cooking

Can’t live without Thursday schmursday + Grilled caprese salad sandwich

July 11, 2013 by Edlyn

As much as I claimed I’d like to be the girl laying under the covers watching movies and TV shows on her laptop all day, I am far from that. Missing socks taunt me. So do puppy dogs and thoughts. I willingly get out of bed in the hope that I can be more productive. Nobody forces me to do anything. I just carry on along, like this is one big vacation and trying to shake off that feeling. We got work to do, sister!

But it’s summer and I just want to go outside.

Today I counted the number of times I’ve written in the past few months and I know already that it’s not as much as when I first started in January. I might have found a rhythm. It certainly feels like one. Again, nobody forces me to do this, and I don’t want to force it on myself. As if on cue, the sun came back out and I just want to take in all these days. To feel like this is another version of home instead of pining for one I can’t have as yet. I notice I’ve been here for a year a lot more when things that happened last year seem to be happening again. It sure doesn’t feel that long.

Then I go back to the beginning. If I actually did stay in bed longer than the morning called. I would watch the entire (I mean every single episode) of Grey’s Anatomy. I stopped watching it because I got tired of people dying and leaving (if you haven’t already noticed, change makes me uneasy). If I ever managed to pull that off, I would eventually get to Season 9. Then I’d hear this:

The more we’re willing to accept what is and not what we thought…We’ll find ourselves exactly where we belong.

My line of the year. My work in progress from the moment I finish a night’s rest. The reason I can’t exactly stay in bed all day.

(SERIOUSLY? Seriously.)

AND IT’S SUMMER!! If it sounds like I’m yelling, it’s because I am.

This made the Thursday list of can’t live without because I’m a genius! I’ve made this sandwich three times this week (today being the third time) and I like it more with each bite. It’s simple to modify it to fit your diet and it sells itself, which makes me wonder why I’m trying.

Ingredients

4-6 slices of bread (a crusty loaf of fresh bread would work great in this recipe. I would’ve loved to use a poi {a Goan bread} but this local bread did well)
1 ripe tomato, sliced (I used a medium-sized steak tomato)
2 cloves of crushed garlic
1 log of mozzarella cheese, sliced (as thick as the tomatoes)
A handful of whole basil leaves
2 tbsp olive oil plus more for brushing
Light sprinkle of salt, to taste

Slice the tomatoes and place them in a bowl with the crushed garlic. Coat them with the 2 tbsp of olive oil and cover the bowl. Let it sit until you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Slice the cheese, the bread (if it needs slicing) and pick the basil leaves off the stalk. If you feel like you’re done, you’re almost right. There’s just a little bit more work to do. Do you like the sound my whip makes? Take the bread and brush both sides of it with olive oil. Not as much as you would do with butter but somewhere in between. Once that’s done, you can now start assembling the sandwich. As the Caprese salad usually goes, so shall your sandwich. First place some tomato slices on the bread, top it with some mozzarella and then add the basil leaves on the top*. I can’t tell you how much to put in each sandwich but have faith in your ability. Season lightly with salt (or pepper) if you like.

Now it’s sandwich grilling time. If you have a stove-top griddle with a press to flatten the sandwhich, now’s a good time to put it to use. I don’t so I have to make use of my handy-dandiness to get the job done. Set your stove to medium heat with a regular non-stick frying pan on the top. When it gets hot enough, place the prepared sandwich on it. Using the back of the spatula or a lid that would fit within the frying pan, apply pressure to the sandwich so that the insides fuse together with the melted cheese. Hold it down for 3 minutes or more if you like it grilled beyond golden brown. Reduce the stove temperature slightly and repeat the same pressure trick to the other side of the sandwich until it’s grilled and the cheese is oooey-gooey running out slightly from the sides. This should also take 3 minutes.

Your insalata caprese sandwich is ready to eat. You’ve got the power. Can’t you feel it?

Feel it!

(*You can also arrange it like: Tomato, cheese, basil with all three slightly overlapping the other. The filling might hold together better. I just thought of this and I’m going to try it on Matt’s sandwich in a while.)

Can’t live without summer love Thursday

June 13, 2013 by Edlyn

The title of this post was going to be something so pretentious. I am so glad I cannot be such a fluffy pie snobby penguin sometimes. I would have no idea what to do with myself. One side of me would say things written by the Queen of England herself and then the other would jump out of a tree like Robin Hood and roll her eyes in sloooowwww-motion. Everybody would need to see this. The eye roll, I mean. It would be a spectacle. As for me, I’d contend with being somewhat of an enigma.

