What I'm loving right now: Robots and Virtual Festivals

So, here’s what I am loving right now:

Robots - Our Roomba (a robotic little vacuum) sat forlorn in the corner for the last 4 years. *Something* was wrong with it, but I didn’t have the motivation to figure it out. Well, hello tons of free time. After trouble shooting and fixing 3 issues, we are in business. Each morning, when we leave for our walk, the little Roomba gets to work cleaning our main living area. This brings me so much joy.

Virtual Festivals - This past weekend, Longmire Days went virtual. Longmire Days is a multi-day festival dedicated to the fans of the books by Craig Johnson and the TV Show Longmire. We binge-watched Longmire on Netflix. It’s a show set at a Sheriff’s office in Montana near an Indian Reservation. (Did you know I worked on an Indian Reservation as a college summer job?) It was a great show. It was so much fun to see the main actors come back together and share their experiences filming the show. I think Zoom made it even better since it’s like they forgot 500 people were listening as they joked and shared stories together.

Yes, I just showed you a picture of a Zoom. You can check that square off your Social Media COVID Bingo card.

What we are watching: We just finished Battlestar Galatica. It fit with our robot theme. The first two seasons were a bit slow and I yelled at the TV a lot, but Seasons 3 and 4 made it all worthwhile. We are still deciding what our next Binge Watch will be. I think it may be time for Marvelous Mrs. Maisel or Downton Abbey.

What I’m Reading: My favorite book from the last week is The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. It’s a story about family, identity, race, and finding your path. Two twin sisters go their separate ways in their teens - one passes as White, one keeps her identity as a light skinned Black woman. 5 Stars. Do Recommend.

Bird of the Week: I’m an official bird watcher now. I have an App and everything. Check out this Sandhill Crane. The Sandhill Cranes are scattered across North America. They like prairies, fields, marshes, and tundra and apparently railroad tracks.

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We hit the road.

Three days shy of the three month anniversary of quarantine, I finally headed out into the world. 

The only activity I had since March 15th when we arrived home from the Celebrity Edge cruise was daily walks and a couple Meals on Wheels deliveries. 

A gas station in Georgia was the first store I'd entered in months. Glenn and I decided to drive to Indianapolis to spend a week with my family. Everyone needed a break and change of routine. 

We packed the car with food, Lysol, hand sanitizer, water and coffee. I loaded up my phone with audio books, podcasts, and comedy specials and we hit the road. 

It felt like we were going back in time to "before COVID". Sure, we saw a few signs on the highway to wash hands and socially distance. When we stopped twice for gas, no one was wearing masks. I actually forgot about COVID for a few hours. 

I had a great chat with a friend this week about re-entry. I'm not ready. I'm not ready to go to a grocery store, restaurant, gym or bar. I am very lucky that I don't have to.  I felt like I could control the road trip - two quick stops for gas and bathroom. Don't touch anything you don't have to. Lots of hand sanitizer. 

The past three months have an emotional boot camp. So many feelings to sort through all the time. So many decisions to make. I am a planner. Living in uncertainty and a world where everything seems to change every day is a daunting challenge. 

Favorite Things during a Pandemic

Well, this whole pandemic thing sucks.

I thought I'd share a few things that have been sustaining me:

Disclaimer: Some of these links are affiliate links where I or one of my friends will earn a small commission if you buy through that link.

Walking - My husband and I started taking daily walks. We have a path through the neighborhood that's 6 feet wide. It's an important part of our day. I also found virtual race through the Rock and Roll Marathon Series Virtual Running Club. So far, I've completed a 5k and a 10k.

Journaling - I write down 5 things I am thankful for each day.

Projects - Each week, I find one or two projects I can do over the course of the week. I cleaned out bookshelves and closets. I finished photo books - that made me sob. I am still procrastinating the junk drawer.  
 
Diffusing Essential Oils - I don't think they cure COVID, but I sure do like recreating a relaxing or a refreshing smell in my living room as I sit on the couch and binge watch TV. I also use the oils to make shower spray. I like diffuse Tangerine, Spearmint, and Geranium together when I need a little boost. Lemon, Lavender, and Peppermint was a great combo when we were a little stuffed up from allergies. I diffuse Breathe and Lavender at night. I purchase through my friend Amy's doterra site. She's a great resource.


Reading - At first, I couldn't read at all. I did find coloring to be relaxing. I have this coloring book. I'm getting back into it with what I like to call cotton candy books. These books aren't challenging my view of the world. It's like a romantic comedy or a great tv show. One of my favorite series is the Richard Castle Detective Mystery Novels.  The series starts with Heat Wave by Richard Castle. If you liked the show Castle or any of the legal/cop shows where they solve a crime a week, I think you'll really like these.


