I hate you number 5!

• In 5 days I have my qualifying exams
  
• I've been getting an average of 5 hours of sleep
  
• In the last week I've gained 5lbs. 5.3 to be exact.

oh, Kitchen corners how I miss thee. I so miss procrastinating my work and blogging about food. It's not that I haven't been eating. I've been eating none stop from the moment I wake up and into the night. It's just that I've been eating absolute crap. It's gotten to the point where I pour sugar in a bowl and will eat it. I eat mayonnaise from a jar. That kind of behavior.

Don't worry I will post recipes soon. I have to make a meal for an editor on Saturday. I bartered with a professional editor. She's going to revise my final draft tonight and I have to make her an awesome dinner and take it to her house on Saturday. She's vegetarian. I don't make awesome vegetarian dinners. Arghhhh!!!! this is only adding to my stress level. stressed? who's stressed? not me dang it!

READY? GET SET....GO!

I haven't been posting recipes lately because I haven't been cooking. I also haven't had any time to post anything. As my project proposal and qualifying exams approaches I have spent all the time that possible to prepare for it. I have been feeling exhausted, angry, stressed, incapable, stupid, and so many other emotions. I think exhausted is the most prevalent which intensifies all the others. I am excited about my project, don't get me wrong. I will be documenting farm workers in the Central Valley and their struggle to access health care. I think it's an important project and I seriously can't wait to start recording. The problem right now is the heinous writing that I have to do in preparation for the actual field work. I know it's important but it's still heinous. I woke up this morning feeling really down on myself and decided to look back at a previous project that I did in Bahia, Brazil. For the summer of 2003 I spend my time in the cacao region of Bahia living with and documenting the lives of families who had participated in Agrarian reform and were now planting and harvesting organic cacao. It was the most enriching and fulfilling trip of my life and until today I make an effort to keep in contact with the families that made the work possible. I think this summer will be great and I am excited to talk to farm workers and document their lives. However, between now and and a couple weeks from now when I will actually be doing my interviews I have to get this awful proposal out of the way and my qualifying exams conquered. In order to feel inspired and remember why I am doing this I decided to look back at some of the pictures I took from my time in Bahia and remember why I love documenting people.

Last Supper

Today was the last time that the 3 musketeers got to eat together, play together, fight over the same toy (even though as you can see there are plenty of toys in our communal yard). Avry (the one with the hat) is our next door neighbor. His parents got this really bad idea to graduate, get a job, and move back to Minnesota. I am so mad at them, mostly because I am going to miss them so incredibly much. Enzo and Avry are great buddies and if you can see in the back, our houses are next to each other and our gates are usually open which means that the boys are in and out of each others house constantly. Enzo will NOT be happy tomorrow when he realizes Avry's gone.

Today I had Enzo duty all day. Christian ditched me to go to the Temple with the youth. So Enzo and I pretty much hung out all day with Avry and his family. The adults were packing so I made the boys lunch. they love eating together. I love when they eat together because they end up eating more. This of course makes sense since eating is a social event and little kids totally get that.

At night I ended up making dinner again for the boys (the adults were still packing). I guess technically I don't really have any pictures of their last supper together. It wasn't anything to brag about either. It consisted of mac and cheese and three little boys glued to the TV while mommies and daddies packed the stuff.

I am so depressed they left. Good thing Christian brought back Krispy Cream doughnuts from his trip. ( the doughnut obsession continues...)

Flan (A.K.A Pudim de Leite Condensado)

Yesterday I made flan. My mom hates to cook except for this. I guess because it's so easy. It's my favorite flan recipe and I was finally able to get the caramel right, thank you Mighty Check out her post about how to make caramel.

Flan

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• milk
• 3 eggs

1. preheat oven to 350
   
2. pour the sweetened condensed milk in a blender
3. use the empty can of sweetened condensed milk to measure the regular milk. Pour the milk also in the blender
4. add the eggs to the blender
5. blend on medium for 1 whole minute
6. pour the caramel on a bundt pan first and then pour the flan mixure over it
7. The flan needs to cook on bain marie
8. Christian suggested that I use a cast iron skillet to do the bain marie. genius!

