Mind-Swimming and Mind-Diving

Things have been pretty crazy 'round here.

Shady Shot of Caramelized Cabbage & Roasted Roots!

I had the first test-run cooking class on April 5th, and the second on May 3rd. Both menus showcased Scottish cuisine, and were a blast to put on. I also hosted a little dinner party on April 13th, between a work trip to Memphis and another to Omaha, and oh- let's not forget that I was in DC for my birthday (April 20th) before jetting out to Italy for a week's vacation.

"A little month," as Hamlet says.

I've been in a state that I call "Mind-Swimming," inspired by the feeling that I am awash in details, projects, and ideas. My mind literally feels like it is navigating water because it is so crowded in there!

Last Saturday though, I had a day of "Mind-Diving," meaning I chose one topic for a "deep dive." I woke up at 4 AM after a dream and decided to jump into some behind-the-scenes blog work that I've been wrestling with (with the happy assistance of friend and blog coach Ethan Waldman of Cloud Coach). It continued until about 5 PM, and I made some good progress.

This swimming/diving metaphor is another way of expressing Emilie's (of Puttylike fame) concept of the Three C's: that there is some technique involved in organizing your time according to the type of activity. Is the activity one of creation, consumption, or connection? This concept sort of blew my mind a few months ago, and I've been using it as a touchstone for getting things done in a way that doesn't burn me out- highly recommended.

Speaking of burnout, while I've been doing all this 'swimming' through ideas, and projects, and research, you may well ask what sustains me? The answer to that, and what gives me confidence that this venture will be a success, is that I keep doing it.

That's right. I'm using the insanity to prove I'm not insane.

Of course, what I mean is that if I didn't enjoy the cooking, hosting, planning, researching, why would I keep doing it? It gives this introvert energy, and that's the secret of following your bliss, folks.

It'll probably change and evolve, since that's what multipotentialites do, and that's okay! I'll be keeping a weather eye on the horizon, a firm hand on the rudder, and I'll adapt.

But for now, this is the hot ticket! :-)

I invited two couples of friends over for this Friday night dinner, and I knew when I did so that it needed to be creative. One of the husbands is a fancy cook. He had also previously commented on there not being enough food at one of my dinners, by which he meant the main dish. Lesson learned in my book, and so I wanted to be a little more impressive this time.
I started with sweet potatoes, as I often do (love this Ode to the Sweet Potato from Tasty Kitchen). I added paprika. I roasted with olive oil and salt.

I bought taco shells and shredded (the horror!) jack cheese, thinking of a potential different recipe, but collapsed them into a topping/stuffing/filling bar instead: with this red cabbage with apples recipe being the long-simmered and aromatic star.

I combined some unusual bedfellows when composing hors d'oeuvres: Saltines, black olive paste, and boquerones (marinated white anchovies).

The boquerones, by the way, were inspired by the tapas at Estadio- also delicious- but bought at Vace, an Italian delicatessen at Cleveland Park, much less expensively. Score!

There were a lot of choices in little bowls around the table, which was a little awkward to pass, but tasted good in the mouth. The husband previously referred to said that it was unusual to offer red cabbage as a taco filling.

Good observation.

We like doing unusual here.

Do try the red cabbage recipe- it's a smash hit, as well as cheap and easy (earning it a place on my next Favorites List). Let me know if you like it, or find good variations, in the comments!

Forays into darkest Moosewood

First beans, then oxtail, what's next? Rye whiskey??

No, no, we will be continuing a review of the classics but leaving the pioneer food to delve into a different genre with today's post:

Moosewood Fudge Brownies

If you haven't heard of Moosewood, here's the short version:

• restaurant in Ithaca, NY
• featuring healthful natural foods
• been around for 38 years
• has produced a lot of cookbooks...

this

...one of which I love to use for new dessert ideas. In this case I was aiming to use up the last of a jar of instant espresso and some very ripe bananas. The idea was to add them into the recipe for MW's fudge brownies, substituting the bananas for some of the liquid. Which would have worked fine if, as I was pouring the batter into the square pan, I hadn't turned around and seen

and this

i.e. that's what I get for going into the 'zone' of following a recipe and not remembering my intent to add-on to it! Bananas still to use and espresso still to finish. #firstworldproblems for sure.