Binge-watching TV - We loved Justified on Hulu, Schitt's Creek via CW App,  Star Trek Discovery on CBS All Access, Bosch on Amazon Prime, and  The Good Fight on CBS All Access.


Skincare

 

 

I launched Operation Empty Bottle. I love to name things. I decided this was the perfect time to really commit to washing my face night and day and trying all the products I've been stockpiling from Rodan and Fields and my FabFitFun boxes. Below is my very long list of favorites. The links are to my Rodan and Fields' page or to Amazon through an affiliate link.

My go to skin care regimen is Rodan and Fields Redefine.  I've added these other products into rotation and loved them.

Cleansers
Dr Brandt pore no more Pore Purifying Cleanser - This has salicylic acid and tea tree oil so it's not for sensitive skin.

Serums & Night Creams
Rodan and Fields Active Hydration Serum - This is the best moisturizer I've ever used. It's a serum so it's light, but it holds up throughout the day. All skin types.

The Better Skin Co. Epik C Serum - This is a Vitamin C serum. Vitamin C helps promote collagen production and protect skin from those pesky free radicals. All skin types.

Grown Alchemist Detox Night Cream - This cream is no joke. It's a powerhouse. Every time I use it, I get a little breakout since it is pulling so much junk out of my skin. If you have sensitive skin or acne-prone, proceed with caution.

Dr Brandt Needles No More No More Baggage - This is my go to under eye cream when I've been crying a lot. It quickly calms down the under eye swelling.

Retinol should be an important part of your skin care routine. I am just finishing up my Rodan and Fields Redefine Intensive Renewing Serum and I am going to swap it out for Rodan and Fields Reverse Dual Active Brightening Complex.

Masks
I've been applying a lot of masks lately.

Generation Clay Brightening Purple Clay Mask does a great job brightening skin at a good price.

Rodan and Fields Reverse Radiance Mask is my favorite. My skin glows after use.

Rodan and Fields Recharge Detox Mask is my go to when I sense a hormonal break out on the horizon.

111Skin Rose Gold Brightening Facial Treatment Mask - This is one of those masks that is silicon and you lay it over your face and scare the other people who live in your house. It's hydrating and your face will glow.

Do It Yourself Pedicure

Whish Exfoliating Foot Mask - This product is awesome. You put it on before you go to bed with socks. In the morning, your feet are substantially softer. My husband even requests "that really good food stuff."

Electric Nail File - This makes at home manicure and pedicures so much easier!


What has been sustaining you through this difficult time?

Why are we obsessed with the Royal Wedding?

I think it’s because it’s the idea someone can be “plucked out of every day life.”  That one day you are hanging out and then *poof* you are a princess.

But that’s not what happened here. Harry and Megan were intentional. Rumors are that a match maker set up their first date. Harry was looking for a partner in his philanthropic work.  Megan had been laying the groundwork for a life of philanthropy for years. Megan’s fairy tale requires sacrifice – loss of privacy, living a country away from her family and friends, and following all the protocols of royal life. Plus, the increased scrutiny of the press which she had previously been able to avoid even as an actress.

If you feel that longing to be plucked out of every day life – the good news is that you can do something about it. The bad news is that it requires discipline and sacrifice.

To most people, an extraordinary life means a life of freedom – total autonomy. That usually means financial freedom and there’s two ways to accomplish that:

1.       Spend Less

2.       Control your income/earn more

Spend Less – You see posts about cutting out Starbucks, moving to tiny houses, budgeting with envelopes full of cash or making your laundry detergent.  What I’ve found successful is being brutal. Do the deep dive into your expenses. Find out what is necessary and what is extra. The truth I found is that saving money means doing more things yourself. You are trading time for convenience.  A simple example: My husband and I have sandwiches for lunch. We were buying $7.99 per pound organic lunch meat – 3 pounds a week. It was the most expensive thing on our grocery list. We decided to stop buying lunch meat and start buying a whole rotisserie chicken each week for $4.99. It makes time to carve, but we saved about $19 a week or $988 a year. W

The other end of the spectrum is controlling your income.

Here’s the truth. If you want to move to a life without a boss and be 100% in control of your income,  in my experience, you have to :

Create content so compelling hundreds of thousands of people consume it monthly and therefore advertisers want to pay you to promote their products within your content.  – This is the path of Instagram ads, YouTube videos, and blogs.

Sell Something  - It can be something you create: your writing, jewelry, photography, etc. It can also be products you source from somewhere else and make a commission or profit on selling them. This is the path I choose – booking vacations and selling skin care for a commission. I have to be honest. Selling is tough. It’s an ego crush as people reject you, ignore you or dismiss you. But it’s worth it. I love having my future 100% in my control. I can work from anywhere. Need more income? I just work harder. I’ve found that no company will care about your future more than you will.

What do you think? Does this ring true to you?

