"a quick one (while he's away)"

plain yoghurt,
ripe peaches,
a slight drizzle of honey,
a shake of cardamom ..


.. great stuff!

the spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.

i suppose that's true, from a certain point of view.
i should probably explain that.

in my last post, i celebrated a little victory over mother nature: my rapini did not rot to slime. instead, i enjoyed almost all of it through several meals.

i fared a little worse with the peaches i bought last week from that haven, the Produce Station. today i could walk through the living room and smell the intoxicating smell of peach: they were that ripe.

so i poked one. it gave, not sickeningly or putridly so ..for there remained a bit of resistance in the flesh under the peach skin.. but it was soft.

it wouldn't be long before the flies would come, in little sinister clouds ..i might have seen a few and panicked. maybe that's why i made what i made; there is a critical time for certain foods where one must cook them when they are their ripest, but not yet spoilt.

plantains are such foods, and i think i'll now add peaches to that list. so enough of this mystery:

spiced peach chutney/jam.

disclaimer: this is the first time i made this, and i'm not a jam expert. to be honest, i don't know how you would serve this, though i will try it tomorrow with good breakfast bread. i imagine it might be good atop of grilled foods, like a good fillet of flaky fish, or perhaps asparagus.

also, this is constant stirring ..just to warn you.


ingredients:
3 medium peaches, really ripe, cut into small chunks;
      (i peeled the skin off, without blanching them.)
a few glugs of olive oil;
a pinch of salt;
a little nutmeg, and a little cardamom;
two good teaspoons of brown sugar;
two glasses of port,
      the kind you'd drink by yourself
      but wouldn't serve to friends;
a few shakes of tolerable balsamic vinegar.


"directions" (what i tried): i didn't do much, actually, except saute the peaches and added liquids intermittently.

start a frying pan on high heat, enough to sizzle inadvertent drops of water on its surface, and add oil. about a half-minute later, add peaches. start stirring.

once liquid seeps out from the peaches, switch to medium or low heat. the idea is to let it simmer, but not spatter. add spices and sugar and keep stirring, but less often.

once the peach saute thickens and changes color slightly..

(i don't know if this is caramelisation, or whether the spices and brown sugar mixed very well, so use your judgment)

..add one glass of port, and stir well while sipping the other glass.

      ** be careful not to be directly above the pan;
      evaporating port fumes are a doozy!

now wait for the mixture to thicken again, and add the balsamic vinegar in the same way. once it thickens to the consistency of a wonderful, fresh fruit topping on hot, steaming pancakes, turn the heat off.

let cool, and spoon into a jar. now you have jam.

small victories.

i've had few things to feel good about, lately, or at least it seems that way. but today's small victory was:

i made a bunch of rapini last, for three meal servings.


as for why this is meaningful: i've been known to neglect my kitchen and let good produce rot in the fridge. this is always a terrible, guilty end.

in the end, only a few springs of it yellowed to rot .. so maybe there's hope in me, yet.

late night broccoli hits the spot.

man. a night on the town (with copious alcohol) is the sort of thing which builds a fearsome appetite!

preparation and planning is not often appreciated. in fact, often the forward-thinking i do is only appreciated at times like this .. at 1 or 2 am, between night and morning.

        i'd say it's kin to being a good teacher, to a class of college freshman, in the sense that they won't know until they are close to graduating how much it mattered to have a good class in the beginning of their college career ..

       .. and that kicking their @$$, giving them a hard time to teach them how to work: that it served a purpose. a teacher is a little like a parent, and often you don't appreciate how you grew up until you are grown up and realise what could have gone wrong ..

        which is not to say that a parent can do no wrong, but some things you can appreciate. anyway.

but i mean to say something about cooking, and cooking in advance:


tonight i am exceedingly glad that i made extra sauteed broccoli, because after an evening of bars and visiting the abodes of friends of pretty acquaintances, i felt a little hungry as i walked through my front door.

broccoli, and some good baked bread: a solid combination. the former dish, a vegetable, is not hard to make, but i'm glad there was some left over from lunch. here is the ingredient list if you want to make it in a way similar to mine.

