Good thanks for this year

Wow, it has been quite a while! I am reporting here, from one of my sisters in law's house, in Charlotte. We're down here for Thanksgiving, catching up with both his sisters, and enjoying our growing family - both have little ones. I am, for one, very much looking forward to our Thanksgiving meal tomorrow, as I know that we all have much to be thankful for this year. I gotta admit, when Hubby and I found out that we will be expecting, I felt a sense of relief, and I also realized the luck we had to be able to conceive - many friends and acquaintances have been having trouble trying to conceive. Having a child isn't the choice for every person, but for those who do want children and who are having trouble trying to conceive, I feel much sympathy. For Hubby and me, we didn't give it too much worry - we figured, if it is meant to happen, it will happen, and things will fall into place at the right time. We are definitely thankful this year for this new development in our life.

And to catch up - foodwise, this past week, let's see... We enjoyed some pho on a couple of occasions from a new joint that opened up in our hood, wonderful Vietnamese beef noodle soup if you are not familiar with pho. It's a heart-warming meal, of thinly sliced beef, with a variety of other meat parts as you may desire (I personally love the tendon and tripe in addition to the thinly sliced beef), fresh basil, fresh bean sprouts, a squeeze of lime, all with thin rice noodles in a fresh broth. So flavorful, and warming on these colder autumn nights. Weekend, I made some spaetzle and cubed beef schnitzel (not weiner schnitzel). The spaetzle was relatively easy to make, and unfortunately, I didn't take a photo of it before we devoured it.


Spaetzle

1.5 cup flour, sifted into a medium bowl
2 eggs
.5 cup milk
1/2 tsp salt

Get a pot of water boiling - and the key to flavorful spaetzle is to make sure that you salt the water amply. Mix the ingredients together into a smooth batter. Now, one of my sisters in law got me a spaetzle press last Christmas, so it is definitely much easier to pour the batter onto the plate and have them come out the right size as they drop into the boiling water; however, you can achieve the same results with smaller-sized spaetzle if you use a colander with larger holes (not one of those that has tiny perforations). Pour the batter onto the spaetzle press or the colander over the boiling water. The batter will fall as small lumps into the water, and they will float as they come done. As soon as they float to the surface, strain them out of the water, and let cool in a colander or on a plate.

To bring more flavor to the spaetzle - melt some butter in a frying pan, and toss in the spaetzle to coat and brown. Add spices as desired (I added some thyme and parsley).


As for the cubed-steak-schnitzel, it didn't come out as good as true weiner schnitzel - next time, I'll do at least pounded pork. The cubed steak, it was just too dense, with all the breading and such.


Earlier this week, on Monday, it was the anniversary of my mother's death - as a Taiwanese Buddhist, we typically observe these major days of the passed's life with an offering of a vegetarian meal. I believe this cermonial offering is a way for the living to be able to feel a continued connection with their passed relatives and friends, and to feel like there are things we can still do for them even after they are gone. Rushing home from work, I picked up a variety of fatayer from a local joint in DC, Fettoush - these are small pastries filled with a variety of items. To spare Hubby too much vegetarianism, I got a couple of pastries that also had ground meat in them; the other pastries had a variety of cheese, spinach, and tomatoes in them. Dessert was another small pastry, filled with walnuts and dates, and coated with a sweet rose water sauce. Hubby helped light some incense in preparation for the meal, and I heated up the pastries. I also made some hummus, with ground up chickpeas, olive oil, and a sprinkling of salt.

Yesterday evening, I met up with my other pregnant friend Melissa and a coworker Diane for dinner at Pasta Mia, in DC. This joint is famed for just what they do best - pasta. Big, heaping bowls of pasta, and they really do it well. I ordered the fettucini alla panna (fettucini with cream sauce); Melissa had the fusilli with vegetables, and Diane had the tortellini special. I can confidently say, I have never had a bad meal at this place. Granted, you have to wait a while to get seated, as they do not take reservations; it is cash only; and don't even think about substituting one sauce for another - but it is really wonderful munch. Their wine, also, does not fail to satisfy - even their house wines are great to have. This place really is structured after just sitting for a while, eating and drinking, and enjoying good company and good food. I really looked forward to this meal all Tuesday, you have no idea!

Today, we made our trek down to Charlotte. Breakfast, I had some bread pudding and a pear. Midmorning snack, after seeing our OB, I had a cheese danish, and I also enjoyed a persimmon. Lunchtime, we were part way down to Charlotte, and we stopped into a Chick-Fil-A - first time I've been in I don't even remember how long. I had their 8-piece chicken nugget meal with fresh fruit in lieu of the waffle fries; but I did partake in some of Hubby's fries. Afternoon, I noshed on some salt and vinegar potato chips, and I also enjoyed an apple. Later afternoon, I had a slice of carrot bread, left over from the weekend. And as for dinner tonight, there is this great joint called Wild Wings that we order from just about each time we come down to Charlotte to visit the sisters - I enjoyed a couple of slices of veggie pizza with some buffalo wings and a house salad. All in all - a really yummy, albeit not as healthy as usual, day!

Much to be thankful for this year - and another wonderful meal to be had tomorrow!

A window into a soul

Tonight, I got a chance to go to Hubby's class! It was a great opportunity to see his crew at UMD, and a wonderful time I had. I got to participate in the crit of the work, and the discussions about design were a wonderful break from the hum-drum of the daily grind. As for the day, however, it really was very drab - rain all day long, humid, warm, truly icky. I think it may be the Thanksgiving bug settling in for the long haul until next Thursday!

Foodwise... I am still nursing something of a cold here, so I kept my fruit intake up. First half of the day - I had a banana, pear, and clementine. Lunchtime, I got a grilled ham and swiss, but the "grill" this particular joint used was nothing more than their standard frying surface. So, it was two slabs butter with a side of wheat bread, ham, and cheese. I had half the sandwich, a bag of chips, and threw out the other half - it really was just too greasy. Before heading off to class with Hubby, I enjoyed a pear, and tossed out the core in some woodsy areas en route, hoping that some small critter will find it and enjoy it.

Dinner, we stopped into a Campero Pollo joint - neither of us have been to a Campero Pollo, so naturally, curiosity got us sniffing. Funny thing is, at every fried chicken joint, the air always smells the same outside! We were thoroughly convinced that whenever someone decides to open up a fried chicken joint, they have to purchase the exact same machine that pumps out the exact same smell of some "magic" fried chicken. Because, see - outside, it smelled just like any KFC or Popeyes. Inside, well, the chicken was all right, but it wasn't that great - too salty, not enough of a crust. But, we did also enjoy some yuca fries, which was a great treat, and I also enjoyed some mango flan as the dessert.

This is the FIRST time during the pregnancy I have caved to my fried-chicken addiction - yes, really! Alas, the drumstick kid's meal I had just barely satisfied my addiction... until another time for that wonderful fried chicken!

Midweek with a cold!

Grrrr - somehow, I have suddenly come down with a cold. It started yesterday with a sneezing fit - I thought I was hitting my allergy season full throttle, but my stuffy nose is still sticking with me. Alas, I'm going to stick it out, get enough sleep, and make sure I eat more fruits. Usually, I give it a couple of days, and it'll go away with some TLC. And for TLC... here's what I've been eating the last couple of days.

(Piglet has been moving around and kicking - it's exciting to feel the movement!)

Monday - fruits during the day, apple, pear, clementine, banana. And, I had some little pineapple pastry treats from Dad this past weekend when I visited him - he, in turn, had gotten these treats from his recent trip to Taiwan. Lunchtime, I had a cobb salad - trying to make sure I'm eating a good variety of foods, and having some raw vegetables or fruits at each meal. Evening, I served up a green lettuce salad with pomegranates and beef noodle soup (also from Dad's kitchen). We also enjoyed a Taiwanese engagement pastry, one of Hubby and my favorite treats from Taiwan.

The beef noodle soup is, actually, pretty easy to make, as Dad told me:

Dad's Beef Noodle Soup
Coarsely chopped tomatoes, chopped onion, beef (I think Dad uses stewing beef). Season the beef with salt, pepper, and Chinese spicy bean sauce, and set aside for 15 minutes. Add all ingredients with cold water, enough for the amount of soup you'd like to have (the ingredients should comprise half of the total volume). Bring to a simmer, and skim off any scum that comes to the surface. Add soy sauce, salt, pepper, red chili peppers, and a touch of sugar. Simmer slowly until ready to serve - I think he simmers it for about an hour. Season to taste.

In the mean time, blanch some Napa cabbage, and cook up some pasta (he uses Chinese egg noodles, but fettucini would work just as well) until al dente.

To serve, divide up the pasta and Napa cabbage for individual servings in individual bowls, and ladle on the beef soup.


This is a great noodle soup for our onslaught of cold weather days!

As for yesterday, I had back-to-back meetings (again!), from morning through the afternoon. I enjoyed a banana and a pear in the morning. Lunchtime, I had myself a ham sandwich with cucumbers. And in the afternoon, I had an apple and a clementine. After my evening yoga class, I brought home some sandwiches from Cosi for dinner - a tomato/mozzarella/basil and a chicken pesto sandwich, for Hubby and me.

And today, another day of back-to-back meetings. I enjoyed some cereal this morning, as well as a banana. On my way to my first meeting of the morning, I had a pear. Lunchtime, I stopped by a Bob Evan's, all because it really was just too tempting - but I was good! I ordered a BLT&E - bacon/lettuce/tomato and egg sandwich, with a side of fresh fruits. In the afternoon, on my way back, I enjoyed an Asian apple pear. Back at the office, I had some pomegranate while I caught up with everything from the day and from the week. And this evening, we decided to just get some Indian take-out - chicken kabob, with a side of chole (chickpeas w/spicy tomato sauce) and some raita (cucumber yogurt). Yummy dinner, and now, just relaxation. And blog catchup.

This week has just been endless meetings so far, day in and day out! Whew, running around can be exhausting. Luckily, I've kept a supply of my fruits with me, so between meetings, I've enjoyed some healthy snacks and kept my hunger in check.

So far, despite the back pain, the pregnancy has been survivable. And so long as I can keep my weight gain steady, instead of spiking suddenly over such short periods of time, I'm hoping I'll be able to endure the rest of the pregnancy. Over the hump, looking forward to Thursday!

