Garam Masala (Page 932)

• Date: Monday, March 26, 2007 -- 7pm
• Location: North Conway, NH
• Kitchen: The Talbot House
• Dining Companions: Vero, Big Mike, Vigleik, Andrew, Chris, Andre, Jnkf, Ricky, Matt, and 14 other mathematicians!
• Recipe Rating: A-
  

This spice mixture was necessary for a lamb dish I made for Talbot this past week. It's always difficult to figure out how to grade recipes like this. The lamb was very tasty, which I suppose means that the spice mixture was tasty too... It was simple to throw together, and I got to use my new spice grinder, which was a plus. That's about all I can say...

Well after a fun, and exhausting week, Talbot is over and I am back in Boston. I had a really great time, although I wish the timing could have been different. It was hard for me to relax as much as I would have liked to, given my impending thesis defense...

My defense is Monday, at 4:30pm. Less than 48 hours from now. I have obviously known for a long time that there would come a day when I would defend my PhD thesis. But now that it is practically here, it feels very strange. At Talbot this past week, people kept saying to me, "Just relax, it's not such a big deal." I think they're wrong though. It is a big deal. At least, it's a big deal to me.

It's true that the defense itself doesn't matter so much, and the outcome is more or less predetermined. But it represents something that was a huge effort. That means something. I'm not nervous exactly, but I have trouble treating Monday as just any other day.

It is a big deal to me. Is that such a bad thing?

Vanilla Creme Anglaise (Page 876)

• Date: Sunday, March 25, 2007 -- 8pm
• Location: North Conway, NH
• Kitchen: The Talbot House
• Dining Companions: Vero, Mike, Chris, Andrew, Vigleik, Ricky, Matt, Andre, Big Mike, Jacob, Jnkf, and 15 other mathematicians
• Recipe Rating: A-

I was shocked to discover that I hadn't yet made the creme anglaise from The Book. I love creme anglaise! This recipe was different than the one I usually use (whole eggs versus just egg yolks for instance), but it was still delicious. I had never made creme anglaise with a vanilla bean before rather than vanilla extract. The vanilla flavor was lovely -- very rich and authentic. Veronique commented that this sauce was "nothing special." True, it did taste more or less like every other decent creme anglaise recipe. But creme anglaise is delicious! I served this with molten chocolate cakes, and it complemented them nicely. Picture coming soon...

The Talbot workshop has officially begun! It's wonderful seeing everyone, which makes it challenging to force myself to work on my thesis and my defense during the few breaks in lectures!

I had my first culinary disaster of the week last night. I made bananas foster for dessert. It only has 6 ingredients. It's pretty much impossible to burn. Yet I ruined it! How? Well... I was making bananas foster for 25 in a huge hotel pan, and I lit it on fire (as you are supposed to) and I let the alcohol burn, and burn, and burn... But the pan was deep, so although I swirled it to try to burn the alcohol underneath, apparently I only burned from the top. I tasted it before I sent it out, but I tasted from the top. It was maybe a touch boozy, but otherwise fine.

Ten minutes later, after everyone was served, I took a bite of my own serving, which came from the very bottom of the pan. I couldn't eat it. There was so much rum and banana liqueur in there, untouched by the flame, that I felt drunk after two bites. Almost everyone else ate it though, and I felt hopelessly guilty for having gotten everyone drunk -- right before a talk no less. Whoops! I learned long ago to always taste everything before you serve it. This was a new lesson: stir before you taste.

Hopefully that will be the only major disaster of the week!

Hot Red Pepper Relish (Page 902)

• Date: Sunday, March 18, 2007 -- 4pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
  
• Recipe Rating: B
  

I picked this recipe because it was quick and keeps for a long time. This relish is ok. I can imagine there are probably a lot of good foods to eat it with, but since I had none of them, I tried it on a tortilla chip, which I wouldn't recommend. I think it will make a good sandwich topping though... The flavor is a bit too dominated by the cider vinegar. The net result is extremely acidic and vinegary. The level of spice is good though, and the red bell peppers give it a nice sweetness. I am not overly excited about this one, but I am looking forward to trying it on a nice turkey sandwich!

