Food » One Off

The Day I Take the Tree Down

Family, Food, Friends, Holidays, Pictures 3 Responses »

Dec 292010

Well, it has been a wonderful Christmas Holiday. Aside from the fact that there was a distinct lack of white surrounding my Christmas, it was nice to spend time with family and friend, take some time off work, and, of course, give and get presents. My parent’s house was beautifully decorated, as usual.

But, for someone who loves to decorate for Christmas as much (and as early) as do I, once Christmas is over, I’m not overly sentimental about leaving my decorations up. I got home from Utah very early Monday morning (12:30AM), and by 2:30PM that same day, my decorations were boxed up and in the storage unit. I’m ready to move on. And, quite frankly, the sooner summer gets here, the better.

While I was home, my sister, brother-in-law, father, mother, and I had a long discussion about food and the food system in the US. For the last six months, I have not been particularly kind to myself food-wise. I’ve put on even more weight, and as of Monday morning, topped the scale at a pudgy 202.3 pounds. (It’s about 30 pounds too much for my 5’10” frame.) A large portion of that has come from fast food combined with my utter loathing of any and all forms of exercise. Part of our discussion was about how to eat more in line with what our bodies really need. None of us are likely to become hard-core vegans or anything like that (most especially because I believe that veganism or hardcore vegitarianism are NOT in the best interest of our bodies from a health perspective.) However, we all largely decided that we need to eat less meat overall.

So, when I got back, I dove right into my plan. The overall goal is to lose 25 pounds by the end of April. I’m going to do that by cutting out 95% of my fast food eating (I’m not going to give it up entirely), tracking my calories using the awesome MyNetDiary.com website and iPad app, and forcing myself to exercise at least three times a week.

At my last grocery trip, I tried putting together at least a few vegitarian/vegan options, and saving my meat for only a couple of times a week. I bought healthier pre-made foods that I can eat at home, since I think we all know that it’s extremely unlikely I’m going to cook a ton of food every night for myself. I just don’t have the time or inclination anymore. I also bought a juicer so I can try to increase my vegetable and fruit intake somewhat. (Thanks for the Kohl’s gift card, mom & dad!)

There’s one main reason I am trying to make this change: I feel disgusting. I get out of breath climbing a few flights of stairs to my office. My lower back hurts all the time. I get frequent heartburn. I’ve gotten sick more in the last year than I have in the last five years put together. I don’t have very much energy. I need to drop this weight and start feeling healthy again.

There’s also one other reason that I’m making this change: I’ve picked my vacation for the year. I’m going to go swim with the wild dolphins off the northern coast of the Bahamian island Bimini this year in the autumn, and I would just as soon they didn’t mistake me for an injured manatee. It’s bad enough I’m going to be Casper-The-Ghost white when I get there, I’d just as soon not be bloated as well. It’s going to be a trip of a lifetime, and I want to make sure that I’m not self conscious about my fat rolls the whole time I’m down there.

So, I’m looking for good low-calorie meals…particularly those that are either missing or light on the meat. I would also prefer to have recipes that take advantage of the foods that are currently “in season”—something of a misnomer in the middle of winter, but you know what I mean. Let’s just say I’m not going to be cooking with fresh strawberries right now.

So far, I’ve got a few recipes scheduled to try out, and if I find any that are any good, I’ll re-post them here for anyone else who happens to be chugging along the same path.

After that, the only thing left to do is try to avoid the siren song of the Dairy Queen…the shrill little Harpy.

Sugar Rush, Cavities, and Crappy Cooking

Food No Responses »

Dec 062010

So, it’s 11:35 PM on Sunday night as I am sitting down to write this blog post, and I’m totally on a sugar high right now. But I can tell that the sugar high is peaking, and in very short order, I imagine I’m going to crash hard. So, if this doesn’t get posted until Monday night, it’s because I feel asleep in my chair in the studio before I could finish the post.

And WHY, you might ask, am I on a sugar high? It’s all Christmas’ fault. I didn’t want to eat so much sugar (yeah, right) but Christmas made me do it.

I’ve done the Christmas card thing, I’m already done with my shopping, I’ve had my decorations up since Halloween, I’m well versed in the music. (By the way, can I just say that I think Andrea Boccelli is perhaps one of THE most over-rated singers in the history of all time. He’s got a weird vibrato, a strange timbre, and most of all, ONE VOLUME THAT HE SINGS ALL THE TIME. If he’s not up in the rafters when he’s singing—and I’ll admit, he’s got a pretty good range—then his voice is just BORING. And that Christmas special he did with David Foster was so full of poo I felt like I had to go wipe when I was done watching it.)