Catch up time

This past week, whew, another whirlwind week of meetings, meetings, and more meetings. I felt like I was running everywhere and nowhere, all at the same time. Foodwise... not much to report, did eat out several dinners, and lunches weren't all too eventful. I've made a conscious decision to make a lot more of the meals I eat, so that I can monitor what I consume and keep tabs on, especially, the amount of salt and unhealthy fats I'm eating. Eating out, it's too easy to just eat without actively thinking about what it is that I'm putting into my body. So this upcoming week, let's call it detox week.

Otherfoodwise, I've still been eating a lot of fruits each day, varying what I'm eating to keep my palate entertained. The daily variety usually consisted of an apple, an Asian apple-pear, and either a pear or some grapes. I also supplemented with small snacks of Stoned Wheat Thin crackers and plenty of water. And when I stepped on the scale this evening, whoa, what to my surprise - I've picked up a whopping 16 pounds already. Detox week, this is a definite. If anything, I need to get back on being more active - been missing my bike rides and yoga, and I've just been vegging out on the couch.

So the prospect of the fact that I'm growing so fast, and the developing pain in my lower back got me thinking. First, I don't want to become the poster child for the middle-America, Wal-Mart-toting, Wonder-Bread-devouring, hypocritical people that I detest - the ones who blame everyone for the problems with their lives but themselves, and those who refuse to change simply because it's easier to just do what's easiest thing, not necessarily what they know deep down they have to do. And I definitely don't want to become the slogan I've heard over and over, from one person to another: Don't worry about eating everything right now, you're pregnant, and eating for 2! Right...people, that's one person and a maybe-7 or 8 pound baby. Not two 135 pound adults. My frame is small enough, and if I don't keep a watch on it, I'll end up turning into the 500 pound sloth that will need people to help move out of the bedroom. It's time to keep things in check, to make sure that I make each calorie count, and to not eat absentmindedly.

It also got me thinking. I want to make sure that when we have this child, I am walking the talk that I tote. I sincerely believe that we, individually, have the power to create change in the world, and that settling for just what everyone else does is not acceptable. I hope that when we have this child, I will be walking the walk, so that the child truly has someone to look up to, and not just someone who spews the talk without true example. Settling for second best is not acceptable, not when innocence of a developing and receiving mind is at stake.

If we all were to truly walk the walk that we talk - bringing the two together may be the most difficult thing for a person to do. I'm going to try my best to walk my talk, for future's sake.

Busy weekend

So this weekend came and went with much fervor. Yesterday, I spent much of the day enjoying the company of a neighbor's wonderful little dog Max, as she was away for a day trip up to the Big Apple. Max is one of those wonderful dogs that spoil you if you're wondering what it takes to care for a pet. He's well-behaved, for the most part pretty calm (even though he does have some Jack Russell in him), and he has a full assortment of expressions to be able to communicate with you. He kept me company while I prepared some food for a dinner with friends yesterday evening - I cooked up a vegetable and meatball soup as a starter, along with baking a coconut cake for dessert. While all the cooking was going on, he was completely mezmerized by the squirrels and birds hanging out on our deck, enjoying the nuts and seeds I had left out, mostly for the birds, and true to his Jack roots, bounced up and down like a basketball whenever he saw a squirrel scurry about the deck. What great huggable company, and we also enjoyed a couple of good afternoon walks around the neighborhood.


Vegetable and Meatball Soup
So basic, really easy. Diced up onions, carrots, celery, turnip, and beet. I also used a sprig of sage in the soup. Got my pot good and hot, and sliced in about a tablespoon of butter. I sauteed the onions until translucent, and then I added the carrots and celery. Mixed those up a bit, just to sweat a bit, and then added the turnip and the sage. To this mixture, I added one box of organic chicken broth, and let it simmer about 2 hours (it can be much shorter, but I just let it cook while I got the cake started up and made the meatballs). At the very end, I added the beets and meatballs, and brought the soup to a boil, just to cook the meatballs through. Then that was it - I removed the sage, and the soup was ready for serving.


Coconut Cake
I pulled a recipe from epicurious.com for the coconut cake - a dense cake, and when I baked in a 12" springform pan, it finished in 50 minutes. I also used a 7 minute frosting, a la Paula Dean on foodnetwork.com (this involved emulsification of egg whites into a mixture of superfine sugar and water in a double boiler), and coated the outside with sweetened coconut. We had some last night at the party, and this morning, Hubby and I had 2 more slices left for our enjoyment. It tasted pretty good last night, but it definitely tasted better this morning.


And now we are on to this morning. We had commissioned a piece of art, about 2'x6', a while back, from local artist Kevin Kepple. He, along with his representatives at the Addion Ripley Gallery, came by this morning with the piece. Needless to say, we were very excited about the piece and regarded with much anticipation our opportunity to see the finished piece. We were not disappointed. The piece has wonderful undulating movement about it, in red, depth, texture, and we can tell that in our living room, this piece will take on different appearances over the course of even one day. Just even, as we were sitting there looking at this piece, I could see so many different aspects jump out at me, at different times of studying it. To Kevin's credit, he has so much talent; and, as he says to ours, we gave him complete free reign to develop the piece. The only criteria we gave him was that the piece was to be of a long linear form - he came up with the rest. And we are so very much looking forward to seeing this piece in its different aspects of growth for years to come.

So, we had some visitors this morning - and to prepare just a little snack for everyone, I threw together an oven pancake, a la Fine Cooking.


Oven Pancake

• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 cup milk (I didn't have milk this morning, so I used heavy cream)
• dash of salt

Preheat the oven to 450 - start off the preheat process with a heavy cast-iron skillet already in the oven, and lower the rack to the lowest level. I mixed all ingredietns together in the blender, whipping at highest speed to bring as much air into the mixture. Once the oven temperature reached the desired temperature, add 2 tablespoons of butter to the hot skillet, making sure to coat all sides of the pan. Pour in the batter, and bake for 14 minutes - the batter will curl up and puff up.

Serve hot with syrup, butter, honey - drizzle of choice!


So that was breakfast, and after everyone left, Hubby and I set to painting the wall where the painting will go. White walls - they may be pretty benign, but boy, they'll pick up any and every scuff mark there is. So, a new coat went on today, and our wall looks just about ready to receive its new decoration.

The rest of the day - we enjoyed a Cirque du Soleil show downtown, with a little sip of champagne, and some munchies they were passing around the tent. After the show, we joined our friends Phanie, with her husband Jimmy, and enjoyed dinner at Rosa Mexicana - just some appetizers and drinks. I enjoyed my usual CranGinger, and we ordered some Queso Fundido and flautas - Phanie and Jimmy ordered the guacamole. I have to admit - usually, their guac is salty, at least the last couple of times I've gone, but this time, it was right on, very mild and flavorful. We enjoyed good company, good eats, and it lands us to where we are now - bedtime. So it is good night to all - until the next meal!

Hide and Seek

Wow, another week that has just flown by! With Halloween the event of the week on Tuesday, and Monday and Wednesday being the days before and after Halloween, well, that just left us with yesterday, and here we are at today, Friday. Food highlights for the week...

Our good friends Ron and Laura had a Halloween party at their house Tuesday evening, and to celebrate, I brought an oh-so-scary eyeball cheesecake. I used just the basic recipe from Philly Cream Cheese, but substituted almond extract for the vanilla extract. I made sure to whip up the filling nice and fluffy before pouring it into my graham cracker crust. Then, after baking the cheesecake, I let it cool completely on a rack before sticking it into the fridge - this prevented the surface from cracking.

For the decoration part of the evening, I used a mini springform pan to create the iris (green, as requested by green-eyed Hubby), and displaced the green sprinkles of the iris with a small Ateco cookie cutter for the cocoa pupil. The capillaries around the iris, I heated up some strawberry jelly, cooled it down to touch, and filled a snack-size Ziploc bag. After snipping just a tiny opening at one of the corners, I was able to draw the capillaries. A yummy, scary delight!

Otherfoodwise... Wednesday night, I fixed up some mache salad and a baked-ziti stuffed roasted bell pepper. On my way home from work, I stopped by our local organic supermarket and picked up some mache - from CIA week, this is a buttery, mild baby green. Using my mandoline, I sliced a miniature bartlett pear paper thin for garnish and for a pearing (haha!) for the mache. I also made a simple viniagrette with balsamic, walnut oil, sea salt, and fresh coarse-ground pepper. This pairing was quite nice - buttery flavor of the mache paired with the sweetness of the pears and the deep sweet and tartness of the balsamic, cut by the sharp flavors of sea salt and pepper.

Stuffed bell peppers

Here's what I did...

• 1 red bell pepper, roasted on open flame (on our gas range, easily done while I got some of the other ingredients together) and sliced in half (removed stem and seeds)
• Pasta (small pieces) quick cooked to JUST al dente, since it will get cooked again in the oven (don't overcook it, otherwise, you'll end up with mushy pasta - ewwwww!)
• Pasta sauce (premade, I used Newman's Own Cabernet Marinara)
• Ricotta
• Shredded mozzarella

While the bell pepper roasted on our range, I boiled up some water, salted it, and quick-cooked the ziti to just al dente. To about 1 cup of pasta sauce, I added an equal part of ricotta. I also added about 1/8 cup of mozzarella to this mixture. Once the pasta was done, I drained it and mixed it with the tomato sauce mixture, and

Once the ziti finished cooking, I stuffed the mixture into each half of the bell pepper - no worries if it stuffs higher than the pepper. Bake this for about 15 minutes, until the cheese melts.

So that was Wednesday's dinner, and last night, Hubby decided to take an evening off from teaching (yay, I got more Hubby time!), and I brought home a Margherita pizza from Pizzaria Paradiso. And as for my lunches and breakfasts, I didn't vary too much this week - another vendor took us out to lunch yesterday, where I enjoyed some lobster ravioli; and another day, I stopped by a Dean and Deluca's for some thin-sliced charcuterie and cheese, to have with my Asian apple pear and some stoned wheat thins. Breakfasts, well, we've got a whole stash of baked goods (our kitchen island looks like some baker just deposited all the treasures of a solid weekend of baking), so each day, I had some variation of carrot cake, raspberry swirl bread, chocolate cake (yes, I have caved to having a bit of chocolate here and there), raisin bread, or baguette bread pudding.

