Creative Designs by Leftover Turkey

Last weekend I drove to Nebraska to visit my parents, and my mom whipped up a delicious traditional Thanksgiving turkey with the obligatory stuffing, gravy and homemade cranberry sauce. I returned to Wisconsin with half jars of gravy and cranberry sauce, a few servings of stuffing and half of the bird all jammed into my lunch-box cooler. After days of reliving that wonderful Thanksgiving meal via leftovers, everything was gone except the turkey - which somehow seemed to have expanded beyond the capacity of its jumbo-sized Ziplock bag. Time to get creative.

Solution? Tetrazzini!!!

The name sounds Italian, but this Tetrazzini is a good ol' toss-and-bake, down-to-earth Midwestern gal's hotdish. It may not be too photogenic, but it's warm, filling and reheat-friendly. Here is the recipe, open to interpretation:

2 cups leftover turkey, shredded or cubed
1 package cooked Amish-style egg noodles
1 can cream of chicken soup
1 1/2 cups milk
1 cup mixed vegetables, fresh or frozen
1 1/2 cups shredded Cheddar
1/4-1/2 cup bread crumbs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Saute the vegetables. Mix together turkey, cooked noodles, soup, milk and vegetables in a deep baking dish. Top mixture with cheese and bread crumbs. Bake for about 30 minutes.

Turned out great. Tasted like a richer, heartier chicken noodle soup without the soup.

However, I still have several pounds of turkey left in the freezer. More recipe ideas to come ...

RNA

Restaurant Find: Fiesta Cancun

View from our booth

Some of the best Mexican food I've found hides in unexpected corners, such as the food stand in the back of a supermercado tucked behind a tattoo parlor. I tend to avoid chains, or restaurants that advertise "Authentic Mexican Restaurant." But this weekend I found good food also can hide behind generic neon palm trees. 

Fiesta Cancun: Authentic Mexican Restaurant is not exactly a hole-in-the-wall taqueria. According to the menu, there are seven Fiesta Cancuns across Wisconsin and Illinois. The Madison branch, which opened earlier this year, occupies the space formerly known as Delitalia in Oakbridge Commons on Mineral Point Road. The bare-bones deli has been transformed into a cozy Mexican villa, with brick-lined window arches, tile awnings and colorful scenes painted above the booths. 

We were drawn in by a coupon for two dinners and two drinks for $20, which seemed like an incredible deal until we saw the menu prices. Most entrees were around $7-$8, with no single platter more than $12. We ordered two Lime Margaritas on the rocks (reg. $3.75 a piece), one Carne Asada ($9.75) and one Camarones Al Mojo de Ajo ($10.75). 

Carne Asada with chips and Margarita

The Carne Asada consisted of two cuts of rib eye steak, served with a sliced avocado salad, corn tortillas, rice and beans. The Camarones were shrimp and onions sauteed in garlic butter and served with the same sides. The steak was cooked well through, but still flavorful and tender. The shrimp were large and plentiful. What impressed me most was how pure the presentation was of these dishes - they didn't rely on excessive seasoning or loads of queso sauce. And they were anything but bland. The Margaritas also were tasty, well-mixed and served with a fresh slice of lime.    

Service was equally polished. The hostess was friendly, the server was attentive and the food was prompt. My only complaint of the entire experience was that the booth seats remained as squishy as they were during Delitalia's tenure. 

I will be back. Maybe to try the Flan, baked fresh daily, or the Banana Burrito. And definitely for $2 Margarita Mondays. 

RNA

David Gray & Ray LaMontagne @ The Greek Theater, Berkeley CA, Sept. 10

Thanks to KFOG, I was able to see my 3rd favorite solo artist of all time (at the current moment) in concert, David Gray! (For those who are wondering, right behind Peter Gabriel & Josh Joplin, although Josh Joplin is debatable as he goes in & out of groups.  So D. Gray could be my second favorite!)

To win tickets, I had to be the first caller to answer the question, "What is the name of David Gray's latest album?"  Piece of cake for me, but not the first six or so people who called!  Obviously I deserved the tickets more than them. :P

The concert was billed as David Gray & Ray LaMontagne, with Tift Merritt as the opener.

At 7:00 sharp Tift Merritt came on.  She looked & sounded like pretty generic Americana.  She wasn't bad but I couldn't get into her music.  She only stayed on for about 20 minutes, though.

