smooth sailin'

I had this fantasy that after I gave notice at my current job that it'd be all smooth sailin', and that I'd just be taking long lunches including cocktails and lots of laughter every day, then I'd come back and take my afternoon nap. I'd make my rounds chatting with all my work-pals and reminiscing over old times. I'd probably come in late and leave early. There would probably be lots of gifts and balloons and cake, especially cake. Homemade, even.

But, you know what? It is nothing of the sort! They are working my little fingers to nubs trying to squeeze out all they can from me while I'm still here, and additionally, I'm training my replacement which takes up a couple hours each day, which in turn makes me busier the rest of the day. What the bleep?!

I guess the upside of this is knowing how much I'm Truly Needed and such. (Bah, humbug to that!)

But, anyway.

The weekend was fab. Friday I got to meet up with my old therapist (whom I *adore*) for a drink after work. She was in town for just a few days, so I was really touched that she made a point to see me. I wish I could keep her forever and ever.

Then I just laid low the rest of Friday, and hung out with my gal for a bit when she stopped by after work. I made us tofu sandwiches (that I forgot to photograph; a theme this weekend, I'm afraid). But, it was whole wheat toast, fresh baby spinach, grilled onions, mayo, mustard, and some tofu that I sliced thinly, and grilled in a hot pan with a generous couple squirts of Bragg's liquid aminos. Yumtastic. I think I'm going to make that again for dinner tonight...

Saturday I hit the Strip in the morning for my (near weekly) dose of Cafe Richard's fabulously fluffy and delicious quiche. I asked what the veggie quiche of the day was, and the fella said "salmon and goat cheese". heh. But I went with the other vegetarian selection--wild mushroom and onion. Not quite as amazing as last week's wild mushroom and spinach one, but close. And, I got some mini tarts--coconut and lemon, and some big beautiful butter croissants.

I ate the quiche right away, but tucked the croissants into a bag with some water for my road trip with Barbara--all the way down to Canonsburg! We were looking at antique toys and general kitsch. After poking around in nostalgia for a few hours we'd worked up an appetite and wanted to quench it old-school style. So, we searched for a diner, but the closest we came was King's. We ate some food that was too 'eh' to recount here, but a good time was had nonetheless.

That evening we hit Operation Sappho to both Break It Down and Shake It-Shake It on the dance floor. Right before we headed out they played "PYT"!

Sunday morning we hit up the Square Cafe for brunch, then did a couple hours of babysitting for her adorable niece, then kicked it at my house for Sunday dinner and an L-Word marathon. I made a quorn roast, fingerling potatoes with butter and parsley and some steamed asparagus. It was a little boring, but tasty and totally homestyle. Of course, I again forgot to photograph it.

But, here's a little picture of the K-Bear and Mama (pronounced with a European inflection) kickin' it, for your viewing enjoyment:

valentine's day: the worst of times, then the best of times

Woo buddy, yesterday was a big day all around. I accepted the new job, broke the news to the current job. I (finally) started my period. I had a headache all day. But, I sure was looking forward to hanging out with my gal last night. So, I left work a tiny bit (like, 15 minutes) early, but then had to wait almost 40 minutes (in a poor choice of not-warm coat) for a bus that actually had room to pick me up--only to get back to my car, and find that I was completely lodged in sludge, and someone was parked about two inches behind me and I was stuck. So, I walked up to the RiteAid to get salt, only to find that they were out of salt. I called Barbara (PYT!) in near-tears to come save me with copious amounts of salt and a shovel. Of course, right after I called, the person behind me pulled out, but she'd already left. So, I waited, and nearly was stuck again. But, then she came. And, even though I didn't need her assistance anymore, I still was feeling frustrated and frazzled, and seeing her was a huge relief.

