I Love It When a Plan Comes Together

I have a love/hate relationship with office holiday parties, like many of you out there I'm sure. Tradition in our office is for each team to host an internal lunch, and then host an open house for the rest of the building. It's very food-focused. Awesome, right? Unless you're a vegetarian. Or have allergies.

Hi.

I spend most of the party telling my colleagues "oh yeah, I was on my way to get a plate. Got sidetracked." Or "I saw (dish that I can't have) - it looks fantastic." Redirect, reassure - I have party food talk down to a science.

I generally bring something substantial so I know I have something to eat. Combine that with being an overachiever and the fact that I want to try every. good. recipe. I see, holiday parties are just another opportunity for cooking stress.

Our theme this year is brunch, and having a waffle iron that's easy to transport, I volunteered to make waffles. Simple. Except I need to make the waffles from scratch (see: allergies) (see also: overachiever). Had a plan, but was feeling stressed over how much I was going to need to carry into work on the train. Then realized I was also on the hook to bring in syrup, and for some reason, that pushed me over the stress edge. I didn't know how I was going to carry that along with everything else.

So, new plan. After wandering the aisles of my local Trader Joe's for 30 minutes, it hit me that I was thinking about it all wrong. If the problem is too much stuff, then eliminate the need for some of the stuff. Flavorful waffles don't really need syrup, so pack the main stage with good stuff and no one will miss anything.

Gingerbread.
Hot chocolate.
Dark and stormy fruit.

It's possible only two of these will happen, but I have a plan and ingredients. And am once again looking forward to the holiday shindig.

More on those specific recipes... when I've figured out what they are going to be. That's half the fun, right?

Cooking twice

I just moved into a new apartment. This beautiful, but tiny, new place is just what I was looking for in between two neighborhoods that I love. I can walk to several of my favorite restaurants, farmers markets, a couple of grocery stores, and - with a slightly longer walk - the waterfront.

But it has an electric stove.

And moving at the end of the summer, I didn't even get to have a last big fling with my beloved gas stove. Salads and sandwiches (and using up the metric ton of jams and jellies I canned last year) were all I could handle with move prep and work.

Anyway, I'm learning. I haven't burnt (too) many things, or least not badly. Yet.

I turned the oven on for the first time tonight to make lunch for the rest of the week, and it actually feels like I'm cooking at home again. There are pieces of two meals scattered over the counter: dinner tonight and future lunch. I walked to the library when I got home, and by the time I got back, couldn't wait the 45 minutes it would take to put together the baked eggplant, marinara and pasta dish I had planned. So dinner was a quesadilla: black bean spread, frozen roasted corn, handful of arugula, cheese, corn/flour tortillas, with salsa and yogurt on top. Fast, healthy, and filling.

Lunches are a quick marinara mixed with eggplant (both slices of frozen roasted eggplant and a roasted eggplant paste I made last winter - yeah, didn't quite get the freezer cleaned out before I moved), olives, and smoked mozzarella. I cooked the pasta for about 2 minutes less than called for so it would finish in the oven, mixed it, the eggplant, and olives together, and put the cheese on top.

It's cooking away and my cool, new apartment smells like fall. And home.

Kraut fail

Somehow, I grew up not liking sauerkraut. I'm still not a fan of the straight up kraut, but one of the local krauteries (kraut peddlers? artisan kraut monger?) does this carrot/cabbage/mustard seed kraut which is fabulous. See the beautiful sandwich for more.

But I discovered a couple of weeks ago that they've stopped making it, at least for awhile, since they're focused on more seasonal things. Which leaves me no choice but to figure out how to make it myself.

I've resisted fermenting my own food, because I'm an absent minded cook most of the time, and fermentation seems more on the science than the art side of the fence. However, necessity is the mother of invention. Or hopefully, the mother of paying attention and trying til it goes right.

First try: I had some brine from the last batch of stuff I bought from the market, so I took a basic kraut recipe with cabbage and carrots, and added the brine. And then I stuck a lid on it. (Absent minded cook - I did read the recipe, but not closely enough, apparently.) Figured out my mistake about two days later. I'm not sure if that's what the problem was with this batch, or it was the leftover brine. After a week, it's not scary looking or anything - just smells a bit off. So into the garbage, and onto the second try.

Fingers crossed.

Next time, I'll read the recipe more carefully.

It started off so well.