What I’m trying to say right now is also an enigma. Pretentious. YES. It’s all coming back to me now. Made you think of the Celine Dion song.

This past Sunday I made a grown-up decision to finally walk through a (here it comes) farmer’s market in Seattle. The walking through required prior bus-hopping and subsequent hill climbing. Such is this pretty city that was once full of shit. ATTENTION: THIS IS NOT A GRIPE. It was a good choice considering marital life partner numero 1 was going to be doing taxes and I was happy to stand back and give him breathing room. “Take as much room as you need marital life partner numero 1. I just need to go over here for jusssst a sec…BYE.”

Seattle has seven..count it…seven such markets and in the course of my wandering/walking/getting stranded this past year, I’ve slowly learnt what goes where. Cities are totally my thing. I love how you can never look lost because people mostly don’t give a crap. You can wear the strangest clothes, smell like a sewer, not comb your hair, forget your umbrella and before somebody realises how “unfit for consumption” you are, you’re just another face. Maybe they’ll go home and tell their cat about it or you’ll just fade away in another “let’s meet for Happy Hour”. Magical words.

I found the Broadway market through various connections I made in my head about where it could be. It was perfect! Lots of summer manifested itself into food from the earth, making me nod my head in approval. Something about a piece of land enveloped by concrete, with its inhabitants fawning over squash and strawberries on the streets makes me wonder why it’s not always this way. Let’s tear it all down and only take what we deserve. We could all be happy everyday of the week and not just on *insert odd day of the week and time I’m never going to remember here*. Food would be free. Nothing fancy. We would never have to say “farmer’s market” or memorise the schedule ever again!

That and I won’t have to feel like I’m being snooty pants. I’m really not. Local plants are just delicious.

Summer squash soup with parsley pesto

I have a recipe for vegetable stock on this blog but I didn’t use it in this recipe. Reason? Convenience mostly. What I did was put 1 onion, 1 tomato, 4 cloves of garlic, 1 potato and 3 stalks of rosemary along with salt and pepper in 3 cups of water. My take on a vegetable stock, if you want to call it that. I really wanted to make this soup and these were the ingredients that I had with me. Might as well, right?

Ingredients

3 cups vegetable stock
2 cups summer squash, cut into cubes
1 cup wild onions, trim most of the green part. Just use about 1/2 and inch of it with the bulb. Red or white onions will work just as well.
1 cup potatoes, cubed. I used Yukon Gold
2 cloves garlic, chopped roughly
Salt and pepper to taste
Parsley pesto to garnish (In the recipe from last Thursday)
Olive oil

Dial your stove to medium heat and put a soup pot on it. To the pot, add some olive oil. You will need enough to saute the onions. Swirl the oil around and once it’s hot, add the onions and garlic to it. Cook till the onions are soft. Add the potato and squash and coat them well with the onions, stirring for just a minute. Next add the stock and bring it to a boil. Once it hits the boiling point, reduce the heat and let it simmer with the lid closed. Make sure it’s constantly simmering until the squash and potato turn soft. Once this happens, take off the heat and let it cool.

Bring out the food processor and in 2 batches, blend the squash till it turns into a smooth puree. You can also leave it slightly chunky if you prefer it that way. Once it’s all done, pour the soup back into the pot and heat it up to simmer. Taste for salt and add more or less or nothing accordingly. As soon as you notice the soup starting to bubble, take it off the stove. It’s ready.

Serve it up into a bowl and stir in some parsley pesto and croutons. Season with pepper and enjoy the summer in a bowl.

Baby bok choy and mushroom stir-fry + Rubbish

May 21, 2013 by Edlyn

Ask me what I did yesterday. Go ahead do it. I have a great answer.

What did you do yesterday, Edlyn?

I watched videos of dumpster diving. I then proceeded to imagine how I would carry away wasted (and perfect!) food in my bag. I don’t have a car or a bicycle so I would have to take the bus. I would like to do in the morning preferably even though it’s best to look around in the night. Less chance of being asked unecessary questions like “Why are you trespassing?” To which I’d reply, “I’m here to make a citizen’s arrest.” (I’ve watched TOO much Michael Moore.)

My friend (can I call you that?) Natalia is completely responsible for this. Everything she says makes me want to be friends with her and yes, she can drive a point straight to your heart. Apples and Anarchy, I like everything you say. You make me look at food as more than just food. You started me right at the beginning, from a tiny seed and mostly, you’re just very cool.