So, I got back in my car, and sped off to get home, wrap up my little valentines for my valentine, get together the stuff for our fab dinner, pack up the car and the K-Bear and bust a move to my lady's abode. But, as soon as I got on the parkway, it was stopped dead. I sat in traffic for another half hour or so, and finally made it home (did I mention I'd had to pee super-badly since I'd left work?), and realized I'd started my period. And, then the cramps started kicking in earnest--no more messing around. I popped some ibuprofen, gathered up the goodies, and went on my way. But, I had to stop at the Uni-Mart on the way. At which point I slipped on some ice, and fell in a cold, wet puddle, and soaked my pants, longjohns and unders to the skin. So, I turned around to go home and change again, and called Barbara with an update. At which point she offered to order dinner in for us so we could just relax and enjoy one another's company once I (finally) got there. Which was a wonderful and thoughtful suggestion, and the perfect thing for that moment.

Finally I arrived and fell into her lovin' arms, and everything was suddenly a-okay again, all right with the world.

I haven't had a valentine in years and years and years, and had gotten to the point where I thought it was just a silly and frivolous thing and not worth nothin'. But, now it's my new favorite holiday. I know I am gushing. I might even be making you gag. Well, too bad, so sad! I [heart] my valentine!

We had some delicious pizza, she doctored up the salad she ordered and made it delicious, we had a little champagne, and exchanged our valentines while the K-Bear and Mama (her dear dog) flirted and exchanged their own valentines (they both got one another dehydrated chicken breasts!). We watched Lost. We gazed into one another's eyes while expressing sweet nothings. She rubbed my neck and shoulders. The world was my oyster.

Mama's coquettish look:


K-Bear's love-me-I-am-vulnerable look:


Plus, she made the cutest valentine package Of All Time! Remember when you were a kid in grade school, and you decorated your special valentine box for the big valentine exchange? She made one! The cutest one ever! And, it was chock full of the sweetest and most thoughtful things in town.


This is how we roll on Valentine's Day:


I love that girl.

officially winter

Okay, so we've been playing at winter here for a while--some cold, some flurries, our winter coats and hats and gloves. But, it finally hit for real. The roads are bad, and intermittently scary, there's real snow (I think I had about 5" at my house by yesterday afternoon). I even got to leave work early yesterday! What does all this mean to you? It just means that I'm planning on using it as an excuse for not blogging for a few days. That, and my uterus has been playing games (not fun games) with me for nearly a week now. I am a cranky, bloated, tender, crampy, uterachey, crompy monster. But, that said, I'm real glad to be back to bloggin'!

First of all, the vegan-flavor cupcakes for Kramer's birthday celebration. I ended up making a sort of "almond joy" type of cupcake. I made the coconut cupcake recipe from this blog. As for the frosting, I made a chocolate-almond flavor, and I just kinda winged it like she suggests. I used powdered sugar, Earth Balance, a little hemp milk, some cocoa, some vanilla and almond extracts, and just kept beating it and tasting it until I was happy with it. Then I topped them with the toasted coconut and slivered almonds. They were yum--and cute! Here's a close-up, and one of Kramer blowing out her candles.


"blow like you've never blown before"


Also, Taste of India was pretty tasty, but I don't know if there's a place that can unseat Udipi from the top seat in my heart for Indian fare in the 'Burgh.

Saturday Barbara (PYT) made a little light dinner and hung out and played Skip-bo with me while I complained about my uterache. Obviously, I am a big bowl o' fun around this time of the month!

Couscous with garlic and veggies:


The next morning we made a big breakfast, and it was magically delicious! Sunday Brunch is my favorite meal of the week. She made her famous tofu scramble and some veggie sausages and coffee. I made some roasted dill potatoes, peanut butter-n-jelly french toast (from a recipe that came from a kid's cook book that my brother and I had when we were little), and some fresh-squeezed oj. So tasty and perfect for a chilly morning.


Sunday afternoon we went to a Baby Party. It was for her niece Violet's first birthday. However, I mistakenly thought that it meant [Dress Like a] Baby Party, and showed up in a diaper and bonnet. Boy, was that embarrassing for the first meeting with her extended family!

[Just kiddin', folks. It was a really cute baby party with delicious cake, and hilarious baby antics.]

