After giving a “bravo” to Backyardigans, I thought maybe I should praise an actual grown-up show, too, just in case anyone thinks I ONLY watch kids’ shows. Ha! So, bravo to 30 ROCK, I say!! What got me was the episode guest starring Pee Wee Herman as a sick, twisted foreign prince. I was stunned that NBC was actually broadcasting this show and not some oddball cable channel. It was outrageous!
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Posted in tv
Here’s a new word and new food (to me, at least): clafouti. It’s quite tasty and easy to make. You gotta love something that you make with a blender. There are a lot of variations out there in the webosphere. You could put in different fruits, too, not just strawberries. And I’ve decided it could be for breakfast, not just dessert. Hey, eggs, milk, fruit….. Try it and let me know how you like it!
Strawberry Clafouti
From Sunset MagazineAs easy to make as a pancake, this classic French dessert from the Limousin region involves pouring a simple batter over fresh fruit (typically cherries) and baking until puffed and golden brown. The fruit rises to the top, leaving a soft layer whose texture falls somewhere between custard and cake. Prep and Cook Time: 1 1/4 hours.
1/2 tablespoon butter
8 ounces strawberries, hulled and halved lengthwise
2 teaspoons cornstarch
3 eggs
1 cup milk
2/3 cup flour
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
Powdered sugar1. Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a 2-qt. baking or gratin dish with the butter. Toss strawberry halves with cornstarch until evenly coated, then arrange berries, cut side down, in bottom of dish and set aside.
2. In a blender, whirl eggs, milk, flour, granulated sugar, vanilla, and salt 15 seconds. Pour batter over strawberries.3. Bake until puffed, golden brown, and set in the center, about 50 minutes. Dust with powdered sugar and serve warm.
Note: Nutritional analysis is per serving.
Yield: Makes 4 to 6 servings
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During my trip last month to Texas, my first meal occurred at a great Tex-Mex restaurant called Mario and Alberto’s. Now, when you live in Dallas (or Austin) and love the Tex Mex as I do, you basically survey the options (eating one or two meals of Tex Mex a day, if necessary for your research) and find that this place has the best salsa, this place the best refried beans, this place the freshest tortillas, this place the best enchiladas, this place the best margaritas, this place the best chips….you get the picture. It is hard to find a place that has the best everything, but M&A comes close.
It’s probably a self-preservation mechanism because all this time on the West Coast and my mouth forgot what a REAL cheese enchilada tastes like. Around here, they are just cheese in a tortilla with some kind of smooth, orange-colored, pureed sauce of indeterminate origins. If you have not had one in Texas, you probably don’t know that in Tex Mex cuisine a cheese enchilada is NOT the vegetarian option on the menu. Oh, no, amigo. The REAL cheese enchilada is smothered in chile con CARNE (that’s meat, in case you don’t know) and possibly some chopped onions, too. When I bit into it, oh, the joy. It was like my mouth woke from a long slumber. And the refried beans, dark and warm with little shreds of pork adding that greatest of flavor — pork fat! Yum! And the salsa, with some actual kick from a chile pepper. Yes, it’s probably just as well that flavor is a difficult memory to conjure up. I’d just get depressed at my current local options….
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Posted in food
Hey, Moms! Are your kids watching the Backyardigans on Nick Jr.? I mean, after you have your suzuki violin lessons, homeschooling, basket weaving, fingerpainting, flash card training, Spanish and French coursework, and bread baking, of course! This show is one of the best around, maybe THE best. The music, by Evan Lurie, is the BOMB (as the kids say….or is that over now?)! That guy is a genius! The characters are animal kids and they sing but, man, this time, kid singing is good, really, I swear. Each episode has its own genre of music, too, like country, calypso, reggae. Cool, catchy tunes with songs you might just have to dance to. And that brings me to the choreography! YES! How many animated shows can you say have brilliant choreography?! None, except this one. Funny, sweet (but not saccharin), clever….I can’t rave enough. I love those Backyardigans! I might have to buy their CD’s (not DVD’s!) for the ipod, the car, the house…. And don’t tell anyone, but I almost bought Pablo at the airport in Dallas, too…….
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Posted in brilliant ideas, kid
I’ve decided that my word-of-the-day emails are just not cutting it. I mean, sure, it’d be nice to use some of those long words for blogging, but really, who likes reading long words? Besides, what I really want to do is hone my Scrabble skills, at least enough to beat Alicia most of the time (instead of the reverse, which it is). SO, I’m not getting rid of the regular words, but from time to time, I will be including two- and three-letter words (official Scrabble ones), and hope that Alicia either does not read them or forgets about them if I can ply her with wine while playing…. 
Here’s our premiere Scrabble word:
ADZ — cutting tool (adze)
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Posted in words
