happy 100th post!!

one hundred is kind of a big deal.  willard scott honors century-old folks every morning on the "today" show. the best cards for graduation gifts are the kind that are tall and skinny with a pocket that fits a crisp $100 bill.  you can stack 100 pennies on a countertop at walgreens and buy yourself a #2 pencil.  so, naturally, a 100th blog post is a pretty good thing, too.

some exciting things are on the horizon from this milestone forward...here's what's coming up very very soon:

restaurant reviews!

as my spare time is waning, so is my desire to prepare elaborate meals every night of the week.  because of this, jordan and i have been patronizing some new restaurants and have found some real gems so far!  be on the lookout for picks and pans...but probably mostly picks, because i am nice.

sexy pictures!

but not the kind you might be thinking of.  christmakkuh is going to come early this year, as i'm about to take the plunge into digital slr camera land.  that means no more blurry cell phone food pictures, but high quality photos that will make you almost try to take a bite out of your computer screen.

new (other) blog!

my tumblr blog is up and running!  its theme is a little bit different, but it lets me get my blogging ya-yas out when i'm too exhausted to cook.  be sure to check it out:  threethanks.tumblr.com

so, happy 100th post, blog!  and thanks to all of you for reading!  i'm always happy to discover friends new and old who take the time to read what i write...it makes it worthwhile.

xoxo,

mtr.

weekend debriefing...

what a beautiful, perfectly autumn weekend we had!  the sky was blue and crisp and the leaves around here are just starting to turn firey colors.  i just love fall.

however, with the combination of being a grad student with approaching deadlines, and having a sick roommate/boyfriend with a mutant strep infection, i was left with little time to actually go outside and enjoy the weather.  but i got the chance to do the next best thing...cook!  a lot!

here is a glimpse of the adventures i had in our little purple kitchen this weekend:

get-well-soon soup.
i made this on friday.  we ate it for dinner that night, lunch on saturday, dinner on sunday, and lunch today.  needless to say, i made a lot.  and it was delicious.

the best part of this soup was that it was all organic.  most of the vegetables i used came from this week's CSA box.  perfection!

so baaaasically, i sauteed an onion, some garlic, carrots and celery with some olive oil in the bottom of a large soup pot.  i added peeled diced potatoes, a generous amount of black pepper and herbs de provence, and continued to cook until the onions were soft.

then i poured in 2 quarts of vegetable stock and a large can of diced tomatoes.  brought everything to a boil, then added some frozen corn, salt, red pepper, more black pepper and herbs de provence and let it simmer until the potatoes were soft.  also i added just about a tablespoon of butter to the soup, just 'cause.

finally, i brought another pot of water to a boil and added half a package of egg noodles.  they cooked for about 3 1/2 minutes, then i strained them and added them to the soup.  served up with some saltine crackers with a little bit of butter (a favorite comfort food of mine introduced to me by my grandmother), this was the perfect remedy to a fever and a sore throat.


amaretto chocolate chip cookies.
i made them this afternoon using semi-sweet chocolate chips this time instead of milk chocolate like i did here.  also, i omitted the hazelnuts, but i added amaretto again for two reasons: 1) we don't have vanilla in the house and i needed a substitution 2) i used amaretto before and it was DELICIOUS.  if it ain't broke...

i needed to halve the recipe, as we only had one egg left (when the recipe calls for 2).  additionally, i broke both my legs and couldn't walk to the store to get more eggs.  (the preceding statement is a lie...but in all honesty, i just didn't feel like going allllll thhhheee waayyyyyyy to the store.  plus, i didn't want to make a recipe that yielded 4 dozen cookies, because then i would have ended up eating all 4 dozen cookies mostly by myself.  not ok.)
results:  the cookies were really really good!  and math is hard because i had to not only halve the recipe, but i had to figure out how to measure out 3/8 cup of sugar when i only had a 1/3 measuring cup.


puff pancake (FAIL.  miserable fail.  sad.)
i tried to re-create a breakfast dish i had made once before.  here, actually.  unfortunately, i think it might have been too long since the last time i made it, because i ended up dumping the entire greasy, burned mess into the garbage can.
it was upsetting.  i don't want to talk about it right now.


all was not lost, however, with the invention of tonight's dinner...
pan-seared rockfish with red pepper coulis and coconut rice.

yougetinmymouthrightnow

this afternoon jordan was voluntarily ambulatory for the first time in almost a week!  to celebrate, we went to a local orchard to get pumpkins and apple cider, then the fish market to pick up something for dinner because he had an appetite!

we got about a pound of rockfish (filet, not whole).  using some really beautiful purple, green and red peppers we had in our CSA box, jordan made a coulis with them, adding plenty of garlic, olive oil, red pepper flakes, balsamic vinegar and sugar.  we added some halved grape tomatoes, some corn and a little bit of water to make the sauce less chunky and more, well, saucy.

