carbo-loading.

in which i made versions of half of the april bon appetit: lemon-olive oil roasted potatoes, strawberry mozarella salad, pea+radish+goat cheese+arugula something, as well as a salad of feta, tomatoes, onions, and shell pasta.

hey! shira was running a half-marathon. i was supportive of the prep-eating.

this guy.

a post-dog park dinner with casey and huck.

i was in the mood for potato salad and stopped by the food cooperative and wound up with all sorts of goodies, like small ciabattas.

what did i do with them? well, let me tell you. i sauteed a bit of kale in olive oil with garlic.  i sliced the ciabatta in half: one side got the kale and the other had sliced mushrooms, tomatoes, and cheddar. and a bit of mayonnaise.

and then, my super sandwiches set my toaster on fire. don't worry! i unplugged it and didn't open the door, following the instructions on the front of it. the sandwiches were not even burned. can you believe it?

but. the potato salad. i used the spectrum canola mayonnaise. but i am a hellman's kind of girl. and i think there are some things that just need to taste a certain way. my potato salad was not what i envisioned. it was sub-par. hellman's is the most superior mayonnaise. next time, if i want a non-mass-produced, potentially-healthier mayonnaise, i am just going to make it myself. it's just eggs and oil.

in conclusion, a salad of beets, carrots, and tomatoes, with goddess dressing.

and then i vacuumed. because huck leaves his hair all over the place. luckily, i don't mind too much.

breaking news.

good morning. it's saturday. i ate breakfast without an egg in it.

full-fat cream-top yogurt with banana and cinnamon.

been too long.

tuesday night was a spring rolls kind of night.

with spinach, yellow bell pepper, carrots, and cucumbers. and a spicy peanut sauce with sriracha.

a brief list.

the nytimes has had some pretty cool articles about food and farming and eating these days.
1.  "In New Food Culture, a Young Generation of Farmers Emerges." young farmers are the new thing. the old new thing.
2. "Have It Your Way? Purist Chefs Won’t Have It." i love david chang. his restaurants are rarely vegetarian-friendly, so i don't go to them (except for the milk bar). i don't think i am so very special that he'd just cook me whatever i wanted. that's not the point of going to a restaurant.
3. "A Tasty Fungus, Stirring Dreams and Lawsuits." hillsborough, north carolina gets famous for truffles. or tries.
4. "My Unhealthy Diet? It Got Me This Far." some older folks, including BLACK PANTHER BOBBY SEALE, talk about their fatty diets and attempts (or lack thereof) to shape up.

a spring rolls kind of night.

stuffed with spinach, carrots, yellow bell pepper, and carrots. eaten with a spicy peanut sauce.

adult oreos.

salt and pepper cookies. yeah, i said it.

this week's baked adventure was salt and pepper cookies. pretty easy except for a dough glitch. i prepared the cookie dough the night before and put it in the fridge for hours like the authors said. but then it was too hard to roll out! one of the baked kids told me to just try my hardest, that if i smushed it hard enough, it would get soft and ready to roll. he was absolutely right. i just needed to use my body weight to do it.

and they are great, except for the fact that there's quite a bit of crisco in that filling. not my favorite product to incorporate but it certainly made the icing easy to put inside the cookies.

so, yes. an adult oreo, if you will.

and sunday lunch: grilled cheese with two kinds of cheddar and tomato, anjou pear slices, seeded corn chips and a dollop of hummus.

sorry so late. the weather was so nice i eventually just had to get out of the kitchen.

triangle food bloggers.

i am thinking of participating in this event. what do you think?

thank you, snl,

for making fun of the high fructose corn syrup advertisements.
i knew you would.

go here for the original and the snl version.

austin. austin. austin.

do you feel like i might never go back to houston? that i just keep heading to austin instead? it seems that way, right? it's really awesome to have courtney there. plus her super family. seriously.

in addition to the copious amounts of tacos throughout the week, i had frito pie at shady grove. served just how i wanted it: vegetarian chili poured onto the fritos bag with a pile of jalapenos. and a beer. the ultimate texas treat, and made for vegetarians. rock.

the same day, i got a text from courtney informing me that there was a six-pack of lonestar tallboys in her fridge. yes. yes. i graphed their superiority for casey right before i left. i understand economics so much better when there are beer-based examples. 

amy's ice cream. always and forever.

happy as a clam.

ikea cooking video magic.

