Thursday, February 26, 2004
Almost back among the living
Tests are DONE. That's the good news. Bad news is that I have been crashing afterwards, to the point of barely being able to feed myself or put the dishes in the dishwasher. I have a bit of a cold, which doesn't help things At All.
Tonight - hot and sour soup, and scooping truffles for the go-away weekend (Central Coast barbeque! Yay!).
Tests are DONE. That's the good news. Bad news is that I have been crashing afterwards, to the point of barely being able to feed myself or put the dishes in the dishwasher. I have a bit of a cold, which doesn't help things At All.
Tonight - hot and sour soup, and scooping truffles for the go-away weekend (Central Coast barbeque! Yay!).
Monday, February 16, 2004
Duck Soup?
I've been taking it veeerrrrry easy today because I got extremely ill last night drinking N's excellent wine and E's great champagne. I have all this lovely food in the fridge (including the duck main course I never got to eat!) but I had canned chicken noodle soup and toast for lunch. The roast chicken should be ok for later.
That was truly embarassing. I managed to avoid such excesses when I was in college, and it's one aspect of "a happy childhood" or misspent youth I would have rather done without.
It's a gray gloomy rainy day, which doesn't help my mood. (I think my "cucumber luck" still holds - buy a cuke, the weather gets cold. I bought a cuke for Middle Eastern chopped salad - maybe I will make it tomorrow or Weds to have around.)
In other food news, there was a piece about Scharffenberger Chocolates on weekend All Things Considered, for V-day. It is a hallmark of how much I am concentrating on my studies that I heard it and thought "oh how nice" and went back to sticking my nose in my books.
Since I have gone through the quizzes a couple of times now and my back hurts, it's time to take a break - some tea or cocoa (Scharffenberger!) would be nice.
Were it not pissing down rain outside, I would go up to the Pasta Shop for some Italian candied orange peel for Grand Marnier truffles, but it's not worth getting wet for.
I've been taking it veeerrrrry easy today because I got extremely ill last night drinking N's excellent wine and E's great champagne. I have all this lovely food in the fridge (including the duck main course I never got to eat!) but I had canned chicken noodle soup and toast for lunch. The roast chicken should be ok for later.
That was truly embarassing. I managed to avoid such excesses when I was in college, and it's one aspect of "a happy childhood" or misspent youth I would have rather done without.
It's a gray gloomy rainy day, which doesn't help my mood. (I think my "cucumber luck" still holds - buy a cuke, the weather gets cold. I bought a cuke for Middle Eastern chopped salad - maybe I will make it tomorrow or Weds to have around.)
In other food news, there was a piece about Scharffenberger Chocolates on weekend All Things Considered, for V-day. It is a hallmark of how much I am concentrating on my studies that I heard it and thought "oh how nice" and went back to sticking my nose in my books.
Since I have gone through the quizzes a couple of times now and my back hurts, it's time to take a break - some tea or cocoa (Scharffenberger!) would be nice.
Were it not pissing down rain outside, I would go up to the Pasta Shop for some Italian candied orange peel for Grand Marnier truffles, but it's not worth getting wet for.
Saturday, February 14, 2004
It's Valentine's Day
and my mother sent me an article about truffle tasting from the Bee. Oh, my heart just absolutely bleeds for the poor reporters on that one. It was nice that they dealt with mostly local shops.
I will probably make some raspberry truffles on my "study break" today. Not quite as ambitious as last week.
I did go to Trader Joe's and Berkeley Bowl within 24 hours and neglected to get avocadoes at either. Oh well. I have a fridge bursting with stuff - still have the last leftover potroast and red pepper gravy (V-day dinner!), half a pan of asparagus-black bean enchiladas, and another chicken to roast. Having the food was nice during my studying/test taking burst.
My usual luck with cucumbers came into play - buy a cuke to make some warm-weather food and the weather gets cold again. I have been jonesing for middle eastern chopped salad - indeed I even bought some tomato tortillas so I could make hummus/salad rollups. That might be useful for my next test - I was very glad I finished early because I was starting to get low blood sugar.
I was also nosing around food blogs (in the hiatus of In My Kitchen); found a charming one by a Parisienne who spent some time in Silicon Valley during The Bubble, and the rhubarb tart at A Spoonful of Sugar makes me wonder what I am going to do with the rhubarb I bought.
Check out the Plat du Jour Generator. Priceless!
and my mother sent me an article about truffle tasting from the Bee. Oh, my heart just absolutely bleeds for the poor reporters on that one. It was nice that they dealt with mostly local shops.
I will probably make some raspberry truffles on my "study break" today. Not quite as ambitious as last week.
I did go to Trader Joe's and Berkeley Bowl within 24 hours and neglected to get avocadoes at either. Oh well. I have a fridge bursting with stuff - still have the last leftover potroast and red pepper gravy (V-day dinner!), half a pan of asparagus-black bean enchiladas, and another chicken to roast. Having the food was nice during my studying/test taking burst.
My usual luck with cucumbers came into play - buy a cuke to make some warm-weather food and the weather gets cold again. I have been jonesing for middle eastern chopped salad - indeed I even bought some tomato tortillas so I could make hummus/salad rollups. That might be useful for my next test - I was very glad I finished early because I was starting to get low blood sugar.
I was also nosing around food blogs (in the hiatus of In My Kitchen); found a charming one by a Parisienne who spent some time in Silicon Valley during The Bubble, and the rhubarb tart at A Spoonful of Sugar makes me wonder what I am going to do with the rhubarb I bought.
Check out the Plat du Jour Generator. Priceless!
