Weekend Consumption Log

Friday:

• Sushi at Yellowfin, with a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale
• Fancy vodka drink & a glass of red wine, pommes frite & some chicken pot pie at The Metropolitan
• Ice cream at the Jazz game
• Tea with whiskey at home

Saturday:

• Butternut Squash Soup with Cinnamon Crema (oh! my! god!) and Spicy Beef Salad at Chow Truck
• Cava at the Monaco wine tasting, Prosseco in E & K's room after
• Tapas & Sangria at Martine: trout with lentils, duck!, Spanish tortilla, something with chorizo, lamb; then a glass of Rioja; chocolate decadence & grilled gringerbread & porto
• A drink in The Vault at Bambara: Old Fashioned & some calamari & shrimp
• The rest of the Prosseco in E & K's room

Sunday:

• Free coffee in the lobby of the Monaco
• Brunch at Bambara: tomato & roasted pepper omelette, fresh orange juice, complimentary fruit plate
• Curry Chicken Soup (I made): chicken, coconut milk, ginger, sweet potatoes, carrots, rice noodles
• Pear-Apple-Berry Crisp (I made): delicious! Turns out pears are a delicious addition to any crisp!

It's always gratifying to return home after a long stint of good eating out and to remind oneself that one can, when pressed, make a good soup based loosely on a recipe and top it off with a crisp made from the over ripe fruit at hand. All in all, a successful culinary weekend. 

May #8

More Lessons from my 41st Year

Today, since it is exactly one week until my birthday, I will offer another ten lessons. These, I decided, will be about food, since that is one of my obsessions.

1. The things you love might not be good for you, but you can learn to love the things that ARE good for you (like spinach, kale, chard, peppers, etc.)
2. Always, always, always eat breakfast. Always.
   
3. Protein, protein, protein!
4. Lack of protein makes one a total bitch! And yes, by "one" I mean me.
5. Always, always, always carry snacks. Such as: precooked sausage, apple, almonds. Or: cheese stick, orange, cashews. Or: protein bar.
6. If you have healthy snacks in the house, you are more likely to eat healthy snacks. This also works with children. If you just give them the healthy snack, they will usually eat it.
7. Coffee is not optional.
8. Do not eat to live or live to eat. Somewhere in between is best.
   
9. Savor each bite. If it's not worth savoring, you probably shouldn't eat it.
10. A healthy attitude about food is a gift you give yourself and your children.

In Which I Become a Local Food Facist

My problem, lately (hey, you know me, I has problems...), is that when I read a book, I become a convert to its perspective (exhibit 1: Born to Run; perspective: we were made to run, probably barefoot).
Now I am reading The Omnivore's Dilemma and I haven't cried while reading a book since Plainsong which, my friends, was years ago. But reading the description of steer 534's pathetic life at a corporate factory feedlot nearly brought me to tears. My first act: emailing my local beef connection and ordering many pounds of local, grass-fed beef to fill my freezer.
Today I went to the Farmer's Market and purchased more local veggies and fruit. My favorite: the Sheriff's Horticulture Program, with food grown by prisoners. Last year, I got some great peppers there.
My sister and I bought local pastries (Crumb Brothers), local breakfast burritos (Rico's), some beautiful golden beets, a delicious melon, and lots of other stuff. We could barely carry it all.
I am afraid I will become insufferable when discussing food, at least for the foreseeable future. Please forgive me in advance.

Instead

Instead of being gloomy, I will laugh.
Instead of being angry, I will join the slackers and imagine that I, too, am home in bed.
Instead of drowning my sorrows in fattening breakfast pastries, I will look at Lis's blog and pretend.
Instead of preparing for class, I will watch funny videos on Hulu.
Instead of grading, I will update my Facebook status to say "I'm not grading."
Instead of wondering what students do instead of schoolwork, I will make my own list of insteads.
Instead of saving money, I will buy expensive wraps and chips for lunch at Whole Foods.
Instead of drinking tea, I'll guzzle coffee by the gallon.
Instead of not, I'll drink wine on Tuesdays.
Instead of salad, I'll eat meat.
Instead of fruit, I'll eat chocolate.
Instead of black, I'll choose pink.
I will believe that spring is there, just out of our grasp, just around the corner, instead of trusting my senses, and the snow that continues to fall.

