Mujadara & Things to Cook in January

There hasn't been much cooking going on in light of the pervasive sickness, but we did manage to make a batch of mujadara one afternoon.  Also, now that I'm feeling better there will hopefully be more to come.  This recipe is an old one from Orangette and was perfect for a cough-filled afternoon because it can be made from pantry items and takes a little while to pull together.  Mostly it just takes a while to properly caramelize the onions, as per this article sourced by Claire, which give the dish most of its flavor and so can't really be cheated. We also added some red pepper flakes for additional flavor, and because they pretty much go in most everything in our house.



While it is certainly not very photogenic, it is tasty, and good comfort food for winter.  I ate the leftovers yesterday for lunch, and inadvertently followed Molly's advice exactly, with a grapefruit for dessert.



We have been getting a fair amount of cabbage in our produce box, so I'm excited to try out this Asian Cabbage Salad from Tea & Cookies, and this Roasted Cabbage Wedge Salad from The Yellow House.  We also just got turnips, which I don't think I've ever cooked before, so I'm looking to this NYTimes blog entry for inspiration.

I've also been diving into the archives of The Yellow House, and this Collard Cobbler sounds delicious, and another nice way to indulge my love of vegetables with grits, just in cornmeal biscuit form.

Also, in the hopes of starting the new year off well, my sister and I have been thinking about trying Bon Appetit's Food Lover's Cleanse.  Granted, we haven't started yet, so we'll see if we get around to it this month, let alone this year, but I thought it was an interesting idea worth sharing, even if only to pull a couple of recipes or the general idea behind it.

And on that note, I've also been thinking about Apartment Therapy's January Cure, for getting your space in order.  Granted, once again, I haven't actually done any of these tasks yet, meaning I'm already 10 days behind, although I take that back, I have set up an Outbox.  I have a notoriously hard time getting rid of stuff, so the slowly weaning away, and emotional detachment before physical detachment, will really help me, I think.

Also, I'm not feeling badly about my lack of progress on either of these tasks.  At the beginning of the year it's so easy to fall into the resolution, failure, guilt cycle, that this year I'm opting out, at least of the guilt portion.  I've made some resolutions because it's nice to have something to strive for, but there's no need to beat yourself up over them.

Mujadara, from Orangette

1/4 cup olive oil
2 medium yellow onions, finely chopped
1 cup brown or green lentils, picked over
1/2 cup brown rice
water
1 tsp. salt, plus more for serving
1 tsp. red pepper flakes (optional)

In a large saute pan/skillet/Dutch over, warm the olive oil over medium heat.  Add the onions and cook, stirring occasionally, until they are deeply caramelized, a rich shade of amber.  If they're burnt and blackened in spots, even better.  This takes a while.  Depending on the size of your pan and your stove, it takes anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour.

While the onions cook, put the lentils in a small-medium saucepan, add water to cover by an inch, and bring to a boil over medium-high heat.  Reduce to a simmer and cook, undisturbed, for 20 minutes.  Drain and set aside.

When the onions are ready, stir in the rice.  Add the cooked lentils, along with 2 cups of water, the salt, and red pepper flakes (to your taste).  Stir to mix well, and bring the pan to a boil.  Reduce the heat to keep the pan at a slow simmer, cover, and cook until the rice is done.  This last step will depend on the size and shape of pan you use, but should take roughly 25-40 minutes.

After about 20 minutes, remove the lid and give the pot a stir.  If there is still visible liquid, replace the lid and keep cooking.  If there is no obvious liquid, taste some to check the doneness of the rice.  If the rice isn't there yet, add some more water and keep cooking until it is.  It's all ready when the rice is tender and there's no liquid left.

Serve with additional salt and hot sauce, if needed.

Ellie Goulding - Anything Could Happen

I just heard this song on the radio the other day and have been hooked since.  Ellie Goulding is an English singer-songwriter and musician.  "Halcyon" is her second studio album and came out back in October.  "Anything Could Happen" is the first single.


She's currently touring in the U.S. and will even make it to Portland, playing at the Crystal Ballroom on February 6, 2013.



Album banner via.

Reading Lately, in the sick house

At any one time I am usually in the midst of a couple of books, which either works out brilliantly or makes it terribly hard to keep the stories straight, but these two were particularly interesting to read at the same time.  Also, a bout of illness over the holidays allowed me to finally finish them both, in addition to a few others I had lying around.  It's always nice to start out the new year tidying up loose ends.  Finally, I've really been enjoying Rachel's posts over on Heart of Light on her current reading, and so thought I would try out a couple of reading posts here.

