Vacation was nice

F and I went to visit my family during Thanksgiving break. It was nice, mostly because we didn't have to do anything but spend time with people. We played a lot of cards and Settlers. In fact, we played so much that my brothers invented a mid-Settlers minigame: Micro Jenga.


We also went bowling with my family, and everyone had food-related stage names because it was Thanksgiving. F was Captain Broccoli and I was Pumpkin Muffin. It was hard to think of 9 funny vegetable-related names, actually.


I don't have any pictures of food, but I did invent something delicious. I'd been thinking of making some kind of stew or shepherd's pie, and then I came across this recipe for mole sauce. I remembered that I really like mole sauce, so I used the recipe to invent a sweet potato mole chili. (It's easy, just make the sauce, and throw in the vegetables during the part where it tells you to let it simmer for a while.) After the stew part was cooked, we put some (uncooked) biscuits on top in order to accomplish the shepherd's pie part, sprinkled the whole thing with cheese, and baked it. I would definitely make it again. It might be good with corn bread biscuits.

Petra Goes To the Office

I haven't put up a photo of Petra in a while. Here are a few from when she came to the office with me this summer.

Petra is dignified:


Petra is not used to getting up so early:


Petra likes to hide under the desk:

Two firsts

Last night I had a dream about rubbing my dog's belly. I woke up and I was petting the pillow.

Then this morning I braided my hair (all by myself!) for the first time since I was like 6, if that. It looks (kind of) nice!

chhote chhote baingan

The co-op had extremely tiny, extremely cute eggplants today so I bought them without really thinking what I should do with them. When I got them home (oo, baby eggplant, let me get you alone) I checked one of my favorite food blogs to see what they would do with cute eggplants on a Thursday night. I settled on a fairly uncomplicated shaak type thing (they didn't call it that though, because they're southies). I had also impulsively bought some small roma tomatoes (because they were the same size as the eggplants, duh), so I threw those in. At the end I tasted it and it didn't seem quite right. I added a bit of salt: better, but still something was missing.

The secret ingredient was shredded coconut. Not the sweetened stuff you get in the baking aisle, but the plain kind that indian stores sell. It added just enough sweetness & depth to cancel out the slightly bitter taste of the eggplants. I tell you, I cannot eat this fast enough.

it's time to shut your damn mouth

I was walking Petra today, and a cyclist was coming towards us on the sidewalk from across an intersection. Since she was on a bike, I assumed she'd move to the (quiet, residential) street so I stayed on the sidewalk. She didn't switch over and kept biking straight into us. My dog barked at the cyclist, and then some woman yelled from a car: "It's time to put that dog down!"

....sure, lady. When you meet a person with bad manners, do you advise their family to kill them? I'm certain it's the fastest way to ensure responsible parenting.

self-image

This afternoon one of my friends told me that she isn't used to how I look without the green hair. I am harder to recognize or something. It may be a little odd to admit this, but I had the same problem. When I first dyed my hair back to brown, I felt surprised whenever I saw myself, because that wasn't how I expected to look. It was all very sudden, too.

l'ordinateur est mort, vive l'ordinateur

My laptop's hard drive stopped working without warning in the middle of a conference about a week and a half ago. I think it is the hard drive, at least. I hope that's it, because F has an extra hard drive I can replace it with. If there's more going on than that.... I hope it's cheap.

I'm a big girl now

I started wanting to do things by myself fairly early. I was proud of being able to accomplish things independently, back when I was a tiny wisp of a thing and tying my shoes was a big deal. It seems like most kids have a stage like that (or they should!). But it also seems like many women go backwards in the process of growing up.

I keep inviting my friends to come out with me to eat dinner, have some adventures in town, or go to a party. The thing is, since I know people all over the city, they have to get there independently. Actually that's not the problem. Everyone is OK with taking a bus or train to wherever we're all going to meet up. But a lot of my lady friends balk at the trip home. "Wait, you're going to the north side afterward? How will I get back?" "Well, the train does run in both directions, 24 hours a day." "But... who will go with me? I can't ride the train by myself." This same conversation has happened at least once a month with different people since the weather got nicer and I started being out and about more.

Wait, you can't? Are you too short to put your fare card in the slot? Maybe a friendly station attendant will help you with that.