Today, since autumn has definitely settled into the DC area, I got some Manhattan-style clam chowder for lunch, along with a Thai chicken egg roll, also from Dean and Deluca, along my walk back from having a pedicure. As for tonight - I'm planning on making some shepherd's pie, to help warm the tummy for the cooler evening!

As for the title of today's post - we went and had a visit with the OB this morning. He used this little handheld unit, to listen for the baby's heartbeat. Well, what we do know about our little guy, it's one active little piglet (since, yes, it will be born in the year of the piggy). OB took one scan, found the heartbeat for, oh, all of 3 seconds. And then, off it went. He wasn't worried - he was like, "and there it goes!" Scans again, finds the heartbeat in another area, and again, the 3 second performance and the curtain closed. Again. At this point, I was in a fit of giggles, as was Hubby. OB scans again, and after some difficulty, finds the little bugger in yet another area, and was able to get the heartbeat reading for all of 10 seconds before it decided it really didn't like this machine poking at it and sending radiowaves to it, and runs off again to a quieter area of my abdomen. The little piglet knows a good game when it sees it, and it has made a full playground of my abdomen!

The tally of clothes

These days, it seems like the hardest thing is to not simply replace my entire wardrobe. My regular pants are getting too tight (even with the hair-rubber-band-loop-through-the-button-hole trick), but my maternity pants make me feel like I'm wearing a hefty bag from my waist down. Pants are still falling down, and I've hit several websites, finding stuff for my growing body, and I'm slowly building up my maternity wardrobe. Here's a running tally (and this is for my own curiosity as well), and how much I've paid for my wardrobe so far (including taxes/shipping where applicable):

• Black pants, Gap Maternity ($32, on sale)
• Jeans, Liz Lange for Target ($30)
• Black long-sleeved T, Motherhood ($12)
• Black short-sleeved T, Motherhood ($10)
• Red short-sleeved T, Motherhood ($10)
• Black empire waist dress, Motherhood ($42)
• Khaki shorts, Motherhood ($20)
  
• Black turtleneck, Old Navy ($20)
• Green cargo pants, Old Navy ($24)
• B/W/Red Flower halter top, Japanese Weekend ($25)
• Pastel Flower halter tunic, Japanese Weekend ($24)
• Black/Red print wrap dress, Japanese Weekend ($130)

So the grand total so far, for my growing wardrobe, is about $380. I also got some things yesterday from H&M, not from their maternity Mama line, but just their regular line - I may return some of them today, depending on what I find at in their Mama department. The wardrobe is definitely growing, and I'm trying to make sure that all the pieces can coordinate with one another, so that no one piece is a uni-tasker.

Foodwise this week - not that much to report from the week. Daytime diet wasn't that spectacular - I had my usual daily helpings of apples, Asian apple-pears, grapes, and yogurt. Lunches, most of them were purchased sandwiches. Dinner...Monday evening, I made scallion pancakes, which Hubby lent his help to roll out and to pan fry; with seafood soup (shrimp, fish, sea scallops, fish balls, scallions, and carrots). Tuesday, I didn't feel that hungry, after a late lunch of ham and cheese sandwich, so I helped myself to some great Kashi TLC crackers with cream cheese and cotswald from our local cheesemonger. Wednesday evening, I cooked up a quiche lorraine, with bacon, asparagus, and goat cheese (but used too much cream and not enough egg - too liquidy). Thursday, we had an evening event at Hubby and my previous firm, where they host an Art Night to showcase art from local artists, so we went, had some cheese and crackers, and also met up with my friend Jennifer, for art perusing and dinner at Bistro Francaise - I had an overly salty French onion soup and some escargot with butter and garlic. And last night, Friday night, pooped from the week - I enjoyed a helping of Hubby's wonderful PB&J on wheat bread.

This morning, at first anticipating rain from the forecast, but pleasantly surprised by the clear beautiful day outside, I took my usual walk down to the farmer's market to see what was available from the local farms. With the fall season coming into full swing, there wasn't much ware out there - more prepared foods than anything. I helped support the local high school with a purchase of a slice of apple pie (no worries to Hubby, since, gulp, he doesn't like apple pie - and he's supposedly the American, not me!); and then, with apple pie in spoon and hand, I moved on to other stands. I picked up some Asian apple pears, some Fuji apples, a red bell pepper, some small bartlett pears, and 2 loaves of prepared breads (raspberry swirl, and carrot loaf, yum!). The stands are thinning out from the height of the summer, but I am looking forward to setting some root vegetables into the ground this autumn, to see how well they'll fare during the colder months - so, I didn't really feel that sad that the growing season for most is coming to a close. On my walk home, I also stopped by our local bakery to pick up a baguette (addictive in this household, and I may start trying my hand at the French loaves at home again this fall).

So that brings me to now. After unloading my produce finds this morning, and hearing Hubby shuffling about (ah-ha! the bear wakes from his slumber!), I sliced up a couple of slices of the what raisin bread I had remaining from loaf I got from the market last weekend, and got ready to make some French toast. Mine, I like them plain - I know, most people will mix in spices and sugar into their egg mixture, but I like mine just plain. This way, the raisin bread gets to sing the song of its wonderful flavor, without getting overwhelmed by other ingredients.


French Toast (with raisin bread)
Dunk thick sliced raisin bread into a flat lipped pan with 2 whisked eggs - press to soak in the egg. Heat up the frying pan, and with about a tablespoon of olive oil. Bring the pan to medium heat, and lay on the egg-dunked slices of bread, one at a time. About 4 minutes each side, and I pressed on the top to make sure the egg did squish out where needed, so that it was cooked through. Brown on each side.


And that, with a glass of OJ, was it for this morning! Wonderful breakfast... well, yes, 2 parter, since I also had the slice of apple pie at the market... and then I finished the last of my hemming tasks. I finally got all my pants hemmed (you have to understand, some of these pants have been sitting around, unhemmed, for well over 6 months now), but I know I won't be able to wear them until after the pregnancy. But, at the least, they are done and ready. Whew!

OK, with apple and water in tow, I am off to check out H&M today, to see what they have downtown in their Mama line. Wish me luck!

1st day for maternity wear

So last night, at long last, I hemmed my maternity pants. They've been sitting around for about 3 weeks now, unhemmed, and dragging on the floor like the arms of a sloth. This morning, I was all excited, to wear my maternity pants for the first time. And this morning's experience has definitely confirmed my fears: I am officially in between just about everything. Too big for my regular pants. Too small for maternity pants. These damn things have an elastic waist, but they're slipping off every time I sit down or stand up, enough to look just somewhat low-rise and to make my bootie look saggy. So, if you happen to walk around DC and see some chick walking like a penguin with pants slowly making their southward migration...be a dear, help me out.

I'll call it my sympathy catwalk strut for the baby's first sans-clothing days.

Bike ride to recenter

I did my bike commute today, 14 miles, and it definitely helped me recenter. The last couple of weeks were crazy, with daytime and evening events, deadlines, and culmination in our baby-announcement party this past weekend. Today, at first, I didn't feel like biking, but I decided to get off my lazy ass and hop back on the bike. I have to admit - it really paid off. My bike commute allows me to gear up for my day at the beginning of the day without the white-knuckle stress during rush hour; clear up my mind at the end of the day; and I don't have to worry about parking during the day. And with the earlier sunset, the ride home is beautiful, with the ducks and geese gathering at the side of the Potomac for their evening swims and dinners.

This morning's ride was not terribly eventful - well, that is, until I tried to walk backwards with my bike to scan my access card to open the office building's entry door. What to my surprise, I tripped over the pedal, and down I went. Luckily, I had some insulation (i.e., my growing ass) to buffer the fall, and outside of a scrape from the gear plate on my leg, I was pretty much OK. So apparently, I can bike on 2 wheels all just fine; but get me on that left-foot-right-foot walking thing, and I'm just a mess. Get me my skateboard already!


This evening, with Hubby at a crit at University of Maryland, I was left to my own devices for dinner. The weather is beginning to cool, so I decided to make some chicken pot pies, modified.


Chicken Pot Puff Pastries

• Puff Pastry shells
• Chicken breast, defrosted, cubed, and seasoned
• Variety of vegetables, diced (I used sugar snap peas, celery, and carrots)
• Salt
  
• Thyme
• Oregano
  
• Majoram
  
• Tarragon
• Cream
• slurry of corn starch and water
  

I tossed the puff pastry shells into the toaster oven, and baked per package instructions. While the shells baked, I cubed the chicken breasts and diced the vegetables. In a pan, I heated up some oil, sauteed the chicken, and once the chicken was opaque, I added the vegetables, the seasoning, and some water to simmer the mixture. I also added cream and the slurry to thicken.

Both parts, the chicken/vegetable mixture and the puff pastry shells, finished cooking at about the same time. I filled the shells with the mixture, and poured some of the sauce on top. This I had with some steamed carrots. Tasty, buttery, and almost all home-made - and on top of all that, this dinner didn't take longer than 1/2 hour to make. That's a winner in my book!

Busy week, party weekend, and a green finish

Our shortened week last week resulted in 2 days away from the office: one, a holiday, and the other, a trip to NeoCon East in Baltimore for a design trade show. Then, another day, I was out of the office the whole day, at meetings in the morning and in the afternoon. Meetings left, meetings right - it wasn't a light week, that is for sure. I promised myself that, with my growing belly, this weekend, I would hem the pants I got last weekend - well, it is Sunday night, and that didn't happen. It definitely was a busy, crazy week, with no time left to blog on.

We hosted a party last night for our friends, mostly to make the official announcement to everyone that yes, we are having a baby. Most already knew, but for a handful, this was exciting news indeed. This being our 17th week, Hubby and I are both getting more excited about our future prospect, and reality is unfolding, albeit slowly. I've even started feeling a bit of movement! Yesterday morning, as I woke up, and we began talking about preparations for our afternoon party, I rolled over from my right side onto my back, and I suddenly felt this little lump in my belly push upward from under the belly button! It was weird and exciting all at the same time. Now, you have to understand, I am picturing that scene out of Alien - you know which one I'm talking about. So this upward pressure, I'm envisioning my insides getting completely torn out in no time, as I am sure will undoubtedly happen.

So for our party...


