Cutest Fat Cats Ever

My cats like to coyly flop over to get their bellies rubbed, and have perfected the art of doing this.  It's a little ridiculous, but they are seriously cute.  They're such hos. Also, I had to look up how to properly spell the plural of 'ho.' For you.  Exhibit A:

I mean seriously. And usually it's both of them.

Now that I've distracted everyone (*crickets*) from how rarely I update this thing, I'm going to scamper off to waste more time while I wait for my ceviche to be ready. Yep bitches, I've got some ceviche cooking (marinating?) and it's going to be good.

Glass Half Full

I've been feeling a little bummed lately. Mainly about the same stuff I normally beat myself up about, nothing really new. I'm just down that I'm now in my late twenties and have this tiny little studio I'm crammed into. Down that I don't make more money. Down that I'm in a (in many ways great) long term relationship that has its own difficulties and compromises. Down that I'm not more outgoing and bubbly, but rather feel awkward and shy more often then I'd like.  Just the same old stuff but it still sucks. Add worry for various loved ones, for various reasons, to that list and it ends up feeling like a lot.

I don't know if this is a case of learning to just appreciate what I've got, or if it's a case of using these feelings as a kick in the ass to change my life. Both seem hard to do. The life changing one especially, since where do you start? It's not like I'm not trying already. But that's not really an attitude that will get me anywhere.

On the plus side I've got a freezer full of homemade sorbet and two purry cats.  While those two things may not contribute much towards an overall improved life plan (um, crazy cat lady, anyone) they do contribute towards an improved evening.  Maybe for now that's the best I can hope for.  Hopefully the rest will come.

Great Cobbler - MMMM

Today I made the easiest dessert known to man.  So good. So easy. Sigh.

It's half peach, half blackberry. I like the blackberry half better. In the interests of science though I will eat both sides to make sure that the peach doesn't eventually win out.  It's sooooo good.

I got the recipe from a good friend. All it takes is 1 of everything =
1 stick of butter
1 cup of self rising flour, milk and sugar
Fruit

Mix the non-fruit together first, pour it into the pan you're baking it in (or mix it in the pan to begin with, as I do to save dishes), then pour the fruit over and give it a gentle stir.  It doesn't have to be perfectly mixed. Stick it in the oven and bake at 350 until the edges get a little brown. It will probably still be bubbling in the middle, so don't worry about that. Let it cool down a little and then eat!

Mission Accomplish - Tomatoes on the Horizon

Do other people not know what they should capitalize in these titles? Is it just me?

Anyway.

I managed to actually get out and buy gardening supplies and I successfully planted tomatoes, basil and forget-me-not seeds this weekend (in pots, in case you were curious. I can't afford a yard).  Tomatoes and basil are my annual summer staples, but I just couldn't resist the forget-me-nots. I think they're the sweetest flower around and if it wasn't morbid I'd say I wanted them planted on my grave one day.  Which I'm not saying because I'm not morbid, but if I WAS...

Hopefully, unlike previous years, the tomatoes and basil will actually grow and flourish and I might make back some of my investment in nice dinners.  Either way, I love how both plants smell.  They remind me of my childhood and my grandfather's wonderful garden.  Every year I try to emulate and live up to that garden in my own little way, and I think if I live to be 90 the smell of fresh tomatoes will remind me of my grandfather.

I'll post pictures once things start sprouting.  This year they will grow, I feel it...

