Friday FUNdamentals

Good morning and TGIF. I realize it's been over a month since I've posted something. Have I been busy? Sort of. Am I unsure where the month of August went? YES. Am I sick of my job and is that sickness bleeding through the rest of my life and draining all of my optimism? YESSSSSSSSSSS.

I found a few tidbits around the web that are worth a look-see. Check them out:

1) Tutorial for pronouncing difficult food words. Helpful!

2) 50 rules of vacation. Always good to have!

3) 15 ways to stay married for 15 years. Ok!

And a parting shot of my dog because he makes everything better:

You are your favorite ice cream flavor?

Really? I'm vanilla through and through.........how about you?

Happy Birthday

To me. Yes, it's my 32nd birthday today. I do actually feel older, not wiser, but more crotchety and achy than I did yesterday at this time. I tend to be in a bad mood every July 15th. Don't ask me why, ok? It's like I don't want a fuss, so then I don't get a fuss, but I really did want a fuss. You know? To commemorate my day, check out this website in celebration of cakes gone wrong.

And here's what I've been thinking about all morning:

A recipe and a reflection

First a recipe, then a reflection. I cooked this last week, so I'm a bit behind in sharing. I served this dish with a grilled flank steak. The meat broke up the semi-heaviness of the pasta. Oh and let me toot my own horn because snap peas are now in season.....so I gave myself a little pat on the back for "cooking seasonally." Woot. Anyway, here we go

Pasta with Pancetta, Snap Peas, Mint and Cream (adapted from food52.com)

Ingredients:
4 cloves garlic, minced
3 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 lb pancetta
4 shallots, minced
1 pint cream
1/2 C freshly grated Parmesan
1/2 lb fresh snap peas, whole, chopped
1/2 C fresh mint, chopped
salt and fresh ground pepper
1 box orechiette pasta (I used bow tie pasta, and it was fine)

Directions:

• In a heavy saucepan, heat the olive oil over medium heat and cook the garlic for 2-3 minutes until just beginning to color.
• Add the pancetta and cook for an additional 3-4 minutes.
• Add the shallots and cook for 3-4 minutes to soften, and season with a pinch or two of salt and a turn or two of fresh black pepper.
• Meanwhile, bring your pasta water to a boil, salt it, and add your pasta. You will want to time the pasta to be finished just as the sauce is finishing so that the cream doesn't sit long.
• With about 3 minutes left on your pasta, add the peas and cook for 2 minutes. We want them to retain their crunch. With one minute remaining, add the cream and quickly bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Add the cheese, stir, and reduce the heat to low.
• Drain the pasta, and toss with the sauce to coat. Sprinkle liberally with fresh mint, and serve with black pepper and extra Parmesan cheese.

My pictorial progression:

The original recipe from food52 called for thick prosciutto, but I knew my Giant didn't carry that, and I wasn't really in the mood to go search for it. Pancetta worked just fine. I'll tell you, this dish only got better the next day too. My husband and I can attest to that because we enjoyed it for lunch the following two days.

And now to a reflection. Last weekend I met up with two old friends. Old meaning I've known them since basically birth (but I guess we are getting oldER.....I turn 32 on Monday. I had nearly forgotten until my Mom reminded me today. Thank you Mom.). These old friends and I share a hometown, an elementary, middle, and high school, mutual friends, life experiences, and memories. We're all married now, and both of these old, but good, friends have children. It's really amazing that we've known each other and cared for each other through it all. Old friends really are the best. It had been a few months since we'd all seen each other, but it felt like it'd had been only a day. We so simply fell right back into our candor and conversation. It was wonderful and felt safe. I just love these women, and you know who you are!

Happy weekend.

A picture's worth a thousand words, no a thousand feelings

It's true. I just saw pictures from a wedding my family attended two weeks ago. I was stunned to see how big I am. You have an image of yourself in your head, but until you are actually forced to look at a real picture and face reality, that image stands. I don't feel obese. Well, I mean, I feel obese when I'm winded after walking my dog up the hill in our backyard. I feel obese when my jeans cut off the circulation to my gut. I feel obese when I can't get into yoga poses I used to be able to do with ease.  Otherwise I stick by the image of myself at 155 pounds. Ha, and can you believe I thought I was fat then?! I would KILL to be that weight right now. KILL.

