It’s all very exciting.

Doesn’t he look excited about my upcoming graduation party? (Yes, I’m planning the party months in advance. It’s nice to have things to look forward to – dontcha think?)

The thing about graduating is that when you graduate, you sort of have to find a job. Tomorrow I have my first interview. Today, I did a lot of prep.

I spent some time with my computer, reviewing the company’s website and my resume.

I painted my nails. (I realize they’re not as beautiful as they could be, but this was before I cleaned up the edges. And also I don’t intend to let anyone get this close to my hands tomorrow – instead I shall keep them at a distance where they are like ‘ooo pale pink how nice’).

I picked out my outfit.

(That’s it, folded neatly (ha) onto my dresser under my mini bedroom art gallery.)

I had to do all of this while Crockett packed for his Tahoe snowboard vacation. He’ll be gone for five days, which is fine, except he won’t be here to debrief me from my interview.

He tried to make up for that by pre-debriefing at The Empire. He tried something new:

pan roasted chicken with potatoes.

I went with the usual:

calamari salad.

I know, I’m predictable. I plan to list that as one of my strengths during my interview.

Sweet potato and spaghetti squash curry.

Green beans…

Roasted with garlic. Have you ever roasted green beans? I don’t know why this is new to me – I’ve roasted every other vegetable under the sun. They got all hot and wrinkly and delicious.

Green goddess smoothies.

And sort-of miso soup.

This was loosely based on Deb’s Carrot Soup with Miso and Sesame, but I ended up changing a bunch of the proportions and adding apples because I didn’t want leftovers and then when I went to get the carrots, I had half as many as I thought I had and half of those were kind of slimy. Basically, it could have come out better.

Still, though – vegetables! In January! It’s almost like I’m making an effort!

Speaking of making an effort, I signed up for a half marathon that’s on April 1st. (Yes, I double checked. It’s a real race.)

I even have a plan.

Again – almost like I’m making a new year’s effort, here.

Which is good, because Crockett took some time off from catching up with work to head out for a bbq lunch with me.

I got up early today, and cleaned up the kitchen and organized our messiest cabinet. Included in the list of things I threw out: Bisquick that expired in 2005, whole wheat bread crumbs that expired in 2004, and salad dressing that was weirdly chunky and expired in 2008. It was quite the cabinet.

Then I went to the gym, and the library, and walked the dogs.

I am so ready for everyone else to get lazy again. I couldn’t get on a treadmill in the hour I was there, so I worked on an elliptical instead. Since Crockett got me a heart rate monitor for Christmas (thanks, babe!) I was able to maintain an appropriate heartrate, so I count it as a good workout – even though it wasn’t a run.

Then – bbq!

Well – then margaritas and then bbq.

There is a piece of bread under there, along with smoked chicken, Lulu’s PPO, hot Carolina style bbq sauce, and coleslaw.

I ordered a side of sweet potato tots and Crockett ordered fried okra – then we shared. Fried okra is so good, but sometimes some weird white stuff comes out of the middle – has anyone else noticed that?

Now we’re back home, and I have literally no plans for the rest of the day.

I love Christmas break like whoa.

How’s 2012 been so far for y’all?

(Also – I’ve been to a several parties over the past few days and made some tasty ass food – but took no pictures. Sad. At least the cheesy rice from the New Years potluck yesterday – everyone needs that recipe.)

It’s Christmas cookie day.

And it’s I-miss-you-guys day.

I know you probably thought I was off hanging out with James Franco at Yale. Or that’s where I was pretending I was, to avoid a nervous breakdown. One of those two things is true.

One semester of grad school to go.

I did say snow day, right?

This is the tunnel for the puppies, taken from floor level. After I let the girls out this morning, I told Crockett that the snow was more than a puppy deep, and he laughed, so I said ‘how would you like it if you were in snow over your head?’ And then he told me that that’s a serious fear he faces while snowboarding.

Then I felt bad.