• 2-3 broccoli heads
  
• as many cloves of garlic, medium-sized, as heads of broccoli
  
• salt & pepper
  
• dried herb lemongrass
  (it's a drysaute anyway; fresh bruised lemongrass will be a waste)
  
• a bit of rice vinegar
  
• a drizzle of honey, at the end
  
• water, to re-wet the veg.
  

if there is a lingering, light gravy from the pan of broccoli, do not deem it waste: you'd be surprised how tasty it can be on warmed bread.

on some days, i forgo the intrinsic taste of bread to what it can inherit from its tasty environs: think of good tomato sauces, or curries, or in this case, slightly tart and woody broccoli residue ..

.. maybe i was a vegetarian in another life, then an omnivore, and i cannot distinguish my karmic legacies. alas! but broccoli, when understood, is a fine, fine thing ..

breakfast, you are MINE.

breakfast is my foe, but i wouldn't call it an arch-nemesis. it is my foe in the way that mr. mxyzptlk [1] annoys superman, but means him no real harm.

but this week, i've made my peace with breakfast .. if only in the sense that i have strategised to overcome it and make it do my bidding. oh, let me count the ways [2], oh yes ..

1. i have 1/3 of a round of italian paesano bread left, safely in the fridge so it may not rot. its fate is toast, but not french toast: not spongy enough and too many holes.
   
   then again, holes in french toast mean more crevices for honey and syrup, but no matter: it's still not spongy enough. ):
   
   
2. i am prepared for an approximation to muesli. you see, i have gone to trader joe's today, and now i have:
   
   dried orange(?) cranberries,
   old-fashioned oats,
   lowfat yogurt,
   dry-roasted peanuts,
   
   and a leftover peach from last week's sojourn to the produce station.
   

then there are enough coffee grounds to last me into august, even if i do go on a bender.

it's a plan, at any rate. maybe it will even work.


[1] speaking of which, i love google search sometimes. i didn't even have to know how to spell "mxyzptlk" and instead, started with an approximation. you see,

[2] admittedly, i was torn between choosing an ordered list <ol> and an unordered list <ul>, but then that cliche came to mind and i was sold.

borrowed recipe: spaghetti with .. strawberries?

.. as found in the New York magazine page.

Sfoglia’s Spaghetti with Strawberries
1 pound good-quality dried spaghetti (like Setaro)
4 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, plus more for finishing
1 pound ripe strawberries, cleaned and halved
2 tablespoons good aged (eight-year-old) balsamic vinegar
1 cup San Marzano tomato purée
4 ounces reserved pasta water
Sea salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste

(for directions, see link)


i haven't made it yet, but it sounds promising. by themselves, strawberries would be too tart for pasta (in a fruity sort of way, unlike tomatoes) but the balsamic vinegar probably mellows out the sharpness in tart.

then again, why risk your strawberries? why not save them for strawberry-lime vinaigrette, for salads ..

(olive oil, juice of lime, balsamic vinegar, chopped herbs, salt and pepper, and strawberries crushed with your bare hands into a sort-of puree!)

.. or mull them in slices, with port wine and honey, and have a dessert sauce over cheesecake or vanilla ice cream?

(be sure not to use very good port; that's not worth the risk, either)

eggplant shumai

I'm not sure how genuine these are in terms of Chinese cooking, since that's not my area of specialty, but these tiny dumplings are awfully tasty and more importantly they're very easy to make.

I also think that the dumplings would be super delicious with okra instead of (or in addition to) eggplant, but that is mostly because I am in love with okra.

Note: If you're using regular gyoza (jiao zi) wrappers as the recipe recommends, I will warn you that they're extremely tiny when done. Also, you can only fit about half the stuffing the recipe recommends in each wrapper. I wasn't sure how exactly they get wrapped up either, but I pinched the sides up to a point at the top and it seemed to work pretty well.

Note: This is from Vegetarian Times, February 2006.


This recipe makes approx. 20 - 30 little dumplings, and is vegan.


