Author: Ali Carras

Mamma MaLou’s Broccoli Raisin Salad

I hope not to offend any vegetarians, but I have to profess my love for bacon.  I love the smell of bacon.  I love the salty, crunchy taste of bacon.  Without question bacon warms (and hardens) my heart and soul.  I pondered today what I would ask for if I had one last meal…it most certainly would have to include bacon and lots of it!  I made my mom’s broccoli raisin salad yesterday for lunch while listening to the free transistor radio my brothers found in someone’s trash. The title of the recipe includes nearly all the ingredients except for the most important one…bacon!  If you are looking for a good, easy summer salad…let me know and I’ll send you the recipe.

I love bacon.

A.M. only transistor radio. 

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Stained glass window blue potato chip

Trader Joe’s now offer blue potato chips.  They are pretty good, but the best parts of the chip are the amazing colors and formations.  We were searching for a chip with the virgin mary on it, but could only find the one above which looks like outer space with the sun in the middle.   

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Cooper and I felt a little left out yesterday.  We went to a park in Berkeley to enjoy the perfect weather only to find that all the regular dog owners and their pooches were having a dog-bq.  We sat on the grass and watched as all the lucky dog owners enjoyed time mingling with their animals and eating a hot dog (hahaha).  Someday we may get to be part of their group.  Gosh, I feel like I am in middle school and want to be part of the “cool clique.”  I thought I was passed those days, but apparently not!  Anyhow, the dog who is always the main attraction at this park is a little guy (kind of pug-ish looking, but I believe he is something else) whose owner launches a basketball via a large slingshot.  The pooch runs the ball down and herds the ball back in a Harlem Globetrotter sort of way.  He bounces the ball on his nose or does a 360.  Pretty cool tricks, I must say. 

sweet potato tree

It is funny the things that grow when you do nothing to nourish it.  When I returned home from Mexico our sweet potato started a new life of its own.  I love this no nonsense tree…and the best part is I don’t have to do jack to keep it growing!

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The other day I was listening to NPR and they mentioned the use of a hurdy gurdy.  Hurdy gurdy is most certainly not something I hear or say in my everyday conversation.  The two words compliment each other so well, hurdy and gurdy.   Hurdy is the yin to gurdy’s yang. Perhaps I will name my first dog hurdy gurdy.  Or maybe one dog will be hurdy and the other gurdy (like a male and female dog).  

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Speaking of hearing things, today on KCRW (my favorite online radio station), a marching band played Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing.  So creative.   

Hickory dickory dock, detail

My how time flies.  How is it June already?  Today Cooper and I did our own little things then realized midday that it was 4:00pm and time had flown by us faster than a speeding bullet.  Before we know it we will be in a nursing home and recalling the days when Cooper had a full head of hair or swapping stories about purchasing gas (which will probably not be in existence when we are in a nursing home) and paying $3.50/gallon or laughing about the time when we used computers all day every day.  Ha. 

In an effort to record the memories of this time that is passing me faster than I realize, I am going to list the highlights from the past couple of days:

1.) Feeling the warm sun mixed with the fresh bay breeze while on long walks.  I had a moment earlier today when I realized how much I missed recognizing the feeling of the bay air (sorry to be so touchy-feely).  Oh, man…it is quite refreshing.

2.) Going to the dog park and having 3, yes 3!, people say hello to us!  The great semi-clean air must be spreading joy and happiness to everyone. 

3.) Experimenting in the kitchen making pesto, cinnamon rolls, Asian lettuce wraps, and lots of attempts at pina coladas.

4.) Painting an ice cream cone on a canvas.  The summer spirit has infected me. 

5.) Cooper potentially booking numerous new destination weddings.

6.) Reading a new book…Name all the Animals.  Heart wrenching but so good.

7.) Getting excited about a company called Design Public.  I don’t like to talk about work stuff, so that is all I am going to say. 

8.) Sleeping in.

9.) Appreciating my health and happiness.

