It's that time of the year...

... when we start talking about the London re-cast and we start planning to live in London for about a month.

It always gets busy all of a sudden when this re-cast season comes upon us.  Suddenly I'm incredibly aware of London time -- the work days are necessarily earlier, mornings are packed with phone calls and emails, which peter out in the NY afternoon once London has closed for the day.  As always, I don't think this re-cast will be easy.  And with the show going into its 5th year and the budget seeking to be smaller, there will be a lot to do in the 4 weeks David and I currently plan to stay in London.

Because of the demands and specific difficulty of this re-cast, I requested to have a week on my own in London to do further preparation work before the 4 week re-cast period that was originally allotted.  This request was approved this morning, which means I head out to London for a week around March 25.  While I feel fantastic and relieved about having my request approved (the letter to the producers took painfully long to compose), I feel sad about having to leave David and NYC for a week.  I know it's only a week; and I've done casting sessions on my own in London and elsewhere before, on some occasions for 2 weeks instead of 1.  But we'd fallen into such a great groove of healthy eating and living at home, I'm loathe to leave it all of a sudden.  I have great aspirations to continue the gym sessions while I am holed up in a hotel in London, however... crossing fingers!

So as of now, I go to London for a week the end of March, come back to NYC; then David and I go to London around April 11 for 4 weeks.

In other news, I've had some stomach issues this week, which explains why my cooking blog entries had stalled.  I've had recurring stomach virus issues this year, and it's been a painful and nauseous few days.  Hopefully I am on the mend, finally, and will be able to enjoy the weekend -- NYC is supposed to see some hints of spring this weekend, so we are looking forward to it!

Cauliflower Shepard's Pie (sans potatoes)

Last night I made my Cauliflower Shepard's Pie, which proved very successful.  In the end, I ended up only using cauliflower puree for the crust, no potatoes.  For the meat filling I sauteed ground veal, leeks, shiitake mushroom and baby portabella mushrooms.  Like the Michael Chiarello recipe I mentioned before, I added chopped thyme, parsley, flour (tablespoon), tomato paste (tablespoon) and cinnamon (only a teaspoon and a half).  As the filling cooked, I added a cup of white wine and about a cup and a half of chicken stock (unlike the red wine and beef stock Michael Chiarello calls for -- I thought the white wine/chicken stock combination would be lighter and more suited to veal).  I simmered it all down for about a half hour.  After all done, I lined the bottom of a pan with the filling, then layered the cauliflower puree on the top as the "crust."  I used two heads of cauliflower -- steamed the florets until very very tender, then pureed it in the blender with a dash of olive oil.  I sprinkled a thin layer of parmesan cheese on the top, then baked it until golden.

We had some leftovers for lunch today and I must say, it's even better the next day.  The shape comes together more as it's had time to settle.  Substituting cauliflower for potatoes worked wonderfully -- very flavorful, creamy in texture, but not stodgy.

Top view

Side view

lots o' snow

The snow continued all through the night and much of the day yesterday, at the end of which had established some kind of a record for snowfall in New York.  David and I stayed indoors, happily.  We worked out at the gym in our building, then watched the Olympics -- highlights were the Canada v. Slovakia Men's Hockey game.  Canada won, which means they play the US tomorrow in the Gold Medal round.  I'm looking forward to this game, and find myself surprisingly passionate about having the US beat Canada.  I just find the Canadian team to be more rough than they need to be, I suppose.  I was also upset that Apollo Ono was disqualified.  Very annoying since HE had a hand push on his hip from a Canadian skater in a different game, but that Canadian skater was NOT disqualified because Ono is SO awesome he did not fall.  But when Ono put a hand on a Canadian skater's hip last night, the Canadian fell -- and Ono got disqualified.  Of course, the guy who made this call was Canadian.  Ho hum.

