Archive for the ‘*Petra’ Category
June 15, 2012
I feel like Dads get short changed when it comes to Father’s Day. Mother’s Day always seems to allow for a multiplicity of kinds of mothers. Marketers seem to understand that not all mothers are the same – some like breakfast in bed, some want to be allowed to shower and dress before brunch, or want a picnic lunch halfway through an athletic hike, or just want to be taken out to a nice dinner. Some mothers will enjoy being sent flowers, and some will appreciate books. Mothers – it seems – come in all shape and sizes and temperaments. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra | 1 Comment »
June 7, 2012
When I finished 10th grade everyone involved agreed that for their sanity and mine it was better that Chemistry and I part ways. I don’t know exactly what my mental block on Chemistry was, but I was terrible at it. The only parts of it that I even marginally understood were the parts where you set peanuts on fire and boiled water in a test tube from the resulting flame (to calculate the number of calories in a peanut), and balancing equations. The balancing equations part of chemistry I still wasn’t exceptionally good at, but at least derived a sense of satisfaction from making everything achieve a state of equilibrium on either side of the = symbol. This is also, I suspect, why I enjoyed doing math proofs (plus, at the bottom of math proofs you get to write Q.E.D. which always made me feel terrible erudite and like I was one step closer to inhabiting a British school boy novel). Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra, Uncategorized | Tagged Side Dish, Starch, Vegetables | Leave a Comment »
May 31, 2012
There are certain things that I firmly believe you have to either have grown up with, or been introduced to at a tender and impressionable age to truly appreciate. Among these I include Ambrosia Salad, Marmite (or Vegemite) and the Eurovision Song Contest. I grew up with Ambrosia Salad at church picnics and was introduced to Eurovision in early middle school and love both unironically. Marmite/Vegemite I was also introduced to in early middle school, but think is one of the most revolting things you can do to an innocent piece of toast. So possibly you can grow to appreciate Eurovision, but Vegemite has to be introduced to you prenatally. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra | Tagged Chicken, Dessert, Side Dish, Vegetables | Leave a Comment »
May 21, 2012
I have a very clear memory of walking down a street with my mother when I was quite young being given a crash course in Afternoon Tea etiquette as we made our way to the house of a British friend of hers. I don’t remember whether I successfully didn’t embarrass my mother (on that particular occasion, at any rate), but I was quite young (and American) so I probably got a pass from her friend (who, being that kind of English, would have been too polite to say anything anyway). Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra | Tagged afternoon-tea, Appetizer, Birthday, fruit, sandwiches, Vegetables | 1 Comment »
May 18, 2012
I am normally the queen of delayed gratification. I can have a birthday present arrive in the mail weeks before my actual birthday and feel no overwhelming impulse to tear into the wrapping early. I wasn’t a child who went around shaking presents under the Christmas tree (at least, I don’t think I was). For me anticipation is genuinely half the pleasure. I love making restaurant reservations in advance and then perusing the menu online (at length and frequently multiple times) to build a sense of expectation for the enjoyment to come. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra | Tagged Chicken, Meat and Seafood, Side Dish, Starch | 4 Comments »
May 16, 2012
All right y’all, I need to have a conversation (okay, monologue) about a distressing recent trend in food television. By which I mean I want to talk about the television which is more about gluttony and conspicuous over consumption than it is about food. There are lots of food shows I find boring (Sandwich King), or pointless (Chef vs. City), or repetitive (Diners, Drive-ins & Dives), but lately there have started to be shows that I find actively offensive. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra | Tagged Chicken, recipe-repeats, Side Dish, Starch | 3 Comments »
May 14, 2012
Very occasionally aphorisms come true. In the first instance, virtue was both its own reward and the early bird caught the worm. Or, put another way, a couple of weekends ago I got myself up and dressed on Saturday morning long before I actually wanted to be awake and took myself off to the grocery store to get it out of the way so that I could have time for the more interesting parts of my weekend. The reward for my virtue? I scored two of the few bundles of early local asparagus at Wilson Farms. In fact, I had a bag of green beans in my hand when I spied the slender green stalks of local asparagus out of the corner of my eye, turned around, dumped out the green beans and grabbed for the asparagus. It’s possible the Produce Manager at Wilson Farms laughed at me a little when I squeaked in excitement. Ask me if I cared; I had asparagus. Read the rest of this entry ?
Posted in *Petra, Uncategorized | Tagged sandwiches, Soups, Starch, Vegetarian | 4 Comments »
Monday Night Dinner 