Deco Dilemmas and Turkey-Veggie Loaf Recipe

So I’m totally digging my new digs. It’s bright, sunny and airy (in part because all the windows are open, which might explain the whole waking in the middle of the night half frozen thing). However, the furniture and other items that worked perfectly in the bijoux loft barn appendage. Ok, so my mom says it looked like a “mobile home,” which might mean an actual mobile home or some sort of Winnebago. To be fair, she’s never been in either, and her idea of camping is staying at a Holiday Inn.

So the bijoux barn appendage was very overstuffed and comfortable, but I think that phase is over. But how to decorate? Now I want sleek and modern and tidy looking, yet much sleek, modern, tidy looking furniture seems so not comfortable. Perusing various decorating sites, mostly Domino magazine’s, reveal that white, white, white is a good way to go…especially when one has some otherwise bright furniture like, oh, a fuchsia and red chair.

Rita Konig, a Domino blogger, gave a good bit of advice in {frolic!}:
When you are decorating a room, think about how you want to use it.
Huh. Imagine that. So basically, my living room should just have, aside from the tv/dvd/cable/phone set up, a giant mattresses, a million pillows, and some lovely trays to eat dinner on. But seriously, it is SUCH sage advice.

Meanwhile, I’m going to share with you this fantastic turkey-veggie loaf I concocted for dinner. Actually, it is a vegetable-filled version of something my dad picked up at Dean & Deluca. The vegetables inject flavor and moisture to the loaf.

Terrific Turkey-Veggie Loaf

1 package ground turkey (about 1.25 lbs)
1 small onion
1 small zucchini*
1 small carrot (or several mini carrots)*
a handful of breadcrumbs or other starch
1 egg or egg substitute
1 tbsp or so Herbs de Provence, Italian seasoning, curry-cumin-cinnamon, or other flavor combo
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Grate or puree the onions and veggies. If you are using a blender, do them in small batches, chunky is ok. Mix everything in a bowl. Bake in a bread loaf-sized pan at 350 degrees or until done. Serve with more veggies and brown rice or couscous.

*Just use whatever vegetables you have on hand- raw or slightly cooked. It should be about a cup of pureed vegetables per 1.25 lbs of turkey.

**For a more exotic variation, do a mixture of spices like cumin, cinnamon, coriander, etc… and then throw in some raisins or nuts. Substitute lamb for the turkey and serve with couscous.

***You can also make a sexier loaf by glazing the entire thing with apricot or mango jelly or chutney à la D&D.

It's Around the Corner

"Love is around the corner," or so say my horoscope, a fortune cookie, a tarot card (twice), and one of those Dove chocolate wrappers. Today again, I went online and my covert tarot card-a-day reading said, quite literally, "love is around the corner." Well, it was not lurking around the corner today, as far as I could tell. I did run into some really cute dogs and picked up delicious local plums at the farmer's market.

Walking around the neighborhood - because I did move in between posts - there are lots of single people windows. Don't ask. It's the same as being at the grocery store and knowing who is a deux or solo.

Meanwhile, there are projects. I LOVE a project. Preferably an almost instant gratification one. This week, I've gone through searching for the perfect mid-century Danish chair, hunting down a Danish chest (I'm second in line if the person who has it on hold does not claim it), looking for good bookshelves, finding the running path in the neighborhood, and finding the best cupcake recipe- only I can't actually eat them...but I must know. Also, washing a muffin tin more than once on any given month generally cures one of ever wanting to use it again. Thus far, I've not progressed on any of them but have ordered some books on half.com . They were a good value though, for fluffy fiction. OH! And I found a recipe (two actually) for the pork buns from Momofuku. Yuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmm...

So the cupcake recipe obsession was brought about by my brother and sister, although I suspect it was mainly my brother. He just moved to NY and, when the family visited, he had a list of bakeries to go to. We sampled cupcakes. We walked in the heat and pouring rain and sought refuge in the airconditioned, sweet-treat, pastelicious bakeries of Manhattan. However, none of them were like knock your socks off. In fact, they were kind of dry. I know, right? And we went to the legends, supposedly. So I want to know if there is a recipe out there that is better... am looking for taste testers.