I SINNED. Big time.

Tonight, after singing "Fever" by Peggy Lee at the Living Room Lounge (karaoke night), I told my boyfriend I was hungry.  We ended up driving through the Hardee's line at 2:15 in the morning and somehow I ended up eating a BACON CHEESEBURGER.

Not only that, but when I got home I raided the fridge and attempted to eat some leftover sausage gravy... REAL LEGITIMATE sausage gravy (and a warmed biscuit) that I made for guests after the party.... and I definitely ate some.

I'm awful.  I'm a hypocrite.

I still want a pet pig.

Peace,

Kelly

Indy Fab Food #1: Yats

I've decided to take a break from talking about my house and start talking about another thing I can't ever get off my mind: food.

I love where I live, and it's time to show off reasons why I'm proud of Indianapolis.  I also want to be a better supporter of local businesses and restaurants, and that is my goal with the new "Indy Fab Food" column.  Here it goes.


Indy Fab Food #1: Yats

Yats is a small Cajun Creole chain with four locations in central Indiana.  The environment is bright, festive, and very New Orleans.  Each Yats has a daily blackboard menu featuring a variety of gumbos, etoufees, and creoles.  My favorite, the chili cheese etoufee, is always in popular demand... so it's on the board every day.  It has just enough spice and makes my mouth water at the thought of it.

Besides being completely delicious, the BEST thing about this restaurant is the amount of food you get for the price.  You can get a full order of your choice for under $6.00, and it's not a meager amount.  Each order also comes with a side of buttered bread--perfect for soaking up the last bits of the meal.  Can't decide what you want?  You can also do a half-and-half deal and pleasure your palate with two of the blackboard options at once.

Are you a vegetarian?  No worries.  There are always a couple veggie options on the menu, as well as seafood for the pescetarians out there (...like me!  The chili cheese etoufee comes with scrumptious crawfish).


My new house is only a ten minute drive from Mass Ave (a.k.a. Massachusetts Avenue), where one of the Yats locations happens to be.  I got some today.  Mmmmmmm.

Coming to Indy?  Keep Yats in mind.

Happy eating,

Kelly

Meryl Streep is a goddess.

I just saw Julie & Julia and thought it was excellent, all because of Meryl Streep. I have never seen one of her movies and not become completely absorbed in whatever character she is playing, because she always does it so well. There are so many more I need to see, including Sophie's Choice, which I hear is devastatingly sad but a must-see.

In honor of the film I just saw, I thought I'd give out a recipe for Spinach Artichoke Dip that is absolutely fantastic. Really, it's not cooking at all, just mixing stuff together in a bowl and then heating it up. But, hey, I make it really well. Here it is:

The Best Spinach Artichoke Dip, Ever!

Ingredients:

10 oz frozen chopped spinach (thawed)

6-8 oz shredded Parmesan cheese (1 bag)

6-8 oz shredded Monterey Jack cheese (1 bag)

1 onion, chopped

6 oz jar of marinated artichokes

1 package of cream cheese

Preheat the oven at 400 degrees. Mix the thawed spinach and the cream cheese in an oven-safe bowl. Once it is all mixed together and the lumps are out, add the onion. Drain the artichoke marinade in with the mixture, then chop the artichokes into small pieces. Add the artichokes and the cheeses. Mix it all together until smooth and then add salt, pepper, and garlic to taste.

If you want, leave some Monterey and Parmesan out of the mixture and place a small layer on top of the dip (if you want that cheese top coat). Put the bowl in the oven, and heat until the top layer is slightly bubbling. It's ready!

Let it cool for a small amount of time, and then eat with your favorite tortilla or pita chips.

*Alternatives: I have also heated the dip up in a crock pot, and this works just as well (but has no cheese top coat).

***

Well, there you go. I believe food is meant to be enjoyed, not kept in secret. Now you can be the person that is always told to "bring that really good spinach dip" to the party. I definitely am.

As Julia Child always said, "Bon appétit!"

Food for thought.

Tonight I made a pretty dinner plate of pan seared salmon, sweet peas, and a baked potato. I sat down at the dining room table and ate in silence. I didn't use the computer, I didn't read a book, I didn't listen to music. I just sat... and enjoyed the food I was eating.

I agree with the people out there that are saying we've lost our connection with food. The closest I've been involved with my meals is when I helped out in the little garden my family had at my childhood home. There was something very rewarding about being a part of the cultivation process. It was exciting to know that the tomatoes and corn I was eating came right out of my own backyard. These days I'm lucky to keep a bouquet of flowers alive. One goal of mine this year: attempt to grow a little garden.

We also don't sit down and eat together as much as we used to. When I was little, I remember a pretty consistent pattern of dinner at the dinner table, discussing our days, etc. Now, my family is so busy and everyone has such separate lives that our meals are often buffet style. There are also so many distractions around us (television, computer, newspaper, video games, etc.) that I'll realize on some days I visit the house that everyone has come into the kitchen, filled his or her plate, and gone into a separate area of the house to complete an individual task during the meal. I am as responsible for the shift as the rest of my family. But, I think it would be nice if we tried to get back to the basics on family dinner nights.

It is also nice to sit in solitude and eat. When is the last time you ate a meal without anything else to distract you? It's a good question to ask oneself. We've become so accustomed to immediate entertainment and instant gratification that it feels almost unnatural to pause and take a moment to enjoy the simplicity of the present. Another goal of mine this year: more meals eaten alone in silence.

Tonight I looked at the packaging for the salmon and discovered that it came all the way from Norway. I feel guilty. The main reason I'm slowly phasing into the complete vegetarian lifestyle is because of the amount of energy it takes to collect, process, and ship meat products to our local grocery stores. While I haven't given up seafood just yet, the fact that I'm in a land-locked state means access to fish has its limits and I'll often be stuck buying something from far away. Another goal: be aware of the origins of what I eat.

I've also gone vegetarian for, I guess you could say, the animal rights issue. I'm not going to deny that I love the taste of meat. For my entire life until this past summer I was one of those people that said, "I really just don't think I could ever be a vegetarian. Meat just tastes too delicious!" I'm not really sure what made the shift happen, but it just clicked one day in my head that I really did want to do this. I could never kill a cow, a pig, or a chicken myself, and the way animal production has turned into a factory-like system is something I don't really want to be a part of either.

I'll get off my pedestal now. There is no way that I'm going to go around judging peoples' individual eating habits--I just thought I'd share my own thought process on the topic.

If you are interested, however, in looking more into the idea of local food, animal rights or the food industry today, below are some links that I've found very interesting.

Local Indianapolis Food: Farm Fresh Delivery

Food, Inc. -

(for more info click here)

30 Days - "Animal Rights" -

(for more info click here)

Fast Food Nation author, Eric Schlosser -