Off the Wagon- The Meat Wagon That Is

So, I ordered my first steak. I was at Izzy's Steakhouse with Kiki (www.baguetteocroissant.blogspot.com) and we decided to share the BACON wrapped fillet mignon. And the creamed spinach and potatoes au gratin. HUH? The weirdest thing is I never ate this stuff when I DID eat meat. Granted I was 12 and it is totally normal for tastebuds to change, but part of my decision to go mostly meatless was that is was easy for me. I didn't struggle. I never craved a hamburger, I never couldn't help myself to the bacon. It just was simple. So I don't know what has changed. My mother asked me if I was pregnant, apparently that changes tastes, cravings etc (the answer is NO) so I do not have an explanation for it. But I am pondering going back to the veggie side.

This has been a fun few months, dabbling with the meats, taking a bite of a burger, but I think that this isn't a lifestyle that is going to remain permanent. I don't know how staunch I will be about meat in the future, but I really want to go back to a lifestyle where it is a rare treat, perhaps once or twice a year. This weekend i was going through some of my mom's old Gourmet magazines, and I read a long article about chicken production in the United States. The article was basically about the tactics that the American plants use when killing the chickens and that it could be less painful than it currently is. Now, mind you, this article was from July 2007, so things could possibly have changed in the last thirteen months, but for some reason I doubt it. Included was an interview with a Norwegian chicken farmer and how he spent a ton of money changing his facilities so the chickens died a more peaceful death. Naturally I sat there reading this and kept saying, I will never eat chicken again. Or any other meat.
Is this going to be true? That remains to be seen. But I would like to think so.

Salads Galore!

For some strange reason I decided to make 3 salads for dinner. Now, one might find this odd, perhaps because it is, but all three of the salads were quite different. I chose to make the three because I wanted to use up what I had on hand, tons of produce, chicken legs, etc. So i set to work, starting with a lovely Caprese. Nothing beyond the norm of lovely heirloom tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, basil from the plant I have, and some olive oil. I added salt and pepper and a touch of balsamic to my serving. I absolutely love mozzarella, I think I could live off caprese salad (with lots of olive oil and vinegar soaked bread) for the rest of my life.

In addition to the Caprese I made another chicken caesar salad. Similar to the week before. I raosted two chicken legs with rosemary over a bed of ripped up bread, and I made a twist on the dressing. I used creme fraiche and garlic and parmesan and lemon and oil, but added a tablespoon of dijon mustard and anchovy paste instead of minced anchovies. I thought it was better than before.

I also didn't add prosciutto or anything, I didn't find it necessary.

The third salad, our "regular" one, was mixed greens with radishes, avocado, yellow carrots, and beets. By the time I was ready to serve everything I realized I had made way too much, so I packed the green salad away for lunch the next day.

Dinner was really nice. I even set the table as opposed to my normal lazy coffee table eating self. Does that make sense?

A Mexican Pasta Salad

This was one of my first attempts to make a Rachael Ray dish. Technically it's called Mac & Jack salad or something atrocious like that. I took her main recipe and made it my own. Hers called for the following:
1 pound macaroni elbows or cavatappi, corkscrew-shaped hollow pasta
Salt
1 cup frozen corn, defrosted
1 red bell pepper, chopped
1 small red onion, chopped
4 ribs celery, chopped
Black pepper
1 8-ounce brick pepper Jack cheese, diced
2 tablespoons red wine vinegar (eyeball it)
1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil (EVOO)
1 cup store-bought tomatillo salsa (mild, green) or chipotle salsa (hot, smoky red)
2 tablespoons cilantro leaves or flat leaf parsley, chopped

I used half macaroni and half campanelle, because I had half a box left and wanted to finish it. I also added a can of pinto beans (more protein) and used canned corn. I had a leftover jar of tomatillo salsa to use up as well, which was the main impetus for this meal. I am trying to save money and use what I already have in my pantry as well as use cheaper ingredients. This means more pasta, beans and rice, etc.
It also means that I had this meal stretch for two dinners and two lunches for both myself and John. Not too shabby!
I honestly didn't like it much the night I originally made it, but the longer it sat the better it got! I was surprised.