Asian Chicken Wings

• Chicken wings, seasoned with salt and pepper, and marinated in:
• Soy sauce
• Garlic
• Scallions
• Ginger powder
  

There are a million and one ways to make these wings. I chose to deep fry them first, and then season them with more of the same mixture of sauce (I also added a touch of sugar and some Sriracha for spice), because I didn't get to marinating the wings until about an hour before the party. Typically, they do best when marinated overnight, so that the flavor goes completely through the wings, but I didn't get to get the wings until the afternoon of the party. Otherwise, you can marinate the wings overnight, and choose to either deep fry them, or pan fry and then simmer them on low in a mixture of about 1 part soy with 4 parts water. Either way, these wings are great, and they went pretty quickly!


Scallion Pancakes

Dad was in charge of making these savory snacks, and he made them wonderfully! He gave me a hard time when he discovered that the first trial pancake I fired up, I did it without any oil in the pan. Granted, they came out dry and hard, but, I told him, they're also healthier, and with a dipping sauce, they could pass. He vehemently disagreed - and these are words coming from someone who typically eats very healthy foods!

• Flour
• Hot (boiled) Water
• Sesame Oil
• Salt
• Scallions, chopped finely

Mix flour with some boiled water, enough to knead into a dough. We never measure the quantities - we just keep mixing a bit of water into the flour until the dough comes together. Dad told me, this is what we call cooked dough, since it's made with boiled water instead of cold water. Roll out a fistful of dough into a round, brush it with a mixture of sesame oil, salt, and scallions (make sure to have enough salt - it does help season the pancakes and make them tasty), and roll up the round. Stand the dough roll up on one end, and squish it down. Roll it out again. This process (and I've repeated it a couple of times more other times I've made these pancakes) gives the pancakes their flaky texture.

Heat up just enough oil in a pan to coat the bottom, and once the oil is hot enough to pan fry these pancakes, lay one down into the oil. Fry one side until browned, then turn over and fry the other side. Serve either plain or, if you end up with tasteless bricks like those I've churned out in the past sans oil in the pan, with a dipping sauce of choice (I like mixtures of vinegar with ginger, or soy with Sriracha, or soy with ginger and garlic).


Cucumber sandwiches

Easy, easy, easy. I seasoned cream cheese with a touch of cumin, chopped scallions, and parsley. Spread it on a little bread round (we used baguettes sliced thin), and pair with slices of cucumbers.


Tostones

These were made by Father in Law (FIL) - and they are such wonderful Puerto Rican snacks. He sliced up boiled plantains, pressed them thin (to about 1/4" thickness), and towel dry the little guys. In a pan, pour in about 1/2" of oil, and heat up for frying. Lay in enough tostones to fill the pan, but do not crowd. Flip them over once as they brown on the bottom side, and fry until thoroughly browned. Season lightly with kosher salt.


So that was the cooked part of our party - we also set out variety of cheeses, cubed melons, raw vegetables, and a slew of drinks. I scored a virgin Pina Colada - yay! Dad made it for me, and it was wonderful. By the end of the night, we had a crew of about 6 of us that remained, so we decided to fire up the grill. I marinated some chicken drumsticks in basically the same mixture we had for the wings, and we also had steaks marinating in some adobo seasoning (salt, tumeric, oregano, garlic) and onions. We added to these vegetable sides, of tomatoes, bell peppers, and mushrooms. Our crew of 6 were quite happy to enjoy the smaller dinner after the roar of the crowd had left.

Today, Hubby and I were quite well exhausted. After enjoying a breakfast of ginger pound cake one of our guests brought for us, and seeing Dad off, we crashed out on the couch for about an hour in the afternoon. There was the Green Festival going on at the Convention Center, so we hauled our asses off the couch to go check it out. We met up with our good friend Bonnie, who was with us last night at the party with her boyfriend Andrew (Ha! Andrew was a touch hung over after our party, so he didn't join us.). This convention, I also attended last year, and it brings together all kinds of Green companies - green eating, co-ops, green building materials, green politics, green ideas, green products. This year, there seemed to be a lot more food companies who set up stands than last year. Some local companies - Honest Tea was out, with samples of their teas. Bonnie, Hubby, and I each got different teas, and sampled each others: Pearfect White Tea, Mango White Tea, and Just Green Tea. Bonnie felt her Pearfect White Tea was a touch on the bitter side, but I still enjoyed it nonetheless. The Mango and the Just Green were both winners on our palates. From My Organic Market, a local organic supermarket, we sampled some barbeque chips. We also sampled bites from free-trade chocolate makers, Clif bars, Luna bars, Nature's Valley chocolate soy milk and OJ, wonderful almond butter with honey, and some chocolate crackers. Bonnie and I also scored boxes of Annie's Organic White Cheddar Bunnies and Graham Bunnies - no bunnies were harmed in the making of the, um, bunnies!

We also saw some vendors for organic cotton diapers and organic cotton onesies. Both areas were very informative, and the onesies were really cute. We're still researching the options for diapering and clothing, but, both having grown up with cloth diapers, Hubby and I are definitely considering cloth diapers as a strong option. Seventh Generation, I am glad to say, also makes chlorine-free disposable diapers - a good alternative for convenience. We came away from this convention with some more information about available products, and the strong turnout at the event gave me hope that people are realizing, or at least curious, about green options to conventional living. Hey, if our palates at the convention are any indication, going green is at the least tasty!

OK, long week, long weekend, ready for bed. Til tomorrow!

Clothing, SCORE!

After searching for clothes at online retailers, ordering some from Motherhood, and being disheartened by what I found in the maternity department at Target, I decided to go for another hunt yesterday. Morning, I started off with a visit to the local mall, where I hit several stores, some for maternity only, some just regular clothes. My first stop was Arden B. Luckily, right now, empire waist styles are still en vogue, so I'm finding some luck with just regular fashion-forward clothes that can still accommodate my growing belly. Case in point - a couple of weeks ago, during Hubby and my first excursion to find some maternity clothes, we stopped into Express, primarily for the great men's shirts that Hubby wanted to check out. I regarded their heap of summer clothes, all on sale, with some fear, and decided, oh, why the hell not, just dig right in and see what I can find. Narrowing down by preferred colors definitely helped cut down the hunt time. I pulled out one top that I liked, a red satin number, in small. It seemed narrower up top, and then, in classic empire fashion, it bellowed out just below the belly. When we went to try on our clothes, it fit just perfectly! And with room to grow! And it was on sale! So for now, while empire styles are still in fashion - it's a great time to stock up on some of these tops before they leave the stores, and still have clothes that will fit a growing belly (without the growing maternity clothing price tag).

So yesterday... I stopped into Arden B, and found myself a black dress, strappy number, empire waist. It fit great, was a jersey material that won't wrinkle, but Hubby ruled the straps too fussy when I brought it home. (When I returned it today, the Then, I stopped into Motherhood, and I found a pair of khaki shorts with a belly band (perfect for this little watermelon I'm starting to sport), and another black empire-waisted dress. Funny thing on the second black dress, Hubby wasn't sure he would like it when I first pulled it out of the bag, but when I put it on, he ended up liking it. It was a similar jersey material, so no wrinkles, with wider-set straps. And for all of $40, I say it was a great buy. I also stopped into Pea in the Pod (which also carried some Mimi Maternity items), but I didn't really find anything. For now, I'm looking for basics, and clean-cut ones, since I'm definitely finding that a body out of the acceptable skinny norm looks a lot better in cleaner designs that in fussier ones. Contrary to what I am sure is some advice somewhere out there, heavier bodies typically look better in cleaner designs. All those straps, patterns, fussy layers, etc - the only thing I found was that well, it just made me look more like a strapped sausage, patterned beach ball, and much too layered to be anything but tiramisu with some serious identity issues.

I headed home, where Hubby and I shared some lunch. This was such a rare treat! Usually, we don't get a chance to meet up for lunch, and this was one of those few opportunities. So for lunch, I baked up some French fries, and made some simple ham sandwiches. OK, not that simple, but they are really good.

Taipei street food - ham sandwiches
In Taipei, some (OK, I only found 1 during the whole summer I spent there back when I was in school) street vendors sell these sandwiches for breakfast. Simple white bread sandwich, with ham, egg, cucumber, mayo, and butter. Yes, mayo AND butter - I don't know that we really could add more fat to this sandwich besides deep frying these suckers in lard. And the street vendors, they butter both sides of each slice of bread before throwing it down onto the frying pan! It's no wonder, after eating one of these street wonderments, I felt like I was ready for sleep again.

Yesterday, I did a somewhat simpler sandwich. I omitted the egg (mostly because I forgot about it), used whole wheat bread, and used vegan mayo on my sandwich. The ham, we also used organic ham, no preservatives. I sliced one of the cucumbers my father gave me, enough for about 6 slices per sandwich, thin slices. I toasted the bread, and buttered only one side of each slice. I lopped on some mayo, layered on the ham and cucumber slices, and there we were, lunch ready to go. With the fries, it was a perfect meal!


Afternoon, I spent some time reading the Baby Bargains book our good neighbor JC gave us. She found the book very useful when she was preggers with her little one, and thought we would be as well. What a treat! The book was chocked full of tips, websites, comparisons, details, prices - you name it, it got it. So, I hit the maternity clothing section. I found that there were whole slews of maternity websites I hadn't hit. Motherwear.com - great styles, and I may pick out one or two as accent pieces as my wardrobe grows with my belly. Japaneseweekend.com was another great website, mostly for ideas, since most of their pieces were pretty expensive. I also checked out duematernity.com, estyle.com, and nordstrom.com - they all have wonderful styles to browse. Most were out of the price range I was looking at for the clothes to last me through the next 5 months, and they had styles that were too trendy to be timeless for the future possible bambino numero due e tre. But hey, that's further down the road. For the time being, Hubby and I have decided to not get anything until we need it. And for the time being, I just need some basic tops, and some pants that can allow my belly to breathe comfortably at the end of the day.