Ikea - Art of cooking - Make espresso! from Carl Kleiner on Vimeo.

so cool. more videos here.

arriabiata.

i asked michelle what to make for dinner and she suggested spaghetti so that casey and i could eat the long noodles and end up kissing like in lady and the tramp. first of all, that is ridiculous and second, i did not have the proper noodles in my house. then, she suggested vodka sauce and i didn't have any vodka and so she said arriabiata. i had no idea what she was talking about, but, as she explained, it's the spicy red sauce.

when winging it,
1. cook the pasta.
2. pour a tablespoon or so of olive oil into a pot and throw a pile of crushed red pepper into it with garlic (i used 3 cloves but i like everything garlicky) and half of a finely chopped red onion.
3. i also threw in a chopped mushroom but that's up to you.
4. when it's all soft and smells good, add a can of diced tomatoes and a few dollops of tomato paste. (i was using what was already open in my fridge for this recipe.)
5. add a bit of red wine vinegar and let it all marinate for a bit.
6. in the end, i added some oregano and more pepper.
7. top with grated parmesan. everything is even better with cheese.

and there was a little salad of spinach, radish, and yellow bell pepper.

variations on the same.

right before the midterms. it's hard to be creative when you are just working out math problems all the time.

february 19th.
fried egg sandwich on sourdough, potatoes sauteed in butter and sea salt, kirby cucumber, black beans with onions.

february 23rd.
this one was dinner.
salad of roasted and beets and carrots over a bed of spinach, potatoes, black-eyed peas with onions, toast and a sunny-side up egg. 

 

february 26th.
baguette with fried egg and sheeps' milk cheese, hash browns, grape tomatoes.

practically leap day.

shira's birthday.

1. she claimed that she didn't want me to make a cake. or ice cream. i had been *threatening* to make the mississippi mud pie from the baked explorations cookbook. but she kept telling me no, no, no. i bought 3 pints of ben and jerry's (cherry garcia, mint chocolate cookie, willie nelson's peach cobbler) from the shop using one of a million coupons on the fridge.

2. and then! i ran into her friend marcia, who informed me that shira said i was making it. yes, she did.

so i did. for shira's study group. and i have no real photographs. if you REALLY want the recipe, shoot me an email and i will type it out or buy baked explorations. you will not regret it.

the short version: a sugar wafer cookie crust, topped with a thick layer of fudge chocolate yum, smashed coffee ice cream, concluding with another layer of chocolate (this one more cocoa-y).

3. the actual birthday. my late class was canceled and so i was able to cook us dinner, enjoyed with one of our favorite north carolina beers, shotgun betty.

i had been hungry for this smitten kitchen recipe: lemon pasta with olive oil. shira's birthday was the perfect excuse for decadence. and we already had pasta and cream and so i really did not have to buy too much. we sauteed some leeks in olive oil and tossed them in as well.

yum. yum. yum.
and a salad of cucumbers, carrots, and roasted beets.

4. shira is likely to hate this picture. i think that's ok.

with the pinata.

i finally stole blake's iphone and grabbed the photos from thanksgiving.

excitement:
1. did i mention i carved a turkey? with my hands? it was easier (and more efficient) than the electric knife.
2. the pinata. we named her lupita. (yes, that's alf behind her.)
we went to more than one pinata store. they were incredibly freakish and a bit scary and, well, we did not buy anything at this one. all the pinatas were too distorted and potentially lifelike.
3. mexican pastries. after joe's bakery, i still wanted more more more. and i got it.
better late than never. happy thanksgiving, kids.

a sneak.

casey's cheez-its. photos of so many things are on the way, including thanksgiving!

the last 2 weeks.

all studying, all the time. with too much junk food snacking.

too long.

i know, i know. it's been too long. i am under an educational rock--studying linear regression and microeconomics--and barely taking photographs, barely eating things that are photogenic.

but! there are a couple of moments still locked in the camera. soon to come, i swear.
and then, austin. SO ready.