Angie 2.0

Friday was my last day working for the union. This feels like a huge transition. I really don't know what's next. I don't have the plan all laid out. I know that I love and want to build my travel business. It feels like the doors have swung wide open and I am staring out at the landscape excited and nervous to start making my way across it. 

It's an incredible feeling to be able to make choices based on abundance and passion rather than fear or scarcity. My original job with the union came after a period of unemployment post grad school. I was lucky that it really was a perfect job for me - policy work, lobbying, campaigning just fit my skill set. Until it all fell apart. Until the stress, the drinking, and the complex personal relationships pushed me into a person I didn't want to be and I was forced/chose to move to Florida. 

In Florida, I vowed to be better, to do things differently. I did the best I could. I took on every project that needed me and tried to accomplish what I could. It was difficult always being on the edge of a learning curve. Always having to be the person with the answers - the person that was going to save the day. I moved from project to project until I just didn't have the passion for that project anymore. And then one day I woke up and I was overwhelmed with unhappiness. So I quit - the first time. I wasn't ready to quit the union - just the current project. Three months passed where I worried about what was next and spent a lot of time watching tv. I also wrote a novel and volunteered, but really my thinking was in a place of fear and panic about finding another job. I was relieved and happy when I was asked to help on a contract campaign project. Then I fell right back into the pattern of saying yes to the projects that came my way. And then one day I woke up and I was overwhelmed with unhappiness. This time I didn't just quit. This time I sat down with my husband and talked through what would be next, what our lives would look like, and what was the best way to make this transition. Then I tried to hold on as long as I could. Then I finally broke and gave my notice. 

I was relieved and excited and then sad - really really sad - and then nostalgic. Then I was grateful. It occurred to me this morning the one feeling I haven't had is fear. I am not afraid of what's next. I am confident that everything will fall into place as it is meant to. And it's already started. I went to events Thursday night and Saturday and met some of the nicest sweetest people I have met. It feels like I have been living with one foot out of the door- unwilling to commit and invest. Now I am ready to jump in with two feet - to really embrace life in Tampa - to build relationships and to find my niche where I can continue my passion to make the world a better place. It'll be challenging to go from a job that paid me to change the world to finding space and opportunity on my own. It'll be a lot of trial and error to find the next home for passion to improve the world. I am lucky that I'll be able to do that while living my passion for planning travel. I'm ready. Let's Rock and Roll. 

Toddler Dates - just call me Debbie Downer

Over the last few months, I have noticed that people have posted on Facebook about their infant/toddler children having "dates" or "boyfriends/girlfriends". My first thought was "how do you know your child is a heterosexual?"

I have always wondered about the conditions that create the situation where people feel they need to "come out" with their sexuality. I never had to declare my heterosexuality. I just chalked it up to a culture hostile to anything other than heterosexuality.  After seeing these Facebook posts, I realized that maybe part of the reason that people have to "come out" is because they are assigned a sexuality in infancy.  People without any negative intention use language that implies a sexuality to tiny humans.

I know that most people view this as a "cute" way to discuss growing relationships between children, but my question to that is why is there an assigned sexuality to it?  How would you feel if a teacher or acquaintance called your daughter's female friend her girlfriend? Or your son's "best buddy" became his boyfriend?

Would it change anything if when you were approached by someone about your child's latest "date" with a child of an opposite sex you just said "I am glad they are developing a friendship. We don't know Susie's sexual orientation yet so I wouldn't characterize it as a date." Would people feel uncomfortable? Sure.  But would it go a small way to making the world safer for gay kids and teens? Maybe.

I am not a parent just a person spouting off some opinions so I would love your thoughts.

Resolutions

I find something magical about New Year's Eve - the idea that we can reset, do better. That somehow when the clock strikes midnight,  we can say goodbye to what we did wrong and resolve to work harder in the next year to be the person I want to be. I find it redemptive.

This past year has been a mash up - a mash up of incredibly challenging and incredibly amazing. This year, a lot of things came into focus. A big one was what being a friend means to me. I realized that if someone doesn't hold up her end of the bargain, that is okay to let her go and wish her well. I also realized that I have to work harder at keeping in touch with those that mean the most to me. It's okay if I am the one doing all the calling and reaching out because talking with those who know my heart best is always always worth it.

This political season clarified my tolerance for other view points. I realized I am not tolerant of ideas I believe are wrong. I am not tolerant of  people who do not believe in rights for all people. I got in several Facebook fights and even got unfriended a time or two. Some folks believe that issues shouldn't tear relationships apart - that we should all respect each other's viewpoints. On gay rights, I don't respect a viewpoint that makes some people less than some other people. I don't respect it. I don't support it and I won't tolerate it. I know this isn't a path that leads to changing anyone's mind, but it's where I am.

