Friday, April 20th, 2012

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playoffs

As I may have mentioned, I am originally from the Steel City, otherwise known as Pittsburgh (or as some people have called it recently, the City of Champions).  My dad was born there, as was my grandmother (Jennie J).  I was also born in Pittsburgh.  I’ve moved many times throughout my life, but Pittsburgh always symbolized something to me ~ home, perhaps, when we never really had one.

We lived there from my sixth grade year until after I finished tenth grade.  It was right after the Penguins won their first two Stanley Cups, and the Steelers weren’t that good.  Everyone had a Penguins jersey, and we all wore them to school ad nauseum.  I even owned Penguin earrings.  I was lucky enough to attend my fair share of games, and when I was about fourteen, I attended a fundraiser called “Penguins at Your Service,” where each Penguin served as a waiter at a table, and the event raised money for Cystic Fibrosis (the Penguins goaltender at the time, Tom Barrasso, had a daughter with cystic fibrosis, and he was an integral part of the event).  The year I went, Luc Robitaille was our server (the year before, when my dad took my mum, it was Mario Lemieux!) and I met most of the players, and very shyly got their autographs.

BUT, as I am sure you also know, I have resided in Philadelphia for the past eight years, and most of my Philly friends are diehard Flyers fans.

Tonight, we hosted WeHangsDay on Friday (FriENdSday) and (un)fortunately, game 5 of the playoffs started at 7.30p.  Now, I will admit that in the years since we left Pittsburgh, my interest in hockey has waned.  I still ‘support’ Pittsburgh’s teams, but I’m only truly a Steelers fan.  I have my fingers crossed that no one is super upset at the end of the night.  And by that, I mean no one in our apartment.

For the evening, I decided to re-create my favorite sandwich from DiBruno Brothers, a high-end deli/grocery in downtown Philadelphia.  Since my offices are no longer downtown, I was seriously hankering for a Mamma Mia today, and couldn’t have one.

Luckily, we own a sammie press.

A Twist on the Mamma Mia

Here’s what you need to make 4:

8 slices bread (we used 3 cheese semolina)

pesto (20-25 basil leaves, 2 tbsp pine nuts, 2 tbsp EVOO, 2 tbsp grated parmesan, S & P to taste, 2 garlic cloves blended together in a food processor)

1 juicy red tomato, sliced and halved

8 slices of prosciutto

a lil bit of butter

4 thin slices of mozzarella cheese

What you want to do:

1.  Heat up your sammie press at medium.  Lower it to low right before you put the sammies on.

2.  Spread pesto  on one four pieces of bread.

3.  Place a slice of mozzarella on top of the pesto.

4.  Put 2 half moons of tomato on top of the mozzarella.

5.  Lay prosciutto on top of tomato.  Smear a smidge of butter on each of the 4 naked pieces of bread.  Put sammies together.

6.  Smear a little bit of butter on the outside of both pieces of bread. Place sammie in the center of the press.  Cook until you have defined grill marks (not charcoaled, but a good, toasty brown) and the mozzarella has melted.

7.  I half the sammies because it is easier to eat.  Tonight we enjoyed them with homemade guacamole and doritos (orange chips for Flyers fans 😉 ) and great company.

Cheers to Fridays, Friends and playoff FUN.

honesty is the best policy

Farm Fresh EggsWhen I started this blog last June, I wanted it to be a celebration of things I cared about ~ not so much a ponderous wander into the dark, twisty parts of my subconscious.

Unfortunately, sometimes those dark parts are a little hard to avoid.

My first piece of advice to myself, as I grabbed myself by the metaphorical bootstraps and ordered myself to pick myself up, dust myself off, and tidy myself up, was that any extended time on Facebook reminiscing about past mistakes is time NOT well spent.  I gave up Facebook for Lent this year (and for about eight months last year after realizing that I wasted far too much time reading other people’s inner monologues versus listening to my own) and when I finally got back on after Lent ended, it was like an addict faced with a box of their favorite vice.

I began to systematically revisit each part of my life that ended badly, times I behaved badly … you name it, if it was negative and regrets could exist, I found it, and wallowed in it.  Clearly, incredible for my mental health.

