There were lots of fun decorations. And sombreros.

Jack zoomed around the backyard and investigated every bug and old baseball.

The Boyfriend played soccer with my little cousin.

My mother dropped the plate of hamburgers and hot dogs as they were about to go on the grill. We dusted them off and ate them anyway.

We had chicken and pasta salad and grilled CSA veggies and cake and white sangria.

Many fabulous presents were opened.

It was loud and and crazy and everybody ate too much.

It was perfect.

Thanks, family!

Anyway, renowned chef Dale Miller, owner of an Albany restaurant by the same name, did a cooking demonstration for us GenNEXTers followed by some shmoozin’ and boozin’ (my term, not theirs).

Yours truly is on antibiotics for a sinus infection so I skipped the booze part of the evening and made some new friends instead. While the conversation was great, the highlight was Dale Miller’s demonstration. It wasn’t anyway mind-blowing; he prepared a simple salmon filet with a miso glaze. But I love watching people cook, food nerd that I am, and he was a quiet yet funny guy. He reminds me a lot of one of my best friends fathers: short, sweet, and wonderfully corny.

The glaze was simple: sake, oil, sugar, miso paste, all simmered together in a pot. We sampled small portions. It was delicious. I’m a little biased though, because I love salmon but never have it unless the Boyfriend cooks it.

I was most surprised to learn that miso applies to our fifth taste. You know the four: sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Apparently scientists have recently identified a new taste: umami. It could also be called “savoriness.” I’m clearly not a reliable source on the matter, so follow the link for some better information for you. From Wikipedia. Of course.

The following appeal to our umami tastes: miso, mushrooms, ketchup, and cured pork. Go figure.

After the demonstration and before bidding us adieu, Chef Miller left us with one more corny tale. While he was visiting Japan, the tour guide reminded them how important it is to chill out every once in a while and “lerax.” “So tonight, don’t forget to chirr out and lerax,” he instructed us.

Fair enough. Between umami and lerax-ing, tonight was just about the craziest Wednesday night I’ve had in a while. If you’re in the Albany area, check out Dale Miller or the soon-to-be-reopened Sperry’s in Saratoga.

Like Chef Miller, I’m keeping this post short and sweet because it’s sweltering in our office. The Boyfriend insists he did NOT break the ceiling fan when he crashed into it during a victory jump over the U.S. win during the World Cup preliminaries today. But I know better.

Toppings: CSA scallions, tomatoes, tempeh, cheese, broccoli, mushrooms.

Trust me: fresh is BETTER.

I also fixed myself a mug of green tea to soothe a sore throat.

Celestial Seasonings has this to say about recycling:

Interesting point. I certainly feel a little better, considering we consume about 1,000 tea bags a week in this apartment.
Speaking of consuming vast quantities, I’ve had about eleven of these today.

Maybe only three, but they are addicting. Key lime bars, oh, yes indeed. These are from last night, as well, and they shan’t last long!!
Aside from pondering the negative effects of tea-drinking on the environment, the rest of my riveting night will be spent doing a bit o’ laundry, paperwork, and blogging.

With Sid.
Don’t you always sleep better knowing tasks have been crossed off the to-do list? That’s what I’m aiming for so I can get a solid night’s sleep.
Sid, who has been “helping” me write this post by attacking my fingers with each stroke of the keys, wishes you all a good night.

And he would like to remind you that three-hole punches make excellent pillows.

Rewind to Friday and I had a gala for work. Yes, that’s right, my new job entails galas. Well, maybe just the one. I had a blast and did to a lot of schmoozing and networking (and a little dancing!). Plus we raised money for a great organization. Win, win.

Tonight we went out to dinner at Applebees with a gift card my co-workers gave me when I left the Y.

Date night!

I had sizzlin’ fajitas, which were standard restaurant quality. It was the white peach sangria that was the highlight of my meal. Yum!

As we were driving home we passed UAlbany’s campus and caught sight of a fireworks show.

Fireworks from the car.

The Boyfriend did a superb job arranging fireworks for the finale of our date.

We came home and made brownies for sundaes. With butterscotch and hot fudge. And sprinkles. Because they make everything better.

More fun tomorrow!

I could not decide what I wanted to eat. Pasta sounded tasty and we certainly have a lot of it, but the hot weather made me wary of a belly full of spaghetti. A salad was the perfect choice, minus the lack of lettuce in my fridge. Kath’s soba noodle dinner of a few days ago stuck out in my mind and I headed to the market for supplies (plus a few random groceries).

Greens ‘N Things

From left:

• Stonyfield yogurts (my beloved Chobani is no longer on sale for 99 cents and I’d have to start selling my belongings to pay the normal price.)
• Plain yogurt
• Soy milk (for green monsters!)
• Spinach
• Spring greens
• Broccoli
• Brussels sprouts
• Bok choy
• Frozen edamame (I picked up the last two items at the Asian market. Bok choy was half the price compared to the supermarket — woohoo!)

I started the meal by chopping bok choy, mushrooms, and broccoli, and cooking linguine. Buckwheat noodles or whole wheat spaghetti would have been heartier, but we have white flour pasta and I’m not made of gold (see “can’t afford Chobani”).   

For dressing I whipped up some of my favorite peanut sauce.

