Goal 101-- 10/12 COOK A NEW DISH EVERY MONTH

Originally I was planning on making caramel apples for my October new dish. Circumstances happened otherwise and just in under the wire  (Oct 30th as a matter of fact) I documented my second attempt at cooking up some greens.

I remember seeing cooked collards/greens at various functions throughout my life, though I do not remember trying them. Perhaps the one time I was adventurous they were bitter, or tough, or too chewy like the mustard greens I made last week. Or maybe I just didn't like the color, or that they had been cooked for hours. There was a reason, even if it was a child-brain-this-is-how-the-world-works-reason.

Ian says the reason I think I don't like so many foods is because I haven't had them cooked well. Ian is persistent in encouraging me to try new foods, with a solid track record of success. He makes the best brussel sprout curry every. Things I'll eat much more readily than when I first met him include: brussel sprouts, mushrooms, squash, anchovies, okra and black eyed peas, the list goes on.

He has a very broad palate (a word that I had to look up how to spell, what do you mean you don't spell it pallette?) and will eat anything except for -aises. No mayonnaise, no hollandaise, etc. etc. Everything else he will eat, especially if it is set in front of him. It takes the pressure off of trying out new dishes. Like last week when I thought I was making the mustard greens correctly (granted this was an entire day after I had received a verbal recipe from Ian), the only part I got correct was how you're supposed to cook them a long time, we both still ate them, the chewy kind of grossness of them. I then said "We have to plan greens in for next week so I can try again... while what-not-to-do is still fresh in my mind."

We picked up not one, but two bunches of collards at the store because Ian was sure that one bunch would be just one serving. We still had the can of tomatoes (because I had forgotten they were supposed to go in with the mustard greens for cooking), and we had onion and garlic left. I got a review of the verbal recipe:

"Use a big stockpot, chop the greens in strips about this wide (finger and thumb about an inch apart), sauté  the onion and garlic in the bottom , turn down the heat . . . put the greens in, put the can of tomatoe (tom and chili in this case) on top of the greens, maybe add some additional water, and simmer for hours, stir occasionally, check them every so often to make sure there is enough liquid," Ian told me.

"How much liquid do I put in?" I asked.

"Enough so they steam, but they don't have to be covered or anything," he replied. (I've been practicing my cooking sans recipe so this kind of vague instruction didn't irk me like it once would have)

While the greens came out great, delicious, I think the real hero was the can of tomatoes with chilis. It added the perfect spicy tang into the greens. Also Ian got home just in time to remember to put in some apple cider vinegar and the greens cooked for another hour. (here, Ian deftly made the squash. A little pie pumpkin cut in half, innards scooped and put innards down in a pan with water. When they got soft about an hour later, he flipped them over, sprinkled with brown sugar and chopped almonds and broiled for a few minutes)

I had a feeling Ian had overestimated the quantity for two servings.

I am becoming a sauté master.

Cutting the collards into strips. It was fun to roll them all up together and slice through the whole bunch.

This is the most giant stock pot we have and when first put in, the greens came all the way to the top!

After over an hour of cooking, the greens only take up about 2 inches in the pot.

The greens were delicious and the pumpkin was too. The pumpkin made the potatoes seem extraneous.

Ian and I were both delighted in how good the collards came out. They were delicious! Ian said they were top 5 that he's ever had. I know he means it too. He doesn't just say stuff like that. With the way he likes his southern cooking, I know he's had his fair share of greens and I accept the compliment and store it in my favorite compliments box.

Complete success and with no recipe! This particular experience is part of shifting a larger paradigm. I have never readily tried new things because I would worry that I wouldn't be good at it right away. I hate being wrong, and not being good at something, is being wrong, in my brainpiece. I've never been a big fan of having to learn how to be good at something. I can learn how to go from good to awesome, that's fine! But having to accept that I'm bad at something and then improve to acceptable. . . ugh. . . total esteem killer, I just rather pretend I never tried it in the first place. I don't know when/where I learned that as a kid, but big Rachel thinks that's totally bogus!

