Did you know there are two different type of Couscous? Israeli and American.

I use couscous to make Tabbouleh. A delicious herb and couscous based Middle Eastern/Mediterranean salad. I've been enjoying it as long as I can remember. Tabbouleh can also be made with Bulgur. Another staple in my mother's pantry.

Israeli couscous is larger, and also referred to as pearl couscous. To learn more about couscous click here.

I don't believe I have ever tried Israeli couscous. I saw it being sold at the Amish market a few weeks ago, but didn't buy any, because I had the American kind at home. When I do run out I think I will buy Israeli couscous because I am curious about the texture and taste.

 

I enjoyed the stuffed pretzel I had last year. So I was happy to find some at the supermarket. The brand was Kim & Scott's. The company the Deen boys promoted on their own "cooking" show. I was so very disappointed. It was the worst filling I ever had. I didn't think that tomato sauce and mozzarella cheese could taste so wrong together. It was like they were fighting one another and could really use to be divorced. I hope I can find other brands to try. It was the one left in the freezer section I saw that day. Maybe that should have been an indication for me. LOL.

Niel surprised me after work a few days ago by brining me a berry berry donut from Dunkin Donuts. America runs on Dunkin you know. Anyway, the donut is really yummy. It is filled with berry jelly. The top of it has a strawberry glaze, with chunks of white chocolate and pieces of dried berry. Usually I am a salt lover but I liked it. Niel surprisngly thought it was too sweet.

I have a really easy beef and broccoli recipe. I add about a cup of soy sauce, a half a table spoon of ginger and a few drops of sesame oil, sometimes garlic, to a pound of sliced beef. It all marinates while I am at work. After I come home I cook brown rice to serve with it. Of course you can cook any rice you like. I personally enjoy fried rice, but have not perfected it yet. I figure brown rice is healtier though. While the rice is boiling away, I put the meat with the marinate in a wok or a pan and let it brown. Usually most of the juice evaporates in the cooking process leaving a thick sauce. Then I add the broccoli florets and they steam while the meat is browning. Sometimes I use snowpeas instead. We eat it along with the rice and sometimes with some left over barbecue ribs and dumplings from our local Chinese take out. The dish is not as good as the beef and broccoli at take out, but it is tasty. I haven't perfected Chinese ribs or dumplings yet either. Though one time I did attempt to make Chinese ribs Niel enjoyed it, but I didn't.

The weather forecast said rain all weekend. But nope it was beautiful and sunny. We managed to go out and enjoy some of it. But first we took care of chores and errands. Friday night Niel came home with some lovely purple tulips for me. We ate dinner. I did a bit of cleaning. Niel went to a scouts meeting. Saturday we ran an errand and then watched Bench Warmers. A lot better than I thought it would be. I then took a nap(they are underrated) and Niel went to the range. Watched Chefogophay on the Food Network. I saw the episodes about Paula Deen, Nigella Lawson and Rachel Ray. I really like the first two chefs. Taped the third one for Niel. She's a bit in your face for me. But Rachel Ray has really worked for everything she has earned. And she has never said she is a chef. Niel and I also watched Andy Barker PI. The best show he has been on since leaving Late Night. I was also glad that the latest Ugly Betty episode was Marciffic. Michael Uri is so funny. I had plans for one event on Saturday but then cancelled that because we were supposed to go away but that changed. So luckily we were able to go to our local pub in the evening for Kelvin's birthday party. R bar is owned by Squilky's brother in law. He did a fab job with the bar. There was another birthday party happening also and they were messing around with the jute box. Only one of my songs gets played. I don't have much luck with jute boxes. Heh heh. Sunday we went to walk around at Sunken Meadow Beach and then came home and lazied around the apartment. Looking forward to a few TV shows coming back from hiatus, Gene Simmons Family Jewels, The Office and Little People Big World. I can't believe I won't see any Battle Star Galactica episodes till January. Arrrgh. Hopefully the two hour movie in the fall will clear somethings up cause this episode just left us with tons of questions.

What a better way to end the week or any week for that matter, than with a Family Guy Clip. The first one is my favorite in this Sound of Music inspired montage. Have a good weekend all.

The Secret Life Of, on the Food Network is a program about the history of various types of food or food related items. Over the holidays they had one specifically for Christmas. One of the topics was cookie stamps/molds. Originally wood was used to create beautiful and intricate designs on cookies. No one knows where the idea for molds originated. Later on cookie cutters took over the role of dressing up cookies. Cookie presses, rolls and stenciling are all other options for having sprucing up cookies. But you can still find wooden molds (which are pricier), or purchase its cheaper varieties of clay and Resin. Italians also have a method for decorating cookies using an waffle iron. These cookies are called Pizzelle. I found a Pizelle, Christmas and Easter cookie mold set a long time ago to add to my cookie cutter set. I recently found a few website you can purchase them. I think the molds are a nice addition to a cookie cutter collection and of course helps to make cookies pretty in addition to being tasty.

