a small life. with a lot of food and booze.

Here's what I am NOT doing right now:

I am not cleaning out my attic.  

I am not going through my kids' rooms and finally clearing out all the memorabilia choking the shelves.  

I am not gardening: it literally snowed today in Chicago.  

I am not learning a new language or instrument or writing a book, 🖕Gwynneth. 

 I am not reading much:  

I normally read about a book a week and it took me three to finish Circe, which I loved.  

The reality is that Doug, Dylan and I are all working at home and when 5 o'clock rolls around I am just DONE.  

What I am doing is this:  

I am watching a lot of shows with my husband.  

 

How can it be over??

I am drinking a lot. 

I am reconnecting with old friends (everyone is around!  and has time to talk! and craves it!) 

I am exercising a lot (week 7 of IM training, without the swimming, although I can't imagine this thing will be a go in September but who knows.)  

God bless the Peleton

I am zooming with our kids and our families, which is so fun (sorry, no pictures of Holt zoom.)

 I am hanging out with the old and lovable Hubble, who is about to turn 15 and is in a perpetual state of, what the hell happened to my 23-hours-of-napping-a-day-life?
He's at my feet most of my work day and it's so sweet.

I am hanging out with Doug and Dylan.  We have instituted game nights with Dylan, who should be hanging with his buddies at U of I and celebrating the victory of his team in the NCAA tournament(!) and instead is hanging with M&D and being an extremely good sport about it.

And, friends, I am cooking.  A lot!  Nothing too fancy, because I am relying heavily on what's in the pantry and the freezer so I don't have to go to the scary grocery store very often. 

Sooooooooo

I am worried about my pregnant niece and my ER-doctor nephew and my unemployed family members and my mom living alone and my in-laws and the  20 million people out of work and college students who have to live at home and/or who are graduating into this economy.  It's all so fraught and unprecedented and worrisome. But I also have to say, there is a certain grace that has come with living a very small life again.  With spending so little money and driving so little.  With playing games.  With reconnecting with friends here and friends Far away who I haven't been in touch with in years.  I'm grateful that Corey is safe in Korea, that Noah is doing ok in Asheville and that I continue to enjoy the company of these two dudes in my house.  It's nice not to be busy for a change.

I really hope you find one or all of these recipes to be useful, friends. 

And I really that this bullshit ends soon.
Please stay safe.

Linguine with Clam Sauce 

Cook up a lb of linguine and rinse the pasta

Saute a chopped onion and some garlic (1 tsp chopped?) in some olive oil (2 Tbsp?) until onions are translucent.

 Add 2 cans of minced clams with their yummy juices

Add a ton of crushed red pepper if that's your thing.  

Squeeze a fresh lemon in

You can add a little wine wine for an extra boost of flavor. I probably add 1/3 cup

Let the whole situation simmer for ten minutes or so, then add a handful of chopped parsley.  

Add it all together and enjoy.  YUM.

I also roasted some asparagus.  wash, dry and toss with a little olive oil.  spread out on a baking sheet and Cook at 375 for ten minutes or so, shaking it every so often.

This stuff is really yummy to sprinkle on top.  or you can go with lemon zest and black pepper.

Voila

Next:  I literally looked in my pantry and fridget he other night to see what I had on hand.

Kalamata olives

cherry tomatoes

artichoke hearts

So I decided to make a mediterranean pasta situation.

I sauteed some onions, as per, then added half of a large jar of marinated artichoke hearts. 

I added just a little bit of the marinade into the pan and also added some chicken broth (you could use wine if you prefer)

I halved the cherry tomatoes and threw them in with the olives and heated it on high heat, then reduced it to low/simmer and let it go until the tomatoes started to break down.

I had some leftover shrimp that I had roasted on Easter, so I threw them in, natch.

If I had had fresh basil and feta cheese on hand this would have been an A+.  As it was, I used dried basil and salt and pepper and tossed it up with some pasta and it was really stinkin good. Solid A-

Last but not least, I made some tilapia piccata, which is definitely one of our go-tos around here.  I can't get enough of piccata - I always have tilapia in the freezer and always have lemons, parsley and capers on hand.   I didn't take pictures but it's super easy:

Tilapia Piccata

Rinse and dry about 4 tilapia fillets, salt & pepper them then coat them in flour

Heat up 2 Tbsp olive oil in a fry pan, heat to med-high.  Add the fish and cook about 2 minutes each side, until golden brown. Remove and set aside.

