Life in the Slow Lane

I am turning this blog into a food blog for just a bit to help out all of my readers who fell in love in Northeastern Brazil. That is... fell in love with tapiocas in Northeastern Brazil. For those of my readers who have not had the gastronomic pleasure of eating a hot tapioca on a crowded street corner, let me first inform you that a tapioca is not a pudding. Nor is a tapioca the pearls you find at the bottom of your boba tea. Imagine an omelet-type food only without eggs. To the uninitiated it may sound weird and not worth the effort of mustering up enough Portuguese to place your order, but you would be wrong. Please don't be offended by that. The other reason I am turning this blog into a food blog for a moment is because my husband, also known to readers as my S.O.S. (Significant Other, Sweetheart) is too excited by his culinary success to bother with sitting down to inform the world about this important breakthrough. S.O.S. has, since he first tasted tapioca goodness on th...

As everybody knows, the best way to get over an embarrassing incident is to announce it to the world. And so I will tell you all the story of the Raisin Bran Incident. In everybody's life there are those days were the easiest thing to fix for dinner is the same thing you manage to fix when your greatest accomplishment of the day has been to get out of bed. And so it happened that a few short weeks ago, after a day and a half's worth of work in the preceding 9 hours, I walked into the kitchen and poured myself a half a bowl of Raisin Bran cereal. I say only a half a bowl because that is all I had left. And I say Raisin Bran because I was too tired to reach further back into my pantry space for Honey Bunches of Oats. And isn't Raisin Bran a more likely dinner food than Honey Bunches of Oats? (Stay with me.) And then, into my step-by-step plodding, intruded my landlady, "You are eating Raisin Bran for dinner? You are welcome to share the pot-roast I made." But by t...

Over the years I have heard some murmurings abut how natural peanut butter is so much healthier than the popular Jif, Skippy, or other brand names that sound like you are having way too much fun to be healthy. Well, I have stumbled upon an even healthier peanut butter. And stumbled is a pretty accurate term. It turns out that the reason your mother always taught you to store natural peanut butter upside down is not just so that it is easier to stir all the oils once you open it, but also so that the oils aren't all waiting on top to be spilled all across the counter and down the cabinets when you accidentally tip the jar over in the process of stirring it all together. However, with all of the oils now missing, the peanut butter has got to be just that much healthier for you. Of course, you can't spread it on anything, but that is another issue.

There is an organization by the name of National Odd Shoe Exchange (or NOSE), where people who end up only having need of one shoe can exchange shoes with people who happen to need the other half of the pair. I have my eyes open for an organization by the name of National Odd Plasticware Exchange. For most of you, I am sure this is completely self-explanatory. For those of you who are not quite as kitchen-conscious, I had the misfortune of taking my lunch to work in a mis-matching plastic container on Friday. I noticed too late that the lid didn't quite fit the base, but I didn't think it would matter in the long run. And then I forgot that I had brought leftovers for lunch. And Fridays our work refrigerators are cleaned out by the anti-leftover elves. And Monday morning I realized that the borrowed plastic container and unmatching lid had made their way to the great landfill. (Don't get mad, get Glad!) Forget trading for baseball cards, marbles, and Chocolatina Jet B...

Here at Slowlane Labs we continue with the high quality research you have come to expect and rely on. And we know you will benefit greatly from this new discovery: Making the front passenger seat of your car both home office and picnic basket may be hazardous to your picnic basket, home office, and passenger seat. With the rising costs of restaurant meals and the sometimes limited access to previously perceived-as-necessary pantry and fridge space, many of you have no doubt stumbled upon the perfect solution of winter picnics in your car. With a loaf of bread and a jar of PB and J, winter temperatures turn any unused car seat into prime picnic-basket space. Add a selection of snack items, and any day can be a day for the non-work-a-day world of a picnic. And no doubt if you have ever commuted to work or school, you have taken advantage of the extra minutes in the car when you have arrived a few minutes early or you are waiting for your next class or for the light to turn green, and...

It typically isn't good when things like laziness, boredom, and impatience are the active ingredients in a meal. But that was the case for tonight's stew. Boredom with my typical menu prompted me to start dreaming of a hearty beef stew. But first stinginess and then laziness kept me from buying the beef. Last week I found myself at one of my favorite places in all of LA County where the rows of inexpensive produce had me compulsively buying potatoes, carrots, zucchini , and a beautiful onion. But laziness still kept me from other grocery shopping where I might have found stew meat. Last night I was impatient, hovering in the kitchen with my eye on the washer, waiting for my roommates to be finished so that I could have clean towels for the week. Their two sets of sheets saw me through peeling carrots, chopping onions, cleaning potatoes, and cutting zucchini. But I still was too lazy to go get beef. So I pulled out the chicken leisurely defrosting in my nearly freezing fri...

This is a favorite dinner-time story at my house, so I thought I would share it with you all. It's called "Meal Planning or This is the Dinner that I Want to Eat". It goes like this: This is the tortellini that I want to eat. This is the pasta sauce to go with the tortellini that I want to eat. This is the frozen juice that needs to be made up to leave room for the left overs of the pasta sauce that will go with the tortellini that I want to eat. This is the cottage cheese that must be eaten to make room for the juice that needs to be made up to leave room for the left overs of the pasta sauce that will go with the tortellini that I want to eat. This is the applesauce that must be opened to go with the cottage cheese that must be eaten to make room for the juice that needs to be made up to leave room for the left overs of the pasta sauce that will go with the tortellini that I want to eat. These are the eggs that must be scrambled to provide room for the applesauce...

Here in the Slowlane we are so pleased to announce the exciting collaboration of Slowlane Labs and From the Kitchen of Slowlane . With the same quality which brought you Chicken Soup for Dummies (okay, so it never made it out of Drafts) we bring you Skin-E Cuisin-E (say it fast). Our goal with Skin-E Cuisin-E is really quite simple: To make healthy, inexpensive, appetizing meals which serve one person (with up to two meals of leftovers) without requiring more than four minutes of prep-time in the morning or 23 minutes of combined prep and cook time in the evening. Other considerations to keep in mind: limited fridge, freezer, counter, and pantry space and a selection of miscellaneous utensils which may or may not be available. By "quite simple" I mean practically impossible. But that is the kind of challenge we take on here in the Slowlane so that you, our loyal readers, don't have to. And observe! All of the meals we have discovered so far! 1. Microwave (barely b...

I've noticed recently that several blogs occasionally post menu plans for the week or recipes. Since I don't feel like admitting to how many times my menu plan for this week included microwave popcorn, I will share my recipe for delicious Pineapple Apple Pepper Apple Chicken. Pineapple Apple Pepper Apple Chicken Serves 1 three times Place two boneless skinless chicken breasts top side down in a toaster oven set on "broil". Meanwhile, for sauce: Cut up a pineapple and put whatever fits into a plastic container. Place in fridge. Chop the pieces that didn't fit into the container and put them in a cereal bowl. Add the last of the bottle of red wine vinaigrette. Add pepper until it looks aesthetically pleasing. Add a dollop of oil. Turn tray in toaster oven so that each side gets a chance under the only half of the heating filament that works. Meanwhile, back for the sauce: Add an "oops" of Oregano without a shaker lid. Add some Worcestershire sauce... stop...

I made arroz con pollo tonight that would do Barbie proud. Can we say pink ? Yeah, pink. The advantage is that total prep time was about three minutes. And it tasted pretty good. I just probably wouldn't try serving it to Ken. Or anyone else, for that matter.