I wanted to use a more summery type of salad dressing once the weather finally decides to get warm. Then I thought of the delicious ginger salad dressing Niel and I enjoy at Japanese restaurants. I found some at my local Asian market. And I've been using it, even if the weather can't make up its mind.





On a side note to honor the first day of spring Dunkin Donuts is giving away free iced coffee.

There is a contest I read about on Jenna Fischer's myspace page that the Chicago Tribune has to choose the best TV Character. One of the choices is between Dwight Schrute and Dr. House. That was easy for me to choose from. Although I like Hugh Laurie I have never watched House, so I chose Dwight Schrute. His character is currently winning between the two. Then on the same page there is also the option to choose between Starbuck from Battle Star Galactica and Homer Simpson. How is Niel going to choose? Starbuck is currently winning between the two. And what will happen if Starbuck and Dwight Schrute are the two finalists? What am I to do then? Starbuck already kicked Betty Suarez butt. And their pinning so many more of some of my favorite characterss. Lunacy I say!

Hope everyone had a nice weekend. The weather went from beautiful to crappy. Still managed to get our errands done though. We did have fun too when Niel suggested we go into Manhattan to see the Saint Patrick's Day Parade. It stopped snowing enough to go in. But melting ice started to fall from some buildings. It was kind of neat to see. I'm not Irish and Niel I think is 1/36, but it was a neat idea and a fun to see the parade. Niel suggested a good spot and I found out I really like parades. I waved and hooted while Niel took photos. Maybe he will put them up later on his flickr. Niel also walked his brother's dog this weekend. After we picked up his mom from the train station on Sunday we had dinner at the Hispanic restaurant. Mmmm roast pork.

My non bloggy friend Jennifer sent me a link to a free samples page. Thought I should pass it on. Check often though. Stuff goes fast.

Our oven broke. I turned it on to bake some chicken and it wouldn't heat up. We told the landlord. She thought it could be the pilot light nope. She said she was going to send someone to come and look. It's been a few days now and I hope she does it soon. I can only think of so many things to make on the stove top. And baking is a lot healthier for meat and potatoes. So I cleaned the oven in case that could be the problem.

Last night's newpeat(combined two previous episodes and added deleted scenes) of NBC's The Office, the below video(thank you Niel) and that it's is Friday can make any rough week better. Why was it rough you might ask, well the only thing I will share here is NYC is getting a foot of snow after spring like weather for a few days now. Oh Mother Nature you tease.

Anyway the video is a cartoon parody of the White House as The Office. It is very very funny. In this bizarro universe Gareth/Dwight/Tony Blair and Condi Rice/Pam/Dawn have unrequited love instead of Tim/Jim and Dawn/Pam. And Jim/Tim is Dick Cheney. Shudder. Of course W is Michael/David. Well hope you enjoy the video and have a good weekend.

I know it is a bit early to be thinking of Fall but I thought the below stamps would be cute to use when mailing Thanksgiving or even Halloween cards. In particular the squash and corn.

Also happy National Coffee Break Day to all you coffee drinkers. I'm not one of them though. Starbucks is giving free coffee today to commemorate the holiday.

I really like Hot Pockets. I usually buy them when they are on sale. My favorite used to be the ham and cheese. But then they came out with cheese steak which is now my absolute favorite. I don't think it really tastes too much like an authentic cheese steak does but I love it anyway.

While Niel and I were doing our grocery weekly shopping he noticed that Welch's now has cute little jars with Curious George on them. There are six different images to collect. Makes breakfast or snack time a little more fun.

The weekend was good. Niel and I took advantage of the semi warm but very sunny weather by going out. We had breakfast Saturday morning at a neat new coffee shop and crepier that opened up in Niel's mom's neighborhood. Niel and I each had a Jack cheese and ham omelet crepe. They put the omelet in the crepe. My mother in law had a sugar and butter crepe. The prices are very affordable and the amount of food they offer is incredible. Niel ran into some friends of his there. Besides coffee and crepes they also have muffins, croissants and juice. It is beautifully decorated too.
Niel and I also took a stroll around a few parks, then came home to watch some films. Miami Vice:Blech and a bit of Scanner Darkly. I also really like "Are You Smarter Than A Fifth Grader." We also cleaned, and did our grocery shopping. Our shower neck finally got replaced. Niel changed the head but the neck needed repair as well. The building's repair guy did that. Some thing came up for the scouts so we took care of that too. By the way I hate when the clocks have to change. I hope the rumor I've heard of it being eliminated in a couple of years is true.

Robotic Maids?

Another coupon site I found.

Did you know that part of the Earth's crust is missing?

It looks like I won a food blog award in July or August, but I only stumbled upon it now. Heh heh. They wrote nice things about my blog.

