PrissyCook

My obsession with packing my lunch continues. When I’m out browsing recipies or grocery shopping I want to find:

1. My main course
2. A side item
3. Fruit
4. Something crunchy

AND, I know this may sound lazy or lame, but I want a lunch that I don’t have to heat. It’s so far from my office to the breakroom, that I want to be able to pack my lunch and not have to make the long haul from point A to point B. (remind me later to tell you how I don’t drink water till the afternoon so I don’t interrupt my morning with trips to the RR).

This week my side item kicks main course’s tushey. I’ve wanted to make quinoa for a while. I’ve heard that it’s tasty and so good for you. And if what I’ve read is true, it really is a powerful little ‘grain.’

It’s not as quick to make as couscous, not as long to cook as rice. It’s snuggled right in the middle. 2 parts liquid to one part grain. Cook for 15 minutes and it’s ready to go. I chose an heirloom red quinoa. The taste didn’t deviate too far from the white. One source describes the flavor as:

The grain itself is soft and delicate and the tail is crunchy which creates and interesting texture combination and pleasant “crunch” when eating the grain. Quinoa has a fluffy consistency and a mild, delicate, slightly nutty flavor that borders on bland.

Citrus Quinoa Salad
Makes 5 cups of salad

1 cup dry red or white quinoa
2 cups chicken or vegetable broth

Cook quinoa according to directions using broth instead of water.

6 oz freshly squeezed orange juice
3/4 t. ground cumin
1 each: cucumber, green pepper, tomato, chopped
1/2 cup chopped parsley
Dash salt and pepper

Combine all ingredients into chilled quinoa. Allow time to chill and serve.

Other useful sites:

ChetDay

Wikipedia

Whole Foods

Tags: quinoa, vegan lunch

In my continuing efforts to develop some sort of craftiness, I’ve decided that I’m going to learn how to knit. So, be prepared because it’s doiles for everybody this Christmas. Well, I hope that sometime in the next seven months that I learn to knit more than a basic square, but for now that’s my goal.

This past Christmas Mel got me an amazing book called, Teach Yourself Visually: Knitting. And it works! The organization of the book is easy to follow, the pictures are clear and the fact that I got as far as casting on should be proof that this old dog can learn a new trick. Here’s what I’ve learned so far:

• Making a slip knot is easy. Measure out how wide you want your project to be and pull that amount of yarn out 3xs.
• It’s fun to cast on. I learned the simple cast on from my book, but Mel taught me the long tail cast on and that method gave me my first row of stitches too.
• English versus Continental. This is in reference to how you hold your yarn, not your opinion on the Revolutionary War.

It was so much fun sitting with book in hand and figuring out what exactly I was supposed to be doing. And it was awesome validation sitting with Mel and having her confirm what I was doing and making suggestions on I could be doing better. And I learned some basics for my knitting kit:

1. Each project needs a bag. I’m lucky that I’ve got a lot of canvas bags that my dad made me.
2. Sewing scissors for cutting lose ends and getting yourself out of vicious slip knot mistakes.
3. Lotion. Your little pointer fingers can get dry, so keep them lubed up.

Speaking of canvas bags, I’m going to host an inventory clear out this week, May 12-18, 2008. I have canvas bags that are printed with cupcake themes that my dad made for me this past spring. Here, the deal, I’ll send you a randomly selected canvas bag (shipping included to the US) for only $8 dollars. All bags have a cupcake theme. Use the PayPal option below. If you have specific questions you can reach me at info[at]cupcakecabana[dot]net.

Email me or leave a comment if you want a bag. I can only accept PayPal payments. So, I’ll send you a request once you email me.

My dad as often said that he doesn’t know where I got my ’spice’. For as long as I can remember, I’ve been drawn to the food, the people and the culture of Mexico. But oddly enough, I didn’t make this batch of cupcakes specifically for Cinco de Mayo, but for bookclub tonight.

