Thank you Bon Appetit!!

Bon Appetit has delivered some delicious recipes to my door this fall.  My roomie and I made two of them last night!

Swordfish with a pine nut, parsley, green olive relish with a side of pan roasted endive, grapes, and apples.

First, let's go over the side dish.  This blew my mind.  It's tart, sweet, savory, and herbal all at the same time.  It's also really easy! Please make this and get back to me.

Ingredients

• 2 large unpeeled tart-sweet apples (such as Fuji or Gala)
• 1 1/2 tablespoons salted butter
• 2 large heads of Belgian endive (12 to 16 ounces total), halved lengthwise
• 4 small clusters green grapes
• 5 small fresh rosemary sprigs
• 1 cup Fleur de sel or other sea salt
• 2-3 tablespoons water

Preparation

• Quarter and core apples. Using vegetable peeler, shave off thin strip of peel down center of each apple quarter, leaving remaining peel intact. Melt butter in large nonstick skillet over medium-low heat. Add endive, cut side down, to skillet. Add apple wedges, 1 cut side down, to skillet. Add grape clusters and scatter rosemary sprigs over; cook, uncovered, without turning or stirring, until endive is caramelized on bottom and apples are just tender, 15 to 20 minutes. Carefully turn endive, apples, and grapes over; baste with liquid in skillet and cook until apples are very tender, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Season with fleur de sel and freshly ground black pepper.
• Transfer endive mixture to platter. Add 2 to 3 tablespoons water to skillet, scraping up any caramelized bits, forming small amount of sauce. Spoon sauce over endive mixture and serve.

ARG it was so good.  Now, onto the Swordfish which was ALSO amazing:

Ingredients

• 4 5- to 6-ounce swordfish steaks
• 1/2 teaspoon plus 1/8 teaspoon dried crushed red pepper
• 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, divided
• 1 1/4 cups thinly sliced shallots
• 2 large garlic cloves, minced
• 1/2 cup pitted brine-cured green olives, quartered lengthwise
• 3 tablespoons pine nuts, toasted
• 1/2 cup chopped fresh Italian parsley
• 1/3 cup dry white wine

Preparation

• Sprinkle fish with 1/2 teaspoon red pepper, salt, and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add fish; cook until opaque in center, 4 to 5 minutes per side. Transfer to platter; cover. Add 1 tablespoon oil and shallots to skillet; sauté over medium heat until golden, 3 to 4 minutes. Add 1/8 teaspoon red pepper, garlic, and olives; sauté 1 minute. Add pine nuts, parsley, and wine; boil until most of liquid is gone, 30 seconds. Season with salt and pepper. Spoon over fish.

Both dishes look intimidating but both were amazing and actually paired quite well together.  Enjoy

Snow

So since it's before Thanksgiving, it is still a little bit early for snow, but i still want it.  I may see some this week since I will be spending about two hours on lovely I-89 to get up north to spend a couple of nights in Vermont.  The seasons in Vermont are so extreme its almost scary.  In the summer it is so luscious, green, and beautiful people remember why they live there in the first place.  It's called the Green Mountain State, even though the mountains are only green for about 3 months between the snow covered mountain tops and when the chlorophyll leaves the state leaving a beautiful fall foliage for natives and tourists.  Look at these pictures to see the extreme seasons I used to face living up in Vermont.

Yeah, that's real. An untouched photo taken in Northern VT

Fast forward 2 months and you get this Winter Wonderland.  Photo taken in Mad River Valley near Sugarbush

Mud Season (known to the rest of the country as "Spring") Where even the official state car with 4 wheel drive can get stuck in the mud.

And last but not least, the summer.  View of Lake Champlain and the Adirondack mountains.

Gimme some snow!

Daibutsu

Stranger, whosoever thou art and whatesoever be thy creed, when thou enterest this sanctuary remember thou treadest upon ground hallowed by the worship of ages.  This is the Temple of Buddha and the gate of eternal, and should therefore be entered with reverence.

Out of all the scenes, art, architecture, and statues I have seen, the Daibutsu in Kamakura, Japan was the most mystical and beautiful thing.  I have just recently thought of this as of yesterday when I saw in the news that Obama visited Daibutsu.

Oh and at the end of the video when Obama is munching on a Popsicle, I could bet my life savings it's a green tea Popsicle. He is chewing rather loudly though.

FACTS:

• Statue of the Amida Buddha made out of bronze
• 13.35 meters
• Created in the year 1252
• Buildings that the Giant Buddha was inside of were destroyed multiple times by a typhoon and tidal wave in the 14th and 15th century, so the Buddha has sat under the open sky since 1495
• Kamakura Daibutsu is hollow on the inside and on the entrance it reads the quote italicized above

The "X" over my face is to keep anonymity over the internet? That's me in front of Daibutsu in 2008 doing Bikram's Tree Pose (not the traditional tree yoga pose).  We took a very long hike/trail through the woods and mud of Kamakura.  I fell down in the mud multiple times, there were ropes for guidance, and the sticks of metal sticking out of boulders to hold on to for safety throughout the hike and it made it all worthwhile once we reached the mecca. What a beaut!