I knew it was cookie day, and we got up pretty late, so our breakfast was both lunchy and not particularly sugary.

I made tuna fish salad with celery and dried fruit while Crockett shoveled the front walk.

Tuna is Cloey’s favorite food.

(Don’t worry – I rinsed the lid so she wouldn’t lick it, and that’s where the sharp edges were. Her tongue and gums are intact.)

Maida’s technique was a little … different.

Faceplant.

This is the face Crockett made when he came in and saw the girls eating tuna out of cans on the floor.

Then? Cookies!!

And Community.

Did anyone else hear that there was a flash mob in New York today to stop it from being cancelled? I totally would have gone to that.

I have no great reason for making so many cookies. I’m taking dessert to two events – and while I am the official dessert bringer to both, I suspect that others will be all ‘oh well I just brought along some cookies’ too. Six kinds of cookies is too many cookies.

What I’m trying to say is that it’s a cookie world, and we’re just living in it.

Almond cookies. These are basically just egg whites, sugar and almond paste.

I bought almond paste from Amazon.

I have enough almond paste for everyone.

Dorie Greenspan’s Salt and Pepper Cocoa Shortbread.

People, these were neither salty nor peppery. I made some orange ganache and turned them into sandwich cookies.

Also, the dating on these cookies is sporadic because apparently when I don’t have to go to school I have no idea what day it is. I genuinely believed tomorrow was Christmas Eve until yesterday.

Gluten free vanilla bean shortbread. Crockett’s sister in law has a gluten allergy, so I thought I’d bring these to her house on Christmas.

Because even though I’m not in charge of dessert, I thought hey, I’ll just bring some cookies.

I’m one of those.

A very small batch of coconut macaroons, some with chocolate and some without. These were an afterthought because I ended up with more whites than yolks at the end of the day, and I already had almond cookies.

And also because we used to make these at the bakery I worked at and they were my favorite. I always forgot they were my favorite, but they always were – you know what I mean?

Eggnog sandwich cookies. They were supposed to be Brandied Eggnog Sandwich cookies, but who the hell has brandy? I have weird drinks – I do. I have sherry. And port. And also Frangelico although I’ve had it for literally a decade which WOW why do I still have it? But I don’t have brandy. Or rum, because, you know – a week of seasickness in the Virgin Islands can create some bad rum associations.

And my absolute favorite – lemon fennel pretzels, from the book The Good Cookie.

These are the weirdest cookies.

I love them.

And I love you.

Merry Christmas Eve eve eve!

(So totally a thing.)

Then I went grocery shopping.

(Ok – first I waited for my classes to end. And I actually had to go to the store anyway. But for the sake of this narrative, let’s pretend I read the article and immediately jaunted off to the market, ok?)

I absolutely love fall food. I love squash and pumpkin and apples and sweet potatoes. To put a finer point on it: I love Thanksgiving food.

Turkey? Yes. Brussels sprouts? Yes. Sweet potato casserole? Yes.

Cranberry sauce?

Fuck. Yes.

It’s not Thanksgiving yet, and I’ve already been perusing recipes for a Thanksgiving cranberry sauce.

Then I read that article, and Costco had 3 pound bags of fresh cranberries for $4.99, and I felt like I was hit over the head by a culinary anvil.

I CAN HAVE CRANBERRY SAUCE NOW.

We fill certain foods away in certain slots, and for me cranberry sauce never made it out of it’s little niche – until today. I came home, I threw 4 cups of the cranberries into a pot with 1/4 cup each of sugar and orange juice and 1/4 teaspoon of salt, and I let it bubble away while I toasted a piece of bread, spread it with goat cheese, and heated some boxed butternut squash soup.

It was Thanksgiving in my mouth. And there’s more in my fridge.

I’m glad I finally woke up.

What foods do you love but wait to eat?

