may your days be merry and bright

Okay, so clearly (in Philadelphia, at least) we did not have a White Christmas.  No, definitely not - it was gorgeous, though - around 50 degrees and sunny!  Nevetheless, I felt like the title displayed a nice blessing to begin a new year.  One which, according to some conspiracy theorists/history-ignorant human beings will be our very last one.

I say "Live it up!" then.  What better way to do so than another thrilling and incidental collaboration between my mother and husband?  I continue to be astonished by my new saute pan and am counting the days until I can comfortably add another piece of this addicting cookware to my small-but-adequate urban kitchen.

I'm fairly well convinced that food even looks more attractive in this pan.  I mean, a load of sliced red peppers sauteing with garlic, olive oil, basil, and two big bay leaves is always a beautiful sight, but I believe the reflective nature of my new pan illuminates the beauty, enhancing it even further (I know, it's difficult, but try it!)  To say I'm in love is putting it lightly.

The scent of my red peppers softening and getting all sweet and garlicky was enough to get Angst into the kitchen to be the live studio audience for The Cooking Show with Mommy...

Though I failed to be exciting enough to keep him awake.  I appreciated his support and company, though.  He appreciates warm, squishy things upon which to sleep.  Tonight's dinner was a Red Pepper Risotto, taken from the book Mister gave me for Christmas.  I'd tell you which book, but it's pretty non-descript: the title is Vegetarian and it's a compilation of recipes, so there is no author.  If it's really, really important to anyone still reading after my excessive absence, I will post the editor's name so you can try to dig it up, but it's an older book (I love how Mister knows his way around thrift stores and the store we traded a bunch of books to, for credit toward more books, when we moved last February).

This picture shows again how fortunate I am to have my new, beautiful, easy to cook with, easy to clean All-Clad saute pan.  Although I cooked the rice separately (more on why in a minute) and then added it to the pan, there is NO WAY I would have pulled that off with my 3-qt saute pan.  I would have had to cut the recipe in half to make it fit, especially since I cooked 2 cups of rice to add to that.  Rice tends to triple in volume when cooked, so that's about 6 cups of rice mixed into 3 red peppers and a 28-oz can of diced tomatoes.

By the time everything was cooked and combined, even Angst had grown more interested in dinner.  Saint that he is, Mister scooped up the sleepy kitty to show him what was on the stove.  Angst hates the stove and he hates hot food - it bites him.  That picture was snapped right before he struggled free of the Evil Man carrying him.

Anyway, as you can see, this doesn't look much like a "traditional" risotto, and if you know anything about risotto, you know I committed a cardinal culinary sin by cooking the rice by itself and just adding it to the cooked peppers and tomatoes at the last minute.  Let me explain.

Last night as we were finishing our very tasty dinner, long somen noodles sauteed with tofu, carrots, and asparagus with a homemade teriyaki sauce that didn't suck (following a New Years tradition of our Asian neighbors), Mister and I got into a discussion about his food preferences.  We were discussing the innovative but limiting fixed menu being offered by Vedge for the holiday.  I nearly choked on my noodles when Mister said, "there aren't a lot of foods I don't like, but the ones I don't like I really hate."

So I said:

• mushrooms
• squash
• eggplant
• whole wheat pasta
• tempeh
• quinoa
• "squishy wheat"
• prunes
• raisins
• pretty much any dried fruit, actually
• gnocchi
• ricotta
• sweet potatoes

I could go on.  For heaven's sake, I even have a label on the blog for "Things Mister Hates."

So, there were two reasons I cooked the rice separately.  First, risotto takes a very long time and my hands have typing to do, so I didn't feel like wearing them out by continuously stirring rice for about an hour.  Second, and more important, another Thing Mister Hates is Risotto, so I wanted to make this as un-risotto-like as possible and it seems to have worked since he had two bowls. 

I have to admit, my favorite thing about him hating risotto is how he had forgotten and at what an inconvenient time he remembered.  Two years ago at Christmas, his father took us and his wife to Lacroix, a very fancy and very expensive French restaurant overlooking Rittenhouse Square.  For our side dishes, I selected sweet potatoes, since I never get to have them at home (see the list ^ ) and Mister chose Chestnut Risotto (to my great surprise, having avoided cooking risotto at home for this specific reason).  It came, it looked delicious, and after he picked at it for a few minutes I asked if I could try a bite.  He pretty much told me I could have it all if I wanted, revealing that he had forgotten what risotto was until it arrived.  Ahh.... adventures in fine dining.