Anyway, following the recipe yielded an interesting result. The brownies turned out very flat, very dense, and even a bit dry, kind of like a flourless chocolate cake (although I did use flour, a combination of white whole-wheat and whole-wheat pastry flour). This was not a case of me overcooking in my terrible oven, either. The batter suuuuure looked beautiful though, eh?

Pouring that fudge brownie batter into the pan

Here's the order of how it came together. Trader Joe's chocolate discs and butter, melted.

Melted to the perfect consistency to add the brown sugar and vanilla...

Whisking in the egg, giving it a frothy surface temporarily...

Getting artistic... (look Ma, one-handed whisking!)

Adding flour, a bit at a time

Moosewood Banana Muffins

And finally, that fudge-y consistency we all know and love so well. I brought these into work on an off day (we've been having terrible network problems, so a lot of people have been staying home), but they still went over pretty well. Wondering if anyone has had a similar result on the texture/ moisture issue though, since I like a gooey-er brownie myself.

So that was attempt number one. Since I realized I had forgotten the espresso and the bananas right before I put the brownies in the oven, it gave me some time to wash up and start over, which I determined to do. Easiest recipe to turn to in time of need? Well, these were already bookmarked to try in the same book, soooo...

 

Moosewood Banana Muffins it is (was)! (with add-ins of espresso and chocolate chips)

I had previously made a chocolate banana gingerbread, so I only had 2 bananas. I think this made the muffins a little dry, but the flavor was right on, and if you heat them in the microwave for a few seconds under a wet paper towel...... you can't tell the difference.

I celebrated my birthday yesterday with many good friends, and am leaving in a few hours for Napoli for a solo vacation, so you could say I'm sandwiched between pleasures.
To come when I return: Scottish Cuisine: my take; Cherry blossoms of DC in 2012; and other treats of living this life full throttle. Salute!

The Infamous...

My party, as promised :-)

So. I floated along in a glow-haze for the whole week, but I guess it's time for documentation. Proof that so much fun could, in fact, be had. Well, here it is, folks. My very own pinata party, out on the green.

(This is me being cheeky and pointing out over right field where my homerun would go, hehe.)

Here's Rachel, giving it a go (left). So what else did we do, besides swing away? You're right, it wasn't all violence; we don't roll like that. Since it was actually a dual celebration for my friend April (born 4/19/someyear) and me, we had two mostly-not-overlapping groups of friends, so people got to meet and talk and bascially just loll about in the perfect California-weather day. It was awesome- felt very Chosen People-ish (but more on that below with the bowling).

There was also a fair amount of food. It was hard to stand it, but I managed to sample a few things here and there. I brought Nora's red pepper spread recipe, Molly's Banana Bread, and some cranberry bread with no chocolate, since it was not yet Easter and I knew at least one person would be abstaining from chocolate for Lent (that is one old habit that should die a fabulous death).

And here is April of the 4/19 bday, in a great Action Shot (right)! Her mom was in town too, and so helped with the logistics- I think the older Filipina woman did a great job blending in and having fun with all us young'uns!

But the pinata party wasn't the only event. Nay, there were pre-party rumblings heard as early as Sunday. Rumblings that took the form of... a Korean Triple Play !

Lovely beef and noodle dish at Palace Restaurant

 Me, Nina, Nora at the Lanes

Jess, Nora, Marc focused on the 'pan-chan' (terrible anglicism)

The Korean Triple Play was born of my desire to continue field tripping into adulthood. If we're going to go into Virginia, we might as well make hay, right? Or something like that. So especially for people who couldn't make it to the pinata party, it was a nice outing. Consisting of:

1) 'Palacial' dinner at Palace Restaurant, a Korean BBQ/ Grill place of tasty food and wonderful service

2) Burning off a few of those calories at AMF Annandale Lanes, just down the road

3) Burning off some more (and losing our voices) as we choke through an hour of karaoke at a Korean private-room karaoke lounge

It was a great idea, let me tell you. PLUS, we had a great time bowling- we went Jews v. Gentiles; each team had an N, a J, and an M (isn't that crazy? natural selection or something?), and each team won once. That's all we had strength for!