Anyway, in order to keep the holiday spirit up, especially since the snow has melted and we’re back up into the mid 40’s during the day again, I decided that this year I would make plates of Christmas goodies to take to some of my neighbors. We used to do that all the time growing up, and I always loved it when other people brought those plates over, so I figured that would keep me in the spirit.

I was wrong.

To start off with, I decided that I would make four things to put on each plate: English Toffee (which is one of my all-time favorites), Caramel and Chocolate-dipped pretzel rods, Green and Red Fruit Jellies, and these yummy shortbread-style cookies slathered with homemade jam called Fantasy Fruit Bars which we used to make all the time growing up. I had not made any of these things myself before, but hey, I’m a very good cook. How hard could it be.

We call that last sentence Famous Last Words. Like “Hey Guys, Watch This!” Or, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the new President of the United States, Glen Beck!”

Saturday morning, I went to get the ingredients. I spent $120 on my grocery shopping trip, which is about double what I usually spend. I got home, and decided to start the toffee first. It was going along just fine. But the recipe was a very, very poor one. And I forgot the vanilla extract. And the finished product was the consistency of broken glass and tasted like burning. It went into the trash.

Then I decided I’d try making the jellies. I bloomed the gelatin. I measured out everything and boiled the sugar. I mixed it all up and put it in the specially prepared container. I let it cool. I had managed to succeeded in making red and green, pineapple and strawberry-flavored vulcanized rubber. I gave a piece to Luke, and he started chewing on it. I found the piece, completely intact with only a few tooth marks on it 30 minutes later under the dining room table. They could have used these jellies to do ballistic tests on CSI: Redmond. Into the trash.

Then I decided I’d make the jellies again with a difference recipe. This time I used pink grapefruit juice, because I though, hey! Why not? This time, I ended up with grapefruit-flavored rubber…although, admittedly with less vulcanization.

By now, the clock read 11:00PM and I decided maybe it was time to do seven loads of dishes, regroup, and try again tomorrow.

Sunday morning, I went back to the grocery store to pick up replacement ingredients. I got home, and decided to give the jellies one more try with yet another recipe. This time, from Alton Brown, who has never let me down before. I made the jellies, and they turned out okay. They didn’t taste amazing, but once you coated them in sanding sugar, they were very pretty and they tasted a little bit better. I put them each into little individual mini cupcake papers and set them aside.

Next was the caramel and chocolate-dipped pretzels. This went largely according to plan. The caramel was awesome, and I was able to dip the pretzels into the caramel and get them set up with only minor cursing. About 2/3 of the way through the dipping process, the caramel started to cool off a little, so I stuck the glass into the Microwave to heat it up for 15 seconds. Well, apparently, the caramel didn’t like being microwaved, and bubbled up all over creation. When I got the glass out of the microwave, I got molten caramel all over my hands. On the down side, I ended up being unable to finish dipping the last 1/3 of the pretzels because I dropped the glass of caramel into the sink and it shattered. On the plus side, I can now commit serious crimes without having to worry about leaving my fingerprints behind.

Oh yeah, and then I melted the chocolate in the microwave for the pretzels in the way you’re supposed you…you know, 20-30 seconds, then take it out and stir, repeating the process until it’s smooth. Well, apparently, I hadn’t realized that when the caramel volcano in my microwave exploded, it had left a large glob of caramel on the roof of the microwave. So, the chocolate was melting nicely, and then all of a sudden, this hunk of caramel charcoal fell directly into my molten Guittard chocolate, and ruined the batch. Fortunately, I had learned my lesson from the night before, and bought a double batch of ingredients for just such an occasion.

Then I decided to attempt the toffee again, this time with a recipe that hopefully sucked slightly less than Sarah Palin’s command of the English language. Everything went relatively well, and I even managed not to spill hot toffee napalm down my underpants or anything. By this time, however, I was getting seriously sick of the smell of caramelized sugar. (My entire apartment reeks of it—including all of my clothes, because I didn’t think to shut my bedroom door before I started.)

While the toffee was cooling, I happened to take a look at the jellies and noticed that, for some reason, they were excreting a very large amount of liquid. All of the sanding sugar had dissolved and left a giant sticky puddle of pink goo at the bottom of each of the little cups. I tried drying them off and rolling them in the sugar again, but by the time I got through the whole batch, the ones I had tried to retouch at the beginning were soggy again. Seeing as how they ended up not being all that good anyway, they joined the previous two batches of jellies, the first batch of Toffee, and Alton Brown’s recipe in the trash.

(On a related note: I had to take a break to take out the trash. Three bags of it.)

