Seafood Sunday

In the past I've lamented about my love for Sundays, however, with the holidays and then moving into my new abode, I hadn't yet had the chance to thoroughly enjoy a relaxing Sunday in a really long time. Yesterday,I finally got to change that! 

After several weeks of winter, Baltimore got a brief glimpse of spring this weekend. It's possible that I love winter more than anyone you'll ever meet. I run faster in winter, I'm happier in winter (nothing makes me fussy like being hot and having sweat running down my face), and I truly love being cold. I lived in my last apartment for almost 3 years and never once turned on the heat. My new apartment is so warm without heat that Sheppie and I actually have to open a window at night to get the apartment to what we consider an appropriate sleeping temperature as we both enjoy a nip in the air and snuggling under blankets. Have I mentioned that Aussie is basically me in dog form? 

In writing about my love for cold, I was instantly reminded of one of the first times sister came sleep over at my first DC apartment. Unlike in my last home, my first DC casa only had a window unit air conditioner. Because it was a studio apartment, there also weren't a lot of options when placing furniture. As a result, the bed was placed in such a way that the window unit blew directly onto the bed. Delightful for people that like to be cold when they sleep, hell for poor sister. I shouldn't laugh, but this is one of my all time favorite pictures and I feel like it depicts so well how cold I like to keep a home:

Yes, she's created a fort out of the pillows to help block the air conditioner. In hindsight, I should have traded sides with her. 

I said all that to say, despite my affinity for winter, I truly enjoyed the warm weather this weekend. I spent Sunday doing so many of my favorite things. If I'd squeezed in time to paint it would've been perfection. 

Following a delicious brunch at a new neighborhood joint (whereby I had bacon for the first time in many years and realized how much I'd missed it), I finally got Aussie to check out the park in our new hood. I'd tried to get her to go once before when it was semi-nice out and there wasn't snow on the ground, but alas, strong-willed to the end, she got to the base of the park (it's on a hill) and decided she was done with adventure for the day (mind you the base of said park literally touches the parking lot of my apartment building, so it's not like I made her hike for days to get to it). Today I had the magic ingredient (other people in our midst). She's such a ham and loves the attention she gets when friends come over, so she wasn't about to give that up for the sake of not venturing into uncharted territory. And what do you know, she had a grand time! We've been fortunate enough to live by two huge parks in both of our city apartments together and I'm hopeful that our new park will provide the same solitude from city life that the last one did. 

Living puppy life. She's secretly excited to spend more days here once it gets permanently warm.

After shooting the breeze at the park and parting ways with friends, I found myself desiring to cook an inventive Sunday dinner. One of my favorite things about having a car again is being able to run to the grocery store and pick up something for dinner without it being a huge production. Plus, I can take Aussie with me on my journey. She loves car time almost as much as park time, so she's always up for accompanying me on the ride.

For some reason, I never buy fresh fish from the seafood counter. It's not something I really gravitate towards, but for the life of me I don't know why. I love seafood, it's what prevented me from becoming a full on vegetarian for all these years, and I'm a good enough cook that I could easily make some divine dishes with it. But alas, I haven't. As with so many things this year, I decided to change that on Sunday. I picked out a piece of fresh salmon and decided I was going to make magic in the kitchen. And I did....plus if points were being given out for this dish, I would've gotten bonus ones for using one of my two FOTYs as one of the focal points. It's possible I watch too many cooking shows.

I ended up enjoying this little impromptu meal so much that I think Sunday dinners may become a new staple around the casa. Stay turned. For now, a 30 minute meal Rachel Ray would be proud of.

Salmon with Roasted Sweet Potato, Asparagus, and Leeks

Ingredients

• Salmon
• 1 lemon, half sliced and juice from remaining half
• Asparagus, rinsed and stems trimmed
• 1 large leek, washed and sliced in half longways
• 1 medium sweet potato
• Fresh thyme
• Olive oil
• Salt and pepper

Preparation

* I drew inspiration from all over for this recipe, so there aren't clear measurements yet again. Instead, I'm going to tell you basically what I did and then send you off to interpret in a way that works for you. Good luck, you can do it!

1. Rinse salmon, place in baking dish. Sprinkle with olive oil, fresh thyme, salt, and pepper to taste. Drizzle lemon juice from half a lemon and top with lemon slices before baking. 

2. Insert salmon dish into cold over and turn temperature to 400F. Bake for 25 minutes. Almost every recipe I looked up swore by this method for the most tender salmon results. They did not lie. 

