Valentine's Day love.

 

Yesterday I took a little time to make these heart garlands and hang them in the stairway. All those J.Crew catalogs finally came in handy. I'm thinking I just might leave them for all of February, since they're so cheerful, and since my heart misses the sun cheerful colors are nice. This morning, in celebration of the holiday, I made this bread. Too bad all the rising time meant that Alex was already gone for work by the time it was ready. It will have to be a pre-dinner valentine's snack for him.

Citrus

In January I took one afternoon to make citrus marmalade from this book. I used grapefruit, blood oranges, lemons and navel oranges. It has been delicious in scones, on toast, even mixed into plain yogurt with a little honey...I also thought the colors of all the different citrus were just so pretty...

lunch

Kale sauteed in olive oil and lemon juice / poached egg / toasted homemade sourdough bread  / parmesan cheese / s + p

Alex has decided to start making sourdough bread weekly. I must say, our meal times benefit from fresh baked bread.

Kitchen

Our current kitchen has been a nice update from the itty bitty galley kitchen on Commonwealth. As I've mentioned several times, there is a window over the sink, plus a dishwasher, increased counter space, and...a washer and dryer. People always comment on the washer and dryer being in the kitchen and ask if it's weird, but I kind of like it. Our kitchen is a hub of productivity.

A couple weeks ago I decided to use some of my free time to rethink our meal plans once again. I think I have an ideal in my head that involves superb organization that will allow for maximum nutrition at minimal costs and without an extreme amount of time invested (at least, once the organization part has been accomplished). This time I took the approach of streamlining our most frequently used recipes, which allowed me to streamline our grocery lists, dividing them into bulk shopping and weekly shopping, and printing them out for fridge. We are going to try buying things like pizza dough, black beans, shredded cheese, tortillas, etc., in bulk since I tend to use them a lot. I also printed out calendars for each month to list out meal ideas. It was kind of fun, so even if it doesn't work out perfectly, at least I am learning as I go...and at least looking at the side of my fridge makes me feel organized and happy.

A day in DC

Well, semester number 1 has come to a close. After many stressful days and late nights, plenty of back massages and other kindnesses bestowed by husband (can we say learning to cook because otherwise we might not have eaten? doing laundry for us? making me hot chocolate at the end of my long day? I love this guy.), I turned in my last assignment on December 19th.

Alex and I scurried off to Montana to spend a wonderfully relaxing time with his family (in the snow!), and then came back to Virginia to spend a few days with my parents. Now I have two weeks until classes begin for the spring, and so we decided to spend a day touring the city that has been home for 5 months.

We started off the day at Ted's Bulletin, a hip version of a diner in eastern market. The waitress handed us our menus, which were basically newspapers with the food listed on the inside. They bring an entire carafe of coffee to your table (hallelujah!), and you can sub your toast for a homemade poptart...which I did.

(They salvaged a number of pieces from the Philadelphia Civic Center for their decor).

Following breakfast, we toured around the market at eastern market (and wished we were doing another supper club so we could use some of their fancy ingredients), and then made our way to...

-the Folger Shakespeare Library to see their exhibit on the King James' Bible

-The east wing of the National Gallery of Art to see contemporary art and french impressionist paintings

-Starbucks for some tea and a break to refresh ourselves

-The Phillips Collection in Dupont, where we saw the permanent collection, including works from Rothko, Kandinsky, Monet, Sean Scully and Joseph Marioni (which were some of my favorites).

 We had worked up an appetite, so we went to Founding Farmer's for dinner - a place I have been wanting to try since we moved here. It was super tasty - we each got a cocktail, and then started with bacon wrapped dates, stuffed with blue cheese --- they were so good that once the four were gone, I almost ordered a second plate. 

(me with my cucumber-gin tonic, alex with his manhattan, our plate of partially eaten dates which we could not wait long enough to sample before we snapped this photo)

The dinner was equally tasty, and we ordered chocolate mousse for dessert -- deciding to make it a celebration of the one semester of grad school successfully completed. Great end to a fun day in dc.

