Menu Board

It's been a while since I've posted my menu boards, and I've had a request for dinner ideas, so here you go:


A little dark; sorry about that!



I'm trying to eat low-mercury seafood twice a week; we usually end up with a fish and a shrimp every week:


Angel apparently enjoys tilapia. My excuse for having him on the table is that otherwise, he sits at my feet and whines the ENTIRE time we are eating, and my nerves can't take it.




That gnocchi was The Shit:


We ended up with a lot sliders. But the rolls were homemade!



This one was from the first full week Matt was home after back surgery. Bless his heart, he did a lot of the cooking (though his pictures of the board aren't as good as mine):



The spanish tortilla (basically, a frittata) was super yummy, and not bad to look at, either:


Finally, this week's menu. Posting these, I notice that I pair shrimp and cous cous a little too often...

Note: most of these recipes come from my Everyday Food subscription. I go through the latest issue on Friday or Saturday, make the menu, make the grocery list, then do our shopping on Sundays. It's nice, because we don't have a lot of repeats in any given month. (Except shrimp and cous cous, I suppose!)

You Are What You Eat

Had a busy morning: first off to the farmer's market, then a stop at Sephora for Lancome's new mascara, then Trader Joe's to finish off our grocery shopping. I love-love-love buying fresh local produce, especially from those who practice organic, sustainable farming. I really need to get with a CSA program. I say that every year, and still haven't. Bad girl!

Frankly, the grocery stores are getting entirely out of control. Last week at Giant, there was a display of insanely, unnaturally large cantaloupes. I just stood in front of them, openmouthed. And no one else seemed to notice that they were 50% larger than last year's cantaloupes, or why they should mind. No one seems to notice the food is so much BIGGER than it's meant to be. It's all genetically engineered to be uniform-looking, survive long shipments, and grow to unusual proportions. As a result, it's less tasteful and less nutritious.

Right then, something hit me: produce is often sold by the pound, the size of the produce we are eating has gotten out of control... that has to be one of the reasons produce has gotten so expensive. By comparison, the stuff you get at the farmer's market is smaller, and occasionally dares to be misshapen, but has such a better concentration of flavor. So that's where I choose to put my money.

And just when you think it's safe to buy organic, The Washington Post published a disturbing article a few days ago, called Purity of Federal 'Organic' Label Is Questioned. It's about how higher consumer demand and lower federal standards turned the organics market into a $23 billion-a-year business.

There were a lot of disturbing facts, but here's one that hit this mother-to-be: synthetic additives in organic baby formula banned just three years ago can now be found in 90% of organic baby formula. 90%!! Why? Because a USDA program manager was lobbied by the formula makers and overruled her staff. I hope this breastfeeding thing works out!

Small, independent organic companies are being bought up by companies like Kraft (Boca) and Kellogg (Morningstar Farms). And they have the money to press the government to expand its definition of "organic," especially through their Organic Trade Association (which wants you to buy THEIR kind of organic products, those prepared, processed and packaged with synthetic food substances). Don't think things like the OTA have power? Check this quote:

Under the original organics law, 5%of a USDA-certified organic product can consist of non-organic substances, provided they are approved by the National Organic Standards Board. That list has grown from 77 to 245 substances since it was created in 2002. Companies must appeal to the board every five years to keep a substance on the list, explaining why an organic alternative has not been found. The goal was to shrink the list over time, but only one item has been removed so far.

And here's another gem from a man making decisions about whether the food you eat is truly organic:

"I say, 'Let's find a way to bend that one, because it's not important.' . . . What are we selling? Are we selling health food? No. Consumers, they expect organic food to be growing in a greenhouse on Pluto. Hello? We live in a polluted world. It isn't pure. We are doing the best we can."

I don't think he is. Do you?

I choose to pay more for certain organic products, and I expect them to be free of synthetics, pesticides and other chemicals; not to be genetically engineered; and to be grown in a way that is gentle to the environment. Farmers and food producers shouldn't be able to shop around and hire private certifiers to inspect products. There should be clear guidelines on what can be used in organic products, and that list shouldn't grow! Terms like "access to pasture" should have specific definitions; don't put true organic dairy farmers at unfair competition with those who run more or less confinement dairies. There has to be a strict interpretations of "organic." The organics industry shouldn't focus on growth at any cost; it should focus on preserving the integrity of the organic label.

