January 28

What We Ate (while you were gone)

Hi Austin- 

We went into the city on Wednesday for a change of scenery on the first whole sunny day we've had since you left. It was fun .  We ate breakfast at a Slow Food-recommended place that I actually don't recommend unless you are searching for the only grits and biscuits in the Bay Area. They serve something called Georgia Ice Cream which is a bowl of grits with sunny side up eggs on top. You'd think it'd be good. We are just spoiled. It felt very authentic Southern greasy spoon; I guess I just wasn't in the mood for that. A classic cheap looking diner, with the woodwork painted pepto bismol pink and old antique dusty pig pictures and ceramics - the kind where the smiling pig is wearing a bowtie and bib. The Pork Store was the name.  

Anyway!!

 Back at home, I charred a batch of meaty bones I was trying to make broth from (did Sealion leave the lid open over night, I wonder??), and stunk up the whole house for days.  We ate off of Saul's carry out for a couple dinners- needed my liver and mashed potato fix.  And picked up something from TSH that tided us over for two more nights. Lamb shepherds pie.  Filling.  Those shepherds wouldn't need to eat again for days!
My latest concoction excitement though is that I finally made the date - coconut energy balls I was talking about. That Cuisinart of yours is so nice to use! They practically made themselves!  As if they were hard in the first place.  1 1/2 cup pitted little gooey sweet dates (must get more tomorrow at the farmers' market!!!!) and probably a cup of coconut butter  (Jess's recipe [from Full Moon Feast] calls for only 1/2 cup, but that recipe is way too sweet for my taste. As it is I'm still trying to figure out how to cut the sweet.)  A generous tbsp (let's call it 2) of melted coconut oil. That's all. Blended. Then see how quick it takes you to eat enough to make you sick.  Me? No time flat.
My favorite way to eat it: nestled in a spoonful of almond butter.  ;-). Oh.  It is divine.
I used a melon baller to make tiny little balls that I rolled in oiled hands, and I'm keeping them in the fridge. I'd like to experiment with the recipe to use less coconut butter. But any other nut would require soaking and toasting which would make them much more labor intensive (and still expensive.)  As it is it is so easy; it just requires an expensive ingredient that I have to make a Whole Foods run to procure. But they really pack a punch! One little nugget is plenty. And for Anjali, who loves them, I cut one ball into thirds.

Oh, I forgot to say that the recipe calls for rolling the balls in coconut flakes but I don't really like that part so I just mixed a little in while the stuff was still in the Cuisinart. They add subtle texture, but I don't feel like a cow chewing grass for hours as I might otherwise. Oh! The excitement! I know reading all this mundanity makes you wanna hop on a plane and fly home right now!

Love.Tiffanie

 (oh geez this blogger really gives me fits..) (the more i try to fix it, the more it pisses me off..)