Yikes, I have, once again, broken my once-a-week posting rule in the flurry and bustle of finals. I’ve been eating pasta and Boboli with leftovers and nothing impressive enough for the blog. (Well, there was that pork tenderloin Mr. X made last weekend, but I was too tired to take pictures and write about it.
Sadly, I’m not even sure when I’m going to be able to get back to you all with actual foodstuffs. The next two weeks are going to be mad busy: finishing the MySQL/PHP database project, doing a bunch of LC and Dewey classification, finishing up a presentation on our new OPAC for user instruction, and, you know, trying to figure out what the crap I’m going to do this summer. Actually, there are some good developments potentially maybe in the works, but all that stuff belongs on the other blog, and you guys don’t care about the library stuff. You care about the food, so I’ll get right to it.
I’ll get right to sharing some other people’s food, and other random, kitchen-related things because I’m really not cooking anything these days.
First, something that combines both of my interests: Cooked Books is a great blog put together by a New York Public Library librarian, Rebecca Federman. Cooked Books features some of the awesome items in the culinary resources collection of NYPL. Great food history stuff (Crimson, have you checked this collection out for your research? So cool!), and always a nice distraction from my library school studies.
Last week I saw an episode of Throwdown with Bobby Flay all about Arroz con Pollo, and I’ve been obsessed with it all week. I even bought all the stuff to make it, and then realized that I’m an idiot and there is NO TIME for cooking arroz con pollo. But hopefully I’ll make it this weekend and not be too tired to actually write about it. What I really want to do is make Jorge Ayala’s version of Arroz con Pollo, but the only recipe on the food network website is Bobby Flay’s. Which, hello, he didn’t win the challenge! Why isn’t the winning recipe available? I guess they can’t really make Ayala share his recipe. I remember there was beer in it, and achiote oil. Maybe I can reconstruct from memory, but if anyone has some great Arroz con Pollo tips and whatnot to share with me, please do!
I have been weirdly obsessed with real estate lately, and with that comes an unhealthy interest in furniture and other housewares. And what I really want is this table, from Crate and Barrel. Genius! Awesome! Why am I thinking about kitchen tables when I’m nowhere near the owning-a-home, buying-furniture stage of my life, and plus, I have homework to do. Stop thinking about kitchen tables, lady. (But isn’t it cool.)
Some other things I’ve seen lately that I have me inspired to get into the kitchen:
- Smitten Kitchen’s Peanut Sesame Noodles. We’ve covered my love, nay obsession, with peanuts, peanut butter, and peanut sesame sauce. I see a new recipe and I have to try it. Hopefully soon.
- Is it wrong that I think The Pioneer Woman’s Dump Cake sounds awesome? Don’t tell my brothers, they’d never let me live it down.
- I have been thinking nonstop about zabaglione (especially now that I know how to pronounce it!). I had a dream about a dessert that I have to try once I have time for elaborate cooking: ravioli stuffed with mascarpone and topped with chocolate zabaglione. Am I crazy, or does that actually sound really good?
- I also am obsessive about carnitas. I’ve never made carnitas. I want carnitas. Last year I made pulled pork for my birthday, so maybe this year I’ll make carnitas? Maybe pork will be the recurring theme of my aging?
My semester is over in two weeks, and as you can see, I’ve got all kinds of ideas circulating in my busy, filled-up little head. If you come back after the madness ends, there will be a regular feast. And if I get my act together this weekend and actually make Arroz con Pollo, you might even hear from me sooner.