Materials
2 1/4 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp Kosher salt
1 cup butter
3/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cups packed brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
2 cups (12 oz) chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
Methods
1. Melt butter. Mix in all ingredients except for the flour, chocolate chips, and nuts.
2. Mix in flour, approximately 1/4 cup at a time. Depending on your local humidity, you may need a little more or less flour than we do.
3. Mix in chocolate chips and walnuts.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F for 9-11 minutes.
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Is January really over already? It really feels like just yesterday that I was writing up my goals for the year. Overall, I’d give this month a C+/B-. It wasn’t bad, but there’s certainly room for improvement. Let’s hit some bullet points, shall we?
- I’m only 13 miles into my walk to Chattanooga. I started pretty strong for the first two weeks, then hit a wall and never quite recovered my momentum. The original idea was to wake up early every morning and do half an hour on the treadmill but found myself opting to sleep in most mornings. Goal for February: 30 miles. Ideal goal: 50.
- As of this afternoon, I’m down 5 pounds. As with the walking, I started well and then fell off. It’s as if they’re related. I was down a shade over 10 pounds in the middle of the month and put weight back on the past week or so. Goal for February: 6 pounds. Ideal goal: 10 pounds.
- I’ve been pretty successful about not buying my lunch at work. There was one week I bought fast food twice, when I drove to Chattanooga. Overall I’m pleased. Goal for February: continue kicking ass brown bagging it.
- As far as knitting projects go, I’ve made slow, but steady, progress on my sock monkey monkeymen sock. As of this afternoon, I have a heel and am working on the leg of the sock. Goal for February: finish this sock! Ideal goal: finish this sock and the toe on the second.
- I started a second project to work on while I’m waiting for/on the bus: a new hat. I’ve been meaning to make Jared Flood’s Turn a Square for a while and I think this will make a nice traveling project. It’s primarily stockinette, so I should be able to just pick it up and work on it for a while, then stuff it back in the bag without really worrying about where I am in the pattern. Unfortunately, last night I discovered the problem with the Knit Picks interchangable needles that I got for Christmas: they come apart. Goal for February: cast this sucker back on and get it done.
- Work has been up and down. Mostly up, but I could be doing better. This week I noticed a mostly-amusing habit I have: I try to do more as the week goes on, to get stuff done for the Friday afternoon lab meeting. The meeting seems so far away on Monday, so I think I tend to push experiments off until Tuesday or Wednesday, and by Friday am trying to do the whole week’s work in one day. Goal for February: Stop that. Er, manage my time better Monday and Tuesday.
- Second work goal for February: finish my proposal draft.
- I’ve been very happy about my efforts to be more social. I’ve started going regularly to a trivia night at a local bar with some friends from grad school. Yeah, it’s largely an excuse to drink beer and be nerdy, but it’s fun. I went and saw Jonathan Coulton in Orlando which was just fucking amazing. A couple weeks ago I went to a friend’s apartment to hang out and watch a movie and knit, and then last night I even had a couple friends over to the house to play some games. Goal for February: keep it up! No concerts on the agenda for this month specifically, but a group of us from the yarn store are going to see the Giants in Jacksonville in early March. They’re doing a Flood show! How could we not go?
Hm, that’s probably enough blathering. Two guiding thoughts for February. First, from Aristotle: “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Second, from my boss, a corollary to Boyle’s gas law: The amount of stuff on the to do list expands to fill the available time, so you might as well aim to do more stuff.
Aristotle quote reminder via Gretchen Rubin’s Happiness Project.
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Materials
1 sweet potato, peeled and cubed
1 medium eggplant, cubed (optionally peeled)
2 carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1/4 cup olive oil
4 cloves garlic, minced
1 teaspoon ground tumeric
3 teaspoons curry powder
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper (to taste)
1 can (15 oz) chickpeas, drained
3 tablespoons blanched almonds (optional; we usually forget this)
1 zucchini, sliced (can be replaced/augmented with yellow squash)
2 tablespoons raisins
1 cup orange juice
8 ounces spinach
Methods
1. Soak raisins in the orange juice. Set aside.
2. In a large pot, saute sweet potato, eggplant, carrots and onion in olive oil. Saute for approximately 5 minutes.
3. In a medium saucepan, saute garlic, tumeric, curry powder, cinnamon, salt, and pepper in about 3 tablespoons olive oil. Saute for approximately 3 minutes, until the aromatics have opened.