10.) Enjoying a simple life.

Vintage Disney book detail, circa 1965

A stack of musty smelling Childcraft books, circa the 1950s-1960s

I am still in the process of working on several paintings using old children’s books found at a recycled art scrap store.  The images in these books include classic 1950’s illustrations and photographs…a time period that I am really very much drawn to visually.  Without question, working with Don Fritz at Santa Clara instilled in me techniques and content matter that I was very much wanting to experience and play with…I feel so fortunate to have been able to learn from him.   His pieces are undoubtedly thick with layers of symbolism and very planned meaning, whereas my paintings are a bit more innocent.   

I hope to have some of the paintings up semi-soon, although I will have to work on my web design skills with Cooper first.  I find web design work a bit daunting so hopefully my patience will hold up and work to my advantage.   I never thought I would be dating someone who has just as patience as Mother Teresa.   Maybe Cooper is the male equivalent to Mother Teresa.  Hmmmmm…I think I can see a resemblance.

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Last night Cooper and I met up with our college friends, Pat and Rachel Rue.  Cooper and I had the same reaction to Pat when we said hello…we did a “we’re not worthy” greeting.  Pat is in the process of starting his own brewery (a.k.a. The Bruery) in SoCal.  Yes, Pat is our Beer Idol.  Before going to dinner Pat shared with us some of his wheat beer, his saison beer, and the last bottle of his first very highly acclaimed and award winning beer of wonder.  Oh my, his beers were SOOOOOOOOO good.  His wheat beer was very light and refreshing; his saison was perhaps one of the best spicy beers I have ever tasted…the anise flavors were delectable; but, hands down the award winning beer was something I have never tasted in a beer before.  I really don’t know how to describe it…we drank small amounts of the high alcohol “liquid of wonder” which was layered in flavor after flavor after flavor.  It had hints of a perfectly aged whiskey or brandy which developed into a creamy caramel aftertaste.  This would go so great with Jon Fowler’s raspberry butter cream chocolate (TPR Physics teacher who made the best butter cream chocolates I have ever laid my taste buds on).   Pat’s beers are quality, quality beers.  Come August/September when he hopes for distribution to begin, keep an eye out for a Bruery beer.  I can guarantee you will come away with a new appreciation for the bubbly beverage. 

Greg Flanagan…devouring his sister’s wedding cake

I am almost finished with one of my $1 clearance reads from the bookstore, Let Us Eat Cake.  This book has most certainly been successful in wetting my whistle as it traces the author’s food experiences from the 50’s on.  It is amazing how taste buds change from generation to generation…I wonder what will be the “in” food when I am in my 60’s and beyond.  Without a doubt, the book has reinforced my appreciation for good ol’ Midwestern casseroles and jell-o as well as the “California” trends and organic, local foods and makes me think about what food sharing experiences I have had with family and friends. 

Let me return to the purpose of this rambling (if there is ever a purpose)…the book is entitled “let us eat cake.”  The one moment at a wedding when I realize, “Wow, we are taking the photos for people we don’t know and they are going to have these for ages and will show them to their kids and grandchildren” is when they cut the cake.  Perhaps this is because the one image I have in my head of my parent’s wedding is of the cake-cutting.  For some couples, the cake-cutting event is not a big deal or they choose to have something that is not so traditional (which I love).  For others, it is a central focus of the wedding and an important component to the night.  Hands down my favorite wedding cake experiences is shown in the photo above.  For some reason, or perhaps intentionally, the wedding cake was not cut for the guests and was left without plates/forks for people to cut a piece out of.  Instead, as the night came to a close, all the “happy” folks attacked the cake using the serving pieces and shared found forks.   Reminiscent of late nights in college or high school when a crowd would share a bucket of ice cream and talk about the memories of the night, this was an unforgettable end to a perfect wedding.

I have two friends visiting tonight…perhaps I will make them a cake.  If that doesn’t pan out, I always have the amazingly tasty organic ginger snaps from Trader Joe’s.  Oh my, they are good (said in a slow and drawn out manner…the way my grandma kopp used to comment on food).
 