Not an actual Dutch baby. I don’t know where I’d get an actual Dutch baby. Hell, I don’t know where I’d get a baby on a Saturday morning. We have friends with new babies, I guess… but they’re not Dutch.

Digression.

Dutch Baby (German Pancake)
Based on that badass Alton Brown’s recipe

2 tablespoon unsalted butter
1/2 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup milk
2 eggs

Heat the oven to 375 F.

Find a pan of some kind. I used an 8 inch cake pan – a cast iron pan is more traditional, but it has to be 8 or 10 inches and ours is 12. The bigger one means less puff, and the whole point of a Dutch baby is the puff.

Put the butter in the pan and put the pan in the oven to let the better melt. Don’t forget. Seriously. Brown butter is delicious but is not the point. Do I need to mention again that the puff is the point?

Stir together the dry ingredients, and mix with the wet ingredients in a blender, food processor, or mixing bowl if you have a stick blender. (Stick blenders are awesome). Blend until totally uniform.

Pull the pan out of the oven, and pour about half the butter into the batter. Combine super quick, and pour the batter into the pan, then stick the pan back in the oven.

Bake for 22 – 25 minutes. It will still be soft in the middle, but it will be puffy all across.

Sadly, it will sink.

Still, it will taste puffy.

You can eat with more sugar sprinkled on top, or with syrup, or with lemon wedges as Alton suggests. I, personally, like them plain. Crockett ate his plain because I forgot to tell him he had other options.

Serves 2. Or just me.

Obviously I ate half before taking the picture – sorry!

After breakfast I went to the gym, and then did something very important.

Took my best friend to the vet.

She has a terrible ear infection.

Don’t worry – we have pills and ointments now, and she’s already on the mend.

Then, I came home and started studying for my Mathematical Stats midterm which is tomorrow at 9 which I should be studying for right now. If anyone has any insights regarding characteristic functions, now would be the time to share :).

Lunch happened like this:

We were across the hall from each other while we had this chat.

That’s just how we roll in our house.

Whole grain bread brushed with olive oil on the outside, then a thin layer of mustard, then cheese, then slices of pear, then proscuitto. After I grilled them, I pulled them apart and shoved in some arugula.

The bread was a little much, honestly. Very seedy and kind of overpowering – I bought it at Costco awhile ago and stuck in the freezer. I’s good but this sandwich needed something subtler.

Anyway.

I studied for hours and got basically nowhere, which was super fun for me, and then Crockett and I met up with his mom and brother and went out to dinner.

I realize this is not good looking. I swear the chicken wasn’t actually pink in my warm squash and beet salad with chicken, bacon, and maple dressing at The Empire.

It was SO GOOD.

Since Crockett’s mom is only in town for the weekend, we played it big and went out for another drink afterwards.

Punk.

… in Ale.

I love pumpkin beer, and the Dogfish Head is sort of a cult version. it’s super hard to get, so when I saw they had it dove right in. It was exactly as delicious as I remembered, and I would kill to have some in my fridge right now. Someone remind me next year, ok?

Or? When it gets cold? You eat nothing but oatmeal?

Please say it isn’t just me.

Thursday: Bob’s 5 grain rolled cereal with frozen strawberries and cottage cheese.

Friday: Bob’s 5 grain rolled cereal with frozen cherries, cocoa powder, and cottage cheese.

I’m halfway through that bag of Bob’s I bought, what, last week?

Also on the list of my favorite things:

Trains.

Especially the ones that are only one car.

I don’t know why, but this cracked me up. I understand that the guards have to come down and the lights have to flash and everything, because it is a train, but it’s just an engine and it was going maybe four miles an hour and we all just sat there and watched. I just sat in my car, eating my oatmeal, and laughing my ass off.

I can’t even tell you what I’ve been eating. Until today – today has held some tasty food. This last week, though? I have no idea. Frozen vegetarian corn dogs, definitely.

Halloween candy, for damn sure.

