It was a typical day in Liz Carey’s life.
She slept until 10. Watched an episode of Degrassi. Drove her Honda Civic to her retail sales job at noon. Stopped by Target for a late lunch where she grabbed a Caesar salad, queso dip and chips and a hard boiled egg. (Look, we don’t judge these things in Quirkyville.)
Then, she wrapped her workday around 8 p.m. in time to zip down the Westport Flea Market to join her friends and family (lots of them) to watch her brother’s improv comedy troupe, the Stitchtactics perform a 10 p.m. show.
And when she was selected from the audience to have this entire day reenacted in front of the audience, she thought nothing of it.
She honked her little horn when the comedians got her day grossly wrong (No, she didn’t take a shower in bed. Just because she didn’t say the shower was in the bathroom means she literally showered in the bed.)
The team used wigs, props and live people to play innate objects (Liz’s brother, Joe played her Honda Civic.) And it was all very, very funny.
But we weren’t laughing at the skit, as much as we were laughing at what we knew.
Because despite the fact that Liz had been on the phone for the past day, texting and calling people to come see Joe’s show, that’s not why they were there.
They let her think that she invited them. We let her think that we all came to support Joe’s show.
Quite frankly, we were all a little stunned that she honestly believed her parents, her sibblings (both of the two not in the show), their spouses (one 8.5 months pregnant) , their neighborhood friends, her boyfriend’s parents, her boyfriend’s aunt, her best friend and her co-workers all came to show their support for her brother. (At the same time.)
But she did.
As the Day in the Life Skit wrapped up, Liz started to head off stage…
But Joe announced that there was more and he needed her to close her eyes so he could spin her around.
She has probably seen this act a handful of times and no one has ever gotten spun around at the end.
But she didn’t question that either.
Oh, that crazy Joe! He must be up to something new.
When she opened her eyes, she saw this…
And then she made this face (as she quickly slipped off a fashion ring she was wearing that night on that finger.)
She said, “yes!”
Fire & Wine: The salad chronicles – The Cobby
Once upon a time there were three fantastically hot young ladies who liked to get together once a week to cook, eat and drink wine. Did I mention how hot they were?
But when summer came and outside temperatures rose, the idea of slow cooked meats, piping pasta and simmering soups just didn’t seem as exciting as they had earlier in the year.
So began the salad chronicles. Which to these fine ladies wasn’t as much about leafy greans as it was piles of delicious food on a plate.
Bacon & eggs, anyone?
A classic Cobb salad was a must for these aspiring foodies. And with a few modifications, a borrowed dressing recipe and just a little bit of prep work, the Fire & Wine Cobby was born.
Let’s talk dressing.
Traditional Cobb Salad calls for a Brown Derby (the restaurant that first created the salad) Old-Fashioned French. It is essentially a vinaigrette.
Blah, I say.
I want ranch. (said with the flattest Midwestern accent I could muster.)
To me, chicken, bacon, eggs, avacados, tomatoes and bleu cheese taste better when smothered with a creamy, savory ranch.
That’s my story. And I’m sticking to it.
I’m also not ashamed to admit I used turkey bacon.
Gasp!!
A travesty in Mr. Quirky’s world, but for DD Girl and myself, turkey bacon = less fat and calories =more bacon to be enjoyed.
Finally, let’s talk cheese. Frankly, a Cobb isn’t very Cobby without the true bleu. But I understand that some people don’t like mold on their salad.
(Pishaw. Crazy talk.)
But I enable my friends (DD Girl) and their non-bleu cheese eating habits. She got feta.
She says it was good.
You’ll have to take her word on that.
So, it meant that the good cheese could not touch the salad until it was far away from her serving. Also, I promise there were avacados in this salad, but the lettuce covered them up.
Fire & Wine Night Cobby
Low-Fat Herbed Ranch Dressing (see recipe from Epicurious below)
The breast of a rotisserie chicken, diced into 1/2 inch pieces
1 tomato diced
2 heads of romaine lettuce, finely chopped
2 hard boiled eggs, diced
2 avacados, diced
6 pieces of bacon (turkey), chopped
1/4 cup of bleu cheese (or feta if you are mold-o-phobic)
On a large plate, pile each ingredient and serve passed with dressing on the side.
Low-Fat Herbed Ranch Dressing (From Epicurious)
Combine ingredients in a blender or food processor, chill. Makes 1 cup. (Warning – if you have some the next day, the garlic is extra strong!)