Enjoy the day…

Change of Plans

We’re not heading to Alabama for Thanksgiving after all, due to evilness on the part of Michael’s workplace. Which kind of threw my food and cooking plans for a loop. So I was unintentionally one of those crazy shoppers scouring the aisles of Publix the day before Thanksgiving. Since it is just the two of us and we are planning on leaving Friday as soon as Michael leaves work, I didn’t want to do a crazy spread. And I’m not feeling like an ultra-traditional meal tomorrow, either. The apartment is a mess, as well, since I wasn’t planning on us being here and have been pulling stuff out from all corners in a random reorganization surge. Blah, blah, blah.

Anyway, I’m thinking the meal will be centered around the curried butternut squash soup I made a couple of weeks ago and was amazing. (Did I go to the store today after work expressly to buy said squash? And get through the checkout before realizing I had NOT picked up the squash? And then leave my car keys at the checkout when I ran back to pick up the squash? It’s been fun.) I always love rosemary roasted cashews, so I’m thinking those will make an appearance. Asparagus and zucchini in some way, shape or form. Possibly my Grandmother’s rolls if I am feeling ambitious. A citrus fruit salad, perhaps. I love making and eating Thanksgiving desserts, but neither of us need to eat our way through a whole dessert or two (even in the course of a few days), so I was sensible and restrained and bought two slices of cheese cake from the deli and will probably make a very simple sauce from frozen berries. And of course there will be wine. Or possibly beer. Both are available, both may be consumed. Am I forgetting something?

Sunday, Sunday

A couple of weeks ago I finally bought the Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day book that I’ve given to a gazillion people but never owned myself. I really like the concept and the ease with which you can incorporate the bread making to your schedule rather than vice-versa. Of course, I am incapable of following the recipe exactly and so I’ve been struggling with getting the dough just right. Instead of using all white flour, I use half white, half wheat. I think this is messing up my water to flour ratio somehow because my doughs have been very wet and difficult to handle. I imagine this would work better if I had a kitchen scale and measured by weight, but I don’t and I can’t—so it’s guesstimation. The breads have always turned out great–moist and flavorful with a great crust. The only problem is that the bottom crust really, really sticks to the pan. I’ve been afraid to bake it directly on my baking stone because the last time I put a moist dough directly on the stone, it split in half. Loudly. They’ve got a new book out that more directly addresses whole grain baking, but I’ll probably muddle my way through this one in stead.

Today has been a kitchen day. I made apple crisp this morning for breakfast, an ice-box pie for dessert and prepared a big batch of spicy black beans for the freezer. I love feeling productive!

National Blog Posting Month

In an effort to improve what goes on in this space, I’ve committed to blog everyday for the month of November as a participant in National Blog Posting Month. My thought is that posting everyday for a month will at the very least have me thinking a bit more and a bit harder about what I’d like to see in this space and what this blog means to me. I’m actually not terribly concerned about the fact that I don’t blog everyday normally, but I do get bothered by the fact that I sometimes have something to say and just don’t–out of laziness or fear, not sure which. Wish me luck!

Five Things….

I am reading…Anna In-Between, by Elizabeth Nunez. It’s wonderful so far.

I am eating…a ChocoLove dark chocolate ginger bar. Yum.

I am watching…the cat scratch at her food mat. Why?

I am listening…to my husband play a zombie game.

I am feeling…a little overwhelmed by the world.

Spiffy

We returned a few hours ago from a whirlwind trip to Pittsburgh (less than 36 hours in the city–we’re beat). The main event was my cousin Megan’s wedding, but we also sneaked in a couple of hours visiting an old friend. The wedding was lovely! It was held at a beautiful old Presbyterian church that surprised me in it’s ornateness. There was a lovely mosaic behind the altar of The Ascension (I think) all done in golds and yellows. You can see a cropped image here. The wedding colors were yellow and black and the bridesmaids” bouquets were lovely bundles of sunflowers and asparagus ferns that the girls put together themselves. I’m a big fan of the bridal party wearing black–it’s easy to actually wear the dresses again AND as a guest I didn’t feel hopelessly morbid wearing black to a wedding. Instead, I coordinated. Too bad the weather wasn’t feeling the same way; the high was 40, but I don’t think our car thermometer ever went above 39. I was not prepared. I knew it was going to be cold and I still wasn’t prepared. I just don’t have the right kind of warm clothing anymore.

Megan and Josh (her new husband) have worked as campus ministers for the past several years, and so there were a ton of people there representing so many of the relationships they have built over the years. They have also focused a lot on making local connections and that has naturally included connecting with the city that they call home. Their wedding and reception really reflected these connections and was especially exciting for me, who used to live in Pittsburgh and still holds a deep and abiding love for the city. Plus, there was mulled cider grown made by Airesmans, a wonderful orchard in our hometown. Best of all, we had an opportunity to catch up (however briefly) with family and friends we see all too infrequently given the distance we live from home.

I especially miss my sisters. It was nice to chat a bit and just enjoy ourselves together for a few hours.

The lovely bride and groom. This is the first time we had a moment with them–as we were leaving!

After the reception we spent a few hours catching up with one of my closest college friends and her husband. They had their first baby in April and he is officially the cutest baby ever. He’s just discovered his laugh, too, and we all had fun looking for ways to bring it out. I spent most of the time he was awake with him in my arms, so no pictures of the cutie. I have many friends with children now, but Annie is most like myself in values and temperment, and she and her husband Drew have a similar relationship, life outlook to Michael and I–watching them with the baby I was able to actually picture what it might be like for Michael and I to have one of our own. It also made me realize how far we are from most of our friends who resonate with us in that way. We do have some close friends here, but in many ways I feel that I am on outpost, just waiting for reassignment closer to home.