Tuna salad (with dried fruit, because that’s how we used to make it at the bakery I worked at it and was the most delicious thing ever) and crackers and grapefruit – that was in there somewhere.

Also?

I made sure I was aware of alcohol.

Because my school told me so.

Heck, I even made sure to have a glass of wine here and there. (Yes, this sign is technically expired. However, it was left up all last week, so I assumed they still wanted awareness).

What are your food habits?

What I do have is something to express an … opinion about.

Here’s the thing. I’m a feminist. The loud kind. I write about it on emmanation more than here, obviously, but today the two crossed paths. Why?

Because it’s National Men Cook Dinner Day, of course!

Lest you think this is just a goofy website, I found it on The Daily Mail (hardly a bastion of feminism, I know, but still) through Tasteologie, a food linking site, and have since seen it on Epicurious. Sure, it’st not everywhere, but it’s in enough places.

National Men Cook Dinner Day is a terrible idea. It’s ridiculous, embarrassing, and bad for women and men.

The thing about something like NMCDD (yeah, I abbreviated it – what of it) is that it’s the societal equivalent of when my friend’s parents used to give her little brother $50 for getting a C. It’s saying ‘aww, poor guys – we know stuff like cooking is hard for you. Here’s a day devoted just to you and your silly little efforts’.

What makes this particularly ridiculous is that professional cooking is a male dominated industry. (Whole different issue.) There’s no actual reason to believe that men can’t cook. Goofy movements like this are just reinforcement of the idea that there are male roles and female roles – and that cooking for the family is something done by women. (See also: that Tide commercial with the couple that has triplets that ends with the wife telling the husband he sucks at folding clothes).

The person who does the cooking should be the person with the time and the desire to do so. If neither person has either, then there should be a Crockpot or a takeout menu involved. There should be no special reward for men who generally sit back and let the women in their life run the kitchen if they should deign to pick up a colander the first Thursday of every November. Partners, of any kind, should share duties in the way that makes sense for them.

Honestly, doesn’t National Men Cook Dinner Day sort of imply that the other 364 are National Women Cook Dinner Today Like Every Other Day days? And, by association, don’t men cooking on those 364 days seem like they’re bucking societal expectations? See? Good for no one.

P.S. I never thought $50 for a C was a good idea either. My friend only got paid for A’s, and it seemed to me that her parents were sending her brother the message ‘this is the best you can do’.

P.P.S.  I do most of the cooking in my relationship. I decide what we’re eating based on what I feel like making and eating. Crockett does not expect me to cook, and I’m not shocked when he’s struck by a desire to get into the kitchen, which he occasionally is. There are household tasks in which we defy traditional gender roles, too. Neither of these are a big deal, because we work hard to differentiate between personal expectations and societal ones.

That’s all. We now return to our regularly scheduled programming.

Anyway. Halloween.

For breakfast I busted out my new Bob’s 5 Grain cereal.

I cooked it in my favorite little two cup cereal pot that my dad got me two years ago for Christmas. I seriously use this thing so often it never makes it to the dishwasher.

To my cereal I added flaked sweetened coconut and chopped frozen peaches.

I froze the peaches myself and I think I used a knife that I’d used to cut garlic when I sliced them before freezing. It adds an interesting and not particularly welcome taste to things – let that be a lesson to all of us. I have to use the garlic peaches, but hopefully no one else will face the same fate.

My schedule this semester has been such that I don’t eat lunch on campus very often.  Today, though, I had a meeting that was necessary to verify that I’m going to graduate in May (whoooooohooooo), so I ate while grading Minitab assignments. (Minitab is a statistical version of Excel, basically, that the students in my class use to do projects).

Leftover tofu, leftover creepy cauliflower, and toes desperately in need of nail polish remover.

I stopped on the way home to get pumpkins for the stoop, so trick-or-treaters would know they were welcome, but pumpkins are apparently passe in the grocery store. Christmas stockings are the new pumpkins. I got a big orange leaf sack with a pumpkin face on it instead, and we stuffed it with leaves from the yard.

