Best Eats of 2013

I am not generally a fan of these posts on other blogs; it is just too hard to compress a whole year into something concise and readable.  Case in point: my "Sayonara 2012" posts where I tried cramming everything about my year into long, monthly recaps.

This year I am sticking with my culinary exploits, and went through my photos to choose the best dish from each month.  Some decisions were more difficult than others; where applicable, the runner-ups also get a mention below.

1. Pumpkin Roll Cake--really not as difficult as I thought it would be.
2. Sausage & Potato Calzones-- similar recipe here. Coming home to Keizo making gyoza was a close second.
3. Simple but delicious Falafel Salad.  This was also the month I started weekly meal roundup posts.
4. Learning to make Pad Thai at home was a pretty big deal.  I have made it several times since.
5. Spanish Tortilla; in the baking category, Joy the Baker's Peanut Butter Pretzel Brownies takes first place.
6. Should really be a tie between hiyashi chuka (cold summer noodles) and "Fingerling Potato-Leek Hash with Swiss Chard and Eggs" with homegrown chard. .  Yum X 2.
7. Peach Cobbler with Blueberry Topping made the most out of summer produce.
8. Homemade Pickles--not these exact pickles, but others can be found here
9. These versatile Black Bean Quinoa Patties made good veggie burgers as well as crumbled salad and nacho toppings.
10. I could probably eat these Eggplant "Meatballs" at least every other week and not get sick of them.
11. Apple Slab Pie--roll cakes and pie crusts, oh my!  I think I brought my baking to a new level in 2013.
12. Christmas Tree Cookies--similar recipe here

2013 saw a vast improvement in blogging from 2012, and I am excited to continue experimenting in the kitchen and documenting it all here in 2014.

Thank you for reading & Happy (almost) New Year!!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

..for baking!  And eating dessert after every meal!  Or any time you happen to wander through the kitchen!

There are so many things to love about the holidays.  Some of my favorite activities include wrapping presents, looking at Christmas lights, and holiday baking.  Most people do not need any more sweets around the holidays, but when it comes to simple, homemade gifts I cannot resist giving baked goods.  I get to do something I enjoy, while also assuring I will not be eating an entire batch of cookies by myself!

Last year, I made easy peppermint bark and packed it in recycled glass jars to give as gifts.  With no final presentations to give or papers to write this year, I got a little more ambitious and baked a few of my favorites:

• Foolproof Fudge
• Peanut Butter Blossoms
• Christmas Tree Cookies--> the link goes to a similar, but not exact recipe.  I added green food coloring and shaped the dough into triangles before slicing.  Christmas trees, right?

Collage template from pizap.com

The adorable packaging came from the dollar bins at Michael's, and turned out even cuter that I thought it would be.  The gift tags were cut out from Trader Joe's (2011?) holiday bags and tied on with red yarn. 

Since being home in AZ, I have made another batch of PB blossoms, since they are a family favorite, and baked a quick batch chocolate chip cookies from refrigerated cookie dough.  However, I have not been as good about shopping for gifts as I have been about baking them!  How is it that there are only 4 days left until Christmas?!?!

Rise & shine

While simple (and easily portable if I happen to hit the snooze button a few too many times) cold smoothies are not the most appealing winter breakfast.  I have made an exception for "pumpkin pie" smoothies, but lately I am much more likely to eat something warm for breakfast.  Oatmeal and eggs are nearly as easy to made as a smoothie and don't leave me with brain freeze.

Clockwise from top left:

Oatmeal with raspberries, yogurt, granola and honey

My embellished oatmeal usually has 4 components:

• Vitamins--fruit or canned pumpkin
• Protein--yogurt or cottage cheese
• Sweet--honey, a spoon of peanut butter/Nutella or raisins/craisins
• Crunch--granola, nuts or on particularly bleak mornings a sprinkle of chocolate chips :-)

Egg & cheese "patty" on whole wheat bagel with sweet potato butter

The sweetness of the sweet potato butter is a great counterpoint to the saltiness of the eggs and cheese.

Sometimes I make my eggs by cracking one or two into a bowl and microwaving them for 45-60 seconds. If you want to go this route, be sure to cover the eggs while they cook and start with less time than you think they will need.  This method is quick, and results in a perfectly sandwich-sized egg patty.


Eggs & cheese topped with salsa and served with tortillas

These eggs are made in a small fry pan on the stove.  Before I met Keizo, I only ever made scrambled eggs, but he taught me how to make medamayaki (sunny-side up eggs).  Non-stick skillet and a little bit of patience highly recommended.


