Long time, no see

My dear, it's been a long time since I have posted here. My apologies to my loyal reader, as I just haven't been inspired. That's not to say that I haven't been busy. I started back on my obstetrics rotation, which means that I have been infinitely busy. Hence, I am enjoying my first day off in two weeks by doing none other than cleaning my apartment. It was so messy that it was making me stressed out just looking at it. Now, with it spic and span (sort of), I feel much much better.

Also, I'm planning my trip to Morocco. I'm usually a much better trip planner and not so last-minute, but here I am less than two weeks away from my trip and I have to still plan the itinerary, book hotels, book trains, figure out what to see, when. Ah! Who knew travel could be so stressful?

Alas, I have also been cooking. My pasta maker finally came and I put it to good use the other night making herbed pasta (use a simple pasta dough recipe and run it through the pasta machine several times on the lowest setting, then out to around "7" and then place various herbs (I used thyme and mint) on the pasta and fold it over once. Run it through the machine again several times until it's as thin as you desire).

Here is my apartment after my pasta making frenzy:

And it was all worth it for these gals:

Just look at this spread:

Sushi!

It's really a pity that yesterday was my first time making sushi - ever! Serious? Someone who loves fish and rice and all food as much as myself has never made sushi?

Well, it took a trip to the Japanese grocery store near my house to inspire me. Put together some fabulous tuna, some homemade sushi rice (2 cups rice cooked, mix with 3-4 tbsp rice vinegar, tsp salt, 4 tsp sugar), and some rolling skills and you have tuna rolls. I will have to try it with other ingredients and fancier next time.

Spaghetti and meatballs

To use up some of my vegetables, and to continue my resolution to use something out of my freezer, I decided to make the spaghetti and meatballs with a dash of spring vegetables. I have to admit that my weekly CSA is rather challenging - before I can use one week's vegetables, another week has come! So, to use up the vegetables that I have accumulated through the CSA (spring garlic, fresh shallots, chard, and summer squash) and in my garden (fresh basil, thyme, and oregano), I decided to cook up some spaghetti and vegetables. However, I was craving something meatier and remembered that I had a bag of Trader Joe's turkey meatballs in my freezer. Put it all together and you have spaghetti and meatballs (and spring vegetables!).

Ingredients:

• Any vegetables you'd like to add - squash works particularly well
  
• Garlic & shallots - I used spring garlic and fresh shallots because that's what I had. You can use regular garlic and shallots, or only one of them, if that's what you have.

• Fresh herbs (I had basil, oregano, and thyme - but any herbs of your choice would make do)
• Tomato sauce (I would make my own usually out of fresh tomatoes and tomato paste, but I didn't have any on hand)
• Trader Joe's turkey meatballs (or any other meatballs)
  

Instructions:

• Boil and prepare pasta.
  
• Saute the garlic and shallots in a pan with olive oil until fragrant.
  
  
• If you want, you can add the other vegetables now and saute until brown.
  An alternative I used this time was to broil the squash for about 12 minutes (stirring in between) until brown and caramelized. I am convinced that nothing tastes as good as grilled/broiled/barbecued zucchini. If you broil it (with salt, pepper, and oil), add the zucchini last minute to the sauce.
  
• Add tomato sauce and meatballs (optional). Cook until heated through.
  
• Sprinkle with fresh herbs and parmesan prior to serving.
  

Foodie indulgence

One day about 5 months ago, I bought a pasta maker on a whim.  Definitely not a huge machine by any means, but more of the type that you clamp onto the corner of your counter and hand crank the pasta through.  However, my spur-of-the-moment buy was back ordered and I just got an email that it's coming in the mail - talk about delayed gratification.  Now, as I'm craving pasta (with some broiled zucchinis and turkey meatballs), I turn on the tv to my nightly public television cooking show marathon and am greeted by none other than homemade pasta recipes.  Now, I'm really craving pasta. 

Agretti

My newest foodie discovery is agretti. I love agretti. What is agretti? Well, I had no idea it even existed up until 2 weeks ago, when it made a debut in my weekly CSA (this week's: agretti, lettuce, carrots, shallots, sugar snap peas, parsley). I had no idea what to do with it and it kind of scared me since I hadn't even heard of it, let alone cooked with it.

