Grocery Checkout - Summer Meal Series: Zoes Kitchen

As is most of my writing projects, I tend to do things either as the mood hits me or I have a deadline looming over me. Today, it's the former.

I've wanted to do a food blog called "Grocery Checkout" for a long time, but there has always been something else demanding my attention. I'm on a three-day weekend and today clearly exemplifies why I felt the need to do this.

If you live in the South, or in Louisiana, I don't need to go into an explanation of how hot it is, or that today is a "heat wave" as all the excited meteorologists love to drone on about. It's hot everywhere you go and the humidity takes on a life form all its own. It is the energy-zapping dripping nemesis that acts like a playground bully or a member of the IRS: you will succumb to its clutches unable to escape.

This heat has been unbearable to the point I turned off my gas stove and oven and they shall remain off until fall. Since Memorial Day, we've existed on salads, items we can microwave, or get from different restaurants. You can fall into a rut of eating the same things which we have almost reached the point of microwave fatigue.

Of course, there are those who propose grilling outdoors for a meal option, boasting their smokers and propane-tanked grills to serve everything from veggies to a side of beef. I'll address those freakish thoughts here. That won't work for me for a few reasons. Grilling outdoors means (and I'm saying this sarcastically slow) being..in...the...heat. Don't tell me it's cooler in the evenings. Sweat would say otherwise. Plus, I don't have a significant other to "persuade" to go outside to do all the pleasant tasks of prepping the grill, stoking the fire, grilling the food, and doing all the assorted clean up...in...the...heat. Anything I do is up to me -- the curse of being an independent woman.

So I decided to let the world do my cooking, or at least some of the local eateries I've never checked out. I'll post them when I find some interesting entrees to have at home that don't require turning on an oven, going through a fast-food drive thru, or microwaving a frozen dinner.

I came across Zoes Kitchen by accident. The restaurant is next door to a coffee place nestled in a strip mall off Old Metairie Road. You can't tell what kind of food they serve from their striped awing sign. I went online and reviewed their menu. The idea of grilled food without doing the grilling part sold me on trying it. I did a "dry run" this past week for dinner and thought this 4th of July weekend would be ideal to stock up on meals so I could spend a couple of days at home.

My only warning to those who eat here or pick up food: it takes time for a reason. I got a bit impatient when I didn't get my dinner quick enough, but this is not "fast food". Even picking up the "dinner for four" took time, but it is worth it.

Marinated Cole Slaw

One of my pet peeves, and on my permanent "food deal breaker" list is mayonnaise. I've never liked the stuff on anything or in anything. It's both a texture and a taste issue for me. So you can imagine how happy I was that Zoes' cole slaw uses oil instead of mayo. It's crispy, cool and is loaded with feta and other spices.

Greek salad for four

Some Greeks may argue it's not an authentic Greek salad, but it seems like that to me. It's not your usual Romaine lettuce mix you see in fast food places passing off "healthy" with fried accompaniments. There's a lot of dark, crispy greens with feta cheese, kalamata olives (a new fave food of mine) along with cucumber, red onion, and grape tomatoes. Not a fan of hot peppers, so I'll eat the green pepper rings instead. The dressing is a vinaigrette consisting of red wine vinegar, oil, and spices. Very refreshing and I'll be grazing for a few days on that. And considering I'm back to eating healthy to lose a few pounds, it's all big points to me.

Chicken kabobs

The main draw for Zoes is the offering of grilled items like kabobs. They offer chicken, shrimp, steak, and veggie kabobs. I decided to get strictly chicken for my household and it was a hit. We received eight kabobs and three took care of two meals. Wooden skewers hold bite sized chicken, green pepper, red onion, and grape tomatoes. They were grilled perfectly and the rice pilaf is a perfect accompaniment to the meal. I'm always leery of rice from restaurants because it's either mush or hard like rice-shaped gravel. And tasteless. This rice was cooked with some spice because it had a moist mouth-feel and a taste like it was cooked with broth. In any case, you won't feel obligated to eat it because it came with the meal. You'll enjoy it.

I'll probably try the hummus on my next visit. It has a slew of Mediterranean items and a kid's menu which boasts (get this) grilled chicken tenders! It's worth a try wherever you are and, since it's a chain, you may find one in your area.

So one restaurant down and one meal down. Again, looking forward to sharing my next summer meal food experience with you.

Zoes Kitchen

Old Metairie Village Shopping Center
701 Metairie Rd, Suite 1A103
Metairie, LA 70005

www.zoeskitchen.com

Mad Hatter's Luncheon - Part III - the genesis of my hat

March 12, 2011 -- I learned of the Mad Hatter event on Facebook and had visions of doing something different for my hat this year.

Googling online produced nothing that I could outright buy. I saw a straw number that was sold in the Quarter, but I wanted to spruce it up a bit. Perhaps I could find a stamp that I could emboss the hat to look Louis Vitton-esque. So I made a trip to Michael's craft store in search for the stamp.