A new favorite

When searching for the perfect weeknight dinner, I have three criteria -- I would like for it to be healthy, it is great when it is relatively easy or speedy, and of course, it had better taste good. The below recipe meets all of these criteria, plus I think the cost of the ingredients is about $10 (depending on whether the chicken is on sale).  I love the flavor of the mango, the spicyness of the jalapeno, and how juicy the chicken stays from the steaming process. The first time I made this I added bell peppers, the second time I threw in some green beans -- you can add any vegetable you have on hand. I serve mine over brown rice, and add some fresh cilantro for extra flavor.

Chicken with Mango and Ginger

1 large mango, peeled, pitted, and cut into 1/4-inch wedges
8 chicken cutlets (about 1 3/4 pounds total)
1 piece fresh ginger (1 inch), peeled and cut into matchsticks
1/3 cup fresh cilanto leaves
1 medium jalapeno, thinly sliced
Course salt and ground pepper
2 tablespoons plus 2 teaspoons extra-virgin olive oil
Lime wedges, for serving

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Place mango wedges in center of four 18-inch-long pieces of parchment (I used tin foil: it worked fine). Top with chicken, ginger, cilantro and jalapeno. Season with salt and pepper and drizzle each with 2 teaspoons oil. Fold parchment into a twist or envelope shape.

2. Place packets on a rimmed baking sheet and bake until packets are puffed up and chicken is cooked through, 18 to 20 minutes (mine took 25 minutes). Serve with lime wedges.

Leisure time

Oh the bliss of finally having free time again. No longer do I come home from work, make dinner, eat dinner and dive straight into portfolio work. Instead I...

-WATCH something fun on Hulu. Either the Bachelor or Grey's Anatomy. Yes, I know these shows are known for their relentless and admittedly insipid relational drama, but I still find that I have become wrapped up in them. Despite the predictable final scenes of each weekly series (The "roseless" girl mourns that she has not "found love" and contemplates which of her insecurities were the cause of her rejection and demise. Maybe if she just did a little math, she would realize that a 1 in 30 chance of being Brad's match should not have left her with much hope, and that trying to find love in these circumstances is not going to be good for her emotional health!), I still need to know who Brad is going to choose. Grey's Anatomy remains interesting because of their wacky medical scenarios and emergency surgeries, most of which, I admit, make me think I understand more about medicine then I really do (this "knowledge" is fine as long as you keep it to yourself. But when you start telling a friend the amazing qualities of the liver which regrows itself after you transplant half and she replies "Did you learn that on Grey's Anatomy?")

-KNIT 4 rows on the blanket I am working on. Get up and do something else because I have the attention span of a gopher, and because I always feel like knitting is something I can only do when everything else is done, and I inevitably remember something else to do while I am knitting.

-COOK or bake something fun. Currently -- loving making pizzas, like this one:

(Sweet Potato and Brie Flatbread, Realsimple.com)

Also, as an appropriate response to the rain last weekend, I made these cookies.

-READ. I just finished the latest book for our supper club, Philip Roth's The Ghostwriter -- a writer writing about a writer admiring another writer. No but really, I enjoyed this book, though it was slow moving in its plot it was easy to read and I think offers a lot for reflection. I look forward to discussing it with the other 7 attendees of the sup club (which is tomorrow! yay!) I am also reading The Hidden Life: Thoughts on Communion with God by Adolph Saphir. Only two chapters in, this book has already proven to be instructive and encouraging for me.

-CLEAN. I really enjoy when I have enough free time to leisurely make our house a little more presentable. I realized this past week, when I looked around our living room and noticed the growing number of stacks of miscellaneous items, that my priorities have shifted. Yes, I still love a clean house, but during the week I can somehow turn a blind eye to the three stacks of books on our coffee table that would normally drive me crazy. As long as the dishes are clean and the bed has been made, I can live with a little more clutter during the week.

But to take 30 minutes to go around and put things in their proper places, to have CLEAN surfaces, mirrors without spots, and an empty dish-rack? Luxury.