Alas, last week, I was at a loss and decided to make an omelet with agretti, parmesan, and tomatoes. It was beyond awesome.

So, just when I was lamenting the fact that you cannot find agretti at any market around (including the gourmet ones), what do I get in this week's CSA?

Agretti, of course. Today, I made a quick stir fry with the sugar snap peas, agretti, sesame oil, chile flakes, and soy sauce. Yummy.

Veggies galore

Chard, strawberries, sugar snap peas, carrots, leeks, bok choy.

I got my third CSA box this week and immediately washed everything. Everything. It took me about an hour, but totally worth it if it gets me to actually use all my veggies within a week (I'm still working on the shallots, agretti, etc from last week).

To get rid of some stuff, and to wean myself off of carbs (at least for a day), I made some baked salmon and stir fried veggies.

Started off with this:

(garlic and red chile flakes sauteed in oil until it smells yummy)

... and I end up with this:

Broccoli and bok choy stir fry.

Weekly groceries

This week's CSA box brought a treasure trove of goodies:



Includes beets, shallots, carrots, bok choy, agretti, squash (for which I gave up my mint for), broccoli, and those wonderful dream-like strawberries.

Drink of the moment

It's nice to have a good drink at the end of the day.  Here's my favorite drink for the moment (mostly because I have all the ingredients handy).

1 shot vodka
2 ounces Pomegranate juice
Tonic water
Splash of lemon
Ice

Enjoy!

Goodies

Today was a long, hard day at work, so it was nice to be greeted by my brand spanking new CSA box! I'm sharing a CSA (community shared agriculture, courtesy of Two Small Farms) with my friend, C. Fortunately, since I was working til 9PM tonight, she picked up the CSA box and I picked up my share from her apartment.

She was so kind as to take a picture:


This is delightful gift, especially after my very bad day (gross understatement). I plan on using the turnips and parsley roots in a roasted root vegetable side dish. The celery in a fish head soup (with tomatoes and lemon). The dill in roasted salmon. The orach (purple spinach) sauteed. I already ate the baby carrots. The leeks, I'm not sure of. And the broccoli is easy - so many options!

That's it for tonight. Another long day tomorrow.

Cleaning up

Tiny grape hyacinth blossoms.

Since I was post call and not feeling in the mood to read, I decided to do some cleaning up of my balcony garden. It had grown a little out of control as of late because I have about 3 cubic feet of soil/compost/other, bird netting that was haphazardly put up (to protect my poppies, thyme, and basil from the hungry critters), and random debris everywhere. Now, it's a little more organized and makes me feel better that it's cleaner.

Since I haven't updated with pics of my garden as of late, here you go:


My overstuffed vegetable container with zucchini, crookneck, tomato, okra, and beans.


Updated herb garden. Mint now has its own pot. Added a basil plant, that I had to cut down because of an aphid invasion (which explains the homemade yellow sticky trap). The wine bottle is there as a self-watering mechanism. I'm experimenting, trying to figure out how to keep my plants alive when I go to Morocco for 2 weeks in June.


Of course, I cannot forget my first love - my dwarf meyer lemon tree. There are buds everywhere, but these are the first blossoms. So delightfully fragrant.

Progress?

I just read that the Tonga Room, in the beautiful Fairmont Hotel (where I spotted my first Rolls Royce), is in danger of being shut down.  My one and only memory of the room is for Junior or Senior Prom (I forget which one), we ate dinner there.  It was beautiful.  And kitschy.  And the rainstorm.  And the band in the middle of a pool.  Who can forget? 

It will be interesting to see if this is something San Franciscans can save.

Yummy to the nth degree

Special birthday cookies


It was my mom's birthday over the weekend and to celebrate, we went to the Ritz Carlton for their Sunday brunch. Needless to say, it was yummy and decadent and did I mention that it was great?


Lobster scramble for my mom


Steak and eggs for my brother and dad (I love how my dad's fork is ready to dive in)


Loin of lamb for me

I have to admit that the steak was the best. Perfectly cooked, fork tender, and juicy.

