Tag Archives: food

Personal Blog

Pie experiments

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Occasionally Whole Foods has really good deals on fresh berries, so tonight I picked up some blackberries with nothing in mind to do with them. When I got home I began to crave pie. I didn’t have enough blackberries to make an entire pie, but I did have a few apples laying around, so I figured I’d be experimental.

Internet, blackberry apple pie is quite possibly one of my most delicious baking experiments yet! It has such an unusual combination of flavor and texture, it’s just so. Just so I tell you!

Oh how I love pie!

Games and Game Development, Personal Blog

Chicago!

Hooray for visits!! This weekend I made a brief jaunt up to Chicago to visit D Flo, who has been wanting visits since my short stay with him last year before my Japan trip (note, I still haven’t put up all my pictures from that, doh!)

I arrived at Midway and trained my way downtown successfully, with the loss of only one man. Two mans left for the rest of the weekend! (Also, D Flo, I swear there is no means of transferring from the red line to the orange line at Lake without leaving the station!)

We ate at a Mexican restaurant which was alright, except I think they made their tortilla chips with flour tortillas instead of corn. Grah! We then went to Best Buy and picked up a cheap compilation game for the xBox with Ghost Recon and Splinter Cell, and spent the latter part of the evening gaming away.

D Flo’s new pad is super nice, especially compared to his old no-bedroom one. It is great big and decorated in a very D Flo style, with hardwood floors all around. It is also right above a bar, and the living room (where I slept) was right above the stage area. It wasn’t so bad except that Friday night was apparently Live Punk Rock night.

Saturday I slept in, a big step for the no-later-than-8 trend I have picked up since starting work, but it was mostly attributed to the aforementioned punk rock show. We went out to grab food at a diner, and my appetite made a guest appearance, which I took advantage of.

We went down to Navy Pier and hopped on a boat tour (one of D Flo’s friend from his acting class is a tour guide, so we got to go for free). It was really fun and interesting, and since said tour guide was a comedian-in-training, it was entertaining as well. I got a little more sun than I had anticipated, but ah well, it will not kill me

After this, we met up with Rebecca, who works in the box office at the Briar Street theater, and assured me that if she’d known I was coming she could have hooked me up with Blue Man tickets. Doh! I may attempt to take advantage of this on my next Chicago visit.

We dined on Cold Stone (French vanilla with strawberries and oreo mix-ins, yum!) then saw a show at Second City. It was pretty funny sketch comedy and quite enjoyable. I can’t wait to see a show that D Flo is in (his D&D Improv hoo-hah starts up soon!)

After the show, D Flo and I picked up a pizza from the pizzeria right next to his place. T’was my first experience with Chicago style deep dish; it was strange but delicious. We spent the rest of the evening gaming (by which I mean my hands hurt, so I watched him play Splinter Cell).

A fine visit! I would like to go back again and have a museum day, and maybe catch Blue Man Group. Everyone should go visit D Flo and hang out at his new apartment. Win!

In other news, this visit has opened up the gates for a whole line of summer and fall visits! Lisa will have no money! But that’s okay, who wants a visit?

Personal Blog

Baking

I don’t know if Favorite Cake is hereditary for anyone else, but as far as my two favorite cakes, I got spice cake with vanilla icing from my Dad and yellow cake with chocolate icing from my mom.

Thus far my adventures in the new hobby of cooking have mostly stayed within the realm of cooking. I’ve tried a bit of baking offhand–Mexican chocolate cake (DELICIOUS!), homemade lemon bars from scratch (I had a whole bag of lemons, what else was I supposed to do with them?), and brownies (store-bought brownies are better, but when you are too lazy to go to the store, and just happen to have all the ingredients already anyway, why not?)

Today I was attempting to find more recipes for my cast iron skillet, and I found that one can bake a spice cake from scratch in just such a utensil! It is in the oven right now, and smells DIVINE. I’m sure it won’t taste the same as the box brand I’m used to, but it should be delicious enough in its own right if the smell is any indication.

Also, Scott brought home a huuuuuuuuuge pot for my garden on the deck. We were trying to figure out what to plant in such a gigantor pot, and today at the Farmer’s Market I saw a lady selling blueberry bushes. Problem solved.