I also hadn’t heard of My New Roots until Natalia gushed about her. I looked her up and I agree, Sarah Britton is quite a classy lady. I also love that she lives in Denmark. With that, I’m allowing two Internet corners to collide (as they should) and dedicating this recipe to a friend (I’m calling you that) who perfectly described dumpster diving as “an edgier version of Christmas”.

(Though I feel it’s a lot closer to Easter that way…)

I followed this recipe I urge you to leave me enough nasty comments saying I should stop putting walnuts on everything. I didn’t even realise I did this until I looked at the picture. It must’ve been good though because I ate two whole servings.

Adapted from Sarah Britton’s My New Roots

Ingredients

210 gms baby bok choy, washed and sliced into strips
100 gms/20 small crimini mushroom, dirt brushed off and quartered
10 gms/3 cloves garlic, cut fine
Peanut oil
1 tbsp lite soy sauce
1/2 tbsp honey
Cooked brown rice noodles
Sesame seeds and walnuts (yes), to garnish

Cook the brown rice noodles or any Asian noodles or grains of your choice and keep aside.

Cut and have all your ingredients ready since stir-fry recipes require you to move a bit faster that usual. Heat the peanut oil in a large skillet over medium heat and throw in the garlic. Stir it for about a minute of until it begins to brown slightly.

To this add the mushrooms, honey and half the soy sauce. Make sure the mushrooms are coated well and cook until the liquid ingredients have been soaked into the fungi (fungi being the mushrooms). Not all of the liquid will disappear but a lot of it will.

As soon as the mushrooms are ready, add the remaining 1/2 tbsp of soy sauce and bok choy. Give it about 2-3 quick stirs. Immediately take the skillet off the stove and let the bok choy wilt, stirring as it gets there. About 3-4 minutes later, the bok choy will have gotten limp and that means, it’s done.

Which means you get to mix it with the noodles.

Which also means you get to garnish it with sesame seeds.

Yes, yes, I know!

And walnuts.

*Other Apples and Anarchy must reads are this, this and this.

Thoughts + Spring greens and marinated mushroom spring rolls

May 15, 2013 by Edlyn

Thoughts when I wake up these days:

Should I eat? Maybe I should run. But what about writing? Maybe I’ll run later but I’m going to write soon after breakfast. Oh hell where did these dishes come from? Okay so I’ll wash this right after breakfast because I’m going to dirty more stuff anyway. Frying pans, wash yourself sometime. Try. What should I eat? An egg? Sounds good. Maybe two sound better. I have pesto (I always have pesto) I can eat it with and some mushrooms. Now I feel like drinking coffee. WHAT ABOUT YOUR RUN?! I guess I’ll have to wait two hours or so. Don’t want a side ache. I can’t remember when I said I would write but I’m thinking my brain will be more serotonin-y after and I’ll write an awesome post. I can even think about what to start with while running. Yes! Great plan. Eggs, eggs.

*Crack* Over easy, make toast, scoop pesto, chop mushrooms and 3 minutes tops and I’m ready to eat and yay, coffee is ready too. Sugar, cream, breakfast time. Should I take a picture? Nah I’ll take one when I make this for the 18,0000 time.

(10 minutes later)

This breakfast rocked. Shit. Dishes. Bleah.

(15 minutes and clean dishes later)

Should I go back to sleep? NO! The dogs need to go for a walk and all the other unpleasant but necessary stuff. Look at Chevy, he’s killing me with his sad dog face. Drama queen.

(15 minutes and two relieved dogs later)

Mmmmm I want cake. Run, remember? Whatever, I’ll just hydrate. Maybe I should write while waiting. Wait, I should FaceTime with Goa.

(45 minutes to 1 hour of FaceTime later)

I’m hungry.

This is what I eat because apart from the cutting of carrots, everything is almost always cut and in the refrigerator ready to go. It’s this new thing I’m trying to allow me to not get overwhelmed by the day ahead, especially when it comes to food. If you read what I just wrote, you’ll see that it’s working quite well. What? You don’t see it? Muggles.