It is the last few days before spring break, which have a unique feel to them. I have always loved the period leading up to a school vacation. Everyone is a little punchy, a little squirmy, and a little less inhibited than usual. It's nice to see that. People seem so happy. In elementary school we would always have half-days before break and those days were pretty much one long party! We would eat candy and watch movies. Why we went to school at all on those days was a mystery to me, but I loved it nonetheless. In these last few days before break I am trying to remain slightly more focused than that (I am eating candy, but not watching movies at the office!).

I actually keep forgetting that next week is break since I (along with many of my friends in the department) am going to the Talbot workshop next week. Talbot is many wonderful things, but restful isn't one of them -- I don't think it will feel too much like a spring vacation! Talbot ends next Saturday, and I defend my thesis that Monday, so I am trying to finish up a lot of things before I leave this weekend! Luckily there are almost six weeks between my defense and when a final draft of my thesis needs to be submitted!

Sweet and Spicy Bacon (Page 656)

• Date: Saturday, March 17, 2007 -- 11am
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B
  

There was some leftover bacon in Matt's freezer, so I chose this recipe to use it up. This bacon was pretty tasty. The brown sugar complimented the bacon wonderfully. I wasn't as sold on the cayenne -- it contributed a nice spice, but there was a bit too much of it. I was hoping the sugar mixture would form a nice glaze on the bacon, but it didn't melt completely before the bacon started to burn. The winning aspect of this recipe was definitely baking the bacon on the broiler pan in the oven. The bacon came out fantastically crispy and I appreciated the fact that it was much less greasy that a more canonical bacon preparation. If I did it again, I would cut the cayenne in half and sprinkle the sugar mixture on the bacon about 10 minutes earlier in the baking time.

The days around and including the Talbot conference are always some of my favorites of the year. The trickle of good friends arriving in town has already started. Andre is here now, Chris is arriving on Thursday, and Mike and Vigleik will be here this weekend. I miss all those guys so much -- it will be great to be all together again! I think I am still adjusting to not having Mike and Vigleik around this year! The three of us haven't been in the same place at the same time since the summer.

Throughout my time at MIT, the topology group has been a really special collection of people. Talbot is a chance for us all to reunite -- the people currently in the group and all the great people who have graduated and moved on.

Plus, some of the guys are staying for my defense, which I am really excited about! Honestly, it's hard for me to imagine defending my thesis without Vigleik, or Mike, or Chris in the audience. They have been such a huge part of my graduate school experience. I am thrilled that they will be there to (hopefully!) celebrate with me.

Vanilla-Brown Sugar Syrup (Page 646)

• Date: Saturday, March 17, 2007 -- 11am
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matt's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: F
  

I picked this recipe to go with breakfast on Saturday because it was super-simple and Matt had all the ingredients in his pantry. This syrup was FOUL though. It still mystifies me how you can combine brown sugar, water, butter, lemon juice, and vanilla and end up with something so deeply, truly, terrible. I couldn't immediately identify the familiar flavor that this stuff had, but Matt hit it right on the head: Pepsi. It tasted like ultra-strong, slightly rotten Pepsi. I like Pepsi fine, but I don't particularly want to eat super-condensed Pepsi syrup. Matt posed the reasonable question: how did this recipe make it in to The Book? After tasting it I reread the recipe again to verify that I measured all the ingredients correctly, and followed every step. But basically the recipe was: combine some stuff, boil, add some more stuff. Which I did. So I can offer you no explanation. And although I usually try to make some suggested improvements, in this case my recommendation is simply: DON'T MAKE IT! Ick. Ick, Ick, Ick.

Paul flew in this weekend to see the Boston Symphony Orchestra perform Mahler's Third Symphony, so last night I took a break from my work and went to the concert with him. Aside from the music being quite good, it just felt great to be out. I put on a dress. We went to dinner. I felt like a real person again.

It was fleeting though. Today I am back in my pajamas, working. I am almost done though, and that feels really good. After my defense I will do plenty of editing and formatting I am sure, but the bulk of the work is very nearly done. Just a couple more days of writing...

One of my friends said to me this weekend: "Teena I think I am looking forward to you finishing your thesis even more than you are. You're not really very fun any more." It's hard to blame him for that comment, since really it's true! I promise to be fun again sometime in the very near future!!!

