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Vegetarians need not read.

My husband has been cooking for me all week. What did i do to deserve this honor? I think he's a little sick of all my mostly vegetarian cooking, because it was a week of meat. i think i still have some heartburn.

we did lamb, we did chorizo, i went to ribfest and got a bucket of ribs that i couldn't finish (ok, that one was my fault). Our buddies at the butcher counter have never wrapped up that much meat for us, nevermind the pound of tuna steaks that are thawing the fridge.

i'm sure some cookbook has a fancy name for this, but the first adventure of the week was what i'm calling Best Beefaroni EVAR. also, probably the most expensive beefaroni you will ever make.

one pkg chorizo (2 sausages)
one onion, chopped
approx 8 oz fresh mushrooms
approx 1/2 lb penne, or other pasta of similar shape.

put water up to boil for pasta. meanwhile, in large skillet, cook the chorizo, breaking it up as much as possible. when it has given up some fat, add onion. if pan seems dry (it shouldn't!!), add some olive oil. Once the onion has cooked down a bit, add the mushrooms. just before straining pasta, add about a ladleful of the pasta water to the meat mixture. strain pasta, then toss with meat mixture. Enjoy!

now for something slightly different - divine, delicious, incredible lamb. Proof that the cutest, cuddliest animals taste the best (although rabbit fits that bill too).

Straight out of my well loved and well used Mediterranean, a Taste of the Sun, by Jacqueline Clark, is her Turkish Lamb Pilaf recipe. Lambiness, Ricyness, Nuttiness, Tomatoeness, what more does one need? the approx measurements are because, well, i don't measure real well.

few tbsp butter, margarine, or oil
1 large onion, chopped
1 lb lamb, cubed
1 tsp cinnamon
3-4 tbsp tomato paste or puree
3-4 tbsp chopped fresh parsley
1/2 cup dried apricots, chopped
3/4 cup pistachios, chopped (i didn't have a pistachios, but i did have Pecans. note to self: go buy some darn pistachios already! )
1 1/2 cups rice
salt & pepper
a little more parsley, to garnish (optional)

melt butter/oil in pan, add onion, cook till soft. add lamb, and brown on all sides. stir in the cinamon, stirring well. season with a bit of salt & pepper. cover and cook gently for 10 minutes. add the tomato paste and chopped parsley, and enough water to cover the meat. bring to a boil, then simmer, covered, for 45 min - 1 hr, until meat is cooked through and tender. add apricots, nuts, and rice, and about 1 1/2 cups water. stir and bring back to a boil, and simmer, covered, until rice is cooked. check periodically to see if you need to more water, otherwise your rice will burn (yes, this happended to me!). Serve hot or warm, garnished with parsley.

this dish was divine the night we ate it, full of incredibly lamby happiness. the nuts and the apricots melted into a sublime sweet blanket for the cinamon scented rice. apricots, cinamon and meat play very well together, like an ensemble of flute and bassoon (yes, i've heard that before. it's strange, but mesmerizing). This is a one skillet dish, and it pretty much takes care of itself. could be a good, if odd, thanksgiving side.

This weekend is Ribfest in town (it's exactly what it sounds like, a bunch of independent rib restaurants vying to become the cities favorite ribs place, loud country music, beer, and a good time), so we went there for lunch from work on friday. Having spent nearly 15 years of my life as a "no red meatetarian", i don't remember the last time i had ribs, i don't know if i like them, i don't know what they are supposed to taste like, and i sure as hell don't know how to eat them with out making a total mess on my nice work clothes. When a co-worker said "this place does a really good job!" i got in line with her, and randomly picked some rib tips off their menu. I'm still not sure if I like ribs. Sure, when ribfest comes along next August, i'll go, and i'll spend my $10 on something random and slathered in sweet bbq sauce, but i don't know if i need to eat them any more often than that. I brought the leftovers home to the husband, who said they were just average on his rib-meter.

tonight he's making me something with Tuna. i'm on side-dish duty, which is going to be something pearl oniony / italian beany, cuz that's what i got.

Books? finishing some stuff up and writing some reviews for SFRevu, as i mentioned in a previous entry, George R R Martin's 3rd Song of Ice and Fire novel is my reward for getting through all this other stuff, and writing reviews that i'm actually proud of.

first things first, the massive "to be read pile" from last week has diminished, magically, somehow.

Kitchen Confidential - after reading about 20 pages, i realized i've read this before! got it from the library a few years ago! it's still as funny, irreverent, and probably frightenly honest as before. My husband is reading it, and froths at the mouth at how much of an asshole he thinks Bourdain is. well, the guy admits in the introduction that he's an asshole, and that being on all those drugs probably isn't a good thing anyway.

