Monday, July 18, 2011
Saturday, July 16, 2011
Zucchini pasta with fresh mint pea pesto
Shelling peas--my first experience...
Does anyone know if one needs to shell shelling peas before cooking them or can one cook them in their pods like edamame?
Anyway, I erred on the safe side and boiled them in salted water with garlic scapes, mashed them with mint, olive oil, and sesame oil to make a pesto (food processor was unavailable).
I then boiled Chinese noodles, drained them, and stir-fried them with fresh julienned zucchini, garlic scapes, and the pesto.
Does anyone know if one needs to shell shelling peas before cooking them or can one cook them in their pods like edamame?
Anyway, I erred on the safe side and boiled them in salted water with garlic scapes, mashed them with mint, olive oil, and sesame oil to make a pesto (food processor was unavailable).
I then boiled Chinese noodles, drained them, and stir-fried them with fresh julienned zucchini, garlic scapes, and the pesto.
Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Pancakes
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup whole milk
- 1 large egg
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Sour-Cream-Pancakes-with-Sour-Cream-Maple-Syrup-358120#ixzz1RuPndTu4
Sunday, July 10, 2011
shrimp and grits
- This got rave reviews from my friend...will need to try it at some point!
- YIELD: 6 servings (serving size: about 1 cup)
- COURSE: Casseroles, Main Dishes
Ingredients
- 2 cups 2% reduced-fat milk
- 3/4 cup fat-free, less-sodium chicken broth
- 1 cup uncooked quick-cooking grits
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (2 ounces) shredded Parmesan cheese
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 (3-ounce) package 1/3-less-fat cream cheese
- 3 tablespoons chopped fresh flat-leaf parsley
- 1 tablespoon chopped fresh chives
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 2 large egg whites
- 1 pound peeled and deveined medium shrimp, coarsely chopped
- Cooking spray
- Hot pepper sauce (optional)
Preparation
- 1. Preheat oven to 375°.
- 2. Combine milk and broth in a medium heavy saucepan; bring to a boil. Gradually add grits and salt to pan, stirring constantly with a whisk. Cook 5 minutes or until thick, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Stir in Parmesan, butter, and cream cheese. Stir in parsley and next 4 ingredients (through shrimp). Spoon mixture into an 11 x 7–inch baking dish coated with cooking spray. Bake at 375° for 25 minutes or until set. Serve with hot pepper sauce, if desired.
Day 9, July 10
It was Sunday so my relatives went to religious services while my cousin's husband and I watched grandma and my cousins' kids.
We read a Diary in the Life of a Spider in English and translated it into Chinese for my grandmother. It's definitely not my favorite kids' book of all time. But like I've said before, this summer is turning into good exposure therapy. Ahem. We also practiced having her look for the "I"'s in the book. There was also some princessish mermaid book with obscenely anorexic Caucasian characters. Le sigh. We tried charades--my grandmother thought it was hilarious to see the little ones pretending to be crocodiles and bunnies and elephants. We colored. Markers these days are a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Even my grandmother had fun. Hangman proved to be a bit tough for the pre kindergartener and 3yo but I was impressed with how much they could do. Then we eventually made our own pizza dough.
We had an enormous lunch with vegetarian food from the temple. For an afternoon snack, after the kids swam and I went to retrieve belongings chez moi, we made silly faced-pizzas with zucchini and carrots. It's amazing how when you're not the parent, it's so much easier to get kids to think cleaning up as a special helper is the most fun thing in the world. We also did a dose of calcium via yogurt. And I had my cousin's daughter pick out her favorite carrot to snack on--I love that the Boston organics sometimes come with carrots with the leaves still on top. They're delicious in salad and soup stocks! And so pretty!
For dinner, after everyone else left, I made lettuce wraps with fresh sauteed carrots, zucchinis and garlic scapes with sesame oil, focaccia pizzas, and some other veggies. And half a bottle of heffenweizen each. Bliss.
Grandmum's now on her evening snack of mango sorbet and trying to get me to eat ice cream. We have an awesome adapted post-it note written communication system going for times she can't hear. She sang me her favorite song.
I'm exhausted. But it's a good kind of exhaustion.
Word of the day: Tomorrow
Lessons learned of the day: Parchment paper and toaster ovens do not get along. Thankfully, toaster oven fires are also easy to put out. Oy vey.