Pumpkin pie protein smoothie

This could be easily made without the protein powder.   I have also substituted orange juice for the milk, and it was still good.  The handful of ice is the key to achieving a nice, thick texture.

Holiday classics with a twist

I hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving holiday!  Mine featured plenty of delicious food, spending time with members from both sides of my extended family and truly a lot to be thankful for.  November 28th was also the 3rd anniversary (birthday?) of "Two Betsu Bara," and it couldn't have fallen on a more fitting holiday!

As in previous years, I had two opportunities to try out Thanksgiving recipes.  The first was the potluck at work the week before the actual day; wanting something simple and easy to tote to work on my bicycle, I made homemade cranberry sauce.

The recipe I used (from an old issue of Family Circle magazine; I can't seem to find it online) called for chunks of apple and ginger in addition to cranberries and gelatin.  Everything was boiled together in a sauce pot for while and made my whole apartment smell amazing.  There ended up being an abundance of cranberry sauce at the luncheon, but mine was the only homemade one.  While I enjoyed mine and I liked the different textures and addition of the ginger, I don't think I would go to trouble of making it again if I were also responsible for the rest of the meal.  The canned stuff is pretty good, and one less thing to worry about!


For the actual holiday, I got started the weekend before by cooking down my old Halloween pumpkin.  I had never cooked down a pumpkin before, and was a little intimidated by the prospect.  I followed the instructions from The Pioneer Woman and the process ended up being easier than I thought.  The most difficult part was getting it smooth in my blender.  I am sure a real food processor would make the task even easier.



My pumpkin was about 8" in diameter and cooked down to about 3 cups of pumpkin puree.  I used half of it in the pumpkin cheesecake I brought with me to dinner at my aunt and uncle's house.  I made the same recipe last year, and was afraid I might not be let in the door without it this year!  Using homemade pumpkin puree changed the texture (less firm) and flavor (less pumpkin-y) a little bit--note all the fibrous bits stuck to the mixer above--but this year's cheesecake was also well received.  I have one piece left in my fridge; tomorrow's breakfast perhaps?

My uncle also put a twist on one of his holiday classics:  before filling the crust of one of his pecan pies, he added a layer of chocolate chips.  Probably the best pecan pie I've ever had!

日本Fall 2013--Part III: In the Kitchen

Tomorrow will mark 4 weeks to the day that I left for my Japan trip, so it's past time I finish the wrap-up with the most noteworthy things Keizo and I made in his kitchen: a zillion gyoza (potstickers) and a delicious, not too sweet apple pie.

I suppose a zillion is a bit of an exaggeration, but since I was the one responsible for filling all of the wrappers and folding them into dumpling shapes, it seemed like many more than the 50 that came in the package.  I asked Keizo for a refresher course in gyoza shaping, and then got to work while he made the chahan (fried rice) to accompany them.  Keizo has mastered the art of fried rice; even following his instructions, mine never tastes as good.

This was the day that we rode bicycles all over town, so we easily put away about 35 of the gyoza between the two of us, and froze the remaining few uncooked ones for lunch the next day.

When Keizo was arranging with my calligraphy teacher to attend class on Wednesday, I told him to tell her we would bring dessert.  We had a large number of apples to use up from our apple picking adventure, and "hokey pokey" (which I mistakenly thought was apple pie a la mode) is one of Keizo's favorite desserts so making an apple pie was the obvious choice.  I had seen the recipe for Apple Slab Pie on Smitten Kitchen a few days before, and it looked to me like it had the perfect ratio of lots of crust to the right amount of not too soggy filling so Keizo and I squeezed into his gallery style kitchen together after dinner on Tuesday to make it. 

A few notes about the pie:

• As far as I can recall, this was my first time making a pie crust from scratch.  It wasn't nearly as onerous as I expected it to be, but Keizo generously cleaned up all the flour from the counter where we rolled it out, so I really only got half of the experience (the fun part!  Jeeze, that Keizo guy is pretty great!)
• The filling came together in a snap, no pre-cooking required.  I think we used 5? apples and went easy on the sugar.
• After assembling the pie, there was a difference in opinion about which part of the egg should be used to give the pie a nice glossy sheen.  I had never heard of using the yolk, but since he did clean up the big flour mess, I let Keizo do it his way.  

On Wednesday evening, we enjoyed a delicious curry dinner with salad and kabocha with Naoko-sensei and Hirosuke-san before the other calligraphy students arrived for dessert.  Naoko-sensei also made her famous apple crumble in honor of my visit, so we had the pleasure of tasting two very different styles of apple dessert side by side.  Our pie was sweeter and kept its shape better, while the crumble had a little tang to it and melted right into the accompanying vanilla ice cream.


