Seasame Chicken and Mashed Potatoes

Seasame Chicken and Mashed Potatoes
Originally uploaded by la_fleur.

To any who may have wondered, I do still exist, and I can still type. I was not horribly crippled in any sort of automobile hoonery or lost on an island- I simply neglected my duties as blog co-poster with dear flavi. Finally, though, I am back to typing! And, on what a day to choose! I recently got a wonderful new book called "Life is Meals". It actually belongs to my mother- well, as soon as I give it to her for her birthday, which was in Sept :) The book is amazing, not only for being written by the parents of my college roommate but because it really embodies a spirit anyone reading a food-blog should share. The dedication of this book reads "I intend that my last work shall be a cookbook composed of memories and desires..." ~ Alexandre Dumas. The connection of that book and this day and that quote is that it is Mr. Dumas' birthday today, and it is a Tuesday, so among all the swirling interrelations of this earth it means that Flavi and I had to mentally prepare meals together for the fifth of december, and invite Alexandre! Unfortunately, Mr Dumas did not seem hungry by the time he reached my house for dinner this evening- it appeared he had been snacking all day long and looked adequately plump. No matter- more for Ryan and me.
My dish for the evening needed to be an amalgam of things: Flavi, Dumas and me. As such- it was chicken with soy/ginger/honey/sesame sauce and mashed potatoes with scallions, shallots, garlic, thyme and black pepper. I must say, the thyme should have been left out as it didn't mesh well with the chicken, but the rest went well. And, of course, the table was amply adorned with crumbs from the traditional pre-meal baguette (for which mr dumas was quite pleased) It was a nice little dinner that afforded some well needed roommate bonding time and some tasty leftovers for lunch. Had Alexandre not been naughty and snacked all day, he could have had his chicken!
In "Life is Meals", today's entry (it is a daily journal of food stories), bread is highlighted, and the authors note "Bread is normally the only food that is kept on the table throughout the meal. The word is almost synonymous with food and, by extension, life..." Wonderful! Happy Birthday Mr Dumas, and happy tuesday to everyone!

noodles&mushroom...avocado&spinach!
last week we (armand, taylor, becca, i) finally had our second dinner of the semester all together! time is short these days and my carnivorous friend didn't show up in brunswick till much later so veggie pasta and salad it was. (but not pasta salad. yuck.) i was looking to make something with mushrooms, that was my only criteria & after gathering all the ingredients at home i realized that pasta looked rather promising.

is it wrong that we ate tomatoes and avocado in december? it seemed a bit un-natural. i think this is more of a contemplative post than a report. i (retrospectively) also wonder why i picked spinach. i think of spinach salads as being a summer thing. maybe i'm just dreaming. who knows!

the picture of the pasta doesn't do it justice. in addition to mushrooms it had olive oil, garlic, red onion, parsley, basil, and tomatoes. spice-wise just salt, pepper, and a tiny bit of paprika. if the ratio of quantity made to quantity eaten is any measure of taste, i think it came out ok! aah yes. and we also had bread. haha. armand hadn't had the whole oil/balsamic before (i know, sacrilege!!!) and he voted favorably. i'm glad taylor was healthy enough to stay for dinner this time!

next time: i want to make the pasta too. that was my goal for the last time gravling was up (after thanksgiving) but for numerous reasons that didn't happen (key among them being the plethora of josie-bits that remained. i'm very sick of turkey.) but really, next time! i love making pasta dough, its like a science experiment! my apologies if this post is boring or grammatically problematic, it is only 3:40am. :-)