Remember that old saying: you are what you eat? If you want to learn a little more, I recommend In Defense of Food; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle; and will be sure to eventually blog about Food, Inc.

All's Well That Eats Well

I had a long, rough day that started with waiting 90 minutes to see my doctor and ended with me nearly plowing into an MTA bus two blocks from my office and at 8pm. I called Matt and he offered to help with dinner, which was supposed to be fish poached in citrus with an orange/celery/chickpea salad and cous cous. "Or," I sighed, "you could just throw in the frozen pizza."

To his defense, Matt was also just getting home and was getting a ton of stuff out of the basement to take to the Salvation Army. But I was still displeased to smell pizza when I walked through the front door. My mom would choose pizza as her last supper. She loves the stuff. I don't. I like pizza, but my favorite foods are all a little closer to their natural states. Like arugula, summer tomatoes, or most any kind of fruit. Or fish and oranges and chickpeas. Which is exactly what we had for dinner.

In all fairness, it took less than 20 minutes to zest and peel and slice the oranges, poach the fish, make cous cous, and throw the salad together. Matt helped with the zesting and chopping, and in the end chose the well-balanced dinner over pizza. But he can eat that for dinner tomorrow, while I'm at Ixia... I hope the baby ends up with Matt's nose, and my taste in food!

Do You Know the Muffin Man?

Matt and I have quite opposing views on breakfast. I think it’s the most important meal of the day, that one must start the day with proper nutrition, that toaster pastries are snacks and not meals, etc., etc., etc. Matt has never been a big breakfast guy. He doesn’t drink milk, so that rules out cereal, and is usually too pressed for time (and disinterested) to make himself something. The only exception to this rule is the weekends, when we have brunch together. Matt usually cooks, and we rotate between vanilla-scented French toast, pancakes with fruit compote, veggie omelets, baked eggs, breakfast burritos, fruit smoothies… my tummy is rumbling just thinking about it! And now that the farmer’s market is open for the season, we’ll indulge in crepes the moment we get there, before we start shopping.

But the weekdays are a different story. I tend to have a mini Pyrex dish of granola cereal when I wake up to appease the growing girl in my tummy, then I often have a packet of whole-grain oatmeal when I am settled at work. Matt on the other hand, skips breakfast. Or had been doing so, until I realized something else about Matt’s dietary preferences.

Dessert.

Okay, who DOESN’T think dessert should have its own place as a separate daily meal? But anything dessert-like is bound to get a man’s attention. One of MY favorite desserts (besides cheesecake, or yogurt blended with frozen banana, which helps my pregnancy-induced indigestion) is cupcakes! I love baking them, I love decorating them (despite how frustrated I get when they don’t turn out perfectly) and I certainly love eating them. Put those things together… breakfast, dessert, cupcakes… muffins!

So I’ve started making muffins on the weekends, then wrapping them individually and freezing them. I can just pull one out in the evenings, and Matt packs it with his lunch in the morning. Since I use an equal amount of white and wheat flour, and focus on fruit muffins, I tell myself that they have some nutritional value. So far, I’ve made a batch of banana ones and a batch of strawberry ones, using frozen strawberries and vanilla yogurt. I have a several more muffin recipes, so I should be able to rotate them pretty often (even if he has to eat the same thing for breakfast all week). And to keep him engaged and interested, I’ve decided to let him pick out the next recipe. He choose the dried-cherry-and-chocolate ones.

Hey, it’s a start…

Weekend Purls

The boss let us out early Wednesday afternoon, so a coworker and I ran to Whole Foods for last minute supplies. And coffee. Nom. Then I went home and slaved over the hot ... knitting? Our Thanksgiving tradition has been to spend even years with my family and odd years with Matt's. (Coincidence?) So I don't have to do any cooking. In fact, I only had to bring cranberries. (I'm pretty grossed out by the canned cranberries. The gel that plops out of the can while maintaining the shape of the can is horrifying to me. It doesn't occur in nature and shouldn't happen during Thanksgiving.) So when I got home, I knitted.

(In case you think I'm completely lazy, I DID do most of the Thanksgiving dishes.)

Matt had to work on Friday, and I spent a good part of the day doing laundry and watching movies (Enchanted and Gone Baby Gone... the first was pretty cute, and the latter was just heart-wrenching. I loved it.)

