Something Delicious

My Week with Isa, Day 2

2011-01-26T19:15:00.004-05:00

As it turns out, I've got plans for a few nights this week that take me away from my kitchen, so my seven days of Isa are going to stretch out over at least a week and a half. But I've got the stuff, I've got the recipes bookmarked, I'm pumped to try out a ton of delicious new things.

Monday I did have my leftover 40-clove chickpeas for lunch. And for dinner. And then for a late-night post-tattoo drunk snack, so there weren't any left for Tuesday lunch. So it goes! It was delicious all the way to the end though.

Tonight's dish isn't a new one, but I made it a little differently last time since I didn't have all the ingredients. Plus I accidentally changed the proportions of ingredients this time -- it's easy to mess things up when you're trying to read the recipe with two pans sizzling loudly on the stove.

Lettuce wraps! I actually have never ordered this in a restaurant because I guess it wasn't trendy before I became vegetarian? But this was one thing I was super stoked to make as soon as I bought AfR because I am always looking for ways to use delicious sweet and savory hoisin sauce. Plus lettuce wraps seem so fun. We did have lettuce wraps sometimes at the Korean restaurant where I worked in college, which involve romaine lettuce, steamed rice, kimchee, and big slabs of pork fat. (I tried the pork fat once or twice, but I couldn't get into it, even pre-vegetarianism.)

Here's what's involved: extra firm tofu, soy sauce, onion, red pepper, garlic, mirin, soy sauce, red pepper, yellow mustard, and lettuce! Oh, and sesame oil, which I forgot about until after I took this picture.

Dice everything up and fire up a couple of burners on the stove. Yes, my blender lives on the stove, because I only have one useable outlet in my kitchen. Someday I will live someplace with a great kitchen! Or at least, one with sufficient outlets so I don't have to keep the blender (and coffee maker) on the stove.

Sautee red pepper, onion, garlic, and red pepper in sesame oil.

The tofu cooks in a nearly dry cast iron pan with just a little cooking spray. Resist the urge to move it around until it's cooked for a couple of minutes, so it won't stick. Cast iron is so great and nonsticky!

After about 5 mins, add some soy sauce to the tofu and stir around. Instantly it looks brown and delicious.

The recipe calls for adding the mirin and cooking off the alcohol for a few mins (mirin is cooking wine, but it's pretty mild -- usually I add it at the end of a recipe and don't cook it at all). I managed to not only miss that point, but also added an extra tablespoon of hoisin sauce. So, I glopped in the hoisin and mustard, added the mirin, and brought the whole thing to a simmer to cook off a little of the mirin. Once it reduced a little, I threw the tofu into the veggies and sauce, et voila! Serve it up alongside some iceberg lettuce leaves.

Isa says this makes 4 servings, and recommends serving it alongside some rice and a veggie. I am lazy! So I just split it in two and have this as a whole meal. Yum! It was pretty sweet with the extra hoisin, but I can't complain.

Tomorrow night I think I'm going out again (a date, hooray!) but when I return to the kitchen: pasta con broccoli! Or possibly herb-roasted cauliflower over pasta. We'll see!

A Week of Isa, Day 1

2011-01-23T17:58:00.003-05:00

I've definitely been in a January state of mind -- healthfulness, self-improvement, the undertaking of huge and unrealistic projects, you know -- and also have been buying myself a whole lot of Christmas gifts, since I'm finally being paid enough that my budget isn't a depressing and futile attempt at austere living. So, along with several other cookbooks, a couple weeks ago I picked up Isa Chandra Moskowitz's low-fat vegan cookbook, Appetite for Reduction.
I have probably said this before on this little blog, but I LOOOOVE Isa Chandra Moskowitz. She is a genius, seriously -- vegan cooking and baking can be tough, and in the past 10 years a billionty terrible vegan cookbooks have been published, some of which were purchased by or for me. It's sometimes hard to tell the difference between the good ones and the bad ones, but anything by Isa (and her frequent co-author, Terry Hope Romero) is reliably awesome. Clearly she actually puts in the time to research what makes her favorite foods taste as they do, and to testdrive the recipes before dumping them into a book.

And in the "undertaking huge projects" vein, I've set out this week to make something from AfR every night. In the past few months I have bought or received a lot of cookbooks, and I've spent hours and hours reading them and putting post-it flags all over the recipes that I want to try. This is a habit I've had for a while and as my cookbooks multiply, the flags start to look like hundreds and hundreds of unrealized intentions. Sigh. But really during and since my 2 months of "funemployment," I've made a lot of progress with the flags, and I've been marking it by little penciled checkmarks next to recipes I've actually made.

The week of Isa is already subject to one cancellation, since I made plans tomorrow night (to get tattooed, eek!). The recipes in this book are mostly for 4 servings, and usually for me I make half of the recipe so that I have leftovers to bring for lunch the next day. So, this time I'm making the whole recipe for FORTY CLOVE CHICKPEAS & BROCCOLI and I'm just going to be eating it all the time forever.

This is a super simple Sunday dinner that takes a long time and makes the house smell fantastic but doesn't require any real work. Especially if, like me, you have filled your freezer to capacity with frozen broccoli bought at the wholesale store. This has been my main solution to the long and unpredictable work hours -- I have lots and lots of frozen broccoli, which is easy to toss in with boiling pasta water or throw in the oven still frozen and roast along with potatoes or whatever.

The frozen broccoli goes into a 9x13 baking dish with A TON of smashed garlic cloves, a can of drained and rinsed chickpeas, lemon zest, dried oregano, salt and pepper, and a little olive oil. Toss it around, then into the oven at 400*. Stir/flip everything after 15 mins, and again after a half hour, then add vegetable broth and cook for 15 more minutes. When it's done the broth will mostly be evaporated and the chickpeas and garlic will be soft and creamy. If you're not a garlic fiend like me, you probably want to remove the garlic cloves, but I just left them in and ate them, and since they're so thoroughly cooked I'm not breathing garlic-fire or anything.

To accompany this garlicky stuff, I cooked up a cup of whole wheat couscous (which turns into about 3 cups after it's done) and I added a few shakes of dried oregano and the juice of half a lemon to it.

The verdict? Isa delivers, as usual. I think if I make this again I'd serve up less couscous and more of the chickpea & broccoli stuff, or add another element, because the ratio of (boring) couscous to (awesome) other stuff could have been a lot better. Or maybe actually make a totally interesting rice pilaf instead of lazy couscous.

The whole spread: 2 dinners and 2 lunches

Today I went to Trader Joe's and got almost all of the stuff I need for the other 5 thrilling recipes I've got on deck for the week! Thankfully they share a lot of elements (vegetable broth, lemon juice, etc) so I won't end up tossing remainders of things, which is the problem a lot of times with buying things just to use in new recipes.

In the works for this week:

lettuce wraps with hoisin-mustard tofu (have done this one before and it's sooo delicious)
pasta con broccoli
herb roasted cauliflower over pasta
orange scented broccoli and fried rice
braised cabbage with seitan

I'm especially excited/nervous for braised cabbage. This is one veggie I really never, ever ate growing up, and I thought it was pretty unappealing until I started receiving it in my farm share haul this past summer. I fed a few of them to the rabbit, but I did actually attempt a few recipes, some of which were delicious. I think this one is going to be terrific, so we'll see! I managed to buy the seitan but not the cabbage today, so that's on the to-do list for Tuesday when I go stock up on a few things at the crappy local store.

Breakfast in a beer glass

2011-01-18T07:24:00.008-05:00

It's snowing again in Boston. I do remember this being a really, really snowy place when I was a little kid, but living 10 minutes' walk from public transit and having to go to work everyday puts it in a different kind of perspective. It's a really, really snowy place.

Anyhow. I was talking to my friend G, aka 141 Characters' Vitamin G, and she mentioned this old blog and how if I am really cooking as many fantastical things as I say I am, I should post them here.

I'll start slow, with the thing I have for breakfast probably 4-5 times a week. The green smoothie, aka Green Monster. As it turns out, it doesn't really warm me up when it's cold and snowy, but it goes well with a giant mug of hot coffee. And really, it injects a sort of virtuousness into my day that can't be duplicated. It's a beer glass filled with 2+ servings of fruit & veg, protein and fiber, and yes, it actually tastes awesome. (I swear, I got my extremely skeptical and picky exgirlfriend hooked on them last summer.)

So, without further ado here is a quick tutorial on the wonderfully virtuous and delicious green smoothie!

I start with 1 cup/8 oz of almond milk, but any old milk should do the job. Put this in the blender first. (Note the 3 feet of snow on my deck in the background.)

Bananas! Break up and add one banana (about 4 oz, preferably peeled and frozen ahead of time, but if you use a room temp one just add a cube or two of ice to the blender now too).

This jar actually contains Trader Josef's Peanut Flour from Trader Joe's, since I ran out of PB2 and discovered the even better peanut flour. Add a tablespoon of the powdery stuff, or of real peanut butter if you prefer.

Here's where the protein comes in. There's a fair amount of protein in the spinach, almond milk, and nut butter already, but since I don't eat meat and I don't give a lot of thought during the rest of the day to how much protein I'm getting, I like to toss some in here. The best vegan protein powder, without question, is Sun Warrior. It's made from brown rice, and it's smooth and delicious unlike say, hemp protein (ick). Whey protein is just as good, if you are into the animal products, and soy or pea protein is fine too, or you can leave this out altogether.

Lastly, I stuff as much organic baby spinach into the blender as I can fit in there. Probably about 2 cups, generally. Cram it right down so it'll get sucked into the blender's blades.

Like so.

Blend! My blender has three settings -- 1, 2, and pulse. I turn it to 1 and let it whir for 30-60 seconds and that's enough to pulverize the bananas and mostly puree the spinach. If you have one of these ones with 150 different settings, pick one that's somewhere between mix and vaporize, on the higher/stronger end. If you're using ice cubes instead of frozen banana you might want to roll with "ice crush."

Pour into a pint glass and enjoy!

Relish the knowledge that you have just consumed more vitamins and nutrients before work than the average American will all week. Revel in your nutritional superiority. Or just chase it with a candy bar and a cigarette -- it's all about moderation, right??

on (f)unemployment and the microwave

2010-09-27T19:26:00.004-04:00

Hello old friend,

Well, time marches on. I finished up my year of do-gooder 9 to 5 law work. I ran a half marathon (in May) and signed up for another one (Philly, in November, which I did last year too). I re-upped my lease and celebrated my birthday.

Life is good, but life is also a bit disorderly at the moment while I'm in the midst of a nearly-2-month period between jobs. I get up every day and lounge, watch tv, nap, occasionally make it to the gym, meet friends for happy hours -- all the things you might expect from such a lady of leisure, naturally! I've been eating out a lot but I've been cooking lots too. I got Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian for my birthday and I've been reading it and cooking from it compulsively for the past 3 weeks.

But oh! That isn't even what this post is about. Hopefully tomorrow I'll have something to say about Bittman's tomato paella recipe, which I have been dying to try for ages and even bought a special skillet for. But today I made a different new-to-me rice recipe, curried butternut squash risotto in the microwave (!!) from this month's Vegetarian Times magazine.

So, my parents bought me a microwave for my birthday last year. They were, I think, appalled or confused that I had been living without one for most of the previous 5 years. (Similarly, over the past few years, they have bought me a gigantic toaster oven and an HD television, which apparently were missing from my life.) I was resistant. But just like the toaster and the TV, I eventually took the microwave out of the box and plugged it in. I use it reasonably often lately for egg puffs a la the Fitnessista, and also as an oven timer since the sound it makes is marginally less obnoxious than the timer attached to my oven.

This month's VT had a set of recipes that utilized prepared soups to boost flavor or save effort. I glanced at this one and thought butternut squash soup sounded brilliant as an ingredient in a risotto. (Having once attempted this risotto from Simply Recipes and ended up with chunks of raw squash in my fully cooked risotto, I suppose I know what I'm talking about.) I didn't even realize it was a microwave recipe until after I'd bought the squash soup. But I was intrigued. Maybe this giant egg-zapping machine can be used for other purposes. Tonight, I tried it, and followed the recipe very precisely since I don't know anything about microwaving.

It was delightful! Creamy, currylicious, sweet, warming and filling. And vegan to boot, so no angry stomach or icky throat afterwards. I'll add a link to the recipe if it goes online, but googling "microwave risotto" made clear to me that everyone on the internet is making risotto in the microwave. So, friends, if you're still out there, go out and try it!

Oh btw -- I spent half the afternoon making vegetable stock from scratch, in order to then make this quickie microwave risotto. Funemployment leads to some weird choices.

And another thing

2010-03-25T14:57:00.003-04:00

I signed up for the Bourbon Chase!
Friends, strangers, comment-spammers -- this has been the light of my life lately, this exciting thing to look forward to. Except for how I haven't managed to actually put together a team yet. Sometimes this kind of worries me, but mostly I am pretty sure it'll all come together. And someone will pay me back for all the $$$ I've shelled out so far to secure us a spot.

Anyway, the Bourbon Chase is a 200-mile overnight relay through Bourbon County Kentucky, from the Jim Beam Distillery to Lexington. 12 people, 36 relay legs, 36 hours. Hoo-ah! It's going to be extremely smelly, and probably I will never be able to walk again afterwards. I can't freaking wait!

ALSO I am most probably going to attempt the full marathon at Philly this year. It was such an awesome course, and if I'm already running 18-20 miles at the BC a month earlier, what's another 6-8, right? Eh. So probably April 1 when Philly registration opens I'm going to take the plunge so that I can't have second thoughts about it. So, if you are still reading this and you were wondering what my race plans are for this year, here's the tentative schedule so far (which looks pretty much the same as the list of races I ran last year, give or take one or two):

May 30 -- Boston's Run to Remember Half Marathon
June 27 -- New Charles River Run 7.5 miler
Oct 11 -- Tufts 10k for Women
Oct 22-23 -- Bourbon Chase
Nov 21 -- Philadelphia Marathon

Hey strangers

2010-03-24T09:36:00.007-04:00

Oh lordy. I keep starting to write posts here and then abandoning them. Here is why: I have not yet come up with a way to use my computer in front of the TV at home. Faced with the choice of vegging out for 2-3 hours on the couch in front of the TV or sitting in an uncomfortable chair in the room occupied by Daisy the Bunny to use the computer (after 8 hours in front of my work computer) I have been going for option 1. I am lazy, but at least I'm not an internet addict, right?

Well, anyway. I have been watching copious amounts of TV, and that's what I wanted to talk about.

Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. Oh jeezus.

(source)

OK I love West Virginia. And I used to really adore Jamie Oliver before he got incredibly over-exposed. And before I went vegetarian, I guess, since there's really not a whole lot I would eat from the one cookbook of his that I have. But my apprehensions about this show were pretty much entirely validated when I finally got around to watching it on the DVR this morning.

Really, incredibly wealthy British man? Have you not given any thought to the culture clash that is inherent in your imperial health food world take-over plan? You are really surprised, and upset to the point of tears, that the "lunch ladies" in WV are not down with switching from USDA-approved convenience food to spending all day peeling potatoes at your command? And you're shocked that newspapers and talk radio aren't getting behind you?

I went back and forth between thinking he was faking his surprise at their reaction, and kind of buying that it was real. I think the truth is somewhere in the middle -- I think this guy has probably not spent a lot of time in the US aside from in liberal coastal cities or maybe on sustainable meat ranches. And I haven't seen the shows about his UK project where he managed to convince the national government that he was right about school lunches. But if he'd done ANY research at all (by which I mean, thinking on a very, very basic level about what kids get taught in school about nutrition, what the guidelines are for school lunches, and most importantly WHO is setting those guidelines) he would realize that he is going about this project in absolutely the wrong way. Why would you think you could just convince KIDS to eat brown rice instead of pizza, and why would that be your step 1 to trying to get a hostile, food-addicted, foreign city on your side about eating healthier?! Sheesh!

I'm going to have to say "to be continued" on this one because I don't really have time to try and parse the rest of my thoughts on it, but I'm going to stick with the show. In the giant industry of reality TV, they're pretty good at manufacturing happy endings and I'll be very interested to see if Jamie O is able to reform the school lunch program in Huntington, WV. But I will also be interested to see if he takes his fight to the real source of the problem -- industry capture at the USDA and the huge, evil agribusiness companies who pay the lobbyists who decide what children learn about nutrition and what they are fed.

