What I've been up to the past couple of days

Hello.  Yes, I realize it's been a few days.

First off, the trip down to Metairie was quite successful.  It ended up being just me, Shane, Rebecca, and Vanessa.  We had dinner at the amazing Casablanca, a kosher North African/Middle Eastern restaurant.  Is it an hour away?  Yes.  Was it worth it?  Double yes.  Everything was absolutely amazing.  I stepped way the hell out of my comfort zone and ordered the fish tagine.  I'm not generally a fish eater, so ordering a fish stew... that's weird for me.  I was not disappointed, as it was delicious.  Tomatoes, peppers, potatoes, and some sort of whitefish, in a delicately spiced red broth, mmm.  The appetizer platter we started off with was also wonderful, with the first tabouli I've ever had that I didn't dislike, a smoky hummus that I still haven't figured out, and some sort of almost barbeque-y brown stuff that I adored (plus other good stuff like regular hummus, falafel, and spanakopita).  And then came dessert.  First, I had some delicious fresh mint tea, which pleased me.  But I also had what they called "sweet cigars."  Think baklava, but instead of layered phylo it's rolled into a tube, and then deep-fried.  And topped with honey.  SO.  GOOD.

Thanks to Ben, I got my Request for Master's Examination signed, and it's now turned in.  Whew.  Now I just have to, you know, write the rest of the thesis, heh.

Tonight Mandi got me to leave my house and go see a movie.  We ended up seeing Mrs. Henderson Presents, which is both funny and deeply affecting.  Topnotch; you should see this movie.  Coffee Call afterward was in no way a bad thing, either.  So there you go, caught up ish.

Oh, BTW: I've had multiple people tell me in the past few days that I am, in one domain or another, somewhat intimidating.  Er... ok?  I guess I can see it, maybe, but seriously: no need to be intimidated.  I'm all smoke and mirrors.  Presentation, presentation, presentation.

Potatoes are tasty, and reasonably healthy. Unless you make them my way.

Last night, I was in the mood for some comfort food for dinner, and I was thinking meatloaf.  But... I didn't really have everything I needed, so instead I made mashed potatoes (using the ricer that Shane acquired [!] some time over Christmas).  With about a stick of butter.  And a couple of onions, chopped and sautéed.  And about 5 cloves of garlic, minced and sautéed.  And a cream gravy that didn't quite come together right, so I just mixed it in.  And some olive oil, because why not.  They were scrumptious.

Tonight I had them again, but didn't want to make (another) meal of just potatoes.  So I scooped the potatoes out of the bowl with pita bread and called it skordalia.  Close enough.  Still delicious.