currently listening + burgers + potatoes

I don't know why I've only just downloaded this song but I am really digging Prince's song, 7. If you don't remember exactly which one I'm talking about perhaps you'll remember the video where he had a microphone on the end of a gun and a police hat with chains down the front obscuring his face. Yeah, it's that Prince I'm talking about.





















He does this really cool pitch bend on the word "blasphemy" that makes the spine tingle every time. He's layered his voice vocoder-style (eat your heart out Immy) like 15 times and they all go in the same direction before snapping back to the "right" notes. It is so cool. A lesser artist would have populated the song with stuff like that but he seasons it just right...once is enough for His Royal Badness. Oh, and did I mention he's from Minneapolis?

Since I moved to Uptown and now live really close to the Wedge Community Co-op, I've decided to try and cook something really nice each week this year. I went down to Dubuque, Iowa last week to visit my brother's family and cooked some kickass black bean burgers and potato salad. I read John Mackey's amazing blog whenever I get the chance and he's been cooking up some Ina Garten recipes lately. So, as a knower of a good idea when I see one, I went with her French Potato Salad recipe. Pair that with the alfalfa-sprouts-and-fresh-guacamole-on-a-black-bean-burger combo that I love at my local organic restaurant, Tao Natural Cafe, and you've got a Combustible Edison. It was amazing.

I didn't go all out and make the black bean burgers myself (although this is an eventual goal). Morning Star Farms has some great vegetarian stuff that I love to use and, usually, I just throw the pattie in the microwave because it's fast. However, my sister-in-law taught me a new method to prepare these beauties: the toaster. You just pop them in on the highest setting a couple of times and it turns them crispy. I can't believe I never thought of that. Thanks, Beth!