Pasta Puttanesca- Not What I Thought It Would Be, But They Never Are

Puttanesca is a pasta sauce that I have been reading about for years. I like the folklore that comes with it. The idea of the Italian prostitutes cooking this incredible sauce that smells so good the men cannot help themselves but enter the whorehouse. Puttanesca comes from the word puttana which means, well, lady parts. And it is also the name for a prostitute or "lady of the night" as many cookbooks refer to it. I think that they say that because it is easier to use a euphamism then say you are cooking a sauce that was originated by whores. Just my two cents.

The ingredients have always enthrall me and I had never made it. So this past Saturday, my lazy Saturday where I sat around in my pajamas all day (seriously, it was kind of gross)I decided that it was time to finally try the stuff. I have plenty of pasta on hand, and I had a can of diced tomatoes, olives, basil, garlic, onions, etc etc.
I also had a ton of squash so I added that as well to make it even healthier. And the special ingredient that I actually needed to use up was anchovies. But this might be where I went astray. The recipe (Silver Palate) called for I believe 3 anchovies. Well, I had about 1/2 a tin worth of them, leftover from Proper Chicken Caesar Salad, and so I used about 6. Maybe more. This was not a good idea.

The sauce and pasta cooking away
I really don't actually feel like elaborating on this because I just didn't like it that much. I should have drained the tomatoes before adding them to the pan. And I should haev chilled out on the anchovies. My roomie liked it, but I just didn't. It's always disappointing when you make something and it turns out mediocre.

Oh well, there are more meals to have!

Mitchell's Ice Cream and La Taqueria- San Francisco Classics

Following my large Perbacco dinner, I went to La Taqueria and Mitchell's in the Mission District of San Francisco. I planned a company outing and since we live in such an amazing food city, I thought it would be fun to get back to the roots of San Francisco. Go to some old establishments. La Taqueria on Mission and 25th St fit the bill! The food there is so good. I had a chicken burrito, moist pieces of chicken and juice in a burrito. La Taqueria is old school and they don't fill the burritos up with a lot of filler. They don't even offer rice! I don't have a photo because I was way too busy consuming.
Following up my burrito belly all the Foodbuzzers climbed back onto our awesome bus I rented and drove to Mitchell's. Now Mitchell's (http://www.mitchellsicecream.com)has been around forever (technically 1953) and makes all their own ice cream. The ice cream of the month was canteloupe and the whole company got a variety of Mitchell's creamy creations.
Avocado ice cream!!!

Perbacco- Featured Publishers Dinner

I was very excited to try Perbacco last Thursday night. I have hear about it and I was also anxious to try a new restaurant, I feel like I have been frequenting the same ones over and over as opposed to venturing out to new establishments. The first thing I dove into was the bread sticks and herb dip/tapenade that they had one the table. Apparently the entire staff makes over a thousand of these crunchy snackers every day. At least that is what someone at my table said. I can imagine that it would take the entire staff to handroll all these sticks. But it is well worth it. They were not at all similar to the tough/brittle and tasteless breadsticks of my youth. The ones I particularly remember are from Perry's in Tiburon (now the Piatti space). We used to dip the sticks into the ramekin of saltless butter. I would always try to convince my parents to let me order a Roy Rodgers or a Shirley Temple as well, a rare treat for the ten year old me. Anyway, back to 2008.

After I had sufficiently demolished 4 too many breadsticks and the majority of the herb/olive oil mix in front of me (definitely eating more than my share!) we were served my new favorite dish. Raviolo all'uovo. This was incredible. A warm raviolo (ravioli is plural, since there was only one, it is a raviolo) stuffed with ricotta, spinach and a perfectly cooked egg. And I absolutely love a runny yolk. I should have taken a picture of it when I cut into it and the yolk drizzled out, but I was too busy consuming at that point. Oh, and it was topped with truffle oil. Mmmmm, hungry just thinking about it.

We were then served a roasted red and gold beet and arugula salad. It was served with a Castelmagno cheese, which is a semi hard cheese from the Piedmont region of Italy. It reminded me a bit of a ricotta salata, but it's been a few days, so maybe I am off on this. The salad was nice, nothing to rave about. But this could also be because I had just eaten one of the best appetizers ever, so anything would be a bit of a disappointment after that.

