YiMT: Teriyaki Steak Frites

Today's recipe is super easy! I love doing all kinds of recipes, including the really complicated ones, but sometimes you just need something that doesn't involve 16 ingredients and 12 steps.

This is the kind of recipe that tastes best after a loooong day at work and with a nice cold beer.

And it's a Rachel original! That's right, folks! I put it together off the top of my head while at the grocery store shopping for dinner yesterday, which explains why it's so simple and why half the ingredients are pretty much pre-made. While I'm sure every cooking enthusiast would someday love to make their own honey teriyaki sauce or criss-cut sweet potato fries, sometimes, it's just not in the cards.

This recipe is somewhat based off the concept of "steak frites," a common dish in France which consists of, essentially, a burger patty on a bed of French fries. Seriously. Sometimes the patty is seasoned, sometimes it's covered in marinade, sometimes you get some sauteed onions or a green side salad or some sort of vegetable somewhere on the plate. Sometimes. All of the time, however, you can expect beef and fries. Mmmm. Tasty.

This picture is only vaguely relevant.

I literally had no idea what I was going to eat last night for dinner. I was pretty tired of making fancy salads, even though I had started doing things like adding hard-boiled eggs, bacon, and green pepper to mix things up. And walking into a grocery store when you don't know what you are going to buy or even eat that night is normally a Very Bad Idea. Often, it leads to walking out of a store with chocolate, ground beef, fennel, cake frosting, and a six pack of Sam Adams Boston Lager. All things that one will likely need at some point, but nothing that will instantly make a cohesive meal that anyone would want to eat. At that point, it's probably best to just content one's self with a fancy salad and a couple bottles of Sam Adams. Seriously. So, to say that I walked out of the local Star Market with a complete meal in my arms is somewhat of a minor miracle.

Here's what I purchased:

• 2 1/2 lb Angus beef patties
• Ken's Steak House Honey Teriyaki Marinade & Sauce
• 10 oz package of sliced baby bella mushrooms
• 19 oz bag of frozen sweet potato criss-cut fries

Here's what I actually made (and how much):

Teriyaki Steak Frites

Ingredients:

(for 2 people, so basically doubling what I originally did)

2 1/2 lb Angus beef patties (the lower the fat content, the better -- it means less fat splattering while cooking)

2 small handfulls of sliced baby bella mushrooms

Honey Teriyaki sauce

1 covered baking sheet of frozen sweet potato criss cut fries

Ground black pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to cook sweet potato fries (following directions supplied on whatever package you purchased).
2. Sprinkle some black pepper on both sides of the 
3. (Aside: I discovered today that my new apartment does not seem to have a grill, a stovetop grill, a skillet, or really anything that would help drain the fat while cooking a burger. So I had to use a small frying pan. Bummer, dude. Guess who's going shopping this weekend?) Grill patties until the outsides are browned but the insides are still pink. I would consider this "medium rare," but perhaps that's just how I cook. This will take about 15 minutes depending on the size/surface area/thickness of the patties.
4. Transfer patties to new, clean frying pan. Add sliced mushrooms and pour, roughly, a few tablespoons worth of Honey Teriyaki sauce. Continue to cook on medium heat for about 5 minutes, or until insides of the patty are only slightly pink (my definition of "medium," but others would likely say "medium well"). Reserving some of the pink color will help to preserve the flavor of the meat. 
5. While cooking the patties, follow the instructions on the package of the sweet potato fries so that they are cooking at the same time. This should help you finish both parts of the meal at about the same time. I find that baking the fries for a couple minutes longer than most packages suggest usually gives that crispness that I like so much in fries of any sort.

Ta-da! It's not the prettiest meal in the world, but it's darn tasty and leaves one feeling really, really full, so it's a keeper, in my honest opinion.

One thing I really like about this is that they teriyaki flavoring is not overpowering. I feel like that might be due to several factors, starting with the fact that it's a "honey teriyaki." Secondly, I don't like things to be drenched in whatever marinade I use, so I didn't use that much. The sauce that you see piled on top of the mushrooms and meat in the picture above, but not pooling up on the plate? Yeah, that's ALL the teriyaki sauce I used. Finally, the flavors from the meat and mushrooms balance really nicely with the salty sweetness of the teriyaki sauce.

Fun fact of the day: while googling "teriyaki" to make sure I spelled it correctly, because my spell check doesn't seem to know up from down, I briefly glimpsed over the "teriyaki" Wikipedia page which explains that it's actually a cooking technique in Japan which involved grilling food in a sweet soy sauce marinade. Sounds like I actually used the teriyaki sauce the correct way and everything. Maybe. I think. Cool. I love learning little things like that, even if they might be obvious to other people.

See you next time when I'll actually post about the fruity desserts like I promised! (I just need to take some pictures of the desserts first!)

Peace, love, and burger patties,

Rachel

YiMT: Sweet Tooth -- All the cookies

I don't know what it is exactly that has driven me to make so many desserts lately, but I've made roughly two per week for the last month. To be fair, one is usually for the card night that my local Boston friends and I have every week, but the other one? Oh, just because I have flour and sugar and -- oh, are those chocolate chips? Definitely time to make something sweet. I've also spent some time perfecting recipes because I really wanted to share them with you all.