4. Pour aromatic spice mixture in the large pot with vegetables. Add the chickpeas, almonds, zucchini/squash, raisins, and orange juice. Simmer 20 minutes, covered.
5. Add spinach to pot. Cook for approximately 5 minutes.
6. Serve over couscous.
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I think this is our favorite dish to cook, especially to take to pot-luck-type parties. It looks and tastes fantastic, but is really quite easy to make. The sauce is one of my favorite peanut sauces ever, too.
Someday I’ll post a non-recipe blog. Someday.
Ingredients
Sauce
5 tablespoons water
4 tablespoons natural peanut butter
1 tablespoon rice vinegar
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons honey
2 teaspoons ginger
2 cloves garlic (Em and I typically add more ginger and garlic)
Tofu and Vegetables
one package (14 oz) extra-firm tofu, water packed (and preferably pre-cubed)
6 ounces baby spinach
4 ounces sliced mushrooms
~4 scallions, diced
dry roasted peanuts
Directions
1. Combine sauce ingredients into a medium bowl. Whisk until smooth, then set aside.
2. If the tofu is not pre-cubed, drain, pat dry, and cut into 1/2 inch cubes.
3. Brown the tofu in a large wok over high heat with ~2 teaspoons of olive oil and a few drops of dark sesame oil. Tofu should be golden brown on all sides when finished, ~10-15 minutes total cooking time.
4. Add the vegetables and sauce to the wok and cook until the vegetables are done, ~1-2 minutes.
5. Serve the tofu and veggies over rice. Garnish with dry roasted peanuts.
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This is the baklava that Emma and I made a few months ago. Nom!
Ingredients
Syrup
2 cups white sugar
2 cups water
1 cup honey
1 cinnamon stick
1/4 lemon
1 teaspoon vanilla
Filling Mixture
1 1/2 pounds chopped almonds
2 tablespoons white sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
Dough
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, melted
1 package (16 oz) frozen phyllo pastry, thawed
Special Equipment
Pastry brush
Pizza cutter
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine ingredients for the syrup. Bring to a boil, then simmer for 15 minutes, skimming off the foam that develops. N.b.: This can boil over if not watched and make a huge, sticky mess. Hypothetically.
3. In a bowl, combine filling ingredients. Mix well.
4. Brush a 9×13 inch pan with melted butter. Lay a sheet of phyllo dough onto the bottom of the pan and brush with melted butter. Repeat for a total of 8 sheets, buttering each.
5. Sprinkle 1/4 to 1/3 of the filling mixture evenly over the phyllo, and cover with 4 more sheets, buttering each. Continue process until all of the filling is used.
6. Cover with 8 more sheets of buttered phyllo. Before buttering the top sheet, tuck in all loose edges. Press down layers with the palms of your hands. Using a pizza cutter, cut the baklava approximately 1/2 inch deep. Emma’s diamonds (above) came out nicer than my rhombuseses. Rhombi? Probably rhombi.
7. Bake in preheated over for 50-60 minutes, or until golden brown. Remove from oven and immediately pour syrup onto the baklava, then allow to cool. Complete the cuts to the bottom of the baklava.
8. Enjoy!
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A cold-weather favorite. Easy to prep, takes a long time to bake.
Ingredients
1 package cornbread (or crescent roll) dough
1 can corn, drained
2 egg whites
2 whole eggs
1 cup milk
1/2 onion
2 cloves garlic
10 oz frozen broccoli
1 cup cheddar cheese
cumin
oregano
red pepper flakes
salt
Directions
1. Line a 9×9 pan with the can of dough to form the crust.
2. Mix together all of the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
3. Pour the mixture into the pan on top of the dough.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 60 to 70 minutes.
