Monday, September 10, 2012

Updates

It is becoming a very sad pattern that I so rarely update this blog. I'm slightly mortified that it's September and I've only written 9 posts this year. I always say that the reason why I've been so absent is because I've been busy. That's not just a line or an exaggeration. It's very much a reality. It seems like my working career has always been on the busy side, but this year has felt busier than most. It all started early this year in February when my boss was let go, and that was enough to cause quite an upheaval because of all the changes that followed. in spite of all the extra work we had to take on and in spite of the emotional blow of it all, I think we all handled it exceptionally well. The only frustrating and somewhat sad thing is that no one else is telling us that. People might think it or feel it, but it would be nice to hear it. But, to echo a popular cliche these days, "it is what it is." In the end we all have to be grateful that we still have jobs.

To add to the disruption, for lack of a better word, we've also had three people quit in the past month and half. Naturally this puts pressure on the rest of us to pick up the workloads, and, again, I think everyone is doing a great job of doing this. And we honestly can't begrudge the people for leaving for other opportunities or better offers. In the end, it's still a business and people still need to do what they love or make the money they need to get by. Again, it is what it is.

I do my best to not feel sorry for myself and to be grateful for what I have, because I am genuinely grateful for what I have. But I'm just downright tired and exhausted. The most frustrating thing is that I've been so unmotivated to do the things that I normally love to do. I'm not writing as much as I like to. I'm not taking pictures as much as I used to. I think I'm just tired and ready for the year to end so that hopefully it will be a fresh and better start next year.

Sunday, July 08, 2012

This and That - It's Been a Long Time Edition

It has once again been a long time since I've last written, so I thought I should give some kind of update. So here goes.

Work: Work continues to be busy. Shocking, I know, but I suppose that is a good thing. Ever since my boss was let go in February, we've been down an editor who could take on a full load of projects. Then we were down a second person who went on maternity leave. So without two people in our department, naturally things have been busier than usual. But the woman who was on maternity leave is now back and we were able to hire another editor to bring us back to a full staff. I'm hoping that things will slow down a little bit now that we have that full staff.

Vacation: Because I've been working so hard and because I have so many vacation days available this year, I decided to take an extra vacation later this summer. I decided that after working so hard and so many extra hours for these past few months, I deserved some extra time off, so I gave myself a little reward. Plus, I've been homesick lately, so it will be nice to go home for a week.

Random stuff: Other than work and my upcoming vacation, life has pretty much been status quo. The neighborhood kitty continues to visit me on a regular basis. I'm still cooking a lot, but I haven't really made anything new or exciting, so I haven't been posting any new recipes.

So far the most exciting thing that's happened over the past few weeks, if you can call it exciting, is that I got new tires for my car. During the winter it started to feel like I didn't have much traction on my tires, but fortunately we didn't have many days were the weather was so bad that I was constantly driving in snow. I was planning on getting through the spring and summer and then I was going to buy new tires in the fall. But, unfortunately, I think my tires were at the point when they really needed to be changed. My steering wheel would vibrate whenever I drove over 45 miles per hour, so I should have known. One day after work, I was ready to leave, but then I noticed that one of my tires was flat. I might have been able to change my tire myself, but I decided to ask one of my co-workers for help. He's a volunteer firefighter and therefore really strong, and I knew that he could probably change it faster than I could have. So he was nice enough to help me and the next day I bought some new tires. It's amazing how nice it feels to drive my car now! I can now drive over 45 mph without feeling like my steering wheel is going to rattle off in my hands!

Other than that I don't have much to tell. Hopefully when things calm down at work, I'll have more time to write and more interesting things to say.

Saturday, May 19, 2012

Cooking Adventures - Carrot Soup

For the past week we’ve had beautiful, warm weather, but today the weather took a different turn. It started to rain last night and it has been raining off and on for most of the day today. With the temperature being only around 50 degrees, I thought that tonight would be a good night to make some soup.

A few years ago when I went to a friend’s house for dinner, she made a wonderful carrot soup that she served over some couscous. It was so good that I decided to try to make it tonight. The carrot soup recipe came from one of the original Moosewood cookbooks, and I was lucky to find the recipe online and I just altered a few things and cut the original recipe in half because I was just cooking for myself tonight.

Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups vegetable stock
1 pound carrots, peeled and chopped into about 1/2- to 1-inch pieces.
1/2 to 1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 tablespoon butter
1 small onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1/4 cup chopped cashews
1 teaspoon each of thyme, basil, and ginger
Salt and pepper to taste
1 cup prepared couscous
Optional additions: sour cream, plain yogurt, heavy cream

Directions:
1. Put stock, carrots, and salt in a pot and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce heat and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes. When you can pierce the carrots with a fork, turn off the heat and let it cool.
2. In a separate pan, saute the onions, garlic, cashews in butter until the onions soften. Add thyme, basil, and ginger and saute for a few more minutes. Add to pot with carrots and stock.
3. Prepare the couscous according to the package directions and set aside.
4. Puree the soup in a blender until you reach your desired consistency. You might have to work in batches. Add the pureed soup back to the pot and gently reheat on low. Add salt and pepper to taste.
5. Serve the soup on top of couscous.
6. Add any toppings you'd like or stir in some heavy cream. I chose sour cream.

The picture shows a pretty small bowl of soup, but, trust me, it was really filling and it definitely hit the spot on a chilly evening!

Thursday, April 12, 2012

100 Foods to Try before You Die

Lately there has been a little quiz going around Facebook about the "100 foods you need to try before you die." They say that the average person tries only about 20 of the 100 items on the list. I have tried about 39. There are quite a few I still want to try, and also quite a few I can probably live without.

Update: I've updated this and added a star (hopefully the html code works!) to the things that I still need to try, and I'll check them off when I have them. I don't even know what a few of these things are, so I'll need to do a little more research to see if I want to have them or not.

1. Abalone
2. Absinthe ✔
3. Alligator
4. Baba Ghanoush ✔
5. Bagel and lox ✔
6. Baklava ✔
7. Barbecue ribs ✔
8. Bellini ✔
9. Bird’s Nest Soup
10. Biscuits and gravy ★
11. Black Pudding ★
12. Black Truffle ★
13. Borscht ★
14. Calamari ✔
15. Carp
16. Caviar ✔
17. Cheese fondue ✔
18. Chicken and waffles ★
19. Chicken Tikka Masala ✔
20. Chile Relleno ★
21. Chitterlings/Chitlins
22. Churros ✔
23. Clam Chowder ✔
24. Cognac ✔ (duh!)
25. Crabcake ✔
26. Crickets
27. Currywurst
28. Dandelion wine
29. Dulce de leche ✔
30. Durian ✔
31. Eel
32. Eggs benedict ✔
33. Fish Tacos ✔
34. Foie Gras ✔ (I think I had this on a plane, at the end of a flight from Amsterdam, when we happened to be flying through a lot of turbulence. Not an especially good food memory.)
35. Fresh Spring Rolls ✔
36. Fried Catfish ★
37. Fried Green Tomatoes ★ (not a big fan of tomatoes unless they are in a sauce or salsa, but I'll think about trying it...)
38. Fried Plaintain ★
39. Frito Pie ★ (this is basically just chili on top of Fritos. I can make that!
40. Frog’s Legs
41. Fugu
42. Funnel Cake ★
43. Gazpacho ✔
44. Goat
45. Goat’s milk
46. Goulash ★
47. Gumbo ★
48. Haggis
49. Head Cheese
50. Heirloom Tomatoes ✔
51. Honeycomb
52. Hostess Fruit Pie ✔
53. Huevos Rancheros ★
54. Jerk Chicken ✔
55. Kangaroo
56. Key Lime Pie ★
57. Kobe Beef ★
58. Lassi
59. Lobster ✔
60. Mimosa ✔
61. MoonPie ✔
62. Morel Mushrooms
63. Nettle Tea
64. Octopus
65. Oxtail Soup ✔ (At first I wasn't sure if I've had this before, but my family confirmed that I have.)
66. Paella ✔
67. Paneer
68. Pastrami on Rye ✔
69. Pavlova
70. Phaal
71. Philly Cheesesteak ✔
72. Pho ★
73. Pineapple and cottage cheese ★
74. Pistachio Ice Cream ✔
75. Po’ boy ★
76. Pocky ✔
77. Polenta ✔
78. Prickly Pear
79. Rabbit Stew
80. Raw Oysters
81. Root Beer Float ✔
82. S’mores ✔
83. Sauerkraut ✔
84. Sea Urchin
85. Shark
86. Snail
87. Snake
88. Soft Shell Crab
89. Som Tam
90. Spaetzle
91. Spam ✔
92. Squirrel
93. Steak Tartare
94. Sweet Potato Fries ✔
95. Sweetbreads
96. Tom Yum
97. Umeboshi
98. Venison
99. Wasabi Peas ✔
100. Zucchini Flowers

Monday, April 09, 2012

This and That

It has been a long time since I have last written, so I thought it would be a good time to write my monthly "I've been really busy lately" post. Yes, to replay the old broken record, I've been busy...really busy, actually.