9. cook for 45-60 min on 350.
10. turn the heat down to 250 and cook for another 15 minutes. Insert a toothpick, if it comes out clean then it's done.
11. let it cool down before you put in the fridge.
12. leave in the fridge for at least 3 hours then you can turn it outside down and voiala

Welcome Summer!

We've been having glorious weather. For the past 3 days we've also been eating none stop. We've had BBQ every night since Friday, and not your average hot dogs and hamburger BBQ. On Friday we went over to some friend's house and finished off a huge piece of tri-tip. After eating so much I felt totally sick and vowed to not eat meat again for a long time. Less then 24 hours later I was chowing down on another BBQ. Our friend Jon (same guy who made the tabbouleh and falafel from a previous post) celebrated his birthday by making a southern style BBQ for a huge crowd. We all felt kind of bad that he spend the entire day cooking for us but we did sing a very loud happy birthday and told him how glad we are that he exists. It's awesome having such an amazing cook as a neighbor. The menu consisted of sweet pork, macaroni and cheese (the best I've ever had in my LIFE), coleslaw, corn, butter beans, upside down pineapple cake, chocolate cream pie, and my favorite was this chocolate pudding with tapioca balls. Mind you, this was all from scratch and I didn't have to do ANY of it. I definitely enjoy eating more that I enjoy cooking. Today we had another BBQ with some Brazilian friends which again consisted of tri-tip, rice, beans, farofa, vinagrette, pineapple sausage, and lots of good fruits and salad. This time I got my act together and contributed with a flan and canjica. I'll post my flan recipe soon. For now enjoy some of the pictures from our weekend.

By the way this is to lure you to come visit us in Santa Cruz.

Shame on you Burger King!

I don't normally eat fast food but when I do it's Burger King. Today I found out that Burger King paid spies to infiltrate the CIW (Coalition of Immokalee Workers). The Immokalee workers pick tomatoes for Burger King as well as Yum Brands and McDonalds. They are trying to negotiate with Burger King to raise their wages by receiving 1 penny for each pound of tomato they pick. The Coalition is extremely successful and has been gaining momentum ever since it won the Taco Bell Boycott. I love the CIW I think their campaign is awesome and it works so well because of all the student support they are able to get. I personally drove with friends from Massachusetts to Kentucky to support them on the day they negotiated and won with Taco Bell. After that LONG drive I became committed to the cause. I guess from now on no more Burger King for me. The NY Times had a great article about this called "Burger King with a side of spies" and to learn more about the CIW visit their website at http://www.ciw-online.org/index.html
Their website gives ideas on how you can take action and support the CIW's cause. I'm going to print out this letter , sign it and hand deliver it to the manager at the Burger King near my house. Hey I've seen their campaign work before and consumer voices make a huge difference.

Kibbe for all your senses

Kibbe is a traditional middle eastern dish that is absolutely delicious and will satisfy all of your senses.

sight:
smell: It will leave your kitchen smelling like mint.

touch: you can eat it with your hands and you need to mix it with your hands. It's therapeutic.

taste: exquisite

hearing: there is a great story on NPR about Kibbe. Of course it's produced by the kitchen sisters, why do you ask? go here to listen to it.

I made this recipe on Sunday. I called my aunt Rosa and she gave it to me as a mother's day present. Here's my late mother's day present to you.

Rosa's Kibbe

• 250 grams of bulgur wheat
• 2 lbs ground beef or ground lamb
• 1 whole onion
• 2 cups finely chopped mint
• salt to taste
  
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 ice cube

1. soak the bulgur wheat for an hour. Then drain as much of the water out as possible. You literally have to press down on the wheat to get the water out.
2. preheat oven to 350
3. grate the onion
   
4. In a large bowl mix with your hands the wheat, meat, onion and mint and ice cube (don't ask me why but according to Rosa it makes a huge difference).
5. add half of the olive oil to the mixture
6. add salt to taste. BE CAREFUL because it's really easy to make this too salty. I've done it twice.
7. grease a casserole or cake pan with the remaining olive oil and evenly spread out the kibbe
8. bake for 15 mintues and spread the butter on top and bake for an additional 15 minutes.
9. serve with slices of lime.
   

