On Food

Cucumbers, Feta, Pita Bread. Simple. Delicious.

I've been thinking a lot about food lately. Not because I am hungry (but I definitely am most of the time), but more because I have been wondering about the origins of my food. I often take for granted that the food I eat will be processed in a factory and/or farm that is up to health code and the result of fair trade.  Last night, however, as I was cutting up a newly purchased red bell pepper, I discovered the pepper's interior was covered in mold. This a pepper, labeled "organic" and purchased at my local grocery store, had the appearance of freshness when I purchased it. But in finding this mold, I began to wonder about the journey of food between its origin (factory or farm) and my refrigerator. Take for example that e.coli outbreak at an Oregon farm, or the ground turkey meat as the cause of a national Salmonella outbreak.

 

I have been working towards thinning out my food purchasing to contain only whole foods - vegetables, meats, grains, nuts - a quasi Paleo diet, if you will. Just the naturals. Of course, somehow the occasional bin of chocolate chip cookies finds its way into my basket, but overall, I am trying to have a more balanced diet.

 

To me, food purchasing is really an issue of control. And the truth is, you have little control over where you food comes from if you buy it in the grocery store. Much of your purchases are made on faith, a wing and prayer.  How much can we control what happens to our food short of growing it ourselves? To be honest, that is my dream: to own a farmhouse and have a thriving vegetable garden to live off of during the spring, summer, and fall and then harvest and can the remainder the bounty for winter stores.

 

In the meantime, I am going to try harder to avoid grocery chains for produce, instead shopping at local farmers' markets. Of course, I probably will continue to buy certain things from the chains but I want to be more conscious about my food choices. I am also curious to read foodie books by Michael Pollan and Mark Bittman (aka The New York Times' The Minimalist), to develop sounder opinions about whole food eating. Are you guys thinking similar thoughts about food? Any recommended reading? 

Eggs + Salad

The perfect meal in my mind consists of eggs and salad - especially in the hot summer months. It's all I feel like eating and it fills me up, which is good.

What's you favorite summer meal?

A Refined Weekend

I arose at 4 o'clock in the morning to watch the Royal Wedding. It felt like Christmas morning - the excitement, the anticipation.  I drank tea and ate chocolate biscuits (McVitie's of course!) while Kate Middleton unveiled her gorgeous Sarah Burton for Alexander McQueen wedding gown. My favorite moment was Kate meeting William at the alter - the first time he saw her in her gown - and just the incredible look of humble love between them. Breathtaking.

On Friday evening, I had some company to celebrate the Royal Wedding, serving homemade scones and more chocolate biscuits!

I also served Salade Lyonnaise and we drank sparkling wine in celebration!

I also played a little dress-up, trying to put together fun outfits that are work appropriate. My job requires more formal wear (not prom-like of course) than previous positions. I don't want to wear suits all the time, so I am trying to create interesting business (or close-to-business) outfits.

Saturday I strolled through the streets of Old Town Alexandria (trying to avoid the tourist-infested downtown DC). The houses there are GORGEOUS in their historic state, so prettily painted and landscaped. I think I may have to move there at some point. The weather was magically sunny and my walk proved to be quite a lovely experience.

I grew giddy when I saw these old-fashioned street lamps that were burning candles (or at least, that's what they looked like) - so emblematic of the historic South.

Latte Gratitude

Today, I am thankful for lattes designed with pretty patterns. I am also thankful for the resources to have such a soul-warming drink. And I am also thankful for my wonderful friends and family. They inspire me to be at my best even when I feel at my worst and that is true love. May you consume delicious, heart-inspiring lattes today, actual or metaphorical.

Source: ChelseaVictoria's Shop (image found here).

Character Icon: Giada de Laurentiis

She offers some of the most delectable Italian recipes in the world and flashes one of the most brilliant smiles on television every week for her Food Network show, "Everyday Italian." She's Giada de Laurentiis and she's my Character Icon for this week!

I chose Giada because of a conversation I had with my mom a few weeks ago. My mom had mentioned that she always observes different people - some she knows personally and some public figures - and tries to emulate aspects of their personality that she admires. During this same conversation, she suggested that I look at Giada - someone who exudes such enthusiasm for what she does.

If you read the preface of her cookbooks, Giada talks volumes about her supportive family and their encouraging her to follow her passion: cooking. Her happiness holds authenticity because she has followed her heart and does what she loves. Hers is an enviable position. In looking at pictures of her in her cookbooks, she appears so ignited.

In that moment, I realized that I wish to emulate this same energy and joy. I set a personal goal to smile more in the hopes that my face will one day be primarily constructed by a smile large enough to showcase my whole life's happiness.