This is pretty much my #1 issue that makes me angry, but over the last few years I've stopped talking much about it. Largely because I think it can make me sound like a wacko, but also because people want to eat what [lobbyists and companies that manufacture addictive food additives tell them] they want to eat. They don't want to talk about factory farms or corn syrup or whatever. It is daunting, and exhausting to think of, I know. I do my best to use my dollars to express my politics about food, and I will continue to do that (and probably go further with it in terms of avoiding pesticides and stuff) when I have kids but I'm just one person and I don't really want to be a crusader. Sigh.

But as a last point, I think of it kind of like this: sometimes we are harsh critics of our own friends or family, but when an outsider comes in and wants to bad-mouth the people who are close to us, we'll defend them to no end. As a country, Americans obviously know that we have poor nutrition and issues with obsesity-related disease, etc. How many people watch shows like The Biggest Loser, Ruby, Dance Your Ass Off, etc.! We know! But when a Brit comes in and starts tellin' the rubes in WV how to "eat good," it rubs even me, a coastal elite with strong feelings about food politics, the wrong way. Come on, Jamie Oliver, really.

Soup: A Love Affair

2009-12-20T15:58:00.007-05:00

Like everyone on the East Coast I'm walking in a winter wonderland today. In the sense that I'm staying indoors as much as possible since there's a zillion inches of snow out there. Other than helping a friend bail out his car in my PJs this morning I've pretty much managed to avoid the cold, wet elements. I've got the Sunday NY Times, some Christmas movies that I DVR'd, and of course the fixins for what has become the highlight of my weekends -- a giant pot of tasty soup for Sunday dinner. It's a good day, friends.

When I was little I never ate soup. I think that other than clam chowder from the can my parents never made it, and because I really do not like milk I never got on the clam chowder bandwagon. It's sacrilege for a born and bred New Englander, but who knows, maybe one day I'll find some really amazing non-dairy clam chowder for the lactose intolerant and milk averse New Englanders like me. Anyway the first time I remember eating soup and really liking it was when I was an exchange student in Germany, junior year of high school. There weren't a lot of things I ate in Germany that were actually good, so it really stands out in my memory, though at this point it'd be hard for me to say exactly what was in it. Tiny bits of veggies, a lot of salt, and probably some kind of meat grease, knowing those Germans. In any case I haven't had anything like it since then, but it did broaden my food horizons.

Then in law school I survived the chilly, finals-stress-laden winters with a hefty amount of Udon and Soon Duboo Jigae from my neighborhood Japanese and Korean restaurants. There is nothing better than a humongous bowl of Asian umami goodness at the end of a hard day of studying. Or the beginning of a hard night of studying, as the case may be.

Now, I'm back in Boston where it's ridiculously cold and I've been whipping up enough soup to drown an ox. Last week I brought a different soup from the freezer for lunch every day. It's a great way to deal with the work lunch situation when I'm too lazy to go buy sandwich stuff and assemble veggie sandwiches. Veggie sandwiches done right take a lot longer to make than baloney and cheese!

Anyway, back to today's soup. I had stopped buying kale because I find it too tedious to wash and trim so I always end up tossing it out after it wilts in my fridge. But last week it was 50 cents a pound at the store, and none of the other veggies were looking very good, so I had to get some. And a week later, it was starting to look a little haggard and I knew just what to do with it, a recipe I've had bookmarked for years but never got around to. Spicy, creamy, kale-y, potatoey -- it's a good one.

Kale & Potato Soup with Red Chili
(Adapted from Greens by Deborah Madison) Makes 4-6 servings

Ingredients:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped (about 2 cups)
8 small to medium cloves of garlic, roughly chopped
1 bay leaf
1/2 tsp crushed red pepper
1 tsp salt
1 lb red potatoes (4-5 medium sized), cut into 1/2 inch dice
2 Tbsp nutritional yeast (optional)
1 bunch kale, rinsed very well, pulled from the stems and torn into roughly 2-3 inch squares
32 oz (4 cups) vegetable stock
3 cups water
fresh ground black pepper

Heat the olive oil in a large stock pot. Add the onions, garlic, bay leaf, red pepper, and salt. Sautee over medium-high heat for 3-4 mins, stirring frequently, until the onions start to brown at the edges.
Mix in the potatoes, nutritional yeast, and 1 cup of water. Turn the heat down to medium-low and cover. Cook for about 5 mins.
Add the kale and steam, covered, stirring occasionally until it turns dark green and wilty, about 4 or 5 mins.
Add the rest of the water and stock. Bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, for 30 mins or until the potatoes are soft and smooshable. Taste for saltiness and add fresh ground black pepper to taste.
To thicken the soup base, either smoosh most of the potatoes against the side of the pot and stir in, or take 2 cups of the soup, puree in a blender or food processor, and then add back in.
Let sit for up to an hour for the flavors to meld, and serve. A slab of fresh whole grain baguette would be amazing with this, but some of us are snowed in and have to make do with regular old toast. Either way, dunking carbs into this soup makes it even better.

A few notes --

This soup is on the really salty side for me. If you're not a salt aficionado I'd suggest adding 1/2 tsp of salt at the beginning and then more at the end if it's too bland. That goes double if you're using a commercially prepared vegetable stock, unless it's a low sodium one. I used homemade stock and I don't actually remember whether I salted it when I made it.
The nutritional yeast is also on the salty side and probably not a pantry staple for most non-vegans, but I think it's worth adding if you have some available. It adds a creamy/cheesy quality that complements the potatoes and balances out the spiciness of the chili pepper.
If you don't have a Deborah Madison cookbook (and especially if you're a vegetarian) you should run out and buy Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone right this minute. And make the Kale with Cannellini Beans immediately -- it will make you fall in love with kale.

Cold Sesame Noodles

2009-12-17T18:45:00.005-05:00

Hey Friendsters,

So once upon a time I lived in fabulous NYC, within the delivery range of a glorious late-night Chinese delivery place called Empire. Oh, Empire. I miss it almost as much as I miss Absolute Bagels, and that is a lot.

One among the many highlights of the Empire experience was the cold sesame noodles. First off, they were FREE. Yeah. Free with any delivery, if you were savvy enough to notice the tiny coupon on the take-out menu. Second, when they were done right, they were the most life-affirming 300000 calorie side dish ever. And then there was the post-cold sesame noodles self hatred. Then, start again. I swore over and over that I'd give them up, but come on -- FREE. Poor student. Free.

Anyway, I only remember the good times with Empire, now that I live 300 miles away. And when I found this recipe in an old cookbook that I have almost never used, it didn't really even occur to me that this would be a lot like the noodles I remember. But they're a passable, far healthier version of the bucket of oily joy that I used to have weekly.

Cold Sesame Noodles (adapted from Jump Up and Kiss Me! Spicy Vegetarian Cooking)
Note: this is one entree-sized serving, which could easily be scaled up to feed 4 or 6.

Ingredients:
2 oz soba noodles
1 1/2 tsp sesame oil, divided
1 heaping Tbsp peanut butter (I used natural, which takes a bit longer to mix in since it's cold)
2 tsp Asian chili garlic sauce
2 tsp soy sauce
2 tsp rice vinegar (not "seasoned")
1/4 tsp ginger (add up to 1 tsp if you are a big ginger fan)
2 Tbsp water
1-2 scallions, chopped

1. Add soba to boiling water; cook for about 3 mins, until it's tender. Drain the noodles and toss with 1/2 tsp of sesame oil. Set aside.
2. In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the peanut butter, chili garlic sauce, soy sauce, vinegar, and ginger. When they're fully combined, add the water and whisk until combined. Then add the sesame oil and whisk again.
3. Add the noodles and scallions into the sauce. Toss and serve!

Thoroughly non-shocking confession: I have eaten this exact meal (steamed cauliflower plus cold sesame noodles) thrice this week! The photo is actually from Monday, as I've now run out of scallions. I still have at least one more serving of soba in my pantry though, so I could be going for 4 tomorrow night...

The best effing soup ever, y'all

2009-12-09T20:41:00.004-05:00

Oh it's this one.

Ohh yes. Not my best photo ever but I could only manage one take before I started lapping this stuff straight out of the bowl. OK not really, but it really is so so so good. I served it to my friends as the main course at a dinner party once, even though it is not the all-time heartiest of soups. Garlic, rosemary, tomatoes, chickpeas -- that's pretty much it.

Due to my incredible lack of fundage right now I'm trying to be less spendy on my groceries. This is a chronic problem -- grocery shopping is kind of a hobby, and I tend to fill my fridge and pantry with stuff I may one day use, you know, when I get around to the kind of recipes that require either equipment I don't have yet or some vast amount of time or messiness. Anyway, what I'm getting at is that I've been buying lots of dry beans, especially since a couple of weeks ago when I finally figured out how to use the pressure cooker. This thing is genius! It cooks beans in a crazy short time and they come out amazing. Plus it's a badass gadget and if used incorrectly it can explode like a delicious aromatic bomb. So there's the danger element.

And now, where I had previously hated cooking beans because I didn't have the patience to cook them until they are actually done (sometimes up to 3 hours, sheesh!), now I love it because I get to use my cool gadget and I am able to do it to my satisfaction in a half hour or less.

So, I came home from work today a half hour or so later than usual, and it was on. I pressure cooked the chickpeas, plus the equivalent of another can to throw in the freezer. Washed some dishes (I am turning over a new leaf vis-a-vis my out of control kitchen clutter) and then threw on the soup. This is a super quick soup so it's really easy to do after work if you start with already-cooked chickpeas. And if you happen to have a loaf of fresh crusty bread of some kind to dip in it, that puts it way over the top. I made some extra-crispy toast from my regular trader joe's sprouty bread and that also did the job.

Hooray for cold, wet days and the tasty warm meals they require. I am in a pretty terrific mood because I worked my butt off today and felt like I had really accomplished some things (in advance of meeting with my reportedly ultra hardcore new boss who returns tomorrow from a sabbatical). And I reconnected with a friend who I've been meaning to hang out with, so there are lunch plans happening, and I've got 2 alterna-Nutcracker Christmas shows in a row the next couple of days. (Thursday, Friday) Yay Christmas. Yay nearly-naked friends dancing to Christmas music.

Philadelphia Half Marathon, Nov 22 2009

2009-12-03T11:08:00.008-05:00

Photos here, because they want me to pay $50 for a jpg so they make it impossible to embed the proofs. But they are pretty silly. My natural unphotogenicness is enhanced by my extreme sweaty grossness but the feeling of victory is pretty obvious, no?

So, I ran a half marathon. I did this once before in May 2008 but this time was about 10 million times better. Mainly because I trained better, but also it was a much better course, with more people and more enthusiastic people (and more slow people, really) than Brooklyn. And I think there is a major psychological benefit to having done one already. I kind of knew what it feels like when you get to Mile 12. Or I thought I did! This time was just so much easier in almost every way than last time.

Here's the summary:

At the end of the week leading up to the race, I had serious pain happening. In my butt. Seriously, it was some kind of pinched nerve situation that at first I thought was a joint issue but then it was pointed out to me that my left butt is not really that close to a joint. For real, I was not able to get out of bed at the appointed time on Saturday because bending hurt too much. But when I dragged myself up about an hour after the alarm first went off, I decided I was going to drive to PA anyway, and even if I couldn't run the race I'd watch my friend IC (who I roped into this) do it on his own.

Drive, drive, drive! I left Boston at 6 am and got to IC's house around 12:30 after getting pretty lost at the very end of the drive. By then I was walking pretty ok and figured if I could get out of bed on Sunday I'd be doing the race. We went to the race expo, bought flashy running sunglasses (you can see them in my race photos), and also hit up the UnderArmour outlet for lots of cheap-ish tech clothing. We definitely flouted the "don't wear anything new the day of a race" rule. Then IC's wife NC cooked us up a really delicious pasta meal and we all went to bed super early.

Sunday morning I woke up without much pain at all, at ridiculous o'clock in the morning. Everyone was up and excited, which is really more than I expected for 4:30 am on a weekend. N's friend A had come over late Saturday so she could come keep N company while she was cheering and IC and I were running. We suited up, got in the car, and headed to the start. It was really, really cold. But apparently about 20 degrees warmer than last year, so I can't really complain. Once the sun came up it was really great running weather.

We milled around, ran into my friend A from law school (we knew she'd be there but did not expect to find her in a crowd of over 18,000). And then just before the 7 am start we wandered over to try to find an appropriate corral to start in. We were supposedly color-coded but we couldn't figure out where we were supposed to be and just situated ourselves in the middle, which seemed to work. We started in the third wave of runners (marathon and half marathon were mixed right up until the 13 mile mark) and off we went! The beginning was chaotic like most races are, with everyone trying to figure out their pace and find some space to move. Actually that went on for most of the race -- there were sooo many people.

IC took off pretty quick at the start, which we had anticipated; I knew he'd been training at a faster pace than me so we had made plans to meet up at the end (not anticipating just how crowded it would actually be). I warmed up over the first mile, took off my gloves (the race planners provided us with some cheap gloves, which was really great), and got into a good pace. The first couple miles I had kind of a lot of pain, but not too much to take and the running definitely wasn't making it worse than if I was walking (or standing or sitting) so I pushed through but reminded myself that I could quit if it got bad.

The course went all over Philly, and the first few miles took us from the center of town (Art Museum) through Chinatown, to the Delaware River and along that for a bit. It was in this area that I found IC, checked in with him, and passed him. He was not having such great luck with his new clothing, it turns out. (And he'd never done a race at all before!) But he looked in good spirits and he was chugging along so I didn't worry about him. I had no idea what my time was though -- I forgot to start my watch until I'd been going for a few minutes, and with all the excitement I wasn't really able to do the math to figure out what my pace was except that I remembered the time when I passed Mile 1 (18:50) so I could keep a running average time whenever I passed a timeclock. As it turns out I think I crossed the start line at around 8 minutes, something like that.

So, back to the race recap -- when I got to about mile 5 I could hear a bigger cheering section up ahead. To that point there were families scattered along the sidelines cheering for their runner, and some nurses outside the hospital offering massages and water, but when we turned onto Chestnut St, which would be the longest straight stretch of the race, suddenly there were TONS of people cheering. The sidewalk was packed and it created a weird claustrophobia-inducing effect where the runners were in a narrower street than before and there were people standing on the curbs so they were too tall to see over. It was weird, but thankfully the road wasn't so crowded that I felt freaked out or anything. The energy of the crowd was a good boost there at the halfway point. I stopped at mile 7 for the first time to walk for about 2 minutes and eat one of the caffeinated sugar goo packets that I brought. Getting going again was easier than expected and I felt good going into the 8th mile, which was a doozy. We went up and over a bridge at the Skuylkill River, then up a big hill to the area by UPenn (I think). It was rough, and I started to walk again when I got to the top of the hill but a woman maybe my mom's age saw my name on my race bib and said "Come on Rosalie, you can do it!" I know some people find that creepy but I really like it -- I took off running again, and came to a good downhill section that got me back in the groove.

It was around that time that we turned and started heading into a park. This was the hardest part by far, up a big and windy hill that seemed to go on forever. I had to walk for a minute right around the 9 mile marker to get myself up to the top, but then I picked up the pace again heading down and out of the park. Once I got back out onto the road, there were runners going both directions. It was an out and back mile and a half or so, and a lot of people seemed to get pumped up by seeing the people ahead and behind them. I was scanning the crowd trying to find IC because I didn't know if he'd passed me again or if he was just behind me. I got into a really good rhythm and this was probably my quickest leg of the race. It was flat, predictable, and I was surrounded by other runners so the race effect was in full effect. I never did see IC though, so when I got to the end of the out-and-back and the road widened I got more focused on finishing. I took quick walk breaks at mile 11 and again at mile 12, and at 12 I had the second goo packet for a final energy boost. In this stretch there were a lot of high-fivers. I love high fives during the race! There were a bunch of college age ladies right in the middle by a water station wearing t-shirts that said "free high fives" so I took advantage while I still had the energy to lift my arm.

From there, well, it was tough but I knew I'd be done soon, after running for over 2 hours. So I tried to keep the pace up at a good clip for the final 1.1 miles. And I also knew I'd finish at or around my goal time of 2:30! (At mile 12 the clock said 2:20, so I had done the past 11 miles in about 2:01.) When I got really close, the crowd got louder and the road narrowed as the marathoners went left to mile 14 and the half marathoners went right to the finish line. I ran as fast as I could (at this point, really not all that fast) and finished strong at 2:23:42!

That is over 6 minutes under my goal time and a fantastical 17 minutes faster than my May 2008 Brooklyn time.