This is What I Have the Energy To Say

I am home. From Chicago. I am tired. I bought lots of books. So much talking. Not enough sleeping.
So. Good. to see many and various friends from graduate school and other places and what not. Talking to editors who were kind enough to publish my stories or essays. Talking to other people who always, always reject me. Seeing new, cool magazines.
Talking to Charles Baxter in the elevator. Hearing Stuart Dybek read. Seeing William Gass.
Had to get up at a crazy time of the morning to catch the plane, but then it is worth it, when one is home.
Son likes fancy Diagram shirt I bought him. Husband likes NBA socks. Son likes miniature handcuffs and miniature squirt gun.
So much laundry.
Being irritated at pretty much everyone after the first two or three panelists. Note to self: more than 3 panelists is too many (except on the panel I was on, on which everyone was brilliant and succinct and interesting).
Ate so many meals. Yum. So much wine and beer. Ginger ale.
So many books.
Good to see everyone. Tired. So Tired.

Yesterday's Post, 10 hours late

I thought about blogging last night, and I may have had an idea about what to say, but now I am drinking coffee and thinking about pie. First, there is no flour in the house. So I'll have to make pie after my tennis lesson, which is at 10:30.
But first a word about my "diet": For each week there are three "open" meals and you can eat anything. But, and here's the catch, after not eating certain foods, you eat them, and then you feel like crap. So the diet is self-enforcing in the sense that you may eat them, but you don't want to. I went out to dinner with a friend last night. I ate hummus and bread, which tasted good. But let me tell you, nothing is so delicious as a potato when you haven't had one for 10 days. After dinner, however, I felt that stuffed, full feeling. And today my stomach doesn't feel so great. So I will definitely think long and hard about which of the tantalizing "forbidden" foods I will eat during my open meals.
But the only thing on the menu today is pie, pie, pie.

Day 2: Post 2

So I guess I'm supposed to be blogging every day, although nothing of note has happened to day for me to blog about.
Except: I went for a run. Then I had a smoothie. Then I made some shrimp and ate two. I need to take a shower and grade papers. I need to clean the house.
Well, in my crazy-eating-habits way, I started a new diet. And by diet I just mean way of eating, not weight loss regimen. You may have heard of it: The Paleo Diet.
Now, I know what some of you are thinking. But, it focuses on lean protein at every meal (and since I'm almost hypoglycemic I need to do this anyway) and fruits and veggies. Having read some of the book, I would have to say that it jives with what I think I need to avoid to feel better. The doctor who wrote it also blames many of our food allergies and illnesses (like IBS, Chron's, etc.) on eating foods that are difficult for us to digest (like grains and legumes and dairy).
So, we'll see how it goes. So far I like that I feel full without having that stuffed, over full feeling. And on phase I, which I am on and plan to continue, you get three open meals a week where you can eat anything you want.
So. Wish me luck.

Farmers' Market

I've just returned from the Farmers' Market with my haul: a watermelon for the get together tomorrow night, green beans, 3 tomatoes, garlic, beets, 3 ears of corn, a loaf of delicious bread, 2 summer squash, mixed greens, and the most delicious pastries known to human kind: cinnamon pull aparts from Crumb Brothers. I'm not sure why anyone eats anything else...
We also got some grass fed beef from Lau Family Farms. They come to the market once a month, and one can order bundles ahead of time. I'm excited to try it, as I'm trying to eat more locally. I also vow to try, try!, to eat fruit and vegetables in season. The two things I don't think I can give up: bananas and avocados. And coffee. It's hard to find local coffee, but at least we can buy locally roasted coffee that is fair trade. As far as I can tell the most sustainable coffee that I've found is Cafe Feminino from Ibis, a Utah roaster.
Middlebrow just bought Animal, Vegetable, Miracle, so I guess it's a vibe that's going through the house. I think this means that we'll be cutting back on trips to Costco, unless it's the Idaho Costco, which sells wine (but we'll be focusing on California wines, or Northwest wines, as opposed to the South American or Australian variety).
In other news: If Obama doesn't win the fall election, we'll be buying a small farm in South America, where we could find local coffee and wine. And maybe grow all our own food and write novels and play clay court tennis. My needs are few. Let's stay optimistic, but check back here in November, if you want to buy in to this post-apocalypse dream.