Work: After my boss was let go, everyone else in my department had to absorb the workload. Now another one of my co-workers is on maternity leave, so that means we're down two people. And to make matters worse I've also just had a long string of really awful and complicated projects. Fairly simple tasks that would usually take an hour or two on a normal project have sometimes taken several days. A long time ago when I was working at another company, I would often bring work home with me or go into the office on the weekend and put in a lot of overtime. After a while that just got too exhausting, I wasn't hanging out with my friends as much as I wanted to, and, at the time, there wasn't really any reward to doing that. Sure, at the time I was on hourly wages, so I got some overtime pay, but that was it. No one really cared otherwise. So I made a promise to myself to not do that unless it was absolutely necessary. I've been pretty good about honoring the promise I made to myself, but lately I've had to take a lot of work home with me. It was the only way I'd be able to get things done, but lately I've also been getting a lot of headaches and migraines—a side effect I always get from too much stress and work—I know I need to ease off a little bit. It has just been an incredibly busy and crazy time. Fortunately, though, we are finally interviewing to bring a new person in our department. Once we get someone new, hopefully that will help ease everyone's burden. We'll see...

Weather: On the bright side, the weather has finally started to turn to spring. Usually March is our snowiest month of the year, but this past March was the driest March on record. On the one hand, it's bad because the dry weather increases the fire danger in the mountains. On the other hand, it has been nice to not have to worry about driving to work over the snow and ice. I also like the warmer, beautiful weather because it gives me a chance to go on longer walks outside.

Other than all of that, there really isn't much else to report. In a nutshell, the weather is becoming beautiful and work has been busy.

Sunday, March 11, 2012

Raspberry Vinaigrette

In previous posts I talked about how I wanted to try to cook and make more things from scratch. Buying things straight from the grocery store is a wonderful convenience, and it is a convenience that I have indulged in and will continue to indulge in. But every now and then I want to control the ingredients that go into my food. Unless you buy foods that are all natural or organic you often put things into your body that you don't really need, things like high fructose corn syrup or all of those ingredients that you can't pronounce. I've realized that many of the things I buy are easier to make from scratch, and in some cases it's also cheaper. So far I've been successful with making my own croutons and I've had one success with making my own lentil vegetable soup. Tonight I tried to make my own raspberry vinaigrette for a spinach salad. I have to say that it was a success.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup (1/2 pint container) fresh raspberries
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
2 tablespoons honey
pinch of salt
pinch of pepper
3-4 tablespoons olive oil

Directions:
Put the raspberries, apple cider vinegar, Dijon mustard, honey, salt, and pepper in a blender, food, processor, or mini-chopper and puree. Stream in olive oil and continue pureeing until smooth. If you don't have the equipment to puree the vinaigrette, put the raspberries in a bowl and mash with a fork, then whisk in the other ingredients. Adjust the seasonings as you see fit. I prefer my dressing on the sweet side, so I added more honey. If you prefer tangy dressing, cut back on the honey.


I put the vinaigrette on a spinach salad with toasted walnuts and goat cheese. It was delicious.

Sunday, February 19, 2012

Cooking Adventures - Spicebox French Toast

Recently one of my really good friends has been talking about a new whisky she discovered, Spicebox Whisky. I know of several brands of whisky but I have never heard of Spicebox, so naturally I was curious. I was fortunate to find it in a local liquor store, so I bought a bottle and had a sip (or several) later that evening. I was so happy that I decided to try it, because it is so delicious! It has a bit of sweetness to it, and it is incredibly smooth.

As the name suggests, this is a spiced whisky. There are a variety of spices in it, but what really comes through is vanilla. As I was drinking it, I suddenly realized that it would taste great in French toast. I've made French toast with rum before, but I just knew that the vanilla notes in the Spicebox would really enhance the French toast. I was so happy with how it turned out.

Since I made the French toast just for myself, I just threw the ingredients together for one portion. But here is a recipe that gives some measurements if you're cooking for a larger crowd. This makes about 4 servings.

Ingredients:
4 eggs
2/3 cup milk
1/4 cup Spicebox Whisky
salt, just a pinch
8 slices of bread
butter
maple syrup

Directions:
1. Whisk the eggs, milk, whisky, and salt.
2. Dip the bread into the egg mixture and cook on a buttered skillet or griddle pan.
3. Top with maple syrup and any other toppings of your choice.

I didn't even remember to take a picture, but I can say that it looked good and it tasted delicious!

Cooking Adventures - Lentil Soup

One day at work a few weeks ago we had the unfortunate luck of losing water in our building. Apparently a water main broke and affected most of the office park. People in other companies seemed to go home once that happened, and considering the problem lasted for four hours, that was probably a good choice. We, however and foolishly, continued to keep working. People who had to use the restroom had two choices: they could either continue to use our broken bathrooms or they could drive to a gas station, grocery store, coffee shop, or home if they lived close enough. A co-worker and I decided to go to her house to both use the bathroom and to have lunch.