3. Whilst salmon is baking, peal and slice sweet potato, leeks, and asparagus. Place sweet potato and asparagus into large bowl and lightly toss with olive oil. Lay out, single layer, onto baking sheet. Add sliced leeks to the fun (and lightly drizzle with olive oil). Sprinkle all with salt and pepper before baking.

4. Bake for 25 minutes or until leaks are slightly brown and others are at desired level of tenderness.

5. Plate. Eat. Enjoy.

Stir Fry Time

Oh Thursday, how I both love and loathe you.

Since moving to Baltimore I have come to greet Thursday with mixed emotions. On the one hand, I'm only one day shy of the weekend, and even closer to my favorite day of the week (Friday). On the other hand, it's the second of two days in the week that I have agreed to spend in our Bethesda office.

While I love a majority of the changes that have come with life in Baltimore: more space, car ownership, cheaper wares, closer to my family, there is one thing I loathe about my new life....the commute to Bethesda. To put it bluntly, it's a bitch. It takes me a solid 2 hours, door to door, to get from my apartment in Baltimore to my office in Bethesda. When I actually stop and think about all that goes into the commute (the insanely early rising, driving to the train station, taking the train to DC, and taking the Metro from DC to Bethesda) I get a slightly angry. 

The train isn't all bad. I'm learning how to make the best of it from my fellow riders. 

As you may suspect, alcohol is part of the solution to this problem.

Thus, I force myself to focus on the silver ling: my train and metro rides are paid for by work, I get to use my beloved noise canceling headphones to pass the time (in addition to reading, sleeping, and getting caught up on emails), and I only have to do it two days a week. The latter makes me so giddy that come Thursday afternoons I'm as anxious as a child on Christmas Eve. I cannot get off the train and home to my abode fast enough, all the while knowing that I won't have to return to life on the train until the following Tuesday. 

Today I found myself especially anxious to get home as I'd failed to adequately pace my snacks throughout the course of the afternoon and thus was on the cusp of ravenous. Because I start my Bethesda days before the sun (4:30 to be exact), I'm beyond exhausted by the time I finally get home at the end of the day. Despite being both tired, and today hungry, I still usually want to cook something for dinner. As I've grown to enjoy, and dare I say love, cooking over the past couple years, cooking has become more a form of relaxation than a chore for me. I don't really make a menu or plan what I'm going to eat during the week ahead of time. Instead, I pick up things I think I'll likely be hungry for or want to eat during the week (along with the usual staples) and then just go where the wind (and my stomach) take me. One benefit to a long commute: I have lots of time to think about what I want for dinner and to research recipes if need be. 

Tonight's dish de jour was one I've made before, but have to really be in the mood for to pull out of my tiny top hat: stir fry with peanut sauce. It's super easy, so I really wish I was hungry for it more than once every 6 months...and it's a great way to use up the hodgepodge of fresh veggies I so often have left in my fridge. This is a very free spirit dish (which is the complete opposite of my type-A personality) and perfect to round out a crazy work day. 

Stir Fry with Homemade Peanut Sauce

Ingredients

Makes 2 servings 

• 2 cups Shandong noodles (or an Asian variety of your choosing) 
• 4 medium Brussels Sprouts, stems trimmed and halved
• 1/2 cup broccoli, stems trimmed
• 2 small carrots, peeled and sliced
• 1 small leek, chopped
• 1/4 cup frozen peas
• olive oil, salt, and pepper, to taste

For Peanut Sauce

• 1 Tbsp peanut butter
• 2 Tbsps soy sauce
• 2 Tbsps sesame oil (I substituted olive oil because I didn't have sesame on hand)
• 1 Tbsp brown sugar

Things started out a little bumpy when I went to pick up the package of noodles and didn't realize I'd put in on the shelf upside down, thus spilling it all over the floor. Luckily, the package was huge so I was able to salvage the ones that weren't touching the floor (which was most of them) and press onward.

1. Bring pot of water to a boil and cook noodles according to package instructions.

2. Meanwhile, wash and chop veggies as desired. In addition to cooking, I've discovered peeling carrots to be extremely calming. I honestly think it's one of my favorite things, so if you ever need a bunch of carrots peeled, you know who to call!

3. Mix peanut sauce. Bax loved this part because she loves peanut butter more than anything else in the world...and because she knows that if she looks at me with her sweet puppy eyes I will put a little on a tiny biscuit treat for her. Sly, very, very sly. 

