just don't call it viral.

i can't get enough of this video. it absolutely kills me.

addiction.

i have to confess something. i have an addiction. a bad one.

my name is meghan and i am addicted to this tomato sauce.

(image from here.)

i have made this tomato sauce in some shape or form at least three times a week for the past month. it's like i can't stop. i'll be at work, thinking about what to make for dinner, and suddenly, my taste buds get all tingly and my mouth starts watering and i can't get the sauce out of my head. then i rush home, put it all together, let it cook for 45 minutes, and then eat it straight out of the pot. not really, but i could, if i possessed any less self-control.

please make this. please. just do it. now. and forever.

tomato sauce with butter and onion

(from the smitten kitchen)

28 ounces (800 grams) whole peeled tomatoes from a can (San Marzano, if you can find them)*
5 tablespoons (70 grams) unsalted butter
1 medium-sized yellow onion, peeled and halved
Salt to taste

Put the tomatoes, onion and butter in a heavy saucepan (it fit just right in a 3-quart) over medium heat. Bring the sauce to a simmer then lower the heat to keep the sauce at a slow, steady simmer for about 45 minutes, or until droplets of fat float free of the tomatoes. Stir occasionally, crushing the tomatoes against the side of the pot with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, discard the onion, add salt to taste (you might find, as I did, that your tomatoes came salted and that you didn’t need to add more) and keep warm while you prepare your pasta.

Serve with spaghetti, with or without grated parmesan cheese to pass.

april fools... or april for-reals?

i was never really into april fools day until the internet made it impossible to escape. i'm not one for real life pranks or practical jokes, but i anxiously await the day now that google has made it an organizational priority to top themselves every year.

this year, my favorite interweb joke came courtesy of a slightly more suprising source... one you might know as the white house.

consider exhibit a:

(image from here)

um. for real? this is AMAZING. in case you missed it, when the president signed health care reform into law, joe biden told him, with a mike on, that this is a 'big f*cking deal'. reason #492 why i love me some joe biden, but i digress.

i have to say, i'm not 100% sure this is actually an april fools joke... and i'm not sure which would be better. if it is for real, that's amazing. and if the president gets in on the april fools fun, then c'mon - that's also pretty amazing.

pardon me while i order this shirt before it sells out/ceases to exist.

pants pants pants

i have a love/hate relationship with pants.

hmm. let me clarify... i do wear pants. pretty much every day, especially on days that i leave the house. but i have a love/hate relationship with buying them and finding pants that actually fit. you see, i have the body of an 8 year old boy (not to mention the eating habits of one - don't let my foods touch each other a dinner plate!) - both in height and width. no hips, no butt, and short little legs. attractive, right? i can never just go to a store and buy pants, because they inevitably need to be hemmed. so i usually have to order them on line, and then that's an extra $10 for shipping and then i forget about ordering them and they sit in the little shopping bag online and then i just end up wearing the same jeans for months.

but last night, my pants woes came to an end. you see, i discovered the perfect - yes, i'm using the 'p' word here, they're that amazing - pair of pants.

i give you, the minnie pants:

(image from here.)

these lovelies arrived in my mail last night, and they are amazing. fit like a dream, and they are actually cropped on me! it's the little things (like that) that make me smile. you see, i have never had a pair of cropped pants that were actually cropped. they always hit my ankles and look super awkward. but with minnie in my life, i can rock the cropped-black-pants and ballet flats look with the best of them.

i am considering not eating for the next month and ordering a pair in every color. but then, they'd all be too big on me. 

damn. 

but i will find a way to stock my closet with minnies soon enough.

sidecar snob

back in january, my mom celebrated her 50th birthday at a joint party with a friend of hers. that friend's husband is known for his (supposedly amazing) martinis... which are just not my style. needing an alternative but still delicious cocktail to complement my hors d'oeuvres, he scanned the available ingredients and told me to sit tight and in just a few moments, i'd have a sidecar ready and waiting for me. not knowing exactly what a sidecar contained, i was slightly nervous because i don't do well with really strong alcoholic drinks (see: martinis) and since he had gone out of his way to create it just for me, i would have been horrified if i hadn't been able to drink it. soon enough, my hand was holding a martini glass with a sugared rim and a sidecar. i'm going to take this opportunity to think about how delicious it was while providing you the recipe for a classic sidecar.

Sidecar (from DrinkoftheWeek.com)

The Original from Harry's Bar - Paris

1 1⁄2 oz. VS or VSOP cognac

3⁄4 oz. Cointreau

3⁄4 oz. fresh lemon juice

Shake all ingredients with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass with a sugared rim.

Garnish with an orange peel.

finally, i had something other than a cosmo to order at a bar - seriously, there is nothing more embarassing than ordering a cosmo, but i can never think of anything else and then i panic and say 'a cosmo please' and then i get a condescending look from the bartender as he rues the day that sex and the city made those sugary drinks so popular. major bummer.

so after this fateful night that the sidecar and i were introduced, i took it upon myself to perfect them at home and add to my (still slightly lacking) repertoire. how about these babies, eh?

(the little one is for lizzy - she felt left out.) (i kid. our dog doesn't actually drink alcohol.)

not only are they in a regular rotation at casa r (until mojito season arrives, at least), but i've sampled my fair share at restaurants across the city. the verdicts?

landmarc: 0/5 stars, i think they added rubbing alcohol. my nose stung just from taking a whiff.

elizabeth: 3/5 stars, not bad, but it lost points for icy chunks and the fact that it was lacking a sugared rim! blasphemy.

schiller's liquor bar: 2/5 stars, seriously guys - powdered sugar turns into a gloopy mess if you use it on the rim! what a terrible idea. 

'intoca: the closest to pure, home-shaken perfection, but again, no sugar. i'm serious, that totally makes the drink!

more reviews to come as i continue the sidecar snobbery tasting tour of manhattan.

 i share this knowledge in the hopes that women across new york and the country will no longer suffer from bar-inflicted cosmo paralysis as i did for so many years. 

i have seen the light, and it has a sugared rim.