“San Francisco is still a city that likes to have a good time, and will proceed to have it, as soon as it finds a place to park.”
– Herb Caen, “Herb Caen’s San Francisco,” 1957
Posted in Goals, The Word, Why yes I AM a local! | Leave a Comment »
Very late last fall, Ree Drummond, one of my favorite bloggers, posted a delicious looking recipe for braised beef short ribs with creamy polenta. Ree — better known as The Pioneer Woman — always has fantastic recipes (and beautiful photography to match), and after seeing the short ribs, I promised myself I’d make them some day this winter. Preferably on a chilly, rainy night when Joe and I were all bundled up in sweats with nowhere to go.
That pretty much describes this last Sunday. And the short ribs did not disappoint.
To give you a little sneak peek, the short ribs went from this:
to this:
And I’m so excited to show you how (with the Pioneer Woman’s help!) we got there.
But let’s back up a bit. Two Sunday’s ago, we were shopping at Whole Foods when I saw that beef short ribs were on sale for $5.99 per pound. Not a bad deal, which is funny when you consider that a few years ago, beef short ribs were hardly fashionable and you could pick up a pound for two or three bucks. This humble cut of meat went mainstream in the last few years, with chefs and home cooks alike realizing that with a little love, short ribs can really shine — in fact, they can be a real showstopper. Continue Reading »
Posted in Food, Indulgences, Must. Shove. In. Face., Other meat (beef, lamb, et al), Recipes | Leave a Comment »
This was not the greatest week in goal progress.
First of all, beginning Tuesday, it rained every single day. When it’s raining, and the wind is gusting at 40 miles per hour, the last thing I want to do is walk in the maelstrom for 45 minutes. That’s excusable, right? So, because of the weather, I took the bus to and from work everyday. Which means I spent $16 extra dollars in bus fare, and gained back the 3 lbs I had lost from walking the week before. Two steps back, indeed.
While there’s more rain in the forecast this week, I’m hoping it’ll let up at the right times of day so that I can walk. To be honest, even though taking the bus home at night was very convenient (and got me home earlier than usual, which I like a lot), I didn’t like the stress of trying to make the bus, or finding a seat, or trying in vain to keep my drenched umbrella from accidentally popping open and soaking all the people around me (this very embarrassing accident unfortunately happened one morning, resulting in dirty looks from all the FiDi-bound riders around me…). Also, I’m pretty sure that this cold I’m currently recovering from was picked up by some lady who was coughing all over me while riding in to work on Wednesday. Because wouldn’t you know it, right on schedule Thursday afternoon, a sore throat and achy lymph nodes set in. No bueno.
While I didn’t take too many pictures this week, nor did I continue with my translation of the fabulous French children’s book Moi le loup et les chocos, I was able to catch up with my uncle, which was great. In case you couldn’t tell, that was pretty much my one step forward as far as goals go.
But oddly enough, even though it was a strange week, it was a great week. I was super productive at work. The apartment is starting to feel more and more like home. I feel less stressed out generally. Things are good.
Posted in Goals, Just thinking... | Leave a Comment »
I managed to amaze myself when, during our first week of living in the new apartment, I made several home cooked meals. Lamb chops. Pork chops. Lots of yummy roasted vegetables. I thought I was on a roll, and was totally proud that we’d managed to make it to the store. In spite that feeling of being displaced, we were still sitting down nightly to a nice family meal.
That lasted ONLY the first week.
Last week, we had takeout almost every night. We were both exhausted each day after work, as we continued to adjust to the new routine and the feel of a new place.
After painting on Saturday, we were both starving, but didn’t feel like going out.
“Do we have anything we can eat here?” Joe asked. “Even some pasta?”
“We have some pasta, but I don’t know what I’d put with it.” He looked at me forlornly. “Okay,” I said, “I’ll Macgyver something together for us.”
As often happens when you have a fridge full of random items, a hungry family, and a desperate cook, the final dish can be fantastic. I put together a sauce made from creamy goat cheese, sweet caramezlied shallots, thyme and spinach, then of course, topped the whole thing off with parmesan. It just goes to show that if you always keep a few staples around, it’s easy to put together something satisfying. Here’s how it all went down.
First things first. Get a pot of water going to boil your pasta. When making a pasta dish that has a separate sauce, it’s always easiest to have the water going, so that you can begin cooking the pasta at a moment’s notice. Otherwise, you might get too caught up in making your sauce to time the pasta cookery correctly.
You’ll also want to set your oven to 300°, so that you can toast 1/4 cup of pine nuts.
In a small saute pan, heat a tablespoon or two of olive oil over medium heat. Add in 1 medium sliced shallot, a clove or two of minced garlic, and the leaves of 2 sprigs of thyme.
Cook these slowly, Continue Reading »
Posted in Food, Pasta/Grains (mmm, carbs!), Recipes | Leave a Comment »
