Day 12--Cookbook review: What to Cook and How to Cook It

I'm that person who lives off of Mac&Cheese and Starbucks pastries.  I can't make rice to save myself, I dry out chicken every time I cook it, and I once made a cake with 1/4 cup of salt instead of 1/4 tablespoon salt.  Basically, I have a poor diet to begin with and my cooking skills don't help.

This is partly on purpose.  If you don't know how to cook, you don't have to cook for anybody. It's like when you're 16 and you're the only one with the driver's license. But in the past few months I've lived with some cooks and it's inspired me to drop my Kraft box and get out a cutting board.

The first time I saw What to Cook and How to Cook It I was having a hipster afternoon and spent a few hours in Urban Outfitters.  I picked up the book and read the whole thing cover to chocolate chip cookies on page 402. 

The inside of What to Cook and How to Cook It

What makes a good cookbook?  First of all, PICTURES.  For the life of me I cannot understand why cookbooks get published without accompanying photos.  How the fuck am I supposed to know what the recipe should look like in its finished state?  Second of all, it should be sectioned off properly.  Maybe basing chapters on ingredients or weather seasons works for some people, but I like things categorizes by time of day and how intensive it is.  Lastly, the cookbook should be big enough and or heavy enough to stay open while you're cooking so you can follow the instructions.  

What to Cook and How to Cook It is a beautiful book.  Period.  Not only does it include pictures of the finished product, but it has pictures of all of the ingredients and the cooking process as well.  It's sectioned by Breakfast & Brunch, Light Lunches, Simple Suppers, Food for Sharing, Weekend Cooking, Side Dishes, and Desserts & Baking.  It's meant for beginners so it starts easy (pancakes with blueberries), moves on to things like Nachos with Guacamole, and Spaghetti with home-made Pesto, and finishes with things like Roast Chicken with Lemon and Leek Stuffing, and Roast Beef and Yorkshire Puddings.  It's 402 pages long, hardback, and about about 8''by11'', so it actually stays open next to the stove.  

I'm rather in love with it.

I've tagged 22 recipes I want to tackle first and I've done 6 of them so far.  I know this entry is way long as it is, but here's my review thus far from favorite to least favorite.  

1.) Chicken Caesar Salad.  Extremely Successful.  Homemade croutons?  Oh my god.  So good.  And all it takes it buttermilk break cut into squares with salt and pepper.  And who knew that Caesar dressing only took 3 ingredients (it should have been 4, but I forgot the garlic)?  I was so impressed by how well this turned out, and I was shocked that wanted seconds with a salad. 

2.)  BLT.  Ok yes, this is just a normal BLT, but it was yummy!  I tried to follow the directions with the honey+mustard+mayo spread, but I'm just not a mustard fan.  Other than that, it was such a nostalgic treat on a warm spring day that I made it three times last week. P.s. Use buttermilk bread.

3.) Cheeseburgers. I've never chopped onions and put them in the burger (never used an egg either), so I was pretty happy with the result. Then again, when you char burgers it kinda tastes the same to me.  Still, my boyfriend ate 3 of them in a row so it was a success.=)  P.s. add bacon left over from the BLTs.

4.) Simple Herb Omelet.  Truthfully, the only time I eat omelets is when I'm burnt out on other breakfast food.  My opinion hasn't changed after this recipe.  I added the left over bacon and used a regular sweet onion instead of chives (why buy a literal bunch of them when I just needed one of them?) and let me tell you, my kitchen smelled ridiculously delicious that morning.

5.) Berry Smoothie.  Skip the frozen mixed berries and just buy fresh fruit and add the ice.  By following the recipe, the smoothie tasted good (loved the honey), but it was way too frothy and not enough fruit.

6.) Cinnamon Rolls.  I'm honestly not sure if it was the recipe's fault or my freezing-ass January house, but this dish was a disaster.   The dough never rose.  I put them in the fridge overnight and nothing.  I put them in our kitchen and nothing.  Granted it was in the low 50s in the house, so it might have fucked things up.  They turned out dryer than toast and way too many of them for four people.  However, crasins/raisins were an interesting and yummy choice. 

Six down, sixteen to go.  Should be delicious!