Anyway, here's a pic of our neighbor's patio downstairs around midday yesterday, still in the middle of snow coming down like crazy.

herb crusted rack of lamb, brussels sprouts & roasted carrots/sunchokes

I suppose this blog is quickly becoming the cooking/eating blog.  Alas.  But cooking and eating at home has become our recent hobby/interest, and so it goes.  Tonight I made a rack of lamb with fresh herbs and garlic, accompanied by brussels sprouts and roasted carrots and sunchokes.  The carrots and sunchokes I tossed in olive oil, microplaned garlic, some cayenne and muscavado sugar -- a great combination.

We're holed up inside while it snows outside, waiting for the top contenders in Ladies' Figure Skating perform.  We've very much enjoyed following the Olympics, eating in front of the TV with some wine.

Shepard's Pie

This weekend my plan is to make a Shepard's Pie with a twist.  David and I recently entered into a discussion about Shepard's Pies, and how he's never liked them.  He credits camp experience as a reason for his dislike.  I on the other hand love the idea of Shepard's Pie -- such a comforting, cozy, warm food concept for the winter nights -- but because I try to veer away from unnecssary potato consumption, I haven't eaten a Shepard's Pie in a long long while.

So I've had an idea.  I'm going to make a Shepard's Pie with a cauliflower/potato crust.  Pureed cauliflower can taste a whole lot like creamy mashed potato, perhaps more velvety and light.  I thought a mix of cauliflower and potato mash will make the crust lighter.  The meat content will be veal, and I think I'll throw in some leeks and shiitake; use chicken broth instead of beef, and maybe add some hit of cumin.  I found a Michael Chiarello recipe, which will be a good base (but the recipe is for a more traditional beef/lamb Shepard's Pie).  It's an experiment, but I'm looking forward to the attempt especially since it's snowing so much here!

Stay tuned.

snow again

Bundled up to go grocery shopping, so we have plenty of food for the weekend.  If only we had a fireplace, it'd be a perfect way to spend time indoors... but it's a good time to cook yummy comfort foods.

Feels as if we're inside of a snow globe!

Invisalign Tray #2

Today marks the start of my Invisalign Tray #2.  It hurt earlier today, I feel a renewed pressure on my teeth all around, but it's not too bad now.  I've gotten used to wearing Invisalign, it seems.  I've overcome my super dry mouth (which was due to my mouth coping with having foreign entities in it).  I learned to use a nail buffer to buff the edges a little, so that they don't dig in or scratch my mouth/tongue, which has been a major improvement.  I have 24 trays for the bottom, 16 for the top.  The journey is long yet, but I'm getting good at taking them in and out and coping with life without random food tasting and nibblings (since each time I eat anything, drink anything with sugar or color, I need to take my Invisalign out).

Can't wait for Tray 3!

duck, duck, broccoli rabe (and cake)

I am delighted to report that my very first attempt at cooking duck breast proved a raging a success!  The cherry/plum red wine sauce was great, too -- I improvised a little from the Food52 recipe.  The duck cooked a perfect medium, and David and Michael both loved it.  The broccoli rabe came out well, too, although I think I'd tweak the recipe next time.  Go for a more crunchier quality..... and perhaps add more spice and flavor.

Pan frying the broccoli rabe in porcini/panko crust...

Sliced duck breast with cherry/plum red wine sauce, side dish of broccoli rabe.

The cake was very special indeed, and one that has convinced me that I really need to get a coffee bean grinder.  Not to grind coffee -- we don't drink coffee -- but so I can grind nuts finer.  I used the food processor to grind the hazelnuts today, but I think it'd be more ethereal a cake if I could get a finer grind.  I put extra rum into the cake (of course) and it was terrific.  It's a grown-up apple cake, not too sweet, lovely texture.  We served it with a raw agave dairy-free hazelnut chocolate ice cream (made out of cashews).  Delicious!

I think this cake would be great with a drizzle of caramel... next time!

David's portion is heavy on the ice cream, as always.

Rum Apple Cake!

We're going back to Michael and Eleanor's house tonight -- Eleanor is in London -- for another round of watching the Olympics (Women's Figure Skating Short Program is our prime event) and me cooking dinner.  It's a great chance for me to attempt new dishes and recipes with very good, appreciative eaters.

