Wednesday, July 26, 2006

GREAT finds

Last Monday I brought Lorenzo (what his soccer coach calls him) to HK Park. The sun was blazing and after a spell in the playground, we opted to stay in the shade and watch the turtles sunning themselves. On the way we met a yellow butterfly and red dragonfly. I love it when my little boy gets exposed to nature. It got too hot after a while, though, so I had a wonderful idea! We could cool down in Pacific Place's air-conditioned confines, and I could stroll around Great and window shop.

Great, however, had a different idea. It decided to act all weird and seduce me with its sights, sounds and smells. Lorenzo curled up in my grocery basket like a big stuffed teddy bear, voraciously eating his whole wheat croissant, while I pretended to ignore the tempting (and expensive) goods that were beckoning.

I am a weak, weak, person though, and as much as I tried in vain to leave with only the croissant on my bill... sigh...I bought a number of items that are strictly NOT on my weekly grocery list.

The charmers that got to me are as follows:

Brianna's Lemon Tarragon Salad Dressing
Raspberry Chipotle Sauce (for barbequeing)-- ooooh, since I couldn't find chipotle in adobo sauce, I had to settle for something, anything with chipotle in it
White Wine Vinegar
Roast Turkey Breast
Beef Pastrami
Danish Feta Cheese
Cambozola Cheese - Shy's suggestion
Emmental slices
Plus a few more items I can't remember

Yesterday I dressed my mixed baby salad greens with the lemon tarragon dressing and it was divine. I so love lemons and this dressing is slightly sweet and tart, scented with tarragons. I made myslef a sandwich using five-grain bread with some melted cambozola, turkey breast and dijon mustard. A tall glass of ice cold Snapple made my 3pm lunch a sensory delight.

Being in such a good mood put me in mind of treating hubby to something nice for dinner. Nice meaning his faves -- nothing too healthy, fried if possible, nothing green, all meat. My healthy, logical self reared its ugly head right before prep time so it was a compromise of sorts. For appetizers I crumbled the feta cheese and mixed it with some chopped spinach and made Pinaputok na Kesong Puti. I googled the recipe of CPK's Kung Pao Shrimp Pasta and tried o recreate it at home - with smashing results! Hubby loved it, although I definitely will add more peanuts next time and use spaghetti instead of capellini. The sauce was way too rich and thick for a delicate pasta strand and weighed it down. I had to substitute some of the ingredients (sherry with white wine, so I just added more sugar to the recipe; white wine vinegar for the red wine vinegar) but al in all it was hardly noticeable.

Today I prepared some herbed pan-fried salmon for lunch, which served as a topping on my usual mixed salad greens. I drizzled the lemon dressing all over, and crumbled the remaining cambozola. Tomorrow I shall have my favorite beef pastrami sandwich with emmental cheese.

Next week it's back to teaching for me, and that means I forego lunch and grab something bland, cheap and quick from a nearby snack shop at 4pm. So excuse me while I enjoy my Great finds this week.

3 comments:

amz said...

Dawn! I love Raspberry chipotle sauce. I use it in a pretty hearty dip for thick chips: 1 block of cream cheese spread to about half an inch (use 1/3 less fat if you're feeling guilty), topped by a [generous] amount of the sauce, followed by black beans (out of the can if I'm lazy), and finished off by whatever grated cheese I have at the moment. If I'm in a rush, I just nuke this in the microwave for 1 minute. If I have time, I warm in in the oven until the cheese melts. Yum, yum, yum! I'm sure you have more exotic uses, but this one's a good one for a quick appetizer/snack.

Pam said...

Why? Why? Why?!? Why torture your readers with such descriptions of wonderful food. Especially now that I'm homeless, all I can do is imagine... or maybe trade ipod knowledge for kung pao shrimp? Mmmmm...

Bandit said...

waaah! when are your guests leaving so we can come by again and stuff our faces with your delicious food!?