Today's episode in the exciting tale of my evening meal intake is dedicated to the memory of Hunter S. Thompson, a great man who loved pie, cigarettes, amphetamines and coffee, all of which i have consumed today.




today was a weird one. i went to bed at 4 last night, got up at 10 for class, went back to bed at 12, slept til 430 pm. so when i got up my body was all like whaaaaat?
i had a biiiig slice of apple pie and coffee for a meal. what a satisfying and delicious food, one which almost makes me glad to live in america. i made them yesterday instead of doing work, and boy was that a good idea. shout out to christina for bringing over the apples! go get yourself a slice, girlfriend!
here are the people who have already eaten this particular pie: mark, mike dudczak, griffin, stephen, lee. there's still one left!

mark reminded me about that scene in coffeee and cigarettes where Iggy Pop and Tom Waits are talking about pie and coffee being awesome, while they smoke cigarettes. not quite as fantastic as the bill murray/gza/rza scene, but close!


also, does anyone remember the part in Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas where they go into the diner outside of Las Vegas and hold up the waitress at gunpoint and really just freak her out, cut the phone line and then the lawyer gets a pie? those guys were so crazed. wow.

so let's recap: heroes like tom waits, mike dudczak, iggy pop and hunter s. thompson eat pie, drink coffee and smoke cigarettes. they probably also sleep until 430 pm on the regular, although only one of these people is also working on a bard project. does the fact that i did this very thing for my PM breakfast today rank me among these fine men? perhaps.
but there i am sure many of you, fair readers, also enjoy this stunning combo! apple pie is the most obvious, but have you ever had a good slice of cherry pie with coffee? mmm boy.

which reminds me of a very special Deep Thought from our friend Jack Handey:

"When you die, if you get a choice between going to regular heaven or pie heaven, choose pie heaven. It might be a trick, but if it's not, mmmmmmm, boy."

what brilliance! what wisdom! add jack handey to the list of visionaries who love pie!

conclusion: there must be something about pie that makes geniuses eat it.

here are my tips for making a bangin' pie.
-always make your own crust, and leave enough time to refrigerate it before rolling it out.
use half butter or margarine, half crisco as your fat, and make sure the room, your utensils and your hands are cold cold cold. chill your hands in ice water before handling the dough. (this is crucial!)

-use your imagination. add some flair to the apples. cinnamon and nutmeg are must-haves, but i always like to add some honey, molasses, ground cloves, raisins, walnuts, dried cranberries, etc. to the mix. didn't really go crazy this time, though.

-don't forget to add pats of butter to the apples before the top crust goes on! yum yum.
if you are feeling feisty, make a lattice crust. just roll the dough out and cut into long 1" wide strips, then weave over the top. for a glaze, you can use egg, milk, or make up something crazy. just brush it over the crust when there are 15 minutes left of bake time.


-cover the fluted edge of the crust with foil for the first 15-30 minutes of bake time. bake at 425. then remove the foil and turn it down to 400 for another 15-30 minutes. til it looks done and is bubbling over. triple yum!

anyway i hope you all love pie as much as i do and nobody's missing out. they are the easiest desserts to make vegan, too!
keep an eye out for the next episode of ...
WHATS FADINNA!!!

so mark and i cooked up a really swell lentil stew. mostly it was mark, i kind of helped cut things up but i am sick so am kind of taking advantage of having someone cook for me. anyway we used lentils, tomatoes, potatoes, carrots, onions, and added some spicy red pepper. it was quote hearty and delicious. we ate this while watching the coolest movie ever, The Happiness of the Katakuris. i highly reccommend both lentil stew and this film. also there was a wicked thunder and lightning storm happening, which is always good.
in the words of Neil the Hippie, "lentils are like the most perfect food."

DEad Prez also give a really cool shout out to lentil soup in their amazing song "eat healthy"


here are the lyrics! awesome!:
I don't eat no meat, no dairy, no sweets
Only ripe vegetables, fresh fruit and whole wheat
I'm from the old school, my household smell like soul food, bro
Curried falafel, barbecued tofu
No fish though, no candy bars, no cigarettes
Only ganja and fresh-squeezed juice from oranges
Exercising daily to stay healthy
And I rarely drink water out the tap, cause it's filthy