We're going to go through two recipes today that are variations on some very classic desserts: chocolate chip cookies and brownies. Let's get started!

Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

When I was in the seventh grade, I took an elective course at my middle school entitled "Wheel," or something along those lines, in which we had essentially three courses rolled into one. Coursework on technology, computers, and home economics was split into three even sections over the course of one academic year. Within the home economics class, we learned about sewing, interior design, and cooking, to name a few. The cooking bit was the most exciting part for us students, obviously, because what 12-year-old doesn't love food? And, hands down, the best recipe we made was the oatmeal chocolate chip cookie recipe.

I've held onto that recipe ever since the seventh grade. My family loves it, and it is so easy that a seventh grader could do it! But that said, I've always been somewhat apprehensive about using the 1/4 cup of shortening that the recipe calls for. Looking at shortening always makes me feel as though I'm going to develop arteriosclerosis at the age of 35. Eww. Sure, shortening is merely solidified vegetable oil. It could be a lot worse, I suppose. But in the interest of trying to be just a little bit healthier since I'm now living and cooking on my own, I really wanted to try something new.

A brief Google search yielded some interesting results. Fruit purees seemed to pop up on every page I clicked... with the caveat that I might completely change the flavor and texture of whatever I was baking. Because I'm a curious individual, and because I had bananas in my pantry, I decided to see exactly how the flavors and textures of these delectable cookies would change. Here are my results...

Ingredients:
(for approx. 16 cookies)
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup oatmeal
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 cup (or more!) semi-sweet chocolate chips
2 tsp water
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup banana puree OR 2 Tbsp banana puree + 2 Tbsp unsalted butter
1 egg

Rachel's Notes:
I always use a little more than 1/4 cup of chocolate chips. Maybe closer to 1/3 cup. Depends on how I'm feeling. The difference in the amount of banana puree is up to you and your preferred cookie texture. Using banana puree will make your cookies fluffier than most cookies usually are. If you use the one-to-one substitution of puree for shortening (the recipe originally calls for 1/4 cup shortening), your cookies will end up tasting a little more like slices of chocolate chip banana bread. Which is still delicious. However, I prefer my cookies to be a little more dense, so going half-and-half with the puree and the butter works great! The cookie is still a little fluffy, but not in such a way that it no longer feels like you're eating a cookie. And the taste of banana is more subtle. Whole oats or steel cut oats are fine.

Directions:

1. Preheat over to 350°F.
2. In a large bowl, beat together the egg, vanilla, water, and banana puree (or banana and butter) until blended and fluffy.
3. Mix in dry ingredients (flour, oatmeal, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda) and beat until well blended.
4. Stir in chocolate chips with a spoon.
5. Fill one teaspoon with rounded cookie dough and deposit onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.
7. Cool for 10 minutes to let cookies set and become firm.

Rachel's Notes:

One thing to be aware of when spooning the cookies onto the baking sheet is that they spread out quite a bit on the sheet, so give them plenty of space to do so! The banana puree is the thing that does it, so you'll get cookies with a larger diameter should you use more banana puree.

Caramel Brownie Pies, or Brownie Cookies
(adapted slightly from here)

Ingredients:
(Brownie cookies, about 16 cookies)
One 12 oz bag of chocolate chips
3 Tbsp butter
2 eggs
2/3 cup pure cane sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder

(Salted caramel filling)
1 cup butter
2 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup fleur de sel caramel sauce (easily found at Trader Joe's)

Rachel's Notes:
I'll be completely honest here. I think the caramel filling is totally optional. The cookies really can stand alone. Also, the recipe makes TONS of filling, and it's almost too buttery for my tastes. If you really want to try the caramel filling, try replacing a little of the butter with a little more caramel sauce.

Directions:
(Brownie cookies)

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Melt approximately 7 ounces of chocolate and all of the butter in a saucepan over low heat while stirring gently. Set aside once completely melted and smooth.
3. Beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a bowl until pale and creamy.
4. Add in flour, baking powder, and melted chocolate and butter. Beat together until well blended. Let stand for 10 minutes.
5. Spoon 1 Tbsp dough onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until puffed and cracked. Let cool completely.

I actually had some dough left over, so I made a couple extra and baked them separately to get this picture. Those cookies went directly into my tummy once they cooled.

(Salted caramel filling)

1. Beat butter in a bowl until creamy. Add powdered sugar and beat together. Add caramel sauce and mix thoroughly.
2. Spread a spoonful of filling onto one brownie cookie and top with another cookie to make a sandwich.

Caramel Brownie Pies, made by spooning 2 Tbsp dough onto a baking sheet for EXTRA LARGE cookies

Brownie Cookies: Delicious. Almost too delicious to share.