Day 10--One month since graduation

It has been exactly one month since I walked in my maroon robes and cap and accepted my diploma. I find myself now around 1am in a beach house a few blocks from the ocean.  I've got my ASU sweats on and my bikini somewhere on the floor.  It's been a crazy month, and here's what I've been up to:

Week 1: Went to the dentist, the doctor, got my car worked on, paid my phone bill, packed up 4 years of my life,  and had a wonderful goodbye dinner with 15+ friends at La Bocca.  We laughed, we feasted, we were merry.

Week 2: Drove from Arizona to the Bay Area.  Went to an extended family member's high school graduation (I find graduations so inspiring.  Yes, I'm a sap).  Visited old friends in San Francisco, San Jose, and Pleasanton.  Spent a few days with my feisty 83-year old grandma who answers, "Fine.  Sassy," when you ask her how she's doing.

Week 3: I temporarily moved in with my boyfriend in San Diego, and enjoyed the beach down the street while unpacking my life.  The seeds of panic that college was over and I don't know what to do with my life sprouted.  I contemplated becoming a candle maker, a veterinarian, a reporter, a sailing instructor, a baker, a UniFEM worker, and a novelist.  I should mention that I don't know how to make candles, I don't like animals that much, I loath the idea of reporting local boring shit, I have never sailed, I haven't baked since January, I'm afraid to work outside of the US, and the longest story I've written is 8 pages.  Panic.

Week 4: Decided that working for a certain magazine in SF is the goal I'm going to work towards.  Even if I don't make it, the resume I build will help with something else.  I applied for a job at a local coffee shop on Wednesday, got the job on Thursday, and was already unhappy with the job by Friday.  Not enough hours, not enough pay.  I went on a shopping spree to lift my spirits and bought a Santoku knife, a black cutting board, a green polka dot oven mitt, a snazzy white purse, thank-you cards, more of my favorite Uni-Ball Impact 7mm blue pens, and tickets to LA Rising with Lauren Hill, Muse, and Rage Against the Machine. 

This is a little redundant from a previous entry, but here's my progress of my year's goals:

Goals for the next year:

1.) Get a job, and or, find a career. Preferable a good one = 30% done. I got a job at a local coffee shop, so it's better than making $0 an hour, but the pay is horrible and it's only part-time.  I start training next week.  I'm going to need a second job to pay bills, preferably more in my field of interest. And no, I haven't started working towards a career.  I have however, decided that I want to write for a magazine as my end goal, so at least I have direction and a dream.

2.) Find my own place to live with new roommates = 0% done.  I've been living with my boyfriend, which has been really really great and I'm so thankful to him and his roommates for letting me crash.  Still, I want to find a place with some cool chick roommates to have that independence and craziness.

3.) Make new/more friends = 1% done.  I've reconnected with old friends and friends of the house here, but I haven't yet made my own.  I'm hoping working somewhere local will help.

4.) Eat things besides Mac&Cheese and pizza = 5% done.  I got a really incredible cookbook for Christmas that I've finally been working through.  It's the easy recipes for now, so I've made an omelet, BLTs, and a chicken caesar salad from scratch (yup, made the dressing and baked the croutons).  But I've had pizza twice in the last 24 hours, the last fruit I had was a banana with cinnamon on top, and the last veggie I ate was in a mojito.

5.) Do yoga at least twice a week = 0% done.  Have you seen the price of yoga per month?!

6.) Jog a few times a week = 1% done. I've been waiting to buy an iPod shuffle with money from my bike sale.  It just sold so hopefully I'll be up and "running" in a few days.

7.) Make a financial investment = 10% done.  I've saved some money from grad money so I have the funds to invest, but I haven't met with anyone yet.  I'd like to wait until I have a steady income.

8.) Have better style = 2.5% done.  I'm going to be ambition and try to obtain 100 new pieces of wardrobe in the next year.  My closet and style badly need an update.  So far I've bought a peace-sign necklace, a snazzy white purse, and I'm in the process of getting some Rock Revival jeans shipped here. 

9.) A year from now, be able to be proud of something I've made and become = I don't think I'll be able to measure this until a year from now.

Check back in next month!

Day 9--The World Bank and Buffy the Vampire Slayer

About a 6 hours ago it was announced that Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was making a possible run for head of the World Bank, which would make her the first woman to run the Bank, and about 5 hours ago I got into a fight with someone over (among other things) the statement that men generally prefer to drive women vs being driven by women, himself included.

