I love museums and I like it even more if I can visit for free. I've compiled a list of ways to get in to a bunch of museums around Boston for free so that you can also indulge without needing to pay admission. The first two on this list are available nationwide and you can look for museums near you at those websites. The rest are mostly around Boston and are behind an LJ-cut.

If you know of other ways and places to get in free, let me know and I'll add it to the list!

Bank of America Museums On Us (nationwide)
http://museums.bankofamerica.com/
Discussion: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=1389299
Got a Bank of America ATM, credit, or check card? Each card holder can get into a bunch of museums free on the first full weekend of each month. Check website to find participating museums (or zoos and gardens) near you. In the Boston area, this deal gets you into:

• Museum of Fine Arts (www.mfa.org)
  
• Harvard Museum of Natural History (www.hmnh.harvard.edu)
  
• DeCordova Sculpture Park & Museum (www.decordova.org)
  
• Danforth Museum of Art (www.danforthmuseum.org)
  
• EcoTarium (ecotarium.org)

Target sponsored nights (nationwide)
http://sites.target.com/site/en/corporate/page.jsp?contentId=PRD03-002065
Here's another deal where a big corporation sponsors a bunch of free or cheap admissions. Check website to find one near you. We went to the MoMA in NYC for their Target Free Thursday night and the line was so long we were tempted to give up. But we joined the line and it moved surprisingly quickly. Boston options are:
- Institute of Contemporary Art (ICA) Thursdays 5-9pm
- Boston Children's Museum Target $1 Fridays 5-9pm
Discussion: http://forums.slickdeals.net/showthread.php?sduid=0&t=1328567

( Click to see the rest of the listings for mostly Boston-area museums )

I love fried fish. So does my boyfriend. But this is not a post about fried fish. While I love the smell of anything frying, Brian feels nauseous at the smell of frying oil. So I've been banned from trying to fry fish at home. Alas. I would like to learn to make fried fish. I keep meaning to try it whenever he's out of town on business trips.

Recently, Brian and I were having dinner with friends and Suzanne served up what she called a simple meal of baked cod, green beans, buttered pasta, and fresh bread. Delicious. Most excitingly to me, Brian enjoyed the fish and had not smelled it cooking while we were there and I was trying to coax their French-speaking 3-year-old daughter to talk to us. (I regard kids who speak any non-English languages as little child prodigies even if that other language is the ONLY language they know.) Back to the main point. The fish was tasty and didn't smell bad. Hooray! I could cook this at home and get some more omega-3 fish oil into our diets.

One note of caution about the fish. Cod (and white fish in general) can have worms in them. It doesn't happen so often that you should expect to see worms every time you see fish but it happens regularly enough that it's not entirely unexpected either. They're harmless for the most part. Apparently you're supposed to just remove the worms and continue preparing the fish. Google cod and worms for more details. I don't think my cod had worms but I didn't know to look for them and I didn't do my Google search until after we had eaten all the fish.

The recipe turned out to be very simple indeed. The basil got a little dried out so I think next time I'll mix the shredded basil up with the diced tomatoes first. Served this with some zucchini and rice. Very satisfying!

Thanks to cmmunchkin and chipleduff, I've decided to try streaking. Before you book flights to come visit and post videos to YouTube, I'm talking about something more G-rated. The United States Running Streak Association (www.runeveryday.com) has collected the names of compulsive runners who run every day. At least one mile. Every day. No excuses about "I stayed up late finishing a paper" or "I have an early meeting at work" or "But I have a sore throat!" I think cmmunchkin is on day 150 and chipleduff has hit 97 days of running in a row. An unbroken string of days where they each managed to squeeze at least one mile into their busy days. I had heard of this several years ago and while the idea appealed to me, I kind of shrugged it off as something people who were crazily dedicated to running did. But when I heard those two LiveJournal friends were streaking, it suddenly seemed a lot more possible. I mean...these are two Real People (or at least I assume so...they could be imaginary friends for all I know).

