Luxury

Yesterday I bought this cup of English Breakfast tea at the coffee house on campus. I decided on tea over the Mexican Mocha for two reasons: tea is generally less expensive, and tea has significantly less calories than the chocolate whole milk whipped cream cinnamon fantastic-ness mentioned above.

$2.79 is how much I paid for this cup of tea. (Insert Seth Myers voice): Really?

Oh yes, really. I could have purchased an entire box of loose leaf tea, a pair of new running socks, a pint of cottage cheese, a gallon of milk at Trader Joe's - SO many other things that would have been more worthy of my close to $3 than a few dried leaves soaking in hot water.

Moral of this story: always get the Mexican Mocha.

Provence Meets Dark Nails

I have had a fondness for the country cooking of France for some time now - it all just seems so tasty and fresh and perfectly French without being stuffy. Plus, all those natural ingredients and herbs - wholesome olive oil, freshly chopped parsley, local cheeses - how could you go wrong?

When we were in Julian earlier this year I found an awesome cookbook that could double as a coffee table book featuring beautiful images of freshly prepared meals accompanied by stories of the origins of the featured dish and, of course, a price tag of $60. Being the thoughtful husband that he is, Glenn had the idea to take a picture of/with the book since I couldn't actually purchase it. I think this book goes particularly well with black nail polish, don't you? I know, I'm so fall 2006...



Back to French cooking - one of my favorite things to do is get ideas from cookbooks and create my own variations of them, or combine recipes from a handful of different chefs to create a unique menu. On weeknights it can be hard to find time to pluck a chicken and braise short ribs, so I try to get creative. Enter the meal pictured below.




French Bistro steaks inspired by Ina's recipe in her latest cookbook, spinach salad with goat cheese and cranberries inspired by your local Chili's and any other C list restaurant that tries to be gourmet but fails miserably, and a slice of fresh baguette served with Manchego and St Andre, inspired by the Trader Joe's cheese selection and my love for all things fattening.

Not bad for a Tuesday night, is it? Speaking of, why does Taylor Swift always sing about Tuesdays and kissing in the rain?