1) Go to my sister’s blog to enter her contest. It’s her 500th blog post, and you have a chance at winning one of these adorable goats that I made:
or

2) I’ve been trying to cook more. We’ll see how long it lasts, but I recently made my own naan, french toast, and stuffed bell peppers:

The peppers were inspired by a friend’s blog. Sadly, I didn’t have any avocados, so the photo is lacking a little green, and my stomach was missing avocado. Still, tasty, and not too difficult, even for someone like me.

3) I’ve also been keeping up with a photo of the day again. I haven’t been posting them here, though I probably should. You can see them on my flickr page, but I’ll give you today’s. The classic, “I’ve run out of ideas” daily photo of my dog. I love her.

So that’s it for now. I’m excited about tomorrow – we’re off to see Tori Amos. It’ll be great.

Last weekend was my friend’s last weekend in Ann Arbor. As he had never been to Blimpy Burger, and I had never been to Blimpy Burger, it was obvious that we had to go. Krazy Jim’s Blimpy Burger is an Ann Arbor institution, complete with long lines and tasty burgers. This is not a place for the health-conscious, nor is it a place for people who expect servers to dote upon them. You have to wait in the inevitable line, and be prepared to know exactly what you want when they ask you. This is not always an easy decision. They boast 2,147,483,648 possible combinations, so there are plenty of choices. (They even have a set of instructions about how to correctly place your order. They may make fun of you if you don’t follow their rules.) First, you have to choose how many patties you want. No, you can’t get just one. I ordered a double with a fried egg and grilled onions, while Logan ordered a quad with bacon. You can get a quint if you’re really hungry.

They put your patties on the griddle right when you order them, so you see every step of your burgers preparation. It’s hard to tell exactly what it is that makes these burgers so good, but you can tell that it’s not your standard grilling technique. The patties are pounded flat in the process, and the griddle is extra hot, so the edges get a tad crispy around the edge. Logan’s pretty sure there’s some Worcestershire sauce in there somewhere too. Either way, it’s hard to reproduce the burger at home. Logan’s tried.

All in all, I have to say that it was a tasty treat. Between the onion rings, and the hefty burger though, I can’t let this become a habit. I did find myself wishing they had avocado as one of their many topping choices, but I can see how it’d be hard to do in such an assembly line fashion. I’m pretty sure this was also my first time having egg on a burger. It’s not something I would’ve thought to do on my own, but it worked. Nom.

Nom, indeed.

Photo courtesy of phil dokas and used under a Creative Commons license.

I love avocado sushi, but it’s not always available to me; I don’t have a lot of take-out places near me, and it’s inexplicably more expensive at the grocery store than at restaurants, so learning how to make it myself has been on my list for some time. So on Sunday I finally decided to take the plunge, and here I present my first-ever sushi making experience.

Ingredients (enough for 2 avocado rolls and 2 bacon-avocado rolls):

• 1 1/2 cups sushi rice
• 2 cups water
• 1/3 cup seasoned rice vinegar
• 1 medium avocado
• 6 slices bacon
• 4 slices of nori
• bamboo mat for rolling

Sushi needs good rice. You want a short-grain rice for sushi rice; it gets stickier than its longer-grained friends. Cook it according to the package. Mine was 1.5 cups rice to 2 cups water. Bring it to a slow boil, and cook (covered) for 20 minutes, or until all the water is absorbed. Take it off the heat and let it cool for 10 minutes. If you don’t have pre-seasoned rice vinegar, you’ll also want to make that mixture during this time: rice vinegar, sugar, and salt. I took the easy way though. After the 10 minutes of cooling, fluff the rice with a paddle or spoon, and slowly add the rice vinegar to it. Let it cool, and ta-da! Sushi rice! (I admit to being a little impatient and not letting it cool before making my first roll.)

Once you have your rice you’ll probably want some fillings for your roll. I chose avocado (and thought bacon would be a brilliant addition), so I started with those. I’ll probably branch out into some other things (cucumber, shrimp, etc.), but avocado is a good starting point. I fried up some bacon while cooking the rice, and sliced my ripe avocado into thin strips:

Rice? Check. Fillings? Check. Now to assemble your roll. Take your bamboo mat (surprisingly inexpensive at my grocery store), and you’ll probably want to wrap it in saran. The rice really is sticky, and cleaning the mat doesn’t sound like fun. Take a slice of your nori (shiny side down) and place it on the mat.

Take some rice and spread a layer on the seaweed. (My package said 2 cups of rice, but I never measured.) Be sure to leave an inch plain at the top to help seal the roll. Place your desired fillings in the center of the rice:

And roll! Thumbs at the base of the mat, and your fingers to help keep the fillings from sliding out. (If your fingers get sticky, you can rinse them in some diluted rice vinegar. It helps.) It’s a little awkward at first, but I was surprised that even my first roll turned out.

Slice and serve!

Yum!

It wasn’t the fastest to prepare, but it was so delicious, and 1 avocado made four generous rolls. Definitely worth doing every now and then. Shoot. I’m making myself hungry writing this. I want more! In retrospect, I’m not sure the bacon added enough to the sushi to be worth the extra effort, but it was all tasty.

Here’s just a few words about where I went:

#1: Café Zola
Logan and I went here for our anniversary last year. I really want to go back and try their breakfast menu – they’re known for their crepes and brunches, and also their lines, unfortunately. While their dinner was tasty (I had scallops, I think), it seemed a tad overpriced, and it seems breakfast is where they really shine.

#2: Quarter Bistro
This restaurant is near our old place, and has a giant head of garlic hanging above the entrance. It was also damaged by a fire awhile back. It was one of those places we’d been meaning to go to for awhile, but we never got around to it until both of our parents were in town. I had some delicious butternut squash ravioli (complete with heavy cream sauce), and everyone raved about their desserts.

#3: Chia Shiang
This is the place to go for vegetarian/vegan Chinese food in Ann Arbor. They have so many different meat substitutes I hadn’t even heard of them all. I think I tried a beef-like dish (Orange Sue pao perhaps), but I liked my husband’s actual Chicken with cashews a bit better.

#4: Carson’s American Bistro
Logan and I just recently went here around Valentine’s Day. I was quite pleased to be seated right next to the fireplace. I like heat. A standard American restaurant. Nothing too fancy, but well executed. I had a delicious Cobb salad that fed me for a few meals.

#5: The Blue Leprechaun
This is a relatively new restaurant on campus, and I went here with a co-worker once when we wanted to try something new for lunch. A cute Irish pub-like place. It was pretty empty at the time, but I imagine it picks up in the evening. I had an Irish breakfast thing – potatoes, eggs, cheese, etc. Comfort food. Delicious.