Which got me thinking about today's topic.  When was the first time you heard the word "feminist"?  

The first time I heard it I was the only freshmen in a senior-dominated art class in high school.  One of my peers asked me if I was a feminist.  I didn't know what it meant but it had a negative sound to it, so I answered, "I don't think so."  That girl, by the way, later told me that she was a decedent of slaves, and around March found out she on her way to an Ivy League in the East.

I have often thought of that question through the years.  Am I feminist?  I suppose so.  I feel that I deserve to be treated with equal respect as a human being, that I deserve the same opportunities as all human beings, and I did go to college and I pay my own bills.  But I don't mind changing my last name, or having the guy kill my spiders, or see what that noise was outside.  I don't mind being the passenger sometimes, but I demand to be the driver in my own life.

Which got me thinking: who are the female heroes for my age group?  Who are our mentors?  Who are we looking up to?  Or are the whispers true and we have to be our own role models because we don't have enough of them yet?

Here's the list of inspirational women for those of us in 18-28 age range who grew up hearing about, reading about, or watching these women.

Politically powerful women:

Hillary Rodham Clinton--Secretary of State, former US senator, former lawyer.  Responsible for foreign policy such as war and peace, communication, intelligence organization, and negotiations.  Was told as a child by NASA that women could not be astronauts. 

Condoleezza Rice -- former Secretary of State, former and current professor at Stanford University as an expert in international relations with a focus on the Middle East and Russia, and an accomplished pianist who once playing for Queen Elizabeth II.  Grew up in the violent segregated South.

  

Entertainers:

Oprah Winfrey--The first black female billionaire, host of the Oprah Winfrey Show which has inspired millions of books sold and millions of dollars earned for charity, on top of showcasing intimate issues of women.  Born into poverty by a teenage mother and sexually abused as a child.

J.K. Rowling--author of the Harry Potter series, which has sold millions of copies and is credited for sparking children to read again and exposing them to the allegories of racism and bravery.  Was a single mother on welfare when she wrote the series.

Fictional characters:

Buffy the Vampire Slayer--Buffy Summers, an ordinary girl who is told that she is the chosen slayer and must constantly have the courage and wit to protect her community from evil while finishing her homework.  An outcast with SoCal style.

Belle from Beauty and the Beast--Belle didn't marry for money and sacrificed herself to save her father's life.  She refused to take orders though she was a prisoner and tamed a beast while also enjoying mass amounts of literature.  An outcast with pretty hair.

I'm sure there are others, but these are the few that come to mind.  For every Elizabeth Bennett there is a Britney Spears and a Jessica Simpson.  For every Mulan there's a Cinderella and an underage Ariel.   Where are our heroes?  Where are our women?

On an ending note, I once gave my personal definition of a man being: a man is someone who can financially and emotional take care of himself, as well as financially and emotionally take care of another (ie. child, friend, parent, spouse).  The person I was talking to then asked, "What's your definition of a woman?".  I didn't know.  

A woman is the same I guess, but with a little more.  A sensuality and confidence about the body, maybe.  Or a strong sense of grace rather than masculine detached stoicism.  Maybe it's a charm about a woman.  I don't know.  But I do know that a woman DRIVES HER OWN FUCKING CAR THAT SHE PAID FOR HERSELF WITH GAS SHE PAID FOR, WHETHER A GUY'S IN THE PASSENGER SEAT OR NOT. 

(sigh).  Goodnight, femmies.

Day 8--Updates

I don't have much time to write tonight, but I do have some updates on my goal list.

Job: There's a 90% chance I'm going to be hired at a local coffee shop.  I talked to the owner today and blah blah blah I have 4 years experience blah blah blah, what's key is that she's about 5 ft tall, and short people like short people.  I interview with her daughter (the owner of the store I would be working at) tomorrow morning.

Do I want to work in coffee forever? No.  But as a part-time thing to pay my bills as I look to work for local papers (unpaid), I don't mind one more summer of lattes.  Plus I could use friends, and I've found that cafes usually harbor the intellectual/artsy/smoker/poet-types.

Also, I've picked out 2 writing samples for the SF internship and hopefully will be done with an application by the weekend. 