Ingredients

5 sheets of rice paper or tapioca starch paper
2 1/2 carrots (110 gms), cut into matchsticks or grated
1 avocado, seed and skin removed and mashed in a bowl
1/2 cup onion, chopped fine
50 gms spring salad greens (or as much as you’d like to put in each roll)
Juice of half a lemon
Salt and pepper to taste

To marinate the mushroom

3 large crimini mushrooms (3/4 cup), sliced vertically
1 garlic pod, grated fine
1 tsp honey
1 tsp rice vinegar
1 tsp peanut oil
1 tsp lite soy sauce
1 scallion, chopped fine

I am having the most difficult time finding my words today BUT I’ll cry my river some other day.Today I will attempt to explain the subtle art of mushroom marination.

Just kidding, it’s not an art.

Take the stem off the mushroom and have the smooth side of the cap facing up. Slice it fine in one direction and put it in a bowl. Chop up the stems you took off as well and mix with the rest. Don’t want the stem to feel bad. I mean it only supported a huge head of fungus till us humans could rightfully consume it. Anthropomorphisation deactivated. Sorry.Add the rest of the ingredients to the mushrooms and let it sit for up to 3 hours or overnight too if you’ve planned in advance, unlike me.

Mash the avocado in a bowl and mix the onions in it. Add salt and pepper to taste. Wash the salad greens dry and then squeeze some lemon juice on top of them. Mix well and then go on to the carrots.

Okay so you might be wondering why I’ve listed 2 1/2 carrots aka 2.5 carrots in the ingredients. It’s because at the 2.5 point, I turned my index finger into a filet. No big deal. I iced, lemon juiced and bandaged it but not before reminding myself how much I really really reaaaallly really hate cutting carrots! Next time I make this, I’m grating them. Or maybe I should just learn a new trick. Like carrot mind control.

Once you cut the carrots into matchsticks, set them aside and start working on assembling the grand finale: FOOD. I’ve explained in this post (after the fourth picture) how to turn solid rice paper into a malleable spring roll that you can fill and roll. Have a clean basin of warm water and a damp, clean tea towel ready. That and here’s the link again, just in case you missed it.

On the side of the spring roll closest to you, spread on the avocado. A little less than a tablespoon of it should be fine. On top of it, put on the marinated mushrooms. Then put together a set of spring salad greens in between your thumb and index finger and place it over the mushrooms. Within this sort of cocoon of leaves, lay on a few matchstick carrots. You need to have enough for four other spring rolls so even them out that way.

Roll up the rice paper tight but not too tight and I think they’re ready. Yeah. I’ll go now. I might have to run.

PS: Other great fillers for this are cucumber, basil, chicken (3 of these had oven-baked chicken in them for the dude boy) or even tofu. If you have better or more out-of-the-box suggestions, let me know.

Look ma, no hands + Roasted red pepper lentil soup

May 13, 2013 by Edlyn

I saw a lot of mothers yesterday. Dark, pretty, wrinkled, big hair, soft smiles, heart-melting and there. Alert, present and there. There’s a reason why your troubles can melt away in their presence and another reason why they absolutely must. I didn’t want to get lost in the whirl of mother tributes (all 1000% beautiful) yesterday so I let my thoughts sit for a while. I looked at each and every one of them and not a single thing annoyed me. I saw all these young women talking about the inspiration that their mothers are and felt thankful that I get to feel the same way.

My mother was born in the 60s. My youngest sister looked most like her as a baby but there is this one picture from her pre-teen years where we could be the same person. I’m glad the similarities end there because I could never be like her. My sisters and I used to try when we grew tall enough to reach the top of her cupboard for the keys (by standing on the bed). Lots of lipstick and nail polish later, we grew out of it. To her, I’m sure we never will.

I couldn’t buy you a present this time mama (trust issues with postal service) but wait 6 months and there I’ll be. As for yesterday, the best I could do was go watch the Seattle Rock Orchestra play songs from Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Heart Club Band and think about you all through. That’s how I always remember you, singing along to U. Frankie’s guitar with dada and the rest and wondering if I could ever be that brave.

I try mother. Thank you for letting me. Happy one day after Mother’s Day day. Today and everyyyy other day in the year, thank you for letting me dream. <3

To my sisters. I order you to make this for our mother. If you don’t, you’ll both remember you took her to see Star Trek. Star. Trek. Your mother. It’s like the time Ignatius and John gave Roma a bottle of jam for her birthday.

Ingredients

1 cup of yellow and black lentils, moong (mung) beans and kidney beans (they have to be soaked overnight* in water before being cooked)
1/2 tsp turmeric powder (optional)
1 cup vegetable stock
1 cup water
1 cup roasted red pepper sauce
1/2 cup coconut milk
Salt to taste

To garnish, if you must

Toasted walnuts
Croutons
Parsley
Squeeze of lemon juice

As of right now, the Internet has decided to go bye-bye and I’m writing this on a little post-it note app thing on the computer. I feel incredibly empowered, why thank you for asking.

