"Not me" moments

File under "Shit I Don't Normally Do":

• Attend a show with the intention of seeing all three performing bands
• Make anything with glutinous rice flour or green tea powder
• Engage in impromptu home decor projects that involve lighting/wall hanging hardware
• Splurge on clothing without at least several weeks' forethought

Then file under "Reasons It Was Worth It":

• Ha Ha Tonka, Cory Chisel and Murder By Death all killed it. The rock-out was continuous for three solid hours (thanks, great music + tequila-spiked coffee).
• Glutinous rice flour looks hilarious before it's molded into mochi. Imagine microwaving The Blob, then smothering it in flour.
• My reading nook looks so fucking cool. All I want to do upon coming home is lie on the floor and bask in this birdcage light.
• The new dress rocks. It's comfortable, it matches my shoes, it makes me feel saucy.

Sometimes it's nice to shake things up a little.

Give me two things you're doing this week that aren't the typical "you." And hey--let me know how it works out, would ya?

You Need to Put These Foods in Your Mouth

Because that's what I've been doing these past few weeks.
And it's made me a very happy person.

There is, of course, a lot to be said for the company sharing in the consumption.
Be sure to dine with friends.

Because food = love.

Gnocchi Mac & Cheese (aka: world's best birthday cake substitute)

Homemade Pop Tarts and Lemon Poppyseed Muffins

Buttery, salty, peppery home fries

Excuse me, my leftovers are calling.

Get In Mah Belly: Pumpkin Deserves a Standing Ovation

Yesterday I mentioned the virtual monopoly that pumpkin holds on the menu this time of year. Trouble is, this glorious squash—if I could steal a bite here or there every single month, I totally would—is normally relegated to desserts and frothy drinks, if not to a mushy pile on the front porch with a few candles stuffed inside as an afterthought. People seem to forget what a showstopper pumpkin can be during dinnertime, if paired with the right dance moves and a killer wardrobe. 

Am I going overboard? 

Maybe so. 

Basically, I just really want you to try this recipe for pumpkin chili. Like, right now. Go make it immediately, then swoon in the beautiful amalgam of comfort, spice and surprising crunch. 

Then book tickets to see the show again tomorrow—in a bland, over-air-conditioned office, a leftover bowl of this stuff will make you so, so happy. 

But I could just be speaking from personal experience.

My vegetarian rendition

Making Due With What You Have: Two-Minute Banana Ice Cream

I feel I should preface this post by dividing the world into two categories: those who can stomach spotty, thin-skinned, overripe bananas…and those who can’t. 

I am an unashamed member of the latter category. 

Criteria for an edible banana are as follows: 

- Bright yellow coloring 

- 10:90 ratio, at most, of spots to smoothness 

- Thick, non-mushy peel 

A banana that fits this description is food of the gods. Ripened past this stage, though, it is gag-worthy.

Ready for retirement.

So imagine my stunned excitement when I discovered that I could turn one of my least favorite leftovers into one of my MOST favorite desserts…ice cream. 

Yes. Ice cream. For (almost) free. 

Can we stop and reflect on this for a minute? 

Okay. Moving on. 

Obviously, I am not the first to post this life-changing recipe. Dozens of other, more creative and health-conscious foodies claim it as their own, depending on the two or three ingredients they vary. Chocolate Covered Katie makes her ice cream taste like cake batter, and Linda Wagner turns hers into a chocolate-lover’s heaven. Due to laziness, however, I most often find myself using just two simple spices: cinnamon and vanilla. 

Well, there was one time that I substituted coconut rum for the milk. We’ll chalk that experiment up to good ol’ summer fun. 

What really rocks about this recipe is that it takes, like, two minutes to make, from pulling the bananas out of the freezer to pulling the spoon out of your mouth after the first bite. This is good news if you're someone who lacks the patience to let cookies cool off before devouring them and singeing your tongue, or frosts a cake while it's still warm and ends up with a big gooey mess all over the counter. Not that I know from experience.

About to be ice creamed.

