Angel Food

Lent this year started last Wednesday, almost a week ago. In an effort to regain some sort of discipline in multiple areas of my life that were/are in disarray, I chose to tackle 5 (!) areas where I need God’s help. Perhaps it is the perfectionist in me that chose so many. Perhaps it is the optimist. After a week, though, I am humbled to realize that there’s no way that on my own without divine guidance can I will myself to be disciplined in these areas.

So, my five disciplines for Lent 2008 are:

(1) Finish reading the Bible - I’ve been stuck in the Old Testament prophets for the last year. But, I don’t want to finish the Bible for finishing’s sake. I want to know God’s word as well as is possible for me. Having read the text is a start, I guess.

(2) Follow the Weight Watchers Flex Points program faithfully - Want to know a secret? I’ve never done this successfully. Despite having lost a lot of weight on WW before (75 lbs, 20 or so of which I gained back), I never, ever just ate the points as prescribed. I always went over my flex points, but only by about 7 flex points/ week (so, about 50 calories a day - no biggie). The trouble is, now, I’ve gone over by about 30 or so a week - that’s about 1500 extra calories/week. Following flex points is spiritual for me because this is something I feel that I cannot do on my own. This will be my hardest discipline, by far.

(3) Arrive on time to work - uh, anyone who knows me knows that I struggle with being chronically late. It’s just kind of accepted in my workplace that I’ll be late.  I’m tired of it, though. I hate being the slacker employee.

(4) Surf the web less - I waste so much precious time just searching - for what? Fulfillment, amusement, take your pick. But, there’s got to be a better way. It’s hard to serve God by surfing the web all day long. And, I really, really want to serve God well.

(5) Stop cussing - shocking, I know. I was having a real problem cussing for a few weeks there prior to Lent. I didn’t like the way I was speaking. I realize that a lot of it was being done just to get laughs out of my friends. I was profane for a while, and I’m ready to move one and “speak good” again.

LENTEN LOG - WEEK ONE

I just wrote all of that above so that this log makes sense. Angel Food is supposed to be about food, but I don’t have the time (although I do have the inclination) to develop a proper food blog right now. So, I’m going to use this space to talk about my Lenten discipline and the reformation/transformation that may/may not occur during these forty holy days.

 I realized a few days into Lent that my motivations for my 5 disciplines need to be refined. Am I attempting them because I want to be a better person? Or, am I truly trying to be a better follower of God? Do my disciplines help me to do that? I think, mostly, yes.

Week One, then, has been a blessing, if only for helping me to identify my motivation for wanting to be more disciplined. The one discipline that I’ve followed faithfully has been to read my Bible. I’m in Ezekial. I wish that I could say I’ve gotten great spiritual insight; but I’ve not been aware of any yet (except that God really wants us, especially those who’ve had some instruction in His ways, to keep our noses clean and shape up!). Not cussing has also been pretty easy, although today I said a few while driving, one out of extreme frustration, and one to sound cool. But, overall, a vast improvement given that I can count the cusses on just a few fingers for the entire week. Work-wise, I’ve been vaguely better about getting to work more close to the expected time (even beating several coworkers into the office) and better about surfing the web less. But, I have not committed to these disciplines in a way that could really make changes in my life. Finally, I’ve been abysmal at counting points - completely forgetting to ask God for help in this area. Instead, I kind of murmur to myself, “I’ll only be a few points over, which I can make up tomorrow.” Then, I never “make up” the points because points = food and fewer points = more hunger.

I’m one to digress into beating myself up, so I’ll try to wrap up on a positive note. Despite not being totally successful in all my disciplines (like that year when I gave up tv - what a rockin’ Lent that was!), I can feel that I am being changed by attempting the disciplines. My shame for so many things - gaining weight, avoiding church, hating work - is starting to be dismantled. My thirst for God has returned, and it is so strong. I’m eager to keep watching what God may do through these disciplines during Lent.