I resolved to Live Big, Do Good, and Spend Time with Family and Friends. I can say that I accomplished that. I saw different corners of the world, worked hard to make the world a little better, and spent time with  almost all of my friends and family.

In 2013, I want to do better, be better.

Less Junk. More Vegetables.

Less Anger. More Kindness.

Less about Me. More about Others.

Less Screen Time. More Books.

Less NO! More YES!

Less Tears. More Laughter.

Best wishes to you for a happy and healthy new year!

2012 Kitchen Bucket List Challenge: A Recap

Alright – so it’s mid- October and I haven’t posted a final recap of my Summer 2012 Kitchen Bucket List. In my defense, I live in Florida and it still feels like summer. Well, here we go.

The Winners

I successfully roasted a whole chicken and would definitely do it again. One friend pointed out that buying a rotisserie chicken costs about the same as roasting one yourself, but I did get a deal of satisfaction pulling that beautiful, golden bird out of the oven.

I learned to make pasta from scratch. In fact, I am pretty good at making pasta and will likely do it in the future.

I figured out quinoa and it is now a regular part of my weekly meal plan.

I gave up on the idea of making my own smoothie. I would swoon every time I assembled the long list of green smoothie ingredients and run directly to big bottle of Naked Green Drink. It’s only $6 at the warehouse store and just worth it.

The Losers

Polenta and bread did not get made from scratch. Their future is not bright.

Three more soup recipes were not secured. Friends did send me some great recipes and I am hoping the winter months provide inspiration to tackle this bucket list item.

I did not learn how to perfectly poach an egg. We have a machine that perfectly poaches eggs. This eroded some of my motivation.

Souffles were just not in the cards. I actually forgot that was on the list until right this second. Now I wonder what the heck I was thinking.

Figure out how to freeze my own skillet meals – This I am still going to do. I saw it on Top Chef and I want to recreate the challenge at home.

A Draw

Figuring out a go to fish dish. I did not figure out a good fish dish, but my husband and I started eating a lot more fish. I consider that an overall win for our health, but we still need something to show off at a dinner party.

So how did you do on your Summer To Do List?

2012 Kitchen Bucket List Challenge: Roast Chicken

As part of my 2012 Kitchen Bucket List Challenge, I decided to take on roasting a chicken.

I was originally going to use Bethenny Frankel’s Boyfriend Chicken recipe, but then I decided it just had too many ingredients. I wanted a recipe that used salt, pepper and chicken. I found this one  by Thomas Keller. Thomas Keller is the chef behind two of the best restaurants in the United States.

This recipe is the exact opposite of almost every other roast chicken recipe I saw while perusing the internet. Most recipes suggest roasting the chicken at 350 degrees for an hour a half or two hours. Keller’s recipe cranks up the heat to 450 degrees for an hour. This leads to smoke and grease splatters inside the oven. A small price to pay for this awesome chicken.

Before I handled the chicken,I poured some salt and pepper into a bowl so I wouldn’t contaminate my salt and pepper shakers. The first steps are to rinse the bird, remove the sack of yuck from the inside cavity and then pay dry. I coated the bird inside and out with salt and pepper. Then the recipe said to truss the bird. Yep, had to look that one up on the internet. Basically it means tying it together so it cooks more evenly. Here’s a video that I found very helpful:

I tied it up and let it rest while I waited for the oven to pre-heat. This gave the salt sometime to work its magic. Into the 450 degree oven it went.

The spattering sounds started with the first 10 minutes.

Within the first 20 minutes,  wisps of smoke were escaping from the oven.

At 22 minutes, I turned on all the fans in the kitchen and started biting my finger nails.

At 40 minutes, the bird was turning a lovely golden brown.

At 55 minutes, I put a meat thermometer into the breast. It came out 170 degrees so I took it out of the oven.

 I used a basting brush to take the fat from the bottom of the pan and brush over the chicken. Then moved the chicken from the pan to a cutting board. It looked like this:

I did a little dance. The recipe recommended letting it rest for 15 minutes. Do not tent it with foil. If you want crispy skin – you cannot tent. The end result was a delicious, juicy roast chikcken.

2012 Kitchen Bucket List Challenge: What is Quinoa?

As part of the 2012 Summer Kitchen Bucket List Challenge , I decided to figure out quinoa.   Quinoa is usually considered a “whole grain”, but it is actually a seed and therefore, gluten free. The method to make it is very similar to making rice.

Quinoa's rise in popularity may be due to NASA. Some reports say NASA was looking for a nutrient rich "grain" to send to space and stumbled on quinoa - a staple in the Andes mountains. 

One news article  highlighted how the popularity of quinoa has led to a price increase in many of the areas that previously relied on it as a staple. For instance, in Bolivia, noodles have replaced quinoa in many people's diets. This has a big nutrional impact. At the same time, many people are returning to the country side to farm quinoa because now it is a sustainable profession.

