Today is a Snow Day.

My first reaction was “what will I do with myself?” But a snow day offers a favorite choice….

So by 10 I was out getting groceries. Also several large bottles of water, spare batteries, extra eggs and bread in case we get the kind of weather Baltimore is getting – by 1pm Baltimore has declared a state of emergency due to the snow.

By 11:30 I was getting hungry – didn’t bother with breakfast this morning – craving the cheese in my grocery bags! Here and there would be teasing flakes, but no real snow yet. My sister just messaged me around 1 – “it’s snowing!” but I’ve looked outside and see none – so I’m guessing she got duped same as me.

By noon I made it home – made a quick lunch – cheese, apple, toast. By 1:30, the chili is simmering, eggs are boiling. Next up is soup and a baked oatmeal dish – one of my favorite breakfast dishes, but I haven’t made it since I left Pittsburgh. One baking can cover almost a week of breakfasts, but I may share some of this with coworkers.

Oh, speaking of coworkers – the holiday party(ies) went great! UPS conspired to ruin my life, but my sister came through – happened to have something just like what I’d ordered for my boss! She loved it – and my other coworkers loved their gifts, too – I gave one this big plush dog, which spent the rest of the brunch cuddled in her lap – and everyone loved the food I made! The evening gathering was more laid back – fried chicken and beer (for me mashed potatoes and water, lol). A younger crowd – I’m told that I passed inspection and they liked me, which is good both because they are about my age and because they are a great network…. and they all love the place I work, so they have lots of ideas.

Back to today…. I also got a big jar of apple juice, figuring that when the boys come tomorrow night they might like spiced juice…. and my sister is picking up a DVD, but I also have several books to read and I’m kind of excited by the prospect of reading without the interruption to switch trains. It seems like it’s been a long while since I just had several hours straight to read.

Oh, and speaking of food and reading… I spent several hours on Friday reading about the proper foods, drinks, and dishes/cutlery, and the arrangement of each, in Federalist America. And then about the popular alcoholic beverages. And a bit on the history of pubs. Did you know that pubs used to serve as the mail distribution centers before the Postal system was implemented?

My sister already thinks I have a love affair with cheese, and she’s been teasing me about my new habit of snapping photos of my meals. But I’m getting really into this presentation thing and like sharing it. My food photos usually come out better than this…. it might be the poor lighting in the kitchen.

French Toast breakfast

In totally other news, I’ve been waiting ever since I moved back here for a moment that finally happened today.

It’s probably silly, but the library/municipal building Christmas tree looms large in my memory. I always loved seeing it, and I had no idea if they still did it every year. I couldn’t even remember exactly which tree it had been to determine if the same tree still stood. But today I drove by to see men working in the rain to put the lights up. I had to grab a few photos, dark skies and heavy rain regardless. I’ll find a nice night to get better pics of the completed tree.

You can see how large the tree is...

I have two days to sleep past 6am! I’ll be catching up with blog posts, I’ve had several in mind over the past few days. I’m really beat tonight, though, so this is going to be brief. I was thinking tonight about something I read recently… not sure where it was. Michael Pollan? Healthy Cooking? Both? But it was about the importance of presentation. How beautifully presented food makes the meal a better experience. And you know, I think that’s true. And it’s really not difficult to do quickly. Tonight’s dinner was simple – pasta and a quick saute of spinach, tomato, and olives with some basil and vegetarian beef flavoring, and a sprinkle of cheddar/parmesan on top – but doesn’t it look nice prepared like this? Not my best example, but that’s okay.

Dinner!

I love imagining hostessing someday when I have my own place. Pretty dishes and well-presented, delicious, food.

My holiday weekend could, arguably, have been very patriotic or completely lacking. All depends on the perspective you choose, I suppose. There was one outing – my sister’s friends wanted to go into Weehawken to check out some bars. Then over Shabbat I hung out with a friend from D.C. and we spent several hours arguing about Western culture and the American government. After Shabbat we watched James Bond.

Drinks and politics and some violent explosions. What could be more appropriate? (there were some fireworks, too, of course!) I capped it off with a trip to a new Farmer’s Market for some local economic stimulus.

I took some cooking inspiration from the 4th of July. You’re probably thinking red, white, and blue – maybe a patriotic cake?