So while trying again at cooking some greens is a small little bit of my life, it is a good experience in: trying something new (cooking greens), not being good at it right away (chewy, gross greens first go 'round), and then, instead of giving up. . . trying again and learning how to improve the result (super delicious collards).  Another positive part of this is that when the mustard greens were gross, it was okay. I didn't beat myself up for cooking gross greens. That's just what happened and I learned how to make it better. That's one more table leg for the belief that "it's okay to not be good at something the first time you try it." I've also told myself that it's okay if the next time I cook greens, they aren't as delicious as those collards, it'll be a tough act to follow, for sure.

In November look for a dish from the road.

bonus delicious -- sinnimint chocolate chip

Is "sinnimint" already trademarked? If not, I'm filling out the applications because the dessert Ian and I came up with the other night needs some legal protection. It's that good, and dangerous.

Most times our dessert consists of an apple or caramel rice cakes, or jello, all pretty wholesome. Occasionally however we get a wicked sweet tooth and splurge on ice cream and/or treats. My favorite brand of ice cream is Haagen Dazs' new line called "FIVE." For any of the flavors there are just five ingredients. Usual suspects on the list: skim milk, cream, sugar, egg yolk and then the flavor.

They are starting to release so many flavors that I am having trouble remembering which ones I've tried. While in front of the ice cream section at our grocery store Ian asked which flavor we should get and I said "mint, no chocolate I always like chocolate, lemon, no! oooh caramel." At some point I settled on mint long enough for it to make its way to the cart.

My new favorite ice cream.

We almost made it out of the snack aisle too but something was itching our brains. Mint ice cream is great, yet would be even greater with a bit of cookie.
"All of those have too much junk in them," I said when Ian was looking at the oreos.
"what about the pepperidge farm ones?"
"Maybe the milanos, or hey those coconut ones, or that one."
"so, basically any of them"
"I really just want a thin chocolate wafer, that would be perfect."

Then an idea struck Ian and he grabbed my hand. We whisked away from the cookie aisle to the . . . refrigerated aisles? After a little bit of hemming and hawing between pre-made cookie doughs, we decided TollHouse probably knows best and we just wouldn't read the label too hard.

Later that night I won "brilliant idea of the night" when I said "we could just bake two of them in the toaster oven."

No need to bake the whole batch when you have a toaster oven!

The rest of the magic was all Ian. It was his idea to use the cookies as a crust in the bottom of our little dishes.

This ice cream is really minty, and thankfully, no green dye in sight!

It was also Ian's brilliance to sprinkle left over cinnamon sugar on the top of the little scoops of ice cream.

delight in a dish.

I have a feeling this month is going to be quite desserted. In the middle of September I had already decided that October's new dish for goal 101 would be caramel apples. I'm also waiting impatiently to hear how Lindsey Loo's adventure with this pumpkin tiramisu turns out. If it goes well I may just request an encore when Ian and I are in Dayton during our epic November road-trip.

Other news on the radar? Carmen is coming to visit in early November, just before we head east. Ian is really going to finish my new cutting table next week. I'm sewing up a storm for Bike Cozy so the show can continue during our road trip (currently trying to scrape together enough money for a netbook).

Bonus Delicious -- sandwiches beat pizza

The last day my mom was in town we were organizing my studio and were both hit with hunger. We were running low on groceries since they were leaving early the next morning. Even though we still had dinner planned, we didn't have lunch.

"Where could we get food?" she asked.

"I don't know, there is this pizza place that has gluten free dough that I've been wanting to try, it's just up the street."

"Oooh, that sounds good, can you order online?"

I was looking at the place's website and suddenly it all got too complicated. How to pay, I'd have to read her cc over the phone to them? It would still take over half an hour to get here, and by then our hunger might turn into hanger. We were hungry now. Would we go pick it up? It seemed silly to have them deliver. And then I said "Are you sure there's nothing here we could eat?"