Ingredients:
2 tsp. canola oil
4 cloves garlic, minced (4 tsp.)
2 tsp. minced fresh ginger
1 lb. eggplant, peeled and finely chopped (4 cups)
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. black bean sauce
1 tsp. dark sesame oil
4 Tbs. minced cilantro
Cornstarch
A package of gyoza ギョーザ (jiao zi 餃子) wrappers (they are round)


Instructions:

1. To make dumpling fillings: Heat oil over medium-high heat in wok or nonstick skillet. Add garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, 1 minute. Add eggplant, and stir-fry over high heat 4 - 5 minutes or until very soft; add a little water if needed. Add soy sauce, bean sauce, sesame oil, and cilantro; cook, stirring, until thick, about 1 minute. Let cool. (*Note: I did all this a day before I actually made the dumplings, so I had the filling and wrappers chill in the fridge overnight.)

2. Dust baking sheet (*note: I used a cutting board) with cornstarch. Arrange several gyoza wrappers on work surface. Put 2 tsp. filling in the center of each; pull up sides into pleats, and plop on baking sheet, flattening bottom. Cover tightly with plastic; chill up to 24 hours or freeze. (*another note: I didn't chill or freeze them.)

3. To cook dumplings: Lightly oil heat-proof plate or metal steamer insert. Steam shu mai on oiled surface 8 minutes. Serve.


Here is a sauce that I didn't make, but was part of the original recipe. Just mix everything together and dip.

Ingredients:
2 Tbs. soy sauce
1 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
1 tsp. brown sugar
1 tsp. dark sesame oil
1 clove garlic, minced (1 tsp.)
1 tsp. grated fresh ginger
1 red jalapeno pepper

courtesy of flickr.

broccoli is good by katia

today: quick recipe with a mystery ingredient.

i came home starving today after a trip to the grocery store.

(no, it isn't wise to shop for groceries while hungry, but believe or not, i didn't realise that i was hungry at the time.)

anyways, i found this concoction quick and hearty. it reminded me of something between a chili and a minestrone, of all things.

as a heads up, one of the ingredients is NONSTANDARD.

ingredients.

1/2 block firm tofu, diced,

1/2 can black beans,

1 clove garlic, smashed beyond recognition and chopped,

either
    (a) leftover sauteed veggies
(i used extra green bell peppers, mushrooms, and red onion from an earlier omelette)
    (b) 1 cup frozen veggies, defrosted in warm water and drained

a big spoonful of sofrito [1] sauce;
store-bought is fine, and i used the Goya brand.

salt/pepper to taste,
frying oil; canola will do.

directions (10 minutes).

saute tofu with garlic in oil and a little salt: medium heat. include the veggies if they were previously frozen, otherwise when the contents seems a little dry, add the black beans (with a little of the liquid) and leftover veg.

** it should always look like a stew; add a little water if things look a little dry.

when the contents are simmering, make a shallow hole in the middle, and add sofrito. wait for gratifying sizzling smell, then stir and add pepper. if dry, add more water, and at the next simmer, shut off heat.

feeds one starving person, or two normal people.
enjoy with warm bread.


[1] i found a jar of spanish sofrito [wiki] on sale at the produce station, and it tastes like concentrated minestrone flavor, in sauce form.

today's lunkfast, in 3000 words ..

.. or equivalently, 3 photographs.

( i didn't take a close-up of the banana; it may be ripe and sweet, but it remains brown spotted and unpretty \: )

left: toasted paesano bread of the zingermann variety, but bought cheaply at the produce station. yes, that is drizzled honey on top!

right: a rustic 2-egg omelet made from ..

1/2 roma tomato,
3 asparagus stalks, chopped,
a sprig of curly parsley and a sprig of cilantro (both coarsely chopped)
a garlic clove, smashed,
salt and pepper to taste.

i was deliberately cracking the eggs into a pan on medium heat, stirring them sparingly for the sake of additional color. (:

the importance of food bases.

this morning's mathematics was .. confusing. i came up with ideas, though i ended up chasing absurdities.

