project : recipe journal

I love cooking, and I'm trying to be good at baking as well. One of the most joyful things about living on my own is having my own kitchen and being able to design and stock it the way I want to cook.

I have a growing bookshelf of cookbooks and I am also subscribed to a number of cooking sites. I also pounce on second-hand food magazines. On my own I have adapted, re-invented, created, redefined many recipes. I have also come to know myself better on the kinds of food I enjoy and the kinds I could live without.

I have accumulated many recipes through the years, some I've tried, some I haven't, some have become standard favorites and specialties. Thing is, I never really put them together in one place and in the process I have lost some. I also have recipes handed down by my grandmother and my aunt.

So I feel it's time to put them all together in a recipe journal, plus my musings on food and eating. Weaving my love for food and cooking into an artful activity is one great way to spend a few happy hours.

pasta for lunch

I was watching Criminal Minds and saw the episode where Agent Rossi had the team over for cooking lessons in his home and he cooked pasta. That made me want pasta so I hunted in my refrigerator and kitchen cabinets for anything I could throw together into a pasta dish.

I am so sorry that I totally forgot to take a photo of the cooked dish because the moment I smelled/saw/tasted it, I lost all control and just gobbled it all up.

But here is the recipe in case you want to see and taste for yourself:

1. Cook bacon until crisp then set aside.
2. Saute in olive oil some garlic, then add fresh mushrooms.
3. Add the tomatoes (I use whole canned tomatoes.)
4. Let simmer for a minute or two.
5. Add bacon.
6. Sprinkle with salt, pepper, oregano. and basil. Taste and adjust the seasonings as preferred.

By this time you should have cooked the pasta al dente.

Serve the sauce over pasta.

dinner from an almost empty kitchen

It's one of those days again! Almost out of many things and I make do with what's available. I am putting off going to the supermarket because I will be out of the country by next week and it would not do to have too many things stocked in the refrigerator.

Tonight I was wanting some soup because the day has been gray and rainy.

Mushroom Noodle Soup

I found:

Dried shiitake mushrooms, soaked in water to soften and then sliced - I kept a few tablespoons of the water for flavoring later on
2 small poor-looking carrots forgotten in the corner of the veggie bin
3 small bundles of egg noodles
1 medium onion, chopped
2 big cloves of garlic, chopped
2 hard-boiled eggs for serving with later
A little canola oil
A splash of sesame oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Then I:

Stir-fried the garlic and onion in the combined oils until translucent.
Added the carrots and stirred until coated.
Added the sliced mushrooms and mixed them all up until the mushrooms are glistening.
Seasoned with salt and pepper.
Added 3 cups of water. Added the mushroom juice I had set aside. Brought to a simmer.
Tasted the soup and adjusted by adding salt, pepper, or mushroom juice.
Just before it got to a boil I dropped the egg noodles.
Waited for 3-5 minutes while the noodles cooked.
Served myself a generous helping in a bowl topped with slices of hard-boiled eggs.

Lovely and filling!

What did you have for dinner tonight?

paprika and paper

Yes! I am finally seriously fixing my meal plan so I will eat well and on time for the rest of the year.

I was derailed for the past four or five days because of projects (from the Other Business) that came and needed to be attended to. Meetings alone ate up a lot of time and I had to postpone the grocery shopping many times. On the other hand, it also made me think even more seriously about having a meal plan that can withstand work loads and lazy modes.

Last night I found myself organizing my digital files (trying to find old work files) and realized that my digital clutter is more horrible than my physical clutter (which, I am rather proud to say, has been managed not too badly since the start of the new year).

So I made a craft file-book where I collated important articles, e-courses, references -- everything I will need and use over and over again as I move forward with my creative pursuits. I (re)discovered articles I had saved for reading at a later date. I un-bookmarked old articles that are no longer relevant. Basically I cleaned up and organized. And no matter what app or software comes out there, nothing yet can match the tangible order and versatility and flexibility of folders and paper. Yes I printed on paper but I was selective and the file-book itself is promising to grow into a beautiful collage and collection. I  have blank pages where I can write and draw as my notes and comments to the articles.

This led me to the idea of doing the same for my meal plan and recipe collection. I have lots of cookbooks and food magazines and I subscribe to a lot of online food blogs and websites yet it is such an effort to find something to cook for dinner. It really is time to have a system so I also get to cook or bake something new at least every week. I also want to keep vegetables as regular mainstays in every meal.

Paprika is an iPad app that I am finding to be very useful in collating all my online recipes from across all the blogs and websites. It is accessible offline and it has a wonderful amazing system for capturing recipes. From my physical cookbooks I intend to put together a recipe file-book (or file-box!) just like what I did with the crafts and re-write the recipes in my own kitchen shorthand so it is also easier to use and refer to. Then I will also turn it into a kitchen diary of sorts and paste photos of what I have cooked or baked. This way I can also easily check ingredients.

I am now wondering if there are printing papers out there that are made of recycled materials? I think I will be using a bit as I do more organizing. Perhaps I should check the bookstores thoroughly. I am sure something is bound to turn up.

:)

a quick-cook lunch

I should have completed my meal plan and gone to the supermarket about, oh, four days ago. But I got busy (and distracted) and then also beaten up at kendo so I am almost out of food.

Brunch today was a result of digging through an almost empty pantry.

I found:
1 can of whole tomatoes
bacon (sliced in small pieces, about 4 strips equivalent I think because I got the kilo of bits and ends which comes out cheaper)
garlic (I used about 4 cloves, sliced thinly and in small pieces)
dried shiitake mushrooms (the last straggling pieces which barely filled half a cup, soaked in water
olive oil
fresh basil picked from the plant that I bought last night 
pasta

Saute the garlic briefly in olive oil then add the bacon and let it fry a bit until the edges are crispy.
Add the mushrooms (excess water squeezed out). Stir them around a bit.
Add the tomatoes, season with salt and pepper.
When it's simmering, throw in the fresh basil leaves.

And it's done! Don't forget to cook your pasta ahead and have it ready to be topped with sauce!