Apr 22 – I bought some fresh herbs to grow on our windowsill. A week later, the oregano is nearly dead. I am not a gardener.
Continue reading 2012, Week Seventeen
Month: April 2012
Recipe Organization
If you’re interested in food, and you spend any amount of time on the internet, it’s likely that so many amazing looking recipes cross your path every day that you can’t possibly remember all of them. I’ve experimented with many different recipe organization tactics, but through it all, I always had my blue folder. This folder contained recipes I’ve been collecting since I was 10 years old. Most of them are printed from websites, and stained from use. There are pages torn from magazines, emails from aunts, and even some typewritten sheets from my youth, when I practiced typing by copying recipes from magazines.
The recipes have never been organized in anyway, and I rarely used them because it was too much of a pain to sort through the messy piles and find what I wanted. Last week, the folder finally gave up the ghost, and it was time to find a new solution.
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Healthy Salads for Spring and Summer
There is something about warmer weather that just calls out for us to start eating more healthy salads. They are cool and crunchy, and full of thing that make us feel better about ourselves going into those seasons-of-lesser-clothing. Well, some people go into seasons-of-lesser-clothing. I’ve been known to wear cardigans all through summer, because I’m a total weirdo. But I still want big, crunchy salads. Unfortunately, I think with salads I can occasionally feel a little stuck. What goes after lettuce? Which vegetables go well together? And when is fruit acceptable? Can I think of another salad dressing besides a basic vinaigrette? Sometimes I need some healthy salad inspiration. Do you?
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Julia Child’s French Onion Soup: An Easy Way In
Julia Child. Just her name is intimidating. Her blue and white tome
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2012, Week Sixteen
Another week, more pictures. I’m still forgetful. I’m not beating myself up about it too hard. This was a full week of good things: time with a good friend, good meals, beers, books, and hiking.
And this carrot sandwich.
Apr 15 – I like to call it a carrot tartine. So simple: Baguette, a smear of hummus, and some grated carrots that have been tossed with a bit of olive oil and some za’atar. Love.
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Friday Favorites
It’s finally Friday, and an absolutely beautiful day in the Bay. We’ve been promised some spectacular weather this weekend, and Sean and I are already dreaming about hiking in Marin tomorrow. We have tickets to the A’s game tonight, and I have an exciting Sunday dinner planned. I thought I’d jumpstart all the goodness by sharing with you some of the things I’ve been really loving this week.
1. These pickled cumin green beans were a Christmas gift from Sean. Yes, Christmas. I have no idea what on God’s green earth prevented me from opening them before now, but I was a fool, I tell you. These are a-a-a-mazing. I am imagining them chopped up in a hearty salad, topping off a perfect bloody mary, and tucked into a melty grilled cheese sandwich. You can check out the Happy Girl Kitchen Co. website to find out where you can buy them, if you’re local. If you’re not, might I suggest a trip to the Bay Area?
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Not-So-Meaty Meatloaf
Toward the end of March I started realizing that I was eating a lot of sweets. And french fries. And more pizza than usual. My carefully developed healthy habits had taken a nosedive, and I was feeling it. I decided to declare April Health Month. My intention wasn’t to embark on a month of strictness and deprivation, but to remind myself how much better I feel when I’m eating more vegetables, and being thoughtful and conscientious about the amount of sugar, meat, and fried things I’m putting in my body. I re-read Mark Bittman’s Food Matters
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2012, Week Fifteen
I can hardly believe I’ve been living back in California for a year. The weather right now feels the same as it did last year, and when I walk down the street, the feeling in the air, the sweet smells, the clearn, spring light, it all brings me back to when I arrived last April, so excited to finally be home.
We had another full week last week, and a busy weekend that involved hanging out with lots of adorable babies, so that was fun. For me at least. I do love the babies.
Also, I made bouillabaise!
Apr 8 – Bouillabaise! This is the first time I’ve cooked a fish soup, and I was intimidated for no reason. It was really quite simple. I used cod, scallops, and shrimp, plus a pinch of saffron and some chili flakes. I’ll try to share the recipe this week.
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Turnip Soup with Greens from Greens
I have recently become a little bit addicted to cookbooks. Awhile ago, I realized (duh) that I could check them out from the library, and decided that was an excellent way to test drive a book to see if I would really cook from it before shelling out the big bucks. Of course, what I discovered is that I’m very likely to fall in love with a book, even if the likelihood it would make its way off the shelf often is nill. That’s what happened with The Greens Cookbook, by Deborah Madison and Edward Espe Brown.
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2012, Week Fourteen
I’m a bit behind this week. What a shock. Things have been busy at work (so many meetings), and after a full work day, plus the gym, and cooking dinner, I haven’t really been in much of a mood for anything other than reading a silly book, watching The Daily Show, and going to bed. I do have some tasty meals to share, but for now, all I can muster are these photos. Sad face.
But oooh! So pretty:
Apr 1 – Hiking last Sunday near Mt. Diablo
Continue reading 2012, Week Fourteen