Pants Day

(These are not my tacos)

(yet)

Ok, so maybe its more like Pants afternoon.  I'm going to show my friend around some culinary treats in the city.  Which reminds me, i need to get $ and change.  Then we are going to picnic and Menil.  I'm quite excited.  I feel like Jay from Guns and Tacos must feel when friends come to town.  Although, this friend lives in Porter, and although I am packing heat, i can't afford to take it to the range.  Plus, neither of us speaks Spanish all that well.

So today, after about 3 hours of sleep, Pig went to the vet.  Vet says she is really healthy (yay), she just needs to get her teeth cleaned (boo), which is like $300 (double BOO).  The vet also giggled that Piggie needed to poop.  She hissed at the staff, but never raised a paw (good Pig), and pretended that she was all tough, but she was quiet and wide eyed most of the time.  Either way, for a normal checkup (she didn't need the old-lady tests), all her shots, and 7 months of flea/hw/tick/etc tuff, it was under $200.

After Pig vet-ed, we decided to go on an hour and a half bike ride.  No biggie, right?  Except that it was freaking hot and swampy, and really really bright, and a heat index of over 100.  Yea.  Lots of large hills and riding through construction, and after a day of rest from bike interval training and little sleep, it was very painful.  We still kept about a 10-12 mph pace for most of the ride, even though we had to stop a couple of times to not die.  When we got back to the house we saw (and smelled) people holding up signs for a bbq fundraiser that was at the end of the street.  We bought, for $5, some brisket sandwiches that totally hit the spot.  The staff kinda giggled at how tired we were and how quickly we devoured them after we cooled off a minute.  We did have to cool down though, as we were near vomiting by the time we got there, and we are pretty good at toughing out a ride.

NAPTIME!

Din din and stuff

Although the light in my kitchen is a pain in the ass sometimes with these pics, this is a picture of yesterday's dinner.

Every once in a while, i just feel like making something special, but something special as in pulling a new recipe out of my ass.  This is about a dozen sea scallops (the big ones) and a lb of mussels, seared and steamed (respectively), tossed in a spicy red thai curry, over a bed of crispy steamed green beans and shiritake noodles.  The seafood curry base is make with red and green peppers and carmelized onions and portabellos.  I meant to add pineapple to the curry, but I forgot to buy it.  It was plated beautifully, but I just couldn't get the camera to behave for this one.  

It was really, really good.

I mean, really good.

If it would have had pineapple, this could be a favorite ever.  

Anyways, I re-did the blog background.  I need to tweak it, but since I spent a while drawing these characters, and then about an hour trying to export it in a format that it would be small enough to fit on here, it will not get done tonight this morning.  blarg.  Anyways, i think they are super cute.

Tomorrow is lengua/Pants day.  I'm so excited to see her and take her to my fav taqueria, and then fart around the Menil.  I've got to take Pig to the vet in the early AM, then I've got about a 10-12 mile bike ride, and then Pants time.  

I've started a training program for riding that should get me to the point where i can start training group rides in the next month or so.  Night one was last night, and it truly hurts to sit.  I need to get a larger road bike, and i'm going to start scouting for that pretty soon.  I really really want to do the MS150 in March.  Maybe just march next year, but so far my max rides have been about 20 miles.  Granted thats on the mountain bike, but stiiilll.  If my calculations are right, i keep a 14 mph speed for about an hour on the road bike, 16 mph for about 30 minutes (which is supposedly really fast).  Cheesily, i calculated this by seeing how many times around the 1.2 mile track i could get on the bike in an hour.  Either way, i need front and rear bike lights, a better chain, a better seat for the road bike, a second pair of shorts.  I also want some sort of cycle computer and heart rate monitor.  Once i get on a diet/workout routine, I'm fanatical.  Heck, i passed up the Chocolate Bar today!

Anyways, its past 2.  sleepy time.

holyshitbot

so many fucking spam bots in the comments. beware folks, but please, comment away... unless you are a spambot...

tra la la

So happy new year, l'shana tova to everyone.

Today, in the spirit of the new year, we ate a traditional Jewish dinner... carbs. Yes, the diet is toast (get it?) for one more night, but what can I say, it's for G-d. Me and the fam got all duded up and went to temple, then mom got a migraine, so we all went to central market without her. Got the traditional round challah, a honey cake (flavored with orange rape, teehee), and a nice apple to slice up. Ironically, we ate salami, cheese dip, and pork steak with our food as well. Not kosher. Things, were tasty though.

