Reasonably So

The ice cream is Peach Cobbler. Diced canned peaches and shortbread cookie chunks in a sweet cream base (with a little bit of the syrup from the can). It’s also just supposed to whet your appetite for more to come. My hard drive died, so my computer was on vacation for a few days. This means good and bad news.

The good news is I have twice as big a hard drive than I did before.

The bad news is I’m a little behind in blog posts. This is also a busy week, but I’ve got lots of ideas rolling around, so stay tuned.

If you haven’t figured it out yet, I am practicing my grilling skills as often as possible. Why?

1) It’s summertime. Grilling season!

2) WHY NOT?

Last night’s grilling adventures involved a re-do of the Basil Mint Lemon marinade I used for the Father’s Day swordfish. As I mentioned in that entry, I wanted to try putting all the sauce ingredients in the food processor. So I did, and it worked out beautifully! I changed things around a little bit… First and foremost, I used chicken (marinaded in the pesto-like sauce for about an hour and a half). For the sauce itself, I added salt (to taste), pepper (to taste), and sugar (1 tsp.) to the mint/basil/lemon juice/olive oil combo. Delicious!

(more…)

MMM! For the 4th, I took another spin at grilled pizza. This time, I had a helpful assistant to help take some pictures while we prepped and cooked. We accompanied the pizza with grilled asparagus and corn. Another lousy meal…. HA. Yeah right. Hopefully the following pictures will help you in your own grilled pizza making adventures.

(more…)

I think I’ve earned it.

My dad and stepmom are heading for Africa today. I’ve been living with them for a few weeks and now will continue to enjoy the 6-burner professional stove, propane grill, and the non-stickiest pots and pans in their absence (I will also be feeding the cat, watering the plants, and bringing in the mail/papers). Last night I really wanted to cook something for them so they wouldn’t have to worry about dinner but would sleep with full bellies, readied for their long flights.

And, OH, how full our bellies were!

Ladies and gents, I present to you: Grilled Pesto Pizza with Spinach, Tomato, Orange Bell Pepper, and Prosciutto.

(more…)

SCENE: Last night, in the kitchen.

STEPMOM (watching me sautée mushrooms, tomatoes and onions with sweet basil chicken sausages): You are your father’s daughter! I never could grasp the concept of cooking for one.

SELF (sautéing): When I know I can cook a delicious meal and have the time for it, why would I do anything else?

Yes, I am confident in my cooking skills. When people ask me if I am a good cook, I affirm wholeheartedly. How do I know? Because when I eat the things I have made, they taste wonderful. I’ll be the first to admit that I am most certainly not an expert chef, but I have learned enough about the subtleties of flavor that I can walk around a grocery store and formulate a meal.

In that passing conversation with my stepmom, I realized that those one-person-meals I’ve always made for myself are exactly how I learned to cook well. The risks aren’t quite as high (i.e. only you will know it is too salty/undercooked/overcooked/bland), so the stress of cooking for yourself is way lower. Sure it can be tough to scale down big recipes (easy fix: learn how to use the freezer and love leftovers–some sauces, soups, and stews taste better with time) or intimidating because you don’t want to ruin expensive ingredients, but you’ll never learn unless you try, RIGHT?

My point is that it is NOT hard to be a good cook. Really, it isn’t.

(more…)

I’ve been working hard to take good care of my body, lately: eating as best I can, drinking lots of water, getting good exercise, and sleeping as well as I can.

Water is the one that I’m most pumped about today. I’ve been looking into water bottles for a few months (I try to be an informed consumer), because I’d heard so much about regular plastic and even Nalgenes being unhealthy in the long-run. I’d been a Nalgene fan for years (I had four different bottles by them), but didn’t want to drink toxic water anymore.

The first alternative I learned about was Sigg- made of aluminum, cool designs on the bottles, eco-friendly… good! Not so good: the coating on the inside has been targeted as a potential hazard (I don’t know the specifics, really, but a coating on the inside of a water bottle seems counter-intuitive). Then I learned about Klean Kanteen, made of stainless steel with no coating–simple bottle design, but I dig simple. Priced about the same as the Sigg, I was confident I had found my bottle-to-be.

My stepmom has a Klean Kanteen, so I asked her where in the area I could find one. As she was telling me, my dad jumped in and said “Oh! I have a water bottle you could have!”

“A Klean Kanteen?”

“No, but it’s stainless steel.”

So I checked it out… boy oh BOY did I check it out. I took this thinksport bottle for a spin over the past two days:

,

I am floored about this water bottle. Never have I met a water bottle so successful at being a water bottle.

