Anita Raid Your Kitchen

I have recently, and by recently I mean last night, come up with an idea for a new YouTube series. "Anita Raid Your Kitchen." Get it? Anita...I need to...ok, I'm over it (but not really)...

Apparently I love to take over my friends kitchens and figure out how to make something based on what they have - it's like an adventure! It's not my kitchen, so I don't know what is there that I can use. Come to think of it...kind of sounds like how the show "Chopped" works - except I don't make things half as amazing as what they do on the show. Then again, I'm not a professionally trained chef...I just like to eat a lot.

So last night just hanging out at my friend's house for girl's night in and the natives started getting restless...so we started investigating the fridge and freezer...when I saw the pesto sauce and frozen shrimp and vegetables, I got kind of excited and asked if I could take over. Luckily, my friends are rather laid back about this sort of thing and said they enjoy being cooked for? I suppose that is why the restaurant business is still booming. 

Alex, whom I have done this to earlier last year and featured in a Carbonara post was present as well and fully supportive of my kitchen nazi-ness and took my criticism well when I got a little bit aggressive about the frozen bacon.

Here's how it went down:

Found: Frozen Shrimp, Frozen Bacon, Frozen Peas, Frozen Corn, Frozen Broccoli, Whole Wheat Pasta, Pesto

I gave her the task of cutting off slices of the very frozen bacon...check out those guns!!!

Getting a bit territorial/aggressive about the bacon

Sautee-ing everything together - look at how colorful it is!

Dinner, is served.

Post-Hurricane Irene Eating

Just when you thought all the hurricane nonsense was over...and by that, I mean it is, but I just stumbled upon some photos from the Monday after the hurricane when the weather was beautiful but the trains weren't running, so I was able to spend the day at home with my sister.

We were trying to make it a super productive day, so lunch was quick and easy - Velveeta, meet whole grain rotini. As a whole I really don't care for whole grain pasta - it has a different consistency that feels more grainy to me. But I'll eat it, and if there's nothing else, then...well then I really have no other choice, do I.

 

ew, looks so gross

better? I'm not so sure...

so gross and so enticing at the same time

 Some more time and effort was put into dinner, using fresh cucumber and tomatoes from our garden, as well as something found in the fridge. I'm not sure what it is in English, but I boiled it when I really should have baked it, so it came out as a blobby mess - but still good. The cucumber and tomatoes I mixed cold with some tofu and what I think they call the thousand year old preserved egg? Somehow, they do something to eggs where they turn black, and in my opinion, taste even more delicious than regular eggs. I know many people would beg to differ though, whether it's based on the actual appearance of the eggs or the unique taste. But hey, less competition for me! Also mixed in some avocado, and drizzled in sesame oil with a touch of hot chili oil. I also made some of my favorite corn soup.

 

The meal

 Oh, and did I mention that the weather was beautiful and we spent the morning out on the kayak in the Sound? Well, we did.