Monday, May 12, 2003

 
Busy weekend, lots of housecleaning and grocery shopping. I think we went to 4 different grocery stores and a fruit stand. Larry's Market was the best, though, because we went Sunday night and I guess the evening cashiers aren't the best and don't really know any produce codes. We ended up getting some bunches of baby beets (red and golden!), baby carrots and finger radishes, all organic, for less than a dollar! It probably should have been closer to $8, but our cashier kept asking the other cashier what the produce codes were and he rung them up like regular produce, which is much cheaper. Even though we told him that they were baby vegetables and even though he was suspicious of the prices being so low and even though he looked up a price in the book once and realized he had been typing in the wrong code, he STILL gave us all the regular prices. It was unbelievable. I mean, we tried to tell him, but you can't really expect us to demand to be charged more, can you?

Friday
Leah had a half day off from work to go run some errands and went to Central Market and got a bunch of stuff. She made pork picata and polenta with a remoulade and salad w/ vinagrette. The pork picata is easy to make, just take some boneless pork loin chops, pound them until they are about 1/4-in thin, dip in a little egg (or we use Eggbeaters), dredge in flour and pan fry. While they are cooking, squeeze a bunch of lemon juice on them. It's yummy. The polenta was pre-made, so Leah cut it into slices and baked them in the oven for a few minutes to get them warm and a little cripsy on the edges. I'm not sure what was in the remoulade, but it had tomatoes, peppers, olives and some vinegar, I think. Anyways, it was basically like a really chunky tomato sauce that she served over the polenta. Also, she made a homemade vinagrette w/ orange juice that was really good.

Saturday
Saturday was busy, so we went out to eat. We went to Taqueria Guyamas in Lynnwood and it was excellent! Very authentic Mexican food, very healthy and so tasty! Leah got camerones al mojo de ajo (prawns in garlic sauce), I had chile colorado (beef in a spicy tomato sauce) and Pop had menudo (tripe soup). We also all shared a flan, which was so good and creamy and rich. We had the leftovers for lunch on Sunday and the dogs got the big cow hoof and bone that came in Pop's soup.

Sunday
More shopping on Sunday. We went to the Yakima Market fruit stand and got 4 big bags of produce for $35. What a deal! We also re-roganized the whole kitchen, cleaning out some cupboards and drawers, making it much easier to cook. So, I made some grilled chicken with asparagus, sauteed baby turnips and brown rice w/ toasted sesame seeds. The chicken I just made by squeezing a little lemon juice on each side (boneless skinless breasts) and seasoning with my cumin/chili/salt mix and grilling them on the George Foreman. Leah sliced up the baby turnips and chopped up the greens, minus the stems. I sauteed them in a little bit of olive oil and butter, just enough so they wouldn't stick to the pan. Considering it was the only fat in the whole meal, I didn't feel too bad about it. Then, I just steamed the asparagus and tossed some toasted sesame seeds in with the rice and served. It was pretty darn good, considering it was made up on the fly. For dessert, we had fat-free vanuilla frozen yogurt w/ cherries.



Jacki 5/12/2003