Thus concludes the highlights of my fall trip to Japan.  The timing of my trip worked out really well in relation to my responsibilities at work and my need for a change of scenery.  It was also really nice to have such great weather instead of it being cold and blustery, but it will be really different not being there for New Year's for the first time in four (!!!) years.

日本Fall 2013--Part II: Eating Out

From the very beginning, our mutual love of food has played an important role in Keizo's and my relationship.  The night we met, he bought me donuts and coffee before I caught my train home and on our first real date, Keizo admitted he was still hungry before we had even finished the dessert that came with our meal.  All this is to say that we eat very well when we are together, and this trip was no exception.

The food pictured above is a sample of some of the things we purchased:

• dog-shaped bread with chocolate cream filling.  Why is everything in Japan so darn cute?  These days when I visit, I can't resist animal shaped bread; over the years I've also eaten pigs, pandas and turtles.

• a Japanese take on Italian pasta with shrimp, avocado and wasabi cream sauce.  This restaurant is in a relatively new complex near Keizo's local train station that also houses two bakeries, an import food shop and a stone fired pizza restaurant.  I like to refer to it as "Little Italy."

On this day our lunches came with a bread buffet and drink bar.  On the drink bar were two pitchers of fruit flavored vinegars.  I mixed mine with olive oil to dip the bread into, but other people were drinking them straight!  I suppose they tasted more like juice, but I was still pretty put off by the idea of downing a glass of something called "vinegar."

• minced chicken between slices of fried renkon (lotus root).  This dish is from our dinner of small plates at a yakiniku place in Tenjin.  We enjoyed a lot of delicious things, but the presentation of this one caught my eye: the ceramic plate with woven basket and tiny twigs, plus the large dollop of mayonnaise and salt for dipping are all so lovely.

• I am ashamed to admit I don't know the real name of the little ice cream place near Keizo's training ground.  I just call it the "Cow Shop" since it has several dozen miniature bovines decorating the interior.  They have a rotating selection of some of the most unusual ice cream flavors I have ever seen including tomato and carrot. 

Ordering is always a chore for me; what flavor do I want to try?  And with a double costing only 50 yen more than a single, which two flavors will go well together?  This time I settled on chai tea and Sweet Potato, which were both quite good.  The chai flavor was pretty strong, but the Sweet Potato was a bit creamier and had small, yummy sweet potato pieces in it.

While we ate out quite a bit (especially compared to my normal routine) we also cooked together a few times.  More to come in Part III...

日本Fall 2013--Part I: The Sights

Where have you been?

I anticipate having to answer this question a few times at work tomorrow, when I make my first appearance in the office since the end of October.

And I anticipate more than a few surprised looks when I answer "I was in Japan visiting my boyfriend."  This response inevitably conjures up more questions and a bit of discomfort on my part.  While I understand their curiosity, my relationship with Keizo is far more complex and emotional than I feel like discussing with my co-workers. Additionally, what for many would be the trip of a lifetime has become an annual event for me, with sightseeing being less of a priority than just being together.  Hiking up a small mountain to see a giant reclining Buddha statue is great, but so is wearing sweatpants and eating pizza on the couch with someone you love, especially when you don't get to do it very often.

However, the former appeals to a wider audience and makes for much better photos opportunities than the latter, so without further ado, 日本Fall 2013--Part I: The Sights

I arrived in Japan on a Tuesday evening, and quite conveniently Keizo had the day off on Wednesday.  We drove about an hour from his house to the mountainous town of Sasaguri to go apple picking.  As luck would have it, Sasaguri is also home to a large reclining Buddha statue, so when our apple picking took only a short time to complete, we had something else to do to make the drive worthwhile.  We poked around the various shrines dotted around the bottom of the hill and traipsed up to the top to gaze at the truly large statue.  I am still curious as to how it was installed; I assume it was built elsewhere, but then puzzled as to how it was moved up the side of the mountain.  All of the interpretive signage was in Japanese, but Keizo appeared too too distracted by his rumbling stomach translate them for me.  We stopped for lunch at the bottom of the hill, and I enjoyed the udon noodle set pictured above.

After lunch we decided to continue our day of outdoor adventuring at Uminonakamichi Park.  The weather during my trip to Japan was unreal, in the high 60's-low 70's and sunny almost every day.  We have visited this park before, but arrived too late to rent bicycles to go exploring and only saw about half of it.  It's pretty big and has a real variety of things to do/see.

