sometimes you just gotta have it.

And, "it" means a veggie reuben. Sometimes I get on kicks of these babies, and nothing else will do the trick. I made one for dinner. I made one to bring for today's lunch (but accidentally ate it for breakfast). I want another right now.

Now, you may remember the Veggie Reuben-Off 2007 that Kramer and I conducted (sorta) a few months ago, which ended up in me taking some tips from her, and incorporating them into my own veggie reuben recipe to create a SUPER REUBEN.

But, anyway, I didn't have any green peppers or mushrooms, and didn't feel like messing with sauteeing the onions because I just wanted to Get It Into My Belly, so I went with the Kramer recipe, except that I added cheese (gruyere) and used sourdough bread. It was phenomenal. My mouth literally just started watering thinking about it.

See for yourselves:


In other, unrelated news, I am back in the Hillary camp after being Obama-curious for a spell. Of course, I'll vote for the Democrat, regardless of who gets the nomination, but after talking with some pals (thanks, E-dawg and Jr.) and reading a lot, I'm back in Hill's camp.

Hillary Clinton is my homegirl

speed of light vs. speed of heat (duh).

I’ve still been in a state of feeding frenzy over the veggie reubens—specifically the Keenan/Kramer Hybrid Model. And, it seems that my post about said veggie reubens created a small stir amongst my loyal readers. Since the potluck-slash-Reuben-Off was canceled last weekend, we’d left everyone high-n-dry with no access to the melty, gooey, tangy-golden goodness that is the Veggie Reuben (hallelujah!).

I’m pet-sitting Zeke for a few days, and I adore his house. Like, not just like it as friends, I like-like, no love-love, this pad. And, it’s way more spacious and accommodating than my lil’ apartment, so I tend to have a friend (or five) over when I’m there. Zeke loves the extra attention (and the higher probability of people-food scraps). Plus, E-dawg just lives about a block away and Sandra and Jessica are just a couple blocks the other. Beleza is two doors down. The park is two blocks away. I LOVE it there. I love Zeke, I love the house, I love the neighborhood, I love the neighbors. I want to either become Zeke’s live-in nanny or make a serious bid in taking this place (and this dog) by way of coup. Squatters Rights!

Anyhow, the perfect locale intersected with the perfect sandwich last night. Zeke and I entertained Sandra, E-dawg, Kara, Kramer and Mags (and Jessica for a few minutes, right at the end). I made up a big ol’ batch of Veggie Reubens and an even bigger batch of roasted potatoes and carrots (yellow fingerlings from the co-op and some redskins and carrots from my CSA). And, we complimented that with some fantastic sparkling pear cider and sparkling spiced apple cider (thanks, Kara!). And, followed that up with some brownies (from Allegro Hearth Bakery) and cupcakes (new flavors from Dozen just released—check the new menu here; we had Bananas Foster and Dark Chocolate). All in all, a lovely autumn dinner with pals. In fact, it was so good that I completely forgot to take pictures for this-here blog. I guess you’ll just have to get in on the next dinner to see it for your only self.

One of the highlights was when Mags explained how she is able to use her bare hands to adjust logs in an open fire, remove items from the oven, pass her fingers through a flame, and cut hot sandwiches in half right out of the skillet. This special skill has earned her the titles of “She-Who-Touches-Fire” and “Asbestos Hands”. When asked to explain How She Does It, she looked at us frankly, and gave us her scientific explanation: speed of light versus speed of heat (with an implied “duh”). This explanation included the indisputable fact of how you can watch your fingers pass through the flame of a candle before you feel it. After being subjected to loud guffaws and merciless ridicule, Mags decided that we just don’t have a firm grasp of thermal dynamics. Like, it’s sorta a World Is Round vs. a World Is Flat debate. We just don’t have the vision to grasp Speed Of Light vs. Speed of Heat.

Heh.

The party broke up early since Kramer just wouldn’t stop talking about needing to leave. Sheesh!

Tonight I’m heading out to dinner with my good buddy Dan (who’s visiting from L.A. ooh la la!). I’m not sure where we’ll go, but I’m lobbying for Piccolo Fornosince E-dawg gave it a rave review last week. She talked about some kind of ravioli or gnocchi or something in a sage brown butter. I love sage brown butter. I don’t know if it gets much better than sage brown butter. Will report back!

better (sorta).

Okay. Back from the depths of despair.

The last couple weeks, er months, have been tough. I've been pretty depressed, and just sorta let everything go--the healthquest, my apartment, etc. Sometimes I have bouts of depression that just sort of take over my life for a while, and this has been one of those times. I even had a panic attack last week (or week before?), that totally freaked me out. So, I took off work on Thursday and Friday, and just stewed in my shit, slept, watched bad movies, avoided interaction. Saturday and Sunday I still hibernated, but did a huge cleaning of my apartment. It's not perfect, but now I wouldn't be horrified if someone stopped by. That feels good.

I'm always so embarrassed to tell anyone about feeling bad. Even though every other commercial on television is for some antidepressant, and everybody and her brother has a therapist, there's still a stigma. And, it's not really acceptable to call off work for mental illness, so then you have to lie and pretend you have the flu or whatever. Blah. Anyway. The fog seems like it may start lifting. Baby steps, right?

But, since I haven't checked in with you peeps for a while, I have done some cooking. E-dawg stopped by Zeke's house for dinner last Wednesday (it was his birthday!). I just made some pasta with marinara (I must confess, I used a jar of tomato sauce from WF, that I doctored up with some sauteed garlic and onions and spices), some roasted green beans, some crispy mushrooms and some baguette toast with brie. Tasty.


This weekend I had a huge craving for veggie reubens. Kramer and I were planning our reuben-off-slash-potluck this weekend, but then she, Mags and I just weren't feeling up to a party, so we called it off. But, my stomach was having none of that. So, I stocked up on supplies to make a master version of the reuben, fusing the Kramer/Keenan styles into The Best Veggie Reuben On Earth.

The fixin's:


The goods:


That's rye bread, Minerva swiss lace cheese (oh my god, this is good; got it at the co-op), fakin' bacon, sauteed green peppers and onions (I like to use mushrooms, too, but didn't have any on hand), sauerkraut and russian dressing. That is some good comfort food.

And, my favorite veggie is now officially in season! I stopped by the farmers market on Friday, and was delighted to find brussels sprouts! They are the pinnacle of the intersection between adorable and delicious.

First, I trimmed them, made a little X in the bottom, and put them in boiling water for about three minutes (then a plunge into some ice water after and drained), then sliced them in half, and roasted them in the oven at 375 for about 25 minutes (stirring twice) with a little olive oil and sea salt, then grated some parmesan cheese over them when they came out of the oven. And, while I was doing that, I roasted some potatoes (the "confetti" baby potatoes from Trader Joe's with yellow, redskin and purple babies) with some parsley, olive oil, salt and pepper.

before (the sprouts had been boiled, but not baked at this point):


after:


It was a comfort food bonanza. In fact, I even had grilled cheese with Campbell's tomato soup yesterday.


Tonight is the "Queers: They're What's For Dinner!" dinner at the Gypsy Cafe. They always have tasty grub.

In other news, one of my bestest friends, Dan, is visiting this week from LA. I could definitely use the pick-me-up. He is one hilarious mofo. Good times. (and, thank goodness my apartment is clean-ish!)