reality bites

Sometimes our lives sort of resemble more really good dreams than reality- an enjoyable blur of romantic candlelit dinners and wandering around holding hands.

And then reality snaps back and you go SELF LET’S GET ON THIS.

To that end- perhaps you noticed the abundance of hanging out with Steve at my house on this blog. Almost like no one else was at my house.

Well, that was because my mother was in Antarctica. Well, actually, HILARIOUSLY, she was in Antarctica for a work trip, worked for about a day, headed to the airstrip for a flight to the South Pole, went back to the van that was dangerously high above the ice to get altitude-sickness pills for SOMEONE ELSE, and broke her pelvis.

My Mom Broke Her Pelvis in Antarctica. Word, Erin, it really would be a great name for a band.

And then she was airlifted out, and was stranded in a New Zealand hospital for a week or so.

Seriously.

So she is home, and I do the best I can for her singlehandedly hauling a queen sized mattress around (go, self!), fetching things she needs, and, of course, making her comfort food the best way I know how.

 

I entirely have my cousin Rachel to thank for this recipe. We were talking about macaroni and cheese (because what better topic of conversation is there, quite frankly?) and she said “there’s a Moosewood recipe that involves a lot of cabbage and cottage cheese and it’s really nothing like macaroni and cheese but it’s delicious.”

I take recommendations for food from Rachel VERY VERY VERY SERIOUSLY, as she is one of the best cooks and THE best baker, bar none, that I know.

Also, Rachel, should update her blog more.

I pulled out my Moosewood (which was in all likelihood purchased by my mother back in the day when everyone had Birkenstocks and a Moosewood cookbook) and as usual admired the adorable layout and design elements.

Then got to prepping and was overjoyed at the quantity of vegetables involved.

  

And, to add to the joy, then you sauteed them in butter.

Literally all they said was saute them in butter. Bit vague. So I used about a tablespoon? And a butter-canola oil blend, for your heart dontcha know. For seasoning, caraway seeds. LOVE THOSE!

 

In went cabbage, shredded; carrots, sliced; and half a pound of mushrooms, sliced. Cooked til nice ‘n tender.

 

Meanwhile I whipped up the cheese mixture: cottage cheese (lots), sour cream (not as much as it called for- I was finishing off a small tub- but still plenty!), a shredded Swiss-Gouda blend (what I had, I”m sure anything would be good), minced scallion, chopped red onion, chopped green pepper.

 

My pasta (the recipe actually CALLED FOR whole wheat macaroni, and now that I”ve tasted it I’ve gotta say it probably wouldn’t have even been GOOD with the white kind of pasta. Yay!) was done early, so you were supposed to butter it but instead I just threw it in with the buttery veggies, thus infusing it with flavor and keeping it from sticking together.

All together, it barely fit in my big baking dish!

Baked at 350 and it made the whoooooole houuuuuuuuuuuse smell soooooooooo gooooood!

And out it came wonderfully brown and bubbly (though in the interests of honestly, it was also kind of wet. Which makes sense. A lotta water-rich vegetables in this bad boy).

  

And then I made myself up a bowl and sat admiring the beautiful coloration.

  

AND THEN MY EYES SPUN BACK IN MY HEAD CAUSE LORDY LORDY IT IS JUST SO DELICIOUS. No it really isn’t even remotely like mac n cheese. But man oh man oh man Whole Wheat Macaroni Russian-Style from Moosewood, you are entering my rotation. You are entering my LIFE. And you have brought OH SO MUCH JOY TO IT!

There are just SO MANY GOOD THINGS IN IT and there is just SO MUCH AWESOME FLAVOR IN EVERY BITE. Caveat: if you don’t like onions, don’t make this. There are many onions, in many forms. But Godddddddd they just get so sweet and amazing and flaaaaaaaaaavorful!

 

So I am notoriously lazy about baking recipes that I bookmark- I have roughly 3000, about 4 of which I have actually made.

However, I read this recipe for cranberry oatmeal beer bread in Food for Laughter (which in case you are not a longtime reader is what I want my blog to be when it grows up).

I read it on Wednesday and I made it on Saturday.

OH EM GEE IT IS GOOD.

Following substitutions:

1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 1/2 cups white whole wheat flour instead of 2 cups whole wheat flour+1/2 cup white flour
Stevia baking mix (because I, er, remembered I’d had it sitting in my pantry for six months) instead of turbinado sugar. Thus, used less- 1/4 cup- cause stevia is STRONG.
Mix of dried and fresh cranberries cause I didn’t have enough dried

Sweet, earthy, moist and crumby bliss. Lady, you are a PRO!