If you are a mushroom person, saute them  in the same pan.

Deglaze the pan with about 1/2 cup white wine, whisk for about a minute, add about 1/2 cup fresh squeezed lemon juice and a little broth if you have it.

Add 2Tbsp capers and 2 Tbsp butter, let simmer a couple minutes.

Pour sauce over the fish and add a ton of freshly chopped parsley.

Time warp

I feel like I'm living in a time-warp.  We went from a (very brief) empty nest with minimal food on hand and meals out on the fly to having a couple large men and me in the house all the time, eating three meals and multiple snacks every day. Meal planning is back in my life, and these dudes are SO thankful for the food that's served.

We are - you, me, all of us - adjusting to this bizarre new reality, and I am trying not to let the scary state of the world get too deeply in my head.  And there is something comforting in knowing we are ALL going through this.  I feel so badly that Dylan is begin robbed of his freshman year in college and then I think, every college freshman in America is going through the same thing!  And Noah is temporarily laid off, and I feel so badly, and then I realize, so were 10 million other Americans. I don't know why that's comforting, but it is.  So I try to stay thankful for my work and my house and focus on the next meal and the next cocktail to get me through the day.  That's about all I can muster, honestly;  food and cocktails.  Projects, even books elude me right now, but the cooking and the drinking are in full force around here.

April in Chicago break my heart every single year - it's still bare and cold out there.  I don't know why I ever expect it to be any different.  So you lucky/sane ones might be turning your attention to spring vegetables and the grill but I"m still making straight up hygge food over here.  Like, for example, the noble meatball.

In difficult times, one can always make some meatballs.  You cannot go wrong.   These are my current faves.

Turkey Pesto Meatballs

2 lb ground turkey breast

1-1/2 cups  plain bread crumbs

1/2 cup basil pesto

1/3 cup grated Parmesan cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon fresh ground black pepper

2 eggs whites

 Mix it alllllll up

Form the meatballs.  It made about 2 dozen meatballs.

Bake them at 375 for about 25 minutes

 I made a quick spaghetti sauce but you could easily buy a jar of sauce.

minced an onion and sauteed it and some garlic

 added about 1tsp oregano and basil

 threw in a large can of whole tomatoes (smoosh them up)

added a 14 ounce can of tomato paste and refilled the can with water

Simmer for a while - at least a half hour but longer is always better with tomato sauce

Dump the meatballs in the sauce

 I like to serve them up on slider buns but you could make grinders, on top of spaghetti, whatevs.

We also roasted up a head of cauliflower - cut into florets, toss with S&P and a couple tablespoons of olive oil.  Roast at 400 for about 20 minutes, tossing every five minutes or so.

Yay!

And because eating out is not allowed these days, which is sad (although we do take-out at least twice a week to support our local restaurants.  Yes, it's all because we're so supportive and not because I don't want to cook more than four times a week.  It's true!), I am obsessed with  my favorite Bluestone salad so attempted to made a Kale Quinoa Salad of my own

Wash and trim some kale.  Fold it along the spine, cut the spine out (sounds so aggressive) then cut the kale crosswise, into strips. I used one large bunch of kale

 cook up a cup of quinoa per instructions

 toast some pecans or almonds or walnuts which you hopefully/jubilantly find in your pantry

toast them a pan for a couple minutes at medium heat -turning often.  DON'T WALK AWAY

grab some craisins

 dice a couple avocados

 grate some parmesan with the adorable but highly impractical cheese grater you have.
or use pre-shredded if you don't want to grate the shit out of your fingers.

 Assemble it all.  Make a lemon vinaigrette.  

1 part fresh lemon juice, 2 parts olive oil, good dash of salt and pepper.

Toss.  Enjoy.  It is sublime.  

Stay safe, y'all.

Hunkered Down

Hellloooooooo there.  It's been a minute.  Or a year.  I sort of lost steam on this project after my beautiful nephew James' death, and wasn't inspired to pick it back up.  Until now.  The world is upside down, we are all in our homes, so it seems as good a time as any to talk about cooking again.  And drinking.

