Good morning, loyal DC readers! If you’re on the east coast then I hoped you fared well in Snowpocalypse/Snowmageddon/Snowtorious B.I.G. or whatever other clever name being spread in your neighborhood. The DC office (of DC. Hah!) fared quite well with nothing extreme to report. Whole lotta snow, past my knees, and a whole lotta fun. I must say, the children’s playground was quite empty when I walked by. Yes, I rode down the slide; several times.

Ghost Baker is not faring too well right now. She and her hubs have been fighting with intermittent power outages and pretty much full time loss of cable and internet. A Heather without her movies is not a Heather you want to be around. Good luck, Morgan!

I’ve been doing a lot of cooking in random styles lately and this weekend I went Turkish. A group of friends from college and I try to get together every month or so so we don’t lose touch; often it’s dinner and board games and often it’s at my place as I am located conveniently for all parties (less work for me!). While in Germany a couple years back I ate mezza style with family, which is kinda like Spanish Tapas; lots of small dishes; eaten mostly with your hands. Eggplant, an ingredient I’ve never been a huge fan of, is a pretty prevalent dish in Turkish cooking so keeping my intent to be more open minded this year, I jumped right in.

Eggplant is friggin’ bitter raw and I’ve never actually heard of an eggplant recipe that didn’t involve frying or roasting. This recipe takes that harsh bite out, puts a bit back in via garlic and cools you down with mint and yogurt. I tried this with a baby eggplant, but I’m sure your regular eggplant would work as well. With how easy this recipe is, you really have no excuse not to try it!

My apologies for the less than stellar photography, but I had to share this. I lot of food was consumed on my trip down to Florida (and I mean a lot). While in Orlando, after a long day riding many excellent roller coasters, we walked to a local seafood restaurant called CityFish. I’m not much of a seafood guy but I’ve been working on expanding my horizons and I’m glad I did. The fish was excellent.

After our delicious main course, we took a gander at the dessert menu and saw a deep fried oreo sundae that could not be ignored. Practicing some discretion, we decided to buy one and split it among the four of us rather than wallow in the (delicious) guilt of having our own. This was not the first fried item of the trip and neither was it the last. I must say, this sucker rocked and difficult to describe. Definitely not an everyday indulgence, or month, but something special to enjoy on your birthday, or to celebrate a promotion, perhaps saving the world.

Put it on your to-try list!