Action Philosophers - doesn't take long to read a comic book. Although my brain melted around Sartre, and never recovered. Good book, but not as good as volume I. i may be thinking twice before buying volume III.

The Servants, by Michael Marshall Smith - was shorter than i expected. review forthcoming on SFRevu. eventually.

Soul Catcher - by Frank Herbert - not as bad as i feared, but not as good as i hoped. More a treatise on Stockholm Syndrome than much else. It also felt very much like Herbert's The White Plague, which wasn't written until a few years later, i think. Angry protaganist is going to teach the world a lesson! and does it, but spends the whole book trying to justify their decision. it's like watching a old skool slasher film through the eyes of the bad guy. It's also very strange reading a non-SF book from an SF author. you keep expecting something SF'y to happen, and then get all dissapointed when it doesn't. like reading Voices From the Street, by Philip K Dick, i was weirded out by how relatively normal it was.

I'm a little leery of the Michael Flynn book, The January Dancer, because i was so dissapointed (and bored!!) with his Eifelheim of a few years ago. So hopefully this one will be better, and different.

Martin's A Storm of Swords will be my reward for getting through the Flynn book.

So, by now you are wondering "why is her basil plant naked????" well, cuz i cut nearly all the basil off, to make pesto!

basil? check!
pine nuts? check! (wow! who actually has those?)
parmesan cheese? check!
garlic? duh!
olive oil? check!

everything you need to make pesto! well, except the food processor, which i don't have. Here is how people without a food processor make pesto: put 1/2 cup pinenuts in a ziplock back. push the air out, zip up, and roll over with a rolling pin a few times to mush the pine nuts. put chopped basil (about 2 cups loosely packed leaves), 1/2 cup parmesan cheese, and 2 minced cloves garlic in ziplock bag, close up, and roll over with the rolling pin. every few rolls, mush it around the bag. you want it blended as good as possible. when you're sick of mushing it around and rolling it, scrape it into a bowl. add some olive oil, and mix with a fork. add more olive oil, and mix with a fork. add some salt and pepper. mix in more oil (up to a 1/2 cup, total), till you get the consistency you want. be aware, it will dry out over time, so if you're going to keep it in the fridge for a few days, you might have to mix in a little more oil to get the consistency back to where you want.

now you can make my super duper Summer Pesto Pasta!
8 oz Penne or small Shells
small sweet pepper
two small zuchinni
salt & pepper
your awesome homemade pesto

while water is boiling for pasta, saute peppers & zucchs in some butter in a skillet. season with salt & pepper. make pasta. just before draining pasta, add a ladleful of pasta water to your veggies. drain pasta and mix with veggies. Stir in Pesto. enjoy!

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My parents were visiting this weekend, which means they brought me my favorite things: books, and then bought me my favorite things: books. was a very enjoyable weekend hanging out with the 'rents.

the now out of control "to be read" list looks something like this -

The Servants, by Michael Marshall Smith
The January Dancer, by Michael Flynn
A Voyage Long and Strange, by Tony Horwitz
Kitchen Confidential, by Anthony Bourdain
A Storm of Swords, by George R R Martin
Soul Catcher, by Frank Herbert
Action Philosophers, Volume II, by Fred Van Lente and Ryan Dunlavey
Rice & Risottos (cookbook), by Elizabeth Wolf Coren

Not to mention that I'm desperately trying to finish "Someplace to be Flying", by Charles deLint, which i am happy to say i am in love with. Many years ago, i read most of deLint's discography, till i realized he only had maybe a story and a half to tell. I'm thinking Neil Gaiman and deLint had a sit down one day, where Gaiman said to deLint "what the hell are you doing? Can i show you how it's done?" and he did. and it was. review forthcoming. . . eventually.

That said, where did all my time to read go? I work less hours these days, have fewer obligations, yet i barely get through 50 pages a day, when in previous years, i could easily get through 150 pages a day. What's the most tactful way of saying to a loved one "leave me alone so i can finish this damn book!"?

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AC has been blasting non stop for a few weeks, the dog days of summer are here, husband and I haven't been very inventive lately. we're cooking old standbys, not cooking at all (tabbouli or tuna salad anyone?) or not having success with new creations.