[if you're really that curious,
i wrote about it here]

at any rate, i thought to make myself lunch, but then one thing led to another, and it became a lengthy cooking session. among other things, i simmered a decent vegetable broth.

---

i never consciously realised it, but when cooking it's key to do several things at once. for example, one chops tomatoes and onions while the pasta is boiling, or stirs the muffin mix while the oven is preheating: simple enough.

the thing is, you can simmer broth while doing something else. for example, you could chop vegetables or yams. afterwards, you can simmer broth AND make a brown rice and yam porridge in the rice cooker .. while doing something else.

in fact, as long as there's liquid in the big pot at a simmer, you can throw in potatoes to parboil for hash browns, and fish them out when you need them.

or you can toss in a few roma tomatoes for less than a minute, so that you can peel them and then dice them for a pasta salad. you can also toss in a few peeled cloves of garlic, because the flavor mellows with boiling .. similar but not the same as roasting garlic, but equally easy to make into paste and stir into pasta.

better yet, you can toss in the stems from spinach leaves for extra flavor into the broth, because you need the spinach both

* for a pasta salad .. the same pasta salad which uses the tomatoes,
* and for a spinach omelette, which will accompany the hash browns to come.


the moral: never underestimate a big pot of water. it gives and it takes, fairly and understandably.

late-night foodies (a no-recipe post).

speaking of food .. say, from a post on the other blog, among other times .. late night cooking is a very fickle thing. i almost never cook anything, but on occasion, hunger and creativity stir simultaneously in me, and at 1am i get the urge to stir something up.

sometimes i do, but more often i don't. were it my bedroom that was closest to the kitchen, then fate might have turned otherwise, but that bedroom remains luis fernando's and his circadian rhythm is shifted 4-6 hours earlier than mine.

i'm serious: he has the discipline to wake at 5-something and sleep at 9 in the evening.

---

for late night cooking: sometimes i bake corn muffins, which is reasonably quiet, or maybe omelettes, because they're quick and not too messy. occasionally it's angel-hair pasta, though lately i've been snobbish and insist on making my own pasta sauces from scratch ..

..give or take a tin of good, preserved tomatoes, of course.

but some things i never do: roasting potatoes takes too long, and i'd be tempted to make a grand production and wake up luis. no sauteing veg, either; smoke and a blaring alarm are too great a risk: the curse of the dry saute!

quick things are fine, though, even sautes.

for instance, if i can summon up the willpower, i might fry up some really ripe plantains later tonight, and eat them with ice cream!

a surprise substitute, in curried lentils.

today, as a distraction from work, i attempted to make curried lentils to accompany last night's brown rice.

it was a tolerable curry: i had an onion and lentils, and it was the usual cocktail of curry powder, cumin, allspice, salt, and chile, to be simmered in a pot ..

.. but instead of coconut milk (i didn't have any in the house) i used a heaping teaspoon of condensed milk. the outcome was strange: a little too sweet, and it muted the other flavors more than i liked.

i still don't know what to make of it;
the jury's still out.

sauteed green beans with basil.

last night was a jaunt at leopold bros brewery, and tomorrow are two math-grad barbeques and a movie night at a postdoc's apartment. so tonight was a perfect time for cooking.

sauteed basil is an intoxicating scent. the method below is dry saute, so have your exhaust fan on or your windows open.


ingredients:

• 1 bunch green beans, snapped into pinky-sized pieces (say as much as you can grasp with one hand, without forcibly trying)
  
  
• 1/2 red bell pepper, sliced; a full pepper will do, but i was making two batches of green beans in one session.
  
  
• 3 good sprigs of fresh basil leaves, coarsely chopped.
  
• about a mouthful of peanuts; pre-roasted is fine.
  
  
• canola oil for frying,
  
• sesame oil for dressing,
  
• salt and pepper to taste,
  
• rice wine vinegar,
  
• enough honey to drizzle lightly over a pan,
  
• a little water, to cool things off.
  

some rough directions:

UNO. dry saute the green beans (no oil, high heat). then add sliced peppers; after one minute, add the peanuts, and stir well.

