Hell yes.

…the filet mignon is the Paris Hilton of meat—lean and completely without personality.

this is not the way to a chef’s heart…the real engine of gastronomy—now that I think of it—is poverty.

do you really think the first person to eat a snail was a gourmet? that was a poor son of a bitch.

(ANTHONY BOURDAIN)

Best Greek pasta salad

I absolutely love Bulgarian pure sheep's milk feta, but you can use any type of feta you'd like. However, I chose Bulgarian because I prefer a rich, buttery feta to compliment the lemon and walnut oil dressing I made the salad with. If you do use a more acidic, pungent, feta, I would suggest cutting back on the lemon juice.

You will need:

Half a package of farfalle (6 oz)
8 oz. sheep's milk feta
2 cloves of garlic, finely minced
1/4 cup walnut oil
1/4 cup lemon juice
2 small-ish Roma tomatoes, diced
8 large fresh basil leaves, chiffoned
2 teaspoons fresh dill, minced
2 teaspoons fresh chives, minced
Salt & pepper to taste

1. Boil pasta as directed. I like to take a minute or two off the cooking time for my pasta, since I like it al dente, and it'll keep cooking once I start mixing everything in a stainless steel bowl.

2. Drain pasta, toss in large bowl with walnut oil, lemon, garlic, and feta, and incorporate so that the feta has melted into the hot pasta a bit. Add the rest of the ingredients, sans tomatoes, and chill for 20-30 minutes. Add diced tomatoes, and here is where I threw in some leftover caramelized onions I made yesterday (such a good idea), and serve!

Doin' fine.

My best friend's bedroom.

Maybe i'll update my blog more often when I move to Seattle at the end of the year.

Until then, sorry, but i'm working forty hour weeks.

Currently listening to:
"Spinnin'" by Speech Debelle

NW Coast beats.

Dang. I can't believe I didn't have these beats this summer.

...

Sometimes, I miss the way he used to be

Said an old friend on Pedro the Lion-
"If I wasn't lonely, I wouldn't like this kind of music".

I think, mostly-

That I need to slow down a little bit.

I have been working double shifts most days, if not every day this week and yeesh, do my feet hurt. But this all feels lovely right now. Today, I made a pot of coffee, a fancy omelette, and then spent two hours outside eating breakfast reading A Tree of Night. Then I watched Murder by Death, again, and laughed myself to sleep. Oh, afternoon naps! You remind me of passing out on my couch in my old college apartment with that Ella Fitzgerald record playing. Gosh, what else have I been doing? Pretty much making money, saving the bulk of it, and counting down the days 'til I move to sweet, sweet, Seattle. Lately my pastime has been watching what Houston calls "autumn" roll in just as September starts and all the little kiddos go back to school. Which doesn't feel as odd as I thought it would. I used to yearn for school to start, so I could bury my nose in books and sit in the front of the class and talktalktalk and then write essays on the importance of understanding conflict between sexes in other cultures residing in areas of the world i'd never been to. It was all so wonderful and naïve at the same time, but it's nice to have had my four years of that, and to be done with it, and to move on to one of the biggest decision i've made in my life... moving out of Texas. I can't wait to be back in Washington state. I already have my future address, where Vienna and I will live until March in Belltown. My first Christmas away from Texas is going to be scary, but i'm sure i'll find something beautiful to do. I am a little worried about packing enough sweaters to get me through my first cold months up North... I can already tell that the hot coffee and fresh old fashioned doughnuts from Top Pot on 5th street downtown will be a favorite of mine this December.

Well, enough of that. I'll leave you with a scene from one of my favorite films. Oh, my favorite part is when Maude starts dancing and you see it's a player piano, that cracks me up every time... look at me, ruining it for the lot of you. What a spoilsport I am. Someone smack me in the mouth!

I love you all dearly,
Amanda