Making friends:  See above

Jogging/yoga a few times a week: Why the hell is yoga so expensive?  Seriously.  It's like $70 a month.  As my friend Breezy said, "It's not like you're shitting 20s." I think I'll wait until I get a job and ask around if any of the girls have a favorite yoga place they can recommend.

I haven't done any jogging.  This might change soon if I get a schedule going.  Also, I'd like to buy an iPod shuffle (my iPod in my pocket is a bit much when running), but I'm waiting on $$ from my bike sale and furniture sale back in AZ.

Eating better: Yes and no.  I had a lime in a mojito the other day...The fruits and veggies, not so much, so I need to get better with that.  I'd like to have 1 veg, and 1 fruit a day.  

On the bright side, I have been using that delightful cookbook I got for Christmas.  I'll write a review once I do a few more recipes.  This past week I made: an omelet, a chicken Caesar salad from scratch (including the croutons and dressing), and a few BLTs.  I just bought a cutting board and a new knife so I'm ready for more.

Gotta run!

Day 6: When signs drop in from SW Airlines

I am not a believer in signs, but sometimes they drop in from Southwest Airlines.

There is a magazine located in San Francisco I've been an admirer of since I stumbled upon it in Eng 416: Review Writing.  We had to pick a magazine as a faux host for each article we wrote, and time and time again I would end up picking this particular mag for its wit, entertainment, and relevancy.  

Flash-forward to now.  Three weeks ago I ended up in SF on a whim to visit an old friend and saw the city in a whole new light.  Now longer did I see it as a cesspit of heroin needles and homeless people, but as a city with crisp air and young energy.  I was listening to Jack Johnson with the windows down and was surprised as hell that I was handling the city driving just fine (one-ways usually freak me out).

A week ago I looked on the mag's site and found that they are eager for interns year-round.

This morning I got an email out of the blue from an aunt suggesting this magazine because her step-daughter interned there a few years ago.

And just a few minutes ago, completely unexpected, my boyfriend's dad dropped in from SF to say hi before he finished up his business trip.  

I think I'm going to apply. =)

Day 5--Robert Frost's haywire compass

The poet Robert Frost was a favorite in my elementary school, then again in my high school.  I used to memorize and recite his poems on Tuesday mornings and to this day I have a wealth of images stored in my brain of snow-covered forest trees and golden dirt pathways through the woods. 

Today I'm re-reading his most famous poem, 1916's "The Road Not Taken", which is about a traveler who finds himself at a crossroads in the forest and must make the decision to either walk down the beaten path, or the unused path.  

This poem is taught in school as a symbolism of individualism and taking a chance on risk rather than live with mundane expectations.  Life, however, is not a binary.  And what I'm finding as a post-grad is that there are too many paths, too many opportunity costs, and too much work to reach each one to turn back.  I'm rather paralyzed.  Here's a fun little chart:

My top favorite careers	Step 1	Step 2	Step 3	Finish
Magazine writer	Write for local papers writing crap I don't want to write, unpaid, to have resume (1 year)	Work for local magazine, unpaid, to have resume (1 year)	Move to SF or NY with an internship, unpaid (summer, longer)	Finally a magazine writer, hopefully paid enough for rent and life (total time ~3-5 years)
Editor for a book publishing company	Move to NY and try to get an internship (6 months)	Work as an underling for several years at the company (5-10 years)	Wait for a spot to open up (?)	Finally a book editor. (total time ~7-10 years)
Best-selling novelist	Write, write, write (lifetime)	Submit work and hope to be published, hopefully get an agent  (lifetime)	Keep writing and hope enough books sell that it can be a career (lifetime)	Never stop writing, hope the sells never stop (total time~ 1year-lifetime)
Professor of English and Media	Work for local papers/magazines (1-2 years)	Get an internship and a job down the road.  Work there several years to gain reputation (5-15 years)	Go to Grad school and PhD program, still work at mag (6-10 years)	Find a university to teach at. (total time ~ 20-30 years)

So there you go.  Three years to a lifetime of working, waiting.  Very unpaid.  A probable move to the East and for dubious results.  Can you see why I'm stuck?

I have a full page of local papers I'm going to contact tomorrow morning, and another page of theaters in the area I'm going to apply to as part-time work.  I also have a local directory of places I can try to work at.  I need to get to it. I need to put myself out there doing...something. Frustrated.  Discouraged.  Must have courage.