Green Beans with Cumin and Fennel. Jan 23
Breakfast: made 2 fried eggs on buttered toast for myself and my husband, with small banana and half a pear each. We are both home during today's epic blizzard.
Lunch: Lots of leftover tidbits, again shared with husband. Shrimp balls, thin-sliced ribeye, chicken, yu choy, white rice, fava beans, tofu-- just a little of each. That's all the leftovers, jointly demolished (except the cookies).
Dinner: Madhur Jaffrey's Green Beans with Cumin and Fennel; black beans cooked with tomato puree, green onion, and spices; white rice; Guatemalan queso fresco. The green beans, despite having quite a few ingredients (mainly spices) were simple to make and especially delicious. They had enough cayenne pepper in them to give them a kick, as well. As usual, I ignored Jaffrey's instructions re: quantity of salt (1 1/4 t.??), and used my own judgment (about half that). This is crucial if you are going to follow her recipes.
My black beans were so old and hard that they really didn't want to cook up soft, but after about 2 1/2 hours we gave up and ate them. They turned out to be pretty good after all. I was surprised that, having dumped in approximately 20 oz of tomato puree that had been sitting in the refrigerator for a week or two, I found the results pleasant and not at all bland. What was necessary to counteract the too-much-tomato was a larger-than-normal quantity of ground ancho chile, providing a little bit of bite and making my husband comment that "the house smells like chili." We ate the beans and rice topped with a locally-produced Guatemalan-style queso fresco that was absolutely sweet, fresh, and creamy. I couldn't get enough of that cheese.
Breakfast: made 2 fried eggs on buttered toast for myself and my husband, with small banana and half a pear each. We are both home during today's epic blizzard.
Lunch: Lots of leftover tidbits, again shared with husband. Shrimp balls, thin-sliced ribeye, chicken, yu choy, white rice, fava beans, tofu-- just a little of each. That's all the leftovers, jointly demolished (except the cookies).
Dinner: Madhur Jaffrey's Green Beans with Cumin and Fennel; black beans cooked with tomato puree, green onion, and spices; white rice; Guatemalan queso fresco. The green beans, despite having quite a few ingredients (mainly spices) were simple to make and especially delicious. They had enough cayenne pepper in them to give them a kick, as well. As usual, I ignored Jaffrey's instructions re: quantity of salt (1 1/4 t.??), and used my own judgment (about half that). This is crucial if you are going to follow her recipes.
My black beans were so old and hard that they really didn't want to cook up soft, but after about 2 1/2 hours we gave up and ate them. They turned out to be pretty good after all. I was surprised that, having dumped in approximately 20 oz of tomato puree that had been sitting in the refrigerator for a week or two, I found the results pleasant and not at all bland. What was necessary to counteract the too-much-tomato was a larger-than-normal quantity of ground ancho chile, providing a little bit of bite and making my husband comment that "the house smells like chili." We ate the beans and rice topped with a locally-produced Guatemalan-style queso fresco that was absolutely sweet, fresh, and creamy. I couldn't get enough of that cheese.
 Beans in the pot. |  Queso fresco, from Hyattsville, MD. |
Note the beautiful carved wooden ladle pictured with the beans. It is perhaps my favorite kitchen utensil and was brought to me by my stepmother from a trip to Brazil. It resembles very much these ladles that I saw advertised in the holiday issue of Bon Appetit for $240. $240? Are you fucking kidding me?
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee with half and half, 2 regular, 2 decaf. Half a glass of sherry (all that remained) while making dinner. 2 chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee with half and half, 2 regular, 2 decaf. Half a glass of sherry (all that remained) while making dinner. 2 chocolate chip cookies for dessert.
The morning after.
Deceptively beautiful papaya. Jan 24
Breakfast: made Sunday brunch for myself and my husband with leftover black beans and queso fresco, scrambled eggs, oven-fried potatoes with bulb onions, and a fruit salad of papaya, mango, dragonfruit, and banana. The fruit was so bland and wintry that I had to add sugar and lemon juice to make it palatable, like a midwestern housewife. I've never had a mealy mango before. Ick.
Breakfast: made Sunday brunch for myself and my husband with leftover black beans and queso fresco, scrambled eggs, oven-fried potatoes with bulb onions, and a fruit salad of papaya, mango, dragonfruit, and banana. The fruit was so bland and wintry that I had to add sugar and lemon juice to make it palatable, like a midwestern housewife. I've never had a mealy mango before. Ick.
Highly irregular. Dinner: Deb Perelman's double chocolate banana bread, fried eggs, "irregular" bacon, salad of romaine, cilantro, and queso fresco with an olive oil-lime-honey dressing. The irregular bacon was more irregular than I expected and I would probably not buy it again. The banana bread... well, as I said when I looked at the recipe, "this isn't banana bread, this is chocolate cake with bananas in it." It was chocolatey, rich and moist, and nobody is complaining. Still, not banana bread.
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee, 2 regular, 2 decaf, with half and half. 2 chocolate chip cookies, one in the evening and one at 4:30 a.m. The rest are in a container in the freezer to take to work. Unfortunately, work is closed due to snow. We'll see.
Snacks: 4 cups of coffee, 2 regular, 2 decaf, with half and half. 2 chocolate chip cookies, one in the evening and one at 4:30 a.m. The rest are in a container in the freezer to take to work. Unfortunately, work is closed due to snow. We'll see.