Canned salmon is an appallingly unappetizing ingredient. Earlier this week I cooked with this ingredient for the first time. Excited to be making a childhood favorite, I cheerfully popped the top off the can. At first glance, I was greeted with a pink round of salmon flesh. But dumped from its aluminum cell, the salmon was as listless and greying as an elderly jailbird. Pink and gray aren’t necessarily bad colors together; I even went through pink and gray phase once -a pink cashmere sweater is cute with gray trousers. And, yes, I realize that salmon is a pink and gray fish. But, staring at the clumps of fish my bowl jolted me into a ponderance of the poor creature who so no ignobly ended up de-salmonized in a column of metal. There was no silvery sleekness left in the fish, only a sad, slighly oily heap of muted pink and gray.

Perhaps salmon croquettes are not the most refined way to repair the ignoble justice levied on the creature who made it into my can. But, they do make quite a fine and easy weeknight meal. I paired mine with steamed spinach and half of a baked sweet potato. (See my photo below.)  

Lately, I’ve been into this idea of the easy weeknight meal. Sure, I love to do it up in the kitchen, making fancy cakes for birthdays, going all out for the holidays, etc. But, when January rolls around and I realize that a little too much of Christmas has gone to my midsection, my time in the evenings is suddenly taken over by trips to the gym. (This year, I’ve an even greater incentive - trying to get down a size or two before the Filene’s Basement Running of the Brides in Atlanta.) I need healthy and quick recipes to keep me from dropping too much money at my local Vietnamese noodle place.  So, for a while at least, I’ll be exploring the joys of the simple weeknight meal.

Back to the croquettes - I had a secret love of salmon croquettes when I was a kid. Oh, they tasted ok to my little kid palate (especially with some syrup poured on them), but there was an unexpected textural component that I really loved. I had a weird fascination with the little toothsome bits of salmon bone. Sounds gross, I know, but don’t knock them until you’ve had the pleasure of a surprising slight crunch in the middle of your croquette.

The croquettes I made were Cooking Light’s Lemon-Dill Salmon Croquettes with Horseradish Sauce. I’d rate the recipe at 3 out of 5 whisks. Overall, the croquettes made a fine dinner. But, as written, the recipe is imperfect. If you make the recipe, consider the following suggestions. (1) Add dill to the horseradish sauce to up the dill quotient. (2) Think about adding an extra 1/2 tsp of lemon zest to the croquettes. (3) Drain the salmon - it doesn’t say this in the recipe, but otherwise they’d be too liquidy to firm up. (4) Try reduced fat, rather than fat free, sour cream. Also, the croquettes were salty, thanks to the briny canned fish. The sauce cuts the saltiness, but not be enough to make these croquettes really pleasing. I plan on retooling this croquette recipe, perhaps subbing in tuna for the salmon, and quantifying the suggestions I make above. So, if you’re a fan of sauteed croquettes, stay tuned for an updated croquettes post soon!

As my little brother (aka my one and only reader) pointed out, I’ve not blogged anything about the new excitement in my life. I’m engaged!!! Woo-hooo!!

Also, I’ve been contemplating this little blog all over again. I really want it to be about cooking, but just haven’t narrowed down the subject any more than that. A recipe a week? Cooking to lose a dress size or two before the wedding? A single gal’s enjoyment of cooking the foods her fiancee wouldn’t be caught dead eating? Dear reader, I implore you to give your opinion!

In the meantime, here’s a couple photos for you of my ring and me and my handsome hubby to be (it is so weird to say that).

A mini-hurdle in my relationship with my pilot was overcome this weekend. He tried Thai food and liked it! I’ve worried in the past that I would have to totaly forego my love of Thai food once Andy and I are married. This weekend, however, we ate at Siam Thai  in Pensacola and fell in love with some of their offerings. This folks that run this restaurant offer a dining room menu, which I want to order from next time I go, and a buffet. Buffets scare me, especially ones that offer a trip around Asia on a steam table/cold bar (a dinner of hot and sour soup, sushi, and Pad Thai, anyone?). I wanted to take a chance on this restaurant, however, especially because Andy was interested in it. It turns out that, despite the pan-Asian offerings, the buffet table was mostly all Thai specialities and even the non-Thai fare (like the sushi) actually employed Thai twists. I was proud of Andy for diving into their Panang curry. I was a fan of several dishes, including the green curry and a spicy garlic shrimp dish. There was also an intriguiging “From the North” chicken soup that had a base of spicy tomato and shrimp broth. It was totally different from anything I’ve had. By the end of the meal, we were very full. And, I won’t lie and pretend it was all about the Thai food for me. I enjoyed one of those terrific Chinese restaurant style fried, sugared donuts for dessert.

