AARP won't leave me be!

AARP
Originally uploaded by riblet.

Hey, doesn't AARP stand for American Association of Retired Persons or something like that? I won't deny it, I'm getting older, but this is ridiculous! I'm nowhere near retirement age! So I do have a birthday coming up. No set plan yet on how I want to celebrate my dirty thirty, but it might include at least 2 of the 7 deadly sins.

Hmm, what else is new? I was at the mall last week with my niece. She's 14 now and it's so weird that I can totally talk to her like an adult now. So anyway, we went into Bath and Body Works and I swear I found the reincarnation of one of my favorite '80s fragrances, Electric Youth! It's B&BW's new pomegranate line and it reminds me of reading teen magazines and obsessing over the Coreys.

Uh, food? I love it. Shout out to Leon, who made a delicious winter mushroom stew last night using one of the best cookbooks ever, Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone by Deborah Madison (thanks sabrandall!). Soooo meaty! But in a non-meat kind of way. I stuffed myself silly with it.

More on food. I've been discovering the joy of podcasts and subscribed to two of them about food alone! Hidden Kitchens, which is a NPR show, is my favorite. I've also taken a liking to Good Food, which comes out of NPR affiliate, KCRW in LA. I like their farmers market report at the start of the program that tells you what's in season. I'm also checking out the podcast of the call-in portion of the Splendid Table, which inspired me to make up this easy dinner:

Sautee a can of chickpeas (drained and rinsed) with some minced garlic and shallot untill the chickpeas begin to brown. Watch that garlic! Don't let that brown. Pour in a can of diced tomatoes and their liquids. Add some italian-type spices. Simmer a little until much of the liquid is reduced. Spoon over some cous-cous (I made my cous-cous with butter and broth) and dinner is done. And if you make whole weat cous-cous, I think you have a complete vegetable protein there.