So, after surfing the web for a while, I decided to just make Target my last stop. Hubby had helped me pick out some jeans and black pants from Gap Maternity a couple of weeks ago, but I was floored by how expensive their clothes were for what they were offering. Granted, Gap, I've trusted their clothes for years now, but I felt like at their prices, they knew maternity hunters were locked in and can be chumped out of their money because they have you where they want you - on the demand side of supply. So, I went for a search for those very pieces, black pants and jeans. I usually take a size 6, so I figured, oh, why not, let's start there. Well, the Liz Lange size 6 jeans with belly band (oh belly band, so on my tummy!), it was swimming around my belly like a swim donut. So, I tried the size 4, still swimming. Then, it was down to a size 2. That, it fit well, and my belly still had some room to grow. Who knew! The black pants, I wanted something a little looser, so I pulled a size 4. It fit well, but Hubby wasn't impressed with the overall fit when I brought it home. So off it went, back to the store today - but the jeans were keepers.

So, so far... Motherhood, I got basic basics. I did keep one dress shirt from the pile of clothes I got, but we'll see how the quality goes, as I've heard negative reviews of the quality of their clothes. Target's Liz Lange line, quality isn't as great as I would like, but I'm curious to see how long the jeans will last - otherwise, they fit just great. Gap Maternity, I'm keeping those black pants. Their fit, still clean and well constructed, but I wasn't so impressed with their pricing, but I have yet to find another pair of black pants that fit just as well and are still at their price range. Mimi Maternity, middle-of-the-road, wonderful clothes, but they can get expensive. I'm going to do a search on their website for a good suit - that is one outfit where I will not spare a dime. Pea in the Pod, more designer items, but I find I can just as well scour websites and other equally stylish non-maternity stores for comparable empire-waisted pieces to fit a growing belly.

The hardest thing I found so far is pants. Not the easiest fits, and it is a given that an expecting woman most likely will not be able to wear pants with shirts tucked in, especially not after the 16th week (we're now into our 17th!). The best thing I have found so far are built-in bra camisoles, just from regular stores, but I do look for ones that are longer than just past my waist. Even if my belly grows, the camisoles, especially the longer ones, will still cover the belly, particularly during the colder months, and I know I can layer on top an empire-waisted top, shirt, or sweater on top of the camisole without catching belly cold.


So after my shopping excursions during the day, I came home to make dinner. I did a variation of the pork roulade we made the last day at the CIA.

Pork Roulade

1. Variations - I took one pork loin, butterflied and hammered out the loin to be about 1/4" thick. I sliced it in half in the short direction, so that I had 2 pieces I could use for rolls. In fact, come to think about it, you could slice it in half in the long direction, so long as you could roll up carefully (then you end up with a short big roll). I seasoned the loin with salt and pepper, each side, and threw the loin into the fridge until I was ready to roll.
   
2. I made a dried-fruit mincemeat mixture on the stove, with dried apricots, dried cranberries, dried cherries, and dried raisins. I heated up these fruits in a small saucepan until just beginning to sizzle and caramelize in the dry pan. I then deglazed with just enough water to cover, and seasoned the mixture with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice.
3. Prepare an icy ice bath, with a smaller bowl to be able to sit comfortably on the ice. Go ahead and set the oven to preheat at 350.
   
4. Once the fruits disintegrated enough to become almost a lumpy paste (I added enough water while the mixture simmerd to allow the fruits to further disintegrate, and to make sure the mixture did not dry up), remove from heat. Scoop into the smaller bowl of the ice bath, and stir to cool the mixture quickly. The more you stir from one side to another, the easier it will be to get more of the mixture exposed to the cold sides of the bowl, and the sooner the mixture will cool down.
5. Bring out the loins! In one loin, I sprinkled some cayenne pepper and parsley. I then laid on the mincemeat, in a thickness to match the thickness of the pork. Starting at the narrow end, I began the rolling process, making sure the final seam was on the bottom.
6. With the other half of the loin, I sprinkled on some parsley, sage, chives, green onions (dried is AOK), and thyme. I layered on some sliced and chopped mushrooms, and rolled up this half of the loin in the same way I did with the other half of the loin.
7. Put the rolls into a 9x9 pan, and bake uncoverd for 25 minutes.
8. I also prepared a mushroom cream sauce. Sliced mushrooms, into a hot pan with oil, saute until caramelized. I took the shrooms off the heat, and whisked in enough heavy cream to serve, and seasoned with salt and pepper. This sauce, I served on the savory roulades (not the mincemeat ones).

So that was the protein portion of last night's dinner. I also steamed some spring baby carrots, green beans, white asparagus, and roasted some red bliss potatoes. Yummy dinner, and we took a walk to get some ice cream for dessert afterwards. Wonderful day, wonderful evening!

Tis time to serve

What a miserable Saturday. Not event-wise, event-wise it was pretty good. Father in Law (FIL) came by for a visit, since our neighborhood was doing an art festival thing, so we figured, have him come over, see what our neighborhood is like for one of these festivals, and have him stay for dinner. Originally, we were going to cook dinner at home, but after a day of walking around, checking out different vendors, eating some food from the local vendors who set up stands in the festival, we would let someone else do the cooking. Not that much different from the week's eating habits! And in the morning, I also did some cooking for my office. There were wonderful smells wafting through the house for much of the day - partnered, in part, with some smell of paint and wood stain from work Hubby was doing on the house. But that's another story all together.

The cooking started in the morning. My office was in the midst of an office shuffle, and since the boys won't let me carry anything up and down the stairs, I figured, I'll still help out, with food. So, I told them, I would be by at lunchtime, with lunch in tow. Since some of the stuff I needed, we didn't have in the refrigerator, it was off to the market - pre-made pie crust, cheeses, cream, butter. By the time I returned, I had about an hour and a half before high noon, and I knew the boys, having been moving stuff around the office all morning, would be hungry, so I better hurry. Quick items, and they came out pretty good.


Chicken Pot Pie

1. Premade pie crust - I baked the bottom first in a pie pan, and while it was baking...
2. I browned defrosted and seasoned (I used salt, pepper, oregano, tumeric, and garlic) whole chicken thighs in a deep pot, no oil (the skin generated enough oil).
3. I also chopped up 1 baking potato, 3 stalks celery, and 2 carrots.
4. When the chicken was browned on all sides, I added enough chicken stock to just cover the mixture. I also added some cumin, sage, and oregano into this thin soup.
5. While this mixture rose to a boil, I made a slurry of corn starch and water (about equal amounts of each). Once the chicken soup got to a rolling boil, I added the slurry, to thicken, and added some freshly-ground black pepper and sea salt to flavor. I also added the vegetables.
6. I let it simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, until thickened.
7. By the time this mixture reduced some and began to thicken, the bottom pie crust was already long done. I pulled meat off the thighs, and added them to the pie crust, and then piled on the veggies as well as some of the thickened stock. This is actually a good time to taste the stock, to see if you need more seasoning before adding it into the bottom pie crust.
8. I then rolled out the top crust (also pre-made), and cut to fit the pie pan I had. The left over - that's another little dish I made on the side, to follow.
9. This pie baked at 400 degrees for about 20 minutes (though I left it in just a little too long, and the top got burnt, grrr), following the instructions on my pre-made pie crust box.
   

The left-over pie crust, I kneaded it together, and rolled it out into a 8" round. I added to half- of the round some of the chicken still left on the thighs, along with some of the thickened stock, some carrots, celery, and potato. I then folded the round to make a half-moon shape, and sealed the edge. This mini hand-held chicken pot pie, I baked at 400 degrees for 20 minutes, for Hubby, while I ran off to deliver the food to the boys at the office.

Simultaneously...


Mac and Cheese
OK, I know it's easy enough to just to it out of the box, but really, it's even better when you do it from scratch, and know what cheeses you've tossed in.

1. I boiled up about 2 cups of macaroni, in salted water.
2. At the same time the mac was boiling, I made a roux of butter and flour (any amount is fine, just keep the ration between the two 1:1).
3. To the roux, I added herbs and spices: my choices were nutmeg, coriander, and rosemary.
   
4. Once well mixed, I removed the roux from the flame, and added about a cup of half-and-half. This step - add carefully, so that it doesn't all separate, as cream has a tendency to do in hot mixtures. You may want to temper the cream first before adding it back into the roux. I was in a rush, so I added about 1/4 cup of the half-and-half into the roux first, to bring the temperature of the roux down, instead of the other way around. It worked, but I think I was lucky.
   
5. I also added about a cup and a half of grated cheese (I grated guyere and emmenthaler, for a fondue-themed mac and cheese) to this mixture.
6. Once the mac is done, I drained out the pasta, and threw it into a loaf pan. I poured the cheese mixture on top, and there it was - pretty much done. You can add bread crumbs to the top if you'd like, but I skipped that step.
7. I threw the mac and cheese into the oven the same time the chix pot pie went in, so 400 degrees, 20 minutes. If you like a brown top, broil it for another 3 minutes on high at the end.

So that was my morning. It was a rush, but I got it done, and got the lunch to the boys at 1pm. Oh, I also threw together a quick appetizer - thick sliced cucumbers, scooped out of the seeds a bit for a cucumber bowl, to which I added some creme fraiche and a little slice of salmon. It was a hit!

In the afternoon, Hubby and FIL were off to look at some cars together. I decided to put together a little soup to warm us all up on such a chilly and yucky day, before we head off to our local Mexican restaurant for dinner (which, BTW, I couldn't even eat, being so full from the all-day-munchathon).

Chestnut soup
Again, I don't use specific quantities while cooking, so many apologies. Anyway, I made this soup a while ago when we had our office over for dinner, a French dinner. It was thick, creamy, perfect for a winter evening. I decided it could help kick off the cold season this year.

1. Roasted chestnuts, a la Trader Joe's. They have them off and on in their freezers, but I had some left over in our freezer, so out they came for the soup. These little guys still have their shell on, so I peeled them of their shells and fuzzy skins.
2. In a 2-quart (I think) pot - just make sure it's not so wide that you get so much surface area exposure, so that the soup doesn't evaporate too quickly while you're simmering it - I threw in 4 thick slices of pancetta, to brown, and to draw out some oil for the rest of the ingredients I was adding. Once browned, sizzling, and oily, I added some Asian fried shallots (you can also use fresh, I didn't have fresh so I figured I try this out to see how it comes out. It came out just delish.), some dried onions, and celery flakes, in lieu of fresh celery root, which I also didn't have. This was a recipe full of substitutions yesterday. Saute until just fragrant and until the other ingredients have soaked up some of the oil from the pancetta.
   