Moroccan Chicken with Preserved Lemons and Green Olives (Page 359)

• Date: Friday, March 16, 2007 --7pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B
  

I picked this recipe for dinner last night because it was the first recipe I ran across where I already had all the ingredients. It was pretty good. Between the preserved lemons and the green olives, it definitely had a strong briny flavor. Usually I am not a huge fan of extreme brininess, but one of the things that I liked most about this dish was that its flavor was so strong that it really permeated the chicken. Often times chicken dishes like this just taste like chicken breasts with some stuff on top. In this case, the citrus and briny flavors distributed through the meat in a very nice way. I found the composition of the dish a bit odd. Even though I love onions, I didn't understand the overwhelming quantity of onions without any other vegetables. Matt's big complaint was that the flavor of the dish was very much dominated by the preserved lemons, which he doesn't like so much. I could see his point, although I like the lemons, and thought the citrus flavor was refreshing. Overall, this made a quick dinner which was more or less satisfying.

The Talbot workshop is coming up in a little over a week, and I have finally started thinking about the menu. Talbot is a math conference organized by 4 guys who were all graduate students at MIT together a few years ago. It's a week in New Hampshire, living in a big ski house with 25 or so other mathematicians, learning some topic together (which changes every year). A couple years ago, I seem to have volunteered to be in charge of dinners at Talbot. And so here I am, attempting to plan a menu. Cooking for 26 in a non-industrial kitchen is a bit of a challenge, so picking the right dishes is important. Some dishes that I love are just completely impractical because there isn't oven space or stovetop space to make them in that quantity.

It's tempting to do a lot of cooking from The Book during that week (especially the recipes that serve large numbers of people), but I try to keep the experimental food to a minimum. It's particularly sad to have made a dish that isn't so good when you quadrupled the recipe and have to serve it to 25 people! The real reason not to cook new recipes from The Book though is that it is much easier to make recipes you are familiar with when you are cooking in huge quantities!

To those of you who will be at Talbot: any requests?

Irish Soda Bread (Page 601)

• Date: Friday, March 16, 2007 -- 7pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: C+
  

I picked this bread because it was extremely quick, and I am all about the recipes with the 15 minute active times these days. Despite it's easy preparation, I wouldn't recommend this recipe. The primary problem was the texture -- the bread was extremely dense and came out very dry. Smothered in the compound butter from last night it was tasty, but eaten without butter, the dryness made it unappealing. Matt pointed out that the caraway flavor was a bit strong for him, and I agree that I would have preferred a milder flavor. Another issue was that the raisins near the surface all got extremely burnt long before the bread was done baking, and thus had to be picked off of the finished loaf. Overall this bread was fine, but nothing spectacular. I found myself eating it simply because it was the only starchy thing on the table, not because I actually wanted to eat it.

Well, we had our first "snow emergency" of the winter today. Looking out the window, I'm not sure I would call this an "emergency," but there is snow on the ground and there are plows on the street. In fact, the plows are pretty much the only things on the street, so perhaps road conditions are worse than they look.

I spent the entire day working in bed. Strangely, sitting in bed is one of the most productive workspaces for me. I pretty rarely just lie down and go to sleep. I think I get easily distracted by things like being uncomfortable, or cold, or hungry, but when I am sitting in my pajamas, under a down comforter, with plenty of snacks on the side table, these things don't distract me. Normally I go to the office during the day anyway. Being at the office is generally more fun than being home alone all day. Plus, if I stay inside too long I start to go stir-crazy. With the nasty weather today though, I just didn't see the point in leaving home. The one down-side of my strategy is this: now that it's time to actually go to bed, I don't really feel like being in bed any more...

Lemon Mustard Butter (Page 895)

• Date: Thursday, March 15, 2007 -- 7pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matt's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B
  

This is another one that I picked solely because it took less than ten minutes to make. As compound butters go, it was pretty good. The recipe called for too much lemon juice though for the given quantity of butter, the effect of which was that much of the lemon juice dripped out when the butter log was formed. I served this with steak (as that was the only meat in the freezer), but Matt pointed out it would have been more appropriate just spread on some bread. The Book frequently suggests serving the compound butters on meat, which honestly I don't particularly understand. When you put compound butter on hot meat (as we did this evening) it just melts. So why not make a lovely butter sauce with mustard and lemon mixed in instead? It would be less fussy with the same net effect. Perhaps it's a stylistic thing, although I think sauce looks better too. Maybe certain ingredients would separate out too much from melted butter? I'm not sure. In any event, compound butter would definitely be superior to a sauce for, say, spreading on bread. But I'm not sure I would choose a compound butter to accompany my meat again. Lucky for me, I have another 4 compound butter recipes in The Book with which to test various accompaniments.

