A few nights ago I caught an episode of Good Eats where Alton Brown managed to spend 30 glorious minutes discussing popcorn (video embedded below). Today I hit up the co-op for some peanut oil and multi-colored popcorn… I suspect these are the cereal version of heirloom tomatoes. Brown’s directions are simple enough, though I’ve adjusted the amounts downward slightly.
Add 1/3 cup of popcorn to a metal bowl with a couple of tablespoons of oil.
Sprinkle a couple of pinches of salt on top and swirl it all together.
Cover the bowl with foil, slicing a few air vents in the top. As it turns out, if you make these big, you get sprayed with hot oil
Place the bowl over medium heat and shake it (I didn’t have metal tongs, so I just used a hot pad) frequently until the popping stops.
Season with a pinch of rosemary and thyme (the oil really seems to obviate the need for butter)
Absolutely brilliant! Now I’ve a big bowl of the stuff, and am ready to queue up Lost on the Tivo!
And, because Alton Brown is infinitely more amusing than I am, a video of him explaining the same recipe:
Finish the design of our next experiment involving debugging machine-learned programs. This is actually coming along pretty well, and with a little luck I’ll be running sandbox pilots next week. Assuming we get IRB approval, we should then be able to get real participants in for the last two weeks of the month.
Prepare a presentation of our last research paper for IUI’09. Still haven’t even started this.
Figure out what my CS 519 term project will be. Hopefully I can tie it in with my research and turn it into another paper.
Talk to my adviser about internship possibilities for this summer. Teaching was a lot of fun last year, but I’m ready for something new.
Get a couple of cavities filled. I may not have a paralyzing fear of dentists, but no one looks forward to fillings.
Make it to the rec center at least 3 times a week. I’m actually totally on track for this!
Cook at least one new dish each week. Again, I’ve been doing really well at this–I’ve actually been looking forward to leftovers!
Record something, even if just a cover tune. Phil loaned me some excellent books on digital audio and audio engineering, but I still haven’t found the time (see above) to put any of it to practice.
I received a couple of wonderful-looking new cookbooks over the holidays, and last night I finally tried one of them out. I decided on a spaghetti dish with broccoli, walnuts, and a ricotta sauce. It was more exciting than it sounds–I finally got to use the zester I’d picked up months ago! The only trouble was with the cheese; after stirring in the ricotta, it didn’t take on the creamy texture the photo in the book displayed. After some Internet searching, I think the cheese should have been mixed or blended before-hand. I’ll try that next time. Other than that, it was fantastic and I have plenty of leftovers for tonight.
One of the first dishes I made that I was really happy with was from a red lentil pilau recipe that I discovered a couple of years ago. I cooked this a few times for Leslie back in Auburn Hills, and choose to bring it as a side-dish when Twinkle hosted Thanksgiving last year. Last night I made it again for the first time in a year, and was quickly reminded why I love it so much: the ingredients are inexpensive, preparation is straight-forward, you can let it cook essentially unattended, and it re-heats extremely well for an easy lunch the next day. Also, it’s delicious. Here’s the recipe, slightly modified based on my own experiences:
Ingredients
3 tsp Garam masala (you can find this spice mix at Indian grocers and sometimes at larger grocery chains)
3 tbsp virgin olive oil
1 yellow onion, chopped into 1/4″ pieces
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup basmati rice
1 cup red lentils
3 cups hot vegetable stock
1 or 2 spring onions, thinly sliced
Directions
Heat the oil over medium heat in a large saucepan (it will need to hold all of the rice, lentils, onions, and stock).
Stir the garam masala into the oil.
Add onions and garlic. Cook over medium until the onions soften (about 3 minutes).
Stir in the rice and lentils and cook (stirring constantly) for 2 minutes.
Slowly stir in the vegetable stock.
Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce heat and simmer, covered, until the rice is cooked and all of the stock has been absorbed (about 30-40 minutes).
Move the mixture to a serving dish and fluff the rice with a fork. Garnish with spring onion and serve!