Next "Yummy in My Tummy":

Fruit smoothies and a salade aux fruits rouges: fruity desserts for those of you who maybe aren't such big fans of chocolate. :)

Peace, love, and brownie cookies slices of heaven,

Rachel

YiMT: Nothing about this meal is kosher

This week's recipes feature pork -- two types of pork -- with cheese. In the same dish. On the same plate. Astounding! Outlandish! Not! Kosher! I only mention this because a couple of the girls in the house where I live try to keep their meals kosher, and I've only recently come to realize how entirely non-kosher my diet is. It's pretty surprising.

This meal is actually kind of a funny story (in my head, at least) because it shows just how inept I am at shopping. After receiving my first paycheck from my new job last week (HUZZAH), I spent a fair amount of time organizing my finances because, frankly, they had gotten wonky since my move to Brookline. And they're still a bit wonky, but that's mostly because I was living without any income for two solid months. Anyway. Getting paid also meant that I had money to stock up on food for the next couple weeks, and that's probably my favorite part about getting paid. If you haven't figured it out by now, dear reader, I enjoy food. I enjoy the experience of cooking, experimenting, trying what I've created, and feeling accomplished and full. It's fun. And basically amounts to edible science.

So I went shopping. And I didn't actually buy enough ingredients to constitute any one recipe or meal idea, despite the handful that was floating around my noggin. I only had about 2/3 of any given meal. Go me. And yet, Monday night's dinner was a feast.

First course
Aged cheddar and chipotle pepper hummus on fresh baguette. No recipe required. Delicious. Aged cheddar is one of the greatest cheeses of all time. OF ALL TIME.

Also, chipotle pepper hummus is perfect. Smoky and a little spicy and darned scrumptious. Trader Joe's knows its way to my heart.

Is this love?

Second course
Here come the recipes! I knew I wanted pork chops for dinner and wanted asparagus as a side dish, but I've never actually cooked asparagus on my own before. Back in San Diego, my family has an asparagus steamer, which is awesome. But I'm not about to go out and buy one of those simply because I don't have that particular pot yet. If I practiced that kind of spending, I'd be perennially broke.

That's where my iPod came handy. I went to my handy dandy Whole Foods app and looked up recipes featuring asparagus... and found the perfect one!

Prosciutto-Wrapped Asparagus

Ingredients
(for up to 4 people)
24 stalks of asparagus, trimmed
4 thin slices of prosciutto
Ground black pepper
2 Tbsp grated parmesan
1 lemon, quartered (optional)

Rachel's Notes
To trim asparagus stalks, you simply cut a bit off the ends. How much? Well, the ends of asparagus stalks are usually quite hard and not super edible, so use your best judgement and cut off as much as appears to be too tough to chew. In my experience, it's usually only an inch or two and covers the bottom of the stalk that isn't entirely green. Also, I've never seen anything other than thinly-sliced prosciutto available for sliced prosciutto at a reasonable price at a grocery store. Trader Joe's (I think they've bought my soul at this point) usually has good prices.

Directions

1. Preheat over to 425°F.
2. Place asparagus in a large skillet and barely cover with water. Bring water to a boil and cook just until tender (2-3 minutes).
3. Drain asparagus and transfer to a bowl of ice water to cool down and stop the cooking. Drain well.
4. Create four bundles of asparagus by wrapping one slice of prosciutto around 6 stalks. Place bundles on a baking sheet covered with aluminum foil and sprinkle with black pepper and parmesan.
5. Roast until cheese is golden brown (4-5 minutes).
6. (Optional) Serve with lemon wedges on the side.

Rachel's Notes
The ice water thing is kinda weird. I've never seen it in a recipe before, but it works just fine and makes handling the stalks much easier when they're not piping hot. I didn't serve the bundles with lemon, but think that it would make a fantastic addition -- will be adding it next time!

Fresh out of the oven!

Travers de porc aux oignons
(Adapted from Etudiants aux fourneaux! by Cyril Lignac, p.40)

Ingredients
(For 4 people)
4 pork chops, loins, or ribs
1 medium onion
Ground black pepper, salt
Spices
Soy sauce
Olive oil or sunflower oil

Rachel's Notes
I've tinkered with this recipe a lot. The original asks for 2 bunches of green onions instead, and since I'm not really a fan of those, I simply traded them out with a regular yellow onion. Works like a charm. Also, since I am a bargain shopper, I find that I can often get a better deal on pork chops and pork loins than on ribs. I also prefer cooking without bones. The recipe is great with all three cuts, though, as I've seen over time. Try them all! I normally prefer oregano or herbes de Provence as my "spices." Sunflower oil adds a better flavor, but can be hard to come by for a cheap price.

Directions

1. Peel the onion and chop into bite-size pieces. Set aside.
2. Salt and pepper the pork, then add spices. Cook pork in olive oil or sunflower oil in a pan until 2/3 - 3/4 is no longer pink.
3. Add onions to the pan and cook 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.
4. Add soy sauce, cover, and let cook an additional 5-10 minutes.

Rachel's Notes
Cooking time varies somewhat significantly based on your stove and cut of pork. This type of meat is far too easily dried out, despite all the liquid it's cooking in, so your best bet in this case is to cook by sight and go until the pork is no longer pink -- and not much longer. I usually follow something close to this time scale for pork chops (the cut I use the most often).