Saturday, we met friends at The Visionary Arts Museum for Bizaart. I love the idea of the self-taught artists selling their wares. My favorites were the purses from hardback book covers, zombie art, cupcake necklaces, whimsical paintings, and enamel jewelry featuring birds. I love birds and was happy to see them represented in several of the vendors' stalls.

Afterwards, we went to the Towson Town Center and wrapped up the vast majority of our holiday shopping. There are a few things I need to order online, then I need to shop for Matt and I am DONE. I'm one of those people who stress from Thanksgiving to Christmas about holiday shopping, and getting the "just right" gifts. This year, I started early, tried hard to stick to a budget, and for the most part, purchased gifts I wouldn't mind receiving myself. The top of the entertainment center is laden with boxes; I don't have the tree up yet, but whenever we do get it up, the gifts have to be where Angel won't try to unwrap them!

The rest of the weekend was spent watching more movies (The Fountain and The Good Shepherd), watching football, baking cupcakes...

And more knitting. One of the three projects I finished this weekend was an autumn tea cozy. Tea cozies are terribly old-fashioned but wonderfully practical. Matt always serves me a pot of tea with breakfast on the weekends, and we often wrap the teapot with a napkin because I like my tea piping hot. The tea cozy will serve to keep my tea warmer with a close-fitting wrap that I can leave on when pouring another cup. Laugh if you will, but I love it! My first cozy is bright orange and was knit in a pumpkin-looking pattern. I had intended to have it done before Halloween, but put it away in early October and forgot about it. I may put it away with my Halloween and Thanksgiving decorations and make another in a neutral color for the rest of the year. (And I'll likely make one in a bigger size for my other teapots. Yes, I have more than one.)

The rest of my knitting projects are on Ravelry, but are Christmas surprises! Now, the only things I have on the needles are my first sock (still) and sweater. Too bad tomorrow's Monday; I wouldn't mind spending another few days practicing domestic arts.

I Have Found The Holy Grail!!

...in the form of a cupcake blog: http://amicuscupcake.blogspot.com/

I want to sit at home and bake, bake, bake and have my house fill with warm baked smells.

Tom Tom

Today, Matt ordered our Thanksgiving turkey. I say ordered because I insist on having a free-range, hormone-free, antibiotic free, heritage turkey, NOT a Butterball and DEFINITELY NOT a store brand turkey.

Pretty much all the turkeys sold in grocery stores are Broad Breasted White turkeys, which were bred to grow large breasts in a short period of time. They get to “market weight” quicker and often are not raised in humane conditions, so they are much cheaper to grow. Now they are intensively farmed, and so inbred and fat and stupid that that they cannot achieve natural fertilization.

Seriously. Look it up.

Then there’s the fact that their by-products – even their feathers – are often ground up and fed to them. Inbred, cannibal turkeys who might never see the light of day, and are pumped full of growth hormones to make their breasts even larger, and antibiotics as a preventative measure because they live in conditions gross enough to almost guarantee illness. I’ll leave out some of the other details; I gave you enough to think of while you are carving your turkey.

Even if you ignore the cannibal-druggie part of the White, the fact that it’s the only turkey available in stores is nuts. You can find several varieties of apples or oranges or pears in your grocery stores, but only one kind of bird.

Heritage breeds have pretty much been dying out, and will continue to do so unless the demand for heritage turkeys increases. Our provider, Carriage House Farms, raises Standard Bronze, Bourbon Red, and Narragansett turkeys. Being free-range, our turkey will have been able to munch on fresh grass and insects (rather than his brother), get some exercise, maybe even get laid. I’m just saying. The proprietor assured Matt that our turkey will be more moist and flavorful due to their more diverse diets and longer life.
He even said we can come visit our turkey if we want. I’m thinking about visiting the farm, to see for myself where a turkey SHOULD come from (though I don’t think I’ll want to have my turkey pointed out to me), and maybe to get some fresh eggs and honey.

I think it would be a great place to take kids, too, so they can see that their food doesn’t grow in the store.

Two weekends ago...

...when the remnant of Hurricane Henry (I think it was Henry) blew through the neighborhood,

I spent the day warm and cozy on my living room floor, on top of the big fluffy Ravens blanket Mom gave Matt for Christmas (all four of us--kittens included--love that thing), watching old movies and being unabashedly domestic. I pulled out my long-neglected jewelry making supplies and spent hours putting purple beads on pins with the idea that I would make a necklace. I made lots of dangling sets of beads, but lost interest before managing to string them together!

