work along with the OMFG chocolate parmesan). & in the freezer, some crappy frozen steak fries that I had recently bought on a whim. So....what did we do? Why, this.

Truly a life changing experience. Chocolate, bacon, cheese, red meat, combined in one bite. I'm gonna just leave you to contemplate that one.

Boys, Kittens, Sisters.

Also known as my favorite things. More portraits. Of PEOPLE! NOT FOOD. OMFG. I don't know what's up, I've been visually more into faces than dishes lately, maybe I need some cooking inspiration. Or maybe I just like the people (&cats) in my life a lot.

1.22.2010. Owen & Ali, over sandwiches at the Black Sheep.

1.23.2010. Owen & DR enjoying facebook together, in our bed.

12.19.2009. DR in a nest of blankets watching me paint (most likely something for this website).

I think I have the mid-winter blues, sort of. You know what I need to do? I need to roast a duck. Oh yes, that IS what I need to do.

Better With Company.

What's better than eating & drawing, or drinking, for that matter? Your Peeps, of course.

Some recent portraits, better than the last round, in my humble opinion.

12.15.2009. Owen & Melissa, 133 South, pre-gaming for Tuesday Basement Dancing.

12.30.2009. Our kitchen, Owen cooking, DR watching (something). Chicken, lemongrass, & brussel sprouts.
1.19.2010. Owen wearing his new hat, from the Palmer Goodwill, at the dinner table.
1.20.2010. Owen, DR, & a bottle of Jameson (really good price on this at the Big Y, FYI, y'all). Yes, yet again, before Tuesday dancing at the Basement.
Yeah, these are mostly Owen & DR. but they are my family, so makes sense, & of course, the always lovely Melissa rules & is an excellent dancing & dining partner, so all good.

Want to be drawn & eat delicious food? Show up here for dinner, be immortalized on this blog. I PROMISE.

Tuesday, Tuesday...You Know, What Happens Before Dancing At The Basement...

Part One: Noodles, Curry, Pie.

So here in Northampton, Massachusetts, as I'm sure you well know, we do this thing where we like to dance a lot on Tuesday nights, at the Basement. With Purity Supreme. Been going on for a long time, kind of a tradition in some (awesome) circles. Usually, we pre-game. If you're pre-gaming with me, you're eating dinner too, because my favourite way to spend time with my friends is to cook for them.

12.1.2009: Some zucchini, udon noodles, tons of red wine, & then Liz & Owen go dancing, wearing vintage fur coats.

12.15.2009: Curry made from still more leftovers of this chicken....& still more red wine...
...& later the same night, vodka & Natalie's Orchid Island fresh squeezed grapefruit juice cocktails, & this key lime pie...
...& then, dancing to hip-hop. & later more food, more drinks, more dancing.

On that note, Eating & Drawing says: go to Amazing Love tonight at the 11's because I CANNOT tonight, sadly, but YOU should. SERIOUSLY.

Rabbits Cure Swine Flu? A December Story.

Or Homemade Hot & Sour Soup does?

As I mentioned in my Christmas post, Owen & I spent most of mid-December through New Year's sick sick sick SICK. With Swine Flu! So topical of us! We like to definitely live in tune with all major news stories.

This was a December day right at the beginning of our bout with the plague (before we were reduced to surviving on instant miso soup packets mixed with sriracha, chili oil & sesame oil eaten in bed due to utter lack of strength), a gray chilly day involving walks with dogs & a trip (my first!) to Yankee Candle (don't ask). Possibly we can blame Yankee Candle for the severity of our illness, or at least their Drift Away scented candle. Yes really, wtf? Where in god's name are we drifting to? Where, Yankee Candle? & Why is your fake snow so fucking lame?

So, I had a day off from work, attempted to not get really sick, went to Yankee Candle, came home in desperate need of soup, SUPER SPICY SOUP which is how I knew the flu potential was bad, & made some hot & sour soup with the stock from this chicken.

& ate it with Annie's Bunnies crackers. & lots of Yamamotoyama green tea, & still got REALLY SICK. I still blame Yankee Candle. Maybe it was the Evening Air candle that did it. Cause the soup was actually pretty fucking good. & soup, good hot sauce, & green tea usually save me from getting sick.

We really were not doing well already at this point, so this recipe was kind of random, stay tuned for the non-delirious version. This one was just homemade chicken stock, leftover chicken, sriracha, chili oil, sesame oil, white wine vinegar, cornstarch, whatever random veggies we could find, garlic, jalapenos.

