After the Pause

As you can see, I recently took a nice long hiatus from blogging. What have I been up to, you ask? Actually, quite a lot. Here's a quick visual summary to catch you up:

I ran the Marine Corps Marathon - my 7th and The Hubs' 1st!

We celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Old cake! Yum!

We met Tom Selleck at the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund Gala.
What a fox! (And a nice guy)

We got all shnazzed up for the Marine Corps Birthday Ball

I graduated with my Master's degree in Library & Information Science!

We spent Christmas in California,
(image from viwephotos.info/)

And found out that we'll be living apart for another year :(
(image from www.futurity.org)

I've been trying to stop the house from crumbling around me.
(Just kidding...kind of...)

Of course I've been hanging out with the pups!

And having snuggy snugs with Ziggy.

I'm still cooking a lot...

And finding things to organize...

And I'm keeping busy with work!
 Here I am at a recent Cocky's Reading Express event. So fun!

So there you have it. My recent life in a few snapshots. Looking forward to filling you in on the details now that life is settling back down again.

Cheers,

Sarah

Nom Nom Nom

With The Hubs gone, there have certainly been days when all I can rustle up for dinner is a fun-sized bag of barbecue potato chips and a box of lean cuisine eggrolls. Or an entire sleeve of Saltine crackers and a bowl of raw veggies with ranch dip. C'est la vie. But ironically, I've actually been cooking a lot more now that he's gone than I did when he was still here...probably because I don't have him to cook for me! I am also the Queen of Leftovers lately, which is kind of necessary since most recipes make enough food for at least four, and I am only one. If I didn't get inventive, I'd be throwing out a whole heap of food. For example, I made a big brisket roast with carrots, and then repurposed it as both enchilada filling and a breakfast hash (see below).

A while ago, I posted about a commitment to start planning meals and following recipes instead of throwing things together willy nilly, and I am happy to report that I have actually followed through. The potato, carrot, and leek soup was from a vegetarian cookbook, and the tuna steak with lemon and herbs was from a vintage New York Times cookbook that my wonderful mother-in-law got for me. The roasted beet and goat cheese salad recipe I got from the Epicurious app I have on my phone (one of my go-to resources). The dressing is so yummy and so easy -- just some extra virgin olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and frozen orange juice concentrate. Tangy and delish!

I've been meaning to post about my culinary adventures while I was in New Orleans for the American Library Association Conference. I mean, it was fun to learn about library stuff and all, but it was sorta all about the food. My roommates and I had the goal of "eating our way through New Orleans" and I think we put a decent dent in it. If I can ever find the camera that has all those pictures on it, I will be sure to let you in on my best finds from The Big Easy. Two words: Shrimp Creole.

During our honeymoon trip to Saint Martin, my main focus was on eating as much delicious French food as I could....it seems as though the older I get, the more my life revolves around food. Cooking and eating has replaced partying and at least some of my wild adventures. It's a good thing I run marathons, or else I might be a little rolly polly.

Happy eating,
Sarah

p.s. When in doubt, put an egg on it.

Following Directions

Well, I did it. Yesterday, I actually cooked dinner from a recipe, although I did add a little somethin'-somethin' extra to make it my own (and to make it a "real dinner" by The Hubs' standards). I try to eat healthy but haven't been doing very well lately, so for my foray into recipedom I went for a vegetarian cookbook. I chose a Greek bean one-pot dish which was very delish on its own, but for some people it doesn't count as a real meal unless it includes meat, so I threw some fish in the pot during the last 15 minutes.

I'll have to follow directions more often, because The Hubs polished off the other three portions and that's a good review if ever I've had one. Although, if the goal is for us to eat healthily, I'm not sure encouraging him to eat triple portions is the way to go.

On another high note, I found a great way to re-use all the name tag stickers we have in our junk drawer for some reason:

Hot Diggity Chow Chow!

copyright:
Carolina Sauce Co.

I have a new favorite Southern find--hot chow chow! No, it's not a dog suffering through a South Carolina summer. And it's not an Asian drag queen at the gay cabaret club that I'm still meaning to go to one of these days. Chow chow is a heavenly concoction of cabbage, peppers, onions, vinegar, and spices--basically a relish except no pickles. Many of the recipes I've found incorporate green tomatoes as well, but those were left out of the jar I stumbled upon at the roadside farmer's market. It's tangy and delish, and the perfect condiment for pretty much anything. How did I go through my whole life--and more than a year of living in the South--without knowing about this?!? Well, now I'm certainly making up for lost time.

Here's one that sounds very similar to the kind I have. And the makers even donate part of their proceeds from every jar to another fun new discovery of mine: Operation Sauce Drop. They send tasty sauces -- and chow chow -- to servicemen and women overseas. Awesome!

Have you moved to a new place and fallen in love with one of their regional treats?

Kitchen Mishmash

I love cookbooks. I mean, I really love all books. But I find well-designed, well-photographed, easy-to-follow cookbooks totally irresistible. And that's why I have a large collection of them currently overflowing the cabinet space above our microwave. But do I actually use them? Not really.

There's more where this came from.

That I finally realize this is not going to make me stop buying lovely cookbooks. It's just a fresh observation and I'm wondering if anyone else has a similar passionate/passive relationship to theirs. Every now and then I will pull them all out, read through them, and dog-ear the pages of the really yummy looking recipes I'd like to try. But unless I'm having a dinner party (which unfortunately is not very often) those dog-eared pages will remain stuffed together in the cabinet, unused. My daily dinner routine is to thaw some kind of meat, and then...do something with it. And try to make it somewhat healthy and include several food groups. I pull things out of the fridge and pantry and then just kind of throw stuff together. Sometimes the results are a tolerable "meh" or a dubious "hmmmmm." But others, like tonight, are actually quite tasty. I like exercising my creativity and resourcefulness--I can throw together a mean Leftover Surprise! But surely my culinary skills would improve if I actually followed directions?

I seem to come up with more goals for self-improvement every day, but perhaps I'll add yet another one to the list: make at least one meal from an actual recipe per week. I'm sure The Hubs will be glad :)

Bon Appétit,

Sarah

p.s. Here is the kitchen mishmash we had tonight: Greek-Inspired Tilapia. It certainly sounds fancy-pants, doesn't it? I covered the fish filets with some olive oil, lemon juice, red onion and green olives (both finely diced). Salt and pepper, of course. Oh, and I also drizzled on some of the chili-pepper oil we make and always have on hand. Then I baked them in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes (the last minute under the broiler to make sure the top looked nice and golden). Meanwhile, I made a potato hash on the stovetop: potatoes diced like home fries and sauteed with onion and garlic, and then cut-up asparagus tossed in during the last 5 minutes or so. Not bad for something conjured up out of thin air, if I do say so myself.

p.p.s. I do always use recipes when I'm baking. Because I am just not that good, and the margin of error is too high. But I don't bake very often (see above remark about trying to eat healthy).