project in mind...

Hey you.  You who read my blog. :) I have a project brewing in my brain and I'd love a little help.  Is there something you want to learn how to cook?  Or do you have a go to meal that delicious and satisfying that you make after a hard days work?  If you're willing to share, I'd love to know about it!!

what do you get

When you put a rutabaga, a fennel bulb and a celeriac root together?  SOUP! Simple, simple soup.  I'm home alone, it's later than making dinner time, I'm hungry. I have the last of my root veggies from the CSA so, I made soup.  It was a little nippy today, why not?

This is similar to that soup I made at home awhile ago.  I think you could probably throw anything in a pot cook it up and eat it. Sometimes it tastes good, sometimes its terrible...this soup is AWESOME. As awesome, if not more awesome was my garnish.  I made a sorta tzatziki, this I could eat by itself every morning, it's fresh and simple. Yum!

Ruta-celer-nnel Root Soup w. Simple Tzatsiki

Makes 2 bowls of soup

• 1 medium celeriac root, roots & dirt removed, roughly chopped
• 1 small/medium rutabaga, rough chop, sans skin
• 1 small fennel bulb, rough chop
• 2 garlic cloves, whole & smashed
• red pepper flakes
• olive oil
• salt & paper to taste

First, heat a saucepan on medium heat, add olive oil and garlic, let this crackle a bit, shake in enough red pepper to give it a kick.  You know your palate I don't, so, if I told you how much, it might be too much.  Then add the fennel, rutabaga and celeriac root and saute for maybe 10 minutes.  Then add water (or broth, if you want) to cover the veggies.  Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer for 20 minutes or so.  Just keep checking to see when the bigger pieces of veggie are soft.

While the soup is simmering, in one bowl put 1/2 cup of plain greek yogurt, a small Persian cucumber with the skin cut off and diced teeny tiny.  Add the zest of a quarter of a small lemon, then the juice from that quarter and stir. That's it!

Once the soup is done, pour into a big enough bowl that you can put your emulsion blender into and blend until smooth.  Put in your favorite bowl add the simple tsatzki and eat up. So good!!

Unfortunately, I ate two of these after!

change of plans

The plan for this post was to talk about an enchilada recipe I made a few weeks back. ... again, I forgot to take pictures, I think. I'll work on that maybe I should put my camera in the kitchen so I REMEMBER to take pictures of my food....

So, here's what I wanted to talk about.  Libya.  All I listen to when I'm in the car alone is NPR, non-stop.  It's where I get my news, my information.  For the last several weeks every time I've heard anything about Libya I start to cry.  It's not sobbing but it's this emotional frustration and sadness for the people living in Libya.  This morning there was the announcement that the NY Times is missing 4 journalists and there was this wave of fear and empathy for them, their safety, their family members and friends.  Then there was the story about the people living on the outskirts of the conflict torn cities, they go on with life sort of normal just waiting for something to go wrong, terribly wrong.  So wrong that they could lose their loved ones.  Then there's all these stories about how Colonel Qaddafi refuses to step down and threatens his own people...pays people to kill his own people...it's unbelievably tragic.  It's sickening.  There's the story of the immigrant workers who are stranded in Libya and can't do anything to get out because they don't have the money or they don't have their papers...I mean, there was even a woman who was saying that she was working for an American diplomat, who has fled the country and has left her totally stuck with no offer of.  Fine, I don't know the details but this is what it seems.  And then there's the Libyan who is doing everything he can to help, he brings the stranded immigrats food and water and whatever else he can do.

kjfhgiurnvkjf I don't even know what to say.  I'm horrified by the situation.  I feel fucking terrible and I wish there was something, anything, I can do.  I think I (we) take so much for granted.  We think we are so safe and so removed from any potential problems or issues with all of this suffering going on around us.  The tsunami, the poverty in third world countries...the poverty in our own country.  Not us.  Not next door.  Not even close.  But this shit happens.  It's so so real.  I'm not sitting here thinking I know anything about any of this, I'm just trying to understand the conflict.  To understand my own feelings and it's a fucking shit show.

Sorry for being crass.  I'm just stuck with all these feelings.  I can't fully explain, its just this constant weight and pain. 

Thanks for listening.  I'll get that enchilada recipe soon.

xo

sweet and simple

Why haven't I ever made candied orange peels before? So simple and so sweet.  I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but we're part of a CSA here in California (which is still weird to say) and it's one of the best decisions we could have made. Oh the bounty each week! As it is winter, we've had a lot of root veggies, as expected. What I wasn't prepared for was all of the citrus, I know it's the season but on the East coast everything is shipped in so, if you're buying locally you don't have total access to it. 