Then one of us said "Let's go check." So we went to the kitchen. The hunger had scrambled our thinking wires, but there was still rice bread that David had bought, salty crunchy tortilla chips for the side. A little more searching yielded the rest of the makings for delicious avocado, tomato sandwiches. We had just enough brain power left to get all the fixin's onto the bread.

We decided the path of least resistance was to use what we had.

Don't these look great! A delightful alternative to ordering out.

And afterward I got a big hug from my mom who said "You just saved me twenty-two bucks!"

Bonus Delicious -- B L T

Part of the reason we put bacon in the potato soup (beyond the fact that bacon makes everything taste more delicious) is because David was hankering for a BLT. So we bought bacon, and used three slices in the soup, some slices went to David's BLT which left four slices for Ian and I to have BLTs the next day.

I asked Ian, my resident cook expert, for a mini-course on cooking the pig. He said to put the bacon in the pan. Turn the pan on high until the bacon starts to sizzle, then find the magic balance of heat when the bacon is still sizzling, yet not smoking. And very important, flip the bacon every minute. "How do I know when it's done?" "when it looks done!" "But when is that?" "It happens kind of all at once, but I know if I just leave you to it, you'll know when that is" So he went outside to smoke a cigarette and I bit my lip hoping he was right.

yum. I got the bacon just how he likes it, crispy and chewy.

Bonus Delicious -- Potato Soup with Bacon

I'm hungry and I'm waiting for Ian's rice to cook so we can eat our Thai leftovers together while watching something on Netflix (am so excited for tv season to be started already, Hulu will soon be a good friend again).

While I'm waiting, I thought it would be a good time to catch up on a couple of blog posts (I got backlogged during my parent's visit, lots of post material and no time to update!). Going against all intuition I decided to post some of my bonus delicious from this month (hoping that my stomach can outlast the tempation.)

This past Sunday we had "Potato Soup" on the menu with Ian as cook. Then I remembered we had promised and were going to the "Suck My Flick" screening (one year anniversary even) at the non-profit or is it not-for-profit venue: Curious Comedy Club . And there wouldn't be enough time between Ian getting home from work and our departure, so I would make the soup.

feeling very domestic with a giant soup pot on the stove and veggie broth a'brewin.

Bonus Delicious -- out at Mo's

September has been a month full of new dishes, delicious meals and trying new things.

Not only have I been cooking all sorts of meals, yet even going out has led to adventurous tastings.

We were in Newport at lunch time on our way up the coast back to Portland from Crater Lake. (If you look at a map the coast seems out of the way, but when you're from Michigan, and you get that close to the ocean a couple of hours doesn't seem like so far away anymore) In Newport we drove down the main strip and were all hungry and looking for food and found none. We did see signs to "Historic Bayfront" and decided to turn around and investigate further. Good thing too, as soon as we turned on the street, we saw Mo's and that was it. We were eating there for lunch, goodbye hungry-grumps.

What we didn't know at the time was there were many Mo's along the coast. We were blinded by hunger, and their award winning clam chowder was in fact delicious.

Ian couldn't get the oyster shooters because it was red tide (too warm). We split a combination platter and since he liked all four/five options, let me pick our three. I initially thought to go for the cod, calamari and . . . but then I decided I get calamari anywhere so I kept the cod as a back up and we ordered the clam strips and oysters. Everything was deep fried (demerits). Ian has been trying to get me to try more sea food (especially shell fish even though I claim to have a slight allergy to them) and he said that deep fried is usually the best way to introduce a new food (everything tastes okay deep fried right?) but deep fried oysters are his least favorite and I didn't like it one bit!

I tried some oyster, but only a bite. I'll try another one if it's cooked differently, Ian says we'll steam them.

What a funny cycle with the sea lions near the dock. A few moments of peaceful laze about then one somewhere would start barking and they'd all bark for a few minutes then some more lazing about. Entertaining!

Newport is also where we got to see the sea lions. Ian showed me how to take video with his camera and I posted one of the delightful animals on youtube.

Graciela and David at the historic bayfront in Newport. Our day driving along the coast was true Oregon. Overcast and kind of raining the whole time.

