In Food on
23 January 2010 with 1 comment
For Christmas Santa brought me Cooking Light Annual Recipes 2009, because, man, I love me some Cooking Light. They do such an amazing job with their recipes, and I’ve passed off the results as not light at all.
Tonight I made this risotto with Italian sausage, caramelized onions and bitter greens. I loved it, and I would eat it again and again. The use of arugula, in particular, was really stellar.
I have to say, I got a kick out of the couple people who complained about the fussiness of this recipe in the reviews. It’s risotto! What did you expect?
In Life, Sports on
16 January 2010 with 2 comments
Last Friday my parents were in town for a wedding, so we all went to see the Boston Celtics take on my Atlanta Hawks. My brother was also in town, but since he was in the wedding, he had to go to the rehearsal dinner instead. Too bad!
One of the things that makes baseball and football games so fun, in my opinion, is that scoring is kind of a big deal. When your team gets a touchdown or plates a run, everyone cheers! Since scoring is more or less constant in a basketball game, I figured it wouldn’t be as satisfying for the crowd, but I was wrong. It was a semi-constant scoring high.
My parents watch basketball with a lot more regularity than Shaun and I. My Dad is into the Memphis Grizzlies right now, but nonetheless he and my Mom cheered for the Celtics (their hometown team). As Atlantans, Shaun and I rooted for the Hawks despite knowing nothing about the team (although I hear they are kinda good). In fact, on their first basket Shaun yelled,
“Go Braves!”
Later we yelled things like:
“Matt Ryan!”
“Chipper Jones!”
“Go Falcons!”
One Hawk I do happen to know about is Zaza Pachulia, but that’s only because he owns a restaurant near me. (Prior to seeing him on the program, though, I was pretty sure he played for the Thrashers.) It was a great game, and the Hawks won.
Afterwards I enjoyed an Elvis burger at the Vortex in honor of his birthday.
In Food on
9 January 2010 with Comments Off
I’ve been itching to get into Asian cooking for some time, and for Christmas, I got not one but two cookbooks for this. From Shaun I received Land of Plenty: A Treasury of Authentic Sichuan Cooking. I started flipping through this book and came upon a recipe for Kung Pao chicken, which honestly I was quite amazed by because I figured it was an American concoction. It’s the first thing I made.
You can read the recipe over here on NPR.
I had no trouble getting the Sichuan peppercorn, but I wasn’t able to get a hold of any Sichuan chiles at the time. Instead, I added some chile paste to the sauce for spice and a red bell pepper to the chicken for extra color and vegetable goodness. Even though I totally faked it up, I also totally loved it.
I’d recommend this book and recipe for someone, like myself, new to cooking authentic Asian food.
In Food, Life on
3 January 2010 with Comments Off
I don’t eat out that often. Well, I take that back. I bet I eat out more often than average, but if Foursquare is to be believed, I eat out less than other people/foodies my age. Often when I do eat out a blank is drawn on where to go, so I thought I’d compile a list of new places I want to eat in 2010.
Places I plan to return to:
Mmm. I’m getting hungry already!
In Life on
27 December 2009 with Comments Off
We love Christmas over here.
I am so full, and I actually can’t wait to get back to normal eating habits.
Cheers!
In Food on
14 December 2009 with Comments Off
[Talking about making eggnog from scratch.]
Shaun: “I’ll make eggnog for our Christmas party.”
Maura: “We’re having a Christmas party?”
Shaun: “Sure.”
Maura: “Who are we inviting?”
Shaun: “No one. Just us.”
Ha! We had our Christmas “party” this past Saturday. As a dish often associated with Christmas, we decided to try our hands at making tamales from scratch, using a black bean filling. (We even cooked the black beans from dry. Nuts, I know!)
First problem: no dried corn husks or banana leaves to be found. Even Whole Foods let me down. Parchment paper stood in with good results.
Second problem: the recipe only made about a dozen, and they’re already gone!
In Food on
13 December 2009 with Comments Off
I love peppermint ice cream. So, for our Christmas party* last night, I made some. I chose this recipe from Simply Recipes, and I halved it since two people don’t need that much ice cream.
You’ll want to be careful and add the peppermint extract to taste. I think I could have done more crushed candy canes, but of course that is also a matter of taste. This is definitely on the list for things I am making for Christmas.
*I’ll tell you more about this later.
In Food on
10 December 2009 with 6 comments
One of my resolutions in 2009 was to start liking Swiss cheese. I’ll call this a success, because I do not avoid it like the plague like I used to. There are some I even enjoyed.
You may not know this, but I used to be a really picky eater. At some point I just decided I was going to like food. And look at me now! I love it.
So, my foodie resolution for 2010 is start liking runny egg yolks.
I pretty much only like my eggs scrambled until practically dry. I still think light and fluffy, not wet scrambled eggs are a totally valid way to go. But something like a poached egg, with the egg yolk running down over toast (see these lovely photos from Smitten Kitchen)…ewww gross. Carbonara? I may be sick.
But…I’m going to work on it.
In Life on
7 December 2009 with Comments Off
I have a little Christmas tree.
But it’s cute.
In Food on
30 November 2009 with Comments Off
Okay, here is the last thing I made for Thanksgiving: pumpkin ice cream.
What should you know? This recipe was good, and I’d make it again. People seemed to like it at the Thanksgiving dessert party we went to, which was the day I churned it, but it was a little icy and less creamy the next day. So, just plan to eat it all right away.
Recipe: Pumpkin ice cream from Williams-Sonoma.