Banana Fritters (Page 817)

• Date: Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 10pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chefs: Mike, Vigleik, Shihchi, and Marco
• Dining Companion: Jessie
• Recipe Rating: C+
  

I picked this recipe for dessert when I had some friends over before I left for Germany. It was disappointing. It seemed to me that deep-fried bananas couldn't be bad, especially with rum-based dipping sauce. They just weren't good though. The corn flake coating really needed to be sweeter, and the dipping sauce could have been much thicker. As it was, it seemed very un-dessert-like. The corn flake coating got nice and crispy, but didn't contribute a lot of flavor. And the dipping sauce was so strongly flavored like rum that the sweetness of it didn't come through too well. Texturally I liked the dessert a lot (Mike did and excellent job with the deep-frying!) but flavorwise it was just really off. Definitely not a recipe I would make again without major adjustments.

After 25 hours of traveling, I arrived back in Boston late last night. Sometimes I wonder what we could accomplish if we didn't have set ideas about what we can and cannot do. If you had told me 2 years ago that today I would be sitting here, having just returned from traveling overseas alone, to a conference where I barely knew anyone, and gave a talk in front of many of the big shots in my field, I probably would have laughed. It would have seemed impossible partly because it would have seemed like an unlikely set of circumstances. But mainly I would have thought, "I could never do that." And the truth is, a few weeks ago I thought about not going. At the very least I thought about asking not to speak. I even wrote an email to the administrators with that content. And even though almost everyone I asked about it supported my decision not to give a talk there, I never sent the email. Part of me thought that they wouldn't choose me to speak, so it wouldn't matter if I sent it or not. But I think I was also curious whether I would be able to do it if they chose me.

The thing that surprises me the most is not that I did it: that I went there, and met people, and gave a talk, but rather that I had fun doing it. Of course I was nervous, and at moments quite stressed, but I really had a good time this past week. I never would have predicted that. From now on I am sure that giving conference talks will seem like much less of a big deal (probably some of you reading this, who are older, are wondering why it was a big deal to me at all!) because now I know I can do it. Who knew!?!?

Here's a picture I took standing outside the conference site in Germany...

Coriander and Mustard Seed Chicken (Page 367)

• Date: Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Mike
• Dining Companions: Vigleik, Shihchi, and Marco
• Recipe Rating: B+

Mike picked out this chicken dish for dinner last Thursday. It was pretty good. I was a little wary about the sauce, with whole mustard and coriander seeds in it, but actually the sauce was quite good. It had a nice flavor, and a rich, full texture. The meat came out very juicy and perfectly cooked. My only complaint is that I don't like to eat chicken with the skin on when the preparation of the chicken is by simmering. Although the chicken was browned first, the skin lost that crisy texture after cooking in the sauce. The skin was thus an unpleasant addition to the dish. Overall, though, this was quite an enjoyable preparation of chicken legs.

Hello from Germany! After many hours of travel on Saturday/Sunday I made it safely to Oberwolfach. The conference has been quite interesting so far. I am a pretty conspicuous addition though. Apparently I am the youngest person here. Of the 45 participants, Grace and I are the only graduate students, and 2 of only 4 women! That makes it hard to blend in of course!

As I think I mentioned earlier, they pick the talks day by day here. Last night at 9:30pm the organizers chose me to speak at 9:15 this morning. Needless to say, I didn't really sleep well last night! I was quite nervous. I had never spoken at a conference before (aside from Talbot, which I think doesn't really count). Plus, the vast majority of the people here are algebraic geometers, and hence might not be interested in the work that I do. Before I went to bed last night a fellow conference participant, who has been in the field for many more years than me, came up to me and said, "Teena, it's really important that you do a good job tomorrow. It will really determine the way that people think about you." That didn't exactly help my nerves! But actually, my talk this morning went really well! I just tried to be clear and have a good time, and I think it worked. More than a dozen people came up to me afterwards to tell me how much they liked it. I was really, really happy with how it went! We have this afternoon off, and I am taking the time to relax a little bit. I took a nice nap and I think I will go for a walk in town.

Sesame Spinach with Ginger and Garlic (Page 578)

• Date: Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chefs: Shihchi, Mike, and Vigleik
• Dining Companion: Marco
• Recipe Rating: C-

Mike picked out this recipe because he likes cooked spinach. Even he agreed though that this recipe was bad. The combination of ingredients seemed promising: garlic, ginger, sesame, and spinach. However, together they just had a really bad flavor. Everyone described the unpleasantness differently but Mike and Vigleik thought it tasted fishy. I didn't necessarily get a fishy taste from it but I do agree that it was not good. Mike was so disappointed!

I am leaving this afternoon for Oberwolfach. For those non-mathematicians out there: Oberwolfach is a little village in the Black Forest in Germany where there is a math institute that holds conferences. I have been there once before, and it was a fun experience. For a week you live at the institute with about 50 other mathematicians. It's a good way to meet people, especially because seating for lunch and dinner is assigned and changes at every meal. I do find meeting mathematicians I don't know to be a little stressful though. Plus, as we all know, I find flying a bit stressful too. So, I am a little stressed today! The one other strange thing about conferences at this place is that they don't select most of the speakers until you get there. Which means that I don't know right now whether or not I have to give a talk this week!

Well I clearly won't be cooking this week. I wish I could -- the food at Oberwolfach can be interesting sometimes... Veronique and Marco both have a lot to say on that issue! Mmmm.... carrots in milk! I do have a little blogging to catch up on though, so I will likely post a few times from Germany.

Happy Birthday to Alex, whose birthday is today, and my mom, whose birthday is tomorrow!

Jasmine Rice with Cilantro and Peanuts (Page 254)

• Date: Thursday, July 13, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chefs: Mike, Vigleik, and Shihchi
  
• Dining Companion: Marco
• Recipe Rating: B+

Mike and I picked this rice to go with our dinner tonight. It was quite good. I thought the flavor combination of the rice, cilantro, peanuts, and lime was very nice. There was a little too much rice vinegar for my taste though -- the vinegar flavor really dominated the other flavors. This made a very quick, satisfying side dish that would go well with a wide variety of entrees.

It was nice to cook in my own kitchen again for the first time in more than a month. I like knowing exactly what equipment is available and where it is. Someday when I own a home, I hope to have a really nice kitchen. Of course I want lots of storage and work space, but more than that I want the kind of kitchen that can hold a lot of people. Tonight when Mike, Vigleik, Shihchi, Marco, and I were all in the kitchen cooking together, I was reminded how much I really like cooking with big groups of friends. It's a totally different experience than cooking alone, or cooking with one other person. And while cooking alone is something I really enjoy, cooking with a big group is so energizing. I was realizing that one thing I really like about being in California is that I spend a lot of time just hanging out in the kitchen with Emilee and Brian, cooking. We sometimes have entire weekend afternoons where we just cook, talk, and eat fudge pops. I really like that. I wish there was more of that in my life here. I think not so many of my friends in Cambridge would think that an afternoon cooking sounds fun, but still I would like to make an attempt to cook more with everyone, even if it's just throwing together a quick meal. I think it's a nice thing to create something together with your friends. I always love sitting down to a meal that lots of people have contributed to.

Roasted RhubarbTarts with Strawberry Sauce (Page 785)

• Date: Monday, July 10, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Dining Companions: Emilee, Brian, and Chris
• Recipe Rating: B+

I chose this recipe for dessert my last night in California to try to redeem rhubarb after our rhubarb disaster the night before! This dessert was really good. How can you go wrong with puff pastry, filled with creme fraiche, then topped with roasted rhubarb and strawberry sauce?!? The recipe called for frozen puff pastry, which I have always heard good things about but had never used. The pastry was quite good though. I slightly prefer the homemade version (which may be just because I really enjoy making it!) but the frozen pastry is an excellent alternative. Since the pastry wasn't homemade, this dish was very quick to put together. Roasting the rhubarb really brought out its sweetness in a nice way, and the strawberry sauce was very tasty. Overall, this is a great quick dessert. I think Brian liked it -- I got a lovely photo of him licking his plate:

I didn't sleep well last night (jet lag I guess) but I still woke up excited to go in to the office today. I realized as I walked in to the math building that I missed MIT very much in the past month. While Stanford really feels like home in a lot of ways, I can't imagine any math department that could feel like more of a mathematical home to me than MIT. I had a really nice day: lunch with Mike, V, and Haynes at Anna's, and a long chat with Haynes in the afternoon.