I know I shouldn't be down on my friends for being afraid to go outside at night. I actually feel pretty bad that they feel that way, because I would love to see them come out more. But the attitude is frustratingly widespread! It seems like half the women I know live under house arrest, unless some poor acquaintance can be roped into being their bodyguard for the trip home. It's not even rational, since it's extremely rare for a complete stranger to jump out of the bushes and sexually assault somebody. I'm assuming rape is what these ladies are worried about, because guys don't worry about this, and they're equally vulnerable to being mugged or beat up. It's got to be a gender-specific crime. But most of that is perpetrated by people the victims already know, so it really doesn't make sense to be afraid of being in public at night. At least not so afraid that it keeps you from going out!

I could understand things like staying in well-lit areas so people don't beat you up and steal your stuff. I could understand making sure not to fall asleep on the bus or train, keeping an eye on your backpack, and paying attention to where you are and who's around you. But... avoiding the outdoors after dark? It's overkill, and I think it's not worth the loss in quality-of-life. It's something I think society encourages women to do so they're constantly reminded that they're weak... except that they're actually not.

winnar of the dinnar

I invented a delicious salad: so delicious that I ate it all before I could take a picture of it. Instead let me record my deeds here so that our nation's children's children can hear the inspiring tale of KC and the Beet Salad. This day will be immortalized in song and poetry. And a major motion picture.

4ish small beets, cooked
1/2 tomato
1/2 cucumber
a sprinkle of chopped onion

Cut everything up into salad sized chunks, except for the onion which should be chopped really small already. Sprinkle chaat masala on top (not too much, it has built-in salt) and squirt it with lemon juice. This might also be good with yogurt, or with other combinations of vegetables, like potatoes or bell peppers. Eat this salad and you too can experience my immortal legacy. It was enough for two people to eat for second dinner.

flow

Before yesterday, the last time I went to yoga had been almost a year ago. I had just got my dog, and I was terrified she would chew something up or pee all over my house. Meditating while my brain was focused on her chewing up my iPod was pretty much impossible. I hadn't yet settled into a routine with her, and kept worrying that I wasn't paying enough attention to her, getting her enough exercise, training her enough -- basically I had working mom guilt, but about my dog. So I couldn't concentrate. It was so distracting that I ended up leaving in the middle of class. My reasoning was, "What will relax me? What do I need? I need to keep an eye on my dog."

But now Petra and I have figured out how to live with each other, so yesterday I went to yoga (for the first time in about a year) and it was totally awesome. I am definitely starting up again.

In other news, I pulled a gigantic hair clog out of my bathtub drain this morning. The drain had been slow for a while. I wasn't sure I would be able to fix it because I had never even looked in there before, but it was in fact very easy and only a little bit disgusting.

Frankendinner

Tonight I cooked something kind of like this, except that I didn't have enough chickpeas so I added some black beans. And I realized halfway through that I didn't have any ginger, so the ginger-garlic-chili paste is just.... garlic. I looked up a chana masala recipe on the internet because I didn't think I had any, but after I started cooking I discovered that my future roommate had brought some with her kitchen stuff. Then I realized I had some green beans that needed to be eaten, so I threw those in near the end.

It might not be aloo chole anymore (maybe it is aloo chole hare kale beans), but it is really, really delicious. It's not chili, but it could totally win a chili cook-off anyway because it is category-defyingly good.

my ear is clogged

I met a cute guy.

He took me to go watch some roller derby, which was really fun.

Seriously, I had such a good time that I got a Windy City Rollers shirt. I don't buy shirts from just anybody.

Then, a little while later, I went to the World Jiujitsu Championship. I had some adventures. First of all, I met this guy:

See his shirt? He is the guy whose name is on the shirt. He thought I was pretty cool, for some reason, and came over to cheer/coach for me during my matches. I thought that was really nice of him.

But before I had my matches, I had to get checked out by the ring coordinators. I was on weight - this year I wasn't really trying very hard in that respect - but apparently my gi was too frayed to compete in. It was very sad, because it's been my favorite gi for the whole two years I've been doing jiujitsu. I had some guys from my team there with me, so I asked them what to do. They went off to talk about it for a minute, and then one of them came back: "Hold on, Jack is going to go steal you one." So I borrowed a gi from some anonymous, probably lightweight guy from the Megaton team. That's the one I'm wearing up above. Thanks, guy!

I won my first match by advantage - it went pretty much the same as my last match at Pan Ams last year. Before my second match, Jack warned me that the girl likes to do a particular guard pass, and that I should watch out for it. I watched for it. She did it. It worked anyway. Oh well.