3. Add the chestnuts, some sliced mushrooms, and a tablespoon of butter to this mixture. Mix well.
4. Add a sprig of sage and 2 sprigs of thyme, and mix well.
5. Add enough chicken stock, to just cover. Bring to boil.
   
6. Reduce heat, and cover the pot to let simmer for about half an hour.
7. Add a shot of cognac, stir in. Flaming optional.
8. Remove from heat, and serve with a spoonful of cream on top.

I served this soup in little squashes, of which I removed the top, sliced a bit of the bottom so that they would sit squarely, and hollowed out the inside. They presented beautifully - but do keep in mind, if you'd like to do this, make sure to leave about 1/2 inch of the bottom intact, so that the soup doesn't leak out the bottom. You'll know when you go down too far - and then try it again on another squash. It took me about 2 squashes of practice before I was able to do the hollowing-out thing without scooping too much out of the bottom.


So that was yesterday...

Today, Hubby and I decided to go on a bike ride, to get breakfast and to get some butter for baking in the afternoon. We stopped by a local coffee shop, Misha's, where we ran into 2 of our good friends! What coincidence, and we had warm, wonderful laughter while we enjoyed our muffins and bagels. Misha's also has the most beautiful OJ - mango colored, like the OJ I had at a cafe in Portland, Oregon, not long ago. Hubby got a slice of the choco-chip cake, and I got a salt bagel w/cream cheese. If you haven't had salt bagels, and if you're hunkering for good soft pretzels - soft bagels are a good substitute. A good shot of those salt crystals, and your craving may well be served.

I craved some chocolate yesterday, enough to go hunting for a good chocolate chip cookie recipe, so Hubby's selection of the chocolate chip cake was perfect. A couple of bites, and my taste buds were pleasantly satiated. Of course, then, when we biked over to Trader Joe's, they had their miniaturized versions of their wonderful peanut butter cups out for tasting, along with little bites of their peanut-butter chocolate cake thing, and boy, my chocolate taste buds were getting their tasteful. So we picked up a box of those mini peanut butter cups (they really are so cute!), some butter, and some bread. Then, it was off to home.

One of our neighbors was having a neighborhood cook-out at their house, so I decided to bring over some brownies. The basic recipe, I give my heartfelt nod to Fine Cooking magazine, their "Comfort Food" issue about a couple years back, to which I still refer for recipes and ideas. It is, by far, the one magazine (not type, not production, just that one issue) I refer to in the kitchen most often, for some ideas or for recipes. I made the brownies out of that issue once before, to raving reviews, so I decided to do it again. This time, though, I made some substitutions (I'm so glad I did it before Hubby saw, since he would have called "blasphemy" to my experimentation with baking recipes!).

Brownies, a la Fine Cooking with substitutions and alterations

• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (stick and a half)
• 1/3 cup cocoa
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips
• 1 cup white sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablepoon honey
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons peanut butter

1. Set oven at 350. Line a 9x9 baking pan w/aluminum foil, or grease w/butter and coat with cocoa powder (instead of flour. Trust me, it makes too much sense for chocolate baked goods!)
   
2. Heat up the butter until thoroughly melted.
3. Whisk in the cocoa and chocolate chips.
4. Whisk in the sugar, honey, and vanilla extract. Remove from heat, allow to cool completely
   
5. Add all 3 eggs at once, whisk thorougly to combine.
6. Add flour, and fold with a spatula until just combined.
7. Add peanut butter, and fold with a spatula until just combined.
8. Pour into your baking pan, and bake for 22 minutes, until the toothpick comes out damp, but not moist.
9. Let cool completely on a rack, before removing from pan and/or slicing.

I had one of these guys tonight, and it was really good. The peanut butter, it didn't string out through the batter as much as I'd liked, but the bits of peanut butter through the brownie were nice surprises with each bite. We enjoyed some brats, some really wonderful cole slaw, and some excellent ribs this afternoon.

By the end of the party, and having also gone to another family's house to see what renovations they had done, my feet and stomach were definitely ready for some comfort wear. I was glad that I was still able to fit in my low-rise jeans, but they're definitely getting tight around the waist. Upon walking home, I kicked off my flip flops, and ran right to our bedroom to grab my yoga pants and some comfy socks. That's definitely one big, albeit unexpected, benefit to my yoga practice - the clothing fit wonderfully around my belly! The pants already have a band at the waist, which allows my expanding tummy room to grow withough falling off. The yoga tops, too, aren't bound too tightly around the waist, so they're quite comfortable as well. I guess I really should just get more yoga clothes - they'll serve double duty!

I also picked up some clothes this week, from a couple of Internet sites. I hit Motherhood.com, since it was a name I recognized, to see what they had. On the website, their selections seemed really great, and the prices were amazing. I received the box of clothes this week, and Friday night, I popped open the box to fully inspect everything that I got. A white button down shirt - excellent, just $20, fit without being TOO loose. Fabric was also good. A wine-colored sweater, it was more like a long-sleeved ribbed tee shirt - and that's going back. The tee shirts they had on their site were pretty good - they're thicker, the way I like them, and not expensive, maybe $9-$12 each, depending on short- or long-sleeved. I also picked out a couple of pairs of pants - not impressed, and they're going back. A wine-colored shirt with some beading at the waist, looked better on the website than in person, so that's going back. So some hits, some misses. I think they're good for some basics, but not for everything.

I also got some undergarments through Babycenter.com, thru whom we're getting weekly emails on the status of our baby (since it hasn't yet been able to navigate its way to using the umbilical cord as a cup-and-wire telephone system to let us know what it's doing in there). They looked wonderful - I won't go into all the details, but some things, I definitely need as my belly expands, that I didn't expect some of my undergarments to not fit. So all the things I got, keepers.

I've also found that slip-on shoes are much easier, even this early on at 16 weeks, to put on, than ones that required that I bend down in order to put them on. I got a pair of mary-janes from Aldo about 3 weeks ago, just before I headed off to the CIA. They've been great! Fun, funky, and they're not the heavy-duty on-your-feet-all-day slip on shoes. I can wear them with skirts, even with pant suits. Of couse, my usual slip-on heels, I can wear those with my suits, but these offer an alternative to the usual boring heels.

What else have I found to be a surprising help... oh, my pre-made food, has definitely been a life-saver on more than one occasion. I'm going to tackle one of these weekends to make more of these pre-made things, to store away. Even, for example, pre-seasoning our frozen meats - it just takes that extra step out when I get home from work, to make cooking dinner even easier. Our office is closed tomorrow for the holiday - I may just make that my daytime task to tackle!

Frustration, still

The day went along without a whole lot of hoopla. Rain, rain, everywhere, not that much eventful for the day. Foodwise, we did delivery Chinese for lunch, and enjoyed a neighbor's potato pancakes this evening with our Trader Joe's roasted garlic chicken sausage and a small salad. So foodwise, not that much new, the usual scattering of fruits throughout my day.

In other events however, at the end of the day, Hubby and I decided we would take an Audi A3 for a test drive, since, with the impending growing belly, I guess my 2-seater really won't be all that appropriate for carrying an infant around. But then, I mentioned this to one of my colleagues, and boy, it launched an all out convinceathon. Apparently, accompanying the growing belly, an ass the size of a 16 wheeler, the hourly hugs with the local all-you-can-eat smorgasbord, and mood swings that make the ultra black-diamond rollercoaster at Six Flags look like a ride on the local winky-dink kiddy swing, a pregnant family is expected to also start purchasing random monster-sized gas-guzzling vehicles so that they can transport their one 7-pound child from point A to point B. He launched into an all out reasoning as to why it is that we really, truly should reconsider purchase of a small vehicle and instead purchase the largest vehicle we can, since, apparently, his family doesn't unload their truck of all the tricycles, bicycles, and gear for the local park, and they could use all the space they could get.

As you can probably tell, this got me thinking, but not about our decision to forgo the two-seater for something with, at least, a sizeable trunk. Do we, as consuming Americans, determine more of what we "need" based truly on what we need, or based on what others tell us we need?

Case in point: my 3-person family grew up with sedans, and my mother, as a paraplegic, drove a van. Not once did we ever fill that van up the way I pictured the trunk of my colleague's SUV, not even on road trips. And somehow, we got along just fine. Some of my friends' parents drove minivans, but the mass majority drove stationwagons. Even Hubby's family grew up with stationwagons. And somehow, we all survived our deprived childhoods. No big problems of adjustment, of complaining that there wasn't enough space, or worrying about having to lug just about everything in the house from point A to point B.

Am I just completely missing something?

Amazingly, somehow, people living in cities seem to get by with children sans SUV's. My parents did when we lived in Taipei for my first 6 years, and all my relatives there still get along just fine without these monster vehicles transporting their family, their extended family, their extended families' families, and all their tricycles around. So that brings me to wonder: if the majority of, if not the entire, rest of the world doesn't need these SUV's to survive daily life, what makes American life so special that we need to have these monster vehicles to survive life with children? Do we truly need to transport all the contents of our house from our house to other people's houses in order to feel comfortable (at which point, who cares about going to other houses, we might as well just stay home)? Or do we need these large vehicles as just a mark of status? Or have we all been just so busy gaggle with the Joneses, that we don't realize any of us could actually take the lead and be the Jones?

For much of my life, I've fought categorization, fitting into any given mold, and general mass-migrative thought. And for the most part, I exist as an outsider because I don't care to digest mass thought like it's white bread. Just because everyone else is doing it, doesn't necessarily mean that it makes sense for each of us. And progressing along this pregnancy, I still try to fight that incessant American need for categorization as much as possible. I've defied, so far, most of the stereotypical marks of pregnancy. Who knows, maybe through the rest of the pregnancy, I'll still be able to take to my scooter while everyone jumps on the back of the trailer.

Bad food week

How the hell do I proclaim that I love to cook, and then end up with weeks like this when I don't feel that inspiration to creat something in the kitchen, anything? I don't know what it was that hit me this week. Monday night, it was the easiest dish on the planet, my chili; lunch was Chipotle. Tuesday, Hubby was off to teach, so I was left to my devices - it was yoga class, followed by Ethiopian (miser watt) take-out. Oh, and lunch, I stopped by a cafe near home, on my way from one meeting to another, didn't even stop in the house to make something to eat - I got an egg salad, with a mango smoothie, and an eclair for dessert. Yesterday, lunch was the left-over Ethiopian, and dinner, Hubby and I decided to make some non-nitrite non-nitrate hot dogs, and I made a salad of carrots and cukes. The ultimate of fast-food, easy-food weeks. And seriously, I do love to cook. Really.