One thing that is odd about being back is suddenly having so much time alone. In California I rarely spend much time by myself -- there are so many people I want to spend a lot of time with during my short visits there. I like spending time alone, but I just need to adjust to it again...

Time to go pick up Marco for dinner...

Rhubarb Anise Upside-Down Cake (Page 717)

• Date: Sunday, July 9, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian and Chris
• Recipe Rating: C-
  

I suggested this dessert for dinner with Emilee and Brian on Sunday because anise is one flavor that really makes my stomach turn, but Brian really likes it. So, I figured it would be best to make this recipe with him around so there would be someone to enjoy the leftovers. This cake was really terrible. Surprisingly though, it was not the anise that made it bad. The complaints about it were extensive, so I will just list some: it was really unattractive, the topping was too tart, the cake was too sweet, the texture of the topping was gross, and there was a layer of very unappealing wet, slimy cake between the topping and the rest of the cake. It just didn't taste good. I left more than half my slice on my plate, and I like cake a lot! Emilee, Chris, and I all hated it. Brian maintained that it was good (he gave it a B+) but I think he was just blinded in this case by his deep love of both rhubarb and anise. Do yourself a favor, and don't make this cake!

I'm back in Somerville now, sitting on my comfy bed as I write this. I am happy to be home, but yet when my plane took off this morning I just felt overwhelmed with heartache. I didn't grow up there, but Northern California feels more like home than anywhere else I have ever been. And Emilee, Brian, and Chris, are all like family to me. When I go back there for these long trips, it's really hard to leave. The other night Emilee, Brian, Chris, and I were all laying on the floor after dinner, too full to move, and we were flipping through The Book looking at recipes. As I was reading the names of recipes that sounded good Brian would say something to the effect of, "Oh, you can't make that one without us," each time. And I just kept thinking how I wish they could be there for every recipe. I don't mean to complain about being back in Boston. I missed everyone here a lot and it's good to be back! I just think that even after all these years, I haven't really adjusted to daily life without Em and Brian.

On another note, I was so calm on the plane today that I was able to both sleep and work during the flight, two things that I have never done before!

Summer Fruit Salad with Mint Sugar (Page 167)

• Date: Sunday, July 9, 2006 - 6pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian and Chris
• Recipe Rating: B

We picked this salad to go with dinner last night because Emilee and Brian still had many pounds of cherries left from their trip to Oregon, and this recipe uses a lot of cherries! The salad was ok. We ate it as a side dish with dinner, but everyone agreed that it was much too sweet for that purpose. It would have been much more appropriate as a dessert. This salad wasn't anything amazing, but the flavors were clean and the dish was quite attractive. Plus, I managed to cover myself (and much of the kitchen) with cherry juice when I was using the cherry pitter, which was entertaining! I wouldn't make this dish again, but I certainly didn't dislike it.

Today was my last day in California and I just felt sick. I laid in bed for most of the day, bundled under lots of comforters. I am feeling significantly better now, and it is my hope that I will feel fine before I have to get on the plane tomorrow. Chris suggested early in the day that perhaps my sunburn was making me sick. That immediately seemed completely ridiculous to me, but I did a little internet investigation and apparently it is true that when you get a sunburn over a large surface area, it can really make you sick (well, at least the internet thinks this is true). Who knew?!? I had planned to make dinner for Emilee and Brian tonight, but I was having trouble getting out of bed to go to the grocery store, so I just made dessert and we ordered pizza! The nice thing about hanging out with Emilee and Brian is that it's always fun no matter what we do, or what we eat.

I'm always sad to leave California, although there are certain advantages to going back to Boston (e.g. sleeping in a real bed for the first time in weeks!). Plus I miss MIT of course and I really miss my Boston friends! My summer of travel isn't over yet though. I am off to Germany on Saturday for a week. And in a month I will be back in California for Bret's wedding. All that traveling makes me a little tired just thinking about it! I should go to sleep...

Grilled Korean-Style Steak with Spicy Cilantro Sauce (Page 435)

• Date: Tuesday, July 4th, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chefs: Emilee and Brian
• Dining Companion: Chris
• Recipe Rating: A-

We chose this as our 4th of July steak. I am always so delighted to make the grilled recipes in the book when I find myself at someone's place who has a grill, so I wholeheartedly supported this choice. One goal for my next move (in a year) is to go someplace where I can have a grill. Anyway, this steak was excellent. The flavors of the marinade really permeated the steak and gave it a great flavor. Brian grilled it perfectly so it was a little carmelized on the outside, but wonderfully pink in the middle. The only complaint that we had was that the spicy cilantro sauce was too oily. Aside from that, the sauce really complemented the dish. Cutting the amount of oil in half though would have been a huge improvement.

So it sounds like Jessie isn't going to move out any more, which means I don't have to find a new roommate! I am so excited! I think it can be really hard to find people that you can live with comfortably, and Jessie and I do pretty well. When she told me I was just so relieved. The idea of living with a stranger, and moreover having to find a stranger to live with, was really stressing me out.

Yesterday Em and I hiked up to The Dish, and I have the sunburn to prove it! Then, after eating enough cheese and chocolate samples at Whole Foods to make ourselves sick, we made a really not-so-tasty dinner (more on that when I get to those recipes). We had a good time cooking though, even if the food wasn't stellar. I am flying back to Boston tomorrow (Tuesday), but I am coming back to California in a month for Bret and Karen's wedding. Emilee, Brian, and I are already picking recipes that we're going to make when I'm back in August! Emilee thinks we should brave the Poached Salmon in Aspic together, but I am not so convinced.

Cheddar and Garlic-Stuffed Potatoes (Page 571)

• Date: Tuesday, July 4, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian and Chris
• Recipe Rating: B+

We picked these twice-baked potatoes to go with our 4th of July meal. They were really good. This is the sort of cooking that Emilee refers to as cheating: starting with some wonderful carbohydrate and adding really tasty fatty things. How could it be bad?!? This was ideal comfort food. If I made them again I would add more garlic and a little more cheese to the filling. I didn't think the cheese and garlic flavors came through quite as much as they could have. Some carmelized shallots on top would also be a nice addition. Overall though, while this recipe isn't fancy, the potatoes do taste really good! It was perfect food for the 4th of July!

I have been shocked on a number of occasions in the last few months by how beautiful it is when someone is able to calmly articulate what they want and gracefully accept if they aren't able to have it. I really want to bring that in to my own life. It's hard though - that kind of patience and grace really doesn't come so naturally to me. Plus, when I talked to Mike about this he told me he would feel like he didn't know me any more if I wasn't at least a little dramatic! I will have to keep that in mind!

Lunch time! Mmmm.... leftovers....

Coleslaw with Hot Caraway Vinaigrette (Page 141)

• Date: Tuesday, July 4, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian and Chris
• Recipe Rating: D+

We picked this as a side dish for our 4th of July meal because coleslaw seemed like a very classic American choice. Since Chris doesn't like mayonaise, we chose this unusual coleslaw over the classic "Creamy Slaw." It was really terrible. The vegetables were fine, of course, but the dressing was really unpleasant. For one thing, the effect of putting warm dressing on a big bowl of vegetables was that some of the cabbage wilted and some didn't, leaving the dish with a very odd combination of textures. The caraway seeds totally overwhelmed the flavor of the entire dish. While all of us like caraway, it was just too much. More than that though, the flavor of the caraway and mustard seeds didn't distribute well through the dressing. So you would have bites with no flavor, and then bites that were so strongly flavored they were hard to eat. Plus, the crunchiness of the caraway and mustard seeds in the dressing just furthered the textural problems rather than providing a nice, subtle textural contrast. Emilee and I both left most of our portion of this dish on our plate. It was that bad. If you have The Book, don't make this one.

Ralph and his wife Susan, and Soren are coming to dinner tonight. Shockingly, I am not making any experimental food for this multi-course meal. Chris seemed to think that picking recipes I knew to be good would be a safer choice. He's right that the food will likely end up better this way, but what fun is that!?! When Chris and I were disagreeing about whether or not I could make food for my project for this dinner, Chris said "You wouldn't serve experimental food to the tenured faculty at MIT!" He's wrong about that! Between the thesis defense cakes, birthday cakes, and seminar treats I have made in the last 6 months, there are many faculty from MIT (and elsewhere) who have eaten food from my project. It really doesn't seem like a sign of disrespect to me. In some ways, quite the opposite. In any event, tonight we will be having a non-experimental meal, for better or for worse: Appetizer: fig, prosciutto, and goat cheese sandwiches. First course: red wine risotto, and baby greens with warm goat cheese. Second course: beef roasted in a salt crust, and green beans with almonds. Dessert: key lime pie.