Nope. I mean something more basic that shows up at nearly everyone’s holiday festivities. Can you guess?

Potato Salad

I haven’t made potato salad since I left my parents’. About a year ago, now (wow) – not sure if I’ve eaten it since then, either. A foodie friend sent me a list of what they ate at her family holiday festivities – and wow, the craving took hold.

I’ve been checking out all the local Farmer’s Markets – so far I’ve made it to Teaneck, Hackensack, and Tenafly. Thus far, Tenafly is the largest – although that’s not saying much – and the best. I was greeted by this great sign:

Farmer's Market Sign

One thing that interests me about the local Farmer’s Markets is that they all carry kosher products – not mass-produced products, but real local produce that is certified kosher. At the Tenafly Market, I got some organic whole-grain bread certified Chaf-K. At the Hackensack Market my nephew and I got pickles from a producer who had signs up to explain the kosher certification standards of his products.

But back to today’s trip – have you ever had whipped honey? I spent ten minutes talking with a very nice beekeeper. Whipped honey is regular honey, but has a more peanut butter type consistency – perfect for spreading on my organic whole grain bread :-p He also had different varieties – the usual clover, and the semi-usual wildflower, but also buckwheat, which tastes much deeper, less sweet (for a list of varieties and descriptions, go here: http://www.thenibble.com/reviews/MAIN/honey/types4.asp#varietals – I got to taste each of the three he had!). I also got some gorgeous broccoli. Seriously considered snap peas – and sweet corn is going to be there next week. I also learned about a BIG Farmer’s Market in Manhattan year-round. May have to check that out.

The Market was obviously a community affair – on a street dedicated to locally owned businesses (I passed a children’s book store – must return on a weekday when it’s open!) Several dogs, several children, couples and singles – everyone pleased to be out in the gorgeous weather. My only disappointments were being unable to find blackberries or spinach – both in season but the first not grown by any of the farmers present and the second “out of stock.”

But back to the potato salad. I bought carrots at the Market – a medium-sized bunch with the full leaves attached. The seller told me that the leaves are good in salads or soups. I’d already bought my potatoes – from the same seller – and the potato salad seemed like the perfect way to try out the carrot tops. Besides the carrot tops, I used fine sea salt and dill. It was great! I have lots more carrot tops, so I may try them in a soup next. I already use celery leaves in my vegetable soup (or, for meat eaters, chicken soup) – wonder how carrot tops and celery leaves might go along?

In case you’re wondering, I paired the potato salad with a spinach dish inspired by this site. It was basically a stirfry of spinach, toasted pine nuts, garlic, and a touch of sea salt. Quite good! A very filling meal.

This coming week is going to be devoted to preparing for an out-of-state interview. There’s a possibility of attending a jam-making class – really hoping I can, but it’ll depend on how the return flight goes because the class is that day.

My feet hurt, and I’m quite happy about that!

I had an unusually long shift at my volunteer site today because I had offered to bake hamentashen – which got scheduled for 12:30 – and my shift was scheduled 2-6. What ended up happening was that I arrived at 12, baked until 3 (was given an extra hour by the volunteer before me), and then worked my regular shift til 6.

The baking was a huge hit – the cookies disappeared almost as quickly as I could bake them – lemon and apricot being the most popular flavors.  I’d hoped to get some of the guests to help me make the cookies, but I still enjoyed a lot of conversation while I rolled, shaped, and baked. Food – particularly sweets – is clearly truly the path to the heart; the manager has been cool to me until today, when I became “sweetheart.”

When I finished baking at about 2:45, and had returned the kitchen to impeccable condition, and had changed into clean clothes (hamentashen involve a ton of flour, and I don’t own any aprons yet), the clean linens needed to be unpacked, and there were some 7 rooms needing fresh linen and towels, and people checking in who needed to be greeted and toured… things slowed about 5, when I finally ate my lunch, and stayed quiet the rest of my shift.

You might think that, having eaten lunch at 5, I wasn’t hungry for dinner. But I was – and enjoyed my meal – definitely aimed for colorful; had vegetarian chili, sweet corn baked nuggets, celery and carrot sticks. This month’s cooking magazine talks about color, and Spring is around the corner – so hopefully my colorful meals can include more local vegetable variety soon.

