Life is more than the Cubicle

I'm SO EXCITED

and a little afraid that I'm getting old because kitchen appliances really make me happy... 

Anyway. This is what I cooked tonight:

The first recipe is chicken with pea shoots from Nigel Slater's Kitchen Diaries (UK Amazon) or Notes from the Larder (US Amazon). It's just diced chicken with garlic, ginger, peppers, 5 spice powder and pea shoots. Very easy and tasty stir-fry

Then I remembered that I had a kabocha squash in the fridge that I picked up because it was super cheap at Mitsuwa ($2 for a half squash). However, I had no idea how to cook it so I just did was is generally the easiest: roasted it. 

It has a very mild flavor, almost like a very very mild buttersquash. I might have over-cooked it. Will have to try again.

Finally, I made the shallow-poached salmon recipe from Alice Water's The Art of Simple Food and made the butter sauce to go on top. Yum. Delicious and decadent. I bought the salmon this morning from a stand at the farmer's market. Can't beat the taste of super fresh food. 

I bought some flowers from whole foods to accent one of the clothing tables. I thought there would be just a few pieces of clothing to display. Little did I know, my house would be buried under clothing. 

A display of pretty jewelry from Stella and Dot courtesy of Wendy. These pieces went FAST. 

I made some appetizers including baked brie, fruit, trail mix, cheese and crackers and these little beauties above. I found a recipe for parmesan toast with prosciutto and fig jam and just had to try it. I even got the fig jam for free from Whole Foods. The checker told me to try it out as a sample and let him know if I liked it. I was stunned. I might have stammered a bit but I appreciated his generosity. The toasts were delicious.

A week ago, I traveled up to SF to spend the day with my wonderful friends Travis and Ashley. We were celebrating Travis's birthday weekend (as you do, naturally) and kicked off the day with brunch at Foreign Cinema. 

Okay, just a disclaimer. This food. This food. There are no words. Hold on to your shorts, kids. It's going to get delicious up in here. 

Shigoku oysters. Sweet. Slightly briney. Beautifully tasty.

1 of 2 AMAZING pecan maple sticky buns. I rarely eat sweets and these left me breathless. So there's my vote for sticky buns.

We demolished those buns

Smoked salmon with mustard, toast and caviar

Duck confit with poached eggs. There was also bacon but I forgot to get a picture of the bacon. :(

Spicy calamari. The first calamari that I've had that wasn't fried! It was marinated in a habanero sauce so it had a good amount of kick to it.

Lavender goat cheese with capers. Lavender goat cheese. Guys, lavender goat cheese. From free range goats. From Petaluma. Lavender goat cheese. From happy goats.

After brunch we rolled our way around town to gather necessities for the beach. Those necessities naturally included a bottle of wine, some warm clothes, and a few logs for a bonfire. Unfortunately, Ocean Beach has a total of 5 fire pits so we were unable to have the bonfire. 

We did have the wine. And a quick nap on the beach.

Then it was off to warm up and find a bite to eat. First, we called a ramen shop that told us that there was no wait. When we got there, however, the wait somehow jumped up to 1.5 hours. We said, no thanks and yelped a backup. However, on the way to that backup, I turned the corner and spied the sign above. Then I turned to my fellow beer lover, Travis, and asked if I was hallucinating the sign. It was just meant to be. We finished up the day after a beer and some snacks which included mac and cheese, chicken wings, pork lettuce cups, and probably a few other things that I can't remember. 

Such a wonderful day in a beautiful city with some great friends

Now to regular life:

I haven't cooked much this past month. Mostly, I've just been making whatever was necessary for me to survive. I also came down with a bad cold and was down for the count for a week where the only thing I was eating was homemade chicken soup. Even while sick, I still have to feed myself. 

I came home one day and remembered that I had some leftover puff pastry from the baked brie so I decided to make an apple tart. 

The recipe is very simple: puff pastry, spread some fig jam on top, then top with apples, grate some lemon zest, and finish with a few pieces of butter. Fold the edges over. Then into the oven until golden brown and delicious.

Tonight, I had no idea what to make for dinner. I ended up buying ingredients to make chili but I wasn't inspired by the chili. I decided to try my hand at some green onion pancakes because I am thinking of making them for my church's young adult group for a dinner. I had to see how much time it would actually take to make each one.

The process itself is actually very easy. Just two cups of flour with 3/4 cup of boiling water whirled in the food processor. Then cut into fourths, rolled out and rolled up with sesame oil and green onions. The full recipe is here: Green Onion Pancakes

I fried them up

And devoured them. 

Just kidding, I only had one of them. I can exercise some restraint. Maybe. Sometimes. Depends on how I'm feeling. Okay, usually not. But can you blame me?

Hope you try out some of these recipes!