Oh Ira Glass

I don't know if I ever told you, but back when I lived in NYC (that seems like such a trite statement) the girls of Bushwick Shakes and I met Ira Glass. At a bar.  

We were there before going to a party and we were multi-tasking - drinking and having a company meeting.  We were drinking white wine, had our moleskins out and were sitting in the back of The West Side Tavern.  We were chatting about shows and marketing and new ideas, I don't even remember seeing a table of 4 sit down next to us.  Next thing I know, there's this really tall man in thick rimmed glasses with a thick head of dark hair towering over my friend Tiffany and I.  He squats down next to us so that he could be eye level with us and says, "I'm sorry to interrupt you ladies, but what are you doing working at a bar?"  We then launch into the whole "we're an all female Shakespeare company working on our next show (and as I write this, it must have been Julius Caesar, eh hem, in which I played Cassius...Awesome good time).  He asks a bunch of questions, was really nice and friendly and an all around cool guy.  He asks what our names are, we tell him, he says, "I'm Ira."  Cool, great, see you later...and back to his table he went.

I never put two and two together until later, he was still sitting next to us, we were still working and he was literally 10 feet behind me when at the bar Lexi and I are ordering another glass of wine and I say (outloud) "Holy shit....that's Ira Glass. Like NPR Ira Glass." Lexi was shocked that a) I didn't know immediatly and b) that I was actually saying these things that he might hear.  Hello nerd alter!  I cannot tell you how excited I was.

I will never know if he heard me but I do know that when I get home, I went online and figured out how to get in touch with him.  I drafted an email re-intorducing myself and the company and said that we would love to have him and his team come to the show.  I sent a press release, everything.  I was even in touch with one of his production guys who said they were trying to figure out if they'd be in NYC during the run of our show. 

Alas, he wasn't able to come to the show...but he at least knew I was in one and I got to meet him.  I also found this today and its a good reminder.

simplicity

It's been an emotional roller coaster recently.  

I haven't felt like doing much of anything.  My running isn't helping and I've even been bored in the kitchen. That's no good...that's supposed to be my place of solace and it hasn't been.  I've let my dishes pile up, I've eaten more bread and cheese than I should.  Sigh.  These are just the ebbs and flows of life, I guess.  

I did stumble upon a few things tonight.  A marinade that's great for pork or chicken and doesn't take too long to settle into the meat....ew, that can kinda sound gross.  Whatever.  It's easy.  You need, a ziplock bag, whatever meat you are using and here's how it goes: Put your meat into the ziplock, pour in a healthy dose of olive oil, salt and pepper, a good pour of low sodium soy sauce, about a tablespoon of honey and a big spoonful of chile sauce...found next to the Saracha at the grocery store, same brand but in a smaller bottle w. a green top...seal and let sit in the fridge for an hour (or more, I did three b.c I was doing stuff) and then broil your meat until done.  Or if you have a grill, I bet it would be great grilled.

I also stumbled upon this and it made me smile, so I leave you with it and hope you enjoy it as much as I did.

may my heart always be open to little
birds who are the secrets of living
whatever they sing is better than to know
and if men should not hear them men are old
   
may my mind stroll about hungry
and fearless and thirsty and supple
and even if it's sunday may i be wrong
for whenever men are right they are not young
   
and may myself do nothing usefully
and love yourself so more than truly
there's never been quite such a fool who could fail
pulling all the sky over him with one smile

- e.e. cummings

Oh my meatballs

Dang guys...I made meatballs tonight and they were INCREDIBLE. Restaurant good. I would, for sure, order these a second (or third) time if I ate them somewhere other than my house...extra bonus!?!? They are easy to make and now are my go-to meatball. Everyone needs one, right? I think Emily Post wrote about it at some point in her life.

If you don't eat meat, I understand, well I don't but I respect it and I'm really thankful that I love veggies too. But, I'm not sure I get it...back to the main objective here...meatballs. The reason these might be so good is that they are from 'the Frankies Spuntino's' cookbook. I'm sure I've talked about this before...Rory's sister (my future sister-in-law!!!) gave me this book for Christmas and it's awesome. It's so great. If you are as much of an Italian food fan as I am, you might do yourself a favor and go buy this cookbook. Seriously.

So, I didn't follow the recipe to the T because I didn't have everything I was supposed to, and if I'm 100% honest...I don't know how I feel about raisins in meatballs. Here's my version of the Frank's meatballs. Enjoy 'em!! (oh, and if you want the original recipe email me and I will get it to you!)

Jordan's version of the Frankie Spuntino Meatball

Makes about 15 meatballs; 4 servings

Ingredients

2 slices of wheat bread (about 1 packed cup)

1 pound ground beef

2 garlic cloves, minced

A hardy handful of chopped flat-leaf parsley

Almost 1/4 cup grated Pecorino Romano, plus more for serving

A hardy handful of chopped walnuts

Salt

20 turns on your pepper grinder

2 large eggs

1/4 cup dried bread crumbs

Tomato sauce (you can make your own or use store bought, I used TJ's marinara)

How Ta Do It

First, heat your oven too 325 degrees. Then put the bread in a bowl and cover with water. Let sit for about a minute or so. Pour out the water and squeeze out as much water as you can, then crumble and rip into small pieces. (by the way...this is one of those use your hands and get dirty kinds of recipes!)

Next, in the same bowl combine all the remaining ingredients (sans the tomato sauce). The original recipe said to combine them in the order listed, however, I added the meat right before the eggs. The whole mixture should be moist wet, not sloppy wet so your breadcumbs may very...you might need more, you might need less.

Shape the meatballs in your hands to a little bigger than a golf ball size.  Space these puppies evenly on a baking sheet. You may want to line the baking sheet with parchment paper or something similar...I ended up with a messy pan. Bake them for 25 to 30 minutes, I only baked for 25 minutes. The meatballs should be firm yet still juicy and gently yielding when they are cooked through. (Feel free, at this point, to let these guys cool and pop them in the freezer for some later date.)

Meanwhile, heat whatever tomato sauce you have choose in a sauté pan large enough to accommodate all the meatballs.

Dump the meatballs into the pan, simmer for about 10 minutes (original recipe calls for 30...I was way too hungry.) you want to make sure that they have had the opportunity to mingle with the sauce.

Serve the meatballs 3 to a person with a generous helping of sauce AND cheese! Yum. I ate 4 and had asparagus and a poached egg...I like food. Please try these and let me know what you think!!

Xo

Double Celebration!

First of all - Rory has done it again!! Check out his most recent Land Rover commercial:

Pretty sweet huh!? And secondly, he proposed to me this weekend at an Explosions in the Sky Concert! Song. Ring. YAYAYAYYAAYAYAYAYAY!

 

xo