There were two options for the main course. A seafood risotto, which I did not choose, and a pan roasted chicken with mushroom jus and herb roasted gnocchi.

I had a bite of the risotto and I will admit, it looks a lot prettier than it tasted. I think if it had been executed properly perhaps my review might be different, but it was undercooked so it was a bit crunchy almost. Not the correct texture for risotto.

The chicken was lovely. It was moist and tender and the gnocchi was out of this world. I don't think that it was traditional gnocchi, more like soft pillows of flavor. Magnifique! I thought I wouldn't have any room for dessert, but somehow I managed to consume an entire piece of the peach raspberry crostata. It was well worth it. Besides feeling like I weighed 500 pounds for the rest of the evening and the next day, Perbacco was absolutely wonderful and I am looking forward to my return visit.

Late Night Cooking- Linguine Oh My!

I attended a wedding Monday and night and ate a variety of appetizers and crudite etc. Unfortunately John was at work this entire time (he's been putting in loooong days) so I picked him up from work at around 8:30pm and we headed home. He hadn't eaten and I wanted to make lunch for the next day, so I quickly went to work on some pasta and sauce. I had a jar of store-bought tomato sauce but I never think those are very good, and I like to up my veggie intake, so I doctored it up. BUT I didn't keep it event hat simple, I made TWO sauces. Yes two.

John wanted some meat (shocker) so I placed some ground beef in a pan and started cooking it. In the other pan I added some olive oil and a sliced up zucchini and yellow squash. I added some garlic (would have loved to add an onion but this man's kitchen is barren. Huh, it has to have SOME stuff in it? Nope, not even a cheese grater! I used a serrated knife to make parmesan cheese flakes). The squash got nice and soft, the beef browned, and then I added half the jar to each pan. I also added about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, for brightness. Stick half the linguine in each pan along with a little cooking water, and we had a pretty nice late dinner/lunch. Not bad for cooking on the fly!

I didn't take a picture of the veggie spaghetti, just ate it for lunch and forgot!

Cous Cous Again!

Now that I have started making couscous I think I might be an addict. It is DEFINITELY a new staple in my kitchen. I made almost the same couscous that I made the other week, this one was just a little more dressed up. I used whole wheat couscous from Trader Joes (I haven't used regular couscous yet, but I see no reason too. The whole wheat is delicious, unlike some other whole wheat versions of every day foods. For example I just can't do whole wheat pasta. I simply do not care for the texture. And I like my pasta al dente, but for some reason the whole wheat never seems to cook quite enough and then it gets slimy. Gross).

This time I added kalamata olives, sun dried tomatoes, and feta, like before, but added a shallot, 1/3 a small red onion, and a bunch of basil chiffonade. I also used the sun dried tomato oil as my olive oil. Some black pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes, and John and I had lunch two days in a row.

To serve it for lunch I did something slightly different. I placed the couscous in the bottom of a tupperware, and then added a bunch of spinach, a diced tomato, and a dollop of hummus on top. I sort of had two salads in one container! I ate the spinach and hummus etc first, but also mixed it all around, It was quite good. The fresh veggies brightened everything up. A perfect salad for a nice workday lunch in the park!

Peanut Butter and Jelly- Retro Lunch and a Dinner Recap

I was running a few minutes late this morning so John made lunch for both of us! I was actually sort of craving a salad, but he made me a pb&j! So sweet. I found it in my gym bag along with a peach. Unfortunately my hunger has gotten the best of me and I ate half of it before 10am! Guess it is breakfast/lunch. Not to be confused with brunch. See brunch is one single meal, I am attempting to make my sandwich last for two meals. Hmmm. It shouldn't be too hard considering I made steak fillet with a blue cheese sauce last night for dinner. It was QUITE good, so good that there was no time for photographic evidence. It had to be eaten.
That said, I was quite impressed with what I made up on the fly. I sauteed red onions, then added cream, a little butter, white wine, and some blue cheese. This was drizzled all over the steaks and it was delish. I am officially off the vegetarian bandwagon. Not sure what happened. Maybe a change in my body chemistry or something. John likes to take credit for the change. Hmmm...

