Thursday, October 01, 2009

black bean corn tacos


A tasty, quick, and filling dinner:

Ingredients:
1/2 onion, chopped
2 large or 3 small ears of sweet corn
Olive oil
6 Tortillas
1 can black beans
Spices: Salt, Pepper, Cayenne, Chipotle chili powder, Cumin
1/4 cup cilantro
Guacamole (homemade or store bought)

The corn and onion were fresh from the farmer's market, the rest was bought at the store.
Cook 2 large or 3 small ears of corn: I like to cook mine by dropping into unsalted boiling water, uncovered, for 3-4 minutes. Remove from water and set aside.
In a skillet, saute half an onion, chopped, in a little olive oil.
After 4-5 minutes, rinse and add one can of black beans. Turn the heat down to low.
Add the following spices to taste: salt, pepper, cayenne, chipotle chili powder, and cumin. Let the beans warm through.
When the corn is cool enough, use a serrated knife to carefully slice off the kernels from the cob. They'll come off in sheets but will easily fall apart into individual kernels. Add the corn to the beans and onions.
Chop 1/4 cup cilantro and add to mixture. Stir and let sit over low heat while you heat up the tortillas. My favorite way to warm tortillas is to put them directly over a gas stove burner, flipping with tongs as needed to warm and get a little golden brown color on them without burning them.
Once the tortillas are ready, smear each with some guacamole (homemade or store bought) and scoop the corn and black bean mix into each. Enjoy!

Wednesday, September 30, 2009

come tonight


tonight @ the black cat
the pains of being pure at heart

you gotta be there
(i will!)

don't know em?
free downloads!
Come Saturday and Everything with You

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

sunday drinks



What to do with some slightly bruised peaches? How about a nice cocktail?
Didn't see that one coming, did you?

On a super-lazy Sunday afternoon, we made some simple syrup by putting 1/2 cup water and 1 cup sugar into a saucepan over low heat, stirring frequently until all the sugar is dissolved. While that was dissolving, we chopped about 2 cups of peaches (~2 large peaches) and pureed them in a blender. Once the simple syrup is ready, remove from heat and let cool, keeping sugar in solution. We mixed the cocktails with 1 part white rum, 1 part simple syrup, and 3 parts peach puree. The drinks are best chilled, so I'd recommend chilling the puree and rum, or mixing in a cocktail shaker with ice, or pouring over ice. Would be great garnished with a peach slice or a spring of mint. If you're making singles, it will make 4 drinks. Delicious! Now we just need to name the drink...

Monday, September 28, 2009

farmers market dinner


I love being able to purchase a few items from the farmer's market and have everything I need for dinner. So when my boy found this recipe from amateur gourmet, we decided to make Sunday dinner for a couple of our friends. It's a pasta sauce made with fresh tomatoes, sauteed eggplant, and fresh basil. It was simple to make, and it was delicious! I really recommend giving this one a try soon, as eggplant is in season now and we're right near the end of tomato season.

(image from Amateur Gourmet, as we didn't take any pics when we made the meal, a habit I need to fix...)

Sunday, September 27, 2009

hiatus

I've been gone for quite a while...let's just say, work has been insane. But here I am, taking a little time on a Sunday while watching the 4th or 5th football game of the day (plus a little HGTV thrown in there) to mentions some rad stuff I've been into lately.

The H Street NE Festival rocked. What a great time. Good music, cool people, tasty beer, delicious sweet treats. If you missed it this year, definitely get out there next year. It wasn't as crowded as Adams Morgan Day, but was waaay more fun than Oktoberfest in Capitol Hill/Eastern Market -- I know it was raining, but it was kind of sad. However, there was a petting zoo at the Capitol Hill Oktoberfest...which was awesome and drew the biggest crowd at the event. A few pics from the day...



Saturday, August 29, 2009

old people are funny

Check out the gems on shitmydadsays, a twitter account run by a 28 year-old dude who lives with his 73 year-old dad and tweets the hilarious shit that only an old person can get away with saying, and sounding completely hilarious.

"I didn't live to be 73 years old so I could eat kale. Don't fix me your breakfast and pretend you're fixing mine."
11:24 AM Aug 3rd from web

Friday, August 28, 2009

pseudo-sangria

I went out last night for happy hour with a girlfriend. We decided to get some sangria at La Tasca in Chinatown because it’s central and easy for both of us to get to on public transit (between Dupont and H Street). While I’ve becoming increasingly unimpressed by La Tasca’s food – especially after my Spanish friend made me real Spanish Tortilla, and wow was it amazing (If I get her recipe I will share it) – I think their sangria is tasty and definitely worth the happy hour price of $3.50/glass or $15/pitcher (half-price). When perusing the sangria list, we found one that stuck out. It had sparkling wine and pineapple juice…and it was topped with whipped cream. We both wanted to try it immediately. The drink was mixed fresh for us, not sitting in a large jar to absorb fruit flavors like the other sangrias, so I don’t think you could call it a traditional sangria. Added to the above list of ingredients was brandy, triple sec, and a splash of 7-up or Sprite. The drink was divine; cool, refreshing, sweet, and fruity, just what you want on a hot summer day. I am definitely going to recreate this one.


Sorry for the bad, stolen photo, but I wanted to give you an idea of what this delish drink looks like.

music


Am currently listening to The Antlers album "Hospice". Good background music while typing out emails at work. Relaxing and full. "Two" is probably my favorite track.