For my culinary experiment with quinoa, I used Trader Joe’s Organic Tricolor Quinoa.

The directions are pretty simple. Rinse the quinoa in cold water. Bring the right ratio of water  and quinoa to a boil and then reduce to a simmer for 10 – 15 minutes.

Quinoa does not have a strong flavor. A lot of recipes recommend using a flavorful liquid like a vegetable or chicken broth to cook it. I decided to just use water and then try to spice it up once it was cooked. I found this great recipe for Quinoa Black Bean Burrito Bowls.

You basically make black beans with onion, garlic, chili powder and a  little cayenne pepper.  Prepare the quinoa according to the instructions, then add some cilantro and lime. The quinoa becomes the base of your bowl and then you add lettuce and the beans on top. 

  Instead of lettuce, I layered super greens (spinach, arugula, Swiss chard) in the layer between the beans and the quinoa. The heat from both wilted the greens just a little.  I loved how filling the dish was. The flavors reminded me of Mexico. I also liked how you could personalize depending on what people in your group like by adding salsa, guacamole, sour cream, etc.

Overall, my experience with quinoa was a success. It's very easy to make and I will be replacing rice with it every now and then.

A new twist on lemonade

One of the best tips I picked up from a cooking class is to use dried lavender flowers to fancy up some lemonade. The lavender adds a floral aroma and a slightly sweet flavor.

An easy way to use it is to use brew some lavender to create a lavender lemonade.

 You just follow your favorite lemonade recipe (or the back of the Crystal Light box, in my case) except you replace the water with this:

1. Boil the amount of water needed for your lemonade

2. Add 1 - 2 TBSP of dried lavender depending on your taste to the boiling water.

3. Turn off the heat and allow the lavender to steep in the water. The longer you steep - the stronger the color and flavor will be. Lavender flowers impart a brown color so you may want to steep less unless you are using the pink lemonade mix.

4. Make the lemonade using the recipe.

One variation is to use half the water for your lemonade recipe to make a super concentrated mix. Then, when you are ready to serve - add back in half the amount of sparkling water or club soda. For instance, if you want a gallon of sparkling lavender lemonade - you only use half a gallon of water to make the mix. Then you add back in half a gallon of sparkling water/club soda when you are ready to serve.

Another variation is creating a lavender lemonade sorbet:

Lavender Lemonade Sorbet

4 cups water

1 cup sugar

1 lemon, zest of

1/4 cup lemon juice, fresh

2 -3 teaspoons lavender

Directions:

1.  Over medium heat mix all ingredients together and bring to a boil.

2. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 10 minutes

3. Refrigerate 4 hours or until well chilled.

4. Strain mixture and pour into an ice cream maker. Freeze according to manufacturer's directions. If you don't have an ice cream maker, you could put into Popsicle molds or add some ice and blend into a slushee.

Chick Lit - Why Pre-Ordering Books Matters

How Jennifer Weiner, Jen Lancaster and Stacey Ballis got me buying books again

Seven years ago, I stopped buying books. I moved to a city with a great library hold system. I could request all the hot new books and have them in my hands in a matter of months – and they were free.  I blogged about the ones I liked. I tried out cookbooks and even bought a couple of those that I couldn’t live without. Then, I started following Jen Lancaster and  Jennifer Weiner on twitter. Their recommendations turned me on to great authors: Alison Scotch Winn, Caroline Leavitt, Sarah Dessen, Stacey Ballis, Libby Bray , Liz Moore and the list goes on. I read their books and tweeted my delight.  And they tweeted back! It was thrilling to get an immediate answer from authors whose works had transported me to a different place or even back to times in my life with a whole new perspective. Following these women on twitter also opened a door into the publishing world.

In the past year or so, Jennifer Weiner has written about the bias against women in literary publications. She’s noted the gender disparity in the selection of books reviewed by the New York Times and the degradation of literature branded “chick lit”.   Initially, I found this annoying. Who cares? I am a person. I am reading your books. The people who are putting you on the best seller list don’t seem to care about this disparity. I don’t choose books based on reviews in the New York Times because I find the NY Times pretentious and irrelevant to my life. I want to punch people in the nose who say, “I saw in the Times yesterday….” But then I figured, these reviews must somehow be very very important. I was just missing it.

Then author Stacey Ballis spelled it out for me in her blog. Reviews matter because pre-orders matter. Pre-orders determine the size of a print run and the resources a publisher will put into promoting a book. This is a big deal in general and a very big deal for new authors or authors who haven’t previously appeared on the bestseller list. Now I got it. The bias in these literary publications could be quashing the dreams of these incredibly talented women authors simply because a lot of women read their books. That pissed me off. Thankfully, Jennifer Weiner, Jennifer Lancaster and Stacey Ballis have given me an opportunity to do something about it by recommending great new authors early enough that my pre-order can help make a difference. So I have started buying books again and if you value great books written by great woman authors may be you should too.

