Phoning it in.....

Well, that was the original plan.

I knew I had some ravioli in the fridge... and who would have thunk, my fridge was talking to me!!



Dates on them all were Feb. 26th. Well, guess I better use them...

The original thought was to open a jar of alfredo and call it a meal. But a look at the clock.... I could do a quick bechamel. And I had stuff to use up. Sounds like a plan!

Milk, steeping with onion, shallot, garlic, peppercorns and bay leaves.... I let that steep while I got in my workout tonight...



Planned on two sauces... one with just some shredded parm, and another with a vat of "spicy shrimp dip" I bought on an impulse at Whole Foods over the weekend, and some tomato confit.



My final shrimp/tomato sauce....



And the cheesy one.... I also added some grated romano cheese....



Hey.... I got the bowl dirty measuring out the milk, might as well use it twice.

Big pot o' ravioli....



And my final plate... shrimp sauce on the lobster ravioli, and cheese sauce on the artichoke ones...




Verdict?

Bechamel is great for stuff that goes in the oven, but pretty much sucks for "over pasta" use. I should have just opened the jar of alfredo.

Overall, just not a good food day around here.

I am a Recovering Catholic (I think I was... maybe 7.... when we left the Catholic church, but my parents were raised Catholic and went to Catholic school, so it was deep inside the family structure in ways you could not always understand) I always get the desire to eat a lot of fish during lent. Now, I've been Lutheran since we left the Catholic church, and they don't have the same "sorry, you're going to hell because you forgot and ate a cheeseburger on a Friday during lent" that the Catholic church, or what my experience of it was, has. It's not forbidden for the majority of my life. But still.... Friday... need fish.

Doesn't help my co-worker is doing a "no land animals" diet and is fond of fast food, so he asked me about Long John Silvers.

Oh, I loves me some trashy LJS.

And not even the fish... the chicken planks.

Sadly, the LJS that was not far from home closed awhile back. I never saw anyone under 75 in that place. They might have become a victim of all the "senior living facilities" that have come up around here.

But, I knew there was a LJS not too far from work. I figured the first Thursday of Lent was probably going to be better than the first Friday of Lent, so I set off at lunch time today.

And it was GONE. Even though Google, Yahoo and the LJS website did not mention this.

No fair.

I hit the local hot dog joint, got a chicken gyros, but it couldn't compare.

I need to go grab my "Top Secret Recipes" cookbooks to see if I can get my bleedin' fix now. Grumble.

Mexican Cheetos

(I promise, the tale of the avocados will appear tomorrow... I don't have the energy to be creative right now...)

Mexican Cheetos.

And I do know how to set times on electronic devices, it really was noon when I snapped these shots. I was just so excited when I got home from the grocery store.

If you watch the TV Show "30 Rock" you'll understand why I nearly entered a fit of uncontrollable laughter when I saw these at the local produce/ethnic mart.

If you don't watch the show... a running gag in the past season was the main character's addiction to some Mexican, off-brand Cheetos and it led to a false positive pregnancy test in the finale, due to the use of some male bull byproduct being used in the Mexican Cheetos.

I, myself, suffer from a Cheetos addiction problem. In a time of stress at work, I can usually be found in front of the vending machine, plunking in some coins for my sticks of neon orange happiness. I was overjoyed/worried to find out at the new workplace, the vending machine sometimes has jalapeno flavored actual Cheetos. Those are GOOD.

I love it when the grocery store gives me a giggle. Even when it means I gotta spend two bucks on a product I'm really afraid to eat. Thanks, Tina Fey.

Shut up! Shut up! Bloody vikings.

Spam... Spam... Spam... Spam......

Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!


No, this is not just a recreation of one of the funniest comedy sketches ever.... tonight's menu featured Spam.

The hubby and I both have a weakness for Spam. Some slices, fried up nicely... half your daily suggested intake of sodium and some potted meat goodness all in one swoop. And tasty porky goodness never hurts anything.

Tonight was fried eggs, some Spam, Crisp Potato Hash Browns, and toast. Good stuff.

Really, it was all brought on by the fact they now sell Spam in "single slice" packets (think the tuna fish pouches) that I just HAD to try out. One reason we don't have Spam as much as we like (but probably as little as we SHOULD) is I just utterly suck at trying to slice the stuff outta the can. It's been several years since I even tried, and part of the problem may have been the Ginsu knives I had at the time. But man, the pouch things ROCK. Tear open a pouch, ooze out the meat, and ready to rock.

Why is Spam considered so evil anyway? I know a lot of people consider it trashy food, and maybe I do also, but is it so bad? Is it the name? Would it be better if it was just called "ham terrine"?? Is a slice of Spam served with some eggs, potatoes and toast any worse of a meal than boxed mac & cheese served with frozen chicken strips and ranch dressing? I think the times have changed. There are FAR bigger culinary crimes out there nowadays.

As for me... my love of Spam is renewed. And now I have to try and find some good Spam fried rice recipes since we have always wanted to try it, and the potted meat is a LOT cheaper than a trip to Hawaii to see how they do it right....