(more…)

My dears, I have a few things to report on. Food related things! I love food.

1) I just finished reading Heat by Bill Buford.

It was a graduation gift, and a great one, at that. It is an excellent book, and I highly recommend it if you like to cook, even a little bit. It reminded me that I can do whatever I want in the world as long as I have a good reason, forced me to realize that restaurant cooking is NOT my dream job, and inspired me to reach for more in my own kitchen–I can be an even better cook than I already am. This last point leads me to item 2…

2) I finished reading Heat on the morning of Father’s Day. Last year for Father’s Day, my sister and I cooked/grilled up a feast for my dad, and especially after being inspired to be a better cook, I was so ready to take that on again. This time my stepmom helped me. One of the things I’m trying to focus on lately is more seasonally-geared eating. I found a few recipes that seemed mid-June friendly and seemed like they would work well together. I didn’t take pictures (sorry), but I found some on the net so you can drool as you think about how good they probably tasted.

(more…)

I am a Red Sox fan. I have a hat, and a keychain bottle opener. I am also, however, an inconsistent fan. If you were a bully, you might call me a fair-weather-friend of the Sox because I only watch the post-season, but you would be wrong (sort of).

I only watch during the post-season because for the past two years, I have lived in two houses with no televisions and one apartment with a television but no cable. No cable means no NESN. No NESN means no regular season games (at least very few). The post-season is on network television, so it’s all I get. Even tomorrow’s game is on NESN. The opener? Really? Thanks, guys. However, I wouldn’t watch it anyway. NOT because I don’t want to, but because I just can’t think about baseball until after April 22nd (MY SHIT IS DUE IN TWO WEEKS??!?!!!!). And even then, I still won’t have a TV and cable until July at the earliest (even that is still up for debate…).

All that said, I’m going to be a real grown-up soon, and being a real grown-up means that if I don’t pick up some consistent hobbies, I will be subject to a swift kick in the head by Boredom. Grown-ups like baseball, right? Or do they only like to listen to smooth jazz and discuss nature documentaries while sipping on a glass of rosé. It will be more likely that I will watch the Sox with wing sauce all over my face and a cold mug of beer in my paw. Maybe being a grown-up isn’t so scary after all.

I am in high-stress mode. I have three weeks until my senior thesis work is due. THREE WEEKS. And only TWO DAYS until the performance I’ve been producing/directing happens. My back is in knots, I am weary no matter how much sleep I get, and my capability to speak in full sentences is incredibly diminished. BUT, for your sake and mine, I am trying to relax. I’ll tell you how.

1) Wednesday night, I will be getting a 1-hour massage. Hopefully that will reduce my physically manifested stress by a LOT.

2) I’m also trying to think of comforting things in general. I’m going to take you to one of my happy places…

We are sitting on the couch in our favorite comfortable clothes. We are drinking cold beers. Maybe a Red Hook ESB or Brooklyn Pennant Ale ‘55. (If you’d rather hold a cup of tea or water, that’s fine, too).

(more…)

Hungry Mother. HUNGRY MOTHER.

Alon and Rachel Munzer, have stepped expertly and gracefully from Mom & Pop breakfast/lunch gem, the original Rachel’s Kitchen (RIP), to comfy chic full service bar and dinner. And they are no fools… they’ve got a great team, and they really know how to make earth tones and minimalism work in their favor.

Barry Maiden, a Virginian well-schooled in French cuisine, is a genius for the following three reasons.

1. I worshiped the Roasted Chicken with Sweet Potato Spoonbread and Red-Eye Gravy Jus (I am salivating just from typing that)

2. My hungry mother (seriously, she was there) was blissfully sated by the Cornmeal Catfish with Collard Greens, Cauliflower Grenobloise and Mustard Vinaigrette and…

3. My man gobbled up the Bourbon Braised Pork Shoulder with Creamy Grits.

For all three of us: Love at first bite. And second. And third. Barry-Maiden-Love is cooked into every bite.

John Kessen (I believe he’s manager? Correct me if I’m wrong) may have been nervous on opening night, but his comfortable chit chat and winning smile made us feel quite at ease.

All-in-all, it was a dining experience worth noting: From the familiar-Rachel’s-Kitchen-friendly smiles to the mouthwatering treats to the cookbook pages from “The Virginia Housewife” on the bathroom walls to way-reasonable pricing considering the caliber of the food to the excellent draught selection to the Ball Jar drinking glasses to the cast-iron skillet on the wall.

Good work, Hungry Mother. I am thrilled about our future together.