For lunch we had lentil and vegetable soup. The soup she made came straight out of a can but it was delicious, and naturally I started to wonder if it was something that I could make from scratch. I found a recipe in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian, and, with a few adjustments, I made a batch. This soup yields about 4-6 servings.

Ingredients:
olive oil
1 onion, chopped
1 clove garlic, minced
1 cup dried lentils, rinsed
1 bay leaf
1 carrot, diced
1 celery stalk, diced
6 cups low sodium vegetable stock
1 can diced tomatoes, drained
1/4 teaspoon thyme
1/4 teaspoon cumin
salt
pepper

Directions:
1. Coat bottom of large soup or stock pot with olive oil and saute onions and garlic over medium heat until they soften. About 3 or 5 minutes.
2. Add lentils, bay leaf, carrot, celery, vegetable stock, tomatoes, and seasonings. Bring to a boil, then turn heat to low and cook, stirring occasionally, until lentils are tender, about 30 minutes.
3. Remove bay leaf and serve.



The soup had a brownish-greenish color when I finished cooking it, but, trust me, it was very good. I was also surprised at how filling it was. I have a fast metabolism and I'm usually hungry again after a few hours, but this soup kept me filled up for a long time.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

This and That

It has once again been a long time since I've written something, so I'm checking in to give a brief update on what's been happening since my last post.

Work: Work continues to be busy. That's a good thing, I suppose. Last week it came as a total surprise to everyone when my boss was let go. I won't go into details of how or why it happened. For one, I really don't know why it happened, and, two, I think the less I say, the better. All I can say is that it was a total shock. The rest of us had to scramble to pick up the workload and add to our already heavy loads. Unfortunately I did not get promoted, which I thought would be the natural progression of my career, but I'm just grateful to still have a job and to keep the same salary. Needless to say, this has been a chaotic and unsettling week, but the most we can do now is try to move forward as best as we can.

Resolutions: I think a few people might have noticed that I haven't made any New Year's Resolutions this year. I haven't been very successful with my resolutions, so I decided to not be overly ambitious this year. This year, I think I should just keep things simple and doable. One of the important resolutions I have is to get back into my workout and healthy eating routine. I always let go of the workout and healthy eating routine once the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays come around. I always know that I'm going to be enjoying good food, so I never want to be too strict or hard on myself. And I also know that I'm going to pig out during the football playoffs and Super Bowl, so I never start my resolution until after the Super Bowl. So I suppose that now I need to get back on track.

Another one of my resolutions is to get back into some of my hobbies. Photography has always been one of my hobbies, and I used to go out a lot to take pictures. I think this is something that I need to start doing again. I always used to keep my camera with me in my purse or bag so that I could take a picture of anything interesting that I happened to see. For a long time I kept forgetting to do this and I missed out on a lot of wonderful opportunities. So I need to remember to start doing this again.

The other hobby I want to keep focusing on is cooking. Frequent readers will know that I love to cook and I love to experiment with new recipes. I want to try to make more homemade soups. Even though I just love the convenience of canned soup (and I have plenty of canned soup in my cupboards to prove it), I want to start making my own soup so that I can control the ingredients. Frequent readers will also know that too much sodium freaks me out and canned soup is full of sodium, so I want to make my own healthier versions of the various soups that I like. I also want to experiment a little more with baking. Baking has always been more difficult for me because it has to be so precise; you can't just throw the ingredients together without measuring and expect to get a perfect result. I'm at the point where I'm getting pretty good at muffins, but now I want to try to make cookies and breads. We'll see how it goes.

Current mood: relaxed
Current drink: coffee
Current music: Loreena McKennitt "Mummer's Dance"

Sunday, January 08, 2012

Happy New Year!

It has once again been a long time since I have written here. And, yes, I have been busy because of work. October through December were incredibly busy at work. Yes, I know that I always say that work is busy, but the past three months have been busier than most, if you can believe that. In addition to working on a lot of projects, I had been working on a lot of incredibly messy projects. It seemed like there wouldn't be an end to the problems I was having, but, fortunately, and an end is finally in sight to some of those projects. Once I finish a few projects this month, I'm hopeful that things will slow down a little bit.

On the bright side, I was able to take two long vacations home for Thanksgiving and Christmas, and that gave me a chance to get in a lot of rest and relaxation. The time off and away from the office was wonderful and it was great just to be home. It was a much-needed vacation, and I enjoyed every moment of it. I wonder if it's too early to start planning my next vacation. . .