Lunchtime Salad

I made one of my usual salads for lunch yesterday. It was a combo of spinach and romaine and stuffed with veggies. Celery, tomatoes, kalamata olives, cucumber, feta, red bell pepper, and some sliced tofurkey. I stuff it all in a tupperware and I am off to work! At home I ALWAYS make my own salad dressing, but I get lazy before work. AND I bought these cute little containers perfect for salad dressing and they leak. So I have a bottle of Newman's Own Light Italian or something along those lines in the fridge at the office. Then I pour it in, put the top back on, and shake her up! Perfect salad.

Why Don't I Eat More CousCous?!

I made couscous last night. I bought a box of whole wheat couscous at Trader Joe's a week or so ago and decided to dive into it. This stuff is the easiest stuff on the planet. I can't believe I don't do this more often. I cooked it in chicken stock to add more flavor, but I think that you can really just do it with some water.

It's all about the add-ins with couscous. So, I added some chopped Kalamata olives, chopped sundried tomatoes, feta, scallions, and some celery for crunch. I also added some olive oil, both from the jar of sun dried tomatoes and from a bottle. It was delicious. Oh, some red pepper flakes as well. I actually just kept throwing things in and John asked if I was ever going to be finished, because he was hungry.

I decided that couscous could be like artwork. I remember in art class I would just keep painting a painting. There's always another layer you can add, another color, another edge to smooth, until finally my teacher would say "you're finished. There's nothing more you can do." That was like my couscous last night. I finally had to say, ok, I'm done!

www.plaetorganics.com Rocks!

So another Tuesday another organic delivery from the lovely Planet Organics. This time I got:
2 heirloom tomatoes
bananas
zucchini
yellow squash
peaches
nectarines
strawberries
new potatoes
beets
canteloupe
celery
avocado
oranges

Yum yum. I have already used some celery and tonight there will be a lot of squash being cooked. I like to cook it for dinner one night and then stick it in a salad for lunch the next day. Quite nice I must say my self!

Proper Chicken Caesar Salad- The Naked Chef Way

This past weekend I was watching the Food Network, as usual, and Jamie Oliver made a Chicken Caesar Salad. He was outside, as he always is with his new show, and he "chucked" some chicken legs in his outdoor fire pit that were dressed with olive oil and rosemary and laid over a bed of broken up bread.
About 40 minutes into the roasting process, at 400F, he laid some pancetta over the chicken legs and stuck it in the oven/outdoor heat box thingy for another 20 minutes. I decided on prosciutto, in my dabbling with the meats again prosciutto seems less scary than pancetta in a totally irrational way (I know!). I was giggling to myself while I was making this because when I took the chicken out of the oven to layer the prosciutto over it I had just jumped out of the shower. So i was literally the Naked Chef. Thank god no one can see inside my kitchen! Amateurs be warned, coking while naked can lead to pain. I have a little scar on my stomach from some errant oil that once jumped out of a pan while I was stirring between a shower and getting dressed.
\
As this was stirring about in the oven, I made a homemade Caesar dressing. Now I know that traditional Caesar begins with a raw egg yolk, but Jamie's called for Creme Fraiche, which I was happy to use. I mashed up 4 anchovies with a clove of garlic. Jamie used a mortar and pestle which would have been lovely since I attempted to scrape the two together on my cutting board to mediocre results. I stuck this in a jar that I use to shake up dressing and added the juice of one lemon, a heaping spoonful of creme fraiche, 3x the olive oil as there was lemon juice, a heap of parmesan cheese, and some salt and pepper. I shook it all up vigorously and... Eh, the creme fraiche was too apparent in the flavors. So I added a teaspoon of red wine vinegar and some dijon mustard. And then it was perfect!