 

Next up was Ray LaMontagne.  I've never been a fan of him, but I must say no complaints about his performance!  I thought his band (the Pariah Dogs) had very good chemistry & he did make singing and playing the guitar seem effortless.  I did appreciate the music more seeing him live.  The songwriting on the other hand...I still could not get into his stream of consciousness, half-baked lyrics.  It's as if they're incomplete (and, to a degree, so's his music).  I can see how that can be appealing, though & do see why many seem to like him.  Still not a fan, though.

David Gray was a rock star.  Band of 6 dudes wearing fancy suits, playing cool-looking instruments, well done lighting, and jumping all over the place.  (He did try too hard to rock out to the first few songs though, esp. 'Sail Away'   ) Still sounded great, though.  In fact, he didn't play a lot of his recent stuff, or anything off of the new B-sides release "Foundling" which was fine with me.  It seemed to be more of a greatest-hits type gig, saving the best three for last (pre-encore): Be Mine, Babylon, & Please Forgive Me.  "Be Mine" was spectacular and confirmed my thoughts that, while not my favorite single by him (I'd rank it middle-of-the-pack) it really should have been his biggest hit; unfortunately ATO totally bungled the order of release of singles with from "A New Day at Midnight" (which, to my disappointment, was underrepresented at this show) He did the same thing with "Babylon" as last time I saw him, which was make the audience yell "if you want it, come & get it" before playing.  He ended the show (pre-encore) with "Please Forgive Me" & an additional (and much appropriately-placed) spotlight was on the drummer.

Set list: (Didn't write down & look up Tift Merritt's, hope nobody's too disappointed about that )

Ray LaMontagne:
1. For the Summer
2. New York City's Killing Me
3. Forever My Friend
4. Let It Be Me
5. Beg Steal or Borrow
6. Repo Man
7. Jolene
8. Old Before Your Time
9. Hold You In My Arms
10. God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise
11. Like Rock N Roll
12. Henry Nearly Killed Me (It's a Shame)
Encore:
13. Trouble
14. You Are the Best Thing

(This was actually the one thing that bothered me about his set - he has 5 singles, he played 4 of them, but two were the two encore songs.  IMO it's not good form to play your songs that everyone knows as the encore songs, unless you have enough to fill your set pre-encore with them. )

David Gray:
1. Draw the Line
2. Fugitive
3. Sail Away
4. The One I Love
5. Now and Always
6. Say Hello Wave Goodbye
7. This Year's Love
8. Jackdaw
9. Be Mine
10. Babylon
11. Please Forgive Me
Encore:
12. Shine
13. Nemesis
14. All I Want is You (w/ Ray LaMontagne, U2 cover)

DNA

Brie and Pear Sandwich

Today I acquired couple pounds of Reny Picot Brie from work  (a positive start to the week), so naturally it was cheese for dinner!

When I was 11, my brother and I would melt cheese and eat it plain with a spoon until our mom, fed up with scrubbing the crusted remains from the bowl, put a permanent moratorium on this practice. While gooey melted oily shredded cheddar was really quite spectacular in fifth grade, the Brie I took home tonight deserved a slightly more grown-up, sophisticated treatment.

Brie, a soft French-style cheese with a tender white (and delicious) rind, works great with contrasting textures and flavors, but its delicate taste easily can be overpowered. So I paired this cheese with sweet and subtle pairs and raisins, both sauteed in a dash of cinnamon, and added some crunchy walnuts. I piled these atop baby greens and multi-grain toast, and for a bit of zest sprinkled it with a mixture of ginger and white wine vinegar. Voilà!

RNA

Crab House, Santa Clara Koreatown

Yes, it's very possible to have good halibut once in your lifetime...

Crab House is a Korean restaurant located in the Kyopo Plaza strip mall. I've been by here many times, but never bothered to stop in because it didn't look too promising -- the sign was fading and I've never seen anybody inside. I've also read hit-or-miss reviews of this place and have not heard too many good things about their crab dishes. Their bulgolgi and kalbi (beef) are supposed to be better, but I'm in no rush to go to a place called "Crab House" to get bulgogi.

 

I finally stopped in for lunch to see what it was about. It turns out it's a seafood specialty restaurant, and there's a small seafood mart attached next door with fish in tanks. There were two people sitting there (I'm guessing they are husband and wife, probably the owners) and when I walked in the husband promptly went to the kitchen and the wife took my order. 

