Chic Cheap Lunch

We've been eating pasta while we get settled in SF and wait for jobs to start and paychecks to come. LOTS of pasta. But pasta for lunch and pasta for dinner gets a little too pasta for me, so I was forced to become creative, which quite logically led me to bread, which is similarly cheap and comforting and capable of mixing with many ingredients.

We did not have many of those, either, so I rounded up everything in the fridge: the remains of a can of cannellini beans, some leftover sprigs of basil and the butt of a lemon, all of which I fork-mashed (blender?! food processor?! you're kidding, right??) into a frankly very delicious spread for bread. Spread for bread. Rhyme!

We splurged on a peppery cacciatore salami and some blood oranges--MY FAVORITE CITRUS EVER--paired it with Mexican Coke in a glass bottle and called it lunch. Pas mal, eh?

As a side note, this is Napoleon on his new bed after a long play at the greatest dog park ever.

When a Vegetable is No Longer a Vegetable

Today: a lesson in turning vegetables into treats. The following are in no way original recipes--a thousand slight variations on both can easily be found online, but damn if they aren't insanely delicious ways to "eat your vegetables." It's always nice when a slice of cake covers a quarter of your recommended daily intake of veggies.

Here sit the keys to Stevie's happy heart! Zucchini and baby Yukon gold latkes spiked with parsley, basil and lemon zest, crisping up in olive oil before being smothered in mascarpone cheese and devoured. I am not sure if fried zucchini and sweet cheese count as dinner, or just a first-course dessert.

Then, of course, I made zucchini bread. I had just made a fresh batch of walnut butter, so I was fresh out of walnuts to add to the batter... but why not smear walnut butter all over a fat piece? Yes, yes that is good.