rubbing elbows

on rare occasions i get the opportunity to rub elbows with political mucky mucks because i’ll get an extra ticket at work.  last night was one of those occasions.  an eliot spitzer event.  while i enjoy being surrounded by liberal politicians (eliot spitzer was cool and a very easygoing speaker actually, but bill clinton at the last event i went too was by far the best), sometimes even more enjoyable are the venues and the occasional celebrity.  last night’s event was at a great townhouse in the west village.  we were crowded into this great giant library–wood paneled, books and awards everywhere.  and, edie falco was there!  yep.  carmela soprano.  she looked decidedly un-soprano-like–not a speck of gold on her. 

lest i seem too shallow, only two more days to register to vote for the nov. 7th election!

faux puttanesca

i had grand dinner plans for myself tonight.  i was going to stop at the store on the way home, pick up some ingredients for puttanesca sauce, and then come home and, you know, make the puttanesca.  sadly, work got in the way.  when i was interviewing for the job they told me i’d be working long hours.  i think the actual words were, “are you prepared to never see your significant other?”  luckily, that hasn’t been the case until now.  by the time i got out of work and off the subway i had no time to stop at the store, considering i had an anxious puppy at home.  so i improvised (and strengthened my resolve not to order out) and concocted an ersatz puttanesca.  started with bacon, added garlic and onions, then tomato paste, wine, and broth for the sauce, added capers and some of that joe’s dairy mozzarella and served it over spaghetti squash.  ok, so the only thing remotely related to puttanesca here were the capers and the tomato paste, but the flavor was still quite tasty.  i realize the sauce combo sounds pretty disgusto, but it really wasn’t.