Breakfast Italiano! - Eggs in tomato and basil

It’s wet, it’s grey, it’s dark at 1 o’ clock in the day, there’s a recession, the country is falling apart, I’m working too much, I NEED comfort food!! OK, maybe it’s not that bad. This recipe is a perfect “pick me up” when you need something warm and comforting, it’s as far from “fine dining” as you can get, it’s wet, sloppy, requires lots of bread for mopping and is the perfect cure for a bad mood. There’s no way to dress it up, it’s simple, rustic and soooooo delicious. I love fried eggs anyway so the addition of tomato sauce makes it even better.

what you need:

1 x 400g tin of Italian tomatoes

4 eggs

1 small onion

1 clove garlic

olive oil

6-8 leaves basil

grated Parmesan cheese

sea salt and black pepper

tsp sugar

lots of crusty bread or Parmesan mash

what to do:

1. chop your onion and garlic

2. fill the base of a pan with oil, add your onions and garlic and cook over a low heat for 7-10 mins until soft but not coloured

3. add your tomatoes and cook for 10 mins until starting to thicken, season, add your sugar and basil and cook for a couple of minutes

4. add your eggs to your sauce

5. cover and cook until the white is cooked and the yolk is soft and runny

6. season and sprinkle with Parmesan cheese

7. serve with crusty bread and enjoy the childish fuzzy feeling of breaking the egg

eat, mop, slurp……….repeat!!

buon appetito!

Scared of heights? Try "The Ledge"

For those scared of heights, the Sears Tower Skydeck was probably never on their list of “must-see’s.” But the new glass floored observation point will undoubtedly thrill those looking for the ultimate view from the United States’ tallest building.

“I’m not going out on that thing” is one common reaction to the just opened addition to the Skydeck, named “The Ledge.” But even more common is an exclamation of amazement (with perhaps a tinge of fear) from those who have stood looking between their feet 103 floors straight down. And yes, a very high percentage of the younger visitors do seem determined to lie down on The Ledge as you can see from the photo above taken opening weekend.

Maybe you have never been, or maybe you’re a Chicago native who has been to the top a number of times. Either way, with the Ledge you have a whole new reason to go.

Alternative Uses for Everyday Things

The recently-launched AltUse website does exactly what you’d think it would do: suggest alternative uses for everyday objects around your home (Not in a “make a hat out of newspaper” kind of way, but more in a “coffee grounds make excellent fertilizer” kind of way). I would link to some of the more engaging entries—like the Aspirin Facial, or Toothpaste Bruise Healing—if the website itself wasn’t contstrcuted so poorly (you can’t link to individual entries, it seems, and some weird scripting prevents the use of the backward and forward navigation buttons). Despite these limitations, I like the idea that this database is out there and growing; the spirit of waste-not-want-not revised in a modern context.

Cash for Clunkers

The Car Allowance Rebate System (acronym: CARS) is going into effect today. Commonly known as “Cash for Clunkers,” the program gives cash vouchers to people who trade in inefficient cars for new, cleaner ones. The New York Times’ Wheels blog summarizes:

Essentially, consumers can get up to $4,500 toward the purchase or lease of a new fuel-efficient car or truck if they bring in an old vehicle that gets a combined average mileage of 18 miles a gallon or less.

On paper, “Cash for Clunkers” hits something of an immediate domestic policy trifecta: it reduces our dependence on foreign oil; it saves Americans dollars at the pump, allowing for increased consumer spending (and the economic stimulus that generates); and it should help bolster the sputtering market for Detroit’s latest offerings.

And that’s not to mention the environmental benefits, which could be huge. (Does that make it a quadrafecta? A superfecta?) Gather this—American cars more than 12 years old account for only 25 percent of the miles driven in the United States, yet they produce roughly 75 percent of all automobile-born pollution, including greenhouse gasses and low-level pollutants like ozone and fine particulates that wreak havoc on the lungs of urban dwellers.

So now that the specifics of the program have been hammered out, how did we do? Bloomberg has more details:

Consumers will get $4,500 vouchers if the new car they are buying gets 10 miles-a-gallon better gas mileage than the model they are trading in. For light trucks, the improvement must be 5 mpg better than the older model, and for large light trucks, 2 mpg.

For a $3,500 voucher, the improvement for cars must be 4 mpg or better, for light trucks, 2 mpg, and for large light trucks, 1 mpg. The trade-in vehicle must be no older than a 1984 model and get 18 mpg or less in combined city/highway fuel economy.

New passenger cars purchased with the vouchers must get at least 22 mpg in city/highway fuel economy, light trucks must get at least 18 mpg, and large light trucks 15 mpg. Domestic as well as foreign models sold in the U.S. qualify.

Unfortunately, you can’t use one of these vouchers to buy an efficient used car. But the Sierra Club likes the program. They have a calculator up on their site that will show you the money and carbon you could save depending on your current car, new car, and annual miles driven.

Anyone out there planning to take advantage of this Cash for Clunkers program? What are you trading in and what are you getting?