Tomato Nation

  It's that time of year again.  The weather is warming up, the clothes are getting skimpier, and things are blooming.  I'm now in plant lust again, as happens every year, and am probably months late to be planting (as happens every year...).  This weekend is going to be my farmer's market weekend.  I'm going to cook, clean, plant and bake (myself, not anything edible - I need a tan).
  If I was feeling more poetic I could probably find some kind of analogy in the changing season for my current state of affairs.  Things in my life are approaching another transition, both professional and personal.  I have a lot going on and am trying to keep a lot of it private, both because I don't want to talk about things which involve other people and because a lot of things are still so up in the air I don't even know what to say.  And I don't want to talk to the internet about what I haven't even spoken to most of my friends about yet.  I'm a little nervous about what the future will bring, but am feeling a little more comfortable with things as they stand right now.  They won't stand there long of course but despite everything I'm maintaining a certain sense of zen.
  I started this blog for a reason, to write one thing every day and learn to put myself out there and connect with people.  I think every day might have been overly ambitious, but I will try for at least every week, if not more.
  Wow, this post was all over the place huh?  I'll see you this weekend. With my tomatoes.

Sick

I'm about to head out to the airport, and I'm hoping this stomach bug I've been fighting decides to cooperate. I have visions of airport security swooping in to kick me off the flight (they can do that if you're sick, I think). This might be an unrealistic fear, but it's my fear. I'm owning it :-).

At first I thought I had finally given myself food poisoning and the thought was like bitter, bitter ashes in my mouth. I pride myself, and brag unduly, about my stomach being able to handle everything.  Well, yesterday I feared that everything didn't include Thursday's pasta, as I slowly progressed from nausea to dry heaving to throwing up. At work. In a restaurant.  No, they didn't send me home.  It would in fact be totally deserved if I did get food poisoning, if only due to the amount of boasting I do about not ever getting it.

I ended up calling out sick today, since I still felt crappy. I'm hoping this doesn't get me in trouble, since I'm so new, but who wants a pukey waitress? Seriously? And it's not like my last few tables of the night got good service anyway. I had the energy of a slug. One covered in salt.  It's hard to be perky and upbeat when you're trying not to throw up on the customers.  However, they all knew I had a flight today so I hope they don't think I'm exaggerating my illness due to my flight.  I guess we'll see. I think they like me, and I really was sick, so I'm going to try to be optimistic.

Eggplant

I've decided, after a lifetime of looking askance at it, that I love eggplant. This love affair started years ago, when I working at TGIF and they had this fried mozzarella and eggplant sandwich, but I resisted.  The mozzarella got all my attention while the eggplant stood by watching sadly.  But now I've finally realized the error of my ways. The eggplant was the true star, all those years ago, and I finally know it.

In other words, I've started frying up eggplant with just some salt, olive oil, garlic and curry powder and dumping it on a plate full of rice and it is delicious. So simple, so good.  That is what I look for in all my favorite recipes - I can make it with relatively little effort for a big payoff.  One day, when I have a larger kitchen, I may become more ambitious with my cooking but right now the one or two pot dishes are ruling.  And eggplant is, at the moment, leading the pack.

P.S. I should try to make that curry again, that I blogged about months ago...I'd kind of forgotten about it, but it was really good. And eggplant heavy.

Rolling my way into the New Year

I love Christmas. I love buying gifts (not the financial part so much this year), I love getting gifts (oh yes I do. I am five when it comes to opening gifts), I love the food and the good will and getting to see friends and family.  This year has been wonderful. I spent Christmas Eve cooking.

I made:
Chicken.
Stuffing. Lots of stuffing. I mean I lifted the skin of the chicken and stuffed it there too. There's more stuffing then chicken.
Mashed Potatoes
Wild Rice
Spinach
Stuffed Mushrooms
Cornbread
2 Key Lime Pies
Cheese and bread and salame to start off with.

This was all for me and my boyfriend.  We did not get to the pie, which was fine because I planned to bring one each to my friend and my boyfriend's family.  I also made baked cucumber, but am not counting that because I thought it was zucchini.  Oops. My boyfriend just about fell off his chair when he realized, and he got an inordinate amount of enjoyment retelling this to family and friends. Just one more little Christmas gift for him, I guess.

I also did not really get around to decorating the tree, since my bf brought it over on the 23rd and I was busy shopping and cooking. It is still really cute though.

