Am…musings

After discovering Keller Farm’s day-old corn two weekends ago, I became the pied piper of corn, delivering the amazing ears to my parents, aunt and uncle and neighbors. They were as enamored as I was with the juicy, tasty kernels, and when my parents and my neighbors found out the guy and I’d be traveling by one of Keller’s stands on our way to Rend Lake last Saturday, we were asked to get a dozen for each of them.

As payment, I swiped a few ears for myself and tried Cami’s suggestion on my original corn post for dinner tonight. I made a few modifications due to my preferences and lack of ingredients on hand. Some of my changes were ok; one … I think not so much:

• Cami’s recipe called for mayonnaise and butter. I’m ok with butter, but don’t love it. On a baked potato, I’ll go with just sour cream, figuring I’m saving a few calories by not doubling up. I went the same route tonight, choosing only mayonnaise. I don’t think I missed the butter. And for those of you that think mayo on corn sounds gross … you should try it.
• For the life of me, I can’t figure out how a girl that likes spicy food as much as I do doesn’t have cayenne pepper in her fairly large spice arsenal (I love Penzey’s Spices and always have to try something new when I go). I substituted Mrs. Dash Southwest Chipotle seasoning, which includes cayenne, as well as garlic, cumin, basil and more. I think the extra spices were nice and will continue to use this blend when I try this recipe again … even after I get to Penzey’s for some cayenne.
• I’ll admit substituting a main ingredient in a recipe is never a good idea, but I was very interested in trying Cami’s corn and even more unmotivated to go to the store. I was planning to use shredded cheddar, but Googled cotija and according to this site found it was much like parmesan. Honestly, my corn concoction was very tasty, but I’m thinking it would have been better with the recommended cotija. I’m sure I’ll be back to Keller’s … heck, maybe even this weekend … and will have to find the cojita before trying this again.

BTW, after this yummy recipe and Cami’s comment on my tomato post, I’m thinking she needs to start her own cooking/foodie blog!

My coworkers have been jones-ing for dating posts. In the office, I’m the type that will share details when asked, but won’t just dish randomly. Typically, they get the scoop from the blog without having to ask, but lately … I haven’t been revealing much.

Much like my “only when asked” rule at the office, I have guidelines when it comes to blogging … basically I only write about my dating life when it’s in the dumper. For one, I think the stories are funnier. For two, it’s a great way to vent about bad dates (or ok dates with bad names). And most importantly, I believe the details of a new relationship are very personal … i.e. none of your business.

While the title above might give the appearance that this post is laden with scoop … it really isn’t. Sorry guys. Things are going well with the amazing guy I’ve been dating for a few months. But a friend, and reader, recently asked me for dating site advice. I’ve only used Match.com, and despite the fact that I met Mr. Amazing on Match, I can’t say that I was overjoyed with the overall experience.

Do you have any dating site advice to share … either from your own experience or maybe a friend’s?

Is it me or are the first homegrown tomatoes of summer the best? After three seasons of bland, mushy, way overpriced tomatoes, those first meaty, ruby red tastes of summer are such a treat.

After five years in my house, I actually planted a garden this year with lots of much-appreciated help, urging and advice from the guy I’m dating, as well as digging and tilling assistance from my 7-year-old “boyfriend” next door and his soon-to-be stepdad. Unfortunately, I got a very late start this year and will likely be tomato-less until late summer/early fall. But the aforementioned hot guy came to my rescue this weekend with two amazing “maters” from his neighbor’s garden stand … and when I say hot guy, I don’t mean the almost-stepdad or 7-year-old, although he is pretty cute …

Even though I expressed my ambivalence toward bacon a few posts ago, it seemed only fitting that such tasty tomatoes inspire a BLT for dinner.

I also had a few other inspirations for this masterpiece. At Cami’s suggestion on the first bacon post, I added avocado – lovely. I also mentioned Crown Candy Kitchen in that original post. Their BLTs are loaded with bacon and this one was a little over the top. Finally, although it wasn’t exactly inspiration, I had some leftover whole wheat French bread. I was worried it would be too much bread, but it was actually quite nice.

Because of all the bacon and bread, I chose a simple spinach salad with blueberries, goat cheese, chives and Girard’s Light Champagne dressing for a side.

All in all, a yummy summer supper. Have you had your first homegrown tomato of the summer?

After a work week of Luna bars for breakfast, I like to have something special on the weekends. Homemade whole wheat pancakes have been the standby lately, but I wasn’t in the mood this morning. Then inspiration struck … I had 11 ears of THE best corn ever in my fridge, so I headed to Google for a fresh corn muffin recipe.

I found several that were all fairly similar. How’s a girl to pick? I went with the blog with the best name … Smitten Kitchen. The post actually shared the recipe of another food writer and cookbook author … Dorie Greenspan. I won’t repost the entire recipe here because you can find it on Smitten Kitchen’s Corniest Corn Muffin post, but I will tell you it was fantastic. Of course, the fact that my muffins were studded with my super-fresh, day-old corn probably helped, but I will definitely use this recipe again even if I don’t have that amazing corn on hand.

