Starfish Envy

Anna's No Fail Pie Crust

Like most good marriages, my dad and step-mom have their own domains.

When it comes to cooking, my dad's domain is breakfast and grilling.  Anna's domain is everything else.  

As I write, my dad is outside at the grill, my step-mom is checking on her apple pie, and I am drooling as the most divinely mouth-watering scents waft through the entire house.

So, in honor of Thanksgiving and apple pie and all things good and delicious, I thought tonight I would share with you Anna's no fail pie crust recipe.

All you need is a food processor, one and a half cups of flour, one stick of butter, and half a package of Philadelphia cream cheese.  Put it all together in the food processor, and pulse it until it forms a dough.  (Don't over-mix!)  Then put it in a plastic bag and put it in the fridge for an hour or so.  Then roll it out.  And there you go!  Perfect dough!   Enough for one two-crust pie, or two one-crust pies.

So simple.  So easy.  So good.  

Now, Bobby Flay would say the butter has to be ice cold.  Anna believes room-temperature butter and cream cheese are better.

I say, the proof is in the pudding.  And the pudding in this case is Anna's pie crust. Which rocks.  

So, ice cold butter or not... you're gonna love it.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Goodness knows, I've got a lot to be thankful for this year.  

I hope all of you do, too. 

Two Words.

Pink.  Grapefruit.

The ONLY thing my stomach seems to want these days.

It can come in the form of a Fresca, or I can whip up some diet soda with my Soda Stream...

I even like actual slices of real pink grapefruit.  What?  Food? Real food that you put in your mouth and chew?  I know. Crazy.

Pink grapefuit is soothing and yummy and tart and sweet and absolutely perfect in every way.

I remember my friend Tracy saying that when she was pregnant all she wanted was watermelon.  

Well, pink grapefruit is my watermelon.

It's a cool oasis in an arid cracker desert.  

Thank you, pink grapefruit, just for being you.

Don't ever change.

Morning My A$$

It never occured to me that I would have this kind of morning sickness.  The all-day, everything-I-think-of-eating-turns-my-stomach kind.  

Food and I have always been such good friends!  How can we suddenly not get along?

But we're definitely not fond of each other at the moment... although from moment to moment the reasons why are completely different.

One second it's a smell, the next it's a texture, and the next just looking at something makes me want to gag.

I spent the better part of an hour today thinking about knitting, so that I wouldn't think about food and throw up.

Knitting.

Do you know how hard it is to think about KNITTING?

It's all worth it, don't get me wrong.

But I'm definitely looking forward to the second trimester...

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FYI, I got nauseous choosing a picture for this post.  A PICTURE.  C'mon.

Seven Words I Never Thought I'd Write

I find this Chipotle commercial really moving.

 

Thanks to Cold Antler Farm for sharing it.

The Juice Of Champions

Would you like to meet my new love?

Isn't he cute?  

I can't believe I'm saying this, but I LOVE juicing!

Twice a day-- once in the morning and once in the evening-- I head to the lush, green lawn on my breakfast room table...

... and slice off a big hunk 'o good health!

It takes kind of a lot of wheatgrass to make barely an ounce of juice... 

And then I throw in a couple slices of apple...

And voila!

Yummy goodness!

I certainly hope my ovaries appreciate the things I do for them.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

Mine grows beautifully, thank you!

When I got my tomato plants a couple weeks ago, the guy at the garden store said I shouldn't expect them to produce any tomatoes until next year.

Next year?

My tomato plants heard that and scoffed.  

Each and every one of them is determined to get some nice, plump, yummy, red and yellow fruit into my tummy.  And they're not talkin' next year.  They're talkin' ASAP.

There's a bit of a "where's Waldo?" factor to this endeavor, but if you look closely, you'll see tomatoes galore, growing their little tomato butts off:

Even more exciting than the tomatoes are my blueberry plants!  

Look what I found this morning:

My first gorgeous, ripe berry.

I took this picture, and then I popped it right into my mouth.

And it was good.

The Littlest Garden In The World...

My friend Tracy is an incredible gardener.   She glances toward a flower and it blooms.  

Okay, she may do more than glance.  She may spend a ton of time and energy, and to be honest, she's spent a good part of her life developing an extensive store of knowledge of all things green.

I'm very impressed by it, and find the whole arena thoroughly intimidating.  However, after seeing the grounds (and they really are grounds) of her house in Ojai this weekend, I'm feeling inspired to try my hand at gardening.

In a small way.

Very small.

Tiny.

Three tomato plants and two small blueberry bushes.  In pots.  On my front patio. (Which is still very much a work in progress, incidentally.  Soon there will be planters all around the top of the wall, with a rosemary privacy shrub.  Can't wait!)

I have no idea if this is going to be a successful experiment or not... but it's been two days, and I haven't killed anything yet.

That's a start.

A Little Bit O' Luck In A Box

Guess what wonderful surprise came my way today?

This!!

A Mardi Gras King Cake from Gambinos!!!  Along with some other very fun stuff:

I don't know if I'm supposed to know who it's from... but I do!  (A little birdie gave me a heads up something lovely was headed my way.) 

So Jerie B., THANK YOU!!!  I'm so touched, and honored, and I can't wait until this weekend, when I'm gonna have an extra big piece in hopes of getting that little plastic baby!!!  

Because, as you know, this is a year when I could really use some extra good luck.

And if this latest IUI is successful?  I think we know who gets the credit...

Happy Olive-tines Day!

It's Valentine's Day.  A time to think about luuuuv.

Well.  

Lately, (aside from my new bathroom, my family, and my dogs) the thing I love most in the world is Cookbook, a green grocer that's pretty much around the corner from my house in Echo Park.

This place is insane.  I bought a peach there once, and it took me three days to eat it BECAUSE IT WAS SO GOOD.  

Also, so large.  

Cookbook, on the other hand, is very small.  Which means they don't have space for anything but The Best.

One example:  When I was in Spain after Christmas, I had the single best olive I've ever eaten.  Until last week, when I bought olives at Cookbook.  Can't remember what they're called right now, but the olives they carry are, without contest, the best olives in the known universe.

Another great thing about Cookbook:  Last weekend, instead of bringing wine to a dinner party, I stopped at Cookbook and picked up a special red pepper blend, which I knew the host would love.  (Don't worry, that little bottle of dried spices cost just as much as a bottle of wine.)

And Cookbook doesn't just have food.  This week, I bought a gorgeous clay pot there, a clay pot cookbook, and two small sculptures they had commissioned of the original edible apple.  (I'll take a picture of them and post it soon-- they're beautiful.)  

This is not your mama's grocery store, people. 

If you live in or around Echo Park... stop in.  

I recommend the olives.

On The Fourth Day Of Thankful... Family

Particularly my step-mom, who just made the BEST THANKSGIVING DINNER I'VE EVER HAD.  

Turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, rolls, cranberry sauce, ham, yams, green beans.

I'm now going to go pass out.

And then I'm going to have pie.

Wishing you and yours a very Happy Thanksgiving.

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This is also my last chance to remind you that I'm picking a give-away winner tonight.  To enter said give-away, make a donation OF ANY AMOUNT to Water.org!  Then let me know you did, either on Twitter (@sarahmfain) or by leaving a comment here.  What will one lucky winner take home?  Signed personalized copies of WP's and my two books, a Lie to Me cap, and a Vampire Diaries water bottle!

Give now-- someone out there will be extremely thankful you did.