Although I did a lot of baking during the winter holidays, I failed to blog about it. Bummer. I was inspired to write the first post of 2011 after taking a fantastic cooking class about five blocks away from my house, in the home of a woman who has been teaching for over 15 years. And learning in a home (seems obvious, I know) is so much better than learning in an industrial kitchen for cooking classes. Three hours later, I emerged with the knowledge of how to butterfly and roast a chicken, make refrigerator soup, chicken stock, easy potato and gruyere pizza, almond paste cake, and cornbread pudding. Woah. It was awesome, as were the little tips and tricks for using every last bit of what you buy.
I've officially adopted the 'real food, only' philosophy, as evidenced by my trip to the grocery store yesterday. Sapun's list: frozen boxed meals. Mine: bagged vegetables, and lots of them. Although his meals aren't really that bad - they're from Trader Joe's, and almost all of the ingredients are "real", I think I realized this weekend that I kind of enjoy putting together a wholesome, complete meal. When I have time, that is. And I can't get too distracted, as this is the last full semester of law school... then summer semester...and then, let the job-hunting begin. I suppose I should start earlier than that to look, but I think a little time off may ease the burnout I seem to be experiencing at the moment.
So, I was also inspired to do a little cooking Saturday night, right after class. A friend brought over whole fish (trout), and we roasted some beets with sweet potatoes (delicious, especially with the addition of toasted walnuts), sauteed the beet greens with a little garlic, and made olive oil & coconut brownies (I can't stop eating these, even though mine do not look like the photo). Finally, we were ready to tackle our fish which - it turns out - were not cleaned. Oh boy. Neither of us had cleaned a fish before, and hadn't the first clue how... rather than taking it back to the store, we decided it was time to learn a new life skill. I am so ready to be stranded on a desert island now. As long as I have the right equipment, of course, and someone else stranded there happens to know how to catch one.
Four YouTube videos (played multiple times) and five websites with very graphic fish-cleaning photos later, we had built up the courage to make our incisions. And then, perform the rest of the tasks. It was surprisingly cleaner than anticipated (based largely on the videos), although we took our sweet time. About an hour and a half later, we had 2 lovely, very clean, fish to get in the oven. A few slices of lime + some cloves of garlic, and they were ready to eat in about 20 minutes. Voila! We had a well-rounded meal and even some leftovers for the week.
Next up: figuring out how to pack a well-balanced, but never-boring lunch. No more turkey sandwiches with pesto for me... I need a little more punch to my lunch. I started with a quinoa salad, leftover veggies, pomegranate seeds, and goat cheese, with lemon juice & olive oil on top. Delicious! Other favorite recipe suggestions?
I've officially adopted the 'real food, only' philosophy, as evidenced by my trip to the grocery store yesterday. Sapun's list: frozen boxed meals. Mine: bagged vegetables, and lots of them. Although his meals aren't really that bad - they're from Trader Joe's, and almost all of the ingredients are "real", I think I realized this weekend that I kind of enjoy putting together a wholesome, complete meal. When I have time, that is. And I can't get too distracted, as this is the last full semester of law school... then summer semester...and then, let the job-hunting begin. I suppose I should start earlier than that to look, but I think a little time off may ease the burnout I seem to be experiencing at the moment.So, I was also inspired to do a little cooking Saturday night, right after class. A friend brought over whole fish (trout), and we roasted some beets with sweet potatoes (delicious, especially with the addition of toasted walnuts), sauteed the beet greens with a little garlic, and made olive oil & coconut brownies (I can't stop eating these, even though mine do not look like the photo). Finally, we were ready to tackle our fish which - it turns out - were not cleaned. Oh boy. Neither of us had cleaned a fish before, and hadn't the first clue how... rather than taking it back to the store, we decided it was time to learn a new life skill. I am so ready to be stranded on a desert island now. As long as I have the right equipment, of course, and someone else stranded there happens to know how to catch one.
Four YouTube videos (played multiple times) and five websites with very graphic fish-cleaning photos later, we had built up the courage to make our incisions. And then, perform the rest of the tasks. It was surprisingly cleaner than anticipated (based largely on the videos), although we took our sweet time. About an hour and a half later, we had 2 lovely, very clean, fish to get in the oven. A few slices of lime + some cloves of garlic, and they were ready to eat in about 20 minutes. Voila! We had a well-rounded meal and even some leftovers for the week.Next up: figuring out how to pack a well-balanced, but never-boring lunch. No more turkey sandwiches with pesto for me... I need a little more punch to my lunch. I started with a quinoa salad, leftover veggies, pomegranate seeds, and goat cheese, with lemon juice & olive oil on top. Delicious! Other favorite recipe suggestions?
Comments
Post a Comment