Oh, and there were desserts, desserts, and desserts. And a buffet bar with crepes, omelets, sausage, frittata, pastries, smoke salmon, and fresh fruit. I couldn't even look at food for another 8 hours.

Green eggs and purple brococoli

Well, no green eggs, but you start out with this:


And you get this:


I have to admit that the purple thing was interesting at first, but after looking at the purple broccoli juice, which is also bright purple, it became less interesting and more of a challenge.

Yum!

As procrastination (I'm studying for my boards, which I take TOMORROW), I made a big dinner last night. It involved marinating chicken overnight, some quick soba noodles, and some asparagus.

Chicken with Herb Marinade
Serves 3-4
Prep time: 15 minutes
Marinade: hours to days
Cook time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• About 1-1 1/2 pounds chicken thighs (my default meat, though if you'd like to use chicken breasts, that would work too - marinades always make the breast turn out really juicy instead of dry).
  
• Herbs of your picking. I had fresh rosemary (from my apt complex), fresh oregano (from my herb garden!), and fresh thyme (also from my garden!). Not very much of it, since fresh goes a long way, and I knew that the chicken was going to sit in the marinade for over a day. If you're short on time, go more on the herbs. Or, if you have dry herbs, add more than just a little. In the end, I had only about a teaspoon or two of chopped herbs.
  
• Salt
• Pepper
• Teaspoon or two of vinegar.
  
• Shallots (or garlic, if you'd like).
  

Steps:

1. Toss all the ingredients, place into a plastic bag. Mix thoroughly and place in refridgerator. Marinade for at least a few hours, up to a day or two.
   
2. Line baking pan with foil. Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 minutes, flip over at the 10 minute mark.
   
3. If you'd like, you can put under broiler for a minute or two, to get a char to it.
   

While the chicken was baking, I washed and prepped some asparagus, sprinkled some season salt and fresh pepper on top, placed in a foil wrapper and placed in the oven to bake along with the chicken.

Soba Noodles with sesame

Prep time and cook time: 5 minutes

Steps:

1. Boil soba noodles according to instructions, usually around 3-4 minutes.
   
2. Rinse and drain thoroughly.
   
3. Toss with a generous amount of sesame oil and sesame seeds (I liked the contrast of the black ones with the white noodles).
   

In the end, it took me the time of one episode of ER to cook and eat everything. Not too shabby. Now I have some leftover chicken that I can chop up and eat with a quinoa and raisin "salad" that I'm planning on bringing to my boards (no fridge, no microwave required).

Eating at home, and on the cheap

With our not-so-robust economy and record high unemployment rates, there has been a lot of commentary on how to live on a limited budget.  Speaking from experience (this year being the first year I have ever made enough money to even file for taxes), it is possible (but of course not ideal).

While in college, I lived on $800 a month, to pay my rent (which was more than half that) and everything else except my tuition (thanks Mom and Dad!).  In medical school, I lived on around $13,000 a year (thanks, U.S. Government!) to pay for my rent (which, again, was more than half my monthly "income') and everything else. Even though my budget was limited (and admittedly, not as low as many other students), I managed to live in a major metropolitan area, go shopping on a (more than) regular basis, go out a few times a month, and eat good food. 

The way I was able to do the latter was because I cooked my own meals and shopped either at Berkeley Bowl (in college) or Asian markets (in medical school) - both of which provided fresh produce at great prices.  Because I saved money on eating out less, I was able to splurge a little on what I bought at the grocery store (splurges include being the second cheapest cheese or buying a fresh loaf of bread at the farmer's market).  In the end, I was able to pull together great meals (and dinner parties to boot) on a shoestring budget. 

Of course, one of the biggest hurdles that people identify as to why they don't cook at home is that they don't have time.  I argue that we always have time.  How much time do people spend sitting on the couch watching tv a night (some reports up to 3 hours a night)?  How much time do you spend on the internet, reading the New York Times front page 5 times over?  In the time that it takes for one rerun of Friends, I can put together tonight's dinner (or lunch - I had salmon with miso ginger sauce and rice) and marinate meat for tomorrow's meal (which will cook in another half hour tomorrow night). In the end, I eat cheap and healthy.  I admit, I still go out to eat with friends and such, but you won't catch me getting fast food (at least not more than a handful of times a year, mostly when I'm on a roadtrip).  Granted, it takes a lot of practice and planning, but my point is that it's not impossible. 