IC finished his first half strong and with style, in some fantastic blue knee socks that apparently gave him a lot of trouble but looked very cool. (I haven't seen his race photos yet but if you are his Facebook friend you should check out the pre-race photos posted by N.) And after much searching and borrowing of strangers' cell phones and maybe a little bit of crying and flopping on the ground, I found N and A, and eventually IC found us and hopped a fence to join the crew. We hobbled a painful quarter mile to the car, went home, showered, and ate SO MUCH DELICIOUS FOOD OH MY GOD. We got a big hearty brunch, and for dessert I ordered us some cheese fries. Pennsylvania is the only place I know of where Cheez Wiz is exalted and consumed with no shame. (This may be why Philly is one of the nation's fattest cities, but I'm still calling it a positive.) A lot of it was consumed that day, since later on after we collapsed and slept on the couches (and N and A attended a baby shower) we ordered more cheese fries and sandwiches for dinner. Monday morning I got up early yet again and hit the road back to Boston with my medal, commemorative t-shirt, and glory!

And that, friends, is the tale of my half marathon. It's making me excited all over again to write about it. I DEFINITELY recommend Philly to anyone who's thinking of doing a half or full marathon. If I ever run a full (I'm entertaining the idea) I think this will be the one I go for. So stay tuned, maybe Philly Full Marathon 2010 will happen...

What I've Been Eating

2009-11-30T18:13:00.004-05:00

Hello Internet! It has been a while. I ran a half marathon! I passed the Mass bar exam! News!

Well, the general malaise of 2009 marches on despite accomplishments and great moments. I am really promising myself that 2010 will be better, including lots of good food and happy stories.

But it occurred to me today to share the thing that I've been eating pretty much 2-3 times a week for the past couple of months.

There it is in all its bland, beige glory. My 5-minute one-pan, one-bowl comforty healthy dinner.

Take 6-10 oz trimmed cauliflower and 1/4 of a block of firm-ish tofu. Toss em in a steamer basket over boiling water for about 3-4 mins. Drop 1/4 cup whole wheat couscous into a heatproof bowl. Pour 1/4 cup boiling water over the couscous and cover the bowl with aluminum foil. Let sit for 5 mins then fluff with a fork. Throw the cauliflower and tofu over top. Drizzle with soy sauce and hit it with a sprinkle of black sesame seeds if you're feeling wild. Inhale.

Though it is on the bland side, it is delicious, very good for you, and requires very little chopping and cleaning, which seems to be a priority for me these days when I get home from work ravenous. Sometimes I really mix it up by using sweet chili sauce or Trader Joe's "soyaki" sauce instead, but soy sauce is easier and has fewer calories. I'd rather have my sugar in dessert form, mainly.

There you have it. I did make a ridiculously gigantic pot of vegan carrot bisque yesterday but it wasn't anything to write home about. I'm not sure what possessed me to make it when there are 10 other soups on my to-make list and I am starting to think I am kind of allergic to carrots. It was super carroty and really not bad but I'm not really looking forward to eating it 5 more times...

Back soon with a recap of the Philly Half Marathon and other thrilling running events -- this is one thing I am very excited about! So I'm saving it for a less blahh post tonight or tomorrow. When it'll be December! Yay Christmas!

I totally forgot to tell you

2009-10-16T09:29:00.002-04:00

About my 2 totally excellent mini-injuries from the race on Sunday. First, there was my blue big toe, which I thought was pretty bad-ass. It was just a blood blister but it did look hardcore. I'm sure this is not the best course of action, but I popped it, which was icky but kind of satisfying. AND I managed, just before the race, to cut my finger on the door to a porta-potty. OMG GERMGERMGERMS. Fortunately I didn't notice at first, so I didn't have a total meltdown right in the porta-potty corral, and also fortunately I slathered on a ton of hand sanitizer stuff so hopefully I won't be getting the flesh eating bacteria or something. Although I really did worry the next day that I had blood poisoning, when I had a headache that wouldn't go away. I think it was just dehydration. My finger hasn't fallen off yet or anything.

And a word about work: on my way to work every day I pass by a big clock tower, which is right by my T station. On maybe one day out of four when I walk by the clock says something like 8:45 (or earlier!) and I do a little dance of happiness at my success in being a responsible grownup. The rest of the time it says something more like 8:55, like today. Sigh. It's not like anyone here cares, but I did tell a bunch of people I was coming in early today, since I'm leaving early for marathon buddy IC's wedding in Pennsylvania. By which obviously I meant late, in jeans, laden with way too much luggage for a 2 day trip. I really hope the rest of my carpool isn't bringing as much stuff as me, because it's going to be too rainy to strap anything to the roof.

OH and I found my camera battery this morning, hallelujah. Get ready for so many photos of food and foliage!

Tufts Healthcare 10K for Women

2009-10-12T14:47:00.003-04:00

Hello friends. Friends, hello.

In the hopes of getting back into my super-psyched-about-running mindset that I had before I left for Australia and traded all my good habits for some bad ones, I signed up for a 10k race a few weeks back. Today was the day, and I would say that my mission was totally accomplished. It was glorious.

There were about 7000 runners (plus many hundreds of significant others, parents, children, and other spectators loitering around, cheering, and eating all the free food). I'd guess that somewhere around 99% were women. This was invigorating, and I think that although co-ed races are fun too, being in a field of almost all women makes it more fun. Plus there are a lot of ladies who probably wouldn't have signed up for a co-ed 10k, including a lot of walkers and families, because this is a walker-friendly race. (As in, they don't kick you off if you're not averaging at least 15 minute miles or something, which in a lot of races they do.)

I ran much faster and stronger than I expected, and I'm attributing this to 2 factors (other than the beautiful weather and very nice course): first, I've been adding some sprints to my treadmill routine. Not really for training so much as to get me off the horrid treadmill faster than I otherwise would. So I think that has helped to make running faster than my comfort zone feel more normal, which then elevates the comfort zone points. And the other factor is, there were loads of people who were slower than me! This was kind of annoying at times because I had to kind of push and shove past like 1500 slowpokes. But it also produces the race effect, which I think of as riding on a wave of people who are pushing you forward. In longer races where I am the most out of shape person there, no such wave exists and I'm just out there on my own trying to finish ahead of the 90 year old speed-walkers (and failing). Lots of out-of-shape people sign up for a (mostly) women's 10k.

So, half-marathon training on! I have a little less than 6 weeks until the Philly Half, and I feel great about it. As compared to the last (only) half marathon I ran, in May 2008, I have trained more comprehensively, I have better gear, and I think it's going to be a much better course. (Do not do the Brooklyn Half Marathon, it really really sucks.)

I'm off to PA this coming weekend to watch my Philly Half running partner get married. Hopefully by the time of the wedding I will have either found or replaced my camera battery so instead of pontificating for the 1-2 friends who read this, I will post some photos of what I'm sure is going to be both a gorgeous running locale and a fantastical wedding reception meal.

Oh PS my time (according to my watch) was approximately 1:05:34, which averages out to about a 10:30 mile. I was remembering my splits as I went along but now I can't really piece it together. In mile 2 and mile 5 I ran about a 10-min mile. This is faster than I ever run in training, so I'm definitely going to have to think about speeding up the training workouts. More sprinting, for sure.

ETA: Official chip time was 1:06:04, for an average of 10:38/mile.

The cheese is old and moldy. Where is the bathroom? Where the eff is my camera battery?

2009-09-23T23:41:00.004-04:00

Peep peep!

I am back from Australia, all (well mostly) moved into my fabulous new apartment, and in week two of my job. And I'm old(er) as of 2 weeks ago. 27, yeesh! It's not that I feel too old, it's more that I still kind of feel like I'm 23 or something. The past few years, well they went pretty fast. The past few weeks did too, so maybe it's just the relativity effect. You know, like each second that passes is a smaller percentage of the time you've been alive than the previous second. This is what I tell myself because I don't feel like my life is sooo interesting that it makes time feel fast.

Anyway, this is just to say, I have internet now and even more of my hilarious friends are now blogging, and I guess I'm going to have to return to this old thing and let you know what's up. As soon as I find my stupid camera battery and stuff.

Yowza!

2009-08-09T17:06:00.003-04:00

Well. After hours of moping around the house, watching Jerry McGuire, etc., and debating whether the embarrassment of wearing the water belt was going to be worthwhile for the ease of carrying water and clif blox, I did make it out. Ultimately, as dumb as I felt with the thing pinching my pudge and looking generally dorky, I'm glad I brought it. My philosophy these days about such things -- pudge-pinching proper running gear, jiggly bits on display, etc.-- is that it's necessary if I'm ever going to be less pudgy than I am today. Also, running with proper gear is really a much more enjoyable experience than trying to trudge through my tough training schedule without the right things.

About an hour before I left, I had a hearty lunch of lots of romaine lettuce, a sunshine burger, salsa, a few crackers, and some hummus that was pretty much frozen because my family's fridge is going crazy because it's mostly empty. (The fam is on vacation and they took most of their food with them.)

It took me forever to get out the door, and as soon as I turned off our street onto the main road I realized I had forgotten the watch part of my heart rate monitor. I thought about going back, but decided it was probably for the best. So I did 8 miles and have no clue how fast I went or what my heart rate was. I think I probably run a little slower without the watch, but I was able to go for longer and didn't get frustrated with the fact that the HRM part has a dying battery and sometimes doesn't work. I just plodded from one mile marker to the next and didn't give too much thought to how long it was taking. I didn't get a parking ticket, so presumably the entire trek including warmup and a short walk between my car and the trail all took less than 2 hours.
I did manage to snap a few photos out on the trail. It was overcast and windy and felt as if it could downpour at any moment, but so far it still hasn't.

One mile down -- I ran from the 4 mi mark to 8 mi and back.
Turnaround point! I hit a second wind not long before this, so I was feeling great.
Heading back -- more uphill parts, bit of a struggle. I walked for about a quarter mile when I hit the 4 1/2 mile mark while I ate a couple of clif blox. I thought these might be too sticky or unpleasant to eat, but they were not bad at all and gave me a pretty good energy boost. I do prefer running nutrition stuff with caffeine, but as long as I can get a little sugar in me while I do a long run I'm fine.
The end! I walked most of the last half-mile because my hip flexors were really feeling strained. I think I could've made it the rest of the way jogging, but I didn't want to push it.

Chafing, yuck! I didn't notice the blood on my shirt until I got to the gas station on the way home. I was totally embarrassed but I really needed to put gas in the car, so I got out and fueled up anyway, doing my best to cross my arms so that the bloodstain wouldn't be obvious. I have oozy, icky chafe marks all along the top of my sports bra, similar to what happened last week. Yeck. Must get some runner's lube before my next longer run, but that won't be until September! (Probably -- I suppose it is possible that I'll do a long one on vacation, but I'm lucky if I exercise at all, really.)

Bloodied but blissful in the kitchen once I got home.
Post-run snackeroo. These mini clif bars are kind of terrific, though they are very mini. I bought a box of them to bring on vacation, along with loads of larabars, trail mix, and other goodies so that I can keep the budget manageable and cope if I end up someplace not vegetarian-friendly.

The bad thing about an afternoon run is that then the day is kind of over. It's now 6 pm and even though I feel great about finishing the run, I haven't actually done any of the other crap on my to-do list. I am going to start packing for my trip tonight, and must finish up some other business. And tomorrow I'm hopefully getting my dress tailored for the wedding I'm attending next weekend! It's a super cute dress so I really hope the tailoring works out because it presently looks a bit too much like a nightgown at the bottom. I think if it were cocktail-length it would work.

Now, I'm off to see if any of my veggies I bought this week are usable -- I have been so frustrated with everything getting frozen!

I want, I want

2009-08-09T11:42:00.002-04:00

I've been bidding this week on a replacement transmitter belt for my heart rate monitor, as mine is failing and I don't have the original sales receipt to cash in on the warranty -- who knew these things had excellent warranty coverage and I could get a replacement battery for watch and transmitter for free?! I will definitely pay more attention next time. I also had no idea how much my relatively basic polar HRM was when my parents gave it to me. Duly noted.

But I've also now been dyyyying to buy a Garmin, one of those gadgets that not only tells you your heart rate, calorie burn, and time, but has a GPS and tells you your distance and speed. That would allow me to be the anal retentive, overly numbers-obsessed Virgo that I cannot help but be, while letting me get off the track and other pre-measured distances. When I was in NYC, it was super easy to go down to Central Park and run 4, 5, 6, or 8 miles just by picking which turn to take along the loop. I got so dependent on it that I didn't run once last summer in Boston, because I just had no idea where to start. Now that I know they've got mile markers on the Minuteman Trail, that's a bit of a lifesaver too, since it's accessible by public transit so I could potentially go there even after I've turned in my rental car this week.

Anyway, I'm writing this as I ponder, whiny-ly, whether I will take the opportunity to go out for one last long run before my big trip, or if instead I'll just go get on a hamster wheel at the gym where I can have my water bottle and crappy TV while I eke out an hour or two. I've got another 8-miler on the schedule for today, but last week's run left me chafed in all sorts of odd places, and I've just got this malaise that won't quit this week. I don't want to go on and on about it, but 26 was just not a great year for me. I think age 27 will be a challenging one as well, but I think also a hopeful and optimistic one, settling into the city that will likely be home for me for the rest of my life. How about that!

Weather.com tells me that it's going to be cool and cloudy for the next few hours, so I think maybe I can manage a trip to the trail after all. If I put on my dorky water belt I can even bring the camera along, so we'll see how that works out.

So maybe this is kind of a running blog

2009-08-06T22:33:00.003-04:00

That's not really outside of the spirit in which I started this thing, though I do want to devote more energy to the food things once I start my New Life As a Grownup, Again in a month and a half. But for now I am way more focused on the running/fitness/stress release things than the creative/foodie/domestic stuff of my life.

Anyway, today's item on the training schedule said: speedwork. This is one that I practically always skip, mainly because it is scary. Also it only comes up like once every 4 weeks, so there haven't been that many so far anyway. In any case, I dawdled, I overate at dinner, I whined, and then finally I put on some damn gym clothes and went to the gym, having put it off long enough that it was too dark out to go do my speedy miles on the high school track.

And then I ran the fastest 2.75 miles of my life! It was incredible. About halfway through I got this dopey grin on my face, thinking about how all I had wanted to do was stay home and eat chocolate (yes it is my "special lady time" and I bought my favorite chocolates today), and yet there I was busting out super speedy miles on the treadmill. All told, I did a little over 5 miles, with some slow jogging and walking in between the speed intervals. Hurrah!

Other than that, my day was moderately productive. Went to Sbux, drank some coffee and did some proofing. It is conceivable that I may be able to sign off on this stuff without even having to FTP new pages to the publisher, which would be super rad since the FTP stuff requires me to actually go to New York. Though I do eventually have to get down there and retrieve the shoes and books I forgot there last time. And I want to go to DC this weekend to visit K, who I have really been missing since we're no longer in the same city -- we spent almost every day together over the last 3 years, and many more in the 6 years before that, and now we're a tragic 700ish miles apart. Oy!

Signed up!

2009-08-04T20:49:00.004-04:00

I managed, with only a little coaxing, to convince one of my best hometown friends, IC, to sign up with me for the Philadelphia Half Marathon on Nov 22. He and his fiance (who'll be his wife by then) live in the suburbs of Philly and visiting them is always a blast. And he's reportedly been getting fit -- I haven't seen him in a long time, close to 2 years now I think.

Anyway, I am suuuper stoked to be all registered and I already adjusted my training plan accordingly. I am hoping to get in 2-3 shortish runs per week while I'm off on my trip, but we'll see how often I'm able to do laundry and how much beer I'm putting away while I'm there... Last time I took a trip by myself (to Estonia and Sweden) I did tons of walking which I cancelled out and then some with all the beer, cheese, and cake I consumed, and it marked the end of the fittest time in my life.

ALSO! Tomorrow I think my brother and I are making pizza a la Vegan With a Vengeance. We'll see, since today he bailed on it to go do competitive eating with his friends. If you're facebook friends with my sister you can see a photo of the mountain of ice cream and toppings he attempted unsuccessfully to put away.

The food at the wedding the other night . . . well, it was not the most photogenic and I didn't manage to get a picture of my extremely creamy pasta with veggies before I sank my hungry face into it. From what I heard, the veggie option was the best of the lot. I did snap a couple of photos of the very cute cupcakes that were at our tables when we sat down. The couple opted to do a small and gorgeous little cake in white and blue, and then instead of serving it up they gave us each a cupcake that matched the main cake.

Tonight I busted out a couple of quick miles on the treadmill, including a half mile at 9:00 pace (that's really fast for me!) and then went to Zumba. I think every week I go through the same thought process during this class, where at first I am really not feeling it, but by the time we get 15 minutes in I'm having a really good time. It is really funny to watch the suburban moms and grandmas shake and shimmy to the Latin music.