April is an interesting month for me.  Other than the man, who is the most important person in my life, every other man of any significance (past and present, and including my father and brother) has a birthday in April.  Not only that, but I have a quirky memory for birthdays, so even if I wanted to forget the dates, I can’t.  Hello, bad version of Memory Lane.

I found myself of late full of lethargy, and not very interested in training for the 10 mile run I registered for (a little silly, considering it is two weeks and two days away), blogging, cooking … or doing very much of anything.  I think the best word for it = apathy.  I wasn’t crying, or overtly depressed.  I just didn’t.care.about.anything.

I wanted to write about things, mull things over somehow, but I vowed not to be depressed or overly introspective here.  This was about new discoveries, delicious recipes, thoughtful discourse.  Not sadness.  But it began to feel like a facade, as though my words on my blog weren’t honest anymore, because I was trying so hard to be happy.  It felt insincere.

So the truth in a nutshell is this ~ I am most definitely not happy and full of sunshine and light all the time.  Some days I am ~ some days I’m bouncing off the walls with excitement about life.  But in March and April … usually I’m giving myself lectures as I lie in bed, avoiding the inevitable (aka, getting up and being productive).  I don’t know why those months seem the hardest … but they always do.

Last night the man and I spent a looooong time talking (we like to talk, which I think is a good sign that we actually like each other).  We committed to the idea of trying to plan vacations in March from now on ~ to try to give me something to look forward to, and also to have a little change of pace to help combat my doldrums.  Sidenote: I realize with full clarity the greatness of my man.  We talked about a lot of things ~ our schedules, our future, our goals.  It was a good talk.  It put my mind at ease.  It gave me a sense of peace.

And then, for the first time since Easter, I made dinner.  We happen to be big fans of breakfast, and often have breakfast as dinner.  It didn’t hurt that our landlords gave us farm fresh eggs (in an assortment of colors, which tickled me pink!).  So I made something I have been perfecting for a few years.  It’s pretty versatile, but always delicious.

Naan Breakfast Bread

What you need:

1 pkg Whole Wheat Naan (each package has two pieces of bread)

2 eggs

1 small pkg Low-Fat Grated Italian Cheese Blend

1 pkg sliced baby bella mushrooms

10 thick asparagus spears

butter

Canola oil

EVOO

S & P

Garlic powder

What to do:

This dish depends on timing.  You want everything to come together and be ready at the same time.  The following is how it works best for me.  My advice ~ read through all the steps, and then go back and start at the beginning.  🙂 

Preheat oven to 325.

1.  Rinse mushrooms.  Add to small saucepan with a generous drizzle of olive oil, several twists of fresh pepper and salt, and a good shake of garlic powder.  Cook on medium heat until mushrooms soften.

2.  While the mushrooms are reducing, trim bottoms of asparagus (I cut off at least 1 1/2 inches to avoid any stringy-ness) and then cut into bite-size pieces.  Lower the heat under the mushrooms, and stir in asparagus.

3.  Line a cookie sheet with aluminum foil.  Place naan on sheet.  Spread about a half tablespoon of butter on each piece, leaving an edge of about 1/2 inch around the outside of the bread.  Spread a decent about of cheese on each piece, but leave some cheese for the end.  Put the cookie sheet in the oven to melt the cheese.

4.  In a small saucepan, heat 2 tbsps canola oil.  Cook eggs in oil over medium heat.  Use a spoon to scoop the oil over the yolks to cook them, but leave the insides warm and runny.

5.  Pull naan bread from oven when cheese is mostly melted.  Spoon mushrooms and asparagus onto cheese.  Put one egg on each piece of bread.  Sprinkle a little more cheese.  Put back in oven for another 1-2 minutes (I use this time to clean up the kitchen, because I hate a dirty kitchen with used plates and pans everywhere).

6.  Serve.  Voila, dinner!

The man and I have contemplated other ingredients, and I recently changed the cheese we use, because we had been using cheddar but it was just too oily.  Our next incarnation will include salsa, because the man thinks the dish needs the acidity of the tomatoes to cut the heaviness.  He may be right.  🙂  Either way, Bon Appetit!