Not only is Giada enviable for her vivacious personality, but also her awe-inspiring repertoire of Italian recipes. I have been pouring through Giada's cookbooks this week and think I may try my hand at the Saffron Orzo with Shrimp from "Everyday Italian," a variation of which can be found here.

Image found here.

Salade Lyonnaise

Sweltering days leave little desire for cooking complex warm meals. Tonight, I will be serving up a simple, yet delicious Salade Lyonnaise, recipe courtesy of The New York Times' Mark Bittman. A lovely poached egg, some pancetti bacon, some fresh frisee lettuce, and a Dijon vinaigrette, all served with a chilled white wine. Ahhh, summer days.

I have not felt very inclined towards blog posting as of late. Perhaps the general weariness over my current circumstances and a yearning to be in other places. But change will happen soon as it always does. And then I hope that I will have the inspiration once more to fill this space with my ideas and inspirations!

Image: The New York Times

(Healthy) Crab Rangoon

I have a crush on Crab Rangoon. Literally, before consuming one, I get this big ol' grin on my face. Crab Rangoon are so good it's bad. But if they are wrong, I don't want to be right! However, their goodness is derived mostly from the fact that they are deep fried in oil and made with regular cream cheese. Or so I thought.

Last evening, I used this recipe to concoct Baked Crab Rangoon. To make them more healthy, I used low fat cream cheese and brushed the finished product with melted Brummel and Brown (a healthy yogurt-based butter substitute with amazing flavor). The result was delicious (my roommates served as a official taste testers to confirm this report).

Mix low fat cream cheese with chopped green onions (roughly chopped for more texture).

Adding some canned crab from Trader Joe's (so cheap and yummy!)

Mixing all the ingredients together (+ seasonings)!

Place about a teaspoon of the mixture on each egg wonton wrapper.

Wet the edges on the wonton wrapper with water and them fold into a triangle and press down.

Voila! Pop these in the oven for around 10 - 12 minutes at 425 degrees.

Then you will have some delicious, decidedly healthier Crab Rangoon! Bon appetit!

I Miss This Show + The Weekend

The emotional cup runneth over lately. Sigh. Such is being a woman and my mother's daughter. Why though, I ask myself?! It's part of who I am but sometimes it makes for hard dealings. To temper the sting of my angst, I have been watching episodes of my favorite show, Alias. I miss this show. It spoke to me. Sydney Bristow's ability to be both tough and vulnerable. The totally cool ensemble cast. And Vaughn. All of us women need and deserve a Vaughn type. Case in point, the video below.

I crave these weekend days. These two days that are completely my own to rest and access the parts of life that truly feed my soul. Speaking of feeding the soul, check out this delicious spring recipe for a surprising light and refreshing meal (hint: get brown rice pasta if you can to increase the lightness of the meal). Wishing you a delightful last weekend in March. We are moving ever closer to that gorgeous Spring weather!

Image found here.

In the Name of Good Food

What do I mean by "good food"? While taste is always preferable, I mean good-for-you foods. Recently, I made this tomato sauce from scratch. In a word - AMAZING. Amazing not due to my culinary skills but by the mere fact that I used basic, all natural ingredients: tomatoes, garlic, olive oil, salt, pepper, and basil. I had a similar experience when dining in Italy- everything just tasted better because it was so fresh and homemade. I will never return to jar sauce again.

This dining experience has inspired my new plan to eat more naturally. Eat whole foods (not necessarily from that pricey chain). I never felt better when I was eating that series of alkaline foods. I felt pure, clean, and full of energy. Eating process foods makes me feel so heavy and slovenly. I wish to be kinder to my body and my health. So here's to making more dishes from scratch, using the very basic and healthy ingredients.

Image found here.

Glazed Cornmeal Lime Cookies

I went to Flour Bakery in Boston's South End for lunch on Sunday and enjoyed the most delicious cookie for its blend of savory/sweetness. It was none other than a glazed Cornmeal Lime Cookie.

Here's a recipe:

Cornmeal Cookies with Lime Glaze

cookies
1 cup yellow cornmeal (not stone-ground)
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
zest of 1 lime
7 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 large egg plus 1 large egg yolk

lime glaze
juice of 1 lime
powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350°F with rack in middle.

Whisk together cornmeal, flour, lime zest and salt. Beat butter, sugar, and vanilla with an electric mixer at medium speed, scraping down side of bowl occasionally, until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in egg and yolk until combined well. Reduce speed to low and add cornmeal mixture in a slow stream, mixing until just combined. Form dough into a 5-inch square and chill, wrapped in plastic wrap, until firm, about 30 minutes.

Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 7-inch square (1/2 inch thick). Score dough in one direction with tines of a fork. Following scored marks, cut into 8 equal strips, then cut strips in half to form rectangles.

Bake on an ungreased baking sheet until bottoms of cookies are pale golden, 15 to 18 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool completely, about 1 hour.

Mix together lime juice and enough powdered sugar to form a thin paste. Spread over cooled cookies and serve. Glaze will harden to a thin shell as it dries.

Image from Martha Stewart.

Springing

Pretty blooms at the Museum of Fine Art Boston. We attended a cocktail reception for the MFA's First Fridays series. Snooty drinks and bitty food. Eclectic groups of people amidst some of the world's greatest art. You have the nerdy twenty-somethings who would rather mingle with Renoir and Rembrandt than do Friday night keg stands. You have your forty- and sixty-somethings with their spouses and cerebral friend groups or you have people of the same age group, but single and on the prowl from some art-loving booty. One women attended wearing a long skirt and high-collared riding jacket, her hair in a low bun at the nape of her neck. It was like looking at the ghost of an Edwardian lady. She wandered solo around the room, looking quite sad and a little lost. I wonder of her story.

Saturday presented us with some gorgeous warm weather and sun - a refreshing treat after such chilly times. I opened my window to let in some of that fresh, clean air.

Some small flowers that popped up to say hello!

The Academy Awards feast I prepared: Beet Crostinis with Arugula and Goat Cheese, Salmon Crostinis with Onion Cream Cheese and Dill, Champagne with Raspberries, Cucumber Wontons (not shown), and Chocolate Ice Cream Bon Bons (not shown). Our little group had printed Oscar ballots to guess the winners. I turned out to not be very accurate but it was still fun to escape to Hollywoodland with all its glitz and glamor!

Hi, I'm Alkaline

I've been acidic for way too long. It's time to go alkaline. If you don't know what I am talking about, let me say that our bodies have a pH on a scale of 1-14 (1-6.9 are acids and 7.1 -14 are alkaline or base, while 7 is neutral). I am pretty sure my pH has been tending towards the acidic side based on my diet and recent health changes, which is why I have basically eaten like an alkaline fiend lately. For the past two days, I have enjoyed delicious avocado rolls for lunch (avocado slices, carrots, cucumbers, red cabbage, and lettuce in a rice paper roll) and this evening, I will be whipping up my favorite steamed red cabbage with grapefruit for dessert!

As Chen, my friend and brilliant med student, tells me, citrus fruits such as grapefruits and lemons are considered alkaline foods because your body neutralizes the citric acid from the fruits as it processes them! So cool!

Here's a list of alkaline foods if you are interested!

Image found here, here, and here.

The Power of the D

Vitamin D can change your life. Seriously, I've never felt healthier and in particular, my hair is like out-of-this-world shiny and smooth in ways it's never been (it tends to the bristly, coarse school of thought). I started taking Vitamin D about two months ago. People should really be taking this supplement from birth, according to the nutritionist at my local natural food store. Studies have also shown that women with depleted levels of Vitamin D are more likely to have children with MS. This rad little vitamin improves calcium absorption and improves "cellular" health. These chilly winter days don't see much sunlight, another great source for the "D," so I have taken care of that with this easy-to-swallow gel pill. This is starting to sound like marketing speak. I don't like that. But the "D" is swell and I thought it was worth sharing my admiration.

Image found here.

O Grapefruit, Where Art Thou?

Battling a precocious cold, I have been worshiping the grapefruit gods this week. As a kid, I abhorred grapefruit - the challenging way one had to eat it (too many utensils!) and the tart taste that made me purse my lips and scrunch my face in such a contorted manner that my mom warned me could freeze that way. But I don't like grapefruits, Mom! In fact, I wasn't a huge fan of anything citrus-y as a child (mostly due to tartness and texture), but now, I LOVE CITRUS! I buy grapefruits in bulk, for, as my friend Emily says, they are nature's candy. I can feel the health restoring to my body when I consume the luscious meats and juices of a perfectly pink grapefruit. For me, this fruit has become a psychological tool for healthy living. A catalyst for positive thinking. Okay, maybe that's a bit much, but I have enjoyed grapefruits as of late and I can feel myself improving in health as the week progresses. I want to see a banner that reads, "A Grapefruit a day, keeps the doctor away!"

Image found here.

A Christmas Brunch

A pleasant dining room before the party...

A merry fire welcoming guests as they enter from the snowy outside world...