I have been, for the most part, avoiding the Sauces and Salsas section of The Book. I can't offer any satisfying explanation for this. I love sauces. I love salsas. There's just no glamor in it though. If you make a beautiful cake, or a hearty stew, or a fresh, delicious salad, it feels like an accomplishment. I have trouble getting excited about sauce though.

In culinary school we had to master the French mother sauces (bechamel, hollandaise, veloute, mayonaise, and espagnole). I'm not a huge fan of any of the above -- certainly they all have delicious derivative sauces, but by themselves they are just ok. The first four are easy to make and extremely quick. Espagnole though is an investment. It involves about an hour of constant stirring followed by another hour (or more) of reducing and skimming. I made this at school one very warm July afternoon. Six of us were practicing our espagnole that day, and it was hot. I carefully seasoned my sauce when it was complete, brought it to the chef for critique, and then went to throw it away. Probably now I would have saved it. I would have brought it home and enjoyed it. But back then, the mere idea of a sauce that was essentially ultra-reduced veal stock, did not appeal to me at all. It was the most condensed, intense meat flavor you can imagine. At the time I was barely eating meat at all, still recovering from my decade as a vegetarian. Fortunately, my friend Russ saved it from the trash. He took it home with him and fed it to his wife and kids that night with steaks.

There's no espagnole in The Book, but there are a lot of sauces to make. My plan is to do a lot of sauces in the next couple weeks... Eventually I need to tackle those 8 mayonaise recipes!

Maple Mustard Sauce (Page 894)

• Date: Wednesday, March 14, 2007 -- 8pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: A-
  

Truth be told: I picked this recipe today because it had a start to finish time of 5 minutes! I don't have much time to cook these days (can you even count stirring together mustard and maple syrup as cooking?!?). This sauce was good though! The Book recommended serving it with baked ham, but I certainly wasn't baking any hams today, so I ate it with Chik Nuggets (yay for fake meat!), and it was delicious. For a 5 minute recipe, I would definitely reccomend it.

Lately, I have withdrawn from pretty much everything in my life except my thesis! Oy. So if you have called me and I didn't answer your call, please don't take it personally! The only person whose calls I have been answering consistently are my mother's, and that's because my grandmother had a stroke two days ago, and my mom is keeping me updated...

I am slowly compiling a mental list of all the things I want to do once my thesis is done and my defense is over! Lots and lots of cooking is right at the top of the list. And apartment hunting, enjoying the weather, returning a bunch of phone calls, getting a pedicure, spice shopping, working out, etc... In the meantime, it's work, work, work!

Pumpkin Cheesecake with Bourbon-Sour Cream Topping (Page 754)

• Date: Friday, March 9, 2007 -- 10pm
• Location: Cambridge, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companions: Alex, Gunther, Matty, Clotilde, Russ, and a bunch of other partygoers...
• Recipe Rating: B+
  

Alex successfully defended his PhD on Friday, and I made this cheesecake to bring to the celebration Friday night! It was pretty good. The pumpkin filling had a nice flavor too it, but Gunther pointed out that maybe it was a touch too heavy. The crust was a little moist for me. I always enjoy a cheesecake with a crumb crust that has a little crunch to it, and this one did not. The most disappointing thing was that although I added the optional bourbon (of course!) to both the filling and the topping, the bourbon flavor did not come through at all. Even knowing it was there, I couldn't taste it. Overall though, the cheesecake was a hit. It had a lovely smooth texture and the combination of flavors from the crust, filling, and, topping worked very well.

So for all of you out there who thought I was crazy to embark on this project: either I'm not crazy, or I'm not the only one. There is at least one other person out there doing the same thing! You can check out his blog here.

Looking at his blog, I realized that I like the bigger picture better. Hence I am experimenting with super-sized pictures for a while. let me know what you think!