This time we arrived with plenty of time to rent bicycles and tool around.  We stopped at the field of cosmos flowers, spent a few minutes at the zoo checking up on the monkeys and rode nearly all the way around the perimeter to the amusement area in search of the snack bar where we could cash in our coupon for a 50 yen discount on ice cream.  After our snack, we ignored the signs reserving the play equipment for elementary school aged children (which even with my limited Japanese I could understand) and went down the long slides and tried walking on the white mound visible in the back of the top photo.  The mound was kind of squishy, and bounced a bit if you jumped on it (another thing prohibited by the signs and completed ignored by everyone, not just us!)  After that, it was time to return the bicycles and head home.



On Friday afternoon, Keizo and I took the train into Fukuoka City in search of a neko cafe.  Stepping off the elevator and through the entrance was a bit of an assault on the nasal passages, but soon we both adjusted to the aroma of 20 cats in a relatively small space and made a few furry friends.  I don't recall where I first heard about the cat cafe in Fukuoka, but it was one of the few things I really wanted to do on this trip.  The concept is intriguing, if not slightly unappetizing (this cafe served food and drinks) and observing the human social etiquette was nearly as fun as playing with the cats.   The cats pretty much came and went as they pleased, although there was a woman sitting on the floor who very popular with the most cuddly ones.  I tried to entice more cats towards me using a shimmery butterfly toy on a stick and had some fleeting success.  After about 90 minutes of feline fun, we decided it was time for some fresh air and gathered our things to leave, taking full advantage of the lint roller hanging from wall by the elevator.

We walked around Tenjin, the busy commercial district near one of the major train stations, browsed Forever 21 and H&M, two new additions since my time as an English teacher, took purikura and enjoyed a dinner of small plates at a yakitori restaurant.  The train back out of the city was pretty full, but nothing like the photos of the trains in Tokyo.

Saturday afternoon was spent watching the Japan vs. New Zealand rugby match on TV.  New Zealand won of course, but the final score represented the smallest spread ever between the two teams.  After the game, we made a visit to my favorite used clothing store and a stop at the new shopping mall, which on November 2nd was already festooned with Christmas decorations and playing Christmas music at much too high a volume (I am all for Christmas music in December...all December if you must, but am strongly opposed to it anytime before Thanksgiving, especially in Japan!)  I bought more smiling kitchen sponges for myself, and Keizo got a snazzy new pair of pants.

Keizo was out of town on Sunday for a game in Hiroshima, but got back in time for dinner at his favorite tempura restaurant.  It also gave him the day off on Monday, so we had lunch out and rented an electric assist bicycle outside of the local train station.  We biked around town and I never ceased to marvel at the complete lack of resistance when starting to pedal from a dead stop.  The bike was really quiet, and definitely helped on longer, less steep inclines.  I didn't notice too much of a difference on the steepest slopes, although Keizo begs to differ.



The following Wednesday afternoon was Keizo's last afternoon without work during my stay and we kept our adventures local before driving down to Kurume for dinner with my calligraphy teacher.  We had omuraisu for lunch followed by ice cream at my favorite local shop (see Part II of the recap) and a walk around Munakata Shrine.  The shrine happened to be in the middle of its kiku matsuri or chrysanthemum festival, a small portion of which you can see pictured above.  The flowers were quite lovely, ranging in size from the small bonsai to the softball sized blooms in the photos to large displays featuring various sizes, shapes and colors.

The sunset was from my last night in Japan, when we went to try out a new seaside restaurant in Keizo's city.  We had stumbled upon it earlier in the week during lunchtime, only to be turned away since we didn't have a reservation.  Keizo called ahead for dinner on Friday, which ended up being completely unnecessary to be seated since we were the first people to arrive, but was important since doing so informed us that sunset was at 5:30 and enabled us to witness what you see above.  While dinner was good, the crowd at lunch time leaves me to assume the lunch buffet is even better.  Since we ate so early, we had time after dinner to finish up my souvenir shopping, drop the car back at the apartment and walk to a quiet neighborhood bar for some drinks to round out the night.  Then on Saturday morning, it was up at 4:30 AM to catch flight one of three back to Charlottesville.

Stay tuned for Parts II and III featuring the culinary delights from the trip, coming soon!

Superlatives: Dinners

New business:

I haven't been doing my weekly wrap ups of late because while they were helpful in establishing a blogging routine they became, well...a little too routine.  In order to shake things up a bit, I have created a list of future post ideas to work on little at a time in the coming weeks.  