By this time, it was 8PM on a Sunday, and I have spent the entire @#$% weekend making Christmas goodies. I figured that the Fantasy Fruit Bars would have to remain a fantasy.

And now that it’s all over? Well, my back aches, I’ve got a headache, I’ve done about 289 loads of dishes, and I have about 4,937 left to go, I’ve had my knees locked so long standing in the kitchen that it hurts to bend them to sit down. It’s now 12:03, and all I’ve had to eat since I woke up this morning was a breakfast sandwich and candy. And I am definitely NOT in the holiday spirit at the moment.

I do love my holidays, but I think that next year, I’m going to go back to skipping the plates of holiday goodies for my neighbors…especially since most of them don’t even know my name and just know me as “the guy with the Golden Retriever.” Now, if you’ll excuse me, I can feel a sugar crash coming on. And tonight, I think I’m going to have dreams of carrot sticks dancing through my head. Any more sugar and I might just hurl.

Beef & Barley Soup Recipe

Food, Living It Up No Responses »

Nov 262010

Today is the first Black Friday in many a year that I haven’t at least made an appearance at the local shopping outlets. I’m not mentally challenged enough to go out at 3AM to troll the racks at Kohl’s, and I’d rather rip my large intestines out through my nose than venture to Best Buy for the 5AM doorbuster sales, but I usually like to go and walk around the mall at least, and soak in the joy of the season (AKA blatant commercialism). I was all set to go out to the mall and possibly to Target, and figured I better check my bank account balance before I went. And, after a very brief panic attack, I decided that shopping wasn’t going to be on my to-list for the day. (Or the next five years for that matter.)

I did need to get groceries, however, so I decided I would go get my comestibles for the upcoming week. I make my own bread, have what I needed for a week of lunches, but I wanted to make a nice hearty meal that I could reheat repeatedly during the week. I decided that, rather an experimenting with other people’s recipes, I’d just make up a new recipe for myself and settled on a beef and barley vegetable soup.

Oh my gosh, you guys. So FREAKIN’ good. I had two giant bowls of it for dinner, and I’ve got enough left for probably another four, maybe five equally large meals. And best of all, it probably cost me about $18 for all the ingredients.

Matt’s Beef & Barley Vegetable Soup

1 Pound of Stew Beef cut into very small pieces
64 Oz of Beef Broth (Low Sodium, if possible)
5 C Water
2 Carrots, Diced
2 Stalks of Celery, Diced
1 C Barley, Dry
1 Can of Garbanzo Beans (Chick Peas) drained and rinsed thoroughly
1 Med. Onion, minced
4 Cloves of Garlic, Minced
2 t. of Dried Parsley
1/2 t. Dried Thyme
1/2 t. Dried Basil
Pinch of Dried Sage
1/2 t. Freshly Ground Pepper
3 Beef Bullion Cubes
2 T Worchestershire Sauce
Olive Oil
3 Bay Leaves
Salt and Pepper to Taste

Film a large, cold pot with Olive Oil and place 3/4 of the minced onions in the pot. Put the heat on low. Add a dash of salt. Let the onions sweat until they have caramelized and turned brown. Then add Beef Stock, the rest of the onion, garlic, parsley, thyme, basil, sage, pepper, boullion cubes, and worchestershire sauce to the pot and turn up the heat to medium. Add beef and allow to cook for 30-45 minutes until beef is tender. (If you use larger chunks of beef, it may take longer). Season (salt) the broth liberally at this point to taste. Add Barley and allow to simmer for another 40 minutes until Barley is al dente. Add the carrots, celery, potatoes, and chick peas and cook until barely tender. Serve with Crusty Bread.

This would probably serve 6 people easily, and even 8 people if you were serving it with lots of other stuff.

***

On a related note, I will be delivering the Christmas Project donation tomorrow evening. I just wanted to thank those of you who helped to assist with this. I got some very generous donations, and I think that the family will be really thrilled. Thank you!

Grateful Things

Being Existential, Family, Food, Friends, Gratitude, Holidays, Luke The Dog, Ramblings, Random, The Technology Whore, Work No Responses »

Nov 142010

As previously mentioned, I may not decorate for Thanksgiving, but I do celebrate Thanksgiving. As a natural complainer, I, of all people, need to be reminded of lucky I have been in my life. Here are a few of the things I’m grateful for:

***

I ran into one of my old co-workers today, and I was again reminded how grateful I am for my job. I’m grateful that I am able to work for a company that treats its employees more like human beings and less like expendable resources. I’m grateful that I have health insurance. I’m grateful that, despite having worked there for less than six months, and having already taken two paid days off, I have nearly two weeks of paid time off accumulated. I’m grateful that I don’t have to clock my down down to the minute, and I don’t have to get approval to leave work 15 minutes early, because there is no rigid schedule.