The thing that surprises me most is not that someone else had this same idea, but rather how much he and I seem to agree on our recipe assessments. I have made almost every recipe that he has blogged about so far, and it's shocking how he and I for the most part liked and disliked the same dishes. We even made very similar comments on some of them. I would have guessed that a lot would depend on personal preference, or specific execution of the dish, but apparently not as much as I thought!

In any event, I think it will be fun to follow along with his project. I am interested to see if he will agree that the Chickpea, Lentil, and Rice Soup deserved to be put down the garbage disposal, and the Red Wine Risotto was completely divine!

Pickled Carrot Sticks (Page 909)

• Date: Wednesday, March 7, 2007 -- 7pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B

I made these pickled carrot sticks about a month ago because the section of preserved things in The Book is always one that I am behind on. I was a little scared to try them so I didn't get around to it until this week (luckily pickled things last a long time!). Full disclosure: I am not a fan of most things pickled. I will eat pickled things for sure, but I usually won't pick the pickled option when I have a choice. So was I enthusiastic about these carrots? Not so much. But that's mainly personal preference. They did have a lovely (and pungent!) dill flavor, and the carrots retained a pleasant crunch. Eaten alone they were a bit strong for me, but I chopped them up and added them to tuna salad, and they gave it a wonderful tang and crunch. Matt (who is less averse to pickled things) thought they were pretty tasty.

First off, a shout-out to Alex, who successfully defended his dissertation on Friday! Congratulations!

It's starting to feel like spring. Essentially all I am doing these days is working, and staring longingly out the window at the sunshine. I took a few hours yesterday afternoon to spend time with Chris before he flew back to California. We had planned to sit in a coffeeshop, but instead we wandered through Cambridge and Somerville, sipping hot drinks and enjoying the beautiful weather. It was completely perfect. We ended up at a toy store somehow, playing musical instruments built for 4 year-olds and making fun of completely terrible math educational tools.

I haven't been outside yet this morning, but I am watching the people on the street walk by without mittens, or hats! I am eager to get out there...

Ham and Black-Eyed Pea Soup with Collard Greens (Page 111)

• Date: Monday, March 5, 2007 -- 7pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: C-

I made this soup on Thursday night because it looked simple, and I was trying to get back in to the swing of my project again after a long hiatus. It smelled so terrible though that I was tempted to just trash it. I took a single bite, decided I didn't want to eat it, and put it in the freezer. Matt came back from Banff on Sunday, and I passed it off to him, on the general principle that he will eat anything. Much to my surprise, he actually liked it! My comments first: this soup was bland, unappetizing in appearance, with tough meat and a watery, bodiless broth. Matt's comments: this soup was flavorful, appetizing, and delicious. Apparently there is no accounting for taste.

I am officially caught up on my blogging. Well, ok, that's not exactly true. I have some pickled carrots rotting in my fridge which I am scared to try, and hence haven't blogged about them yet. One of these days... Being caught up on my blogging puts me in the difficult position where I can't blog unless I cook something, and I don't really have time to cook much. I am going to have a lot of catching up to do once I defend and submit my thesis.

I had a rare day today where I stayed at home all day. I left the apartment only once, to walk to the mailbox down the street. At 4pm I started to feel a little guilty about the fact that I was still in my pajamas, so I changed out of them, only to put them back on at 10pm. The reason behind my ultra-indulgent behavior: I did something really horrible to my neck and back. I have no idea what I did, and I never have back or neck problems (well, only once, briefly, at Talbot last year...). But apparently I did something bad, and now it is incredibly painful to walk, or sit, or stand, or lay down... So I drugged myself up and worked from home today. My plan is to miraculously feel better tomorrow. If that fails, I may employ my back-up plan and see a medical professional.

Mushroom Barley Soup (Page 113)

• Date: Monday, February 19, 2007 -- 8pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: A-

I picked this recipe to make a couple weekends ago because it sounded like the sort of thing that would freeze well and make good lunches for a while. Truth be told, I don't usually like mushroom soup too much. This recipe was really good though! Matt pointed out that it was food that you could feel good about eating -- very hearty and healthy. My usual complaint about mushroom soup is that it often tastes like dirt. This soup had a bit of that mushroom dirt flavor, but the sherry and the nuttiness of the barley offset it nicely. For a soup without meat, it also had an unusually good depth of flavor. Overall, it was a strong recipe that I would recommend.