I blog for myself and with a few other loyal readers in mind, but checking this blog's statistics page makes it clear there are more people than I think stopping by.  I assume that most of the viewers come from random internet searches ("cracker barrel sign" is the most common one, actually) and never visit again.  But in the off chance there are some regulars, or semi-regulars I'd love to know why you keep reading.  Please feel free to leave a comment below!

*****

Old business:

Ignoring the first paragraph of the "new business" section, this is basically a "week of eats" post in a different format.  No need to completely re-invent the wheel here.

HEALTHIEST--Cooking Light's Tempeh + Green Bean Stir Fry with Peanut Sauce

I recommend adding more vegetables and doubling the amount of stir fry sauce called for in the recipe.

"HOMIEST"--My mamacita's Mexican Lasagna served with green salad and green beans.  Tastes like home (but with more Fritos!)

MOST "LIKED"--Margot's Eggplant Meatballs and Spaghetti

This dish lived up to Margot's high praise, both in terms of ease and deliciousness.  The photo below got a lot of "likes" and two recipe requests on the ol' facebook too.

  

CHEESIEST--Flatbread pizza with carmelized onions, apples, sausage and brie

Lots of potential here.  Next time, I will seek out thicker flatbread and better sausages (after spending $7 on the cheese, I was trying to economize on some of the other ingredients).  It was the kind of pizza you have to eat with a fork and knife--lots of heavy toppings on a thin, soggy crust--but it tasted pretty good!

LEAST EDIBLE + MOST ADORABLE (tie)

The ultra kawaii (cute) banana kitchen sponge that arrived in my birthday care package from Keizo.  I don't care for doing dishes, but this does help make it a bit more enjoyable.  

Short & Sweet

I was getting ready to do my regular weekly wrap-up, but when I started looking for photos to make a collage I only found two.  I have spent the entire week a bit under the weather with a cough that won't quit, but it's more laziness, rather than any illness that accounts for the lack of photos.  It takes way more than a cough for me to skip meals!  

The photos I do have represent the tastiest (and prettiest) things to come from my kitchen this week:

BH&G's Spaghetti Squash with Tomatoes and Olives.  I have made this before, and love a) that it combines pasta and squash and b) the salty/sweet combo of the green olives and dried cranberries.  The cheese and garlic-y tomatoes don't hurt either.

Leftover peanut salad dressing with a chicken, bean and cheese burrito.  Sometimes it's hard to improve on something as simple as refried beans and melted cheese in a crispy soft tortilla.

And now I think it's time to go nap away the end of this stupid cough.  G'night!

A Week of Eats--September 23

I didn't have much time to cook last week, which worked out fine in the end since I was still finishing some leftovers at the beginning of the week and went out to celebrate my birthday at the end.

Clockwise from top L:

• Oatmeal with bananas, yogurt, peanut butter and granola.  I have made two rather unfortunate bowls of oatmeal recently; I think I need to experiment with longer cooking times and less liquids.
• I feasted on these birthday flowers from Keizo with my eyes and nose!  They look even better now that they have bloomed more fully.
• Spiced lentil soup, the one meal I managed to throw together for the week.
• Egg breakfast sandwich on naan with a plum on the side.
• Recovery food. I had a headache most of the day on Friday, but wouldn't dream of missing my birthday celebration that evening.  I went and had a great time...and then could hardly stand up (or sit down) on Saturday with a case of the chills, body aches and headache.  So I made some instant soup with lots of vegetables; these are the leftovers I ate on Sunday with a zucchini muffin and half an Asian pear.
• Sunday night I was feeling better so I made some coconut/peanut dressing to top my salad with.  Garlic naan on the side.
• More muffins for breakfast with yogurt and undrinkable coffee (this is day two it has tasted really off to me...I blame being sick.  Even water tastes a little weird)
• Leftover soup with a grilled cheese (comfort food at its best) and homemade applesauce from upstairs.

There was a huge difference in how I felt between Saturday and Sunday, but less of a difference Sunday to Monday.  Less of a headache, but more coughing.  I hope another early night will put me on the mend for the first day of October tomorrow!

A Week of Eats--September 16

A lot of repeat meals this week, with just a little variety thrown in at the end.