Here's what the second course looked like:

Third course
Dessert! Which I usually like to eat at any and all times of the day and night. Dessert last night was Trader Joe's Coffee Bean Blast ice cream. I think it's probably the best coffee flavored ice cream I've ever had. Certainly better than what the dining halls at Wellesley had...

Wine of the meal
Ravenswood 2010 Vintners Blend Old Vine Zinfandel

I've been stocking up on wine for an evening of cards and frivolity with friends, but Ravenswood is not something I normally share. The Vintners Blend is the cheaper line of wines from Ravenswood, and the winery is one that I've known about since before I was in high school. My parents enjoyed a bottle of zinfandel now and then, and my dad was (still is) a particular fan, as I recall, of Ravenswood zinfandel. I consider this wine to be the poor daughter's version of pretending to be like her parents. As such, I tend to drink this wine only with family or very, very close friends or by myself.

Here's what the winery's fact sheet has to say about this wine:
"Not a poser Zin, but a real one. Big, bold, unapologetic. This 2010 rendition leads the charge with tantalizing aromas of black cherry, raspberries, and blueberries along with hints of oak. It then gets really serious with a cascade of fruit flavors, oh-so-flexible tannins, and a long, fruit-forward finish you’re not going to forget very easily."

I won't forget this wine based on my own personal history with the winery and my desire to be more like my dad. It's fairly robust and pairs well with pork dishes. In fact, barbecue pork ribs are a suggested pairing. The black cherry, raspberries, and blueberries are present in the flavors and aromas, sure enough, although the blueberries aren't as strong for me. In fact, I'm much more inclined to agree with the back of the label, which denotes flavors of raspberries, cherries, and boysenberries.

This is a wine for people who like wine, I feel. And by that, I mean people who drink red wine on a regular enough basis that the its drier, bolder tendencies don't scare them off. It's a good wine to go with a flavorful meal, and I think it's nice to have a glass of it nearby while one is preparing said flavorful meal. If, dear reader, you ever end up in my home for dinner one evening, and I break out a bottle of this stuff (or, hopefully one day when $20 per bottle doesn't seem extravagant, the County Series Zinfandel, which is what I remember my parents drinking), then you'll know you've made it into my inner circle.

Peace, love, and nostalgic wines,

Rachel

Yummy in My Tummy: Summer Salad Spectacular!

Hi ho there! Greetings from the sweltering heat of this humid Boston summer! Now, granted, I spend most of my days indoors at work or in my air conditioned bedroom (yes, I know, I live a dangerous life -- do not try it at home!), but it is actually impossible to escape the heat. It always catches up to me somehow. Walking home, exploring the city, sitting on the porch, cooking in the non-air-conditioned kitchen, etc. And when it reaches at least 80°F every day, no one really wants to cook in a non-air-conditioned kitchen. I mean, I love cooking, and even I dread the prospect of turning on my gas stove and boiling water for even a minute. Salads, therefore, are basically the lazy, temperature-sensitive chef's best friends in the summer.

As anyone who lives with me knows, I'm a fan of grabbing whatever is in my fridge and/or pantry and making something new and different out of it. In the case of this salad, I did just that. Here's the recipe:

Almond and Pomegranate Salad

Ingredients:
Baby spinach
Arugula ("rocket" for all you Anglophiles in the audience)
Grape tomatoes
Black beans
Pomegranate seeds
Sliced almonds
Salad dressing
Parmesan cheese (optional)

Directions:

1. Wash all vegetables and drain. Remove stems from spinach if desirable. Toss greens together in a large salad bowl.
2. Add tomatoes, beans, pomegranate seeds, and almonds. Mix well.
3. Drizzle salad dressing over salad. Sprinkle with parmesan, if desirable.
4. Om nom nom.

Rachel's notes:

There are no specified amounts in this recipe. I measured nothing out when I threw this together after drinking a bottle and a half of white wine with my roommate and her friends. Everyone likes their salad proportions to be a little different, so play around with the amounts and see what works for you. Personally, I love heavier proportions of tomatoes, almonds, and pomegranate seeds because I think the flavors are so interesting and mesh together so well. One of my closest friends would probably choose to use mixed greens over arugula because she can't stand the taste of it. My roommate in France would have refused to eat the tomatoes. Salad is very much what you make of it, but I felt that this had to be one of the best salads I had ever tasted. And I'm not saying that because I was a little tipsy at the time. I replicated this recipe the very next night when I was 150% sober and still thought it was the best thing since cream cheese. This was a very last minute decision for a meal and it turned out marvelously.

Special note on salad dressing:

I don't usually make my own salad dressing. In this case, at any rate, I didn't. I used the Tuscan Italian Dressing with Balsamic Vinegar from Trader Joe's, and it worked great! I have a default salad dressing that I go to, however, when I run out and am too lazy to run to the store to buy more. I haven't tried it on this particular salad, but based on my past experience with this dressing, it would be a great match! I thoroughly encourage you, dear reader, to try it out and tell me what you think!

