Sometimes I eat my feelings

I'm a little behind on cataloging my dive into my old Saveur magazines.  I have all kinds of excuses including my laptop drowning (literally) and being a little overwhelmed with work/home stress.  But in the end, isn't that the best reason to slow down and cook?  I sort of think so.  I can't speak to anyone else's state of mind when cooking, but I sort of zone out to focus on the task.  My friends in psychiatry call this mindfulness.

So this week, well it just sucked.  No way around it.  The universe just really kicked me in the shins.  I sat down with some of these magazines a few nights ago, a stiff drink in hand, and I took one look at the title to this issue and I knew that I had found the recipe that I needed to cook.

Sometimes I need to go for a long run or a bike ride to shake off stress.  Sometimes, I need to cook brownies.  This is issue 113, September 2008.  This article discusses the history of the brownie.  Turns out the brownie's origins, like my own, are in New England so its no wonder that I have such an affinity for this confection.  I didn't grow up eating brownies though because my mom is allergic to chocolate.  This is a sad truth, but one for another day. The issue contains 3 recipes and I chose Katharine Hepburn's Brownies both because they are described as chewy, how I prefer mine, and because I think that Katharine Hepburn was a total badass.  Have you watched The African Queen?  If not, please do.

These were easy to make and so I burnt my tongue stealing a taster right out of the oven.  They were molten at that point and perfect, and painful, and delicious.  Which is sort of what I need when I'm feeling down.  I let them cool and stayed up late and in order to eat one without further injuring myself and you know what?  I actually feel a little better.

Saveur Challenge Week 2! Weekday Dinner.

So, there is a miraculous full time working mom out there somewhere who meal preps with precision on Sunday and then plates beautiful meals Monday through Friday after an 8 hour workday.  This person seriously impresses me, but I am not this woman.  I am the woman pictured above, and while I am wearing an apron in this photo looking all pro-cook like here,  its most likely that it is the weekend and I am getting ready to make a tasty beverage rather than a 4 course meal.  Dinner cooking duties are divided around here and on days when I work until 6 or later, those tasks fall off of my plate, thankfully.  The thing is, I do love to cook.  Its fun aka it brings me joy!  Also, its an excuse to play music really loud and ignore complaints from or arguments between my kids.  I’m sorry; did you say something while that Waylon and Willie album was turned up to 11 sweetie? 

This brings me to my current issue of interest, Saveur #69, October 2003.  The cover story is all about canned Tuna so there has got to be a straight forward mid week relatively easy meal here, right?  OK, so I pick “Tuna and White Bean Salad”.  I’m a sucker for bean salads. 

I somehow remember to soak the beans the night before so I feel super ahead and prepared.   Said white beans take more like 1 ½ hours to cook (recipe says 45-60 min) but no worries, I’m still pretty much on track.  From there it’s a quick matter of cutting a few veggies and herbs, making a simple vinaigrette, and breaking up a few tins of fancy oil packed tuna which the recipe says should be a particular brand that I can't buy here.  However I track down some pretty fancy looking Spanish origin stuff so I'm still feeling special.

The result was … delicious.  Also, this meal was really quite healthy.  I added some chopped Romaine and multi grain baguette because I like things that are crunchy and crusty and so do my people.  3 of the 4 members of this household ate this happily.  Alas, the 4 year old ate chicken nuggets (healthy ones from Whole Foods, I promise) and cut up veggies.  I’ll cut him some slack.  

So I'm 2 for 2 here on recipes that bring me joy.  This one was sort of great because it was easy to cook, really didn't take much time to complete, and it was a little different then our regular weeknight fare.  

So another magazine finds its way safely back to the shelf.  This is fun.  And did I mention, delicious?

Saver challenge, self imposed

I live in a 1200 square foot house with 3 other people, 2 of whom are growing rapidly and seem to be acquiring their own belongings.  Needless to say, I’ve become aware of the shrinking space around me and have started to give thought to what things might be destined for a new home or to the sweet thereafter also known as the Salt Lake County Landfill.  I’ve decided not to dispose with any of the persons for the time being.  Now you expect me to launch into my own Marie Kondo inspired story here, and I’m sure that’s she’s great, but I have neither read her books or watched her Netflix series.  There are finite hours in my day and Mrs. Maisel and the Derry Girls swear like sailors.   That my friends, is what I really need at the end of a day.  Now lucky for me, everyone else has been talking about Kondo for a while (Thanks Melody!) and I have extrapolated the heart of her message I think.  I just need to figure out if the space-consuming thing in question brings be some sort of joy. 

However to know me is to know that I have lots of sentimental attachments to things for all kinds of reasons and I sort of interpret that as joy.  Like the tiny plastic toy baby that I once extracted from a King Cake that I swear still brings me luck or envelopes of photo prints that I know can be scanned and turned digital (but then I can’t hold my old friends in my hands).  This consternation has brought me to the literal center of my house, my kitchen.  I spend more waking hours in this room of my house then anywhere else.  I like to cook and to eat and the kitchen window is where I start seedlings every year.  Really I do most everything when I’m in the house except for sleeping or watching shows where funny women swear here. You get where I’m going.  I’ve taken a good look around.  I’ve cleaned out the pantry and the fridge.  That was satisfying.  I haven’t yet approached glassware, but I’ll get there.  So many receptacles for alcohol…

So, I’m standing in the kitchen looking at that wonderful south facing window and looking at 10 years of Saveur magazines neatly arranged on the lower shelves at the back of my kitchen.  I hear that Kondo disapproves of old magazines, so… I’ve been giving it some thought.  The question is, do these old cooking magazines bring me joy?  I’m not sure.  I’m going to find out.  I’ve set myself a task.  I’m going to read through and cook something out of an old issue weekly for the next little while.  Notice the vague timeline, its purposeful.  No pressure here because, really, of all things?   I’m going to catalog my efforts in the electronic abyss like this blog and my Instagram account where I don’t follow the rules of topic adherence but I don’t really care because I’m practically family to all of the people following me.  (Hi Mom, you are really the only one reading this so I hope that you enjoy.) 

Oh it gets better, its my writing task too.  Write every week, maybe more than once.  Because if you have known me for a while, you know that this is a thing.  I really want to write, but never really apply myself in this regard and so I continually fail to do it. 

So today, January 20, 2019.  I’m cooking Saucisses aux Lentilles du Puy and a salad with Dijon Vinegrette.  Go big or go home, right.  Maybe I’ll speak more French this year too.

Saveur Issue 115 November 2008.  This issue is mostly about Thanksgiving, however it includes this beautiful article about Auvergne, France.  The article describes Auvergne as, "an often overlooked land of remote farm villages tucked amid the extinct volcanoes of the Massif Central mountain range."  I've never been to this part of France, but after reading about it and then cooking this recipe I feel like I should have a list of travel wishes that this gets added to.

The ingredients for the meal were mostly easy to track down at my local grocery shop, although I did need to obtain the lentils from a specialty shop.  The cooking instructions were really straightforward and the meal came together easily, although from start to finish took a couple of hours. 

I'm not a food photographer so unlike the pic in the magazine, the lighting isn't perfect.  However, it was such a delicious meal!

Also, the smaller humans ate with enthusiasm.

In conclusion, this brings me joy.  I set this issue back on the shelf.