In a fit of culinary demonic possession, last night I made the most bangin' salad EVAR.
Behold, the curried couscous salad. Do not be fooled by the crappy salad recipes online that feature raw onions (I don't hate onions, but I openly and blatantly hate the inclusion of too many raw onions in salads). This salad is pure delicious lettuce and tomatoes with cucumber raita dressing and curried couscous. Colorful and yum.
Raita dressing
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
2 tbl. rice vinegar
2 tbl. olive oil
½ cucumber, peeled, seeded and minced
Mix liquids until smooth and combined.
Then add cucumber and stir well.
Then the CURRIED COUSCOUS. MMMMMM. I was worried about the curried couscous because I thought that i might come out too dry or tasting like curried cardboard, but I was really excited and pleasantly surprised when it came out like curried tummy lovin'. Here's the breakdown:
Curried couscous
½ cup plain couscous (best to be purchased for cheaps at a local Indian or Middle Eastern food store)
½ tsp of the following spices:
coriander
garam masala
tumeric
cumin
fenugreek
½ tsp powdered garlic
½ tsp powdered ginger
½ tsp powdered onion
½ tsp salt
1 tbl olive oil
2/3 cup boiling water
Mix spices with couscous until evenly spread.
Pour in boiling water and let sit covered for 5 minutes.
Fluff with fork and then cover again for another 5 minutes.
Then use some romaine lettuce (I used one head, enough for a huge salad or two medium salads.) chopped into ribbons. One pint of cherry tomatoes, halved and lightly salted to sweat them out and make them taste crisp. I coated the lettuce with raita dressing, then added the tomatoes, then topped with the nice warm couscous. Mmmmm.
You know you want some.
4 out of 4 PhD students (and one lab tech) agree, it is delicious.
"Fox News leans further to the right than a man who's just had his right leg blown off!"
I was reading this article and noting how creepy it was when my friend emailed me about it. Notably, we are both creeped out by this photo.
First of all, who takes a picture like this? Second of all, who SMILES while taking a picture of this? It's so strange and inappropriate.
And of course, Dan Savage says it the best. (For extra funness, look at comment #8 and then the reply at comment #10. Thanks for picking up on that, Al!)
I'd just like to second and third and fourth what Dan Savage is translating for these people who think they they are pious by letting "God do what He's going to do":
What? If you were gonna let God do what He's going to do, you shouldn't have sought out fertility treatments. Here's what God was gonna do: God was gonna make you infertile. God did that, actually, and then you thwarted God's plan for you—that you be infertile—and availed yourselves of the latest medical technologies and sought the help fertility specialists. Then you ignored the advice of your doctors and refused to reduce the number of fetuses you were carrying and now four premature infants have died in great pain and two more will very likely die—but, hey, you'll get another smug, self-satisfied, just-letting-God-do-what-he's-gonna-do photo op out of it, so it's not a total loss. And it's all material for the blog you're writing about "your journey," and there'll probably be a book deal in it for you when it's all over ("Thom & Amanda Minus 6").
Yeah, I would have felt bad for them. Would have.
Yesterday I was catching up on my TeeVee watching (Bones, Glee, Dollhouse) on Hulu. I'm terrible at watching my shows when they are actually on tv. I was desperately watching Dollhouse, hoping and praying that it gets better and up to the miraculous television that I have now come to expect from Joss Wheadon (re: Firefly, re: Dr. Horrible, re: Buffy) and who do I see but this actor in episode 3, Belle Chose:
My Flickr was super cute today:
In other news, here are some interesting links I'd like to share.
#1. THIS IS OUTRAGEOUS. These people are seriously unfit to parent. They deserve a harsher punishment. I know they are thinking of the kids, but seriously. Come on, now, Judge. Also, does this set a precedent? Oh, I just want to LET MY KID DIE, I'll just blame it on God and get off easy. Ugh, disgusting.
#2. Maureen Dowd's column from a couple of days ago has this GREAT gem in it:
HA! I HATE GLENN BECK.In an ideal world, bosses would refrain from sleeping with subordinates, so as not to cause jealousy and tension in the office. But we’re not in an ideal world. Otherwise, we’d already have health care for everyone and Glenn Beck wouldn’t have any influence over the White House.
#3. This NYT article talks about an interesting way that the brain may work. I like this section:
I think this explains so much...Researchers have long known that people cling to their personal biases more tightly when feeling threatened. After thinking about their own inevitable death, they become more patriotic, more religious and less tolerant of outsiders, studies find. When insulted, they profess more loyalty to friends — and when told they’ve done poorly on a trivia test, they even identify more strongly with their school’s winning teams.
#4. This has been all over the news, but I really like what Dan Savage had to say about it. This is probably because I have an unhealthy obsession with Dan Savage and I worship him. Reading stuff like this reminds me that at one point I want to try out begin vegetarian and/or vegan. I think it would be a good experience. I think my life is too crazy at this point to try this out, but once I become a real adult (read: graduate, move out, live life like a normal human being at age 29) I think I will do this. Not because I think eating animals is wrong. To be honest, I don't think it's THAT wrong. I just don't trust the food industry. Which, is probably the more sad reason.
In happier news, I made these cute wrist warmers for a friend in Paris:
But probably not the kind you're thinking of...
I'm glad that sometimes having mutantly small feet pays off.