***

I’m grateful for living in such a beautiful area. This is beautiful, not only because of the wonderful summer weather, the beautiful scenery, and the clean air, but because of the people. Of all of the places I have ever lived, I don’t think I’ve ever lived anywhere where the people were more accepting of differences. I think it’s due to the higher education level, the extremely diverse population, and the overall liberal feel of the place, but the people here just don’t seem to get so worked up over other people’s choices.

***

I’m grateful for the Internet. I’ve basically grown up with the Internet. I started using the net regularly in 1992 when I got my very first 2400 baud modem. Since then, I’ve basically lived online. You can argue whether this is a blessing or a curse, but it has become a major part of my life—one that I would be hard pressed to live without. I’ve been able to have fun, learn new skills, get and give support, make money, spend a whole lot more money, and share the things I create. I’m grateful for that young man from Lansing who just gave me his old, leftover modem to experiment with so I could join the revolution so early. (It’s strange to think that the Internet as we know it now hasn’t even been around for 20 years yet. When I started getting online, it was using Lynx and Gopher. There weren’t any graphical websites, and certainly no such thing as e-commerce. Things move quickly in the technological age, don’t they?

***

I’m grateful for my family. We don’t live close together, and haven’t for a long time. But I still feel very close with them. I’m grateful that they love me no matter what, and that even though I make choices that they may not agree with, that doesn’t diminish their love for me or mine for them. Considering what I have seen many of my friends go through with their families, I’m not really sure how I got so lucky to have mine, but I’m glad I did.

***

I’m glad that I can write in my blog, take photos, write songs, play video games, play with the dog, record audiobooks, go shopping, cook (and eat), and do all of the other things that I do in the course of my life that bring me enjoyment. I’m grateful that I get to set my own schedule, make my own rules, and live the way I want to live. I’m grateful that I can decorate for Christmas a month early. I’m grateful for my dog, my iPad, and my Tivo. I’m grateful for a car that, in five years, has only needed oil changes, new tires, and (as of this moment) new brakes. I’m grateful for my friends.

***

I’m grateful for lots of other things too, but I think I’m going to limit my schmaltziness to this list. For now, anyway. With Thanksgiving right around the corner, I felt like I had to throw in at least one Gratitude post. Last of all, I’m extremely grateful for Kaspars, the place where I have Thanksgiving dinner every years that I’m not with family. Because this is what my Thanksgiving dinner will consist of:

Carved Turkey with Rosemary, Lemon and Black Pepper Rub
Pike Place Market Ale and Honey Glazed Ham
Old Fashioned Gravy
Cranberry, Orange and Cinnamon Sauce
Annabelle’s Savory Celery, Sweet Onion & French Bread Stuffing Corn Bread Stuffing with Crispy Oysters
Whiskey Barbecue Pulled Pork
Maple Vanilla Bean Sweet Potatoes
Country Style Red Skin Garlic Mashed Potatoes
Brussels Sprouts with Shallots and Crispy Bacon
Butternut Squash, Spinach, Ricotta Cheese and Walnut Cannelloni Baked Macaroni and Cheese with Fine Herb Bread Crumb Crust
Dungeness Crab Champagne Bisque
Northwest Seafood Stew with Sun Dried Tomatoes and Basil
Black Bean and Cojito Cheese Quesadilla with Pico de Gallo
House Smoked Wild Salmon with Honey Rum Glaze
Chilled Prawn Cocktail with Horseradish Tomato Cocktail Sauce
House Smoked Penn Cove Mussels
Olive Oil Poached Albacore Tuna with Watercress and Red Bell Pepper Pesto
Roasted Cauliflower Salad with Curried Garlic Dressing
Spanish Red Snapper Escabéche Deviled Eggs with Dungeness Crabmeat Orzo Salad with Green Vegetables and Green Goddess Dressing
Caesar Salad with Focaccia Croutons and Parmesan Dressing
Thai Noodle Beef Salad with Mint, Cucumber and Lemon Dressing
Greek Vegetable Salad with Feta and Kalamata Olives
Red Cabbage and Apple Slaw with Brown Sugar Dressing
Roasted Winter Vegetable Salad with Balsamic Vinaigrette
Tomato, Basil and Fresh Mozzarella Salad
Caramelized Onion and Three Cheese Tart
Balsamic Onions with Oregon Blue Cheese
LePuy Lentil Salad with Chicken Cilantro Meatballs
Roasted Beet, Pear, Spiced Granola Salad
Ricotta Tortellini Salad with Autumn Squash and Crispy Sage Seasonal Fruit Platters
International Cheese Selection with Sesame Crackers, Focaccia, Walnut Bread, Challah, Savory Scones, Cilantro Jalapeño Corn and Bacon Muffins
Pumpkin Pie
Pecan Sweet Potato Pie
Crème Brûlée
Cranberry Tiramisu
Rustic Apple Tart
Cheesecake
Cookies
Chocolate Mousse
Banana Betty
and Many More!