Dark Chocolate Sauce (Page 873)

• Date: Saturday, July 1, 2006 - 10pm
• Location; Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Chris
• Dining Companion: Soren
• Recipe Rating: B

I picked this chocolate sauce because I didn't really have time to make a full dessert for our dinner on Saturday, but I did have ice cream in the freezer! It was ok. It was a little dark (bitter) for my taste, but that is a matter of personal preference. The amaretto flavor was a nice addition, although it was a little limiting in terms of what flavors of ice cream the sauce went well with. My only real complaint is that when it was warm the sauce was too thin for putting on ice cream. It would usually just run down the side of the ice cream scoop. Given its consistency, this sauce would be better over cake, or a fruit dessert than as an ice cream topping.

Last night I went to Soren's place to help him pack up all his stuff. He is moving to San Francisco in the fall, but he is travelling so much this summer that he is moving out of his apartment in Palo Alto now. Fortunately I was only helping with the packing half of this move and not the moving half, because the boxes I packed were so heavy that there was no way I could lift them! It was not my fault though -- he has a lot of books! I distributed them evenly amongst the boxes but they were still impossibly heavy.

I don't know why this is, but I find packing other people's stuff way more fun than packing my own stuff. Whenever I move I have to start packing at least a week in advance because I can't pack for more than an hour in a row without needing to stop. Last night, though, Soren and I packed his whole apartment, and it was fun! Maybe having good company is important. That's usually true!

Sauteed Halibut Fillets with Pecan Shallot Topping (Page 287)

• Date: Saturday, July 1, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Chris
• Dining Companion: Soren
• Recipe Rating: B

I only had about an hour to make dinner on Saturday, so I needed a really quick entree. I picked this one because in addition to being fast, it looked tasty and I knew I would be able to find halibut at the grocery store. It wasn't bad. I think I have said this before, but I just don't really understand this genre of dish: fish, cooked by itself, with a bunch of stuff put on top afterwards. Everything in this dish tasted good: the fish was fresh and the topping was excellent. But it just didn't feel cohesive. I definitely enjoyed eating this dish, but I would never make it again.

So I need to find a new roommate for next year. Any of you out there have good suggestions? Know anyone fun who is looking for a place to live? Jessie is moving in with her boyfriend, and I opted to stay in our apartment, but I need to find a new roommate. I have heard both positive and negative stories about using Craigs List for this purpose. I would much rather go with someone I know, or at least a friend of someone I know. The couple of times in my life that I have had strangers for roommates, it has worked out reasonably well. It just seems risky though! On the other hand, I made at least one really great friend that way. Rachel and I had only met once prior to moving in together and that worked out beautifully! In fact, I can't even imagine what my senior year in college would have looked like without her in the apartment. She has brought such joy in to my life! Well there's not too much I can do about finding a roommate right now, since I am 3000 miles away from my apartment. I guess I will just have to wait and see what happens...

Snow Peas with Lemon Herb Butter (Page 557)

• Date: Saturday, July 1, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Chris
• Dining Companion: Soren
• Recipe Rating: B-

I picked these snow peas on Saturday because I thought they would go well with the main course. I really didn't like them too much though. Mainly it was the combination of peas and tarragon that I found unconvincing. In addition to not complementing the peas well, the tarragon really overpowered the other flavors in the dish. The lemon flavor, for instance, was completely lost. The dish certainly didn't taste bad, but there are so many better and more interesting things that you could do with snow peas.

I had a nice, mellow, 4th of July today. Emilee and I had a low-key afternoon of running errands, cooking, and eating popsicles and Velveeta Shells and Cheese (a new experience for me!). To celebrate the 4th, we made a fun, classic American dinner (from The Book of course!) : steak, potatoes, and coleslaw! Brian made some cherry ice cream for dessert to finish off our meal.

I woke up in a really bad mood today, for a variety of reasons. Spending time with Emilee and Brian though, I just had a great day. It really speaks to the power of strong friendships that even very difficult situations can be tempered by great friends. Part of what I loved so much about living with Emilee in college is that she has an amazing way of making bad circumstances seem less bad in a way that is neither dismissive, nor trite. It's a really lovely quality.

Apple Raisin Cake (Page 704)

• Date: Saturday, July 1, 2006 - 3pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Dining Companions: Emilee, Brian, Nathan, and Anh
• Recipe Rating: B+

I wanted to make a cake for Emilee and Brian to have when they returned from Oregon. I picked this one because it keeps well and I knew it would be a few days before it got eaten. Opinions were a little bit mixed on this recipe. I liked it quite a lot actually, but Emilee and Brian weren't so taken with it. I think I am so partial to cakes that are moist, that when a cake comes out beautifully moist like this one did, it's hard for me not to like it! I thought the flavor was quite good -- the spices came through without being overpowering. Emilee commented that walnuts would have been a good addition, and I think she's right about that. This cake is perfect for snacking or breakfast, in addition to being a nice dessert.

Brian's mom made a rhubarb pie and black-bottomed cupcakes for Emilee and Brian to bring back with them from Oregon, and I had made them an apple cake, so last night Em and Brian invited me, Nathan, and Anh over for multiple courses of dessert! They also picked 30 pounds of blueberries and 30 pounds of cherries while they were away, and brought them back in huge coolers. So, before we even started in on the desserts, we had pretty much made ourselves sick on berries! We still made room for dessert though. Brian's mom is a really good cook, and Brian has been telling me for years how perfect her pies are. I had some of her rhubarb pie last night, and he was right, it was really good!

After our feast of desserts we met up with Soren and watched the Stanford 4th of July fireworks, which for some reason are on the 3rd of July. Now it's true that fireworks are not really my favorite thing, but the Stanford fireworks are pretty fun and low-key. We laid out some blankets on the oval, ate even more cherries and blueberries, and watched the fireworks!

Quick Strawberry Jam (Page 922)

• Date: Saturday, July 1, 2006 - 11am
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Dining Companion: Chris
• Recipe Rating: A-

I picked this jam because I am trying to make some things from the sections that I haven't made much from yet. I had only made one recipe from the Relishes, Chutneys, Pickles, and Preserves section, so I wanted to make another one. This jam was quite good. The recipe is very quick, as the jam isn't canned. The downside of that is that it only stays good for about two weeks. Luckily, Chris eats a lot of jam, so that's not a problem! The flavor is very nice. I went towards the low end on the amount of sugar I added, and my jam came out pleasantly tart. For a simple homemade jam, this recipe is great!

This morning Soren took me for a ride on his motorcycle. When he took me out in January it was during rush hour, so he had promised that the next time I was in town he would take me for a drive when there was less traffic. So today we went up to Skyline and ate at Alice's Restaurant. It was really fun! I am definitely getting more comfortable on the motorcycle, but the road we took was really windy and I am still a little nervous on the curves. Soren told me not to lean against the turns, so I tried not to -- but it's hard! My intuition is definitely to lean towards being upright! It is a beautiful day today -- perfect for being on a motorcycle and eating lunch outside.

I was a little nervous about getting on the motorcycle today because lately I have been really accident-prone! I am slowly getting bruises all over me. Yesterday I ran in to a bed post and got a huge bruise on my thigh. It really hurts! A few days before that I slammed my arm in to a coffee table. And a few days before that I dropped a chair on my foot! Luckily the motorcycle ride was injury-free!

Pasta with Capers, Garlic, and Breadcrumbs (Page 204)

• Date: Friday, June 30, 2006 - 7:30pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Chris
• Recipe Rating: B

Chris and I had a little disagreement about whether to make Pork Pie for dinner on Friday or Macaroni and Cheese. Since we couldn't settle it, we picked something different from both of them, which was how we arrived at this one. It wasn't great, but its main problems stemmed from user error. The recipe calls for fresh breadcrumbs from a stale baguette. I didn't have a stale baguette on hand, so I figured I would use dried panko breadcrumbs instead. Now I'm not usually foolish enough to think it's a good idea to substitute dried breadcrumbs for fresh ones, but I figured since the recipe called for a baguette that was stale, the breadcrumbs were meant to be a little dry. Anyway, the obvious disaster happened: when I added the breadcrumbs to the sauce they immediately absorbed all the sauce, leaving us with oil soaked crumbs, and no sauce. It didn't taste bad per se, but the pasta was dry and the crumbs were oily, which wasn't really so pleasant. These user errors aside, I still wouldn't heartily recommend this dish. The flavor is good, if you like briny, but it's very one-note. And this is just personal bias of course, but pasta with breadcrumbs mixed in has always seemed a little odd to me. We don't usually take heavy carbs, and mix in some more heavy carbs. In the same way that a pasta sandwich would seem strange, pasta with pretty much only breadcrumbs mixed in feels strange to me.