To this end, I baked a cake this afternoon to bring for dessert -- the Rum Apple Cake.  This cake contains no flour!  Instead the batter's "flour" component is ground hazelnuts.  The original recipe calls for ground almonds, but I'm switched them out for hazelnuts.  I also used Braeburn Apples instead of Granny Smiths, because I don't really like Granny Smiths' overt tartness.  The cake is cooling now, taste testing later.

I tried to make a "sun" pattern but it sank while baking... oops.

This Week's Cooking Challenge

These are the recipes I'm testing out for this week:

I made Roasted Eggplant with Artichoke Hearts and Salsa Verde last night -- it's super easy and delicious!  I skipped the anchovies and used a regular eggplant since I already had one in the fridge.  Simple and excellent over skate wing, which I lightly coated with corn flour and pan fried.

Other items I want to make this week are (click on name for recipe):

- Roasted Duck Breast with Sour Cherries (I'm going to use frozen whole cherries instead since it's not the season for sour cherries, and plums instead of apricots)

- Porcini Fried Broccoli Rabe

- Rum Apple Cake (Using hazelnuts instead of almonds, since I can't eat almonds)

I'm obviously crazy about Food52 website.

Photos when I make them! x

Workin' on 'em Guns

I have done about 2 solid weeks with David at the gym (3 times a week -- 6 sessions) on his new Power Training program.  Feelin' good and starting to see some results?!  Around the shoulders perhaps.  I do feel stronger, less shy about working with weights at the gym, and I'm finally getting the hang of flat back.

We also have a gym in our building now -- our apartment complex has bought the defunct Crunch gym downstairs and made it into a game room, movie room, board room and a pretty good gym.  So now on days we don't make it to the proper gym (down the block -- sad, but on some wintry days the block can get you down), we can just take the lift downstairs.  Yay!

I'm hoping I will be like a gym bunny butterfly and stick to this (I just have to go with David every time he goes), and flourish into a fit and toned version of myself. 

SUCCESS!!! Melanzane alla Parmigiana

In the end not satisfied with the previous effort, I made melanzane alla parmigiana again today.  It was so close, but not quite right, and, truthfully, this near-miss has bothered me since my first attempt last weekend.  It tasted fantastic at the time, but I knew the best was yet to be.  Perhaps it's all the Olympic coverage and the inspirational stories told by the hardship and challenges faced by athletes... I just felt that I could make the dish better.  I needed to conquer it, go for the gold, as they say.  And although the flavor profile was great in the first attempt, the texture was lacking and the shape didn't hold up.  As they say in figure skating, it came down to the GOE -- Grade Of Execution (which is what it came down to in Men's Figure Skating -- Lysacek's GOE was superior to that of Plushenko in the Free Skate).   All week I thought: If I sliced the eggplants thinner, prepared more baked eggplants to lay out; if I shimmered the tomato sauce more, and used less mozzarella, as dictated by the recipe (last time I was worried it would be lacking)... I thought I could come up with melanzane alla parmigiana of my dreams.

Obviously, I am obsessed with melanzane alla parmigiana.  I have been haunted by it ever since we went to Rome.  This is already 4 years ago.

So today I followed the Food52 recipe rigidly -- I sliced the eggplant very much at 1/4 inch width.  Well, okay, okay, I did make a few alterations: more garlic in the tomato sauce, basil in between each layer, and a light sprinkle of panko on the top crust for crunch.  Otherwise, I committed to the recipe as dictated on Food52 website.  And I am ecstatic to report it was SMASHING.

It was like... eggplant lasagne.  SO DELICIOUS.  Light, fluffy, flavorful, with just a delicate center of mozzarella.  And it kept shape!!!  The great thing about this recipe is that the dish is not oily or greasy, which can often be a problem with melanzane alla parmigiana, as the eggplant slices are pan fried before being baked.  Not so with this recipe.

Hooray!!!

Roast Vegetables, Fitness & Impending Travels Again

This winter I have become addicted to roasted brussels sprouts.  So delicious, so easy, and even good cold the next day.  I especially like to load our version with lots of garlic, which gets caramelized and crunchy once broiled.  Mmm mmm good.