In other news, my sandwich addiction this week is egg salad with fake bacon. I had an "Egg Salad BLT" at Hoi Polloi last week, and had been thinking about it since. Also, E-dawg and I had been talking about subbing all or most of the mayo in egg salad for greek yogurt, and then Heidi posted another egg salad recipe a few days ago. So, I gave that a whirl. I used 4 eggs, 1 T. mayo, 2 T. fage 0% greek yogurt as the base. But, it just was a little too tangy, and not enough mayo-y for my liking, so I'll likely switch back, or at least flip-flop the mayo to yogurt ratio. So, to off-set the tanginess I added some minced sweet gherkin, some parsley and salt and pepper. It was good, but not perfect. Adding the fake bacon helps, though.


Night before last I threw together a pasta dish with broccoli and a bastardized alfredo-type sauce. I didn't use a recipe, just threw some stuff together--a little half and half, a little marsala, a little parmesan, a little freshly grated nutmeg, a little garlic and onion, a little butter, some salt and pepper. It turned out pretty good!


Tonight I'm doing some shopping for tomorrow's valentine's dinner with Barbara (aka PYT). I'm going to try the recipe that's on the cover of the new Vegetarian Times magazine for a vegetable wellington. Sounds deelish!

not fit for man nor beast

Dang, it is cold and windy today! My car doors were frozen shut this morning, and the K-Bear had to hide out in the basement (my screen door doesn't seal well, and when it's windy it makes an eerie oooh-oooh-oooh sound that he finds to be especially terrifying). The temperature was -7 today with the windchill. Yet, it looks deceptively sunny outside. It's trying to lure us out into the elements so it can freeze us to death. E-dawg said she nearly froze solid walking across the bridge to downtown this morning. Yow!

But, yesterday was pretty nice, huh? I mean, yeah, it was kinda rainy and stuff, but warm-ish (relatively speaking). Plus, I went over to my lady's house for dinner. Yum. PYT made some tofu panfried in butter and capers, some mashed potatoes with cheddar and scallions and some asparagus with lemon and butter. So deelish! It totally hit the spot. I wish I had the same thing Right Now for lunch. It's too darn cold to go out, and I didn't bring lunch because I had high hopes that Mags and I were gonna get lunch. I tried to talk Kramer into making a bike delivery of Java Fried Rice today, but no such luck.


Also, for the curious out there, here's PYT. Maybe you've seen her around? The cutest gal in town?

(I'm kinda smitten).

this blog and blogger officially approve of the four-day work week. let it be so.

I took a long weekend. Left work at 2pm on Friday, and didn't go back until 8:30 a.m. this morning. Now, that is what I call a weekend. That's as it should be. I think I would be really, really great at living a Life Of Leisure.

It was a good weekend. I did my cooking and delivery on Friday, and everything turned out really great--seriously, my best incarnation thus far of the burgers and carrot fries. Once I actually started cooking I stopped being Aunt Frantic, then it was just good times. It was to feed a band, Ember Swift-n-band, that came through for the Queer Songwriters Night. I got to hang out while they started eating, and I got lots of good feedback, which was super-fun. And, a request to deliver to Canada! Here are a few of them chowing down:


One of the recipes I used was Heidi's recipe for vegan caesar salad that she adapted from Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero's new book Veganomicon. Oh. my. god. This dressing is one of the Best Things I've Ever Tasted. Make it! Eat it! Love it! I really want that cook book now, too. I've paged through Post Punk Kitchen quite a few times and Moskowitz's Vegan With a Vengeance, and their recipes are great.

After the drop-off I picked up PYT for our own dinner. We'd planned to hit one of my favorites, Abay, but then decided to check out the new Ethiopian place, Tana. There's been some difference of opinion amongst my group of peeps over the new place. I have to come down on the side of "eh". It was okay, not totally horrible, but not great. The food and service and selection at Abay are WAY better. It's odd that Tana would choose to locate their restaurant only a block from an already successful Ethiopian restaurant (and the only other one in town). Anyhow, I probably won't go back, but I do wish them luck.

Then we went back to catch the show at Modern Formations. Unfortunately, we missed Steffanny/Stephanie-Kaye (I really liked her when I saw her play last year), and we just got Tracy Drach's last song (you should see her "outta sight!" dance!), but we saw Ember Swift's whole set. I hadn't really heard them before, and was pleasantly surprised! Her guitar/bass/voilin player and songwriting partner Lyndell Montgomery was ah-mazing! She played her guitar with a bow, and then banged on the body with it for percussion. Wowza. And, the drummer, Liz, was also really incredible. Good stuff! [Next month Garrison Star will be performing. Check out the series' myspace here!]