Sometimes a picture will help cement the memory in your mind for later.

I have so many pictures from the trip, which is great because Ian and I are not picture takers. For one thing he says there is no point of just taking a picture of the ______ (waterfall, ocean, cave, this or that) because someone else has already taken the picture and posted it on the internet that you can look at. And their picture is probably better because someone with nice equipment will surely have taken photos of whatever you're looking at. (For an awesome TED talk about some amazing photo sharing environment building interaction stuff click here.) Better to pay attention with your memory and let it all sink in so you can remember it for yourself later.

So, we don't take many pictures. His theory is one reason I've started drawing when we're out with natural wonders. The drawing is mine, it's how I see it, what I see as important and helps make the scene real in my mind.

Bonus Delicious -- Sweet Stir Fry

The first time this meal came together was kind of accidental. Remember the cabbage I used for the asian coleslaw back in June? Well, I only used a little over half of the cabbage and the rest went back into the fridge.

Then, week in, week out, it would be in my produce tupperware. And I would think and say "We have got to do something with that cabbage," concurrently being amazed that it was still fresh.

Finally, last week, right before my parents got here. . . our cupboards were bare. We could make rice. And what would go with the rice? It was a tuesday, and Ian wouldn't be getting home until after 8. I started pondering. Opening the fridge and staring at all the empty space.

Goal 101-- 9/12 COOK A NEW DISH EVERY MONTH

It's September! My birthday month, and if you've read recent posts, you know my mom and David (step dad) are in town.

One of my unwritten goals for their visit was to have a spot for the four of us to eat family dinner. It's a tight squeeze, yet a gate leg table fits in our kitchen and the four of us do fit around it. The call to dinner includes "dinner time! Bring your chair!" because we barely have four chairs in the apartment.

I love David's pose! And look at poor Ian's face. . . exhausted.

I mentioned that my dish this month would be gluten free because the 'rents steer clear of the gluten (David is gluten intolerant). The original menu written on the week's grocery list was "Grill night. peaches," and I think the intent was to grill some defrosted tilapia filets and PEACHES. I love grilled peaches. Ian arrived home, exhausted from work and kindly informed me we would not be grilling. Mostly because the hard topper from our new-to-us Toyota Corolla Wagon is bungee corded to our small deck-- leaving no room for the hibachi. I imagine he was also relieved because this relieved him of any cooking duties. "Just bake it, it's easy to bake," he said. "I don't know how to do it!" I said. "Look it up!" he replied before closing his sleepy little eyes again.

A quick look at one, two, three different recipes from the internet yielded confirmation to Ian's proclamation. Baking tilapia is easy. It takes little more than a bit of olive oil and salt. Oh! Speaking of salt, I took the opportunity to use some Curry salt from my brother (part of my belated christmas present).

Quite a complete collection of yummy salts, the curry is the yellow one far away.

I was plain giddy when I finished cooking the meal. All the elements were simple, steamed green beans, mashed potatoes and the easy baked tilapia. What I was so excited about is that everything was ready at the exact same time! It was all perfect and hot together! That is a skill that has escaped me and I think it about every thanksgiving.

I think this is the first complete meal I've made for four that wasn't a one-dish concoction.

It even stayed hot long enough for my photo shoot. "I thought dinner was ready" "It is! I just want to take a picture, just one more!"

Goal 101-- 8/12 COOK A NEW DISH EVERY MONTH

The other day Ian says something along the lines "Hey, what happened to...weren't you going to make lasagna last week!?" and I replied "I was, but then it was too hot so we had sandwiches" "oh yeah" "I was also missing some ingredients"

Last week's lasagna was spurred by the unopened container of ricotta cheese that had been hanging out in the fridge. Two weeks ago I picked it up and found the expiration date "I've still got til September!" The ricotta was originally purchased for a no-bake lasagna I saw in Martha's Everyday Food mini-magazine. Ian teased that the no-bake lasagna seemed like more prep and work than traditional lasagna. I couldn't say either way. I can't remember ever having made lasagna before! Can you believe it? Everyone's made lasagna right? It's like the easiest thing in the world. Also, I'm not 100% sure that I haven't aided and abetted at least one lasagna.Yet, since I have zero recollection, I'm calling it a new dish.