There were eventually a few more gifts under it.  The large package, a bread maker for my bf, did not end up going over well so we're going to go exchange it at some point this week. I knew it was a risky gift but he does like to bake his own bread...oh well. Not every gift can be a winner.

Christmas itself was spent with a great friend, a former college room mate, at her mom's house. Which I love because it is just so cozy and comfortable.  They know how to do Christmas right, too. We had a big brunch, with liberal applications of mimosa added in. Then we went for a walk to make more room and continued on to pie and wine. Then more wine. Then beer. Then drinking games (with more beer).  The drinking game, by the way, accompanied what is perhaps the worst movie ever produced, Saving Sara Caine.  Oh god.

In between all this we exchanged gifts (I got a belated birthday gift and more wine).  Then we staggered back to the train to get back to NY after a wholly satisfying day.  The next day we were back on the train to head to my bf's family.  I slept on the train, and also on the armchair after a large dinner at a nearby Chinese restaurant (one of those places where the chef sets the table on fire and flings hot food towards your face.  Fun, but a little daunting if you know yourself to be, say, just slightly klutzy).  There was a good deal of wine on offer here too.

So, basically, I have taken the first steps to a lifelong problem with alcohol this holiday season. Ok, not really, but how do recovering addicts do it? If any more alcohol had been flung down my throat I would have had to swim home instead of taking the train.  Which is just how I like my holiday celebrations.  Lots of food, drink, friends and family.  So Merry belated Christmas (and Hanukah and Kwanzaa and etc.) to everyone and I hope everyone had as good a time as me.

Chocolate and Caramel covered popcorn

I am exhausted. I don't know why, since all I did was clean a bit today and make the aforementioned popcorn (and send out a resume or two), but I could fall asleep now and not wake up until tomorrow.  However!  For your viewing pleasure, here is the finished product:

The picture, as usual, does not do it justice. I need a digital camera.

It was pretty easy to make too, though kind of time consuming.  I made the popcorn first, obviously. I made it on the stove, not microwave, because otherwise it would have already been seasoned and the caramel and chocolate would have tasted funky.

Then I made caramel. This is just melted sugar, with a little water poured on it to make it easier to melt. Once the sugar is melted watch it carefully as it starts to brown, stirring occasionally.  As soon as it is golden take it off the heat - it burns easily and tastes terrible if burned.

Sugar melting in the water. I put too much water, so it took a while to caramelize.

Then I poured that on the popcorn and stirred it all around with a wooden spoon.  WARNING: Melted sugar is HOT.  Do not touch it. Be careful stirring and pouring it and use a spoon or something to mix it into the popcorn.

Then I melted some dark chocolate and drizzled that on.

Viola! A nice Christmas treat. I'm thinking of making a bunch of this and handing it out to friends instead of gifts, along with maybe some cookies.

Problem

Remember that turkey broth I made a week or two ago? It's still sitting in the fridge (what's left), in the pot, and it has reached the point that I'm kind of scared to deal with it.  I feel like I could re-discover penicillin all by myself in my kitchen.

Or perhaps penicillin's more sinister cousin.  Either way, I'm hoping I can get someone else (and by that I mean my bf) to deal with it.  Wish me luck.

Turkey Broth

I've spent the afternoon (among other things) with a big pot of turkey broth stewing.  I LOVE making broth.  It feels so healthy and wintery, and yet is so simple any idiot could make it.

Holiday Broth:

I've already poured out a good bit of the broth from the pot here to boil some rice in. 

Basically, throw in your protein (half a chicken should do, or in this case a big humongous turkey wing)
1 potato, washed, sliced in half
1 piece of celery
1 carrot, washed (optional: peeling)
1 onion, peeled
3 cloves of garlic, peeled
Salt (maybe 2 teaspoons? To taste, basically)
Pepper, just a little less than the salt
1 or 2 Bay Leaves
Healthy dash of Basil (To taste, maybe a tablespoon)
Healthy dash of Thyme (Likewise)
You can put a teaspoon full of tomato sauce if you want (my cousin does) but I usually don't bother.

