Marieke Everywhere

Succotouille

Succotouille (succotash-ratatouille)

For a few years I've been making a dish that I really love that has no 'official' name. I created the dish one day - possible out of boredom - possibly just trying to use up a bunch of random ingredients. It's mainly based on Zuchini, corn, and tomatoes - and reminds me of both a succotash and a ratatouille. Hence the name, Succotouille.

It's my favorite warm veg dish and can be made in big batches and stored away as leftovers. As an added bonus, it's very low in Weight Watchers points so I can eat a nice big bowl full without feeling too guilty (just have to watch the rice).

Here's my recipe:

In a large saucepan, combine 3 tbsps of olive oil, 1 can of diced tomatoes and 4 thinly sliced zucchini.

Cook covered over medium heat until the zucchini becomes tender, stirring occasionally.

Add 1 cup frozen corn kernels and 1/2 cup frozen peas.

Continue to cook over medium heat uncovered, stirring occasionally.

When cooked through, add salt and a little bit of table sugar to taste.

Serve over rice.

TMI

WARNING: The following post is about warts. But it's funny. So read it anyway.

I'm going to confess something: I have a wart. It's on my left index finger. It's not very noticeable but It looks weird. And it's fucking impossible to get rid of - believe me, I have been trying. I tried the over-the-counter stuff: the liquid stuff that basically just peels away all the skin around the wart (this is much grosser than actually having a wart in the first place), and the freeze-away stuff which, as far as I can tell, doesn't do shit. I even went to the doc to have it frozen off. Again, nada. 

So in my desperate state, I googled. Jeezus christ! Some of the search results for "get rid of wart" are so amusing that I just had to share:

1. Duct Tape - Tape your wart for up to a month. Try to pass it off as 'jewelry'. What can't duct tape fix?
2. Banana peel/Orange peel/Cabbage/Papaya/Basil/Radishes/etc -  The theme here is to take a piece of fruit or vegetable and tape it to your wart for, like, months. Cuz why not?
3. Garlic - put a sliver of garlic over your wart. Cover with a bandaid. Do this for 2 weeks. Watch your popularity plummet because you always smell of garlic. 
4. Castor Oil/Apple Cider vinegar/Vitamin E -  Similar to the ones above, rub your wart with a common liquid substance. Might as well since you're already walking around with a banana on your hand (not saying I did that or anything).
5. And my personal favorite: Cut a potato in half, rub one half on your wart and plant the other in the yard. I love addition of planting half the thing you rubbed on your wart in the ground. How is that supposed to help exactly? Is the growing potato plant sending some kind of mystical voodoo vibes to your wart? Seriously.

What I really want to know is: Who 'stumbled' across these remedies? Because seriously, the above list looks like someone just slathered the contents of their kitchen on their wart one-by-one. And what didn't make it to the list of possible cures? I can just picture it: 'Let's see...did I try the ketchup yet? No, I know! Lets try the mustard!" I mean, wtf? Why were they putting food items on their wart? How desperate do you have to be? Wait - I know the answer to that one.

i give up

Do normal people feel like crap when they eat sugar? Ever since I've been on the Metformin, I get sick if I eat ANY candy or refined carbs. I keep trying (stupidly) but it keeps back-firing. I guess it's time for me to get the message and lay off the sugar (it's not like I'm bingeing on it, but I can't even have 3 M&M's without feel ooky). This sucks. WHINE.

Injustice

I can't tell if this is a good or bad thing:

Someone brought Specialty's cookies into the office today* and an hour after eating one I started to feelreally sick. I think this is yet another side effect of the Metformin I'm on for the PCOS. Does this mean I cannot eat sugary foods without getting sick? Is this a good thing? Or is this tragic? I'm gunna go with sad. Very VERY sad.

*Specialty's is this bakery/cafe out here in Seattle (they have other locations in other states, I'm sure) that makes THE MOST AMAZING cookies I have ever had. They are literally TO DIE FOR*.

*And apparently, that is what will happen to me if I keep eating them. Just kill me now.

 

Paradise found

One of the things about living in suburbia that is less than ideal is the lack of variety in grocery stores. We have Safeway (known to Chicagoans as Dominick's) and some other weird ones that I don't trust (QFC, TOP) and Fred Meyer (which I dare not go into because I'll end up spending $400 on stuff) but we don't have Whole Foods. And, until recently, I didn't think we had a Trader Joe's either. Serendipitously, Gabe stumbled across a Trader Joe's 2 towns over when he went looking for a bigger Borders*. This is super exciting because I am a HUGE fan of Trader Joe's frozen meals. They are the savior of the lazy middle class. We went this weekend and bought tons of frozen shit for lunches and dinners throughout the week - and only spent $100 (which is not that much for 2 adults)! I'm hopeful that this will help us save money this month by giving us attractive options to eating out. So far, so good (of course this only day 2 of March. But wahtevs).

Today, I am having the Chicken Vindaloo (with some extra frozen peas and carrots for added color and nutrition). Yum!

 

*Unrelated side note: The Borders out here are ridiculously small. They are like mini Borders. I am used to Borders being this huge multi-level mega bookstore. Out here they are more like the size of a standard mall store. This is totally nuts to me. On the other hand, Barnes is super big. The Northwest is weird bizarro world.

Pork haiku

Wednesday night special
Dead pig's buttery goodness
Nom nom, nom nom nom