In many ways, it was fitting that my pilot and I shared this food experience after a day at an air show. It was a perfect way for us to share our passions - aviation and  great food - with each other. He’s won me over with aerobatics and F-16s. I’ve won him over with Indian and Thai food. The next challenges? For me, it would be understanding aerodynamics. For him, appreciating Greek food, perhaps… Maybe we’ll have a physics of flying lesson one day over a snack of spanakopita.

Does anyone know where the last couple of weeks have gone? I took a mini-vacation two weekends ago and, it seems, so did my cooking! I got back on track last night and made one of my all-time favorites - Six Vegetable Soup from Barbara Kafka. You’ve got to love a soup that starts with butter and ends with hot sauce. The six vegetables in the soup are tomato, potato, onion, scallions, carrots, and green peas. I always tweak the recipe, doubling the potatoes and adding extra tomatoes to make the soup hearty enough for  a light supper.

Everytime I make this soup, I’m taken back to Fall of 1999. I made a lot of memories that Fall with a now very ex-boyfriend. He and I chose to make this soup one chilly evening and were surprised by its goodness. We gorged on 3 bowls each, if I remember correctly. We were very happy that evening. This soup serves, in some small way, as a trope of that romance. The young Israeli and I had many happy experiences that we lapped up greedily. But cozy evenings of soup-making were often distractions from the overarching sadness in our relationship. If we comforted ourselves with homemade soup, then we didn’t need to comfort each other.

I’ve tried to replace the old memories of the soup with new ones, making it once for my boyfriend soon after we started dating. However, the pilot is unsure about the tomatoes. In many ways, his lack of interest in this soup has been a blessing for me. In thick Sharpie, I’ve marked out what I once had written above the recipe, “My and Y—’s favorite vegetable soup!” And, I’ve now declared, “This is my favorite recipe for vegetable soup!” My pilot and I will have many years to discover our favorite meals together (Chicken Enchiladas is one). Until the day, though, when I’m in charge of “our kitchen,” I will thoroughly enjoy my own stove and relish the dishes that make me alone smile.

It’s been one of those weeks. After the curry triumph of last week, I’ve stumbled like an Italian marathoner (see Dorando Pietri). My BF visited me over the weekend, and any time I suggested cooking my planned recipe for Moussaka. Our conversations went like this: Me: “I have a Weight Watchers recipe for moussaka.” Him: “What’s moussaka?” Me: “It’s a Greek casserole type dish, I think you’ll like it.” Him: “Well, I’m learning that I like foreign food. What’s in it?” Me: “Uh, eggplant - and BEEF - you like beef, and I think some cheese! You like cheese. I think it’ll be good.” Him: “Hmm… Can we talk about it later?”

 Later, of course, meant that we’d go out for dinner. I realize my mistakes: (1) calling it “moussaka” instead of just a casserole, (2) admitting it was a Weight Watchers recipe, (3) mentioning eggplant, and (4) asking his opinion about dinner! A married friend of mine swears that whenever she asks her husband’s opinion on dinner, he never likes what she suggests. But, if she just makes dinner, he eats it.

Last night, I tried to do my cooking for the week, since Sunday passed me by without a proper meal being prepped. I wanted to make a nice lunch recipe, so I wouldn’t have to rely on Lean Cuisines at work. The recipe for egg salad was from Weight Watchers and relied on fake mayo. I made it, took one bite, and within 30 seconds dumped the whole batch in the trash. It was nasty. I think I’m going to give up on WW recipes. Have I ever made one that actually tasted good?

I also attempted to make the WW moussaka, finally. But, the failure this time was not Weight Watchers, but mine. The eggplant was no longer fresh and, although baking it with meat, tomatoes, and cheese might disguise the brown spots, I decided not to forego taste for frugality. So, I made lemonade out of lemons or, rather, spaghetti sauce out of moussaka.  I browned the meat with onions, threw in some thyme, parsley, garlic powder, and tomato sauce, and poured in a copious amount of wine. I’m not gonna lie. The sauce tasted funky. But, when I salted it up and cooked it down a bit, the flavors just came together. I’m excited to use it tonight on radiattore (my all-time favorite macaroni!). 