Sunday, February 08, 2004
I'm channeling Kay
As my "break" from my mad burst of studying (mostly taking the sample quizzes over and over again since they cycle the questions), I made lemon chutney and ginger-pear muffins instead of giving my ass a well-deserved rest. I did weigh the pears this time but 2 lb is too much. Will keep revising the amount of pear DOWN. Still have the pear syrup factor, although the muffins are delicious enough (in my variation, which replaces all spices with ginger) to keep bothering.
Okay, so I am really NOT channeling Kay. Kay would make a three course meal.
I am done studying for the evening. I will probably boil some noodles (so I can have pot roast, noodles, and gravy) and if I get ambitious I will grate cheese for enchiladas (tomorrow night's project).
Food note for studying - I descended on See's Candy a week before V-day to buy caramels and toffee. I even survived Trader Joe's on a Saturday afternoon to get caramels. I ate the See's toffee last night (feeling guilty because I did NOT study at all) but got good time in this morning (without hitting the candy again - that started in the afternoon). Happily Andronico's sells Almond Roca so I didn't have to fight the Valentine's hordes at See's any more. Half that box is gone but I did study for the full first test so that's ok. I can always replenish next weekend, AFTER V-day.
I am SO glad that I am normal weight so don't have to add the guilt of bribing myself with candy to the "I am not worthy" schtick I'm already feeling on this.
As my "break" from my mad burst of studying (mostly taking the sample quizzes over and over again since they cycle the questions), I made lemon chutney and ginger-pear muffins instead of giving my ass a well-deserved rest. I did weigh the pears this time but 2 lb is too much. Will keep revising the amount of pear DOWN. Still have the pear syrup factor, although the muffins are delicious enough (in my variation, which replaces all spices with ginger) to keep bothering.
Okay, so I am really NOT channeling Kay. Kay would make a three course meal.
I am done studying for the evening. I will probably boil some noodles (so I can have pot roast, noodles, and gravy) and if I get ambitious I will grate cheese for enchiladas (tomorrow night's project).
Food note for studying - I descended on See's Candy a week before V-day to buy caramels and toffee. I even survived Trader Joe's on a Saturday afternoon to get caramels. I ate the See's toffee last night (feeling guilty because I did NOT study at all) but got good time in this morning (without hitting the candy again - that started in the afternoon). Happily Andronico's sells Almond Roca so I didn't have to fight the Valentine's hordes at See's any more. Half that box is gone but I did study for the full first test so that's ok. I can always replenish next weekend, AFTER V-day.
I am SO glad that I am normal weight so don't have to add the guilt of bribing myself with candy to the "I am not worthy" schtick I'm already feeling on this.
Saturday, February 07, 2004
Spring Chicken
and other things. I still have potroast, so getting more beef at the store was Not A Good Plan. I got a chicken, which I intend to try cooking with some of my preserved lemons, and eating with the remainder of the Soybean Stuff and the snap peas I got last week.
Since I had to work late, I got to the Berkeley Bowl 20 minutes before closing. They are quite efficient about shutting that place down! Good for me that I went to the meat counter first. I almost forgot the eggs in my mad rush.
The other "work lunches" will be asparagus-black bean enchiladas - asparagus tips were $2.19 a pound, a great deal this early in the season.
I also have chutney on the brain, so I might try making up some lemon chutney when I'm not studying this weekend. It is a two day process since Day One is chopping up the lemons and salting them, and Day Two is cooking. I had all the stuff last weekend but was wiped out on Saturday.
and other things. I still have potroast, so getting more beef at the store was Not A Good Plan. I got a chicken, which I intend to try cooking with some of my preserved lemons, and eating with the remainder of the Soybean Stuff and the snap peas I got last week.
Since I had to work late, I got to the Berkeley Bowl 20 minutes before closing. They are quite efficient about shutting that place down! Good for me that I went to the meat counter first. I almost forgot the eggs in my mad rush.
The other "work lunches" will be asparagus-black bean enchiladas - asparagus tips were $2.19 a pound, a great deal this early in the season.
I also have chutney on the brain, so I might try making up some lemon chutney when I'm not studying this weekend. It is a two day process since Day One is chopping up the lemons and salting them, and Day Two is cooking. I had all the stuff last weekend but was wiped out on Saturday.
Tuesday, February 03, 2004
Pot roast!
Wonderful winter food. I slapped it together in about ten minutes before I went to my salon appointment and it cooked while I was out of the house. On Sunday I defatted it and ran the veggies thru the food mill. I also made the "Soybean Stuff" because that is so good with the red pepper gravy from the pot roast. Yum!
So why do I want to go out for eggrolls tonight?
I also made some pear muffins from the Williams-Sonoma muffin book - very juicy, will have to remember to weigh the pears next time I make them. Totally changed the seasoning around so they are pear-ginger and they took a long time to cook, probably because there was more pear than there should have been (my pears were big). Almost stuck in the muffin cups (and on the baking sheet I finished them off on) due to the pear syrup factor. But the bits I have had were tasty.
Next time I might just modify one of the other recipes ... having buttermilk around is not something I usually do.
Wonderful winter food. I slapped it together in about ten minutes before I went to my salon appointment and it cooked while I was out of the house. On Sunday I defatted it and ran the veggies thru the food mill. I also made the "Soybean Stuff" because that is so good with the red pepper gravy from the pot roast. Yum!
So why do I want to go out for eggrolls tonight?
I also made some pear muffins from the Williams-Sonoma muffin book - very juicy, will have to remember to weigh the pears next time I make them. Totally changed the seasoning around so they are pear-ginger and they took a long time to cook, probably because there was more pear than there should have been (my pears were big). Almost stuck in the muffin cups (and on the baking sheet I finished them off on) due to the pear syrup factor. But the bits I have had were tasty.
Next time I might just modify one of the other recipes ... having buttermilk around is not something I usually do.
