Hella Leftovers

In my typical roundabout, backwards way, I'm going to post what I made with the leftovers of last night's dinner before I post about last night's dinner. I'm awesome.

Last night I made seared ahi tuna for my dad as part of a very, very, very, very belated birthday present from last year. I'll post all about that in a sec, I promise. So today, I'm left with this big ole hunk of perfectly seared, sushi-grade tuna (the guy at Berkeley Bowl looked at me like I was going to throw the tuna away when I said I was going to sear it. Shut up, fish-man, shut up) that I paid almost $20 for so there's no way I'm gonna let that puppy go to waste.

I flipped through all my Bon Appetit and Food & Wine magazines (it's too hot for the heavy weight of a cookbook on my lap) and finally stumbled upon this recipe for Soba Noodle Salad with Salmon and Asparagus, from Apr 2011. Now, I don't have salmon. Or asparagus. But I do have tuna and green beans (also from last night).

Definitely a good use of the leftovers. Only thing I'd say is that adding some kind of citrus (lime, lemon, etc) would have made this a bit better but whatever. I didn't have any on hand.

Here's my approximation of my recipe, serves 2:

1-inch-round bundle of soba noodles (make a circle with your thumb and forefinger about the size of a quarter... there you go.)

1 Tbsp olive oil (ish)

1 Tbsp soy sauce (ish)

1 Tbsp rice vinegar (ish)

a squeeze of honey

a drizzle of sriracha

salt

pepper

green beans (leftover)

1 green onion (medium)

6oz seared ahi tuna (leftover)

sesame seeds (for garnish)

1. Boil the noodles until edible but not falling apart. Drain, rinse in cold water until cool. Set aside in a cold water bath.

2. Whisk the next 5 ingredients together. Add salt and pepper to taste.

3. Chop green beans, tuna, scallion.

3. Drain noodles. Add dressing, toss. (To your taste with the dressing - I'm usually a less-dressing kind of girl but I liked it WAYYY better with more dressing. Also salt!!)

4. Add green beans, tuna, scallion. Toss. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.

5. EAT.

I imagine this would keep for a few days in the fridge. Like I said, I found the dressing a bit boring - if anyone has a better one, let me know!

Single Girl Meals

More often than not these days, I end up at home after a long day wondering what I should eat. I don't have a roommate, I haven't stockpiled any frozen homecooked stuff for a while, and going out all the time tends to lose its magic.

I spent the first five months of my job being so exhausted from work and commuting that I would jump at any opportunity to go out and try a new place. And hell, I'm certainly in the right place for that kind of lifestyle. But after a while, it started to feel... empty. Places I would have raved about suddenly felt like thy had terrible service, dry food, and were too hot or too cold or too crowded or too loud. What happened?? Dining out always makes me feel like a princess - but suddenly i was wishing for my dad's roasted chicken, and ripe tomatoes with just salt that doesn't cost $12 a plate, and homemade soup.

The problem isn't that I don't like cooking, or can't think of things to eat. Here are my problems:

1. Ingredients don't usually come in single-serving sizes, so I end up with more of don't-eat-this-by-itself things like sour cream and cilantro than I know what to do with. Seriously, what am I going to do with a whole freaking bunch of cilantro??
2. Most recipes aren't written or intended for single-serving meals, and halving or quartering the recipe often ends up being awkward and difficult.
3. I hate doing dishes with a fiery, burning passion. (This means that I cook once and my kitchen remains a war zone of steadily-evolving dish-creatures for the next month.)

So: what are my solutions??

Amanda Hesser (in Cooking for Mr. Latte, a froufy but great book of vignettes about her life, marriage and cooking) has a whole chapter about what to cook when you're home alone. And some of the recipes are great, like Truffle Egg Toast (although when am I really going to buy truffle oil?) and Single-Girl Salmon. But what I really want is a cookbook or a website or something that tells me - what the hell do I use all these random leftover ingredients for? And how do I avoid doing dishes at all costs? AND, most importantly, how do I keep my fridge from going to mold without being wasteful?

Well, I've grown up with a certain ethos, and going to a big college and working at a big company have kind of cemented it for me: No one's gonna do it for you, so you gotta do it for yourself.

Here's what I've been eating:

• Greek yogurt with honey (Fage is the best, and getting the single-serving sizes is perhaps not the most cost-effective but it removes the dish factor and means I don't have to think about how long the open container of multiple-serving yogurt has been in the fridge for and if it smells weird. Shut up, I am neurotic. Maybe since my parents never throw anything away? The whole cheese drawer at their house has evolved into an entirely different breed of mold. BUT I DIGRESS.)
• Pre-cut carrots sticks and celery sticks from Whole Foods + peanut butter.
• More peanut butter.
• Eggs & toast.
• Fruit.
• Annnnnddd.... that's about it.

Here's what I WANT to be eating:

And also these things:

• Soups!
• Homemade fresh spring rolls.
• Anything with eggs, poaches especially
• Summer fruit cobbler
• Interesting vegetable and cheese sandwiches
• Eggplant!
• So much roasted garlic that the whole building has to evacuate.