Jennifer Weiner tweets @jenniferweiner & blogs at http://jenniferweiner.blogspot.com/

Jennifer Lancaster tweets @altgeldshrugged & blogs at http://www.jennsylvania.com/

Stacey Ballis tweets @staceyballis &  blogs at http://thepolymathchronicles.blogspot.com/  

You should PRE-ORDER her new book Off the Menu. Go ahead. I'll wait.

How to make pasta from scratch

This week I attempted one of my 2012 Kitchen Bucket List : Making Pasta from Scratch.

Check out the video for the process.
NOTE: This is the first video my husband and I have filmed like this so be gentle! Also - if you grew up with homemade pasta - my methods may be a smidge different. I went for quick and easy.

I decided just to wing it. I had heard on a cooking show that you just take 100g of flour to one egg mix it, let it rest, and roll it out. That's exactly what I tried to do. I measured the flour into a bowl. It seems that everyone digs a hole in the middle for the egg and then stirs it around until the flour and egg combine. After I did that, I noticed that my dough seemed a little dry so I added olive oil until it came together. I kneaded it four or five times on the cutting board.  Then I let it put it back in the bowl with a towel on top while I assembled the ingredients for the pasta dish I was making:

Linguine with Chickpeas and arugula from Everyday with Rachel Ray Magazine.

I didn't have arugula or lemons so I changed the recipe just a bit.

2 TBSP butter
1 red bell pepper - diced
1 can of chickpeas rinsed and drained
3 cloves of garlic - minced
1 tsp of dried pepper flakes (or to taste)
3 tsp of salt (2 tsp for the pasta water and 1 tsp for the dish)
Greens - anything Swiss chard, spinach, arugula. I like the super greens packages that supermarkets are carrying these days.
Grated Parmesan

It took me about 10 minutes to pull that together. Then I put a pot on medium high heat so that it would be close to boiling when I was ready for it. Also - set out your bowls. At the bottom of each bowl, place a handful of greens.

Then I took out the dough and began rolling it with a rolling pin. I rolled it until it was as thin as I could get it. I cut it into strips that were narrow enough to fit through the KitchenAid Pasta Attachment about about the length I wanted my noodles to end up.  Then I just fed it through - starting on setting one, then two, then three. At this point,  I switched to the cutting attachment and cut the pasta into noodles. I carefully laid the noodles side by side on the edge of a bowl so they wouldn't clump together.

Now, if you don't have a Kitchenaid don't worry. Just roll out the dough as thin as you can and use a knife or cookie cutter to make the noodles. Call them "rustic" and everyone will think you are a super chef!

While the pasta was drying out, I turned up the heat on my water and added 2 tsp of salt.  I sauteed the chickpeas and red peppers in the butter for about 5 - 7 minutes - until the peppers softened. I added the garlic. Now the water was boiling, I added the noodles. The noodles only take 2 - 3 minutes to cook. Seriously. You'll notice a slight change in the noodle's color. Use tongs or a strainer to take the noodles out of the boiling water and put it into the pan with the chickpeas. It's okay if some of the pasta water drips in - this will help make a little sauce. Add the pepper flakes and 1 tsp of salt. Stir everything together for a couple minutes. Take the pan off the heat. Spoon the mixture into your bowls and then add Parmesan to the top. Let it rest for 2-3 minutes before serving. This will allow the greens to wilt a little bit. 

This dish is great. The  dried peppers spice up the meaty chickpeas and the greens and peppers help balance both. The homemade noodles make a huge difference.

Storing the extra uncooked noodles: First you'll need to dry them out. I laid out each noodle on parchment paper or wax paper on my dining room for just over an hour. They will feel dry like the ones you get from the store. Place into a Ziploc bag and refrigerate or freeze.

Verdict: THIS WAS SO EASY! I feel silly having been intimidated for so long. I'll definitely be making more!

My summer kitchen "bucket list" 2012

Hello Everyone!!

I know it has been a while. The other day I was looking at this blog and saw that it has had over 10,000 page views! I was more popular than I even realized. The food posts have been the most popular so I am going to revive it for the summer with my Summer Kitchen "bucket list" 2012.

This summer I am going to attempt to complete these culinary feats and live to write about it:

1. Roast a whole chicken - I am going to start with the infamous boyfriend roast chicken and go from there.

2. Make pasta, polenta, and bread  from scratch  - A friend gifted us her pasta maker attachment for our Kitchen aid so many months ago and I can't believe I haven't tried to use it yet! To see my adventure making pasta, click here.  Plus polenta and bread have such inexpensive ingredients and so expensive to buy prepared in comparison I feel like I need to at least try to make it.