This goes really well with rice and lentils.

donuts, donuts, donuts

So if you saw my Mother's day post you know that Christian made me donuts for breakfast. Donuts has been a theme for the past couple days.

Enzo just wants to eat donuts and no other food. Our house still smells like donuts. We have TOO many left over donuts. Yesterday Christian took the theme to a whole new level when he cut open the donut, put it in the toaster and spread cream cheese on top. He has done this twice. I have a pretty high tolerance for fat but this is just disgusting!

Easy life

Today I woke up kind of down and read about the massive earthquake in China that happened yesterday. 18,000 casualties as of now. I've been reading about it here

I feel totally helpless when these things happen. I guess at least now I should stop complaining about not yet having a job for the summer, having to pay to much money for the car to get fixed, Christian leaving sand in the bath tub, my living room chairs being totally old and ugly (we got them for free), me being anemic (again), having to deal with annoying students, annoying people in general, and finally coming to terms that I won't be able to go to reunion at MHC this year.

My goal for today is to

1. be as informed as I can about the situation in China
2. figure out if there is are any organizations that are helping. See if the church (lds.org) is doing anything and if I can help in any way
3. go an entire day without COMPLAINING and make sure I feel a lot of gratitude for the easy life I have

read and listen more about it at.

• guardian.co.ku
• Democracy now
• BBC

Happy breakfast...I mean, Mother's day to me

Christian is funny. He takes mother's day totally seriously and makes these extreme breakfasts. Last year he made apple pies, cinnamon rolls, pancakes, and breakfast sandwiches. This year he made donuts, crepes, chocolate chip muffins, fruits salad, and picked up some quiche, truffle, AND shrimp chips. It was pretty fun. We did got to church smelling like donuts and our entire house still smells like donuts but it was worth it. On the way to church he turned to me and said "I just got an idea, I know what I'm going to make for you next mother's day." The pressure is on for Father's day. It's kind of sad that his favorite meal is breakfast and I have zero inspiration to make any breakfast food. My breakfast either consist of nothing or of 1 toast and a cup of herbal tea. I need ideas for father's day breakfast. Help me out.

Happy Mother's Day

The new sippy cup

When I was pregnant with Enzo I took this amazing Environmental racism class in which I read the book Having Faith: An Ecologists Journey to Motherhood, which I highly recommend. I also watched a documentary called Blue Vinyl which will make you HATE and resent plastic. As a consequence I told my wonderful friend who was throwing me a baby shower that I did not want any plastic gifts. I had imagined my new baby's life plastic free. I went as far as inviting the Relief Society to come to my house and watch the documentary and then had a teach in about the disturbing life cycle of plastic. I suggested that they all make new shower curtains for their home that was plastic free. (always air out new plastic shower curtains for at least 24 hours. It is SOOOO toxic) How they asked? I didn't have the answer and I still don't have the answer now. The problem was that I felt entitled to educate people about plastic and as a mother-to-be I had unrealistic notions of having a completely plastic free environment for my kid. I finally had some sense pounded on me when I met Winona LaDuke. She was giving a seminar for my class and I proudly told her that I had requested a baby shower without any plastic gifts. "You did what?" she asked, and proceeded to teach me a very important lesson DON'T BECOME A POLITICALLY CORRECT ISLAND UNTO YOURSELF! She was right. I apologized to my friend who was organizing the baby shower. She seemed relieved. She obviously didn't want to write in the invitations "no plastic gifts." I had a wonderful shower where environmental and non-environmental friends from church and school came. I did get a set of plastic blocks which Enzo still loves, in fact it's the only gift I still have today.

I know that there is a lot of talk going on about safe plastic and unsafe plastic. I think it's great and I'm glad it's finally being done. However, don't stress out or become so preachy that you do end up becoming a politically correct island unto yourself. It's just not affective.