Let it simmer at a medium - low temperature for 3 or 4 or 5 hours with the lid on, depending on how intense you want the broth flavor. I like it intense. I usually have to add a cup or two of water at some point so that it doesn't all boil away.  Don't do this at the very end or (I find) the flavor will be diluted, but if you add some water at the 2 hour mark or so it shouldn't make any difference really.  And if you're cooking something for four hours, you want enough for leftovers.  Taste it every now and then and if it isn't flavorful enough by the three hour mark add more of the salt/pepper/herbs.

Once the broth is done to your taste, just filter out all the stuff in it and you end up with delicious, rich broth. I then usually cook some rice or ravioli or orzo or something in it and eat it.  It's full of vitamins and very filling.  You can save all the stuff you filtered out (potato, protein, etc.) and just eat that separately.  Or you can leave it all together and have a stew instead of a broth. Whatever; it's still good.  I'm going to go eat some now.

Exploring

So I've been in my new neighborhood for a couple months now (side note: I just recently figured out what neighborhood I actually live in [Kensington], and by figured out I mean had to have someone else tell me), so it seemed time to explore my neighborhood a little bit, food wise. Rather then actually leave my house to do so however, my BF and I ordered sushi takeout.  It was pretty much as you'd expect, cheap and mediocre.  It looked a bit like the sushi my brother and I made when he visited. This is not a compliment to the restaurant as neither of us are sushi chefs. It could have been worse though.  It is nice to crave sushi, and thirty minutes later there it is like magic.  And they take credit card. As I am kind of cash averse I like a place that will take credit cards.  Plus, no cleanup.  I wish I'd taken a picture for the blog (looking a little monotone lately) but it wouldn't have been that amazing. Think grocery store sushi.

Next on the list: Thai takeout.

Egg pasta soup, Italian style

I don't know what the dish I'm making today is called, but it's warm and filling, and with the weather getting colder every day it seemed like a perfect time to make it. It's kind of like the Italian version of egg drop soup, I guess.

Don't let the picture scare you - it was taken on the computer. It actually looks more appetizing in person.

First you boil some water (maybe a little less than normal, not much), salt as normal, and add the pasta. Little macaroni noodles or something small that can scoop up some broth is good. Spaghetti is probably not the best pasta for this dish.  Once the pasta is getting close to being done, break a couple eggs, as many as you feel like, into the boiling water and stir it around gently, so the egg breaks up but you're not actually beating it into the water.  Add a bunch of grated parmesan cheese to the water (generous sprinkling on the water, add until you like the taste), and season it with black pepper.  Stir it all up.  The egg, cheese, pepper and salt you added earlier is what flavors the water and makes the "broth." I've never tried it with actual chicken broth, who knows, it might be good. Then just wait for the pasta to be ready and instead of draining it take it off the heat and serve it like soup.

Lunch! Hot soup and a cappuccino.  Oh, and the pumpkin will eventually be both pie and a jack o lantern, so stay tuned for that :-).

Cake Carnage

Because she is a good friend the first full day she was here my best friend and I made cake.  A day later we made frosting - sometimes you have to wait for a good thing.  And then we ran around the city and ate food other people made for the next couple days, meaning that my boyfriend and I have been nibbling off the main cake like a pair of mice ever since she left.  No plates for us, that would be too much effort.  I present to you what is left of the cake:

It looks deceptively neat, but that is because we have been feasting on the other side. Yummy.  I made the frosting by basically throwing in a stick of butter, a couple cups of confectioner's sugar, a couple drops of vanilla, and a small cup of expresso and milk. No recipe, really, or measuring cups. Next time I might put a little less coffee and a little more butter, but overall pretty good.  The cake comes from a cookbook I have :

Rosie's Bakery All-Butter, Fresh Cream, Sugar-Packed, No-Holds-Barred Baking Book 

Good Cookbook, although every time I try to make the mocha frosting in the book (with a food processor) the dairy products get all separated and I have to throw it away. I've kind of given up on it. 

