10 THINGS I SHOWERED LOVE ON IN APRIL

10).  Ciara’s “Love Sex & Magic”
Step aside, Rihanna.  2009 is not your year.  There’s a new one-named caramel queen on Justin’s arm, and this one doesn’t fraternize with Chris Brown.  Ciara’s back with a smart new Rihanna-meets-Gaga strategy: techno-dancey R&B with breathy JT hooks.  “Love Sex & Magic” is an instant foot-tapping shoulder-shaking hit in an aural sea of nothing terribly exciting on the radiowaves.

9).  Thurs 10pm TV With the Word “land” in the Title
This month NBC and CBS delivered promising new shows ending in the word “land” in the same time-slot vacated by decrepit over-stayed ER.  “Southland” and “Harper’s Island” are 2 of the better new shows to debut in April.  I surprisingly don’t hate Southland, a COPS-style drama.  It’s riveting in its bleak bowels-of-LA reality, and refreshing in its lack of the usual cop-show pretentious preciousness.  So far Regina King is the heart of show, while Ben “OC” MacKenzie is the candy.  On “Harper’s Island,” we form no emotional connection with any of the characters, but that’s perfect because most of them die.  Die gruesome deaths.  Every week.  One by one.  Sometimes I just need that.
 

**BONUS**  a HATE within a LOVE:
While NBC and CBS each gave me a show to like this month, ABC gave me 2 shows to hate:  “The Unsuals” and “Cupid” are not worth their unusually heavy network hype (neither was “Life On Mars”).  I gave each one a chance and they just made me regret wasting DVR space.  Seriously ABC….you go ahead and CANCEL 3 of your best shows (“Pushing Daisies”, “DirtySexyMoney”, “Eli Stone”) in favor of 3 poorly-executed unoriginal holier-than-thou precious pieces of programming garbage that fail to capture my interest with uninspired casting, half-baked writing, and irrelevant acting?  Now those are the ABC’s of stupidity. 

8).  LALA.com
Think itunes, but at lala.com,
you can hear the WHOLE song before buying.  But why buy when you can
Limewire?  So next time I hear a nifty Youth Group or Plushgun tune on
“Gossip Girls” or “The Hills”….I’ll Lala, then Limewire.  Tres
useful.   

7).  Smoothies
My 2009 fresh fruit craze has taken on a whole new dimension with the help of my blender and OJ.  I perfected my smoothies recipes, and they are shockingly simple.  Fresh strawberries + ripe bananas + splash of OJ.  Fresh strawberries + fresh mango + OJ.  And when I was running low on OJ, I used a splash of Vitamin Water in the mix.  DELICIOUS.  The possibilities are endless.  Now I’m just waiting for watermelon season so I can start concocting strawberry-watermelon lemonade smoothies.

6).  LOST reruns on Sci-Fi
As “Lost”
approaches its final season, and as it has been TV’s best show this
season, I am hell-bent on understanding every last little bit of the
mystery.  Why?  Because it’s worth it.  Everyday I record the reruns on
Sci-Fi…the 1am airings which are now well into Season 2, during the
Hatch days and just before consorting with The Others.  I am now
catching small consequential coincidences/plot
points/characters/revelations that did not matter or make sense to me
in the past.  When all is ended and done, a complete and total
understanding of “Lost” will be tantamount to a mastery of Calculus. 
Math was never my thing.  But good tv is. 

5).  Wegman’s
Who doesn’t love a good supermarket.  And supermarkets don’t get much gooder than Wegman’s.  The closest one to us is in Woodbridge, NJ, a 30-min drive from Bayonne.  So what does Wegman’s have that Bayonne’s sufficient Stop&Shop and A&P don’t?  Well, for one, a prepared foods wing that brings me to tears.  For another, their muffins are luscious, their olive bar is ginormous, their seafoods and meats reign supreme.  Wegman’s creates a warm grocery shopping experience for the food lover and loves-to-cook.  And the people that work there don’t look miserable.  Neither do the shoppers. 