A yummy almond loaf made from a Czech recipe (my father's heritage) waiting to be devoured...

Trimming the tree the night before!
Happy Christmas week!

Cupcakes!

Glory of glorious weekends! There was good music, dancing, friends, cute boys, brunch (SO much brunch), holiday shopping, good yoga, relaxing, and...cupcakes! Needless to say, I am so thankful for the gift of this past weekend - it's energy and adventures rejuvenated parts of me that had become dormant as of late. One of the highlights was finally using the cupcake kit that my mom gave me for my birthday (a cupcake baking pan, cupcake cookbook, pretty cupcake papers, and a pastry decorating kit)! In honor of the holiday season, I settled upon making the delicious Gingerbread Cupcakes with Lemon Cream Cheese Frosting from Epicurious.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 stick (1/4 cup) plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
• 1 large egg, beaten lightly
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 8 ounce cream cheese, softened
• 1 1/2 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 teaspoon freshly grated lemon zest
• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
• 1 tablespoon thinly sliced crystallized ginger

Into a bowl sift together the flour, the ground ginger, the cinnamon, the cloves, the allspice, and the salt. In another bowl cream 1/2 stick of the butter, add the granulated sugar, and beat the mixture until it is fluffy. Beat in the molasses and the egg, beating until the mixture is smooth. In a measuring cup combine the baking soda with 1/2 cup boiling water and stir the mixture to dissolve the baking soda. Stir the mixture into the molasses mixture (the mixture will appear curdled) and stir the molasses mixture into the flour mixture, stirring to combine the ingredients well. Line twelve 1/2-cup muffin tins with paper liners and spoon the batter into the liners, filling them halfway. Bake the cupcakes in the middle of a preheated 350°F. oven for 20 minutes, or until a tester comes out clean. (The cupcakes will be flat or slightly indented on top.) Transfer the cupcakes to a rack and let them cool.

In a bowl cream together the cream cheese, and the remaining 2 tablespoons butter, add the confectioners' sugar and the vanilla, and beat the mixture until it is fluffy and smooth. Beat in the zest and the lemon juice and chill the frosting for 30 minutes. Spread the frosting on the cupcakes and top each cupcake with some of the crystallized ginger.

{Mixing the wet ingredients with the dry}

{Pouring the batter into the pretty cupcake papers}

{Almost ready to pop in the oven!}

{Voila! Perfection!}

{Mixing the cream cheese frosting}

{Le Fin!}

Thanksgiving At Home

I awoke Thanksgiving morning to a beautiful table set by my mother - doesn't she have a flair for decorating?

Next, I checked on the freshly-baked pies, pumpkin and apple. Perfect tartes for our enjoyment later in the day.

The chef, hard at work!

My dad rose early and worked tirelessly to prepare all the delectable dishes we would so fortunately eat. Above, the hallowed stuffing is in the works!

The damp, grey day made us feel cozy and warm indoors. Looking out on the backyard, I could see all my mother's beautiful gardens had been laid to rest for the coming winter months.

As part of tradition, I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade - my favorite moments being the performances from the latest Broadway shows, the Rockettes, and the floats that had people singing Christmas carols. Afterwards, I caught a little of the National Dog Show and Sadie, a Scottie dog who won last year! Isn't she pretty? I just love Scottie Dogs!

The end of the parade heralds the start of the Christmas season and the inaugural playing of my favorite Christmas album, the soundtrack to the movie, Miracle On 34th Street. The album reminds me of a classic Christmas feel - of older, simpler times. A true feeling of the holidays.

We enjoyed a lovely roaring fire!

Our family friend from Massachusetts came to our home to celebrate the holiday with us, and once she arrived, we had a light lunch of hor d'oeurves: salmon salad with baguettes, crab dip with crackers, and a veggie platter with a yummy ranch dip. My dad mulled some organic cider to warm our souls while we dined on the yummy snacks!

After lunch, I took our family's dog, Mae, out into the backyard and threw the ball for her. Here she, mid-jump, trying to catch that ball!

My mom's pretty little gardening shed. It makes me think of our old house in the Maine woods in its rustic color and design. It's a lovely addition to the backyard.

My Thanksgiving attire. A brown silk dress from Banana Republic. Brown opaque tights. Teal suede and patent leather heels (they are SO high!). Cool, earthy tones for this autumnal holiday.

Getting ready for the big event!

Mae hides from the turkey!

A glass bird full of sweet cranberry sauce.

The bird, itself. Isn't it pretty? I didn't eat that much since I am become a quasi-vegetarian.

Our Thanksgiving table!

Happy Thanksgiving!