A Potluck Follow-Up

Food, Living It Up, Work No Responses »

Nov 122010

So, today was the potluck at work. As mentioned yesterday, I generally don’t like potlucks. And I think I’ve figured out the reason. Mormons. Most of my potluck experiences are church potlucks. (Because, really, where else would you have a potluck?) Most of the time, though, Mormon potlucks contain Mormon food. (I bet you didn’t know that Mormons have their own cuisine did you?) I mean, one can only eat so many variations of funeral potatoes or Jello salad. Those things in and of themselves aren’t bad, per se, but there’s rarely any variety of note.

Today’s potluck was, well, astonishing. Several things contributed to the success of the potluck.

Generally, it’s an older crowd with smaller families, so most people didn’t bring tater-tot casserole or funeral potatoes. In fact, there wasn’t a single dish that I could consider a casserole.
Everyone wanted to show off a little bit.
Rather than being provided by a bunch of white midwestern housewives, the contributing members consisted of: three Indian co-workers, two French co-workers, two Chinese co-workers, a Japanese co-worker, and Americans from all over the country. I have never in my life been to a potluck where you could choose from baby back ribs, samosas, curry, cous cous, duck liver pate with cornichons, pad thai, and gumbo. I mean, seriously. I like funeral potatoes, but they can’t even compare.

My bread was a big hit. In fact, I got one of my favorite food-related compliments. One of the Frenchmen with whom I work said he hasn’t been able to get bread this good since he left France. And he offered to pay me “whatever you want” if I would bake him a loaf of bread every day. And let’s be honest…the French know from bread.

Yeah, so if potlucks were more like that, I would totally go more often. Plus, I got to take home some really yummy chick pea curry leftovers. (Note to self: learn how to cook Indian Food.)

Mmm. Food. Speaking of curry. I think I’m going to go warm some up as a pre-bedtime snack.

Potlucks, Photos, and Payments

Food, Luke The Dog, Money, Pictures 1 Response »

Nov 112010

We’re having a potluck tomorrow at work. I’m generally not a fan of potlucks. First of all, let’s be honest. Most of the food at potlucks isn’t that good. Especially when you’re having a potluck where there’s no stove or oven, and you can’t heat up your food. I’m taking my famous (to me anyway) no-knead bread. It’s in the oven right now. And, considering it’s 35 degrees outside and I still haven’t turned on my heat, it’s also warming my apartment at the moment.

(On an unrelated note, last year for Christmas, I got an electric blanket made out of a fleece material. This may be the best present I’ve ever received. And it wasn’t even on my Amazon Wish List. It’s awesome to throw that on the top of my bed and preheat the bed before I go to sleep, and keep it icy cold in my room, but be toasty and warm under my heated throw. I sleep so much better during the winter when it’s cold.)

Anyway, being a food snob and an attention hog, Potlucks, to me, are simply another avenue to show off your culinary prowess. Unfortunately, I don’t think everyone feels that way. I remember one year, for a major’s meeting in college, I baked this epic chocolate cake with candied orange rind and marbled chocolate shards across the top, and covered in a chocolate ganache icing. It was amazing. And everyone else brought store-bought cookies and bags of chips. I know I should be more accepting, but come ON, people. At least put a LITTLE effort into it.

And since I’m such a judgmental bastard, that’s why I don’t like potlucks.

***

Here are a couple more photos from my most recent photo walk. I’m putting them here just because I can, and as mentioned above, I’m an attention hog.

I know there are a lot of people who don’t like squirrels. Consider them little more than tree rats. First of all, I think rats can be adorable. Secondly, to those people I just have to ask this one question: You eat babies and murder unicorns don’t you? How can you not love squirrels. Yeah, I know. They get into bird feeders. But they’re so cute! Especially when they’re big and fat and lazy just soaking up the last rays of sun before winter. I mean, look at the little paws and white belly!

Back in Michigan where I grew up, we didn’t have grey squirrels like this. We only had black squirrels. I think the grey ones are much cuter, I have to say. Especially with their red/brown faces. These squirrels don’t have the big bushy tails that the squirrels back in Michigan had either. If I were a squirrelologist, I’m sure I could go into some in-depth discussion of the differences of squirrel anatomy, but that’s taking it a bit to far even for me.

