Penguin Girl

The kitchen is progressing nicely, a motzei shabbos run to Ikea, Target, and Lowes is assisting in that. We’re making inroads to clearing everything from the Main Room and setting up sensible and organized solutions. We didn’t expect to need a new coffee table, but since Nibi’s cage is no longer there… :( (*snif* but I did potentially gain yarn storage)

It’s a pleasure to cook again and use tools I had set aside because I didn’t care to cook in the old kitchen. My real knives are emerging along with the baking paraphernalia. If my cake decorating things come out to play(*) then you know I’ve settled into this kitchen.

Some of the habits E and I developed during the exile of the appliances are amusing. I keep returning to the spot behind his desk to retrieve a refrigerated item and blink perplexed when my hand can’t find the door. Then a smile emerges and I turn into the kitchen to find what I need. When the water source returns to the kitchen it will be interesting to see if we continue to walk mugs to the bathroom.

I haven’t cooked much in the new kitchen.

On Monday I gave the temporary workspace it’s last hurrah by cooking Rosemary-Orange Glazed Chicken Tofu from the cookbook The Taste of the Season. My temporary prep space was wonderful. If I kneel and put a cutting board on the toilet it’s the perfect height for chopping. I halved the recipe and was a bit zealous about the amount of yams we could eat. I ended up tossing half of one unused which pains me still. Unfortunately I did not have fresh rosemary, but the dish was still quite yummy with dried.

Thursday I made a simple corn soup with the boxed Creamy Sweet Corn Soup from Imagine. I added some canned corn and shredded cheddar to the mix. It was good but lacked a depth of flavour. I think it would be wonderful over toasted cornbread.

For Shabbat I cooked a second dish, Chicken Tofu Agrodolce from The Taste of the Season. It started off well, but with the temporary counter top (extra floor tiles) I ended up forgetting to add the pine nuts (after toasting them) and discovered that E ate all the raisins. It was a marvellous dish which I served with steamed brown rice. E enjoyed it as well as he returned to the kitchen for a second helping, and a third. I call that a success any night.

The joy of my week occurred Friday morning. On Shauna’s blog I learned that Bob’s Red Mill was offering certified GF Oats. The next time I was at the supermarket I picked up what they offered, which was a bag of steel cut** oats. The breakfast I enjoyed was amazing, it was just plain oatmeal with a nob of butter melting on top. I can’t remember when I last enjoyed breakfast as much, the last time was probably when I watched Mr Rogers and ate cheerios that had jumped out of my bowl and into the living room’s braided rug back in 1983 or something.*** In any case, I see oatmeal cookies and perhaps a silpat**** of my own in the future.

Which brings me to another two points. We’re purging stuff we don’t really need any more. I’m also upgrading some of the tools since I use them and deserve something better than a 99¢ vegetable peeler.

1) What is the kitchen tool you cannot live without?
For me I would have to say this is my 5" chef’s knife. A few years ago I’d say it was my non-serrated paring knife, but I find the chef’s knife superior for my daily needs.

2) What tool would you splurge on if given the choice?
I’m having a hard time answering the question. I’d love quite a few things that I don’t necessarily need right now or have space for including a bread machine that does gf breads, a cuisinart… So I’ll revise this.

2a) What tool which you find yourself using every day would you splurge on?
I’m looking for a good vegetable peeler. I think I want a Y, or harp-shaped one as I tend to peel root vegetables and it appears to be best suited for that. Splurging on this item means not purchasing it from the 99&cent store.

* I highly doubt they’ll come out. Between the gluten and the sugar, I just don’t have the space to do that sort of baking.
** Rolled oats are what I was familiar with from instant oatmeal days. The groats are pre-processed and flaked to allow for easier cooking. Steel cut oats are just chopped oat groats.
*** I had a dairy allergy and this was in the days before easy access to rice or soy milk. I essentially drank baby formula until I was 6. We also didn’t have much money so maybe rice milk was available; it just wasn’t easily to find where we lived. I didn’t like the mixing of the flavors with formula and cereal, plus I didn’t like the crunch leaving my cheerios. So I ate my cereal plain.
**** What’s the difference between a real silpat and the silicone baking sheets beyond cost and that you can ? I have one of the latter [haven’t used it yet] and just want to have things not stick on my baking sheets and not have to use tons of foil or spray.