The lentils and beans don’t care. They have one life to live. At this point, you should have soaked a mix of them in water the night before making this.

If you like more yellow and less black, soak it like that.

If you like only yellow, soak only that.

If you like black beans and nothing else, soak black beans and nothing else.

If the moong beans walk into a bar and the bar doesn’t serve moong beans, tell them you’ll soak them next time.

My point is, do as you wish with proportions and colours and shapes. This lentil bean crazy town all cook more or less the same way. Like pasta!

Take the lentil bean mix and put them in a pot of vegetable stock and water on medium high heat to bring it to a quick simmers. Sprinkle the turmeric powder in the water if you’re using it. Once the pot starts to simmer, turn the heat down low to a slow simmer and let it cook. If the water dries up too fast, add more to keep the lentils and beans covered till they’re done. The lentils should be ready in 20-25 minutes and you’ll be able to tell that they are when they’re tender and no longer crunchy. Season with salt depending on how much is already in the stock.

Leave the pot on the stove and add the red pepper sauce to it. Let it have fun times with the lentil+beaners for 5 minutes. Next add the coconut milk to this and cook for 5 more minutes. Keep stirring throughout this process. Take it off the heat, taste and season with salt (if required) and a crack of pepper.

If you want to eat this with croutons, cut some bread into cubes, drizzle them with olive oil and place them in a single layer on a baking sheet in a 350 degree F oven. Take them out when they’re in the golden to almost brown stage. You can also make them on a pan on the stove by taking the same olive oil coated bread squares and stirring them until they turn the right colour.

For the toasted walnuts, I’m too lazy to type over an already amazing bunch of instructions so go here.

Sprinkle with parsley if you have any and squeeze some lemon juice over before digging in.

(*Lentils and beans go a bit crazy by increasing in size when soaked overnight. The 1 cup measure I used is post-soaking. If you soak 1/2 cup, you should get 1 cup the next morning)

Bunny in a hat + Something to snack on.

April 17, 2013 by Edlyn

The more I have to do, the more I want to do something completely else. This is a good thing because I’ve had a chance to draw a bit, read a lot and watch too many movies. I’ve learnt to enjoy all this time I have to myself. I’m genuinely thankful for the pauses I get to take and that I get to look out a window more than I do a computer screen. I could want a lot but right now I have all that I want. My needs are immaterial.

The roomie has been sick so I’ve been force-feeding him tea all day since yesterday. And when I want somebody to drink their tea, I will put my foot down and make them. I’m really bossy about the temperature of the brew and also, it’s for his own good. He doesn’t complain. I just want him to get better so we can go on planning pretend adventures again.

This week the bunnies got to go on adventures too. I was happy for them. They get to take flight because of me. Lucky rascals.

I also thought I’d share with you this lunch snack idea, if you ever have the munchies. It’s so easy to make and all you should have in your kitchen is some:

Crusty bread
Garlic
Cherry or grape tomatoes,
Dried oregano
Olive oil
Sea salt

This is my take on bruschetta. Very subtle flavours (as it should be) and quite a rubbish photo I took with a cellphone. I wasn’t planning on blogging it but lunch ideas are important and so I will.

Quarter the tomatoes and remove the seeds. Place them in a small bowl and pour olive oil over to simply coat them. Sprinkle the dried oregano on the top and place in the refrigerator.

Take the slices of bread (as many as you’d like to use) and brush them well with olive oil. Cut a clove of garlic in half and rub it over the olive oil covered side of the bread. Heat the oven to 350 degrees F and place the bread on a baking tray in the middle of the oven for 10-15 minutes. The bread should be toasted.

Place the tomatoes on the top and sprinkle very lightly with salt. You only want it to bring out the inherent sweetness of the tomatoes and not overwhelm them. Trust me, you’ll enjoy the flavours.

A few years ago, I’d have never imagined I’d enjoy simple things this much but it’s been a journey. I’ve slowly realised that my impatience puts little into the universe as much as my perseverance does. I do want a lot of things for my life but I’m happy not to hurry them. I am still a go-getter. This is not me submitting to my handicaps (which if you ask me right now, it’s only being unable to drive legally). I’m just learning to pace myself. Let my mind rest. I have a great partner who always says, quite fleetingly, “Do whatever you want!” In an instant my mind rushes to so many places with an instant belief that yes, I can. But why? I don’t know why I’d want to spend hours working my way up to a dream when right here right now is the dream I’m kinda, sorta already living.