One note, I don’t typically keep buttermilk in the fridge so I tried substituting 1 Tbsp. white vinegar and enough milk to make a cup (let it sit a few minutes) … worked just fine.

I had a client event this morning (a cool client event including the Gateway Arch, the president of Major League Baseball and Bill DeWitt Jr. and III from the Cardinals. Any baseball/history lovers out there? You should make a trip to the Arch to check out their great new exhibit: Baseball’s Gateway to the West.).

But I digress … my coworker and I were starved after the event and headed to lunch. While we waited for our orders, we perused a few free publications. An article in Sauce Magazine caught my eye. It was about a local farm that sells corn only on the day it’s picked.

After a nap, I decided to make the trek to Illinois to hit one of Keller Farms’ four stands. The drive was about 40 minutes after I got a little lost, but it was absolutely, positively worth it.

I was stuffed after lunch so I skipped dinner, but decided about an hour ago to boil up one of the dozen ears I bought for $4.50 (cash only! I never have any so I had to give them about half in change I’d been saving for meters.). The corn was incredibly tender and tasty. And I can’t wait to grill up a few ears tomorrow … my preferred method of corn on the cob preparation. What’s yours?

I never watch TV. Really … never. While some people automatically turn the TV on when they’re home, my house is filled with music, normally from my iPod. I do enjoy the Food Network and HGTV, and watch one or two shows on the networks, but typically spend so much time online that I rarely, if ever, turn the TV on. Plus, I’m not good at using the TV for background noise … I have to stop and watch and that just seems too unproductive to me.

For years I’ve been saying that I need to cancel my satellite package and stop wasting $50 per month. Instead, I did nothing. A few months ago, my satellite bill went up to $65 and I vowed to take action. Instead, I did nothing. Tonight, for no real reason I can pinpoint, I decided to pull the plug.

Of course, my first stop was the satellite company’s Web site (why call when you take care of it online?). It wouldn’t let me cancel, but I did notice they had a local stations option. I called and found out I could go with that package alone, which would allow me to watch breaking news and the few network programs I like. I could also cancel service to my second TV in the basement, which I really, really never watch. I can also keep my DVR … truth be told, the convenience of that was the real reason I couldn’t bring myself to pull the plug earlier.

So instead of $65 a month, I’ll be paying $15 ($10 for the local stations and $5 for the DVR). Seems much better to me. Anyone else have a better recommendation?

So this is a mouthful …. but my neighbor’s girlfriend’s six-year-old nephew is in town for a few days. He’s a cute, smart little boy that caught on fast. He said, “That’s dog’s name is Chewy, except when he’s in trouble. Then is name is Chewbacca.”

Yep. That’s the case. And when he’s really pissing me off, his name is “Chewbacca Morris.” And because in my family, we shorten names for nicknames (mine’s Am), when I’m not at all mad at him (like now … when he’s sitting my lap while I write this post), I call him “Chew.” The good thing: Chewy’s pretty smart too and seem to know all four names.

Of course, he ever comes when I call him, but he’ll at least turn his head for Chew, Chewy, Chewbacca and Chewbacca Morris.

In addition to being the size of a thimble, I’m thinking my bladder is a sensitive, shy type that didn’t like being called out in my last post.

Thanks to it, I was up at least every two to three hours last night. By the fourth or fifth time, the sun was coming up and I was coherent enough to register the time and definitely know I visited the bathroom at 10 minutes to 6:00 and then again at 10 minutes after 8:00. At that point, I couldn’t fall back asleep even though it was a bit earlier than I wanted to rise on my day off.

I’m thinking it was my bladder’s way of saying, “Paybacks are a bitch, sister. Quit talking about me!” Or, more likely, my body is responding to waaaay too much Diet Coke yesterday … yeah, I’ve definitely fallen off the no caffeine/no soda wagon these days.

I still have the Far Side my friend Keith edited for me of the space shuttle launching with a speech bubble stating, “Wait! I have to go to the bathroom!” The altered caption: “Why Amber could never be an astronaut.” Yes, I have a thimble of a bladder. But twice lately, in a roundabout way, it’s meant I get a good breakfast.

In May, I was headed to a wedding in Louisville. Thanks to the bladder, I’d only made it about a ½ hour out of town and had to go. I also hadn’t had breakfast and figured if I had to get out of the car anyway, I might as well skip places with drive-throughs and went to Bread Co. (or Panera for those of you outside of the Lou.) The same thing happened this morning after a grocery stop on my way to work. Both times I had the Power Sandwich, which is quite tasty.

It’s egg, lean ham and cheddar on whole wheat. At 390 calories, it’s no lightweight, but it does pack lots of protein. It’s also a better choice than their other breakfast sandwiches with fatty meats on Ciabatta and the very evil, previously mentioned Cinnamon Crunch bagel.