Banana Bread

Tonight I had two things on the agenda -- make soup for dinner, and make banana bread.  The soup was a nice smattering of ingredients - I started with frying some bacon, removing the bacon and sauteing shallots, garlic, celery, carrot, mushrooms and potatoes (in the bacon grease, of course) - then throwing in some chicken broth, the crumbled bacon, and bits of cooked rabbit. Finished it off with a couple sprigs of rosemary and let it simmer while I worked on....


Whole-Wheat Banana Nut Bread (From Williams-Sonoma's baking cookbook)
This recipe makes two loaves.
2 1/2 cups whole-wheat flour, plus extra for dusting
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup unsalted butter, at room temperature, plus extra for greasing
2 cups sugar
2 cups mashed ripe banana (4 large bananas)
4 eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts or pecans


Preheat the oven to 350. Grease two 8 1/2 by 4 1/2 loaf pans and dust with flour.


In a bowl, stir together the flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside. In another bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until blended; a hand-held mixer is useful for this step. Beat in the banana, then beat in the eggs until completely mixes; don't worry if the mixture looks lumpy and curdled. Stir in the nuts. Add the combined dry ingredients and stir just until blended (At this point, it is totally fine to taste the batter. multiple times).


Pour and scrape the batter into the 2 prepared pans and spread evenly. Bake until a thin wooden skewer (otherwise known as a toothpick) inserted into the center of the loaves come out clean, about 1 hour. Allow to cool in the pans for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely (or if you're me, leave them in the pans for an hour because you decided this step was not worth 
getting up off the couch for).
________


The soup was pretty tasty. The banana bread - downright delicious. Alex and I each enjoyed a piece fresh from the oven, topped with a bit of butter and accompanied by a glass of cold milk. That's right - downright. delicious.

What's been cooking

Without the use of Alex’s beloved camera (it has an error message that we need to get checked out), it has been harder to think it worthwhile to document our weekly cooking. However, I have been having a lot of fun experimenting with cooking recently, so, pictures or not, you are going to get a record of these experiments:

Picnic sandwich on ciabatta loaf with bologna, salami, pesto, artichoke hearts and havarti cheese
Lemon Crumb Bars 
The above two items I made for Alex and my anniversary date to see Planet Earth: live! at the Hollywood Bowl.  The sandwich was made by improvisation, the lemon crumb bar recipe can be found here. It was quite easy, and they were delicious.


We had our friends over for dinner one night, and I had fun with the following recipes:
Goat Cheese Empanadas. For their July issue, Real Simple had a section featuring three-ingredient recipes. These had goat cheese, placed into store bought pie crust, baked and served with store bought salsa. Some things need to be simple. Alex actually made these while I worked on the main course.
Chicken with Olives. Thank you, Pioneer Woman. This was delicious (If I do say so myself). The chicken was quite moist and the olives complimented the flavors nicely. I served it over brown rice.
Blueberry Ice cream. What I love about homemade ice cream is that it is easy to make and loved by many.  Often ice cream recipes are only 3-4 ingredients, mixed together and placed in the ice cream maker which does its thing while you get on to more pressing chores. I also added chocolate chunks to this ice cream -- what can I say, I tend to think things only get better when you add chocolate.


Random experiments:
Strawberry and Chocolate Gelato. Supposed to be Cherry-Chocolate Gelato. Fresh & Easy’s jam selections are limited. The flavor of this was not.


Moussaka. Greek dish. Eggplant, ground beef, cinnamon, Parmesan, bechamel sauce. It might sound strange, but it was quite good. Alex and I made a real supper of it with salad, french bread, and some red wine.


No-bake lasagna. Being the first time I made lasagna, I decided to do an entirely nontraditional version that was also less time intensive. This lasagna alternated layers of typical lasagna noodles with cooked zucchini, summer squash, tomatoes and ricotta. I also threw in a few pieces of salami to add some flavor (for me) and “meat” (for my husband). As the title indicates, this lasagna does not need to be “popped in the oven.” Fresh and yummy.


Spinach Quiche with whole wheat crust. This was made on a Saturday night, out of a need to use up extra milk, cheese, eggs and spinach. I had pepper-jack cheese on hand, so there was a nice spicy kick to it. The simple, laid-back, yet strong flavors of a hot quiche really hit the spot, especially since the weather had become cooler that evening.


