Obsession of a lifetime: my husband

My husband Chris celebrates his Un-Birthday every April 29th. Each year, he contests he was not born, but extracted (C-section) and thus is somewhat immortal (not like a zombie - those are weird). Comments like these are amongst the many reasons why I love him and why he and I are perfect for one another.

Chris and I met in college and after a 5 year courtship got married in a crazy ass huge Italian wedding. Almost 3 years later, he makes me smile every day with his brilliant mind, quirky sense of humor and little "Cranna-isms". While I may not understand his love for W.O.W, X-Box, Black licorice, too big gym socks and shirts he's owned since high school - I certainly understand how amazing he is and grateful I get to share my life with him!!

Happy birthday, Chris!!! Many wishes for 100 years of happiness, love and fast Internet access!

Detroit Foodies Rejoice!

Anyone who knows me understands I love food - and I am clearly not alone in my obsession. Food allergies be damned!

There are a few upcoming events fellow foodies (and Foodie curious) friends should check out!


Eastern Market Michael Symon Live Cooking Demonstrations - May 2 - October 2009
My favorite thing to do on Saturday's during the summer is to meander through the historic stalls of Eastern Market. For those of you who have not had the pleasure - it is a foodies dream. Hundreds of farmers, butchers, fishmongers and spice purveyors selling the most fresh and luscious foods. Always requires a stop at Russel Street Deli for breakfast. Eastern market has been adding many cool weekend events - Lion's tailgate and now live cooking demonstrations from the famous Iron Chef himself - Michael Symon!! Free and open to the public from 9 - 10 AM. Visit the Eastern Market blog for more info


MexicanTown Pub Crawl - May 2
One of my favorite things has nothing to do with food. It's an eco friendly bus called the Night Move. For cheap you can buy tickets for an evening - it will pick you up in Royal Oak and makes stops throughout Royal Oak, Ferndale and Detroit. Perfect way to safely get from bar to club to Leo's Coney Island. On May 2, the Night Moves will be truckin' all night for pre Cinco De Mayo fun. Hosted by the Mexican Town fav Xochimilco's, the website promises "food fun and hijinks's"! Also part of the crawl: El Zocolo, Los Galanes and Mexican Village. Cost - $10 in advance, 15 at the door. Register at DetroitSynergy.com.


Detroit Foodie Tw(eat) up at Angelina's Italian Restaurant: May 6, 2009
Hosted by a great blog, Twohungrydudes.com - $25 includes wine tasting and selected tastings including Angelina's amazing Italian food (all made in house):Mozzarella cheese, Assorted Salumi, Assorted Smoked Fish, Calamari, Arancini (stuffed rice balls) Gnocchi. Signup at Angelinatweetup.eventbite.com

Sunday musing... Geek Eye Chart

One of my favorite websites is designyoutrust.com - excellent for visual stimuatlion and inspiring creativity. Found the following awesome Geek Eye Chart. If you can read this, you're more leet than I. PWN3D.

I feel dirty for liking this... but I love the new Lincoln Ad campaign

I know. Traitor. But I can't help it.

It's a great campaign. Cars... meh, they are getting better. But the ads are sexy, seductive modern and great use of killer music.


http://www.lincoln.com/extras/tvads.asp

WTF - Domino's Bread Bowl Pastas

Again, thanking my allergies for saving me from yet another taste and caloric debacle.

OK. I can sort of forgive Pizza Hut for branching out and bastardizing pasta. The recession causes us to do awful, awful things. Pasta is cheap (profits!), easy to smother in cheese (taste!) and quite difficult to screw up (mass produce!). As we say in my house, these pastas are "I-Talian". I-Talian is a phrase I coined during my tenure at Tony's Pizza . Inevitably, some person would ask for "I-Talian" dressin' with their Anti-Past-O salad and I would throw a few packets of mass produced yellow goo with specks of dehydrated vegetable grossness atop a salad stuffed with enough salami, ham and provolone to coax a mild heart attack. Now, if you've had the good fortune of speaking to a person of Italian heritage you will quickly hear we pronounce Italian like "eeeetalian" versus "EYE talian" (said with a southern drawl for effect). Hence foods which are "mock Italian" earn the I-Talian moniker - Olive Garden, Prego, Toscani Pasta and now the title goes to Domino's pizza for the all new Bread Bowl Pasta.