    

And so we return to routine. Bosses are mean to us, the weather is cold, the Bears lose the playoffs, we spend too much on almond milk because we forget to bring our coupons to the grocery store.

Reality bites.

But we persevere, and we make things to feed those we love because it means something to keep someone alive, quite literally with your food, but also to nourish them in the more metaphysical sense. To say “it takes you ten minutes to scoot down the stairs to the kitchen, but when you get there your firstborn will be waiting with a hot dish and encouraging words!”

To end on a sweet(er) note, my mom’s convalescence meant a delivery of an Edible Arrangement from her coworkers.

Those chocolate covered bananas are DANGER!

Edible Arrangement, I wish I knew how to quit you.

endless celebration

Last weekend was Steve’s birthday! Yay yay Steve was born!

I won’t tell you how old Steve was turning since he is hilariously angry that he is older than I, but will tell you that it really doesn’t matter since he will likely get carded til he is 70.

Lookit this boyish charm!

Plus, yknow, the ice cream cone, hahahaha.

He enjoyed that on a beautiful Saturday afternoon in Oldtown (I declined, since we were about to eat dinner and I, unlike my beloved, have only one stomach).

We dragged ourselves away from morning crosswords and farmers market and idleness and strolled about by the river, which turned out to be absolutely gorgeous. The ducks were out in full stride, despite the (cool and artful looking!) panes of ice floating about.

  

I know dinner would be a big part of the birthday festivities, since Steve eats more than anyone I know. The challenge presented itself because Steve is the tricky combination of 1. Environmentalist and 2. Dude

Being like many men, he likes to eat dead animals. Being a lover of the planet, he knows that the slaughterhouse industry wreaks havoc through corn feeding, antibiotics, and all the nastiness that makes Food, Inc. such an unappetizing movie.

Fortunately, a solution presented itself in my inbox via Groupon: Grassroots Station, a newish restaurant that promised delicious food from organic, local sources. And they had meaty meat meat!

We ended up wandering in for a sort of early dinner (thus the abundance of children in the pictures- there was an organic kids menu and the yuppie parents were out in full stride).

I wandered around taking pictures of the cute, informal decor. I ended up chatting with the waiter when I told him I wrote a blog and he said that the woman who owned it had owned the hair salon next door for 7 years and just opened the restaurant. All of the artwork inside is hers!

The restaurant is clearly still pretty new and finding its pace, and thus pretty low on frills (you have to go around the building, outdoors, to get through the bathroom, and pass through a door marked “do not enter.” Kinda sketch.)

The kitchen was open to the restaurant and quite bare bones, but everything looked beautiful and fresh and made to order. There’s a dozy bar area where you can watch all the action—I might sit there next time!

We began with seriously yummy herby bread

Then got the MEAT ON. We immediately agreed to order the sliders, which I’d eyed on the online menu and then the chalkboard (who doesn’t love a restaurant with a chalkboard, right Sarah?!) and then arrived three adorable, organic baby burgers!

 

Sooooooooooooo simple. Bun, patty, cheese, lettuce and tomato, mustard, (mayo?).

But guys.

This meat. THIS WONDERFUL MEATY MEAT!

 

Cannot for the life of me remember the last time I had a proper beefy burger. TOO LONG. This was among the most juicy and delicious burgers I’ve ever tasted (lets be real: it’s cause I’m sure there was a WHOLE LOTTA FAT in this bad boy!) and seriously it is magic when you take a bite out of a fat little burger and all its juicy goodness soaks into the bun… nom!

Steve followed his meat with smore meat. A sausage sub. But wait… oh wait… the yellow things?

Potatoes! Meat and potatoes! On a bun! With cheese on top!

Has there ever been any better man meal in the history of meals? Well perhaps if there was an open fire and a football game and no indoor bathroom to use afterwards.

He gave me a taste and it was decidedly excellent.

I, meanwhile, followed my burger with a vegetarian platter. Because I am nothing if not ironic.

In my defense, it was Ethiopian food. In my experience it is basically impossible for me to

1. Not order Ethiopian food if it is on the menu and
2. Not completely finish a plate of Ethiopian food

I kept seeing this beautiful colorful platter coming out of the kitchen, and I knew it had my name written all over it.

From the left to the right we have curry-flavored yellow split peas (but a decidedly subtle and nuanced curry, not your typical Indian-style dish, with a wonderful nuance of smoky background heat); deliciously oily and garlicky sauteed spinach; and my absolute FAVORITE, red lentils. Holy goodness. All Ethiopian red lentils are delicious, but in my experience every Ethiopian place has one thing that they do REALLY REALLY EXCEPTIONALLY WELL and this was theirs. I cannot even guess at the seasoning except to say that it was glorious.