We read two books this time, The Great Gatsby and The Double Bind. I had read Gatsby two summers ago when I went to Minnesota (F. Scott Fitzgerald is from MN and when I travel I try to grab a book that has some tie into the place I’m going). You don’t have to read Gatsby for the Bind to make sense, but it does help to have some familiarity with the story.

The book was excellent and I’m glad it was selected. I would have NEVER picked it up for myself. When I choose books they’re usually historical fiction or on an Oprah list somewhere. This one was set in the NE US (I’ve only been to New England area once) and it was nice to read more about the landscape in Vermont. And it wasn’t quite a mystery, but there was a whodoneit (or in this case whoisit) factor that was thrilling. The paperback is 430+ pages, but I finished it in a week.

It just so happens that the date we’re meeting about the book IS on Cinco de Mayo, so our food theme for this evening is Mexican food. I’ve made a variation of this recipe before and got rave reviews from people. I like to have a few semi-homemade cupcake recipes on hand to use when I need an easy baking night. This is one of those recipes.

Chiplote Cinnamon Cupcakes- adapted from VanillaGarlic

1 box Devil’s Food Cake

2 T minced chiplotes in adobo sauce

1 pinch chili powder

Make cake according to box directions and add in pepper puree and chili powder. Top with frosting of your choice, I chose a simple buttercream with cinnamon.

Tags: Cinco de Mayo

There are all sorts of carbonated food products popping up according to the May 08 issue of Everyday with Rachael Ray. The article highlighed one product that caught my eye, carbonated sprinkles from a company named Pop’rs.

Their website is nice and simple. It features cute shots of kids eating their vegetables with Pop’rs sprinkled on top. I thought the pop’rs would make great cupcake sprinkles and I had a birthday coming up that required a special cupcake, so I decided to place an order.

You have to order the Pop’rs in a set. The set has eight different flavors; Cocoa, Cinnamon, Raspberry, Strawberry, Color Burst, Butter, Taco and Buffalo. Since this was my first try, it didn’t bother me too much that I had to buy a whole box for $29.95 + shipping. But I must admit that it did seem a little steep.

I was coming up on two weeks since my order and the product still hadn’t arrived. And I was getting nervous. I put the shipping address to my office because in Arizona you don’t anything shipped to your house unless you’re there to pick it up. (it’s so hot here that things literally melt when left on your doorstep).

On day 10 after my order, I placed a call to the number. No answer. What  I heard sounded like a simple answering machine. So, I decided not to leave a message, but to email instead. I sent the email and didn’t get a response until the next day. And it was kinda vague.

I think it shipped. I will check. (no name attached)

Now I had all sorts of ideas floating around my head. Was this a small company that got picked up by a huge machine like Rachael Ray and they couldn’t keep up and they were going to shut their doors before I got my sprinkles and I was out $30 bucks? Was this just their idea of customer service? What’s going on here! I sent another email requesting confirmation that my product shipped on Day 11 and didn’t hear back. Ugh!

Then on the afternoon of Day 11, I received a call from Jim. He works for the manufacturing company that distributes Pop’rs. He asked me about my email. I told him my situation and he offered to ship me a box of sprinkles overnight from Wisconsin! And he called me the next day to confirm that the package arrived. Can you believe it!?!

Within an hour of that phone call, the box was delivered to my office. How cool! We immediately tore into the package. We decided to be bold right out of the gate, we sampled the buffalo flavor first. And guess what? It totally tastes like a buffalo chicken wing. I’m not kidding!

So, what was the big fuss about? Why did I have to get this package come hell or high water? It was Holly’s birthday. She had been leaving me subtle and not so subtle messages for a whole month. She wanted cupcakes and she wasn’t shy about wanting them to be delicious and unique. Heck, she even said she wanted a blog post!

I think adding these sprinkles was a huge hit. There were times I’d walk by her office and see people with heads tilted back taking shots of sprinkles and pounding their chests like King Kong afterwards (men are so strange).

Happy Birthday Holly!!!!!!!!