Ahh, 30. I am embarking on this year with a powerful feeling of self-possession, balance, and drive. TOward what? Well, we'll see. ;-)

Last Best Bits

Here is the last post about the party the welcomed Jess back to DC. I hope breaking it up into 3 parts was easier for you all to digest. I could have just gone on and on (as the prep that day did in fact seem to go on and on...), but 1) that might have been boring to read and 2) I would have only been able to give myself credit for doing one post! This way, I get to pat myself on the back 3 times! haha... yes, folks, the secret to better stats is not strictly more work, but better and more crafty presentation. ;-)
In this post, I have the last few bits and the people (the best bits).

I made a beet hummus, which someone saw and cheekily suggested was made in honor of the Cherry Blossom Festival, which we were right in the middle of! Alas, no such planning had been in my head, but I wanted something fresh, healthy, and different (seems to be my M.O.) and saw this recipe on Simply Recipes which sounded great! It was pretty easy, since I started with the already cooked Trader Joe's beets (yes, I am a dyed-in-the-wool TJ's fan, try as I might to be objective).

Beet Hummus: the horror movie

It turned out rather well, as a sweet tangy pucker in a fresh earthy dip.

Second, I wanted a green dip, so I searched and found one by a friend that did not use mayonnaise- perfect! It used up artichokes in a jar that I had, spinach in a bag that I had, and included plenty of lemon and garlic, always a good indicator of quality.

No photographic evidence was obtained because, like the Baked Brie, it had to be in the oven until presentation, so ... I balked at showing the picked-over leftovers in a picture. Yes, yes, so there is definitely some natural selection on this blog; that's why the photos are so good! ;-)
But I can certainly say I had it for leftovers for several days and did not tire of it!

Third is the crowd pleaser: Chocolate Orange Pound Cake, from a mix my mom sent in a care package, and which I had been waiting to pull out for the right 'convenience-needed' moment: bingo!

It was delicious served at the end of the meal with mango, which we took turns slicing and dicing, since it is kinda hard to do. Any tips on this? They were champagne mangos from Mexico (via Whole Foods) and not as ripe as they could have been, but I tried the cool-looking scientific method, which wasn't perfect, but served the purpose. Purpose the mangos needed to be riper...

And finally, the friends that made the party such a joy to host: Jess, Dany, Steve, Suzanne, Figo, Mandy, Nora, Rajiv, and others that didn't get captured on celluloid. Thank you, Friends!

And now that I've presented all the high points of Welcome-Back-Jess party I hosted, which the Nina Post called "elegant and sophistocated... very adult," I will hopefully be back shortly to report on my birthday party of a couple days ago, which involved Candy, a Cookie Monster pinata, and what else? 

Good Food!

After Birthday Blue

I wish I knew how to do more fancy-pants features with this blog! I guess I could take some time to figure it out, but... I guess I'm satisfied enough with the plain old Jane old format to continue as-is.
So, my birthday was on Monday! And it was a darned-pretty-good day. I had a small gathering of friends who happened to have time on Sunday afternoon over in my backyard. Actually, it's a cement patch. And it was its 'coming out party'- the first time I'd used it. I hope to make much more use in the coming months in the hot hot weather!
I cooked whatever came swirling out of my head a few hours before the start time, confident that the full fridge would yield some zingy combinations, and it did, I think:
hot Italian sausage for appetizer
homemade mint and jasmine iced tea
sauteed kale and caramelized onions
spaghetti with salmon, asparagus, and pine nuts
kimchi mandu (ok, those were from H Mart)
pumpkin chocolate chip muffins (http://www.5dollardinners.com/2008/09/pumpkin-chocolate-chip-muffins.html
pear tart (http://localfoods.about.com/od/fall/r/pear_tart.htm)

And it was a pretty good success! In spite of the rain drops falling on our heads.