101 Cookbooks to the rescue. Ok, so everything she does is vegetarian, and there's a little too much tofu for my tastes, but can i tell you that her website is the best thing to keep me from falling asleep during a slow day at the office? then i hit on the idea of blending two different Carrot salad recipes that i found there. the results were heavenly, easy, vegetarian friendly, and probably passover friendly. thank god for that last one, i don't ever want to have to choke down another overly sweet carrot tzimmes again.

here is the easiest, and only Carrot Recipe you will ever need:

Carrot salad with olives

1 cup orange juice
1/2 cup pine nuts
olive oil
1-2 lbs young spring carrots, skinned and sliced thin on a mandolin *
salt
1 tbsp honey
lemon juice of 1 lemon
1/2 cup Kalamata olives, each olive cut in half
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp chopped cilantro
1 tbsp chopped mint


* what the hell is a mandolin?. Or, you could use an uber sharp knife, or put the carrots through a food processor for a more slaw type texture


put the orange juice in a small sauce pan, and simmer till reduced to 1/2 cup (this takes about 15 minutes). meanwhile, toast the pine nuts by putting them on a foil lined baking sheet in your toaster over, and using a medium "toast" setting. When toasted, set aside to cool.

put a little olive oil in a skillet, and gently saute the carrot slices until they have lost most of their rawness. the center parts will turn a yellowy color when they are done. put carrots in a bowl with any oil remaining in the pan and add a few good pinches of salt (don't skip the salt. seriously. don't do it.). add honey, lemon juice, olives, reduced orange juice and cumin, and mix well. Just before serving mix in the cilantro, mint, and pine nuts.

is excellent served over lettuce, or with couscous, or with anything, or straight. the pine nuts are awesome. and i was able to get the most awesome baby carrots at the farmers market.

I haven't made a salady type thing that i liked this much in a really long time. the carrots and honey are sweet, the citrus juice and olives are twangy, and cumin and pinenuts are earthy. it's just super good. and good for you! now i'm starting to sound like the 101 Cookbooks lady!

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the trials and tribulations of a gardener who has been reading Science Fiction since she was old enough to pick up a book.

















do you understand now why i find weeding so bloody scary???

[  Currently: Listening to Devil May Cry4 ]

the summer of the re-reads continues. sitting on my bedside table is the first two books of George R R Martin's Song of Ice & Fire series. I'm half way through the first one. maybe by the time i finish all four (again!), the fifth will be out? yeah right!

Reading A Game of Thrones for the second time, i'm picking up on all the dropped hints, the quick mentions, Old's Nan's stories. . . everything i missed the first time, because i didn't realize in an 800 page book, George R R Martin doesn't waste a single word.

- a single sentence describing some physical characteristics of Jon Snow's mother
- Ned Stark's comment about "Arya growing up to marry a King and be a Queen" (he says something like that
- a quick introduction to Gendry
- the thin line between "ward" and "hostage"
- all the subtly brilliant foreshadowing.

So sure, I know what's going to happen at the end of this novel, I know what's going to happen at the end of all four novels in the series. But the characters have no idea what's coming. The Stark children, so innocent, their parents have done a wonderful job of keeping them away from the corruptions of the King's court, the concerns of knights and lords. The Stark children haven't a clue what the real world is. they have no idea the pain and suffering in store for them. they might see it as pain and suffering, but isn't that just a form of growing up?

on a happier note, my house is exploding with fruit. Everything in the produce dept at the grocery store looked so good, i couldn't help myself from buying as much as possible. The next morning, i made the mistake of going to the farmers market, where nearly everything looked even better. peaches, cherries, snow peas. . . what am i going to do with all this food? Ok, other than the snow peas, can you say "Fruit Tart"!

you'll need:
3 cups sliced fruit (take skins off, remove pits or seeds)
3 tbsp sugar
2 tbsp cornstarch
Pie/Pastry Dough (that recipe is enough for two pie crusts - so, cut it in half, or make two fruit tarts.)

preheat oven to 400.
prepare the dough, and roll out to just larger than a dinner plate, and transfer to a greased cookie sheet. don't roll it out too thin!! mix fruit, suage, and cornstarch in a bowl, and using a slotted spoon, put the fruit mixture in the center of your dough, spreading it to about 2" from the edge. if it's mounded in the center, that's OK. fold the edges of your tart up, covering a little of the fruit. if the dough doesn't want to stay where you put it, "glue" it in place with some cold water and pressure. bake for 20-25 minutes until edges are browned and fruit is bubbly. cool completely before serving, to set the juices. if desired, warm slightly before serving, and sprinke with confectioners sugar.

if you are feeling really ambitious, you can make little shapes and designs with your fruit. but ambitious kicked me in the butt the other day, so i think i'm just going to dump it all in. then i'll test it on my co-workers.