new year, new adventures.

2011 was a year of changes and challenges.

I left one job and started a new one in a rebounding industry. I ran two half marathons. I realized just how much I enjoy spending my free time pursuing culinary endeavors. I just about convinced my husband that a quaint 2 acre plot with raised garden beds and a few chickens is a good idea. (Still working on getting him fully on board with the pastoral life.)

2012 is shaping up to be a continuation of last year's challenges. I'm still working quite a bit. While this is the time of year where long hours are inevitable, I'm hoping that things can slow down enough where I don't have to feel (strangely) guilty about taking time off. We've been putting off our honeymoon for going on two years. It's about time we take the trip that we've earned. I'm ready for an adventure and a change of scenery. I know Tommy is too. He's been busting his butt to finish his manuscript and prep for the pivotal fourth year review this spring. It's high time we took a vacation. Running-wise, this is the year where I take on the marathon. You heard it here first kids. I'm going to go for it this year. 26.2! Fuck yeah. Location has yet to be determined, but training is going to start as soon as year-end is through at work.

On the culinary front, I'm hoping to continue my kitchen misadventures and pick up some new techniques and be a bit more adventurous. It's time to shake off last year and spice up this one. It's time to be bold. To really nail down the basics. To shake off the culinary fears that have held me back. No dish will be overlooked. I'm thinking a little Diana Kennedy and Julia Child are in order. What could be more adventurous than French cooking? It's certainly something I've never delved into.

My only other hope for 2012 is that I don't get sucked into any more teen-centric vampire shows/films. You see, in between my marathon baking efforts, I was also binging on junk food television. I'm fully hooked on The Vampire Diaries. It took me a while to figure out why the hell I couldn't stop watching it, and then I realized: the show is produced by Kevin Williamson, the same guy who brought Dawson's Creek to screen. Ugh, I'm embarrassed to admit that I like the show as much as I do. I thought I had higher standards. (But I don't!) Ah well. Not nearly as embarrassing as Twilight...which I also inexplicably like. Ugh.

Anyway, here's to the start of a new year and all of the adventures that are bound to ensue.

au revoir 2011

How was your holiday season? Good, I hope. Over here in my slice of the Midwest, there was a whole lot of baking going on.

Time. Flies.

I blinked and the summer was over.

I blinked again and winter was creeping up on the Ohio landscape.

Life has gone by in a flash. I've been buried under my work for the past 3 months. Just when I feel like I can come up for air and take a breath, another wave just crashes over me. Long days at the office, going in before it's light out and leaving after dark, has meant that I've met my deadlines but had to let other things fall by the wayside. That's exactly what's happened here. Putting in nearly 70 hours a week hasn't left me much time to indulge my own pursuits. And when I'm not working, I'm trying to spend time with my equally overworked husband (who's trying to complete his book manuscript and coming up on the pivotal "4th year review), and getting the hell out of the house to see our friends. I really only have time to cook on weekend evenings, and it kills me. But that also means it's left me with little to write about.

I did, however, manage to sneak in a half marathon amidst all this work malarky.

See the before? It was 5 am and I'm way too pumped for that early in the morning for Tommy. All I'm thinking is "I'm going to kick this half marathon's ass!"

Aaaaand the after. Tommy and our friends Heather and Di cheered me on as I approached the finish line. After nabbing my medal and super cool solar blanket, T snapped this photo. I ran the last mile with a stitch in my side, a blister on the ball of my foot, and a fierce determination to beat my fucking 2 hour goal. The result? Some soreness...and a new personal record: 1:54.

That was back in October. It's December now. DECEMBER. Christmas music is running rampant. Cheery decorations are everywhere. But with the holidays come parties*, food**, and merriment. Once this month end is done with in 10 days, I'm off for an unprecedented 2 days! Can you believe it? It's going to be the best two days everrrr. Of course, my family will also be in from California, which will contribute to the long weekend's greatness. It's been about a year since T and I have seen them, and we're very much looking forward to their visit.

There's plenty of stuff that's gone on in the in-between. T and I are still planning to buy a house. I still want chickens and a few acres. We hosted Thanksgiving. My turkey came out picture perfect and we got our friends drunk. I put Moz on a diet. I've been listening to Andrew Bird pretty much non-stop. We made some decor improvements to the apartment. I'm contemplating a full marathon next year. Tommy is continuing to wow them on the Modernism circuit (obviously). He's thinking of going on the market next year if the right position comes up. All in all, general thinking about the future sort of shit.

So it goes. 2011 has had its ups and downs...but I won't complain.

* Our friend's are hosting a New Year's Eve costume party. We are going to win. I promise a post on our super cool costumes.
** This year I will be cooking up Christmas gifts for our friends and my co-workers. Recipes and photos will follow.

P.S. This post is dedicated to Jami. After I read her post today, she inspired me to put down my tumbler of whiskey and get typing. Well done ma'am.

my sweet mexico: agua de jamaica

Oh. Hey there!

Soooo, this is me making just the slightest attempt at blogging before work and the long holiday start to weigh me down with both responsibility and the desire to squeeze in all the fun I can into three days.

I also just realized that it's damn near September and my summer just flew by. Soon enough the weather will be getting cooler, leaves will start changing color, and it'll be time to turn back the clocks an hour... But! Until that time actually gets here, I'm going to hold on to all things summery for as long as I can. And what helps me do that? Jamaica, of course! The floral and tart flavor of this summer drink is perfect for cooling your tongue after eating one too many tacos drenched in chile.