Yesterday Randy invited me over to spend the Thanksgiving holiday with Twinkle’s family. I showed up early, expecting a chance to play some guitar with Randy before the cooking really began, but Ted and Judy had just arrived, so kitchen preparations were already in full swing. Judy showed me how to make a pie crust and mix up a pumpkin pie filling; while I’ve been cooking a lot lately, baking is still all new to me. I pitched in where I could, then had a chance to chat with Ted a bit a watch the old animated version of The Lord of the Rings (which he’d seen when it was first introduced in theaters).
Dinner itself turned out wonderfully, with Okie pie (sp?), salad, mashed potatoes, stuffing, veggie gravy, and of course (for everyone else) ham and turkey. That morning I’d cooked up a cauliflower and coconut milk stew as my own main dish, and a side dish for everyone else. It seemed to go over pretty well, just spicy enough to have some flavor but not really overpowering.
After dinner we had apple and pumpkin pie while watching Kung Foo Panda (which I’d never seen, and was surprisingly good). Before leaving, we took a couple of group photos that came out beautifully:
Twinkle introduced me to the wonders of leeks last year, and I keep finding new ways to incorporate them into my cooking. First (since this was all new to me), a leek is a vegetable related to the onion, but tends to be more prominent in a dish’s flavor than if the chef had used onions instead. I also find the texture to be more satisfying, but that’s just personal preference. You can easily chop them up into strips and saute them with some garlic in butter, but I’ve lately found that I like to just get them sizzling for a minute or two, then add some salt and pepper, drop the heat to a simmer, and sweat them until they’re slightly translucent.
Yesterday I added some leeks prepared as above to a bottled pasta sauce with fabulous results. They add a nice texture to the pasta dish (penne, in this case), and provide some extra variety to the flavor of the sauce. For a quick side dish, you can saute the leeks until they just begin to brown, then splash in a bit of white wine and stir in some other vegetables (peas or zucchini work well), boil off the wine, and serve!
This morning I wandered down to the second-to-last Corvallis farmer’s market of the year. My dad had discovered this wonderful market last August, but I didn’t see it for myself until Twinkle took me last spring. In warmer weather it’s a wonderful, bustling area of fresh produce, live music, and all sorts of other interestingness. Today you could tell that most of the vendors have packed up shop for the year, the crowd was sparse and the only musicians were a harpsichordist and a sad old man playing his violin. I found some good-looking leeks, potatoes, and apples, but not much else.
Over the summer, Twinkle and I would get fresh lemonade, soysage, and eggs, and sit and people-watch while eating breakfast on a park bench, but those vendors are gone for the winter. I tried to get coffee, but the Espresso machine broke. The honey-stick lady we frequented was gone, as was the wonderful cheese vendor. Next weekend the market officially closes. At least when it re-opens in April, Twinkle will be back to enjoy it with.
After much nudging from Twinkle, I finally applied for a passport last week. The post office said to expect it in 6 weeks, but it arrived today. The photo’s pretty horrid, but not as bad as one of my friend’s–his passport makes him look like Mr. Potato head. So hurray! I’m trying to plan a trip to Melbourne to visit Twinkle sometime in January. Airfare isn’t nearly as bad after the holidays are over, though I’d dearly like to see her for New Years. In the meantime, I’m putting the finishing touches on a care package of essentials she can’t seem to find there, including good coffee and Q-tips. Go figure.
Last night I tried my hand at cooking Masoor Dal. I couldn’t find any fresh Coriander so I used the dried spice instead, and my knowledge regarding mangoes seems woefully inadequate–maybe I just got the wrong variety, but the flavor didn’t work in the dish at all. It was still edible, but nothing special. I’ll have to try it again after hitting the Indian grocer on 9th. This was my first try cooking with ghee, however, and that was amazing… Twinkle’s a big fan of buttery richness in her food, and I think she’ll really like replacing the butter with ghee for added richness in some dishes. Speaking of, I snagged a lovely Indian cookbook at the bookstore for $3, Rice, Spice, and All Things Nice. I think it’s time to go look through it for dinner ideas!