Last night I also roasted some leftover cauliflower and broccoli, tossed in olive oil, garlic, salt, pepper and some cayenne pepper.  The cayenne pepper gave it a nice spicy kick.  The vegetables went nicely with the bone-in porterhouse steak.  (I really want to start taking nicer photos of food... these photos are taken on my Blackberry, so I apologize for the low quality.)

A very handsome boy but also a very silly one... this face expresses his delight in the spicy roasted cauliflower and broccoli.

It feels fantastic to have a fridge stocked with vegetables -- and in the winter, roasting is such a terrific, easy way of eating them. 

As I mentioned briefly before, David and I have also started a new gym routine at the start of this year.  Or rather, David began a new work-out regimen and also acts as my personal trainer.  It's called "Power Training," and the idea is to work your body as a whole, as opposed to separate sections.  I have managed to stick with David doing this program, and am enjoying it.  It definitely focuses me at the gym, and it feels good afterward.  I have even done bench presses, albeit just with the bar and no weights (but hey, who knew that bar was really heavy!).  David is an excellent trainer (although sometimes he is bossy).  And now I am not in excruciating pain the next day!  (David says I need to use even heavier weights... ever so tough.)

It's great to get in the groove of eating healthy (i.e. mostly organic and at home, not too much dining out) and going to the gym regularly.  It looks like we will go to London for a month in April, though, so I hope we find a way to continue our ways and not get too fat/chubby/out of shape.  Always difficult when we're on the road... But we're looking forward to going to London, it's been a while since we traveled for work.  It's just about balance...

Cooking for Some Olympic Viewing

Today I made Chicken with Creamy Dijon Mustard Sauce at Eleanor and Michael's house.  Eleanor is in Berlin for the Berlin Film Festival, so I thought it would be nice for us to go over to their house, hang out with Michael and cook up some home-cooked meal whilst we watched the Olympics.  Tonight was the Men's Figure Skating Short Program, and made for an exciting Olympic coverage.  Interestingly enough, David and Michael got very much absorbed in the Women's Curling competition while I made dinner.  It was a really close match, Japan vs. USA, with Japan winning the match in an upset!

In any case, I made the chicken dish and it came out fabulously.  The SAUCE is terrific, so worth getting good piece of bread to soak it all up to eat, just delicious.  I highly recommend it.  We had a lovely ciabatta with the dish, along with a warm mushroom salad.

I also made the Orange Cardamom Chocolate Flourless Cake again, but with more cardamom, and I think it's better to stick with less.  It was good, but almost too spicy-ish in flavor.  It did go nicely with pistachio ice cream, but I am still perfecting the blend for myself.  Trial and error.  I'm on a roll cooking now, I've got some good eaters around, so stay tuned for some recipe-testings! x

melanzane alla parmigiana

 Simple, homemade chunky tomato sauce

Today I made melanzane alla parmigiana, a.k.a. eggplant parmigiana.  I loosely followed a recipe I found on the Food52 website, combined it with a Mario Batali recipe I found on the Food Network sire.  I have made melanzane alla parmigiana before, but have always found cooking the eggplant slices immensely labor-intensive.  This Food52 recipe has you BAKE eggplant slices, which seemed a good, time-saving method -- and much less messy and labor intensive than pan frying eggplant slices.  And it all turned out wonderfully and easily.  A nice, simple recipe, and the result was delicious.   I think next time I will slice the eggplant a lot thinner, but all in all it was a great first attempt at this new method of cooking up the eggplant slices. 

 Didn't quite hold the shape as I plated it, but it tasted fantastic regardless.

Happy Valentine's Day!

David gave me these flowers this morning.  So gorgeous!!!  He always sends me the most beautiful bouquets.  I am a lucky lady.

Last night we had Steve over for dinner.  I made the prime roast from the Food52 website -- turned out very nicely, the cook time was perfect.  I also baked the Orange Cardamom Flourless Chocolate Cake -- the most decadent, beautiful cake, ever.  A pure chocolate delight.  It's a must-try for anyone who loves chocolate.  I made the cake with 73% dark chocolate, so it was incredibly rich and chocolaty.

