Tag Archives: honey

Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart

There are needs: food, water, alone time.  Then there are “needs,” which are much more fun to discuss.  And that’s what I mean when I say I “need” you to make this before summer is over (it’s not!).

Other “needs” I have lately:

-Anklets, especially this cool zipper one.  I’m bringing them back!  Join me.  I don’t wanna look like a fool anymore.

-Knowing how to fix a garbage disposal.  This translates to having a garbage disposal, period.  It’s the gift that keeps on giving.

-Nice whiskey.  I haven’t found anything I like more than Laphroaig single malt scotch.  Treat yoself…  To peat in a bottle.

-A solid hour to devote to reading these Amazon reviews of Bic For Her.  Women!  Pens!  Hilarious.

-Finally, like I said, I need you to make this.  It’s that good.  David Lebovitz…  Thank you.

I’m talking ripe, good-as-they-get summer tomatoes, baked to a soft, concentrated mellow sweetness.  I’m also talking goat cheese–big hunks of it, with creamy warm centers and golden brown outsides.  Herbs, of course.  Incredibly flavorful, buttery crust.  And to send the whole thing to out-of-this-world excellence, we have sharp, good mustard and a drizzle of honey over the top.

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Grilled Nectarine Flatbread

Things I love lately:

-The way my foam mattress topper firms up when I’m not using it.  Climbing into my own bed after a few days away is heavenly, just…  extra heavenly.

-Lavanila grapefruit perfume.  I used to think I hated vanilla-scented things…  But that’s probably because “vanilla” is often code for “syrupy saccharine-smelling thing that maybe smells like a touch of vanilla too” (not that there’s anything wrong with that).  Oh, the things you learn as you age.

-Revlon lip butters: for those of us not yet mature enough for lipstick.  It’s like training bras for us lipstick-non-wearers.  No one is paying me to say this stuff, and that won’t happen, because obviously I like to compare perfectly nice things to training bras.  Oops.

-Garbage.  Major, major 90s nostalgia.  They’re definitely still around and they’re still just so, so good.  Butch Vig is the shaman behind some of my favorite music, and Shirley Manson…  No words for Shirley Manson.  The woman is from another planet.

-Grilled fruit.  Charred, smoky, tender, beautifully marked, totally luscious.  Hellooo, summer.

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Green Papaya Salad (Som Tam)

Do I even like Supertramp?  Why do I have at least two of their records?  It must be because I can’t stay away from thrift store vinyl bins.  Can’t do it.  I guarantee you that every such bin in every thrift store in All The Land has at least one Supertramp record.  Why?  It’s as if there’s some wormhole that ensures this is so.

Did those boys do something saucy/controversial but not saucy/controversial enough for the music-listening masses to steamroll their recordings, so they just threw them in the Goodwill bin?

Wikipedia research says: electric piano…  LSD…  nervous breakdowns… personal differences…  I got nothing.  I guess we’ll never know.

Supertramp is one thing, but I’m not quite as ambivalent about Thai green papaya salad.  I like, definitely like.  It’s complex, flavorful, savory, spicy, tangy and beer-friendly.

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Spiced Chai with Bourbon

Let’s figure out what we can put WHISKEY in.  Woo!

There are some things I’ve never understood.  Including: Why do coffee shops close so early?  Kicking back with a friend, a hot beverage and maybe a baked good should not be an exclusively “daytime” activity.  Do baristas just get tired early?  Are they THAT committed to watching American Idol or whatever?  I don’t know.

Not to mention that I personally love a hot caffeinated beverage combined with some sort of spirited liquid.  I don’t want to have to engage in Day Drinking (a sport I have much respect but rarely the fortitude for) to do this.  Seriously, coffeehouses: all you have to do is stay open later and procure a small bar of delicious boozy additives.

Caffeine and alcohol seems like the perfect balance, but perhaps speedballing ruined the whole concept.  Thanks a lot, DRUGS.  This is why we can’t have nice things, like the fun kind of NyQuil.

Aaanyway.

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Grilled Peaches with Goat Cheese, Honey and Walnuts

This is your captain speaking…  Captain Obvious…  You’ve made a lot of jokes about me and I do not like it.  Anyhow.  What I have here isn’t even a recipe, because, duh, it’s all in the title.  Consider it a suggestion in your “make end-of-summer life more delicious” suggestion box.

XOXO,
Captain

 

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Iced Tea for Alcoholics (or Bourbon Sweet Tea Cocktails)

There I go with the inappropriate joking again.  Somebody stop me!  Or encourage me…  I’m needy like that.

This isn’t about me, though.  This is about a light, refreshing, delicious and fresh-tasting summer drink.

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