It aint grand. It’s no spectacle. My name isn’t on billboards but in small corners of this temporary home, a new day is a damn good deal.

Hair flip. And cue.

Can’t live without rainbows Thursday

April 11, 2013 by Edlyn

I’m tired. I’m tired. I’m tired. My eyes want to be closed but my brain doesn’t want to be asleep. It’s cool. We can all have breathing deep kinda days, can’t we?

Alrighty then.

I do love getting off on the right foot. It much better than getting off on the wrong foot, something I’m also quite good at. What I don’t want to do is not brag about my Thursdays. Back in the day, Thursday was my solace, my day to forget time and my one and only weekend. It’s tough working for a newspaper. People seem to want the news everyday and when you’re not the boss, you don’t get to pick which day you want to flip them ALL off.

I picked Thursday. I would’ve rather had Tuesday, my original weekend but Thursday was just laying there, inviting me in. I rolled my eyes and took it. Thursday can be quite dramatic.

This Thursday (I mean the one I’m sitting in right now), was very dramatic. By that I mean, nothing happened. I didn’t get my day off which technically doesn’t exist anymore. I’m glad it doesn’t. I was the only one (well, Claire too for a while) who couldn’t say TGIF. I’m not going to be a day basher. I’ve always loved all days equally. If you’re not living your life on Monday or Tuesday or Wednesday or this day of Friday, then you’re not doing much of this living thing at all. I object to not living. The alternative is quite unpleasant.

As Awesomepants just said, “bloggers need holidays too.” I agree. But today is Thursday.

It needs me.

Ingredients

1 bunch of rainbow carrots (Count 7 carrots in all)
2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
2 tbsp maple syrup (you can also use honey)
Sea salt and pepper to taste

Preheat your oven to 425 degrees F which in my house takes eight Thursdays. Days I’ll never get back again, but this is something I have to do. For the fans.

(edit: I didn’t peel the carrots. I just rinsed them well and dried them off. You can peel them before of after they’re roasted. Your choice)

On a baking sheet lined with foil, line up the carrots like prisoners and rub them with olive oil. Pour the balsamic vinegar next and then add the salt and pepper to taste. For me, 1 tsp of salt plus a little bit more was enough. 1 tsp plus a little more….you don’t get instructions like this anymore, do you?

It’s better if you do not.

Close the foil over the carrots and place the tray on the middle rack of the oven for 30 minutes. At the 30-minute mark, pull the tray out of the oven and drizzle on the maple syrup. Leave the foil open this time around and place it back in the oven for 15 more minutes. The carrots are ready when they’re caramelised and you can pierce a butter knife easily through the largest carrot.

That was easy. My love for roasted carrots and beets is insatiable so it better be easy.

Serve with quinoa or just eat them the way they are. I ate all 7. Once and a half. I know what I’m talking about.

Hope you had a more relaxing Thursday. If you’re in India you’re over it and wondering what the heck I’m talking about.

Oh nothing much. TGIF.

Ebb and flow

April 9, 2013 by Edlyn

I’m a firm believer in grating cheese over food that doesn’t impress me with its taste. I feel like this is how I want to live my life. Grating cheese over things and impressing myself. Yes, I do take the easy way out but that’s because not everything I make is Page 1-top post-hit publish worthy. If I was good at vomiting percentages, I’d say 60% of what I make tastes a lot like goat cheese. The rest is me being possessed by evil spirits and cooking things that see me spending 10 minutes staring at my taste tester.

“Is it good?”

“Do you like it?”

“You’re lying”

“It’s not that good.”

“Give me the truth, man. That’s all I ask.”

To tell you the cold hard truth, it hasn’t been that good this week. Either I’m realising that I wasn’t made with a flair for cooking or I just have temporary afternoon blahs. Or I feel too plain and I want to step up my game. If I have to, I have no idea how. Do you have such thoughts too? I assume it comes with the territory…of coming up with something new each week.

I thought about how I’d like to be Miss Spice of Life in this world and I came up with a few ideas. To everybody not reading this right now, this is me thinking out loud and motivating myself to focus on this experiment as a whole and not a day-day thing.