Lentil soup is mental fruit
And ginger root is good for the yout'
Fresh veg-e-table with the mayatl stew
Sweet yam fries with the green calalloo
Careful how you season and prepare your foods
Cause you don't wanna lose vitamins and miner-ules
And that's the jewel
Life brings life, it's valuable, so I eat what comes
From the ground, it's natural
Let your food be your medicine (uh huh)
No excederin (uh uh)
Strictly herb, generate in the sun, cause I got melanin
And drink water, eight glasses a day
Cause that's what they say

They say you are what you eat, so I strive to be healthy
My goal in life is not to be rich or wealthy
Cause true wealth comes from good health, and wise ways
We got to start taking better care of ourselves

They say you are what you eat, so I strive to be healthy
My goal in life is not to be rich or wealthy
Cause true wealth comes from good health, and wise ways
We got to start taking better care of ourselves, be
Healthy y'all . . .

Yeah, yeah, yeah, hold the fuck up, yo
We'll take this little intermission, listen what the
Fuck we gotta say, y'know?
Word is bond son, niggaz been livin fat for too long, knowamsayin?
Smokin bogeys, fuckin drinkin all types of shit
Wailin out, not givin a fuck what they puttin in they
Bodies, son, knowamsayin?
'bout time niggaz start thinkin about that shit, son, knowamsayin?
That shit is fuckin, makin us deteriorate, son
Word up, we gotta care bout our little babies an shit, son
Niggaz got kids to raise, straight up
Ya gotta start learnin yo self, learning bout ya health, son
Learnin this world we live in, kid, knowamsayin?
It's time to start changin all that shit god, word up
So I'm gonna leave y'all niggaz on some shit like that, ya knowamean?
Word up, y'all niggaz better start usin y'all minds an
Shit, kid
Peace

Sick again today, sinus thing, so not much excitement in the dinner department. We made baked yams (yes more baked potatoes!) and stephen my roommate made this pretty awesome French-Chinese-Minnesota fusion thing out of red cabbage, bok choy and dijon. It kind of ruled, even though i wasn't sure i would like cabbage.
We ate dinner with our new temporary roommate, Lump. Lump is our human friend Lee's new kitten that he rescued from New Orleans, and lump is 8 weeks old and very cool. he does not like yams or cabbage or any kind of people food, but he licked at his kitten food with vigor and determination.
I also painted a picture of some bok choy today for painting class tomorrow. It was the only leafy green we had in the fridge; tomorrow is SHopping Day. Stay tuned...

Hello friends!
This blog will be dedicated to what I ate for dinner. It is called "What's Fadinna." I will write every night, or almost every night, what I have for dinner and any special details and circumstances surrounding it. Please feel free to send me suggestions for foods to try, cooking techniques, beverage selections, etc. Enjoy reading about my nightly caloric intake, and have fun imagining what it looks like as my digestive system breaks it down into proteins, vitamins, nutrients, fiber and glucose molecules.

Here's today's entry, no dilly-dallying.
At about 7:30, I woke up from my evening nap and decided it was time- you guessed it-FADINNA. I've been feeling unwell of late, so I opted for a simple snack-esque dinner.
Our friend brought over a big ol box of potatoes from the store where she works, all of which are kind of getting on in age. So i baked me a potato and cooked up some of the most delicious packaged food ever, Zatarain's Jambalaya Mix.
I suggest getting this stuff for a few reasons; it's really cheap, it is quite yummy, and goes well with many things, including beans, cheese, Gimme Lean or busted up veggie burgers, in burritos, or just plain. It also cooks quickly.
(Veg Alert!: Be a careful label reader; many of Zatarain's products (like Spanish Rice) include ample amounts of chicken-derived ingredients and flavors, and maybe some dairy. But the jambalaya is cool.)
Anyway I grated up some of the awesome Irish Castle Cheese (it has a picture of a castle on it, thats all i know) and cut a healthy slab of Earth Balance margarine for my potato. Washed it all down with a big tall glass of Cranberry Emergen-C (like I said, I'm sick!)
I think for dessert I will be enjoying the last little scrape of raspberry sorbet that was kindly left for me in the freezer.



Here's my advice for baking your very own potato!
1. cut out all the eyes, and scrub the tater well. Those eyes are poisonous!
1.5 Preheat oven to 400 Farenheit.
2. poke lots of little holes in with a fork.
3. Nuke it for about 4 minutes while the oven preheats. That way it'll be done sooner and still be "baked."
4. rub the skin with some vegetable oil before you stick it in the oven. Crispy=better.
5. KEEP IT REAL.