Saturday was a lazy day of lunching and browsing and shopping around town with PYT, and then an early night home. Sunday we were invited to brunch with our pals Nat and Heather. Heather made her patently fantastic french toast with raspberries and blueberries and fresh whipped cream. She also made some Scotch eggs, but I didn't try them due to the copious amount of meat. (PYT wants me to investigate a veggie version of these; they did look really good). There were also fruity champagne cocktails, delicious coffee, fruit, fabulous cheese, and I made some cinnamon rolls.


I used a recipe that I'd been eyeing up from the November 2007 issue of Fine Cooking magazine. The article was titled "Cinnamon Buns in Less Than an Hour" by Kathy Kingsley. Right on! They use a biscuit dough to cut the time instead of a yeasted dough that has to rise several times. I was worried they'd be too dense--especially because I used mostly whole wheat flour, but they actually came out really nice and tasty. Next time I think I'll add some orange zest to the filling, and make the glaze orange (with reduced orange juice and orange zest in place of the milk and vanilla). Here's my adaptation of the original recipe (can't link the original because you have to subscribe to the site to get the recipe):

Fastest Cinnamon Buns
yields 12 buns.

FOR THE DOUGH:
3/4 c. cottage cheese (the original recipe specified 4% milkfat, but I used 2%)
1/3 c. fage 0% total greek yogurt (original recipe was buttermilk)
1/4 c. sugar
4 T. unsalted butter, melted
1 t. pure vanilla extract
2 c. flour (I used 3/4 c. of unbleached white flour and 1 1/4 c. whole wheat flour)
1 T. baking powder
1/2 t. fine-grain sea salt
1/4 t. baking soda

FOR THE FILLING:
1 T. unsalted butter, melted
2/3 c. packed light or dark brown sugar (I used half dark, half light)
1 1/2 t. ground cinnamon
1/2 t. ground allspice
1/4 t. ground cloves
1 c. chopped pecans

FOR THE GLAZE:
2/3 c. powdered sugar
2-3 T. cold milk
1 t. pure vanilla extract

Heat oven to 400F. Grease the sides and bottom of a 9-10" round pan.

Make the dough: In a food processor, combine the cottage cheese, yogurt, sugar, melted butter and vanilla. Process until smooth, about 10 seconds. Add the flour, baking powder, salt and baking soda, and pulse in short bursts until the dough clumps together (don't overprocess!). The dough will be soft and moist.

Scrape the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead it 4 or 5 times until smooth. With a rolling pin, roll the dough into a 12x15" rectangle.

Make the filling: Brush the dough with the melted butter, leaving a 1/2" border unbuttered around the edges. In a medium bowl, combine the brown sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and cloves. Sprinkle the mixture over the buttered area of the dough and pat gently into the surface. Sprinkle the nuts over the sugar mixture.

Starting at a long edge, roll up the dough jelly roll style. Pinch the seam to seal, and leave the ends open.

With a sharp knife, cut the roll into 12 equal pieces. Set the pieces, cut side up, in the prepared pan; they should fill the pan and touch slightly, but don't worry if there are small gaps.

Bake until golden brown and firm to the touch (20-28 minutes; mine took just 20). Set the pan on a wire rack to cool for 5 minutes. Run a spatula around the inside edge of the pan. Transfer the rolls to a serving plate (I did the ol' plate on top, and flip out onto another plate trick).

Make the glaze: In a small bowl, mix the powdered sugar, 2 T. milk and vanilla to make a smooth glaze. It should have a thick but pourable consistency, so add up to 1 T. more milk if necessary. Drizzle the glaze over the rolls. Let stand 15 minutes and serve. I also sprinkled on a little extra powdered sugar for cuteness sake.

Yum. And, the smell that fills your house while these are baking is positively heavenly!

