Pasta and Shrimp in Cream Sauce

Here's the shrimp a cookin'.

And the finished meal.




Kerry was in town this weekend, so we walked down to the Red Hook Fairway, which on any other Saturday afternoon would have been a death wish, but the place was relatively quiet since the city pretty much empties out in August, on the weekends especially (this makes for dream commuting on the subway!). So we picked up some tomato and basil pasta, and Kerry whipped up the sauce from memory, which included a cup of milk, a block of feta cheese, half an onion, and some garlic. Delicious! She also made a salad, and we had some pino grigio. I've already had two helpings of the stuff today, and am taking the rest to work tomorrow for lunch. I love a meal that keeps on giving!

Edamame and a white wine spritzer with citrus zest icecubs. The icecubes smelled great and really did give the drink a little citrus taste as they melted. The little pieces of zest that got in my mouth weren't even that bad.

Zyliss Citrus Zester

Today I bought a bright green Zyliss citrus zester for making those citrus ice cubes I mention below. I have never had a kitchen gadget that was so ergonomically pleasing. If you need a zester, buy this one. I am going to keep my eye out for this brand from now on.

Antipasto Salad

Today I was totally craving meat, and it was a little disturbing. It felt very primal, like I needed to make a kill or something. But like most urban warriors, instead I went shopping. I was planning on making this Antipasto Salad over the weekend, but decided to reschedule for tonight. I had no idea how to buy salami. Did I even like salami? I went into the meat market near my apartment and asked for the most "basic" salami and ended up with some paper-thin slices of genoa. This was the wrong kind for the recipe, I knew, but I didn't feel like extending my stay at the meat counter, holding up people who knew what they wanted. And since I don't like olives or roasted red peppers, I just used green peas. This totally quelled my craving, and hopefully G will not dump me after reading this! I now have two gallons of antipasto salad, and citrus zest ice cubes in the freezer for white wine spritzers. Anyone want to come over?!

Cassoulet

Cassoulet w/ seitan instead of meat, a wedge of low-fat Laughing Cow w/ crackers, and red wine. I used to think it was bollocks that you needed special glasses for drinking different alcohols, but now that I've been without wine glasses for a few weeks, I have totally changed my tune. Drinking wine from a low-ball, or whatever glass that is, is a bit awkward. I always end up with a bigger mouthful than I want.

Seitan Stew

Seitan, crushed tomatoes, green peppers and Israeli couscous. I forget what I seasoned it with...