4).  Joan Rivers on “Celebrity Apprentice”
Without Joan Rivers, Celebrity Apprentice would still be good fun.  With Joan Rivers, Celebrity Apprentice is really gooooooood fun.  She has made many enemies on the show (Clint Black, Annie Duke, Brandi Broderick) and she has been thrown in the midst of many a vicious boardroom.  Yet like a silicone cockroach with a quick sharp wit, she survives and just makes for good unmissable tv.  Joan can do no wrong in my book.

3).  Entertainment Weekly 2-yr Subscription for $25 from Amazon
As
a loyal EW subscriber since 1994, I’m always on the lookout for a good
renewal deal.  The best deal I ever came across is happening right now
on Amazon.com,
where you can get 2 years (114 issues) for only $35.  And if you buy
before April 30 (tomorrow), they knock off another $10.  $25 for 2
years of EW is unheard of!!

2).  Cherry Vanilla Ice Cream w/ Sugar Cone
I rotate my ice cream obsessions to keep from getting bored, from Klondikes to Weight Watchers latte bars to Edy’s Grand Slow Churned.  My newest thing is Breyer’s Cherry Vanilla, in a bowl, with Keebler sugar cones.  The sugar cones, I like to crumble with my hands and sprinkle it over the cherry vanilla scoops.  It’s simple and divine.  Better than anything at Coldstone.  Better than any Ben & Jerry’s (I’m realizing I’m not a fan of B&J…too muss fuss in every pint).  Breyer’s was never a favorite of mine, but nowadays, all natural is all right with me.

1).  My Facebook Food Following
I was at a party this past weekend with mostly new friends, made friendlier via Facebook.  This is how things went down:

As I hugged hello to the party host and handed him a bottle of wine, he goes, “I don’t want this!  I want some of the food you make!”  I died.  I had no response.  I was too stunned and pleased. 

I hug another friend as he arrives and he goes “omg, you’re so skinny….how is that possible with all the delicious food you eat.”  What can I Tsay? 

I’m talking to someone and a friend dashes across the room with a finger pointing at me, saying “This one is always making me hungry with his food posts!”  Guilty as charged. 

Another one goes:  “How do you keep having these leisurely lunches while everyone’s at work?  I wanna have lobster rolls at Pearl Oyster Bar on a Friday!”  Who doesn’t??!!

MY EASTER DINNER PICS caused quite a Facebook stir as well.  SeE(AT) for yourself:

Cold Seafood Salad with lemon vinaigrette, a divine Barefoot Contessa recipe.
Crabcake-Stuffed Mushrooms, my own creation with my own simple actual crabcake recipe.

Steamed crabs that my mom contributed to dinner.  A labor of love to eat.
As I get down & dirty with some crab, cousin Jennifer looks delirious after eating too many. 

FRIDAY LADIES-THAT-LUNCH SERIES with my lovely gals Linda & Liz:

Central Park Boathouse last Friday, the first day of the 4-day summer we had. 
Linda’s Heirloom Tomato Feta salad.

Liz’s Twin Cheeseburgers with outrageous tater tots.
My Grilled Salmon with dill and white garbanzo beans in an olive oil vinaigrette.

Pannacotta and Almond cake with vanilla ice cream and blood oranges.

My girls from HS.  We all met over 15 years ago, and our friendship endures.  So do our waistlines (when we’re not 9-months pregnant like Liz in the middle).

Our Friday lunch at LANDMARC in the Time Warner Center a few weeks ago.  The dessert was called ONE OF EACH: Creme brulee, Blueberry crumble, Nutella eclair, Lemon tart, Chocolate
mousse, Tiramisu, and a basket of grape flavored Cotton Candy.  The rest of Facebook would follow our luscious lead and flock to Landmarc soon after.

So what’s my point here?  All the world’s a pig, and the people merely drooling.  EATING ON.

Why don’t they just call disco nite “Donna Summer nite” and save themselves the hassle?  Or just scrap this overdone genre already and give us a relevant music theme like Billboard-hits-from-the-past-year.  Wouldn’t you like to see Allison do “My Life Would Suck Without You?”  Or Adam do an acoustic “Womanizer.”  But I digress.  Here’s how Donna Summer nite went:
 
LIL ROUNDS singing “I’m Every Woman.”  What a shocker.  She’s every black woman singing this (e)very song on every season of Idol.  I hate this song.  A song that does NOTHING for the vocals.  It’s such a one note boring song.  No layers whatsoever.  Her last few weeks singing “What’s Love Got To Do With It” and “The Rose”, I felt she was wrongfully brutalized.  But this time, she deserves for the shitty song choice alone.

