Almostgotit.com

Our kids all go to the same high school, and we meet for lunch once a week at the Gourmet Market Café. That is, those of us who can get away from work that week do so. It’s been a different group each time.

However, as we are all highly trained professionals, our conversation is always on-track as well as brilliant. 

Today’s topics, to wit:

(1) How John likes Harvard. 

(2) What it’s like volunteering in the High School Guidance Office (and) when you are supposed to call 9-1-1.

(3) How excited Hannah is to be going to Japan.

(4) Whether the middle school should even bother staying open after state testing is over in April.

(5) Whether a knitting club will EVER work at the High School. Particularly in a room that smells funny.

(6) What will happen to Gourmet Market Café’s soup menu now that their regular chef has left.

(7) Touch Therapy: Should a Nurse Seriously Study This, or Not?

(8) How many of us could move to Seattle to become potters and writers and other wild and interesting things before this city (and our families) would even notice.

(9) Whether, if you let your lawn grow so tall that your 11 y-o daughter starts to take daily “how far over the city codes you are” measurements, the neighbors will think you are going through a divorce, will call you with their very kind concerns, and then report you to the authorities.

(10) How hard it should be raining before you leave the Café patio and move to an inside table.

Last Satuday, March 8, was International Woman’s Day (IWD).  One hundred years ago, in 1908, 15,000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter working hours, better pay, and the right to vote.

One hundred years later, IWD’s 2008 global theme is ‘Shaping Progress,’ in honor and celebration of all that women have accomplished in the past century, and with the hope that women around the world will continue to see advancements in their working and living conditions.

I celebrated International Women’s Day largely in the company of other women.   I blew off several afternoon errands to have tea with a friend instead, and later I dined with seven other fabulous chicks in my moms-only supper club, where we enjoyed several items from Cooking Light’s Tapas party menu and drank Cosmopolitans. 

Oh my.  Almostgotit LIKES Cosmopolitans. 

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Cosmopolitan Photo by “No Prawns” (Creative Commons Licence)
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However, she doesn’t like traditional Spanish tapas (the kinds involving lots of squid ink,  tentacles, and sea urchin roe), and as I was too late in signing up for what to bring,  the other fabulous chicks had already divvied up the good stuff from the Cooking Light menu.  So I googled tapas recipes until I found this spinach and chickpea recipe which sounded good.  It also turned out to be coincidentally-perfect for International Women’s Day as it is credited to Padma Lakshmi, the Indian supermodel-actress-author-cook who also happens to be Salman Rushdie’s latest Ex. 

Well.  Fabulous chick though Padma may be, hers turned out to be a pretty blah recipe, so below is fabulous-chick-Almostgotit’s new-and-improved version. 

Makes 4-6 servings; 10 minutes to prepare.

• 10-12 ounce bag fresh spinach leaves, rinsed
• 19-ounce can (2 cups) chickpeas (also called garbanzo beans), drained and rinsed
• 1 red bell pepper
• 1 tablespoon snipped fresh chives
• 1-2 lemons, juiced (or 3-5 Tablespoons)
• 1/3 cup extra virgin olive oil
• freshly ground black pepper, to taste
• 1 large clove garlic, minced
• 1 teaspoon curry powder

Put spinach in a saucepan with no additonal water (save that left on leaves from rinsing); stir and cook on low just until wilted.  OR, if bag gives steam-in-bag directions, put bag in microwave (do not open or even pierce!) and steam for about 3 minutes, just until wilted.

Drain spinach in collander, pressing to get rid of as much water as possible.  Chop both spinach and red bell pepper finely and put in bowl.  A food processor makes this an even faster job.  Add remaining ingredients, stir, and serve immediately or chill.  May be made several days in advance, as it keeps well.

Serve as is, or stuffed in pita bread.  Goes well served with grapes.  Goes particularly well served with Cosmopolitans.

Recipe adapted from one attributed to Padma Lakshmi.

To see more of Almostgotit’s recipes, click here.

Ten honeymoons in ten days, hoo boy! I’ve just written and posted the last of them for The Rocky Road of Love blog.  While the honeymoons are pretend, every one of these places really exist and really would accept visitors (that was the “rule” I made for myself when researching them.)  Anyway, here are links to the final five. (You can revisit summaries of the first five honeymoons by clicking here.)

 Tree House: Turkish Wedding Soup with Spiced Sauce

A treehouse, a freehouse,
A secret you and me house,
A high up in the leafy branches
Cozy as can be house.

A street house, a neat house,
Be sure and wipe your feet house,
Is not my kind of house at all –
Let’s go live in a tree house.

I was inspired by Shel Silverstein’s poem, then I found a real funky-looking treehouse hotel in Turkey and a romantic recipe to go with it.

Tropical Honeymoon in Aruba: Baked Bananas with Rum Sauce

Guilt drove me to give the couple a brief respite at a more typical honeymoon locale.

The “Baked Bananas with Rum Sauce” recipe seems to have been particularly popular, too.

Gee, bananas. Who knew?

To the (Australian) Lighthouse: Lighthouse Cocktails

In researching this one, I fell in love with the Straviken lighthouse in Sweden, but still felt guilty. (My life.  Guilt.)  This time I worried about sending the lovers to someplace so cold in February.  So I found a lighthouse hotel for them in Australia, instead.

There followed a lively exchange (see post’s comments!) with the Straviken’s owner about whether or not there are polar bears in Scandanavia. 

N.B.: There aren’t.

Honey, let’s play (Spanish) Caveman: Quick Vegetarian Paella

I used my own experience staying in a Spanish cave hotel near the Alhambra in Grenada for this one.

And have been yearning for Flamenco music and sangria ever since.