Walnut Salad Dressing

Ingredients:

2 Tbsp vinegar (red wine or balsamic)

4 Tbsp walnut oil

1 tsp Dijon mustard

Salt, pepper

Directions:

Mix together all ingredients, stirring aggressively as dressing is apt to separate.

This should easily make enough for 2 people to have salad dressing.

Wine of the Meal

Green Fin 2010 White Table Wine 

This is one of the really cheap wines that you can buy at Trader Joe's for about $4 (maybe even less back home in CA, since two-buck Chuck is three-buck Chuck in MA) and is surprisingly good. Normally, I steer clear of table wines because, as experience with French table wines taught me, they normally taste like someone poured some ethanol into some grape juice. However, my current roommates insisted that it was worth a try one night when they were cooking and, boy, was I surprised!

It's somewhat citrus-y, but mostly sweet and fruity (yeah, yeah, citrus usually equals fruit, but I mean something more like mango here). People who know more about these things would likely say that there are oak overtones or something like that. Maybe. Personally, I think it's the perfect wine to share after a long day at the lab as you sit out on your front porch, waiting for the temperature to go down, trading stories with your friends. It pairs pretty nicely with this salad and is a surprisingly good companion for ice cream, as I discovered this evening.

Frankly, it's a cheap wine that doesn't offend my inner scientist (why would I pay to drink ethanol and grape juice when I could make it for free at work?), helps cool one down on a hot day, and doesn't do a number on my wallet. That's a solid wine in my book.

That's it for this week! It's shorter than the last Yummy in My Tummy, and future entries will probably be somewhere between this one and the first one in terms of length and depth. To make up for the simplicity of this week's recipe, I leave you all with a question: What is your favorite summer salad? Leave recipe suggestions in the comments!

Peace, love, and pomegranates,
Rachel

The Ginger Reader: Fifty Shades of Grey, an Introduction

Welcome to the inaugural entry of "The Ginger Reader"! I'm currently sitting in my local Panera, where so many other local clientele are also busy typing away on their computers (although, I admit, I am doing this not from my computer, but from my tablet, which somehow makes me feel fancier than the average biped). I should note that the cookies here are HUGE. Take a look at this monster as an example:

Sorry for the image quality. I forgot that I could take pictures with my tablet, and my phone does not have the best resolution. But I digress.

This cookie is almost as large as the napkin it's resting on, and that is impressive! Ahem, digressions aside...

I was inspired to begin a book review, or perhaps more accurately a book commentary, series after reading a not-insignificant portion of "Mark Reads Harry Potter."

(Another digression: He is currently reading Neil Gaiman's Sandman series, which is beyond thrilling. I'll have to see if my local library, or even my alma mater's library, has the series currently available to check out. I'd love to read along with him and see what he has to say about such an interesting graphic novel series. I haven't read his commentary yet, as I wouldn't want to spoil anything, but I recommend checking out some of the things he has done.)

Additional inspiration struck from the seemingly unending flurry of bestselling book series. I feel as though I have found myself wondering, "What is the newest trilogy to hit the market this month?" with shocking frequency. From Twilight to The Hunger Games,  from Game of Thrones to Fifty Shades of Grey, and everything in between... I felt like every time I turned around, there was another series with multiple books already published that I'd never heard of that was enthralling the masses, with varying degrees of quality and respectability. Astounding. 50 Shades caught my eye because, even though I am reluctant to admit such a thing, I was once a fan of Twilight. I once yearned after Edward Cullen. I was also once sixteen years old, so forgive me my youthful follies. Anyway, this trilogy by E.L. James had been described to me as Twlight with sex. Erotic Twilight. What might have happened on that honeymoon trip if Stephenie Meyer had not cut to black in the last book.

My inner sixteen-year-old was intrigued. My current 21-year-old self could only roll her eyes in disgust. Twilight with sex could only mean impossibly rich and pretty and brooding leading men with flat, vacant leading women that marked a step backwards in the fight for gender equality. Did the world really need another series with a character that is such a terrible Mary Sue that Mary Sues everywhere hid in shame at the prospect of being compared to her? Well, according to book sales, apparently. The logical voice in my head told me to give this series a wide berth, and for a long time I did just that.

However, as summer and the end of college approached, I realized that I had an unprecedented opportunity to read trashy literature for a good laugh without feeling guilty for not attending to piles of homework. The literary prospects for the list of "trashy books" began popping up everywhere -- too much good stuff. And then 50 Shades came crashing back into my field of vision as my friends sent me videos of celebrities reading excerpts from the book. I found myself falling out of my chair laughing at each and every excerpt shared on YouTube, and that propelled this "erotic romance" to the front an center of my attention.

