Before I forget, I'd better write these down - the 5 new things I plan to learn to cook this year (photos of which you are all looking out for). Here they are:
- Chow mein (recipe from Marcus, aiming at that UK Chinese takeaway flavour)
- Tomato sauce for pasta (Sicilian-style from Stefania, arrabiatta from Tommaso)
- Corned beef and cabbage (by St Patrick's Day I guess!)
- Spanish omelette (I even have the right little pan and everything)
- Risotto (mushroom to start with, then we'll see)
I always feel better with a specific plan. Other resolutions are going well, almost across the board, and even into the unwritten ones! I went to work and worked yesterday (except for one football-related email and 5 mins out to sing happy birthday down the phone to a friend). I was 30 mins later into work but hey, work-life balance is going to improve I reckon. I also set up a direct debit, told Quetin about playing 4 rounds of golf and then discussed club-buying optionswith him, organised Matt's python hints into a website (coming soon, Will!), had salad for lunch yesterday, and am smiling as I type! Now, am I doing all of this so I don't have to get contacts? Hmm.
7 Comments:
Good work! Good progress Phil! Salad is great - and I'm all evangelical about olive oil - its the real golden nectar!
I can help you with risotto - I love risotto! The great thing is, once you can do a basic risotto you can do any risotto!
I've had particular success (if I do say so myself) with a Pea, Prawn and Mint Risotto. Yum.
You do have to stir and stir and stir though! And don't overcook the rice otherwise it ends up like porridge!
Good luck! I'll post complete risotto recipe instructions if you like!
I am astounded by your enthusiasm for salad - perhaps you have just never had lunch at the Ucen at UCSB. Risotto is, however, a different matter!
Tiny update - my collaborators are trying to get me to go to the Big Island observing in March or May - I am not only resisting, for energy consumption reasons, but also advocating all of us staying in CA and using our remote obs rooms. Interesting to see how the faculty in question respond to the suggestion that they do NOT go and play with their hundred million dollar 10-m telescopes...
More on my enthusiasm for salad: when its hot I can live off it - I find the trick is to be adventurous with what you put in your salads (Barcelona and the Catalans taught me this).
Thus, salad with walnuts and goat's cheese, salad with cured meats, salad with toasted pine seeds or salad with anchovies if that's your thing (its not my thing). Salad with skinned and sliced apple pieces is good too - and it goes well with goat's cheese. And last of all, but probably my favourite - the tuna salad - my staple evening meal in the summer. (It turns into a baked potato and tuna in the winter, not as good, but it is hot).
The ultimate tuna salad (or how to eat like a modern bourgeois peasant):
- Your favourite green leaves and lettuce (I like the strong flavoured ones - the curly red one and most of the dark green ones)
- Chopped spring onions (sorry Tara)
- Tomatoes, quartered. (Ideally deep red vine-grown ones that smell so aromatic you want to eat them instead of a chocolate bar.)
- A tin of dolphin friendly lightmeat tuna steak in olive oil
- No need for a fancy dressing - just olive oil and balsamic vinegar
- Serve with a crusty wholemeal baguette and more olive oil and balsamic to dip your bread into (you'll also want the bread for mopping up the last bits of oily salad)
- A glass of red wine washes down rather well with this!
Salad evangelizing over.
Also, I am thoroughly impressed by your resistance to the call of the Big Island. A carbon and flying related question: if you pay to "off-set" your carbon emissions, could you go? What is your opinion on carbon off-setting generally?
Yessss! Moxley and I made spanish omelette and pretty much nailed it. We had salad too, Phil! With radishes. I am beginning to feel unstoppable.
phil k, your tribute to salad is full of great ideas that i'm going to be using. the only things i can contribute on top of that, phil, are that switching up the lettuce from time to time is helpful, and i like having a variety of textures.
ken shen, i think i'm going to forgo work on my thesis and instead focus on growing the ingredients for the perfect salad with you in my backyard. when my adviser asks for a progress update, i'll just bring him a delightfully local, organic, raw, natural, delicious salad (in a container made from recycled plastic and one of those spudware forks).
awesome, i can't wait to get to work!
i'm excited for you and your salad garden already! a tomato growing tip - tara grew tomatoes when we were living in oxford together and had a lot of success with small cherry tomatoes. growing tasty versions of the larger varieties is tough with the amount of sunshine we get in England. Less likely to be a problem in Santa Barbara though!
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