Something caught my eye on a sales table outside the door, but kept on going. Cruising up and down each aisle, I looked at stencils, stamps, buttons, etc., and the only "hat" they had was a sad, straw floppy hat. As I studied everything, that thing I saw when I walked in was at the forefront of my mind. Oh, I thought, just go look at it so you can dismiss it and move on.

On the sales table were table decorations of different types: some stood up like cones and others were wreaths you could put on a door or a table. I looked at one of the cones and thought, this looks like a hat. Once I picked it up, and it felt surprisingly light, I made the mistake of putting it on my head. It wouldn't stay, but something clicked within my creative senses. I could modify it to stay and it would make a wonderful hat. And, I wouldn't have to do much. I kept the cone with me as I returned inside to find the necessary materials for modification.

As I said, it was light, but it wasn't featherly light. I needed to make certain it stayed on top of my head. They didn't have any elastic, but they had all different types of ribbon. I selected a dull gold one that was smooth so not to itch.

Total amount for "hat" and ribbon: $9.17 (table decoration cost 6.49 on sale)

The black elastic was purchased at Hancock Fabrics for about a dollar, so I had a hat for a little over $10.00. Pretty good considering I would have paid five times as much for a ready-made hat.

A week before the event -- This was the first time I saw it on top of my head in the mirror in the bathroom. Shock came over me. The mirror cut the hat off almost in half. I checked the tag on the decoration and it said "19 inches". I was adding a foot-and-a-half of height to myself. It reminded me of a Las Vegas showgirl's outfit. I mentally backed up -- could I do this? How would it be received? I gave myself permission to be foolish and decided not to dwell on what may not happen, which would be complete embarrassment on my part, and focus on the task of getting it stable. Trying on the hat would be kept to a minimum less I'd talk myself out of wearing it.

At first I thought about cutting the round base into four parts and wrapping ribbon around cotton to soften it on my head. It was very flexible, but hard plastic. I needed the base to stay intact to keep it stable, so trimming it down was not an option. It was already divided into two halves, so it gave around the crown of my head without too much discomfort. And trying to pad it would detract from the look of it. "You have to suffer to be beautiful" is the old saying and I'd just have to put up with it for a few hours at the event.

I chose the side I wanted to be the front and sewed the elastic on either side to slide under my chin and behind my ears. I'm not that proficient with a needle and thread, but did my best with it. The ribbon served as decoration, coverage of the elastic, and additional stability to the hat. I sewed the knots on either side so they wouldn't come apart.

I had to trim the ribbon, but didn't want frayed ends. I remembered I had some clear nail polish I used as "lock tight" for my spinning shoes (yes, it's a great multi-tasker). Carefully I sealed the edges of the ribbon with the polish and they didn't fray at all.

One tiny piece of ribbon left, so I elaborated the top with a final bow, which I think came out nice.

The whole project took about ninety minutes with the sewing and adjustments. Thank goodness it was already together with the colorful material and balls. When I tried to find craft websites on how to convert the table decoration to a hat, all they had was turning a hat into a table decoration. It's official -- I am weird!

Storing it would be a problem until I discovered that I could stand an old storage box on its side and it made a strange yet wonderful "hat box".

Now it was a matter of getting through the next few days until that Sunday when I would transport my hat to Cajun country and have an unexpected adventure.

Mad Hatter's Luncheon Pictures Part II NaBranChri

Let's see how many pictures I can fit in before Blogger does something to kick me out. Seriously, do they understand the term "user friendly"? I am posting a series of pictures involving Nadia Bjorlin, Brandon Beemer, and Christian LeBlanc. For the purpose of this particular blog, I'm not going to caption any of the photos. You will see the three of them and think "NaBranChri" for that is what they are. A beautiful theatrical triplet thing going on. They had to stay somewhat apart on stage because their lapel microphones reverberated a lovely mechanical shrill ("reverb" in the theatre biz) whenever they got too close to each other. So, although they were never apart thematically, they kept their physical distance or suffered reverb.

"Mad Hatters Goes Couture" - CLB pics part 1

One of these days I need to spend a Sunday afternoon figuring out how to get Blogger to caption photos without making it a jigsaw puzzle with the pictures. Nothing lines up. Can't get more than five pictures to load at a time. And to load more....it becomes a scramble. Therefore, I will break up these photos and put them in installments on my blog. Perhaps, then, Blogger will stop accusing me of not being a part of my own blog! I plan to do separate entries on my hat entry in the competition and my report on how things went.

In the meantime, the photos below are in sequential order. Lovely lady under the hat is Dr. Laura Badeaux (program co-chair) with Christian LeBlanc. Nadia Bjorlin and Brandon Beemer joined Christian onstage as he took his hat and assumed the role of "the Mad Hatter" over the proceedings.