So after a week of hardly cooking, yesterday I cooked for much of the day. I made 5 recipes from The Book! So while I am now really behind in my blogging, I feel like I am making progress on my project again. I was remembering yesterday that at some point, years ago, when Chris and I lived together, I made a resolution to make one recipe a week that I hadn't made before. I remember announcing to Chris that I had made this new resolution, and he commented that it was ambitious to try to make one new thing every week. I couldn't help laughing yesterday as I was thinking about this. Now, I can hardly remember the last time I made a recipe that wasn't new. Indeed, I think I promised Paul that I would cook "real food" (i.e. food that isn't a new recipe from The Book) before he moved away, but I never did. I just really love making the new recipes. Chris and I may be having the faculty member who sponsors Chris' grant at Stanford over for dinner next weekend. Chris is trying to force me to make "real food" for that dinner. I'll do it of course, because I think it's important to Chris, but I find it so fun and entertaining to cook and eat for the project that I would, of course, rather do that. Occasionally it concerns me that there are people who have only eaten my experimental food (e.g. Paul and Soren) and those people might secretly think I am a terrible cook, because sometimes, honestly, the food isn't great. I figure, if eventually people start refusing to come to meals at my place, I will reconsider my approach! Until then, every day is a new culinary experience!

Peas with Spinach and Shallots (Page 555)

• Date: Friday, June 30, 2006 - 7:30pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Chris
• Recipe Rating :A-

I chose this one as a side dish for our dinner last night. It was quite good. If I was going to make a pea dish in the future, this is the one I would make. Although there was only a tablespoon of butter in the dish, it had a really good richness and mouthfeel. The peas, shallots, and spinach complemented one another perfectly. And while Chris thought it should have called for more spinach, I found the ratio of ingredients quite good. My only complaint: it was too salty. Were I to make it again, I would definitely season by tasting rather than using their indicated quantity of salt.

I worked such long hours this week that until last night I hadn't cooked a meal all week! I did learn a lot I didn't know about where to eat on or around campus though. Soren took me to the faculty club for dinner one night -- in all my time at Stanford I don't think I had ever been there. And I feel like I have now thoroughly sampled all the lunch options (yes, that's right -- I did eventually get sick of eating at the Thai Cafe every day!). Yesterday though, since it was Friday afternoon of a very long week, I decided to leave work around 4:30pm, rest for a couple hours, and make some dinner. It was so nice to be in the kitchen again.

I don't really know what to say about this week. It was bad, in a lot of different ways. But sitting here on a sunny Saturday morning, still in my pajamas at 9:30am, eating candy for breafast, I feel optimistic. I am sure that everything will be fine. That's a good feeling.

When Emilee and I were laying on the beach last Saturday I remember claiming that I don't eat emotionally. And it's true that I don't eat for emotional reasons when I am not hungry. I did realize this week though that while emotion may not affect my decision whether or not to eat, it certainly affects what I eat. At several particularly low moments this week, I found myself sitting at my desk, eating Doritos. Under normal circumstances, I don't particularly enjoy Doritos. But somehow, in those moments, they were the only thing that sounded good. Strange! I think I ate more junk food this week than in the previous month combined. There were a couple days when I suspect that half my calories came from candy and ice cream. Whoops...

Roasted Pumpkin Seeds (Page 5)

• Date: Tuesday, June 27, 2006 - 9pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Dining Companion: Chris
• Recipe Rating: B+
  

The online random number generator picked the page number for this recipe. These roasted green pumpkin seeds were pretty good. The recipe was very quick and the seeds were certainly very snackable. I needed to add a little more salt than indicated in order to get a good saltiness. Chris noted that they didn't have as much "pizazz" as some of the other snacks I have made from The Book (e.g. the Rosemary Walnuts). (Side Note: I didn't even make fun of him for using the word pizazz. I was very proud of myself for that. I guess I am making fun of him now though, so maybe I shouldn't be so proud.... hmmm....). Overall, this recipe makes a very quick snack that would be perfect for a big poker game, or a Superbowl party, pizazz or no.

The last two days have really given meaning for me to the phrase "When it rains, it pours." They have just been awful. It's never good when problems with work and personal problems compound. At this point, I just feel exhausted. The last few days I have been so distracted trying to resolve my work problems that I haven't been eating, which never helps my mood. Perhaps that has contributed to my personal problems! At 4pm today I realized I hadn't yet eaten a meal. Not a good sign. Even then nothing sounded appealing, so I just grabbed a smoothie and went back to work. I finally resolved part of my work problem today though, and all of the personal problems, so I am more optimistic about tomorrow.

I had nightmare after nightmare last night, so I didn't sleep much. One of them was pretty funny in restrospect (although scary at the time). In the dream, there was a Stanford Army and they were invading MIT. Although no one at MIT understood why we were being invaded, the MIT Army was called on to defend the campus. I was apparently in the MIT Army Reserve and so I was pulled in to the warfare. Strangely, Haynes was the head of the MIT Army, which doesn't really seem like the sort of job he would enjoy... He lead a very defensive mission ('Don't fire unless fired upon," etc...). A lot of the battles took place in the MIT gym building, and I ended up getting shot by a Stanford undergraduate. I was wounded , but ok. I also had a grenade thrown at me, but that didn't appear to do any damage. Just when I was taken to the hospital for my gunshot wound, the Stanford Army seemed to be retreating. Then I woke up. It was very odd.

Almond Cake with Kirsch Cream and Lingonberry Preserves (Page 710)

• Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian, Bret, Karen, Stanford Mike, and Kai-Mei
• Recipe Rating: B-

Emilee's only criterion in selecting a dessert was that it had to contain a kind of alcohol that she didn't own. Since she had no kirsch, we selected this cake. It was ok... The almond flavor of the cake was very nice and the cake was wonderfully moist. It was so incredibly dense though that it was hard to eat more than a few bites. And while in general I really like whipped cream with alcohol in it, the kirsch whipped cream just didn't taste good. In fact, the kirsch gave the whipped cream a slightly soured flavor, which wasn't appealing. The lingonberry jam was tasty, but could have been better incorporated in the dessert. Emilee pointed out that it would have been a much nicer dessert if the cake was split and filled with the jam rather than just having the jam on the side. The cake batter was excellent raw and Brian speculated that it wouldn't be as good once we baked it. I think he was right! Overall, it wasn't a bad dessert, but I wouldn't make it again. I forgot to take a picture before I started eating my piece -- whoops!

So I was reading Self magazine in the car on the way to the beach this weekend, and there was this little mini-article with financial tips. Now, granted, Self isn't really known for being a source of incredibly accurate information, but I was still reading it. They had a little blurb about how to compute what your net worth should be. Their algorithm was to take your age, multiply by your annual income, and divide by ten. I did this, and was appalled! I am apparently supposed to have way more money than I do! I went on and on about this for a while in the car and finally Emilee suggested that I calculate what it should be in 10 years, figuring that that would seem like a more reasonable number and I would feel better. Again, shocking! How am I so poor?!?

On another note, I saw the movie Wordplay yesterday, a documentary about the New York Times Crossword and competitive crossword solvers. It was really fun! I definitely recommend it! One of the highlights: Jon Stewart makes a few appearances and is, of course, really funny.

Grilled Beer-Marinated Chuck Steak and Onions (Page 435)

• Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chefs: Brian and Emilee
• Dining Companions: Stanford Mike, Kai-Mei, Bret, and Karen
• Recipe Rating: A-

Em, Brian, and I picked this one. We figured, how can you go wrong with beef, marinated in beer, and grilled!?! It turns out we were right, this dish was very good. This recipe is made with chuck steak, which is a tasty but tough cut of meat. The overnight marinating really tenderized the meat though -- it wasn't tough at all. You could easily have mistaken it for a much more expensive cut of beef. The highlight of the dish was really the onions though. They too were marinated overnight in beer and then Brian grilled them to perfection. They were easily the highlight of the entire meal! Overall this was a really solid dish, and a great meal for a crowd.

This is recipe 150 in my project! I think when I get to 200 I will have a nice party to mark it! I am aiming to get to 200 by the end of the summer.