This may well be one of my favorite photos that I’ve ever taken. I can’t really say why I like it so much, but I really do. I’m actually considering having this one blown up and framed to hang somewhere in my apartment. What do you think? Is hanging your own photos on the wall the height of pretention? And should I care? Especially when I almost never have anybody in my house? I mean, really, who’s going to judge me? Me? And who am I talking to anyway?

***

I sat down with my old friend, Excel, and did some calculating today, about how long it will take me to pay off all of my debts except my student loans. It wasn’t heartening. If I could up my monthly debt payments by $200 or so, and did the whole “pay off your debts with the smallest, highest interest debts getting paid off first” thing, then I would be able to be out of debt (except for student loans) in August of 2013. Of course, that is assume that nothing ever goes disastrously wrong, or I don’t have a major lapse in self-control. On one hand, 2.5 years isn’t so bad. On the other than, 2.5 years feels like an eternity. And that doesn’t even begin to take into account the student loans, which I don’t believe will be fully paid off until 2038 at the rate I’m going.

But, so far, so good. Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming. Eventually I will dig myself out of this hole of my own making.

***

Luke the dog is having a nightmare in the other room, and I think he’s being tortured in a Turkish Prison or something. It’s the most pathetic sound I’ve ever heard. But if I go over there and try to wake him up, he’ll growl at me. So, I’m just going to turn up the audiobook of Harry Potter and continue making bread.

In Case You Were Wondering, I’m a Big Fat Pig

Food No Responses »

Oct 172010

Remember that one time I decided that I was going to buckle down and get healthy again? You know…exercise and eat right, count my calories, become buff and become an Abercrombie and Fitch model? You don’t? Wait. Come to think of it, I don’t remember that either. Geez. What was I thinking.

Because, as the title of the blog states quite clearly, I am a big fat pig.

Friday: Someone brought bagels to work. Lunch was provided by work (pizza). I didn’t want to cook, so I got fast food on the way home. Dessert: Banana Split.

Saturday: No Breakfast. BBQ Potato chips for lunch. Dinner party with friends at which we had Homemade Ravioli, Homemade bread, sautéed zucchini noodles, and caramel apple pie.

Sunday: Chocolate Frosted Mini Wheats for breakfast. Cheese filled soft pretzels for lunch. Invited my friend Melissa over for dinner and had Chicken Parmesan with homemade fettuccini, salad (so I got at least SOME veggies this weekend), and homemade garlic bread. Then for dessert, a banana split AND a root beer float. But at least it was diet root beer.

I usually relax my food intake restrictions over the weekend, but this is ridiculous. So, to any friends that want to have dinner parties or go out to lunch over the next month, I’m sorry, but I simply can’t. I need time to digest all the food I ate this weekend before Thanksgiving gets here.

Sunshine in a Crust

Food, Living It Up 1 Response »

Oct 032010

I know I talk about pie a lot on my blog. I do so with good reason. But you guys, this was the one pie to rule them all.

This was the last week for peaches at the farmer’s market, and I simply could not let them go by without enjoying their peachy goodness one last time.

(Side note…I realized while trying to color-correct this photo that if I’m going to keep taking pictures of the food I make, I’m going to need to buy some white plates or some black plates. I love the celery green plantes I have, but they’re not the best background for orange food…it looks like an edible Zune advertisement.)

Anyway, this makes the 10th or 11th pie that I’ve made this year (I lost track a couple of months ago). I have been making pies since I was in Jr. High, thanks to the brilliant tutelage of my mom…but it wasn’t until I was in college before I started making pies where the filling didn’t come from a can. I’ve learned a lot this summer about pie making. A few tips and tricks.

If you’re going to make a pie that needs to be baked, you do NOT want to use a glass pie pan. Yes, they’re much prettier, but if you want a decent crust, you need to use a metal pie pan.
Make your dough in a food processor. It takes about 30 seconds, is super fast, and you won’t over-work the crust making it tough.
If you’re making a fresh berry pie, crush about 1/4 of the berries with your hands before adding the thickener. It’ll keep the corn starch from falling to the bottom of the pie and only gelatinizing the juices at the bottom
Bake your pie on the bottom rack of the oven, and then in the last 5 minutes, just turn on the broiler to finish the top of the pie. That way, the bottom crust will always be done.
The hardest part of making a fresh fruit pie is determining how much thickener to use. I’ve tried flour, cornstarch, and tapioca. Tapioca is my favorite, but it’s expensive, so I usually end up using corn starch unless I’m going to be taking the pie to someone else. I average about 6 cups of fruit for a pie, and use anywhere between 2T and 1/3C depending on how juicy the fruit is. For this peach pie, which turned out amazingly well, I used about 1/4C. The peaches weren’t as juicy as some I had earlier in the season, which is why I trimmed back a little.
I’m still struggling with apple pies a little bit, but I’ve found that pre-cooking the apples helps a lot. A little butter, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg in a big pot, and let the apples soften a little. Then let them cool completely, and then put them in the crust.
If you are trying to roll pie crusts without a pastry cloth, you might as well not even bother. These things are amazing. You can even buy pastry clothes that come with a little sleeve that slides over your rolling pin. It will change your pie crust rolling out life. Also, a chilled marble rolling pin is awesome for pie crusts.