My inner sixteen-year-old felt triumphant. My current 21-year-old self stroked her chin pensively; if this 50 Shades could cause diverse celebrities to parody, ridicule, and satirize it, then perhaps it wouldn't be such a painful read after all. Perhaps I could create a series of blog entries analyzing, commenting on, and reacting to, at the very least, the first book of the trilogy. Perhaps I could point out to my inner sixteen-year-old exactly why a trilogy like this is the last thing in the world young women need to be reading when they are still trying to develop their own identities, sexual, professional, or otherwise. Perhaps I could have a little fun reading this book, and perhaps I could make a few people laugh in the process. I bounced the ideas off the heads of a few friends, who enthusiastically approved (and so I hope I don't disappoint you, friends :) ), and thus did I rush to the Kindle store on my tablet and download Fifty Shades of Grey.

I invite you to join me, dear reader, for the next five entries of "The Ginger Reader" as I barrel through the erotic and kinky adventures of one Anastasia Steele, five chapter at a time. I don't pretend to be any sort of great critic, and I certainly don't expect to provide the most profound or articulate commentary as, based on my brief glimpse at the first chapter, I expect to spend much of the book baffled by, well, just about everything. I do, however, hope that you'll have fun and that you'll giggle or laugh or even see eye-to-eye with me when you read these posts because, hopefully, you and I share the same common love for good writing, complex characters, well-developed plots, and some good, old fashioned romance. And perhaps, together, we'll finally come to understand why so many women (and my inner sixteen-year-old) have been so enraptured by E.L. James' work.

Until the next chapter,
Rachel

Yummy in My Tummy: Olive Oil, Tomatoes, and Cheese

Undoubtedly, one of the best things about living on my own is that I am able to cook for myself. There are few things in life that give me as much joy as cooking. Some people say that cooking is an art form that requires years of hard work and practice to become any good. Others say that it's merely science, and, like with most scientific experiments, if you follow the protocol, nothing will go wrong. I'm a strong believer in both. If you follow the directions of a recipe, the meal will come out just fine; that's the chemistry of cooking. However, to take a recipe and make it better, to take a recipe and make it your own -- that's the art of cooking. And that's the part that takes time and practice. At least, that's my philosophy.

With that in mind, "Yummy in My Tummy," as I have aptly named this series of posts, will focus on my culinary adventures in the kitchen. I'll be posting recipes (and translations of recipes, since many are originally French) as well as my commentary on the recipe. I'll talk about where I deviated from the recipe, what I liked, what I might change next time, what wine I drank with the meal, and what I think overall. Most of the recipes will probably be things that I've never cooked before, but I'll probably be posting some of my favorite, regular meals as well.

I don't pretend to be a great cook. I can follow a recipe and usually get it to come out pretty nicely. I don't know that I'll be able to provide much insight into the world of cooking. I don't think that what I have to say is impressive or on par with Julia Child or even important in the world of cooking at all. I do hope, however, that maybe you'll see a recipe that you want to try out when you read this. And maybe you'll try it. And maybe you'll like it. And maybe you'll let me know what you think and what you did differently. And that's really the whole point.

Ok, enough monologuing. Let's talk about food.

Homemade Pesto Sauce*

Ingredients:

50 g of fresh basil leaves

4 Tbsp of pine nuts

1 clove of garlic

1/2 cup of extra virgin olive oil

salt, pepper

2 Tbsp of grated parmesan

Notes on ingredients: 

I used raw pine nuts for this, but friends who have also made fresh pesto have said that roasted pine nuts work as well. I leave the choice up to you, dear reader. All I can really say is that pine nuts are expensive, roasted OR raw.

Directions:

1. Shred basil leaves into small pieces. Mince clove of garlic.
2. Add basil, pine nuts, garlic, and olive oil to bowl of food processor. Add some salt and pepper and mix until the pesto is smooth.
3. Optional: Once pesto is mixed well in the food processor, stir in the parmesan until well blended.

Notes on directions:

I wonder somewhat if the shredding of the basil leaves in necessary since it's all going into the food processor anyway. Same thing goes for the garlic, but it should be noted that the garlic can be minces, chopped, crushed... whatever you prefer to get the garlic into small pieces. Also, a blender works just as well as a food processor. I should know, since I didn't happen to have a food processor on hand but DID have a blender. The puree setting seemed to work marvelously.

Rachel's thoughts:

This is a very easy recipe. VERY easy. I don't often use food processors or blenders, so I ended up calling my family for advice on the differences between the two and whether a blender would even be able to chop up garlic and basil into small enough pieces. In the end, I just ended up crossing my fingers and pushing buttons on the blender until I figured out which setting would be best. Once I made it over that hump, however, I realized just how simple this recipe is. Preparation is pretty minimal, and a machine does most of the work for you.

One thing that gave me trouble was measuring out the right amount of basil. I had no idea how to measure out 50 g without some sort of metric scale. I translated the metric measurement into American, which was roughly 4 Tablespoons, but I just didn't see how I was supposed accurately fill those spoons. Stuff them with basil? Pack it in tightly? Sounded like too much work. So I just eyeballed it. I went by the packaging, which told me that I had 70 g total. All in all, I probably only used about 40 g of basil, or about two loose handfuls, but I don't think it had any negative effects on the outcome of the recipe. Anyone have a good idea for how to accurately measure these things?