Gram's story of the day: http://insearchofanothertime.blogspot.com/2011/07/grams-story-of-day.html#links
Current Read: It's kind of funny that I'm concurrently reading The Proust Project...Edited by Andre Aciman... 28 authors were asked to choose a favorite passage from In Search of Lost Time and comment on it in essay format. There's a certain level of parallel universe irony going on within the passages chosen that does not escape me.
We read a Diary in the Life of a Spider in English and translated it into Chinese for my grandmother. It's definitely not my favorite kids' book of all time. But like I've said before, this summer is turning into good exposure therapy. Ahem. We also practiced having her look for the "I"'s in the book. There was also some princessish mermaid book with obscenely anorexic Caucasian characters. Le sigh. We tried charades--my grandmother thought it was hilarious to see the little ones pretending to be crocodiles and bunnies and elephants. We colored. Markers these days are a.m.a.z.i.n.g. Even my grandmother had fun. Hangman proved to be a bit tough for the pre kindergartener and 3yo but I was impressed with how much they could do. Then we eventually made our own pizza dough.
We had an enormous lunch with vegetarian food from the temple. For an afternoon snack, after the kids swam and I went to retrieve belongings chez moi, we made silly faced-pizzas with zucchini and carrots. It's amazing how when you're not the parent, it's so much easier to get kids to think cleaning up as a special helper is the most fun thing in the world. We also did a dose of calcium via yogurt. And I had my cousin's daughter pick out her favorite carrot to snack on--I love that the Boston organics sometimes come with carrots with the leaves still on top. They're delicious in salad and soup stocks! And so pretty!
For dinner, after everyone else left, I made lettuce wraps with fresh sauteed carrots, zucchinis and garlic scapes with sesame oil, focaccia pizzas, and some other veggies. And half a bottle of heffenweizen each. Bliss.
Grandmum's now on her evening snack of mango sorbet and trying to get me to eat ice cream. We have an awesome adapted post-it note written communication system going for times she can't hear. She sang me her favorite song.
I'm exhausted. But it's a good kind of exhaustion.
Word of the day: Tomorrow
Lessons learned of the day: Parchment paper and toaster ovens do not get along. Thankfully, toaster oven fires are also easy to put out. Oy vey.
Gram's story of the day: http://insearchofanothertime.blogspot.com/2011/07/grams-story-of-day.html#links
Current Read: It's kind of funny that I'm concurrently reading The Proust Project...Edited by Andre Aciman... 28 authors were asked to choose a favorite passage from In Search of Lost Time and comment on it in essay format. There's a certain level of parallel universe irony going on within the passages chosen that does not escape me.
Saturday, July 09, 2011
Day 8, July 9. Focaccia, Take II: Garlic Scapes!
This went much better the second time around... I think...GARLIC SCAPES! I'd never heard of these beautiful beings until I received them from Boston Organics. But all my relatives who saw them since then have remarked "omg, Americans sell them? It's ___ in Chinese." I'm still playing around with them to see what else they can do but so far, I'm a fan of these beauties. If you want a fantastic musing on garlic, check out Jesse's poem: http://rhymes-with-messy.blogspot.com/2011/06/garlic-glorious-garlic.html
So we had breakfast while I waited for the dough to rise.
Watched a little lady gaga being interviewed by a Chinese woman wearing noodles...
I made a conference call... Had some lunch... vegetarian wontons with fresh vegetable soup (broth made with garlic scapes, carrots, carrot leaves, kale stalks)
And finally it was time to spread the dough, wait for it to rise some more, and bake.
Much better this time! No burnt tops! ...but it could've used more salt and olive oil... there goes being healthy...
So we had breakfast while I waited for the dough to rise.
Watched a little lady gaga being interviewed by a Chinese woman wearing noodles...
I made a conference call... Had some lunch... vegetarian wontons with fresh vegetable soup (broth made with garlic scapes, carrots, carrot leaves, kale stalks)
And finally it was time to spread the dough, wait for it to rise some more, and bake.
Much better this time! No burnt tops! ...but it could've used more salt and olive oil... there goes being healthy...
Friday, July 08, 2011
Day 7, July 8
More lessons learned: You cannot buy a fishburger at McDonald's at 10am...even if you ate breakfast earlier and are ready for lunch at that point. Further, fishburgers are hard to find, anywhere.
Breakfast:
banana crepes
sausage
toast
milk
Lunch...yes I managed to escape McDonalds fate...