DOS. this has to be done promptly: a minute after the peanuts, add the oil, switch to medium heat, stir well to coat, and quickly stir in the basil while the oil still coats the mixture visibly. add a little salt, to help open up the flavors.

TRES. once you smell the joy of frying basil, drizzle honey and stir. the pan should be hot enough that the honey will caramelise in about a minute; at that point, add a shake or two of vinegar.

CUATRO. add about a mouthful of water, watch the pan sizzle, and promptly turn the heat off. it should be just enough water to steam up a little moisture into the pan, without losing any of the flavor.


let cool for five minutes, and serve.

penne with cherry tomatoes, capers, garlic

Since I was recently invited to contribute to this blog (thanks!) and I just cooked something wonderful tonight, I thought I should grab the initative here and share it.

I've been in a cooking rut lately too, so this was a really nice surprise. I do almost all of my own cooking, and have for a long time, but I go in and out of these phases of being sick of my own stuff or feeling un-creative. Using almost nothing but the crock pot all winter also did a number on me.

Anyway, I stole this recipe from a recent issue of the New York Times. The original link is here, but I am vegan and alas this recipe is not - it is all about anchovies. My hunch was that capers would be a nice substitute because they are quite salty/briny/savory. I have no idea if they are in fact a good substitute for anchovies, having never eaten the latter, but this did indeed turn out delicious with some minor modifications.


Ingredients:
Olive oil (as much or little as you like)
Salt and pepper (to taste)
Several good shakes of crushed red pepper (more or less depending on how spicy your taste is - I love salty, spicy, flavorful food, so I use a heavy hand with my dashes)
3/4 lb. penne or other short thicker pasta
2 cups cherry or grape tomatoes, halved
3.5 oz container of capers
10 garlic cloves, whole, peeled
Chopped fresh parsley to go on top


Instructions:
1. Boil water, and halve the cherry tomatoes and peel the garlic while you're waiting. Add the pasta and cook until al dente. Drain.

2. While it is cooking, heat the olive oil and put in the garlic and optional red pepper. Cook for about 5 minutes, until the garlic begins to brown.

3. Add the capers and cook on medium heat for another few minutes.

4. Add halved cherry tomatoes and cook them until they become "saucy" (according to the original recipe). I don't know if mine ever became saucy per se - they don't generate a lot of liquid - but once they become soft and mushy and start to fall apart a little when you stir them around. This took about 5 - 8 minutes.

5. Add the penne and stir around to mix thoroughly with the sauce. You can drizzle some more olive oil on at this point if it is sticky. Add salt and pepper to taste.

6. Top with a generous handful of chopped fresh parsley.


After eating this, I thought it might have also been delicious with some sliced black or kalamata olives.

"kill it with kindness" spinach penne, with mushrooms.

every time i write about cooking pasta, it sounds like i use same method, time and time again. it doesn't matter if i add a little variation. maybe i just find myself boring.

anyways, tonight's pasta used a slightly different trick than usual, but uses the common theme of consistently keeping one uncooked ingredient in the recipe.

"kill it with kindness" spinach penne, with mushrooms

(the 'killing' part refers to how raw spinach is wilted into a half-cooked state)

you'll need:

1 bunch fresh spinach, coarsely chopped
3 big handfuls of whole wheat penne
1 tin diced tomatoes (about the size of a pepsi can; if you really insist, four chopped roma tomatoes will do the same)
1 package of white mushrooms, sliced
1 small onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, smashed with the side of a knife and chopped
1 glass white wine (i used a german white called liebfraumilch)
honey
canola oil for sauteing,
good olive oil for dressing,
cornstarch or flour for thickening,
nutmeg, dried oregano, basil, salt, pepper

a few large bowls,
a saucepan with spatula or wooden spoon,
a medium pot,
a chopping board with a good chef's knife,
a wineglass,
bowls to contain chopped veg,
a can opener,
anything else which i missed and you find useful.

rough directions:

ONE. while boiling the penne, wash and chop the spinach, then place in a large bowl. when the penne is ready, drain and do a quick cold water wash. cover the spinach with the warm penne, dress with olive oil, salt, and pepper, and stir.

this is a delicate situation: the spinach won't mix well with the penne, and it will only wilt a little. it's also important to dress the pasta while it's hot.

had you not done the quick cold wash, then left unchecked, the penne will become one big clump on the bottom, and the spinach not fully wilted, sitting like fall leaves atop of the pasta.