So, anyway, Happy New year to any faithful friend who is still reading after my nearly month-long absence.  I haven't resolved to write more frequently, but I do anticipate having more to say going forward, so thank you for your patience - I hope to reward it richly this new year.  Even if it all ends on the Winter Solstice like the Mayans said it would.

squeaky wheels and shiny round things

It's a thing of beauty, isn't it?
That, friends, is the All-Clad d5 Stainless Steel 4-qt Saute Pan after which I have been lusting for the better part of 18 months (at least).  I've had a longing in my heart for All-Clad cookware since I was planning my wedding (you'd better believe they bought full-page ads in every bridal magazine published in the Northeastern part of the USA).  That yearning only grew more intense as I watched my mother-in-law preparing sauces and roasts and whatnot with her All-Clad cookware - now I could see how beautiful it is in real life and what a pleasurable cooking experience it appeared to offer.

If you clicked the link, you know that All-Clad is definitely not a bargain brand.  One of my favorite past-times has become asking Mister if he'll buy me a $4,000 27-piece set of All-Clad for Christmas, my birthday, Valentine's Day, or Tuesday.  (Hurry! It's on sale!  Only $2,800!)  I've made comments, half-joking to Mister, my mother, my father, Angst, and anyone else who will pretend to listen to me, just so everyone possible is aware that I would be eternally grateful if anyone ever felt like blessing me with at least a piece of this cookware.  That's right - just one item, because that would be enough to know if the "hype" is true.

If you've been reading for a while, you've had the privilege of seeing multiple snide remarks directed toward my faithful but insufficient CuisinArt 3-qt Saute pan, which has helped me make dinner since I got it for our wedding 4 years ago.  Actually, it was piece of a cookware set that I got on sale and I got what I paid for, so 4 years later, we're down to about half the original set and I've been replacing pieces bit by bit as needed.  I shared my initial dilemma here, where I was trying to decide whether to dig a deeper hole of debt to get a nice cookware set or just buy nice pieces as I was able.  Actually, looking up that post made me realize I've been complaining about my 3-qt saute pan for over two years.  On with the show!

For Christmas this year, Mister got me.....

Not All-Clad.  But he did get me a new cookbook, which is awesome, since I'd run out of creativity with my old ones (one of the many reasons I've been so neglectful in my posting).  I've been cooking from it all week, but tonight's meal was particularly colorful and attractive: Vegetables Provencal on basmati rice.

Why am I posting this after completely ignoring pretty much all month that I cook and eat dinner on a nightly basis?

The answer is very simple and even more gratifying.

My mother reads my blog.  On Christmas, she asked me what my inaugural meal would be...

in the All-Clad 4-qt saute pan she got me for Christmas...

I am a happy and very blessed lady.

The pan is a lot heavier than my "old" saute pan and I'm having trouble figuring out exactly where it's going to live.  It was so easy to cook with and it's so beautiful it makes me smile involuntarily.  I knew the real test would be washing it.  I haven't had stainless steel cookware since my generations-old RevereWare bit the dust, but I remembered that being a huge pain in my butt to scrub clean.  Since we have nonstick cookware, we don't have a scrubby thing.  I accidentally got too wrapped up checking Facebook and looking at happy pictures and let the pot sit on the stove with leftover tomato-based sauce for about an hour.

Washing it felt like petting satin.

So, ask and ye shall receive, eh?  My 1-qt sauce pot is starting to show its age....

Anyone?

lentils: they do a body good

The past two nights, I have removed my block of organic spinach from the freezer, placed it on the counter, and opened Vegan on the Cheap to the recipe for Indian-Spiced Lentil Ragu.  Last night I decided I didn't have the patience to simmer both brown rice and lentils (separately, of course), so I made the chickpea dish (which came together with delightful speed).  Tonight, I was willing to do a long-simmering meal because I didn't want to be very actively involved in meal prep when I got home from another busy, exhausting, but pleasantly productive day.  I pulled the spinach out of its frosty bed, placed it on the counter as I opened the book...let's pause a moment.