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A favorite of ours for dinner parties. Emma’s very good at cooking things by taste, so we don’t have great measurements on this one. I’ll try to pay attention next time we make it.
Ingredients
Onion
Curry
8oz cream cheese
~1/4 c peanuts
~1/4 c raisins
1 jar Major Grey’s Mango Chutney
Directions
Pulse peanuts and onion in food processor. Blend with cream cheese. Add raisins and curry to taste. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate overnight. Unwrap and top with chutney.
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Amongst my goals for 2010 is the near-obligatory Get In Shape. However, I know myself well enough that I need more directed, concrete goals if I’m going to actually accomplish that goal. I had been kicking around mileage goals for a few days and had just about settled on trying to walk/jog/run 500 miles in the year when I had an inspiration: Chattanooga is 450 miles away. So, rather than an arbitrary distance, I’m going to walk to Chattanooga. Metaphorically.
I’ve put a couple lines in the sidebar of the ol’ blog, denoting how far I’ve gone and how much farther I have to go. I’ll post a weekly summary, too, including highlights of the trip. After two days of walking, I’m just over 4 miles. I passed the yarn store earlier today and am less than a mile from getting on the interstate.
Honestly, I expect to be done with this goal *way* before the year is out, but that’s okay with me. I can always come up with a new goal once I get to Chattanooga. Maybe I’ll go visit my friends in Michigan. Or Seattle.
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In honor of this time of year, here are some specific goals, in no particular order. Some of these are more trivial than others (and some are practically vapid), I realize, but I think being able to knock some stuff off quickly will feel good and will keep me motivated. This will be a living post, and plan to update it as I both think of things to do and complete these goals.
- Walk/jog/run to Chattanooga, metaphorically (450 miles)
- Lose 100 pounds.
- Complete the 200 sit-up challenge
- Complete the 100 push-up challenge
- Complete classes this spring, keeping my 4.0 grad school GPA
- Write my new mini-proposal for thesis.
- Complete experiments for aims 1 and 2.
- Complete write-up for aim 1 of thesis.
- Start write-up for aim 2 of thesis.
- Write the literature review of my thesis.
- Write the materials and methods chapter of my thesis.
- Write something every day.
- Take a picture every day.
- Complete a knitting project.
- Complete six knitting projects.
- Clean and organize my office.
- Keep my office organized.
- Organize the rest of the house; get rid of stuff we don’t need/use/want.
- Host a party or two at the house, when I’m not so embarrassed to have people over.
- Buy my lunch at work no more than once a week.
- Digitize our recipe collection.
- Get another character to 80 in WoW before Cataclysm.
- Continue rocking out with the Wednesday night WoW static group.
- Consider Nanowrimo this fall. Decide I’m not quite that much of a glutton for punishment.
- Try it anyway.
- Brew a batch of beer.
-
Posted in WoW, arne, exercise, gradschool, hobbies, home, knitting, personal, school | 2 Comments »
December 27, 2009 by Arne
In an attempt to blog more than once a month, how about a weekly recipe series? Here’s a cold-weather favorite of Emma’s and mine. I wish it had a better name, other than “That barley-mushroom thing with spinach”.
Ingredients
Olive oil
3 cups sliced fresh mushrooms
1 cup chopped onion
1/2 cup chopped celery
2 cloves garlic (or, if you’re like us, lots more)
1/2 cup uncooked barley
3 cups vegetable broth
1 can (15.5 oz) white beans, drained (we’re particularly fond of great northerns in this recipe)
1 package frozen spinach
Balsamic vinegar
Directions
1. Saute mushrooms, onion, celery, and garlic in olive oil in a medium saucepan. Saute until tender.
2. Add barley and vegetable broth. Bring to a boil, then cover and reduce heat. Simmer 45-50 minutes (or until barley is tender).
3. Mix in white beans and spinach. Bring to a boil, then simmer for approximately 5 minutes.
4. Serve in bowls. Add balsamic vinegar to taste.
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