h o m e * e c o n o m i c s

secret cure for gout!

Should I be worried that Google is targeting me with ads such as "Like cake? Are you a fatty? Take our quiz and find out" and "Secret cure for gout"? [Update: latest query from Google: "Do you have a fat belly?"]

Gout or no gout, I am having trouble thinking about anything but the recipe for palmiers in this month's Gourmet. To be tested soon, I assure you.

m minus ? (where m stands for move-in)

Now that the initial rush of believing the apartment to be done has worn off, I am reverting to form and seeing what remains to be done more readily than what has been done already. Imagine my dismay, for instance, on one of the first miserably humid days of summer when I went to measure my window for an air conditioner and found that it had been painted shut, as in a chintzy rental.   That can be fixed, and other imperfections can be lived with (and even construed as charming, I keep telling myself), but  I don't know how the place will ever get clean. Today Andrew and I made a good stab at the bedroom--sweeping over and over--but dust has accumulated in the deep old grain of the wood. Then we swabbed the floor with gentle wood furniture polish, in hopes of getting up some of the dust and leaving the wood more supple. Above is the dinner we made to reward ourselves: salmon, wild spinach, and pan roasted potatoes. And here is Andrew at work on the floor--see how dusty the unmopped portion is.

scenes from a beautiful weekend

Here is a confession: I find the farmer's market kind of intimidating. We've been told that we're supposed to be eating perfect food perfectly in season, and buying it has become a sacrament, a chance for the soul-starved city dweller to commune with the natural order and to form meaningful relationships with the  people who truly understand it. But, being my shy self, I have yet to count among my friends someone whose acquaintance I made by asking him "what's that strange knobby thing, and how do I cook it?" Intimidated or not, I love to wander through the piles of vegetables and flowers, looking at the people and getting a little glowy if the sun is out. This weekend the sun was out, and thank goodness I had help for the dreaded lugging home of

a bunch of chamomile, a bunch of wild spinach (fuzzy and substantial, with pointed edges), a bag of regular spinach, a bag of apples (that turned out not to be great), some fingerling potatoes, a bag of mini yellow potatoes, a bunch of spring garlic, and a CHICKEN (I have bought eggs at the Greenmarket, but never chicken!)

I was especially excited about the spring garlic but then could not find anything to do with it--the books with suggestions must all be in storage (their liberation is near at hand, thank goodness). It had a great shock of leaves that left a fragrant trail as we walked from Union Square to the 1.

For dinner Saturday we had spinach salad with strawberries (from Gristede's, since there were none left at the market) and balsamic vinaigrette, roast chicken that had been stuffed with the spring garlic, and the fingerlings that sat beneath the chicken in the roasting pan.

Sunday I went crazy with leftovers, and we had buttermilk pancakes with sugared strawberries (which ended up tasting like strawberry shortcake...highly recommend, perhaps with some whipped cream!), chicken salad with homemade mayonnaise (so gratifying! I didn't even have a whisk, but it came together with a fork), beans and kale, and, because there was a sad plea for something chocolate, brownie tart from Barefoot in Paris. Having gone to the store expressly for brownie tart ingredients, I found upon my return that I had bought salted instead of unsalted butter. And I had the wrong sized pan, and I did not make the creme anglaise to go with (substituting whipped cream). Anyway--it was not my favorite chocolate dessert, but I would like to give it another go with better chocolate, the right butter, the right pan, and maybe without the instant coffee crystals, which taste I'm not at all sure I like.

Tonight I was absurdly pleased with my wealth of leftovers and enjoyed a gorgeous salad of spinach, chicken, bacon, roast potatoes, green beans, and mayonnaise. My favorite thing about making mayonnaise is feeling obliged to find things to eat it on!

a la recherche...

This month I ate a lot of food that did not make it up here due to apartment + job hunt + Gothamist + social obligations. Seeing as one of the main points of this enterprise is to serve as a sort of eating and cooking scrapbook--to combat the continually dismaying dissolution of one day into the next--I am as ever a bit disappointed in myself. But I'll try to be plucky: pack up leftovers, wash dishes, wipe down counters, and get ready to do it all again tomorrow. Here are some of the things I made.

Soupy rice with peas from Fast Food My Way. Blandly comforting; much improved by addition of salt and pepper.

Basic muffins from The Joy of Cooking. Did not compare to more interesting muffins from last fall, the heyday of muffin making. Need to keep more berries-oatmeal-etc. on hand.

Baked ziti from an old Mark Bittman piece. Unbelievably satisfying and tasty, thanks to spicy Italian pork sausage from Whole Foods. Prompted the suggestion, "we should make baked ziti every Friday night so we can eat it all weekend long." The pound cake of pasta recipes: 1lb. sausage, 1lb. mozzarella, 1lb. pasta. Yikes.

Baked chicken with chili powder and honey from May Gourmet. Recipe here. Solid weeknight food. Baked on a bed of sweet potatoes, which became wonderfully greasy and spicy.

Succotash with edamame instead of lima beans from May Gourmet. Recipe here. Better received by some than others. Frozen, shelled edamame nice to have around.

Soba noodles with shitake mushrooms from Encore with Claudine. Including ginger, garlic, and jalapeno, a bit more complicated than the Nigella version I am accustomed to. But just as clean and earthy tasting and filling.

Tuna with tapenade from Encore with Claudine. More on this later, most likely. We overcooked the tuna, but that couldn't spoil it. Went surprisingly well with the soba and shitake--all strong, earthy flavors.

Poached pears with chocolate sauce from Encore with Claudine. A little too sweet, perhaps because I bought the wrong chocolate, but you can't argue with pears and chocolate sauce.

Baked skinless chicken thighs smeared with adobo sauce and canned chipotles to use in tacos, quesadillas, and nachos. Inspired by Gourmet...exciting new discovery: you can smear anything on chicken thighs and cook them at 425 for 30 or 35 minutes. Yum.

I bought real parmesean cheese for something and can't remember what; it was only because I had that that I made the soupy rice with peas. Hmmm.