Pork Chops with Gruyere Polenta and cherry tomatoes. This was dinner for this week, or for at least two of the nights. In recent years I have come to really enjoy polenta, particularly the fine-grain version cooked fresh on the stove top (rather than the pre-cooked, shaped version). I still am not the biggest fan of pork chops, though I continue to try them when they are a part of recipes whose other parts look delicious. I love cherry tomatoes and eat them by the dozen.


Finally, Alex’s parents gave us a hefty supply of apples and plums from their fruit trees in Fresno. Even if each of us ate one apple and one plum per day, we might not have made it through them in a month’s time. Hence, the three recipes listed below:
Plum and Apple Sangria
Peach and Plum Shortbread
Plum-Apple Butter


Next-up...
Preparing for the Supper Club meal we will be hosting on October 23rd. In case you aren’t aware of the fun involved in this group gathering, the Supper Club requires a minimum five-course meal prepared for 8 people and themed around the book chosen by the couple who hosted previously. Alex and I will be experimenting with and choosing dishes centered around Wendell Berry’s Nathan Coulter. Tonight we are going to go out to a southern restaurant in Los Angeles called Tart (for inspiration) and then to Barnes and Noble to peruse the cookbooks. Wish us luck.

Memphis, Tennessee

Alex and I just returned from a lovely trip to the charming city of Memphis, Tennessee. While I have visited there frequently to see family, this was his first time in the "Volunteer" state (nick-named so because of the number of volunteer soldiers from Tennessee in the War of 1812).  Alex's dad grew up in Nashville, did his undergrad in south-central Tennessee and went to med school at University of Tennessee, so we were glad Alex was able to see one of the places that his Dad had spent some significant time (University of Tennessee is in downtown Memphis).


The last time I had been to Tennessee for an extended visit it was the middle of January.  It was cold-ish then. However, Tennessee has a reputation for being hot and humid - and boy did it live up to this reputation  in these early weeks of June.  I had been asked by my physical therapist to go on two short walks a day (which I did with joy), but boy was it HOT.  I think though, that the beautiful botanicals made possible by the humidity make it worth it.  I loved the hydrangeas, the crepe myrtles, and the lushness of the trees and bushes and grass that never have a chance to get so green in the desert of Southern California.


I also loved the architecture. I am not sure what inspired the designers to plan for red brick and white pillars in fifty percent of their work, but it sure does show-off some beautiful churches and homes.  Tall white steeples, large front lawns, symmetrical building fronts framed by towering trees. While I am coming to enjoy the Spanish architecture that characterizes the West,  symmetry is beautiful, easy on the eye and somewhat refreshing.


Southern food - ALSO delicious. We had the chance to be among the eaters at a delicious southern style buffet brunch, and feasted on grits, a southern style eggs benedict, Cajun seasoned fish with okra, and chocolate bourbon pecan pie. We also were treated to a wonderful dinner at possibly the most brilliant restaurant I have ever eaten at - FLIGHT. It is a restaurant based entirely off the idea that some people can't make decisions to save their lives. Or so I like to think. For each part of your meal (salad, entree, wine, dessert), rather than choosing one item, you can order a "flight" of three items for about the same price. That means you can have a trio of watermelon/feta, blue cheese wedge, and caprese salads, and a trio of different white wines to accompany them. For dinner I had 1. lobster with roasted potatoes, corn, and asparagus, 2. Buffalo with mushroom risotto and cabernet syrup, and 3. Jumbo shrimp with tropical salsa and sriracha butter sauce. Yes, I had lobster, shrimp and buffalo all in one sitting. Yes, it was delicious. YES, you should go to Memphis just so you can go to this restaurant. Alas, when it came time for dessert, I was a bit too full to sample one of their chocolate or cheesecake flights (could it get any better than this?) I did try a small plate of white chocolate fudge, complete with a few chopped pecans and sweet dipping sauce. Definitely satisfactory.