Shocking moment of the day:

The scene: Walgreens. 9am this morning. I purchase various items (candy, shampoo, face wash, etc...). I pay for my items. I request cash back. The guy behind the counter (old, and clearly a little bit crotchedy) says to me as he hands me my $60: "You know, it's a good thing the men keep depositing money, because their women keep withdrawing it."

Huh.

I could have told him it was my money. I could have pointed out that I have never been in a relationship where a man gave me money. I could have gotten angry. Or offended. Or upset about the sad state that his comment reflects.

Instead I laughed at him. (Honestly, how could you not laugh at that?) Sexism isn't funny -- I understand that it is a serious issue. And when people are overtly sexist to me, I feel strangely obligated to be offended. But the truth is, I just find it funny.

My favorite such moment ever: At the first math conference I went to without anyone I knew (Algebraic K-theory 2004) a professor (or post-doc?) I had never met before asked me where I study. I said "At MIT." His response: "Are you sure?"

Admit it. It's funny.

Coconut and Macademia Nut Banana Bread (Page 599)

• Date: Monday, February 19, 2007 -- 8pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B-

I made this bread last week because I had some extremely ripe bananas that I wanted to use before they became rotten. This banana bread wasn't great. The flavor was fine, although the banana didn't come through as clearly as I would have liked. And although I like both coconut and macademia nuts, I think the bread would have been better without them. I would definitely omit the coconut if I made this bread again, as it gave the bread a very odd (and unpleasant) texture. My main complaints were definitely textural. This bread was very dense and almost chewy. I prefer a lighter banana bread, with an open, tender crumb. I liked the moistness that this bread had, but it is still possible to achieve that without the super-dense texture. Overall this recipe was fine, but definitely not one I am eagerly anticipating repeating.

It was warm today and the sun was shining. I am overwhelmed by the feeling that the winter quarter curse is melting away with the snow and ice.

I spent the evening with Michael, who looked well, and we had a very pleasant dinner together (take-out for me, not-so-delicious meal replacement drink for her). She was tremendously upbeat, despite everything. We spent the evening curled up on the sofa, telling stories and sharing news. We laughed a lot...

And now I am at home, sitting in bed under several comforters, feeling very sleepy and content. Everything lately has been so dramatic. This week though, things feel calm again. It's a different calm than before -- in some ways a much sadder calm, in other ways a more joyous one. Despite the differences, it's very nice to settle in to a new peace.

Moroccan-Style Preserved Lemons (Page 908)

• Date: Wednesday, January 31, 2007 -- 8:30pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Fellow Chef: Mike
  
• Dining Companions: Matty, Ronen, Ana, and Craig
• Recipe Rating: B

I chose this recipe because the "Relishes, Chutneys, Pickles, and Preserves" section was the one that was the most behind. I actually made these lemons a long time ago, but somehow I forgot to blog about them. We had these lemons a few weeks back in a dish with Israeli couscous. It's a bit hard to grade just the lemons. I think they did add to the dish, but I certainly wouldn't want to eat them alone. They had an extremely pungent flavor of lemon and salt. Some people really liked them while others thought they were foul. I thought they provided a nice burst of lemon flavor. I am curious to try them in a few more dishes...

I had brunch this Saturday at Neighborhood Restaurant, which is a completely charming little Portuguese restaurant in Union Square. I have only ever eaten brunch there, but I highly recommend it. The food is cheap and excellent -- one meal is always more than enough for two people.

Being cheap and delicious, it was also busy when we got there on Saturday. The waiting area is in the basement in the pantry. We probably waited for 15 minutes, during which time I wandered through their dry storage, checking out the various canned goods, fresh fruits, restaurant supplies, etc... Occasionally someone from the kitchen would rush in, disappear in to one of the walk-ins for a few seconds, and rush off again, with armloads of food. Being down there, surrounded by all that food and bustle, made me ache to cook in an industrial kitchen.

I never doubt my decision to go in to math. I love my job and that's a huge blessing. Part of me will always long for the kitchen though...

Today is Chris' birthday. Happy Birthday!!!

