No-fish Tacos

Fish tacos are one of those, try everywhere you go foods, with 100s of varieties. Today I have  tortillas, Mark Bittman's, No Mayo Cole Slaw (Bittman, p. 48), swiss cheese, and lentil sprouts. Wow, I did not think this would pack much punch but the substantial slaw recipe, the lentils easily hold there own, and the Swiss cheese, had that nice gooey fat which would have come from the fried fish. I'm not giving up on fish tacos, but this delicious substitute definitely carries some merit.

1. Bittman, M. (2009) How to Cook Everything Vegetarian. New Jersey: Wiley Publishing.

Gary Null

This weekend, while I was at the farm, Gary Null was a talk of the town as the Farm brought like-minded members together. I was very excited about it all of course, and vaguely knew of Gary's talks on WBAI but beyond that was heresy in my mind. After looking through his web pages, (there are hundreds) I settled on the food pyramid. According to this formula, I should take in, 45 gm protein/day. After recording what I eat tomorrow, I'll tabulate the experiment (no meat here).

-Breakfast, 1 grapefruit (2g protein); 1 cup oatmeal (13g protein)

-Lunch, No-fish Taco: 1 tortilla with approx 4 oz of swiss cheese (28 gr protein), 1/2 c lentil sprouts (9 gr protein), and Mark Bittman's no-mayo cole slaw (1 gr protein), 1 cup orange juice (1 gr protein).

-Dinner, Asparagus, Spinach with sesame sauce and (2 gr protein), 1 cup basmati rice (5 gr protein).

61 grams of protein! Wow, granted the Swiss cheese was a big (and delicious) help.

Korean Food

As my dear friend Barbara is teaching in Korea this year, she is discovering all the local foods, and now,
A Word From Barbara,

by BZanelli
My apartment is starting to feel like home now.  I have a little wireless box and a home phone thanks to the generosity of my new Korean friend, Julia.
Julia asked me if I was feeling homesick today.  I told her I haven’t really had time to think about it.  I certainly wasn’t feeling homesick at that moment; rather I was feeling quite happy and settled.  We were driving to the garden store to get soil to plant the flowers seeds Suz gave me before I left. I also bought an aloe plant and rosemary.  With plants, a home phone and wireless, my apartment was going to feel more like home.
Today was an absolutely beautiful day.  The sun was shining.  I opened all the windows.  I cleaned and did the laundry.  I made fruit salad.  Julia came over at noon, and the internet guy.  I made them tea as they talked over my internet service.  I like how everyone here takes off their shoes before coming in (even the maintenance guys) and sits on the floor.  It’s so normal.  And the floors are heated – I was glad that my floor was freshly cleaned
I finally called home and heard mom’s voice again. That was nice.  Next, I bought lunch for Julia and myself at a local market.  We had steamed dumplings and a fried yellow bean mash that resembles an omelette.
Inside the store, she helped me pick out some Korean staples like sweet potato noodles, seaweed, different rices, and a fish thing that you can fry and add to stir frys.  I forget what it’s called, but it will now replace cans of tuna as a staple.  I also bought some of this green powder that you add water to, to make a deliciously healthy drink with.  In the powder are grains, beans and vegetables all ground together.  As we shopped we also sampled delicious foods that they had out to taste.
This week was a tiring one.  Last weekend was the POLY workshop, so I didn’t have my Saturday like I usually do.  It was a good workshop.  The first two workshops were on lesson planning and behavior management.  Next, we had a workshop where we got to know our Korean co-teachers.  This was nice.  I like my Korean co-teacher, Helena.  She helps with my Pre-Kinder class.  The last talk was on how to teach the Debate class.  The teacher who gave that talk teaches at POLY Vietnam.  He is also a gardener, he would have fit right in with the NOFA crowd.  He was an energetic speaker and gave an inspiring talk on teaching in general. After the lecture, I asked him about growing a roof garden.  We are going to email about it.
During the week, I don’t have time for anything but lesson planning, grading, teaching and then coming home to cook and bed.  I come home brain dead.  My life is acquiring a new rhythm and I’m looking to pick up good habits to alleviate the stress, like going to the gym.  This week I bought a membership to a gym near the school for the yoga classes.  The teacher is really good – not as good as Alice – but definitely good.  On the days that I don’t go to yoga, I go to the small gym that is in “EasyView” (our apartment building cluster) before work.  It’s just a few steps from my front door.  I like working out before work, then I feel like I’ve done something for me before the day has begun.
I made fruit salad for my 1st graders on Friday.  I wasn’t sure if they’d love it, so before class I hunted for whipped cream to put on top.  After Starbucks turned me down, I went to “illy” and just like Italy, they sold me a cup of whipped cream.  It went perfect with the fruit.  We ate it from little paper cups with toothpicks.  The kids loved it.  I think I will gain some popular points with this move.

Homemade Macaroni

The tradition of making homemade macaroni, will forever be one of my favorite pastimes.
The simple dough, mechanical pasta-maker, golden locks of macaroni delicately dry. . .next comes the rapidly boiling salted water and in a few short moments, dinner is served. The long strands are so light and satisfying.

Last night for the first day of spring, dear friends and I carefully cranked out linguine, while a marinara sauce was stewing. Husband brought out an aged bottle of wine, Han and Yali steamed some Yu Choy to present a delightful dinner. Here are dear Kate's photographs. Click around for the recipe. . .

Marinara Sauce

Marinara Sauce simple success stems from a low patient flame. Many a chef will tell you, use the best ingredients you can buy or grow, so please take heed to this. Upon returning from shopping or harvest,

Saute 2-3 thinly sliced smallish yellow onions and
2-3 sliced cloves of garlic, slowly in a neutral oil.
Add 1/2 cup of red wine. Stir in 2 minced carrots.
When onion looks nice and translucent, add two 16oz
 cans of crushed tomatoes, (rinse these with a bit of water
and toss this in) black pepper, dash of salt,
dash of sugar, 2 bay leaves, a sprig of thyme, and a handful 
of flat-leaf parsley. Bring this two a gloopy boil, then drop it back
down to simmer until you're ready to serve.

Really, add whatever else you'd like, this makes a strong base.
The key is not to scorch the saute and remove the bay leaves.

Madame Librarian

Researching cooking styles proves to be one area I never exhaust. We can read our way through so many cultures, cookbook by cookbook. The SoFAB library celebrates Southern Food, and its international roots. Besides cook books, restaurant menus are often the introduction to a memorable meal. SoFAB's the menu project collects these unique documents from all over the world.

Peanut Butter!

High praise for the Cuisinart 14-cup food processor. You can make great peanut butter with this Mercedes! Throw in the peanuts, maybe a touch of salt, 2 minutes later, peanut butter. If you buy organic peanuts, this method definitely includes a price break. One exception, keep this faster to separate homemade peanut butter in the refrigerator. If you prefer chunky style, throw in a handful of chopped peanuts after grinding the peanut butter.

Introduction

Hello! On the 11th of September, 2010, my now husband and I, from the chapel of Nature, embarked on the great chapter of marriage for our friendship. This blog gives the reader a peak into this adventure, explores the always hot and bothered discussion about foods we love and nutrition it brings, and hones some anemic writing skills. So please, subscribe and enjoy, we'll bring you plenty of satiating snippets.