We ended our feasting by going to Rendezvous - a rib restaurant Alex's Dad had recommended. It was delicious. One has no idea how many ribs one can eat until the bones are piled on the plate in front of them. Also, one has no idea how messy one can get eating ribs until no matter how they try to get the barbecue sauce off their nose, there is no clean finger or square inch of unsoiled napkin to do the job...


During all my visits to Memphis I have never toured Graceland -- this visit was no exception.  We did have a chance to see and hear an Elvis impersonation when we went to  "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat,"  put on by Theatre Memphis. You know Pharaoh? The Pharaoh who tells Joseph his dreams about cows and hay and asks for an interpretation? Elvis plays Pharaoh. Or Pharaoh plays Elvis. I don't know. I just know that he sang his dreams while doing Elvis-like dance moves and the Memphis crowd went wild for it! (The rest of the musical was well performed - one can't go wrong with Andrew Lloyd Webber as the composer. Alex and I still catch ourselves humming tunes from the different songs).


Alex certainly got a feel for the town, and I became reacquainted with some of my favorite spots as well as learning a few new places. And, of course, we thoroughly enjoyed our stay at my grandmother's house, meeting her friends, helping my aunt redecorate and rearrange her room, and having several good conversations. Thanks, Memphis, for showing us a good time. And thanks Ga (and Boo) for showing us Memphis!

A better way to dine

So this whole cooking dinner every night thing?  I think I finally figured it out. Or at least have developed a system that I am going to try for a few months.


The problem with dinner at Apartment 61 is that Alex and I both get home at about 6:00. If I want to work-out after work (which I usually do), then it takes me until 7:00 before I even start dinner prep. Plus, my feet are tender little dysfunctional things, which makes standing for a long time to cook an UN-comfortable option.


For a long time I have been winging it. Buy whatever meat and vegetables are on sale, throw them in to the crock-pot with some rice and broth and *VOILA* -- you have soup. Fry up an egg, melt some cheese on top, warm a few corn tortillas - instant dinner.


Now, I am not opposed to these quick, easy and pretty satisfying meals.  Not opposed at all. However, after one particular crock-pot experiment, where I had combined potatoes, carrots, onions, spices and beans, and everything ended up tasting like beans, and I couldn't even finish one bowl for the overwhelming bean taste, and we had tons and tons of leftovers that we forced ourselves to eat, I decided it was time for CHANGE.  I decided I needed to plan at least one meal per week that I actually wanted to eat, rather than looking hungrily at all of Pioneer Woman's recipes and taking no action.  I decided to take control of our dinner life.


However, all of my above listed "handicaps" still stood.  No time. No energy. No feet.  So, I decided to start small.  One new recipe per week. Plus one egg-dish per week, and one pasta dish per week (eggs and pasta are basic foods that can be changed with little effort so you don't mind eating them more frequently). Here is the system I came up with, which operates on a two week basis:


Week#1:
Monday -- eggs
Tuesday -- recipe (chicken or fish)
Wednesday -- leftovers of recipe
Thursday -- pasta


Week#2:
Monday -- eggs
Tuesday -- recipe (beef or sausage)
Wednesday-- leftovers of recipe
Thursday -- pasta


Does that not seem like the most exciting thing to you? Maybe not.  But it was slightly revelatory for me --  it makes life predictable on some days and experimental on others, which I think is good.  AND the predictable dinners are usually quick-to-make, which equals less time on my feet. This week we had breakfast burritos on Monday (predictable) and Mediterranean meatloaf with boiled potatoes and broccoli on Tuesday (experimental).

A picnic, indeed.

In the past two or so weeks, I have had the following phrase go through my head multiple times :
"I could eat this every day for the rest of my life."


Anyone who knows me knows that this kind of contentment spoken about food is rare.  I never want to eat the same thing twice in a weeks period.  I get bored quickly, and sometimes would rather be hungry then eat that plain sandwich that stares me in the face day in and day out when I take my lunch out of the fridge at work. (This became true enough that I switched to salads, which more easily offer opportunity for variety and creativity). 