3. Find 3 more soup recipes I like - I make carrot soup at least twice a month during the fall and winter. I need to find a couple more go-to soup recipes before we turn orange.

4. Perfectly poach an egg - A successful brunch event depends on it!

5. Figure out quinoa - How to pronounce it, how to cook it, what exactly it is. Let's just say quinoa is a big mystery in my life.

6. Create a smoothie that I like that doesn't cost more to make than it does to buy it  - I am not a huge fan of fruit. I do like a good green drink, but buying the ingredients to make 16 oz costs more than just pulling a bottle off the shelf.

7. Make a souffle - I have made pseudo-souffles, but it's time to find a good old French recipe and see what happens.

8. Figure out a signature fish dish - I have a signature chicken dish (butter chicken) and a signature soup (carrot). It's a crime that I actually live near the ocean and don't cook my fish. 

9. Figure out how to freeze my own skillet meals - I spend a good chunk of change on those skillet meals in the freezer section. It seems like I could figure out how to make a few myself.

I'll write here about how it goes and what I learn.

What's on your bucket list this summer?

2011 Cookbook Challenge: Kumquats

Kumquat Salsa from Simply Recipes
Ingredients

2 cups chopped cleaned and thinly sliced kumquats

1/2 cup chopped red onion

1/4 cup chopped fresh cilantro

3 Tbsp olive oil

1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Dash of cayenne pepper

Pinch of kosher salt

Method

Combine all ingredients. Add more or less red pepper and cayenne to desired heat. Let sit for 1 hour for the flavors to more fully blend.Makes about 2 1/2 cups of salsa.

Great served with steak or seafood such as halibut, black sea bass, or salmon.



Candied Kumquat Recipe from Simply Recipes
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Ingredients

4 cups of roughly chopped kumquats (roughly 1-1½ lbs.)

1 cup of water

2 cups of sugar

Method

1 With a pairing knife roughly chop the kumquats. Discard any seeds you can that are easy to get too, but they're edible so don't fret if some get chopped up or stay in the fruit. Feel free to leave any small kumquats whole.

 Heat the water and sugar over high heat until it comes to a boil. Simmer for 4 minutes. Add the kumquats and simmer for 10 minutes.

3 Drain the kumquats through a sieve set over a bowl. Return the syrup to the pan and simmer for 5 minutes to reduce the syrup. Combine the kumquats and 1/4 cup of the syrup together.

Serve or jar and refrigerate. Can be stored for up to two weeks.



Kumquat Mojito from Chowhound message boards

Tumbler


Muddler

7 or so mint leaves

2 tsp sugar

3 tbsp fresh lime juice (1/2-1 lime)

1 1/2 oz light rum

4 kumquats quartered



Muddle the mint leaves with the sugar in the bottom of the tumbler. Toss in the kumquat slices and muddle some more. Pour in lime juice & rum and stir. Dump in some ice and top with club soda, place shaker cup on top, flip and shake gently to mix club soda, flip back and serve. Take a whole kumquat and cut a slit half way through and rest on the rim of the glass. Delicious and refreshing summer adult beverage!

2011 Cookbook challenge: Crockpot Coq Au Vin

Make It Fast, Cook It Slow: The Big Book of Everyday Slow Cookingis a great slow cooking cookbook. It evolved from Stephanie O'Dea's blog where she challenged herself to A Year of Slow Cooking- using her slow cooker every day to make healthy gluten free meals for her family. I really like this cookbook. The layout is straight forward and easy to read. She uses the slow cooker to make a lot of unconventional items such as desserts or drinks. This is a huge help when preparing a lot of dishes. Having the slow cooker, stove, oven and toaster oven all cranking at the same time definitely increases the chance that we will have everything ready to serve at the same time. She also gives a "verdict" on many of the recipes.

The recipe we tested as her Coq Au Vin recipe. The only modification was that we used dried thyme instead of fresh thyme.

Coq Au Vin

--6 to 8 frozen chicken thighs


--6 slices cooked and crumbled bacon (I used turkey, but you could use PORK)

--8 oz sliced baby portabella mushrooms (they are right next to the regular mushrooms)

--1 cup baby carrots

--1 chopped yellow onion

--3 cloves chopped or minced garlic

--1/2 t black pepper

--1/2 t kosher salt

--1/2 cup chicken broth

--1 1/2 cup cheap red wine (you can use non-alcoholic wine, if you wish)

--2 large fresh thyme sprigs (I really think the fresh thyme is the key, here. Go steal some from your neighbors garden.)

The Directions.

Cook your bacon. I used turkey bacon, and baked it on a broiler pan. Dump the frozen chicken into your crockpot and start layering in the rest of the ingredients. This is really a no-fuss (albeit amazingly gourmetish) preparation. Just throw it all in.