So, anyway, back to brunch. I had to scoot out early so I could make it to the hypnosis session I'd scheduled for that afternoon. And, it actually ended up being the same guy that I'd looked up online. Leaving the session I had high hopes, and had no desire to smoke on the drive home (from Washington Co). But, then that night around 9:30-ish, I started wanting to smoke really, really badly. And, that happened a couple times yesterday, too. So, the jury is still out. I think it might have helped a little, but my cravings definitely aren't gone. But, he also suggested lots of water and vegetables, and I have been wanting both a lot. Here's the salad I made when I got home (and I've reprised this several times since):


It's baby spinach, some tofu that I drained/pressed, then sliced super-thin and pan-fried with a little toasted sesame oil and Bragg's, some of my leftover croutons from the delivery the other day, diced carrots, dried cranberries, toasted pine nuts, radish sprouts and a lot of freshly ground black pepper. (That just made my stomach growl).

Tonight PYT is making me dinner. Can't wait!

no, pancakes. really.

Okay, the Hurd was right (with regards to her comment yesterday). PYT was indeed referring to actual mac-n-cheese pancakes. She'd developed a fondness for them from visiting Shopsin's in her ol' stomping grounds of Brooklyn. Check out the menu! It's off the hook! Okay, so anyway, I did not make mac-n-cheese pancakes, but I did make the Alton Brown recipe for Next Day Mac-and-Cheese "Toast". They turned out pretty well, but I actually think the regular mac-n-cheese was better because it had more moisture/creaminess. But, still. Pretty yum.

I also made a salad with butter lettuce, chevre and roasted beets. I made a vinaigrette with some olive oil, balsamic vinegar, some dry mustard, a little honey, a couple cloves of garlic, some crushed red pepper flakes, sea salt and freshly ground black pepper. Whisked it all togheter, then tossed the beets in that, and roasted them, and also drizzled a little on the salad. I wanted to add avocado, too, but it wasn't ripe yet. And, wanted to add some toasted walnuts, but forgot (d'oh).

PYT made a bean dish with green and white beans sauteed with some garlic and butter (she said she normally puts buttered bread crumbs on top, but skipped it since the mac-n-cheese was all about breadcrumbs. It was SO good! This is my new favorite way to eat green beans. Dang. Deelish! It reminds me a little of a Heidi recipe (from Super Natural Cooking) for pan sauteed white beans called golden-crusted something...

All in all, a delicious dinner for a winter evening.
(look, in the picture below you can see PYT's toes!)


The boys anxiously awaited leftovers

follow-up to mac-n-cheese

Oh, dang. Doods. That *was* the best mac-n-cheese ever! I can't wait to see how the "pancakes" come out. Also, PYT is planning to make one of her own special dishes with green and white beans, and I can't wait to try it.

Unfortunately I forgot to bring some mac-n-cheese for lunch. I guess it's for the best since I'm going to have the "cakes" tonight, but still. I was just uploading the pictures, and it made my stomach start growling.





Of course, mac-n-cheese isn't the healthiest of dishes, but dang and dang. So good. It doesn't get much more comforty than that. Also, I don't know if you can really tell from the photo, but that is one of my new kitchen items. My mom got that ceramic baking dish (it's KitchenAid, and super heavy and awesome) for me for xmas. And, she got me a KitchenAid food processor. Heaven, pure heaven.





yay.

mac-n-cheese!

Is there anything better than mac-n-cheese? (hint: the answer is a resounding "NO!").

A few days ago PYT asked if it was possible to make "mac-n-cheese pancakes". And, while the idea of a mac-n-cheese and pancake hybrid was slightly alarming, I think what she actually meant was mac-n-cheese In The Form Of a patty type thing, In The Shape Of pan-fried goodness. So, I did a little searching on The Internets (you know, the series of tubes), and found a recipe for Alton Brown's Baked Macaroni and Cheese, and conveniently there was a linked recipe for Next Day Mac and Cheese "Toast".

Since PYT and I are planning to make dinner tomorrow, I decided to give these "pancakes" a whirl. So, right now I have mac-n-cheese in the oven. And, I think it is going to be ba-BOMB. For reals. I tried the pre-baked stuff, and it was already the Best Mac-n-Cheese Ever. So, tonight I get to eat some of the straight-up mac-and-cheese, and tomorrow I get to (hopefully) impress PYT with golden goodness.