Then, I made my first homemade apple pie, which was insanely fun and easy and delicious.

Later, I also took some of the many many many tomatoes we've grown and I peeled them and chopped them and strained the seeds out and made homemade tomato sauce in my favorite pot, which was warm and wonderful in wheat penne that I baked with a bit of shredded cheese.

Another weekend is on its way, but I think I'll just spend it knitting!

Julie & Julia

I finished reading Julie & Julia over the weekend. What a fun read! It's a memoir about a neurotic, disgruntled twenty-nine-year-old New York secretary who decided to embark on the Julie/Julia Project -- a challenge to herself to cook all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking in one year, and blog about her experience doing so. What followed was --obviously -- humor, broken eggs, an obscene amount of butter, and several nervous breakdowns.

I love Julie Powell’s writing style: witty, brutally honest, self-depreciating, sometimes whiny... yet always utterly relatable. (Especially the parts about her long-suffering husband.) Reading it, I was cheering her on and wondering whether she was completely nuts, often at the same time.

Julie's first post was Sunday, August 25, 2002 (that's right, I tracked it down), and it quickly gained an enthusiastic readership... among web surfers and eventually, the media. (Which is what eventually led her to her book deal, that lucky dog.)

I know there is a movie being made from the book, which will have a little bit more of Julia Child's life, based on her autobiography My Life in France. (I need to add that to my to-read list... or maybe my Christmas list.) And Meryl Streep is supposed to play Julia Child, so OBVIOUSLY that's going to be a fun performance.

That said, I don't think all of this is going to tear me away from my devotion to Alice Waters, but it gives me a new interest in and appreciation of Julia Child and schmancy French cooking. It also makes me yen for a project of my own, especially if it can eventually get me out of my sometimes-secretarial-like day job. Knitting? Baking? Jewelry-making? Any suggestion?

In Defense of Food

As mentioned in my previous post, I just finished reading In Defense of Food by Michael Pollan. The premise, oversimplified, is right on the cover of the book: Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants. It sounds simple, but when Pollan challenges you to consider how many "edible food-like substances" have made their way into grocery stores, you get an idea of how a Western diet gets in the way of your ability to "Eat food."

The first section of the book delves into the process by which our food has lost much of its integrity, how constantly shifting opinions of scientists have unintentionally divorced us from more simple traditional, healthy cooking and eating habits; food manufacturers jumped at opportunities to engineer cheaper, more artificial and addictive foods; and food marketers have thrown unimaginable amounts of money into pulling shoppers towards the middle of American grocery stores, towards brightly colored packages touting the health benefits of all of the additives inserted into foods that had been stripped of them from constant engineering. American food culture has been changing: more than once per generation, and not for the better.

At some point and for whatever reason, we stopped looking at whole foods and trusting in their innate complexities, and we started focusing on nutrients. Pollan cites the 1977 case where the Senate Select Committee on Nutrition and Human Needs issued guidelines meant to address the rise in diet-related chronic diseases. Their recommendation to reduce consumption of meat and dairy was met with so much criticism from red meat and dairy industries, that the Senator heading the committee quickly replaced their original recommendation to "choose meats, poultry and fish that will reduce saturated fat intake." Never mind that the recommendation about dairy was dropped; note that they suddenly single out a nutrient, proclaim it bad, and do not single out a food group. And the Senator was later voted out of office. Do you think any government official will stick his neck out for that subject again? (Skinny Bitch had a chapter recommending the eater "trust no one." Sounds familiar.)

So now we talk about food parts: fiber and vitamins and fats (good and bad). And science constantly shifts the winds of favor for one versus the other. Remember when margarine was supposed to be better for you than butter? Or baby formula just as good as breast milk? Just wait until science discovers another nutrient that formula has gone without for so many years. In the meantime, they are busy genetically engineering peaches to produce more and be more disease resistant, likely at the cost of taste and nutrition. Coca-Cola will probably end up with an organic, vitamin-added soda. THIS DOES NOT MAKE IT HEALTH FOOD!!

