President's Day Weekend...

After School Snack!

....was a bust.... I had this gigantic list of things to do... and well.. I don't think I  accomplished much. The only thing I did was cook and eat. I feel my waist expanding more and more now... because I left my apt a total of one glorious time... in the 3.5 days off... and that was to buy groceries. I kind of liked it tho. I did things at my pace, which apparently is really slow... because I didn't actually do anything. I liked just being alone... enjoying my apt living, and day dreaming about all the wonderful things I can cook in the future. I think my mind needs some adjustment... hopefully by the end of this week my anxiety level won't be as high.

I've also come to the rough conclusion that cooking does not necessarily mean that I'm saving money. In undergrad I gave myself a budget of around 20 dollars a week for groceries...and I stood by that pretty easily (unless I went to Trader Joe's.) I went all over town to get the best deals on food even hitting up 3 stores at a time!.. and I went whenever I needed something or an escape.... which could amount to 5 times a week...Those were the days.... where food was a little bit cheaper and I had the convenience of an assigned parking spot in my complex. Sure, I love retail therapy at a mall.. but food therapy at the store is much more affordable... and probably .. just to me.. much more exciting... I don't go and pick and choose random things that look good..... you know when they circle your savings on the receipt... that's always my favorite part. It's a goal of mine to save at least 30% when I shop....which reminds me not to go super crazy.... there's a time and place for super crazy food spendings... I leave that up to my infrequent trips to whole foods and trader joes... :)

Nowadays... I shop for mainly one reason.... totally non food related... because I need to move my car for street cleaning... yep...I figured... I'm in the car anyway... might as well go somewhere! Nothing beats heading down to the marina to shop at the safeway... such a beautiful drive down the hill and talk about the great scenery when I'm in the parking lot. I've also been known to take a detour to the marina green to watch the sky turn amazing colors around sunset by the golden gate bridge....to remind myself how fortunate that I'm here right now.... However, what I hate is when I get back and circle the block 10 times to find a spot.... I think the longest I've spent driving around was 40 minutes... I'm a picky parker!

I had a 2 minute freak out because I realized I spent 80 bucks on groceries this week...yea.. for a single skinny gal!....but then I realized I can probably last 2 weeks with everything. I love to wander around the grocery stores just like I would at the mall..... I would spend an hour in the store... seriously slowly walking down every aisle to see what's out there and what can inspire me to make something amazing. I absolutely love the grocery store... as weird as that sounds. It's where I can secretly and silently be creative. No one knows anything about who I am and how I am as a cook... but I'm sure they're judging of the contents in my cart.

I've thought about it a lot this weekend... I should try to budget my spendings a little better.... but then I saw the breakdown and realized.. who am I kidding... I love good food... I like fresh things...and well.. I'm trying to be as gourmet as I can.... On average I spend 100 a month at the grocery store... and anywhere from 20-30 bucks on eating out a week... and that's usually on one meal...I'm still making it back to my apt everyday for lunch! I'm sure I can do better...but I made a vow to myself to let go of the ramen diet ... for good...even if it means spending a lot more on groceries.... so far it's been worth it. I have more energy and I am happier because I get great joys from seeing my creations... especially on the blog... and well I'm sure my mom would be proud as well.. but she sadly I think she still doesn't know that I can cook.... I think she's in denial haha.... I'm hoping to change that... I've been showing her my blog recently just to prove to her that I've been taking care of myself... and even then.. I don't think she gets it. "why are there holes in your bread (no knead bread.. the holes were things I wanted in that bread?)  ... stop buying cheap meats! (stew meats.. shoulders.. butts.. are cheap... apparently... No I don't go out and buy filet mignon and stew that...) ... why do you cook with so much wine (I told her I ran out and she went around the house looking for wine... then I told her I only cook with the cheapest wine at the store... she didn't get it.. I was definitely not going to deglaze my pan with my dad's special occasion wine...)" ....and my personal favorite of all her freak outs... "where do you get the beer? ... you drink beer? No you don't. Girls don't drink beer." ... if only she knew how much I love tasting beers and pairing them with foods... but in her mind she probably had a horrific image of me downing cans of budweiser... hm..yea..  I would be worried too if that was my daughter.... my mom is so funny sometimes.

Sat:
Breakfast- lemon poppy seed loaves, mini eggo waffles, milk with puffins Lunch- bacon chard pasta, Dinner- veal stew with mash, Dessert, Ice cream and salted caramel sauce
Sun:
Breakfast- lemon poppy seed slices, bacon black forest provolone sandwich, lunch, veal stew with mash, dinner, ramen (yes.. cheating!) with chard and mushrooms, scallions pancakes (Recipe to follow) dessert, warmed caramel candies
Mon:
breakfast: pineapple with plain yogurt, granola and creamed honey, toast, lunch: frozen pizza, Dinner, beef stroganoff, iceberg wedge with ranch and shaved parmesan and asiago cheese, Dessert, salted vanilla earl grey dark hot chocolate.. I added the salted part because I put around 2 too many shakes of salt... man... sea salt is strong!... I've been over salting everything lately!

It was a good weekend in terms of food. I was very satisfied :)

Steps to making scallion pancakes

When I read recipes... different things run through my mind... and it's not quite technical.... here's a look into my thought process.. 

For the dough, measure 1 cup flour (all purpose works out the best, these pics were of 1/2 whole wheat and 1/2 ap flour,) 1/2 cup of the hottest tap water you can get... mix it up with a spoon in a large bowl, let it rest for 30 minutes. 

In the mean time... chop up the onions... scallions? ... 

When the dough is well rested... divide it into 3 pieces

on a floured surface knead it out until it's not sticky, flour the pin as well... roll it out so it's a long piece of dough... brush on oil, sprinkle sale and add onions ... roll it up like a jelly roll, then like a cinnamon bun... turn it so the cinnamon bun is like a snail shell, push it down, roll it out...

preheat pan with oil, fry for 2 minutes on each side on med-hi heat... or until desired crispness. 

easier done than said. here's a better recipe.. I did the steps a little differently.. but same idea I guess... well I hope? I got a flaky result as well!  

http://www.seriouseats.com/recipes/2011/04/extra-flaky-scallion-pancakes-recipe.html