I am sorry to have kept my readers on edge, but I got into the swing of cooking now and my simple weeknight meals haven't seemed noteworthy. That is no excuse, regardless, and I am sorry to have been so neglectful!
My fooding has not ceased, however, I have left my culinary adventures to the Cooking Channel's marvelous chefs while I have kept it simpler. I have been vicariously eating delicious pizza through Jamie Oliver and indulgent pork chops with mustard cream sauce through Nigella Lawson! I am overly hungry, these days, but try to keep the major indulgent moments to a minimum, which is difficult with the gorgeous Nigella egging me on to eat out of the saucepan! I won't judge if you do, and in fact, I applaud your bravery! Hoorah, for you!
I am reading this wonderful, yet exposing novel by Michael Pollan, revolving around the food industry and the conflicts faced by consumers and producers. It is called "An Omnivore's Dillema: A History behind Four Meals," and I strongly recommend it, but I cannot promise a satisfying end. I am not quite finished, but I am not liking where it is going. More and more I want to either abort meat all together, or just live on a sustainable, nonindustrial farm!
Oh, well. I haven't completely gone off the dark end, though, I promise! I still find myself eating chicken from Costco like the rest of us, urbanites ; )
My last cooking event was my mother's birthday where I prepared a wonderfully seasoned Moroccan chicken dish with chick peas, red lentils and rice. It took me forever to roast the chicken in the oven and remove the skin and bones from the FIVE HUNDRED chicken legs that my mom defrosted! My industrial mind is horrified by the pathetic meat yield per chicken wing, and the major investment of labor (and sanity)! On a lighter note, the dark meat was moist and delicious in the stew, and worth the sweat (and, there might have been some tears). =/
Of course there was dessert, which was quite fussy and was prepared over days. While I was making the Frozen Mocha Cake with Chocolate Ganache my eyeballs were bleeding by the time I read the recipe over and over to make sure I understood the various techniques to massage the egg yolks, so that they did not revolt and deflate my cake! Okay, a slight exaggeration but it took some encouragement to get through the moments like when I started frosting the cake WITH the plastic wrap on! At that point, I almost took a fork to my chocolate frosted plastic wrapped cake! I was, however, able to pull it together and it took one final trip to Whole Foods for the indispensable dark chocolate covered expresso beans as a garnish!
It actually beckons to me from my freezer, this very moment!Hmm... what would Michael say about that? Technically I made it...
Since Michael's not here I'll let Hayley decide, and I think most readers will prefer the outcome! ;)
I promise to be better with my entries and blog even for the humblest culinary pleasures!
As always, enjoy every bite and don't give up! =)
P.S.
WARNING: DO NOT EVER TOAST TURMERIC BECAUSE IT WILL STAIN EVERYTHING!!!!!
..my bright yellow food processor is proof!!!
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Another foodie/local-foodie book that you might like is Animal Vegetable Mineral by Barbara Kingsolver. It's a little bit preachy, but a great example of how you can survive on not only local but self-produced food.
ReplyDeleteArgh I just commented and it got deleted! But what I said was that I heard Michael Pollan on NPR saying that he still buys fruity pebbles for his son, haha
ReplyDeleteThat's what I like about him, he isn't an extremist and yet he presents a well-researched novel that makes you think about your choices as a consumer. He isn't trying to change anyone's lifestyle, but he exposes his readers to important information that should be available to them as consumers in an industrial economy!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Hannah, I have seen that book and wanted to buy it so maybe now I will read it! =)