I had forgotten the mozzarella and extra sauce the first week lasagna was on the menu.

The back of the box has a convenient recipe for a basic meaty lasagna. I made a vegetarian version using spinach and mushrooms instead.

All my Food Network favorites are right! Frozen spinach is so awesome.

I cooked the frozen spinach and made sure to drain it really well. I didn't want any soupy spinach juice mucking up my lasagna. I like the convenience of frozen spinach, but every time I'm pressing all the extra water out I also feel like I'm watching all the good nutrients go down the drain. 

creminis!

A quick text to/from Ian confirmed my suspicions that it was okay to put the mushrooms in the lasagna without having to cook them first. I like the close up of the mushrooms sans stems. I might turn it into a drawing.

I had to read the same directions over and over again after I put any one layer down. "What comes after the sauce..."

This picture reminds me of one of my favorite childhood boardgames. 

I LOVED this game! Not really fun as an adult. I'm hanging on to a nostalgia copy anyhow.

It was all pretty good timing, the lasagna went in the oven just as Ian was getting home. Once it had its 50 minutes covered, it was supposed to have 15 uncovered. Ian likes things well done and I am never sure if something is finished so for increments of 5 minutes he got little rachel saying "Is it done yet? What do you think? Will you take a look at it? I'm not sure if it's done yet"

The lasag-na in the oven.

yum!

Ian and I ate a little less than a quarter for dinner. He took the rest to work for him and Clinton to have lunch on Sunday. Well actually, I took it to work for him with his change of clothes after we rode up Mt. Tabor again Sunday morning (read about my first trip here). That's 3 times so far!

Double Bonus Delicious -- Fresh Berries and Zuke Salad

Yum. Fresh berries. An expensive treat, but all three types were together looking so beautiful, so irresistible.

Ian has already left, for the morning, to go mountain biking. I reckon they're looking to get a head start on the heat. Point of the story, I was on my own for breakfast (unusual occurrence) so I kept it simple. Yesterday's coffee, rye toast with homemade apple butter, and a bowl packed with Oregon berries, fresh via the grocery store yesterday. Berries. berries. b-e-r-r-i-e-s. So many memories are packed into the taste of fresh berries. Especially black berries, since the first time I really had them was after college, when I lived in Bristol. 

It was winter then, so I would make oatmeal and pour (rice) milk on top and sprinkle on fresh blackberries. They were a weekly staple. Eating them now reminds me of all those lovely days in a borrowed city, walking about drawing postcards and joking with Shills.

I'm a bit more sentimental than usual, since today is my last day at the Portland Paper Zone. I'm typing up a nice long letter for my exit interview and looking back on the last two years is pulling at my heart strings a little. I ought to concentrate on what I'm going to stock up on with my last employee discount! Lots of Bookbinding supplies I reckon, bookcloth and handmade papers, and christmas presents. Oooh, pretty presents. There we are, all cheery and better again. On to the Zukes.

Yesterday, when Ian and I were making our list for grocery shopping this week, I realized we still had the zucchini and corn for the raw salad I was supposed to make last week. Throwing away rotten veg makes me feel immature, and unhealthy! Luckily, the corn and the zuke were still fresh and firm (the cucumber was not so lucky) Knowing it was a "now, or you'll be throwing away rotten veg, again" kind of situation, I started on this simple salad as soon as we were home again and all the new veg was safely stowed.

For this delightful side-dish, to serve 2 adults (with a healthy appetite):

1 corn on its cob
1 small zucchini
1 juicy lime
1 TBLsp olive oil
chopped cilantro (the one week we forget to buy cilantro)
salt and pepper to taste

Husk the corn and cut the kernels off the cob. I love the feel of the juicy kernels popping off into the bowl.

See that giant plant? That's a Rachel kind of plant. You water it when you remember and if it's summer, it's growing. No special instructions required!

