Culinary Escapades

My lack of motivation for life is usually triggered during January. Short days, biting cold, nothing growing, and the perpetual cold and sickness that travels from one person to another. I definitely knit more. I also stay home and watch more television on my computer. I drink more tea, and so you would think that I would also want to use the kitchen more for soups and stews.

Alas, the cold has penetrated the walls of our house, and crept into every corner except the couch and my flannel-sheet covered bed. Mmm bed. It sounds so lovely right now (but I am proctoring an ACT instead, and have been up since 6:45 on a Saturday. Lovely).

There have been some food adventures of late, that are worth mentioning:

Over the holidays, when I was home, I revisited a diner that I went to when I was 15 in NYC. I hadn't been there since, and it was quite a trip to go back, order similar food, and discover that some things in the food industry are remarkably consistent. At this diner, there was a small family eating brunch together. The parents ordered their food, sat on one side of the table, and then sat their kids on the other side in front of a portable DVD player, so that the kids would be occupied while the parents brunched. This seemed fairly ridiculous to me, and also just incomprehensible. Going out to eat as a family is such a delightful affair - a way to enjoy food with your home, but not be responsible for the prep or cleanup. There's a lot of parenting things I don't understand, though, so who knows.

My amazing mother also decided to host a New Years Day party, and she and my father cooked for 2 days in preparation. Everything was a huge success. Spinach and breadcrumb balls, lobster salad, turkey chili, quiche, cheese and crackers, and some of the most decadent desserts made by our friend Sheila, (a baker extraordinaire). Everyone was fully sated, and we sat around the fire chatting, drinking mimosas, and celebrating the beginning of the new decade.

Another worthwhile food occasion to mention would be one of the most remarkable sandwiches I've ever had. Seriously. At Common Roots (always a favorite destination of mine), Betsy and Andrew and I went for evening happy hour. First of all, late night $3 Surly is an amazing idea. Then, Betsy and I split a tangy Asian vegetable slaw, with just the right balance between vinegar and the sweetness of the veggie. Then, we ate a portobello sandwich, and it had so much juicy flavor, with enough garlic to have a kick, but not overwhelming, and enough salt, but not too much salt, and so much natural juiciness and meaty texture, and then cheese and veggies, and fresh bread. Oh MAN I wish it never ended. Which was followed by a trip to the CC club, which is comical, because they are hardly the model of tasty food... mostly just grease. (in many ways: greasy food, greasy service, greaser customers. You get the idea).

Another night, dear old Anthony came by to make a quick dinner before band practice. We cooked up a tasty tomato sauce: pureed almonds, diced tomatoes, mushroom, red wine, onion, garlic, spices, and some vinegar. So tasty. Paired with a fresh salad: cucumber, spinach, blue cheese, tomato, lettuce, and walnuts, with homemade balsamic vinaigrette. So satisfying, and so simple.

Finally, yesterday I was introduced to Nelson's deli, quite the sandwich establishment of St. Paul, and a favorite for Hamline students for decades. I had my first Nelson's sandwich - the N'awleans. (new orleans.... yeah). Cajun chicken, cheese, tasty sauce, fresh rolls, and lettuce. I was definitely satisfied, but not overwhelmingly impressed. It was a well constructed sandwich, yes, but I am not dying to go there again. Though I probably will.

Seriously, once I get more EBT, I will be cooking again. I have a lot of recipes I am eager to try:

Orecchiette with brussels sprouts and bacon

Braised Lamb Shanks

Tomato Sauce with Onion and Butter

Chicken and Chanterelles on Spinach and Wild Rice

That should suffice for a while. Yum.

I am ashamed.

So, I kept telling myself, "Elyse, it's only been a little while. It's ok."

But, no. It has been over a month. Which is mildly embarrassing. In my defense, I haven't done a ton of cooking lately. I have been uninspired, and generally just apathetic about my kitchen. It's the time of year that even though I am inside all the time, I don't have anything fresh that inspires my palette. The produce seems bland, and all of the winter recipes I know feel tired and old. Also, there have been just enough food events at work and in the community that I haven't had to cook as many dinners, but that in turn means not often having lunch leftovers. So, it has been a funny month back at home, with little to report on.

Contributing to my culinary malaise would be the fact that my EBT card hasn't been working since November. This, paired with the fact that I don't have a car this year, means significantly fewer trips to the grocery store. Which, in turn, means I am not getting food on my own.

However, this weekend I should be receiving nearly 600 new dollars of EBT money. Firstly, I'll have to repay my roommates, who have been bearing the costs of food shopping for months now. Then, I will go wild and buy some decadent food to inspire me again.

All of that aside, there are some memorable food experiences over the last month or so. I will post another one reviewing such escapades.

Synopsis 2...

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So, of course Thanksgiving yielded delicious leftovers. The turkey wing that I gnawed on for lunch on Saturday will stay with me for a long time: salty, crispy, briny, juicy, amazzzzzinnnngggg.

4)

::pause:: I just realized these will post out of order. If you are confused by the placement of the number 4, read the last post first. Ok. Unpause::

4, again) Secret Ingredients 1, at my house.