Cover and cook on low for 8 hours. You could cook it on high for 4, but it won't taste as good. The flavors meld so nicely when cooked low and slow.

We served it over pasta. We both really enjoyed this recipe. We felt it needed a little more salt added at the end of finish it. The use of fresh thyme matters. It would have given the dish that subtle, but important extra kick of flavor so make the trip to the grocery store.  Next time, we will lightly sautee the mushrooms in the bacon fat. The mushrooms released a lot of water during the cooking that diluted some of the flavors.

Because chicken thighs are so cheap and this recipe is so easy, I can see this becoming a staple in our week work menu.

2011 Cookbook Challenge: Breaded Pork Chops and Roasted Kohlrabi

Today's recipes come from Cooks.com and Girl's Gone Child.

MOM'S BREADED PORK CHOPS
Content Copyright © 2011 Cooks.com - All rights reserved.

4 to 6 pork chops (bone-in) or boneless pork loin chops 1/2-inch thick

2 c. crushed cracker crumbs

1/4 c. flour

3 tbsp. paprika

2 tsp. sugar

2 tsp. onion

1/4 tsp. oregano

1/4 tsp. garlic powder

salt and pepper

1/4 c. extra virgin olive oil

Sprinkle pork chops lightly with salt and pepper.

Combine remaining ingredients in a large plastic bag or bowl with lids. Add pork chops and shake.

Bake at 350°F for 1 hour on a shallow sided baking sheet (like a cookie sheet) or until pork chops are tender and juices no longer run pink when poked with a fork.

I halved the recipe and used the boneless pork chops from the Omaha Steaks variety pack. I cooked it in the toaster oven since the regular oven was filled with the kohlrabi from the recipe below. These pork chops turned out really well. The breading had a great flavor and the pork was cooked very well. We will definitely make this again.


Roasted Kohlrabi
 (serves 4)

4 kohlrabi, peeled, sliced ¼ inch thick and cut in half

2-3 T olive oil

2 cloves garlic

salt and pepper

grated parmesan cheese

Preheat oven to 450. Peel and slice kohlrabi into ¼ inch slices. Cut in half (if kohlrabies are big, cut in quarters). Mince garlic. Toss kohlrabi, garlic, and oil in a bowl with salt and pepper. Spread in a single layer on a baking sheet. Roast for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally, until evenly browned. Sprinkle with parmesan cheese and return to oven to brown for about 5 minutes. Serve immediately.

I have been struggling with what to do with the kohlrabi from our CSA. Girl Gone Child’s mom to the rescue! This is a fantastic recipe. It was full of flavor. I could have eaten bowl after bowl.

Overall, dinner was a winner!

Movie Review: Easy A and KickAss

 Easy A– Easy A is the story of a high school gal who lies about having sex and becomes the school slut – even resorting to accepting gift cards in exchange for lying about having more sex. I really like this movie. The dialogue was witty and sharp. It was one of those movies where you end repeating the lines for months afterwards. My favorite scenes were the ones with her loving, accepting, slightly wacky parents. It was good to see a movie with fun parents. Definitely check it out .

Kick-Ass - Wow! I did not expect so much blood. I thought the dialogue was fun and witty. When it took a turn to actually killing – especially bloody killing by an 11 year old I wasn’t quite as enthralled. Overall though I thought it was a good action flick with more of story than we usually see in a movie with that many guns.

2011 Cookbook Challenge: Curry Kohlrabi Carrot Soup

So I made up this recipe all by myself  after pursuing the interweb for some curry carrot soup concoctions:

1.5 lbs carrots
2 medium kohlrabi
8 cups chicken stock
4 Tbsp curry
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 tsp salt

Combine all ingrediants in a slow cooker.

THIS IS NOT A GOOD RECIPE.

It was full of heat and virtually no flavor. The carrots were not sweet enough to offset the cayenne. There was no fat to give the soup body. It does however, make a lot of soup that I am stuck trying to eat for the next week. So I had to figure out how to offset the heat to make it edible.

Here's some useful knowledge:  Acid and dairy offset heat. I added parmesan cheese which helped a little. I added some apple cider vinegar which helped a little and I am serving with a huge dollap of greek yogurt which helps a lot.  There you go - maybe my failure be your learning opportunity.

Book Review: Life After Yes by Aidan Donnelley Rowley

One of the authors I read recommended Life After Yes: A Novel by Aidan Donnelley Rowley on her Twitter feed so I decided to check it out. I was pleased.

Life After Yes follows a young corporate lawyer through her post-engagement freak out. Rowley does a great job creating complex characters. We learn about their relationships with their parents, her drinking problem and the complexities of their relationships from side comments or nuanced references. Reading this novel felt like peeling back an onion layer by layer.  It's a great read to cozy up to on the plane or by the fire.