I don't know how many times I have been to the beach in Northern California, but certainly many times. Yet somehow, when we went to the beach in Santa Cruz yesterday, I had this idea that the air would be warm, and the water would be warm, and I would swim and lay in the sun. If I had thought about this carefully I would have remembered that last summer when we went to the beach in Santa Cruz we stopped for hot chocolate on the way home because we were so cold! Somehow I forgot this. It was a very cold beach day yesterday. The water was freezing -- the only people in it were a few surfers, most of them in wetsuits. Plus, it was overcast and about 65 degrees and windy. We still had a fun time, but I felt a little stupid (and cold!) for wearing a tank top and shorts. Plus, since it was so overcast I skipped the sunblock (I know, I know, not so smart) and got really sunburned. Apparently I was not on top of my game yesterday... Here are some pictures of Emilee and me wearing appropriate and inappropriate Northern California beach attire, respectively.

Roasted Spiced Sweet Potatoes (Page 584)

• Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian, Bret, Karen, Stanford Mike, and Kai-Mei
• Recipe Rating: B

Emilee, Brian, and I picked out this recipe for our dinner party on Thursday. These sweet potatoes were unusual, but not in a bad way. This was another dish where there were really diverse opinions. I enjoyed eating them, but when I went to get seconds this wasn't the dish that I reached for. The spice combination was non-canonical: coriander, fennel seeds, oregano, and red pepper. It worked though. I'm not a huge fan of anisey flavors in general, but the fennel wasn't bad with the sweetness of the potatoes. This dish was interesting, but as someone at the table (I think Mike) pointed out, "There are so many better things you can do with a sweet potato."

Emilee and Brian came over to Chris' place last night and the four of us swam, drank beer, and ate pizza. I love summer evenings like that! Today we are going to head to Santa Cruz to go to the beach.

I am making slow but steady progress thinking about job applications: asking people for letters of reccomendation, thinking about where I want to apply and what sorts of pieces these applications have. The hard thing about being out in California is knowing that I would really like to come back to Stanford after I graduate, and that's a very unlikely option. My plan for the job application process was not to get my hopes up about anything. And I've managed to do that so far about everything except coming to Stanford. The thing is, there are several math departments where I think I would be extremely happy mathematically, including Stanford. But so much of my non-math life is here too. It's just so tempting. I love the department here. In addition to being a very strong department, it's a friendly department. And I think it's a good mathematical fit for me. But I also really want to be here when Em and Brian have their first child. And I want to make dinner with Chris, and visit Rachel and Eric in Davis. I want to see Bret and Karen's new house, and drink beer with Soren. I want to drive down to LA to visit my brother. It just seems scary to start over somewhere new when I already have a life here. I will probably end up starting over though, and I am trying to view that as an exciting change. I try to remember that I felt the same way when I left California after college, and although it was hard to leave everyone behind, I built a really great network of friends in Boston. The truth is, I think I would be happy in any of the places that would make sense for me mathematically. I just think I would be the most happy here!

Green Bean Salad with Pumpkin Seed Dressing (Page 143)

• Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian, Karen, Bret, Kai-Mei and Stanford Mike
• Recipe Rating: B+

Emilee and I have been wanting to do something with green pumpkin seeds, so we chose this as a side dish for our dinner last night. It was met with extremely mixed reviews. Emilee, Bret, and I really liked this dish, and the rest of the table thought it was a bit gross. It was definitely over-dressed. We didn't even use all the dressing, but it was still too much. If I were going to make it again I would probably cut the dressing in half. The flavor of the dressing was very nice though. The ground pumpkin seeds gave some body to the dressing and contributed a great nutty flavor. I thought the dish was very tasty, and a little bit unusual. It seemed that many people thought it was just too weird though.

I have been wondering lately if people get more or less picky about food as they age? I have certainly outgrown almost all of my finickiness about food. But maybe that has less to do with age and more to do with the fact that I have learned more about food as I have gotten older. I think it is harder to dislike foods that you cook with and know about. Maybe that's just me... It's interesting to me to see what people will and will not eat though. Some friends of mine have aversions that I just don't understand (blue cheese, mayonaise, mustard, vinegar, etc...). Other friends will eat absolutely anything. I wonder how much that has to do with what you were fed as a child. Do you think that adventurous eaters are more often the product of parents who fed their children a wide variety of foods? I don't really understand why many parents feed their children a very limited, bland diet. If I have kids someday, as soon as they start eating solid food I will feed them whatever I eat. It doesn't seem obvious to me that children really have a different palate than adults do. I think kids just tend to like what they are used to. If they are used to eating a wide variety of things, probably they will like a wide variety of things. Well, I guess I will have to wait and see...

Roasted Pepper and White Bean Spread (Page 13)

• Date: Thursday, June 22, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian, Karen, Bret, Kai-Mei, and Stanford Mike
• Recipe Rating: C+

I picked this one as an easy appetizer for our dinner party last night. This recipe wasn't bad, it was just really dull. We all ate it, but no one was too excited about it. To be fair, we omitted the optional anchovy fillet. Maybe the anchovy would have given the spread more depth of flavor. As it was, it just tasted like pureed roasted red peppers, diluted a bit with some beans. It wasn't terribly appealing. The color was nice though.

We had a really lovely dinner party last night. There is something so nice about gathering friends together on a warm summer night to drink beer and grill steak. My friend Bret is getting married in August and I hadn't met his finace Karen yet, so it was really fun having them to dinner! They are one of those couples that just immediately seems like a great match. I am so excited for them! I am planning to come back to California for their wedding in August. It sounds like it is going to be an elaborate affair!

Bret and Karen both work for Google and they were telling me last night about Google Spreadsheets which I had never used. It's nice because it is a very easy way to share spreadsheets with others (basically it is cool in the same way that Google Calendar is cool). Paul has been suggesting that I list the recipes in my project on a spreadsheet with their grades so that one could sort easily for the A recipes, etc... I started doing this this morning. I can't figure out how to make the spreadsheet public though -- I can only give permission person by person. If anyone is interested, let me know and I can add you.

Curried Chicken Salad (Page 161)

• Date: Wednesday, June 21, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companion: Brian
• Recipe Rating: B-

Emilee and I picked this recipe while flipping through the cookbook in the grocery store, trying to figure out what to eat for dinner last night. This chicken salad wasn't great. I thought it was ok, and Brian was certainly willing to eat it, but I think it was one of the first recipes that we've made together that Emilee really didn't like. Its major flaw was that the curry was totally overpowering. The flavors of the lime juice, honey, and ginger didn't come through at all. The whole dish just tasted like curry powder. Brian commented, "This is why curry powder is a bad thing." He usually blends his own curries, and in this dish it was very clear that one of his own blends would have tasted better. With less curry and a higher concentration of fruit and nuts, it would be a pretty solid chicken salad. As it is, it was ok, but not something I would chose to make again.

Yesterday was a nice day. I had a productive day at work. Then Emilee and I went to Ikea to buy lingonberry jam for a dessert we are making for tonight. It had honestly never occured to me to shop for food at Ikea, but they did indeed have our jam! After Ikea we got pedicures, wandered around BevMo (my favorite liquor store!), and grocery shopped. A few people looked at us like we were nuts, wandering through the liquor store and the grocery store carrying a huge cookbook, but it turned out to be useful when a vegetarian woman who was trying to buy beef asked us for help distinguishing which cuts were which! I just opened to the labelled picture of a cow, and it cleared everything right up! We are having a big dinner tonight, so we started cooking last night. Once all our prep work was done we walked to 7-11 to get slurpees. It was a really lovely day.

I'm already starting to get excited about our dinner tonight. In Emilee and Brian's fridge right now there is a really yummy looking almond cake, and a whole lot of beef marinating in beer. How can we go wrong!?! We are having a little dinner party tonight, which should be really fun. I am trying to spend a lot of time with Em and Brian while Emilee is still on vacation. Next week they are away visiting their families and when they get back Em starts her rotations! She says she doesn't think she will really be that busy, but working 80 hours a week sounds like a lot to me! It will be exciting though to hear about everything that she is doing and learning at the hospital.

Ok, time for a morning swim...

Beets with Lime Butter (Page 523)

• Date: Tuesday, June 20, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chefs: Emilee and Brian
• Dining Companions: Nathan, Anh, and Chris
• Recipe Rating: A-

Emilee, Brian, and I picked this side dish to go with the main course Brian made last night. These beets were excellent. The flavor was fantastic, and grating the beets made this dish much quicker than most beet dishes. I increased the lime zest and juice, but everyone agreed the dish would have been still better with more lime. Overall this was a wonderful side dish: beautiful, tasty, and easy!