Tonight we are going to a romantic dinner at MAS Farmhouse.  We went to the restaurant once before for my birthday with Eleanor and Michael.  We had a wonderful time there -- the food is very seasonal, fresh and delicate, and the space is cozy and beautiful, a perfect place for an elegant Valentine's Day meal.  We initially could not get a reservation, but we put ourselves on the wait-list and a space opened up yesterday.  We're pretty excited.  The restaurant has a special V-day menu tonight.

Cooking Plans for V-day Weekend

We may get more snow next Monday, so David and I did a big grocery shop today.  It's great to know we can make delicious meals at home without ever having to step outside, if necessary.  Monday is President's Day (holiday), so Valentine's on Sunday, perhaps a snowy quiet day on Monday -- no better time to invest some quality time cooking and eating at home.

The shop we did today was influenced heavily by 4 recipes I aspire to try over the weekend/next week.   They are all recipes I found on my new website obsession, Food52.  They are:

- Cardamom Orange Flourless Chocolate Cake
- Prime Rib
- Chicken with Creamy Dijon Mustard Sauce
- Eggplant Parmesan
(Not all at once, of course)

All these will yield nice leftovers, which we love :)  I have a history with eggplant parmesan -- I ADORE it, the Roman/real Italian kind -- but they are so labor intensive, I am hoping this new recipe might cut down on cook time... we shall see.

We also ordered some lovely Californian chardonnay from a wine boutique in the Flatiron District (gotta love NYC for same-day deliveries).  I found a great wine blogger who wrote today about Hayman & Hill Chardonnay, and it sounded right up our alley.  Scored a nice 10% discount from her website on orders, and with a couple of clicks I ordered a few bottles and they were delivered by the time we got home.  They chilled while we went to the gym and we had them with dinner tonight (seared wild salmon on sauteed cabbage and shiitake, side dish of braised daikon).  Delicious!  And reasonably priced ($15), too.  We are always looking for a lovely, affordable white wine we can turn to.  This one is a contender.

We do have plans to go to a romantic dinner on Sunday, but I am also looking forward to a mellow time at home.  The cooking-at-home wheels are nicely oiled and turning.  :)

Invisalign = SUCKS REAL BAD

Here for the record that I am completing my 2nd day of Invisalign and IT SUCKS.  BIG TIME.  I can't believe I signed up for this, is the vanity/gum-teeth-health really that necessary?  Makes me wonder.  No more snacking whenever I want to.  No more feeling at ease with one's own state of things.  I've got a mouth full of plastic, which never lets you forget that you do.  Second day is pretty much real shitty.  What I didn't blog about yesterday is that there are these "buttons" placed on some of your teeth to help rotate them to where they are supposed to end up -- these are the bumps on the teeth, which you might be able to see upon close examination of the photos.  These bumps suck, like, A LOT.  Whenever I get to take off the braces to eat, these bumps -- some people call them "rices" on your teeth -- cut up your inner lips.  Not cute or cool.  At all.

Luckily, lots of people have tracked their experience on a blog, so I am reading up on it and not feeling too lonely.  And I have the most adoring, loving husband in the world, who thinks I am beautiful inspite of my mouth full of plastic coating, so I am well off, I know.  I hope I get used to this.... and PRONTO.

BLIZZARD!!!

It's really coming down now...!  The photos don't quite capture all the snow flakes swirling around in the wind.  Pretty amazing.  On days like this, it's best to work from home in a "snow day" fashion.

The snow is expected to get worse as the day goes on, and then stop tomorrow morning (?).  David is pretty excited about it, especially since he doesn't have to go outside and we have plenty of food at home.

Super Bowl Sunday Fiesta for Two

No party is complete without some silly photo-taking...

Baked chicken wings were a success!!!  (Spicy sauce not pictured)

Grilled polenta with pesto... delicious!

Good times!!!