Summer salad: egg whites, boston lettuce from Boston Organics, tomato, caramelized onions, TJ's basalmic vinaigrette
Mushroom Ravioli: Took the swiss chard from this week's organic box and sauteed it with onions. Added it to Trader Joe's mushroom ravioli in truffle sauce, alongside half a tomato
Toasted focaccia
Kale egg white drop soup: Made a veggie stock base from carrot tops, kale stocks, carrots, and onions... dropped in egg whites
Breakfast:
banana crepes
sausage
toast
milk
Lunch...yes I managed to escape McDonalds fate...
Summer salad: egg whites, boston lettuce from Boston Organics, tomato, caramelized onions, TJ's basalmic vinaigrette
Mushroom Ravioli: Took the swiss chard from this week's organic box and sauteed it with onions. Added it to Trader Joe's mushroom ravioli in truffle sauce, alongside half a tomato
Toasted focaccia
Kale egg white drop soup: Made a veggie stock base from carrot tops, kale stocks, carrots, and onions... dropped in egg whites
Thursday, July 07, 2011
Foccccccaccia
First attempt at baking foccacia or any type of bread for that matter... Not bad for a first try... but I guess caramelizing onions and then baking them makes for burnt onion tops that need to be scraped off... lesson learned for next time!
Wednesday, July 06, 2011
Brunch with grandma
I would've taken pics but the meal was dug into before I had time to pull out the cam... I'm not kidding you, the elderly may take half an hour to walk down a block, but they can be quick when they want to...and have selective appetites...
Gram's meal:
1 Banana walnut pancake with vermont maple syrup
(Pan fry 1 1/2 bananas in butter and remove to place in the batter...
toast walnuts...
Make batter: 1c flour, 1t baking powder, 1/2t baking soda, salt, 1 egg, 1 cup of milk, would've added a teaspoon of vinegar had I had it...or a few tablespoons of sour cream had my grandmum not stuck it in the freezer, caramelized bananas, and toasted walnuts)
1 Egg, over easy
1 vegetarian sausage
1 c milk
1/2 c coffee
1 small piece caramel apple bar
Yes, I could be a housewife...!
I more or less had the same but with soy and skipped the egg...
Speaking of caramel apple bar...I found the missing pyrex bowl and container after grandmum went to bed. And I couldn't figure out how to get my mouse to work last night (long story) and my trackpad is dead so oh well, pity me, I just *had* to bake.
Here's the rest of the Caramel Apples experiment:
1c sugar
1/2 c water
Put on high heat until boiling (careful!!!!!)
Once it starts boiling, gently swish it around to evenly caramelize sugar
Very very carefully add a pat of butter at a time until you get caramel
There weren't a whole lot of apples left once my grandmum finished snacking on them but I spread what was left onto a greased cake pan and poured the caramel on top.
In a separate bowl, I mixed two eggs and three egg yolks, sugar, flour, baking, salt, and cooled melted butter. I poured this on top of the caramelized apples and baked at 350 for 30 minutes.
In the future, I'd use a deeper pan perhaps--e.g., a round one. But it still tasted good :)
Gram's meal:
1 Banana walnut pancake with vermont maple syrup
(Pan fry 1 1/2 bananas in butter and remove to place in the batter...
toast walnuts...
Make batter: 1c flour, 1t baking powder, 1/2t baking soda, salt, 1 egg, 1 cup of milk, would've added a teaspoon of vinegar had I had it...or a few tablespoons of sour cream had my grandmum not stuck it in the freezer, caramelized bananas, and toasted walnuts)
1 Egg, over easy
1 vegetarian sausage
1 c milk
1/2 c coffee
1 small piece caramel apple bar
Yes, I could be a housewife...!
I more or less had the same but with soy and skipped the egg...
Speaking of caramel apple bar...I found the missing pyrex bowl and container after grandmum went to bed. And I couldn't figure out how to get my mouse to work last night (long story) and my trackpad is dead so oh well, pity me, I just *had* to bake.
Here's the rest of the Caramel Apples experiment:
1c sugar
1/2 c water
Put on high heat until boiling (careful!!!!!)
Once it starts boiling, gently swish it around to evenly caramelize sugar
Very very carefully add a pat of butter at a time until you get caramel
There weren't a whole lot of apples left once my grandmum finished snacking on them but I spread what was left onto a greased cake pan and poured the caramel on top.
In a separate bowl, I mixed two eggs and three egg yolks, sugar, flour, baking, salt, and cooled melted butter. I poured this on top of the caramelized apples and baked at 350 for 30 minutes.