in a pot i combined 4 cups of coconut milk with 2 cups of jasmine rice.  then i cooked it how i would withe regular rice.  i was not disappointed with the results.

next, i rinsed the filet then dredged it in some flour mixed with salt, pepper and paprika.  jordan heated up some oil in the cast iron skillet and seared the filet until the outside was crispy and the inside was flaky.

i served my filet on a bed of the coconut rice with the coulis spread over the top of the fish.  it was absolutely delightful!

boy oh boy.  after all this cooking and eating, it is going to be a chore to drag myself to classes next week.  why do anything else when there is always food to be prepared and enjoyed?

matzo ball whaaaaa? *updated*

jordan is on the verge of death with some mystery illness.  actually, he's probably going to be okay, although i wasn't so sure last night while he was sweating to death and yelling out frequently in some kind of fever-induced, hallucinatory nonsense language.

i thought i would make him some matzo ball soup today, but since i am both a vegetarian and a shikseh, i have no idea how to go about it.

i googled some recipes, and most of them sounded pretty similar, except for this one:

a 4-6 pound hen?  how do i prepare it?  should it be a live hen?  what do i do about feathers?  do hens bite?  any specific color?  does pathmark sell hens, or just chicken?  the recipe did not answer any of my questions.

maybe i'll just get some take-out soup.

*update*

so, after i initially published this post, i thought i ought to fact-check a bit.  i stand corrected.  it turns out that "chicken" is just a blanket term for your general, feathered clucker.  "hens" are lady chickens, and "roosters" are guy chickens.  i feel like i should have known that growing up in poultry country, but it is refreshing to find out that i don't know everything.

ALSO...did you know that a castrated rooster is called a "capon", and that it is necessary to castrate animals like pigs and chickens because the meat tastes spoiled from the pheromones from non-castrated animals?  gross.  weird.  

vegetables don't need to be castrated.  just sayin'.

soup-stitute

remember this soup?

last week, as the weather had turned colder and the tips of the leaves began to brown, i craved this soup.  but i was sad to think of potentially sacrificing this, one of my most favorite things to eat, in pursuit of my own personal moral enlightenment (read: not eating aminals).  and i knew that the guilt that would consume me for cheating and making the soup with sausage wouldn't justify its deliciousness.

THANKFULLY, jordan with his keen, ninja eyes spotted soy italian sausage during our last trip to trader joe's!  naturally, we bought a couple of packets, made the soup with soy instead of pork, and consequently devoured two entire batches of the soup like crazy people.

personally, i think it tastes BETTER with the veggie sausage!  hooray for better-than-original substitutions!

addicted: #1

nature's path envirokidz organic peanut butter crispy rice bars.

OMG. YUM.

i love you, little panda bear.

veg-giving

it's still over a month away, but as soon as the first fall chill gets into the air, i begin to get excited about the arrival of my most favorite holiday ever in the whole entire universe, THANKSGIVING.

this year will mark the first year that i am completely vegetarian for the holiday.  i've been a quasi-veg in the past, breaking my anti-carnivore vows in favor of savoring a generous helping of gravy-slathered turkey and turnip greens cooked with ham.  as my appetite for meat has dwindled and left me almost grossed-out at the thought of ingesting an animal, i am left wondering how i am going to enjoy a holiday centered around a giant, plucked and roasted dead bird (and its various accoutrements).

luckily, i'm not alone in this dilemma; i won't be the first person who strives to have a veggiegiving amidst a sea of turkey-loving friends and relatives.  and i'm glad to know that many of my favorite thanksgiving recipes can be altered to be (or already are!) kind, and veggie friendly.

roasted shallots
the weeping and ruined mascara that comes with the prep is so worth it...the shallots get sweet and creamy on the inside and deliciously brown and crispy on the outside.  purple is such an unexpected color on the thanksgiving table, but it works, and it is a delight!

carrot souffle
something new to our table last year, but it was a smash and we were all left licking our fingers, and the souffle dish.

cranberry chutney
a rue/jones holiday classic, that always has, and always will be, deliciously meat free!

quinoa stuffing
i'm thinking something with all the regular stuffing flavors, minus the chicken broth part.  oregano, maybe some nuts and raisins thrown in there, and some bread crumbs for varying texture.

greens with veggie broth
no holiday meal where i come from is complete without a generous helping of greens of any variety...collard, turnip, or what have you.  they're usually cooked with ham, which gives them their unmistakably salty flavor.  my grandfather used to cut the saltiness (or maybe enhance it?) by pouring some vinegar over his greens.  i think if i cook mine with veggie broth instead of pig juice, i'll feel better about myself and not like a schmuck for shirking family tradition.

mashed potatoes
pretty straightforward...any ideas for a good gravy substitute?