Simply - place greasy pasta in middle of cheesy breadstick dough, bake. add more cheese and butter, put in box and serve! According to Dominos.com They come in five varieties: Italian Sausage Marinara, Pasta Primavera, Chicken Alfredo, Three Cheese Mac-N-Cheese and Chicken Carbonara. You could order them without the bread bowl, but what's the fun in that?? These come in a bread bowl!! Like fancy Panera soup!! CLASSY!!!

Nutritional information is not listed yet - but really, can you blame them? Unless you're running the Boston Marathon, or an aspiring sumo wrestler I can't imagine the Domino's bread bowl pasta would be part of any dietary plan. But you know you want one. They’re available now and prices start at $5.99. You can order online and get a dollar off.

Want more cheesy, carb goodness? Check out one of my favorite websites, The Impulsive Buy for more info!

Obsession of the moment - Personal Chefs

For my mom's 50th birthday party - we went ALL OUT! Two weekends full of decadent parties. The first, a luscious family dinner at Piccirilli Ristorante in Shelby Township, MI. Absolute perfection. Umberto is a family friend and always makes hand made pasta, fresh sauces and fresh Italian cuisine. It's one of the very few places my dad will eat out at. When it comes to Italian food, we have discerning taste. No I-Talian, fake mozzarella covered noodles with red topping allowed.

The Second party was a riotous girls night out with my cousins, aunts and my mom's rowdy friends. Now, my first plan was to cook an obscene amount of food, slave for 3 days, clean, shop, prep, cook, serve, get ready then go out. Inherent in this flawed plan was me and my mom running ourselves to the ground rendering us too tired to enjoy the limo ride and dancing that was to follow. Instead, I remembered an article I read in the Detroit Free Press about Personal Chef services. Personal chefs are not for the rich. For a very reasonable fee they can prep and cook your weekly meals, host a cooking class for your friends in your house, or cook for special events ( a great gift for new parents or grieving families). I visited personalchefsearch.com and clicked on "Michigan" - emailed a few potential chefs and chose Chef Jamie Aragones who owns the personal chef service "The World at your Table" .

She was AMAZING!!! She worked with me to create a wonderful Spanish tapas inspired menu including seafood paella.

She was fantastic, professional and VERY REASONABLE. I could not have made what she did at the price we paid. HIGHLY RECOMMEND her services and thought the food, service, presentation and quality was impeccable. Above all she was eager to meet the challenge of my food allergies and made great food that I could eat!!! I loved not having to eat before the party or feel left out. Such a great feeling to participate with everyone together in a meal.

Afterwards we went out dancing at Main Street Billiards (Awesome patio) and Club 22 (SCARY underage men who were dance assaulting us!! WTF!). All in all, my mom had a great time!

Trader Joes - te AMO

For those of you who are gluten free, allergen aware, organic conscious, or just looking for really good food at an affordable price - ya'll gotta get to Trader Joe's. Here are some of the things we cannot live without in my house:

- TJ's fat free Greek yogurt: So much better than normal FF yogurt. Add stevia, frozen fruit = brilliance!

- TJ's Rice Cakes: I would eat them even if they were not the only thing I could eat. They have a really nice, toasted taste and texture..the only rice cake that dose not taste like cotton flavored ass.

- Whole Grain Tortilla Chips - BE WARNED : THESE ARE LIKE CRACK!! AMAZING.Nutty, full of flavor, just salty enough. Great taste of roasted sesame seeds... SOO much better than tostito's mulitgrain chips. I have to throw out the bag sometimes because I will eat them too quickly, then feel guilty...then guilt eat some more.

- Gluten Free Pancake mix - Throw some blueberries or bananna's in with the mix to add moisture... they can get a little dry... if you can add syrup atop their golden tastiness, that would help too - or just suck it up and throw some stevia up on them and a side of homemade turkey sausage patties and HAWT B-FAST ACTION

- Frozen Mango, Papaya, Pineapple, Blueberries and Black Cherries - my favorite snack is simply mowing on frozen fruit, esp. when watching the "biggest loser" on NBC. I have no idea why i am compelled to stuff my face while watching the show, but somehow always find myself enthralled by the contestants and eating frozen fruit...sometimes with Greek yogurt.

- Belgium 70% Dark Chocolate bar and Belgium 70% Dark Chocolate with Whole Hazelnuts - OK, who doesn't need chocolate!?!? Not to sound like the A-Typical estrogenite, but really. Chocolate is lovely. And this chocolate is perfection. Gluten free awesomeness and tasty goodness.

Husband's fav's

- Black Licorice scottie dogs - so delicious!! and gluten free!
- Mango Berry Bran Muffins - Full of fiber, moist mangoes and berries - low on fat and cals. Lovely!