SIN & my BIG FAT Greek Easter

Do they still have the Seven Deadly Sins?  If so, I fear I'm going straight to Hell - do not pass go and do not collect $200.  How else can it go when my entire celebration of Jesus's act of reconciliation involved gluttony?  Well, okay, maybe not the whole celebration, but the part that occurred outside of the church.

After church, we dined with my in-laws (17 of us total) at Estia on Broad and Locust.  It was an extravagant affair to say the least.  Honestly, I would be lying (another sin, surely) if I didn't admit that my favorite part of lunch was seeing all of our family again - it doesn't happen frequently enough.  I'm pretty sure (unfortunately) that the last time I saw my parents-in-law was Christmas - and if that's not a sin, I don't know what is.  Mister and I had a little gift for our nephews, as well, and there is something priceless about watching children take turns pulling off the wrapping paper so they can share every part of the gift - they're good at being brothers.  So my true delight was in the people; my beautiful SIL, a cousin who brought his new lady friend, my little angel baby.  Of course, another priceless moment was when my father-in-law parked himself across from me, attentive waiter behind him, and asked if I would like some "voov," while making a drinking motion with his hand.  In my momentary ignorance, I thought he had learned a new Greek word for "drink," possibly "wine," but once the waiter nodded, noted, and walked away with my FIL, I realized he had just enlisted my assistance in drinking a bottle of Veuve Clicquot!  It helped wash down the huge amount of food that covered every square inch of the table (and some of the round ones) - fried zucchini, various spreads (baba ghanoush, muhammara, hummus, tzatziki) with bread, pita, and crudites, as well as amazing marinated peasant salads of red and orange tomatoes, red and green peppers, and cucumbers.  I barely had space for my entree and resolved, next time my entree will merely be a salad.  There were also three decadent, huge Greek desserts and Greek coffee.  I love Greek stuff - I'm so lucky to be married into this family!

After 15 hugs and kisses, we excused ourselves to run (in heels) to the train station.  We hopped on the train just as it was about to leave us, and 45 minutes later found ourselves in my dad's car.  Once we arrived at the house, I could finally relieve my purse of the jar full of rice, spices, and cashews that I'd carried to church and lunch.  Mom and a cousin were industriously chopping tomatoes for bruschetta while the littlest cousin hunted for plastic candy-filled eggs in my parents' verdant backyard.  While Mom and I started cooking, my dad showed everyone photos and video of me as an infant and toddler, then took the whole merry party down to the basement to play with his bordering-on-obsession trainset.  It takes up the entire basement.  He cut holes in the walls to let the trains go through "tunnels."  I told Dad he has to take this stuff down before he gets decrepit because I don't want to deal with it.  We all figured, though, that the littlest cousin, presently 2 years old, should at least be a teenager before this becomes an issue, so we'll just hire him and some friends for pizza.

Once the Black Bottom Pineapple Tofu on Coconut Cashew Rice (from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy) was done cooking, Mom and I set up the table and called everyone away from the fun to eat dinner.  My plate was delightfully colorful!

Taking up the majority of the plate was the tofu dish, accompanied (counter-clockwise) by a delightful strawberry-walnut salad my mom made, as well as an apple-sweet potato roast.  What a lovely springtime meal, don't you think?

So tonight is the first night of the new menu.  What menu?  Glad you asked:

1. Chili and Polenta Casserole also from Vegetarian Times: Fast and Easy, and hopefully, it comes together as quickly as they say it does, because this is going to be a busy week, methinks.

2. Pasta Marinara with Kale and Beans - although this will be accompanied by a new recipe for you (yay!), don't get too excited - it's going to be a cheater recipe (with a rockstar name).

3. Spring Vegetable Curry from The Accidental Vegan - why not?  It's spring and Mister Loves Asparagus.

4. Cajun Red Beans and Rice, also from The Accidental Vegan, because it's my fav-fav-favorite rice-n-beans recipe. 

5. Yakisoba, also from The Accidental Vegan, which was dinner tonight.

It's a little bit bland, but there is a subtle aftertaste of ginger and not quite enough garlic.  Of course, I wanted to use my new toy - a ginger grater, so I grated the garlic and I don't think I got as much out of each clove as I do when I press it.  It did a fantastic job on the ginger, though, so well done, Essene!  Best $5 I ever spent (especially after flirting with the $20 Microplane Special People Grater/Zester at Williams-Sonoma when I picked up the gifts for the nephews).  That $15 will go toward the Buy-Natalie-a-4qt-Saute-Pan fund.  Attempting to "toss" a pound of noodles with the veggies and sauce tonight in my 3-qt pan was quite an adventure and pushed me over the Suck-It-Up-and-Spend-the-$$$ edge.  After the rent gets paid :)

it's the most wonderful time of the year

And it has nothing to do with kids jingle-belling or people telling me to be of good cheer - in fact, that might only encourage me to tell someone where to put their good cheer.  I wouldn't mind some much mistletoeing, though...

No, it's the most wonderful time of the year, specifically 2010, because the last six hellish weeks have finally met their end.  I walked (actually, I ran) out of the building tonight armed with the incredible knowledge that I made it and now I get to relax.  I will be away from work for a delicious week and a half.

Speaking of delicious... I greeted my greatly anticipated vacation by cooking with champagne and drinking the rest.  I took a swig right from the little bitty bottle after measuring out what I needed for the Lemon-Champagne-Braised Baby Bok Choy, then realized that just because I'm not at work doesn't mean I have to abandon all class, so I poured the rest into a wineglass for my swigging pleasure.  One really ought not drink champagne directly from the bottle, no matter how small it is.