Still, by winning the first match, I had made it into the semis, so I got a medal:

I spent the next few days tooling around in California with my parents and grandparents, but I had caught a cold somehow (maybe on the plane). So I was kind of miserable and I ate a lot of soup. The soup was fantastic, though.

Here's what you do: put some kind of green vegetable in enough water (or broth) to just barely cover it, and cook it until it is mushy. Broccoli, asparagus, and zucchini all work well for this. Spinach might work too, I haven't tried it. You mash the vegetable, or if it is stringy like asparagus you put it in the blender. Then you make a roux with a couple of tablespoons of butter and add some milk to it until it is soupy. You can add cheese to this part if you want. Also salt and pepper. Then you mix this soupy part back in with the mashed vegetables, and you eat it.

Strawberries were also fantastic in California. They didn't taste like strawberries, though. They tasted like strawberry concentrate, and they didn't even need sugar if you were making dessert out of them. I want to go back just to eat strawberries.

Now I'm a believer

The first time I made this yogurt rice recipe, I got all evangelical about it and insisted that everyone had to eat it right away. I made it again for lunch today, and it is still delicious.


I have a lot of food to eat before I leave town this weekend; anybody want to come over?

dog tired

On Thursday morning I made myself this crazy leftover rice egg patty thing. It was a delicious way to use up the fried rice I was tired of eating.


It's a slow weekend for me - because of a work-related deadline I'm not making many plans. I have to write an abstract that will indirectly get me a job, if all goes well. It has to describe what I will accomplish over the summer without leaving me screwed if I get stuck on something.

I had a good time at jiujitsu today. Recently I have been feeling profoundly unprepared for the tournament I'm competing at in two weeks, but today practice was pretty good. I didn't win every match (hardly won any, in fact) - but I think I have a competition strategy and I am feeling a little more satisfied with my skills. I don't feel like I need to improve them in order to be ready.... but maybe that's because it's down to the wire and I have to work with what I've got.

I am watching my friend's dog, Little, this weekend, so I took her and Petra for a play date with Riley. Riley is a youngish Irish Setter, shown here at his muddiest and most alluring.


The three of them dogged it up all afternoon. Here, Petra has some kind of chew toy, and Riley and Little have designs on it.


Petra and Little later found a sexy spot to roll in. I looked, there was nothing there. They still thought it was awesome.


Here, the three of them are having a dog conference about some important doggy matters. I was not invited.


While I was over there, I had some trouble baking cookies in the convection oven (but they turned out pretty ok). Then I painted my toenails and called my family. The dogs were exhausted by that point, so I took my girls home. They fell asleep on the living room floor as soon as we got back.

I'd been having some trouble with my dosa batter - the first time I left it out overnight, it was too cold in my house and the yogurt didn't grow at all. So I closed the windows and left the batter out again during the day yesterday, and now they are delicious. It could perhaps even stand to sit out a little longer, to get sourer and more bubbly. This was my dinner:


Brussels sprouts update: I ate them all. Then I bought more of them. Turns out they are also good fried with Indian spices and eaten with bhakhri and mango pickle. I don't have many left.

times have changed

I ate brussels sprouts once when I was little, and I hated them. So did all my brothers. The familial reaction to them was so strong that we never ate them again, even though my mom insisted they were good. Then I saw this recipe on 101 Cookbooks and basically wanted to eat the picture. I tried making them this way today, and they were good. So good that I wanted to have just the brussels sprouts for dinner instead just having them on the side with dal and rice like I'd planned. Check it out:

legumealicious

My camera broke a while ago, so I haven't had the same motivation to post as I did when I always had a delicious dinner picture to put up. A new one is on its way to me right now, though, so I thought I'd get back into the habit of posting.

Last time I went shopping, I bought a couple of cans of black beans, but returned home to discover that I already had more than a couple cans of black beans. Faced with a cabinetry crisis, it was clear that I must make something out of black beans for dinner, and soon. This recipe sounded delicious and the inside-out presentation intrigued me, but I admit that I mostly chose it for the photo. By a lucky coincidence I happened to have bread crumbs (if you are gluten-free like my mom, maybe besan flour or something would work), and the patty "dough" was very easy to put together. Since I can't post a photo of what my own dinner looked like, you will have to go look at that one. Unlike many internet recipes, my version actually looked a lot like the picture. I have enough leftover patties to have some people over for dinner, and I am happy enough with the deliciousness level that I probably will.

