Allow me to recommend Perfecto Coffeehouse, Grilled Cheese and Co; also, allow me to re-recommend Catonsville Engine and Transmission.

I have had a very stressful past two days, what with the death of my car. Yesterday, as a self-care activity, I went to Perfecto Coffeehouse, which is within easy walking distance of my house in Mount Clare, Baltimore. It's a new place, and I think they're still working out the kinks. I had ordered an iced mocha and a waffle. The waffle was a stunning deal at $3; it wasn't a huge Belgian waffle, but it had a delicious batter. I got mine with fruit (strawberries and mango) and whipped cream. I also got an iced mocha, but it wasn't very mocha-ey; the mocha syrup pump had gotten clogged. As an iced latte, it was fine; the mocha syrup pump was the same Ghirardelli syrup that I'd seen elsewhere. Seating was limited; there were only six tables: four inside, one on the patio, and one on the sidewalk. There wasn't any competition for my seat at 7 PM; I don't know what it would be like at other times of day. I had a great time reading while bohemians from Gallery 788 (warning: tacky MySpace site) bohem'ed through. I stopped by Gallery 788 on my way home; they have an opening the first Thursday of each month. I thought the art was pretty boring.

Warning: Do not go to Wilkens Service Center at the corner of Wilkens and Monroe. They completely misdiagnosed my engine problem; I hereby cast aspersions on their professionalism and insight.

I wanted a pleasant break while waiting for a diagnosis from my trusted mechanic. A mere block away is Grilled Cheese and Co, which opened a mere three months ago. It's a grilled-cheese-centric sandwich shop. I got The Fresco and I was delighted. I have had to have my car towed twice, my schedule had been completely ruined, I am out of fruit, and I had left my MacBook in the lab, so I couldn't work on my research. The sandwich helped me forget the suffering. I also had shoestring fries, which were pleasant. Grilled Cheese and Co was founded by Vic Corbi and Matt Lancelotta; Vic Corbi is related to Joe Corbi of Joe Corbi's pizza, so I guess it's a cheese thing. Jazz music is played; I was delighted to hear "Baby, It's Cold Outside" on a July afternoon.

I would like to remind you of my recommendation of Catonsville Engine and Transmission, an excellent, trustworthy mechanic. They confirmed that my car is dead, but have been great sports about helping me make burial arrangements.

Ostensibly Morroccan cous cous

So, the cous cous you prepare according to the directions on the box. The only trick I use here is to add vegetable stock instead of water; it makes a huge difference in terms of giving a savory flavor. Once the cous cous is done, add the chickpeas. First, make sure the chickpeas are good and soft; you may need to boil them, depending on how they were canned. (I'm assuming you're using canned chickpeas; dry is fine, it's just more trouble, because they would need to be soaked or boiled.)

The vegetables are more fun. Start by sautéing in olive oil a lot of amazing spices, cumin, ground red pepper (cayenne), cinnamon, whatever else tickles your fancy. Try coriander, if you like, and let me know how that works. Maybe some garlic would be good, too, fresh minced garlic is best. Add diced bell peppers, one red and one green should be pretty good. Or you can cut them into tiny strips, maybe 1/8" by 1/2" or some such. Sauté them in olive oil, with the spices, just for a couple of minutes. Dump that in with the chickpeas and cous cous, and add some raisins, golden raisins are best, and some grated carrot, it's pretty great. Top with almonds, sliced roasted almonds, if you have some on hand.

This stuff is great warm or cold.

Auntie

We drove up the dirt road to the farmhouse. It was after midnight. We were greeted by a Saint Bernard, Rufus, who ran up to me, and almost knocked me down. When we got in, Auntie gave me sugar cookies and hot chocolate. I got into my pajamas, the ones with the feet, and went to the bed she'd gotten ready for me. The next morning, I woke up, very late. Auntie had already gone out and gotten eggs and fresh oranges. She made me an omelet with cheese and mushrooms. I thought mushrooms were gross, but I ate the omelet to be polite. I decided that I like mushrooms, after all.

