So what am I talking about? Aside from repeatedly referring to my dogs as "our" dogs whenever other dog owners commented on my pooches and making us out to seem like extreme lesbos (we have been asked in the past if we were "um… roommates?"), I had a nice time chatting with T-boh.
I was telling her about some of the spooky things that had happened the last couple of times I walked my dogs alone (a man videotaped me… VIDEOTAPED ME! If that doesn't scream serial killer, I don't know what does…) when we approached a bizarre scene.
On one side of the large path was a gaggle of men from south of the border.
On the other side of the large path was a small group of addicts. I've lived in Baltimore for enough years to be able to spot an addict.
We kept hearing someone yell, "Hey yo!" but couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from. Well one of the lady addicts, who looked a bit like a prostitute, walked into the middle of the path towards the gaggle of spanish-speaking men and started pulling at her shirt.
No… she wouldn't… she isn't…
I'm sure she has a bra on…
Nope. The lady addict confirmed herself to be a prostitute and was soliciting sex from the gaggle by screaming "hey yo!" and lifting her shirt and rubbing her now very exposed, very unattractive boobs.
Luckily, there was a staircase leading down to the soccer field right before we crossed paths and I quickly turned left to avoid the prositution/addict ring.
Wtf?! Oh, Baltimore.
Anywho - I made another delicious concoction Sunday night and I think I may have learned the art of timing food properly. The rice was done around the same time as the main course! No more waiting an extra 30 minutes. It only took me 2 times to learn this lesson.
Chickpeas Romesco
Ingredients
1/3 cup sliced almonds
1 (28-oz) can diced tomatoes (fire roasted)
2 roasted red bell peppers (you can do this yourself or purchase them in a jar... I went with the jar)
3 tbsp olive oil
3 cloves of minced garlic
2 shallots, minced
1 red serrano chile, minced and seeded
1/4 cup white wine or veg broth
2 tsp red wine vinegar
2 tsp sugar
1 tsp dried thyme
1/2 tsp dried rosemary
2 (15-oz) cans chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
1/2 tsp salt
Freshly ground pepper
Directions
Use a food processor to grind the almonds into fine crumbs and set aside.
Use a food processor to puree the tomatoes and roasted peppers together until smooth.
Be warned, you should probably have a larger food processor or know better than to fill your very small food processor to the top before hitting "grind".
Preheat a med-sized heavy bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Saute the garlic, shallots and chile in oil (approx 4-5 min).
Pour in veg broth (or white wine... whatever you want to use). Simmer 1 min.
Add the tomatoe puree, vinegar, sugar, thyme and rosemary. Turn head to med-high and bring to a near boil. Lower the heat to med-low and simmer for approx 10 min.
Add the ground almonds and stir into the mixture. Fold in the chickpeas and simmer uncovered for approx 20-25 minutes.
Remove from heat and season with salt and pepper.
Based on the suggestion of the writers, I paired this with the saffron-garlic rice. I should say that this was a saffron-less rice though because saffron is fucking crazy expensive.
Saffron-Garlic Rice
Ingredients
1 3/4 cup water
1 veg bouillon cube Had I read ahead, I would have realized that this was to make your own "vegetable broth". My suggestion? Just buy vegetable broth.
Pinch of saffron threads (5-6 threads) Or you can save yourself the $15 and skip this like I did but you'll have to say you just made garlic rice and I'm not sure how fancy that sounds.
2 tbsp olive oil
5 cloves of minced garlic
1 small yellow onion, diced
1 cup of rice (I chose my trusty brown rice... so I remembered that I had to double the liquid)
Pinch of ground coriander
Salt and ground white pepper
1/3 cup of toasted sliced almonds (optional) You can probably guess that I skipped this. Toast it? Too much effort.
In a med saucepan, boil the water, add the bouillon cube and stir until dissolved. Add the saffron threads and turn off heat, set aside.
Preheat a med-size pot over med heat. Saute the garlic in oil (approx 3-4 min). Add the onion and continue to saute (approx 5-6 min).
Add the rice and stir for about 1 min.
Pour in the warm veg broth and stir in coriander. Cover and bring to a boil.
Let the rice simmer for about 20-25 min until the liquid has been absorbed and rice is tender.
Add together... Voila!
6 comments:
Someone videotaped you walking your dogs? Please tell me you called the cops. And that you always travel with your cell phone.
That looks delish! I bought saffron once and then I was afraid to use it. Then I lost it, and I don't think I'll ever buy it again.
Also, I've just started watching "The Wire," which makes me want to move to Baltimore just because it looks like there's always something going on down there. It sounds like there is...
I love reading your cooking adventures...not so much for the recipe itself but for the comments about things to leave out, steps to skip, and reading ahead...
that's my kind of cooking :)
Oh man, that is a great hooker story! The ones by me are always so strung out they never say anything.
Losers.
That is an... um... interesting... story!
I never seem to have dog-walking stories, it's more when I am alone (walking to work, etc)
The latest? A guy standing on the street saw me coming and said "You're pretty!" so I kind of half-smiled at him as I walked by. As I continued, he semi-growled "Soooooo cute... sooooo cute..." in a VERY serial killer kind of way. Freaked out? Oh my yes! And will I be smiling at any strangers in the near future? Oh no!
Hahaaa that is hilarious and I'll have to keep a lookout for those people next time I'm there. Don't forget I can always meet you to walk the pups - although I know we have to keep them separate!
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