Recent kitchen exploits

Being done with my paper means I can finally get back to doing the things I enjoy doing without feeling like I'm procrastinating. Which, apparently, was mainly cooking, an activity I pretty much gave up on during the last few crunch weeks.

But I'm back now, and here are some of the things I've made since last Wednesday:

Homemade pasta

Andrew wanted to make his famous* spaghetti sauce, so I thought I'd try out this recipe for homemade noodles.

It was pretty simple, really, just flour and eggs. And rolling it out really wasn't that bad. So it's definitely something I'll do again (though let me tell you, I was happy to let Andrew do the rest of the cooking that evening).

*it would become famous if more people got to eat it

Braised baby artichokes, Provencal-style

This was a Mark Bittman recipe I have been drooling over for a month, but when it first came out I couldn't find baby artichokes anywhere. But, when I was at the store getting this for the pasta, there they were: baby artichokes, all boxed up and ready to go.

This dish has amazing flavor, thanks to the slow-cooking, seasoned olives, and (basically) candied garlic you end up with (and I added shallots, which also caramelized by the time the dish was done). It's pretty simple to make; aside from prepping the artichokes, you really don't have to do anything except except add it all to the pan and let it cook.

We ate it with French bread and chevre, and white wine. The outer leaves of the artichokes weren't really cooked enough to eat, but the steams, hearts, and chokes were amazing.

Yellow cupcakes with sticky fudge frosting

I recently started reading The Pioneer Woman's blog, and this cupcake recipe has earned her a permanent place in my heart. Not only is the cake delicious, moist, and pretty straightforward to make, but the frosting is a one-step process that takes only a saucepan to complete.

I used 70% cocoa dark chocolate disks, and the frosting is definitely rich and not very sweet. I could stand it a tad sweeter, but considering my recent complaint has been cupcakes that are too sweet, these were a pleasant change.


There you have it. For more pictures, click any of the photos above to access my Flickr page.

Photo update

In case you didn't notice the edit to the post below, I have finished my paper!  I've also started heartily abiding by my only-one-meaty-meal-a-day rule, and it's been going all right so far. The house is getting cleaner.

I just uploading a bunch of pictures, some I've had stored on my camera for awhile, and a bunch from this past weekend's trip to Seattle.  I'll post a few of my favorites below; to view the rest visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/30368264@N08/.

Goals:

Edit: one down!

Also, I forgot a really import goal: get back in touch with all the friends I've neglected while I've been so self-involved trying to finish/forget about this paper.  I've missed you!

short-term

• finish BA paper
• clean the house
• get a haircut

long-term (in no particular order)

• go to the farmers' market regularly
• eat meat only one meal a day
• survive work this summer
• keep the bedroom neat
• buy more business-dressy clothes
• do creative writing again
• practice belly dance outside of class every week

keep your eye on the prize !

Facelift

New colors!  New author photo!  Hooray!

This is me looking forward.  Looking forward to being finished with my thesis (not quite there yet, but a draft is due Monday and I'm on my way), and moving forward with my life without something looming over me and reminding me that whatever I'm doing, I should be doing something else.

Which is why, as I explained ages ago, I haven't been writing on here.  Even when I'm not working on the paper, there's a voice in the back of my brain going, "Isn't there something you should be doing?" and so while I've certainly become an expert procrastinator, certain activities seemed inexcusable.  Blogging was one of them.

So, this me saying that I'm going to continue to be absent for the rest of May, and then hopefully I'll back in one form or another. 

Just for fun:

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant 

Who was very rarely stable

Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar 

Who could drink you under the table
David Hume could out-consume 

Schopenhauer and Hegel

And Wittgenstein was a beery swine 

Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya 'bout the raising of the wrist
Socrates himself was permanently pissed

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will

On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill

Plato, they say, could stick it away

Half a crate of whisky every day
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle

Hobbes was fond of his dram
And René Descartes was a drunken fart: 

'I drink, therefore I am.'

Yet Socrates himself is particularly missed
A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he's pissed!

Thank you Monty Python.