Sunday, March 24, 2013
Broccoli Soup
Marcella Hazan's broccoli soup and pasta soup courtesy of The Wednesday Chef. Not easy, but yummy, and a great way to use up huge amounts of broccoli.
New recipe recap
Wow... getting the flu and then catching a cold right after that have really slowed me down. I tried a bunch of new recipes in March; here's a quick catch-up post on what worked and what didn't.
I tried a recipe of roasted tempeh and veggies with pomegranate molasses glaze. It wasn't AT ALL my speed, but my husband seemed to enjoy it. I might try it again with a different glaze.
On a brighter note, Smitten Kitchen struck gold again with this coconut bread. I didn't have flaked coconut so I used dried young coconut, finely chopped. Still delicious.
And another winner from Smitten Kitchen: cauliflower fritters. They didn't stick together properly but tasted delicious.
I needed to use up a bunch of Brussel sprouts and I stumbled onto this recipe of Brussel sprouts with a lime-honey-ginger glaze. Jack-pot! Quick and delicious. Definitely make again.
After we got back from Italy I wanted to try to recreate the flat-crust pizza that we ate over there. Well, I didn't get is crispy enough, but it was still yummy.
New recipe count: 17
I tried a recipe of roasted tempeh and veggies with pomegranate molasses glaze. It wasn't AT ALL my speed, but my husband seemed to enjoy it. I might try it again with a different glaze.
On a brighter note, Smitten Kitchen struck gold again with this coconut bread. I didn't have flaked coconut so I used dried young coconut, finely chopped. Still delicious.
And another winner from Smitten Kitchen: cauliflower fritters. They didn't stick together properly but tasted delicious.
I needed to use up a bunch of Brussel sprouts and I stumbled onto this recipe of Brussel sprouts with a lime-honey-ginger glaze. Jack-pot! Quick and delicious. Definitely make again.
After we got back from Italy I wanted to try to recreate the flat-crust pizza that we ate over there. Well, I didn't get is crispy enough, but it was still yummy.
New recipe count: 17
Wednesday, March 20, 2013
Old favorite: shrimp fried rice
One of the first things I learned how to cook as a teenager, and STILL one of my all-time favorite dinners, is the Williams Sonoma recipe for shrimp fried rice with basil and cilantro (or, as the new version up on the website clarifies, it's khao pad bai kraprow)
Just had to rave about it here, one more time...
Just had to rave about it here, one more time...
Sunday, March 10, 2013
Safely Home
We are safely returned from a week in Italy. I'll see about pictures a little later: my husband appropriated my camera early into the trip and took a number of great shots, which I currently cannot download to my computer.
Oy vey.
But we are back. The house is fine, the dog appears to be fine, and things already feel remarkably like normal. We timed our return perfectly with respect to Daylight Savings, in that we are now only 5 hours off of EDT instead of 6 hours.
I have 4 or 5 loads of laundry to accomplish. As I said, more later.
Oy vey.
But we are back. The house is fine, the dog appears to be fine, and things already feel remarkably like normal. We timed our return perfectly with respect to Daylight Savings, in that we are now only 5 hours off of EDT instead of 6 hours.
I have 4 or 5 loads of laundry to accomplish. As I said, more later.
Thursday, February 28, 2013
Book Round-up for early 2013
I made several resolutions regarding books this year. First, there's the usual "read a lot of books" resolution, which I then modified to include "read 26 new authors this year" to force myself to branch out a little more.
As of today, the end of February, I've read 14 new novels (5 by authors new to me), and reread 2 novels.
The rereads: March Upcountry by David Weber and John Ringo: a lot of fun if you just want action and aliens with a hint of romance.
One Shot by Lee Childs, which is the basis for the movie Jack Reacher: one of the best in the series, less action than the movie, and more plot lines.
The new authors:
Kylie Chan, author of Blue Dragon, Red Phoenix, and White Tiger. A fun fantasy/horror romance set in Hong Kong and Australia. Recommended if you're into that kind of book.
Elizabeth Wein, author of Code Name Verity. A wonderfully written first-person account of two teenaged girls, spying in France during WWII. Very moving and clever. Highly recommended.
James Smythe, author of The Explorer. A really strange SF novel that, IMHO, went too far to the literary and ended up disappointing me.
Maggie Stiefvater, author of Raven Boys. An excellent YA fantasy with sequels coming soon. I did NOT spot either of the major plot twists, which (I think) speaks highly of the author's story-telling skills. Recommended.
Beth Revis, author of Across the Universe. A YA generation-ship, dystopian SF novel that did a nice job of telling its story without overloading on either the science or the pathos. I'm looking forward to the sequels. (Note: my husband thought it was only so-so.) Recommended.
The rest of the new books:
RM Meluch: Wolf Star, The Ninth Circle, Sagittarius Command, and Strength and Honor. A fun SF series about a future where the Roman Empire has risen again to command the stars and challenge the USA for control of the galaxy. Recommended only if you like this kind of novel.
Joe Haldeman: Marsbound. YA SF novel about a teenaged girl and her family who move to Mars. The first 3/4 were ho-hum and then the last 1/4 was amazing. Not sure if I will seek out the sequels.
Charles Stross and Joe Haldeman: The Rapture of the Nerds. SF novel about the recent future, when half of humanity has uploaded, and a neo-Luddite seeks to avoid all things technological before he's called upon to save the world. I'll be honest... I nearly quit four or five times, and eventually skipped the middle 1/3 to see if the book got any better. It did - a lot better - so I went back and forced myself through the slow parts. It really is worth reading, but you'll have to be patient with it. Recommended for lovers of hard-extrapolation SF, or anyone who likes the authors' previous works.