And, of course, wonderful injera to soak it up.

I had a wonderful conversation about injera with a kid at work. We were doing Kids Cook (the food bank that gives the kids their afterschool snack also gives a serious of cooking lessons) and this girl started talking about the food her mom makes at home, and goes “Yeah, we eat it all with the sponge…” and I go “Injera?! Your mom makes injera?! That wonderful bread?” and she looks at me and goes “Um… yeah, it’s not really bread.”

So let it be noted, if you are Ethiopian this is “sponge”. Also, her mother uses a pancake griddle to cook it. Duly noted. SOMEDAY I will make this.

 

A delicious sponge indeed. Not quite as moist as sour as some places (and I like my injera MOIST and SOUR) but the whole eating experience was quite exquisite.

And I becoming absurdly joyful when there are free mints. Why? I do not know.

Aaaaaaaand because Steve always has to one-up me when I do something nice for him…

and because it was Restaurant Week, also known as my favorite holiday….

and finally because it was Wednesday, the day our kids have early release and therefore we spend 6 hours with them, and moreover it was their first day back after a four day weekend in which they likely spent the entire time playing video games until cerebrospinal fluid leaked out their ears and instead of our typical four Americorps members we had one out sick and another at an appointment and therefore it was Kyle and me with 40 KIDS ALL UP ON US

… we went out for a classy four course dinner!

We went to Mie N Yu, taking a lovely stroll through Georgetown to their sexy-fied inside… which was too dim and sexyfied to take a proper picture of.

 

Still, I found that blur to be sort of evocative.

Their menu, meanwhile, was quite PROvocative!

For restaurant week you got a grand total of FOUR courses. Stoked!

#1: Butternut Squash Soup. Cashew salsa. Curry lime crème fraiche.

 

Vair nice. I love eating a new soup and trying to decode the spices in it. I failed entirely on this one. That cashew stuff on top? It had dried bananas in it. SO awesome!

#2: Char Masala Lamb Kabobs. Kabobs served with carred local vegetables and roasted cilantro yogurt sauce.

Best. Thing. Ever. In retrospect I could’ve eaten four courses of… this.

The lamb was made into patties… I spose they must’ve used ground lamb? But they used high quality because there was no gristle, no sense of fattiness. Just meltingly tender perfectly seasoned lamby goodness, redolent of delicious smoky spices, on a bed of delicious vegetables.

Y’all know I am not a huge meat person but crikey, give a Greek girl some good lamb and she is HAPPY.

#3: Miso Glazed rockfish. Crispy mushroom rice cake and a soy ginger beurre blanc.

  

The fish was SERIOUSLY oily. I kind of got overwhelmed by it. It was a bit much.

However, let me call your attention to the blob of awesomeness to its side. Let me dissect it for you:

You know those deep fried risotto balls at Italian restaurants? It was that. Except with mushrooms and ginger so it had fun Asian flavors. It was SMASHING (though pretty intense. So I pawned one off on Steve. I also gave him one of my lamb kabobs. And like a third of my fish.)

He, meanwhile, got the Moroccan Beef: braised beef with apricots, raisins, dates, prunes, cinnamon, honey, saffron, roasted root vegetables.

Quite honestly? It tasted like beef stew. With some fruit thrown in. Unremarkable.

Finally, dessert.

#4: Chocolate coconut cake. With cherries and Cointreau Noir.

  

So. Boring. A dry uninspired chocolate cake with some coconut sprinkled on top.

The sauces were good.

Best part of the whole night: I told our waiter we were still celebrating Steve’s birthday and in a wonderful stroke of luck our waiter was (seriously) an aspiring actor who wanted to “get out of his comfort zone” so he THEATRICALLY and LOUD ENOUGH FOR THE WHOLE RESTAURANT TO HEAR serenaded my boyfriend with an EXTREMELY OPERATIC rendition of “Happy Birthday.”

It. Was. Awesome.

Steve perhaps would tell you otherwise :D

On the topic of Steve- embarrassed not to’ve posted this ALREADY, but Steve started a tree-huggin’ earth-lovin’ blog! Check out his quest to get green heat, cut his car mileage in half this year, and generally do good for Mama Earth.

Presenting: Planet Wisely.

lazy

So I am what they call a doer, and this spring/summer, I was sort of visibly going insane without a job to get done and a daily routine and a general feeling of… business.

But man I have been so lazy lately. I have been ROCKING my leisure time.

All I want to do is hang around with Steve and eat food. There has been a lot.

