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!
Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Thursday, November 16, 2006
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!
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!
Wednesday, November 15, 2006
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!
(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!
Sunday, November 12, 2006
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.
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.
Sunday, November 05, 2006
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
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!
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
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!
Friday, November 03, 2006
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...
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!
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