Two-Minute Banana Ice Cream

- 2 very ripe bananas, peeled and frozen 

- ¼ tsp cinnamon 

- ¼ tsp vanilla extract 

- ¼ cup milk* 

*You could substitute soymilk, almond milk etc. if you want a vegan version

*Or you could substitute rum if it’s after 5 p.m. 

Combine all ingredients in a food processor. Blend. Eat. Feel awesome. 

Trying out Linda Wagner's chocolate version. Nom.

What’s your favorite way to use up leftover fruit? And if you tried this recipe, how would you tweak it to your tastes? Would you add mint extract? Peanut butter? Berries? 

Beating the Heat

In weather like this, heavy flavors and textures are a no-go. Especially after a day spent moving everything you own from one apartment to another. In hundred-degree temperatures.

Being more of a desert lizard than a snow bunny, I actually don't mind a good heat wave now and then. Hey, all the more reason to mix up a cool-off cocktail.

Vodka limeades, anyone?

Summer scorchers, do your worst. I'm armed.

How do you cool off?

Tuesday Tunes & A Minor Food Freakout

As you may or may not have heard, the Red Hot Chili Peppers are coming out with a new album at the end of August. If you're looking for more information, I'm sure unRonic would be happy to engage in a lengthy discussion with you on this topic. I, on the other hand, will just leave you with the first single. Have played it about ten times in the past hour.

On an unrelated note, here are three words to describe why my job rocks:

Pinch Food Design.

Pinch is a new catering company whose business we might utilize in upcoming events. To better acquaint us with their services, they've invited us to a complimentary tasting tomorrow afternoon. 

Uuum, what?

Er, excuse me. I mean...

Miso eggplant egg roll

The spices...

Korean banchan

The desserts...

Beet red velvet cake

The drinks...

Basil gin-ger limeade

I'm simply flabbergasted.

Kimchi bloody mary

Their menu includes butternut squash creme brulee, PB&J funnel cake, broccoli souffle, thyme brioche toast...poking around their website has obviously left me drooling on my keyboard.

But it's not just their culinary offerings that make me gush. I'm also completely infatuated with their design. Simple use of typography, plenty of breathing room and a killer Contact page. An edible and visual feast? Hello, heaven.

When it comes to design, I almost always tend to favor simplicity over complexity. Meghan over at Design Morsels captured this reasoning very well in her comparison of movie posters.

Please note, all photos are property of Pinch. I, unfortunately, have not had the privilege of getting this close to their menu items. Yet.

10 Reasons You've Gotta See the North Fork

I don't really consider myself Hamptons material. All those name-brand sunglasses and high end hotels and cars that probably cost more than my house...I just can't swing that budget. Or that attitude.

But the North Fork? Totally different story.

Beautiful landscape + local food and drink + unpretentiousness = my kinda place.

Top 10 Reasons to Visit Long Island's North Fork

1. You can pack up breakfast and watch a gorgeous sunrise over the bay. Fo' free.

Homemade soda bread and peach jam. Hecho en mi cocina.

2. You can eat top notch Stromboli and Sicilian pizza for a less-than-$10-meal.

Village Pizza: new tradition.

3. A giant concrete duck lives at the southern end. And a slightly wacko (but very charming) hippie woman sells souvenirs in his belly.

4. You can visit a goat farm and sample products that will blow your mind. And tastebuds.

Three-herb goat cheese. Cranberry goat cheese. Honey & Lavender goat cheese.

Obviously not for sampling.

Definitely for sampling.

5, 6, 7, 8 & 9. You can taste wine. 

Like, tons of wine. 

Seriously, SO MUCH WINE. 

For not much money.

I mean, if you want to go all out, that's totally possible. Some wines are priced at several hundred dollars.

But on the other end of the spectrum, we walked away with three delicious bottles--they let us taste, first--for a total of 20 bucks.

Duuuude, look at all this wine.

10. After only a 30-minute drive to the southern end, you can spend your whole afternoon camped out on the beach. With your new bottles of wine. 

