Back in the swing of cooking
When the new year started, J and I both got slammed. I found myself thankful that she has a little more energy than she did in the first three months, because I needed the slack. I was beat, and content to find anything that I could cook expediently. J still ate regularly, and well, but we sorely lacked one crucial pregnancy food group: the snack group. While she was getting slammed with full days, J ran out of snack bars, and then crackers, and then dried fruit.
I’m proud to announce that she now has all of these things, and more. Top of the yum list is: dried apricots, organic and unsulfured (less gas). God, I love these things–so much so J is taking them all to work. Smart idea.
Most of what we cooked today was stuff you’ve seen from us before. Breakfast was beautiful deep red cherry shake with banana, pear, honeydew, and blackberries followed by left-over pasta. That’s what she wanted.
We were lucky enough to feast on my mom’s chili later on today. She used beef chuck for the chili, but not ground up. She merely cut the meat into small pieces and it was a surprise how much nicer the texture was. I am hands down a fan of this new method, and I’ll ask my mom for the recipe to post.
Meanwhile, we had sauteéd collard greens on hand and salad. On deck is the French Onion soup I just finished, made with some great marrow bones from a local livestock farmer. These, I believe, will be great for the anemia that is hard to avoid while pregnant.
Semolina break with whole grains is about twenty minutes away from coming out of the oven, and we have a yam and tart apple with thyme dish that just became cool. The Yam-Apple dish has been a favorite of J’s, of late. But it is fantastically simple. Peel and cut up 3 large yams and 6 or seven apples (mix of tart ones). Add a tablespoon or two of lemon juice, 3 tablespoons of olive oil, 1/4 maple syrup, 1 teaspoon of salt, and 1 of sugar. Bake at 400 under soft, mixing the dish up every 40 minutes or so. We’ll eat it tomorrow with pork chops brined in saltwater and soy sauce. Perhaps I will use the taré sauce from the Momofuku book that I still have…?
On Friday, I asked my Japanese friend, Mayumi, if she had ever had taré sauce. I was in for a small, cultural disappointment. First, my pronunciation was distinctly Spanish. Instead, the “e” is very short in tone and more like the “e” is “let.” On top of that, taré just means sauce. This was like when we showed Mayumi our proudly acquired sake set. What does it say on the cups? we asked her. “Sake,” she replied. Oh, how boring.
Stay tuned! More cooking is on the way.