I love to grow things. I love to nourish people. What should I do with my life?

Personal Blog

Steak

Today’s quote is…

“Yesterday is but a dream, tomorrow is only a vision.
But a today well-lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness,
and every tomorrow a vision of hope..”

Now that I’m mostly cooking for myself, I more easily leave things out of my diet. Red meat, I have noticed, has all but vanished. I decided to get myself a little filet for dinner tonight, since I have been known to have problems with the anemia from time to time.

(In my defense, the last time I donated platelets, the lady said that I had a very high iron count…for a girl. So there!)

Hey, do you want to hear something kind of disgusting? Wheeler said that it was also adorable, but I think it’s mostly just disgusting.

Sometimes when I have a steak that is particularly delicious, but that I know is too big for me to finish, I will cut bites of it off and chew them like gum.

When all the flavor is gone, I spit it back out onto the plate, and get another bite. I do this until the entire steak has been sufficiently gnawed (rest assured, I also never do this in public, or even when anyone else is around, even Scott).

The resulting pile of masticated meat always makes me amazed at how much a stomach can hold.

Personal Blog

Missing Appetite

My appetite has gone missing again.

It vanished the first time, understandably, when Nancy was in the hospital, and then after she died, and then when my Nana died. Supposedly my appetite can not handle such stressors and chooses to leave until they pass.

I thought it was creeping back, and was looking forward to being back to normal, when it suddenly vanished again. I am unsure why. Perhaps the recent botched visit to the rheumatologist? Oh wait, I forgot to tell the internet that story. Later.

Anyway, I took myself to the grocery today intent on buying a treat–something to lure Appetite back from wherever it was hiding. I went up and down aisles, pointing to various tasty things. Do you want some fruit snacks, appetite? Remember how we used to be able to eat a whole box of those? What about some chocolate creme-filled donuts? Some tasty fruit, perhaps? We could make a smoothie! A steak for dinner, perhaps? What about some sugary breakfast cereal?

All to which Appetite replied “eh,” or “meh,” or “nah.” That is, until the end, when it said “take me home right now, or I’ll tell hands and wrists to flare up!” to which I said “but!” and then flaring and writhing ensued.

I’m not sure what to do, or if I should just not worry about it. I worry about too many things.

Personal Blog

Spaghetti Sauce

I’ve been experimenting over the course of several months with trying to make a good spaghetti sauce. I’ve reached a point of consistency, and test driven this sauce with a couple of people (with good results), so it is time to share the recipe with the world!

It’s not terribly exciting sauce, and it is quite basic, but tasty. The best thing about this recipe is that it’s for a SINGLE SERVING. Having to cook for myself most of the time, I’ve found the typical family-to-dinner-party sized recipe to always be way too much for just one (or two).

Anyway, onward to the one-person spaghetti sauce recipe! (Which can be easily doubled)
Ingredients

* 1 tsp olive oil
* 1/2 medium onion diced
* 1 garlic clove finely chopped
* red wine vinegar
* 1 8-oz can of tomato sauce
* Basil
* Oregano
* Chopped bay leaves
* Black pepper
* Cinnamon
* Parmesian cheese

I use a skillet to make this, but I suppose a sauce pan would work. Heat the oil in a skillet on medium-high. Add onions and garlic and cook for a bit. Add some red wine vinegar and stir up the onions, cook for several minutes. Add the tomato sauce and stir, reduce the heat to medium-low. Add spices in amounts to your liking, you only need a very small amount of cinnamon. Cook the sauce until it starts to thicken (maybe 5-7 minutes), stirring frequently. Add parmesian cheese to your liking (I usually use like 1/4 cup) and stir. When the sauce thickens it is ready to serve! It is the perfect amount for pasta for one person.

Personal Blog

Palate Change

Every now and then, I experience a sudden and drastic change in palate. It’s actually probably not so sudden, just that I went so long between “I don’t like this” and trying it to discover otherwise that I missed the inbetween where it changed. Tomatos, salt and vinegar chips, onions, all things I previously was like “UGH GROSS YUCK” then one day suddenly liked them.