Hey Dad! That's me, voluntarily preparing zucchini to eat! Slice zucchini thin and add to corn.

add the juice of a lime (two limes if they aren't very juicy).

Olive oil to coat and cover, stir.

Salt and pepper to taste.

Ready to hang out in the fridge until dinner! Ta-da! Delicious and nutritious.

And I took (almost) my fair share of zucchini (Ian only got a couple of extra slices)! This recipe can definitely go into the summer rotation. Leave out the pepper and it's a dish raw foodists would give a delicious thumbs up! I felt so healthy eating the delightful little kernels of juicy corn and the kind of crunchy, but sort of tasteless zucchini was nothing to be scared of! Next time I'll remember the cilantro.

Bonus Delicious -- Orange Ginger Shrimps

In one of my Martha Everyday cooking magazines, there was this most delicious looking picture of shrimp andouille, with grits and roasted tomatoes.

I showed it to Ian and he said he could make it without the recipe. When we were at the grocery store picking out the shrimps, he was sooooooo excited. "I haven't had shrimps in [calculating how long we've been dating] over three years!" This post isn't about that meal, but it's what has opened the door to the occasional shrimp dinner.

Orange ginger grilled shrimp on a well laid salad.

I tend to avoid shellfish and bottom feeders. "But they're all so delicious" Ian says. [I tried his catfish Po'Boy at lunch before grocery shopping the other day and I did not like it. "Why," Ian asked me, "It was this funny kind of chewy" I said, "yeah, chewy and it tastes a little like dirt" "YES! That's exactly why I didn't like it!" "That's why it's so good!" he said.) I usually say I'm allergic to shellfish (which I am, a little) otherwise people always want to know WHY you don't eat something and "It's a preference," is never a satisfying answer. Also, I'm too old to say "Because I don't like it." I'm in a definite "I'll try it" phase. Gotta test those old automatic answers and I still haven't met an eggplant I liked to eat. Look at? all day long. . . eat, not really.

But back to the delicious at hand.

My recent Martha cooking mag has these three glazes all with orange marmalade, that are just mouthwateringly tempting. I finally remembered to get marmalade at the store so it was time to try one!

Orange Ginger glaze:

1/4 c. marmalade*
1 1/2 tsp. soy sauce
1 tsp. fresh grated ginger**

*(we use the Simply Fruit brand because it uses good 'ol sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup)

**(we bought a giant delicious hunk of ginger eons ago, broke it apart, put it in a freezer bag and froze it. Anytime something calls for fresh ginger I just take out a little hunk and grate it on a cheese grater)

Just mix the three ingredients together in a small bowl and wait for the grill to get going. The recipe also shows beef and pork and says brush glaze on two minutes before the meat is done cooking and then again right after you take it off the grill. Because shrimps cook so fast, Ian laid the skewers of shrimps on the grill, and then brushed both sides with the glaze. We ran out of glaze, so no "after the grill" bit which was okay by us.

Also when we grill and have peaches in the house, we always grill a peach. Warm peach, if I hadn't eaten it first, I wouldn't even have wanted dessert.

duh duh duh yummmm!

You can see the tasty little shrimps on top. Also attending the fiesta, sliced red pepper, sprouts, carrot slices, shredded beet ( left over from the Pretty Beet and Carrot ) and a sprinkle of sliced red cabbage, all on a bed of torn romaine hearts.)

P.S. I LOVE the color of shredded beets. It is the most perfect purplish red ever. I even love the way it stains my hands. I feel like a kid after finger painting. 

I love beet color.

Bonus Delicious --Pretty Beet and Carrots

I am encouraging summer to come back by making cold veggie salads, the kind of thing you want to eat when it's hot and balmy and your skin is sticky. Even though Portland is dim and gray, looking at these plates of goodness makes me feel like I'm getting ready to go to a summer picnic!

Ian's plate. The buffalo chicken wings are the color of carrots!

Rachel's plate. I don't eat fowl so my little nuggets are Quorn. Soy free!