I just stir fried the pork steak in a bit of memmi for a few minutes on each side. We dipped challah in honey, in butter, in hummus, and in cheese/spinach/artichoke dip. Various combinations of these. It was all divine. That is one thing we Jews can do fabulously.... eat. There is nothing like meaty sandwiches with challah, or french toast with challah (which is only served, overpriced, in fancy boutique restaurants).

Yep. Gonna def ride the bike tomorrow.

In other news, pig is going to the vet on saturday. I'm sure she will be displeased.

Truly.

I'm making a valiant attempt to get back into the swing of things on here. Moreso, i'm really trying to get into the swing of things in the first place.

Life update:
I finished studio (the tough stuff)
I spent all summer watching movies and hanging out with D
I rode my bike to work everyday for 1 month. then i got lazy and it got too hot
I'm taking a writing hiatus for a bit while i work at school/portfolio
I'm getting mentally ready to be into my field.

Realizations:
I'm a great cook, but i know nothing about any formality of it.
I can pick out flavors in complex dishes, but still have a hard time picking out adjectives to describe food.
It's very difficult to do homework from home. It's easy to put things off for an extra night rather than say no to hanging out.
I dislike cookbooks. I think they are for unimaginative people, unless they teach technique or about some new ethnic flavor.

We rearranged the living room last night. This may not sound like a huge feat, but it was. HUGE. There is a small mountain of give-away things next to the sole easy chair in our living room. I fixed the coffee table so we could eat at it with guests. I cleaned the baseboards and vacuumed corners. We shook out rugs, disassembled, and dusted furniture. It was incredibly therapeutic. When I was younger, it was almost a way for me to declare a new chapter. Well, that still hods true - i now have an excellent functioning workstation that is about 85% to my liking. It only gets points off because the chair i'm sitting in is far from comfortable AND i'm still finding homes for the last things here and there. However, I feel like I finally have my own area, and I'm sure dave agrees with that sentiment.

Anyways, i just took a break from my homework as a promise to really be on here more. THe swimming pool calls!

I haven't forgotten you.

Yes, I'm horrible about blogging. However, I have good reason!!! Promise!!
I am now blogging about food HERE.

Yes, I'm getting paid for this gig. It's fantastic time. Do a search for me and read about my adventures in food! I'll still be posting here, just not very often while it is the middle of the semester.

For Cynthia/Junior

Ok, i love cabbage. I LOVE stir fries. Ever since I got off my butt and went and bought a REAL wok and seasoned it, I have re-fallen in love with Asian cooking. This is something that is rediculously easy, quick, nutritious, and tasty. It's also awesome cause it only has 4-5 ingredients. :-D If you haven't really read the blog before, memmi is the Japanese Udon/tempura base (basically soy sauce and bonito), and it's a killer stir fry sauce. It's cheap (under $3 a bottle), and has a nice depth of flavor. If you don't have a wok, use a pot withOUT nonstick on it so you can crank the heat. Stir frying is all about quick cooking, and non-stick on medium just doesn't cut it. Then you end up with steamed things.

Quick Cabbage Stir Fry
1 medium head cabbage (or 2 half heads - 1 each of green and red)
a thumb sized piece of ginger, peeled and quartered
3 garlic cloves, sliced
olive oil (about 1 tbsp, enough to wet the wok)
a couple tbsp of water - set aside in a cup, just in case things start sticking or burning
memmi - about 1/4c you'll add this as you go along, so it's really more about eyeballing it
optional - 1 tbsp red pepper, 1 tsp sesame oil (for a little more flavor)

Rinse cabbage, shake mostly dry, decore, and cut up into about 1" cubes. The dimmension really doesn't matter, just try to be sensible, and cut up the thicker stuff smaller. Heat oil, ginger, and garlic in a wok (toss everything together in the cold pan) at med/high till everything starts sizzling. toss for a minute or 2, just until the garlic starts to crisp up a little. This is mainly to flavor the oil without burning the spices. Turn up heat to high and toss in cabbage. Toss in pan with wok spatula frequently until the thicker parts of the cabbage are beginning to steam nicely. Add Memmi...a few glugs here, the cabbage will start to wilt into the color...stir fry for another couple of minutes, add a few more glugs (you want to avoid the pool of it at the bottom, so keep stirring!), turn off the heat, toss a couple more times, and serve.