I ordered the spicy halibut soup. In the soup department they also have spicy cod soup, cod roe soup, and some two-person casseroles (crab), then stir fried beef/pork/octopus dishes, a few types of steamed fish (halibut, anglerfish), raw marinated crab, and live sashimi - halibut, sea cucumber, sea pineapple (which I rarely see) and live octopus (Yes, the type that you see on the food channel that can suffocate you if you don't chew thoroughly before swallowing. BEWARE!!!).

Everything arrived at once - the rice (which is white rice, although a longer grain than most Korean restaurants use, with a few sprinkles of black rice), soup, and 8 side dishes. The side dishes were above average -- the marinated tofu, which used a extra firm/pressed type, was stellar, as were the sweet potatoes. The seaweed was very good, they had crisp onions and peppers to balance out the wakame. As was the raw cabbage salad which had a light dressing. They also had mung sprouts, soy sprouts, daikon strips, of course napa. She was happy to bring out seconds!

The halibut soup was the best part though. I ordered it medium spicy and it was balanced perfectly -- a hint of the correct spice with every spoon of the rich seafood flavored broth but not overkill. I could probably handle the next step up. The halibut was amazing, there were three decent sized pieces and it was unlike any halibut I've had before. While this type of fish can be painfully bland (especially considering how much it usually goes for) here it had a rich buttery taste and consistency, even in the soup. It wasn't drown out by the spice as I feared it would & it was nice and soft (although it did get tougher near the end as it sat in the hot bowl, so I recommend finishing them up before too long.) My usual one complaint about Korean soups is that they don't have enough fat, but no complaints with this halibut soup.

The waitress explained that they use Korean Halibut, which is more of an oily fish than regular halibut. She said their specialty is the halibut sashimi, where they chop up a live halibut and serve it fresh, with a small side of spicy halibut soup. Methinks they should change the name of 'Halibut House,' though that doesn't have quite the same ring. ;) Service was very prompt (of course I was the only one in the restaurant) friendly and gracious.
  
Crab House now has a place on my K-food rotation, and next on my list are the halibut sashimi and cod roe soup. Not the live octopus though -- I'll leave that to a more adventurous soul!

DNA

Dancing with the ... well, you know

Tom Bergeron and former host (future contestant?) Samantha Harris
(picture from ABC, realitytvmagazine.sheknows.com)

Last night Tom Bergeron and Brooke Burke crashed the Bachelor Pad to announce the much anticipated cast of "Dancing with the Stars: Season 11." My reaction to this cast was fairly similar to that of past casts - "I remember her." "Who the hell is he?" "Well that one's unexpected!"

Shock of the night was Bristol Palin. But maybe not that surprising given she recently announced her latest flip-flopping over a certain ex via tabloid magazine. I am, I admit, looking forward to watching her and Jersey Shore's The Situation. It would be even better if they could somehow be dance partners, because "The Situation with Bristol Palin" finally could take on a new and (arguably) more positive meaning for all involved.

The rest of the cast, however, was somewhat of a disappointment. I have little interest in sports legends or socialites, and you almost expect David Hasselhoff to eventually show up in all qualifying reality TV gigs. That said, here is the cast I want for Season 12: The Dancing Dream Team!!!

Ladies:
Janet Jackson - The performer who coined the "wardrobe malfunction" could comfortably fly under FCC radar in a show that features regular and often intentional tearing-offs of shirts, pants and skirts.

Tonya Harding - Kristi! Evan! Apolo! Skaters always do well. Plus Tonya has a reputation that makes for good ratings, and DWTS has a reputation for redeeming fallen stars. It's a win-win, just keep all hammers off set.

Charo - While I am of the generation that recalls this spunky Spaniard most from Geico commercials and "The Surreal Life," older viewers who remember her Vegas shows and "The Love Boat" would round out her fan base. And you can bet your cuchi-cuchi she'd tear up the Latin numbers.

Samantha Harris - If ex-contestant Brooke Burke can become a host, why can't ex-host Samantha Harris become a contestant? I do miss her off-the-mark commentary and awkward pregnant pauses.

Donald Trump's Wife - I can't remember her name. I'm guessing most others can't, either, which is a perfect reason for her to join the cast. Plus, doesn't every season include an ex-model?

Jessica Rabbit - It's about time this show gave equal opportunity to animated stars who have passed their heyday. They could even upgrade her to CGI. The male viewers will multiply exponentially.