I don’t know what compelled me to pick up a piece of bacon this morning and have a nibble, but there it was. Suddenly, I like bacon. A lot.

This doesn’t surprise me entirely, as there has been a long strain of ravenous appreciation for bacon in my family for generations. I’ve always been sort of a black sheep in this regard. Mary Beth says that it was probably my body’s desperate want for salt after my fast yesterday (I had a pukey stomach bug all day)

Fortunately, this works out in my favor, because I’d always enjoyed cooking bacon, even though I never liked to eat it.

Wait, what? Oh! Merry Christmas!

Personal Blog

Bacon Paste??

Last night Scott and I had the most glorious of Christmas dinners for our friends. If there is one thing I truly enjoy, it is nourishing those I love.

I made the same turkey that my mother made for Thanksgiving, and I have been asked to share its SECRET.

Well, it’s not actually a secret, I got the recipe from my mom, and she probably got it off the internet somewhere. But secret it or no, it is a tasty way to prepare a turkey!

Get yourself a blender, and in it put 1/2 pound of raw, chopped bacon, 1/4 cup chopped parsley, 1 1/2 Tablespoons thyme leaves, 1/4 teaspoon salt and 1/2 teaspoon of pepper. Blend until you have a nice, disgusting “bacon paste” (ew ew!).

So you’ve got a big ‘ole turkey, right? Separate its skin on the breast and legs. Shove the bacon paste under the skin and press on the outside to distribute it evenly. This is really disgusting. In fact, if anyone planning on eating the turkey later is around, encourage them not to come into the kitchen. They may change their mind.

However! The results after roasting are DELICIOUS. You get a nice, smokey taste to your turkey, that everyone at my dinner agreed was excellent.

Personal Blog

Cookins

Brendan frequently nags me to start a recipe blog, since I love to cook so much. I do not do this because most of the recipes I cook are not my own, there are ones I have found (and generally modified).

Tonight, however, I cooked a meal of my own devising (although I did sort of borrow the spices from that chicken curry recipe, but that’s because they were here in the house). It was geared specifically to help the cold I have right now. Here are three recipes for you…

Sage and Ginger (if I were a tea snob I’d call this an infusion, but I’m not a tea snob) tea

4-5 fresh sage leaves
bunch of grated ginger (maybe 2 teaspoons or a tablespoon)

Put the sage and ginger into a tea infuser, pour over boiling water, steep for at least 30 minutes. Not very exciting, I know, but it really makes my throat feel a lot better. It’s very yummy with honey.

Fried Banana Yogurt Goo

We tried fried bananas the other night at Brendan’s and they were delicious! I threw on a variation. This serves one.

1 banana
cinnamon
plain yogurt
honey
vegetable oil

Pour about a 1/4 to 1/2 inch of vegetable oil into a smallish skillet. Heat on medium-high. Cut up the banana and sprinkle the pieces with cinnamon. Fry the banana slices in the oil, a minute or two each side. Transfer to a bowl. Cover the bananas with plain yogurt and then pour on some honey. Mix it up with a spoon.

The yogurt dish was so I would have something to rescue my mouth from…

Clear-your-stuffed-nose-right-up Pork Chop (this also serves one)

1 pork chop
olive oil
Chopped onion (I used 1/4 of a great big red onion, half of a medium onion would probably do fine)
2 cloves of garlic
1-2 Tablespoons of grated ginger
1-2 teaspoons ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1/2 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2-3/4 can of crushed tomato (I ended up using one can, but it was a bit much) salt
pepper
1/2 cup water
steamed rice for serving

Heat olive oil in a medium skillet and brown the pork chop, about 5 minutes each side. Move the chop to a plate. Add onions to the skillet and brown them, about 5 minutes. Add ginger and garlic and stir. Add coriander, cumin, turmeric, and cayenne. Add the tomatos,water, and salt and pepper to taste. Return the chop to the skillet. Cover and cook until the chop is cooked through, like 10-15 minutes, until the temp inside is 160 degrees. Flip it over once or twice during this time, and add water if the tomato stuff starts getting too pasty. Serve over rice.