The flowers blooming on my kumquat tree…oh the smells!

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This morning I was super productive…I played with lard for hours.

Looks like lard, but it is not.

Actually, the lard was lotion that I attempted to spoon feed from one bottle into another (the pump stopped working in one of the bottles).  Yes, it was one of my most accomplished moments.  I did a mighty fine job of convincing Cooper that I really was playing with lard for hours. 

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My reading spot in Puerto Vallarta

Since I have been back from our Mexico trip, I have had one strong craving…reading lots and lots of books.  Thank goodness for the Half Price Book store and their clearance $1 section!!  Luckily my craving is fairly healthy compared to some of the other things I could easily become obsessed with, but it also hinders on my ability to do other things with my day (besides playing with lotion that looks like lard).  Reading is somewhat like the Pringle’s chip commercial…”once you pop you can’t stop.”  Once I get going I can’t put the book down.  Just in the past couple of days I have read nearly two books.  Tomorrow I am going to force myself to paint and walk up the wazoo. 

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Actually, I have to take that back, I do have two other craving since Mexico…I LOVED the tortilla soup and chilaquiles that I ate religiously while in the land of paradise.  As a matter of fact, I think I may need to try and make chilaquiles tonight for dinner (although normally it is a breakfast food).  I shouldn’t be hungry, but even the thought of chilaquiles makes my mouth water buckets of saliva.   

Emily the gnome.  Bay to Brakers 2006

Whoa.   I first started to get stretch marks on my legs when I was in middle school. Quite simply, puberty caused me to grow up too fast (vertically). After this weekend I think I may have added a few extra stretch marks (horizontally) to by body from overeating.  I suppose it goes without saying that my girly weekend with Emily was a success.  We went to nearly all of our favorite bay area spots all while walking and shopping.  A play by play (as guys in the sports world may say) of the events that caused additional battle wounds on my body:

Friday night: Beers at Ben and Nicks.  

Saturday: We started the day in the only way imaginable: Cheeseboard.  We devoured their cheese muffins, chocolate things, oat scones and fantastic coffee.  After cheeseboard heaven we spent a good hour or so at Elephant Pharmacy.  I made my first ever wrinkle reducer product: eye cream.  We then walked down Shattuck Ave to the Half Price Books where I bought four really good books for $5.  Remarkable.  Unfortunately, however, I noticed that they had the salsa dance lesson DVD that I had just purchased off of Amazon for about half the price.  Bummer.  After our book buying adventures we walked through the farmer’s market then back to my apartment for shopping/eating adventures part two.  We walked the College Avenue route to Telegraph and the edge of the UC Berkeley campus.  Along the way we of course enjoyed all the shops.  Our stomachs led us on a trip to Naan ‘n Curry for the favorite but deadly chicken tikka masala then to Ici for the most amazing lemon pistachio ice cream.  Yes, we felt topped off for the rest of the day…that is, until we had beerz.  We went back to my apartment to let our innards digest and relax while watching Children of Men.  Watch this movie.  After the sun went down and the night began, we met up with a TPR friend for beers at Barclay’s, one of my top picks for a watering hole.   Every time I would walk home and pass Barclay’s my mouth would water for a beer and their pickle chips, so tonight we were living my dream.   Unfortunately, Emily and I are lightweights so it didn’t take more than a beer to make us happy and hurt a bit the next day.