So yesterday, after noticing that even trying to wash and brush my hair was painful, I decided that I wouldn't try to go to the gym to lift weights. Instead, I ran Day 1. Later I learned it was National Running Day. I liked the coincidence. And today I got up insanely early to run day 2 of my fledgling streak. My 8am meeting was then postponed by 2 hours so really I could have slept in a little more but at least I got my run out of the way. I still find running a conscious effort. But I also still feel tremendous pride in myself after I finish.

Blame this long post on alchemi since he challenged people to write about what it's like to be beautiful. I'm curious about your thoughts on beauty too. Do you think yourself good-looking? What do you think of the Really Beautiful people of the world? (for me, that's people like Brad Pitt and Tom Brady) What do you think and feel when you find yourself in the presence of Beautiful People?

I do not think I fit the beautiful category though I know some people have described me as such. Mine was described as the beauty you don't recognize at first. Many years ago, some friends and I were talking about attractiveness and one of them said that at first glance, he probably wouldn't take notice of me. But that if we were waiting for the elevators or something that gave him time to glance again, he'd think, "Hey wait a minute...she's kinda cute!"

My mom was frustrated with me because she felt that I didn't properly exploit what physical attributes I have. "You have no sex!" she would complain, meaning that I dressed androgenously in comfortable loose jeans and t-shirts (my lack of a sex life suited her just fine). "People can't tell if you're a boy or a girl!" That's not technically true though there was that one time in marching band when a little kid pointed up to me in delight and said, "Mommy mommy! Lookit the man in uniform!" My mom also felt that making yourself look prettier was something you owed to others around you. They were the ones who had to look at you and it was your responsibility to make the experience as pleasant as possible for them. That argument always disgusted me. I didn't feel I owed anyone anything besides a basic level of mutual respect. And besides, was she implying I was ugly without makeup?

( The rest is behind a cut because I ramble on a good while )

Last December, corvidophile posted a recipe for Prosciutto Pesto Egg Cups. It looked incredibly simple to make and it yielded a cute little cup made of prosciutto that cradled an egg, cheese, and pesto. I love recipes that give me a good picture in the end and both my boyfriend and I love all the ingredients so this shot to the top of the list of recipes I wanted to try. WE LOVED IT. We made it 4 times in the space of 9 days, playing with variations on the fillings and also baking them in a ramekin, as suggested by Mark Bittman. Sadly, I didn't write down notes on my computer. There's probably a scrap of paper somewhere with notes that I'll find next week but in the meantime, I'll post this now since I've been meaning to do so for months now.

As always, I'm grateful for all the help you guys offer. This time around, this request for easy recipes for spinach artichoke dip yielded 0utre's guidelines for this dish. Bonus points for avoiding any ingredients that I'm still scared of (sour cream, mayonnaise). Tasted rich and satisfying and I've made it twice now, including once for dinner with friends.

In this post, I had asked what to do with the cans of Spam my sister gave me. You responded with so many good ideas that I was eager to try my first taste of spam. You talked of your own and others' fondness for this canned meat and made me look forward to tasting it myself.



And then I opened it. Have you ever visited the website where it shows photos of fast-food ads side-by-side with the actual photo of what gets served? (It's here) The gleaming burger that you can almost smell that turns out to be two pieces of smashed bread around a lukewarm ostensibly beef pattie? That's how it felt to peer inside the opened can of Spam. It looked like dog food (though its claim to the title of food is questionable). Have you ever looked at the nutritional label for Spam? For the Spam Lite version, it's only 110 calories per serving (1/6 of the can). That doesn't sound too bad until you realize 70 of those calories come from fat!



But it's cheap, right? Sort of. A 12-ounce can of Spam goes for $2.50 on sale here. That's $3.33 per pound. Ground beef is cheaper. Same for ground turkey. And I often see boneless chicken breasts go on sale for $2 a pound. But real meat doesn't have the convenience of Spam. I love that a can of Spam can sit in the pantry indefinitely.

Most importantly, how did it taste? I liked it! For my own mental comfort, I needed to pan fry it and of course I could tell it wasn't a choice piece of meat, but it tasted pretty good for what it was. I liked the Spam, Egg, and Cheese English Muffin enough to have that 3 or 4 times I think. Then I tried making Spam Musubi (the ones that look like spam sushi). And finally, I cut the rest up into thin strips and fried them up so they were crispy and clumsily rolled those into a handroll with some sushi-seasoned rice. That handroll was my favorite way to eat it. I loved how the spam strips got all crispy crunchy.