And now I've got lots of loose ends to tie up with my old law journal, my 2 sort-of workplaces, and seeing friends before I jet off to Oregon and Australia. I don't do so great with loads of work and no real timeline, and I'm generally just burnt out on everything, so mostly I sleep and watch TV. And read novels and blogs. And sit around in my jammies until the afternoon. Sometimes I worry that I must be extremely depressed, and maybe I am, but I am really really looking forward to the part where I cuddle koalas and also the part where I have my own apartment and a real job. Let's just fast forward to the good stuff!

Minuteman Trail, Lexington MA

2009-08-01T14:05:00.003-04:00

I fiiiiiinally made it out for a run on the Minuteman Trail today, a rails-to-trails path that runs from Cambridge MA thru a few historically significant, idyllic little towns, to suburban Bedford MA. I keep meaning to go out there, but I kind of hate running in new places, where I'm not sure what the hills might be like, or if I'll be able to notice mile markers, how many people, etc. I used to rollerblade on the Minuteman trail occasionally in high school and college, and I think I may have taken my squeaky old crappy bike there once or twice, but this was my first time running there.

It was really pretty great. And hard, and hot, but I'll be back for sure, maybe next time not at noon on a sunny hot day. I busted out 8 miles, the longest I've run since my half marathon a year and a bit ago, and one of only like 3 times in my life that I've run that far.

The splits:
Mile 1: 11 min
Mile 2: 11 min
Mile 3: around 11:10 (mile markers spray-painted on the ground had worn away)
Mile 4: 12:20?
Mile 5: 16 min?
Mile 6: 12:30
Mile 7: 15:15
Mile 8: 11:15

Avg heart rate: 156, Cals burned 1450. (Including warm up and cool down)

So yeah there was some walking, and a lot of whining to myself in my head during that middle part where I got extremely overheated, couldn't get my sugary goo packet open with sweaty hands, and kind of felt like Miles 4/5 were actually more than a mile (covered the same ground, since it was 4 miles out, 4 miles back). I was going just as fast on mile 4, I think, as previously when I was maintaining almost perfectly the same 11 min/mile pace, and then I just kept going and going after 11 mins. But I walked a bunch, managed to get the goo (mocha+caffeine clif shot) open and into my mouth, and dodged many tiny kids on bikes to pick up the pace for the final mile. All in all, glorious. I was covered in dirt and salt at the end.

Tonight I'm attending the wedding of C, one of my oldest and sweetest friends, to her high school sweetheart M who she's been dating off & on for over 11 years. Wowsers. I love weddings, mainly because I'm a huge sappy dork. But this is the year of all my high school friends getting married, and even though it means I'm going to have to find new friends to go out and hit on strangers with, it's all pretty terrific, so hooray for that.

Now, vegging out in front of TV and AC. Wedding food photos later!

Now what?

2009-07-31T11:00:00.002-04:00

Last night I did in fact succeed at getting fairly drunk (especially right after the test when my dad bought me 2 giant martinis and I spilled half the second one all over the guy sitting near us at the bar). And convinced my B-ton friends to come out for the celebrations, which made me feel very special since some of them actually had to work today. My family surprised me by showing up right after the test and taking me out for a super nice dinner. Really I have been whiny and crazy enough this summer that everyone I spend time with felt they had a stake in this, and you know they kind of did. Family members were really stressed out, etc. It was really sweet, and kind of nice that they appreciated the hugeness of the whole thing from my perspective. And my dad gave me a really thoughtful pep talk yesterday about how I'm handling my life in a good way. All in all, way more positive reinforcement than this girl's equipped for.

And now, well, it's noon on Friday, I'm home alone, listening to NPR podcasts with a few hours to kill before my glorious 80-minute massage that I scheduled for late this afternoon, and I don't really know what to do with myself. The responsible answer is, make a dent in the work (yeah work, blah) I have to do this weekend plus go to the gym. But I think more likely I'm just going to watch TV, get dressed, go pick up my new travel pack from the REI store, and just relax-o-rama. And try to figure out which shoes I might wear to my friends' wedding tomorrow (yay I love weddings!). You know, life is pretty good at this moment even though I am slightly bored and also slightly overwhelmed by the 10,000,000 errands to do in 2 weeks before I leave for my big trip. Wheee Australia!

All My Bags Are Packed, I'm Ready to Go...

2009-07-29T06:46:00.002-04:00

I woke up this morning, on Bar Exam Day 1, at 5 am. And rolled out of bed at 5:15, threw on running clothes and ipod, and went off to the high school track. I had it all to myself this morning for a quickie 1.5-mile sunrise run. Who is this person? My high school and college selves would never believe this.

Now I'm all showered and breakfasted, and I've got my regulation 1-gallon ziploc bag containing many #2 pencils, earplugs, tissues, wallet, lip balm, sandwich and snacks (NOT to be eaten in test room at any time!). Nothing else allowed. And I'm about to head off to the World Trade Center in the beautiful seaport area of Boston to get started with the next phase of life, the attorney phase. Oy.

I was going to try to stay at a hotel this week, to spare my family the abuse and me the noise and inconvenience of my current living situation (no privacy, no quiet space, etc) but I'm kind of glad I didn't, since at this point I'm reasonably zen'd out about the thing and my parents are sort of doting, to the extent my parents ever are that way. They are nervous and excited.

Today, I've got under control. Tomorrow, well that's another story as I've still got a little bit of cramming to do for the Mass test. Eesh. But if I rock the test today (ha ha) it won't be that horrible if tomorrow's essays are all crap I don't know like civ pro and jurisdiction. (Those are the same topic! If I get 2 civpro/jurisdiction essays I will scream!)

That's all from here, I'm off.

July 23-24, 2009

2009-07-24T12:49:00.004-04:00

Whoa there, 2 posts in a row. It's obviously been an uber-productive AM over here in the study bunker.

But since the last one didn't involve any actual foodstuffs, here's a summary of the last 18 hours.

I woke up yesterday afternoon hungry, cranky and confused from a nap on the couch with my face in a book and decided to abandon my original dinner plan involving something like quinoa and tofu, and go for the quick and comforty dinner of butternut squash soup (trader joe's), sugar snaps, and some toast with canola margarine. So quick and delicious. During finals a couple months ago I pretty much lived on toast for a while, and I really just don't get sick of it, especially with chewy and complex sprouted wheatberry bread. Nom nom nom.
I also had like 4 popsicles (it's a family addiction -- we used to have "ice cream time" every night around here and now my dad buys popsicles by the ton as a healthier replacement) and a handful of chocolate covered edamame. So good, that stuff, really it's a revelation.

This morning, I rolled out of bed around 8:45 and dug into some kashi go-lean almond honey flax (on sale at Target for super cheap!) with blackberries, plus some coffee. Not sure if my parents' coffee is getting better or my standards are going down, but probably it's the second one. Which is fine -- beggars can't be choosers, after all, and it is awfully nice of them to feed and shelter me all summer...
A little later, a protein shake. Since I'm such a weight-liftin' burly girly, I gots to get my protein. Or something. I'm trying to cut back on the soy (because Jillian Michaels and Briana Stockton have indoctrinated me into their little anti-soy vegan school of thought, to an extent) so I'm using oat milk these days, but I've still got oodles of soy protein powder so I haven't broken into my new stash of hemp protein powder yet. The oat milk is pretty terrific, but kind of expensivo. I've also got hemp milk to try after the oat milk is gone, so I'll post a full report on that when I get to it. It is in a tie-dye printed tetrapak, so obviously it's going to be good.
And the lunch du jour (or really, du week, but I don't know any actual French): wild arugula with a garden herb flavor Sunshine burger, topped with garlicky hummus and salsa. OMG. This is the best and most delicious lunch of all time. Inspired by several bloggers who have posted about a similar salad idea, I've been eating this really often in the last few weeks. Sunshine burgers are soy-free and vegan, and sooooo delicious. I bought a million of them last time I went to whole foods, and I think I've got just 3 left in the freezer now since I left a bunch in my friend's apartment when I stayed there a couple weeks ago.
That's today so far, and now I'm back to the studying. 2 hours of evidence, 90 mins or so at the gym, then stopping by to pay respects. Sigh. Then, home for constitutional law, criminal law & procedure, and a whole lotta practice questions. Woo, Friday!

Apartment!

2009-07-24T09:39:00.003-04:00

To my huge relief, I now have a place to live starting September when I get back from the big Australia trip. It's a big-ish place, big kitchen, in my ideal price range, and less than 10 mins to the T. And a clawfoot tub! Basically, every single thing I wanted, so hopefully that all works out -- I generally have a lot of skepticism about perfect apartments, since I've had a couple and they both had major issues (crazy landlady, crazy landlady/roommate). This landlord seems not-crazy and also, he doesn't live in the building so even if he is some kind of nutter I won't have to deal with him monitoring my comings and goings. He owns several buildings around the city and lives in the suburbs so there's only so much time he could possibly devote to stalking me, and that is how I like it. Also amazing: I don't have to carry my heavy stuff (except the futon I lent a friend for the summer, which I'll have to somehow retrieve) because I've got movers! So I just have to call them up and get them to take my furniture & boxes out of storage and bring it all over to the new place. Very nice, since the new place is a 3rd floor walkup, not the most fun for moving into.

Hooray for that one piece of awesome news amid the drudgery. I've been slogging along with studying, working out, sleeping off the past few weeks of inadequate sleep. And then got really bad news yesterday that a really young guy who used to bus tables at the restaurant where I worked in college had died. Ugh. Just, ugh. What a sweet kid, and a member of the amazing and wonderful family who own the place where I practically lived for 3 years and where I took refuge when things with my own family were less than awesome. So, that kind of threw things into perspective a bit, that maybe my weeks of whining and crying and generally feeling like the bar exam is the worst thing that could happen to a person, well maybe it is all a bit overdramatic. I'm taking a break from my self-centeredness today to go to the wake.

So, that's happening. And I'm going to also try to plow through my 3 remaining multi-state exam subjects and go lift weights and other unrealistically many things. Life is going to be so good in one week, aside from the awe-inspiring hangover I imagine I will have next Friday. Hurrah.

baked!

2009-07-22T21:38:00.006-04:00

So, on the schedule today was approximately 11 hours of studying, of which I've so far done about 2.5. I also went to the gym (during which somehow several hours apparently disappeared, even though I only worked out for an hour and 20 mins), Trader Joe's, and Target, and I baked 2 dozen pretty good vegan blueberry muffins.

Behold:
Yum! I haven't baked vegan muffins in a zillion years, probably because I kind of gave up on vegan baking a long time ago when all the recipes I tried were so crappy. But ever since Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and other such Isa Chandra Moskowitz masterpieces, my faith is renewed.

These muffins are fluffy, sweet-but-not-too-sweet, and extremely gooey because of the overload of blueberries in there. They could probably do with fewer, but come on. It's not such a bad thing to bite in and realize that the whole muffin is pretty much just fresh jam masquerading as baked goods.

They do need a little something, maybe a little cinnamon and nutmeg as they are spiceless. However, looking around the internets now it seems like a lot of muffin recipes are sans spice, so I guess it's not so uncommon.

Here is the recipe, for vegans, those who've run out of eggs & milk, or who want to treat your vegan friends:

Vegan Blueberry Muffins (adapted from EgglessCooking.com)
makes 24

Ingredients:

2 cups soymilk
1 Tbsp white vinegar (apple cider vinegar is great for this, but white is also fine)
4 cups white flour (could substitute whole wheat for 1-2 cups of this)
1 Tbsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
zest of one lemon

1.5 cups granulated sugar (I use Trader Joe's organic, as it's also vegan--even non vegans must agree, "non-vegan sugar" just sounds horrifying!)
2/3 cup canola oil
juice of 1/2 a lemon

3 cups fresh blueberries (could reduce this if you want your muffins more muffiny)

Preheat oven to 350*. Line 2 muffin pans with paper liners or lightly grease them.
Mix vinegar into soymilk and set aside to let it thicken up.
In a medium bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest to combine them and to get rid of any lumps in the flour (this is a substitute for sifting, so think "airy").
In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, oil, milk&vinegar combo, and lemon juice until very well combined and a little frothy.
Dump the dry ingredients into the wet ones (can do this half at a time or all at once, doesn't matter much) and fold gently to combine. A rubber spatula is helpful here. When the dry stuff is all coated in the wet stuff but still lumpy, throw in the blueberries and fold so they're evenly distributed. If you see pockets of flour as you do this, gently break them up and incorporate them into the batter.
Divide the batter among the 24 muffin cups, filling them nearly to the top. Bake for about 20-24 mins, until a toothpick inserted into one of the middle muffins comes out dry.

There's my muffin, alongside my bar study books at the kitchen table. And that's the timer to tell me that I have 1 hour and 35 mins left of studying torts, before I move onto practice questions, then going over practice questions, then studying some Mass state stuff. Oy. Did I mention the 8.5ish hours I'm still meant to do today? I'm going to study a bit into the wee hours and then pick it back up tomorrow and keep on truckin'.

A few days ago I was pretty ready to just kill myself and get it over with, but I am in reasonably good spirits today and I'm really attributing it to (1) working out really really hard the last couple days and (2) a wee bit of sunlight. My hope is that this more positive outlook, Vitamin D infusion, and heightened blood flow to my brain will all help out in the not-failing-the-bar department, but we'll see. I just didn't expect to be this worried about it, but the stakes feel very high. However, even if I fail, and even if I then lose my job and become homeless because there's no other job I'm remotely qualified for that could help pay my crushing, crushing debt, well it would at least mean that I do not have to be a lawyer anymore. Because obviously what I really wanted all along is to be legally-educated and then go to culinary school or some such thing. What I mean to say is, I will keep on going and figure it all out if it comes to that.

AND I lifted weights today like a TOTAL BADASS. I squatted 95 pounds! I don't know if that is actually a lot, but it sure sounds like a lot to me and it is the most I've done. It just kind of took me a while psychologically to realize that this is something I am able to do without injuring or embarrassing myself -- I'm doing it in the Smith machine, so I don't have to feel like I'm going to drop a barbell on my neck and have to hope my little brother sees and comes to the rescue.

That's all from here. I'm home all day long now so I'm going to start doing more food photos, but it's going to be pretty boring the next week as I try to push through and pass this em-effing exam. And then I'm going to drink all of the martinis in the world!

PS Hi Angie if you're reading this! Your shout-out totally made my day!

Summer-summer-summer time!

2009-07-18T08:57:00.002-04:00

Summer has come to Boston, at long last. It is HOT.

Which is why it's totally obvious that yesterday would be the day I decide to make risotto. Standing with my face over a steamy pan of gooey hot hot deliciousness in 90 degree weather is kind of cathartic, in a covered-in-sweat way.

So, what has happened in the last month? I actually ran that 7.5-mile race I mentioned in the last post! I know! Even as I was getting in the car at like 7:45 am on the morning after my grad party, I was like "really?" But yes. There was no real reason not to, since though I ate tons of delicious veggie sausage, chips and dip, etc. etc. and had a few beers, I crashed out at 9 pm so I woke up super rested at 6, with loads of time to get myself to Cambridge for the New Charles River Run. My goal was to average less than a 12 minute mile, since that's generally my long run time at this point in my training, and I totally succeeded, averaging an 11:36 pace and not walking at all, except when I sort of trotted through the water stands that were every 2-4 miles.

Running is still going on, and I love it more and more all the time. Casey, I feel you on the treadmill speed control thing, but since it stopped raining here every day I have been running around the old high school track, which is made of soft red rubbery stuff that is awesome for joints, and I am actually faster on the track. I probably don't run at a consistent pace, but I time each quarter-mile, so I can stay on track for my speed goals. The bad news, however, is that registration for my half marathon (Boston Oct 11) sold out on the first day and I was holding back hoping I'd convince my little brother to sign up too. So, I'm going to have to figure out a new race, which may be Philly Nov 22, or Manchester NH Oct 18, or Staten Island Oct 11, or maybe I'll just wait until the Disney Princess race in March, which I also better sign up for soon if I'm going to commit. It's just hard for me to pull the trigger, especially knowing that it's unlikely I'll convince anyone to go with me. C are you into half marathons? I will totally fly to Minnesota to run one.

Meanwhile, bar study and general avoidance of fun. I get up, I study a little, I go to the gym or track, I study a little more, I watch a lot of tv, I go to bed thinking that yet another day has gone by and I'm still not going to pass the bar! Ugh. While it is true that 92% of people passed the MA bar last year, that's not very reassuring when I'm averaging really low scores on my practice tests every day. A week and a half to go.

Ye olde work space. The other laptop is my sister's.

