tusk tusk

I've been hearing a lot about a band called Elefant lately. I've heard them on WPRK, liked the songs and found out who they were *after* the song, when the dj announced what they played in their last set. I am happy to hear that they are playing in town next month with Interpol, which makes sense now that I know they're both from New York. Problem is, it has been a while, and I don't remember what songs I heard, and now the dj that I spoke with last when I requested, asked which Elefant, like there is more than one. I am so confused.

Here is the homepge for the band and album that I found via Amazon.com. I have not found another band and I like this stuff, so this must be it. (Nicole, if you like this, they're playing Philly too.)

Yummy! And some nibbly bits.

So last weekend, after eating at a local Greek restaurant, I got inspired to do more cooking. I also picked up a new pot with birthday gift cards from my brothers and sister in law. I made Greek meatballs ala Zachos Sunday night, along with some Greek oven roasted potatoes. While I was making those, I decided to test out my new pot and make a meat sauce and try to make the Spaghetti Fournou (Oven Baked Spaghetti) on my own...reverse engineering as much of the recipe as I could from what I remembered the dish Friday had in it. Following Manoula's trick for making parts of lengthier dishes in advance and then assembling them at a later date, I made the meat sauce and let it simmer all night, then let it cool and stored it in the fridge for use later in the week. So after being sick all day yesterday, I got a kick of energy to make the full dish, even though I was full from pizza (courtesy roommate) earlier in the afternoon. So I made it, after hanging out with Kris, because huggy bear was hungry by that time. All I had to do was boil the pasta, mix in some olive oil and parmesan cheese, reheat the meat mixture, arrange in the dish and bake it with little bits of mozzarella. I only with I was hungry then, because it would have been better, though I did reheat it tonight and it was still yummy, just the cheese wasn't as gooey.

Later in the week I did more cooking and made quesadillas using Chicken Helper. I used the Southwest chicken and added Mexican blend cheese to it to melt. It turned out good, but the rice from the CH caused it to be very messy indeed. We have leftover tortillas and cheese, so we bought stir fry beef today, and I will cook it with a little taco seasoning and make more quesadillas next week. We'll see how that goes.

I am excited that my Pampered Chef order has come in. I will be meeting maggie226 to pick it up tomorrow afternoon. I did pretty well, considering a) it was my first show as hostess, and b) it is the only show type thing I have ever done in my life like this. Part of my success was all my friends and family who chipped in to help, and who were genuinely interested. I also did well, as some people ordered things from the catalog for me, as my birthday was the day before my show. I managed to get 4 pieces of stoneware, and a half dozen utensils and such. I will be making yummy treats...cookies and maybe other sweets? Thank you to all!

Anyhow, the pan I got last weekend was ok, and it was good cuz it was 18/10 stainless steel/tri-ply, and Chas could use metal utensils, harsh scrubbies, and stick it in the dishwasher, and do all the things to it he is not supposed to do to my other hard-anodized aluminum nonstick pans, but I wasn't 100% pleased with it, so I exchanged it for a slightly different one today. It is a little smaller, but lighter and easier to hold. It looks nicer, but it is hard-anodized aluminum nonstick, so it will be hands off to Chas cleaning or using. :)

I have been thinking of setting up a cooking club to meet once a month or so, to cook and try out recipes and stuff, and just hang out and have fun doing it, Anyone in the area interested in talking about something like this? Let me know.

Well, I guess that is all for my cooking and food stuffs!