I chopped up a ton of Romaine and then went to town on the chicken. Actually, what really happened was a bit more complex. At this point I needed to transfer this entire project over to John's house. He was working from home, putting in another 12 hour day, and I said I would bring over dinner, as well as organize it so we could have lunch the next day. So I placed enough Romaine in a large bowl to feed two dinners and two lunches, grabbed some Tupperware for lunches, and placed it all in a grocery bag. Then I grabbed my chicken dish with some pot holders and a kitchen towel and set the hot plate onto the floor of the passenger seat of the car. I kept it uncovered because I knew that it would be better if the chicken, croutons, and prosciutto were more warm instead of piping hot. I drove over to John's house, carefully, and then reset myself in his kitchen.
I shredded some of the chicken using two forks (but really mostly my hands) and crumbled up some of the prosciutto. The croutons were incredible as well. Almost TOO rich! Well, I suppose that they had sucked up olive oil and chicken drippings for about an hour in the oven.

John and I ate this for dinner on Monday night and then lunch on Tuesday. I liked it a little better warm than cold the next day, but it was tasty either way. We both laughed that our co-workers must have hated us with our anchovy/garlic breath. Oh well!

Lunch Time Yum

I usually don't do lunch posts but I am trying to start. On Monday I did not bring a lunch so Kiki, my coworker and friend, and I ran down to a salad bar place called Wildflower on Sansome St. I love this place. It has two large salad bars, one with prepared food and one that is a regular salad bar. I try not to spend too much money when I am there though, they do everything by weight and I try to keep it under $10. I was about $6.50 this time and I was very proud of that!
I had some cellophane noodles, which I love, some broccoli, and a cabbage and chicken salad. I added some corn and pea salad, a seaweed salad which is delicious, and then piled my plate with spinach, tomatoes, sprouts, olives, red peppers, mandarin oranges and some avocado.
This totally filled me up for the rest of the afternoon, plus I thought that it was fairly healthy. I try to fill myself up with vegetables every day to curb my real cravings which are mainly for anything made from flour. Bread, pasta, etc. i could probably live on noodles and toast and be a happy girl for eternity. But then I would get scurvy which would be sad...
Kiki wanted me to show her salad as well. She said she did a less healthy version, which means she added lots of blue cheese etc. I thought it looked pretty good too. Plus this place is about 8 blocks away, so we get exercise by going there. Hmmm, not sure if that really works like that!

To Pig or Not to Pig- My Struggle with Vegetarianism

At age 12 I gave up meat. I think that perhaps it was an overdose of "Charlotte's Web" at a young age, or perhaps it was the fact that I am a complete bleeding heart and would be physically incapable of ever killing an animal, but I told my mother I would not eat meat anymore. This was completely unacceptable to her. I lived in a house with four other meat eaters (my parents, brother and sister) and she was not going to cook a special meal for me every night (understandably). But I felt VERY passionate about my inability to eat Wilbur or any of his buddies and I held my ground. Eventually we came to a compromise, I would continue to eat fish and poultry but I would cut out the main barnyard creatures. No more pigs, cows, lambs, etc. I was never a huge meat lover to begin with so this was not a problem. I have always hated pepperoni pizza and preferred salad over steak, so the personal change was not as tough.

When I went to college I became a total vegetarian. No more chicken and fish. I even went through 9 months in Europe without tasting one bistecca Fiorentina or a authentic moussaka or souvlaki. I have never felt as though I was missing out on too much, but recently I have begun dabbling back into the meat world. The world of the Omnivores. Now, I have always been surrounded by said omnivores. I am friends with them, I date them, I am related to them, I even live with them. It never bothered me, it was more a "to each his own" kind of sentiment. But since I have started dabbling in the meats (there is now a bite about once a week. And I ate a strip of flank steak last night) I am beginning to feel guilty and have some remorse.

This morning John and I were driving through China town on our way to work and we saw a large truck. As we were nearing said vehicle, it became apparent that the contents of this 4-wheeled monstrosity were pig carcasses. Yes, they were filling it to the brim. I was shocked! Now, I know that bacon, pancetta, pork, and guanciale and all other funny words are actually a nice way to say "dead pig prepared in the manner of..." Yes, I am not naive. But somehow seeing an entire truck filled with the little guys makes it all more real. This is not one single strip of bacon that I am eating (I usually like to say I am just tasting it, for some reason the euphemism makes it less cruel)but I am a responsible party in the butchering of animals. I am an active consumer of animals and it made me feel awful. Now, I believe I am actually overestimating my meat consumption. I have yet to actually purchase any red meat (I know Pork is "the other white meat" but I put it in the same category). I buy fish and chicken, but I actually eat those in only small amounts as well.