And then I'm going to AUSTRALIA!! Bar trip! I'm going by myself for 3 weeks, leaving straight from my friend's wedding in Oregon. Crazy! I am super stoked about kangaroos, koalas, snorkeling on the reef, and maybe even surfing.

But, back to the risotto. I bought some arborio rice maybe a month ago when I was craving paella, which I do not know how to make. But I do know, more or less, how to make risotto, so that's what it was. I still reallyreally want to make paella (this one) but that'll have to wait until after July 30 when I'm a free lady.

Other foodage:

Apple & Almond butter. Actually kind of not as good as apple & peanut butter, but I am really digging almond butter on toast.

Iced coffee! Still making that superb recipe from the previous post.

June 22, 2009

2009-06-22T14:10:00.002-04:00

As I write this I'm watching Run, Fat Boy, Run, which is kind of reminiscent of my own running training. Slow, out of shape person, often in ineffective and/or ridiculous-looking workout clothing, tries earnestly. I don't have a pudgy old Indian landlord or a chain-smoking reedy gambling addict pushing me along, just my own need for personal validation and lack of recognition of the probable long-term impact this is all having on my joints.

Anyway, despite the comedy of errors, or whatever it all is, I'm supposed to be running in a race this weekend, a 7.5 miler in Cambridge, Mass. What I didn't think about when I signed up for the race was the fact that my homecoming/graduation party is on the day before the race. My dad has already bought a case of wine, a million bottles of beer, and enough cheese to kill me 10 times over. So, there is a significant likelihood that I am going to be unable to run due to post-cheese coma or hangover. Also there's the fact that I've hardly run at all in the past year. However, I've done two 5-milers on the treadmill in the past couple weeks, along with a few shorter runs, and I feel generally good. The t-mill is obviously not as high-impact as pavement, but for me psychologically, being able to bust out 5 miles on the thing means I've broken through a huge barrier. The variety of cable TV watching options at my new gym is probably to thank for that.

So, that's happening. I'm running a bit, and I love it despite the awfulness of treadmills. Must find outdoor routes, probably over on the rail trail a couple towns over so I don't get hit by cars while running. I just got back from a couple days in NYC that were basically an orgy of bagels and martinis, followed by a massive Father's Day brunch yesterday, so I'm trying to recalibrate myself here and eat a lot of veggies today.

In other big fun food news, I finally got around to trying this recipe for cold-brewed iced coffee that I've been meaning to make for ages and ages. I mentioned it to my mom yesterday and magically she pulled the necessary equipment out of a cabinet. I hadn't even thought to ask if she had a non-electric coffee maker stored away somewhere, since I'd never seen one, but she did, so I was able to throw it together immediately. I ran out to Trader Joe's and picked up some fresh-ground organic sumatra and mixed 1/2 cup of that with 4 cups of cold water in ye olde coffee pot. Stirred it around and put it in the fridge overnight to brew.

And this morning, this is what I ended up with, after straining the grounds out twice. It smelled fantastic, but tasted slightly weak to me at first. But as I had more of it, I decided it was not too weak. Plus, I have a bit left over so I can add that to the brewing water for tomorrow and it'll just get stronger and stronger. Too bad it's freaking freezing here and not iced coffee weather at all! I was wrapped up in a shawl at class today drinking this stuff from an insulated mug.
Before I ran off to class this morning I also had my now-usual breakfast of soy yogurt with Kashi Go-Lean Crunch. This isn't my favorite breakfast of all time--I really miss my banana-spinach smoothies, but I haven't bothered putting the olllld blender here to the test with that. Plus bananas go so fast in this house that I have only bothered trying to buy them once. We'll see what happens with all that, and maybe the veggie smoothie breakfast will return since it does make me feel more alert and vitamin'd-up all day.

And I packed up my morning snack: a scrumptious organic apple and pack of almonds. I've been listening to Jillian Michaels podcasts like it's my damn job (available here, under the Sunday column) and she is all about the organics, and she's got me mostly convinced. I think I'm probably going to end up buying her new book which is all about maximizing/controlling your metabolism by cutting out food and environmental chemicals that cause bad side efffects.
Packed lunch, too, which I usually chow on in the car on the way home. A hummus, tomato, parsley, and sprouts sandwich on Trader Joe's flourless sprouted wheatberry bread, and some organic baby carrots on the side. This bread is the best bread of all time. It isn't for everyone, I guess, since some friends I've recommended it to have really hated it, but I started buying it like 4 years ago and I honestly don't even like non-sprouted breads anymore except after I've toasted the hell out of them. They're too squishy and sugary.

Back to the compulsive listening to Jillian Michaels podcasts, though, she is a pretty awesome motivator. Really, I've been kind of struggling with stress management since I left NY, and listening to her makes me feel more grouunded. Truly, taking the bar exam is not going to be the worst thing that's ever happened to me, and the shitstorm of my law journal editorial board transition is going to be ok and is not all my fault. I'm going to work on being more present and not engaging in escapism (hello, binge drinking and all-day tv-watching). And dealing with this crap so that in a month and a half it will really ALL BE OVER OH MY GOD.

Back! (sort of) With Rhubarb!

2009-06-17T12:37:00.008-04:00

Oh jeez.

So I've been in crazypants suburbia for 2 1/2 weeks now, and I keep buying groceries (seriously, buying and buying and buying, at like 5 different stores) but mostly I haven't been cooking very much. I've been hanging out with the wee siblings, reuniting with friends, watching the Red Sox, attending my college reunion, working out at the so-much-better-than-stupid-Columbia gym, and oh yeah sort of studying for the bar exam. Oy.

Look, it's Maddy! She is one of my all-time heroes, and she gave a freaking amazing talk at S'Wellesley Reunion. Definitely the highlight (well, ok, basically the only part I went to).

ANYWAY, the point of all this is, I am trying, sort of, but I'm not going to make blog posts about how tasty Kashi frozen dinners are (they really are--why is Kashi so much better than everyone else at everything?).

This little bowl of deliciousness is a work in progress, but basically you can't go wrong with a pile of strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, and oats.

Strawberry & Rhubarb Crisp
Based loosely on the recipe for Double Crunch Bumbleberry Crisp, at http://www.rhubarbinfo.com/recipe-cobbler.html

1 1/2 to 2 lb fresh rhubarb, cleaned, trimmed, and cut into 1/2 inch pieces
1/2 lb fresh strawberries, coarsely chopped
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp arrowroot (could substitute cornstarch or tapioca for this)
1/4 cup canola margarine, softened
1/2 cup rolled oats
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup (packed) light brown sugar

Toss the rhubarb and strawberries with the sugar in a large bowl and leave it alone for 30 mins to a couple of hours to work its magic.
Preheat the oven to 350*
Put the now-syrupy mix of rhubarb and strawberries into a 9x9 in baking dish, sprinkle arrowroot powder on and mix around. You could add the arrowroot before or after you put it in the dish, but I forgot to add it until it was into the baking dish and it wasn't a problem.
In a small bowl, mix together the margarine, oats, flour, and brown sugar with your hands or a wooden spoon until it's crumbly and relatively homogeneous. Then sprinkle it evenly over the fruit.
Bake for 45-60 mins, until the rhubarb is tender and the whole house smells like amazingness.

Lessons learned: rhubarb takes a super long time to cook. I sort of knew this, but for some reason I was still following a non-rhubarb recipe in part and only cooked it for 30 mins originally. Big mistake. The bowl of stuff I had at that time was amazing but some of the rhubarb wasn't done so I threw the rest back in the oven.

Also, more thickener! The 1 tiny teaspoon of arrowroot I put in was definitely not enough. I didn't want it to be too starchy, but I think syrupy-ness is an asset here so probably more like 1-2 tablespoons would be ok.

They still have good rhubarb at the supermarkets around here, so I think there's a pretty high probability that I'll make this again very soon so I can try to improve it.

I failed to make it to class this morning so now I'm trying to work out a plan to get to a night class in a couple hours, and I just devoured a (microwaved) sweet potato with black beans and Trader Joe's plain salsa.
And I still had some photos on my camera from the last time I made pizza . . . I brought my remaining packets of yeast home so I think there has got to be some pizza in my future. If I'm feeling extremely ambitious, I may do a few vegan pizzas for my graduation/homecoming party in a couple weeks. Now, off to hunt for a BarBri class and a parking place! I am really sick of having to ride in with my parents at the crack of dawn, so I think I may go check out several other locations this week and next week. It is an exciting life I lead, for reals.

Returning soon, and good news!

2009-06-04T01:05:00.002-04:00

The blog I mentioned a couple weeks back when I was making garlicky tofu, which had previously been taken down off the internets, it lives! Here is the original garlicky tofu recipe: Tofu con Mojo de Ajo. I can't wait to make this again with the real guidance that I could only barely remember from 3 or 4 years ago when I read this recipe.

I've been at Chez Mom&Dad for something like 4 days now, and I've done shockingly well at eating healthfully, but haven't cooked anything interesting so far. Mainly I've been having a bit of what my mom cooks (whatever's vegetarian, which generally means a wee bit of a veggie and a wee bit of some pasta) plus some additional item like a Sunshine Burger or Trader Joe's Thai Dumplings. I've been reacquainting myself with the concept of microwaving, after many years without one. (Lesson learned: it's convenient but tends to ruin nearly everything.) And one of the memory cards to my camera seems to be busted, so my attempts at taking some photos have not worked out. But I'm thinking by this weekend I should actually be operational with a bit of cooking and some photos. Mainly I really want to make THIS. And pizza, and kale, and something interesting with beets. I have gone a little bit overboard with the grocery shopping since I've been here. It's the combination of needing to nest in my temporary home and the extreme joy of being able to go grocery shopping with a car. You can take the girl out of the suburbs, but well, you know the rest.

And now I'm up too late looking at recipes and about to crash out on the couch which is theoretically verboten (the parents don't like it when I sleep on the couch, but I'm sharing a room with my sister, which is wildly inappropriate at our age, and I am approaching my limit with that).

One last thing -- I haven't had a drink since Friday! That's practically a week! How about that. I half-expected to go through physical withdrawal from not drinking after the intense celebration and goodbye drinking over the last few weeks I was in NYC, but thankfully it seems I did not actually become chemically addicted to the large amount of beer and vodka I consumed during that time. I did dig my martini shaker out of a box tonight though, so the week of drying out may be coming to an end relatively soon. Summertime!

May 23, 2009: So Graduatey, and Totally Zonked

2009-05-23T20:16:00.006-04:00

Well, as expected, the graduation was exciting, but very tiring, and now it's 2 days later and all I've managed to do was sleep, eat, watch a lot of movies, and (sort of) book my movers. And packed 1 and a half boxes. I'm moving in slow motion

I don't really have any photos from the past 2 days, mainly because (a) I do not want to even think about most of the horrible, celebratory stuff I've been shoveling into my face and feeding to my friends, and (b) I wasn't really with it enough to take any pictures. Too bad, as well, because actually dinner last night was terrific, courtesy of my roommates N and S, who threw together a delicious meal of strawberry-avocado salad (ooh), and an Asian spices rice pilaf with great big thick asparagus (ahh). And beautiful presentation as well, but you'll just have to take my word for it.

Meanwhile, a few days ago I was thinking I'd whip up a few dozen cupcakes for my grad party Thursday afternoon. Of course I got through one batch and gave up, but they were pretty special:
Yes, that's blue cupcake batter. I ran out of red food coloring, and it occurred to me that I'm probably not packing up my tiny food coloring supplies to bring to a new place, so I may as well use whatever's left. So, Blue Velvet Cupcakes. And then the next day when I went to make frosting, and my whole family was running around like crazy people, I accidentally started making buttercream instead of cream cheese frosting, so that's what we had. They were a hit though, and everyone seemed amused, rather than disgusted, by the bright blueness of the cupcakes. They went pretty fast and the party itself was lovely. Most of my favorite folks, from law school, college, high school, and other eras, were able to make it, and a good time was had by all. I ate a lot of cheese. (Bad quasi-vegan!)

Yesterday, I brunched with the family before they left, and listened to them go on and on about how shockingly expensive everything is in New York. I just feel like a jerk when they say stuff like that, since I'd chosen the brunch place, obviously. It is not an expensive brunch place, but it is true: New York is expensive compared to just about anywhere else. I heard similar reports from friends with suburban parents.

Today I brunched with my mentee from the Law School Women's Association, who is a lovely and amazing lady, and this was sort of our big goodbye since she's got 2 more years of school here and I'm off to BOSTON (woot woot) next week. I wish I had a photo of this one, because it was pretty. "Olive Eggs" from Cafe Fresh on Amsterdam Ave at 121st Street. They were just 2 eggs cooked over hard in olive oil, then plopped onto a large and luscious brioche roll with a bit of cooked spinach on top, and home fries and a salad on the side. Definitely recommend it.

Meanwhile yesterday I had moved the pizza sauce from last time I made pizza from the freezer to the fridge, thinking at some point this weekend I'd do pizzas. So today was the day -- I made the dough this afternoon and whipped up some tofu ricotta (sans basil this time because I didn't feel like going to the store for it).

On the left there is fresh tomatoes and baby spinach, with a few white onion bits left from the other one. On the right is yellow peppers and white onions.

Nom nom nom nom. These pizzas are good. I had some concerns about them, mainly because I let the dough sit after the second kneading for about 3 hours instead of the 2 that I'd planned. Because I fell asleep, which also meant that I was kind of groggy and unenthusiastic when I went to stretch the dough and put on toppings and stuff. So it was all thick in some places and kept getting holes in other places, and I just couldn't seem to get it to work. But it did turn out kind of fine. Slap some toppings on, whatever.

I did do them one at a time this time, but I think the oven wasn't really hot enough when I put in the peppers and onions one, so that one did come out a bit doughy and I just couldn't deal with leaving it in any longer because the excess cornmeal was burning and smoking, setting off my fire alarm nonstop.

This is my set-up to make the fire alarm stop -- I generally just wave a towel at it (after opening all the windows and cranking my AC up to get more air moving around) but I just couldn't stand there the whole time, so I found my old fan in my roommate's room and employed an old trick.

Anyway, the tomato and spinach pizza turned out spectacular (this is what I always order if I'm getting a pie from a pizza shop) and the peppers and onions pizza is very tasty but probably needs a couple minutes in the toaster oven to reach its full potential.

And maybe there will be more posting this weekend/next week. I do have a lot of food (grains and stuff mostly) that needs to be cooked or thrown away so I should get to work on that. It's just hard to figure out how to put it all together, when everything is kind of unrelated. But I'm also hoping to bake some bread. Maybe I'll bake loads of bread and give it out as gifts, so I don't have to worry about these last 4 packets of yeast that are still sitting in my fridge. We'll see how ambitious I manage to be in between packing up my whole life to go into storage and tying up loose ends at school and journal. I can't believe this major era of my life is really ending!

Tonight's plans:Dirty vodka martini, Mad Men. If I could be smoking a cigarette and wearing a retro housewife get-up too you know I would be. This show, well, I keep giving it one more try and I guess I do like it, but I do sometime suspect that the point is just to give writers the chance to come up with snappy sexist and anti-Semitic one-liners. But the wardrobe and hair (and drinks) are pretty awe-inspiring.

Good Day!

2009-05-20T11:44:00.005-04:00

Howdy howdy. Sooo busy this week! I am balancing cleaning my apartment with attempting to put together a plan for summer and fall, attending fun graduation events, finishing up some important work, spending time with friends, doing lots of fun new york stuff, catching the series premiere of Glee last night! (Who doesn't love Jane Lynch? She is so amazing. I hope the show is a lot about her.)

Today, I get my degree! And a certificate in international law, which is kind of less useful now that I'm pretty sure I don't want to do international law, but at least I've got that as a little feather in my cap since there are no real "majors" in law school. There was a graduation this morning for everyone who attends Columbia, which I skipped since my family's not here and it sounded kind of boring. My fam gets in tonight in time for dinner at my favorite greasy Chinese place.

ALSO today I found out that I have been offered a totally awesome job for fall in Boston, which is great but kind of confusing because I reallyreally want to go to San Francisco but I'm not sure I'll hear from SF jobs before tomorrow when I have to respond to this offer. OH HARD CHOICES WITH INADEQUATE INFORMATION. It makes me a little nuts, but at least I know for sure that I have at least one really good option available. I will have work!

And then I made black eyed pea and quinoa croquettes from Vegan with a Vengeance. Because I cooked the peas and the quinoa yesterday and couldn't really think of when I'd make them if I didn't do it this morning.
These are made just like veggie burgers, by mashing beans and grains together, adding some spices, and dredging them in breadcrumbs. Then they're baked for 40 mins, but they could also be fried and might be better that way because of the added richness and crunch from frying.