Clockwise from top left:

• Vegetable quiche.
• Quiche for breakfast with apple, PB and coffee.
• Pasta bake from Smitten Kitchen; I substituted chard from the garden for the broccoli rabe and added some sweet potato chunks.  Rich, delicious, and I still have leftovers!
• Pasta bake with salad, but the most important thing in this photo is the pumpkin beer.
• Sardine salad melt with grapes for lunch felt just right on a rainy day.
• Unattractive but tasty quesadilla with mozarella, crushed up black bean patty and pickled peppers and onions dipped in tomato sauce (I mentioned it would appear again!)
• Potato medley before they turned into oven baked fries.
• Veggie burger with all the fixin's and fries on the side.  Quick and easy Sunday night meal.

Have a great week!

The Lunch Bunch

As someone who enjoyed school quite a bit when I was younger, lunch was never my favorite subject, but as a working stiff, lunch is most definitely one of the highlights of my day!  Mid-day breaks away from a computer screen and soul-sucking fluorescent lights are really important to maintain sanity in my opinion, and the chance to eat something is icing on the cake.

Working at City Hall downtown near a plethora of tasty restaurants makes it tempting to eat out regularly, but neither my wallet nor my waistline can afford to do so these days.  I pack my lunch almost everyday, a habit I got into many years ago when my mother told me if I wanted to take lunch to school, I had better get used to packing it myself.  Back then I had an Elmo lunch box, all through high school and for the first semester of grad school I used a simple blue insulated bag, but today I use the one pictured below, a gift from my mom--so stylish!

My lunches generally fit into one of three categories: leftovers, sandwiches, or salads.  If you want more descriptive lunchbox inspiration, I highly recommend the "Lunch in Box" post on Kath Eats Real Food.  I also aim for a variety of ingredients and textures in my packed meals; I usually have something crunchy and something sweet to round out the meal.

My tried and true lunch packing tips:

• Wide mouth salsa jars (Tostitos brand work well) are awesome leftover containers, especially if you plan on microwaving your meal.
• The key to non-soggy sandwiches is in the layering; I use lettuce, cheese and avocado as buffers between really juicy things like tomatoes and the bread.  The square tupperware prevents smooshing as well.
• I find that if I really pack in the greens, add a bunch of toppings and then pour on the dressing my salads usually hold up until lunch time.
• While I feel some mild eco-guilt about all of the little plastic containers and extra packaging, nothing beats the convenience of single serve yogurts and snacks like granola bars.

A Week of Eats--September 9

Having time on the weekends to meal plan is making a difference in my weekly eats.  Right now, choosing two recipes that will work for at least two meals and deciding on a few lunch/snack staples seems just about right in terms of quantity as well as time spent in the kitchen.

Clockwise from top left:

• I decorated two pre-made pizza crusts on Monday night with quick roasted veggies (15 mins @ 500*) shredded Italian blend cheeses and dollops of herbed goat chesse.  Plenty of leftovers!
• Green salad with tomato grilled cheese for dinner on Tuesday.  
• Pancakes for breakfast on Sunday.  I made plain, blueberry and craisin/coconut varieties, but couldn't leave the plain ones well enough alone and topped them with vanilla yogurt and nectarine.
• Wednesday night's project was these quinoa black bean patties (recipe from the back of a TJ's quinoa bag, I think...)  A bit messier than I like to be on a weeknight--multiple pans, steps and hand molding--but overall a nice, healthy, versatile recipe.  Not all of the patties held together well, something I think could be improved by adding an extra egg next time.
• The next three meals showcase the versatility of the black bean patties:
• Crumbled black bean patty nachos with avocado and salsa;
• Black bean "burger" with all the fixin's and the last bit of curried potato salad;
• Black bean patty on a bed of greens with tomatoes and homemade pickles, green bean "fries" and curried potato salad. 
• Greek-style salad with arugula, garbanzo beans, banana peppers, red onions, tomatoes and leftover quinoa.  Simple dressing with equal parts olive oil and cider vinegar, salt and pepper.  Sweet potatoes on the side. 

I have still have some random vegetables in my fridge and on the counter due to last week's double whammy of going to the farmer's market and inheriting my housemate's CSA share when she went out of town, so you can expect to see some zucchini and lots of potatoes next week, as well as something with the leftover tomato sauce from the pizza.

A Week of Eats--September 2

A pretty good variety of things this week!

