Scallop Goodness

This weekend I had dinner at Brian's and Atsuko's. Atsuko made yummy, yummy appetizers of seared scallops, spinach and ginger butter. Delicious! It turns out she got the scallops at one of my favorite stores, Trader Joe's. Frozen Japanese scallops. I bought some today and made my dinner of seared scallops with roasted baby carrots and green beans, also from Trader Joe's. I thawed the scallops with Alton Brown's method of putting the fish in a bowl of lukewarm water with the faucet slowing dripping into the bowl. The scallops are ready to go in about 15 minutes. I spayed them with TJ's olive oil, salted them and then seared them. The carrots and green beans were also sprayed and salted and then put in the 400 degree toaster oven for about 20 minutes. I piled the cooked items on my plate and sprinkled them with soy sauce. Viola, a great dinner.

Honey, I'm Home

I've been tagged by verbatim to post about the Dancing Deer Baking Company "Sweet Home" initiative:

Dancing Deer’s Sweet Home Initiative raises money for scholarships to help educate homeless women and end family homelessness. As a part of this initiative, our CEO, Trish Karter, will be riding her bike 1,500 miles from Atlanta to Boston, visiting family shelters in each city to raise awareness about this issue. She’ll also be recording stories from the women she meets along the way, asking them about their experiences. One question she’ll ask them are what foods remind them of home.(See more here.)

I love home food, aka comfort food. Potatoes and pasta, though not together. Making cheese fondue with Deb is always fun; served with wine it is even yummier. I make a GREAT shrimp fried rice and I know because Debra says so. Salmon is a big favorite for me and so easy to grill or bake. If I'm not feeling great, a nice bowl of tomato soup with toast or oyster crackers is happy food. Hmmm. So far not much green stuff. I do like a nice green salad with lots of ingredients and some blue cheese dressing. I actually do like veggies but just don't think of them immediately when I think comfort food.

To spread the word farther, I'm tagging my brother who loves food, especially free food, chele who, if her blog is any indication, sounds like a great cook and JennySmith who is caring and likes to help families. If I didn't tag you, you should still spread the word.

Redirect

Go here to read about my wonderful new wine glasses.

Taking Things Out of Context

I keep coming upon snarky comments on the internets that Obama has offended the Christians in this country by announcing the U.S. "is no longer a Christian country." Most people are responding as if Obama has kicked Jesus out of the United States and revoked the right to practice religion.

What Obama said was, "Although ... we have a very large Christian population, we do not consider ourselves a Christian nation, or a Jewish nation, or a Muslim nation. We consider ourselves a nation of citizens who are bound by ideals and a set of values.."

In other words, Obama is inclusive and acknowledged everyone in this country, pointing our we are not EXCLUSIVELY Christian. And I think that is a good thing. I, personally, am getting pretty annoyed with Christians who think their beliefs should be imposed on everyone. Go to church, practice your religion and even share your religion with others who are interested but stop thinking the rest of the country should be bound by your precepts.

Did You Guys Know About This?

And, if so, why didn't you tell me? P.F. Chang's had a 15% off on tax day promotion. I got to take advantage by accident because a couple of co-workers and I stopped there after work. And we got the discount on our wine orders too. Speaking of wine, have I mentioned P.F. Changs has a great wine flight deal? 3 2.5oz glasses of your choice of any wine on their list. Yesterday I had a pinot noir, a zin and and a cab. Once three of us each had our own flights and then split one flight between us because we wanted a little bit more wine but not a whole glass more. It's perfect. Add some P.F. Chang's appetizers and it's a mini wine tasting. Apparently, other companies got in on the fun and had their own deals. So mark your calendars for next April 15.

Red Light, Green Light

Yesterday while driving home, I realized I wasn't sure if my new proof of insurance was in the glove compartment. I reached over and pulled some papers from the glove compartment and was waiting for a red light to take a look through the papers. And I hit every single green light. Usually I'm stopped by at least 3 or 4 red lights on the way home but not yesterday. What are the odds? Of course, today on the way home when I just wanted to get home, I was stopped at almost every red light. Figures.

Samantha Who?

The first season of Samantha Who? was fun and innovative. This season is ridiculous, unbelievable and annoying. I'm giving it up.

Desperately Seeking Blog Entry

I've definitely been lax with my blogging and I have no excuse, I've just been a lazy bum.

I did make a trip to Northern Nevada a week ago and that was a great trip. I drove up to Reno with NBF (Nevada Best Friend) Cheryl. The trip is really just one long strip of desert and so it's great to have company. We chatted and ate and listened to a book on tape. Once in Reno, Cheryl went to stay with her son and I met up with my friend Scott. We had dinner at the 4th Street Bistro, a new food adventure for me. The next day we headed off to meet up with our wino buddies in El Dorado Wine Country for Passport Weekend. We spent the next two days going from winery to winery, enjoying food pairings. The wine and the food were great, as was the company. I didn't buy a lot of wine on this trip; I did buy a few bottles of my beloved Oakstone Apple wine which had been missing on my last trips. The wine wasn't really missing, it just wasn't up to par. This year it is all apple goodness again.

After two days of food, wine and fun, I picked Cheryl up on Monday morning and we headed back to Las Vegas. Same road, different direction. Same book on tape. The Sleeping Doll by Jeffrey Deaver. It was really intriguing and I'll give it a 4 on my goodreads account. Unfortunately for Cheryl, we hadn't finished it by the time we arrived in Las Vegas so she doesn't know the ending yet.