So here goes:

I, Devora, do solemnly swear (from this weekend forward, where the looming spectre of my dad coming over for dinner means that I have to actually CLEAN MY HOUSE) that I will try my best to set aside time for cooking, will cook in bulk so I can freeze things and will figure out single-serving recipes where I can, will use the items in my pantry instead of just buying new food and will ENJOY the freedom to eat whatever I damn well want without anyone else to worry about. AND I also swear that trying is good enough, and not to be mean to myself when I just order some goddamn Chinese food and sit on the couch watching 30 Rock without pants on.

WHEW. ONWARD.

PS ALL I WANT IS TO TRY GOOGLE+. How is it possible that I WORK for Google and can't get a Google+ invite?? RAGE.

Friday

Today is Friday - let's see what Flickr has to say about that... I know I'm wishing for a little Friday relief. Busy workday today (which is actually a great thing) and a busy weekend ahead (also a great thing) - still, I'm wishing for a few moments to myself, to read and relax...

DAMN does this chair look great:

1. kaylovesvintage

2. wansoo

3. sabinche

4. inazuman

5. davidlev

(click the images for links to the flickr pages.)

TGIF indeed.

Birthdays

It's funny that I'm thinking about birthdays this far in advance of mine. I guess I've always had pretty good birthdays. The last few have been oddly nuanced - my 21st by a recent breakup, my 22nd by loneliness and confusion about what to do next with my life. (Quel horreur! Change and confusion!)

The clearest birthday gifts are the ones that last beyond a shadow of a doubt.. and the sharpest of gifts is absence.

Chaka's Mmm Sauce

.....what?!

Found in Sacramento Raley's, of all places.. (with miss alison)

PS My sister says wtf = Wonderful Treasure Finds, so that is my new tag for stuff like this. Clearly a Wonderful Treasure Find.

Today's Playlist

Grooveshark is amazing. Everything you can think of is there...

The last few days at work have been really good. Focused, interested, engaged. Music has been helping, although sometimes I have to turn it off because I get distracted and can't compose proper sentences.

Here's the playlist I'm about to listen to today:




Enjoy the sun... xoxo

Getting Away

Sometimes I like to pretend I am not an anxious person.

I put on a dress (without thinking about how short it is or how chubby my knees look or if my hair is lopsided) and flats (without worrying about whether I'm going to get blisters or get cold) and leave the house (not doubting that I locked the door or turned off the oven that I rarely use or switched off all the lights).

I wish it were so simple.

Deprivation Anxiety

So often, I find that posts that are supposed to be about "feeling positive" and "improving your life" involve depriving yourself of something that gives you pleasure. I'm a believer in moderation as much as anyone, but I see too many instances of crash diets and "I'm not eating carbs this week" and "I ate a cupcake so now I have to go to the gym for 2 hours." It makes me crazy!

Sometimes I start to feel down on myself - worrying about the aftereffects of a broken foot last summer in tandem with a sedentary job - and I think to myself, oh! I'll count calories! And do all these things that "should work! But the minute I start it, the very second I see a number attached to my breakfast and I am supposed to feel ashamed - something in me rebels. I don't like being told I'm wrong in the best of circumstances, and when I'm eating berries and whole-grain oatmeal, and apparently that's too many calories? I say fuck em.

I'm trying something new this summer - throwing deprivation out the window, listening to what my body wants and doesn't want (because usually my instincts are right about what's good for me), and trying to enjoy everything rather than punishing myself into some new way of life that's supposed to make me "better."

So here are some things I have enjoyed (without guilt!) in the last few months:

May the coming months be full of such similarly joyous things..

1. white wave walu - rocketfish sf

2. goi cuon roll - xyclo cafe, oakland

3. morgan's famous salmon

4. cheesecake in a jar - plum, oakland

5. blue bottle - jack london, oakland

6. prosciutto crudo sandwich - boccalone, sf

7. pork chops with dijon cream sauce, roasted root vegetables and balsamic asparagus - morgan's house

8. pollo tacos with cheese and cream - tacos mi rancho, oakland

9. raspberry sorbetto and fromage blanc gelato - lush, oakland

10. xolo taqueria, oakland

Days Off

Ate: here, here and here.

Saw this here.

Ate this:

Loved this:

Said goodbye, cried at the movies, said hello.

Angry, Disappointed Banana Bread

I've never been one to stress bake. That's more Natalie's field than mine - she used to bake bread and croissants and pies whenever she didn't know what to do with herself. But today I BAKED. I baked an angry, disappointed, confused banana bread. I mean, the banana bread itself wasn't confused or angry. But you know how in Waitress, she makes pies? "I-hate-my-husband" pie, or "pregnant-miserable-self-pitying-loser" pie. Today I made angry, disappointed, confused banana bread.

I used Melinda's recipe, from Minnie's Cakes - she's a baker for Whole Foods. So delicious!

I guess I'm just feeling a little bitter today, and mixed up in unfortunate feelings, and wishing that I could just leave town and go on a month-long yoga retreat in the wilderness of Southeast Asia and come back a person who is entirely patient, detached, and wise. Too bad we can't force any of those attributes.

Also this was delicious:

(baguette with brie & frog hollow apricot preserves)