I'm still working on my cookware collection.  Presently, it is only as big as a 10-piece bargain cookware set that is beginning to deteriorate and have fewer pieces.  I have two saucepans - 2.5-qt and 1-qt; a 3-qt saute pan, a 6-qt stockpot, and two round skillets.  There are a few other pieces, like my square skillet and double-burner griddle, as well as an uncooperative wok and a couple of heavy cast iron pieces, but that is my main cookware.  I use my 1-qt saucepan as my designated Oatmeal Pot during the colder months and I'm not in the habit of washing dishes in the morning before work.  This means that the remnants of oatmeal have all day to form a bond with my nonstick pot.

Back to the story: My plan was to cook the rice in my 2.5-qt saucepan and boil the lentils in my 1-qt...oh...yes, the one covered in crusty purple oatmeal slime.  Right.  So, it's back into the freezer for the spinach and back to the menu for me.  It didn't take me long at all to change course and make a deliciously chunky, hearty Lentil Stew with Vegetables.

My belly is warm and full of sloshy stew.  The vegetables really came out well, too - yukon gold potatoes, carrots, a parsnip, and a Belgian endive to replace the small head of cabbage I couldn't find.  About halfway through I became worried it would be too brothy, but it was exceptionally thick and chunky.  The spice mixture was also one to be reckoned with: thyme, fennel seeds I crushed with some mortar-n-pestle action, Spanish paprika, and ground savory (which is another one of those ingredients I've been resisting until now when I realized how many recipes I've skipped because of my savory-poverty).  

To be totally honest... if the ingredients were to magically reappear in my crisper & cupboard between now and tomorrow night, I would make it again.  In case you haven't seen the lovely depictions of Colder-Than-Death the weather maps have shown spreading over the entire east coast, let me tell you - it is really freakin' cold right now.  Tomorrow's high temperature is 35.  That means the return from work becomes more bone-chilling every night.  I can't believe I'm actually looking forward to it going all the way up to 44ish on Friday.  Fortunately, I have some innard-warming lentil stew to fill my belly.

step by step, oh baby

For anyone who actually got that NKOTB reference, kudos!

A new mental challenge has launched, though unless I am severely underestimating the situation, my decision in this matter will have no effect on my everlasting soul. Regarding the matters of conscience with which I have been struggling lately, I will say this (also related to the title):

I don't need to decide right now. That realization is very liberating! Somehow, I managed to convince myself that by the end of October I had to make an all-or-nothing decision about whether or not I will commit myself to being a faithful vegan, but I don't, actually. I have spent a month avoiding dairy products and eggs. I have also forsaken honey (and found agave nectar to be an equal substitute) and I am thinking more critically about the non-food aspects of a vegan lifestyle. As was evidenced in my 3-part series on honey, it takes me a little time and pondering to come up with the decision I am convinced is right for me.

Speaking of food...dinner last night wasn't terribly interesting and I really didn't have anything interesting to say about it. I guess I could say the same for dinner tonight - they were both good dinners, but neither of them really stood out against some of our favorites.
The Garlicky Spaghetti with Beans & Greens was very tasty and even more photogenic. Angst attacked me from behind (and totally surprised me, to Mister's great delight) when I started to open the bag of arugula. I told him it wasn't spinach, but he didn't care and gleefully ate his piece of arugula while I stealthily added the rest of the bag to the pot. I love the creamy butteriness of cannellini beans, especially in contrast with the peppery bite of the arugula. Someday I'll have to eat it raw, in a salad, like normal people.
Tonight I made Chickpea, Tomato and Spelt Soup. I had never had spelt before, and apparently, neither had my husband, since he didn't know what it was until I showed it to him. He's getting wise to my tricks. He asked me what I was making for dinner and then asked what spelt was (presumably so he could stop me before I made something gross). I forgot to add the salt and I think that made a big difference in how garlicky I perceived the soup as being - I'll make it again someday and I will be sure to add the salt with the spices.

Now, on to the important stuff - my newest dilemma. Having found that I can, for the most part, count on getting feedback and various responses from those of you who read my blog, I hope I'll continue to get some great information, especially from anyone else who loves to cook. When I got married (two years ago, in case you've forgotten already), I felt it was uncouth to tell people where we were registered because it is never my opinion that I deserve gifts. As a result, we got a lot of gift cards. Between my bridal shower and the wedding, we probably got at least 5 gift cards to Bed Bath and Beyond in varying amounts, and I am on the mailing list, so they send me coupons for $ off or % off my purchase. I took my gift cards and my coupons and left very satisfied with myself for purchasing an entire set of name-brand cookware for $85. Well, you get what you pay for, and two years later, I find myself in a position of needing to replace at least half the set.

