On the map, yum and last chance

- This cookbook that features desserts from local Atlanta restaurants has put my Taqueria Los Hermanos on the map by including the recipe for their Tres Leches cake. Leisa and I flip through the copy on the counter as we are paying for our after-the-gym dinner. (The cover features Fried Oreos.) One of the brothers, Orlando, smiles as he tells of someone bringing their copy in for them to sign.

- Thankfully this cookbook does not focus only on Southern standards, although there are some included (Mary Mac's peanut butter pie. Had it before. Yum.) Just reading the review makes me want to go to Rathbun's for the Gooey Toffee Cake. Mmmmm mmmmm.

- An early spring cold snap has visited our city, giving a last chance for boots and fireplace action.

Return, spring dessert and show tunes

- They're back! There were reports last year of the the disappearance of bees. Beekeepers visiting their hives would find them deserted (it's like the mother ship came and got them.) And realizing that, indeed, I had not seen any bees buzzing around my flowering plants for a couple of years. But yesterday, spotting some bees through the kitchen window. Where have you been?

- A lovely spring dessert of angel food cake, strawberries and whipped cream. Yum.

- Reading a report that President Obama gave Queen Elizabeth an iPod as a gift, all loaded up with show tunes. I hope she liked that.

Weekend recipe - Egyptian Edamame Stew

Egyptian Edamame Stew

This is so good and your home smells wonderful for hours.

1 1/2 10-ounce packages frozen shelled edamame (about 3 cups), thawed
1 tablespoon extra-virgin olive oil
1 large sweet onion, chopped
1 large zucchini, cut into half moons
2 tablespoons minced garlic
2 teaspoons ground cumin
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1/8 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or to taste
1 28-ounce can diced tomatoes
1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro
3 tablespoons lemon juice

1. Bring a large saucepan of water to a boil. Add edamame and cook until tender, 4 to 5 minutes or according to package directions. Drain. Or you can steam them.
2. Heat oil in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add onion and cook, covered, stirring occasionally, until starting to soften, about 3 minutes. Add zucchini and cook, covered, until the onions are starting to brown, about 3 minutes more. Add garlic, cumin, coriander and cayenne and cook, stirring, until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Stir in tomatoes and bring to a boil; reduce heat to a simmer and cook until slightly reduced, about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in the edamame and cook until heated through, about 2 minutes more. Remove from the heat and stir in cilantro and lemon juice.

Makes 4 servings, about 2 cups each. Per serving: 258 calories.

I serve this with saffron rice. Yum.

Welcome back, postcard from the edge and poem

- Loving 8:52am on Saturday morning when this photo was taken, the sun just beginning to dapple the back porch. And isn't it like a little miracle that Hostas come back like this?

- Playing hooky from the church grounds clean-up day and feeling only a little guilty about it. My excuse being that the pollen intake would finally send me over the edge.

- Looking at all the budding trees and flowers peeking out of the ground makes me remember a little poem by mother used to say when we were kids: "Spring has sprung, the grass has ris, I wonder where the flowers is?"

Two Totos, interdimensional and human

- Two friendly Cairn terriers (think Toto from the Wizard of Oz) come running up to me as I get out of my car at work wanting to be petted. Their owner trots up apologizing. Do you mind? We are neighbors and they like your patch of grass. I give my business card in case they ever need any printing.

- My usual WRAS-fm 88.5 lets me down this morning during my commute by playing too much techno-pop, so I switch to whatever is in the CD player. It turns out to be The b-52's Greatest Hits and "Is That You Mo-Dean?," making for a fun start to the morning. G, over at Cedar's Mountain, has a list of randomly selected favorite CDs on his post from yesterday, leading me to have a look at what else is in my car:
- the aforementioned b-52s Greatest Hits
- a Swing music CD picked up at Starbucks (my dad loves Big Band music and passed it on to his girl)
- Emmylou Harris, "Heartaches & Highways"
- and the National Symphony Orchestra of Ireland's rendition of Felix
Mendelssohn's "Symphonies Nos. 1 and 5 "Reformation." (Kind of dour, but I like it.)

A pretty good collection in case I am trapped for hours in traffic. What's in your car? Or if alternative transportation is used, what are you listening to?

- Blogger friend Anne, from Norway, at Ab imo pectore, has a link to a favorite song from The Killers, "Human" on her blog this morning. Are we human or are we dancers? I'll be singing that all day!

Zaya, wine tasting and tomato kind of day

- Loving my lunch at lovely Zaya in Inman Park. Chicken Shawarma, boneless chicken marinated in olive oil, lemon juice, garlic and aromatic Lebanese spices, went well with yogurt salad, tabbouleh, pita bread and hummus. I have a weakness for Mediterranean food and could eat it every day.

- Observing two of the restaurant staff tasting wine from a visiting merchant, taking a sip and then spitting it into a bucket. And thinking alternately how much fun that would be to choose wine for a restaurant and what a "waste" of good wine.

- Later after church dinner, I thank the cook and get a hug in return. She sends me off with one of those cellophane wrapped cucumbers leftover from the salad making. Bill thinks it is a zucchini and announces that Anne has a good recipe for zucchini and tomato casserole. Anne: Bill that is a cucumber! Bill: (crestfallen) Oh. Me: Give it to me anyway. It's been a tomato kind of day.

Good eats, happy days and 15 times

- A fun night with the Fun Girls beginning with dinner at Mary Mac's Tea Room. Mary Mac's opened in 1945 and is popular with theater goers like us because of its fast service and walking distance to the Fox Theatre. The highlight: tomato pie. Yum.

- Happy Days, the musical, was good, clean fun. A funny moment came before the curtain went up when a couple of local DJs from an oldie's station came out to rev up the audience and asked, "Does anyone remember Richie Cunningham's favorite song?" The crowd burst into "I found my thrill on Blueberry Hill" in response.

- The fast walk to the theater from the restaurant and back counted as exercise, in my opinion, so I gave myself a star sticker on my calendar, giving myself 15 exercise days for the month of March. Not bad and better than the previous two months.