When I make dinner I rarely like making the exact same thing twice - always throw in a couple different spices, a different type of pasta, dice up some onion or garlic or pepper, etc.  To me the fun in food is the discovery of some new mixture of flavors and variations of texture that make a dish yummy.


Anyways, the funny thing is that each of these dishes (that I vowed I could eat every day for the rest of my life) were sort-of simple.  They called for no recipes and no extra spices. None of them were fancy dinner dishes, either, all breakfast or lunch. Also, none of them were desserts which is surprising considering my giddiness over all things sugar. They included:


-peanut butter granola with plain yogurt
-oatmeal with raisins and bananas and walnuts
-a Ciabatta grilled sandwich wit prosciutto, pesto, havarti and ham
-an egg with salt and pepper, buttered toast
-Mango


What about you guys? Any foods you think you could eat (or do eat) every day (for the rest of your lives)??

Pink Lady

I recently discovered in conversation with a co-worker a common choosiness in types of apples we are willing to eat.  Apples cannot be so tart they demand I drink a glass of water to balance the acidic taste in my mouth.  And apples that are at all soft make me want to gag. Generally, I used to base my apple preferences on color - I know that the green granny smith is really tart. I know that the red delicious apples often are underfirm and disappoint the eater's desire for that first crisp bite.  So, for a time, I thought the perfect balance of sweetness and crispness lay in the apples of the...tye-dyed variety.


I was wrong. This fall I tried buying various kinds of tye-dyed apples. I discovered that Braeburn apples are mushy. Fuji, Gala, McIntosh....all failed. My theory was ruined. Lesson: Do not base all decisions off of color.
Anyways, after this long search, I did eventually find the perfect apple (for me).  And, it did fit into my color expectations.  It's the Pink Lady. And it is delicious. Though my regular grocery store does not sell them, Trader Joes offered generously sized ones for fifty cents a piece.


(Note: I have learned again the wisdom of specificity when performing a google search.  "Pink Lady Apple" led to much more cooperative results than simply "Pink Lady". Try for yourselves.)


............................................................


Pink Ladies are now out of season. And now, even when I travel to more than one grocery store in pursuit of the perfect apple, I come up with a small, softer than usual Pink Lady. This is sad.


Also, tonight I spent two hours ironing, making lunches and preparing tomorrow night's dinner. This is a little bit sad.


Also, the musical artist who used to help me get through my essays and studying is now helping me get through my ironing. I think this is more happy.

Valentine's Day 2010

Yesterday, (which was a Friday, which was the end of a work week) Alex and I came home (after an especially long work day) and tried to decide what we should do for our "date night". Friday nights are our date nights, and traditionally have been even from the initial stages of our relationship in our sophomore year in college, when, with the combination of limited "open-hours" in our dorms, roommates with varying schedules, and a college-man's budget,  dates had to be very creative. Alex did an admirable job coming up with creative ways to work around these obstacles, my favorite being his "Christmas in September" date which involved decking one of the cafeteria tables with Christmas lights, music and fake snow, having me open a "stocking" full of things from the dollar store, making sugar cookies in our dorm kitchen, and finally, watching White Christmas on his laptop up on the soccer field, with blankets and  cookies to keep us warm.  However, on the days when we were too tired from unrelenting homework and the exhausting duties of college-life (like having to do (and pay for!) our laundry), the most creative idea we could muster was to grab dinner at the school cafeteria, maybe get something from starbucks and watch a movie on his laptop in one of the library's study rooms.

So last night our date night consisted of throwing together a dinner of grilled cheese sandwiches and tomato soup, watching an episode of "Community" (on his laptop), debating for 30 minutes whether we should watch another episode or read, reading, and falling asleep on the couch by 8:45 p.m. What a wild life we live.

Actually, the real reason we had such an uninteresting "date night" is because we are celebrating Valentine's Day today.  Sorry if I misled you to think that we are boring homebodies (really we are, 90% of the time).

So with that, I'm going to go make us chocolate chip pancakes. I will attempt to make them heart-shaped, in spirit of the holiday, but since I have no heart-shaped mold they will probably look like blobs. Over and out.

It's not that hard to cook.