4. Heat a Tbsp or two of olive oil in large sauce pan (I prefer my wok) and add in larger veggies first, then smaller ones after a couple minutes and cook until warm and at desired tenderness.

5. After noodles are cooked, drain and add to veggies. 

6. Toss a time or two to combine, then add in peanut sauce. Toss until well coated.

 7. Heat through and serve.

Hello perfection

FOTY Take One: Leek Time

The onset of the new year not only brought with it a slew of life changes, but also the return of my annual Food of the Year (FOTY) program! As you may recall, this is something I started doing a while back to get myself to expand my eating horizons. I detailed the history behind my FOTY program here and to be honest, I'm surprised at how long it's lasted. I'd be lying if I didn't admit I was starting to worry about running out of foods to conquer.  

The last couple years have brought some fun ones, with artichokes taking the prize last year and oysters the year before, but this year I was a little stumped for ideas. In general, I've been trying to work my way through the vegetable circuit with the goal of never finding myself in the presence of a vegetable that I didn't like. With that thought in mind, I decided to choose leeks as my FOTY for 2014. 

My leek choice was admittedly somewhat rushed. January snuck up on me and decisions needed to be made. It's not that I regret my leek choice, so much as I've been near certain from the start that I would like them instantly and there would be nothing to really conquer this year. With this conundrum at hand, I used some of my train time, or thinking time as I sometimes I like to kindly characterize my 2 hour commute to Bethesda, to land on a secondary food of the year: beets. 

 

Unlike leeks, which I chose mostly because I'd never cooked with them and wanted to start, I've had beets in recent years and do not care for them....making them perfect for the FOTY challenge! I liken this year to my second time oatmeal and I came together. At first it was my only FOTY failing, but at second pass a few years later (after I'd quickly conquered another FOTY) I found a love for it and now joyously start most days with a delightful bowl of it warming my insides. I can only hope for a similar go-round with beets back on the table. But for now, it's leeks' time to shine!

Today's recipe features not only leeks, but one of my favorite adult vegetables, brussels sprouts. Those little green balls of heaven never fail me and, as expected, the leeks were a hit with my palate too. They only had baby leeks at the HT when I went, so I'm hoping to try them out in normal size, and prepared in a more roasted form, over the weekend. But for now, baby leeks it is!

Baby Leek, Brussels Sprout, and Tomato Lemon Quinoa 

Ingredients

*Makes 2-3 servings

• 3 baby leeks, diced
• 8-10 medium brussels sprouts, stems trimmed and halved
• 1 cup quinoa, uncooked
• 1 cup cherry tomatoes, cut into fourths
• 4 cloves garlic, minced
• Lemon juice, to taste
• Salt and pepper, to taste
• A couple tablespoons olive oil (sorry I didn't measure, just put enough so the veggies didn't stick when cooking in the wok)
• Feta cheese, optional for topping

Preparation

1.   Bring two cups water to a boil, add quinoa, cover and simmer for 15 minutes or until water is absorbed.

2.   Meanwhile, prepare veggies for cooking (wash and chop)

3.   Heat olive oil in wok, then add brussels sprouts first. They take the longest to cook, but you also have to watch them closely so they don't get overcooked and taste bitter. They're a tricky beast!

4.   After a couple minutes, add garlic and leeks, plus salt and pepper

5.   Finally, add tomatoes and lemon juice. Cook until everything looks done

6.   Once quinoa is done, add it to the party in the wok and mix everything together

7.   Top with feta before serving and enjoy!

Blogging from Baltimore

Hello world, I’m finally back in blogging action! I can’t believe how long it’s been since my last post, and even more so, how much has gone on between then and now. I barely know where to begin!

Lots of changes for my Shepherd dog and I. Is it really only February?! The last month alone has been enough of a whirlwind to last me for the rest of the year. I’ve desperately wanted to get back to blogging, and more specifically, cooking and writing. I've desperately missed both of these in my life and have vowed to do much more cooking and writing this year.

Of the many changes that abound in my life as of late, the biggest came when Bax and I bid DC ado after almost 4 years and moved to a Fed Hill in Baltimore, a city that has always been like a second home to me and that I’m beyond thrilled to finally be residing in. Moving out of DC brought lots more space (we literally tripled our living quarters) and returned me to a life of driving and car ownership. We've only been in our new life for a little under a week and still words cannot express how much I’m loving having walls around my bedroom, a washer and dryer in my abode, and the ability to drive myself to the grocery store. Never will I ever live in a studio apartment, have to keep a roll of quarters on hand for laundry, or schlep my groceries to and from market on foot again.  I learned a lot from these experiences, but mostly they made me appreciate some of the simple pleasures in life that I had previously taken for granted. 