You can tell I was hungry because I’m still writing so much about food!!

Speaking of hamentashen… my Mum would send my aunt a package of hamentashen every year. I offered to do it this year, since Mum can’t…. After I baked hamentashen at home yesterday, I prepared a package of them to send. I didn’t know how many she usually sent, and I really didn’t want to keep a lot of them in the house, so I probably put around 20 cookies  in the package.

After I mailed it today, I asked my aunt how many Mum would send her… she replied, “3 or 4.”

… I wonder what my aunt will expect next year!!

Of course, now that I’ve sent half to my aunt, given a quarter to my volunteer site (in addition to the ones I baked there today), and a quarter to my roommate’s boyfriend – after my roommate and I each had two or three – I’m craving some!! I’ve no clue what to do with all the jam (and lemon pie filling) left in the fridge, so perhaps I’ll have to bake some more…… though jam would be good with cheesecake or angel food cake, both of which I’ve been wanting to make…

Baking the “test run” hamentashen definitely helped; first, it gave me confidence that I knew what I was doing! But second, it gave me an idea of what I needed, gave me a chance to construct an organized system. Target didn’t have ANY flour boards or sheets (they did, however, have the largest metal bowl I’ve ever seen) – so I bought these floppy cutting boards, and they work quite well – did some experimenting in an attempt to keep flour off the counter ( a foolish hope!):

First attempt.... abandoned b/c of "bumpiness" created by multiple overlaps

This worked pretty well, but didn't necessarily keep flour off the counter!

I used my roommate’s KitchenAid – bless that thing -though pouring honey into a moving KitchenAid, or even an unmoving KitchenAid, is a challenge!

KitchenAid

My Mum always complained that I waste hamentashen dough by eating it raw. Firstly, if it’s eaten and enjoyed, it isn’t wasted – right? No different from eating and enjoying the baked version! However, I did try my best to use every possible drop of dough….

Early on, plenty of dough still left...

The very last one - not enough dough left to make a single one more - what's one to do but eat the remaining dough?!

Plenty of dough made it to baking!

Okay…. I’m leaning towards making baked ziti, though I’m not entirely determined on that. I might go crazy and make dessert, too. And fresh bread and salad, for that matter. Have I mentioned I have Jewish Mother’s Syndrome? Come hungry.

So the menu is almost finished. I’m going to make fresh Herb Bread, baked ziti, and strawberry/mango salad. I was going to make cherry clafoutis for dessert, and pick up ice cream, but I checked and my friends don’t favor cherries. So I now need: (a) another excuse to make clafoutis and (b) a new dessert.

I’ve informed my roommate that there will most likely be volumes of leftovers and I expect she and her boyfriend to help with them.

I’ve thoroughly cleaned my bathroom. On the one hand, I’ve been meaning to clean it; on the other hand, I really hope someone uses it and notices how clean it is! :-p

I haven’t made the Herb Bread in several years, but it got a lot of good reviews back in the day, and my neighbor even asked for some for her husband’s birthday one year… so it should be good. However, the recipe makes three LARGE loaves. When you third a bread recipe, do you third everything in it? The baked ziti, of course, is second nature by now.

The salad I haven’t actually made myself before, but it’s pretty basic.

I was going to go to book club in the morning, then get groceries and start cooking, but I really haven’t gotten far enough in the books… I think it would be rude to go when I’ve read so little.

Plus that means I can stay up late cleaning my room. I had Coca-Cola this afternoon, and either the caffeine or the deadline is kicking in. I suspect the “gotta-get-this-place-clean” is what’s doing it. My roommate laughed at me for pressuring myself. But this is my first time entertaining in Pittsburgh. I’ve got to make a name for myself, right?!

I’m having two friends over for dinner Sunday night. It’s my first time entertaining in Pittsburgh, and I don’t want to make something they buy in a box all the time (hence my aunt’s insistence that I make my macaroni and cheese is rejected).

One of them doesn’t eat onions, and one doesn’t like spicy.

I grew up on spicy and onions.

Choosing a main dish is taking on epic proportions.

To be continued….