They were . . . meh. I didn't have the dried basil or the paprika that they called for, so I subbed in rosemary and a dash of cayenne along with the thyme, soy sauce, and olive oil. They were just kind of too spicy, in the sense of too many competing flavors. And the recipe calls for serving them with a sort of mushroom gravy, but I don't like mushrooms. I tried one dry to try to figure out what I'd want to dip them in, and settled on marinara sauce (Newman's own roasted tomato). This was a reasonably good combo, but I want to play around with this recipe and try to make it into something I actually really like. I just love croquettes and I love the idea of making them with beans instead of salmon or tuna.

And, since I probably won't have much to report for a couple of days since I'll be busy graduating, here's an old photo I just found on my computer: Pierre, the peep with a beret, courtesy of Jacques Torres. And that's my little brother there in the background on the left cultivating his internet addiction on my netbook.

May 18, 2009

2009-05-19T00:23:00.002-04:00

Wow, 2 posts in one day, and on the shortest day of my life since I slept until practically dusk. . . It totally doesn't have anything to do with my friend C mentioning to me last night that she reads this old thing. Hmm.

Anyway, I made the most of my very short day by immediately breaking my vow to not drink (2 weak whiskey & diet cokes during Gossip Girl) and watching some excellent young adult programming.

Oh, Gossip Girl. Oh, Blair and Chuck. And then, worse, Bella and Edward! Yes, I finally watched Twilight. And oh. The abstinence. I will say, kids, that while it is true that abstinence is the only true form of birth control (and prevention of becoming a vampire) it is fairly unsatisfying to watch. I felt like a teenage boy or something, the way I just reallyreally wanted them to finally at least touch each other. Man. I am an old person and a perv.

During the movie I had some popcorn (on the stove, of course, since I don't have a microwave) with the usual topping of salt, curry powder, and ground cumin.
And then, at 11:45, I decided that I was going to have to either go to sleep immediately or make some dinner. Obviously I went for Option #2. Can you tell I'm down to a very small assortment of stuff in the fridge here? This was actually the last of the spinach and tomatoes, so now I really do have to go to the store tomorrow. This is just some whole wheat rotini which I boiled until al dente, drained, and then put back on the stove with: a little olive oil, 1/2 tsp minced garlic, a medium tomato, giant handful of baby spinach, crushed red pepper, and a bit of salt and pepper. When the spinach was pretty much cooked, I threw in a bit of fresh oregano and voila! Pasta aglio e olio! (That means garlic & oil, for the pasta-uninitiated.)

Now I'm going to attempt to go to sleep and get up at a reasonable hour tomorrow, since I've got a phone interview at 10, a gazillion things to do, and much cleaning and laundry to finish. Blech. I still want a vacation, but I guess I've taken it the last few days by drinking and sleeping so much. Plans for tomorrow: wake up early-ish, do some damn work, interview, free lunch at school, do some more work, then Vegetarian dim sum house for dinner! Not sure what that means for the black-eyed peas I've started soaking in anticipation of making the VWAV croquettes, but I guess they can wait until Wednesday. Can't believe my family arrives for graduation in just 2 days! Life is about to change A LOT over the next year and a half as I move to my parents' house for 2 months, then try to find something awesome to do in Aug & Sept, then start a job somewhere, and do the real lawyer thing. Crazy.

Week of Fun: It Begins

2009-05-18T17:26:00.007-04:00

Uggghhh. Today I slept until 3:30 pm. The only other time I can remember that happening was after the most raucous and rowdy New Years Eve of my life when I went to bed around 9 am. But the past 2 days of drinking, rabble rousing, etc, have really taken it out of me.

I do have a couple of photos that document intermittent moments of the past few days, which is kind of like my memory of the past few days...
Saturday I got up and made TWO (2!) smoothies, one frozen mocha and one spinach-banana. Pretty crazy! On the week of fun docket for this day: Brooklyn Brewery, in Williamsburg BK, followed by a pub crawl in the East Village/Lower East Side with my high school friend S and his girlfriend and grad school friends. The Brooklyn Brewery offers "tours" at 2, 3, and 4 pm on Saturdays. K and I were shooting for the 3 pm tour, but as usual we were running really late and didn't even make it to the subway until 3, so we caught (barely) the 4:00 one.
On the way we stopped at Absolute Bagels (the best bagels!). I got an everything bagel with veggie tofutti. When I first tried this I thought I was breaking out of my old habit, but I think I just formed a new habit.
Anyway, the thing about the brewery tour is that it's not really a tour, so much as an explanation of who started the brewery and how. It all happens in one room where there are a bunch of tanks of beer in the brewing process. Still, I like to see where my beverages come from, so I thought it was worthwhile. And you get 6 beer chips for $20, so K and I each tried the summer ale, the weisse beer, and the pilsner. We both liked the pilsner the best, but the summer also had kind of an interesting, but very bitter, taste.

Then it was off to Alphabet City, to meet up with S (the boy -- I need new nicknames for people on here since the initials are starting to overlap) and co. I had 2 1/2 amazing lychee martinis at Rue B (by this point I'd had enough drinks that I wasn't remembering to take any photos and pretty much forgot I even had my camera). Most of the other folks had the "strawberry patch" which was vodka lemonade with muddled strawberries. It was happy hour so they were all 2 for $10 (a steal in NYC). Really tasty.

After that, we had felafel sandwiches, which were certainly not the best felafel sandwiches ever, but for $3 on that day, they were the best idea ever. Then more drinking (wine, vodka sodas, a bit of a friend's very strong margarita), garlic knots at the pizza place, and my friends introduced me to a friend of theirs that they wanted to set me up with. With less than 2 weeks to go in NYC, I'm not really looking, but this chick was very cool so maybe we'll at least be friends.

Sunday -- prom day! My roommates were busy little ants running all over upper manhattan to get things into place for their anti-prom prom party. S (the girl) reserved a space in her building where she and her boyfriend N able to set up a full bar, plus tons of homemade tasty snacks. There was pool, a trivia game that my team TOTALLY DOMINATED and beer pong. And I made cupcakes!
This is a cupcake I had when I woke up today. These ones are the cookies & creme from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World, and this time I made them with almond extract for the first time. I really am not a huge fan of the almond extract. In some recipes (e.g. red velvet) it seems to make sense and add some depth, but with these chocolate ones, I'd rather stick with the less nuanced flavors and let the chocolate and vanilla shine through. I also made the margarita cupcakes from the same book, which I have to admit I kind of don't like anymore. They're just too sweet and too limey for me.

See, many cupcakes remain -- if you are one of my NYC friends reading this, that means you should come over tonight or tomorrow and scoop some up so that I don't have to eat cupcakes for every meal the next few days.
So, that brings me to this afternoon, when I got up at embarrassingly late o'clock and made myself the hangover breakfast/dinner of champions. Scrambled tofu, toast, and a peach-mango coconut water.

Scrambled Tofu (based, vaguely, on the recipes in Vegan with a Vengeance and How it all Vegan)
Serves one very hungry gal after a very long sleep, or maybe 2 regular people. Easy to double it and serve 3-4.

1-2 tsp olive oil
1/2 of a small onion, finely chopped
1/2 lb firm tofu, drained and squeezed lightly to expel water
giant handful of fresh spinach
medium tomato, coarsely chopped
1/2 tsp ground turmeric
1 tsp ground cumin
1/4 tsp ground thyme or oregano
juice of 1/4 of a lemon
pinch of salt, maybe 1/4 tsp
dash of freshly ground pepper, to taste

In a large frying pan, heat the olive oil over medium heat. Toss a small piece or two of onion in there, and when the oil starts to bubble around the onion, put the rest of the onion in and stir with a wooden spoon.
When the onion is cooked through and has turned translucent, crumble the tofu into the pan. Mix it around, and then add the spinach, tomato, lemon juice, and spices. (Note: you can use really any vegetable combo in this recipe. Bell peppers, zucchini, frozen corn kernels, mushrooms, whatever's in the fridge. Hardier veggies like these should go in at the same time as the onions.)
Mix the spices in well (the turmeric will turn the whole thing very yellow) and let it cook, stirring occasionally, for about 10 mins, until the liquids have evaporated and the spinach is totally cooked down. Serve with toast, as filling for a breakfast burrito, or by itself. Yum!

Along with the super electrolyte power of the coconut water, this did bring me back to life, more or less. Tonight's plans involve: drinking copious amounts of water, doing laundry, and probably watching Twilight, which I've got from Netflix. And maybe dealing with all the urgent emails I've been not answering while I drink my troubles away the past week.
I'll leave you with this: the awe-inspiring vagina art that was at the anti-prom party venue. Look closely: the clit is made of sequins! Hilarity. N moved it out of the main space because he said it was "ruining all the photos." Ha!

May 14-15, 2009

2009-05-15T20:38:00.009-04:00

Being done with finals (yay!) but having uncertainty and tough choices in all other aspects of life right now (boo) have led to a lot of drinking and a lot of eating out, and few photos.

I finished my final Wednesday at 6 and proceeded immediately to drinking champagne, then when that was gone K and I went off in search of middle eastern food. That was a bust so we ended up at a sweet little Thai place with fancy drinks that I didn't manage to try but I'll definitely make it back. The lychee margaritas looked pretty wild but I just had wine because I didn't want to get too crazy after already putting away half a bottle of champagne. We followed all that up with a few drinks at a bar, joined by S, and then another couple of drinks at home and chips and salsa. These ladies are the best thing about NYC by far, and it's going to be a sad day soon when we go our separate ways in a couple weeks, but it's reasonably likely I will be in one of their cities (DC or San Fran) this fall, we shall see.

Here's a photo of me in my graduation cap (which I've been wearing pretty much all the time since I finished) and doing some ill-advised texting. From K's phone -- sneaky! She was there too but had had enough beer that she also thought it was a fine idea.

Hangover breakfast, Thursday around noon. I actually wasn't too bad off, which is a testament to my incredibly high law school-related alcohol tolerance.

A little while later I had some more of that polenta & pesto. Yeesh, there is a lot of this. It made 6 servings, and since no one else had any, I've been eating it every damn day forever. Still delicious! I did this one up in the wee George Foreman, which is why it's a little mangled and has grill marks.

And here, finally, is the last of it, plus the last of the giant asparagus from a few days back too. I fried up the polenta in a little bit of super-hot olive oil, and did make it a little more crispy than the first time. The asparagus is drizzled with a little olive oil, salt & fresh ground pepper, and tossed under the broiler for about 7 mins.

That's all the photos from yesterday, though this toast kind of resembles the toast I had post early dinner and pre Grey's Anatomy season finale. Beer and a Gibson were also consumed (out of olives for my martini, which was pretty sad, but the onions are also kind of good).

Anyway, this was breakfast this morning, some sprouted bread toast with canola margarine, plus coffee and plenty of water. I had a job inteview yesterday and one and a half today -- important to stay hydrated for all that talking.

I am kind of losing most brain functions as a result of the finals, the job interviews, etc etc. I have only a foggy recollection of what else I ate today and I definitely didn't take photos.

THEN I made garlicky tofu, based on my really vague memory of a recipe from a now-defunct food blog. It was a sad, sad day when poco-coco went down, because there were a ton of recipes on there that sounded amazing, including this one.

I think next time I do this, I'll fry the tofu first, then put in the garlic and onions, so the tofu has more texture. Plus it really needed cilantro, but the fresh oregano I had in the fridge did the job of bringing some necessary green-ness to the dish pretty well. This recipe could easily be doubled.

Garlicky tofu (1-2 servings)
Ingredients:

1/2 lb firm tofu, lightly pressed to expel water
2-3 teaspoons olive oil
1/2 of a medium onion, or more to taste, sliced in 1/4 inch half-moons
3 cloves of garlic, sliced thinly or minced (depending on whether you like to eat big hunks of garlic, or pick out the garlic from your dish, or eat wee bits of garlic -- I went for the eating big hunks of garlic, since if it's Friday and I'm not kissing anyone you better believe I'm chowing on some garlic)
1/2 cup vegetable broth
1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper, or more or less to taste (The amount I added really didn't make it spicy at all, just gave a little bit of flavor.)
1 medium tomato, roughly chopped
1 tablespoon chopped fresh oregano or 2-3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro
fresh ground pepper, to taste

Cut the tofu into rectangles or triangles about 1 inch thick. Heat the olive oil in a large frying pan on medium to med-high heat, until a drop of water flicked into the oil sizzles or the oil starts to smoke. Put the tofu in and fry for a few minutes on each side, until it is to your desired crispy brown-ness. If you want it REALLY crispy, that takes up to 10 mins per side. I like mine just medium, so it's pretty good after 5 mins or less per side.
When the second side is nearly done, by your standards, turn the heat down to medium-low and push the tofu to the sides of the skillet. You may need to add a little more oil, another teaspoon or so, at this stage if the tofu has sucked up the oil you started with. When the pan stops sizzling so loudly and has cooled off a little, add the onions and garlic to the middle of the pan and let them sautee until they turn translucent, maybe 5 mins.
Then, add the veggie broth and tomatoes and crank up the heat to boil off some of the water in the broth.
Now's the time to either make a drink, clean up a little, or tend to your side dish. When the broth has reduced to about 1/2 to 1/3 of its original volume, then it's done. Toss in your fresh herbs, stir it around, and serve along with a whole grain and/or a simple steamed or roasted vegetable.

Here's my dinner -- along with the tofu I made some quinoa (red and white mixed) and while that was cooking I dumped in about a cup of frozen spinach and some cumin.

This was a pretty humble dinner but it really worked out and I didnt' have to buy anything even though I'm starting to run out of a lot of stuff.

And I've got another portion for tomorrow, which will potentially be the most garlicky thing I have ever consumed after it's been sitting in garlicky broth covered in garlic for a day.

The BEST thing to serve this with (and really one of the best things to serve anything with) is cilantro-jalapeno rice from a Gourmet magazine I bought in the summer of 2006, which I cannot find right now and I'm going to assume it's around here somewhere so I don't have to freak out about that because it's the best EVER.

Week of fun is kind of boring so far. I am supposed to be going out dancing tonight, but my friends are already drunk and I am still in my pajamas. Today I went from pajamas to gym clothes to pajamas and there's a reasonable chance that'll be it, but I may make it out to see a movie or something if dancing doesn't happen. Tomorrow's supposed to be the Brooklyn Brewery tour but I have a sneaking suspicion that people are going to bail on that too, so we'll see. Maybe I'll go tour the brewery by myself!

May 12, 2009

2009-05-12T22:55:00.012-04:00

Ugh, this week! It is just one disaster after another, but tomorrow evening I will be DONE with law school, and all that will remain is figuring out my job situation (a whole long story for another day), finishing up all my law journal editing duties, and getting myself moved out of here. In 2 weeks and 3 days, I'll be leaving this apartment that's been home for almost 3 years. Yeesh!

This morning I took my third of four exams. Which required an all-nighter fueled by the evil but amazing greasy Chinese food that I love, from Empire. This place has been one of the staples of my law school experience. I am getting so sappy about dumb stuff like that now that I'm leaving!
So, the damage: scallion pancake, cold sesame noodles, and veggie mooshu with brown rice and tons of plum sauce. So good, so bad, let us never speak of this again!

That is the thing about this kind of food. There is a kind of guilt and psychosis about it. It always accompanies other poor choices, which makes it feel like a really poor choice.

Shockingly, I woke up this morning after a tiny catnap and was reasonably with it, and kept studying until my 10 am exam, which was not nearly as disastrous as expected.

Before I ran out the door to print out my notes and get to the exam, I made some toast with canola margarine and a blended mocha. I am totally addicted to these mochas. Just my style, not too sweet. I use unsweetened chocolate soy milk which makes it chocolatey but not sugary.

During the test I noshed on a cut-up pink lady and a vanilla soy yogurt, then ran to the deli across the street and got one of their fantastic veggie burgers to eat in the park with 2 friends from class. Along with champagne in insulated coffee mugs. So classy! But it did keep the champagne chilly even in the sun and we didn't get ticketed for drinking in public, so all worked out. I didn't have my camera, which is unfortunate because there was the cutest little Canada goose family with 2 goslings walking around by our picnic table. Totally adorable.

When I got back home, I found out I was supposed to take another (self-scheduled) exam by today at the latest. For serious, I am not this irresponsible -- my roommate and I looked at the emails that the registrar said had the info about the deadline, and saw nothing. So, I got permission to take it tomorrow, a day earlier than I'd planned. Oh, sigh. I am really struggling to finish.