– Stay simple and true to your ingredients. It takes a lot for me to say “NO, I will let this lemon be a lemon and flavour my cold water right now” when all I can think of is “PIEEEEE”. Nothing wrong with that except you tend to scatter your thoughts to 70 different areas instead of taking a seat and sipping on you lemonade and feeling so cool that you can whatever you want if you just breathe.

– Reminisce food experiences. Those meals are the ones you yearn for. Find your own special way to recreate them and make them your own.

FINALLY.

– Cook the food you love to eat. If this week is all about the dal (yellow lentils) and rice, then so be it. Yesterday it was slightly different. I couldn’t stop thinking about the rainbow carrots in the vegetable drawer. They were sitting there and being pretty and I was scouring the web for recipes that would do the most justice to them. I couldn’t wait much longer so I went ahead and cooked them in the way I knew best. I would eat this 10 times over if I could.

I will have this recipe up for you sooner than you think.

In other news, I have to do a test tomorrow. For a job. Spectacular. Thankfully it requires very little getting out of bed and a lot of tea on tap.

In other other news, these guys are making my life just when I was about to give up on them.

Hey little ones, I will eat you very soon. Without cheese because that’s how good you’ll be.

Super Sunday eggs + Resurrection rice cakes

April 7, 2013 by Edlyn

Hello another Sunday where I’m ready to pass out from eating a much too heavy breakfast in the morning, doing nothing in the afternoon, and then shamelessly passing out like I had initially planned. No wait. That’s not the shameless part. There is something worse than that. It takes me back to Goa when I lived with my parents, followed this Sunday routine except after I woke up, I expected more food.

Seriously, Indian children are so spoilt in the parents making them food department. No matter how old you get, your mother and in my case my father too, always want to feed you. So yes, blame them if you must. What horrible parents they are for wanting to feed 27-year-old children (Hi Jane. I meant you).

Gathering whatever was left of my will to survive, I climbed up the stairs from the lower part of my house and made my way into the kitchen. As soon as this happened, my mother would appear from nowhere as if she was standing behind me all along and say, “Hungry? Wait I have to make rice.” Oh okay mama, I’ll just pretend you said pulao and that my stomach is not ready to crush every ounce of my brain that’s telling me it’s stuff your face you lazy arse o’clock. The lazy arse being me, of course.

My mother, never disappointed. She’s the best rice-maker I know and to say I’ve learnt to make amazing pulao from her would be a big lie. I know nothing about the first of it and if I do, it’s purely by chance. From watching her I learnt to wash the rice (twice) thing, the one-cup-rice-two-cups-water thing, the simmer-boil-close-open-stir thing, and the drain-the-water-once-you’re-done thing. Sometimes I get all these “things” mixed up perfectly.

As for the pulao, I can make my mother proud. I don’t know how. I’ve never bothered learning about it as much as I worried about biting into a cardamom pod while eating.

The things that take you back home…

I miss your pulao, mother!

Super Sunday eggs + Resurrection rice cakes

Claire, I stole the rice cakes idea from you. That’s right. I took it. You were asleep and I said “To hell with her!” Don’t feel bad. If I can make the pain go away, I’ll say two things: I love the names “resurrection risotto cakes” and Donna Chinona. You inspire me to copy you. Feel better?

You’ll need one cup of leftover risotto or vegetable pulao, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1tbsp plus a little more buckwheat flour (can also substitute with all-purpose flower) and some salt and pepper to taste. For the side (if you prefer sides), you can use slices of tomato and salad greens drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Take a cup of the pulao and mix it with an egg, buckwheat flour, Parmesan cheese and some pepper. Ideally you rice should already be salted because it’s made from leftovers but I don’t like to predict these things. If you need more salt, don’t let me stop you. You should be able to make about 3 small rice cakes or 2 big ones. The cakes should be easy to shape so if 1 tbsp buckwheat flour isn’t enough, add a teaspoon more and see if it does the trick.

The end.

Haha.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick or stick frying pan and gently add the rice cakes to it. Like a sniper. Three to four minutes later, turn them over. They should be golden brown on the cooked side and easy to turn over as well. It’s easy when the bottom is cooked. These things are connected and written into the fibre of the universe. I might sound like I’m making it all up but I’m not. Repeat this on the other side and take it off the stove and place it on a paper towel or plate. Paper towel to soak the extra oil or plate because you used olive oil and your worries should have disappeared by now.

In the same pan, crack an egg and cook until the white is set. You can cook the egg as you choose, I’m not going to be an egg Nazi.

