Keep your pasta salad locked down

I just made a really intense (ly delicious!) pasta salad. Considering that A. I made it while simultaneously watching American Idol, B. and having an inauguration dance party, and C. I made up the recipe in a state of post-gym disorientation* while in the grocery store, it is really a tasty homage to multitasking. And I simply must recommend it.

Ingredients
-Two chopped roasted yellow peppers
-One sliced zucchini sauteed in garlic and olive oil
-One chopped mango sauteed in garlic and olive oil
-One box of Farfalle pasta (you know, the pasta you can use to make gerbils look like they're sportin' formal wear... because they're tiny bowties you guys!) lightly coated with a few drops of lemon pepper marinade and vinegar
-Grape tomatoes for garnish

*Probably no one else is disoriented when they leave the gym. Just me? OK.

If dreams could make wishes come true

I wish I was eating this. Catfish, eggs, grits. But it's in New Orleans.

Shrimp tempura: surprisingly mobile

As I waited for the C train last night I was munching on some tempura. To be fair, I didn't realize there was shrimp in it until I was about halfway through it. To be fairer, this was "tempura" I obtained from the cafeteria that resembled some sort of fried bird's nest. The point is-- anything is possible if you believe.

The violent, edible alternative to fairy dust

This season you probably wished for a way you could capture the magic of the holidays without having to kill a fairy. We've all been there. But don't worry. Picture angel food cake coated with melted Ghirardelli chocolate and dusted with candy cane dust.

Look. That's what I made.

"How does one acquire candy cane dust?" I was asked. Well, that's an easy equation. Candy canes + hammer.

Butter, sweat and tears

I don't know if you missed this week's hot NYT's article on Butter. The gist of it is, "Your holiday baking turns out terrible every year because you're a moron. And you might as well kill yourself if you don't start using butter correctly." Unlike one source, I can't say my cookies have ever turned out so poorly it made me cry. Making cookies would only make me cry if they came to life and then fought a bloody civil war against each other until they were all dead. But I did learn from the Times that butter is full of "secrets," not unlike a woman's heart. I also learned that once you melt it, you've basically rendered it worthless as an ingredient. This faux pas I've committed!

Everything you always wanted to know about butternut squash risotto but were too afraid to ask

Until I waited tables in a fancy-ish restaurant, I wouldn't have known the difference between risotto and the hunchback of Notre Dame. But now I embrace the creamy, ambiguous side dish. I recently tried this recipe via Wolfgang Puck via the Food Network. I know it says "pumpkin" risotto but the ingredients call for butternut squash, so that's what I went with, because why quibble over bulbous fruits of the earth?

It was timely to hack apart the squash and dispose of its unborn children. But the resulting baked and pureed squash rivals mashed potatoes in deliciousness and mashed-up-ness. I was tempted to eat it alone without adding it to its betrothed Italian Arborio rice.

It is possible, unfortunately, to use too much Parmesan cheese (Once you start grating a cheese mountain it's really hard to stop).

If you want to make a big batch and have it for several days, I recommend storing it in a French Cathedral.

Burritos: a love story

When I first met burritos, their imposing circumference and weighty innards did nothing to water my mouth. I avoided the infant-sized "Mexican" creation, despite their accessibility.

No matter how often they came around, in my mom's kitchen, on my favorite restaurants' menus, I refused to give in. One time a burrito left roses on my doorstep. Still, no.

Then one Spring morn a burrito chain opened in my hometown. I was promised a free one and lunchtime hunger pangs -- and an empty wallet -- complied. The burrito I received -- a melting pot of black beans beans and rice and spicy chicken -- satisfied my appetite in a way I hadn't felt for a long time. It was love at first bite.

Also, later, it was indigestion and gas.