Lazy, Stressed, Umami

I watched about 15 minutes of Top Chef this morning with my breakfast, and the challenge was pretty fun.  They each got 3 words that would serve as the inspiration for their dish.  I took 3 from the show that I relate to this week:
LAZY: Just not interested in writing these scripts that I am working on.
STRESSED: My project manager is in Manila potentially being monsooned upon, but mostly to deliver training to our project's contact center there.  Since I'm second in command (yay two-person projects!), I am holding down the fort in his absence.
UMAMI: I have been insanely hungry all week.  Not munchy, not bored, HUNGRY.  Like, at 10:30am I am legitimately ready for lunch.  And I just keep wanting more protein.  Raar.

So, if you wanted to cook up a bowl of Freya, your dish should probably be super simple, cooked quickly at a high temperature, and meaty.

I have done some experimental cooking this week myself.  Last Friday (I'm a week behind?!), Katie came over and I passed on the granola wisdom of Mark Bittman.  We made a fabulous batch of the stuff, and split it up so she could take some home.  I feel like it wasn't as sweet this time, but I'm not sure why because we added enough honey.  I suppose I am going to have to make another batch to find out.  Next time I need new ingredients, though.  Getting sick of my combo already.

Earlier that night, I actually dabbled in another Mark Bittman recipe: PESTO!  I had leftover fresh basil from the farmers market, so I figured I'd put it to use.  I used less oil than he called for, but I still found it incredibly oily!  And I LOVE olive oil.  It's almost shocking to hear me say the words.  I also used too much garlic.  I'm actually now wondering if the problem was not enough basil... entirely possible.  The flavors were right on, just not perfect proportions.  I'd give it a second chance.

Hello, food processor!  Best birthday gift ever!  This year I would like a French press and a grill pan.

During the week that I decided I was gluten-intolerant, I bought gluten free pasta at Whole Foods, since it was on sale.  It was tasty, but texturally only decent -- I'm not sure that "al dente" exists anywhere along their scale of doneness.  I used it as the base for my pesto, and then sprinkled with ricotta salata, which may be one of my new favorite cheeses.  I am actually not crazy about cheese in general and really prefer hard cheeses (with the exception of goat cheese and fried camembert... mmm).  So, while manchego might be my favorite, this stuff is pretty awesome.  Um, it's a good thing I didn't leave my house that night, because I was seriously rocking the garlic breath after this.  Eek.

Saturday night, Katie, Joanna, Brenda, and I trekked up to West Harlem for Senegalese food.  I had absolutely no idea what to expect, but I was pleasantly surprised!  A lot of rice and couscous bases with some fish, some grilled meat, and some rich vegetable/meat stews.  I had lamb maffe, which was sort of a hearty stew with a peanut base, root vegetables, and lamb on the bone.  The lamb was a little fatty, but other than that, delicious.  We're going back!  Next time I'm getting the (questionably) grilled whole fish.  I wanted to asked what kind of fish it was, but Katie and Brenda didn't think I would get an answer.  That kind of restaurant.

Sunday!  Sunday morning my friends and I participated in the Walk to the Cure for Diabetes Research.  It was a 10K walk, which I think felt worse the next day than a 10K run would have felt!  Ouch.  I always forget that walking is actually a really gratifying form of exercise.  I need to keep that in mind for days when I'm feeling lazy.  Here is the Brooklyn Bridge, on that perfect autumn morning.

It's no secret that I'm not a morning person, but I actually do enjoy being up early on the weekends. After the walk we had some free lunch care of Au Bon Pain, and then Amanda and I went to Berrywild.  Banana frozen yogurt.  Best dessert ever.  Hands down.  I put chocolate covered pretzels in mine.  And some blueberries, which actually froze in the cup!  Yum.

After successfully locating the broiler setting on my oven (thanks, Mom and Dad!), I made blackened tilapia using a recipe I can't find online now.  Really good!  Just the fish, olive oil, and a bunch of spices, all of which I already had in the house.  Success!  And broiled for less than 10 minutes.

I had some okra fries with that.  This batch of okra was fresh from the farmers market, and totally perfect.  Not at all slimy.  I used pretty much the same spices on the okra as I did on the fish: salt, pepper,chili powder, and some paprika.  I did have to eat in shifts, though, because the fish needed to broil, and the okra to bake.

