Another Split Dinner: Beefy/Beefless Stir Fry on the Fly

Knowing that I had about an hour to make dinner and eat it before rushing off to another activity, tonight I made steak stir-fry with a little baby bok choy, garlic, ginger, and green onions and a side of steamed carrots. I also fried some Trader Joe’s Thai Vegetable potstickers and made a bit of steamed brown rice. The thing was, is that I actually made two stir frys. I used my trusty pyrex ingredient bowls and precut all of my ingredients, arranging my miniature mise-en-place before getting the pans started and beginning the process. I’ll be honest when I say that I thought this was going to be a total cakewalk (no food writing pun intended).

Anyone who makes meatless meats will know that starting them at even similar times was a bad idea as while my grass-fed beef was still closer to red than pink, Brendan’s steak-less strips were beginning to stick to the pan and burn. What a mess. On top of that, the fact that I was going for authentico-ness meant that I had oil in both pans, and well, you just can’t stir both well at the same time, meaning that one was going to be popping/splattering/etc. I’ll also put forward that rice, no matter what type, never seems to want to get done on time.

At this point, I’ll point out that the meal came out well. Nothing was too well done, nothing stuck to the pan too much, and both the meaty and meatless entrees were enjoyed by their consumers. Still, I was just struck by the idea of making two “identical” dishes and being surprised that they weren’t going to turn out the same way. Perhaps it was my recent success with the taco meats, but I sort of thought I had this one in the bag.

I don’t mean this to be a ranty post, but just more of a “hey I just woke up and noticed this” sort of thing. It’s interesting to me that the more I cook, the more it remains a process and journey of sorts, and while some things get easier, it doesn’t mean that things will be easy all the time. Writing every day (or at least trying to) has been similar. While I feel like the quality of my writing has been improving, the difficulty of getting to the computer each day to post something that seems vaguely relevant or meaningful has remained.

All the while, I’ve been really happy to see my number of post climbing and climbing and knowing that I am accomplishing something. I am becoming a part of a community, and someone, at least, seems to be reading what I have to say. While maybe I can get a little whiny (see above), really, this whole project is celebrating my love of food – and my love of eating it. So to end on a positive note, here’s a photo of me as I currently write this, pin curls and all, listening to the delightful sounds of Hedwig and the Angry Inch, and plotting my next meal. Speaking of eating, I could totally go for some sweets right now. Ah, well, tomorrow is another day. Ciao!

Avec l'orange

Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner: That is the Question

 

While I was doing a little work this morning, I noticed that WordPress had a note at the top of my dashboard inviting me to write better blog posts. Intrigued, and eager to keep things lively, I checked it out, and it led me to a note with lots of tips including checking out the promps at Plinky. While the first couple I read didn’t really apply to what I was doing here, this one did:

You can only eat either breakfast, lunch, or dinner meals for the rest of your life. What’s your choice?

Jeez. What a question. My first thought was “how do you decide something like that?!?” Though, the more I thought about it, I totally have to go with lunch. Lunch has options that are light and fresh, think quiche, and then you can ratchet it up with something like a ginormous plate of carnitas. (Side note: I am interested to see that while ginormous does not prompt a spellcheck notice, carnitas does). I also think like someone from the American Southwest. I’m all in favor of the hacienda style lunch. Eat from about one until three in the afternoon, at which point it’s time to take a rest. Que fantastico!

As much as I like breakfast foods, I hate eating the morning (at least before 9 or 10 am). Oftentimes I prefer a smaller dinner anyways, so I guess that leaves Lunch as the winner.

Lunch just seems to be the perfect time to have just about any kind of food. The sun is out, you can have a lovely patio luncheon and relax in the sunshine. I just don’t know what could be better…

So…I’d eat lunch – what about you? Breakfast, Lunch, or Dinner?

Everyone Needs Goals, Mine Just Happen to Include Chocolate

 

Portrait of Rosa with Fries, originally uploaded by rapunxelle.

Tonight I am going to a goal planning meeting and I am very excited. I have lots of goals for this year and it is interesting to see how many of them are food related right now. Lately it seems all of my activities are focused on food (or finding new music like the excellent new record by the Decemberists)..

As I write, I’m listening to Neil Young’s Harvest on repeat. I picked it up yesterday from Hoodlums (my local and fave music store) and it has been excellent. My mom has been listening to Neil Young for years, and while I liked him, I don’t really feel like I became a genuine fan until I heard his songs on a soundtrack – the soundtrack for Eat Pray Love. Last summer when it came out I was sort of interested in seeing the film for its scenery. I don’t have cable, I don’t watch the travel channel, and I don’t usually read Oprah Book Club summer bestsellers. Something, however drew me to the movie.

My friend Chatham and went to see it in the theater when it came out and I came out of the film, despite not loving the main character, feeling rather optimistic and excited about food. While this wasn’t the beginning of the food induced madness I am currently in, I will say that it certainly gave me a push in that direction. I really liked the film and intended to see it again, though I never did. I did, however go out and purchase the soundtrack the next week and have been listening to it ever since.

When it comes to the girl self-discovery movies, I am not usually a fan. I generally don’t like the “men are terrible” message that comes out of them, and I feel like the slave to the kitchen/man/job/obsession mentality (amongst others) that come out of the food related films are reprehensible. This one, while not perfect (I still didn’t really like the pretentiousness of the main character) was better than some that I’ve seen and inspired me to be interested in what I am interested in, that usually being sitting down to a nice meal with friends.

Over the last few months, I have been looking at what I am interested in (food, music, travel) and trying to see how I can make those things more prevalent in my life. When, for Christmas and birthday, I asked for mostly cook books and cooking utensils, I began to go down the path I am now, where food (in all its forms) is a bigger and bigger part of my life.

Listening to this cd makes me think of my goals and how tonight, in addition to making a dream board with the rest of my cohort, I will be developing a 2011 goal soundtrack. Tonight, as I make my list, my first Shepherd’s Bread cooking in the breadmaker, my leftover Albondigas on the stove for dinner, I’ll be listening to Heart of Gold in my head and a few other songs, maybe some Aretha, maybe John Trudell, but all of them representative of the year I want to have.

So here’s to goals, to plans, and to a fresh and tasty dinner manana. Ciao.

Daily Post Challenge – 2011

Dear Readers,

I’ve decided I want to blog more. Rather than just thinking about doing it, I’m starting right now.  I will be posting on this blog once a day for all of 2011. I’m going to try and keep it all about the food, and this will be a lot of posts, so I’m saying that pictures will count too.

I know it won’t be easy, but it might be fun, inspiring, awesome and wonderful. Therefore I’m promising to make use of The DailyPost, and the community of other bloggers with similiar goals, to help me along the way, including asking for help when I need it and encouraging others when I can.

If you already read my blog, I hope you’ll encourage me with comments and likes, and good will along the way.

Signed,

Rosa <3