Despite the failed dishes, I’m going to be philosophical and call it a learning experience. Lessons learned: (1) trust your instincts about low-fat recipes (I just knew the egg salad was not going to taste good); (2) when cooking for boyfriend, you should use euphemisms, or just not tell him what you’re making at all; (3) things beginning with “egg” shouldn’t be brown (unless it’s a brown egg); and (4) when a dish calls for ground beef, onions, and tomatoes, it is pretty much always salvagable.

I’ve been living in the photography laboratory this week, stumbling home at 12:30 in the morning for the last two nights. Thank goodness that I made a West Indian Vegetable Curry from Cooking Light a few nights ago. I’ve been sustaining myself off of it and some avocados that I bought for my photography assignment. Speaking of photography, I actually have started looking into adding photos to this blog. I know I need to download a program to do so, and I’m looking around before committing to something that I might later regret.

You see, dear reader (and there probably is only one of you), one day I want to have a fully functioning, beautiful little cooking blog with a robust community of readers and commenters. My plan is to write a food blog/memoir type thing my first year as a newlywed. A “this is what two people who are marrying two different food personalities together eat for dinner” kind of blog. But, for now I am (1) not even engaged, just talking about it with my pilot, (2) relying on the grace of family and my work computer (during my lunch break) to write this since my computer is ancient and slow, and (3) waaay to busy to put the time in that is needed to have a fully functioning blog. But this cooking and writing about it thing is really helping me to shape up my blogging personality and writing style.

So, a quick review of the West Indian Vegetable Curry. It’s supposed to be a side dish, but I’ve been scarfing it down as a meal. I love this curry and will definitely save it as part of my repertoire, adjusting vegetables as the seasons change. I didn’t change the recipe at all but did wimp out a little on one part. The recipe calls for a habanero pepper to be included, instructing the cook to pierce the pepper and stew it with the vegetables for a short time. The recipe wasn’t specific, but I only pierced it once. I had a horrible run in with a scotch bonnet pepper last year that nearly made me pass out, so I was leery of overdoing the heat. Unfortunately, my finished curry has less heat than I’d like, but that is my only complaint with the dish. It otherwise has a great diversity of color and flavors, with a melting, buttery quality to the vegetables. I am lucky enough to have on hand some good curry powder form The Spice House in Chicago, thanks to my little brother. The spice is complex and noteworthy, but not overwhelming. The red, orange, and green of the curry make it one of the prettiest dishes that I have ever made. Paired with rice, it certainly is a meal and not a side dish - the very perfect thing to eat on a fall evening.

Frugality has never been my strong suit, but I’m working on it. Once upon a time, I would scrap for rent money yet drop 35 bucks on a cookbook. These days, I’m much better at managing my dough. Last month, however, I just knew I was blowing my grocery budget. Cooking with fresh, healthful ingredients, rather than overproduced junk, can be expensive (sorry, Alice Waters!). However, at the end of the month I realized that I had tons of money left over in my restaurant budget line for the first time in months. So, cooking so much is not only helping me plan my life and diet better and reclaim a lost passion, it’s helping my bottom line after all.

So, I happily continued with my weekly cooking adventures last night, making a simple dinner of roast chicken, green beans, and rice and a snack of black bean dip. The dip and chicken are from the latest issue of Cooking Light (unfortunately the recipes have not yet been posted). In keeping with my frugality theme, the 4lb roast chicken was on sale for 79 cents a lb! You can do the math and see that I am eating cheeee-eap for the week! The Green Beans with Vinaigrette were terrific, crunchy and savory. These will probably become a staple for me. The black bean dip (one of the non-posted CL recipes from the latest issue) is very good football eats. I’ll be saving this recipe, too, despite its affect on my gastro-intestinal tract. (I recommend not making it when your boyfriend is around - guy roommates are ok, though.)

Speaking of guy roommates and my dining out budget… Part of this month’s restaurant allocation will disappear this evening into Vietnamese yummies. Ex-roommate PJoJo is passing through town, and we’re having a roommate reunion at our neighborhood staple - Saigon Noodle House. Hooray for Pho! Hooray for iced coffee! Hooray for sexually ambiguous waiters! It should be fun.