Men:
Mel Gibson - When talking about stars who need a chance to redeem themselves, Mel wins the mirrorball trophy. Plus, doesn't every cast need a villain?

Sanjaya - His big hair and likable charm were totally wasted on "American Idol." DWTS doesn't ask for talent, just hard work and some flair. We think Sanjaya and his faux-hawk would deliver both.

Jesse Ventura - The show has had politicians, pro-wrestlers and actors, but never all three rolled into one independent dancer. You could bet his performances would include pink feather boas and some unforgettable speeches.

Kevin Federline - His career as a back-up dancer would give him an unfair advantage, but that didn't stop the pussycat. K-Fed also could use this opportunity to get back into shape and the spotlight.

Jared the Subway Guy - Though his "star" power has been more consistent than most contestants, it has faded a bit and dancing could give him that extra boost. Also, great product placement potential.

Bob from Sesame Street: The sentimental old guy favorite for sure. I already have his fox trot to "Rubber Duckie" choreographed in my head. Solid tens, and a standing ovation!

RNA gets cozy with C.M. and Bob

RNA

Movie Review: Toy Story 3

Well...I'm not a huge movie guy, but when there's a movie that's so big you can't ignore it, a sequel in a series you've appreciated that promises dazzling, mind-blowing animation, and a movie that 99% of verified movie critics give a resounding thumbs-up, I just have to see the magnificence that everyone's talking about!

And the result...none of them know what they're talking about.

Complete garbage.

Yes, that movie is, sadly, Toy Story 3.  Now, if you're about to be a hater hear me out: I'm not just saying this to go 'against the grain'!  I honest-to-goodness thought this was one of the most awful movies of the past year and if you read this review you'll know exactly why.

First, to get it out of the way, yes, the animation was brilliant.  It was even better than in I and II (and it better well have been, given those were 15 and 11 years ago -- wow, I can't believe it's been that long.)  But unfortunately, the story was just as ridiculous as the animation was good.\

A quick synopsis and character overview: Andy, owner of the toys, goes to college, and all of his toys end up being accidentally donated to Sunnyside nursery.  The same usual suspects are here (Woody, Buzz Lightyear, and a bunch of other irrelevant but just as boring looking toys) and we also meet Barbie (one of his sister's old toys).  At Sunnyside we are introduced to Ken (of course), a bear named Lotso, some disturbing looking baby, and a bunch more irrelevant toys.  Oh yeah, then there's Bonnie, an arbitrarily introduced generic little girl who for some reason becomes very important to the story.  Warning: below may contain spoilers!  (But by now, who hasn't seen Toy Story 3?)

So my first of two major gripes is the inconsistencies.

• In I and II, the toys always always re-arranged themselves to be in exactly the same place as where they were left.  But not quite here.  The toys get (accidentally) thrown out by his mom, and of course they bring themselves back.  But it's unclear how Andy knows that they got back to his house from the dumpster, especially since his mom admitted to throwing them away. 
• Woody writes a note telling him to donate all of the toys to Bonnie -- and he himself jumps into the box without Andy finding out until he hands the box to Bonnie.  That makes the idea of 'toys having adventures when nobody is around but always end up exactly as they were left' null and void.
• The toys go through all the trouble of trying to get back to Andy, always talk about how they're they're 'for Andy' no matter what, and then at the last moment they actively get donated to Bonnie.  Bonnie already has her own set of toys.  Not to mention they're gonna have the same problem of not being played with anymore in about 10 years when Bonnie grows up

Secondly, a huge chunk of Toy Story 3 should not have been in a G-rated movie, especially one about kids toys.  Not that I'm (that much of) a puritan, but daaaamn, in the context of everything the following things just plain disturbed me:

• When Barbie meets Ken, Ken invites her to spend the night in his dream house and the rest of the toys cheer her on.  This is such like the rest of a sorrority cheering her sister on when they think she's about to "score."
• Barbie tells Ken, "nice ascot."  For all I care, she might as well have just said "nice @$$" since that's what every <10 year old (and >10 year old, for that matter) is going to think she meant. (However, despite these two caveats, Barbie/Ken was the most well-done character dynamic in the movie.)
• Lotso Bear is full-time sociopath.  This is too mature of a theme to introduce to kids.  And everything having to do with Lotso was just plain flawed.
• The other toys keep on reminding Lotso, "you got replaced" (with emphasis on you.)  Yes, he's being a jerk to them but if they are trying at all to get him to be on their side, rubbing it in isn't going to help at all.
• After Lotso tries to kill Woody & Company, Woody saves him from being burned to a fiery death.  This goes beyond "turning the other cheek"; if someone has it out for you and tries to kill you, you do NOT save them!  That's irresponsible and dangerous.
• Speaking of fiery deaths, the movie shows Woody & company as well in a big scary flaming pit of garbage, showing our heroes about to meet their demise via incineration as well.  Way too intense and totally inappropriate considering the target audience.