TWO. sprinkle oregano and nutmeg on a hot saucepan, to open up the flavor oils. add mushrooms in a dry saute, stirring mildly. add garlic and onions. add oil only when the onion begins to change color; when you do, keep the exhaust fan on and stir quickly.

i would open the tin of tomatoes, before adding the oil. the last thing you want to do is fumble with an opener and a can, when really, you should be stirring a saute.

drizzle with honey to add a glaze (use your own judgment and taste; some like it sweet) and when you can smell the honey, add half a glass of wine; enjoy the other half as you stir a wonderful, sizzling concoction.

when most of the wine has evaporated, add the whole can of tomatoes, liquid and all mix 1/3 of the tin's volume of water with a few spoons of cornstarch and stir very well before adding to the pan. after adding thickener, turn off heat and stir well.


THREE. when sauce has stopped bubbling, add to the pasta/spinach mixture, and stir. serve immediately, and i suggest a baguette as accompanying bread.

anthology: food posts from "the other blog"

last week(?) a friend of mine thought i had four blogs, and i corrected her automatically (but tactfully): three.

you see, it's not hard to keep the count:

1. the mathematics blog,
   
2. the vegetarian cooking blog,
   
3. the other blog.
   

i like to keep them separate, if only because it makes it simpler to focus on what to write. i like writing about mathematics and about vegetarian cooking, and i also like to rant about life and the universe without any real purpose.

otherwise, there would only be two blogs. \:

---

running through my livejournal tags, though, it seems like i have more food posts on the other blog than one can shake many sticks at! so for the foodie readers out there, here they are, to the best of my archival abilities.

8th December 2005: life with an office.

mostly pedestrian. the third part discusses juok or more commonly on menus, congee.

14 May 2006: you can't be too careful .. with cereal.

in which i laud the universality of cereal.

9th August 2006: trix are for kids.

two ideas for summer breakfast. (nothing too interesting.)

15 August 2006 living on the cheap.

what my last five purchases were, on a "random" day: they were all food-related, and with one exception, they were all food or grocery purchases.

4th September 2006: about cooking.

ruminations on my cookbooks.

3rd October 2006 teaching, and later, cooking.

in the second half, two recipes.

25 December 2006: in response to: herb-based sauces.

unsolicited advice about how to make such sauces.

4th January 2007: from WiseGEEK: what does 200 calories look like?

in which i steal photos from a wiseGEEK article, where 200-calorie servings of various foods are shown in photographs.

21 January 2007: a rave (about the Produce Station)

exactly as titled. it's still worth reading, if only to be informed of the wonderful paradise that is the Produce Station. (:

28th January 2007: about food, and an article post.

in which i mention michael pollan of the omnivore's dilemma fame, as well as a new york times article of his.

4th February 2007 on food.

in which i mention a dinner at jo's apartment, and my endeavors at lunkfast.

1st March 2007: on eating, and not being eaten!

in which i discuss uglyripe tomatoes, fresh florida fruit, baklava from a greek neighborhood, and how i was narrowly eaten by an alligator.

18 March 2007: homage to good olive oil, and the potato!

in which my commentators and i gush over the beauty that is a baked potato, dressed simply.

25th March 2007: a weekend of wine, eating, and good company.

self-explanatory. among other things, i cooked my trademarked green beans.

5th April 2007.

in which i eat fashionably, and to the envy of others.

15 April 2007: a good day, and a good meal: recipe included.

a recipe for a veggie pasta sauce, which is more like a tapenade than anything else: still good, though.

