My First Balls - A Departure

One of my favorite and most inspiring blogs posted a recipe for lentil "meatballs" with lemon pesto at the end of last year. If you're not familiar with Sara at SproutedKitchen.com, I suggest you go get acquainted.Right now. It took me a while to work up the nerve/motivation to try these out (I don't cook -- I don't know how. I make quesadillas), but they were totally worth the wait. My first ever "meatballs" and my first ever pesto!



I'm not usually big on pesto, but I actually liked how mine turned out. A little more viscous and less oily than the prepared pesto I'm used to. I served it over whole wheat penne -- my go to pasta for pesto dishes.


Despite spilling a bowl of garlic and parsley that I had just painstakingly minced, then knocking my knife block off the counter into my kitty's water dish, I actually enjoyed cooking tonight. There's definitely something about the love and ease Sara puts into her posts that takes away all my anxiety about cooking and allows me to just give it a go once in a while!

 

Lastly, I would like to say congratulations to my friends Natalia and Jacky on their recent YAYS!

IKEA Gone Wrong

Well well well. What began as a quick run to IKEA (quick, meaning a shit ride on the G train and the B61 in 40 degree weather at 9:00am) to get another (lame) EXPEDIT shelf turned into an "oooooh, that picture frame could totally work for blah blah blah." So we're hauling a 40 lb box of particle board or whatever plus 2 glass frames and one very large plexi frame back to our apartment, back to the B61 and G train, arms becoming noodles before our very eyes (why didn't I take a cab???) when it finally dawns on me --perhaps I can use this large blue tarp bag as a rudimentary backpack? Genius that I am, it totally worked, of course, until we got off the train and could buy a hobo cart. God bless those hobo carts!

The glass on one of the frames shattered. Just my luck. So I get to go back this weekend. And deal with IKEA in Brooklyn on the weekend. Sheesh. On the bright side, I could stop at heaven (i.e. Baked) on my way, which would make the trip MORE than worth it.

While we were at IKEA, pretentious boyfriend suggests I make a Swedish quesadilla. My mind immediately imagines yummy light and fragile Swedish pancakes and I think "um yes." Until I realize he means Swedish meatballs using IKEA herring in a jar with "some kind of cheese. Do they sell cheese here?". I vomed immediately, but nevertheless went onto purchase said herring in some kind of mustard sauce? I didn't look that closely.

And here is the result, of which I ate none.
I will say that the dill havarti makes a tasty looking quesadilla.

Lest, god forbid, I go hungry, I made a half quesadilla using the havarti and some leftover chuck roast. NOT my best work.
The good news is that i have consequently discovered that I am truly a world class IKEA hacker. My coping saw, wood glue, and Montana spray paint are going to own that enormous RIBBA frame. Just you wait and see!

For Benoit

I couldn't be more happy that my hero, Benoit Assou-Ekotto, scored the second goal yesterday against Everton.

I immediately knew I would have to quesadilla him! So, here's a roasted corn and brie quesadilla (corn for the cornrows and brie for the French).

This quesadilla tasted awful. Maybe it had something to do with the whole wheat tortilla. Or the fact I bought canned corn because I am lazy. Such a shame, since I added some cumin and paprika to the corn to give it a little kick (!).

Oh well! As BAE says, "If you don’t try, you will never score.”

Day 1: Tribute to a Master

Buenas dias ladies and gents! Welcome to Day 1 of Cada Dia Quesadilla, in which I will share my culinary interpretation of de Kooning's "Untitled VI" (1983). We caught the last weekend of the retrospective at MOMA on Saturday and this painting stood out to me.

What better way, I thought to myself, to pay tribute to the artist than to create a quesadilla inspired by his work? Easier said than done, as I soon found out. The blueberry chevre that I discovered at Trader Joe's looked more promising inside the package than it did once I had it spread out. Clearly, the cheese is purple, and not at all blue like the word "blueberry" would seem to indicate.

In any case, I recommend the blueberry chevre -- it's very tasty. Also, I learned that de-seeding a pomegranate is as messy as everyone says it is. Luckily Cesaria Evora, my devoted companion, was there to keep me company during the clean up.

In other news, my boyfriend (hereafter to be referred to as Pretentious Boyfriend) got a new tooth today!