Solitary Confinement

Yes, it's longer than I can remember when I last posted to this blog. News from the home front - I pulled an abdominal muscle at the end of our Thanksgiving weekend, and managed to then trigger some contractions, land myself in the hospital for overnight observation, and end up being confined to Doc-prescribed bedrest (read: "solitary confinement") at home through December, until I was off his prescribed contraction-prevention medication. Being a doctor's child, I'm not taken to the miracles of science, and my mind started to race and wander in this lone house. There was only so much I could do here before I start missing human interaction (that started on day 2 of said solitary confinement) and before my mind really felt like it's starting to just break down and soften into the gray matter that it is. Did I take it easy? Sure, not doing much, putting my feet up, being lazy and letting Hubby take care of moving things around. Did I enjoy this time off? Hell no - this was complete and utter torture, day in and day out, counting down the hours of the day. In contrast to my active life before I got tied down, this felt like death to me. Or rather, just like Gitmo.

So, what have I been doing to keep myself busy? As soon as I could, I moved my ops downstairs from the bedroom - staying in bed never did anyone's psyche good, and definitely not for long periods of time. I saw my mother go through that struggle, once confined to her wheelchair when lupus dealt her the hand of paraplegia - talk about a woman who was so active in her life until the day she couldn't be. I don't think she ever did recover from such a huge life change - from respected opthalmologist (and surgeon) to one who, she thought, was viewed as more an invalid and at the receiving end of life, whose hands, so disfigured by lupus-induced rheumatoid arthritis, she didn't trust any longer to operate on patients' eyes and had to resign to an alternate life, one drastically different from one she had envisioned for the majority of her life. In the changes that came with her paraplegia, she was confined to long periods of hospital and bed rest while her body adjusted to the changes; personally, I believe that it was these periods of time when she was limited in her abilities that she began to believe that her abilities, truly, and her life were limited, and that her psyche began to change from one of optimism and hope to one of cynicism and bitterness. But then, aren't all our lives so limited, illness or not.

So to the couch it was, and it felt a lot better to be, at the least, surrounded by reminders of life instead of just by sheets, blankets, and more bedroom. I also continued to cook, albeit with things I already made a while ago an stowed away in the freezer. Manti one night, with yogurt sauce. Steaks that were already marinated, another night, with steamed fresh vegetables.
Chinese seafood soup, with left-over stir-fry from take-out mixed with fresh seafood, another night. Luckily, I did have things enough that were either left-over or stowed away in the freezer that we were able to have dinners prepped without too much time on my feet. And lunches, Hubby brought home lunch to me a couple of days, and I enjoyed sandwiches and other pre-made munchies other days.

But yes, I missed that thing called life.

So, that was week 1, the week I came home from the hospital. A couple of visiting highlights - on Thursday, I had 2 surprise visits from my good friends Jessica and Jessica - two different people, and one scheduled dinner visit from my good friend Melissa. The first Jessica was close by, and brought her new little baby son with her to come pay a visit - what a nice break to the monotony of the days in the house! Shortly after she left, another one of my college friends Jessica stopped by with her little son, and brought me some surprise tasty treats of cheese and bread from our local cheesemonger! A wonderfully yummy break, and again, it was wonderful to see some fresh faces. Then, Melissa, my friend, and yet another college friend, who is also pregnant at about the same time frame as me, brought some Korean bimbimbap over for dinner, and we enjoyed the bimbimbap over some good laughter and conversation. I made some vanilla cupcakes for dessert, as well as a simple salad to start. Thursday was a wonderful break; otherwise, the week would have been quite dull indeed.

By that weekend, I needed a bit of time out of the house - after our dinner Friday night, I got Hubby to walk with me to our local custadry for a bit of sweet. Boy, it felt so good to be out of the house - it truly was a breath of fresh air, enough to help me feel more alive. And less horizontal - it's amazing that That Saturday morning, I walked to the farmer's market, the last showing of fruits vegetables for the year. I picked up some local Fuji apples, and I also made a stop to one of our local bakeries for some pastries.

So that was week 1, and by week 2, I was pretty much up and running again. Not by the literal sense, not at all - however, I did manage to keep myself busy at home, doing this and that, wrapping presents, completing Christmas shopping, and taking care of keeping the house in some semblance of order and cleanliness. And by the time Christmas rolled around, the house was in good order; Hubby had surprised me one weekend with our Christmas tree; and the tree was decorated and adorned with our presents. For Christmas, Dad had come down from Philadelphia, and my father in law also came over for Christmas Day dinner. And for that dinner... my bottled creativity got an outlet.

Red roasted pork shoulder
This was a dish that Hubby had requested, to nod to tradition of pork during the holidays. Granted, little Piglet will be born in the year of the Pig - and to that, we will withdraw from consuming pork the first week of its birth. But, for Christmas - we celebrated with pork.