Wow. You made it this far? I think I’ll have a pattern up soon of a recipe for my gift to the new kitchen. It’s a small item and I’m curious what happens when I felt it tomorrow. I like it and it’s quite useful for me. I thought I was clever in the construction of it. ;)

The walls and ceiling are painted, we need to finish tearing up the old floor and lay the new. We need to paint the trim but can do that later if necessary.

I do miss having a counter and sink near the stove. The clutter in the apartment is definitely grating on E and I’ve retreated to the bedroom to do work so it must be affecting me as well. The fridge is out behind E’s desk (I keep offering to help rearrange things further, but he says this is good for his posture). I didn’t cook anything *real* all week. It’s the week of eating like an American and I’m starting to feel it; though we are eating more salad and fruit than normal at this time of year, probably to make up for the crud. I’ve “made” Tabatchnik soups, Potato crusted fish patties, a “tv dinner”, and various other non-foods.

What’s torturing me is that Corrie has received a box of food goodness and has been posting amazing day by day summaries. Oy, just posting that made me hungry again! [nb: almost every word there is a different link].

So, when will our kitchen be completed? The current word is E’s birthday for cabinet installation. This isn’t as bad as it first sounded as both E and I have been hard pressed to find time to work on things. We completed the second coat of paint Thursday night and then overslept Friday morning. I only had time to pull up a few more tiles before Shabbos descended on Friday. We hope to complete the floor necessities tomorrow, or at least have a very good start on them. Then we need to find a counter top and sink. We know the style of faucet we like (similar to this) and have seen it “everywhere” so that is the least of our worries. We’re waiting on the counter top because we want to see how the cabinets interact with the floor we chose. The floor is a deep dark grey, the cabinets and appliances are a mix of stainless, glass, and a pale pale orange. The walls are a white that has hints of blue-grey. We’re not sure.

Oh and a light. We need a new light for the kitchen. In other lights, I’ve received approval to purchase a “real” light for me (a la OTT-LITE, but probably a generic, affordable one). I’m torn weather to put this near the bed or my desk.

I do need to figure out breakfast and lunch meals for me. I didn’t eat much on Tuesday or Wednesday and that isn’t good or healthy, especially since my stress level is a little on the higher side these days. What I ate was terrible, it included a bag of potato chips. All suggestions are welcome and encouraged. Budget and dietary restrictions are my concerns.

The Project update? I’m really really happy that I won NaNo this past November. I’m having fun but have to do the part I dislike the most, editing and making sure that I tie it all together. I’m still concerned about the time frame, but que sera, sera.

It’s wonderful to finally feel better and want to eat and enjoy food. For shabbat I made that gf bread mix again. This time I added egg & milk to the mix and it came out even better. Since my bread is “special” anyway and we keep a dairy kitchen I didn’t bother to mark it as dairy. [Most breads are assumed to be parve, not meat or dairy, and dairy breads are generally baked differently shaped so you don’t mistakenly put chicken on milchik bread.]

I also made a Spiced Butternut Squash Stew with Couscous where I substituted quinoa and forgot to add the spinach. I didn’t realize about the spinach until I was setting the table for lunch today and realized the bag was unopened. The stew wasn’t very spicey [I held back a little so E would enjoy it] and overall was quite enjoyable and simple to make, though couscous would’ve had more “heft” than the quinoa.

I’m not sure what meals will come in the next week as I settle back into a new semester. Time will tell.

I made rice pizza earlier this week. It was soo easy I’m not sure why I haven’t done it before. You cook a cup of rice, mix it with basil, garlic, mozzarella, and egg, spread it on a baking sheet (i actually put it in a 9″ square pan) bake it until set — I put it in a 350° oven for a while and checked it every so often. I then flipped it out onto another baking sheet, topped what was the bottom with sauce and some more cheese and some olives and baked it until the cheese was nicely melted. E had his traditional premade cardboard rounds … I think mine was much much better.

I made falafel tonight without greatly burning anything or anyone. I didn’t take pictures as I’m not linking to my uploaded pic of the pizza not because of the flickr upgrade but because I am terrible at food photography and would probably turn you off either of these recipes. If you read the box it’s pretty much free of everything, but tasted really good. It smells quite oniony when you open the bag, but it didn’t taste bad at all. E noticed they were “different” but he ate them up quite quickly…

I’m quite frustrated right now as the gluten free mix options in most of the stores I’ve checked in the past two weeks are for sweets: cakes and cookies and things. I’ve never been a cookie eater (ask my mum). I want breads. I’ll try a few more shops tomorrow. I want more of the orgran mix so we’ll see if there is a redhook trip tomorrow or not.