"Quiet" was recommended to me by my mother, and as a self-described introvert planning on attending business school in the fall, it was particularly interesting and helpful.  The author does a good job of keeping the book engaging, which I often find not the case with nonfiction.  Also, while decidedly written from the viewpoint of another introvert, I think the book would be interesting for people of either personality type, if only to help unpack how people can react so very differently to similar situations.  My friend Arden introduced me to the idea of personality types and how better understanding your own and others' can really improve your professional and personal relationships, more about one such test here.  I found this book to be a good introduction to one particular aspect of personality types, and a well-researched and thoughtful fleshing out of something that is usually presented as a dichotomy, as in, you're either an introvert or an extrovert but there's nothing in between.

I can't remember now how I found "The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth," but I think I mostly enjoyed reading it in conjunction with "Quiet."  It is also nonfiction, which is probably something of a record for me as I tend to read a lot more fiction, but quite a bit drier than "Quiet."  The author follows multiple high school student outcasts or geeks for about a year, and details how the attributes that make them unpopular in high school are exactly the same attributes that will make them successful as adults or even in college.  There is so much cruelty that goes on in high school and even middle school, which makes certain sections painful to read, especially for someone who struggled through high school.  Overall, I thought it was an interesting read, but she gets quite prescriptive in the end, giving advice to teenagers, parents of high school students, and teachers, none of which was relevant for me.  Also, she pretty well hits you over the head with her thesis and wraps up each student's story line a little too neatly in my opinion.

Photo from my instagram.

Afternoon Tea & some resolutions

I spent New Years Day at Afternoon Tea at the Heathman Hotel here in Portland, and I highly recommend it.  It was the perfect venue for making inappropriate jokes and mocking first world problems.  It was also delicious and a wonderful way to catch up with good friends.  The best examples both came from Gahlya: "My monogram came out wrong." and "These dollar bills are too crumpled, and I have too many.  They're making my wallet too fat."



I hope 2013 is treating all of you well so far, with jokes to keep you laughing.  I think it's going to be a big year, this one, with my best friend having a baby and then business school in the fall.  In preparation, here are my resolutions, with the hope that writing them out here might actually make me more likely to fulfill them.

1. Figure out what I want (both big and small things) and don't be afraid to ask for it (aka remember I am the main event in my own life).
2. Go to bed earlier (stolen from Megan).
3. Be more intentional about how I spend money.
4. Own less crap (stolen from Mighty Girl).
5. Get more outfit posts up on this here blog.

Do you guys have any good resolutions I should steal?

Picture from Megan's instagram.

alt-J - Fitzpleasure

This song has been out for a while, but I just rediscovered it the other day.  The album "An Awesome Wave" came out in September in the US.



alt-J is a British alternative indie rock quartet, named so because if you hit alt-J on a Mac, you get the Greek letter Delta, which is the band's logo.



Image via.

Fashion Inspiration - Winter layering

I've been trying (I said trying) to do less shopping, which inherently means re-working items already in my closet.  Luckily, there have been some great examples of re-purposing more springlike items for the winter through aggressive layering.  It all got started with this image of Keira Knightley at LAX wearing a big sweater and jacket over a flowy skirt with tights and ankle boots.  I only wish I looked this good when traveling.


{Keira Knightly at LAX, via TomandLorenzo}

I love how the proportions work, and are effectively opposite from those above, with this shrunken fisherman's sweater over a tea-length skirt.


{Mary Kate Steinmiller, via The Sartorialist}

Cherry Almond Granola

There are tons of good granola recipes out there on the internet, including this one I'm anxious to try from 3191 and something like 4 different ones on Orangette.  However, for a long time I still was quite intimidated by the idea of making my own.  My sister has shown me the error of my ways though.  She regularly makes granola to keep us stocked up, and insists that buying it pre-made is outrageously more expensive than making it yourself.  (In the interest of full disclosure, I still don't make my own granola, I just eat the granola my sister makes.  But in case you can't convince your roommate to keep you stocked in homemade granola, now you can make your own.)



The latest batch she made was particularly delicious, with almonds and dried cherries, because as Jamie Oliver would say, almonds and cherries are best mates.

As I understand it, the basic granola recipe is highly adaptable, generally being oats, nuts, flavorings, sweetener & oil, and then dried fruit at the end after baking if you desire.  So to steal a line from the 3191 recipe, "You’re making granola, people, so embrace your inner hippy and just go with the flow."

Cherry Almond Granola

3 cups rolled oats
1 cup almonds, chopped slivered or sliced
1/2 cup shredded coconut or coconut chips
1 tsp. kosher salt
1 tsp. ground cinnamon
3 Tbsp. agave or honey
3 Tbsp. canola oil (or another neutral oil)
1/4 cup flax seed
1 cup dried cherries

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F.

On a large baking sheet, combine oats, nuts, coconut, salt, and cinnamon smooshing around until generally mixed.  Pour over sweetener and oil, and mix about again until incorporated.  Bake for about 45 minutes, or until golden brown and toasted, stirring every 15 minutes or so to help cook evenly.  Add the flax seeds halfway through baking to allow them to toast, but not burn.  Once you pull from the oven, let cool completely before adding the cherries and storing in an airtight container.