To accompany the bok choy, I made Pan-Seared Tofu with Basil-Balsamic Glaze.  I was pretty pleased with the way the flavors worked together and even more pleased that I found the energy to make such a fancy dinner on "my friday."

First, I wrapped my tofu in a fresh towel, placed a plate upside down on top of it and weighted it down with two of my favorite (and heaviest!) cookbooks.  After an hour, I unwrapped it, rewrapped it in a new towel, and replaced it beneath the books.  I have never pressed tofu so thoroughly in my life, but this is another recipe I'm testing and the author has requested that the recipe be followed precisely the first time, so I pressed it for two hours.  It all worked out, though, because the time it took to press the tofu let me unwind for the first hour, and then I spent the second hour prepping and cooking the bok choy.

Something I love about bok choy, especially baby bok choy, is that when you trim the bottom, it looks like a pretty pale green rose.  Those two beauties are posing with my single-serving champagne bottle.

Here is my pile of bok choy, pre-braising sauce.  In case you've ever wondered what 2 lbs of baby bok choy looks like, now you know.  Also, if you were wondering what kind of pan you would braise 2 lbs of bok choy in, the answer might not be your standard 9x13 - as you can see, it was nearly overflowing.  The leaves reduce a lot during braising, but it was a challenge to fit it all in while it was still raw.

While I was preparing the bok choy, I started marinading my tofu.  I flipped it probably four times, and when the bok choy had only about 10 minutes left of cooking, I preheated a cast-iron skillet and pan-seared those little suckers for about 3-5 minutes on each side.  They developed an attractive, dark crust around the outside of the tofu and the basil stuck on pretty tenaciously.

Mister had some pretty mixed reactions.  I kind of thought that might happen, so as we sat down, I reminded my poor, tired, cranky (but relieved) self that I didn't make the recipe for him.  I made it because I thought it would be fun and I enjoyed the process.


Turned out he liked the bok choy just fine, which is funny, since I thought that would be what he didn't like.  He did comment that the amount of lemon might be overwhelming for someone who wasn't expecting it or who didn't like lemon, but we liked it just fine.

He wasn't crazy about the tofu.  I liked it, but I could see his point - despite the marinating time, it seemed like the tofu just didn't absorb much of it.  The glaze was nice, but there was too much bland, squishy tofu in between.  I like the marinade, so I do want to try this again in the future, but I'm going to suggest to the author that the tofu would be better if it was sliced more thinly so it would end up a little more firm and crispy.

fizzy lifting drink

Commoners might call it Champagne or Sparkling Wine.  I can't get over how delightfully the little bubbles race to the top of the glass, awaiting their turn to melt on my tongue like a little sparkly snowflake.

Sometimes you need a little lift.  Today was definitely one of those days for me:
"Champagne?" you say, "What are you celebrating?"
"I survived work today."

I won't bore you with the details of me burning off my Champagne calories in advance by dashing hither and yon throughout the building, making my best attempt to produce myself in triplicate.  It's not easy, you know, trying to simultaneously be in two trainings on different topics in different rooms, while also compiling data for one's own small part in another person's project.  Nevermind that an update to our website caused it to explode and vomit false pricing information at our sales agents.  Nevermind that all their supervisors had quite enough cleaning up to do to have a spare minute to help me.  Just focus on the sheer impossibility of any one person trying to be three places at exactly the same time.

Yes.  Champagne.  Fortunately, I happen to have some since one of my dinner recipes lists it as an ingredient.  Excellent excuse for stocking the bubbly, wouldn't you say?

Despite my Ode to Tiny Bubbles, I did not make the braised bok choy tonight (almost, but it definitely required the energy I left at work to use tomorrow).  Instead, I made the easiest recipe on the menu: Savory Spinach on Chamomile Couscous.  Although, I suppose if you chilled and carbonated it, the chamomile could probably resemble a mellow Asti.  Anyway....

Chamomile Couscous with Savory Spinach
serves 6

Ingredients:
a little more than 2 cups water
2 chamomile tea bags
1.5 cups plain couscous (one box of Near East brand couscous)
1 tsp agave nectar
2 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp yellow mustard seeds
1 Tbsp garam masala*
2 cloves of garlic, pressed or minced
1/2 tsp salt
28 oz (petite) diced tomatoes
15 oz chickpeas, rinsed and drained
9 oz fresh baby spinach

Boil the water, then place the two tea bags in the pot, lower heat to a slow simmer, and cover - allow to steep at least 5 minutes. Remove tea bags, stir in agave until dissolved, then add couscous. Cover, remove from heat, and allow to sit for at least 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, heat the oil in a deep pot. Add the mustard seeds and cover. When mustard seeds begin to dance, add garlic and sprinkle in the garam masala.  Allow to saute about one minute and then stir in the undrained tomatoes. Bring to a boil, then lower heat, stir in chickpeas and salt and simmer a few minutes. Add about 1/3 of the bag of spinach, cover to steam 1-2 minutes, then stir into tomatoes and chickpeas to wilt. Repeat with second 1/3 and final 1/3. If your cat enjoys spinach, share some with him (or her) before you destroy it all in your dinner. Once all spinach is added and has wilted, uncover and allow to simmer about 5 minutes.

Fluff couscous. Serve spinach mixture over a fluffy white cloud of couscous!

*Garam Masala is merely a mixture of popular spices used in Indian cooking. One brand will have one mixture and another will have a completely different mixture.  For the record, my favorite Garam Masala (so far) is McCormick brand, which is made up of coriander, black pepper, cumin, cardamom, and cinnamon.