Category: meat

For the past week and a half I’ve been sadly deprived of fresh vegetables in anywhere near the quantities I like. Running out of money will do that to a lady–I was nearly subsisting on peanut butter and pickle sandwiches! Thankfully, I got paid yesterday, and the first thing I did was run to the market and fill my basket with fresh vegetables–eggplant, broccoli, zucchini, tomatoes, snap peas, and something I’ve never cooked before: baby bok choy.

It just looked so cute there in the store, with its gently curving green leaves and tiny round white stems. And I’d been wanting to try it for months, so into the basket it went. Of course, I wasn’t entirely sure how to prepare it, but I figured it couldn’t be too different from other vegetables, so I wasn’t worried. Maybe I should have spent a little more time reading up on the baby bok choy because I kind of overcooked it. But you know? It was still pretty good–delicate, slightly crunchy, and full, I’m sure, of all kinds of minerals and vitamins, which my poor body felt sorely lacking.

Continue reading Baby Bok Choy and Beef

I only wish I had a better picture of last night’s dinner, and maybe some video of its super speedy preparation, of Mr. X jumping into action in the hippy mart when I realized they were out (OUT!?) of chicken breasts and that all my carefully orchestrated dinner plans were crashing down around me, my brain too addled to think of anything else to cook. I wish I had a picture of the nearly bare meat aisle of the aforementioned hippy mart. I mean, it was barren, bereft. It was so empty it brought me to near rage, because I am just so, so tired of having to shop at the hippy mart and deal constantly with its uselessness and overpricedness. But that is a rant for another time. Today, I have to share with you how awesome it was to watch Mr. X save dinner last night.

Continue reading Mr. X Saves the Day

I have been experiencing a bit of the old writer’s block lately. Hence, it’s taken me three days to write about Taco Thursday, and I still don’t really know what what to say other than “We made tacos! Hurray!”

I’d been planning tacos for weeks–I wanted to make them just the way my dad did when I was growing up. Taco dinners were a special treat, and because they’re also a pain in the arse, dad didn’t make tacos too often. There’s a lot of oil involved, and standing over the stove, not to mention chopping of vegetables and doing all the dishes when you’re done. But it is so, so worth it. This being the first time I made tacos myself I was a little unsure about the tortilla frying, but after the first two chewy mishaps, I finally perfected the technique and managed to pull off some crispy, delicious shells to hold all kinds of yummy food stuffs. Just like dad used to make.

Continue reading Taco Thursday

If you’re anything like me, you probably end up with tons of leftovers after any social gathering that involves food. And in the summertime, a lot of those leftovers are probably grilled. Our Fourth of July gathering was attended solely by people who believe it’s better to have too much than not enough, and the refrigerator at the end of the night, stuffed full of grilled sausages and hamburgers and hot dogs and steak, was a staggering sight. I mean, the guys manning the grill outside cooked up twelve hamburgers and two pounds of sausages and a whole, huge Tri-tip steak for about eight people. No one can eat that much meat.

As the resident chef in our humble abode, it fell to me to figure out what to do with all that leftover meat. I mean, no one wants to eat microwaved hamburgers all week. Of course there is the obvious: barbecue-sauce slathered grilled chicken breasts can be shredded for chicken salad sandwiches. Steak can be sliced up and added to salads or slapped between two pieces of bread. But who wants to be obvious?

Continue reading Too much beautiful meat?