ratatouille, grilled fontina, mushroom and sage sandwich.

There are two types of people in this world: those who live for New Year’s Eve and facebook spam everyone club events with $150 covers, and those who would so very much like to skip the whole damn thing without judgement and stay in with some “Arrested Development” DVDs and a bottle on Andre. Guess which side I fall under?

Though I’d rather be force-fed kimchee than participate in the amateur night that is NYE, I always make resolutions. And I go out, albeit begrudgingly. This year I decided to 1.) start dancing, and 2.) travel more. Tomorrow night, I’m going to a theater dancing class at a new studio, where I’m pretty sure we’ll at least touch on (ha) the choreography in La Vie Boheme (mucho masturbation?)  Also, I am thisclose to buying tap shoes. I need to do some field research, though, because my heart says buy big girl heels, and my head is adamantly opposed and pro-flats. On the travel front, I’m going on vacay in Los Angelos this week. Hello health food haven. I can’t believe the only time we met prior to this was when I was 14 and in town for my cousin’s Bar Mitzvah.

I’m totally mid fitness revolution right now. Rather than do my daily gym routine, I’ve decided to have really extreme workouts like 4 times a week. In between, I’m going to dance, start up yoga again, and..TBD. Today I started it off right by spending 82 minutes on the treadmill, and then I did some free weights and stretching. I had epiphanies. I watched 2 1/2 episodes of Diners, Drive Ins and Dives. I realized if I met the Ace of Cakes, I may be able to look past the soul patch, pick up and move to Baltimore, and maybe even bring him home to meet my parents. Total enlightenment.

I’m so into pasta dishes lately, so I made ratatouille this weekend. I got the recipe from one of my new loverly cookbooks, “Quick From Scratch: Herbs & Spices.”

Ingredients:

3 tbsp olive oil

1 onion, thinly sliced

1 green or red bell pepper, diced

1 eggplant, diced

1 zucchini, diced (oohh, shocking)

3 cloved of garlic, chopped

1 15 oz can of crushed tomatoes

2 tsp white wine vinegar

3/4 lb of linguine

1/2 cup of basil, thinly sliced

It takes maybe 10 minutes to prep everything, and cook time is like 25 minutes. So very easy. You start by heating the oil in a frying pan over medium heat, and then you add onion and bell pepper and cook for about 5 minutes. At that point, you add all the veggies, lower the heat, and cover the pan. They simmer for about 15 minutes. While that was cooking, I boiled some water and cooked some whole wheat linguine for about 8-10 minutes.

Then, you add the tomatoes and simmer, still covered, for 10 minutes. Add the vinegar last, and then toss all together with the linguine. Top with the basil, and devour. I kept the recipe intact, but next time I’ll add my beloved red pepper flakes. I wanted to see how the flavors held up without it, and it tasted hearty and vegetable-y..and in need of some heat. Next time, Gadget.

I bought the most a-maaazing bread from Whole Foods yesterday. I love seedy breads, and really the seedier the better. Same goes for places, people, etc. I bought this organic 12-grain bread, so I decided to make this fancy grilled cheese recipe last night. Also of Herbs & Spices fame.  It calls for:

Ingredients:

3 tbsp butter

1/2 lb of mushrooms

1 1/4 tsp dried sage

country style bread (wtf?!)

1/2 lb fontina cheese

You start off by heating 1 tbsp of the butter in a frying pan, and add the mushrooms, sage, and salt and pepper. Those should cook for about 5 minutes or so. Meanwhile, I had 2 bunches of kale left over from my spicy green beans and kale dish, so I tore off the bunches from 2 stalks to make kale chips for my side dish. I tore them off into bite sized pieces, drizzled in olive oil, salt, pepper and red pepper flakes, and baked them in a 350 degree toaster oven for 12 minutes.

While those were baking away, I transferred the mushrooms and sage to a bowl (as dictated by the recipe), and wiped the pan clean. Using a pasty brush, you coat the bread in the rest of the melted butter, fill with cheese and mushrooms, and then return to the pan to grill for like 2 minutes on each side. I thought about bringing my panini press into the picture, but my laziness got the best of me. Anyways, it was so very good. Sage and mushrooms are amazing together, and that may be the best bread I’ve ever had. See below:

Grilled fontina, mushroom and sage sandwich, spicy kale chips