Decorate your plate with edible plant-based nourishment (tomatoes and salad greens) and breakfast is ready.

I’m going back to bed.

(PS: I will have a mother’s special vegetable pulao recipe up on here this week. It’s only fair)

Can’t live without sweet potato sandwich Thursday

April 4, 2013 by Edlyn

Something very strange happened yesterday. I went over to my neighbour’s flat and knocked on her door. She opened it. This is not unusual. Well maybe it is a little bit in most of America but in this case, it’s boring. I know her. We’ve met. At a bus stop, but yet, we’ve done the this and that required for initial human contact.

After talking for a bit, she turned on the TV, went to the red logo magical streaming thing, and hit play on a show I never thought I’d watch: Desperate Housewives. Ick. Sorry Ranvijay and everybody else who worships the Cherry or Berry that created these women, I can’t help rolling my eyes at some of the stuff that comes up.

And my eyes really hurt.

As it typically goes, my sweet neighbour asked me if I watched these women and their secret everything lies. As it typically goes with questions I don’t want to answer, I did my diplomatic “Ohhh my mother and sister used to watch it. Big fans.” Why I feel the need to not disappoint her is beyond me. Maybe I thought she loved her role as a stay at home mother so much that watching a desperate housewife was something very personal for her. Considering the phase of life I find myself in, that fictitious world it’s 100000% something I’d like to pretend never existed in my memory.

Ever.

Thank you.

Because some days sandwiches are the last thing I want to be known for and other days they’re my only friends.

Because some days (most days) I feel like I’m too young for this and other days my stretchy pants feel like a very good deal.

Because some days I just want my own money so I can book airplane tickets to places I close my eyes and point to and other days I can’t get past the door.

Because some days I want to deny Desperate Housewives and the fact that I know their names (Mother, sister, remember?) and other days Susan Delfino Season 7 episode *I don’t know*.

Okay it was episode 3. I know because I googled it.

Now leave me alone.

Roasted spicy sweet potato goat cheese and pesto sandwich

The in-house carnivore loved this sandwich. In this case his opinion matters because he is the in-house carnivore and I am the in-house lentil-eating, rice-munching, spinach-grazing non in-house carnivore. And I unhealthily heart taters. Precious. (Movie reference. Name it, win a lifetime of photographs I take of myself in the bathroom mirror).

Though I have added quantities for the spices (and cheese and pesto), it complete depends on you and how much more or less you want to add. The fennel seeds add a very “refreshing” flavour, the cumin adds spicy smokiness and the red pepper flakes add heat. The goat cheese adds happiness and the pesto justifies the goat cheese, plus MOAR. Own it.

Ingredients

4 slices of bread (I used whole wheat Pane Francese {it’s like a baguette but with more volume} and made two 6 inch sandwiches)
1 sweet potato
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 oz goat cheese (at room temperature)
2 oz cilantro basil pesto
2 handfuls of winter greens washed, dried and tossed with lemon juice

Finally, I begin!

Peel the sweet potato and chop it…erm. I forgot the word. What I mean to say is you have to cut it the opposite of length-wise, into the little circles about 1/4 inch thick. I am the best recipe-writer in the world right now.

Thankfully I have a picture for it.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, which is my house takes 10 days and by that time I’ve paid for 8 deli sandwiches from the corner store. I kid. Prepare a baking sheet by covering it with foil and brushing it lightly with olive oil. In a bowl, toss the cut sweet potato in olive oil, and the spices + the salt. Place them on the sheet and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes. At the 15-minute mark, you need to turn each slice of potato so it cooks on the other side too. You want it to be tender on the inside and slightly golden brown delish on the outside. As you can see in the picture above, the potato slices were a bit uneven in thickness. It didn’t matter too much except for the smaller slices which cooked and got blackened too much on the edges. No. Big. Deal. You will have enough for 2 sandwiches either way.

Set the oven to broil (500 degrees F), slice the bread LENGTH-WISE (THANK YOU) and place it in the hot oven face down. Leave it in for 3 minutes and get the other sandwich fillings ready to fill ‘er up. I’m going to be pretentious of the order of things. I urge you to rebel. I’m fickle like that.

Spread the cilantro-pesto basil on the base of the sandwich. YUM.
Sweet potato goes on top.
Lemony greens.
Goat cheese on the very top. Go thick or go home.
Why does this sound the way it sounds?
It’s ready to eat.
It can sound any way it wants right now.

Your sandwich is ready. You don’t need to read this anymore.

GO.

Eat.