Friday, August 20, 2010

Friday, I'm in love

TGIF times infinity.

Did you ever do that as a kid?  Argue with someone about how much more of an idiot they are than you, until one of you finally said, "You're retarded times infinity!" (To which the other party would obnoxiously respond, "Fine.  But you're retarded times infinity plus one."  Game over - you lose.)

No?  Okay, then let's just move on to yet another joyful post about how great it feels to arrive at the end of a long and harrowing work day to find that the weekend has begun.  It's starting to feel like each Friday is more exciting, necessary, and rewarding than the last, while Monday continues to become more and more dreadful, in every sense of the word.  I'm pretty sure I will be even more excited to greet next Friday.

So far, I've greeted the weekend by opening my new bottle of Yellow Tail Shiraz-Grenache (AKA fuchsia) and making Italian-Style Rice Casserole from Vegan Italiano.  It wasn't the most ideal wine pairing as there is really nothing Italian about this wine at all... Yellow Tail is an Australian company, all good Shiraz is from Australia, and Grenache is from northern Spain/southern France.  I guess Spain is close to Italy, just across the Mediterranean and whatnot.


It was tasty, though a little muted in flavor, and the veggies were a bit mushy.  I was supposed to simmer it for half the time and bake it for the other, but I just couldn't make myself go through all that trouble, especially after I looked for parking for forty-five minutes (no joke).


In fact, let me interrupt this post with a Public Service Announcement from your friendly, disgruntled local.  When you come to spend your time (and money, hopefully) in my community on Friday and Saturday nights, please keep the following things in mind:
  • No one wants to hear your music but you.
  • Honking your horn will not turn the red light green
  • Holding your horn down will not help the person trying to park their car accomplish this any faster.
  • If your car alarm is sensitive enough to go off every time someone so much as looks at your car, don't be surprised if you return to find a screwdriver stabbed through the hood of your car.
  • Revving your motorcycle in order to set off car alarms is not actually funny.
  • I don't care how drunk you are.  I'm trying to sleep.  Go away.
  • People live everywhere in the city.  There is nowhere that you can hang out on the corner at 4am, laughing loudly and/or yelling at each other where you will not be disturbing the sleep, nocturnal activities, or general peace of a resident.  Go home and be inconsiderate in your own neighborhood.
  • Pedestrians in a crosswalk have the right of way.
  • Pedestrians crossing the street at random places do not.  If you don't want to get hit, cross at a crosswalk.
  • You are under no obligation to park in the lots.  However, please bear in mind that the streets outside our homes are generally the places that residents would prefer to park their cars.  Without looping around their neighborhood for 45 minutes after a long day ending a long week at work.  How would you like it if I park in your driveway the next time I head out to the suburbs for fireworks or a party?
Thank you for your attention.  Now back to your regularly scheduled foodie blog:

Last night, I made Penne with Cannellini Beans and Escarole, also from Vegan Italiano.  Actually, it ended up being Penne with Cannellini Beans and ... mixed baby greens... since apparently Whole Foods and SuperFresh were all out of escarole.  To be honest, I can't say I've ever seen escarole in either store.  I've also never really looked.





Speaking of looking, isn't it attractive?  I think my favorite part, besides how savory the whole thing was and how well everything went together, was that the penne was perfectly al dente, even though I accidentally cooked it about 2 minutes longer than the package said.  I used Rienzi brand - I don't think I've ever used their pasta, though I do avail myself of their artichoke hearts and roasted red peppers frequently.  If it's all so toothsome, I may have just developed a pasta brand loyalty for the first time ever.


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