i also stumbled across nava atlas' in a vegetarian kitchen website, filled with amazing, creative ideas to celebrate the harvest the kind way.  instead of substituting the meat with the infamous tofurkey (which skeeves me out a little bit, in all honesty...i'm not a huge soy fan), i think i might try out the butternut squash stuffed with wild rice!

what the holiday all comes down to is that you get to spend time with people you are glad to have in your life, and that you get to share a meal surrounded by them.  thanksgiving doesn't have to be a preachy holiday, and i don't intend to espouse a "veggier-than-thou" attitude when i sit down at the table this year.  as long as you are thankful for the meal in front of you, and as long as you appreciate the labors of nature to provide for you and the labors of those who prepared the meal, you can have a kind thanksgiving.

weekend update...

is it too early to start looking forward to the weekend already?

this saturday i'm heading down south for the first time in over a year to my old college town to celebrate the 44th annual st. mary's county oyster festival!

it sounds hokey, silly, and weird, but it is really the best.  i can't wait to share it with you all!

have a great week!

farm surprise!

yesterday we picked up our first box from our local CSA farm, Calvert Farms.  last year we had volunteered there on Saturday mornings, exchanging a few hours of labor for a beautiful box filled with delicious organic fruits and vegetables (and sometimes even flowers!)

this fall our schedules are too packed to be able to make the drive into maryland to get our farm on.  but luckily we were able to join the cooperative another way.  by making a donation to the farm, we get to take home one giant box of farm-fresh goodies every thursday from now until thanksgiving!

yesterday's box was stuffed with fresh, crisp apples; a HUGE butternut squash; 2 eggplant; a bundle of swiss chard; baby red and yellow peppers; fresh salad greens; and string beans.  it was hard to decide what we should make with this bounty of autumnal treasures.

we sauteed a ton of garlic in some olive oil, threw in the swiss chard and cooked it down in the cast-iron skillet.  then i added some garbanzo beans, a little white wine, and cooked quinoa.  at the end i sliced some beets and mixed everything together.  DE.LICIOUS.

jordan, the bread-meister, had made a beautiful loaf of french bread a couple of days ago.  re-heated in the oven, it was perfectly crispy, and a great complement to the roasted garlic and green beans and salad he made to go with our quinoa.

the most memorable part of this first farm meal was when we had an unexpected dinner guest drop in!
as we were savoring the remaining morsels of our meal, jordan picked up his fork, ready to enjoy the last few leaves of fresh lettuce.  all of a sudden, he emitted a loud (yet manly) yelp and jumped back quite dramatically from the table.  it appears he wasn't the only one enjoying the delicious salad.  this little guy was noshing away at the lettuce, not even seeming to mind the lemon juice and olive oil he was almost drowning in at the bottom of the dish.

meet lonny, the inchworm.

we scooted lonny (as we dubbed the worm) onto the leaf, picked it out of the dish, and took him outside to relish his natural habitat.  obviously, we didn't continue to eat the salad, but i would much rather find a  bug in my food once in a while than eat something that i know has been drowned in pesticides!  we'll just have to be a little more vigilant in our vegetable inspection and washing.  i'm glad i didn't eat lonny, or else i would have felt i had betrayed my vegetarian sensibilities.



can't wait to pick up next week's box!!

to your health.

when i was in the 8th grade, i remember spending a weekend at a friend's house.  it was something i, like every other 13 year old girl, always did.  but this particular sleepover wasn't my choice, but rather, my parents arranged it so i would have some company while they were gone for the weekend.

i spent 2 sleepless nights away from home while my mom and dad spent the weekend at mercy hospital in baltimore, where my mom underwent a biopsy for a suspicious lump in her breast.  i remember getting sick to my stomach that whole weekend because i was so scared.  my mom was a symbol of my life, my strength, and she was my best friend.  the thought that she might succumb to something bigger than me or than any of us was terrifying.

thankfully, she emerged from the surgery just fine, the doctors proclaiming the happiest word in the cancer lexicon, "benign".  we all breathed a happy sigh of relief, but, unfortunately other families don't always receive such good news.

we all want to find some way to cope with the devastating effects of breast cancer.  my strategy is to be preventative.  i believe that being conscious of what you put into your body, how you treat your body, and what you do with your body can affect its health.  eat delicious, nourishing food.  go for a walk or do yoga.  STOP SMOKING.  (it's been almost a year since i've quit, and it's been the best thing i've ever done for myself!)  go to your ob-gyn every year for a check up.  i know women my age who have never been!  it's a daunting thought, but what's worse: having to put your legs up in some stirrups for a couple of minutes, or having chemotherapy, losing your hair (or worse, a breast) due to putting off preventative, maintenance checkups?  the latter, natch.  tell your sisters, moms, moms-in-law, best friends, cousins, wives, grandmothers, aunts, EVERYONE to be vigilant, be smart, and be healthy.

love your body, love your boobies, and take care of yourself.

xoxo,
m.