After all, someone needs to keep Austin weird..

I have news. I moved back home to sort of chill and not just rot away in Austin while all the good people I know actually did stuff, like, you know, go to law school. I have now decided, however, to move back to my beloved city and, gasp, get a job and all of that. However, because I went straight to law school from undergrad, the job search is less than easy, and I’ll be making less than, um, a lot of money.

I’m lucky enough to have my rent paid for through July, but after that I’m totally on my own. What I’m saying is.. now I’m turning budget gourmet. Luckily, produce is cheaper in Austin since we’re so close to the ole border down there, but I’m still going to have to save, save, save.. and save some more.

What’s your favorite super cheap but super delicious meal?

sesame ginger noodles with lots of other stuff.

I don’t even know where to begin. A few years ago, I asked my chick friend to be my “date” to my academic program’s–which was more like a nerdy fraternity–semester formal. Bringing a guy when you’re in the middle of anything and everything with the gender makes it complicated, like starting to date someone at the beginning of February. What in the world do you do for Valentine’s Day? So, because of the Valentine’s Day dilemma of early relationships, I brought a chick friend, and my second favorite memory of the night is her eating my sesame ginger noodles and ranting and raving about how totally awesome they are. My number one favorite memory? Her, against all my good advice, eating a raw clove of garlic “just to see”, and then her crying and crying. I have photos as proof, a sort of permanent “I told you so.”

banana bread

It’s well known amongst my friends and family and, well, roommates, that I, in general, abhor bananas. I walk into a room, ask “Who the hell at the banana?!”, and the poor potassium-loving soul meekly steps up. “I did.. but it was 12 hours ago! And I threw the peel in the trash outside!”

That’s right. I’m like a drug sniffing dog. But for bananas. I can’t help it; they have such a strong, distinct smell, one that I learned to hate a long, long time ago. But, thing is, I love banana bread. Looove it. Last night, my mother pointed to a pile of quickly blackening bananas and said, “Make banana bread. If you can stand it.” She then disappeared, all Batman-like, and left me with a dilemma. Could I suck it up and peel those things, actually work with them, all to make something that ends up delicious? After about an hour (i.e. three minutes) of meditation on the subject, I came to the conclusion: Yes. Yes, I could.

Confessions and Garlic Soup

Forgive me, Readers, for I have sinned. It has been a lot of years since my last confession. I.. I..
I watched New Moon!

Uneasy and uncheap risotto.

Last night I offered to make dinner for today. Having recently discovered a new blog that I absolutely adore–www.smittenkitchen.com–and then having recently bookmarked every other recipe, I went straight to the source and picked something that looked especially delicious. Ready for this title? Asparagus, artichoke, and shiitake risotto. That’s just one of those recipes where, after every single word, you let a little “mmmmmm” escape. Even after the “and” in there, because you know there’s something else delicious in it!

So nice they named it twice.

It can be said that I typically like pretentious, exotic, and generally complicated food. And then there’s this recipe. How many ingredients? Three. THREE, PEOPLE!

“Because everything sounds funny with an Indian accent.”

“Seriously. They could be telling me I have three months to live and it’d be hilarious.”

- My mother.

This pesto is the best…o… Ugh!

I just couldn’t help myself. But seriously, this pesto is amazing. It’s a non-traditional pesto, and so I’m not totally sure what “pesto” means, if there can be so many variations. Either way, a friend of mine bought a tub of lemon artichoke pesto a couple years ago–I’m sure it cost about eight bucks–and after I had a couple beers, it seemed only proper to eat the entire thing… and lick the container clean. What can I say? It was completely delicious.

However, unwilling to spend such an ungodly amount of money on a teeny tiny hummus-size tub, I set out to make it on my own. One poor Christmas, I made some for the entire family, and jarred them in cute little Masons. Was it a hit? Oohh, was it.

($25 gift card not included)

And now, something in Latin!: Ad hoc chicken.

I should’ve seen it comin’, loomin’ in the distance, knowin’ you’ll be soaked from head to toe in less than an hour, if you’re not inside listenin’ to the heavy drops peltin’ the roof. “Yeller!” you cry. “Oh, Yellllerrrr!” The pup has to come in, of course; he won’t know what hit him. And you just couldn’t bear to run after the young thing, getting your last nice gingham dress–a sweet forget-me-not blue and starched white thing–drenched before ole Billy Brown comes callin’.

Sigh. That looming black cloud for me? The fact that my favorite books are cookbooks. The creativity, the ideas, the beautiful pictures, ugh! Sure, there are pictures in law school casebooks.. but they’re black and white pictures of raisins and prunes: Mainly Learned Hand and Justice Holmes. I should’ve known better, to trade one for the other.

Not Learned Hand. Or Justice Holmes. May Posner? Dare I say it?:

That’s some serious amore.

The slightly extended family came over for dinner tonight, with a “special guest.” Ooooh.

Except when my mother said that, she didn’t mean me, even though none of that slightly extended family has seen me since I moved home. She meant my vegetarian aunt. And did she make something vegetarian for that vegetarian “special guest”? No! Did I? Yes!

(Don’t mind my sneaky bit of Italian sausage I snuck from the meat sauce’s pan…)