Run around Boston

Ever since I was little, I always wanted to be one of those smart college kids or young professionals that takes jogs by the Charles River on a sunny Saturday or Sunday.  Today, I finally took a jog by the Charles!  It only took me five and half months of living in Boston  (during the summer even!) to do this.  Either way, it was nice to take a break from the regular hustle and bustle of working a lot on the weekends and have a relaxing run all around Boston with my roommate.
Happy Weekend!

Drink this.

So....lately I have been in pursue of an epic, full bodied, long-legged, crimson colored, lick-your-lips wine.  The seasons have just turned, which means I am in full throttle red wine mode.  In the summer as I am drinking a stemless glass (or even a pint!) of chilled Savignon Blanc in a dive bar, or a Chardonnay perfectly chilled to 60 degrees while sitting on a patio in the summer.  During these times I literally think there is no other way to drinking wine.  The thought of drinking red wine almost disturbs me on these hot summer days.  I have officially done the switch now.  Now, as I drink a Tuscan blend of Cabernet Savignon and Sangievese, I wonder how I could drink something so cold and sweet.

What this whole entry comes down to is....
TRY THIS WINE:

2006 DeLille Cellars "D2" Columbia Valley Red Blend

I don't know too much about it, where it came from, or whatever.  (To be honest, I don't know too much shit about wine, I just know what I like, why, and am always eager to learn more about it then).  This bottle is about $40 bucks, and from what I tried worth every penny.  They don't sell it on this site, but it has a nice explanation. In fact, I don't know where they sell it, but I must get some just for that first sip!

nice description

good reviews

Enjoy.

Back to life

So, it's been 1/2 a year since I wrote/blogged/said hello.  I moved cities, worked 60-70 hours a week all summer, and now things are finally dying down. (for the time being...changes ahead again!)  I have dusted off the defibrillator and will try to get this guy back to life.  The concept of this blog is changing because I don't have the time to cook like I used to.  Wish I did, and I still might because it's turning into winter again.  So, this blog/rant/whatever will be turning into a collection of concepts, ideas, thoughts, and tid bits that are important to me, and that I feel are important enough to share with other people.  Cooking is not off the list, but it is also not the main part.  Music, food, exercise, outdoors, city-ness, people, wine, kickbox, love, art, nature, blah blah blah.  It will work itself out and grow from there.  UNTIL then, please enjoy this tune.  You can listen to it on repeat with this link until you decide you need it on your iPod, then it is available on iTunes, or your favorite illegal downloading/uploading website :)

Let's start this off with a GREAT song everyone will probably enjoy.

Phoenix - Lisztomania (Holy Ghost! Loves Paris Remixomania

Put in my 2 Weeks Notice

Where can you a find:

-People who cannot fit into booth tables
- Bottles of wine E-V-E-R-Y-W-H-E-R-E
- 90 minute wait for a table every Friday and Saturday
- Toxic levels of sodium in almost every dish
- Meals that have more calories than what I am supposed to eat in a day
- Unlimited soup, salad, and bread sticks.

You can find them in Tuscany! Oh wait...I mean the Olive Garden.  As someone who prides myself on loving real food that is authentic, gourmet, hand crafted...I am sorry to say I spent the last little while of my life working as an Olive Garden slave/server/bartender.  (HEY! I also had my "real" job as a residential counselor in a psych home so dont make fun yet...)

The OG is far from Italian food (in my onion ladies and gents), but some of their dishes are based on some real stuff found in Italia.  One of the favorite soups that customers love to eat multiple bowls of just because they're unlimited is the Zuppa Toscana.  When they eat 2 or 3 bowls before their meal, they have already eaten about 500- 600 calories not including all the bread sticks that get dunked in the soup amongst the process.  I have always been intrigued by this soup, but since I refuse to eat most of the food that comes out of the restaurant, I made a "copy cat" recipe of this soup with a much healthier mindset.

Claire's Zuppe Toscana

1 pound Spicy Italian Chicken Sausage
1 Qt. water
4 Cups chicken broth (Reduced Sodium!!)
1 - 2 large russet potatoes, sliced in thin circles
3 garlic cloves, sliced
1 large white onion
2 C chopped Kale
3/4 C half and half
bacon bits

1.Brown the sausage in the skillet, and set aside.
2. Simmer the water, broth, potatoes, garlic, and onion until all tender
3. Add sausage to pot and simmer on low for 10 minutes
4. Add Kale and half and half
5. Top with bacon bits and serve.  Top with crushed red pepper if you like.

YUM. The more Kale the better!  Look what I chose to have with my soup instead of bread sticks and 1500 calories of creamy pasta fried chicken dish:

So here is a healthier version of a dish at the Olive Garden.  I will be working there for 10 more days. I cannot wait.