Tried to take a nap but I wasn't tired so I threw some soup on the stove and cracked open a beer. I bought this veggie soup mix (lentils, yellow and green peas, tiny alphabet pasta) sometime in the past 8 months when I was feeling sick and it lasts forever because a little goes a long way.

In a little saucepan I sauteed maybe 1/3 cup of finely chopped red onion and half of a very large green pepper also chopped pretty fine. When they were smelling amazing and the onions were just about cooked through (5 mins or so) I added 1/4 cup of the veggie soup mix and 1 cup of water. I had planned to do 1/2 cup of mix and 2 cups of water, as I usually do, but I guess I forgot. My brain was really fried. But it turned out to be just the right amount, anyway.

I also added about 1/2 tsp of minced garlic, 1/4 tsp of crushed red pepper and 1/2 tsp of dried thyme. Brought it almost to a boil then simmered, partly covered, for about an hour.

When I came back to it, the lentils and stuff had absorbed most of the water, so I thinned it out with some veggie broth I had open in the fridge, maybe 1/4 of a cup or so. Heated that through and it was done. Delish. Just put it in a bowl, top with a little fresh ground black pepper and a swig of balsamic vinegar. Adding vinegar at the end is my favorite flourish with this kind of soup. It adds sweetness and depth to a very mild and comfort-y soup.

After that I watched a couple more episodes of Noah's Arc (Wilson Cruz has arrived! And he is amazing!) and finally fell asleep. When I woke up at 9, my roommate and his girlfriend had just gone to bed. Let me tell you how incredibly cool and adventurous we are around here.

I was feeling snacky and kind of wanted to go out and get pizza or something, but since my fridge overfloweth and I didn't want to change out of PJs, instead I heated up some of those polenta leftovers on the George Forman grill.

I put some zucchini slices under the broiler too, but they took so long I had eaten the polenta by the time they came out. The zucchini was good, caramely on the top and soft all the way through, but nothing to write home about.

Lots of food today, but at least most of it was not crazy finals stress eating food. And now I'm not sure whether I should be goiing back to bed or trying to study for the exam I''m totally unprepared for tomorrow. I'm pretty pissed off that I have to do it a day earlier than I wanted to, but also excited to be finished a day earlier!

I am definitely going to have to cook something magical on Thursday in honor of being totally done. I'm planning at some point this month in getting in on this celebration of my favorite food blog, so maybe that will happen Thurs when the ladies come over for the Grey's season finale. I think tomorrow I'll probably be having either leftovers or something quick from the grocery or take-out since my exam is from 10 am to 6 pm. Almost done with law school!

May 11, 2009

2009-05-11T17:03:00.007-04:00

I was just saying to my friend S (roommate's girlfriend who sort of lives here) that I really wish it were dinnertime right now, or at least that I was legitimately hungry because it'd give me an excuse to take a break. But alas, not the case. However, I've got photos from earlier today that I can post and comment on to distract myself from my ever-increasing sense of doom and horror about tomorrow's exam. The time limit has been reduced, so that although it is an open-book test, there is no chance I'll be able to scramble and look up principles I am not sure about, if I'm going to finish on time. Oy.

On to the gratuitous photos of food!
At long last, I purchased some spinach so I could make the usual breakfast smoothie of bananas & spinach. It really does wake me up and get me going, despite the fairly limited amount of sleep I got last night. Along with some coffee that was waiting for me courtesy of the roommates when I got up.

Fun fact: I stole this beer glass that I always use for smoothies from an English bar in Reykjavik. I really really wanted one that said VIKING, the name of the Icelandic beer, but I had to settle for Tuborg because after watching the bartenders beat a guy up I didn't want to push my luck by rooting around in their stacks of glasses for the one I wanted.

Yes, that's my smoothie glass and my coffee mug from earlier, sitting there cluttering up my living room work space. And a blended mocha (8 oz chocolate soy milk + 6 ice cubes of frozen coffee) plus a pink lady apple and pb2.

Lunch #1: leftover millet polenta squares from last night, with sundried tomato pesto. I grilled these on my tiny George Foreman grill, and they came out almost as good as the ones that were fried, but less oil and less clean-up. Very nice. They did get a bit mangled when I wrestled them off of the grill and onto my plate though.

Lunch #2/mid afternoon snack: bagel from the best bagel place! I got into a rut for like a year where I only ever ordered a poppy bagel with scallion tofutti every time I went to any of the local bagel joints. But this place has outstanding everything bagels and veggie cream cheese. It is the best bagel place, after all. I'm glad I branched out. The tiny bits of broccoli and carrot and onion in my tofu "cream cheese" are tough to see in the photo but they tasted excellent.

Now I'm sipping "Calm" tea that S made for me and contemplating both dinner and my ongoing cramfest. Yes that is Jessica Simpson's face on Vanity Fair that I'm using as a coaster to protect my bed from the hot mug.

Dinner, whenever the time FINALLY comes, will be either (1) more polenta and pesto plus broiled asparagus, (2) steamed tofu and zucchini over couscous with sesame seeds and a big splash of soy sauce, or maybe (3) an old favorite I haven't had in a while: tofu and asparagus with soba. I'm almost out of soba but I should have enough for one.

Primal Scream

2009-05-10T23:59:00.000-04:00

Never fails to creep me out, but I'm almost nostalgic for it knowing that the one that's going on right now will probably be the last that I witness. When I was in college it seemed to happen pretty quickly, but at gigantic sprawling Columbia it lasts for ages.

Now where is my midnight breakfast with smiley face potato things?

May 10, 2009: Millet "Polenta"

2009-05-10T20:51:00.000-04:00

Well, it's happened again. I cooked another amazing recipe from Vegan with a Vengeance, thus managing to fill most of my day with non-study activities. I also started watching the show Noah's Arc, a seriously cheesy gay man show from one of those new gay networks. It's kind of growing on me, which just tells you that I have already watched all of the gay entertainment that exists and have had to lower my standards. However, I think Wilson Cruz joins the show at some point, so surely it will get better.

And here are some pictures of food. A super-sweet pink lady apple plus some pb2.

And a veggie sandwich and big handful of almonds to keep me awake while studying...

These almonds are really not fresh, but they had this oddly familiar taste. Like the almond in the middle of a jordan almond. Ew. But kind of good. There is really no place to get decent inexpensive almonds except Trader Joe's. Which will be so close by when I move in with my family next month. I should totally get a job there. Ever since that movie "Go" I have kind of wanted to work in a grocery store, even though my friends who have done it say that it's not really like that. Probably a bad sign that I have aspirations like "work at a grocery store" at this point in my life and education.

Dinner took most of the afternoon, so while things were cooking I took a ton of photos. I made millet and spinach polenta (kind of a misleading name for it -- the millet IS the polenta, and the spinach is more of a flavoring, shredded and mixed into the millet). With sundried tomato pesto, which consists of: almonds, olive oil, sundried tomatoes (plumped up in some hot water), garlic, basil, salt & pepper. Into the blender, and YUM.

Soon I will have to start making up my own recipes so I can actually post them, but as a student of copyright and a supporter of cookbook writers, I have to have some scruples about not stealing the amazing Isa Chandra Moskowitz's recipes and posting them. You can find many of them at the Post Punk Kitchen, or buy Vegan with a Vengeance (and of course the amazing Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World).

After cooking up the millet with veggie broth, spinach, and oregano, I spread it into a baking dish and left it on the stove to cool for maybe an hour and a half. An offset spatula is super useful for stuff like this -- I bought it for frosting cakes, but it's handy anytime you need to smear something or flatten out a sticky mass like this one.

The pesto! Everything that's involved with this is delicious, so it's not too shocking that the finished product is pretty tasty too.

Here's an action shot of the cooled, cut up "polenta" frying up in a bit of olive oil in a nonstick skillet, on medium-high heat. I think next time I'm going to heat it up even hotter to try to sear the outside of this, but cooking like this did get a little bit of a crunch on the edges, after about 3 minutes per side.

Dinner: 2 hunks of polenta, fried up with some pesto on top, alongside the most enormous asparagus I've ever eaten. Seriously, I think this photo doesn't even do justice to the incredible hugeness of this asparagus.

[Not pictured.] After that, my roommate's girlfriend came over and made a really superb salad with avocados, beets, fancy greens, and a simple vinaigrette, so I had to sample a little of that as well, with some crusty rosemary olive bread from the bakery down the street.

I am excited to have hobbies again now that law school will be over. I really feel sometimes like my whole pre-law school life just ended, and I worried that I wouldn't be able to remember who I am when I'm not editing journal articles and reading cases. But it's coming back reasonably clear right now, since I've gotten back to cooking, been going to concerts, catching up with old friends, etc. I think the old me who had way more free time is still in there waiting to get back to having hobbies and talking about stuff other than the bluebook and statutory interpretation. Huzzah!

May 9-10, 2009

2009-05-10T11:47:00.000-04:00

Yesterday was not a great day. Long story short, the Very Important Document that I thought would for sure arrive in the mail either Friday or Saturday, and which needed to go back into the mail with some other Very Important Documents by yesterday at the latest, well it did not arrive. So, between the time the mail came (3) and the time that the 24-hour post office sends out its last Saturday mail (7), I had to email every lawyer-type person I know in NYC (it's a pretty short list, surprisingly) and beg them to meet me someplace so they could sign my stuff in place of the person whose mail hadn't arrived. The backup plan being to hop on a train today to Boston so I could hand-deliver my stuff to the state courthouse on Monday when it's absolutely-no-exceptions due.

Pretty stupid, but the whole process has been a bit confusing, and I wasn't even able to do it until kind of late in the game because I was waiting for crucial test scores and trying to prepare a contingency plan in case I failed this test and wasn't able to take the MA bar exam this year. Thankfully, I did pass, and even more thankfully, I located my friend's brother and was able to get him to endorse my application. And I made it to the post office with an hour to spare. Phew!

So, needless to say, following this debacle and a trip to the very beautiful 24 hour post office by Penn Station, I had to go have a martini or three. I ended up at my best guy friend's place out in Brooklyn, playing cheesy old computer games, throwing back scrumptious vodka martinis like it was my job, and chowing on some of the worst Chinese food available. I really wish I had a photo of that -- I've been to this place several times and it is really a "so bad it's good" situation. No matter what you order, it comes with the same sauce! Really. So far I've had broccoli with garlic sauce, cold sesame noodles, and General Tso's tofu, and all of them have this bright red sweet and sour slightly spicy sauce that probably is ordered pre-made in a 10-gallon bucket.

Here's the first, less-crazy half of yesterday, in food photos.

For breakfast, some pineapple flavor coconut water. This was super-rich with pineapple and coconut puree that I had to kind of scrape off the inside of the container and mix into my drink. Definitely better than the (already pretty good) standard regular coconut water, very refreshing. I got a couple of these on sale at the old health food store the other day.

And then, you know I (with a little help from a roommate and another friend) polished off that pizza. When coffee was ready, I had that with a little leftover pizza heated up in the toaster oven. There were a few doughy spots when I first made the pizza, so toasting the leftover slices definitely improved the crust at those parts in the middle that weren't already crispy.

And there in the photos is also the excellent Vegan with a Vengeance, complete with a zillion post it flags of all the recipes I want to make. I'm trying something new from VWAV either tonight or tomorrow, which I'm pretty stoked about.

And here is the last of the pizza, but it definitely will be making another appearance sometime soon. I love the color combo of the red peppers and red onions, and they tasted great together too, very sweet and mild. Even without cooking them first they got pretty soft. One of my pet peeves is definitely when you order a dish at a restaurant and the onions aren't cooked through. Thai restaurants, I am looking at you!

That's all the photos from yesterday, since sadly I didn't think to bring my camera (or any homework, or water or other essentials) when I left the house in late afternoon.

This morning, I lamented the fact that I still hadn't gone grocery shopping so didn't have ANY of my favorite breakfast things. I was hungry for more than just coconut water, so I munched on a sandwich thin and a vanilla soy yogurt while I caught up on emails and watched my Sunday morning online TV show (Brunch with Bridget).

Then -- glorious! I did grocery shopping. It is such a gorgeous day out so I'm glad I made it out there, though I kind of forgot to go check out the farmer's market. I have no idea if local asparagus and berries are here yet but maybe I'll find out Thursday when the farmer's market returns.

Here's a photo of my grocery store haul: spinach, black-eyed peas, asparagus, tomatoes, alfalfa sprouts, broccoli, fresh oregano, hummus, pink lady apples, sundried tomatoes, Italian parsley, and a prepared tofu salad with curry and chickpeas for lunch. These tofu salads (there are like 20 different varieties) are the best thing about my local grocery store. That and the fact that it's open 24 hours.

And here is a (not authorized by the roommate) photo of my fridge. Note that my stuff is all on the right side and his is on the left. I don't know if you can make this out in the photo, but, as usual, the roommate has got a gallon of whole milk, several cartons of different grades of cream, 2 different kinds of cream cheese, and several other cheeses. Also, butter and eggs. I often refer to him as the president of the dairy lobby.

You do not hear me complaining, however, when he bakes butter-laden amazing chocolate chip cookies, even though these days they knock me on my lactose-intolerant ass. That's what several years of semi-serious veganism get you: you become a vegan by default, which does in fact make the whole thing easier.

Here's today's lunch, with the evil Bluebook lurking there behind it. Ingredients as listed on this package: "tofu chickpeas, curry, sause, fresh cilantro, salt, black pepper, olive oil, grape tomato, espices."

The lovely people who make these salads may not speak English, but they definitely have a way with the espices.

May 8, 2009: Pizza!

2009-05-08T20:12:00.000-04:00

Dear Blog, I have only been at this for a few days now (in this iteration) but it has already happened! I actually felt driven to cook something new, exciting, and most of all PRETTY so that I could post something other than the bagels and quinoa that I've been eating every day for the past week.

I remembered the 6 packets of yeast that have been sitting in my fridge for months (but haven't expired yet) so last night I looked up a recipe in the indubitable Vegan with a Vengeance for some simple pizza dough. All of the ingredients (flour, sugar, oil, water) were already here, so that decided it. I've never made pizza dough from scratch before, and have only made pizza at home once or twice, so it was definitely an experiment. I did learn some things, but I'll get to that at the bottom of the post . . . First, here are some other tasty photos.

Here's a photo from late last night, when I followed my usual Thursday night TV watching party (with 2 best friends) with a Netflix movie and an icy cold vodka martini (not too dry, just a wee bit of olive brine, 3 giant olives). Not a bad way to end the evening, though I will admit that it led to some 2 am tiny bagels, which brings my tiny bagel count for yesterday to . . . six? I don't even know. That's only like 2 regular sized bagels, but still a bit insane.

And then this morning, I was still out of spinach so there was no morning veggie smoothie. I had a pear with some PB2 when I woke up at 11 am. I am really becoming nocturnal these days.

I am a bit sick of pears, and I think maybe I'm going to stop buying them for a while. Apples are so totally superior, but my neighborhood grocery store has had crummy apples most of the time lately. So, we'll see what they've got when I go do big shopping tomorrow.

For lunch: a meatless-meatball sandwich, featuring Trader Joe's amazing meatless meatballs. I've got 2 bags of these in the freezer, but I had run out of tomato sauce a while back so I haven't had them in a while. I used just a teeny bit of jarred sauce to heat up with these wee meatballs for a tasty and very filling sandwich.

After that, I did major shopping at my favorite health food store, and picked up ingredients for tomato sauce and tofu-basil ricotta. I also picked up a few things for other fun things I want to make in the next couple of weeks.

When I got back, I got to work on the dough, sauce, and "cheese." And I whipped up a frozen mocha to cool off after hefting the groceries around on my couple-mile walk.

After mixing, kneading, waiting (waiting, waiting), and baking, here's the finished product!

Pizza #1: red peppers and red onion, plus tofu-basil ricotta and the tastiest homemade sauce, also from VWAV.

Pizza #2: zucchini, plus same sauce and cheese.

It came out really well. I think there is still much room for improvement, but look at that spread. Excellent Friday evening in, with some homemade vegan deliciousness and a relaxing Harpoon beer (Boston!). I threw on a video (Secretary) and got to work on the blog after I finished eating.

Look at that crust! Using cornmeal on the bottom instead of oiling the pan made a huge difference. Definitely worth buying the cornmeal, which I've got loads of now. I sense corn muffins in my future, or maybe cornmeal pancakes.

Lessons learned: for a first try, this really came out better than expected. However, the next time I do this (and there surely will be a next time, as I've got lots of sauce in the freezer and 5 more packets of yeast in the fridge) I'll do a few things differently.