And I still have one more can to play with. Then again, I'm not sure I'll get much experimenting in. I might just make a whole batch of handrolls. But I'll give my arteries a bit of a break before I go for another round of Spam. Thanks for the Spam, sis!







Thread at trashy_eats: http://community.livejournal.com/trashy_eats/905608.html

Hooray! I got back into the habit of trying new recipes. Last year I counted 53 recipes and that wasn't even counting everything. (Although looking back at the list for 2008, I'm not sure why I didn't think the ice cream and sorbet didn't merit being counted. Maybe because I used an ice cream maker?)

From the 2008 list, these dishes have been invited back for repeat performances. (generally means that we liked the way it tasted and they were simple enough to cook more frequently)

#1 Broiled Lamb Chops
#5 Chicken Breasts in a Middle Eastern Marinade
#12 Curry Roasted Cauliflower
#15 Ziti with Onions, Sausage and Fennel
#23 Sticky Chili Chicken Wings
#26 Sweet Potato Wedges
#30 Breaded and Fried Zucchini
#33 Peach-glazed Ham Steaks (it's become peach-glazed pork)
#39 Fried Green Tomatoes (pretty much #30 done with green tomatoes. YUM!)
#42 Cumin-dusted Pork Cutlets with Citrus Pan Sauce
#51 Prosciutto Pesto Egg Cups
#xx Zucchini, Sun-dried tomatoes, and shredded cheese on puff pastry tarts

Congrats to mforbes321 and the rest of you cooks who whipped up good eats and shared them with us.

Another new year, another list. Let me know if you're tagging your food posts too and want to be added here.

New Recipes Tried in 2009

1. 01/12 Pan-Fried Lamb Leg Steak with Rosemary
   
2. 01/13 Spam, Egg, and Cheese English Muffin
   
3. 01/16 White Bean, Prosciutto, and Kale Soup
   
4. 01/19 Roast Leg of Lamb
   
5. 01/19 Cauliflower Popcorn
   
6. 01/20 Spam Musubi ('sushi') and Spam Handrolls
   
7. 01/25 Pan-Seared Pepper and Sesame-Encrusted Tuna
   
8. 01/30 Honey-Curry-Roasted Cauliflower (modified this)
   
9. 01/31 Peppercorn-Parmesan Crisps
   
10. 02/05 Braised Lamb Shanks (recipe)
    
11. 02/09 Mint-Pickled Cucumbers (served on Lamb Burgers)
    
12. 02/13 Hasselback Potatoes (from Passover by Design)
    
13. 02/16 Spinach Artichoke Dip (as guided by 0utre)
    
14. 02/20 Chicken with Artichokes (I made this one up and it was great!)
    
15. 02/21 Irish Lamb Stew (bland)
    
16. 02/22 Roasted Leg of Lamb (recipe)
    
17. 03/09 Seven Hour Leg of Lamb (from All About Braising)
    
18. 04/07 Pulled Pork (recipe)
    
19. 05/28 African Chicken Peanut Soup
    
20. 06/04 Suzanne's Baked Cod
    
21. 06/08 Grilled Butterflied Leg of Lamb with Fresh Mint Sauce (recipe)
    
22. 06/11 Honey-Pecan Pork Cutlets
    
23. 06/28 Basic Hummus (recipe from Simply Recipes)
    
24. 07/01 Beet Greens (recipe)
    
25. 07/02 Baby Beets With Balsamic Honey Glaze and Garam Masala (recipe)(That's tigerberries)
    

2008 | 2007 | 2006

smoochie kept nudging me so now y'all are stuck with a bunch of posts from me, clogging up your friends page.

What's up with this LJ situation? I finally sign up to be a paid member and now they might go away? I hope this is just speculation and LJ sticks around.

But just in case, I would like to have some way of keeping in touch with you in case LJ disappears. (Really, this just gives me an excuse to stalk you online.)

Comments and poll results are screened.

Poll #1330326
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: None

What is your name?

Address?

Phone Number?

Email address?