So, what to do/ Do I continue my exploration into the dark world of the omnivores? Or do I rapidly remove myself and go back to my old ways? I have thought about going to complete vegetarianism again too. How long would it last? Well, the problem is John eats the meat, and I am a sucker for sushi. My brief foray into veganism made me realize that I am capable of eating that way and will try to eat a mainly vegan diet for many of my meals, but I cannot exclude cheese from my diet. I could probably never eat cream again, or milk, ice cream or even yogurt, but not the cheese. I am weak for it. I love it. It makes me smile/ I'll save my cheese love for another day. But what is a girl to do. When you starting walking down a path do you embrace it or not?

Well, I have yet to decide but I know this, I will never be a huge meat eater ever. I do not like it that much and I am TRULY dedicated to attempting to buy food that is GOOD for this earth. I try to shop at local markets, buy from local brands, and I am lucky that the Bay Area has some of the more incredible food producers in the country. I enjoy supporting places like the Cowgirl Creamery and the Acme Bread Company. So, am I going to purchase a steak one day? I have no idea. I still have huge issues with the slaughtering of animals and really don't want that in my body very often. So what should I do? I guess I will figure it out. Maybe it will just come to me organically...

What to Have in a Pantry at All Times

According to Sara Moulton of "Sara's Secret's" on the Food Network and of Gourmet Magazine, these are her top picks for what every pantry needs. I agree with some of them (I can't tell you how many kitchens I have been in that are lacking simple things like vinegar or soy sauce) but there are others that seem arbitrary (roasted pimentos?!). I would have to add honey to this list. Hmmm, what else? A jar of pasta sauce, popcorn (snack attack), I always have bread at all times, and butter, but those aren't really pantry staples because they spoil more quickly. I do usually have a can of sardines in my pantry, as I love them on crackers with some mustard. Or between two pieces of (untoasted) fresh whole wheat bread with some lettuce, thinly sliced cucumber, dijon mustard and fresh cracked pepper. Trust me, this is one of the best sandwiches you can have. It is inexpensive and full or both protein and calcium.

Canned and Bottled Items:
Tuna, in oil or water
Anchovies
Beans-pinto, white, and black
Chicken broth
Plum tomatoes
artichoke hearts
Peanut butter
Roasted pimentos
Olives
Capers
Dijon mustard
Soy sauce

Pastas , Beans, Grains:
Various pastas
Couscous
Cornmeal
Rice-brown, arborio, basmati, long-grain
Lentils

Oils:
Vegetable
Extra-virgin Olive

Vinegars:
White or red wine
Cider
Balsamic
Sherry wine

Misc.:
Sun-dried tomatoes
Dry mushrooms
Onions, shallots and garlic
Potatoes

Various spices

Sunday Dinner- Courtesy of Mom

We went over to my mom's house last night to eat a nice family dinner. She recently procured a French boy who showed up last night. He is now living at my parent's house, how very funny. The best past is they gave him the recently remodeled guest house, the only other option would have been the bedroom that I sleep in when I am there, which is located directly next door to the bedroom of my 18 year old sister. My mom thinks that he seems nice, but is smart enough to put the 19 year old boy out of the house and away from her!
So we had dinner celebrating Becky's birthday, my sister in law, and the arrival of Quentin (pronounced Kahn-tan in thick French accent. Stepdad began calling him "Q"). Jim grilled some flank steak with teriyaki marinade and my mom made a green salad, a Caprese salad, and a terrine of potatoes, tomatoes, zucchini, and yellow squash. Basil abounded as well.
Dinner was lovely as was the peach pie we had for dessert. I fed my baby nephew (21 months) lots of vanilla ice cream which he was very pleased to eat. He ate it and every time I went back to the plate to put more in the spoon he was waiting with his mouth wide open for some more. SO cute! He also growls like a tiger. But enough Jake stories...
Food was very nice. It was nice to get some veggies in as usual considering how few we got through the weekend. (Unless beer counts as a vegetable, in that case we had a bunch. And wine? One of your five a day as a grape perhaps? Martini olives too, do they count as a serving?!)