For one, I will bake the pizzas one at a time, because I think they really benefit from being very close to the heat source, so I'll put them on the bottom shelf, as close to the bottom of the oven as possible, just one at a time. And cook for a little bit longer maybe, but I think that just putting them on the bottom shelf could make that unnecessary.

I guess maybe that's it. This pizza really was superb, and although I thought the sauce was going to be too salty, once I pureed it a bit with the stick blender it cut the saltiness enough that it was just flavorful and great. Definitely more salt that I would have added on my own, but I'm a little bit reticent to add much salt to anything. We weren't allowed to salt our food when I was a kid so I think my salty-sensor taste buds are especially strong and I really only need a tiny amount.

So, another lazy day with some tasty food. But new! Pizza! I have lots left since my friend who I invited over ended up bailing on me for paper-writing or some such bologna. So, there'll be lots of leftover pizza all weekend, but I am definitely not complaining. Yum!

May 6-7

2009-05-07T22:38:00.001-04:00

May 6 -- go time for exam #1. Ridiculously, incredibly underprepared. Oy. But, fortunately, it's an 8-hour take home test. What cannot be learned in this amount of time? Nothing, I say.

Start the day right, with a giant glass of green juice.

Then, pick up exam, bring it home, but on the way stop at the grocery store to pick up some snacks. I was firmly decided against ordering delivery for lunch, but this did not stop me from putting away the better part of a bag of baked tortilla chips and some black bean & corn salsa.

Here's my set-up while I was taking the test. Coffee, diet coke, tortilla chips, the exam. And oh, is that google reader? Senioritis, me? No way.

Not pictured on Wednesday: bottle of rose champagne I split with my best friend, which was followed by some amazing sushi (really wish I'd gotten a picture of that, but I always forget), then some whiskey & diet coke . . . and then some drunk munchies food around midnight. I will have to remember to make a post about the Best Drunk Food Ever, which I will miss more than anything else about NYC when I leave this joint.

And on to today. I ran out of spinach (and woke up hungover at noon...) so this morning I had a couple of wee bagels from the best bagel place (out of the freezer) and a blended mix of frozen coffee, which I've been freezing in ice cube trays the last couple of weeks -- this was 6 cubes, with 1 cup of chocolate soy milk. Blend and enjoy. So good, and a nice change from my usual hot coffee.

In fact, I liked it so much that I went and whipped up another one just a couple hours later, to go with my snack of a cut up pear and PB2. I ate them off my federal courts book. Maybe I can learn by osmosis in this way? Worth a try, since I haven't cracked the book yet today.

Later this afternoon, I whipped up a late lunch of the last (oh finally) of the quinoa, broccoli, cauliflower and tofu. This meal is really one of the most delicious and the easiest (since I'd trimmed the veggies, parceled out the tofu, and cooked the quinoa a couple of days ago) but I'm going to have to take a few days off from it, I think. Doused liberally with soy sauce and sprinkled with black sesame seeds, obv.

And, ok, another 2 tiny bagels. I couldn't help myself, even after I almost sawed off my left index finger cutting one of these semi-frozen things in half. With vegan margarine, which for some reason I really like. I do not like the taste of butter, but soy and canola margarine taste nice to me. Go figure.

Not pictured: 2 glasses of crisp and delicious chardonnay (Smoking Loon, my go-to decent and pretty cheap brand of wine); peanut-avocado roll from the same sushi place I ordered from last night. My friend came back over for Grey's Anatomy and she had her heart set on ordering from there again, so of course I had to go along with it. This is such an amazing combo -- the peanuts are the honey-glazed kind, so they're all sweet and salty, with the creamy avocado and spicy wasabi. Heavenly, I tell you.

AND my adventure sandals arrived today! They were a little tricky to figure out (there are diagrams and a web site to teach you how to tighten and loosen them, and no buckles) but I love em already. I can tell they're going to go to some interesting places with me. And they will mostly protect my totally awesome foot tattoo from the sun, also an important feature.

I kind of love to revel in the lazy day after an exam. Even though I should've been studying (and myabe I still will since I am becoming somewhat nocturnal) I felt pretty okay about watching movies and lazing around all day.

Tomorrow, I must hit the books AND the gym. My membership gets cut off a week from Sunday so I need to enjoy every stinky second in that godawful place. Oh who am I kidding -- I will not miss that gym for one moment, but I will have to go a couple of weeks without a gym before I move back to Massachusetts, so I should at least try to elevate my heart rate once or twice before they kick me out for good. And it'll be good contrast for when I join a good gym back home.

And tomorrow maybe I'll actually cook something semi interesting. I've got some zucchini that's got to go, a sweet potato . . . maybe I will come up with something brilliant, or maybe I'll order out for the third night in a row (and photograph it this time). We shall see where the day takes me.

May 5, 2009

2009-05-05T17:30:00.000-04:00

Goooood morning. I rolled out of bed around 9 today with a feeling of dread, since it's my last day before my first final exam and I have done very little studying, blech. As I write this, the situation has not improved much...

The usual: banana & spinach smoothie, black coffee. With a butter knife in the smoothie to stir. When I make this with non-frozen bananas it seems to separate fast and the bottom part is just banana-y, spinach-y green water. (Ew.)

Granny smith apple and PB2. I haven't had a granny smith in sooo long, but they used to be my favorite apple. I really like tart fruits (e.g. I eat my bananas when they're still a little green, which really grosses out my little brother). Later on I discovered honeycrisp and the like, fresh at farmer's markets, and the old granny smith lost its luster, but this one was refreshing and delightful.

Look how hard I am working! Here's a tomato & broccoli sprouts sandwich with hummus and hot & sweet mustard, plus a cherry soy yogurt, atop my statutory interpretation book. Complete with super-smart margin notes and highlighting. It is almost as though I were studying. Almost.

Here is a bonus photo of where I seem to eat ALL of my meals these days, my humble little desk. It's actually kind of cleared off since I did major pre-finals cleaning today. I'm taking an 8-hour at home exam tomorrow so I had to temporarily put away all the usual clutter. Note the 2 diet coke-with-limes there on the left. By the end of next week I will have drunk enough diet soda to probably cause an instant tumor. This is the consolation prize for not allowing myself to order Chinese food and for not being drunk all the time as I was a few weeks back...

Not pictured: AMAZING giant everything bagel with scallion tofutti from the best bagel shop around, which was my post-gym lunch #2. I have to start remembering to bring the camera, but this time I didn't realize I'd be making a bagel run.

Also, yet another installment of the rice & beans salad. This was the last one, and I will miss it but it's been a little overwhelming having to eat it every day for 4 days. I think I'll hold off on making that for another couple of weeks.

Usually in these situations I feel like I am somehow entitled to really unhealthy food, but this time around I'm trying to reason with myself -- surely my brain functions better on vegetables than greasy MSG-laden awesome Chinese food right? So I'm going to try to stick to the whole, healthy foods during the exam, and see how that works out. And then follow the test up with champagne. And maybe sushi.

May 4, 2009

2009-05-04T18:35:00.000-04:00

Breakfast of champs! Getting ready for another tough day of homework avoidance and reveling in Senioritis: Law School Edition.

More coffee! Lately my roommate spends all his time at school so he can only drink as much coffee as he can carry out with him. This means I end up drinking the remaining 2/3 of a pot myself over the course of the morning/afternoon.

Plus a bartlett pear and a big helping of PB2.

Rice & beans salad... I'm pretty repetitive these days, but this stuff is the gift that keeps on giving [onion breath]. Love it.

Lunch 2.0: hummus & veggie sandwich, with mustard today. I forgot I had a totally full jar of Trader Joe's Hot & Sweet mustard in the door of the fridge. I do get tired of the stuff, hence I hadn't eaten it in a long time, but it's hot & sweet like the man says. I ran out of the sandwich thins, so this is on my last 2 slices of TJ's sprouted bread, with tomato, parsley, and broccoli sprouts with a cherry soy yogurt on the side. Must get to Trader Joe's soon for more bread. It's quite a trek down to Union Sq from my Upper West Side hermitage here.

Here's the part where it gets extremely repetitive... I cooked up 4 servings of quinoa last night so I'll be eating it once a day through Wednesday. This is cold cooked quinoa mixed up with hot cauliflower and tofu straight out of the steamer (photos of my awesome silicone steamer basket to come -- the thing is a life-changer). Then doused with low-sodium soy sauce and a liberal sprinkle of black sesame seeds. I could eat just about anything if it's got those two delicious condiments on top. I wonder if I have a mineral deficiency that's making me want to drink soy sauce this week... probably it's just been too long since I ate sushi. Mmm sushi. I'll have to get some of that when it's celebrating time next week.

Here's a close-up of some individual red quinoas. This grain-that's-not-really-a-grain (it's a seed, I think) is the freaking best. I already loved quinoa but when I discovered the red variety a couple of months ago, omg. I am seriously smitten with these round little nutty bits of heaven.

Adventuring

2009-05-04T12:07:00.000-04:00

The past 2 months have been the first time in a long time that I haven't had any travel plans and haven't even really spent much time planning fantasy trips. I don't know if that's a good thing or a bad thing -- there was a period of time in the fall and winter when I was kind of obsessively researching travel and fancy apartments as a form of escapism from the day-to-day stuff that was really bringing me down. But now... well, I am about to move back in with the parents, I have only a vague idea of what I'll be doing or where I'll be living after August 1, and I have zero trips on the horizon.

Last August I went to Guatemala with one of my best friends, for 10 days. It was my first time spending any real time in a developing country and it was definitely an adventure. There are good things and bad things about this kind of travel, and I'm not really going to get into all my feelings about that region of the world except to say that I learned a lot about rustic accommodations and letting go of some parts of my self-image that were negative or limiting. I have always been an inactive indoor kid, but on this trip, I said yes to every opportunity. I crawled and swam through dark watery caves, jumped off a bridge, climbed my first mountain AND my first volcano, rode a zipline through the canopy trees, swam in a volcanic lake, dined and made friends with strangers, and took my chances with sketchy modes of transit, DDT-laden veggies, and malaria-carrying mosquitoes. There were times when I thought I'd die, and times when I thought my friend and I would never speak again, but we both lived to tell the tale and to revive our friendship.

Anyway, after this trip, I made a list of "adventure gear" that I wished I'd had while there, and I've been amassing a collection of stuff for whenever I find myself once again doing outdoor-kid travel, which hopefully will be soon. Soon as I find a place to go and a travel companion.

Here's the stuff on my list:

headlamp (got it for xmas from my very confused but entertained parents)
super high capacity memory card for my camera (got it)
teva-type sandals (just ordered this morning! yes, I got almost the same ones my friend had in Guate)
high quality backpack with separate compartments for my stinky used adventure clothing
adventure clothing -- tough but easily washed, warm but lightweight, adaptable to a lot of weather conditions and activities

I think that's about it. For the Guate trip I bought hiking boots, and I already had a camping towel (not for camping, but for showering at my old gym before work). I'm pretty stoked about the new sandals I just ordered, and I think maybe I'm going to have to start planning the next trip... I've got all of August and September off from school & work (with no income but hopefully something will come through to solve that problem) so hopefully I can manage to squeeze in some adventuring.

May 3, 2009

2009-05-03T15:00:00.000-04:00

Best way to start the day! Spinach & banana smoothie and tasty black coffee in my favorite Minnesota mug.

Green breakfast smoothie:

Put in blender, in this order:
- 1-2 ice cubes
- 1 medium or large banana (or 1 1/2 small ones), broken into chunks
- about 12 oz of water (less if you don't have giant European beer glasses to drink this from)
- big handful of baby spinach leaves, maybe about 1 packed cup

Blend until smooth and fluffy, and drink immediately. Seriously, it tastes really good, but if you're afraid of pulp you're going to probably need a much stronger blender than the one I've got. Get over it -- the pulp is the fiber, and fiber makes your digestive tract happy!

Rice & beans salad, a la How it all Vegan. That's the first vegan cookbook I ever bought, it must've been senior year of college when I was first thinking of going vegan. This book has some gems, but the desserts are mostly not very good.

This salad involves short grain brown rice, black beans (or whatever other kind of beans you like), onion, red & green peppers, tomato, avocado, and a dressing of lemon juice, red wine vinegar, and a wee bit of cayenne. Delish, though it does make my mouth taste like onions for a really long time after. One day I'll have to try this with sauteed onions instead of raw.

Lunch 2.0: when I'm watching what I eat, I tend to eat like 5-6 meals per day, so "breakfast, lunch, and dinner" aren't really applicable. On the left here are the sammich fixins for this super-delicious sandwich. I won't call it the best sandwich ever (there is a particular sandwich that has earned this designation with me, but it's similar to this one).

I recently discovered these "sandwich thins" which are, yes, diet food, but they're the kind where you just get a smaller serving, as opposed to icky chemical replacements for real food. So, I've been kind of hooked on them because when I make a sandwich with this it's a little less filling so I can have a soy yogurt on the side and it feels more like a complete meal. This sandwich contains garlic hummus (spread thick on the bottom slice and thin on the top one), a handful of whole parsley leaves, a small sliced tomato, and a giant handful of broccoli sprouts. Plus a vanilla soy yogurt on the side.

True story: I've had a sandwich much like this one on most days since spring of 2005. That is when I discovered that vegans can have sandwiches too! What a revelation!

ADDED LATER:

Cut up pear and some PB2 for dipping (I'm not even joking around when I say that having real peanut butter in the house makes me a crazy person. For reals y'all.)

And yes, I eat all my meals by myself at my laptop. Well, it's not alone if I'm watching Rachel Maddow right?

OMGSODELICIOUS. This was a part of my final exams time mass food preparation, which though technically useful and productive, is actually a manifestation of a psychotic level of procrastination.

Case in point: here is a sooo tasty plate filled with quinoa (red & white mixed), steamed broccoli and steamed tofu, topped with Trader Joe's soyaki sauce (so good). However, not pictured are the 3 single-serving containers of cooked quinoa and the 4 tubs of cleaned, cut up and portioned out broccoli and cauliflower in my fridge. Oh, and the 2 more servings of that rice & beans salad from this morning, and boatloads of other veggies that I bought in order to ward off the irrestistible urge to order greasy awesome but regrettable Chinese delivery.

I got a couple of these raw food granola-ish bars on sale at my favorite health food store a couple of weeks ago, and yesterday was the first time I got around to trying them. Today I had the other one, and both were really delish. Probably too expensive for all the time, but for a healthy-ish treat they are awesome. Several of my favorite food bloggers are into raw foods lately, which is really interesting to me. I'd written it off as a fad a few years back, but I'm warming to the idea of starting the day with raw foods. I usually try to eat only raw (actual fruits, veggies, and nuts, not processed stuff like this) until noon, and I've got it in my head that that's kind of essential, but I haven't really dived into the whole thing. We'll see if I have purchased a dehydrator and a Vitamix by 6 months from now...

Not pictured: post-gym snack of frozen edamame that I warmed up to room temp under some warm tap water and then topped with low-sodium soy sauce and a hefty dose of toasted black sesame seeds. It was a bit of a rush, as my tv shows were coming back from commercial.

Feels just like starting over

2009-05-03T14:49:00.000-04:00

I've had this blog domain for a gazillion years (ok, like 4 1/2) with a variety of intentions for it. The song, Something Delicious, is one of my absolute favorite grunge-era songs (by the Catherine Wheel, whom I know nothing about and I think this may even be the only song of theirs I actually know). I used to sing along to it on the radio in my room with all of the passion of a misunderstood 13 year old. Those were very heady (emo) times.

Anyway, this was originally envisioned as a food blog to document the ridiculously rich amazing creations I was whipping up in my Chicago apartment, but my lack of attention span and poor photo skills led to its fading away. Then, I thought I could use it as a diet blog to document my amazing victory over the law school related expansion of my ass. But no such victory has occured, so that'd just be depressing.

My present goals in this new incarnation of the Something Delicious blog are a bit of a fusion of the two. I am finishing law school, which entails finals (boo) and moving back in with my parents (ouch) and all of the related sadness and lack of romantical opportunity. So I'm cooking delicious foods as a procrastination/finals distraction tool now, and also figure I'll need a hobby while I'm waiting out these months in my parents' house before I start my job (TBA) in October.

Goals for the blog:
(1) post photos & commentary at least every other day
(2) take photos of most or all of the food I cook or eat
(3) make and eat beautiful, delicious, healthy food!

So, maybe my attention span is longer now, or maybe my boredom as a result of current life conditions will get me to the point that I will need this kind of positive outlet. I'm trying to avoid the (pretty much inevitable) alcoholism, or at least to temper it with other healthy behaviors, so we'll see how it goes.