Quick! The kids are napping…

I thought I’d do a recipe link post today. I love to compile recipes so that I can come back to them when I get the chance, but also–maybe you’ll see something you like and we both win!

• Savory French Toast and other things from Rachael Ray. 
  Say what you will about her. Her voice is obnoxious; she’s not really a chef; she’s a sellout. Whatever. I’ll take those criticism. But I love how she plays with flavors. Savory french toast, loaded with Parmesan cheese and topped with honey, basil, and strawberries? I love the sweet/savory interplay here. Sophisticated.
• Elotes.                                                                                                                        There are too many foods that Henry doesn’t like. Corn is one of them. Sigh.
• Lamb Meatballs in a Spicy Curry This recipe makes me what to give lamb another chance.
• Sesame Chicken and Eggplant.
• Korean food at home

In other news, I am in the middle of reading two food-related books. The Nasty Bits by Anthony Bourdain and Animal, Vegetable, Mineral, by Barbara Kingsolver, that my friend Katie let me borrow. I may do a book review or two in the near future.

Slowly figuring it out…

I started yoga this week at Eugene Yoga and I couldn’t be happier with my decision. It’s several miles away, clear on the other side of town, but it seems worth it somehow. I am looking forward to doing this for two whole months before starting work again in late August, and then I hope I will be able to find classes suitable for my schedule.

After saying all of that, I have a confession to make. I played hooky today. Henry and I were up late last night and when his alarm clock screamed this morning, it was all I could do to roll over, put a pillow over my head, and burrow deeper. I ended getting around 10:30, when Henry came home for lunch. I am trying to find the energy to be productive today, but I just can’t seem to get a handle on it. I need to do laundry, homework, clean the kitchen, and sort through six boxes I had stored in a friend’s attic and retrieved yesterday.

Another confession: I went to McDonalds and got an iced coffee. So, in my shame, lethargy, soreness, and sloth, here is what I will likely end up doing: drinking coffee and reading. Oh, well. It is summer vacation, after all.

Interesting Food Links, News, and Recipes

• Soy?  Good or Bad? Pros:  Lowers bad cholesterol, lessens severity of hot flashes.  Cons:  Thyroid problems.  So, is it worth it?
• Hottest Women in the Food Industry:  Sandra Lee?  Really?!
• 15 WTF Frozen Foods:  Would you like a pickle pop with those Obama fingers?
• Hottest Women in the Food Industry:  My main man, Tony Bourdain, makes the list.
• Did you know that Flava Flav has a culinary degree?
• Make Your Own Baby Food

 

Sunday Menu Planning

Jeff and I have decided to cook around themes each weekend, in order to learn more about different cuisines and to cook and eat foods we might not otherwise try.  So, last weekend, everything I cooked was Mediterranean inspired and this week, I decided to narrow the focus a bit and cook Greek dishes.

All of the recipes on the menu this weekend come from the same website: Closet Cooking. I’ve blogged a little bit about this website and blogger before–and I can’t say enough about how much it inspires me to try something new each time I visit the site.

From this website I’ve chosen:

Spanakorizo

Baked Shrimp and Feta Pasta

Lemon Roasted Potatoes

Melitzanes Papoutsakia

I’ll post the process and progress either today or tomorrow.

Oh, one last thing:  As many of you know, I used to be a vegetarian.  Now, I’m not.  I haven’t really posted any sort of explanation or given much of you insight into this change.  I don’t intend to do that here and now, but I do have an idea for you to consider.  I have been reading Anthony Bourdain’s new book Medium Raw and Jeff and I religiously watch No Reservations on Netflix.  I love, love, LOVE Anthony Bourdain.  His opinion of vegetarianism is pretty clear.  He writes, in his book Kitchen Confidential:
“Vegetarians, and their Hezbollah-like splinter faction, the vegans … are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit.”

He later rants:

“To me, life without veal stock, pork fat, sausage, organ meat, demi-glace, or even stinky cheese is a life not worth living.

Vegetarians are the enemy of everything good and decent in the human spirit, an affront to all I stand for, the pure enjoyment of food. The body, these waterheads imagine, is a temple that should not be polluted by animal protein. It’s healthier, they insist, though every vegetarian waiter I’ve worked with is brought down by any rumor of a cold.

Oh, I’ll accomodate them, I’ll rummage around for something to feed them, for a ‘vegetarian plate’, if called on to do so. Fourteen dollars for a few slices of grilled eggplant and zucchini suits my food cost fine.”

He has also said that choosing the path of vegetarianism is a “first world luxury.” This idea struck a chord with me.  I don’t know if I agree with his sentiments, but from a Marxist point of view, is he right? Are “first world” vegetarians classist? Imperialist, even?    Looking down upon their meat eating peers in their own country and abroad?

Most of the world’s population eats what they can afford and whatever is in season.  Period.  They eat what they have access to.  Most of the world cannot afford to be vegetarian.

So, if you can afford to, should you?

Sunday Menu Planning Session

Morning

BY BILLY COLLINS

Why do we bother with the rest of the day,

the swale of the afternoon,

the sudden dip into evening,

then night with his notorious perfumes,

his many-pointed stars?

This is the best—

throwing off the light covers,

feet on the cold floor,

and buzzing around the house on espresso—

maybe a splash of water on the face,

a palmful of vitamins—

but mostly buzzing around the house on espresso,

dictionary and atlas open on the rug,

the typewriter waiting for the key of the head,

a cello on the radio,

and, if necessary, the windows—

trees fifty, a hundred years old

out there,

heavy clouds on the way

and the lawn steaming like a horse

in the early morning.

______________________________________________________________________

 

My husband and I are ending this Saturday in the same way we usually start them: in our bed, with coffee, in our underwear, with our laptops, books, and cat.  He’s (the husband, not the cat) reading From Max Weber:  Essays in Sociology. It’s homework, and he’s not enjoying it.  I’m reading Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain.  I’ve decided in the past few days that I want to be a food writer when I grow up.  I’m 24 now, and I’m not quite sure when “growing up” happens.  I have a full time, professional job.

Did I miss the boat?

Anyway, the husband and I are ending the day as we usually start it, which makes me quite disoriented.  Our normal routines have been thrown off as we’ve had a guest for a couple days.  But we love our Saturday morning rituals, so here we are, starting our weekend.

I asked the husband what he wanted to cook this weekend and he said he wants to make a Thai curry.  I’m tired and I have a stomachache right now, so I didn’t enthusiastically receive that request.  But I didn’t dismiss it outright.  I found an interesting recipe, Thai-style coconut butternut squash, which looks really good.  I’m not necessarily keen on making this tomorrow, but squash does sound good.

I roasted two acorn squash a couple nights ago with brown sugar and chili powder.  I really didn’t have a plan or a menu to incorporate them into–I just wanted to eat a bowl of squash.  So, I did.

Here’s another recipe, from that same website (Closet Cooking):  Roasted Butternut Squash with Carmelized Onions, Gorgonzola, and Crispy Fried Sage. That recipe is just asking to be made into lasagna.  Hmm.  Or soup.

(Tentative) Menu Plan:

1.  Thai Curry of Some Sort

2.  Squash Dish of Some Sort

Sorry for the lack of enthusiasm in this post.  I tried to keep my stomachache-mood from coming through. I don’t think this coffee I am drinking is helping much.