In the future, I'd use a deeper pan perhaps--e.g., a round one. But it still tasted good :)
Tuesday, July 05, 2011
Lessons learned in living with the elderly:
1. You need lots and lots (and lots) of napkins. And if you think you have three times as one needs, get another handful more.
2. Going down the street for lunch is a three to four hour process. Plan accordingly.
3. Although everything takes ten times as long as usual, life experience gives you an edge on hiding things quickly and well. Expect to spend three hours a day looking for items that have been safely tucked away. Plan accordingly.
The apple baking experiment will finish once I find the mixing bowl that was out... stay tuned.
1. You need lots and lots (and lots) of napkins. And if you think you have three times as one needs, get another handful more.
2. Going down the street for lunch is a three to four hour process. Plan accordingly.
3. Although everything takes ten times as long as usual, life experience gives you an edge on hiding things quickly and well. Expect to spend three hours a day looking for items that have been safely tucked away. Plan accordingly.
The apple baking experiment will finish once I find the mixing bowl that was out... stay tuned.
Apples
Approx 1 c sliced apples
Approx 1/4 c sugar
Approx 1/4 c Trader Joe's pineapple juice not from concentrate
1/2 stick butter in pats
Heat until bubbly...
Sunday, July 03, 2011
Summer with grandma
I'm pretty excited about spending this summer with grandmum. I remember when I was in second grade, still a single child, she moved into what eventually became my brother's room. That was the year that I discovered I actually *liked* homemade Chinese food. I was introduced to a whole new world of handmade "pulled" noodles (you cut the dough into strips and pull them right before dropping it into boiling water), handmade dumplings, slivers of veggies stir fried with meat, and stuffed spicy peppers. Every now and then, she'd humor me, hand me a lump of dough to play with, and I would earnestly try to roll it out. No matter how hard I tried, they never turned into those perfect little circles ready for wrapping dumplings. For those of you in the neuropsych world, I'll just say that if there were a VMI equivalent, based on my round dough-rolling capabilities, I'd be in OT. Even worse, in trying to wrap those dumplings, mine would inevitably break apart in water and just never be pretty at all. !Que sadness! S= 4, 2nd percentile.
Times have obviously changed much in the last twenty-plus years. I gained an amazing brother. My grandparents became not just visitors, but an enormous part of my childhood growing up--walking me to school, cooking dinner, spending time when I came home afterschool, and becoming my extra parents. I tried on multiple occasions to get my grandma to teach me to cook but as far as I can tell, measuring cups and spoons just didn't exist in pre-war China. You cooked with what you had, and that made the idea of recipes impossible. "Just add some of this" or "I did nothing" and somehow we were five steps ahead with a miracle meal on the table. (Or maybe I was just a terrible student). My grandparents eventually moved to a place of their own nearby. I moved away for grad school and without easy access to decent reasonably priced Chinese food, I started learning to cook it myself. (Although I still have not managed to make perfect circles despite trying to cheat and buy an American rolling pin instead). And my grandparents have aged.
When it became clear it was impossible to keep in touch with my grandparents via phone or email, I tried moving back to Boston to be closer to my grandparents while I still could see them. But between multiple work demands and other family circumstances, I never quite had the same time I expected to have to hang out. I'd leave work and I knew it would be too late to bring dinner. I'd cook dinner on a Saturday to bring over but then it'd start pouring. I'd wait out the rain before contending with walking to the bus station to wait for the bus, and then it'd end up being too late. I knew I was pushing it with timing, and hemmed and hawed and agonized over my next job placement--one was pushing a hundred and the other pushing ninety. Was I making the right choice by moving, yet again? And then I thought I'd at least be noncommital in July so I'd have more time to spend with my grandparents, family and friends--the life I thought I'd have when I moved back to Boston...
And then my grandfather died after a sudden accident and life turned upside down while I was in the midst of other life changes. Eeks. In all honesty, as much as I miss him and am sad to see him go, he was healthy and never had to suffer in ways I've seen other relatives or patients' families have suffered from illness. It was the most humane end of life I could ever hope for anyone. That said, I am still kicking myself for those times I chose to turn left instead go right. The times I could have just dealt with the rain and brought over food. The times I could have gone over instead of sleep in. It's too late now for regrets. I thought I'd have July with both grandparents and I don't. But I'm incredibly grateful and lucky to have at least July with my grandmum--time to sit, time to listen, time to cook, time to eat. It's the first true summer vacation / time-off I've had in ten years and it's nice to keep her company and have hers. She's losing her ability to form new memories but she's still lucid enough to generally know who I am and tell old stories or sing songs of the past. Who else gets to live within a live mental documentary? I might be one of the luckiest folks on earth.