Karen Lord: The Best of All Possible Worlds. A quietly SF, discretely romantic, totally wonderful utopian novel. The story is so gentle that you have to search behind the words to really piece out what's happening. After all the dystopian SF I've been reading, this just felt like a breath of fresh air. Highly recommended.
As of today, the end of February, I've read 14 new novels (5 by authors new to me), and reread 2 novels.
The rereads: March Upcountry by David Weber and John Ringo: a lot of fun if you just want action and aliens with a hint of romance.
One Shot by Lee Childs, which is the basis for the movie Jack Reacher: one of the best in the series, less action than the movie, and more plot lines.
The new authors:
Kylie Chan, author of Blue Dragon, Red Phoenix, and White Tiger. A fun fantasy/horror romance set in Hong Kong and Australia. Recommended if you're into that kind of book.
Elizabeth Wein, author of Code Name Verity. A wonderfully written first-person account of two teenaged girls, spying in France during WWII. Very moving and clever. Highly recommended.
James Smythe, author of The Explorer. A really strange SF novel that, IMHO, went too far to the literary and ended up disappointing me.
Maggie Stiefvater, author of Raven Boys. An excellent YA fantasy with sequels coming soon. I did NOT spot either of the major plot twists, which (I think) speaks highly of the author's story-telling skills. Recommended.
Beth Revis, author of Across the Universe. A YA generation-ship, dystopian SF novel that did a nice job of telling its story without overloading on either the science or the pathos. I'm looking forward to the sequels. (Note: my husband thought it was only so-so.) Recommended.
The rest of the new books:
RM Meluch: Wolf Star, The Ninth Circle, Sagittarius Command, and Strength and Honor. A fun SF series about a future where the Roman Empire has risen again to command the stars and challenge the USA for control of the galaxy. Recommended only if you like this kind of novel.
Joe Haldeman: Marsbound. YA SF novel about a teenaged girl and her family who move to Mars. The first 3/4 were ho-hum and then the last 1/4 was amazing. Not sure if I will seek out the sequels.
Charles Stross and Joe Haldeman: The Rapture of the Nerds. SF novel about the recent future, when half of humanity has uploaded, and a neo-Luddite seeks to avoid all things technological before he's called upon to save the world. I'll be honest... I nearly quit four or five times, and eventually skipped the middle 1/3 to see if the book got any better. It did - a lot better - so I went back and forced myself through the slow parts. It really is worth reading, but you'll have to be patient with it. Recommended for lovers of hard-extrapolation SF, or anyone who likes the authors' previous works.
Karen Lord: The Best of All Possible Worlds. A quietly SF, discretely romantic, totally wonderful utopian novel. The story is so gentle that you have to search behind the words to really piece out what's happening. After all the dystopian SF I've been reading, this just felt like a breath of fresh air. Highly recommended.
Monday, February 18, 2013
A dinner party of new recipes
It had been far too long since I had my advisees over for dinner (as they frequently reminded me) so I finally pulled myself together, cleaned up the house, and planned a menu.
Things I had cooked before:
brown rice
white rice
shrimp-fried rice from William Sonoma
stir-fried Chinese broccoli
cumin seed roasted cauliflower (without the dip)
longanisa (made with turkey, because one of my students doesn't eat pork)
Things I had not cooked before:
scallion pancakes from David Lebovitz: this is the Korean version, with which I'm not familiar, so while it didn't taste anything like the stuff we get from our local Chinese take-out, that was both expected and a good thing. They were easy and yummy... definitely a keeper!
Prawn-stuffed mushrooms from Blue Apocalypse: easy but not quite as stunning as I'd hoped. I wonder if adding cilantro to the shrimp mix would jack it up a level...?
Edited to add: when I was cleaning up, I realized that the only dish to be completely devoured was the prawn-stuffed mushrooms. I guess everyone else liked them even more than I did!
New recipe count: 11
Things I had cooked before:
brown rice
white rice
shrimp-fried rice from William Sonoma
stir-fried Chinese broccoli
cumin seed roasted cauliflower (without the dip)
longanisa (made with turkey, because one of my students doesn't eat pork)
Things I had not cooked before:
scallion pancakes from David Lebovitz: this is the Korean version, with which I'm not familiar, so while it didn't taste anything like the stuff we get from our local Chinese take-out, that was both expected and a good thing. They were easy and yummy... definitely a keeper!
Prawn-stuffed mushrooms from Blue Apocalypse: easy but not quite as stunning as I'd hoped. I wonder if adding cilantro to the shrimp mix would jack it up a level...?
Edited to add: when I was cleaning up, I realized that the only dish to be completely devoured was the prawn-stuffed mushrooms. I guess everyone else liked them even more than I did!
New recipe count: 11
Friday, February 8, 2013
Wild Mushroom Lasagna
We're all snowed in up here in New England, and probably about to lose power tonight, so we did our usual ritual of eating up and cooking up all the good stuff in the fridge. I'd been planning to make this wild mushroom lasagna all week. Since we weren't able to go shopping I had to do without ricotta, fresh thyme, or a third type of mushroom, but it was still fantastically good. I will definitely try it again with the full list of ingredients.
New recipe count: 9
New recipe count: 9
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