Italian Polenta

It's been a while since I did a cooking post, so here goes. This is one of my favorite dishes and it's healthy and simple to make. I was born in Italy, and this is a very traditional dish.

What you need is:
Polenta, 2 cups (rough ground corn meal, basically. They charge more by calling it polenta. Don't buy the fine ground stuff though! Must be the bigger kernels.)
A splash of milk
A pinch of salt
6 cups boiling water

For the sauce:
1/2 a chicken, or various pieces (you could probably make it with other meat, but I always do chicken)
Large can of tomato sauce
Half an onion, chopped
2 cloves of chopped garlic, more or less. You can always adjust this to your tastes
Basil to taste
Thyme to taste
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste
Olive Oil to taste, but don't be too stingy
I also sometimes add some pepper flakes for extra flavor

Throw all the sauce ingredients together first. I like to cook the sauce at least an hour, usually more, until the meat is falling off the bones. The sauce should be just simmering, usually a low to medium heat.  You want it to be really tender and cooked down. If the actual sauce starts boiling down too fast add a little more olive oil or water to keep it from drying out.  Or add more tomato sauce if you have it, but a can will usually do it.

When the sauce looks to be about ready, put the six cups of water on to boil. When it boils throw some salt in and lower to a simmer.  Then start to slowly pour the polenta in, stirring the whole time. This is crucial because it will get lumpy very easily if you stop stirring!  When all the polenta is in, just keep stirring as it thickens. Be careful, because it will spit hot polenta at you as it boils, so a long handled spoon is good.  Once it starts getting pretty thick, slowly pour a little bit of milk in (maybe 1/4 cup? I never measured).  Some people but butter or cheese instead, but my mother always put milk.  Keep stirring. When it is thick enough that it's kind of hard to stir, turn off the heat and let it sit.  It will harden into a solid cake of polenta, which you can slice and serve.

Serve it sliced with the sauce poured over it.  You can also serve it when it is still a bit soft and hot, which is how my boyfriend likes it.  Also good for the impatient among us.

It is great left over sliced and fried in some butter with a little cheese melted on it too.

Enjoy! I forgot to take a picture of it on the plate because I was too busy eating, which trust me, means it's good.

Vanilla Wafers

What I did with my evening :

I would post the recipe but it's my grandma's and I have the feeling it might be a deep dark family secret. Basically butter frosted with butter, though. I'll check and if allowed will post the full recipe later. Yum....

Spicy, cheap and delicious

And the food's not bad either. Dadum dum!

 

Aren't I funny? Anyway, moving on. I'm posting a recipe for Agli'e Olio, another Italian classic.

You can make it with kitchen staples, so it's a great recipe for in between shopping days.  It is comprised of garlic, hot pepper flakes or fresh chopped hot pepper, olive oil and (if you want) anchovies.  Throw some pasta into your salted, boiling water. While the pasta is cooking, heat up enough olive oil to coat the pasta and gently brown the chopped garlic.

Once the garlic is looking just a little brown, throw the pepper flakes and anchovies into the garlic and oil mixture.

  Be careful not to burn the garlic. I managed to brown it a little more than planned in the above photo since the olive oil was too hot when I added it in.  Let it all simmer and once the pasta is ready toss it into the now flavored olive oil and mix it all together.  Add a little salt and pepper if you want, but otherwise that's it. You're done! 

Banana Bread

I decided last night to take advantage of my rotten bananas and make banana bread.  When life gives you lemons.  What I did not do is make sure I had all the ingredients so after mixing everything else together I realized I had no eggs.  Nor did my room mate have eggs (*well, she did but they are 2 months expired. Do you think she knows or should I say something?).  Therefore I saran wrapped everything and hoped it would still be good today.  

Notice dirty dishes in background. Wait. Don't notice them.