For the past few weeks, we've been getting pound of navel oranges and like I pointed out, we have an orange tree in our backyard and man are those puppies good. Long story short, I candied some orange peels and here's how.

I took two medium to large oranges and peeled them, I washed the oranges before I did any of this, duh. Take a small paring knife and get rid of some of pith, that white stuff on the inside of the peel. Then into a pot of cold water that just covers the peels. Bring to a boil for about 15 minutes, then drain and rinse and do this again, they need a bath BIG time. Then, three cups of water, two cup granulated sugar and one cup light brown sugar bring this to a boil.  Stirring often so that the sugar dissolves. I think next time I do this, I might divide the sugars (1.5 of each), the brown sugar gives the orange a real hardy flavor. Once this comes to a boil, put peels in pot and bring back to a boil then reduce and simmer for about 45 minutes.  While this is boiling, mix together 1/2 cup granulated sugar and 1/2 cup light brown sugar. Cooks note: I would use 1/4 cup of each...this time around felt like a lot of sugar.  Drain the peels, don't rinse them, then put them back in a bowl and toss with the sugar.  Go on, toss 'em with your hands...it'll make you feel very connected with your sugary sweets. Once coated, spread the peels out on a cookie rack over a baking sheet.  

The drying process will take a day or two, you can try them as they are drying to make sure they aren't dry yet. Then, pop them in a cute mason jar you have lying around the house and snack on or chop up and add to oatmeal, yogurt, whatever. You can also add them to muffins or quickbreads. Sweet - and I mean seriously.

Finished product

stuck/rut

I want to post.  I also want to cook.  Unmotivated is what I am right now.  This transition that I'm going through, regardless of whatever 'kick-in-your-pants' conversations I've had, still stinks.  Like really bad cheese, well, really stinky cheese is usually really good so that clearly doesn't make my point but you get my point, right? 

So, as soon as I come up from my hole...I'll be here. I'm here, I'm just not feeling the urge to talk/write/do anything. I don't want to keep having a pity party, I feel like I am supposed to tell myself: I'm stronger than this...but am I? Or am I allowed to just hang out in the down swing. I should use this to really plot out what exactly it is I want to accomplish - that also takes motivation. 

Like I've told myself before, tomorrow is another day. One day at a time...

Any getting out of rut suggestions?

projects

I like projects, I love them actually. For their distraction, their passion, their involvement. I like making, creating, playing. I should make my life a project...thanks to a certain someone, I'm on a mission.

I had a real 'kick-in-your-ass' conversation with one of my big sisters the other night. It worked. She shook me in the way I needed to be shaken. I love her for that. I love her for her support, her encouragement, her honesty and especially her candor.  She's not afraid to said the tough stuff just to help make her point, to help me realize her point.  Both of my sisters have a way making me 'realize' things. I think that's sort of the point of a big sister, they lead the way and show you what to do or, not do. The love I have for the two of them is that deep unconditional love that won't ever subside, regardless of those dumb silly fights we may have or things we might not agree on,

I love, love, love 'em.  How are you feeling on this lovey day?!



xo 

nothing a little fresh squeezed orange juice can't help

These are from my backyard,

and they are awesome. And they made me feel better. I'm not gonna lie, I've been having a rough week. Didn't you notice all the blogging (distraction tactics!)?  

I'm enjoying my new home but, I think I've been on the go so much since I got here that now that there's silence, it's an overwhelming stagnation.  It's a stand still that I know is avoidable but I can't figure out how to break out of it. It stinks.  The city I live in is foreign, it's habits are different, it's in's and out's are all new.  I miss the old, I miss the familiar. I would even deal with the cold. Yes, new is an adventure, an exciting one nonetheless...sometimes it's just overwhelming.

Those oranges are sweet, juicy and perfectly ripe. I needed something to cheer me up. I feel better. I feel a little more motivated. We'll see what tomorrow brings, but tomorrow is tomorrow and today is now. In high school we had a substitute teacher, I can't for the life of me remember his name, but he was awesome. He always wore polyester pants, a stripped short sleeved shirt and a solid tie.  He had shaggy hair and big thick 70s style glasses. He was also the guy who would chat, we did the minimal work we were supposed to then it was chat about life time.  Which could seem creepy but he was never creepy.  When we would be going through any of those "teenage-crisis" moments, he'd always remind us to take it one day at a time and if that was too hard, one minute a time...still too tough? Go moment to moment. It seems pretty straight forward and obvious, but when you're a 16 year old girl it's advice gold. I remember it whenever I'm in this space...so, it's a day at a time for now.

Thanks for bearing with me.
xo

Breakfast!