So let's pick this back up, shall we?

Recap of 2019:
Noah moved to Asheville, NC. Working as a cook to pay the bills and making his way as a budding musician to feed his soul.  (Audiogoblin).

Corey graduated from College of Wooster, got certified as an International English teacher, worked in a restaurant while she waited for paperwork, visas, etc. Left February 16th for South Korea, approximately one week before Corona virus took over South Korea, and now the rest of the world.  Schools were closed, then scheduled to reopen, then delayed, but they are hoping that the new reopen date of April 1 will hold.   South Korea has been a model in all of this, I tell you what: ubiquitous testing, radically transparent communications, widespread use of tech tools to empower its citizens with knowledge.  Amazing. 

Dylan graduated from ETHS and started his freshman year in the Gies school of Business at University of Illinois.  Fraternity, U of I b-ball, buddies from home, Big Ten life.  He has had a fantastic start there and loves the place. And now he's home - the rest of the year will be online.  Not the way he expected to end his freshman year,  but he's rolling with it,

Doug and I had exactly four weeks of the nest being empty! Thankfully we both still have our jobs and we're all just hunkered down.  I am jealous of friends and family who have all their people under their roofs, but we're so glad to have Dylan here, and we're all getting used to the rhythm of the partially-refilled nest. 

So I've been cooking.  This week, soup. 

  Slow Cooker Chicken Tortilla Soup

This is one of our standbys.  I did not have all the ingredients but was not going to venture out to the scary grocery store again so one must make do, you know?

Into the crock pot you throw:

2 chicken breasts (or any cut of chicken)

1 chopped onion

1 can rinsed black beans

1 can diced tomatoes with juices

1 diced jalapeno if you have one and like the kick.  

tsp ish of minced garlic

1 tsp cumin

1 tsp chili powder

1-1/2 cups chicken broth, 1-1/2 cups water (or any combo of the two)

Cook it low and slow for six or so hours.

 remove the chicken and shred it

 throw back in the pot

 crush some tortilla chips on the bottom of your bowl

Ladle the soup right on top.  

Add some chopped cilantro if you have it, cheese if you like it, hot sauce if you go for that. 

Enjoy.  It's so good.

 Then we get to the cocktail situation.

One of the upsides of this madness is that I am reconnecting on a regular basis with some old friends.  My college housemates and I have had a chat ongoing for days.  We were discussing food, drinks, our home bar setups and favorite cocktails - I have been making a cocktail of the day most days - and Rebecca said her current favorite is a
Corpse Reviver No.2.  

I had never heard of it.  And to make it I had to go to the (scary? exciting?) liquor store.  But people?  Worth it. So good!

 This is my favorite citrus squeezer.  I know, it's disgusting, but it was a wedding gift and is so trusty and gets the job done.  Tragically, I dropped it on the floor last week and bent one of its legs.  I stuck it in the vise and straightened it out but, as you know, metal does not respond to breaks and bends very well, and I think I have to -sob- admit that I need a new one.  Isn't that SO SAD?  

Anyway, this drink calls for you to rinse a chilled martini glass in absinthe.  Absinthe!  Remember this painting? The Absinthe Drinker by Degas.  It haunted me as a student.  

In Paris in mid 1800s absinthe was a popular drink, known for its high alcohol content and associated with bohemian culture, so became a target of the prohibitionists, and rumors swirled that it would make you crazy or hallucinate.  When I zoomed with my family later that evening, with the cocktail in hand, and said there was absinthe in it, Ellie said, doesn't absinthe make you blind?  I think it just, if you drink too much of it,  makes you drunk.

It's got a licorice/anise flavor and I love me some licorice, so if this quarantine goes on forever the above photo may well resemble me. 

 ANYWAY

 you chill your martini glass

 you rinse it with a dash of absinthe

 you add the rest of the ingredients into your cocktail shaker: fresh lemon juice, cointreau, gin and a french apertif called Lillet Blanc.  Shake.  Pour. Enjoy.

The weather still SUCKS in Illinois, making this in-home business harder, but it is indeed good weather for soup, fires,  games, puzzles and zooming with the fam.

Hang in there, everyone.   Stay safe.