Okay, the last part is not exactly legal. I'll leave that to your discretion.

Making Due With What You Have: Fudgy Peanut Butter Blondies

As you may have read on Wednesday, I engaged in a bit of top-secret activity last weekend. I threw together a batch of these:

Rich, peanut buttery blondies. Loaded with chocolate chips. Dense like fudge, crumbly like cookies. Wow. YUM.

The kicker: I only used about half the ingredients that normally go into baked sweets. Vanilla? Check. Brown sugar? Check. Baking soda and baking powder? Check!

And honestly, who could forget the peanut butter?

But what about...

Eggs?

Butter?
Milk?

Noooope. There were none to be found in my fridge.

So what secret ingredient made blondies so tasty that no one could even tell I hadn't been grocery shopping in three weeks?

The answer:

Beans.

Yep.

Lima beans.

Talk about making due! Chocolate Covered Katie really knows how to rock the vegan recipes. I myself am not a vegan, but these babies saved me a trip to the store--because really, who wants to walk halfway across town in 95-degree heat? Thanks, but I'll pass.

Rather than waste time posting the whole recipe on this page, I'll make life easier (for both you and me) and send you straight to the master herself. These are so worth it. I promise.

How do you feel about "experimental" baking? Are you a staunch butter-lover? Or do you like to...er...mix up the dough?

Giveaway Results & Stealth Baking

Remember when I said that only one entrant would be selected to win General Overachiever's First Official Giveaway?

Well, I lied--but with good reason! First, it felt unfair to give such an awesome collection of records to one of only two contestants. Second, both girls had such crazy adventures planned for the week (homemade strawberry jam? Painting a pair of shoes?!) that I couldn't turn either one down. I'd planned on using a random number generator to determine the winner, but with only two integers to enter, the results would have been pretty anticlimactic. Congratulations, therefore, to Daria and Liz! I'm so thrilled to announce that you guys are now proud owners of some wicked cool stacks of vinyl!

In other news, I recently threw together a batch of peanut butter blondies for a necessary 4th of July barbecue. About a fourth of them didn't even make it to the cooling plate before I'd scarfed them down.

Happiness is bite-sized and full of chocolate chips.

But wait, you guys. These were not normal blondies. They were deceptively sweet and peanut buttery and rich, with the perfect touch of crumbliness. They were also...wait for it...

Ridiculously. Healthy.

And the best part? No one even knew. Because they were Stealth Blondies. Secrets to be revealed on Friday.

Along with stories of fireworks on the freeway.

The Farmers' Market From Outer Space

The local Farmers' Market (finally) opened this week. After months of living on beans, barley and frozen veggies, I was so excited.

And as delicious as I find the above ingredients to be, one can only ingest so many combinations of lima beans, black beans, kidney beans etc. before they get...pretty Bean Bored. 

The real problem is that I just can't bring myself to buy large quantities of produce from the grocery store when I know that farms all around this area are practically bursting with from-the-ground goodness. Why would I want to eat a tomato with an "Imported" sticker stuck to it when I'm living in the Garden State, people?

So you can probably imagine how anxiously I'd been anticipating this week. Forget visions of sugar plums. I'd been dreaming of fresh peppers and peas, crunchy broccoli and asparagus, juicy sweet corn and delicate spinach.

But on Wednesday, when the moment finally arrived, I looked down the aisles of fresh produce that awaited me...and went a little nutso.

All thoughts of practicality and planned-out recipes were forgotten. I began snatching up vegetables left and right, rushing from stand to stand, stopping for only moments at a time to drool over fresh blueberry donuts and full-sour pickles.

And in the end, all intentions of stocking my fridge with sensible staples were abandoned. No tomatoes for Claire. Not a broccoli head to be seen in my shopping bag. Not even a humble little cucumber for simple snackage.

Instead, I brought home a big bunch of aliens.

Rhubarb.

Kohlrabi.

As well as a giant orange head of cauliflower, of which I cannot provide any decent photos because Monster is currently munching on its leaves.