More meal tidbits:

A lovely salad:

- farm fresh arugula
- roasted sweet potatoes, carrots, and beets
- lentils
- parsley
- red pepper
- walnuts
- ricotta salata
- lemon juice

Escarole!  I ate an entire head of it and felt a little sick after... but it was great.  I love leafy greens, and I especially enjoy watching them wilt in the pan.  I cooked it with a little sesame oil and some garlic, and I topped it with sesame seeds that I bought from the Whole Foods UWS on Saturday night from the bulk section.  I LOVE buying in bulk.  Really, I just enjoy having control over what I'm getting and how much of it.  The 20 cents' worth of sesame seeds I bought should last months!

Oh, and yes, those are TJ's soy nuggets you see creeping into the picture.

I leave you with an anomaly.  This week, I ate a breakfast that was NOT oatmeal.  You read that correctly.  NOT oatmeal.  I just wasn't feeling it, and I had this beautiful farmers market white nectarine to eat.  I am extremely picky about oatmeal-appropriate fruits, and peaches/nectarines/plums/strawberries are not allowed in my oatmeal temple.  But they all taste great in yogurt, and so I give you the perfect yogurt parfait.  Amazing.

- 1 plain Oikos
- 1 white nectarine (probably the last of the season)
- Barbara's Shredded Oats
- Mark Bittman granola
- slivered almonds
- maple pecans

Now I am going to get back to avoiding my work.  Later I will give an update on my other challenge!

Feeling Crunchy

Anyone else feelin' a little crunchy? This morning I channeled my inner hippie alongside trusty old Mark Bittman, and I made granola. I have been wanting cereal like whoa this week (crunchy, carby goodness), so this was a pretty good way of killing the craving. Cereal is up there with bread as something that I don't think should necessarily count as processed. Lucky Charms? Totally processed. Kashi Go Lean? Nah-ah. But if anything were going to turn me into a wholly unprocessed believer, it would be this granola.

I used the recipe linked here as a base, and for nuts I used walnuts, cashews, pumpkin seeds, and slivered almonds. As an afterthought I added a little PB, but next time I would swap out some of the nuts for more PB. It bakes up really nicely and helps make clusters. I think I cooked it almost 40 mins, which was just on the verge of too toasted, but I like that taste. Next time I would do like 35 mins. And, yes, there will be a next time.


So good that I had to have a taste before I even baked it.

And 40 mins later... voila! I wish I could post a link to a scent, because this was amazing. Toasty and nutty and coconutty... I still hadn't had breakfast, so I got to sprinkle some on my oatmeal! Oats, 1/2 banana, thawed frozen wild blueberries, and my homemade granola.

A hectic day at work (er, at the apt) combined with some baking, (and a lot of nibbling...), and the morning flew by.

Lunch:
- polenta
- hot cherry pepper
- tomato
- avocado
- blackened (by accident) Cajun shrimp skewer from WF
- drizzle of honey

Lunch with a side of Lotus Notes:

Snack time came a little bit later. I was craving something sweet (chocolate???? pleeeeease?), so I settled for an organic pluot and some yerba mate tea. I wonder what's more "natural"... an organic pluot or a conventional plum. I love pluots, but the idea of melding fruits is pretty un-organic, if you ask me.


And... I forgot to take a picture of dinner, but I had a pretty awesome salad:
- arugula
- tomato
- avocado
- red onion
- salmon baked with soy sauce and whole grain mustard
- olive oil
- balsamic vinegar
- lemon juice
- honey

Too many dressing flavors. Diane took a picture of her beautiful salad, also a Mark Bittman masterpiece, so I'll put up a picture of her dinner instead.

Mixed greens, blue cheese, raspberries, and walnuts! Yummm. I also made some sweet potato fries with olive oil, cumin, paprika, and chili powder. Best, easiest, feels-like-it-should-be-bad-for-you food ever.


Yowza. Long post! I was too busy to get to it earlier. I leave you with dessert: banana "soft serve"... frozen bananas tossed in the food processor. I also melted some almond butter to go with it. Totally felt like dessert. Success! Do you like my high bun look?



Off to bed now in preparation for Ariel's bday Brooklyn beer tour tomorrow morning! Woohoo! Gotta be bright-eyed and bushy-tailed! I foresee photo ops!