I've been trying different ways to eliminate plastic from Enzo's life. I've been thinking of ways to eliminate the plastic sippy cup. I use a glass jar for myself and thought it would also work for him. It does, kind of. I make him sit down to get a drink because I obviously don't want him to be running around the park with a glass jar. As a toddler he doesn't want to stop, sit, and drink he wants to be on the move. So I went back to the plastic sippy cup for when we are outside and only use glass cups when we are at home. I thought about buying one of those metal sippy cups but am totally put off by the price and put off from buying anything new. The constant manufacturing of new goods is also bad for the environment be it plastic or not. I did find a Sigg water bottle at the flea market for a $1.00. However, it's kind of too bulky for him. Right now the plastic sippy cup is really what works best and when we are outside playing I want him to be properly hydrated and if he's not holding his sippy he's not drinking. I've learned this through a bad experience. So for now the plastic sippy cup it is.

As for myself I have almost completely eliminated plastic containers. I just store my food in glass jars, or tin foil. When I say eliminated I don't mean throwing out all the plastic containers I once had. You can recycle unsafe plastic #3,6,7. However, if you have safe plastic in your house think twice before disposing it. The last thing we need is to have a mass purging of plastic. Out of sight means out of your sight and into landfills. Recycling is better, much better, but still takes up a lot of energy. I figured I'd keep the plastic containers and use it to store crayons, little dinosaur toys that keep appearing out of nowhere, stickers that have the same magical powers as the dinosaurs, coins, and random things that flood my house.

If we could live in a completely plastic free world it would be great, or maybe it wouldn't. Either way I think it's important to be informed and to make good decisions, but don't go alienating yourself because of it. Here's a pretty simple and straight forward article that should shed some light on managing daily use of plastic. And if you must buy more plastic National Geographic made a free Smart Shoppers' Plastic Picks Cards which you can download here.

good luck.

Polenta (preferably fried)

I love polenta so much. I love it, love it, love it. I made some last Sunday where the consistency was perfect. No joke, perfect. If you've made polenta before you know how annoying it is to have it soft anf eatery. I like making polenta and then frying it. However if you are anti-frying (good for you if you are by the way) then you can also just eat it with some tomato sauce and mussarella cheese on top and it's still good.

Polenta

• 1 cup chopped onions
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 4 cups water
• 2 cups corn meal
• 2 tablespoons chicken or vegetable bouillon
  

1. Put olive oil in a medium sized pan and let it get hot
2. add the onions and saute until brown
3. add the water and bouillon and bring to a boil
4. turn the heat to low and add the corn meal
5. mix, mix, mix!!!! use a good wooden spoon or selse you might end up with a broken spoon and very lumpy polenta.
   
6. Try to make the mixture as smooth as possible but doen't stress out about the little cornmeal clumps, they will disolve.
7. immediatly pour the mixture to a a baking pan. I used to npur it on a plate but the unevenness is BAD. make sure it's 1 inch deep.
   
8. let cool for at least an hour. If you are going to fry it then let cool for at least an hour in the fridge. The cooler it is the better it will fry
   
9. In a small sauce pan add 2 cups oil (I know, I know, but trust me frying the polenta brings it to a whole superior level)
10. cut up the polenta in small squares.
11. once the oil is hot enough fry up the squares. 4 minutes and basta!
    

carrot ginger soup

We've decided that we will try to plan our life so that we each work part time and we each get to stay home and raise our kids. However, if this plan fails and one of us ends up getting a full time job that person will for sure be me. Christian is a much better at keeping house then I am. Thursdays he has Enzo all day and I have school all day. I came home and the house was clean. This is totally expected from my clean freak husband. But the house was clean and smelled yummy. He made an awesome dinner; samosas and carrot-ginger soup from scratch. He also rocked out as a dad to a baby who hates sleep (see previous post) including naps, took Enzo to a museum, planted tomatoes in our garden, got two new plants for our living room and was in a total good mood when I got home. On Fridays I have Enzo all day. I can guarantee that the house will be messy, totally planning on eating left overs from today's dinner, and the fun activity that I have planned to do with Enzo is to go to Target to return curtains and shop for bras.

