graciela's Profile

I can, in theory, understand how the flavors would go well together. Some corn bread, some cheese, some chicken. But it's the presentation (cupcake complete with piped frosting), that would be the biggest hurdle for me. Taste isn't just about what goes on the tongue.

Not as graphic as the cat I had to "dismantle" in anatomy.

I don't start conversations but people always ask me questions. I answer them if I can or I try for an educated guess but let them know I've never actually done it.

I don't like to talk to cashiers though. They have to comment on everything I buy. Thank god for the new self check out machines.

I actually love pink and would love a light or medium pink. Maybe even a crazy bright pink if used on one wall. But the last row of pictures just abuse pink to the point where it looks sick. Bleh.

Agreed, it's bogus. The "I'm out of town, wire me the money thing" is the biggest tip off. Email references, refunding the deposit, are just to make you feel like maybe it's not a scam. And anyone can find a convincing apartment application and "legal documents" online. Skip it, keep looking.

If you just want to host them because you feel it would balance things out then I say forget about it and just accept that they love to host. If they had a problem with always being the host I think they would have taken you up on your offer by now. I'm sure they don't think you're intruding.

Maybe this is just the set of friends that always host you. I think that's okay. Do you have other friends that would want to go to your house? Ask them so you can have an opportunity to play host.

I had a friend that I would always host because I hated their apartment. He would keep bugging me to hang out there and I went a few times to be polite but tried to avoid it. I'm not saying you have a bad home or anything but sometimes people just don't feel comfortable elsewhere.

I love this recipe by Mark Bittman, Braised Tofu with Peas in Curried Coconut Milk. It actually ends up being more tomato than peas but it still has plenty of the little green guys:

http://dinersjournal.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/04/how-to-cook-something-braised-tofu/

Quiche is also a good way to use veggies. I usually do a crustless quiche with random vegetables. I bet peas would be perfect with some chard and caramelized onions in a quiche.

Beer for lenten doesn't seem that crazy. Like that article notes, this is what monks did before. It's just one of the reasons why monks have such a rich tradition in beer. Some of the best beer in the world comes from an abbey.

So I just watched one of their commercials and it just sounds like it's not a base ingredient for a sauce. It is the sauce. I guess it could be like an alfredo sauce from a jar or something along those lines.

I'm not going to condemn the product, I just know it's not for me. It also doesn't sound like it's supposed to encourage people that don't cook any kind of meal to suddenly enter the kitchen. Those people didn't cook yesterday and they're not going to cook today. This is probably more for the semi-homemade cooks or those that want something different than a jar sauce.

Of course we can make our own and use real ingredients but Kraft isn't in the business of offering cooking classes and sourcing whole ingredients. It is what it is and we don't have to support the company if we don't want to.

New eyeglasses. I've been wearing glasses for 26 years and I just can't imagine getting lasik at this point. And since my glasses are such a big part of how I look, I still get new frames every 2 or 3 years when my prescription changes. I got some vintage ones a few times but they're not covered by my insurance and my doctor won't put lenses into frames I don't buy there. So I end up paying for the entire cost (and the lenses are so expensive for me). This time around, I went with new frames.