IM name? (include which messaging service you're using)

While I have you, when's your birthday?

Do you have any other ways to track you down? a website URL? Facebook?

It sounds silly but I'm really looking forward to trying the 2 cans of Spam my sister gave me for Christmas. She looked over my list of the Omnivore's 100 Meme and gave me two bottles of fruit wine (cherry wine and blueberry wine) and 2 cans of Spam (regular and lite). I'm pretty sure I'll be drinking the wines with lamb and chocolates but not sure of what to do with the Spam. I've been browsing recipes online. So far, the spam and egg on English muffins sounds good to me. Same for the spam-burger but I forgot to buy burger topping ingredients this weekend.

Got any favorite Spam recipes? How about handling tips? When I open the can, do I have to eat it all right away? Can I put some of it in tupperware in the fridge to cook up later? How much later? I've never had Spam before...I'm both curious and disgusted by the thought of canned meat but I have to admit that some of the photos accompanying the recipes look pretty good. I'm trying to think of spam as a variation on tofu. What is spam anyhow?

I spotted this recipe in an issue of Eating Well magazine at the library and just had to try it. Want to know how easy this recipe is? I was able to go to the gym for a short workout, come home and whip up 2 dozen of these cookies, and make it out the door in time to meet friends for brunch. And they still tasted fabulous. They came out of the oven soft and chewy. By the next day, they were pretty hard and crispy. (no worries, I just dunked them in my tea)

Spotted in webmd's post. I'm glad I got to a point in my life where I was willing to try different foods. I think I've eaten 51 of the things on this list. Many of these I had to Google to figure out what they even were.

1) Copy this list into your blog or journal, including these instructions.
2) Bold all the items you’ve eaten.
3) Cross out any items that you would never consider eating.
4) Optional extra: Post a comment here at www.verygoodtaste.co.uk linking to your results.

( Read more... )

This one's very quick to prepare for a tasty but impressive dish. One friend whipped this up as an impromptu dish. She had invited us over for dinner but had forgotten my boyfriend didn't eat beef. He figured he'd just eat more of the side dishes but she emerged from the kitchen 10 minutes later with prosciutto and scallops. Yum!

My friend, Jacyln, and I headed out to Busa Farm last weekend. To join its CSA (Community-Supported Agriculture), I paid $260 up front for the season and they gave me $280 worth of Busa Bucks (which works out to an 8% discount). Then I can use these Busa Bucks at their farm stand. The part that really grabbed me though is Busa Farm lets you go into the fields and pick your own vegetable and gives you 50% off the farm stand price. I imagine the discount is given since you save the farm the labor of harvesting the vegetables but for me, the opportunity to pick the vegetables fresh myself was a big selling point. I really need to remember bug spray though. The last few times I've gone out to the fields, I've been bitten by a ton of mosquitoes.

But the vague fear of picking up West Nile Fever is beside the point. The point is that Jacyln and I have enjoyed some truly farm fresh meals this summer. She's an amazing cook and I've picked up a few recipes from her that I need to post.

This is one from this past weekend where we wandered up and down the row of grape and cherry tomatoes, picking tons of tomatoes because they looked so beautiful. First there were the yellow ones, then red cherry tomatoes. Then we were lured away by the Roma beans and purple beans. That's right, purple beans! They're magic purple beans since they turn green when you cook them. At first I was fascinated by the change in colors but now that the novelty has worn off, I kinda wish they would stay purple. Anyhow, by the time we got to the end of the row of beans, that brought us to the other end of the tomatoes as well and then there were orange grape tomatoes to pick! So we picked a bunch of those too. We even found a few purple tomatoes. Bonanza!

I don't know if this is properly called a salad or not but that's its name until someone suggests otherwise. Jacyln's one of those intuitive cooks so the measurements aren't exact. But they're good and the recipe is very easy.

My meat CSA this month included two pork ham steaks. I made this recipe twice since it was so fast and easy to put together that I was reluctant to look for another way to cook up a ham steak. Anyone want to recommend a favorite ham steak recipe to try next time I get this cut of meat?

