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Holy Cow, am I Eating Again??

14 Sunday Aug 2011

Posted by fivenineteen in Uncategorized

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bloat, chicken, conversation, cookbook, fennel, food, Goodwill, party, people, primal, purge, seafood

Again? Already thinking about what to cook for dinner tonight?  After last night’s Seafood Fest?

I have that wonderful post-bloat feeling of fantastic food at a fantastic party.  And I feel relieved that I don’t have to wear anything snug today.  Just another lazy Sunday, where the only thing on tap is making a run to Goodwill, read and pick up a few things for dinner.  No hockey tonight.  Summer season wrapped up with a disappointing shootout loss in our playoff game.  I had a major Silpada jewelry event that same night which trumped hockey (rare, because hockey is usually on Sunday nights), so I found out about the loss through my teammates.  Bummer.  Is it October yet??

Yes, Goodwill.  A purge here in the ol’ townhouse is very, very overdue.  Sometimes I struggle getting going on a home project.  I get overwhelmed and then end up procrastinating, doing nothing.  I look at the clutter building up here in the home office.  And the guest bedroom which is still crowned the Room of Crap and Good Luck Getting to the Ironing Board.  Hmmmm.  This is NOT OK!! 

So what do I do?  I play a mental game with myself, and break down an overwhelming task into smaller pieces.  Every time I need to go downstairs to the main living room/kitchen level here, I make myself take at least one thing out of the home office or the guest room that needs to go.  And I start a pile downstairs near the dining room.  Repeat as needed!  

Voila – in about 24 hours I had a couple large garbage bags full of old computer shit, knick knacks, books, jewelry, shoes and clothes that are ready for Goodwill! The cute, stuffed polar bear I won at the Puyallup Fair a couple years ago doing Skeeball?  Sorry, dude, you’ll make a kid happy in your next home.  Remember the Left Behind book series from the 1990s?  I’d purchased the entire set over time and never cracked open a single one of them, despite numerous raves from many of my friends – even my grandfather.  Le Sigh.  If I haven’t read them after 15 years sitting in my bookcase then it’s time for someone else to.  Also in the “outta here” pile: a set of 4 glass beer mugs I maybe used once in 20 years.  THAT feels good.  I looked at the hodge podge of a dozen mismatched wine glasses currently on the floor in the guest room and considered getting rid of them too but I decided to keep them.  THOSE are good to have for larger parties.  I just need to box them up and get them out of the guest room!

Larger parties…what a segue. I’ve been looking forward to my new consulting firm’s annual Seafood Fest.  The staff has been buzzing about it ever since I joined the group in July, and I’m sure they’ve been in planning mode far earlier than that. “Are you coming?”  “Can you make it?”  “Can’t wait to see you there!”  I probably heard this every time I sent in a timesheet or collected my pay stub.  The energy was contagious!

And the party was amazing, just as I expected.  Our CEO hosted it in her home as she does every year, and just about everything on the menu was made by her and her team from scratch.  Right down to the homemade ice cream, her signature dessert!  Her home is fantastic for entertaining.  She has a front yard with enough room for a large table and chairs plus a couple of grills and a drink stand, a large kitchen and great room on the main level inside, and a huge back deck with room for multiple round tables, mingling and the incredible view looking west toward Puget Sound and across the water to the Kitsap Peninsula (and I think some of Whidbey Island too).  

I soaked in the view with a nice glass of Sauvignon Blanc and enjoyed meeting other fellow consultants and chatting with our CEO, T, and her team!  What a great team.  This really didn’t feel like a work-related party…it felt like family.  Really and truly.  T LOVES to entertain…and it shows.  Party for 80 guests?  No problem, right? 

Seafood fest knocked it out of the park.  I’m kicking myself for not getting any pictures of the food with my phone but it was unbelievable.  This year the theme was Caribbean, so we had jerk chicken and beef on the grill, blackened halibut (our CEO caught the halibut herself off of Vancouver Island earlier this year – she had the video of it playing in the living room!), rice and bean side dishes, salads with papayas and mangoes, chips and wonderful salsas, and even a couple of pizzas!  Dessert was a choice of pineapple or lime-flavored cupcakes, and two kinds of homemade ice cream – pineapple and vanilla with a little cinnamon.  Simply incredible.

And the weather turned out decent too – it was a little cloudy during the day but thankfully burned off later in the evening.  This summer really hasn’t been a summer, so I was happily relieved we had a warm evening last night!

Great people and great food.  There simply is no better combination out there.  And so many reasons to celebrate!

