New Year’s Resolutions 2012

My New Year’s Eve plans were dashed by sickness, so I spent the night on the couch in my pajamas with a pint of mango sorbet. It gave me some time to reflect on the resolutions I made for 2011 and make some new ones for 2012.

2011 Resolution Review
1. Finish planning the wedding and maintain my sanity. Done. Sanity mostly intact.
2. Stick to a strict budget to save for aforementioned wedding. No credit card debt. Ha! Oh, this did not work out. I’m not deep in debt, but there is some. I should be able to dig myself out by mid-2012.
3. Related to three: Cook four nights a week. Bring lunch at least four days a week. I cooked dinner often, but I rarely brought my lunch to work. I kept it up for a few weeks in January of last year, but eventually fell back into my sandwich or fancy salad bar routine. Just laziness.
4. Post on Apartment Dining at least twice a week. Nope. Not even close.
5. Read fifty books. Also not accomplished. I read more in 2011 than I did in 2010, but not enough to meet my goal.
6. Learn how to draw. I took a drawing class and learned the fundamentals, so I think I can mark this as accomplished. Still need a lot more practice.
7. As finances allow, attend more cultural events in New York. Saving for the wedding didn’t allow for too many outings, but the places I did go were great. A few museum trips, some readings, a few shows, etc.
8. Document more. The next year is going to be fun, stressful, crazed, and momentous. I did not document as much as I should have. Let’s mark this as not accomplished.
9. Maintain a work/life balance. Work in the evenings when it’s needed, but devote more time to creative pursuits. Nope. Definitely not. The first six months of the year were focused on wedding planning and the last six months of the year were most intense months of my working life.

Lesson learned: Don’t make too many resolutions for the year that you’re getting married, other than successfully planning said wedding.

Resolutions for 2012
1. Take at least two trips that require plane travel.
2. Take one photo per day, every day. (Yes, I know I tried and failed at this in 2010, but I just got a fancy new camera. It will hopefully serve as a motivator.)
3. Read three books a month. (I know this isn’t ambitious, but between various blogs and my New Yorker subscription, there’s way too much reading material out there.)
4. Bring lunch to work at least three days a week.
5. Take three cooking classes, preferably a knife skills class, chocolate class (need to hone those tempering skills), and a general cooking techniques class.
6. Stick to a regular posting schedule on Apartment Dining. (Let’s shoot for three times a week to start.)
7. Work out three times a week.
8. Rebuild my savings account.
9. Regain work/life balance. For real this time.
10. Take time to paint or draw something at least once a week.

Sunday Morning Sticky Buns

Are you frazzled from the holiday season yet? You’re probably in a better place than I am. I’ve struck most of the to-dos off my list, but I still need to finish my Christmas shopping, buy a whole lot of candy packaging, and make twelve batches of sea salt caramels and marshmallows to share with family when I head upstate. I considered taking a vacation day to wrap candy this week, but things are way too busy at work. Also, the thought of using a vacation day to sit at my kitchen table and twist wax paper around caramels bordered on crazy, so I’ll just stay up until the extra late on Thursday night to wrap and watch Elf on a loop on TBS. Sleep deprivation, sugar, and Buddy the Elf are a recipe for victory.

When Christmas morning finally arrives, all I’ll want to do is collapse, but what better way is there to collapse than onto a couch with a sticky bun in hand? Even better, a sticky bun that’s easy to make and includes the flavors of the season, like citrus, cranberries, brown sugar, and lots (and lots) of butter. If you defrost your puff pastry overnight, this whole recipe should take ten minutes to put together, not counting the baking time.

It starts with mixing up some butter with brown sugar and orange zest.

Then, melt some non-zest-infused-butter, brush it on the puff pastry, and top with all sorts of delicious things.

Next, roll it up and slice it up. Continue Reading →

Miso Soup with Tofu and Soba

We have entered soup season. It runs from December to late March —not quite coinciding with winter — and overlaps most of hot tea season, which, as we all know, runs from November until the rainy end of April. Once the sun comes out, so do the ice cubes.

Soup season is a time to slow down and gather your friends, because really, are you going to eat an entire pot of soup alone? You could freeze it for later, but it’s not as fun. One of my favorite soup memories is a miso and tempura party at my friend Allie’s house in late high school (or was it early college?). We got together in her kitchen one afternoon and chopped up mountains of vegetables, mixed up tempura batter, and took turns tossing carrots and mushrooms into a hot wok. Sarah kept an eye on the oil temperature and cooled the tempura batter with ice cubes while someone prepped a big pot of miso soup on the stove. Teamwork.

I didn’t have any extra sets of hands when I made a quick pot of miso soup last weekend, but I did share it with Ramsey when it was done. Before I share the recipe though, let me fess up to something: Continue Reading →

Cardamom Coffee Cake

I’m back in Brooklyn after a weekend in the Baltimore suburbs with Ramsey and his family. We enjoyed a great Thanksgiving dinner, watched terrible movies (Vampire’s Kiss starring Nicholas Cage) and charming ones (The Muppets), and walked around a massive outlet mall where a Medieval Times “castle” is just a few stores away from a Cinnabon. The internet also taught us a trick for opening a wine bottle without a corkscrew, which Ramsey put to use a few minutes before Thanksgiving dinner:

It felt good to wake up at home this morning, a familiar light fixture above my head and the Brooklyn streets still quiet outside. A perfect time to fill the apartment with the smells of baking and warm spices, like cardamom, cinnamon, and a dash of ground ginger. A perfect time for coffee cake with streusel.