And now we end on today. Breakfast, I started off with a pear, then followed up a couple of hours later with an onion bagel. Lunch was ramen, one of my favorite brands from Taiwan, but definitely not the most healthy choice. Dessert was some huge globular grapes (so good!). I had an apple in the afternoon, some crispy Indian snacks, and on my way home, I munched down an Asian apple pear. By the time I got home, I really wasn't even all that hungry. So dinner was cereal, with raisins. Yeah, just the way to follow this week's trend.

Who knows, maybe that's why this week I feel like everyone's tearing at a piece of me. I think tomorrow, I'm going to refocus on myself, regroup, and cook again. Just right now, I really have no idea what I'm going to cook.


In other news... the belly is starting to pop a bit. We're hitting 16 weeks, so 4 months in. Almost at the half-way point, and this point, my weight started going up. People started to notice the little bulge, and different reactions come from all sides. Some regarded to my impending news and bulge with a reaction of fragility, as if I might break at any second, and immediately wouldn't let me do so much as lift a finger (much less listen to me gloat about being able to ride 14 miles or continue regular yoga). Some, with an air of discontent or disapproval at the news - I'm not sure yet which it is - that they try to hide with a fake smile at the news. Some immediately want to know how I'm feeling and whether or not I'm puking my brains out (sorry kids, no puking yet, but give me a Jager and I'll show you puking). Some, of course, regarded my news with excitement and joy. I regard each reaction with understanding - they are, each, imparting their hope that a) I know what I'm doing, and b), the baby that results will bring to this world more joy that the world can give it. It is just that little bit of hope, that keeps everyone going, and I can only hope that this baby will carry that hope for the world.

However, the expectation that an expecting mother should have to suffer for nine months in order to bring life into the world, I think that's an expectation that is unrealistic. Through the start of this process, I'm learning the truth, whether external or internal, that (surprise surprise) everyone is different. Expectations that every pregnant woman is going to puke like a supermodel for 9 months, immediately consume everything in sight and look like a walking chicklet, or suffer from some sort of extensive physiopsychosomatic malais to prove their worth as a life-carrying being are unfair. I think it's enough that we have to carry a feeding life form for 9 months, one that we will worry about for the rest of their lives, without having to satisfy the world's expectations of what "properly pregnant" should be. Haven't we all pushed categorized and molded each other aplenty?

Man, I feel like chili tonight!

Monday, the start of the week. It's never easy to cook on this first night of the week, as the rush of the day often results in an exhausted return home and lack of energy to dream up a dinner menu . Alas, tonight, there was a slight chill in the air, and since football season has already started without my celebratory chili cooking all afternoon, I figured today is as good a day as any to get started. So without further adieu...

My Beloved Chili
Now, Hubby claims that my chili has saved his life once, filled his stomach at least a handful of times when I wasn't home to cook, and most definitely filled our kitchen and abode with great smells on countless occasions in the last 6 years we've been together. It was also the dish that got my office salivating one cold day a year and a half ago. My chili, I don't do any beans (you know, someone during my week at the CIA said I really have a southern streak in me - and my all-meat chli could very well be another testiment to the truth in that statement, though I would never admit it!), just ground beef. I typically use one 28 ounce can of UNSALTED crushed tomatoes, but tonight I found myself in lack of said can - I instead used 2 smaller cans of diced tomatoes tonight. Spices, I vary the quantities, but the basic spices I use are cumin, coriander, and cayenne pepper (the southern flavor again). Basic salt, pepper, finely chopped onions, scallions, cilantro, and minced garlic also go into the mix. Tonight, I did things backwards, and the mixture didn't cook as long. My chili usually cooks for the length of a football game, just to gauge time frame.

Anyway, the usual procedure is:

1. Place a bit of the ground beef you're going to use in your pot of choice (preferably not a wide-mouthed pot, so that the liquid doesn't evaporate too quickly), and heat to release some oil from the meat.
2. Add finely chopped onions, and saute until translucent.
3. Add garlic, saute until fragrant. Be careful not to burn, lest the garlic goes bitter in the pot.
   
4. Add the remainder of the ground beef, and, stirring frequently to break the beef into small pieces, saute this mixture until well-browned.
5. Add crushed tomatoes, and mix well.
6. Simmer, covered, for the, ahem, length of a football game. If it goes overtime, even better.
7. Add herbs and spices of your choice at the very end - I add cumin, coriander, salt, pepper, cilantro, and scallions. Stir well and simmer for another 5-10 minutes, covered.
   
8. Taste, and adjust spices to your liking.

So there you have it folks, my wonderful chili. We enjoyed it tonight with some cheese on top, sliced day-old French baguette, with grapes on the side to finish the meal. I told Hubby not to eat too much of it, as tomorrow, after all the flavors have had a chance to meld together tonight, will show a much better-tasting chili, but hey, what can you do when Hubby requests seconds?

Savory scones

OK, here's my recipe for the scones - they came out really tasty!







Savory scones (vary your additives to your taste)

• 2 cups flour
• 1 tablespoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 5 tablespoons butter, cut into small cubes
• 3/4 cup savory additives (I used ham, jalapeno cheddar, and scallions)
• 1 cup heavy cream (today, I didn't have enough heavy cream, so I substituted what heavy cream I had with half-and-half to make the 1 cup)
• Oven temperature - 425
  
• Ungreased cookie sheet

1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
2. Sift together the first 4 ingredients
3. Pour 1/2 of the dry ingredients into a food processor, and layer with 1/2 of the butter cubes. Pour the remaining 1/2 of the dry ingredients on top of the butter, and top with the remainder of the butter cubes.
4. Pulse in the food processor until mealy (this is the point at which the butter has been cut into small bits, and each is coated with some of the flour).
5. Turn this mixture into a large bowl.
6. Add the cream into the mixture, and stir with a spatula until just mixed - it will still be pretty sticky.
7. Pat the dough into a 3/4" thickness. At this point, you can shape it into large round to cut into wedges, or you can just pat it into the 3/4" thickness for cutting with a cutter of choice.
8. Cut as desired - I used a 2 1/2" round cutter, and what leftover pieces I had, I lightly kneaded together and pressed into the cutter for the final piece.
9. Lay the cut scones on the cookie sheet, space 1" apart from each other. Bake for 12 minutes (check at 11 minutes - see picture at the right) for soft scones, 13 minutes for drier scones.
10. Remove from oven, and let rest on the cookie sheet for 10 minutes before removing scones to a cooling rack. Enjoy!

Delish - and the house smelled great!

So we ventured out to see what baby stuff there are out there. We stopped by Buy Buy Baby, Babies 'R' Us, and Baby Gap - that was plenty of store-shopping for one day, especially the amount of "new" info we were absorbing. Our main focus was on strollers and baby seats, since these are by far the the pieces of equipment that seem to have the largest variety among manufacturers and models. Buy Buy Baby, in terms of baby superstores, had better choices and variety.

We saw the famed Bugaboo strollers, and true, they are quite versatile - however, I didn't see the salesperson demonstrating the versatility of these strollers with just one hand. I also saw an I Coo stroller, also very interesting. There were also the Bumblebees, Universals, Peg Peregos, Gracos, and MacLarens. One particular stroller I was hoping to in see in person is the Stokke, a simple high stroller, albeit the most expensive. Then there were the baby seats, and this we know we'll need from day one. Varieties from weight ranges, strap-in options, grow-into-it versatility, in-car bases, etc., etc., etc. Needless to say, we were overwhelmed - and least of all by the gaggle of salespeople hovering like vultures around new parents and parents-to-be. Half an hour in these stores, and we were ready to break out screaming. But, at the least, we've gathered a bit of information for us to do more reasearch online.

We then made a stop into Baby Gap and Gap Maternity. Mostly, this trip was just to see the maternity clothes, as some of my pants - ok, most of my pants - have begun to get tighter around the waist. Hubby helped me find a ton of pants. Some were full panel, and wearing them made me feel like an old man, pants hiked way high above the waist (for MUCH later on). Some were demi panel, a little more comfortable. And they also had some that had no panel, and these were by far my favorites, for now. I settled on a pair of black pants with a demi panel, and a pair of jeans that didn't have a panel at all - just enough to carry me over a while. I also picked up a white tank top and a black short-sleeved T-shirt.

We then ventured over to Express, to see what men's shirts they're carrying now. Hubby found 2 striped shirts, and I found a red silk dressy tank top, which had an cinched empire waist - perfect for the growing belly on more dressy days. I think it could go well even inside a suit, now that I think about it!

So that was our adventurous afternoon. Another thing that I forgot from the week at the CIA - the one thing that saved my hands from the repeated washings all week, along with the water from the Adirondacks (which I am sure was a big part of how well my hands fared during the week) was my trusty little sample bottle of Kiehl's Creme de Corps Lightweight Body Lotion. I would put this stuff on, and it just absorbed right into my skin, no greasiness. When I returned from the trip, Kiehl's was one of the first places I went, to pick up a little gift for my friend Jess and her newborn, and to pick up a larger bottle of the stuff. Still swearing by it - no reactions from my skin, and it doesn't sit on my skin to grease up the next surface I touch.

Foodwise - before we left, I had an apple, and for our excursion I brought with me a snack of globular grapes, large enough to be plums; a Kashi granola bar; and a bottle of water. By the time we hit Maternity Gap, though, I was hungry - we stopped into a Caribou for a snack of cinnamon roll popovers, and I grabbed an OJ and Hubby a small coffee. At home again, we ordered in tonight, pizza from the Hut. And that's pretty much a wrap for today!

Maam, just the poo please.

Yesterday, I was so excited - when I stepped on the scale, I had gained a pound or 2! But today, alas, I discovered, it was just poo. I guess this weight will come soon enough. A bit of a lump now, which is pretty cool, belly is protruding a bit. But no big weight gain, not yet. At least in weight not in poo.