Blogging about Vlogging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fKV0XjKBffg

As I've said before, I can always count on one of two things whenever I take vacation time: a health issue or something breaking down. It's grass season so I'm dealing with allergies. That's one. And, as of last night, my computer software to burn video of my last speech decided not to work. I literally burned one DVD with no problem and have not been able to repeat the process. I am baffled.

I've been working with a Flip, a digital camcorder the size of a smart phone, to record myself giving speeches and decided to dabble a bit more into it last night. I don't plan on making a habit of this, but I thought I'd try out the Blogger version of showing video within my blog. It's a step, a small one, to help me feel a bit more comfortable in my own skin.

I went from cute little girl to awkward teen to the ever-critical woman heading for middle age. I have flaws aplenty, or so I think. I can mentally pinpoint every dark circle, age spot, dimple, excess fat, and discolored hair. Now, I feel I looked better in the past. My past self would have argued I didn't look right back then. I suppose with hormones and evolution comes a fractured vanity that judges far more harshly than before. And in five years, or a week from today, I'll reason I looked better now than in the future. It's such a whacked irrationality.

But I have to get past it. I can't cringe and avoid looking at myself in video form if I'm going to improve my speech-giving ways. How can I stand in front of a group of people and exude confidence in whatever I'm saying if I don't feel it? Or address problems in delivering a speech if I don't see myself give one in playback form?

I viewed my last speech last night. Honestly, it wasn't as bad as I thought. I gave the speech with parts of trepidation -- mental hiccups, waves of inner anxiousness of getting to the next point, and trying to remember everything. Still, I hung in there and made the most of the time. I had good feedback from the club for the most part. Doing a speech makes you feel like you're drowning and watching a recording of it gives you a buoy of sorts.

The video I've uploaded into the blog is a video postcard relaying a story based on the recent event of moving. I wanted to see how I'd do with a shorter amount of time, with nothing prepared, and looking as I would normally do with casual clothes and no makeup. Here's what I discovered in viewing the three minute clip:

I blink too much. Geez, I look as though I have a facial tick. Guess it could be nerves or my allergies, but I didn't have any preconceived fears of filming. In fact, the final version was after a fourth or fifth take. Note to self: steady gaze and settle down.

Voice needs inflection. I've already heard that in the critiques of my previous speeches: use more inflection; do everything bigger on camera. Easier said than done when you live your life as a mild-mannered person who never has the occasion to sound or act like a cartoon character. I've always viewed doing the DAHHLLLINGG! mode as being forced, fake, and shoving myself into another's space in the most obnoxious way. On the fringes, in the background, observing the action, and making my presence through quiet conversation...that's me. I guess the power of vocal variety will come with time and practice.

I'm not fat. Another preoccupation of mine is whether I look pudgy, overweight, and the like. Maybe it was the lighting, but I don't see anything that would make me ashamed of how I looked in the clip. Always room for improvement, but nothing there that would make me reach for the "delete" button.

I'm articulate. I'm not sure why I don't have the Southern/New Orleans accent that was present in certain members of my family. If I have one, it's subtle. It's more audible when I tired or in a rush. It's nothing I consciously work on, but I have a noticeable absence of an accent. At least I'm not into "like" and "ya know" as crutch words. I try to focus on the storytelling and choose my words carefully. Perhaps that translates into how I speak. I'm happy I don't sound like a moron.

I'm currently working on my next speech which I may give this coming week after the Mardi Gras holiday. It's been a nice vacation despite allergies and computer issues. I found a workaround on connecting the video to my blog through YouTube how-to library. After a few hours, I learned my video was "too big" to upload directly to Blogger. Yet, I can link from YouTube to Blogger without issue. Technology is very confusing.

At any rate, enjoy the video. Cannot say they'll be plenty more where that came from, but it's a start.

Take care and travel light.

Peace and Light - Shelby Leonhard

One of my closest friend's stepfather was in the military years ago. He had the chance to talk with the base's medical examiner one day. Her stepfather couldn't understand why anyone would want to go into such a depressing and horrifying line of work. He asked the doctor what motivated him to do what he did on a daily basis.

The coroner related why he worked in his profession in these terms. He held up both his hands as though he wore surgical gloves.

"This is my house," he said. "Everyone has one. The human body is the house for your soul. Whenever I enter someone's house, I am very respectful. I must go in to find out how and why they left. And if I'm lucky, I can learn something that may help others stay in their houses a bit longer."

Shelby Leonhard could no longer stay in her house. She died today with her family around her.

Today we received email from a few sources in and outside the company about the news. My company will have the blood drive on March 3rd, in Shelby's memory, and hopefully help those in need of blood donations.