Actually, this one deserves its own post with pictures and tons of description, so I will hold off.

Basic idea: underground kitchen. people pay to eat, chefs get to experiment, and everyone goes home happy. more later.

5) Now at AP, there is a crazy amount of work with college applications. This is fine and expected. Last year I was at the office until 10 for two whole weeks. This time I've barely done it at all! So, that being said, I haven't done a lot of cooking. . . which is kind of ok. Sarah and I have gone shopping to stock up, so that we don't have to buy food out this next week before winter break. Some of our concoctions so far have been:

- super tomato and onion-y pasta sauce with fettucini and parm

- lots of salads with spinach, endive, lettuce, and other various veggies

- free pizza (both from an odd-job on Sunday, and from my school. hooray for parent night)

- Indian food (thanks, rob!)

-- ok, so those last two weren't concoctions. but they were free! --

- chocolate chip and oatmeal cookies.

p.s. we watched the movie Taken the other night and it gave everyone the heebie jeebies. We were all so scared, and chewed on roughly 20 cookies between the 3 of us, and lots of milk.

We also bought the fixins' for chili, white bean and kale stew, sandwiches (thank goodness I can eat sandwiches again), and lots of rice chex and fruit for healthy breakfasts. The only thing we are lacking is tea. Our tea has been seriously depleted.

6) Team Farell and friends potluck.

This was actually just last night! My supervisor from last year invited her current team and past team members over for a potluck. This was a seriously good potluck - everyone got it right! This potluck included:

- a soft St. Andre-esque cheese and apples

- a salad with homemade balsamic dressing

- arroz con pollo

- yams with andouille sausage

- baked little sausages inside of dough with cheddar cheese and apple (don't know the name of them)

- pecan pie

- berry pie

- wine and beer galore

- elephant ears

- a big fat bunny that ran around the house all night. this was not on the menu - just a pet.

I also played my first game of Settlers of Catan. Surprisingly fun. Now I can truly say I went to Macalester I guess.

7) Tomorrow night I am hosting another potluck at chez moi for Macalester friends who I have not seen for quite a while. Our dearest Kelly is leaving, so we need to see her before then! More on this later, since I don't yet know what people will bring.

....

And thus is my month synopsized. (word?)

More on the Secret Ingredients later on. And fingers crossed for a more regular updating of this here bloggity blog.

Synopsis...

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1) Ben's Thanksgiving. Where I broke my gluten free experiment (thus ending the first monthly theme). Amazing turkey, vegetables, wine, stuffing, mac and cheese, pies, soup, yams, salads, cranberry sauce, etc... quite a feast, and we were all rolling out of the house on 2x4s.

2) Casey's potluck chez moi. Casey turned 25, and since he lives with his madre, he asked if we could host at our house. Gladly! we thought. It was a great chance to meet some of his local friends, and reconnect with AP friends. Unfortunately, this was the unluckiest potluck I've ever had. Food included: a tray of lasagna that Casey himself made. A cake that Casey's mom made. A cheese platter that Sarah and I put out. That was about it. Now, don't get me wrong. The company was great. We had a great time. Casey got sufficiently intoxicated for his birthday. But let's get a few things straight about potlucks:

- you cannot show up with only wine, unless the host asked, "oh, we're running short on booze, could you actually pick some up?"

- it is good practice to actually prepare something ahead of time. Lacking the resources to do so, at least buy something that could be assembled, so that it is still fresh and with some love in it.

- at the very least, bring something prepared that is still yummy.

Let's be clear, though. All of us have broken this formula at least once. That is ok. That just means you end up with an unlucky potluck.

At our potluck, though, the lasagna was amazing, and Sarah and I melted some brie and enjoyed it with a fresh boule from the co-op, and some fig spread. It was quite decadent. I think its delights were lost on our crowd, unfortunately. However there were no qualms about it. Also, everyone gobbled up the lasagna. And I was told a few times that the chocolate cake was the best cake anyone there had ever had. We then ate gummy bears and I got a stomach ache. Fin.

3) Actual Thanksgiving!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

My favorite holiday of the year, except for my own / other's birthdays, because those are good excuses to do really fun things. Anyway. The big holiday was at my house this year. Since I flew home on a Thursday, we didn't host until Friday, which is mildly disconcerting if you are used to celebrating on a Thursday every year.

At least I was in the country this year! (Sorry Mom and Dad).

Highlights of this meal included: a deliciously brined turkey. Really. The best one we've ever made. Stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce. I recreated the squash and corn pudding, which I made wayyyy too many. Oops. Leftovers! There was some yummy "wait, that's not gluten-free bread?" bread, which one of my dad's cousins brought, thinking she was being very clever, but it turned out to just be bread. It's the thought that counts, right?

I was recovering from a bad flu/cold at this point, and so at approximately 5 pm I left the table and took a nap on the couch for 45 minutes. Ha! It was the best nap ever.