I’ve still got apples for the next several months, so I’m going to start experimenting with my apple pie filling. I never seem to get it "runny" enough, nor can I get the apples as soft as I’d like them.

In non-pie related news, I was a complete and total sloth this weekend, and it was awesome.

Friday – Took the day off work to enjoy the last day of sun before the 9 months of misery that is the winter. Met my friend Melissa in Seattle and went to Ravenna park with Luke, then walked down University Ave with the dog. (He’s not used to being in an urban environment). Ran into the mother of an old former-friend…and that wasn’t at all awkward </sarcasm>. Took two naps. Made chicken and white bean chili. Played a full game of Civ 5.

Saturday – Farmer’s market for peaches. Also got fresh mozzerella, heirloom tomatoes, some summer squash, apples, asian pears, carrots, and a couple of chocolate peppers. (They’re just brown bell peppers…they don’t taste like chocolate). Grabbed a few groceries from the store. Saw Legend of the Guardians at the theater. Got an Auntie Anne’s pretzel with caramel. Made a peach pie.

Sunday – Played Final Fantasy XIII for a few hours. Watched HGTV. Took two naps. Worked on Open Book Audio stuff, took pictures of my pie, took the dog for a walk, paid rent, played the piano.

Monday – Sob, because I have to go back to, you know, working and stuff. In the spirit of "The Secret" I would like to take this opportunity to send out positive vibes to the universe that I will be independently wealthy, and will be able to spend my time doing the things that I want instead of working. And now that it’s out there in the universe, all I need to do is sit back and wait for it to come to me.

Obligatory Weekend Post

Food, Living It Up, Pictures, Ramblings No Responses »

Sep 262010

I don’t know about you, but ever since I got a "big-boy job" and started working traditional Monday to Friday hours, Sunday night always becomes a very sad time for me. Starting at about 5PM on Sunday night, I start to slip into a bit of a torpor, wherein I try to stretch out the time I have left not to do anything as much as possible. I always approach Sunday evening with the intention of being productive or doing something fun, but invariably, I end up in front of the TV and eating junk food.

I really need a vacation.

Anyway, the weekend was a pretty low-key one, but enjoyable. Friday night after work, I kicked off an effort to re-gain the five pounds I had lost in the week up to that point. I grabbed a personal pan pizza and went home to watch Date Night. And no, the irony of getting a personal pan pizza and then coming home on a Friday night to watch a movie by myself and that movie is called Date Night…yeah, that’s not lost on me. The movie was okay, but man, I do love me some Steve Carrell and Tina Fey.

Saturday was the traditional farmer’s market/grocery store run. I got the fixins for the week’s meals, then I came home and took a little nap. After that, Luke and I piled into the car and we went back to the market. He’s been a little weird around me and other people lately, so I wanted to make sure he got some practice socializing. Plus, I wanted lunch, so I went to get one of the awesome sausage, pepper, and onion sandwiches that are sold there.

I love this time of year at the market, because everything is in full production…the apples are in, but the peaches haven’t gone yet, all the veggies are still in their prime. And goodness knows where I’m going to manage to find the amazing fresh mozzerella that I use in my cooking and the existence of which makes life worth living. Plus, the colors!

After that, I came home and took another nap. Then I sat down at my computer and downloaded a demo to the new version of a computer game I used to play all the time in High School called Civilization. It was a great game, and I’ve got a version for my iPad and my Xbox, but there’s a new version that’s out for PCs only, and I’ve been wanting it for a long time. The game was a lot of fun, but it cuts off play after a certain amount of time, so I decided that I wanted to buy the full version, which I did. While that was downloading, I made dinner.

A yummy stir fry with marinated and grilled chicken thighs, udon noodles, peppers, snow peas, carrots, and edamame. I got the recipe from the Epicurious app on my iPad, and it was good, but the flavoring was off. I haven’t been able to find out why my stir fries (frys) don’t taste quite right, but nevertheless, this was pretty darn good. And it will be dinner for a couple of nights this week.