I decided not to include any parmesan in this batch, since I was not even sure if it would turn out in the first place. Upon tasting the pesto fresh out of the blender, I felt that it didn't really need it. It was light and fresh and totally safe for anyone who might have issues with lactose. Next time, I think I might add in the cheese, just to see how it changes things. However, I usually have some cheese elsewhere in my meal, whether it be parmesan topping the pasta or fresh mozzarella slices on bread. Therefore, parmesan IN pesto really can be optional.

This pesto works wonderfully as a dipping sauce for fresh bread or as pasta sauce for all sorts of dishes.

Let's take a look and see just how that pesto can be put to use.

Pesto Farfalle with Sauteed Tomatoes

Ingredients:
Pesto
Farfalle noodles
Grape or cherry tomatoes
Garlic
Extra virgin olive oil
Salt, pepper
Parmesan

Notes on ingredients:
I'm not including amounts in this recipe. The pesto that you make in the above recipe  is for at least four people, depending upon how much pesto they like to eat. That said,  adjust the amount of these ingredients as necessary to accommodate the number of people in your party.

Directions:

1. Boil water for pasta.
2. While waiting for the water to boil, finely chop garlic. Put some olive oil in the bottom of a pan and heat. Add tomatoes. Lightly salt and pepper the tomatoes and stir occasionally.
3. Once the skin on the tomatoes begins to wrinkle, add garlic to the pan and continue cooking until garlic is golden brown. If pasta is not yet ready, turn heat down on tomatoes to low heat.
4. When water is boiling, add farfalle and cook for 8-10 minutes, stirring occasionally.
5. Drain pasta. Add sauteed tomatoes and garlic. Add 2-4 spoonfuls of pesto. Sprinkle parmesan on top.

Rachel's thoughts:
Another simple, quick, and easy dish. I've done this a couple nights in a row now because I've been trying to finish off these ingredients, and I love that it only takes me about 15 minutes to prepare and cook everything. Of course, it helps that I've already got the pesto prepared.

This is a very basic dish. Feel free to add things to it. I'm thinking some sauteed onions might be nice, and I know for a fact that some grilled chicken will never go wrong with this. It's something that you can really build up from, and I'm currently wondering whether I might try to add some chicken and asparagus tonight or whenever I next make this meal.

One thing that might be fun to mess with would be the spices. You could very easily add a little rosemary or thyme or oregano to the tomatoes. I would even venture to say that some crushed red pepper might be fun for a little extra kick. Have fun with flavors!

Wine of the meal
Cupcake Vineyards Angel Food white blend

This is a wine I'd been wanting to try for a while, I must admit. I have been a fan of Cupcake Vineyards for about a year now, ever since I tried their Red Velvet red blend, which is without a doubt my favorite wine. I could drink that stuff by the bottle. Literally. Therefore, I was pretty excited to try Angel Food. To me, if these guys can be so good at a red blend, why wouldn't they be equally good at a white blend?

Here's what Cupcake has to say about this wine: "Made with premium chardonnay grapes as a base, this proprietary white blend is luscious, aromatic and delightfully reminiscent of an Angel food cupcake. Flavors of bakes Granny Smith apple and hints of toasty vanilla combine for a creamy mouthfeel that has become a signature of Cupcake Vineyards.... Our proprietary Angel Food wine is a delicate blend of white grapes where each variety shows structure, aroma and depth of flavor with a long creamy finish. The grapes are harvested from vineyards in some of California's finest viticultural areas, each picked for their ability to engender these grapes with distinct characteristics. Each varietal is ferments separately, blended and then put through a unique oak regime that imparts a certain creaminess."

Angel Food really took me by surprise. I never really know what to expect when I try a new wine for the first time, but I can honestly say that this was not what I had in mind when I set out to try this wine. I knew that this would likely be a sweeter white, judging by the name alone. Even with the chardonnay base, it is nowhere near as dry as most of the chardonnays I've tried. The most overwhelming taste is that of vanilla. I can taste hints of apple there, if I pay close attention to my taste buds, but the vanilla taste is there every time. It isn't the perfect pairing for this meal, but it went well enough with dinner and the chocolaty dessert I had later. It's obviously not a dessert wine, but it was a happy medium for a pasta main course and a rich chocolate dessert.

Overall, not my favorite wine, but not bad. I'd likely buy it again and try it out with some other types of dessert, or maybe try it with some pancetta. It's worth the purchase just for that surprising vanilla taste, which makes the wine among the more unique and interesting ones I've tried.

*adapted from 5 fruits & légumes par jour by Louise Pickford, p. 86

Resurrection, or How I Learned to Stop Interpreting My Dreams and Marry Sam Winchester

And thus I emerge from blogging hibernation to resurrect this blog, just in time for graduation, summer, and unemployment!

Graduation, you ask? Why, yes, college graduation. I have completed four years of post-secondary education, and have received a fancy piece of paper that tells me all about this accomplishment in Latin. My degree is pretty cool.