Not everyone knew Shelby personally, but her presence is felt in many places. Tonight I went to my cardio kickboxing class and happened to get to the exercise room a few minutes early. There was a new student talking with Sherian, our instructor. They were discussing how the gym needed to get better boxing bags.

"I wasn't going to come tonight," the woman told Sherian. "I've been upset all day and had to work it out." Her daughter was one of Shelby's classmates.

In that moment, I realized how small this big town is as far as degrees of separation of knowing people. I also understand her feelings because we've all been there.

We have all been a Shelby: a 14-year old student with aspirations of doing grand things and anxiously anticipating the next level of maturity. Driver's permit. School dances. The next big blockbuster hit over the summer.

We have all known a Shelby: a classmate who people want to be around and knows all the answers. Respectful. Likable. Studious. Fun to be around.

We have all lost a Shelby: through violence or illness or natural circumstances. A close relative. A close friend. A classmate. Old people have lived long and as the age comes closer to our own, the person becomes "so young". Shelby's category: too young.

I find grief to be more about emotional paper cuts than hemorrhages. I can't tell you how many times I've heard from friends on how traumatic they found going through their day and believing, just for an instant, that their loved one was still alive. It was as easy as turning down a familiar street or picking up the phone and absentmindedly dialing their number. The realization of this act is painful. Her loss will be felt for a long time and there will be many moments of this shared by many people.

I will close this entry with the official statement from the Leonhard family sent to us today:

Last night, our beautiful, brave and beloved Shelby went into the arms of God. It was a peaceful ending in a room filled with love.

Our family wishes to sincerely thank each and every one of you for the many prayers and love you have showered on our precious daughter and our family. Please continue to pray for us, especially Barrett and Reese. Please pray that Shelby's loving soul is at peace.

We would ask also that you continue to praise God. He gave us such a precious gift and we feel privileged to have taken this journey with Shelby and with all of you. She belongs to us all, but above all, she belongs now, to God.

With all of our love,

The Leonhards

Heart Day - Shelby Leonhard

Today's Valentine's Day. Candy Day. Celebration of St. Valentine...execution of the saint or the massacre...take your pick.

This year was going to be different than just eating chocolate and making bad jokes. I planned today to donate platelets for Shelby Leonhard (please Google her for more current information).

The call had been put out in cyberspace on the 14-year old's condition: non-hodgkin's lymphoma and in need of whole blood and platelet donations. My company works closely with Shelby's father and a blood drive is being planned. I learned my blood type would be useful for platelet donation. I've never donated platelets. I called the Blood Center and made an appointment to go today after work to do it.

Oddly enough there wasn't much information on the internet about the actual process. I received a tutorial when I arrived at the center this evening:

Apheresis (pronounced a-for-ee-sis) is a different procedure from the regular whole blood donation I was used to doing. If you've donated blood at a drive or at one of the blood mobiles, you know the routine: fill out questions about your personal love life, the times and places you've traveled abroad, and your overall health. Then you have the iron content in your blood tested by a finger lancet test. If you pass, you then get to spend some quality time bleeding into a bag, squeezing a stress ball, and afterwards drink fruit juice and eat cool junk food.

Apheresis, or platelet donation, is a newer medical procedure. With a whole blood donation, gravity does the work through an IV tube into an awaiting bag. This procedure uses a computerized centrifuge where the blood is divided into various parts as it's being drawn: red blood cells, white blood cells, plasma, and platelets. For those playing the "I need to know everything" game -red carries oxygen; white fights infection; plasma brings blood take-out; and platelets clot the works.

The "screening" process is where I got disqualified. First they check a blood donor's veins to see how strong they are to withstand the process. My veins are collapsible and wouldn't be good for it. Had I passed, then I would have had a test on the amount of platelets in a blood sample. Next step would have been being connected to the machine where blood would have been drawn, centrifuged, and saline re-entered to replace the blood taken.

Those who benefit from platelet donations are patients with blood disorders or cancer, newborns, burn victims, and those who have undergone transplant or cardiovascular surgery.

My "Plan B" is to donate blood during my company's blood drive. In a show of solidarity, there have been a few blood drives this past weekend for Shelby: Children's Hospital, Ochsner Hospital, and the Plant Gallery. Even though my blood type is not compatible to give to Shelby directly, any amount of blood donated will go towards her total. In other words, for every unit she uses and gets replaced through donation is one less unit on her medical expenses. And, if it is A negative or a compatible match, it will go directly for her use.

Shelby's current condition is unknown except that she is fighting and needs help from the public to give her direct assistance and replenish the stores. Twitter and the local media have been good getting the word out. Shelby is a loving daughter, a big sister, and a student at Sacred Heart. Her father is a good man and wants her to smile again. If you can help, please do.

And for those who don't live around here, I'm sure there's a person like Shelby in your world who needs help and would benefit from your support. I can't think of a better way to show how much your heart holds than to give and not count the cost.

Happy Valentine's Day and travel light.