long time no eat

Holy Babaganoush! You know what's funny... I never knew that babaganoush (or spell check is trying to change it to "membranous") was a real, existing thing. I was buying hummus last night and saw it as a flavor. I was seriously hysterical, and then dumbfounded on how delicious it seemed.

Alright, so besides that grocery store incident, it's beautiful out and I want picnics. I haven't really been cooking much, but last night I made a bitchin' dinner. I finally found my camera charger, so it's still functioning. However, after using a Nikon D40 for every thing else really... IT'S SO BAD.

At least it doesn't look TRAGIC that small, haha.

I wish I had a better photograph, and I wish I hadn't forgotten to take the photo before I ate my portion. It looked a thousand times better on a white plate than a crappy black container. We made crunky bread to dip in the hummus, but ate all of that. So... it's just parmesan cous cous with a veggie mix. I steamed broccoli, and sauteed onions, mushrooms, and carrots. I added in the broccoli, and mixed it all together with roasted garlic, thyme, salt, sugar, cracked black pepper, and whatever else. At the last five minutes, I threw in balsalmic and apples. Twas delicious with that Sabra Greek Olive Hummus. Mmmhm.

So I sat in a class at French Culinary Institute, and I'm crossing my fingers I can start in June. The school was beyond amazing, and I'm so excited. Oh! and I've been sitting around, stirring up really great food combos, ideas, and recipes. That is so exciting. I can't wait to get a job, and be able to make them. Once that happens... I can actually post more. Woo!

my sincerest apologies

The lack of a camera and jinx upon the kitchen at my dad's house had left me distraught; seriously. Everything I tried to make turned to shit, and that's not even an exaggeration. Fortunately I solved the mystery of our oven; it sucks. With the bitterness towards cooking at home, I got a lot of pointless stuff done and hopped onto a train. I have good things again, a usable camera, and an almost (or is) perfect kitchen.

So last night, Robert (the boyfriend) and I, cooked the most Italian dinner ever. We made my grandmother's eggplant lasagna with spinach fettuccini, and a home-made pizza (sorta). All of it was super easy, but frying eggplant, I swear, takes forever. Obviously it's worth it.

Grandma's Eggplant Lasagna:
1 whole eggplant; sliced thin
fresh (that white, milky kind) mozzarella
regular (not so milky kind) mozzarella
lots of provolone
15 oz ricotta cheese
pinches of romano
jar of tomato sauce
3 eggs
2 tbsp milk
bread crumbs
1 cup flour

So pretty much I sliced the eggplant really thin with the skin still on. Mixed together some Romano, breadcrumbs, and flour. Breaded the little beasts, and Robert fried them. With the extra egg mixture and bread crumbs, mix them together and make thick but flat circles and fry them. Bread crumb balls are a gift from heaven (and my grandma's secret love), I swear. So...

We assembled the eggplant lasagna in a deep baking dish like so:

1. eggplant (always first layer, covering all space)
2. sauce
3. ricotta (mixed with little sauce for easier spreading)
4. fresh & regular mozzarella
5. ripped up provolone
6. sprinkle of romano

-repeat until all ingredients are gone!

We baked it on 425 degrees covered for 20 minutes, and uncovered for about ten (until the cheese on top started to brown, ya know). Put pasta on once you uncover it; duh.

The pizza was almost about the same, excluding the eggplant and ricotta and use of pizza sauce instead. We were too lazy to make dough, so we bought a handy roll of Pillsbury... which, I infact, highly recommend because it is delish. Normally we'd plate all of this a bit nicer, but by the time it was done we were beyond hungry.

Robert's plate:

My plate:

And two very inpatient, hungry folks:

Be prepared for more, I don't want to spoil it all in one post.

Love yous.

Ps- I hope you all know you can click on the photographs to see them bigger!