Alexander McQueen 10 inch heels

As a woman who rarely wears heels above 2 1/2 inches, I find the 10-inch alien-inspired Alexander McQueen heels on Lady Gaga in her Bad Romance video truly astounding. Even more astounding is the fact that women are actually trying to buy these shoes. Check out the article on Grazia Fashion.

Wearing a pair of studded man-daggers on your feet would certainly garner attention.

What do you think? Alexander McQueen 10-inch stilettos: to die for or will kill you?

~flutterbyblue

Image lifted from eblogfashion.blogspot.com.

Taste on Melrose

Last week I pulled the "wife" card and guilt tripped the husband into taking me out to dinner. One can only entertain at home for so long before washing dishes gets to be a PITH. Although we live within walking distance of one of Iowa City's favorite local restaurants, Taste on Melrose, we had never actually tried the place out for our ourselves.

Taste on Melrose is a small, incredibly affordable little restaurant with an unpretentious front, simple decor and cozy seating. There might have been 10-15 tables total in the tiny space. Fortunately it was a Wednesday night so the restaurant was only half full. I ordered the homemade fusilli with spicy grilled chicken, roasted red peppers, tomatoes and cilantro in a spicy cream sauce. The portion was enormous. (I later discovered that one can order half-portions of the main dishes - ah well, at least I had lunch for the next two days.) The homemade pasta was delicious and cooked to al-dente perfection. The sauce was fantastic - flavorful, spicy, and creamy with the cilantro adding a unique touch. The vegetarian ordered the sourdough pizza with roasted butternut squash, mushrooms, caramelized onions, peppers, and fontina. It was all I could do not to eat half of his meal too. That pizza was hands-down the best pizza either of us have had in a very very long time. Perhaps it was the sourdough crust, or maybe the deliciously roasted(?) squash. By the end of our meal we were too stuffed to brave the dessert menu.

We'll be back again.

~flutterbyblue

Taste on Melrose
1006 Melrose Ave
Iowa City
(319) 339-9938

El Bandito (el blando)

Based on an article in Corridor Buzz I would have thought that Iowa City's newest Mexican restaurant (that's right, I said Mexican), El Bandito's, would be the next big thing. I decided to try it out one afternoon for lunch. The space itself is quite nice - cozy and homey (probably a reflection of it's days as the Motley Cow.) It was the food that threw me for a loop.

I tried the spinach and mushroom enchiladas with rice and beans - it was hands down the worst food I've had in Iowa City. The tortilla was dry and stale tasting, the sauce was almost acceptable - red and a little spicy, but somewhat artificial in flavor. I was surprised given that the owner has said he'll be using all fresh ingredients and making sauces from scratch. The enchilada filling was unimpressive - I could hardly taste the spinach (which looked far from fresh.) The rice and beans were also tasteless and seemed to worsen in flavor as I ate the dish. By the end I was craving something, anything to get the taste of bad Mexican food out of my mouth.

I should not have expected much given that we are in Iowa City, but after reading about El Bandito I was hoping for something better. I am a huge fan of the owner's other restaurant enterprises: Mama's Deli is great, and One-Twenty-Six is cited as one of the best restaurants in Iowa City. How is it that El Bandito could be so disappointing? Maybe they were having an off day, but even an off day shouldn't be so bad.

While Boston does not excel in the Mexican food category, there are the occasional homeruns. How I miss those delicious fish tacos...

Read more about El Bandito in The Iowa Blog.

Note to self: NEVER order Mexican food in the midwest (unless it is faux-Mexican goodness like Panchero's.)

~flutterbyblue

The miraculous apple corer/peeler/slicer

Part of surviving in the midwest is learning how to fully embrace domestic life.

Last weekend we went to the nearby apple orchard to pick up some fresh fruit before the end of the season. While drooling over the frozen homemade apple pies I was interrupted by my husband, "Why would you buy a pie when you can make it yourself?"

Obviously, the man had never rolled out a pie crust.

But on second thought, what the $%& else was I going to do on a Saturday night (in Iowa)?

So we picked out a bag of apples, and bought what turned out to be a MIRACULOUS piece of kitchen equipment: an apple corer/peeler/slicer. This amazing gadget looks like something out of the 1920's. It comes in red enameled cast steel with a stainless-steel shaft and prong. The apple corer/peeler/slicer has a suction base that sticks firmly to your countertop while you pop on an apple, turn the crank and 1-3 seconds later your apple is cored, peeled and sliced. In under a minute I had enough apples to fill a pie.

Now, if only they would invent a miraculous pie mixer/roller/assembler...

Yours from the heartland,
~flutterbyblue


Image lifted from William Sonoma.

Homemade Poutine

The hubby is out of town this weekend so I took the opportunity to joyride around the Iowa City area. I started out in Kalona, a historic town filled with tourists and the occasional Amish horse and buggy. I picked up some delectable-looking cinnamon rolls, a skein of alpaca yarn, and a bag of (squeaky) cheese curds. Whatever does one do with cheese curds, you might ask.

Answer: Poutine

Poutine is possibly the best thing that ever came out of Canada. It consists of a pile of french fries topped with fresh cheese curds and a brown gravy. While this may sound strange and even disgusting to those non-poutine connoisseurs, I can assure you, this dish is AMAZING.

After vowing never to return to Quebec many years ago, I was at a loss as to how I would fulfill my poutine cravings. Eventually, Boston realized the brilliance of this dish and started serving it at selected restaurants. Harvest offers a decent option at the bar, consisting of hand cut french fries, cheese curd, bacon and chicken velouté. Before I left Boston, the Beehive opened up and served a "cheese and gravy frites" that was not exactly authentic, but still quite delicious.

Given that the dining establishments in Iowa City are good, but not especially international (does Canadia count as "international"?), I opted to make the fabulous poutine dish myself. From scratch.

I forgot to pick up frozen french fries at the grocery store so I sufficed with oven roasted hand cut fries instead. The best poutine gravy comes powdered out of a can (double concentrated), but lacking this key ingredient I made a basic chicken gravy with vegetable demi-glace (similar to the one described by [No Recipe]). Pile on the baked french fries, crumble on some Amish squeaky cheese curds and drizzle on that gravy - ah...it's almost as good as the real thing! All I need is to serve it in a cheap styrofoam container with a plastic fork, hope for snow, and it will be like I'm right back in Quebec (minus the Québécois)!

~flutterbyblue

Kiwi!

The Marshmallow Test