Summer, you ask? Well, yes, I live in the northern hemisphere, so one might expect it to be summer here. Although, you wouldn't know it from looking outside. Thanks, June thunderstorms! Even if you aren't conducive to going outside, at least you are pretty conducive to bringing things back to life.

Unemployment, you ask? Sadly, yes, I do not have a job at the moment. I'm waiting to hear back from a few places before I decide it is officially time to drown my sorrows in wine, so hopefully someone will prevent that fate from occurring by hiring me. I'm looking to go into research at the moment, and I know that I'm a well-qualified candidate, but it's convincing everyone else and beating out the competition that makes the whole thing kinda challenging.

And so, while I am looking for employment, and when I am not busy preparing for a future career in medicine, I'll be updating this blog! Isn't that exciting? I'll be talking about all sorts of interesting things, and will likely do a few series on different themes. Right now, I'm looking at one that focuses on random thoughts and cool things I've learned, one that focuses on some of the cool places I've been lucky enough to visit over the past couple years, and one that focuses on book (and maybe movie) reviews. This last one is pretty exciting. For my first book in the series, I'll be taking a look at 50 Shades of Grey, which reads like mediocre fanfiction and yet has sold more copies than all of Ray Bradbury's work did when he was alive. I'm still looking for a snazzy title for this series, or at least for this book in the series, so if anyone has any ideas, leave them in the comments below.

So, random thoughts for the rest of this entry.

I have really weird dreams. And I don't mean surrealist dreams where I fly on the back of a cat through the Dead Sea. I mean dreams where I outrun natural disasters and save the world. Seriously. Let's take a look at last night's dream as an example. Last night, I lived up in Irvine, CA in my dreams, just a short drive away from Disneyland, and managed to stop a gang war. Seriously. In one corner, there were the silly white boys in their baggy clothes that looked like a throwback to late 1999/early 2000. Their leader was none other than Nick Carter, which likely explains the terrible men's fashion flashbacks; he was probably nostalgic for a time when girls ages 12-25 were willing to throw their bras, panties, and themselves at his feet.

Look at him, kneeling there and smiling. You can just tell he's plotting to corrupt today's youth with bad plaid and his older brother's hand-me-downs.

In the other corner, was a group of Latino men, who dressed in baggy black jeans and white t-shirts and shaved their heads. They were led by none other than Weevil from Veronica Mars.

I was definitely rooting for this guy throughout the whole dream. Even though I was supposed to be the objective, logical third party in all this.

I don't think I could have had a more Veronica Mars dream if I'd tried. I don't know what my subconscious was thinking, but it was certainly trying to hit as many blatantly awful stereotypes as possible. To be honest, I don't know how I ended up saving the day. I think I managed to do the impossible and actually talk some logical, reasonable sense into these boys and forced them to set aside their differences through the power of words, but it's hard to remember exactly. Anyway. As I drove from Disneyland back to the high school where this was all going down, I nearly lost control of my car and caused an accident (and there we get the bad-teenage-driver stereotype, even though I'm no longer a teenager in real life). Shaken and not entirely okay, I entered the high school and found my locker to be full of gifts from both parties. Weevil and Mr. Carter magically appeared on either side of me to hug me and thank me and show me the expensive gifts (there was a lot of gold involved) they had gotten from... somewhere. And it was all rainbows and puppies and smiles.

Awwww yeeahhhhhh.

My dream from two nights ago was a whole other type of monster. In it, Something Very Bad was about to happen. Something like the apocalypse. Something that would have ended the world as we know it.

And I feel fine.

These sorts of situations tend to, understandably, throw people's love lives into quite a tizzy. Worried that they might not have much time left on this world together, young lovers (and old lovers, too, let's not be ageist here) decide to do something crazy and get married. No time like the present, right? Duh. And so, this was how I found myself marrying Sam Winchester from the television show Supernatural.

And you know what? I am totally okay with that.

It was a very surprising turn of events, to be honest. I'm pretty certain that just prior to the wedding, I had managed to do some major butt-kicking. Comme toujours. Zombies, ghouls, vampires, does it really matter what I was fighting? The damn apocalypse was still approaching. Anyway, the point is, I had had to do some major butt-kicking to arrive at the safe house where everyone, including Sam Winchester, was waiting. As soon as I arrive, one of the older guys there who is apparently somewhat of a father figure to me pulls me aside and explains that Sam wants to see me. Well, alright. I won't say no.

After all, who could say no to that face?

This is where he proposes. Quite literally. He gives one of those heartfelt end-of-the-world speeches that heroic men in love seem to be so good at, and before I know what's happening, I've been shoved into a wedding dress and am walking down the aisle to meet my future husband, walking past fellow hunters and butt-kickers that I know and love from a surprising variety of TV shows. When I get to the altar, Sam is all smiles and grips my hand tightly, almost as if he's afraid he'll lose me forever if he lets go. The music and my emotions swell, and we are married and we kiss and it is magical.

Dream Sam Winchester looks damn good in a tux. Also, he gives really good hugs.

Also, I have some weird-ass dreams.

Peace, love, and June gloom,
Rachel