Brian was experimenting with developing a good tandoori trout recipe last night so a bunch of us gathered at Em and Brian's place to eat his first attempt. It was really very good! He spiced the fish beautifully, and then grilled them whole. It was very tasty, and a perfect meal for a warm summer evening!

I have decided that my dream vacation definitely includes a day at the spa. We had a spa day in Vegas, and it was so wonderful! The spa there was really fabulous: hot tub, dry sauna, steam room, etc... plus all the available services. There are few better ways to start the day than lounging in a hot tub with cold cucumber slices over your eyes! We had facials at the spa, which I had never done before. I knew I was going to enjoy the facial experience the moment I got in the bed they do your facial on and realized that the whole bed was heated! At one point, I was laying in the heated bed with my feet wrapped in hot towels, my hands in electric heating mitts, my face wrappped in a hot towel with only my nose poking out, and a steam machine blowing steam on me -- it was awesome!

Actually I had many enjoyably warm moments in Vegas. It was around 100-105 degrees while we were there, which is a little hot, even for me. But it was perfect for lounging by one of the 5 pools at our hotel. Even for walking around it wasn't so bad because the heat was really dry. A hundred and five in Vegas felt much more comfortable than 95 in South Carolina, where it is really humid.

Apple Crisp (Page 812)

• Date: Thursday, June 15, 2006 - 9pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Apartment: Chris' Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Chris
• Dining Companions: Robert and Soren
• Recipe Rating: B-

I picked this recipe for dessert to go with the lasagne last week. I wasn't too impressed by it. The filling was pretty good, although maybe a touch too sweet. I didn't really like the topping though. For one thing, I checked the crisp after it had cooked for less than three quarters of the indicated time, and the nuts in the topping had already started to burn, while the filling was undercooked. Further, I didn't think the topping had great texture. I much prefer crisp toppings with oatmeal in them. The texture of this topping was pretty grainy, which was disppointing. As I ate this dessert I just kept thinking, "Well this isn't as good as my mother's recipe."

Emilee and I got back from our trip to Vegas this afternoon! We had such a fun time! We even managed to gamble a little without losing too much money. We computed that our net gambling loss, between the two of us, was around seven dollars. I don't feel so bad about having lost $3.50 a piece. It's a good thing Emilee was there though: it turns out she has more gambling skill than I do. This morning she won $25 from a 25 cent Keno game (caveman Keno to be exact, although I don't claim to understand exactly what the "caveman" part of it was). We promptly lost her winnings playing Pai Gow Poker though, the only game that we were brave enough to actually sit at the tables and play. When the dealer found out I was from MIT he asked me if I was going to cheat. I think after watching me play for a few minutes, he wasn't too worried!

We stayed at the MGM Grand, which was really nice, and HUGE! All the hotels there were just enormous. I think I knew that things would be big, but I just had no idea how big. We got lost several times within our hotel (not to mention when we ventured out of our hotel!). Everytime we got lost though we would find something new and exciting. We discovered that there was a lion habitat in our hotel. That was pretty cool. The lions, unlike most things in Vegas, were actually real! Here's a picture of me and Em in front of one of The Strip's many waterfalls...

More on Vegas in the next few entries...

Butternut Squash and Hazelnut Lasagne (Page 234)

• Date: Thursday, June 15, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Chris
• Dining Companions: Robert and Soren
• Recipe Rating: C+

This recipe was another product of the online random number generator. It wasn't great. To be fair, I am always partial to lasagne with a tomato based sauce, and this one was a bechamel based lasagne instead. But still, I approached it with an open mind and wasn't impressed. The squash filling had a good flavor, but the bechamel was too bland. Plus, this recipe, like most new lasagne recipes, called for no-boil, oven ready lasagne noodles. I really think that these oven-ready noodles are a lousy innovation. For one, they absord so much liquid, that this lasagne for instance, came out a bit dry. Also, I really just don't like the texture of the no-boil noodles. I appreciate that it makes lasagne take much less time to make, but I don't think that the saved time makes up for the reduction of quality. Overall, I wasn't impressed by this dish. I left half my piece on my plate. Plus, it took a non-trivial time investment to make. It just wasn't worth it.

Emilee and I are flying to Las Vegas in the morning for a little vacation! It seems appropriate that I make my first trip to Vegas tomorrow since it is my parents' wedding anniversary tomorrow and they were married in Vegas 29 years ago! They must have one of the longest lasting marriages to come out of Las Vegas! Since I doubt I will be cooking in my hotel room, I probably won't blog until I come back in a few days.

It was hot here today. And sunny. I was only outside for a few minutes but I managed to sunburn my shoulders. Tonight I went for a nice swim and now I am sitting in my PJs, eating leftover apple crisp with ice cream and drinking a Corona. This may be the ideal was to spend a Friday evening! Well I should pack for my trip...

Squash, Tomatoes, and Corn with Jack Cheese (Page 593)

• Date: Thursday, June 15, 2006 - 8pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Chris' Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Chris
• Dining Companions: Robert and Soren
• Recipe Rating: B

So, as promised, I have returned to random number selection to pick some recipes while I am in California. An online random number generator picked this one. These vegetables were ok. The entire recipe is pretty much captured by the title: it is a few types of vegetables, cooked, with Monterey Jack cheese added. There wasn't anything bad about it, it just wasn't terribly interesting. We ate it as a side dish, but the recipe claims you could serve it as a vegetarian main course, which seems really strange to me. I think it's not substantial enough nor interesting enough to be served as a main course. It was a nice, simple, side dish though.

Robert and Soren came over for dinner last night. We were going around the table at the end of the meal offering grades for the recipes, and when I asked Soren what grades he would give them he said, "Well, if they were Stanford students, I would give them all A minuses." I thought that was pretty funny, although not really so helpful! This entire meal was just ok. Usually when I cook from The Book, there will be at least one component of the meal that is an A-range recipe. Not so in this case. I do feel a little bad having people over for dinner and serving them food that, according to my grading scheme, I wouldn't serve to guests! But there is no way to tell in advance. And since I have recommitted myself to the random number generator, I can't even only pick things that sound like they will be good. Well, if in a year no one wants to eat my dinners any more, I will know I have a problem. Until then, I will just hope that everyone has a good attitude about experimental food!

So the Hamburger Helper that was here in January is again in Chris' pantry, which means one of two things. Either he still hasn't made it, or he bought it again! I am hoping for the former. I promised to make it the last time I was here, to see what it tastes like, but I never did. This time I am really going to do it! I think it serves 4, so I'll invite Em and Brian over -- we can enjoy it together! Mmmm...

Blackberry Cobbler (Page 815)

• Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - 7:30pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian and Chris
• Recipe Rating: A-

We wanted something with fruit for dessert so Emilee and I chose this blackberry cobbler. It was quite good. We substituted frozen blackberries for fresh ones, and they held up really well and tasted great. We went with the low end on the range of sugar to add, and the cobbler came out nice and tart. The biscuit-like topping had a great flavor and was very moist. This dessert was a winner -- extremely simple to make and very satisfying. With some vanilla ice cream, it was perfect!

The thing I love about coming to California is that it doesn't feel like traveling. Maybe it's because I lived here for so long, or maybe it's because some of my closest friends live here, but coming to California always feels like coming home. Plus, when I am here I always stay with Emilee for part of the time, and with Chris for part of the time. Clearly I am a guest in both of their homes, but having lived with each of them before for long periods of time, I don't feel like I am imposing as much as I would with most people. I do feel a little guilty stealing a desk in the Stanford Math Department for a month when this isn't primarily a mathematical visit, but I do need a place to work every day.

I had this dream last night (or series of dreams?) that was just a bunch of vignettes of people that I trust and care about letting me down. It was really strange. None of the people in the scenes were malicious, they just disappointed me in various ways. For example, in one scene I was at my grandfather's birthday party in Wisconsin and a friend of mine was supposed to be meeting me there to meet my family. He didn't show up so I called his phone and he was in San Francisco, and was completely confused about what day it was. Apparently I hadn't seen this friend in a while and I was disappointed that he wasn't coming, and he was upset because apparently he had missed some important meeting in Boston since he had been confused about the day. We got in a big disagreement on the phone about whether it was Wednesday or Thursday today and then he flew to Boston. The thing that was odd about this dream though was that it was a group of people that has never really done anything to disappoint me, nor was I feeling let down by anybody last night when I went to bed. So I don't know what it means really. Very odd...