A lovely tableau in my living room…

(Actually this was a decidedly low-key soup and salad because we had seriously spent the ENTIRE DAY eating.)

But on a more exciting evening, I strolled down after a workout to discover my love in my kitchen, listening to This American Life on my laptop, making me fajitas. This. is. the. life.

He preps very beautifully.

And he said I had already spoiled him too much on his birthday so now I had to just sit and relax and eat. Well. Sure!

The first thing made was pico de gallo. I got to be quality control, which meant him going “Try this!” and me going “Mmm” and him going “Does it need lime?” and me going “I dunno, sure!” and then eating some more, and then going “Mmm” and him going, “Does it need jalapeno?” and me going “I dunno, sure!” and then eating some more and going “Mmm!”

 

And then I kind of just lazed around, idly surfing the internet while my boyfriend sautéed me vegetables (he is HEALTHY and ENVIRONMENTALLY AWARE too!). I would look up from time to time and admire his arms.

 

It is fun (well, if you’re a control freak like me it is fun once you have emotionally dealt with ceding your kitchen at least temporarily to someone else), it is fun to watch someone else’s cooking methodology that you never would’ve thought of.

For example instead of microwaving your tortillas to soften, why not let them get pliable by putting them atop the steaming peppers? It probably imparted some flavor, too!

 

Dinner was decidedly well rounded (quinoa, black beans, tortillas, the veggies, the pico). And because it involved Steve, it also involved Sriracha.

 

Once their tortilla domes were removed, the fillings were beauteous…

  

And Steve insisted on making me my first fajita, something whose methodology he has given a great deal of thought.

Atop the tortilla we have first quinoa and beans, then pico, then the mushroom-squash-onion mixture (the onions were SO yummy, and I’m SO glad he uses more oil than me when he cooks :D), then the pepper mixture, then MORE pico.

It was resplendent. So much so that I could not stop taking pictures.

    

Once I’d taken a few bites, he went “NO! I FORGOT THE SRIRACHA!”

This was quickly remedied.

It was a glorious, glorious, meal. Fajitas were eaten and then we just kept eating… more.

Earlier in the week I took things in a more Asian direction with my current favorite exotic ingredient:

Spicy black bean sauce! Its main ingredient is fermented black soybeans (!) and it tastes just… rich and dark and meaty and salty and intense. I like it as a sauce for mild things, because it has so much of its own flavor.

So, I pulled out some flounder. Dusted with cornstarch to (er, in theory) help it brown up in the oil and also to serve as a thickener for the sauce I planned to throw on it.

Got out my very professional peanut oil (tip: peanut oil is great for a stir-fry because it has a very high smoking point; unlike other oils it is very unlikely to burn even if you put it on high heat. If you have a hard time finding it at a regular grocery store, as can often be the case, go to your nearest Asian store. They’ll hook ya up! And as you can see, you can just hunt the foreign-looking aisles for pictures of peanuts :D)

And then what happened? I’d call this browning fail:

 

I think really this can be chalked up to the fish not being dried enough before I dusted on the cornstarch and put it in the oil, so it steamed rather than browned. Chalk that one up both to me being sort of skeeved out by any raw ingredient since I’ve been so veg-heavy lately; and the fact that I hate hate hate using paper towels because they are destroying our planet.

Anyway the fish was cooked through, if uninspiring looking. So I took it outta the pan with a slotted spoon and then tossed some sliced shrooms in the remaining oil.

Once browned and loverly, I pulled out some frozen peas (if you haven’t already caught on, I confess that these veggies were considerably less beautiful than my usual endeavors because I’d missed a farmer’s market run and the cupboard was SPARSE).

Frozen peas aren’t local and organic, yadda yadda. They are yummy. And so colorful!

 

I returned my fish, along with a bunch of the black bean sauce. The aromas became entirely tantalizing, the liquid released by the no-longer-frozen peas united with the cornstarchy fish to form a beautiful sauce, and best of all beautiful little sticky/crunchy bits formed on the bottom of the pot.

Steve and I both livvvvvvve for crunchy bits.

 

And thus my simple, clean-out-the-fridge-and-freezer stir fry was complete. Seriously, guys, get some black bean sauce. So you’ll know what I’m talking about!

 

To feed the man’s appetite, the meal was rounded out with some brown rice (I make a dry cup’s worth, since I eat about 1/4 cup’s worth and he eats 3 times as much as I do- sure enough, twas perfect!) and some Trader Joe’s shrimp dumplings.

Though now that I’ve had the real thing in Asia, Trader Joe’s dumplings just don’t arouse the passion in me that they once did, I will say that their pleasantly gingery filling makes for a surprisingly nice white wine pairing.