Trick-or-treaters have been drizzling, not pouring. The Evil Flash Drive, who was here to steal our gigabytes, has been my fav so far.

Between homework and stopping Maida from trying to eat the little kids, I made falafel tacos.

Falafel Tacos
Adapted from How to Cook Everything

Falafel:
1 can chickpeas
1/2 small onion
1 clove garlic
1 teaspoon coriander
1 teaspoon cumin
1/2 teaspoon cayenne
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 handful greens (arugula is what I used, but parsley/baby spinach/cilantro/whatev would all add something nice)
2 tablespoons water
1 tablespoon lemon juice

Tzatziki:
3/4 cup plain Greek yogurt
3/4 cup chopped, seeded peeled cucumber
1/2 cup chopped, seeded tomato
1/8 – 1/4 teaspoon salt

hummus
tortillas

Whiz everything in the ‘falafel’ section up in a food processor. It should be chopped finely enough that you look at it and go ‘damn, that would be a pain in the ass if I had to chop that by hand’, with a little bit of paste, but no finer. It’s better that it fall apart a little while cooking than it be tough and icky.

Mix the tzatziki ingredients together and set aside. Start with the smaller amount of salt and adjust to taste. (If it tastes more like yogurt than vegetables, you can probably use more salt).

Heat a nonstick pan up over medium-medium-low heat. If you feel like a little fat in your day, add a few little puddles of vegetable oil once the pan is hot – it will lead to crispier falafels but isn’t necessary. Either way, grab golf ball sized amounts of the falafel mix and flatten them out, then drop them in the pan and cook for 3 minutes on the first side and two on the second (or until brown and tasty looking on both sides). It will take two batches unless you have a griddle sized pan, so if you want to eat them hot, keep the falafels warm in a low oven while you cook the second batch.

Spread each tortilla with hummus and tzatziki, and top with falafel. Eat.

Serves 2 – 3. (We ate it all).

Happy HALLOWEEN!! I think our candy-wanting-kids are done – it’s dark and cold and 8:30. We have lots of mini Snickers and M&Ms and Baby Ruth. Hopefully you all have leftover candy too!

However, I’m feeling very suburban lately. Friday night, Crockett went out to Denver while I hung out with a girlfriend in Louisville. Then Saturday night Crockett and I went out… again in Louisville. Last night I did school work and we watched tv and went to bed at a reasonable hour. Today is HALLOWEEN and my plans involve handing out candy while wearing… my normal clothes.

Sigh.

After I writing yesterday, I realized how much meat and cheese and how few vegetables I’d eaten over the weekend, so I made myself an insane salad when I got home from my run. First, I microwaved half a spaghetti squash. While that was happening, I sliced segments out of a grapefruit, and put them in a bowl with arugula and goat cheese. I mixed the super hot ow-my-fingers squash with a little olive oil and pepper, put it on top of the greens, and topped the whole thing with some fluffy grated romano.

When I mixed it all up, it was warm from the squash, spicy from the pepper and arugula, creamy from the cheese, and tangy from the grapefruit. It was a taste experience, y’all.

(Yes, I know I just said I was eating too much cheese and then I ate more – but it was offset by the two pounds of vegetables. That’s a totally valid nutritional choice. I think.)

Awhile ago, I read that freezing tofu and then thawing it and draining it gives it a more appealing chewy texture. I stuck some in the freezer like three weeks ago, and then freaked out on Wednesday thinking maybe it could freeze for too long. I moved it to the fridge to defrost and promptly forgot about it.

Sigh. Food planning.

Anyway, last night I made a marinade of lemongrass and curry powder for it, and then pan fried big pieces to put in a sandwich.

It was… ok. I’m eating the leftovers for lunch today. I don’t really feel like I have the hang of tofu.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

ETA: Yeah, I wrote Thanksgiving right there. What? I have no idea. Brain? Mine? Where?