Clockwise from top left:

• Being an adult isn't always fun, but one perk is eating a banana split for lunch if you feel like it.
• Being an adult also means not wasting produce that is past its prime by blending it into a breakfast smoothie.
• Delectable roasted sweet potato, cucumber and mushroom salad with a simple maple-y dressing leftovers from a potluck lunch with friends last weekend.
• Oddly named "Asian style fried rice with beans" from BH&G (one of two recipes I followed this week.  I must be an adult!)  I liked that this was pretty much a complete vegetarian meal, but I had to add some salsa to give it a bit more flavor.
• Quick Friday night dinner thrown together after getting home after 7 PM from work: pasta, pesto, tomatoes, roasted corn and leftover chicken.
• Saturday's farmer's market haul.  I have barely been all summer, and I was not prepared for all of the fall pumpkins and squash taking over the stalls.  It was a challenge to find salad greens and a few remaining peaches.
• Breaking up the smoothie routine with sunny side up eggs, toast, jam and nectarine on the side.
• This dinner probably took less than 30 minutes to put together, but felt rather fancy all the same.  Tilapia on a bed of spinach with lemon butter (microwaved in parchment paper) and curried potato salad.  I would make both dishes again, but use less curry powder and maybe add a dash of nutmeg or cinnamon to the potatoes.

A Week of Eats--August 26

It was a big week around these parts.  Thousands of students returned to classes at UVA, making certain parts of town including my regular grocery store a bit less pleasant.  I had my first official job interview and ran the Charlottesville Women's Four Miler.  <--They are still accepting donations for the UVA Cancer Center Breast Care Program through September 23, 2013.

Summer and the accompanying feeling of relaxed freedom are starting to fade.  Real 'fall' may still be several weeks away on the calendar, but for me Labor Day weekend marks the beginning of the transition.  While I don't expect summer temperatures and humidity to disappear instantly, I can usually count on nicer weather by my birthday towards the end of the month.

Here are a few things I ate this week:

Top R: Started the week out right with a big bowl of oatmeal for breakfast Monday morning.  Topped with cottage cheese, strawberries, a spoon of peanut butter and coconut sprinkles.

Top L: Power breakfast before my interview on Thursday.  My interview was in Blacksburg, about two hours away and my plan was to leave before 10, arrive with plenty of time to grab lunch and review my notes before my 2 PM interview.  Highway closures completely changed that plan, and I sat in traffic for nearly four hours, had a Clif bar for lunch and went straight into the interview 90 minutes late.  Despite these complications, the actual interview was a positive experience and regardless of the outcome, I am glad to have the first one behind me.

Bottom R: Chicken and veggie fajitas. I made these on Wednesday after my final (hilly) training run for the Four Miler on Saturday and ate four of them.

Bottom L: I'm calling this dish "Fiesta Noodles" and it served me well as my dinner the night before the race.  It consisted of leftover fajita filling and roasted corn mixed into a pot of pasta with cottage cheese and melted shredded cheddar.  Served with some spicy "taco stand" pickles and avocado on the side.

The morning of the race, I ate two pieces of whole wheat toast with jam and peanut butter and drank a cup of coffee before I left the house.  I packed a banana to eat while waiting to line up and drank 20 oz of water.  I am writing about all this to remember it for future races--my time this year was significantly faster than last year's--from just over 38 minutes to under 36!  While people I had previously passed still flew past me in the last 1/2 mile (argh! There should be a prize for being consistent!) I am really, really pleased with my time.

Homegrown Homemade Pickles

With an ever growing pile of cucumbers from the garden taking up precious real estate on my cutting board, I decided to spend a few hours last Sunday "putting them up."  I searched the internet for simple pickling recipes and decided to try no fewer than four!

To start things off, the cucumbers get sliced quickly and evenly thanks to my mandoline slicer.

One of the first two recipes: Spicy Pickled Cucumbers.  Crushed red pepper and mint leaves give these an Asian flavor. I can't wait to eat them with ramen or pho.

I only made a total of five jars with my four recipes, keeping each batch pretty small.  The second recipe for 'Quick Garlic Pickles' can be found here.

After the cucumbers and a break to grab more vinegar, I got started on the carrots (also from the garden).  Most of them looked pretty nice after a good scrub.

But there were a few odd ones in the bunch.

Regardless of initial aesthetics, they all looked about the same, peeled and ready to chop.

I didn't have as many carrots as cucumbers, but I still made two varieties: one spicy with onions and jalapenos, and the other sweeter with hints of maple and ginger.

The jars went into the fridge, I washed a bunch of dishes and went to read a book outside to escape the vinegar smell permeating my house.

Later, at dinner time, the pickles emerged from the fridge for a taste test.

The "taco stand" carrots with jalapenos and the spicy cucumbers with mint were really spicy, and thankfully have become a little milder the over the past few days.  The quick garlic pickles are tasty, and the most versatile--I've been putting them on the sandwiches I've packed for lunch this week.  The ginger maple carrots are also very good, but you don't have to take my word for it.  The flavor is similar to the ones my housemate Michelle won "Best in Show" for at the Albemarle County Fair!