So after running around doing various other useful things today, I went and bought eggs. And chocolate chip cookie cake.  It was on sale! I'm not a saint.  BUT eggs were bought.  And added to ingredients.

Not all eggs made it to the bowl. Oops.

I wish I could somehow photograph the smell because nothing smells better than baking sweet stuff.  Seriously.  

Tada! In the background you will see the chocolate chip cookie cake, also good.

*Side note for everyone who wants to know how to tell an egg is bad - put it in a bowl of water. If it floats it is bad. If it sinks it is good**. If it stands up and semi-floats, your guess is as good as mine.  Eat at your own risk.

**As far as I have heard. If it actually kills you don't sue me, I didn't know.

Rotten Fruit

My poor baby tomatoes (I know, I'm sad) have blossom end rot.  As this is the first time ever a tomato plant of mine has gotten to the fruit phase, I am probably more concerned about this than is strictly normal.  I've done some research, and low calcium in the soil and dehydration can cause this, so apparently my plant is a post menopausal marathon runner.  Or something.  

My bananas are totally black too, but that just means banana bread.  I love that old bananas work great for that because then forgetting them and letting them spoil ends up working in my favor.

But really. Wish my tomatoes luck!

The Great American (Italian) Pizza-off

As promised, I present to you the pizza-off, a result of far too much sibling rivalry.  My brother and I got right to work trying to out-cook each other when we got back from a full day of touristing around NYC (yes, I'm using it as a verb. Don't know or care if that's actually done).  My brother's girlfriend is operating as assistant and judge.

Below: us toiling away in the kitchen.

We made two pizzas each. My first one was a classic potato pizza, no sauce, seasoned only with rosemary and salt.  

I added some mushrooms and cheese to the far corner of it, and then popped it into the oven.

My brother decided to go with a thin crust cheese and mushroom pizza as his opener.  We got a picture of it pre-mushroom. We also got a picture of it post-mushroom but he's pretending to lick it so I decided to spare you.

Not to be outdone, I created a thin crust mushroom pizza of my own.  After all, I needed to clearly demonstrate that my pizza was far, far superior to his and what better way to do that then to create a better version of the same pizza?  We have a very healthy relationship.  He is helping me photograph my rolled out dough below.

I got another photo right before it went into the oven.  I added some potatoes to one corner, and used the last of some (possibly already expired) goat cheese in the middle of it.  

Right about the time my 2nd pizza went in, my brother's pizza was ready to be taken out and eaten.  So we did.

It was good. I was nervous.

Both of my pizzas were ready to sample at that point too.  I threw a piece of thick crust potato mushroom and thin crust mushroom on each plate.  

While the thick crust pizza is juicy and rich (and is compared both to quiche and shepherd's pie by my brother and gf), it is declared too un-pizza like, and the real test rests in the thin crust.  For fairness' sake, you can see below a side by side comparison of both of our thin crusts. Mine is the slightly crispier looking one on the left.

They are both delicious.  We are all in an agony of indecision.  What to do now? Hey, my brother still has to make his second pizza.  Chocolate pizza! Heart shaped chocolate pizza. This is inspired by our visit to Chocolate By The Bald Man a couple days ago. His girlfriend helped to carefully place each marshmallow on top of the pizza, using the utmost self control in the process. Below are the raw and cooked pictures. There are also some peanut M&Ms in the corner.

After we eat this, we all die.  We are dead.  For the sake of being able to record this for posterity I choose to run away from the light and re-enter my body.  The chocolate pizza was amazing.  Really good.  

But none of that brings us any closer to declaring a winner in the pizza-off.  On the basis that the final pizza, however good, is just as un-pizza like as my thick crust, I am declaring a tie.  My brother's thin crust was cheesy deliciousness, while mine tasted a little bit more of crispy olive oil and was just as good in a subtly different way.  Each of our 2nd efforts were totally different but still eagerly appreciated by all.  I guess we'll just need a rematch next time he visits.  I'll be ready for him.