AWP: the numbers

Literary luminaries spotted: 4 (not at panels or readings: Robert Bly, Charles Baxter, Howard Norman, David Kirby)
Bad readings attended: 2
Martinis consumed: 1 (the most expensive!! martini ever, $15)
Amazing meals consumed: 2 (Union Square Cafe, Balthazar)
Delicious soups consumed: 1 (Curry Cauliflower and Chickpea, very spicy!)
Shopping trips: 2 (both to H & M)
Items purchased: 6 (two shirts, one sweater, jacket, purse, nightgown)
Movies watched: 2 (27 Dresses, Michael Clayton)
Souvenirs purchased: 2 (I heart NY shirt & 3-D drawing pad for Son)
Souvenirs not-purchased: ?? (shot glass, snow globe, MOMA paraphernalia)
Bagels consumed: 2 (one from hotel lobby, not good; one from Dean & Deluca, delicious)
Muffins consumed: 1 (hazelnut cappuccino from D & D)
Beer consumed: 1 (Stella at a pub)
Wine consumed: Without number (including more than 1 $12 "red" from hotel bar), half-bottle at dinner with friends, bottle at dinner with friends. I guess that's it.
Walks through Central Park: 1
Magazines read: 5 (Two People magazines, one Marie Claire, One Allure, one Men's Vogue)
Episodes of "Law and Order" watched on plane home: 2

Christmas Presents

The best thing ever happened to me: Son bought me a Christmas present and wrapped it himself. I'm not sure what is better: the gift, or the wrapping. I don't really want to open it because if I do, that's it, the end of the first present Son ever wrapped for me. It's adorable. He just slathered it in paper and taped it together and then wrapped some ribbon around it and taped it. It's so cute! I love it! The best present ever! I don't even care what it is!
The other best present: dinner with the girls at Martine. Delicious! We had...what? Chorizo and red peppers with polenta(so good), portabello mushroom stuffed with shrimp (also good), clams with some kind of red sauce (also the best!), lamb meatballs, scallops and so much more! (i.e., red wine)
Then I came home and there was another present for me!! And MB had organized the whole house. We went to IKEA again on Monday for shelves and other organizational aids, so our house is basically tip-top.
Actually it's warm and cozy and very Christmasy.
We will make sugar cookies on Saturday, maybe other cookies on Sunday (MB's diet really interferes with the baking!), and tamales on Saturday. Then maybe some kind of meat, etc, for Christmas. Oh! I also want to make a cranberry cake for Christmas morning! We'll see how that goes.

Cultural Diversity: Yes, it exists!

I love to go to the Asian Market in town. Mostly because I know that soon after I will be enjoying some delicious food.
Today at the Asian Market I had one of those experiences that made me do a double take. I was wandering around the aisles looking for curry paste and bamboo shoots when I heard a man ask, "Finito?" I looked up to see an older Asian gentleman talking to the young Latino boy who worked there. The boy gestured to the cart he was pushing and said, "Si, finito."
Sometimes I think I live in a place that is not all that diverse. Other times, like today, I'm amazed how much mixing of cultures takes place, in many small ways, every day. This experience made me feel nostalgic for all the times I traveled overseas: my first trip out of the US to Korea, my vacation in Thailand, backpacking around Europe, last Christmas in Spain.
There is something wonderfully alienating about being in a place where everything is new: the food, the language, the culture. There is also something awesome (in the literal sense) about being immersed in another world.
After I witnessed this exchange, I wandered the aisles just looking at everything. I love the unfamiliar smells: the sharp tang of unknown spices; the mixing (in the aisles) of food from many cultures, Thai, Vietnamese, Indian; the strange flavors of potato chips (shrimp!); the delightful confections (Pocky!).
When I first moved here, I drove all over town one day looking for ingredients for Thai food: galangal, lime leaves, Thai basil. Now I go to one place. The superstores of Asian markets. I haven't been there in awhile. I guess curry is really a winter food.
But this holiday season, I plan on trying to cook big meals from all the kinds of food I love: an Indian curry, Mexican tamales, and probably at least one more Thai curry.
I'm thankful I live in a city with such a diverse selection of food (and restaurants)!

For your consideration

Occasionally, okay, sometimes, I think about going back to my vegetarian roots. Legend has it that I became a vegetarian my freshman year of college after running early in the morning near the dorm cafeteria and seeing a box of meat on the loading dock that said, "Grade D Meat: For Prisons and Institutions Only." I think I still ate some fish and a turkey sandwich here and there. But let's face it, it was easy to be a vegetarian in Eugene.
I started eating meat when I was pregnant because I was so anemic. Also, I craved meat. And I like red meat. I like lamb. I like sushi. I like lots of things.
But I know, (know, know, know) that many things, like cheese and milk and some kinds of meat (the kinds I like: bacon!) aren't good for me.
A friend from Idaho said she just read the book Skinny Bitch. I looked at it on Amazon and it actually looks good. It says things I already know: diet soda is bad for you, coffee is bad for you, sugar is bad for you.
Eventually, I guess, I should just do what I know is good for me. Thing is: I like sugar. I really do.
So what do you say? Should I do it? Should I go back to being a vegetarian?
But here's my problem: I like to eat local and it's hard to do that with vegetarianism (like avocados, in the winter? I love those too). And I think that there is some good local meat.
And also I'm lazy. It's hard to cook when you are a lazy vegetarian.
What's a girl to do?