NYC has had a cold weather snap for the past few days… and it’s supposed to go back up next week. *sigh*

I am in love with giada’s spicy mocha but I make it differently: one packet hot chocolate + a bit of instant coffee + a dash of cinnamon and chile powder.

I am also slowly discovering which brands of gf products I like, or at least which product lines within the brand I prefer for ready-made items. It’s interesting the vast difference among products, and at times frustrating. Fairway Brooklyn appears to have the most extensive gf section I’ve recently visited (It’s been too cold for me to double check a few other stores), but Fairway UWS doesn’t have the same selection (but I’ll use market research as an excuse to stop by it and Knitty City). I love love love Ener-G Crisp Pretzels but find their Tapioca Bread (and bagels) to be … drumroll … cardboard. Note that I am the girl that likes plain ricecakes and loved matzoh before it made me sick.

It takes a lot for me to call a bread-type product devoid of taste or flavor.

So what am I to do with the remainder of the loaf?

Tonight I made “breadsticks” by spraying a baking sheet with olive oil, laying a few slices down, dousing them heavily with olive oil, sprinkling with garlic salt and italian seasoning, flipping them, repeating the process and sprinkling the top with grated parmesan* and slicing them. I put them in a 375 oven for the 12 minutes or so it took for our pastas to cook. They ended up pretty tasty and went well with my pasta. E wasn’t too large a fan, but that meant more for me. I find that a Pecan Bread– brand I forget, but its available at whole foods and shoprite– retains moisture and doesn’t crumble while taking it out of the package and has a nice flavor all its own. If I remember to buy eggs I’ll try baking some more. I can’t find that orgran breadmix except at fairway brooklyn. :(

* Fairway Brooklyn also has wedges of real KOSHER ITALIAN Parmigiano-Reggiano (don’t hold me to it but I’m 99% sure cholov y’israel) but I haven’t yet gotten over the sticker shock (over $20 for a little wedge), but I will save some money and one day try it. I must admit that I miss good cheeses and am happy to be finding more and more kosher options available in the city. The health food store near E’s office has a very large selection and we’ll slowly try them.

I seem to sometimes forget how to read. Rarely do I forget to check if even a commonly purchased food has a hescher (kosher symbol) on it. Rarely, however, do I remember that I now have to read the ingredient list carefully.

I’ve been having some gi distress lately and I thought perhaps it might be some dairy sneaking in that I wasn’t aware of. As I’ve become more addicted to coffee I heard that using soy milk was a sweet addition and I hoped it would allow me to lessen the amount of highly processed sugar I consume.

I thought also that the soy would be beter for me.

On Thursday afternoon as I was about to open a new box of vanilla soy when something made me stop to read the label. Here are the ingredients:

Purified Water, Organic Soybeans, Naturally Malted Organic Wheat and Barley Extract, Vanilla Extract, Calcium Carbonate, Kombu Seaweed, Sea Salt, Vitamin E, Beta Carotene, Vitamin D2, Vitamin B-12

See it? I’ve done some research and it seems that only this brand is special in this manner. My mum is getting a very special gift of the gluten rejects from my pantry to either use or donate as she sees fit. Including cream of (anything) soup. I thought perhaps if I kept it among enough gf foods it might change (ya know like a switch in fruit flies). Not that I should be eating the canned stuff anyway. Thursday night I made a French Onion can of soup and remarked to E that I felt I was eating pure salt. And I like salt (thanks daddy). It was nasty. ANYWAY…

Onward to something much more pleasant and enjoyable. Having nothing more pressing to do, on Monday afternoon I made BREAD!

It was the “easy bread” by Orgran Natural Foods and yes it’s quite easier (even more so if you have a hand mixer). I think it was best still hot out of the oven, and after that only when nicely fried for grilled cheese. For this first run I only added a very small bit of sugar so that it might brown (it did, very lightly). Next time I might add an egg to see what that does to it, but I am very excited that out of the box will come something enjoyable that I want to eat. My lunch on Tuesday was pure perfection and I stil have happy memories over it…

I must report that E an I are unorthodox — hah! — on Tuesday we did not partake in a movie, nor did we have chinese food. E made tacos (aka make some rice and heat up a can a vege beans).. It hit the spot and was good enough for us.