I also ended up with half a pint of spicy olives, since the guy selling them was just so darn generous with  the samples. Plus, he happened to be a huge WSOU supporter, as evidenced by his Whitechapel t-shirt. Gotta show some love, right? (Jason The Security Guard: if you're reading this, you rock!)

Seriously, though. These foods look like invaders from another planet. This coming from a girl who will eat edamame and an unpeeled mango for lunch or use chickpeas to make cookie dough. I'm not afraid to experiment, but something tells me these new purchases have all banded together in my fridge and are concocting an evil plan to take over my brain. Or body. Or whatever aliens do when they want to destroy Earth.

So I immediately stopped the rhubarb from contributing to the scheme by poaching it in honey and lime juice.

Ha! You are no match for me, rhubarb! All steamy and dreamy in your honey-lime syrup.

And as for the kohlrabi? It made a wonderful salad base in which to throw in a few olives and--yes--leftover beans.

Its leaves were pretty bitter left raw, though. Was I supposed to boil them first? And I'm still trying to decide what to do with the bulb. Maybe I'll combine it with shredded apple and make a slaw-type salad? Or a martian-colored soup? Any suggestions or recipes would be greatly appreciated!

What's the weirdest item you've added to your kitchen lately?

I think the orange cauliflower and spicy olives are still conspiring against me...

Tuesday Tunes and Food Truck Thoughts

*Edit*

After a brief email exchange with the lovely Lady Smaggle, I have learned the extreme importance of Spell Check. The difference between a reversed "sp" to a "ps" is apparently the route to fundamentalism. Please read:

http:generaloverachiever.blogspot.com vs. http://generaloverachiever.blogpsot.com

Oops.

Alright, going to get up from rolling around on the floor now. On to the original post.

*End Edit*

When was the last time you heard a song and thought, "Hey, that was kinda catchy," so you played it a second time? And then a third? And then possibly a fourth?

And then continued to play it for, like, weeks on end?

Enter YACHT and their album Shangri-La. They're categorized as an electronic band, which is so not my cup of tea...normally. But ever since I first clicked "Play," I've been craving this song like a pregnant woman craves pickles. Or ice cream. Or pickle-flavored ice cream. Whatever.

Point is, I cannot stop listening to it, and I'm STOKED to play it on The Campus Buzz this coming Sunday. So if you're interested in the rest of the album, then dude. You gotta tune in.

I did, however, accomplish more than a one-person dance party yesterday. I also researched Food Trucks while at work.

The term "research" usually goes hand in hand with the term "boring," but for someone who once toyed with the idea of owning a road restaurant called Breakfast Monster (because coming up with a cool name is obviously the most important part of starting a business), I was happy to undertake such a project.

If you've been keeping up with food news lately, you may have heard that food trucks are all the rage right now. Just as cupcakes have been elevated in the past few years from Kindergarten Birthday Treat to Trendy Staple of the Gourmand's Diet, grimy hot dog carts and halal stands are the new debutantes of the foodie pageant.

I literally spent hours compiling a list of the dozens of gourmet food trucks that roam New York's streets, and eventually came up with about 25 that have a legitimate method of contact. The ones that I'm most excited to try are as follows:

Big Gay Ice Cream Truck

The name says it all. The colors say it all. Plus, toppings include elderflower syrup, sriracha and cayenne pepper (how great would that last one be on a chocolate cone?) 

The Cinnamon Snail

To be fair, The Cinnamon Snail is actually a New Jersey, not New York, truck. But they're vegan, organic, and their donuts look unbelievably drool-worthy.

Kimchi Taco

Korean spiciness + Mexican spiciness = How could this not be a great idea?

A more all-inclusive list of New York's food trucks can be found here, but these are the three I'm most anxious to try. Do you have this many road restaurants where you live? And if so, what are your thoughts? Do they live up to the hype?

Also, I promised yesterday that I'd post South Orange photos. Meh. They weren't all that awesome. Here's a photo of my roof instead.

I don't know whose door that is.