Christian's Carrot-Ginger soup

• 2 lbs carrots
• 4 cups water
• 1 Tbs. butter
• 1 1/2 cups chopped onions
• 2 medium cloves garlic, minced
• 1 Tbs. freshly grated ginger
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp. cumin, ground fennel, cinnamon, nutmeg, mint
• 3-4 Tbs. fresh lemon juice

1. peel and trim carrots, and cut them into 1-inch chunks. Place in a medium saucepan with water, cover and bring to a boil. Lowe he heat, and simmer until very tender.
2. Meanwhile heat the butter in a small skillet. Add onions, and saute over medium heat for about 5 min. Add garlic, ginger, salt and spices. turn heat to low and continue to saute for another 8- 10 min. Stir in Lemon juice.
3. Use a blender to puree everything together. Transfer the puree to a saucepan and heat gently just before serving.
   

I love food but I love sleep more.

Enzo woke me up at 3:30 in the morning. he got me out of bed after much screaming and took me downstairs. he opened the fridge and started pulling food out. He had a whole meal at 3:30 in the morning. He was done at 4:00 and still wanted a bottle. He's killing me.

Today I LOVE...

I recently realized that in 3 weeks my project proposal for my thesis project is due. This is a huge project that has been neglected. I also realized that as of yesterday I only have 4 weeks left until my Qualifying Exams. This means that I have been trying very hard to not waste time. Or in other words actually spend time DOING my proposal and getting my act together for my qualifying exams. I thought I was totally on track when I asked my committee what they wanted to eat during the QE. I promised to make them something. Apparently this qualifies as wasting time and baking them something will not get me brownie points (bad pun. totally not intended).

So I've been avoiding food blogs completely and have hungered for something to read other than academia. My wonderful friend Claudia has satisfied my hunger today. Thank you Claudia. Her blog does not have amazing pictures of food. It has no pictures at all. In fact her posts don't even have titles. Why do I love it then? Because it is HILARIOUS. If only I could write like her my proposal would rock. check it out.

oh well. back to being boring old me with blah, blah writing style.

experiment with good ingredients

I have learned that if I ever want to experiment a new creation I have to make something simple with good ingredients. What do you get when you mix puff pastry, brie, and apricot preserve? Something good of course because all three ingredients are delicious. Unless of course you don't like brie or apricot preserve. If you don't like puff pastry then we need to have a serious conversation.

Take a sheet of puff pastry and put half of a whole brie in the middle. Put a THICK layer of apricot preserve on top of the brie. Wrap the brie topped with the preserve with the puff pastry. Bake at 400* for 15 minutes and you've got yourself an appetizer, or dessert.

I had a variation of this with brown sugar instead of apricot preserve and it was also very good. Try it out and it you use a different topping for the brie let me know how it comes out.

Sweet Potato and Beef Stew

I've been totally neglecting a bag of sweet potatoes that I have hidden in my kitchen for almost a month. yesterday night I got creative and I was pleasantly surprised

Sweet Potato and beef Stew

• 1.5 lbs beef stew
• 5 medium sized sweet potatoes peeled and chopped in cubes
• 1/2 red onion chopped
  
• 5 cloves garlic chopped
• 2 tablespoons oil
• water
  
• 1/4 cup cream cheese
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoons finely chopped chives
• 1 tablespoon finely chopped leeks
• salt and pepper to taste
  

1. Add the oil to a warm medium sized pan (I used my pressure cooker)
2. Once the oil is hot saute the onions and garlic
3. add the beef stew and brown on all sides
4. all the chopped sweet potatoes stir for about a minute
5. add water until it covers the potatoes and beef
6. cook until meat is tender (30 minutes in a pressure cooker)
7. in a medium sized sauce pan melt the butter and cream cheese
8. add the chives and leeks and stir.
9. add the beef and sweet potato, without the water, and mix into the cream cheese mixture
10. The potatoes will become a thick puree.
11. add salt and pepper to taste.
12. serve with warm rice.
    

