Gardein Chick'n Marsala: ImPECKable

Dinner has been pretty great these days. Patrick and I have been swamped with a lot of "life happenings" and thus we have been relying on the ease of things like quinoa, cous cous, kale and Gardein! Having limited time for creative cooking has not hindered our evening meal by any means. In fact, I think it has prepared me for the 2012 Iron Chef competition!

I recently discovered Gardein's Chick'n Marsala and not only was it on sale (yesssssssssss), it also promised to be fast and delicious and full of protein. The kitchen was running a little low on supplies (it's been a busy summer!), therefore, I had to play one of my favorite games: Make Something Out Of Nothing! Or, MaSOON.

MaSOON's of the past have included flour tortillas filled with hummus and mixed nuts, a can of chili combined with Frito's and guacamole, as well as TofuYoung (that recipe I will probably end up posting because it turned out SO GREAT!)

Anyway, the Chick'n Marsala MaSOON was fantastic. It was fast, it was delicious and it looked beautiful to boot.

Portland Queer Music Festival (and so much more!): The Cymbal of My Portland Weekend

Last weekend involved a road trip, a barbecue, live music and pirates. It was GREAT!

Jared and the other members of Noddy were set to play at Portland's 1st Annual Queer Music Fest. The weekend promised to be fun-filled and over the top, and Portland is home to some of my favorite people of all time, so the decision to go was a total no-brainer.

I arrived in Portland around 10:00 PM on Friday night and spent the rest of the evening watching episodes of the Office and  figuring out where we were going to eat the following morning. Super important stuff. The next morning I woke up early, ate a nectarine and waited for Joyce and Jeremy.

The first stop of the morning was Beaterville. This cafe was awesome and the staff was even awesomer (seriously, it's a word). Every scramble had a tofu option and they even asked if I wanted Smart Balance on my toast! I chose the Supernova Scrambler which included tomatoes, fresh spinach, green onion, garlic and mushrooms. It came with toast (I opted out of the Smart Balance and went with jam) and home fries!

At first I screamed because the tofu looked like chicken BUT IT WASN'T! Phew. 

We spent our breakfast leisurely people-watching, as there also happened to be a street fair going on that day. There was also plenty of dog-watching, too.

Sadly, Samson was unable to participate in the Dog Parade. 

Blowing Off Some Steam:Hot Tamale!

Have you ever wanted to make 40 tamales? Yes? Well, settle in. I'll show you how. (I am experimenting with photo-size here. X-tra Large? BBW? Thoughts, experiences? No one cares? Perfect, let's move on.)

Until recently I had never made a tamale. Frankly, I wasn't even really sure what it was other than it being wrapped in a corn husk (or a plantain leaf?) but with some thorough internet research (thanks Wikipedia!) I discovered that Tamales were a Spanish Conquistador staple and that in Central America they use plantain leaves, but in Mexico, corn husks are used.