Triple D in B-lo

I've mentioned before about how I have this guilty pleasure in watching the Food Network show Diner's Drive In's and Dives. For anyone who hasn't seen this show, it's a cross America tour of, as the name suggests, Diner's Drive In's and Dives. It's fun to live vicariously through all the greasy, artery clogging and totally indulgent concoctions that exist out there. It's also a lot of fun to see what lengths restaurant owners go to to make quality, from scratch specialties.
I started following Guy Fieri, (who is kinda lame, I know) on Twitter just for the inside scoop on where he was. I joined him just in time for his visit to Buffalo!! I've been looking forward to the season where they feature their stops in B-lo. Although this season hasn't aired in Canada yet, I found these YouTube clips of their choices and I'm now totally obsessed with visiting these places. I hope to blog all about it as we knock them off.













Oh and speaking of TRIPLE D, we are planning a trip to St. Petersburg, Florida in November and I've already found 2 places from the show we'll have to visit.

lentil and bulgar salad

It was a year ago that Nuno and I decided we'd try for our baby. I'll admit, being a first time mom I probably went a little overboard being super cautious of what I was eating. I was thinking about a little life possibly growing inside me and wanted the best start for the little one. I only ate super-healthy food and this Lentil and Bulgar Salad was one recipe I became totally hooked on eating.

It may not sound appetizing, but it is so surprisingly delicious!! I was craving it again last week so now I'm back to eating this salad daily.

Lentil and Bulgar Salad
reworked from Martha Stewart

• 1 cup lentils, picked over and rinsed
• 3/4 cup fine-grain bulgur wheat
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 1 pint cherry or grape tomatoes, halved (2 cups)
• 1/2 cup thinly sliced scallions, (4 scallions)
• 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1/3 cup crumbled feta cheese

Directions

1. In a medium saucepan, cover lentils with water by 1 inch. Bring to a boil; reduce to a simmer. Cover, and cook until lentils are tender but still holding their shape, 15 to 20 minutes. Drain well.
2. Meanwhile, bring 1 cup water to a boil in a small saucepan. Stir in bulgur,1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper. Cover; remove from heat, and let stand until bulgur has absorbed liquid, 30 minutes.
3. Transfer bulgur to a large bowl. Gently stir in lentils, tomatoes, scallions, lemon juice, and oil. Serve sprinkled with feta.

Goat cheese or feta can be added, but I recommend adding it just before eating. Actually, I found that the cheese doesn't really work well in the recipe, so I make it without and adjust the salt. Another recommendation is to seed the tomatoes - it takes extra time but removes a lot of the extra liquid in the salad.

abbreviations

Katie and I took a trip to Buffalo this time 2 weeks ago. We started off visiting the house that appeared on Extreme Makeover a few weeks ago. I've never watched a full episode of EM, but PVR'd the Buffalo episode because I saw quite a bit of coverage on the news when it was happening.

Here is the house after the makeover. Very different from the rest of the neighbourhood.

When Extreme Makeover came to B-lo, they must have felt like the entire 'hood needed work (which it does) and they helped many other homes. We recognized several as we walked to Dolores' house. This one is my favourite. The paint job is gorgeous and the house reminds me the homes in San Fransisco.

We then moved on to Mighty Taco. It's been ages since I've last enjoyed a Super Mighty and it did not disappoint! I love MT!

The real purpose of our trip was for some cross-border shopping. We went to the Walden Galleria and Target. In the middle of the afternoon we enjoyed Dunkin' Donuts coffee. Yep, we managed to fit in all our favourite stops while over the river and had tons of fun!

go saints!

I don't know if it's because I'm logging a record number of TV watching hours now that I'm home with Owen, but it seems like I'm more aware of the Superbowl this year (with the exception of when the Bills made it years ago). But I was really looking forward to Superbowl Sunday just to eat delicious food and spend time with my dad. He's really into football and seems to think that Owen is into football just like him. So for effect, I play along. But it looks like the boy born to two creative-types might just be a jock one day.

Here he is sitting on Grandpa's knee and watching the game. I've never seen Owen watch TV before, but when football is on he's quite transfixed. He's wearing his Bill's creeper specially for Superbowl. At half-time (after the Who performance) he had another football creeper. He has a Who shirt too - but I'll hold back on the little guy. After dressing Owen in 3 different outfits the other day, Nuno reminded me that he's not a dolly. Hey, he loves hanging out on his change table and getting dressed, so I don't see any problem with it!

For me, Superbowl is an excuse to eat junky finger foods. How many occasions call for that outside of TV and Tupperware parties? I don't watch the game at all, just eat & drink. I made my highly requested guacamole along with other homemade and store bought dips. My parents made homemade pizza and Buffalo wings.

For dessert I made white chocolate toffee blondie bites. I kinda rolled Valentines Day into the Superbowl Party for a feminine touch, of course.