101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less

Summer Express: 101 Simple Meals Ready in 10 Minutes or Less - New York Times

My lovely wife is away for the week. Now I love to cook, and I'm used to doing it often, but it's not always fun to cook for just myself and it can get tedious on a daily basis.

Mark Bittman comes through with another great Food article in the New York Times with lots of tasty simple meals for the summer. Some of the best recipes or meal plans include:

#18 "Stir-fry a pound or so of ground meat or chopped fish mixed with chopped onions and seasoned with cumin or chili powder. Pile into taco shells or soft tacos, along with tomato, lettuce, canned beans, onion, cilantro and sour cream. " Delicious tacos!

#21 "While pasta cooks, combine a couple cups chopped tomatoes, a teaspoon or more minced garlic, olive oil and 20 to 30 basil leaves. Toss with pasta, salt, pepper and Parmesan. " -That's a personal favourite!

#31 "Fast chile rellenos: Drain canned whole green chilies. Make a slit in each and insert a piece of cheese. Dredge in flour and fry in a skillet, slit side up, until cheese melts. " I've never even thought of making that before!

#57 "Dip pork cutlets in egg, then dredge heavily in panko; brown quickly on both sides. Serve over lettuce, with fresh lemon, or bottled Japanese curry sauce. " - Yum! Japanese tonkatsu.

#59 "Brown bratwursts with cut-up apples. Serve with coleslaw." Interesting, maybe I'll try that tonight.

Sure, some of the "simple meals" are easy to make, but not so practical if you don't have the ingredients on hand, such as #12: "Boil a lobster. Serve with lemon or melted butter. " Overall, this list is GREAT for sunny days in the kitchen when you run out of time and inspiration.



Today's Link source: del.icio.us

Explore Sacred Sites

Sacred Destinations Travel Guide

There's often something spectacular about sacred places. People are inspired to create spaces that are more meaningful than the other places where they work, live and play. This often translates into a place that is unique, complex, beautiful and timeless, and installs a sense of awe in mortals. Sacred places are some of the oldest and best preserved architectural structures in the world, and can be key to understanding the values and dreams of a culture.

Many of the sites in Sacred Destinations have photographs, maps, links to other sites, and a description and history of the place.

They have included all of the favourite sacred places I’ve been, including the torii/ arches in Fushimi Inari, Japan, the mosaics in Ravenna, Italy, the reclining Buddha in Bangkok, Thailand, and the Notre Dame Basilica in Montreal, Canada.

It’s a great site to visit when you’re planning a trip to a foreign vacation, whether that means everything you need to get started on a pilgrimage, or a few tips of great places to check out on a backpacking trip.

Today's Link source: Digg

Build Public Places

Placemaking for Communities Project for Public Spaces (PPS)

Too much of urban planning revolves exclusively around homes, malls and streets, and not enough thought goes into public spaces. The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) wants to change that.

You might ask, what are public spaces? PPS lists:Parks, Transportation, Civic Centers , Public Markets, Downtowns, Mixed-use Developments, Campuses, and Squares. Put another way, these public spaces are what make a community vibrant, interesting and livable. They are the soul of a city that fills out the skeleton of infrastructure.

Some of the highlights include their list of the 60 of the World's Great Places (all public spaces), training resources, and tons of examples of great public spaces.

If you're into Urban Design, Land Use Planning, or Community Development, you should be all over this site.

Let's give a big hand to EvenMe for the tip!