Times have obviously changed much in the last twenty-plus years. I gained an amazing brother. My grandparents became not just visitors, but an enormous part of my childhood growing up--walking me to school, cooking dinner, spending time when I came home afterschool, and becoming my extra parents. I tried on multiple occasions to get my grandma to teach me to cook but as far as I can tell, measuring cups and spoons just didn't exist in pre-war China. You cooked with what you had, and that made the idea of recipes impossible. "Just add some of this" or "I did nothing" and somehow we were five steps ahead with a miracle meal on the table. (Or maybe I was just a terrible student). My grandparents eventually moved to a place of their own nearby. I moved away for grad school and without easy access to decent reasonably priced Chinese food, I started learning to cook it myself. (Although I still have not managed to make perfect circles despite trying to cheat and buy an American rolling pin instead). And my grandparents have aged.
When it became clear it was impossible to keep in touch with my grandparents via phone or email, I tried moving back to Boston to be closer to my grandparents while I still could see them. But between multiple work demands and other family circumstances, I never quite had the same time I expected to have to hang out. I'd leave work and I knew it would be too late to bring dinner. I'd cook dinner on a Saturday to bring over but then it'd start pouring. I'd wait out the rain before contending with walking to the bus station to wait for the bus, and then it'd end up being too late. I knew I was pushing it with timing, and hemmed and hawed and agonized over my next job placement--one was pushing a hundred and the other pushing ninety. Was I making the right choice by moving, yet again? And then I thought I'd at least be noncommital in July so I'd have more time to spend with my grandparents, family and friends--the life I thought I'd have when I moved back to Boston...
And then my grandfather died after a sudden accident and life turned upside down while I was in the midst of other life changes. Eeks. In all honesty, as much as I miss him and am sad to see him go, he was healthy and never had to suffer in ways I've seen other relatives or patients' families have suffered from illness. It was the most humane end of life I could ever hope for anyone. That said, I am still kicking myself for those times I chose to turn left instead go right. The times I could have just dealt with the rain and brought over food. The times I could have gone over instead of sleep in. It's too late now for regrets. I thought I'd have July with both grandparents and I don't. But I'm incredibly grateful and lucky to have at least July with my grandmum--time to sit, time to listen, time to cook, time to eat. It's the first true summer vacation / time-off I've had in ten years and it's nice to keep her company and have hers. She's losing her ability to form new memories but she's still lucid enough to generally know who I am and tell old stories or sing songs of the past. Who else gets to live within a live mental documentary? I might be one of the luckiest folks on earth.
Day 2, July 3
We went to Flour in the morning http://flourbakery.com/. It was delicious, as usual. For future reference however, 2 slices of french toast is really = 4 slices of french toast as far as I'm concerned. My grandmum had the breakfast sandwich, which is huge. Yet she was able to devour it. I'm starting to wonder if I eat too little.
Dinner--Thanks goodness for $4.50 maki rolls on Sundays at Gari http://www.garifusion.com/
I'm a huge fan of the tempura softshell crab maki roll and their tuna and salmon rolls. Makes for a super easy and reasonably priced dinner after an afternoon of family and lil kids.
Random lesson learned: back in the day, book paper was so thin and fragile, that it was easy to tear through the pages while flipping. You used special paste to put it together.
Dinner--Thanks goodness for $4.50 maki rolls on Sundays at Gari http://www.garifusion.com/
I'm a huge fan of the tempura softshell crab maki roll and their tuna and salmon rolls. Makes for a super easy and reasonably priced dinner after an afternoon of family and lil kids.
Random lesson learned: back in the day, book paper was so thin and fragile, that it was easy to tear through the pages while flipping. You used special paste to put it together.
Saturday, July 02, 2011
More summer veggies
Started living with my grandmother
Day 1. July 2
Swiss chard with toasted walnuts and sesame oil
Stir fried green beans, Asian style
Day 1. July 2
Swiss chard with toasted walnuts and sesame oil
Stir fried green beans, Asian style |
| Baby bok choy / shanghai bok choy / little Chinese cabbage...pick your translation |
Veggie sausages
Tomato and egg scramble (traditional Chinese dish--yes, for dinner, not breakfast)
TA-DA!
TA-DA!
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