Thanksgiving: priceless

Number of pumpkins roasted: 3
Number of containers filled with peeled, cubed, uncooked, leftover pumpkin pieces: 8
Soups made: Curried Pumpkin Soup
Salad made: Caesar Salad (from The Surreal Gourmet)
Bottles of wine consumed: Two (Coppola's Merlot, and a Penfold Cab-Shiraz)
Dogs made crazy by laser pointer light: One
Pies made: Two (from baked down pumpkin and dough made from scratch)
Pieces of bread toasted: 11 down (five to go!) (for stuffing! tomorrow!)
Things yet to do: veggies (celery, radishes, red pepper) to chop, stuffing to make (onion and celery to chop and sautée in butter! toast to squeeze!), potatoes to peel and cook, salad to make (red leaf lettuce, apples, pecans), green beans to steam, turkey (oh yeah!) to defrost, roast, slather in butter and wine, etc.; can of cranberry sauce to open.
Harry Potter movies left to watch: One
Thanksgiving at home: priceless!

Cold Pie and Turkey Sandjou: A List

In honor of the upcoming Feast of Thankfulness and Overeating, a list of my favorite things about Thanksgiving:

1. Pie: Pie for breakfast, pie for dessert, cold pie with whipped cream while watching the parade. Pie, pie, pie.
2. Turkey: One of the reasons I'm glad we're staying home this year is that I get to make all the stuff, and you know what that means. Leftovers!
3. Stuffing: Lots of different kinds of stuffing are good, but the only stuffing that will do on Thanksgiving is the exact same kind of stuffing your mom made when you were a kid. In my case, it's a melange of white bread (toasted), celery, onion, butter and poultry seasoning. I love it cold. So good.
   
4. Mashed potatoes: I think I might have to be traditional and actually peel the potatoes this year for that smooth tato goodness. For the average weekday meal mash, I usually don't peel. The peels are good for you, you know.
5. Gravy: How many times a year does a person eat gravy? In my case, usually once. So you have to do it right. I may make some mushrooms on the side, because I have become overly fond of mushroom gravy.
6. Cranberry sauce: From a can. I mean, how much can one woman do? I like this okay, but I love it on sandwiches the next day.
7. Green beans: For some color. You have to have some vegetables. Right? We will also have the all day vegetable tray with the carrots, celery, radishes, etc, and dip.
8. Olives: When does one eat olives from a can? On Thanksgiving. I could eat a whole can just standing in the kitchen trying to get them onto the veggie tray and failing.
9. Wine: I found a Martha Stewart turkey roasting recipe, and it involves basting the turkey with wine and butter. I think this is a good idea. And then there is the wine you open at noon so that you can start drinking before you eat. It's a good idea to eat a little something. How about some of those veggies?
10. Family: I enjoy staying in my pjs most of the day, just hanging out with the family. I also like the mid-day football game. I held this game in Bellingham one year and Tommy Z tried to actually tackle me. I don't think he understood the finer techniques of touch football. Also, I don't think he understood that I'm supposed to win! But it was fun nonetheless. This year, maybe it will be me vs. MB and Son can be the person we all pile onto when someone makes a touchdown. Or Son can be the person who makes the "Goal! Scoredown!"

I will not be shopping the day after Thanksgiving, unless it's from my computer. I will avoid humanity. Perhaps this is the day we will hold the Harry Potter film fest. Or part one anyway. Also, on Thanksgiving morning, I will run a short race that Middlebrow convinced me to sign up for because he said he would run it with me, and now he's not. Loser. Well, I hope he and Son will be there to cheer me on.
Good luck with your pre-Thanksgiving food shopping. Also a nightmare. Not one of the things I am thankful for.

Pie and....More Pie

Pie minus six minutes and counting....
I am awaiting my colleagues and their various significant others and, most importantly, the pie they have chosen to bring to the first of what I hope will be an annual Pie Party.
I made apple. It looks pretty nice if I do say so myself. I took Hightouch and Lis's advice and made the crust with butter. I think it went okay. I'll let them decide.
On the menu: chocolate and pecan, pumpkin cheesecake, pumpkin pie, apple, rhubarb? and perhaps other various unknown pies.
Also: Bailey's, and enough wine for many, many more people than are actually expected. We have to have some left over for Thanksgiving!
I'll post some pics and reviews.

Top Snack Foods at School

I think I'm in a list groove. I like lists. Lists are good. And right now I'm hungry. This list is limited to food that is available at my place of work. Meaning: vending machines, small snack store, and the dreaded food court.