And do you know what I did this morning, after viewing the wedding slideshow? I took a few of those wedding pictures, copied them to a Word document and circled the parts of my body I didn't like. I printed it, clipped it, folded the piece of paper up and stuck in my wallet. My thought being that if I'm debating between, let's say, baby carrots and cake, I'll reference the piece of paper with the fat pictures and chose the baby carrots. There's gotta be something wrong with this, but at this moment it's the best punishment I can come up with for how fat I am.

I'm about halfway through Big Brother by Lionel Shriver, and it's very appropriate right now because the two main characters are undertaking a radical diet. I'm so tired of diets and thinking about diets and considering diets. I just don't know what to do.

In books: a recommendation

Good morning. No (notable) recipe to share with you today; a book/author recommendation instead. Lionel Shriver. A woman who's written quite a few books. I've read one, and am in the midst of reading her newest. Do yourself a favor and pick these up:

Kevin is very provocative, and has since been turned into a motion picture with Tilda Swinton. It's one of those novels that sends chills down your spine and makes you think hard about things, having children, in particular, and the whole nature vs. nurture argument.

Big Brother focuses on obesity in the family and how we tend to focus on it, deal with it or not deal with it. I find her writing to be so fluid, but still engaging. I'm not yet half way through but so far so good.

We have a big family wedding to attend this weekend, so we're leaving tomorrow for Pennsylvania--today is my Friday. Yahoo. I had a panic attack earlier in the week over the dress I'd been planning to wear. WOULD IT STILL FIT?? I bought it a month or two ago. And thanks be to god it still fits....and has sleeves, so no one will be subjected to my fat, white arms. I should get an extra piece of wedding cake for being so considerate, don't you think?

Ok, more next week. Read these books.

Good recipe, bad news

Well, I have a good recipe to share, but I also have some bad news (that directly impacts me, not to worry). Let's start with the good recipe:

Caprese Tarts (http://sweetpaul.typepad.com)

Ingredients:

1 large sheet puff pastry

All-purpose flour

1 fresh mozzarella, sliced

20 cherry tomatoes, sliced lengthwise

Salt and pepper

2 Tbsp olive oil

Fresh basil

Directions:

• Preheat oven to 375F.
• Cut the pastry into 4 squares and roll it out to double size. Use a little flour so that the dough doesn’t stick to the surface.
• Place each pastry on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Place mozzarella and tomatoes on top, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and drizzle with oil.
• Bake until golden, about 12-15 minutes.
• Remove from oven, serve hot or cold with fresh basil on top.

Here's a pic of how this turned out:

Delicious and easy, let me tell you. Now, since the puff pastry box comes with 2 sheets, I decided to throw caution to the wind and try different ingredients for the second tart. For this one, I used pre-baked chicken breast, cubed (I had that in the refrigerator to use on salads or just to gnaw on), red onion, chopped garlic, mozzarella, salt, pepper, and olive oil. I was trying to model California Pizza Kitchen's garlic-chicken pizza. And this option turned out just as good! Evidence:

So bottom line: make these for an afternoon snack or use as an appetizer for friends. I thought the tarte went perfectly well with a beer and a bad Lifetime movie!

Ok, onto the bad news. I had my annual physical yesterday. In addition to the appointment starting nearly an hour late, and then waiting another 15 minutes to have my blood and urine samples taken (so I was in a bad mood already), my doctor laid down the law, with this undertone: "Ellie, you're obese. It's time to do something about it." She gave me a piece of paper with food suggestions and menu ideas and told me I should restrict my calories to 1500 per day. Well sh*t, where has this piece of paper been all my life?! It's an easy plan; I shouldn't make fun. And I'm really going to try, but I'm an emotional eater. I know what I should and shouldn't eat. So for me it's, "Hmmm, I'm bored, let's have some cheese and crackers," instead of "Hmmm, I'm not hungry, I don't want dinner."  I downloaded a calorie counting app to my phone, so maybe that will do me some good. We'll see, I guess. I'm just glad I found this tart recipe (and made it and ate it) BEFORE yesterday's appointment!

Cheers.