I adapted a Martha Stewart recipe to fit the contents of my refrigerator and available baking pans. Continue Reading →

Pre-Thanksgiving Round Up

Ramsey and I are sharing the holidays for the first time this year. We’re braving Penn Station on Thanksgiving morning and taking a train to his brother’s place in the Baltimore suburbs. The cooking will be well underway by the time we arrive, so we’re in charge of bringing wine.

If you’re cooking this week and looking for inspiration, I’ve pulled a few Thanksgiving-friendly recipes from my archives. The Kitchn has also been posting great collections of links to recipes around the web.

Side Dishes
Giblet Gravy (the infamous Mangan family recipe)
Cranberry Apple Relish
Smashed Vanilla Sweet Potatoes

Dessert
Fresh Pumpkin Pie
Apple Cranberry Pie

Friday Breakfast
Cranberry Apricot Muffins
Spiced Pumpkin Bread with Golden Raisins

Recipe Rookie: Marshmallows

I love any recipe that calls for boiling sugar. It’s beautiful to watch a cloudy pot of sugar and water become clear, bubbling syrup. If you let it begin to brown and add cream and butter, you can make caramels. If you keep the temperature a bit lower and add it to softened gelatin, you can make marshmallows that will put the cylindrical Jet-Puffed versions to shame.

I decided to make marshmallows for the first time yesterday, and as I read over the marshmallow recipe I found on JoyofBaking.com, I exclaimed “I get to use my candy thermometer!” in all sincerity. Ramsey looked up from his book with confusion and concern for my mental state. It’s about the little joys.

As long as you have a candy/frying thermometer ($12 at your local kitchen store) and an electric mixer with a whisk attachment (hand-held or standing), it’s an easy recipe. It starts with boiling sugar, water, corn syrup, and a little salt. Continue Reading →

Sunday Cooking: Roasted Rosemary Chicken and Failed Sweet Potato Gratin

Has a haircut made you consider dropping your career to become a rock star or member of a girl gang? After getting my hair cut on Saturday, I looked like a total badass when I rolled out of bed on Sunday morning. I ran a brush through my updated bob, pulled on a t-shirt with a handgun pattern, and then put on a black jacket and pair of Ray Ban knockoffs for my morning errands. I looked like the kind of woman that would carry a switchblade and know how to use it. And by “know how to use it,” I mean thin slice some sweet potatoes and carve a roast chicken for Sunday dinner.

Truth: Instead of a switchblade, I used a mandolin slicer to cut peeled sweet potatoes for my doomed gratin. It was supposed to be like the quinoa-potato gratin at Juventino, a restaurant down the street from my apartment, but I a) couldn’t get the potatoes sliced thin enough, b) used too much quinoa, and c) didn’t use enough milk and seasonings.

Continue Reading →

Pancetta and Swiss Quiche

Get ready for a behind-the-scenes tidbit: My kitchen doesn’t get any natural light. Well, that’s not 100% true. There is a tiny window behind the sink that overlooks a concrete patio and dozens of cinder-block walls that separate tiny brownstone backyards, but it only gets direct sunlight for about an hour everyday and that light shines right into the sink. Not the ideal situation for a woman who wants to take photos that aren’t washed out or strangely orange. Good ol’ fashioned sunshine makes my antiquated point-and-shoot camera look pretty good.

To my improve photos, I decided to put a few surfaces in the well-lit living room to use while I made a quiche for breakfast today, including the coffee table, dining table, and very chic radiator cover. Behold, a bowl of eggs and dishtowel on my coffee table:

Yes. This quiche was off to a good start. Continue Reading →

Sunday Cooking: Spiced Pork Chops, Applesauce, and Carrot Soup

It was a perfect Park Slope Sunday. I made my grocery list, went shopping, and had my kitchen stocked for the week by 10:30 AM. Once Ramsey woke up, we picked up pastries and walked to 4th Ave to cheer for the marathon runners. He ate a chocolate crossaint and I ate a pear and caramel turnover as hundreds of people in top physical condition ran by, fueled only by bananas, water, and those unsettling fruit goo packs. We discussed the practicality of marathon costuming after someone wearing a gas mask and Occupy Wall Street signage passed. Kids lined up against the blue police tape and held their hands out for the runners to hit on their way by. Thirtysomethings walking home from mimosa brunches yelled out the names printed on runners’ shirts and each runner responded with a whoop or a subtle thumbs-up. A live band on the corner played “Gigantic” by The Pixies and we all nodded along.

When the packs of runners tapered off, Ramsey and I walked up to the farmers’ market where we spotted our local dog celebrity, The Lazy Dachshund. I bought kale and apples, Ramsey bought a tub of pickled vegetables, and we were back in the apartment by noon. I was ready to cook.

My menu for the day included my favorite carrot soup for lunch, and then kale, applesauce, and spiced pork chops for dinner.

The carrot soup only called for few ingredients: chopped carrots, onion, rice, chicken stock, butter, oil, salt, pepper, and a pinch of sugar.

More photos after the jump… Continue Reading →