1. Cashews: maybe this is just what I had today. But I was craving them. And now that I've decided fat is good (well, natural fat, like nut fat) I can eat as many cashews as I want. I think I ate 24.
2. Salad: actually, I think I'm addicted to the Caesar dressing at the pizza place. The salad is just so-so, your regular iceberg affair. But the dressing is good.
3. Smartpop: Is that what it's called? That white cheddar stuff? It's good.
4. Double-dipped chocolate peanuts: They sell these in bulk at the little snack place. Hightouch once gave me money to buy snacks for a department meeting and I came back with these gems. I may have eaten the whole bag. Thanks HTMS! I owe you!
5. Chocolate: the usual kinds. I usually don't buy or eat these at school, trying to maintain my image of healthful snacking, but...I do buy candy sometimes. Rarely.
   
6. Potato chips: I sometimes buy the baked ones, but I also love Salt & Vinegar. In a pinch I'll eat SunChips (I like them, but they are not my first choice, especially the cheese ones or the french onion ones).
   
7. Gardettos: I might be mispelling that. I like the mustard kind. That's sort of weird, right?
8. Sandwich: We have a new sandwich place, which I think is okay, as those things go. Their salads are weird, but big. ("...and such small portions!") But in a pinch you can get something mildly healthy, like a turkey sandwich.
9. Coffee: you don't really want to get it at school, but sometimes you have to. It's watery. But it smells, almost, like coffee. And with enough flavored creamer, it's a meal.
10. Pretzels: they seem healthy, but they are almost never what I want. I get them when I feel too guilty to get the potato chips.
    

I need a snack! Stat!

Dinner

I made the Pumpkin Risotto (Scorpion's Tail's recipe) and some salmon (that Middlebrow overcooked, not my fault!).
But the highlight, the new addition was the Raw Tuscan Kale Salad with Pecorino.
I found the recipe at the New York Times. The woman who wrote it said she always orders interesting combinations on menus because she assumes that if the chef put it on the menu it must be amazing, and this recipe was.
I agree with her description of the dressing as Caesar-y (lemon, olive oil, salt & pepper, garlic) but the tender kale (not like the tough regular stuff) is also a revelation. It's like a healthy Caesar salad. Eat more! It's full of iron!! Pile on the cheese!! Yum yum!!
Of course, it helps that the pecorino is delicious and the homemade bread crumbs and the lemon etc etc.
It was delicious. And the risotto was as well. Pumpkin, roasted in the oven, and the finishing touch of vermouth.
Another nice dinner.
I hope to see you all at the Book Festival. Maybe at my panel? I'm subbing for a friend, so I'm not in the official schedule. But if you want to attend, email me and I'll let you know which one it is.
It's "Speaking the Unspeakable."
Sounds like me, right?

"Once" and Exhausted

If you haven't seen the movie "Once," you should. Absolutely. Now. Stop reading and go see it. Good. Now, you should listen to the live concert from NPR.
I saw "Once" by myself on Saturday, which probably contributed to the over all weepiness of the experience. But it was so good. And surprising. And original. Okay, enough cliches. But still. So. Good. I was listening to the concert last night and I think it annoyed MB. Too folky, or something. He doesn't like emotions, of course.
In any case, does anyone want to fly to Portland just to see their concert? I do, though I recognize it ain't gonna happen and it's ridiculous, because what's the point of having a job if you can't just fly off to Portland to see some musicians from Dublin?
In other news, I ran my last long run before the Half Marathon. I'm exhausted. And I think I'm getting sick (sore throat). But I literally fell into bed last night. But not until I had eaten a metric ton of food, including: bag of Spicy Thai chips, three Hermit cookies, some Reese's Peanut Butter cups, a turkey burger, some roasted beets and potatoes, broccoli. Not in that order. And a beer. Then I fell into bed. I also crave a sugar cookie with lots of nasty icing. I'll get that later.
Did everyone see "Once" then? Don't tell me you hated it. I can't take it. Only love, people.

I'm Awesome!

As if this is news.
But I just invented, based on other things I've made, a Peach Salsa to accompany some grilled salmon I made for dinner. I served it with grilled Portabello mushrooms, grilled potatoes and garlic, and a plate of fresh veggies (heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, radishes, carrots). Delicious.
Sorry, this is all I can blog about right now. I'm busy thinking of a delicious but not too difficult dessert or side dish to take to the Department Party this weekend.
Also, what outfit do I need to wear to convey Julie, the Cruise Director? (Cue the theme song for "The Love Boat")