Enjoy the snow

On my way home from classes, I stopped in at Burger King for a veggie burger. I'd had too much iced coffee and had the shakes and was feeling queasy and needed something proteiney.


www.toothpastefordinner.com

The worker at the counter was a woman in her fifties; she was balding and had a slight mustache.

'Can I have a veggie burger?'

She looked up, gazing at a spot hovering in the air two feet above my head. The spot evidently then moved to the left, then the right. She had a big smile that revealed crooked teeth.

'I suppose' she said in a scratchy voice that made it sound like her tongue was stuck to roof of mouth, as if she'd just had a glass of whole milk. 'Cheese?'
'Yes', I said; I saw that the register registered $2.64.

'That'll be $264.' she said. I handed over three dollars. She counted the bills, passing them one at a time from one hand to the other, acting like she was giving me a $261 discount, but it's cool, this happens all the time, and is quite reasonable given my meager means.

'I can pay Canadian, too.' I said.



One time, back when I ate frozen pizza for lunch every day, I was trying to scoot through a trip to Giant on my way to campus. This was before Giant introduced self check-out lanes. My cashier was a man in his forties. He had a mustache. As he handed me my bags and receipt, he said, 'Enjoy the snow!' It was September. I looked at him, baffled. 'The weatherman says that they're expecting less than ten inches of snow today.' he said with complete gravity, as if going out and playing in this snow today was required of me by Hashem.

I went back to that Burger King the next Monday, partly because that cashier was so pleasant and funky. In the future, robots will prepare veggie burgers for us. This is a good thing, this frees people up to do other things. I'm just not sure how I'd cross paths with that Burger King cashier otherwise.

The ouzo effect

In my writing from my trip to Turkey, I marvel at rakı and its mysterious properies (see here and here):

Rakı is Turkey's national liquor, made from distilled fermented grapes and flavored with anise. (Greeks call it ouzo, and Iranians call it arak.) Rakı is drunk diluted. It is clear, but, because of magic, turns cloudy when water is added. Once, I was served rakı in a bar, and I added water, but it was already diluted, so the Turks I was with were able to tell that I'm sort of a poseur sometimes. Turks are very good sports when foreigners mess up their customs.

My friend, Zach, just called to tell me of the ouzo effect. In short, there is an oil in anise (which is used to flavor rakı) that is strongly hydrophobic and causes formation of microdrops. It is soluble in ethanol, and so raki is strong enough to keep the oil in solution, but if the ethanol concentration is lowered (by diluting with water) the drops form and make the rakı become milky.

Eating fruit

It is good to eat fruit. It makes me happy to eat fruit, especially blueberries and honeydew and bananas. Whenever I eat blueberries, I thank God for making them, even on the days I think he's not real.

I never eat so much fruit that it's sinful. The real sin is in not eating nearly enough fruit, leaving it go bad sitting on the counter.

No one argues about how much fruit we should eat or when we should eat it or what kinds we should eat. We all know that we're not eating enough fruit and we should eat more, and that we should go to the Asian grocery store and buy weird fruit like pomegranates and kumquats and persimmons.

Denny's is ethnic now?

I was trying to find hip, ethnic restaurants near College Park. This is what happened.

UrbanCause: Restaurants at Hollins Market

Candice provides reviews to excellent restaurants in our neighborhood: UrbanCause: Restaurants at Hollins Market

Seconded, on all counts. Baltimore Pho also has some pretty good tofu curry stuff. Zella's pizza Margherita is delicious; I had some the day I moved into this neighborhood.

The Sweet Tooth Dessert Shop has only been around for a month, so things are still getting going. They have coffee for $2, and they gave me free refills. It was regular drip coffee, they don't do fancy espresso drinks. I had some cherry cheesecake, also, and it was delicious. The Sweet Tooth is exactly the sort of local business that isn't as good as one of the chains (yet) but that I'm enthusiastic about supporting, because it has so much chutzpah and character and potential. I sat there last Tuesday afternoon and worked on my research, and watched little kids eat sorbet and play Halo III and I was very happy. The ambiance is positively classy.