Now it’s time to get started on dinner.  While I might not be super hungry after all that wonderful food last night, it DID inspire me to keep honing my cooking skills.  I’m pretty good at it, I must say!  Practice, practice, practice.

Tonight it’s another dish from the Primal Blueprint Cookbook I’ve posted about a few times before.  Chicken and fennel stew with, onions, garlic in a broth of beer and coconut milk, garnished with fresh parsley.  Can’t wait!             

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Aside

Ketchup…from Scratch!

29 Sunday May 2011

Posted by fivenineteen in Uncategorized

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Calphalon, cooking, ketchup, olive oil, pork, primal, recipe

Yes, this is for real, everyone.  Why not just grab a bottle and squeeze/pour?  Well, this is a quick and easy recipe with a reduced amount of sugar and no emulsifying gums like the commercial versions.

Keep reading and you’ll see why I did this.

You know, it’s funny how when I get in ‘cooking bender’ weekend moods like this I tend to go with a meat dish.  And for the second episode in a row here, it’s pork.  When I say ‘cooking bender’ I mean I go all out and try a recipe I’ve never done before and enjoy the leftovers. (Thank you, Tupperware, and my freezer).  I really do enjoy cooking and I think I’m pretty good at it, but admittedly when I’m not entertaining and it’s just me on a weeknight after work I fall in a pasta, garlic and pesto or other sauce habit with maybe some shrimp mixed in occasionally.  Perhaps I had a subconscious meat craving going on.

So, this ketchup from scratch is part of a BBQ pork recipe.  It’s a pseudo kind of BBQ…I’m no expert or snob in BBQ sauces but from what I read in this recipe it has a vinegar-y flavor which is North Carolina style – ?  OK, OK.  The flavors are wonderful and I was surprised how this sauce (and the ketchup) all came together pretty quickly.

I got introduced to The Primal Blueprint, a book by Mark Sisson, earlier this year. The theory is that our ancestors, back in our hunter/gatherer years prior to the onset of agriculture, were leaner, stronger and healthier than we are today.  Blame it on whole grains, dairy, sugar, breads, rice, pasta, gluten and even beans.  And, blame it on our sedentary lifestyles too I guess. This way of eating flies in the face of the ‘food pyramid’ that shows grains and breads as the recommended foundation of our modern diets.  Mark’s book flips all of that on its head.  The primal diet is full of meats, seafoods, fowl, fruits and vegetables and is intended as a lifestyle, NOT a quick fix diet.  When I first saw the book’s title I had a visual of some caveman eating raw meat right off the bone, like in the first part of the movie 2001:  A Space Odyssey, when the apes discover they now can use a bone as a weapon to kill for meat.  Didn’t sound very appetizing.

But it’s not that way at all obviously.  Stay with me on this ramble, everyone.  Here’s the recipe.  Man, I haven’t even had coffee yet today. 

Yes, there is a Primal Blueprint Cookbook and I highly recommend picking it up.  Mark Sisson and Jennifer Meier co-authored.

Primal Ketchup – makes about 1 1/2 Cups
1 can (6 oz.) tomato paste
2/3 C cider vinegar
1/3 C water
3 T raw honey or pure maple syrup
3 T onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
1 tsp sea salt
1/8 tsp ground Allspice
1/8 tsp ground cloves
1/8 tsp black pepper

Mix all ingredients in a food processor or in a bowl with a handheld blender until smooth.  Add a small amount of water if too thick.  Store in a tightly covered jar in the refrigerator.

That’s it!  Takes just 15 minutes, including prep time.  I fudged a bit and used red wine vinegar.  I’d thrown out the cider vinegar in my pantry because it was about a year past the expiration date – yikes – and when I made a trip to the grocery store I forgot to grab a fresh bottle.  And I used ‘regular’ honey, not raw.  I hardly ever use honey and I didn’t feel like buying another bottle because the one I already had was still pretty full. 

I also didn’t completely mince the onion – I took about 1/3 of a white onion and diced it fairly small.  And I love using minced garlic in a jar – 1/2 tsp is about equivalent to one clove and you won’t notice the difference at all.  My garlic mincer stays pretty dormant in the gadget drawer these days.

Ahhh, my handheld stick blender.  My folks gave me one for Christmas over 15 years ago and it’s an amazing tool.  Great for pureeing peeled tomatoes right in the can to start off your homemade pasta sauces.  And it worked wonderfully in a small glass bowl to make this ketchup.