I also finally figured out a way to cook paella that doesn’t call for a million weird ingredients and doesn’t take all day to cook, either.

(Unlike this post, which is giving me absolute fits, probably because of all the pictures.  Wordpress codemakers have some ’splaining to do!!)

Romance on (Ice Hotels) Ice: How to Make an Ice Bowl

Sam and Harry are due home later today, but I have one last honeymoon fantasy to spin for them. This time, it’s a hotel entirely made of ice.  I wanted to make a hotel entirely out of ice too, but decided to settle for making an ice bowl instead.  It took me a while to work out the directions, finally settling for a sort of “Ice Bowls for Dummies” approach (the kind I’d prefer myself) and was quite pleased with it. 

Here’s a link to summaries of my previous five “Honeymoons”, which I’ve just updated.  Don’t expect pictures, though, because I’m done messing with them!

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Treehouse Image: Kadir’s Treehouses in Olympos, Turkey
Divi Tree Image: Manchebo Beach Resort & Spa, Aruba 
Lighthouse Image: Cape Otway Lightstation (original photo source unknown)
View of Alhambra from the Sacromonte: Photograph © John Willer and used with permission.
Ice Bowl: Creative Commons photo by EuphoriaLand

Over at the Rocky Road of Love blog, I’ve published five honeymoon-vacations-with-recipes in five days and will publish another five over the next week. I’ve found some amazing photos and the food is really good too. The problem is that the writing makes me so hungry!

The “Honeymoon Chronicles” thus far:

• Boat and Breakfast: Salmon Quiche A giant, floating resort in British Columbia’s Prince William Sound, accessible only by sea plane or boat.  A wonderful salmon quiche with a whole wheat crust.  What else could anyone want?
• A Castle in Scotland: Nova Scotia Oatcakes An overnight ride on the famous “Flying Scotsman” train. A castle near Edinburgh where Mary Queen of Scots once hung out.  One of Almostgotit’s favorite family recipes.  Heaven!
• Honeymoon in a Monastery: Cabbage Soup for a Crowd Just because monks are celibate doesn’t necessarily mean they don’t welcome honeymooners.  They’ll even serve them soup.
• South African Safari: Babotie Casserole There are no recipes for “Lion Steak:” I looked.  Babotie is a South African tradition: I won’t give it away, but it’s seasoned with almonds, spices and lemon.  Come see!
• Love in a Yurt: Chocolate Raspberry Napoleons with Raspberry Mascarpone Cream  Five star dining at 8,000 feet, where the food (and the chef) arrive by snowmobile.  Bonus: skiing burns lots of calories, so dig right in!

I’m guest blogging this week over at the Rocky Road of Love, where foodies Sam and Harry have finally married each other and are off on their honeymoon. I’ve been trying to guess where they are and what they might be eating. Today I’ve got them staying at a floating resort in Canada, accessible only by sea plane, feeding them a wonderful salmon quiche (recipe provided!) Come by for a visit!

Here’s to starting over again, beginning a second career chapter, and trying things a new way!

My mother often made Italian biscotti for Christmas. Traditionally made with nuts, anise flavoring, and very little fat, they have a long shelf life – as do many job skills! And like many a woman’s career, biscotti is baked in two stages. This version makes an old favorite into something wonderfully new by using pistachios and dried cranberries! Try serving these with coffee (or red wine!) for dunking…

1/4 cup light olive oil
3/4 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1 1/2 cups pistachio nuts

Preheat oven to 300 degrees, and prepare a cookie sheet by lining it with parchment paper. Beat oil and sugar together. Add eggs one at a time, beating thoroughly after each. Add vanilla and almond extracts. Mix dry ingredients together, then gradually add to egg mixture while stirring. Fold in cranberries and pistachio nuts by hand. Wet hands with cool water and use them to shape dough into two 12×2 inch logs on the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 35 minutes until light brown.

Remove pan to cooling racks for 10 minutes, meanwhile turning oven down to 275 degrees. Cut logs into ¾ inch thick slices on the diagonal, and lay slices cut-side-down on the parchment-lined cookie sheet. Bake slices 8-10 more minutes until golden-brown and dry to the touch. Cool and store in air-tight container.

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Never tried biscotti, or no time for cooking? Order some from Peggy’s Biscotti – she’ll even let you try a couple for free! And don’t miss her wonderful COMMENT, below…
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Today my friend Emily over at The Rocky Road of Love has posted my recipe for sweet summer squash chowchow. Her blog continues to delight a growing audience with its ongoing love story-with-recipes. She’s another of my mentors, and I plan to borrow a few of her adjectives, if she’ll let me.

Just as I promised I would, today marks the first official occasion upon which Eeyore and I shall don our black aprons and present you with pensive prescriptions for such crestfallen comestibles as are commensurate with our shared and disconsolate dereliction. In a word: Food. Today’s featured recipe: “Sweet Sorrow Sourdough Chocolate Cake.”

Creative Commons photo by divinemisscopa

This delicious if doleful affair nearly always falls. Which is why, in my extended family, we refer to it as “chocolate goo cake.”

Perfectly sympathetic fare for the joylessly jobless.

2/3 cup shortening
1 2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1 cup sourdough starter
1 ¾ cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sweet ground chocolate or cocoa
½ tsp. baking powder
1 ½ tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
¾ cup water
1 tsp. vanilla

Cream shortening and sugar; beat in eggs one at a time. Blend in the starter. Sift flour, measure, and sift again with other dry ingredients. Add to shortening mixture alternating with water and vanilla. Mix at low speed. Bake 350 degrees (for two 9” layers, bake 35 minutes; for one 9” square, bake 60 minutes)