Layered Cobb Salad (Page 162)

• Date: Wednesday, June 14, 2006 - 7:30pm
• Location: Palo Alto, CA
• Kitchen: Emilee and Brian's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Emilee
• Dining Companions: Brian and Chris
• Recipe Rating: B+

Emilee and I picked this salad while sitting in her car in the Whole Foods parking lot. Although it was a very typical simple Cobb salad, we both thought it was quite good. Brian agreed that it wasn't bad but thought it shouldn't be served as a dinner entree, and Chris hated it, but only because he has a strong aversion to Roquefort (well, really any blue cheese). We started with really good, fresh ingredients, which made for a very clean, tasty salad. The dressing had a nice flavor, but we didn't need all of it. The blue cheese contributed both a good flavor, and a creaminess to the salad. Overall, this dish wasn't anything terribly out of the ordinary, but it was a good, enjoyable salad.

I made it to California yesterday. It's good to have a change of scenery. I love living in Boston, but the past few days I was starting to feel like everyone is abandoning me. Paul moved away, Bridget moved to Chicago on Monday, Mike and Vigleik are leaving soon, and Jessie officially decided to move out of our apartment and in with her new boyfriend. It's just a lot of changes in a short period of time. I think being away for a bit will be good for me.

I enjoy being in California so much. Today I had a lovely day. I got up at 7am and went for an early morning swim outside. Then I went to the math department at Stanford and worked. I am in the same office I had in January, so it feels very familiar. This evening, after a productive day of work, Emilee and I grocery shopped and made dinner, and we ate with Brian and Chris. It was a really nice day. I am exhausted now though. It's only 11pm here, but I think I haven't adjusted yet to Pacific time. It feels very late.

Triple-Chocolate Fudge Brownies (Page 689)

• Date: Sunday, June 11, 2006 - 6pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companions: Jessie and Jose
  
• Recipe Rating: A-

I was in the mood for something sweet (as always!) and I picked these brownies because I already had all the ingredients. As the name suggests, these brownies are awesome. They are fudgy, and chocolatey, and delicious! I used really good Michel Cluizel chocolate in the batter, and I replaced some of the chocolate chips with chunks of single origin El Rey chocolate that I had in my pantry. The brownies came out flavorful, and moist, and wonderful. I think they are some of the best brownies I have ever had. The multiple types of chocolate give them a much deeper and more interesting flavor than your average brownie. I highly recommend this recipe!

I had a very mellow day today. I went to the homeless shelter, and then to the office. Then I came home, made brownies, worked some more, and went to Diesel with John for a late night cup of tea. Today was a fun day at the homeless shelter. I made an enormous salad with two of the other volunteers. I think I washed 12 heads of romaine before I figured out that the salad spinner had a hole in the bottom and was draining onto the counter and then onto the floor. There was a little lake around me. We had spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, and garlic bread for lunch at the shelter today. It was really good! The food there isn't bad per se, but at any given meal I usually only eat one or two components of it. I'm not big on most canned food, and a lot of the things we make come from cans... This was the second week in a row that the food was really good though, and I ate everything we made!

So I think some of you out there have acquired The Book yourselves and have made some things out of it (hint, hint: Paul). You all should comment to the blog when you make things from The Book. Let me know if you disagree with my rating, or, if I haven't made it yet, let me know how it is! I would love to hear about everyone else's cooking adventures!

Buttermilk Waffles (Page 652)

• Date: Wednesday, June 7, 2006 - 6pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Recipe Rating: A-

On Wednesday night I was flipping through the book to find myself something for dinner, and I decided I wanted waffles! I felt a little self indulgent making a batch of waffles just for myself, especially since the recipe made 24 waffles, but it was worth it! These waffles were excellent. They came out crispy on the exterior, and nice and soft inside. The buttermilk gave them a wonderful tang. I put some butter and sugar on top and they were divine! Since I couldn't eat all 24 at once, I froze most of them. Today I pulled some out of the freezer for brunch and threw them in the toaster. They were still great! This recipe couldn't be simpler, and the waffles are just perfect.

Yesterday, for the first time, I started to really worry about the whole job application process looming in my not-so-distant future. I'm not really sure what brought on my sudden worrying. But I started thinking about it and immediately felt very panicky. It's just scary because jobs in math academia are hard to get. If I end up not getting an academic job it wouldn't be the end of the world (I could go to pastry school!) but I would still prefer to stay in academia... The whole process doesn't really start until the fall, and you don't find out what job offers you've gotten until the late winter, so really I shouldn't start worrying now! I remember when I applied to graduate school I was really worried about not getting in anywhere. It was silly, I guess, to worry about that, but at the time it felt like a very real concern to me. I remember sitting around in my apartment at Stanford one afternoon with my friend Josh, brainstorming about what I could do if I didn't get in to graduate school. He kept suggesting that I do something totally different. He suggested, for instance, that I should make furniture. I tried to tell him that wood shop in middle school was not my best subject, but he insisted I could learn! Maybe I should call him and ask what I should do if I don't get an academic job -- I'm sure he would have some great suggestions!

Despite the ever-present rain it has been a nice week-end so far. Alex had a dinner gathering last night with yummy Osso Buco. Then I had drinks with Elliot, an old college friend who was in town to see his younger brother graduate from Harvard. Tonight there was a fun gathering in honor of Bridget's graduation. Plus, I have done a lot of working from home, laying in my bed reading math papers -- one of my favorite activities when it rains!

Panfried Tofu on Sesame Watercress with Soy Orange Dressing (Page 279)

• Date: Monday, June 5, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Paul
• Recipe Rating: A-

Paul picked this dish for his last meal in Boston on Monday night. It was extremely good. The tofu was perfectly fried and generously sauced. The sauce was simple but delicious - the sesame, soy, citrus combination really worked well and the consistency of the sauce was great. The bed of sesame watercress that the tofu sat on was also very nice. Overall a great tofu dish. One note: it took much longer than indicated to get the tofu properly fried. To get a nice golden brown, I had to panfry the tofu at least 20 minutes, rather than the 6-8 minutes indicated in the recipe. It turned out really wonderful though.

I have been in a not-great mood for the last 3 days or so. This afternoon I got back from tutoring and was feeling really crabby. I was sitting in my apartment, trying to understand why I was in such a bad mood, and I realized that I hadn't had a real meal since dinner on Tuesday, 3 days ago. Since then I have been really flaky about finding food to eat. Yesterday I had popcorn for dinner. The day before I made waffles and ate a couple waffles for dinner. Yesterday for lunch I had a few bite-sized cakes that they served after the hooding ceremony. Basically I have been eating food that is terrible for me, in not-large-enough quantities for 3 days! It's no wonder I was crabby. Upon thinking about this I immediately walked to Inman square and had a nice sit-down Thai meal by myself. Afterwards I came home and took a 45 minute nap. Now I am in a great mood!

I love eating in restaurants alone. It feels so indulgent. Since it was 2:30pm in the afternoon, I was actually the only person in the whole restaurant. I got the best service I've had in my life! It was just a very peaceful experience. I ate (a lot!) and read a math paper.

I think I have had this problem before in the summer where I don't think carefully about eating every meal. My mood is extremely hunger-dependent (I am sure many of you could comment on that!), so I am going to try to make an effort to eat for the rest of the summer. I love to eat, so that shouldn't really be so hard :)

Gingered Noodle Salad with Mango and Cucumber (Page 149)

• Date: Monday, June 5, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Paul
• Recipe Rating: C-

Paul was in town for two days early this week so we made dinner one last time before he moved away. This salad wasn't very good. I like all the components, but the salad just wasn't at all cohesive. The fruit and vegetables did not incorporate with the cellophane noodles. The dressing had good flavor but it was very light, which meant that you could hardly taste it on any of the components other than the noodles. The dish came across like eating some seasoned noodles with pieces of mango and cucumber on top. It wasn't very appetizing.

Today was a little bit difficult. The doctoral hooding ceremony at MIT was today. I was so happy for Mike, Bridget, and Vigleik as they got hooded. At the same time though it really cemented for me the fact that they are leaving MIT. When I decided not to graduate this year, I knew that watching my good friends graduate and leave would be difficult. I don't regret my decision to stay at MIT another year, but when I try to think about what next year will look like without Mike, Bridge, and V, it scares me a little.

Further, I always get worried when friends move away that I won't do a good enough job of keeping in touch. I am more than a little phone shy, which isn't a great quality for long-distance friendships.

*sigh* Basically I am just worrying today. You know, I am sure everything will be fine. It just seems that a lot of things are changing lately. I sometimes need some time to adjust to changes...

