The Kitchen Illiterate

I don’t have any proper pictures of this meal, but I want to share it anyway. There was nothing special in the cooking. There is no recipe here. But there is something awfully special in the meal itself: This was our first meal in our new home.

We moved in two weekends ago, after I spent a month living with my aunt and uncle and Mr. X spent a month back in Boston, packing and cleaning and saying good bye to the city where he lived for 13 years. It was a pretty joyous weekend, even with all the unpacking and cleaning, not to mention moving around those heavy boxes of books (oh, so many books). We were both fairly giddy, to be here, to be in our apartment, to be together.

But we were awfully tired after all the unpacking. So we went to Trader Joe’s and bought some marinated steak and some tortillas, an avocado and some salad greens. We had intended to fire up our new grill before we discovered that it’s out of propane, but this gave us an excuse to try out the convection feature of our oven (yes, I have a convection oven! Oh the joy!). We heated a cast iron skillet in the oven, and cooked the thinly sliced steak quickly, searing it and flipping it with just a few minutes on each side. We heated tortillas in the microwave, too hungry to warm them individually on the gas burner (yes, I have a gas stove again! Oh the joy!). We sliced cucumbers and avocado, and made a simple vinaigrette, and dinner was served.

There isn’t anything special about this meal in and of itself, and with no recipe to share, I wondered if I should write anything at all. But it was a wonderful meal, and testament to the fact that when you’re happy, even the most pre-prepared, labor-free food can be something memorable.

I’ve been blogging somewhere else. Yes, it’s true. I’ve mentioned a few times that I was feeling like I might be ready to move on from The Kitchen Illiterate and start a new food writing adventure, and I think I’m finally ready for the big reveal. Or, really, the small, shaky reveal, because it’s not completely 100% finished yet. But if you’re interested in seeing where I’ve been lately, The Lone Gastronome is ready for visitors.

This new blog is focused on cooking and eating well for one (or two). I try to take a Food Matters-style approach to cooking, and intend to offer plenty of advice for shopping, storing food, and meal planning when you’re cooking small meals only intended to feed one or two people.

It’s definitely a work in progress, but I’m hoping it will grow into its breeches soon enough. And truth be told, I’ll probably still post here from time to time, when I’m working on a recipe that doesn’t really fit over there or cooking something new and unusual. But posts here will probably continue to be fewer and further between.

I hope you enjoy the new blog, though! Please feel free to send me any feedback, too.

Sorry for the radio silence, folks. I’ve been feeling particularly uninspired in the kitchen lately, and the onset of fall and short days has lead me into a strong desire for hibernation. I’ve been eating lots of big bowls of beans and roasted vegetables and pasta these days. But I have some good meals planned this week, and I’m keeping my fingers crossed that I’ll find the energy to write about them. When the sun sets at 4:15, it’s awfully hard to want to do anything but curl up in the couch and go to sleep by 8. Dang winter.