Mincemeat Pie (Page 766)

• Date: Tuesday, February 6, 2007 -- 9pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: C

This one was on the list from the random number generator. I have to admit I was skeptical about pie whose filling both contained beef suet and was supposed to rot in the fridge for up to three months before putting it in the pie. And as I suspected, this pie was not good. The filling just wasn't tasty. If you love dried fruit and booze, perhaps this is the pie for you. I did not find it appealing though. The flavor wasn't terrible, but the texture of the filling was not appetizing. Imagine filling a pie with slightly rehydrated raisins and you basically have the idea. On the up side, the pie was very pretty and the crust was delicious. Matt and I shared one whole piece of pie and then resorted to just eating the crust off the rest of the pie...

I can't resist posting a picture of the amazing (READ: appalling) thing that happened to my friend's car this week. His car was (legally) parked on the street in Somerville and this is what happened to it. Yes, that is a hole in his car. You might ask yourself: how is that even possible? Clearly one car could not do that to another car. But you know what could? A garbage truck. The damage is actually much more extensive than is shown on the picture. The truck practically tore off the front bumper of his car too. And (my personal favorite part), they didn't leave a note. Seriously, who does that? When we went to the police station yesterday to file a police report, the officer's reaction was, "Oh that happened to my wife's car too." Wow.

Beef Stroganoff (Page 439)

• Date: Tuesday, February 6, 2007 -- 8:30pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: A-

I made this beef stroganoff for dinner the first week of class because it just seemed like the right thing to start off the semester with. This dish was great! I am usually not so much a fan of beef stroganoff. I am not a huge mushroom person, and beef stroganoff is one of those dishes that has more bad renditions than good ones. This recipe was excellent though. I started with some really excellent beef tenderloin and the meat came out absolutely delicious and perfectly cooked. The sauce also had a nice flavor -- Matt pointed out that it would be better with less dill, and I agree, but it still had a wonderful taste to it. Overall, a very quick, delicious dish that I would definitely recommend for a cold winter evening.

Last night, after visiting Michael in the hospital, I stopped by my friend's place to hang out and eat pudding. I walked past his car on my way, noticing that it was still iced in to its parking spot on the street with two parking tickets on the hood. It's technically illegal to leave your car in the same spot for more than 48 hours in Somerville, but this is difficult to enforce. When you car is still snowed in days after it stops snowing though, it is easy for them to tell.

So at 10:30pm last night he and I took to the street with a pitchfork and a shovel and tried to free his car from the 8 or so inches of ice that the wheels were frozen in to, and the wall of ice and snow surrounding it. Two hours, a box of salt, and several buckets of warm water later, the car was free. It sounds miserable I suppose, but it was actually tremendous fun. I can't remember the last time I laughed so hard. And it was unbelievably satisfying to see that car finally come out. The endeavor had a few minor casualties: I stuck the pitchfork in a block of ice so hard that I actually broke the pitchfork in half when I leveraged my body weight against it. Whoops. I think the tread on his tires also suffered because the smell of burnt rubber was so pervasive that it took two showers to get it off me!

Sometimes there is such joy in the smallest things...

Twice-Baked Potatoes with Basil and Sour Cream (Page 570)

• Date: Tuesday, February 6, 2007 -- 8:30pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: Matty's Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B-

This recipe came off the list from the random number generator. These potatoes were ok... I mean really, it's practically impossible for twice-baked potatoes to be bad. You take a potato, bake it, add some fat, bake it some more. You can't go wrong! But this was not one of my favorite twice baked potato renditions. They were pretty, and they tasted fine, but they didn't have a lot of flavor to them. Basically, it was unclear what the benefit of the extra work was -- mashed potatoes with some basil mixed in would have been equally good (although perhaps not equally stylish). I suppose it was nice that the shells were crisped a bit in the oven, giving the dish some textural contrast. Nonetheless, I won't be making this one again.

I did it! Today I officially accepted a job for the next three years. Starting in the fall I will be in the math department at Indiana University in Bloomington! I am really excited. There are really good people there working on the sort of math that I do, so I will have people to talk to and work with. And although I have never visited there, rumor has it that the department is really friendly and Bloomington is wonderful.