Now, onto the BBQ pork…Grandma’s Easy BBQ Pork
Serves 8 or more
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F

1 T olive oil or high quality lard
8 pork chops or about 4 pounds of pork shoulder roast.  Use bone-in instead of boneless for the richest tasting sauce
1 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 C of the primal ketchup
1 C water
1/3 C vinegar
1 tsp salt
1 tsp celery seed
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 bay leaf

Brown meat on all sides in fat/oil over medium to medium-high heat in a flame-proof casserole or Dutch oven.  While the meat is browning, combine remaining ingredients and stir to mix well. 

When the meat has browned, remove from heat and pour mixture over the meat.

Cover with lid or foil and bake at 325 degrees F for 1 1/2 hours for chops and about 2 1/2 hours for roast.  Check halfway through the baking time and add a small amount of water if necessary.

Remove bay leaf and transfer the chops or roast onto a warm platter and pour sauce in a gravy boat or pitcher.  Spoon or pour some sauce over the meat to moisten.

See how easy that was?  It’s absolutely delicious.  Now, to make it truly Primal, serve with mashed cauliflower, turnips or parsnips rather than potatoes or rice.  Shredded cabbage would work well here too.

I used a 3 1/2 pound boneless pork shoulder roast and the 2 1/2 hour cooking time was perfect.  I also used plain white vinegar and grey sea salt.

When I first lived on my own and realized I needed to get more confident with my cooking, I purchased a few cookbooks and started reading.  And I read in one that you must read the recipe all the way through before you start.  A recipe is not a mystery novel with a surprise ending.  And this is SO TRUE!  You don’t want to get stuck with your pants down with a recipe intended for dinner that evening and then ‘suddenly’ realize you need to marinate something overnight.  Ugh.

So as I read through the BBQ pork recipe, two words jumped out at me: Dutch oven. I have a lot of great cookware but scratched my head…how in the hell do I not have a Dutch oven?  I have some large sauce pans and some large 6 and 8 quart stockpots for pasta or making soup…what would work here?  Aha.

I went upstairs and found my rarely-used, save-the-day 8 1/2 quart pot.  It’s Calphalon and the old school style, so the handles do not stay cool on the stove…and it’s the original hard anodized style (NOT nonstick).  I found it on amazon.com years ago on a total whim – something like $180 marked down to $15.  And while it’s pretty bulky – it’s wider than it is tall and I have to store it somewhere else than my kitchen – it’s well worth it.

This pot was just deep enough to hold the roast.  Now, browning the roast before baking it was a little tricky, especially since I had to use potholders to hold this large, heavy pot.  I heated up the pan on the stove and swirled olive oil 3 times around it once it was hot.  And I found two meat serving forks and grabbed one in each potholder’d hand, stabbed the roast on each side, and gently lowered it into the hot pan.  I’m glad I had the potholders on because the hot oil did spatter a bit.  

After about 3 or 4 minutes I put the potholders back on again, grabbed the meat forks and gently rotated the roast.  Once I got the hang of it it was a pretty easy process.

The pork can sit covered once it’s out of the oven – I used a large trivet and let it sit on my kitchen counter for a half hour before digging in.  The meat won’t overcook – rather, it will become even more tender.

Buon appetito!

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Title of Post Goes Here

04 Monday Apr 2011

Posted by fivenineteen in Uncategorized

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brie, dairy, food, nuts, primal, raw, sage, title, topics, vegan

Never have I been so happy to flip a calendar page!  Welcome, APRIL!!  March, well, you were great for the first five or six days, then you pretty much blew chunks.  Better luck next year.

You know what’s great about blogging?  The power of the written word never ceases to amaze me. I’ve had a fair amount of feedback on my March posts, for example…from empathy and support all the way to ‘get over it…for fuck’s sake stop blogging about it.’  Hmm.  Us Taureans are masters at digging in our heels…we’ll do whatever we want to, when we want to.  And I’m extremely flattered that people read my writing.  It’s from me all the way down to my toes.  You might not always like what you read in here.  Some of my posts I’m very proud of, while others might be mediocre or clunkers. But you can be assured it’s all Me.

After about a year and a half blogging (this is my 110th post – wow) I smile and laugh at the variety of topics in here.  Maps. Makeup. Childhood memories. Food. The almighty Job Hunt.  Whatever it is, I’ve stayed true to my self-imposed ‘rules’ in here:  no names – initials only. It’s OK to call out locations (cities, restaurants, shops) by name but not people.  Stay away from political or religious-themed posts.  Too polarizing.  And the biggest rule of all? 

