MSP airport treats

Now that you can't bring liquids over 3 oz through security and nearly all of the airlines charge you for snacks, I've been buying a lot more exorbitantly priced items at various airport newsstands. This is in the hopes that en route I don't a) dehydrate and b) get hunger induced crankiness. To justify spending silly amounts of money on water and snacks I thought I would splurge on these two never-before-tasted-by-me items.

I am a sucker for bubbly flavored waters and can go through 10 bottles of 1L Zazz Seltzer Water in under a week, so I thought I might enjoy this very attractive looking bottle of Metromint. I picked up a bottle of the tangy Lemonmint because the thought of chocolate mint flavored water seemed a bit too weird for me. The label seemed to promise that I would feel excessively refreshed after drinking the bottle.



Well... the verdict is that the lemonmint smelled a lot like lemon, but tasted a lot like minty toothpaste water. I'm still not quite sure if that is a good thing. I'm leaning towards the negative on this one.

I also picked up this chocolate bar which I have yet to sample because I thought that it would make me thirsty and I didn't want to drink anymore of the toothpaste water! I think the reason that I picked this bar in particular was that I was hoping that after eating it, it would make me wise and kick-ass like Yoda. It still sits in my purse waiting for me to feel the need for a Jedi mind trick!

Bouchon - In Las Vegas this time!

I am mildly obsessed with Bouchon. It was extremely tasty when I tried the bakery twice while in New York. So I knew that when we were making a trip out to Las Vegas to see The Flight of the Conchords (the show sold out in Boston too fast for us to snag tickets!!), that we would have to stop by the bistro.

I was not disappointed. Je voudrais un croissant! Flakiest of flaky, chocolatey croissant goodness!



A yummy Croque Madame... These fries were amazing. Even better than McDonald's fries! Oh come on, admit it, you love McDonald's fries don't you?



And some tasty waffles. Light and airy. E doesn't even like bananas and he said these were still extremely satisfying!



The only thing that would have made it better (or more French) was if "Foux du Fafa" was playing in the background. Magnifique!

Urban Vegetable Garden Series - Part V: More Babies - Green Beans and Arugula

The morning dew makes the veggies happy.

At first I thought my green beans needed more water because the soil looked cracked, but it was the plants busting through the soil. Tadahhhhh!!




And here are some teeny tiny arugula plants. Really... if you squint you can see them. I think they are camera shy.

Last year I tried arugula, but grew it indoors so my light scorched the heck out of them when I went away for a couple of days. Hopefully being outside will help. I'm planning on hiding them under one of the patio chairs for a little shading when it gets hotter.



Green bean arugula salad?

Local Produce Feature: Fiddleheads!!

Back in March, Michael Pollan came to visit Tufts on his book tour for "Omnivore's Dilemma". I felt pretty lucky to be able to see him speak since:

a) it was free
b) I had given an exam to my Nutrition students a few hours before and since Nutrition students are all food nerds like me, we all agreed instead of continuing with lecturing we would free ourselves up for this special lecture.

This is all a prelude to the fact that I will make an effort this spring/summer to feature things that I bought at the farmer's market or that is locally grown. So here is the first in the series.

I didn't know before I bought these fiddleheads that they are a unique delicacy to New England!! To tell you the truth, the sight of them kind of weirds me out. They look prehistoric and the curled up fronds look like a microbial trap. My google search of "fiddlehead food poisoning" confirms that there have been case reports. Seeing as I already enjoyed my dish several days ago and am typing sans violent GI symptoms, I'm guessing I cooked the heck out of them. At least I was not paralyzed by my public health practitioner side, right?

I've usually only had these with a bit of oil, butter and garlic, but I decided to try them in a stir fry with chicken, red peppers, garlic and black bean sauce. Delicious!

Urban Vegetable Garden Series - Part IV: Bearing Fruit!!

A baby Roma and a baby cherry tomato!!

I learned today that Roma is determinate. So no pruning.



Cherry tomato is indeterminate so prune away!!

Urban Vegetable Garden Series - Part III: Plant Puberty?!!

My babies are growing up so fast!! I've moved the more delicate ones outside to join their tomato friends. It looks like the tomatoes and basil have hit plant puberty as they have started to flower.





Apparently this means that I should trim the flowers on the basil to prevent woodiness of the stem and to start staking and prune the tomatoes because fruit is coming soon!!

The jalepenos are looking healthy but no signs of coming of age yet. I've also started some green beans but those have yet to emerge from the soil so a picture of dirt didn't really seem too exciting.



I'm so proud of my babies and jealous that they get to hang out on my patio all day while I'm at work.