you eat with your eyes first

so i have been cooking up a storm lately. crab and ricotta mancotti on sunday, eggplant parm on tuesday, pumpkin ravioli and a funky salad on wednesday, pumpkin soup today (i roasted a leftover carving pumkin and had to get rid of it all somhow...)

the manicotti was stuffed with a ricotta, crab, parmesan and egg mixture. it was all very easy and so so bad for you.

i made a bechmel sauce that called for milk, but i had some cream i needed to use, so i was like, why not? why not indeed - the dish at the end probably has about 1000 calories... per bite.

it was good, but extemely heavy. next time, i will follow the actual recipe and use milk and serve as more of a side instead of the main course.
i also might use jumbo shells - the manicotti was too fragile.









i took a pic of the eggplant, but it looked more like breaded mush and not very appetizing (even plated with some herb tossed pasta and fresh tomatoes spinkled with the last of my basil plant). so we move on to the..

funky salad! i saw this recipe on barefoot contessa on my day off and since i am having an torrid love affair with red onions, i tried it was very pleased. this will be served at every dinner party i throw until josh rebels. the onions were roasted (not broiled!) in a baslamic vin/EVOO mix and i made the vinergarette from scrath (i need to get a mini whisk for my dressings, the big one is too cumbersome). with some shallots it was oniony goodness with that vinegar bite.

not much else is going on. work is super slow, but should pick up soon. started going to the gym again (by which i mean, wednesday...) but i like this going at lunch thing - it works out well, esp when work is slow.

we are having dinner with josh's cousin (whom i have yet to meet) on saturday and i am very excited. we have been emailing about some things and she seems very nice.

some guy hit on me at harvard today. i was very rude:

him: hey sorry i bumped into you.
me: it's ok
him: its really crowded here. all these people.
me: no problem
him: sorry i bumped into you.
me: it's fine really.
him: my name is avi
me: that's nice.
him: you are beautiful
me: yup.

he looked about 20, dressed like he was 30, had the beard of a 14 year old and smelled like beer, it was 5:30. ugh. although josh was right - if he hits on you and is ugly, its annoying. if he hits on you and it cute, its a compliment. well, i embrace the double standard - as long as it is cute...