The garden isn't looking quite as nice as it did a month ago, so I am glad to have spent the time this past weekend making the most of its produce.  I have been thinking about planting some fall crops, but there are a few other projects around the house and some job applying I need to do first.

A Week of Eats--August 19

There was a good amount of cooking going on this week, at least early on.

Top row, L to R:

• Cocoa Kiss Cookies for a wedding shower at work.  The poor organizers had a hard time getting people to volunteer for things, and we played almost the same games as were played at the other wedding shower I happened to attend back in October.  The conference room did look lovely decorated in pink and white, and as of Friday, the balloon chandelier was still in place.
• Marigolds from my garden, which I finally gave some much needed attention last Thursday.
• Leftover pancakes fixed up with Greek yogurt and strawberries.

Bottom row, L to R:

• Artichoke paella, an easy but a time consuming dish.  Worked out perfectly though as it took some time for the landlord to remedy the giant black pond of ooze coming up from the drain in the kitchen floor.
• Thursday's garden cucumber harvest.  Last year it was zucchini, this year it's cukes.  While I have missed making eating zucchini bread, I have had some fun trying out different pickling recipes.  More on that later.
• My own version of pad thai with whole wheat spaghetti, eggplant, bell peppers, shrimp and scrambled egg. 

This week I am departing a bit from my usual work schedule for an interview on Thursday, and have the Charlottesville Women's 4 Miler race on Saturday!  I'm hoping to celebrate the successful completion of both events with something fun next weekend.

A Week of Eats: August 12

This week brings us squarely into mid-August, but with the weather recently has made it feel more like mid-September.  I woke up to temperatures in the low 60's this week, and didn't feel like I needed a full on shower after biking into work, always a plus!

The change in weather hasn't been dramatic enough to really cause a change in my kitchen, except for the pancakes I made this morning.  Waking up late to a consistent drizzle made them all the more delicious.

Other meals that made the cut:

• tuna melt with tomatoes and a side of homemade pickles
• breakfast smoothie made with peaches, bananas, orange juice, vanilla protein powder and cinnamon roll flavored yogurt--AMAZING!
• Sunday breakfast set up: pancakes and blog reading
• turkey sandwich with tomatoes and cucumbers dipped in sesame dressing 
• chef salad of sorts with more pickles (can't seem to get enough!)

I spent most of last Saturday out running errands and learned that a mental list is no substitute for a written one.  I failed to buy anything on my "list" at Target and instead left the store with this:

On the bright side, my total at the register was only $7, something rather unheard of around here; and I had a fun Sunday morning baking project.

Eight things ate of late

This post is inspired by today's date: August 8th.  Five years ago, it was 08/08/08 and an insanely popular day to get married, according to my Facebook feed.  Happy Anniversary Anna + Mike (and all of the rest of you, even if I wasn't there to see you get hitched)!!

One--I polished off the peach cobbler with some vanilla ice cream.  Note to self: get some more peaches before they are all gone.  Topping and ice cream are optional, but go big or go home, right?

Two--This "Enchilada Casserole," was not one of my better creations.  I am going to blame the jar of green enchilada sauce I used.

Three--The last piece of enchilada casserole drowned in fresh green salad with a garden tomato.

Four--Spicy breakfast eggs on toast.

Five--Homemade pickles, batch one.  The cucumbers keep on coming, so there will likely be more batches in my future.

Six--"Easiest Ever Choucroute" recipe torn from an old Family Circle magazine.  Choucroute is French for sauerkraut, and this came out pretty tasty, just in case you were wondering.

Seven--I bought ground turkey to make meal #8, but only used half of it, so I made turkey patties with the rest.  Topped with homemade pickles and some amazing grapes that held up in the fridge for over a week while I forgot about them.

Eight--Slow cooker cabbage rolls with rice; garden cucumber topped with cottage cheese, salt and pepper.  See the link for an appetizing photo; this was the best I could come up with!

July in AK

This is a very small selection of the photos I have from our Alaskan adventure.  It was a fantastic trip, and I would love to go back!

***

And since this is primarily a food blog, here's a glimpse of some Alaskan/cruise cuisine (again, a very small sample of everything that was eaten.  By the end, the elaborate meals began to feel obligatory, which is something that never, ever happens at home!)

On our last day at sea, we went to a culinary  demonstration that ended with a tour of the ship's kitchen.  The statistics regarding the number of pounds of certain foods were truly unreal.

I guess this is how you meal plan for 3,000+ people.