21st April 2007: what else, on a summerish day?

ice cream for dinner, among other things.

tonight's batch of cooking.

before i forget to write it, i never did get to pulverizing oranges into juice. i did buy three last week, but they were easy to peel and i ate them wedge-wise.

but now, to what i aimed to write:


man, i love cooking .. but not all the time. i only learned that recently, and realised the need for cooking shortcuts or substitutes.

(for example, the prepared foods at the produce station come to mind: see an old lj post for the details)

the serious cooking comes in solid blocks of time, where many things are done at once. take tonight: after walking home from the office, i ended up cooking ..

1. barley with cardamom and nutmeg. this will likely serve as breakfast tomorrow, if i add to it brown sugar.
   
   
2. green beans with garlic, thyme, and rice wine vinegar. none are left; i ate them too quickly.
   
   
3. green beans with garlic, portabella mushrooms, oregano, and port wine. i haven't gone crazy, except in buying too many green beans, so i cooked them in two batches.
   
   
4. a savory soup, made from a leftover baked potato, sauteed asparagus, some diced green beans, and leftover turkey from thanksgiving (preserved through the modern wonder that is the freezer). i ate it over hacked cubes of old but tasty bread, and it tasted more like a stew.
   

cooking is one of those pastimes when i can feel good about myself, and when i can feel capable. in these latter years of my ph.d., such self-confidence is hard to find!

lunkfast photos.

i made up the word 'lunkfast' to describe a meal which suits breakfast and lunch, but with nowhere near the charm of 'brunch.'

from 9 feb 2007: a simple omelet with home fries.

from 11 feb 2007: french toast with potatoes


i also ended up eating an orange, too.

my falafel adventure.

so i tried making falafel, the other day. this was how it came out (apologies for the crappy resolution on my camera phone; it was one of the pioneers).

and it just goes to show you: never trust entirely the directions. the box said equal parts falafel mix and water ..

(so yes, i used a mix; i don't dare try to blend my own mixture of chickpeas and spices, yet!)

.. and the outcome of the directions was some goopy mess. not daring the mix any further, i cheated by soaking some couscous in boiling water and stirring it into the deficient falafel mixture.

regardless of the wisdom of such a decision, the outcome of the frying was forgetable, but not bad. you can see that i was unable to avoid carbon.

and to dress it up a bit, i sliced a roma tomato and served the falafel atop the remaining couscous. it was a little bland, but not bad.

on juices.

until recently, i was philosophically opposed to fruit juices, and now i cannot remember the reason. it might have had something to do with high fructose corn syrup.

in my opposition, i thought to eat whole fruits instead, thinking that the distraction of peeling orange skins and eating their sweet flesh would be worth the lack of convenience. the same idea went to apples, to grapes, and other fruits.

i was wrong. i forgot that i was (and always will be) a lazy human being. juice is too convenient.

---

but one of my flatmates has bought a blender. now i will make my own juice. already i have bought half a papaya and made a smoothie mix by pulverizing it. it goes well with soy milk and coconut milk, and it reminds me of some exotic Creamsicle.

in the next few days i will buy a bag of oranges and a few limes. i will peel them all and make freshly pulverized orange-lime juice.

i think it will be fun.

baked sweet potatoes.

this is one of the lazier yet wonderful things i've made.

it's absurdly simple: turn on the oven to 400^oF, scrub the potatoes while the oven pre-heats, and stab little holes in them with a steak knife.

insert into oven for an hour, then turn off heat.

for the price of this little trouble, you will have little jacketed of wonderful, starchy sweet goodness. i dare say that they are better than baked russet potatoes.

simply amazing. i'm eating one plain, and it tastes like a custard.

a simple, quick recipe.

steamed:
brown rice and lentils,

raw:
diced tomato and chopped basil,

seasoning:
cumin and sesame oil and salt/pepper.

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blend in a big bowl, and serve.

it's a good, savory dish: a pleasant surprise, and one of my rare shots in the dark.

i was saving the tomato and basil for a good plate of pasta, but the basil was going bad, and the rice/lentils were already steaming in the rice cooker.




if you insist on adding meat, this would likely go well with chicken kebab or with grilled salmon with lime. i wouldn't suggest red meat.