The second section is about the specific ills of the Western diet as compared to traditional diets in other parts of the world. The problem? Other parts of the world are adopting a more Western diet, and Western diseases are following. I wish there were a brake I can pull to stop it. Just a week or so ago, the New York Times had an article about the rise of the hamburger in Paris. NO!! How are we going to turn this around if other countries are following our bad lead?

Frankly, some of the above-mentioned reading is laborious (and considering my recent predilection for food-related books, repetitive), so while I do recommend this book, I will say that the third part is the must-read: getting over "Nutritionism" and escape from the Western diet. In the interest in not rewriting the book, I'll paraphrase the author's suggested rules of thumb:

• Don't eat anything your great-grandmother wouldn't recognize as food. Take Twinkies... they are a cake that is incapable of rotting. EW!
• Avoid products that contain ingredients that are unfamiliar, unpronounceable, more that five in number, or are high-fructose corn syrup.
• Avoid products that make health claims. Potato chips that claim to be heart-healthy probably aren't as healthy as the carrots in the corner, which are sitting around without packaging.
• Shop out the grocery stores when you can, and in the perimeter as much as possible. Yes, my local produce guy uses Miracle Grow. But I'm eating food that was produced less than a mile from my house, and I KNOW that it's in season.
• Eat mostly plants, especially leaves.
• You are what "what you eat" eats, too. That is why I buy less meat, but invest in that which is "formerly happy."
• If you have the space, buy a freezer. Buy good stuff in bulk and freeze it.
• Eat like an omnivore. Diversity on your plate is a good thing.
• Eat well-grown food from healthy soil.
• Eat wild food when you can.
• Eat more like the French/Italians/Japanese/Indians/Greeks... not just what they eat, but how they eat it.
• Regard nontraditional foods with skepticism.
• Don't look for the magical bullet in the traditional diet. Think of cumulative goodness.
• Have a glass of wine with dinner. You don't have to tell me twice. Bring on the red!
• Pay more, eat less. Go for quality, eat slower, stop eating when you are full, not when your plate is empty.
• Eat meals. Three of them, and not in your car. It's a great way to civilize your kids.
• Do all of your eating at a table.
• Don't get your fuel from the same place your car does.
• Try not to eat alone.
• Cook and, if you can, plant a garden.

I love that the Amazon.com listing of what others bought include The Art of Simple Food (which I am slowly savoring) and that he thanked Alice Waters in his acknowledgements. I'm seeing a lot of her name in my reading, as well as Barbara Kingsolver's (I loved Animal, Vegetable, Miracle).

So there you have it, long and short. Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.

Samedi, jusqu'ici

I slept in a bit, braved an egg scrambled with asparagus, showered and got dressed. We had to go to Patient First so I could give another urine sample, and to CVS to pick up my prescriptions (and shampoo, and mascara, since we were there anyway...). We finished watching The Unbearable Lightness of Being, which I thought was wonderful. I should get the book; I'm sure that will be even better.

I managed some mashed potatoes, and later made pita chips (from homemade pita bread) and a white bean dip, though I didn't eat dinner. We played Scrabble down to the last seven or so tiles, and I got lucky enough to beat M:

and now he is reading while update my blog. I need to update my Ravelry blog as well, with my latest crochet projects. I finished Sweet Pea (and wore it to work on Thursday):

I'm very happy with it; it was a quick project, and though the yarn was an inexpensive acrylic/soy blend, it's soft and comforting.

And of course, there is Chanson en Crochet, which my mom finished a while ago, much to my delight:

She claims it doesn't look as good as it did in the pattern's pictures, but I think it is uniqe and gorgeous. It's made with Cascade 220 wool, is snug and still smells like my mommy. :)

I haven't decided what to do next, but will keep you posted. In the meantime... sweet dreams.

Guests for Dinner

Last night, we had another couple over for dinner. I stopped at Whole Foods (I love Whole Foods!) and picked up some groceries, then stopped at Bin 604 (which I also love) for a bottle of Chardonnay and another of Pinot Noir. We had salmon baked in foil, saffron rice, and roasted broccoli, then sat around the table for another four hours talking and laughing, the girls drinking wine and the men drinking scotch. I had forgotten to pick up a dessert, but thank goodness we had a really good brownie mix handy. Between the four of us, we ate the entire pan!

Our guests left at about a quarter after one in the morning... I'm glad I cleaned the kitchen as I was cooking, because we were SO ready to get in bed, and it was nice to have nothing to do but run the dishwasher this morning.