KRIS ALLEN in a plain white tee.  Classic.  Fantastic.  He totally went “La Isla Bonita” on “She Works Hard For the Money,” giving us another show of true originality and artistry that only Adam can rival.  He’s also had the best song choices all season.  Backstage, Lil Rounds was rolling over in her musical career grave.

DANNY GOKEY.  How did I go from loving him so in the Top 36 singing “Hero” to hating him so in the top 12?  Here’s how: Obvious crowd-pleasing song choices in every genre (he has yet to chose a song that raised my eyebrows), his pompous oversinging, his obvious but blatantly unscrutinized lack of originality, and the fact that Simon has not yet warned him about his smugness.  I at least thought Simon would be tired of his sameness by now.

ALLISON had me from the first note, sitting on the steps with a bluesy-rock take on “Hot Stuff.”  Allison rightfully deserves to be the last woman standing, if not the last one standing.  I can only live with 3 people winning this whole thing:  Adam, Kris, or Allison.   

ADAM LAMBERT is a chameleon if we ever saw & heard one.  He can do down & dirty well, and he can clean up rather nicely.  He’s changing the face of music and setting a new bar for every season of Idol that follows.  He could single-handedly bring back the Monster Ballads of the 80′s.  I would just DIE DIE DIE for him to sing Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,”  Warrant’s “Heaven,” or Cheap Trick’s “The Flame.”

MATT GIRAUD doing “Staying Alive” was probably pretty predictable, if I had cared to predict what he’d be singing.  Like Simon said, he really has no chance of winning.  Saving him last week was more about Simon saving himself from getting his eyes scratched out by a Paula Bear.

ANOOP was not as bad as Simon said, but in a week where 2 are going home, it’s Lil and him for sure. 

I’m so behind on my entries!  I first wanna thank my few remaining rabid fans for checking my site daily for updates.  You remind me that there are still a few people who still read me and make me feel guilty for not posting things.  Thanks in particular to my fan(stalker) in Arizona, and my Edison, NJ fan(stalker).  Ok then, so here’s a quickie entree…. 

Two Sundays ago I hosted my gays for a home-cooked brunch.  Seven hungry mouths to feed, including mine, so that makes 10 appetites.  No problem.  Here’s what I did:

TURKEY CLUB WRAPS:  Roasted deli turkey breast, a smear of mayo, slices of crisp bacon, mounds of sliced avocado.  What’s NOT to love here??
 

BROWN SUGAR CINNAMON FRENCH TOAST.  I cheated here, and used Pepperidge Farms’ Brown Sugar Cinnamon bread, which I toasted, then dipped in beaten egg, and a dusting of powdered sugar.  Batch cooking of pancakes/french toast/waffles always frazzles me, so I had to take the easy way out.  At least it wasn’t Eggo Waffles.  Next time I will try a baked french toast bread pudding.  It’s easiest to let the oven do the work rather than you standing over a pan on the stove.  

INDIVIDUAL EGG SOUFFLE CUPS.  I created this little egg cup concoction.  I sprayed ramekin dishes, layered in toast that I cubed, roasted asparagus, crumbled cooked bacon, poured in beaten eggs, and baked at 350 for 30 mins, then topped with some shredded Monterey Jack cheese for the last 5 minutes.  The mixture actually RISES in the oven.  It’s a lovely sight, like a muffin top.  It was tasty, but I thought the egg was overcooked.  Next time I’d try it at a lower temp like 325, or cook it more in a water bath in the oven.  I give it 7 in taste, but a 9 in ingenuity. 

And finally, as an after-meal refresher, fresh blended STRAWBERRY-BANANA SMOOTHIES.  I simply cut up strawberries and ripe bananas and blended them with orange juice. 

Simple.  Lovely.  Brunchy.