Also, one of my out-of-town friends told me the other day, "I hear you're looking good these days." That's right. But what I want to know is, who spilled the beans?

preparation

I'm making this apple tart for the dinner party tonight, to have after the batata vadas and dosas and pressure-cooked rice. I just made the dough for the tart, and I am already excited about the eating we will be doing.

avgolemono

I made Greek-style egg lemon soup today. I used vegetable broth instead of chicken, of course, and I added some chopped green onions. I also had a higher egg-to-broth ratio than that recipe calls for, because I like it to be really thick. It was delicious! I think I would have liked it with more orzo, but I am the kind of person who likes it when lentil-barley soup turns into just lentil-barley after a day in the fridge because there is so much barley all the broth gets soaked up. I also had artichokes with lemon-butter-garlic sauce. It was a very lemony dinner.

I'd put up a picture, but my camera is broken. Looks like the camera I want is coming down in price, though, so maybe I will get it before I go to the Mundial. I'm pretty excited about that and I'd love to be able to take pictures.

kids

I'm reading The Namesake. The main character is born in the first chapter, and grows up throughout the book. I have just reached the point in the book where he finishes college, so all my reading today has been about his childhood. What struck me is that, for most of the part of childhood that they can think and remember about later, kids don't seem to really like their parents. In the book he doesn't seem to like his parents past kindergarten or so, and now that he's graduated from college he is only just warming up to them. It made me think of my own parents.

Most people I know have had times when they didn't get along with their parents. Some people had good reasons, but mostly it was because they were annoying and not cool, or because parents tell children what to do and what not to do, and young adults continue to hold it against them. I am kind of ashamed of having been, like all other children, pretty selfish when I was young. I probably could have been nicer.

soup season

I've been making a lot of soup recently. I made potato-leek soup at F's house last week because he had a cold (he ate it all immediately). Then today I made generally vegetabley soup. My camera is kind of borderline broken, but I worked at it and took a picture because the soup looked so colorful:



Also, on Wednesday I went to a middle eastern art demonstration night. They had Turkish music, snacks, painting, calligraphy, and some ladies doing mehendi. I had never had it before and the henna paste smelled really good, so I got them to do one of my hands:


It's been a couple of days now and I didn't leave it on long to begin with, so the stain is already fading a little. But I liked how the henna marks are almost exactly the same color as my pre-existing freckles. I thought it might look weird on me because I'm very pale, but I really like how this turned out and would definitely do it again.

salad update

1 head of cabbage, sliced into shreds
1 jicama, cut into matchsticks
2 carrots, shredded
juice of 2 lemons
1-2 T sesame oil
2-4 T olive oil
salt & pepper
----------------------------

1 delicious salad

that explains it

I can't believe I left the eggs out of the spicy fried rice! I have so many eggs, and I like them in fried rice . . . just wasn't paying attention, I guess.

I called my mom so she could talk me out of buying this coat, but we ended up deciding I should get it. I really just wanted a second opinion. An unbiased expert that could see through coat lust and tell me whether it was a good idea or not. It was a good idea! Yay! It's going to come in the mail in a couple of days.

Now I'm going to try to copy a citrus-sesame "cole slaw" that Strawberry Fields had once. It was delicious! They had the usual shredded cabbage and carrots, and I think there was some jicama in there. No mayonnaise, though; the dressing was lemon-sesame or something. We'll see how close I can get.

these days

There are some new things in my house, including this big brown couch. I'm not sure why the picture turned out the way it did, but I kind of like the uneven lighting. It makes the picture look old, like the couch.

I eat a lot of dumplings, and some people ask me what kind of dumplings they are or how I make them. Here you go - these are the dumplings (they're vegetarian):

I make them by adding about a half inch of water and a couple tablespoons of sesame oil to a frying pan. I put the lid on until they're hot through, then take the lid off and let them get brown and crispy once the water boils off. They stick to the pan until they're crispy, so I wait until they are ready and then I flip them to let them crispify on the other side. Then I eat them with Chinese black vinegar (镇江醋).

I also lost two buttons from my coat and only had one replacement button. So I got a bunch of new red flower-shaped ones. People have been asking me if I got a new coat. They look really pink in this picture, but they are actually maroon and match the coat's lining.
Here's a picture that shows the flower shape better.

I added some links. Some people (hi Mom) will probably really enjoy the cooking blogs that I have been digging recently. 101 Cookbooks and Mahanandi are both vegetarian, but don't let that stop you, omnivores. The recipes are delicious and often inspiring, and the photos are great.