Initially, I thought that I would just get a whole new set and keep the few pieces that are still in relatively good condition, but then I realized that there are really only a few pieces that truly need replacing:

1. my 2.5 quart saucepan is in urgent need of being replaced. I don't know what happened - I can only guess it's the result of my continuing inability to judge the cooking time of rice and having to scrape the bottom bits off of the "non-stick" pan. In any case, I want to replace it ASAP.

2. my 6-quart stock pot is okay, but definitely showing signs of wear and will need to be replaced eventually...that is, sometime in the next few months. It just makes me nervous when I cook spices and hear them grinding against the bottom of the pot while I stir.

3. my wok (though it's not actually part of the set) is getting seriously scratched up and as I mentioned previously, the last time I used it, it abruptly decided that it doesn't want to be non-stick anymore. Also, it looks like it's starting to rust a little near the scratches and though iron is a vital nutrient, I'm not sure that's the best way to get it.

4. my saute pan does not actually need to be replaced. There is nothing wrong with it - it's not scratched, it still believes it is non-stick, I use it just about every day specifically because it doesn't give me any trouble. However, as I explained when I made the Black Bottom Tofu, since it is a smaller saute pan (3 quarts) it doesn't really allow the food to spread out as much as I would like it to. Also, I have recently learned that things don't really caramelize in non-stick cookware. So I don't need to replace the saute pan as much as I would like to augment my "collection" (aka, start it) of saute pans...So it appears that my first piece of stainless steel cookware will probably be a saute pan.

The first cookware set I ever had was RevereWare that was so old the copper bottom had worn off and it could only be identified by the engraved emblem on the bottom. It was great when all I had to do was boil water, but once I started to actually COOK, I found the metal way too thin and the bottoms were warped which made the food cook unevenly (obviously).

My current set is Cuisinart. I am a Cuisinart queen - almost all of my kitchen appliances are Cuisinart: my beloved coffeemaker, my treasured immersion blender, and my invaluable food processor. I even have a Cuisinart travel mug. So it seemed like a good idea to get Cuisinart cookware, especially when I could get a whole 10-piece set for $85. I get kind of retarded about saving money sometimes. When I was getting ready to buy that set, I knew I didn't know anything about the qualities of various kinds of cookware. I hacked my way through a jungle of explanations about hard-anodized, non-stick, copper-core, enameled, etc. As soon as I saw the "value" of that cookware set, everything I had pored over shot right out of my brain as though it had never even settled there.

So, here I am again, poking around on various websites, trying to make a much more responsible decision than last time in the hopes that this set of cookware will last me until I can afford (and justify) a truly amazing collection of all different kinds of metals and construction - as well as a kitchen large enough to store them. At the moment, I'm leaning towards Calphalon Contemporary because I have a few pieces (like my amazing square skillet) that I love. I have already had some "helpful" suggestions from a couple of friends who also love to cook and know that it's serious business:

Friend #1 suggests that I slowly build my collection of high-quality cookware piece by piece (or step by step?) so that I can get what I really want but can't afford a whole set of. Considering that I don't actually need a whole set of cookware right now, that could work. I have two issues with this.
1. I feel like they put together cookware sets as a bargain - you know, a package discount? So, I feel like I will spend more by buying a piece here and a piece there.
2. Just one piece of the cookware I really want can cost more than half of what an entire set of Calphalon can cost.

Friend #2, who is a very bad influence on me, suggested I get a part-time job at Williams Sonoma for the holiday shopping season and thereby take advantage of the very generous employee discount they offer to purchase the aforementioned very expensive cookware at only a fraction of it's regular cost. I think this suggestion is brilliant. I also think that I would spend every cent I earned there on fun cooking toys. If there was anything left after the toys, I would take it across the street to my other toybox - MAC.

The main problem with that suggestion is that I already work 6 days a week, so I don't know where I would find the time for another job.

Does anyone have any other suggestions or feedback? What do you use? Do you like it? Would you recommend it? If you had all the money in the world, what brand would you buy? My current answers to that question are Le Creuset and All-Clad. If I had a spare $4,000 lying around, I would absolutely buy this.