After dinner, it was back to Civilization. I played and played, and then, somewhere around 3:54AM, I realized that it was, in fact, 3:54am. Then I went to bed.

Today, I finished the game of Civ that I had been playing (only 18 hours…won’t be launching that one again for a few months), vacuumed, did several loads of laundry, three loads of dishes, and ate four cupcakes. There’s a cupcake shop that opened just a little way from my apartment, so I decided I’d give it a try. They were good, and the frosting was well made, but there was just too much of it. I’m the kind of person who likes the cake to icing ratio to be weighted far more heavily toward the cake. This was about even. It was excellent icing, though.

Here’s the thing, though…Cupcakes are okay, but they are SO easy to make at home. SO EASY. I’m glad I went, but I just don’t understand why this whole cupcake shop thing is so huge. And why, for the love of all things good and holy, does every cupcake stand have to be pepto pink, brown, and teal? Isn’t it possible to sell cupcakes with another color scheme, like pink and black, or pink and orange? (Seriously? Is pink paint mandatory to the sale of cupcakes?) If I’m going to shell out $3.00 for a little tiny dessert, I’ll go get a banana split at Dairy Queen.

Then again, I’m not really a cake person. I’m a pie guy. Which reminds me…I still need to make a peach pie before peach season is over. Oh well, I guess there’s always next week at the farmer’s market.

At least the work pager didn’t go off all weekend. And I get to hand it off to the next ~~sucker~~ coworker tomorrow. Happy weekend everyone. Here’s to hoping the week goes fast to get us back to next Friday afternoon!

The Best Banana Bread Ever

Food, Living It Up, Luke The Dog, Pictures 1 Response »

Sep 192010

I made banana bread this afternoon…something I haven’t done in a long, long time. But I had some bananas, and I had my shiny new iPad with a big ole’ recipe database just begging to be used. (BTW, the iPad is PERFECT for recipes and cooking.) I’ve always struggled with banana bread. There are SO many varieties and differences in the recipes. Some are too try, too crumbly, too bland, too banana-y. I’ve got five different recipes for banana bread in my recipe box alone. After this loaf, they all went out the window.

Ingredients:

Wet:
1 Stick of Butter, softened (NOT MARGERINE)
1 1/4 C Sugar
2 Eggs
1 1/2 C Mashed Bananas (3 large)
1/2 C Buttermilk
1 Tsp Vanilla

Dry:
2 1/2 C All Purpose Flour
1 Tsp Salt
1 Tsp Baking Soda

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat Oven to 350° if you’re using a metal bread pan, 325° if you’re using a glass pan

Mix together the dry ingredients with a whisk and set aside. Using your Kitchen-Aid stand mixer (you have one, right?), mix together the softened butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add buttermilk, eggs, bananas, and vanilla, and mix until combined. Don’t over-mix. Pour into greased and floured bread pan.

If you’re using a metal pan, bake at 350° for 60 minutes. If you’re using a glass pan, bake at 325° for approximately 90 minutes. Toothpick inserted into the center should come out clean. Once done, take out of bread pan immediate and allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes.

This loaf is dense without being heavy and has a wonderfully crunchy, sugary crust when it comes out of the oven. It’s moderately moist, but has enough structure that it actually holds together. It’s particularly good when lightly toasted and served with salted butter.

***

For those of you who aren’t on Facebook or Twitter (mom), here are some of the photos I’ve been taking lately:

As I’ve mentioned ad nauseum on my blog, I’ve been learning the Maple Leaf Rag by Scott Joplin. Ragtime music is a form of "stride piano" in which the left hand keeps the rhythm by bouncing methodically back and forth between a low base note in octaves and a higher chord in the tenor range. The right hand, meanwhile, plays the melody, usually with a fair bit of syncopation. By far, the hardest part of this style of piano is learning to make those left-hand jumps cleanly and very, very quickly. That what’s I’m doing here.

Luke is a strange dog. He doesn’t usually like being asleep when other people are around. If he falls asleep, it’s next to impossible to even walk around near him because he’ll wake up and come pad over to get the scritches that are due to him. But every once in a while, he’ll get exhausted enough that he’ll go to sleep and stay asleep even as you’re doing over things. This photo was a super-closeup I got of him sleeping.

And here’s the zoomed out version. If this is "working like a dog," where do I sign up?

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The Day I Take the Tree Down

Sugar Rush, Cavities, and Crappy Cooking

Beef & Barley Soup Recipe

Grateful Things

A Potluck Follow-Up

Potlucks, Photos, and Payments

In Case You Were Wondering, I’m a Big Fat Pig

Sunshine in a Crust

Obligatory Weekend Post

The Best Banana Bread Ever

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