I did have a little meltdown on Saturday though about the idea of moving to Indiana. Don't get me wrong, I love the midwest. I grew up in Madison and I adore it there. But I discovered on Saturday that not only does Bloomington not have a Whole Foods, but there isn't one in the entire state of Indiana. I cried.

I will miss Whole Foods. And Christina's spice store. And fresh seafood. But while it's true that I will probably have to do a lot of ordering online to get the crazy ingredients I need for my project, it's a small price to pay for what I think will be a very happy mathematical home for me. Further, I can't even explain what a relief it is to finally know where I will be living next year. Yay!!!

Lillie's North Carolina Chopped Barbeque (Page 479)

• Date: Saturday, February 3, 2007 -- 11pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B+

Pulled (or chopped) pork is one of my favorite foods so I figured it was about time I made the recipe from The Book... This barbeque was good. Matt declared it as good as the pulled pork at The East Coast Grill. I'm not sure about that, but it was good. I made some cornbread, baked beans, and corn, and we had a big ol' barbeque feast. The sauce on this pork was a little too spicy for me (see entry below). My biggest complaint about this dish though was that the pork was not as tender as it could have been. This was the same cut of meat that I made the amazing Georgian Pork Stew from a few weeks back. That method resulted in extremely tender pork. This braising/roasting method did not produce such a tender result. It was still good though and I'm sure once I move away from The East Coast Grill I will be making this one often to satisfy my cravings for chopped barbeque.

The problem with setting goals for the week is that when I don't finish them in a timely manner, I end up sitting at my desk at 11pm on Sunday night, trying to get everything done. I just finished though, so now I am having a celebratory beer to relax before my goals for next week kick in tomorrow morning!

I am glad this weekend is over. It was trying in a variety of ways. It did have some high points though. In particular, I somehow convinced Jacob, Marco, and Ronen to go ice skating with me at MIT on Friday night. It was really fun. Marco and Ronen came willingly (and I think they had a good time!) but I practically had to drag Jacob there. When he left he requested that next time he get to choose what activity we do to cheer me up! Oh well -- I had fun anyway! Skating on the MIT rink always reminds me of going to the roller rink when I was a little kid. I think it's the music... I loved the roller rink. We used to go there on class field trips sometimes. When I was in fourth grade, the boy I had a crush on asked me to couples skate with him -- it was a big moment for me! Not too surprisingly, they don't have special "couples skate" songs at the MIT ice rink. It's probably for the best...

Tomato Barbeque Sauce (Page 479)

• Date: Saturday, February 3, 2007 -- 11pm
• Location: Somerville, MA
• Kitchen: My Apartment
• Dining Companion: Matty
• Recipe Rating: B+

I was in need of some comfort food a few weekends ago, so I made some North Carolina chopped barbeque, and this was the sauce that went with it. It was pretty good. My only real complaint is that it was too spicy for me, which limited how much delicious, delicious pork I could eat. It I make this one again, I will cut back a bit on both the cayenne and the tabasco. The sauce had a great flavor though. Everything but the kitchen sink went in to it, but the sauce still came out with a very cohesive, delicious barbeque taste. The carefully reader will note that the picture above is not a picture of barbeque sauce. It slipped my mind to take a picture of the sauce alone, so the one above is of the sauce on some chopped pork.

Right now I have mushroom barley soup simmering away on the stovetop and coconut macademia nut banana bread in the oven, both from The Book. Normally this would not be remarkable, but I have been in such a funk lately that I haven't cooked from The Book for more than a week and a half now. I woke up this morning determined to rise above my bad mood though, and here I am, cooking away.

Ok, actually I am sitting in a chair, resting before I clean up the huge disaster I made of my friend's kitchen.

Side note on why I dirtied my friend's kitchen instead of my own (especially strange because he is in San Diego): I find it unbelievably lonely to be alone in a space meant for two. Jessie is in Israel for ten days. She very rarely leaves town for more than a day or two, so I not so used to her being gone so long. And while I don't find it particularly lonely to be alone, it's weird to be just one person in a space for two. So I came to my friend's apartment, where I can be one person in a space meant for one. I didn't even have to break in since I am supposedly watering the plants while he's gone. He won't mind that I cooked in his kitchen (especially since it required adding a few items to his pantry), but I should probably clean up my mess...