In an effort to...

to spend less time at the grocery store (and cooking in general), I have started planning out our meals for the week on Sunday night.

I know I am not inventing the wheel here but I am pleasantly surprised that everything that has been said/written about this habit is true. It has saved me a lot of time. Not only at that grocery store but also in meal preparation throughout the week and space inside my head. Also, I have spent less.

Now, you may say (like I did) that I don't have time to plan. That, that step will take too much time in and of itself. Seriously, I sat down on Sunday night with last month's Bon Appetit, my computer and a pad of paper. Even with distractions on the Internet it took me less than an hour to do the planning.

Now, you may say (like I did) that it is not as fun as going to the grocery store and just making it up on the fly. I don't think that has been true. It is just as fun. I feel charged that I know what I am doing instead of searching for what to do. And the things that inspire me, I file them away for next week or if reasonable incorporate them now. I don't think its drained my kitchen creativity. I think its made room for more.

All in all,
We have eaten just as well but its taken me half as much time and less money. AND it has been just as much fun.

It is not because...

It has been a long time since I posted anything here. A long time - months and months.

It is not because I haven't been cooking, I have been.
It is not because there haven't been other sources of sustenance in my life, there have been.
It is not because I haven't thought about it, I do.

Like everyone else my life is crowded.
Crowded with commitments to make a living, to take care of myself and others and the space that we live in, to keep in touch with my friends.
Just crowded... even if in a fun, joyful way.

I don't know if I'll post more.
I don't know if it matters.
I do know: I'll keep cooking, my life and the people and things in it will sustain me and I will keep thinking about it even if I don't write about it.

Joined

We will pick-up our first box on Friday, can't wait

Twilight

There is something completely absorbing about these books.

They are the absolute epitome of a fairy tale and the
sickening reality of adolescence woven together.
Highly recommended

Houston Theater District Open House

Last weekend I checked out the Houston Theater District 15th Annual Open House.
It was quite a nice event. Even though I was not inspired to become an opera singer!

Guilty pleasure

Seriously, I love Cup of Noodle.

In just 5 days the semester will be over but... Before than I have three tests that will decide my grade in their respective classes (Nutrition education and communication, Experimental Foods and Clinical Nutrition) and one loong paper to write.

Expect nothing but Cup of Noodle till Sunday.

Fall Preview

The end of summer is just around the corner. It hardly seems possible that in just a week, I'll be back in classes and all my free time will be claimed. This will be my last year at San Francisco State and my entire schedule is filled with classes that I have been taking pre-requisites for, for two years: Experimental Foods, Clinical Nutrition, Advanced Nutrition, etc... The tangible applications of Chemistry, Organic Chemistry, Biochemistry and Physics. For the first time in my academic career I will be immersed in the subject I have chosen for my work's focus. It is simultaneously exhilarating and scary-as-all hell.

I am also looking forward to the busiest social calendar I have seem in months. Visits from friends from Utah and Canada, family from Seattle; two weddings and a big, 50th-birthday blow-out.

Farther out, close friends are planning a spring wedding in which I may act as an assistant baker. In order to be prepared I am researching and practicing my cake baking skills. So, look forward to cakes, cakes and more cakes!

I don't know when...

I'll be able to eat chocolate again... Seriously.

www.sfchocolatesalon.com

Finest form of flattery

I never believed that "copying" was a form of flattery as kid. Obviously, it is....

This quick post came from a new blog I discovered this week.... Food Musings.

What's in your fridge??

The peanut butter with my name on it... It was at work for a little bit and everything has to be labled there.







Somethings in there that I LOVE: Trader Joe's Organic Breakfast Blend Coffee and Orange Juice (even thought the price has gone up still great deal); Strawberries - seasonal fruit, high in Vitamin; bell peppers - I really like them in just about anything or all by themselves.

Something I wouldn't get again: Wolvaer's Pale Ale - Yummy! and organic but not good enough to ship across the country from Vermont.

And why the cereal, mac and cheese box (Damn, I can't eat that now!) and croutons in there. I have been fighting a moth infestation for months. I have nearly eradicated them but anything with wheat in it goes into a plastic tub in the cabinet or the fridge.

There is something generally lacking these days in my fridge...
Dairy. After several very uncomfortable days, I have eliminated dairy totally, for a bit. All uncomfortableness--- gone. Oh- No! I have been thinking.. it might be true: Lactose intolerant. We'll see!

What does the inside of you of your fridge look like?? No rearranging allowed.

Catch-up

Anyone who knows me, knows that I am optimistic to a fault. When I announced this blog's exsistence in my holiday letter I hoped it keep me on track with writing and posting. Anyone who's been checking (anyone?? anyone??) knows that it hasn't.....Although I have been cooking I haven't found the time to post. I am going to keep trying.

A couple of things from the last couple of months that have kept me going through the hours school work.... In something like chronological order....


Melanie Bliss, Andy's mom sent two pairs of these great Valentine's Day socks. I love them! I wear them on days that I think might be bad. They make me smile and feel loved!


Two weeks ago, on a random Tuesday this man made me Molten Chocolate Baby Cakes from this book. What can I say?? Andy should be cloned as the ideal boyfriend.


I love my cat. Even when she steals the covers.


I think these might be my favorite flower.