super eggplant


May 06, 2008 okay, so I'm kind of a loser Yeah, so I go to Vancouver, BC, one of the most beautiful cities evah, and the only photos I take are of french fries (or pommes frites, if you prefer). Would it help if I said they were really, really good fries? They are from Fritz European Fry House. As you can see, they have poutine! I had never tried it before, and really, I have always wanted to, since it sounded like my ideal meal: french fries with cheese curds and gravy. Yum! Fritz offers a bunch of different dipping sauces for the fries. I don't remember which ones we got, but they were good! The weather in Vancouver was absolutely gorgeous, and it was sunny and cool for the race (the Vancouver Half-Marathon), which snaked through downtown and then all the way around Stanley Park. Vancouver also has pot clubs (for all you stoners out there) and sells codeine-laced medications over the counter. Rock on, rockah! Posted by mariko at 06:55 PM \| Comments (12) May 01, 2008 later, alligators! Yo! So I'm headed out of town for a few days. Some friends and I are headed north to run in the Vancouver 1/2 Marathon (that would be in Canada). I haven't been to Vancouver (or Seattle, for that matter) in a couple decades, so I am looking forward to it. Friday is Action Hero Melissa's birthday. It is a milestone birthday, so drop on by and wish her a happy one if you are so inclined. Ooh, our New Seasons delivery just came! Time for strawberry ice cream! Posted by mariko at 07:09 PM \| Comments (9) April 30, 2008 no more blue house We had all the asbestos siding taken off the house the other day. These guys put on their biohazard suits and their masks and put up tape that said, "DANGER!" on it, and I stayed quarantined inside. It was kind of cool. Of course, now this means we have to prep and paint the exterior. I'd kind of like to get more of the interior done first! Posted by mariko at 07:01 PM \| Comments (8) April 24, 2008 oops, I forgot to blog! Holy crap but I am getting REALLY lousy at this whole blogging thing! I haven't really been making anything or doing anything except passing out from my allergies. Hopefully this latest arsenal of drugs will do the trick. Carolyn is coming for a weekend visit, and I am planning on eating a lot of good food and laughing so hard that stuff comes out of my nose. Posted by mariko at 07:57 PM \| Comments (10) April 14, 2008 birthday cake It was my brother's birthday on Saturday, so I decided to bake a cake. I've been purchasing birthday cakes lately, which is fine, but I actually like baking cakes, you know? So when I saw this great cake recipe on Coconut & Lime, I decided to bake away. It's a Vanilla Bean Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. It uses vanilla paste, which I was all into when I found it several years ago at Trader Joe's. The only problem was I could never figure out what to do with it. Problem solved! The recipe calls for 8-inch round pans, but I only had 9-inch pans, which meant I didn't have quite enough frosting. I did a sort of crumb layer (you smear a thin layer of frosting on the cake then chill it, so you end up with a smooth surface for the final layer of frosting. That way you don't get the mini crumbs and cake chunks in your frosting, which often happens to me), and while the cake was chilling, I made half a batch of frosting from the back of the Hershey's Special Dark Dutch-Process Cocoa can. I then mixed that with the remainder of the chocolate cream cheese frosting, and yay, I had enough, and it was very chocolatey. The cake itself is very moist (even with nonfat milk) and has a really nice vanilla essence to it. This one's definitely a keeper! Posted by mariko at 07:00 PM \| Comments (10)	Making Still knitting a plain red V-neck cardigan with KnitPicks Swish superwash Merino wool Eating Eating bread made from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day; drinking Ola Loa vitamin packets mixed in orange juice; and still eating toast with sliced hard-boiled eggs and matcha salt Reading & Watching Reading Robert Ludlum's Bourne Ultimatum, the third one in the trilogy! Watching Top Chef and Lost Listening New CDs from Carolyn Wanting The sun to come out; the pollen to stay away; to get the upstairs drywalled; a baking stone; a Toyota Yaris (called a Vitz in Japan) Contact me! mariko (at) supereggplant (dot) com take me Don't encourage my insane brother. Click on his head at your own peril. 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okay, so I'm kind of a loser

Yeah, so I go to Vancouver, BC, one of the most beautiful cities evah, and the only photos I take are of french fries (or pommes frites, if you prefer). Would it help if I said they were really, really good fries? They are from Fritz European Fry House. As you can see, they have poutine! I had never tried it before, and really, I have always wanted to, since it sounded like my ideal meal: french fries with cheese curds and gravy. Yum! Fritz offers a bunch of different dipping sauces for the fries. I don't remember which ones we got, but they were good!

The weather in Vancouver was absolutely gorgeous, and it was sunny and cool for the race (the Vancouver Half-Marathon), which snaked through downtown and then all the way around Stanley Park. Vancouver also has pot clubs (for all you stoners out there) and sells codeine-laced medications over the counter. Rock on, rockah!

Posted by mariko at 06:55 PM | Comments (12)

later, alligators!

Yo! So I'm headed out of town for a few days. Some friends and I are headed north to run in the Vancouver 1/2 Marathon (that would be in Canada). I haven't been to Vancouver (or Seattle, for that matter) in a couple decades, so I am looking forward to it.

Friday is Action Hero Melissa's birthday. It is a milestone birthday, so drop on by and wish her a happy one if you are so inclined.

Ooh, our New Seasons delivery just came! Time for strawberry ice cream!

Posted by mariko at 07:09 PM | Comments (9)

no more blue house

We had all the asbestos siding taken off the house the other day. These guys put on their biohazard suits and their masks and put up tape that said, "DANGER!" on it, and I stayed quarantined inside. It was kind of cool. Of course, now this means we have to prep and paint the exterior. I'd kind of like to get more of the interior done first!

Posted by mariko at 07:01 PM | Comments (8)

oops, I forgot to blog!

Holy crap but I am getting REALLY lousy at this whole blogging thing! I haven't really been making anything or doing anything except passing out from my allergies. Hopefully this latest arsenal of drugs will do the trick. Carolyn is coming for a weekend visit, and I am planning on eating a lot of good food and laughing so hard that stuff comes out of my nose.

Posted by mariko at 07:57 PM | Comments (10)

birthday cake

It was my brother's birthday on Saturday, so I decided to bake a cake. I've been purchasing birthday cakes lately, which is fine, but I actually like baking cakes, you know? So when I saw this great cake recipe on Coconut & Lime, I decided to bake away. It's a Vanilla Bean Layer Cake with Chocolate Cream Cheese Frosting. It uses vanilla paste, which I was all into when I found it several years ago at Trader Joe's. The only problem was I could never figure out what to do with it. Problem solved!

The recipe calls for 8-inch round pans, but I only had 9-inch pans, which meant I didn't have quite enough frosting. I did a sort of crumb layer (you smear a thin layer of frosting on the cake then chill it, so you end up with a smooth surface for the final layer of frosting. That way you don't get the mini crumbs and cake chunks in your frosting, which often happens to me), and while the cake was chilling, I made half a batch of frosting from the back of the Hershey's Special Dark Dutch-Process Cocoa can. I then mixed that with the remainder of the chocolate cream cheese frosting, and yay, I had enough, and it was very chocolatey. The cake itself is very moist (even with nonfat milk) and has a really nice vanilla essence to it. This one's definitely a keeper!

Posted by mariko at 07:00 PM | Comments (10)