No apologies and no regrets. 

When you know you want to start a blog but have zero idea what it’s going to be about – well, you need a LITTLE structure, right?  I know damn well that once something’s out here I can’t take it back.  Sure, I can remove posts but it really can’t be undone.  I am human and gloriously flawed as we all are.  Some stuff in here may later be cringe-worthy once more time has passed, but it’s documented, out there and I can’t (and don’t want to) do anything about that.  

I made one of my favorite dishes last night – Moroccan style chicken with olives.  The spice combination is incredible:  cumin, ground ginger, cinnamon, paprika and a little cayenne pepper.  Combine that with garlic, sauteed chicken in olive oil, kalamata olives, a couple bay leafs, white wine and chicken stock…the aroma is heavenly.  Therapeutic even.  I threw in a can of diced tomatoes when I discovered that my newest cookbook also has a version of this recipe too.

Still battling through this second cold/sore throat – whatever it’s going to evolve into.  I volunteered last week with a few co-workers at a middle school where they were conducting police training.  They needed actors to simulate various scenarios in a school shooting, such as people running down the hallways screaming, or being hostages held up in a classroom with the shooter.  It’s a really great experience and the police are so very appreciative of our time so they can train on how to handle what’s become a sad fact of reality in our schools – and workplaces too.  We wore multiple layers of clothing plus protective headgear as the ammo they use in the training is like paintball on steroids.  The headgear is a little like Darth Vader meets Miner’s Helmet. Hard to breathe. I got overheated and maybe somehow that made me vulnerable to getting sick again.  All I know is I wasn’t feeling very good once we were finished, like a bad wave washing over me.  But I will definitely volunteer again!  

I was chatting with my good friend T today and she reminded me that emotional stress has probably affected my health too.  I think she’s right.  She also recommended saging my house.  Gets rid of negative energy.  Bad juju.  Now, I’m pretty open-minded about stuff but I have always kind of pooh-pooh’d saging. Plus, I don’t want my house smelling like I had a million friends over smoking pot all weekend.

But, I jumped in my car and headed down to the PCC – a food co-op and organic grocery store chain here in the Seattle area.  I knew that if I wanted sage, that was the closest, most convenient place to find it.  And how wonderful to re-discover this store.  I used to frequent it far more often when my work commute took me right by it on the way home a couple of years ago.  And when I delved into raw food “cooking” and vegan cooking it was one of the best places to find specialty ingredients.  With super nice, helpful staff.  We are so fortunate here to have such an amazing variety of higher-end, specialty grocery stores. 

Is it expensive?  Sure.  But, after reading The Primal Blueprint I totally get and agree with the author’s argument that doing away with processed foods, energy drinks, energy bars, whole grains, dairy, etc means more $$ to devote to what’s truly good and healthy for our bodies.  Pick up the book if you can – it’s a great read and Mark Sisson says it far better than I can here.

So, off I went to purchase some sage. I also stumbled upon some fish oil capsules (I haven’t tried these either but they are highly recommended).  And I found my favorite gluten-free crackers.  I’ve had a hard time battling my weight gain, which was very gradual over the past 7 or 8 years (after losing about 30 lbs walking a few miles a day for a few months).  And I have a weakness for late-night snacking.  Things like chips with super hot chipotle salsa and a blob of sour cream.  I need to think more about what I’m putting in my body and try staying away from too many carbs, gluten and such.  Plus, cutting back on dairy. Now, I’ve never met a cheese I didn’t like, and that’s a hard one to give up, honestly.  Just a tiny wedge of delicious brie at breakfast can keep me content all the way till lunch.  Sounds a little weird I know.

I’m going to try this healthier eating discipline and see where it takes me.  Snacking on a handful of (unsalted) nuts.  Or gluten free pretzles.  Flax seed chips.  Holding off on the cheese.  Trying rice pasta whenever possible, or running steamed cauliflower through the food processor as a substitute for rice. Can I do this?  And wave the smoldering sage around my house, once it’s nice enough weather to open the windows?  You bet.

And I just found this treat on a friend’s Facebook page.  Love it.

“This morning at 7:33 AM (Pacific), the Moon renewed itself in Aries… New Moons are always opportunities for setting intentions, for starting, for letting go of what was… Well, what’s going on is that it’s time to be getting on. Time to get on with what needs to be done. Time for all the ways you’ve thought about it to become reasons for how you are doing it. — Jon Waldrup, Sense of Vision Astrology”

Now, when’s it supposed to warm up around here anyway?

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