Tags: pop rocks, pop'rs

This is the part of my desk I’m willing to show. What you don’t see just out of this frame is:

• The 3/4 of warm Diet Coke that I got this morning with my last four quarters.
• A warm jar of Starbucks Mocha coffee drink.
• 2 peanutbutter and cheese crackers (I had to borrow the .55 cents to get them).
• 1 cup that should have water in it

Tags: bento, work lunch

I would typically start this post off my saying that my friend Erica’s fiance Chris is growing a moustache for charity, BUT Chris did come down to Chandler to go to the Ostrich Festival while Erica was in Austin. And, there’s some serious bonding that happens over the fierce competition of an Ostrich race. So, no offense Erica.

My friend Chris is participating in a fundraiser called Fundastache. It’s a brilliant and hilarious idea. Here’s how the fundraising works:

Fund-A-Stache is a charitable activity in which participants display, prominently and proudly, their compassion for a charitable cause in the form of hair between the nose and lip. Those with the fortitude to participate are asked only to:

• sign-up using the link above
• choose a charity and create a charitable donation site- instructions will follow, however most all reputable charities are available, and you can choose which one you would like to support
• ask friends, family, co-workers, the guy at the deli, etc… to support you and your just cause
• grow and wear a solo mustache
• regularly update your mustache photo / blog on the Fund-A-Stache website
• communicate to all around that you are proudly wearing a moustache to support the charity of your choice.

Here’s something that super mega important to note about Chris’ efforts to raise money- HE’S GETTING MARRIED AT THE END OF MAY! And we cannot in good conscience allow a big freaking foo-man-choo in their pictures eternal! Donate Now! Even a $1 helps.

Here’s more information about the charity that will receive the donation:

AID TO ADOPTION OF SPECIAL KIDS aka AASK

Tags: AASK-AZ.org, charity, fundastache

I’ve been doing a pretty good job packing lunch. One problem however is that if I don’t leave the office to eat lunch, it’s quite often that I’ll get to work at 8AM and not walk outside once until it’s time to go home. But, I do feel tons better and haven’t been getting the after lunch sleepies quite as often. My lunch work flow includes, grocery shopping and putting things together on Sunday. If it requires cooking, chopping or separating, I have to do it then or I don’t have time during the week.

Week One Lunch

1. Ricotta wheat pasta salad with spring vegetables
2. Watermelon with basil

Week Two Lunch

1. Turkey and cheddar sandwich
2. Baby carrots and grape tomatoes

Week Three Lunch

1. Curry pasta salad with spring vegetables
2. Peppered fruit salad
3. Carrots
4. Turkish apricots

And I cannot stress enough how much I love my Built lunch bag. It’s perfect for a snack, soda and lunch and the keeps cool all day. Like my little cupcake charm? You can get one too at Cupcake Cabana. Check it out (said in my Fergie voice).

Tags: bento, workday lunch

I talk a bit game when it comes to me and karaoke. At the drop of a hat, I’ll tell you which karaoke songs I sing, which ones have the best performance factors, which ones are in my vocal range and so on. Truth be told, I have sang in public a grand total of 2 times. The first time, there was major drunkeness and tequila.

I’ll take “Signs the evening is over, Alex, for $500.” Everything about this picture makes my tummy queasy. I’ll do Miss Molly a favor by not linking over to the other pictures of that night.

I’m happy to report a year later, that we were able to slow our roll just a little bit and finish the night in one evening.

Besides my unfortunate hair incident, I think we could say that the proverbial cherry on top of my weekend was when I decided that I should break out into the robot at a wedding.

Or was it when I sang karaoke with some strange man at a bar?

Recovering from 3 days of parties at 30.

Tags: karaoke, robot, wedding

Me: Put curls in it, but make them loose. I don’t like a lot of hairspray. Please don’t make it look like I’m going to prom.

Lady at salon: I used to do hair in Milan. I’ll make you look like a runway model.

Me: Whoo hoo.

Me: Ummm. It’s a little stiff don’t you think.

Lady: I’ve had so many clients get mad at me because they say I make their hair look better than the bride’s hair.

Me: Really? We’ll I just want something polished and soft looking.

Does this look polished and soft!?!

Oh and if you’re linking over from my old blog..Welcome.