The moral: Unicorns come from Yankee Candle (want to know what that means? feel free to comment & I'll tell you, promise promise).

Non-Traditional Holiday Foods (Soup & Eggs).

Yeah, I know, I've been very late with the holiday posts, but let's just pretend that it's not yet January 10th, ok? I mean, the Christmas tree IS still up around here & all...so, um, yeah, Christmas did happen, I believe around a couple of weeks ago or some shit like that, & undeniably the holidays are ALL ABOUT FOOD but we don't usually do it up normal food-wise in the assorted Diamond households. (thankfully for this website, DR & I did it up all traditional for Thanksgiving). Crap Chinese food in New Bedford or Dennis is really how we like to roll on Christmas day, but this year we did this...

Creamy Parsnip Soup, made with great success by Ali & Barb from The Martha Stewart Everyday Food Cookbook, eaten by the Christmas tree in bowls on our laps with bread & cheese, in a funeral home in Turners Falls. Actually, one of the six Christmas trees, all suitably gorgeous. Oh & we used Ali's new Christmas immersion blender, that was a good time.

& the next morning, our sit down holiday meal took place over breakfast at Sylvester's before shopping for all our favourite things like boots & yarn. (yes, I have those boots from The Mountain Goat & shawl yarn was purchased from Northampton Wools, & of course small red birds for everyone from The Artisan Gallery. Thanks, Mum.)
My breakfast: the Community Garden Eggs Benedict, essentially eggs, hollandaise, tomatoes, spinach, broccoli. My only complaint, that I had to borrow bacon from Mum, because all the breakfasts were EITHER meat or veggie, none both. VEGETABLES TASTE GOOD WITH MEAT PEOPLE. COME ON.
Note: Owen & I had swine flu over Christmas which did affect our ability to be festive. But no fear, we drank a lot of JohnnieWalker in bed while watching around Shaft collection DVD set we purchased Christmas Eve from Big Lots. New Christmas tradition? Dustyrose thinks so.

2010.

So this is the first New Years for EnD, & therefore, Mississippi Black-Eyed Peas!

Black-eyed Peas are pretty traditional for New Year's (although I just tonight leaned from Wikipedia that they are the "mulatto gelato" omg!), but I was once married to a southern lady (yes, really but only in Massachusetts)) & my recipe ever since came from her dad's secretary in his law firm in Jackson, Mississippi. So this is pretty seriously Southern shit. Been a long time since I've seen that lady, but I stick to that recipe.

This year, served New Year's morning (or 1pm New Year's Day) with bacon & eggs before taking a walk in the woods in the snow, buying a flat iron at Marshall's with my xmas gift card from mum & letting my boyfriend cut all my hair off & give me bangs.

oh yeah, the recipe: sometime New Year's Eve Day, in a large sturdy tupperware container, marinate 2 cans black-eyed peas, one can Rotel tomatoes (essential ingredient), several whole garlic cloves, peppercorns, & red wine vinegar & olive oil until it covers everything, & leave

until the next morning , when you are hungover & ready to start the new year right, with this, & of course bacon.

HAPPY NEW YEAR, love & kisses EnD xo.

Book Swap & Stir-Fry.

1.3.2010. As well as being legendary old school DnDer Jed's birthday (happy birthday jed, xo EnD) last Sunday was the first of hopefully regular Book Swaps/Tea Parties at 133 South. There were homemade crumpets! & blueberry scones! (all made by Abigail, & I didn't even draw them, shame on me!). Fuck, there was homemade BUTTER, for Christ sake. We live it up, we do, at 133.

We acquired Rin's delightful company later on that evening, which occasioned the creation of an impromptu stir-fry, of red cabbage & carrots & leeks from Abigail's farm share & tofu & brown basmati rice, with an avocado on top (yay winter grocery avocado sales!).

Another Liz & Rin sketchbook collaboration: "me & Owen & stir-fry" by Rin, "Rin & stir-fry" by me. All drawn over delicious things to eat, music, wine, & good conversation, &...

Oh & remember part about the Book Swap?! Well many awesome books were exchanged, & so was the one that brought us this quote, helpfully lettered by Rin, coloured by me. Isn't that inspirational? Contact EnD for postcards/bumper stickers. (& yes, that came from a real book, current location of that book = my kitchen table).
Sorry for the long absence 'round here. But I still love friends, food, & really hilarious moments, so here I am, once more. Hi.