A quick list of the recipes, some tried before and some new, that I’ve made a point of making this week:

* Roasted Dill Potatoes

* Hearty Carrot Muffins

* Butternut Squash Apple Bake

* Pumpkin Pancakes

* Omelet

I’m really pleased with how all of these turned out, though I’d have enjoyed playing with the recipes more. I’m looking for some more adventurous experiments this coming week. Well, adventurous in that I’ve never cooked barley before, and want to try it… and have no idea how caramel chips (never used those before, either) respond to heat, but want to try adding it to my homemade spiced apple drink… I’d post more recipes here, but very few of these have been my own concoctions (although I’ve “edited” a few). Still, I’m always happy to post a requested recipe.

Emma, I don’t know what to do with your wish that I’d try more meat recipes Since I don’t eat meat, I can think of two choices: (a) I invite lots of friends over to try the food, or (b) You try some new meat recipes yourself and let me know when there’s a good one I should make for friends!

I bought a bunch of frozen fruit this week for smoothies. But I bet it’d make a great fruit sauce for french toast, too…. hmmm. I’ve been wanting to make bread…. and french toast freezes well…. I may have found my solution to wanting to bake bread but not wanting to eat it all in one week!

As promised, here’s the recipe! It’s super-easy… particularly since, still unable to find my measuring spoons and not doing the full recipe anyways, I didn’t even measure out specific amounts…. I’ll give the amounts below, but note that they are for 2 lbs of potatoes.

This recipe is from Taste of Home: Light & Tasty Annual Recipes 2007

You will need:

* 2lb of small red potatoes, thinly sliced (not peeled, though I suppose you could if you prefer)

* 1 Tbs olive oil

* 2 garlic cloves, minced

* 2 Tbs snipped fresh dill (I used dried)

* 1-1/4 tsp salt

* 1/4 tsp pepper

Coat a baking pan with nonstick cooking spray; place the potatoes in the pan. Drizzle with oil; sprinkle with garlic, dill, salt, and pepper. Bake, uncovered, at 425 F for 30-35 minutes or until golden brown, stirring every 10 minutes.

This is a great side dish, all the more so b/c it gives you an easy half hour to prepare the rest of the meal

I’ve been getting increasingly involved in preparing my meals. That is – I’m trying more recipes, more often. Last week I made baked ziti and ate it for almost every meal. This week, I’m refusing to do that. I tried three new recipes today.

But my first adventure was making something I’ve made plenty of times before: chili. Vegetarian meat bits, but otherwise your regular chili.

I’d just gotten back from the supermarket, and didn’t really want to go back out. But for the life of me, I couldn’t figure out how to make my roommate’s can opener work. I tried a knife, but it couldn’t cut into the can. I remembered a Tom’s toothpaste ad where someone wrote in about using the toothpaste container as a can opener; maybe Colgate would work, but I didn’t try it.

Three cans to open. I called my sister for advice.

“On Iron Chef, they used a knife and a hammer when they didn’t have a can opener,” she told me. I figured… well, why not? I found my hammer, repositioned the knife – and well, it did work. Crudely.

I did find, however, that this opening was barely large enough to really get the tomatoes out…

For the third can, I got a little smart and made a neat square hole – I figured it was sauce, it should pour out. It didn’t work perfectly, but it worked.

A few tips I learned for anyone out there without a can opener:

* It works better if you tilt the knife blade – Both tilted against the can (so more of the blade is against the can) and angled into the ridges.

* Wiggle the blade carefully if it doesn’t pull out smoothly.

* Go buy a freaking can opener!

So… in any case, I got my roommate to explain her can opener to me today; turns out it really DOES work differently from any one I’ve seen before. It cuts at the top, so you can put the top back on! As demonstrated below with the can of pumpkin I used to make pumpkin pancakes for lunch:

However, my training indicates that you shouldn’t store food in metal, so as kool as this is, I’m sticking with Tupperware.

On a totally separate note, I have to admit: I never really understood omelets before. Appreciated them, but understood? Never. So when I found a recipe by chance, I was really intrigued by its explanation of how to cook the omelet properly. And when I was thinking of something to go with my new recipe for dill potatoes, a vegetable omelet seemed like just the thing.

I’m very proud of myself and very pleased with my dinner It’s left me craving something sweet, though, so I may indulge in a smoothie…