I originally couldn’t remember where I had found this awesome recipe but I knew I had written about it on the blog. Quick search of my old posts lead me to this post. Thanks, blog!

After the pasta cooked I let it cool and steamed the vegetables.

Assemble and enjoy!

The meal could have used more sauce in my opinion. But I also just tried to lick a freckle off my arm because it appeared to be peanut sauce. So perhaps I’m biased.

Otis Redding came on the radio while I was cooking — perfect music for a warm and sticky evening. I will leave you with this:

Earlier today I ventured into the sunshine for an adventure with my boys. There was some fetch…

Awesome. I think next weekend we’re planning a REAL hiking day trip. The park was fine for today though. I was just happy to get some sun. So was this guy, who spazzed and sprinted like it was his job.

Pant, pant!

When we got home The Roommate, being her incredible self, was in the middle of making dinner. “I think we need to eat something real,” she declared. I was behind this sentiment 100%. Especially when this was the result:

Pork chops with cooked apples and onions, asparagus, and mashed potatoes. I said yes to all of the above:

My belly was so happy after this. I decided to go healthy for dessert and munched on a clementine. I have a thing for snack foods that involve work, like clementines, string cheese or peanuts. I think I like being kept busy and it takes longer to eat. Weird? Maybe. I’m cool with it.

Off to get to some stuff started for the week while we watch the Oscars. I think every one of us should strive to look as hot as Sigourney Weaver when we are 60. That is all.

Of Eastern New York, Albany got the least amount of snow in terms of accumulation, but from Tuesday to Friday it was cloudy and snowing or raining every minute of every day. Talk about needing some motivation and Vitamin D.

I tried to brighten the days with some color in the form of fruits and vegetables. It’s amazing how thankful I am for an orange when the ground, sky, and everything in between is gray.

That particular lunch also featured leftover pizza topped with hot sauce and pesto for a little excitement (I’m not even kidding, sometimes pesto is the most exciting part of my day.)

Here is my confession: I found this slice of homemade pizza in the back of the fridge and I admit that I cannot remember the exact date of its birth. But it looked fresh and (more importantly!) SMELLED fine, so it was added to the lunch menu. You can ask The Boyfriend: I am extremely sensitive to smelly things. If something smells off (pizza, produce, milk, your feet) you had best get it away from me pronto.

The random bit of pesto was from a Real Simple meal The Boyfriend had made the night before: Cod with Beans, Corn, and Pesto.

As you may have heard, The Boyfriend has been making fish lately.

The recipe is meant to have green beans, but when the boy came home from the store he announced that green beans were nowhere to be found, so he bought peppers instead. I was nervous about how the peppers would pair with the fish. Peppers are so flavorful and full of zing, whereas green beans are much milder. I said nothing though, which is unusual for me, but I am wary to criticize the hand that feeds me.

Let me tell you: The Boyfriend is 2 for 2. First the tilapia, now the cod. Success, my friends, delicious and fishy success! I was surprisingly full, without even eating a single noodle or slice of pizza.

Dinner was accompanied by a bottle of wine from our nice neighbors downstairs.

Dessert was accompanied by an episode of Criminal Minds (you can sneak a peek at Gideon and Hotchner in the background).

Following in The Boyfriend’s footsteps, I made a comforting Real Simple recipe for dinner the next night. (*I accidentally just typed “foodsteps” instead of “footsteps” — it still works, right??) I found this recipe in the magazine a couple of issues back and it just spoke to me. Seriously, how good does Creamy Barley with Tomatoes and Greens sound? The recipe makes a big ol’ pot, too.

I hate to say it, but this was honestly a little bland for me at first. I ended up adding some smoked Cheddar to the pot, and I think I would recommend skipping the Brie all together in favor of a smoked cheese. I also added some red pepper flakes for a little zing. I will say that I am completely in love with barley though. It’s so comforting and has such a good flavor. Barley stew has the same qualities as risotto: warm, filling, and good for you. I do recommend this recipe, but just add that you should be open to added your own favorite flavors.

The two apartment couples spent a night in on Saturday. We watched Spanglish and ate copious amounts of cheese. The Roommie and I decided early on that we wanted cheese, wine, and crusty French Bread for dinner.

Counterclockwise from the orange cheese: smoked Cheddar (if you have not tried it, you MUST!), Brie, herbed goat cheese, and smoked Gouda.

In addition to olives and bread we had grapes and an apple.

Sometimes I think it might be nice to lose five pounds, but with so much cheese in the world, is it worth it?

NO.

With our cheese we shared a bottle of Malbec.

I don’t know anything about wine, but I like Malbecs as far as red wine goes. Later we popped a bottle of Mondoro, which is sweet sparkling wine.

Jack and Lola were happy to chill with us in the living room (and wait for pieces of cheese to hit the floor). We wore the younger pup out — Jack fell asleep on my shoulder halfway through the evening.

But Lola was ready to hang out!

Lo-lo-lo-lo-lo-lola. (Do you know that song by the Kinks? I’ve been singing it all week.)

I ate more cheese last night than I’d care to admit. Despite the large block of dairy digesting in my stomach currently, I’m thinking sometime in the future this apartment needs to have a wine and cheese party. Ever hosted/been to one??