Alex and I have been going on quite the food adventure lately.  While I'm sorry to say that I have no pictures to prove it (camera malfunction), I do have words to describe these dishes. So I will use them. Bear with me, if you'd care to.


#1:  Bagels


On Saturday, we made bagels.  Basic how-to -- Mix yeast, warm milk and a bit of bread flour in a bowl. Let sit. Add more bread flour, egg yolk, oil, sugar, salt. Let sit for longer, preferably somewhere warm. Roll dough into balls and poke out center. Let sit. Poach bagels (place in simmering water for 3 minutes each side). Brush with egg white and whatever flavor you want it to have.


Alex and I made 16 small(er) bagels in 8 flavors:
thyme, dill, oregano, cinnamon/sugar, salt, garlic salt, raisin, & cumin/oregano.  They are delicious. Warm with butter.


#2:  Slow-cooking. Simple instructions and few ingredients -   mix together dijon mustard and orange marmalade and pour it over pork-chops with thyme, salt, pepper, and a little bit of water.   Cook it on low for 6-7 hours. (Because our work days are more like 10 hours, I made this the night before and let it cook while we slept. Discovery: Cooking pork is NOT the first thing you want to smell at 6 in the morning).


#3:  Weeknight dinner by myself. Cooking just for myself allows me a little more freedom, as I don't have to worry about accidentally feeding Alex things he might not like.  I can...experiment more.  So tonight for dinner I decide to try my luck at poaching an egg.  I had decided this before randomly coming across an article in a food magazine on how to poach an egg.  I knew it was fate.


For all the hype (see "julie & julia"), it really wasn't that hard.  I think the secret is (which my cooking magazine let me in on) to break the egg into a ramekin before you slip it into the boiling water.  Then, as you are placing it in, be careful to let water into the ramekin as the egg slides out.  Makes for a smoother transition, I think.  Once you have it in there, you just have to control the whites so they don't spread out all over the pan. The only thing I would adjust next time is the length of time I leave it cooking.  I probably left it for about 3 minutes, but the yolk was very runny. Please imagine the rest of the dinner with a firmer set yolk. Please do not interpret that last sentence in any way but that which I intended.


The rest of the dish? Polenta fried in olive oil with tomato sauce, edamame, and cooked cabbage.  Seasoned with - dill and garlic salt (really, I use dill and garlic salt way too often for seasoning. But we like it. and it was good for the polenta/veggie mix). Oh, and just regular salt and pepper for the egg. Can't be too creative the first time you poach an egg.


It's health food, people, and it's good. and economical. and not that hard to cook.

Weekend Getaway (with a focus on food)

This weekend Alex and I had the chance to get away to Cayucos, a small, sleepy beachtown just up the coast from Pismo and just south of Cambria.





How nice it is to leave town, even for a couple of days.  Alex and I spent Friday afternoon driving, and arrived Friday night with just enough time to peruse the tiny grocery store and pick up a few essentials (essentials, for us, were tortilla chips, corn tortillas, hummus, apples, bacon, milk, eggs, cheese (gouda and cheddar) and butter. Oh, and two pints of icecream. we also brought popcorn and candy. Not the most well-rounded diet. so what.)
Saturday we perused antique shops and went wine-tasting. And then we went out for dinner. And oh my, was it delicious.  And affordable.


Every January, the upscale restaurants in the wine country area participate in something called restaurant month.  In this, the restaurants offer three course meals with wine pairings for only $30.  This is a good deal, people.


My meal consisted of (sorry for the absence of wine pairings, I can't remember any of them):


1st course: baby greens tossed in a citrus vinaigrette, with a warm goat cheese round, tomatoes, cooked onions, and HALF A BULB OF ROASTED GARLIC (with a miniature fork to remove the cloves).


2nd course: salmon with wasabi mashed potatoes (probably my favorite part of the meal), green beans, and cooked spinach


3rd course: ginger creme brulee. with fresh berries. and orangey spicy jelly stuff.


There you have it. A memorable meal.


Alex and I thoroughly enjoyed a relaxing weekend away. And after a drive back on wet roads, with rainfall and traffic, we are safely home.