Camping Food Part Deux- Did I Really Cook Salmon?!

I know that camping food is typically burgers and hot dogs, you're lucky to have a vegetable unless you count ketchup. But that is not really the way I operate, so while shopping at Raley's in Auburn, Ca, I decided to buy some salmon. I thought I could wrap it in aluminum soil, drizzle it with honey and soy sauce (my fave) and call it a day. And... it worked! Now, it was actually much prettier than the picture shows (and please notice the Budweiser box plate mat, high class all the way!)and the taste was phenomenal!
I also wrapped corn in foil and stuck those on the grill as well. The corn was ok, it could have benefited from some olive oil or butter, neither of which we had on hand. But I was pleased to be eating a vegetable and there is nothing like corn during a cookout!
There's me attempting to flip the corn using a handmade beer box/tin foil spatula
We also had begun wiht a lovely appetizer of sardines and cheddar cheese with some sourdough bread. No mustard? No problem! John and I found sardines that were actually packaged in mustard! Amazing. I know that this looks sort of gross, but it's actually one of my favorites!
Quite possibly one of the more interesting conversations I had during this trip was about what is a "barbecue" and what is not. Rafting and camping with us were two guys from Georgia, Brian and Jason. Somehow the conversation came up that all of us Californians are always "barbecuing" when in fact we are not. Brian said, "you can have a picnic or a cookout, but if you say you're having a barbecue I better see a damn pig when I walk up." This made me laugh and think about the fact that it is true. We Californians, or non-Southerners, do invite people over for barbecues all the time. These barbecues can consist of anything from a couple of beers sitting outside, to some burgers and dogs, etc. I have made pizza on a barbecue and said that we were having a barbecue, but according to our Southern experts, a barbecue is not a kind of party, it's a kind of food. You need to be roasting a pig pretty much in order to be able to call something a barbecue. Well, you learn something new every day!
Camping is STILL not my favorite thing in the world, but I am having a little more fun with it. Could be partly to do with the shower that I snuck in at the campsite (speaking of authenticity, many might say if there are SHOWERS then it is not really camping. But, for me sleeping in a tent, even if it is in the backyard, is roughing it.)

Wrap It Up!- Lunch Vegan Style

I rarely write about lunch because usually I am either a) busy at work, b) too tired in the morning or evening to bother taking photos, c) eating some random combination of apples and kettle chips and pistachios, or d) simply forgetful. But I woke up this morning and made another wrap, the fourth I've made this week. I'm not sure if you can see all the ingredients but my wrap consisted of the following:


a whole wheat tortilla
peppered Tofurkey
spinach
spicy hummus
tomatoes
cucumber
avocado
baked tofu
sesame seeds
pickled ginger

The hummus and pickled ginger REALLY gave the wrap a kick! I made one for myself and dropped one off at John's office along with an orange so he could have a good lunch too. Poor thing has been working super long days. He was at the office until midnight last night and came in at 6 this morning! So he needs some fresh food in his belly. He emailed me to say the ginger was amazing and it was a good call. I said, of COURSE! I knew that when I put it in!
I am really liking these wraps for lunch and I think that they will become a more constant in my lunch cycle. And John really likes the baked tofu which is amazing, so there's that. The one thing I DID learn was they are best made the morning of. They get soggy if done the night before.
(above- the look of my counter this morning...)

Picnic in Dolores Park- Orzo Salad

To celebrate Katie's birthday last night we went to a very windy Dolores Park for some wine, food, and fun. I made an orzo salad that was a huge hit! Here's my makeshift recipe. It fed an army!

1.5 boxes of orzo (cooked and cooled)
1 cup of dried cranberries (or cherries would be good too)
1 bag of washed and cleaned arugula
1/2 c toasted pine nuts
a block of ricotta salata
zest and juice of two lemons
red wine vinegar
olive oil
salt and pepper
chiffonade of basil

The salad was delish. It was even better after sitting in the fridge for a night and day. I didn't have any because I was trying to stick to my vegan guns, munched on bread and hummus, some chips and salsa etc. I had a little non-cheese bite. But we had a lovely picnic and HAPPY BIRTHDAY KATIE!!!

Brrr, it was really windy!