To a whole pork shoulder, in a medium heavy pot, of material appropriate for long slow braising in the oven, I added water, just enough to cover. In the mean time, preheat the oven to 275 degrees. Bring to boil for 30 minutes, and drain. On the stove, cover the pork shoulder again, with a mixture of soy sauce, sugar, salt, ginger, and water, and bring to a boil, for 1 hour. Approximate ratios of soy to sugar to salt to water, 1 : 1 : 1/2 : 6 - though I used too much water, and my shoulder came out somewhat bland. Ginger - I used two pieces.

Then the slow braise - I braised the shoulder for about 6 hours, and by the time it was done, the meat basically fell apart. Soft, tender, though not flavorful enough when I tasted it. Luckily, Dad came to my rescue, and recommended that I add some salt to the mixture about half an hour before the dish was scheduled to finish - and sure enough, it helped save the dish. Though the pork did not have as much depth of flavor as we've had at a restaurant one of our family friends owns in Philadelphia, it took for a good start. No doubt I will try this dish again - and hopefully with more tasteful results!


New Year's Eve. Hubby and I have taken to producing multi-course meals for our friends and colleagues; however, I have never had the pleasure of giving this treat to my own Hubby. December having been quite a trial of our patience and mortality, I thought it appropriate to have a celebratory dinner come the eve of the last day of the year. So for the dinner...

1. Bellinis. I made mine with peach puree and sparkling apple cider in lieu of champagne, Hubby's with sparkling rose and peach puree.
2. Chicken, asparagus, and parsley terrine, with cherry pear sauce. The terrine I prepared with vegetable stock. I stacked steamed asparagus with chicken and parsley on top, and poured on the stock/gelatin mixture.
3. Shepherd's pie - miniature versions, with toasted challah as the crust, in a small 2" round, stacked with roasted pork and buttered mashed potato topping.
4. Salami carpaccio with mixed greens. I used some cured beef (in lieu of the traditional raw variety), served with a mix of baby greens, olive oil, fresh squeeze of lemon juice, and freshly ground sea salt and pepper.
5. Roasted lamb chops with lemon risotto. I took advantage of Trader Joe's pre-marinated chops, roasted 2 each for us, and served with risotto cooked just to al-dente, with yet a bit of bite, and Hubby helped shave in a good portion of parmesan into the mixture. Making a small batch of this was much easier than making larger amounts for our typical 8-10 attendee parties.
6. Cheeses. From our local cheesemonger, I selected 3 hard cheeses, to help with digesting the meal.
7. King cake. I found the recipe online, baked the cake as I prepared the other dishes, and Hubby and I enjoyed the cake that evening, and for may days and evenings thereafter. This cake is a tradition of Mardi Gras proper - I decided to make this cake for reasons which I will explain below.
8. Hot chocolate. So easy, and so good when made from scratch. Half and half, mixed with shavings of bittersweet chocolate. The more chocolate, the richer. Bring to simmer, NOT BOIL, over low heat until melted. This I served in small shot glasses - as they were quite rich enough to have only in small doses, not much more.

So the background of this meal - I designed the meal along the lines of the 12 days of Christmas. The bird motifs - represented by the chicken terrine. Maids a milking, the cheese. Drummers, the shepherd's pie (in shape). Ladies dancing (Fruit of the holy spirit) - the bellinis and the pear sauce that accompanied the terrine. Lords a-leaping - the hot chocolate would be enough to send anyone leaping along through the night. 5 golden rings, well herein was the king cake.

So yes, I've been cooking, quite a bit. And yes, alas, I have left this blog to sit idle. Until now - my good friend Stef has called my attention back to it, and I can use this opportunity to continue tracking my culinary adventures and food habits as my pregnancy progresses. And yes, now, the belly has grown, quite a bit I might add. The countdown has begun to the birth date of little Piglet, who squiggles this way and that, making its presence quite known, to both Hubby and myself.

And now, for a little view of my most recent cooking adventure - this evening's dinner. Clockwise, from upper left - spicy squid with bell peppers; stir-fried chicken with mixed vegetables; salt and pepper fried shrimp; and simple stir-fried Chinese cabbage. The squid, I scored the inside of the squid pieces so that they would curl up as I stir fried them, added the bell peppers and a healthy dollop of spicy bean sauce. The chicken, I first seasoned the chicken slices with some salt, stir fried them with slices of carrots and a can of premixed Asian vegetables (baby corn, bamboo, and bean sprouts). The shrimps - just some oil, about a tablespoon, and cooked the shrimps until they curled and were opaque. A coarse grind of sea salt and black peppercorns, and the dish was done. And for the cabbage - thin slices of the stems, of about 12 leaves of cabbage, with larger slices of the leafy parts, tossed in 1 tablespoon of hot oil with baby shrimps. I added about 1/4 cup of chicken broth, covered the pan, and steamed the cabbage until done. Chinese cabbage, like most leafy vegetables, is a funny ingredient - you start with a huge pile of vegetables, and once done, the water has leached out of the vegetable and the cabbage completely deflates, to about 1/4 its original volume.

I return now to my blog - and I will try my damnest to keep it up day by day!