Agua de Jamaica

2 C dried hibiscus flowers

8 C water

1/2 - 3/4 C sugar

Dried hibiscus flowers can generally be found in most Latin American grocery stores. In choosing them, try to find the flowers that are the least brittle. Overly dry flowers will create more sediment and the flavor will be less robust. Bring your water to a boil and add the flowers. Reduce the heat and allow to simmer until the water has taken on a deep purple hue and the tart, floral flavor of the hibiscus, about 15 minutes. Remove from heat and add the sugar to reach your desired level of sweetness. Serve chilled.

Note: If your hibiscus flowers are very dry and brittle, your can cut down on the sediment by straining the tea, while still warm, through a coffee filter before adding your sugar.

P.S. I need a real camera already. This iPhone stuff isn't cutting it.

P.P.S. I've been running a lot too! If I'm not completely wiped from all this work hubbaloo, I'll tell you all about it.

P.P.S.S. Have you really read this far? You get a bonus prize: What happened when Ralph Waldo Emerson drank too much? He started Thoreau-ing up! Ahahaha! (Oh, is that only funny to a nerd like me?)

my sweet mexico: chocoflan

This post is looooong delayed. I made chocoflan (also known as flan imposible) around 4th of July weekend, for a friend's cook out. When I was skimming through my copy of My Sweet Mexico by Fany Gerson, I couldn't help but think that I needed to make something incredibly indulgent that shouldn't be kept in the house - I have a dangerous sweet tooth. Chocoflan, with it's rich layer of custard and light, moist chocolate cake, seemed like the perfect dessert to enjoy with a large crowd of people.

And oh wow.

It was delicious. But there's something kind of magical about this dessert. You see, the cake batter goes into your pan first, and it's topped with the flan mixture...but when you go to check your cake after a bit, all you can see is the cake! The flan and cake switch places! Amazing! (Okay, enough with the exclamation points.) Topped with homemade cajeta, or goat's milk caramel, this is the sort of treat that'll make me throw my runner's diet out the window.

I ran into a bit of a snag as I looked at Gerson's recipe: I couldn't find an adequately high sided cake pan. The best I could do was a bundt pan, which turned out to be fine - it just made a lot of cake. But when is that EVER a bad thing? This recipe is an amalgamation of Rick Bayless' chocolate cake batter and my mother's plain flan recipe.

  

the diana kennedy chronicles: escabeche

My little garden patch is just now starting to sprout some summer goodness. With a more jalapeños and cubanelle peppers than I could eat on my own, there was only one thing to do: make escabeche!

For the uninitiated, escabeche is pickled jalapeños, garlic, onions, carrots, and sometimes cauliflower. The spicy and acidic bite serves a gastronomic purpose in Mexican cuisine. Sure, those enchiladas and tacos de lengua taste delicious on their own...but couple it with a bite of sharp and spicy jalapeños, and it's on another level. Trust me. For whatever reason though, I've never seen it on the tables of the Mexican restaurants I've dined in in Columbus. Granted, I don't go out to eat Mexican food very often because the dishes I crave are never done very well. Like my mom always said, "If you want something done right, you've got to do it yourself."

Of course, when I told her I'd made escabeche, she called me a "gourmand." Psssh. Hardly! I just like to eat.

Escabeche de jalapeños:

1 lb jalapeño or serrano peppers

2 medium carrots, peeled

5 cloves garlic, unpeeled

1/2 large white or yellow onion, thickly sliced

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 cups white vinegar

1/2 t dried oregano

2 bay leaves

2 t salt

1/2 t dried thyme

3 sterilized half pint jars

If leaving the peppers whole (stems intact), cut a cross in the bottom of the peppers to allow the oil and vinegar to penetrate. Alternatively, they can be cut in half lengthwise. Heat the oil in a large, deep skillet and add the vegetables. Fry over medium heat for about 10 minutes, turning occasionally. Add the vinegar, salt, and herbs, and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer until the vegetables are cooked through - about 5 minutes for serranos and 10 minutes for jalapeños. Pack the jars with the vegetables and chiles, top with the liquid from the skillet and seal. They should keep for up to a month in the fridge.

frijoles de la olla

  

There are some evenings when nothing else but a favorite childhood dish will do. One of the first dishes my mother taught me was frijoles de la olla. Simple, flavorful, hearty, and slowly simmered pinto beans. When I was a broke, vegetarian grad student, I was eating frijoles at least once a week.

Every so often I pull out my massive copy of The Essential Cuisines of Mexico and browse through its recipes. I'll dogear the pages for cochinita pibil, empanadas de requesón, or pato en mole verde knowing that one day I'll tackle their complex and lengthy preparations. But sometimes you just want something simple, that isn't going to have you running around town searching for ingredients and can be enjoyed on a weeknight. I tend to think of frijoles de la olla as a blank canvas. While they can certainly stand on their own, simple additions of sliced avocado, crumbled queso fresco, crema Mexicana, or escabeche (pickled chiles and vegetables) transform the dish.

Frijoles de la olla:

1 lb dried pinto beans, rinsed and sorted

1/2 large white or yellow onion

1 dried ancho chile

1 t ground cumin

1/2 t ground pepper

salt, to taste

In a large, heavy bottomed pot, add the beans and cover with 2" of water. Cover and bring to a boil. Once at a rapid boil, lower the flame to medium-low and leave the lid slightly ajar. Cook for 30 minutes. Once the initial cooking time has elapsed, drain the beans into a colander. Place beans back into the pot and cover once again with fresh water. Add the halved onion, ancho chile, cumin and bring to a boil. Reduce heat to low and simmer until the beans are soft, about 1 hour*. Midway through, add salt to taste - in order to allow the other flavors to develop. Discard onion and chile prior to serving. Serve with warm corn tortillas and garnishes of your choice. (You can't beat queso fresco and avocado, but chopped onion and cilantro are also wonderful.)

* I've found that prepackaged beans from the supermarket always take longer to cook. Beans sold in bulk bins generally have been sitting on the shelf for less time.