the first of many picket signs I hope Enzo makes throughout his life

yesterday was May 1st (International Worker's day). It was great because in Brazil it's a holiday and I got to speak with my mommy. It was also great because we got to demonstrate with fellow supporters for worker's rights. Broad issue huh? In particular we were demonstrating for the rights of undocumented workers. This is very close to my heart as many of you know why, and also because so many of my students now are illegal and because of their status will have a very hard time trying to get a job after school that doesn't involve being a nanny or working in agriculture. Enzo was a champ. We marched for 4 miles and I REALLY suggest lathering up the bum with ointment for them since most of the time he was either in the stroller or on our sholder = MAJOR DIAPER RASH. Just in case you're planning on marching with your kiddos at some point.

Chocolate Truffle

Finally a recipe! I made chocolate truffle tart and had truffle filling left over which I put in a small glass jar and have the most sincere intentions of giving it to my neighbor who is up at night nursing her newborn. I haven't gotten around to it but I will, I will.


Chocolate Truffle Tart


Crust

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1 egg yolk
• 1-2 tablespoons ice water

Truffle filling

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 12 ounces couvertur or bittersweet chocolate chopped
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg

1. prepare the pastry. sift the flour and cocoa into a bowl. In a food processor, process the flour mixture with sugar and salt. Add the butter and process for 15-20 seconds, until the mixture resembles coarse bread crumbs.
2. In a bowl lightly beat the egg yolk with ice water. Add to the flour mixture and pulse until dough begins to stick together. Turn out the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap. Use the film to help shape the dough into a flat disk. Wrap tightly. and chill for 1-2 hours
   
3. lightly g grease a 9-inch tart pan with a removable base. (I don't have one so I used my round cake pan). Let the dough soften briefly, then roll it out between sheets of waxed paper (I use a plastic bag) to an 11-inch round, about 1/4 inch thick. Peel off the top sheet and invert the dough into the pan. remove the bottom sheet. Ease the dough into the pan. Prick with a fork.
   
4. Preheat the oven to 350*F. Line the tart with foil o backing parchment; fill with died beans. Bake for 5-7 minutes.Lift he foil with the beans and return the pastry shell to the oven to back for 5-7 more minutes, until the pastry is just set. Cool completely in the pan on a rack.
5. To prepare the filling, in a medium pan over medium heat, bring the cream to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the chocolate until melted and smooth. Stir in the butter and cinnamon and nutmeg. Pour into the tart shell, tilting the pan slightly to level the surface.
6. I then melted some white chocolate and put it in a zip lock bag and cut of the tip. I dropped rounds of the chocolate over the surface of the tart and used a tooth pick to draw lines through the white chocolate to produce a marbled effect.

I based this recipe from this book which I totally recommend getting if you love chocolate. I made some variations such as adding the cinnamon and nutmeg and decreasing the time of chilling the dough.

Apron swap

I believe in Aprons. Do You? These are from hostess with the mostess. They are very cute but way over priced for my little tiny budget. I've been craving a new apron even though I have plenty, but you understand. So I want to organize a apron swap. If you're in then just leave a comment and I'll contact you and I'll match people randomly that way you give up an apron you no longer use and you receive an apron that hopefully you'll like. You do have to commit to send the apron in the mail. This will cost you less than $2.o0. Trust me I send packages weekly. Do you want to? please, pretty please. I only need one person to swap with me but if there are more people interested then this could be a party.

Relapse

When I lived in Chicago I used to buy these little packets of Limon 7 and just eat it plain. 12 years later I found these again and can't get enough. It's salt that tastes like lime. Don't ask me how they do. All I know is that these give me the sour fix I want instantaneously and I LOVE IT! If you don't want to eat it straight out of the packet I recommend putting it on cucumbers, mangos, or anything that you would normally put salt and lime on.