Old-Fashioned Chocolate Pudding (Page 824)

• Date: Thursday, June 1, 2006 - 2pm
• Location: Hartsville, SC
• Kitchen: My Parents' House
• Dining Companion: My Mom
• Recipe Rating: B-

I made this chocolate pudding last week, on my last day in Hartsville. I wasn't really excited about it. I thought the flavor was a little too chocolatey (if such a thing is possible!) and the texture wasn't as smooth and creamy as I would have liked. It was a little too gelatinous. My mom really liked the pudding though. I made 4 little dishes of it. I ate about a third of one and my mother ate the other 3 and two thirds over the next day. She suggested it would make a good filling for a fudge pie, which is quite possibly true. I think having a crust under it would be nice -- then there would be something to contrast with the intense chocolate flavor a bit. Overall I think I just prefer more of a chocolate pastry cream type pudding rather than this one.

Cooking at home made me really long for a big kitchen. I shouldn't complain really, my apartment has a relatively large kitchen. But at my parents' house they have a dishwasher, and tons of counter space, and huge cupboards, and a big table in the kitchen. I am jealous. I love cooking in a big kitchen. Chris' dad and stepmom live in the suburbs of Boston, and they have an enormous kitchen. Actually their house has 2 kitchens! The bigger of the 2 even has 2 ovens! And they have granite counter tops. It's so nice to cook there. Whenever I end up there I always volunteer to make dinner at least once! I don't really need a kitchen that glamorous, but a girl can dream! My mother's kitchen, although nice, is strangely equipped. She has some things even I don't have (e.g. an iced tea brewer), but the first night we cooked Paul asked her where the cutting boards were and she said, "Oh, I don't have a cutting board." What?!?! It turns out she did have one, she just didn't know it! We found it a couple days later, after cutting vegetables on a serving platter for 2 nights. She also doesn't have a food processor, although she has a good excuse. When I was 12 she cut off the top of her thumb cleaning the food processor. The funny thing was that she was only using it because she had been knicking herself with knives and my dad thought using the food processor would be safer.

Well, I am jealous, but on the other hand, it's nice to be cooking back in my own kitchen, where I have equipment that I like and I know where everything is!

Homemade Sausage Patties (Page 492)

• Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 -7pm
• Location: Hartsville, SC
• Kitchen: My Parents' House
• Fellow Chef: Mom
• Dining Companion: Dad
• Recipe Rating: A-

My mom and I made these sausages to go with our Puffed Apple Pancake last week when I was in South Carolina. They were extremely good! The sausages were simple to make, and the seasoning was wonderful! The many spices in the recipe complemented one another beautifully to produce really tasty sausage. One note: my patties actually took much longer to cook through than the time indicated in the recipe. I would say that they took at least twice as long, but then they came out perfectly cooked: very moist inside but with a browned, crispy exterior.

So it sounds like I may have to find a new roommate for next year. My current roommate started dating someone a few weeks ago and they are now talking about moving in together. They haven't totally decided yet, so I am trying not to worry about it. I don't want to find a new roommate though! I like living with Jessie. Plus, I am not sure that anyone I know is looking for a roommate for the fall, which may mean that I have to live with a stranger. I haven't lived with a stranger in a long time. I don't like living alone though, so I'll have to figure something out! Yick!

Being away from Boston last week was really refreshing. I was so tired when the semester ended, but now I am feeling really energized and motivated which is exciting. I leave for California in a week, so I am trying to have a productive few days before then. I want to get some work done, and also do some (late) spring cleaning around my apartment. I started cleaning my room this morning, which basically amounted to throwing lots of stuff away! Tonight, after work and the gym, I am going to continue getting rid of some things... I really have a lot of stuff I don't need.

Puffed Apple Pancake (Page 649)

• Date: Wednesday, May 31, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Hartsville, SC
• Kitchen: My Parents' House
• Fellow Chef: My Mom
• Dining Companion: My Dad
• Recipe Rating: B+

My mom has been eyeing this recipe since she got The Book, so she wanted to make it together. It was quite good. The pancake came out nice and custardy. The cooked apples had a lot of flavor and were perfectly tender. I would have prefered if the custard-like base had a bit more flavor to it. It was slightly bland. The pancake was still very good though. We ate it with sausage for dinner, and it made a nice meal. I was skeptical about eating pancake for dinner, but it wasn't too sweet, so it worked out well. It would also be great, of course, as a breakfast or brunch dish.

I made it safely back to Boston this evening. When I got off the plane it was 54 degrees and raining. I was dressed for 95 degrees and sunshine so I had to do a quick change of clothes at the airport before venturing out!

While waiting for my flight in Charlotte, I finished reading "The Time Traveler's Wife," in the terminal. I cried my way through the last 40 pages of the book. Books don't usually make me cry. Sad movies do sometimes, but it's a very rare book that I react to so strongly. I was too involved in the book to get up and get a tissue, so there were tears running down my face and I was sniffling. I'm sure people though I was crazy! Crying in front of complete strangers is a little embarassing of course, but it's also interesting to see how people react. I could tell that people weren't sure if I was upset about my book, or upset about something else. In the south, people are much more likely to try to help a complete stranger than they are in Boston, and I could see that a couple of women were trying to figure out if they should ask me if I needed anything. Everyone just let me be though, and when I finished my book I went to the bathroom and dried my eyes before my flight.

Fresh Apricot Upside-Down Cake (Page 718)

• Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Hartsville, SC
• Kitchen: My Parents' House
• Fellow Chef: Paul
• Dining Companions: My Parents
• Recipe Rating: A

South Carolina is famous for its peaches, and my dad picked some up the other day. I was looking for something to do with them and I decided to substitute peaches for the apricots in this recipe. I wanted to make this one while I was home since my mom has a big, old, cast-iron skillet, which I don't. This cake was fantastic! It was beautiful, and so wonderfully moist! The first time I made the topping I wasn't watching it too carefully and I burnt it. I almost burnt it the second time too, but it came out really nicely - a very deep caramely flavor! The best part though was the flavor and texture of the cake itself. The buttermilk and almond extract gave the cake a wonderful and tangy taste, and it was perfectly tender and moist. This was really an excellent dessert!

I started reading a book last night that I just couldn't put down. Vigleik got me "The Time Traveler's Wife" for my birthday a couple months ago and I brought it with me to SC. It's been a while since I have read anything that I liked enough to keep reading late at night instead of going to sleep. The book really hooked me though. Finally, after reading 250 pages I tore myself away to get some sleep. I had a little trouble falling asleep though (ok, I never really have trouble falling asleep, but I did lay awake for 10 minutes before drifting off which is practically unheard of for me). The book is this amazing love story. I find love stories to be simultaneously uplifting and a little depressing. No, depressing isn't the right word. Maybe they just make me feel a bit lonely. I have so many great people in my life that I always feel a bit silly when I feel lonely... After a few minutes of loneliness last night, I snapped out of it and fell asleep! I am looking forward to curling up with the book again today. In fact, I may do that right now!

Charred Tomatillo Guacamole (Page 10)

• Date: Tuesday, May 30, 2006 - 7pm
• Location: Hartsville, SC
• Kitchen: My Parents' House
• Fellow Chef: Paul
• Dining Companions: My Parents
• Recipe Rating: A-

My mom made chicken fajitas on Tuesday night for dinner, so Paul and I made this guacamole to go with them. I had never made guacamole before that had tomatillos in it. It was extremely good, which was amazing because the only avocados we could find were borderline rotten and we had to use dried cilantro instead of fresh because fresh cilantro couldn't be found at the grocery store here. With proper ingredients, this guacamole would no doubt be fantastic! My mother had never seen a tomatillo before, and seemed a little bit skeptical, but she too loved this recipe. Usually I just make guacamole by mashing up some avocado with salt and lime juice, so this was a wonderful change, with a very unique flavor.

This is my last full day in Hartsville. I am flying out of Charlotte on Saturday so tomorrow we are going to drive up there and do a little shopping, maybe see a movie, and stay over night. It's good timing because I am about ready to leave Hartsville. There's essentially nothing to do here, but still I am not managing to be very productive workwise. I'm trying to cut myself some slack -- it was a long semester. A few days of rest are probably good for me! But I think part of being a graduate student is feeling guilty when you aren't particularly productive. For some reason the heat here also makes me feel lazy. When it's 95 degrees outside I don't really feel like going running, or even venturing out of the house. I have been getting up early so my mom and I can go run errands and things before the heat really sets in. My parents have a big screened-in porch in their back yard which is a really nice place to sit around 8am, when the sun is shining, but it's not yet overwhelmingly hot outside.