Sunday: We woke up at 6:00am with the eager attitude to try and get to Dottie’s cafe for breakfast before the crowds.  As we arrived at a closed BART at 7:00am, we realized that our ambitious efforts were wasted.  Bart didn’t open until 8:00.  I went back to bed.  When we did finally leave, Emily had the fantastic idea of bringing her ipod with the season finale of The Office so we had something to pass the time while on Bart and waiting in line at Dottie’s (being such lightweights, we were both feeling a bit clouded over).  Oh, how I love The Office.  Our meal at Dottie’s was soooooooooooooooooooooooooo fantastic…it was worth the pain and agony of getting up twice, waiting in line, and feeling lousy.  Then the shopping venture began: H&M, Sephora, Forever 21, Anthropologie, the Apple Store, Camper, Zara.   We went to all of our favorite stores.  I am proud to report that I only purchased one thing: the highly recommended (by Emily) but under $20 Bare Escentuals Buxom Dolly lip gloss (it makes your lips tingle!).  Love it.  About three quarters of the way through our shopping I started to feel as big as Violet Beauregarde from Charlie and the Chocolate factory (preferably the original version) when she blows up like a blueberry.  I decided to let Emily shop and I went to Union Square to sit and digest.  Oddly enough, my time in Union Square was not alone.  The minute I stepped on the stairs of the square I had two brothers ask me to take their picture, then a group of kids on a scavenger hunt needed me to take a group photo which then led to two guys who came up to me to talk about how fun scavenger hunts used to be as kids.  The two guys didn’t leave and ended up asking for my number, but luckily Emily was then in the picture and gave me an excuse to need to escape.  We headed back to Oakland until Emily had to go.  It certainly feels refreshing to have some good girl time and get to spend the day eating, walking and shopping.  As a matter of fact, if I had to do three things for the rest of my life they may be it.

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Cooper comes home tonight after 5 days with 10 guys.  Perhaps he will have finally grown the mustache I have been requesting for about 6 years now.  Chances are slim, but my fingers are crossed.  As a welcome home treat and a homage to Emily, I am planned to make Emily’s famous pizza for dinner as well as horchata and margaritas…I figure Cooper will need to slowly ease back into his life in the U.S. after having spent a solid month in Mexico.

Fish food commercial, R.I.P. Weinerschnitzel

I realized something the other day when Cooper and I were sitting by the pool in Mexico doing nothing…the first part of your life you listen to other people tell life stories and you begin to create your own.  The second part of life is (primarily) filled telling the stories you created.  Actually, maybe life is broken into thirds: the first third is listening to stories, the second third is creating and telling stories, and the final third is simply telling the stories.   

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When I got back from my trip the other night I came home to an apartment filled with a new smell.  It is the smell of all the flowers blooming on my kumquat tree!  I will have to post pictures once Cooper returns from his bachelor party with all the camera hookups…I never would have imagined that 1.) the tree would still be alive and 2.) that it would produce so many sweet smelling flowers.

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While Cooper is away eating meat, drinking beers, and grunting like men do…I get to enjoy a little girls weekend with Emily Abbott.  I can’t wait to get to go to our favorite Berkeley eateries and spend a good portion of our time fixing cars…I mean shopping.   

short story #1:

Cooper and I left our fantastic condo in the Puerto Vallarta romantic zone for our next stage of the vacation: the all-inclusive in Nuevo Vallarta.   The drive cost a good $20 and we had to wait 2 hours for check-in time, but once we got our little corner we headed for the pool and lunch.  The lunch buffet consisted of what Cooper deemed “worse than school cafeteria food”…nachos with really bad nacho cheese, boiled hot dogs, chicken wings, mystery meats, etc.  Yes, we ate what we could and tried to put on a smile, but we were both thinking…this is terrible!!  We took a walk on the beach which was nice, but because the beaches in Puerto Vallarta are on the pacific side they are not the crystal clear green waters like we have experienced in the past in other areas.  We went back to our room after our walk to let the bricks in our stomach settle.  Unfortunately, Cooper’s stomach (which was on the mend) only got worse.  After lots of down time (and many trips to the loo for the boy), it was time for dinner.  Again, the choices were steam table delights…a sight which made Cooper even more nauseous.  I then ate my corn rice, corn pasta, and corn soup by myself while sipping on sangria and horchata (I am addicted to horchata!).  I watched part of the “International Show” which wasn’t worth my time, then went back to check on the boyfriend.  Poor Cooper was again in the loo.  We went to bed to the sounds of the dischotech outside our door, a woman in the next room coughing all night, and the never ending sounds of people in the halls which were amplified beyond any measure.  We awoke to the ringing of a wakeup call at 8:00am which we had not requested.  Yup, we didn’t get any sleep.  We attempted the breakfast buffet, but it was just more steam table food which was barely palatable.  We then decided…this isn’t worth it.  We can’t stay here for three more nights and survive.  We went to the internet cafe and talked to some college guys from Texas who had been at the all inclusive since Wednesday and said the food doesn’t get any better.  So, we looked up new hotels.  We did end up convincing the manager to let us leave early and be reimbursed for the remaining stay, but it took a good 2 hours and long, expensive, hard to hear calls on Cooper’s cell phone to make it happen.  We left and got a place at the Sheraton which is like heaven compared to the hell we were in the night before.  Perhaps I am now spoiled, but I also know that I can’t spend $116 a night for crap food and no sleep.  Oh wow…that was a lot of venting.