Maybe this recession will be good to people's psyche in a sense (the NY Times also has this great article on how recessions can affect a generation), if it encourages people to reflect upon their eating habits and revert back to homecooked, healthier meals. A reporter on CNN just did a report on how he lived on food stamps for a month and not until his last week did he realize that buying fresh vegetables and other ingredients and preparing meals at home would be infinitely cheaper than buying processed and prepared foods. 

I guess this is my little rant on how we all should look on our eating habits and how to improve upon them.  It will be better for our bodies, and our wallets, in the end. 

[Note that this does not mean that I am perfect by any means - I admit to having Lean Cuisines and canned soup in my cupboard.  It's all a matter of proportions, I guess.]

Crushing

I was watching Ugly Betty today and was hit by a scene between Mark (the gay assistant) and Betty (the main character) that went something like this:

           Mark: Hey, what about that guy?  He's your type - he's tall, dork, and handsome. 

I thought it was brilliant and so succinctly describes my "type."  Hilarious.  Maybe the wine helped in my thinking it was hilarious, but I still think it's funny (and not a drop of wine in me).

To feed my belly and  my need to see a cute boy, I went to have Korean food today at this restaurant where the food is good, but the service is better.  And yes, one of the waiters is tall, dork, and handsome.

Midnight snack

My snack tonight:

No, I don't usually eat this healthy, but I came upon a bounty of fresh fruit and veggies that I can't help but eat it (sugar snap peas from Costco, strawberries courtesy of my parents, and pineapple I bought at the Chinese market).

The reason why I can eat this as a snack and it not be an involved ordeal: I cut up the pineapple yesterday, I washed and cut the stems off the strawberries two days ago, and the peas are already washed and stringless. And, when I'm looking for something to eat, I open my fridge and see this bounty, instead of opening my cupboard and seeing chips and soda (which I admit I have, but mostly to serve to guests).

Why frozen food isn't all bad

I'm a big fan of freezing and using my freezer for some great frozen foods. I read this article today and was reminded as to why freezers aren't all bad (they get a bad rap because of frozen processed foods - but if you keep good foods in your freezer, then it's a good freezer!).

While I admit to having a few containers of ice cream and a few Lean Cuisines in there, most of my freezer is good stuff. It's frozen vegetables, chicken stock, homemade wontons, ground turkey, marinated chicken, salmon, minced lemongrass, chiles, pine nuts, and butter. Yeah, I keep all that in my freezer. I'm almost embarassed to put up a picture of my freezer, because it's so not organized as the one in the article. But it's mine. I've come to the realization that it's ok if I don't use everything out of my freezer, as long as I use something out of it (I was running out of room - which is a scary realization when I don't share the freezer with anyone).

Unfortunately, the picture I took was without any reorganization or staging, so all you really see is frozen meat, ice cream, lean cuisines, and butter. I swear, I have healthy food in there!

Repetition is key

I just realized, as I finish my glass of Bailey's, that I tend to
drink Bailey's when I'm studying for the boards. When I was studying
for step 2 of my boards in medical school, I finished a whole bottle
of Bailey's (granted, it was over a month). I hope I don't repeat
that this time (especially given that I take my boards in a week).

Cocktail time

A patient of mine gave me a cocktail recipe today. When I asked him
about his alcohol use, he responded, "Well, a beer every night and
every now and then, I make myself a bloody Mary. Have you ever had a
Bloody Mary? Well, they're great and easy to make. You know V8
tomato juice? Well, they make a spicy one. Mix that with some vodka
and you have a great drink."

It's sad that I get drink recipes from my alcoholic patients, but I
admit, I'm curious to try it out.

In lieu of a Bloody Mary, I poured myself a glass of Bailey's on the
rocks. I haven't had a drink in awhile and was craving it. And yes,
every now and then, I like to pretend I'm an old white man.