There is so much that I love about my new apartment I feel like I'm betraying parts of it if I favor some rooms or spaces more than others, but there are definitely some stars in our midst. First, the giant wooden beam that runs from floor to 15 foot ceiling just outside the kitchen. I'm a sucker for refurbished buildings and exposed wood and brick. Since beginning my city life, it's been a long standing dream of mine to reside in an old factory (I also love a good factory tour, so the mash-up is kind of perfect). In DC that wasn't really an option, so imagine my excitement upon finding an old factory to reside in in Baltimore...with a little exposed wood on the side. Yes, I was giddier than a child on Christmas. 

I'd initially looked at a unit in the building that had the original wood floors (something else I love) and while the competition was stiff for that one, not getting it led me to discover the place I now call home. Unfortunately, when I found my abode it had this heinous hotel-like carpet engulfing it. Carpet is nice at times, but similar to summer, I prefer it in small doses. Seeing potential in my beloved beam, I was able to talk the building manager into removing the carpet throughout most of the apartment (it now only remains in the bedroom), thus making the place look infinitely better and really bringing the beam to life. There have been too many boxes to allow for proper photography up until this point, but once I get the place a little more together I will give beam his time in the spotlight.

In addition to beam, the kitchen is another of my favorite things. Despite how tiny my DC studio was, its kitchen was surprisingly spacious and a place I loved to be. It was actually because of how much I loved my DC kitchen that I decided to teach myself how to cook so that I could put it to good use. I made lots of wonderful things in there that made a lot of people very happy and hope to do the same in my new kitchen. 

Since everything is bigger in Baltimore, so too is my kitchen. It's the only room in the house that's really together at this point, which is due both to the fact that I hate working in a messy kitchen and that I got another round of fun kitchen tools for Christmas that I was excited to finally unwrap and play with. While my DC kitchen was great, it wasn't very open. My new kitchen has a bar top counter and overlooks the living room and the home office I've erected for myself so I can watch TV or talk to guests while I practice my craft....now I just need to get all these boxes unpacked so I can actually have people over.

While there is a lot that I love about my new life and plethora of space, there is one thing I'm still struggling with: my commute. My office is in Bethesda, and while I work from home two days a week, I still have to spend the other three days traveling 2 hrs each way to and from Bethesda via both Marc and Metro. It's a lot of trains and a lot of time, during which I can only take solace in the fact that I'm able to work (thanks to noise canceling headphones) or sleep to help pass the time, two things I wouldn't be able to do if I was driving and sitting in traffic. In addition to the time spent commuting, I also start the days that I go into the office insanely early (like 4:30 early) because I insist on working out before work because I'm too exhausted to even think about doing so after work. In fact, I'm so tired after work that I pretty much just want to curl up and go to sleep, and most definitely don't want to spend a lot of time making dinner. Enter: easy guacamole.

I promise, I usually have more well balanced meals than a bowl of guacamole, but today felt especially draining and sometimes you just need a good, comfort, go-to meal that's both quick and delicious. I'd picked up a couple avocados at market over the weekend because my oven wasn't working when I first moved in and I wanted to have some things on hand that I could either make in the microwave or that didn't require cooking at all. One of the avocados was ripe to perfection today and I couldn't wait to dive in. Guacamole is definitely one of my favorite grown up comfort foods. Nothing makes me happier than sitting with a bowl of fresh guac...except maybe pizza and wine, both of which I could consume on the daily and not grow tired of them. This recipe is super simple and really just involves throwing a bunch of stuff in a bowl and letting the mixing magic take over. It's one of the few recipes where I don't measure anything, which is how I one day hope to cook all my meals. But for now, it's just guac.

Easy Peasy Guacamole 

Ingredients

• 1 medium avocado, ripe
• Cherry tomatoes
• Red onion
• Cilantro
• Garlic salt
• Lime juice

Another bonus to making guac tonight-I got to break out the new guac bowl Sister gifted me for Christmas

Directions

1. Slice avocado in half, length wise, and remove pit with a knife. Scoop out insides into bowl.
2. Mash avocado in bowl with mortar or fork.
3. Add onion, tomatoes, red onion, cilantro, and stir until combined.
4. Add garlic salt and lime juice to taste. 
5. Serve with your favorite chips and enjoy! 

I miss it already