Visiting the farm and petting piglets and holding baby lambs was all fine and dandy but let's not forget what the end game is here. These animals end up as meat on our plates and many thanks for that! At first I had worried that 10 pounds of meat a month for two adults wouldn't be enough. Our first month of meat from Chestnut Farms included:

- 2 big pork ham steaks
- 2 chicken breasts (bone-in, skin included)
- 2 pounds ground pork
- 2 packs of lamb loin chops (0.6 pounds each pack)
- 1 pack of Greek lamb sausage
- 1 pack of Sweet Italian pork sausage

We don't eat beef so I can't comment on their grass-fed beef. Ten pounds turns out to be just about the right amount of meat, supplemented with some bacon and frozen shrimp. We ate out about once or twice a week. To stretch the meat, we ate smaller portions of meat and padded with more sides. We even cooked up a handful of vegetarian meals. We still have the lamb sausage and 1 pack of ground pork in the freezer. The last lamb loin chops are thawing in the fridge for tomorrow night's dinner.

We've been enjoying some fabulous meals this month. Take a look!




( Read more... )

In early June, Brian and I drove 2 hours west of Boston to go visit Chestnut Farms for their open house. After a day spent wandering around the farm, I was satisfied that the cows, sheep, pigs, and chickens got to enjoy a pretty good life right up until they headed off to the slaughterhouse. And then they eventually ended up on our plates. (See some of our dinners from them)

It was a hot day so the cows we saw were mostly crowding into the barn to stay out of the sun. There was one lone calf hanging out in the barn yard though a couple of the others wandered in and out. The cows were not that interested in being touched. A few allowed me to pet them but for the most part, they kept a wary eye on us and the crowd of them shifted away from us whenever we approached the railing. Every so often you'd hear what sounded like a sudden waterfall and you'd realize that the cows were just relieving themselves right wherever they stood. Sometimes they peed right on other cows (mostly the smaller calves that were inopportunely positioned).

( Click for more photos of chickens, baby lambs, and pigs )

Thanks to all of you who offered advice and tips on how to work up to doing pull-ups. I work from home and the pull-up bar is in the doorway of my home office. So I kept trying stuff on the bar whenever I walked by it. I tried a mishmash of the various suggestions I could do. Lots of bent-arm hangs, slow negatives (jump up and then lower myself from bar) and assisted pull-ups whenever my boyfriend was around to help push me up over the bar. At the gym, I focused on the Gravitron (for assisted pull-ups and dips), lat pull-downs, and any machines that said they helped make my back stronger.

And especially thanks to all you women who posted that you could do a pull-up (and even several of them!). It made it seem that much more possible with enough work. (http://community.livejournal.com/gymrats/1831348.html)

Questions:
1. My body just folds up when I try to lift myself up. Is it trying to doggy-paddle its way towards a kipping pull-up?

2. Does it make it easier to do a pull-up when my legs come up too? I need to concentrate to try to keep my waist straight and if I do so, I can only do one at a time so far. My boyfriend's legs come up naturally straight so he ends up in an L-shape when his chin is above the bar.



OK...maybe it's not a big deal for some of you but I've never been able to do two pull-ups in my life. I was so happy about it that I called up my sister to boast. Her husband picked up the phone.

Me: Oh Hi! I was calling to brag to my sister but I can brag to you too.
Sister's husband: Ok...Go ahead. Let's hear it.
Sister (noticing the anticipating-big-news tone in his voice): She's getting marrried?!

My sister got on the phone afterwards to congratulate me for the pull-ups too (though I don't think she was as excited as if I had gotten engaged)

Cross-posted to gymrats

Did any of you know jester5? He deleted his journal around April 29 and I kept hoping he would just reactivate his account but no such luck. Did he come back under a different username? Or does anyone have an email address for him? If so, please let him know that fitfool is wondering where he disappeared to.

If you're ever in Cambridge, MA and looking for some good Indian food, head over to Inman Square and eat at The Kebab Factory. They have amazing soups, rich and complex flavors. I haven't managed to recreate their soup but that's what I was hoping for when I made this Cream of Asparagus soup. Pretty good but just not as amazing as at The Kebab Factory. If anyone has tasted their soup and has suggestions for how to achieve their far more intriguing flavors, please let me know!