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short story #2:

Today I cried in the pool.  Yup, I cried in the pool.  I cried because the hotel was offering salsa lessons and although Cooper and I really want to learn to salsa, I didn’t have the courage to go.  Cooper was excited about the idea, but I just couldn’t build up the inner salsa self in me to go.  So I cried.  The crying ended in laugher between the two of us because how many times does anyone 1.) cry in a pool or 2.) cry in a pool because they don’t want to take salsa lessons?  Cooper and I concluded that we are going to get a dvd first so we can practice on our own before attempting a class.  Man, I am such a dork. 

What is a vacation without a lot of good food adventures? With one traveler experiencing intestinal issues we have kept it fairly simple, nonetheless we have still managed to seek out some of the local favorites…here are the highlights: 

1.) Baked goods at a panaderia.  It was no Berkeley Cheeseboard, but the banana muffins were amazing.   

2.) Un kilo de tortillas from the tortilla factory.  We had gone the day before to get the freshly made wonders of the world, but at 4:00pm they had run out of dough.  The guy at the factory advised getting to his shop before 1:00pm in order to snag the last of the bunch or at 4:15am to get the best of the best.  We settled for 10:30am and paid $0.90 for a stack of steaming tortillas.  In my bag they felt like a warm precious child or something.  So good. 

3.)  Un pollo from the Super Pollo Rotiseria.  Cooper had been eyeing the lines of rolling chickens at the rotisserie chicken shops near our condo.  We finally broke down and bought a chicken and papas to make tacos with our fresh stash of tortillas.  Yes, as seen below, Cooper had a strong affinity for the pollo.

4.) Mango margaritas.  Every afternoon for the past couple of days we have experimented with different types of margaritas.  We first started with the traditional fresh lime, then ventured to strawberry jam (our ingredients are a bit limited), but the favorite so far has certainly been the mango.  In an effort to use up all of our groceries by Saturday we may have to try making caramel and peanut butter margaritas, or maybe Cooper can recreate his enchilada margarita.  The possibilities are endless.

5.) The other day I found something rather unique (at least it is unique in my world): Hershey’s Chocolate Bubble Yum Gum. The taste is similar to a fudge roll up or fudgsicle from way back when.  It was kind of an odd sensation to bite into a piece of gum that semi-tastes like chocolate but then never melts in your mouth…it just stays there.  For anyone on a diet who likes chocolate, this gum may be the way to go (although the flavor doesn’t last too long).    If only they made dark chocolate gum, then I would be in heaven.  Oh, and the image of the brown gum in your mouth is something…I’ll leave you to guess what it looks like.
  

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Last night we went out to the downtown area and watched a puppet show.  The puppeteers were from San Francisco which was a little funny, but the best part was watching the locals get really into the show.  People were so enthusiastic and seemed genuinely happy.  Hopefully our intestines are strong enough to venture back downtown to see what may be going on tonight.