Bye Bye Bon Vivant

That name is stupid now and doesnt make much sense. While I still like eating and thinking and writing about food, the title does not fit. Comment here if you have any ideas!

Holy guac- I haven't blogged in a whiiillllleee.

I don't know why I haven't written. I've been doing nothing with my life. I take that back, if you count finishing Julie and Julia THE BOOK in three days and watching a boat load of The Food Network I've actually been pretty busy.

The book was good, it wasnt life changing or anything but I could not stop reading it. It made me want to cook French food though. Strike that. It made me want to eat French food and never attempt to make it because it made Julie into a hot mess.

On to brighter things:

The holidays are coming up. Thanksgiving is one of my favorites. I always feel like cooking a lot for the holidays. I plan all sorts of things. Pies, muffins, sweet potato dishes. I only ever make sweet potato casserole, but hot damn it is good. One time some one told me it was like crack. I'll take any compliment I can get. Its not like a made up the recipe myself or anything though. Its borrowed.

Thank God for the holidays approaching- I had such a mind lapse about food that I almost blogged about dog food. I hear Chef Michael's is pretty good stuff. But my dog doesn't like the green things, which is remarkable because I thought dogs were color blind. hmmmm.

Update

Ironically, the Food Network is having a day dedicated to tailgating this Saturday starting at 9am. whooohooo!

Tailgatin'

Guess what? My school has been undefeated in football since 1870...Its never won a game either....Mind trick? Not really, Loyola doesnt have a footbal team- and THIS is why I never tailgated until this fall.

Boy was I missing out. Its a shame I never got to expirience how good seven layer dip, burgers, baked beans, and beer can taste on a brisk fall day. Not until recently when I went to the Michigan vs. MSU game, did I get to have all this. Theres something about the atmosphere that can change everything about the way your food tastes(not to mention how you feel about the game). Burgers rock most of the time, but sometimes (for me anyway) its just not worth it to ingest all the fat.

Game day is another story. Thank god for football and anything else that makes food-holidays out of nothing. Thanksgiving is awsome, but its only once a year. Therefore, anything that designates a day to drinking and eating fattening fare like wings, nachos, hotdogs, and everything listed above should be preserved.

Dont get your panties in a bunch.... I dont think football is going anywhere. Its the schools that dont have teams that are the bad guys here. I say Loyola students should start a revolution and go on strike until Loyola gets a football team.

Wow that was quite ranty, but I think I brought it full circle enough for you to see my point.

Football food= good
No football team= bad, takes away the joy of the game.

Stuffed Food

I need to give a shout out to the great inventors of the world. Those being the men and women who invented stuffed or filled food. I don't mean tacos and things of that sort... I'm talking about the good stuff- the food that you don't know whats in it until you bite in yourself. Typically, these goodness-filled foods also end up being the best foods in buffet lines.

Every culture has them. The Chinese have dumplings and egg rolls, the Lebanese have kibbi and the Greeks have grape leaves. Personally, Italians are the luckiest with ravioli, tortellini, arancini, spedini, and I could go on but I wouldn't want to brag. Of course, many of these foods originate in one place and are then shared with the world and adapted in all sorts of new ways, but that's a different blog.

Anyway I just wanted to share my appreciation with the world and get all the readers to venerate stuffed foods, whether your grandma made it or it came frozen from a bag.

Im getting side tracked here, but maybe I should apply for a job writing commercials for the Olive Garden when I graduate. By the looks of it, they have a lot of cheese-filled pasta that I could "riff" about all day long.

Until next time, Peace Love and Stuffed Food.

Aldi is the Bomb

By popular demand (believe it or not) I've been asked to update my blog. I don't even know how long its getting to be between posts but Ava and Katie, I'm sorry. I hope you enjoyed your shout outs.

Anyhow, since I'm so busy these days trying to get to class and sorority stuff, I barely have time to do anything. You would not believe the number of television shows I have to catch up on. Seriously man. This also means that I'm too busy to go to a big grocery store and buy all my faves in bulk like I used to....

Solution: Aldi's

I love this place. I get in and out with my weekly essentials in 20 minutes tops. This is because I'm too cheap to buy bags, so when my arms are full, I know its time to leave because nothing else will fit in my purse to be carried home. I can walk out of there with steak, lunch meat, salad, and avocados for less than $12. Can you say "bonus?"

Aldi has the best frozen food too. Pasta, stir fry, BISON BURGERS. All these things are very reasonably priced and the best part is that I don't get confused by market competition because theres only one of everything and its all cheap. There are no fancy displays distracting me, enticing me to buy 2 for 1 Doritos when I don't even want them.

So rock on Aldi's shoppers. And all you haters keep hatin' because then there's more for me.

and that's your "Daly"-no, more like weekly Dose of Bon Vivant. Ciao.

Its been a long time..

Yikes. Its been about five weeks since my last post. Luckily you didnt miss too much. I have had blogger's block as well as cooker's block since I finished summer school.

Now, I am back at school trying to eat anything possible to survive without going to the grocery store. Thank God for Aldi's though.. I purchased five items there for 12 dollars and that includes steaks, fresh veggies, and lunch meat.

Something else happened that I never thought would since I've been back in school. After freshman year of college I was so excited to move into the apartment-style dorms which had kitchens, I wouldnt be forced to eat in the cafeteria ever again. I never liked cafeteria food, even as a kid in school I asked to bring a lunch every day(chicken in the shape of a dinosaur creeped me out).

Now, after 21 years of hating mass-prepared food, something has happened. My parents got me a meal plan for the cafeteria and I LOVE IT!

I SO appreciate being able to make any salad or sandwich I want, and then have fruit that I can take home with me.

The plan is a safety net when I am busy and away from the apartment.
I know now that I will be able to survive on this meal plan until the meatballs and bread that my grandma gave me to take back to school run out. After that its back to grocery shopping and more planning.