French Fridays with Dorie – Crab & Grapefruit Salad

Crab & Grapefruit salad….hmmmmmm… I’m still with you guys, I swear. These are just things I would not have thought to put together, that’s for sure. I LOVE crab. LOVE IT! But grapefruit, we’re kind of frenemies at best. I love citrus, so I should like it. I love the smell of it in lotions, soaps, etc. But when it comes to eating it? Not so much. In fact, before this I don’t think I’ve ever actually eaten straight-up grapefruit. Isn’t that weird? I am 27 years old and I’ve never cut up a grapefruit and eaten it. Growing up my family stuck to the kid-friendly fruits like apples, bananas, strawberries and grapes. We never really bought any other ones. So as an adult who feels the need to try things before dismissing them, I had a little trepidation about this one but I was willing.

Every time I watch Barefoot Contessa and she makes something with seafood I cringe because she literally walks down the street and runs into fresh crab or lobster or whatever the hell other magic she cooks up there in the Hamptons. Seriously, she leads a charmed life. I know she is a real person with real problems and all that biznazz but I don’t care. I’m with Liz Lemon on this – Ina Garten’s life is beautiful and idyllic and something to be envied. The end. Alas, I am not in her position in life, either monetarily or geographically so I bought a can of crab that was next to the tuna and sardines in the grocery store. It cost me $2.67. Oh yeah, I’m a baller!

I didn’t really take any making of photos since it didn’t really involve much besides chopping up some things and throwing them in a bowl. Not very compelling stuff. Also I was kind of in a whirlwind. I got home a little before six, did the dishes, threw together this Tuscan White Bean soup (yum!)

and I also decided to give Irish Soda Bread another go so I got that in the oven too. All before 7:00! Tootle toot! Dave was coming over so I would have someone to appreciate the salad with (Tristan was all “I don’t LIKE grapefruit”) and to watch the new Muppets movie with us so I felt some pressure to impress. I made half a batch of the bread and threw in some shredded Monterrey Jack cheese that had almost outstayed its welcome in the overstuffed cheese drawer. I liked this one much better than my ill-fated first attempt. Savory trumps sweet for me. That almost never happens!

But back to the salad – it was delightful! D-frickin-lightful! Even Tristan ate it and I don’t think he was pity-eating like he does sometimes when he doesn’t want to make me feel bad. I think draining the grapefruit for about an hour really helped tone down the tartness. Dorie said to do it for a few hours but I just didn’t have the time. I also omitted the cucumber because unless it’s in tzatziki, I’m not interested. That’s another thing I like the smell of but not the actual food. Weird. I didn’t put in the chili or the Tabasco either but I found a pretty perfect avocado at the grocery store so I used the Bon Idee and sprinkled that on the top before I did the mint. It was seriously yummy. I would totally make this again. I would even do the spicy stuff, I just knew that Tristan was already being a sport because of the grapefruit and I didn’t want to push it. Plus I used spicy Italian sausage in the soup so we were already getting heat from somewhere. I feel it’s necessary to state how much I LOVE the glasses I served this little salad in. Admittedly they weren’t the perfect receptacle because they’re so tall but I love using them in fits of fanciness. They were a wedding gift from my cousin and his wife Emily (let’s get serious, Emily bought these. Jens has probably never seen the inside of an Anthropologie store) and they are one of my favorite things.

Next week is asparagus with bacon bits and I’m also feeling a little “eh” about that one. I’m only just learning to like asparagus but the bacon bits part is making me lean in the yes direction. Let’s end on another picture of that beautiful, fresh little salad in my favorite glasses. It really was delicious!

Hunger Games 2.0

I went to see Hunger Games again last night with my husband and a friend and guess what! I changed my mind! I liked it a lot more the second time. I think I was just too hyped up to see it this last weekend and was kind of expecting too much. Also, I know it sounds stupid, but we sat way too close to the screen the first time and it made a lot of the action scenes really hard to watch because of the film style. Last night we sat pretty far back and it was a much better way to see it. I want to take back what I said about Katniss being a cold fish in the movie. Jennifer Lawrence is just a really subtle actress and after I got over there not being that many scenes between her and Peeta and really paid attention to her performance, you can totally see the mixed feelings and play of emotions her character is going through. I think she was perfect for the part. I even like Peeta a little more this go around though I still think his head is kind of shaped like a Lego Man and having his hair slicked back does nothing for him. He needs those bangs people!.

Both Tristan and Dave had never read the books before and they asked me not to tell them anything about the story beforehand and they both really liked it. I was all pumped for them to ask me questions after the movie and really flex my Hunger Games knowledge muscle but they didn’t really have any. Apparently you can figure out what’s going on without reading the book. Who knew? I’m never in that position because I pretty much have ALWAYS read the book. That’s just how I roll. So I wanted to post this just in case other people felt like I did when they saw it the first time. We had some free movie passes to use up (thanks Mama!) so I didn’t feel too weird about seeing this one twice in the theater in the same week. If you felt kind of let-down the first time, maybe give it another try. If not in the theater, then when it comes out on DVD. If I can change my mind, so can you!