Some things you should check out

People always ask me, "Christy, you know so much about life and culture what are some bands/comedians/foods/artists I should check out?"
This is not true. However, I had some friends over for some wine once and they said I was "classy".
The truth is all blogs are self indulgent to some degree so I will condense some of my favorite lifestyle tips in this post.

I think list format is preferrable, don't you think? Starting with most important...

FOOD
Anything Italian, French or Greek. I also enjoy Vietnamese food (which has a French influence often times).

Restaurants: Osteria Mama, Le Pain Quotidien, Balthazar's

COMEDY
I really enjoy witty, high brow comedy. I also like satirical, observational and physical comedy. It's great when these categories overlap.

Writers/performers: Tina Fey, Melissa McCarthy, Sarah Silverman, Amy Poehler, Dan Harmon, Louis C.K., Larry David, Moshe Kasher, Mindy Kaling and pretty much anyone on SNL.

Here is a picture of the genius Dan Harmon and me.

FILM
Comedies are of course the best form of entertainment you can find. I also watch anything nominated for an award.

Movies: E.T., The Other Guys, Dennis the Menace (1993), Hook, Angels in the Outfield, Superbad, Milk, Indiana Jones 1-3, Star Wars, Back to the Future 1, Scott Pilgrim vs. the World, Milo and Otis, Jurassic Park, Independence Day, etc.
...Can you tell I grew up in the 90's?

Directors: Martin Scorsese, Woody Allen, Quentin Tarantino, Sophia Coppola, Nancy Meyers, the Coen brothers, Steven Spielberg, Gus Van Sant, Steven Soderbergh, etc.
Most films by these artists are worth a watch.

TELEVISION
Again, mainly comedies.

Shows: Community, Comedy Bang Bang, The Sarah Silverman Program, Saturday Night Live, Bob's Burgers, Parks and Recreation, Family Guy, Kids in the Hall, Flight of the Conchords, Mad Men, The Cleveland Show, Workaholics, Children's Hospital, Delocated, The Colbert Report

I gave you a lot of information to look into today. So, I will continue the condensed list of the finer points of an informed lifestyle in a subsequent post. Keep a look out for part deux (two)!

Pasta Estivo

I have been making this delicious Spring/Summer pasta dish for the past couple weeks. I love it so much I made it 3 times in that short span! I cannot claim full credit for the recipe. I don't know which magazine I got it from but I have a feeling I ripped it out of a magazine I found while I was helping middle-schoolers do an art project. It could've been from 1998. I don't know. Recent or not I have adapted the recipe just enough to call it my own.

Ingredients:
1 C. Whole wheat rotini
about 10 sun-dried tomatos (in a jar or bag)
fresh ricotta cheese
sliced olives
1-2 Tbsp. capers
3/4 C. cherry tomatos (halved)
1/4 C.olive oil
3-4 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar

Directions:
Boil water with a dash of salt. Add rotini. While the pasta is cooking add capers, sun-dried tomatos, vinegar and olive oil to a food processors (a blender will do in a pinch). Sometimes I add pepper and italian herbs. A little hot pasta water is good to thin out the dressing a bit.
After about 10 minutes the rotini should be done. Drain in collander. Run pasta under cold water while still in collander. You don't want piping hot pasta in this dish. Put cooled pasta in a medium sized salad bowl.
Pour dressing over rotini and mix thoroughly. Add most of the olives and most of the cherry tomatos and combine with pasta. Place the few remaining olives and tomatos on top for a more aesthetically pleasing appearance. Put a dollop of ricotta (or more) on top of the pasta. Grind some pepper on top or italian herbs.

Oh Lordy. It is so good. I have a picture below. I didn't make it super fancy and presentable for this picture unfortunately, but I will do better in future.

Bon appetit!

A quick recipe for the flat broke

Wow. It's been a while since I've blogged. Sorry, no one! (That is precisely how many people read this.)
I have another recipe to share - the No dinero Huevos Rancheros:

Ingredients:
tortilla chips
salsa
eggs
black beans
olive oil/vegetable oil/butter

Coat a small frying pan with olive oil or the fat of your choice. Cook one or two (depending on your appetite or preference) eggs sunny side up. In the meantime put a handful of tortilla chips on a plate. Sprinkle with a serving of black beans. Spoon some salsa on top of your chips and beans. When your eggs are cooked (the yolk should be intact but still a little wobbly) slide them onto your chip melange.

Use a fork to eat since the yolk will ooze all over the chips. This dish is cheap, fairly healthy and quick to make. Perfect for anyone lazy and broke. I hope this recipe serves you well as it has me.

I will be moving...eventually

I've had this idea for a website for a while now and I've only been savvy enough to start a blog. My goal is to have a complete website. So for now I suppose the format will be blog entries until I learn how to create a "real" website. Is that pathetic? Does everyone know how to create websites these days besides me? If the answer is yes then I am not surprised but I kind of am because I thought I was smart. Also, hip and as technologically fluent as a common person (at least). Maybe I've overestimated myself in this regard.

If I may abruptly change the subject let me share my first piece of cultural wisdom. I fancy myself a decent cook. I can follow recipes well and I create my own from time to time. Here is a recipe I created a couple months ago:

The Not Kosher Spinach Salad

Ingredients
- 4 C. spinach (loosely packed)
- 4 strips maple smoked bacon
- 1 large tomato
- chopped green onion to taste

Dressing
- 1 tbsp dijon mustard
- 3 tbsp. red wine vinegar
- 5 tbsp. olive oil
- 1 tsp. sugar
- salt and pepper to taste

Cook bacon in skillet until crisp. Set aside on a plate covered with paper towels to remove excess grease.
If you have long stemmed spinach, rinse then cut off the stems and chop spinach coarsely to bite size pieces. If you use baby spinach in a bag you can skip this step. Cut your tomato into six parts. Remove the seeds. Finely chop your green onion. Put these ingredients in the salad bowl. Crumble the bacon and top the salad with it.
For the dressing simply whisk the ingredients together in a small bowl, adding the salt and pepper to taste.

Serves 2

This salad can serve more if you are using it as a side but I usually eat it as a meal.

I hope you like the recipe! I know it's simple and there are many variations out there but this one is quick, inexpensive and requries few ingredients. To speed up the process even more skip making the dressing and buy a dijon dressing or vinaigrette. Trader Joe's has a great one.

It's a (very) good thing.

Just like Martha Stewart I have tastes, preferences and recommendations that are valid to the cultural zeitgiest. In some ways I am old like Martha Stewart, but in some ways I'm young like how Martha Stewart tries to act when she has too much vermouth. My tastes in food, clothing, films, television and art will be shared through this website. This blog can be a valuable resource for you. I am no genius but I have a lot to offer a culturally deprived person. And if you are not culturally deprived maybe you can use this space of web to make fun of how "cultured" I think I am. So here's to my career that will hopefully follow the mass popularity of this blog.