I have to tell you, the show “Girls” stresses me out, drives me nuts, and I hate it.  But I can’t stop watching it. I absolutely hate it.

 I never watch this show during its regularly scheduled time (I don’t even know when that is). Me watching this show usually happens like this:

Sunday afternoon.  I don’t want to watch a movie because I don’t want to commit to two hours. I  don’t have the brain power to read.  So, I scan the movie channels.  Scan the way too many cable channels I pay for.   I will find it On Demand, and start an episode just to pass thirty minutes, because I’m bored but too out-of-my-mind tired (my job might be eating my soul) to spend 30 minutes doing something productive.  So,  I watch an episode.  I get sucked in by how screwed up these characters are.  

And I wonder: Are twentysomethings really like this?  Do twentysomethings really hang out in groups like this?  Young women who have no idea what they’re doing with their lives, they’re worried about their “art”, and have more angst than the entire album of Pretty Hate Machine.

The show just pisses me off, but I get sucked in.   And then I get all judgy and angry over how STUPID  these characters are.  And then I get annoyed at Lena Dunham.  I know next to nothing about the girl (please don’t school me on this, I couldn’t care less), but wow she bugs me.

A friend asked me yesterday if I’d “ever met a woman.”   I like to think I know women pretty well, but given the context of his question (yeah, to say it was sarcastic would be a safe bet) coupled with the fact that this ridiculous television show incites such rage in me, maybe I don’t.   The women I have in my circle are smart, funny, a little sarcastic, driven, interesting.

I have a very low threshold for drama, for whining, for women who are insults to other women.  Women who act more like girls or who constantly seek attention to feed an insecurity.   I have the impression that these are some of the traits that my friend was insinuating exist in most women when he raised his voice a pitch or two and began mimicking “most” women.  I also think that these are the bulk of the traits that the characters in this inane show exhibit.  So, maybe I don’t know women at all.  I’ll save that thought for an entirely different post altogether. It could be that the characters on “Girls” are more common than not, but dear god, I hope not.

Back to why I was searching for something brainless on TV.  It rained today, and  I am tired.  Tired and, like most everyone, stressed and not a little overworked. So, I wanted a comfortable day – as in , a day of comfort.   Comfortable clothes, comfort music, comforting conversation, and you can guess, comfort food.

So, let’s pause there for a bit.

Comfort food.  I have a few main staples in the comfort food category:

Meatloaf with tomato sauce, spaghetti , grilled cheese with tomato soup.  Hot tea.  Chips and salsa (not really sure how that one got in there).  Shortbread.  Panna cotta. Souffle.

But, when I’m this bone-deep tired, the last thing I want to do, really , is cook anything complicated. Most of my comfort food items aren’t  complicated, granted, but today called for minimal effort  – so, of course, I made grilled cheese and tomato soup.

Extra sharp cheddar , a slice of tomato, grilled in butter.  I’m not as particular with my tomato soup, but I do like a good tomato/roasted red pepper soup  from Trader Joe’s.

Another amazing grilled cheese (I’ve mentioned this before, I’m sure):  sourdough bread, thinly sliced granny smith apple, gruyere . I like to grill it in butter herbed with rosemary.

I’ve had a string of days requiring comfort food, which is party why I recently experimented with panna cotta and shortbread.  To be precise, Earl Grey panna cotta, and lavender shortbread.

It doesn’t get much easier than making panna cotta.  While the milk, cream, gelatin mixture is warm (not hot), I added 6 Earl Grey tea bags – i didn’t want to fish out tea leaves from my dessert – and let them steep for 45 minutes.

Lavender shortbread, also easy. Any basic shortbread recipe will do.  I pulsed  food grade lavender into the dough, about a tablespoon.  (add lemon zest, a lot of it, to really make it interesting)

(While I’m thinking about it, check out this really cool site)

Panna cotta and shortbread are comforting, soothing, easy to make.  I’m sure “Girls” is much harder to make than panna cotta.

Not that I care.