And there are still a few minor gripes that need not be left unsaid:

• Woody puts on the totally overused "generic arrogant wannabe superhero" persona when Bonnie's other toys are asking him how he escaped.
• The little kids of Sunnyside are being portrayed as savages when banging the toys against the ground.
• The toy baby (Lotso's assistant) looks like something out of a horror movie and then turns good at the end.

There were a few good parts though:

A valiant effort, but in the end couldn't save Toy Story 3 from itself.

• Barbie and Ken, as mentioned earlier, was very well done.  Barbie's typical heroineesque, Ken is villainesque, but their love for each other trumps evil, helps the toys rescue each other, and turns Ken good, for good.
• When Bonnie's toys realize Woody already has an owner who cares for him as Bonnie cares for her toys, they understand how important it is to help reunite Woody with his owner.  Too bad Woody blows it.
• Bonnie, being younger, has a 'hip'per set of toys, complete with Totoro and peas in a pod.

All in all, C-.  Astounding animation (just short of being 'flawless' as Andy's mom is drawn to look the same age as Andy) and a plot and story slightly more bad than the animation was good.  Better luck next time, if there is one.

DNA

Berry Kefir Smoothie

When the Midwest summers get so hot and muggy that tomatoes turn to salsa and evaporate straight off the vine, I forget the chips and head straight for the blender. Smoothie, mmmm! A couple of my favorites are piña colada and chocolate peanut butter, but today I opted for a shameless knockoff of McDonald's Mixed Berry Fruit & Yogurt Smoothie. I must say, the Magic Bullet reigned supreme.

My recipe is as follows, give or take:
1 frozen chunk of raspberries
1 handful of frozen blueberries
BANANA!
a few freezer-burned strawberries
plain kefir (or yogurt) to fill the spaces
milk to cut the thickness
honey to cut the tartness
nutmeg for the heck of it

Add all ingredients, in no particular order, to bullet or blender. Blend in 10-second intervals until no chunks remain. Taste, add more honey, blend again.

Credits: Many thanks to Mom for the raspberries and blueberries, and to Pat for the Magic Bullet.

RNA

Restaurant Review: CheonJoo YoungYang DolSot, Santa Clara CA

Greetings and salutations, DNA here!  What better to kick of my first post in this journal with a review of my favorite type of restaurant, Korean!  I'm not sure when Korean cuisine became my favorite.  But there's so much to like about it.  The fresh, distinct flavors, the dishes served in piping hot stone pots, and best of all, the numerous side dishes!  The other day I was realizing I hadn't had Korean food in awhile, and needed to remedy that, so I went to my go-to Korean restaurant in the South Bay...CheonJoo YoungYang DolSot!

Wow, that's quite a name, isn't it.  Starting from the end and going backwards, DolSot = the big piping hot stone bowls they serve your entree in, usually you can get a BiBimBap served in this, rice topped with vegetables, beef, and a fried egg, with the rice at the bottom and sides of the pot getting crispy.  (And this place does the best DolSot BiBimBop ever.  The rice gets crispy, then you  mix it around, and ANOTHER layer of crispy rice forms! Mmm-mmm-good.)  YoungYang = some sort of healthy preparation with ginseng, jujubes, and other herbs and berries like that.  Together, "YoungYang DolSot" is their specialty (which I actually haven't tried yet) - it's a broiled mackerel served with a DolSot of rice, ginseng, jujube, oysters, and other deliciousness.  Perhaps next time!  Finally, I don't know what CheonJoo is, so I'm just guessing it's the name of the restaurant or owners or something.