So, here's my adaptation of Alton Brown's Baked Macaroni and Cheese:

Baked Macaroni and Cheese
serves 6-8

1/2 lb. elbow macaroni
3 T. butter
3 T. flour (I used whole wheat flour)
1 T. powdered mustard
3 c. milk
1/2 c. yellow onion, finely diced
1 bay leaf
1/2 t. paprika
1/4 t. cayenne
1 large egg
12 oz. shredded cheese (I used a mix of yellow and white cheddar, chevre & gruyere)
1 t. sea salt
freshly ground black pepper (I used LOTS of pepper)

topping:
3 T. butter
1 c. panko
3 T. finely chopped fresh parsley
1 T. grated meyer lemon zest (my nod to Heidi; she loves lemon zest)
lots of freshly ground black pepper
a pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 350.
In a large pot of boiling, salted water cook the pasta to al dente.
While the pasta is cooking, in a seperate pot, melt the butter. Whisk in the flour and mustard and keep it moving for about five minutes. Make sure it's free of lumps. Stir in the milk, onion, bay leaf, paprika and cayenne. Simmer for ten minutes and remove the bay leaf.
Temper in the egg (this means to mix a little of the hot milk mixture slowly into a beaten egg to bring it up to temperature so the eggs don't scramble, then mix it back into the milk mixture). Stir in 3/4 of the cheese. Season with salt and pepper. Fold the macaroni into the mix and pour into a 2-qt casserole dish. Top with the remaining cheese.
Melt the butter in a saute pan and toss the bread crumbs, parsley and lemon zest to coat. Top the macaroni with the bread crumbs. Bake for 40-45 minutes (I like it really nice and browned on top, so I'm going tutn it up to broil for a few minutes at the end). Remove from oven and rest for five minutes before serving.

And, now it's almost ready to take out of the oven! I'll report back tomorrow with pictures.

blue plate special

Last night I made dinner for PYT, and decided to go with a Blue Plate Special kind of theme, but vegetarian and fancy-fied (sometimes I like to call this "kara-fied" in homage to my peep Kara who is ba-bomb in the kitchen).

Anyhow, I made a burger, fries, vegetable of the day and pie. I kept the "fries" in the oven a little long to stay warm, though, and the potatoes got a little hard. But, still decent.

I made a version of Heidi's Sprouted Garbanzo Burgers, one of my (now) old standbys. I just made a couple of small changes. I didn't use the sprouted chickpeas, 'cause I didn't plan that far ahead (just used canned), swapped out fresh parsley for the sprouts/microgreens, added some sundried tomatoes, roasted red peppers, added a dab of dijon and used a tangerine salt (a la Eric Gower). For the fixin's, I used some sliced avocado, some roasted red peppers, some White Diamond cheddar, some sundried tomato "ketchup" and some remoulade sauce (a la Nowlzie).

For the fries, I again went with my gal Heidi, and used her recipe for Baked Carrot Oven Fries with chipotle-orange dipping sauce. I also used some baby Yukon gold potatoes, and sprinkled them with the tangerine salt and a little minced fresh rosemary, parsley and a couple of shallots.

For veg of the day, I went with some wilted spinach with garlic, crushed red pepper and toasted pinenuts. I love spinach. I could give Popeye a run for his money, for reals.

For dessert, I used this pie recipe. I ended up adding a couple extra tablespoons of butter to the crust because it was a little too crumbly, and added a little vanilla extract into the custard when I added the whiskey. It was tasty, but I think next time I'd add just a tad more sugar to the custard, and a tad of...some kind of spice to give a little more depth of flavor. Maybe some ground cloves? I'm not sure. Also, my bananas weren't totally ripe, so that cut down on the sweetness also. And, I think this would be good with some coconut in the custard, too. Has anyone made a custard with coconut milk? I wonder if you could replace some or all of the milk with coconut milk. I think that would add a nice flavor and a little sweetness.

Here's the din:


And, here's the pie:


All in all, a lovely evening!