Buy Hand

The holidays are creeping up and I’ve decided to commit to CrunchyChicken’s holiday challenge this year. I did pretty well last year, making most of the gifts for my immediate family. We have a name exchange with extended family though and I took the easy way out there–buying a gift. We are in an expansion period right now within my family–everyone is getting married. So I’m always a little concerned that my brother or cousins-in-law would not be too excited about a handmade item for Christmas. I’ll just have to be extra creative this year!

CT Closing Questionaire

Well, we all wandered a bit too far off track and Wende gave up on gathering us back together. It was fun while it lasted! I really appreciated the conversations that grew out of some participants’ posts and I was especially grateful for a project that spurred me to blog somewhat  more regularly. As a final closing exercise, Wende posted a few questions. Here are my answers:

1. Is there anything that makes the act of cooking (not thinking about cooking) appealing to you?

Having the right tools and a clean kitchen are huge for me in this respect. Also having a decently stocked fridge and pantry. Planning is important but not crucial. Cooking is appealing to me, in a Platonic sense, but it’s when my schedule butts in that things get a little hairy. Delegating some of the responsibility is a good thing. So is not focusing on making crazy “gourmet” meals that are unrealistic and sometimes unappetizing because they are just too much. But mostly, it’s the clean kitchen! I also like cooking for others and I’m looking forward to living in a place where we can actually entertain.

2. What would you rather be doing than cooking?

• Eating! No one said eating!
• Reading
• Sleeping
• Losing myself in the abyss of the interweb
  

3. What prevents you from cooking and/or posting about the cooking you do?

Well, I usually don’t post about the cooking I do if I don’t have a decent photo. Sometimes it’s just a little hard to believe that anyone might be interested in my rather pedestrian cooking. Also, I do make quite a few things over and over again. Not the same thing twice, exactly, but how many times do people want to hear about fish in a packet (good as it is)?

Time and tiredness are what prevents me from cooking. Just a basic lack of time management, I suppose.

4. What, if anything, have you gained from CT?

I have definitely thought more realistically and concretely about what needs to be happening for my household, which is just two people. It’s been really great to see how others manage food; most of us are smaller households and its a nice change from some other blogs that I read, where the families are much larger. Also, no one on those other cooking blogs seems very concerned about leftovers. Plus I’ve just enjoyed reading what everyone has had to say and taking part in the discussions.

I’ve also learned that having some concrete task is helpful for motivating me to act (even if not in a timely manner). So I might pick one of the cookbooks I really enjoyed from earlier in CT and try to cook my way through it.

There was food, there was cooking

Except not this weekend, because we were out of town.

Cocoa-Nana Bread

This morning’s breakfast. Recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan. I’m seriously considering the purchase of this cookbook. If only to justify having rich, moist chocolate cake for breakfast (the recipe is in the Breakfast Sweets chapter). This bread/cake is pretty incredible. There is a whole cup of cocoa powder in the batter, plus a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips are stirred in at the end. Yum, yum, yum. The photo is from my iPhone, so sorry.

Broccoli Cheese Potato

Dinner Sunday night after the drive back from Birmingham. Baked potatoes with steamed broccoli and cheese sauce. Not too exciting, but tasty enough. The broccoli was in the crisper drawer with the lemons which turned out to be not such a great idea, but, oh well. We ate the best parts.

Black Bean Soup over Rice

Dinner Thursday evening was this very simple black bean soup (following my meal plan!). I made it in the crockpot because I had a hair appointment and didn’t know when I’d be home. Not ’til 8:30 it turned out, so I wasn’t too inspired to make the planned cornbread. We ate it over leftover brown rice instead. Still pretty yummy.

Cream of Wheat and bananas

Because breakfast is the most important meal, right? Thursday morning. I like my cream of wheat with butter and cinnamon sugar. Not a terribly exciting meal, but Wende’s post has me documenting what I cook, so I might as well share.

I always seem to get the coffee mug with the weird little stain.

Black Beans and Rice

Last weekend. We like black beans around here. I don’t know if this qualifies as cooking, though. I pretty much opened up a can of beans and let them simmer with a little bit of salsa, onion, garlic and a drop of liquid smoke.

Zucchini and Pea Risotto

Made some time ago, but since I posted the recipe (using mushrooms, but pretty much any veg can be subbed), felt I should perhaps post a photo. Soooo good. Soooo easy. The recipe makes a lot, too, so you have some for lunch the next day.

And so ends the brief tour of food I cooked and remembered to photograph.

Just another meal plan

But where is my food?

I realized last week that my food storage is getting a bit out of control and we haven’t been eating it down as fast as we should. This is my first attempt at a semi-serious food supply, so no one should be surprised by the beginners mistakes I’ve made. Namely, buying a lot of canned vegetables that I don’t really like and now being faced with eating them. I’m not terribly picky, but French Cut green beans are not my idea of happiness. So…this meal plan may be a mite unusual/boring.

Why do I have food storage? Last year we had several electrical outages, a couple that lasted for more than two days in parts of the city. These were mostly a result of the crappy hurricane season. The two things made my inner emergency planner kick into full gear and put together an emergency kit and food supply. I think these are good things for any person to have, but I do feel a little odd when I tell people I have about a three month supply of food in my guest bedroom closet.

Dinners

• Pasta w/sauteed mushrooms and marinara sauce
• Black Bean Soup, Corn Bread
• Vegetable Soup, Cheese Biscuits
• Stuffed Baked Sweet Potatoes

Foraging will be the name of the game for lunches and breakfasts.

More menu plans at OrgJunkie.