In terms of communal eating, Thanksgiving was actually fabulous. We had some of the easiest family personalities to work with, and everyone got along great! The main topics of conversation were: my dad's cousin being a new grandpa, (congrats!), jury dury, Twitter, surgery, immigration, and some people asking me about Somalia and if that's where all the pirates are. Oh, geographical separation. I love it.

Embarrassing

Ok folks, so it has officially been almost a month since my last update. Embarrassing. That means that many people have probably stopped reading altogether. It also means that I have neglected this past month's theme: which was communal cooking/eating/potlucks. There have been many, and they were kicked off by Ben Pierson's friend Thanksgiving, about halfway through November...

I think the reason I've put off writing is that once you are behind, a blogger is faced with a tricky scenario: catch up, or just keep going.

I'm going to try a bit of both.

Instead of elaborating on all of the month's cooking adventures (which there have been many), I am going to give just a brief, tiny synopsis. And hopefully I'll get around to uploading pictures, too. I will also try and stay much more on track so I don't have this dilemma again!!

Checking in on the food experiment

It has officially been a month with the gluten free diet. As a refresher, I began this experiment because my mood had been a little shaky, and apparently gluten intolerance runs in my family. So, I gave it a shot.

Everyone has been asking about it, and now I feel like I have a conclusion.

Mentally, I do feel pretty great. My mood is fairly stable. I find happiness and peace and fulfillment from most things. I have not been getting stressed very easily. I've been really good at leaving work at work (although this is difficult when you live with people from work). I've been going to a lot of yoga, and trying to be more mindful in life. Little confidence issues that I had been experiencing have not been rearing their heads as much.

Now, in terms of physical health. Can't exactly say I noticed a difference at the end of the day. To get really gritty: I was expecting different digestive and bowel patterns... but didn't notice anything there. I was thinking I'd have a lot more energy, which is kind of true. But no matter the day, I always crash at 2 pm in the office. I also thought I might lose some weight, because this happened for my dad (don't worry folks, this wasn't a goal, just though it would probably happen), but I don't think that really happened.

Here's what I did notice: I didn't really miss the wheat products. I was eating more vegetables, other grains, a lot of eggs, and I was getting more adventurous with cooking. I've made a lot of new dishes that I really enjoyed. I had to get more creative. Sure, I didn't eat sandwiches. That meant I cooked more dinners and had more leftovers. And, so I never went hungry, sometimes I ate frozen things from Amy's or Trader Joe's.

As any good experiment goes, now I will have a control: I am going back to a normal diet for at least a week. No restrictions, no limitations. I won't think, "oh, that has gluten, maybe I shouldn't." Nope. I am just going to eat as I normally would, this time last year, perhaps. This time I will be paying careful attention to my digestion, mood, and energy level. I would think that I would notice something this time, if in fact I should be living gluten free.

And the way I kicked it all off? Thanksgiving dinner at Ben's house. Stuffing, noodles, pie... the works! It was exactly one month on Sunday the 15th, and so I indulged, and felt terrible. But, honestly, I felt terrible because I ate 3 pounds of food and drank a lot of wine, not because of wheat.... or at least I assume.

Well, since I have so much catching up to do, I'll brainstorm my next few posts:

1) recipes I've tried recently

2) places I've eaten

3) This month's theme!!

4) Other social gatherings and food related items.

I can't wait for Thanksgiving. I'll give you all a hint about this coming month's theme:

Communal Eating!

More to come...

2 weeks?? Oops!

Wow, folks.

I start off with an apology: I am deeply sorry for how much my life has been consumed by work, because it means I've not been doing a lot of things I like to do. For one, I haven't written in this blog for almost 2 weeks. Also, I haven't knit anything since I finished my adored hat. I have not seen my college friends, even though they are amazing and everywhere. I haven't even seen that many work friends, although I have, because when I'm not working, I've been going to the bar with work friends.

So, some highlights since November the 4th (which was election day last year!!!)

My dear friend Ellie came to Minnesota from Barcelona, Spain, to attend a community arts conference. She was a lovely guest on our couch, and unfortunately was jetlagged and recovering from the Swine Flu, (and she is not a going-out-to-the-bar kind of lady), and so we had many nights in. I did finally watch Up! As it turns out, there were three people left in the state of Minnesota, aka my group of friends and family, who had not seen Up. These three people were me, Ellie, and my friend Anthony. We all happened to be in the same place, after going out for Vietnamese food (yum, as always). So, we rented Up. I cried a lot. Made some jokes about the cone of shame, and Doug the dog. And that crazy bird. And aging. And life long love. Awww shucks, what a movie.

Other movies of the weekend were Rachel Getting Married, (loved it, but what was with the Indian wedding? Just because they are a rich Connecticut family, and Tunde from TV on the Radio is in it, they get to appropriate Indian culture?! Bah!) Also, Babe! Sarah and Zach and I watched Babe, and we just had a hoot.

In other news, I have begun a Thursday is the New Friday tradition with work friends, since we don't go to school on Friday. What. A. Good. Idea. It makes Thursday feel so much more final, and very refreshing. A trip to the bar, some fried food, and board games? You can't really go wrong there.

Only one week until Thanksgiving! Fabulous!

This post has not been about food at all. Dammit.