Monday, August 25, 2008

Recent Raves

Here are some things I've been enjoying as of late:

  • WERS.org, Emerson College's radio station, which you can stream online for free. It's a great mix of modern indie rock with college favorites like Bob Marley and The Allman Bros. tossed in. Essentially, if took my iTunes catalog (um, and got rid of the Guns n' Roses and 80s music, which I would never do) and made a radio station out of it, it would sound like just like WERS.
  • Plum Island, Massachusetts. Here's the Google map. I had never been there before, and drove up on Sunday with a few friends to check out the beach. It was great! Only a little over an hour's drive from Boston, easy and cheap to park, and the beach is enormous, beautiful, and not crowded. It's my new favorite north shore beach.

  • Polenta. Yeah, it comes in a plastic-wrapped tube, making it seem like sausage's lame vegetarian cousin, but slice that bad boy up, add some toppings, and throw it under the broiler and you've got an easy and delicious meal. I made this Smoky Shrimp and Parmesan-Polenta Cakes recipe from Cooking Light. It only took about 15 minutes and was super tasty.


  • Spanish Table. For several years now, a group of Spanish-speaking scientist friends have gathered together once every couple of months for food, drinks, and conversation en espaƱol. Last week some friends from Argentina had us all over for delicious empanadas and an assortment of grilled meats. Here are some photos:










And just for fun, two of my partners in crime (um, if grad school were a crime...maybe "fellow indentured servants" would be a better description) are currently sporting very similar hairdos. Carolina and JR: who is who?

3 comments:

S said...

What does polenta taste like? I see it used a lot on cooking shows but I'm afraid to try it because I have no idea what it tastes like.

eileen said...

It is corn-based and has a really mild flavor, sort of like cornbread without the sweetness. The kind I've used is the firmer, prepared type that comes in a tube,
like this
.
I guess polenta can also be mushy like grits, but that doesn't really appeal to me.

Mrs. V said...

Ooooh, I love people who post LARGE photos that take up more than your monitor's screen when you click on it. YUM, I could smell and taste the shrimp...drool...I hope no one saw me licking my monitor!!!
In Argentina my favorite dish was polenta mush in a bowl like cream of wheat with a stewed meat concoction on top of it. There was this small place just around the corner from our hotel that served only one item...no choices, you ate what the cook prepared, sorta like your mother's kitchen. Yummy.