Stuffed mushrooms

Wednesday afternoon my friend Lori called me and we arranged to meet before my Poly Women's Group to catch up. It was a beautiful day, so I walked from Port Authority on 42nd and 8th Avenue to the Citigroup Center at 54th and 3rd, which took about 45 minutes with a couple stops along the way. Lori and I chatted for about 90 minutes and she showed me her new sunglasses:



My friend Barbara showed up and we started our meeting, whereupon Lori left to go visit her mom in Queens. After I got home I went to my family's house so we could watch last week's Saturday Night Live, hosted by Justin Timberlake. It was hands down the funniest episode of the year, and we especially liked the New Jersey jokes from Fred Armisen's impersonation of New York Gov. David Paterson.

This morning Tara came over to play tennis before the rain started, so we had a nice workout early in the day. Then I went to run some errands, which included a trip to CD World where I bought Taken, Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and Die Another Day, one of the handful of James Bond movies I don't currently own.

This evening I made stuffed mushrooms for dinner, which is something I learned from my South Beach dieting days. It's a pretty simple low-carb vegetarian dish, but just requires a lot of chopping.

Stuffed Mushrooms

10-12 large mushrooms
1/2 cup chopped white onion
2 tablespoons minced garlic
1/3 cup chopped green olives (or try chopped sun-dried tomatoes for a variation)
1/3 cup tomato pasta sauce
2 tablespoons oregano leaves
Shredded fresh Parmeggiano-Reggiano cheese
Hot sauce/salt and pepper to taste

1. Wash the mushrooms and remove the stems. Finely chop the stems into small pieces. Dry the caps and place on cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Saute the onions, garlic and stems in olive oil in a saucepan until tender. Add pasta sauce, green olives and spices and let simmer for a few minutes. Remove from heat and let cool.

3. Fill the bottom of each mushroom cap with about a teaspoon of grated cheese (depending on the size of the cap), then using a fork, evenly distribute the stuffing among all the caps. Top with a sprinking of more cheese.

4. Bake until cheese topping starts to melt (about 15-20 minutes) and serve. Inside filling will be very hot, so eat with care.

Fried tofu

It's a slow day at work, so there's time to blog. I had just the restful weekend that I needed, and feel much more refreshed this week. Hopefully that will sustain me until Friday.

Saturday I went shopping at Burlington Coat Factory for a raincoat, but didn't have any luck finding one I liked. I did buy a couple cute casual tops - they always have bargains there for cheap stuff. I also ran my usual errands, which included a trip to the Chinese grocery store because Bug requested something different than my usual vegetable dumplings for Saturday night dinner, so I bought some tofu and hot chili bean paste to do some experimental cooking. I picked up Tara in the late afternoon and brought her to my place for some afternoon cuddling, then brought her home so she could take care of her errands and I could finish cleaning up my apartment for family night.

Now, for the past few months we've been having family night on Saturdays at my place, and I've gotten things down pretty much like clockwork when it comes to cooking dinner (I make fried vegetable dumplings, white and fried rice for Bee and Bug, Tara makes hot dogs, and I usually make something quick and easy for myself, like ramen, Mediterranean dips or some kind of frozen food). But Bug's request for something different kind of threw a monkey wrench in the timing of the whole works, so everything kind of got done at different times. Luckily it wasn't off by too much though.

I had read an article in the New York Times food section this week about frying tofu and that inspired me to try to fry tofu for the first time. Of course since both Bee and Bug are vegetarians, I couldn't follow the recipe in the paper, but I remembered a fried tofu dish in my youth that consisted of hot bean paste and sauteed green onions. I fried up the tofu with canola oil and the bean paste mixed together, and added the onions at the end, cut into long pieces. I think it turned out rather well for a first attempt - Bug finished it, but it was a little too spicy for her palette. But it was fun trying something new in the kitchen and not having it turn into a disaster.

Sunday I woke up with a headache and feeling very lethargic, so I stayed home all day watching episodes of Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles off my DVR and copying them to DVD. Lethargy slowly turned to melancholy, but I managed to pull myself together enough to go with my family to see the new IMAX film, Shine a Light starring the Rolling Stones and directed by Martin Scorsese. Going to the movies is always fun for me, even if it's a subject that I'm not that interested in. I've never been a fan of the Rolling Stones, and probably never will be. What was interesting was that the concert was filmed at the Beacon Theater in New York, where Tara and I saw Porcupine Tree a few months ago on our anniversary. Maybe they will do an IMAX concert of them someday when they get more famous.

Anyway, all in all, it was a restful and enjoyable weekend, and just what I needed to rebound from last week. I hope everyone had a nice weekend too.