To make up for tonight’s planned excesses, I’ll be preparing a redemption meal of West Indian Vegetable Curry from Cooking Light later in the week. (Perhaps I’ll even soon figure out how to add pictures to my blogs!)

I really have been cooking! I really have! A shiny new cooking schedule is working well in my busy life. I try to cook Sundays and Wednesdays, although last night was simply Hebrew National 97% fat-free franks and beans. Sunday, however, I cooked and cooked like a mediterranean mama, making Pistachio and Raisin Biscotti, Jamie Oliver’s Eggplant Parmesan, chickpea dip (hummus minus tahini, really), and pita chips. The biscotti was my way of acknolwedging that my trips to Starbucks were getting out of hand. I have finally switched from the four dollar drinks to regular coffee (as regular as Joya del Dia can be, I suppose). But, maddeningly, I keep buying the buck fifty piece of vanilla biscotti every time. I recognize that (1) that’s an outrageous price for an overbaked cookie and (2) that the flavor really is rather mass produced, too sweet and artificially vanilla.

I found a biscotti recipe for a pistachio and raisin version from Martha Stewart’s Everyday Food. Back ten years ago or so, when I was a college student in Chicago, I tried making a chocolate biscotti to impress a boy. It was awful. My biscotti wasn’t merely twice baked - it was twice burnt! Like the biscotti, the relationship with the boy never panned out, either. But, I’m happy to report much better success on both the biscotti and relationship fronts these days. My handsome pilot and I miss each other terribly, but we are so happy. And, although I think the biscotti recipe could be tweaked a bit, it has made me happy at breakfast several days this week. The recipe from Everyday Food is a keeper. The dough was simple to make, firm yet very tender, not rock hard like some biscotti. I liked the combination of pistachio and golden raisins, but the recipe needs a little added brightness. I plan to make these again and add orange zest and/or an orange glaze. Also, I think the dough lends itself to adapting to all sorts of variations, and I plan to take advantage of its versatility. I’m thinking pecan and cranberry or lemon and red raisins could be simple and good.

The chickpea dip with homemade pita chips has made a pretty tasty lunch this week, although it is nothing more than a good tahini-free hummus. I can’t even remember if I kept the recipe, since it is essentially the same version that I throw together without the assistance of food editors. But, you should try it if (1) you like hummus and (2) you need a decent recipe for it.

I wish I could say that I liked the Eggplant Parmesan more than I did. Jamie Oliver (aka the Naked Chef) enticed me with the late summer flavors of tomatos and basil. Also, he bakes his eggplant rather than fries, meaning I can eat eggplant parm without my tummy feeling leadened afterward. I added shiitake mushrooms to make up for some of eggplant pieces that were sliced too thinly and overbaked. The shiitake gave a nice meatiness and flavor, but something was missing from the recipe overall. Admittedly, I had to use white wine vinegar because we were out of red wine vinegar. My roommate added red pepper flakes, which helped. The flavor of the dish was too canned tomato-ey for me. Further, the promise of parmesan went unmet as all of the cheese melted completely into the dish. Perhaps my parm was too finely grated (I used a rasper, rather than a grater). The flavor was there (slightly), but the dish lacked the gooeyness that I so wanted it to have. I’m going to have to revisit this recipe; with tweaking, i think i could really enjoy it.

Lately, the recipes I’ve tried have been a bust, so I’ve not been including links to them. However, you should try Hunter-Style Chicken as soon as you can. I am no big fan of microwave cooking - I sometimes even have trouble with popcorn. But, the fine folks at Everyday Food have perfected how to radiate a really great chicken, tomato, and mushroom stew. This stew is very healthy, creating flavor from bold ingredients rather than relying on fat to carry the taste. Rosemary, orange peel, garlic, and cayenne helped to create one of most satisfying meals I’ve cooked in a while. (Bonus: the dried rosemary came from the dead plant sitting by my window!)

From my cooking these past few months, both the successful and unsuccessful dishes, I’m discovering my palate. I love when tons of flavor is created from simple ingredients. Sometimes recipes totally miss the mark (the amount of salt in a WW tuna salad I made this weekend was just horrifying). But, more often, they simply do not have enough flavor. I have been so tired of eating boring food. It’s weird to say that one’s whole being can been rejuvenated by a chicken stew. However, that’s no overstatement for me.