My apologies for the only picture being the front of the restaurant and no food.  I didn't realize I was going to write a review of this place, so I didn't take pictures.  Next time!  In any case I hope my descriptions will dazzle you.  Anyway, the very nice Korean waitress greeted me and said "long time no see!"  I think it's been just over a month since I've been there, but it probably is the longest gap without going there, at least since I discovered the restaurant.  And this includes when I was still living in SF.  I have a long history with this place.  Well not really, more like seven months, but still, considering I've just been in San Jose for about two and a half, that's long.  Next to my favorite supermarket (Galleria), this place looked pretty promising so I went in.  I had to ask the dreaded question, "is there MSG?"  The waitress (the same one mentioned earlier in this paragraph, who's been there every time since) assured me, "no. Don't worry!"  Awesome.  Even more awesome was I saw on the menu they have "whole grain brown rice," although it's $1 more, I don't mind because it really is 100% whole grain and legumes.  Not a mix of brown rice and white rice.  As avoiding unnecessary refined carbs is very important to me (it should be for you, too!) this place gets extra points for that.  They have a pretty big menu and everything I've ordered has been good.  Not knock-your-socks-off-fancy-restaurant-good, but definitely better-than-average-good and at extremely reasonable prices, everything is $7.99-$13.99.  (Except for the 2+ people casserole dishes.)  I've brought Mom and Dad here a few times, and they liked it too! 

So anyway, I was really craving dogani tang.  Tang = soup, but what is dogani?  In a nutshell, cartilage.  Yep, ox knee cartilage soup.  So I ordered that and, of course, brown rice.  At $13.99, it's one of their more expensive dishes, but this dish ain't exactly cheap anywhere and it stuffs you.  Soon, they brought me seven small plates of deliciousness - the side dishes!  At CheonJoo they rotate them up, and it can be hit-or-miss depending on my preference, but this time it was hit after hit after hit!   They had two of my favorite three - the rape flower (broccoli florets), and, of course, straight-up napa cabbage kimchi that they make in house.  (The third is shiitake mushrooms.  Maybe they'll have it next time!)  Soooo good!  Others were bean sprouts, soynuts, spicy daikon, daikon in soy sauce, and one other which I forget.  The only one I wasn't bowled over by was the spicy daikon, but I fnished it anyway.  Then she brought my brown rice and...

DOGANI DISH! (Their version of dogani tang.)  It's not exactly a soup like the standard preparation is, but it's rather just thick tender slices of ox knee and feet cartilage in a shallow broth, topped with chopped up fresh jalapenos.  And it hit the spot.  The dogani was the most tender I've had anywhere, barely chewy it almost melts in your mouth.  It's chock-full of minerals like magnesium and zinc.   Anyway, here's a picture of dogani tang I found on the web:

Which I believe does it quite justice.  There are restaurants in Korea and LA (and in Santa Clara too, for that matter) that specialize in this.  Although, I say the version at CheonJoo is as good as any of them.  Second time I've ordered it and not the last.  Come visit me in San Jose, and I'll take you to eat Dogani!

DNA

Saturday Salad: Caprese

Saturday mornings I like to trip down to the Dane County Farmers' Market  on Madison's Capitol Square. Usual routine: strawberry-rhubarb turnover (if they're not sold out!) from Pilgrim's Pantry, Magic Coffee from Cafe Soleil, one time around the square to browse, and a second time 'round to buy. This morning I snagged my turnover and headed across Pinckney St. to grab that iced brown sugar concoction I was craving, only to find the storefront was Under Construction and the cafe was gone. After settling for a sub-par iced coconut latte from elsewhere, I discovered that Cafe Soleil in fact had moved just up Pinckney St. to the old U.S. Bank building and was serving Magic Coffee on the outside patio. How did I miss this? I restrained from spending another $4 on coffee and kicked myself the entire drive home. Good thing my Suzuki is an automatic.

The market find of the morning was the fullest, greenest, largest bunch of basil I have ever seen for only $1. Therefore, lunch today consisted of one of my favorite summer meals, caprese salad: mixed greens, leaves from one stem of basil, garden tomatoes, and whole milk fresh Mozzarella. A light vinaigrette would have been perfect, but I only had goddess dressing, which kind of covered up the salad's natural flavors but wasn't too bad. For some character, I garnished the caprese with crunchy lentil and potato curls from Trader Joe's. What a photogenic salad.

RNA     

Welcome to our nucleic home

Glad you found us! The Nucleic Duo consists of sister and brother bloggers RNA and DNA (our real initials) and our thoughts on music, movies, munchies, monkeys and more. We're still in the design phase, but we should have some really deep thoughts up soon. Stay tuned!