As most of you know by now I have tummy troubles. Had them since high school. Perhaps earlier. Every few months I get constipated. Probably due to stress because physically my gastreontologist can't find a reason. A few years ago I had to be hospitalized because I couldn't go for an entire month. That was horrible. Since then I have found ways to deal with theis problem. One of the solutions I have found, a more recent one, is by eating Activia. It's made by Dannon. It tastes like any other yogurt. But you need to be on it permanently. Which I don't have a problem with because I love yogurt. I just hope my body doesn't get used to Activia like it has with other medications. Besides the Activia I have to eat cereal with high fiber, veggies and drink loads of water. Just thought I should mention it in case anyone out there has digestive troubles as well.

I've blogged before about my nesting doll collection. I grew up with Matryoshka Dolls. And I wanted my home to have them also. Since my 2004 post the collection has grown a little bit. Niel has given me a Mickey nesting doll and I gave him a Mike Piazza one. Again I've become obsessed with finding nesting dolls. Not necessarily the dolls itself but things that have their image or remind me of them. I have been lucky. In the last few weeks I purchased a necklace, pin and a tissue holder. Slowly I will add more.

At Target Niel spotted new flavors of Jello:Pina Coloda, Margerita and Strawberry Daquiri. They are for a limited time only though. Something intersting to consider for your next get together. Heck if you want to make it really more interesting you can add alcohol to them. Or not. Niel purchased the Margerita. We wanted to taste the flavor without alcohol, but I put them in fancy Martini glasses to set. It smelled wierd when I added the hot water when I was making them and the color was a glowy neon. It didn't taste any better after they set. I recommend adding alcohol to the Margerita. We'll try to see if the other two flavors are still available and see what they taste like as well.








Niel photo

So I blogged about Thai cooking, Japanese food before, Asian in general so I thought I would talk about Indian food. Again.
Although I don't know as much about Indian food as I do about Japanese cuisine(but with Japanese food I have only made it once. It was sushi. The recipients weren't very gracious about trying it though. But that isn't surprising now). I do cook Indian more often. I have made, Lamb curry, cauliflower stir fry, shrimp curry, Masala Omelet, and Tandoori chicken. I have also used various ready to eat Indian meals which I have been happy with. As I mentioned my brother cooks Indian as well and I believe more often. He has even made the bread all by himself.

I hope to be able to make Samosa's someday, which is my favorite Indian appetizer.

Happy Monday everyone. Hah! Hope everyone had a nice weekend to help get them through the work week. Friday afternoon the skies had cleared up, the sun came out out, and the temperatures went into the 50's in NYC. (But now its back to cold, windy, snowy weather.) It was really rejuvenating. After work I strolled around the Farmer's Market in Union Square looking at the various produce from the farmers who braved it through the nasty rain and winds and then met up with Niel. We snacked on a couple of pastries I purchased. On the way home we went into a kitchen goods store Niel saw. I got a Turkey shaped Cookie cutter. Saturday we cleaned in the morning, went to Shea so Neil could take some photos(he rally enjoys it),ran a few errands and came home to watch The Queen. Better than I thought it would be. Felt like we were getting a sneak peak at the royals life. Niel walked his brother's dog too. Poor thing is constipated again. Wonder why? Sunday we went to the beach for a little bit, did grocery shopping and caught up on Heroes and Pysche. Which won't be back on till July. Can't wait for Little People to start again. Tonight must watch Galactica as we both fell asleep early.

I decided I like brown eggs better, only for aesthetic reasons though. I find them prettier. I don't really know if there is a nutritional difference. But if I can find them at the same cost as white eggs I'll get them instead.

Prospect Park in Brooklyn is getting a skating rink soon.

Made Rachel Ray's Golden Oscar Ice Cream Cups. I didn't like it so much. But Niel looooved it.

Watched George Lopez's latest HBO show. I laughed so much. Niel not so much.

The Japanese do it again. Tiny robots that reduce the need for surgery!

These fury little creatures look so sweet in this photo but in a few months the Orangutan will become pray.

Cause I would like to share the savings goodness. I stumbled upon a very cool coupon site. If it ever comes down I would be very sad. Check it out.


Niel photo

First I would like to wish Jess an easy delivery. She and her husband Matt are scheduled to have their daughter this weekend. I along with lots of other folks are very happy for them and wish them the best of luck! Can't wait to read all about their daughter.

I am always on the look out for cute baking pans or baking cups. I have a variety of them as it is but still like to find something reasonably priced that I don't have in my current collection. The other day Niel and I were at Target. Our home away from home. When I spotted silicone triangle baking cups. Of course Wilton makes them. I thought I would share in case any one of my bloggy pals is interested in different shaped baking cups as well.

I thought what I was eating for my afternoon snack was a tangerine. But when I cut into it, my tangerine turned out to be a blood orange. I had never seen one so small before. It was tart and yummy.