Fake Ink

In my last post, I mentioned Tria, the fun wine bar that Debie and I went to in Philadelphia thanks to a recommendation from our friend Kate. While we ate, we noticed that a bunch of the staff had identical "Riesling" tattoos on their forearms. What's the deal with that, we wondered. Did they really like Riesling that much? There's commitment for you.

They were temporary, of course. The manager gave me one after I inquired. Debie said I should put the tattoo on my forehead, or maybe on my neck. A "Riesling" neck tattoo. That's gotta be the yuppiest neck tattoo ever.

I stayed true to my conservative nature and just went for the fake wrist tattoo. I dipped my napkin in my water and applied the tattoo at the table. Classy. When I came back from the bathroom, a waiter had carefully folded up my soaked, crumpled napkin for me. Now that is service.

The manager kindly posed with me for a snapshot. I've joined the Riesling cult.

Two days in, and the "N" and "G" had already rubbed off. All last week, I wondered around with a "Riesli" tattoo. A lot of people thought it was the real thing! It looks very real. I'm getting used to the idea of having a tattoo now. I like the typeface and location. Hmm... Could I take the plunge?

The fact that it is so permanent is still scary. Maybe I'll just wear the same temporary tattoo in the same spot and constantly reapply until I'm 40.

Today, it just says "Riesl." That could be a name, if you were German maybe. So it's been a week with the temporary tattoo. I am going to see how long I can keep this going.

Urban Farming Fail

Remember my tomato plant experiment? All summer long, I watched as a tiny green bud on the non-cherry tomato plant grew a little larger, a little larger, than stopped growing altogether and just sat on the vine for weeks. Finally it started to turn red and ripe for the picking.

My yield thus far! One plum-sized tomato. Plum-size might be a generous description, it was a wee little tomato.

I was so proud and happy as i deposited it in the fruit/veggie basket on my counter. I then promptly went on vacation for the weekend. "I'll eat you when I return," I thought.

But it was not to be...

"N000000000000000000000000....[pause for breath] 00000000000oooo."

That's what I found when I got back. Just so you can get this straight - I watched that little tomato grow every day for 2 months give or take, and then when the moment was right, I bobbled!

Maybe I'll get another chance. You all were right, I needed a larger container. But I have managed to keep them alive thus far, knock on wood.

Smitten Kitchen's Strawberry Summer Cake - Take 3

Prior to our trip, I decided I should bring some sort of baked good as a hostess gift for Joe's mom in Indiana, and this cake from Smitten Kitchen looked easy enough. I am enamored with Smitten Kitchen. The cake requires your standard baking ingredients combined with strawberries. I could make it while simultaneously making dinner. How domestic am I?

Cut to: an hour and a half later, cake batter ruined twice, simultaneously mixing the dessert with one hand and stirring the hash browns for my breakfast salad entree with the other hand. Joe shows up as flour flies everywhere.

Joe: "Maybe we could just buy her a nice bottle of wine."

But I wouldn't be deterred. My first mistake was that I didn't read the recipe carefully and mixed the butter and sugar with the flour. That went in the trash. Then I redid the whole thing, but I used a tablespoon for the baking powder instead of a teaspoon. Doh!

Everything seemed to go okay the third time around, but perhaps I made a mistake that I didn't notice. "What if it's terrible?" I asked Joe. "Will your mom pretend to like the cake?"

"You'll never know," he said.

What a polite Midwestern mom. The third time was the charm and the cake was terrific. It really was. And if you actually read the instructions carefully, it will be easy, I promise.

Rolling in the Deep

I didn't wait in line on the opening day for the new branch of Shake Shack in Dupont Circle, but I did get there this past Saturday to eat a Shack Burger. I may have idolized this burger from my trips to NYC and I may have spent the past 6 months hyping it up to everyone around me. I would chart the steady progress of the D.C. Shake Shack as I walked home from work to the bus stop, sometimes taking pictures to document milestones. One day I saw new employees practicing trust falls on the sidewalk outside.But somehow it wasn't quite as transcendent as I remember. It was good, don't get me wrong. But maybe something was lost in translation. What do you think? I'll have to go back to the Shake Shack in NYC to compare notes. And the milkshake is too teensy for the $5 price tag. I saw the calorie count, so maybe that's for the best though. Next time, I'm just getting the burger.We barely waited in line, albeit we were eating dinner at 5 p.m. Like ol' fogeys. I placed my order, they wrote down my name, and when I picked up the food, one of the employees said, "Adele is my favorite singer.""Thank you," I said.Thank you?? As if I had anything to do with her success. Yes, I will take credit for her singing career. We Adeles need to stick together.

Breakfast Salad

A few of us have dubbed this week at work "salad week." Only salad for lunch every day as a healthy alternative to the usual, i.e. Qdoba. (You can get salad at Qdoba, so that's not really fair).

I told Prudence that I even had a salad for dinner the night before.

"Oh yeah, what was on it?" she asked.

"Spinach. And then there were hashbrowns."

"Adele, I thought you were going to say, you know, carrots, tomatoes, avocados."

Nope. Topped the hashbrown salad with a fried egg.


Hey, greens are involved, which totally makes it a salad. Some might say it's breakfast, but if Martha Stewart deems it a salad, that's good enough for me.

Here's the recipe. Really easy and cheap, just fry potatoes in olive oil, combine with dressing and spinach, Parmesan and then add egg for protein and deliciousness.

Salad discovered via this blog...

Urban Farming

I planted two tomato plants this weekend - an urban farming experiment. Only $2 each! Not factoring in $20 of supplies, of course.

"Each of those tomatoes will cost five dollars each," Joe said. Ever the economist.

I am not sure if the trough I put them in will be too shallow for the roots. What do you think? They are doing well for now. Thriving, I dare say. 65 days from now, I will be feasting on tomatoes. Perhaps.

Actually, I will be happy if they make it through this week. Will report back.