I keep remembering little tidbits from last week at the CIA that I'm sure I forgot to note during my week there. Little things - like, that oyster noodle soup I made for my aunt in NJ - we used dried oysters. Well, the water did reconstitute, but it gave the soup a weird flavor, left over no doubt from the drying of the oysters. The insides of the oysters, too, were pretty dry, and not that palatable. I wouldn't recommend using dried oysters - just wait for the frozen ones, or use fresh ones that you shuck.

What else... oh, I finally got the photo upload to happen on this site, so I will add some photos along the way from here on out. I stayed at the Copper Penny Inn, in Poughkeepsie, which was a wonderful place to stay, and the hosts were more than hospitable. They were worried that they weren't providing enough in the way of the "breakfast" portion of the B&B, but no worries, as I was getting more than plenty of food at the CIA. They did, however, honor my request for fresh fruit, so each morning, while the world was still dark, I would find a bowl of fruit waiting for me in the fridge before I headed out for my day. There was one day, when I was coming towards Rt. 9 from the 44/55, when the Mid Hudson Bridge was hidden in a fog that tucked itself just along the top half of the bridge. I was completely bummed, that I didn't have my camera on hand, and there was no shoulder to be able to pull over just to take a shot. It was beautiful - the sky was just beginning to lighten, this bridge was shrouded in fog, and just as I turned onto Rt. 9, the fog was no longer hiding the bridge - just that one view as I came on the bridge straight on. You can imagine the expletives coming from my mouth as I saw that view and didn't have a way of capturing it, and I am sure in a cartoon, my car would have been the Mexican jumping bean, with all sorts of punctuation marks all around it.

What else... oh, during one of the wine tasting sessions, I did get the opportunity to taste a cabernet, paired with blue cheese. Oh my god - can I just tell you, what a pairing that is! I don't know exactly all the chemistry behind it, but the pairing tasted like a full meal. It was absolutely amazing! A colleague of mine asked me this week for some recommendations for cheese and wine - you can imagine, that was most definitely my first recommendation. And not to worry, I didn't drink that wine, no chugging here, we did have spit cups that allowed us to just taste. And the cheese, like all cheese in the US, or any cheese that comes across our border, is pasteurized. As Alton Brown would say, "Louie Pasteur, YAAAAY!"

So a quick note before I'm on my way for the morning. Plans for today - I am going to do that roast pork tenderloin for my friend Jess, who just had her second little one this week. Both seemed well when I visited on Monday. I intend on doing one half of the tenderloin as a sweet roulade w/mincemeat, the other with a mushroom filling. Both halves will be barded. Sides - blanched/seasoned broccoli rabe, roasted red potatoes, sauteed mushrooms.

This morning, Hubby and I will embark on our first ever trip to comparison shop to see what baby stuff is out there, probably get hounded by some salespeople who see "SUCKERS" labeled across our foreheads, and come back with more than one sales tag stuck to our body. But before our little trip (which I do hope will not drag on to become one of those all-day excursions, at which point I may have to pack a picnic), I'm off to our farmer's market, to see what is coming of fruit this season; then I'm going to make some savory scones for the week, and for this morning; and I have to pick up some flour, as my baking experiences over the last month or so have depleated my stash (never happened before!). The scones - I'll post the recipe after my trial/error.

Ready again to cook, with recap

Wow, it is already Tuesday. I never did write up our summary of the final dishes at the CIA - so here they are... quail and pork loin were our given ingredients. Funny enough, out of our 5 teams, 3 had salads as part of their final dishes. We were definitely craving some non-cooked greens!


Deep fried quail on bed of mini greens
We received quail already partially boned and halved - it make our job just that much easier. Susan dried off the birds, a light salt and pepper sprinkling on each part, and they were off to the fridge.

Rebecca whipped together the viniagrette, with red wine vinegar, to bring out some red color against the green color of our greens. For the greens, we received a wonderful assortment of mache and lettuce - we chose to use the mache for the small scale of the leaves and its soft flavor, and the red leaf lettuce for some color and bitter contrast. So you know how fresh the mache was - they arrived still in their dirt pods!

Preparation for this dish was pretty easy, as the seasoning of the birds prepped them sufficiently for flavor. We lightly dredged the birds in salt and pepper seasoned flour just prior to deep frying, and set them into the hot oil. The contrast of the hot and cold, sour with the savory and bitter, and the buttery sweetness of the mache - balance of flavors and textures, a wonderful start to our meal.


Pork loin roulade with dried autumnal fruit, with late summer vegetables
OK, so one part of this was that I wanted a big variety of colors and textures, so I requested young carrots, string beans, and asparagus. For our pork loin, we ended up opting for the pork tenderloin cuts, to avoid having to deal with the bone-in situation in the loin cut. We butterflied the pork tenderloin pieces, and pounded them to 1/2" thickness. Lightly seasoned with salt and pepper, they went into the fridge until we were ready for the wrap.

We prepared the roulade filling by soaking dried apricots in red wine. We also received prunes and fresh cranberries. After about 1/2 hour soak of the apricots, we chopped them up, along with the prunes, for simmering with cranberries to reduce in the red wine. We spiced the filling with cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice, as well as a touch of salt and pepper. Once this mixture reduced by about 1/2, we spread it out on a pan to cool it a bit before the rolling.

We also got some thin-sliced pancetta, which we laid out on our working surface in preparation for barding the roulade. The pork loins went on the pancetta, and the roulade filling went on the loins last. We then began doing the roll, pushing the pancetta up with the loin as the roll progressed. Some twine ties around the roulade, and it was ready for roasting.

While we prepared the roulade, we also cored some bosc pears, and filled them with the roulade filling. We set these filled bosc pears around the roast, and we also filled the remainder of the roasting pan with quartered red potatoes. We blanched the asparagus, carrots, and beans, and lightly coated and seasoned these vegetables with olive oil, salt, and pepper.

This dish provided a nice balance of the sweetness of the roulade filling, against the meaty depth of the barded pork and the lightness of the blanched vegetables. Coupled with our salad dish, we found a way, with the help of student assistant Marion, to not end up with two main entree type courses, and we also found a way to bring some flavors that we were craving after a week of butter-and-cream finishes.


So that was our Friday cooking event! It was a lot of fun, and all in all, the week was really wonderful. I can't say I miss the 5:30 wake-up time, and I am now, back home, thoroughly enjoying my renewed access to my daily intake of raw fruits. Those savory scones of ham/scallion/cheese, however, I will try making at home - they were just so good, savory breakfast in one portable containment!

The rest of the weekend was not remarkable in cooked food. Friday night, as Hubby arrived at the train station, I took him to the Catarina de Medici restaurant on campus, their Italian restaurant. After a week of roasts, grills, pan-fries, and braises, I couldn't even look at the pork tenderloin he ordered (barded in proscuitto), and I sided with the gnocchi with tomato sauce to get a shot of something different from what we ate all week. The meal was wonderful nonetheless, as I have not seen him for a week, and it was fulfilling to be able to sit down to a meal with him.

We then headed south Saturday afternoon, stopped in Hoboken to visit one of Hubby's friends and his family, and then headed to Philadelphia to stay with my father until Sunday. Saturday night, we had dinner with Dad in one of the restaurants owned by the family Kuo - probably the only Chinese food I would ever really enjoy and be able to eat without exhaustion day after day. We ordered some sauteed Chinese broccoli rabe, stir-fried dried tofu with chicken strips (what the manager called the lay-man (their cooking crew) food), and a dish of deep-fried fish with vegetables. Brown rice all around - I knew I craved it!

Sunday, we had dim-sum at another one of the Kuo's restaurants, and what wonderful dim-sum they have! We ordered a variety of dumplings, with mini pork buns, and flaky turnip buns. After lunch, we gathered our things, and headed back down home to DC.

Yesterday wasn't too eventful eatingwise - I enjoyed my variety of Asian apple-pears and apples during the day. Egg salad sandwich with a molasses cookie for lunch, and I was definitely coming back to my first day at work hitting the ground running. I also visited my friend Jess, who just had her second baby - and as she and her Hubby have just moved into their still-under-renovation house, I thought it would be nice to bring some food over for them. And I can hardly believe I'm going to say this, but I will be bringing a roast - just when I thought I couldn't possibly make another one for ages to come!

Tonight, I decided on a simple soup, not too complicated, as I arrived home a little later than usual after my bike ride home (yup, I rode my 14 miles today). Things to report on my bike ride - in the morning and the evening rides, I took my time, didn't push it too hard, since, alas, it has been basically 2 weeks since I took to my bike last. I could definitely feel the lump in my stomach rising as I rode - it's alive! My pants today fit tighter than before, but just before I left this morning, when I took my weight, I still hadn't gained any weight since my weight before the CIA. But by the end of the day, when I stepped on the scale again - somehow, during the course of the day, I managed to gain 5 pounds. I really have no idea how - the only thing I can think of is that my body was retaining a lot of water after my ride this morning, to replenish and rehydrate; and perhaps it was also drawing water from the fruits I was eating. Who knows!

So tonight was my first cooking experience after the CIA. I used some of my learned skills for mise en place, and if there is one thing that I have learned during my time there, it is the need for a certain level of subtlety (no barding, no roasting). I decided on a soup that Hubby enjoys at the Kuos' restaurants...


Seafood egg drop hot/sour soup
I chopped up some carrots and half of a Chinese squash I brought home from Dad's (sorry, I don't know what the name is for it in English, but I do know in Taiwanese it is pronounced "boo-ah"). I also chopped up a flounder fillet and about 6 large shrimps. I had some left-over shrimp shells, frozen from past cooking times, which I browned in olive oil to draw out their sweetness and their flavor. I then added some water to deglaze the pan, and to simmer out more flavor from the shells into the broth. I then strained the broth to remove the shells, and setting the pan back on the heat, I added the chopped carrots and squash. This mixture simmered as is for about 30 minutes on medium heat - I skimmed the scum off the top every so often.

About 5 minutes before serving, I added the shrimps and flounder, skimmed any scum that came to the surface, and I beat in 1 egg white. I seasoned lightly with a touch of soy sauce, a touch of black vinegar, a touch of sugar, some salt, and white pepper. This soup - it was really wonderful. Light, but as Hubby says, hearty without being heavy. The soft, velvet of the simmered vegetables contrasted against the heartiness of the meats. The salty, spicy, and sour flavors of the soup balanced well. It wasn't heavy, though, like a stew - but we enjoyed it immensely. I guess after my week at the CIA, I did learn something all new after all!