When I started this blog I had no idea what I was doing. Shoot, I didn't even know about the whole blog world out there... I just learned a couple of new recipes and wanted a way to share with my friends and family. There were no desires of 'making it big', no plans to 'be a blogger', none of that. Just a desire to learn to cook and share that experience with those near and dear to me.
And then my eyes were opened. Comments started coming in and friendships were formed and photography skills were grown. From where I started with my first post to all the way to today,a lot has changed. Now I know how to cook (more or less), can take pretty good pictures (most of the time), and am quite aware that a community exists in Blogland. And this week I hit my mark of what would define me as "a real blogger". I hit 100,000 pageviews!WOW! I said a long time ago that THAT would be my moment of realization that I am a part of this blogging world, and now I am here.
Really, though, things have remained the same -- my goal is not to be a famous blogger or even get the most pageviews/etc., but to have a place to share my cooking and life experiences with friends and family. It's just todaythat circle has widened, because now it includes YOU!
To celebrate, I went back and found my personal Top 10. If I could direct you to just 10 recipes on my blog, these would be it, but of course, I hope you check out more :) Enjoy!
(Click on any picture to be taken to the recipe.)
1. Strawberry Chocolate French Toast
2. Carrot and Sweet Potato Bisque
3. Avocado Pineapple Salsa
4. Tortellini with Butternut Squash, Sage, and Mushrooms
... represent the brave, the few, and the finest. From my family to all of those out there who have served, THANK YOU. Whether old or young, male or female, WWII all the way to Afghanistan, we salute you.
(Grandpa on the left, dad on the top, brother on the bottom right. I am proud of all veterans, but especially so of these three.)
I know, I know. I have really disappeared recently. And I can't say I am coming back soon. I will be back, I promise, but for now the posts will be few and far in between. Life is busy, good, but busy, and so cooking has been cut down to a minimum, and Trader Joe's frozen food has been cranked up to a maximum. It happens. I hope you will wait patiently for me to come back because, well, I like you. A lot. And I think (since you are reading this post) that you like me, too. So, give me a few weeks, and then we can resume our regularly scheduled life :)
But first, some very important things to share with you.
1. October Unprocessed was a success. Except for that candy-corn dish at work. Darn candy-corn.
(Year two? SO much easier than the first time around. SO MUCH EASIER. It sure does help that we eat that way a lot of the time after last year's super growth in October...)
2. Mashed Sweet Potatoes. They're a thing. An awesome thing. No pictures to share with you, but close your eyes and taste this: boiled sweet potatoes mixed with butter, a little bit of cream cheese, and a dash of nutmeg. Sprinkle with salt and pepper. PERFECT.
3. Rice has taken up a prominent place in my life recently. And I used to hate the stuff... goodness gracious, what I was missing out on!
4. I miss cooking. I really truly do. And I miss sharing what I am cooking. I am counting down the days of busyness to be able to do that again...
In the meantime, if you would like to follow along with while I am running to and fro, catch me on twitter -- @tiffanytastes You follow me, I follow you. Win-win.
(Found this flower on the ground, outside of the mall, almost getting stepped on.
It was too beautiful to ignore, even in the midst of a hectic life...)
Ten years have come and gone since I got the phone call that rattled my world. Being 19 and finding out your mother passed in the night is not something that anyone can prepare for, nor know how to navigate. But I was supported by friends and family, and some people I didn't even know... Really, I suffered loss, but I gained love.
My brother and I took time this year to celebrate on anniversary of that day. I remember singing a song in high school that said, "There'll be joy in the morning on that day.." I know of the day that song spoke of, but I also know this: TODAY there is joy. My morning has come.
A few years back, while teaching on the island of Ebeye, I encountered a problem with words. It started while reading Encyclopedia Brownwith my 5th graders.
"Then Encyclopedia and... and..." the little girl stopped.
"Phoebe," I suggested.
"... and" then she dropped her voice down to a whisper, "Phoebe followed the trail.
Popcorn Manty." She let out a sigh of relief and relaxed back into her chair.
It was Manty's turn to read, but he just looked at the book for a moment. Finally he read, "Fo-ay-bee and Encyclopedia..."
"Phoebe, it's Phoebe."
"Um, ok... 'she picked up her magnifying glass and looked down at the ground.' Popcorn Bokjuwa." Another sigh of relief, another body relaxing into a wooden chair.
Man, I thought, what is with these kids today? You would think that after me telling them it is Phoebe for the fifteenth time, they would get it. But no, Bokjuwa had the same problem. Except hers was pronounced like Foo-bay.
"Guys, it's Fee-bee. FEE-BEE. Say it with me."
Silence.
And then a hand shot up. "Miss?" Pamela called out, "Um, that name, that word, um..." She hesitated for a minute and then blurted it out, "In our language it means, you know, a girl's..." Then she glanced down at her crotch.
Oops.
I learned a valuable lesson that day. Don't name your daughter Phoebe if there is any chance she may live in the Marshall Islands some day.
It wasn't long after that my roommate and I were making some couscous for dinner. A neighbor girl, originally from the island of Pohnpei, was doing her homework at out table. Lisa and I kept talking, but every time we said "couscous" Dixie started to giggle. Finally, I asked her what was up.
"Oh Miss! Couscous," giggle giggle, "it means something kind of bad in my language." And then she giggled some more.
So, couscous. What does it mean in Pohnpeian? Like she said, something 'kind of bad'. Not anything I can repeat here, being family-friendly and all. I will let your imaginations run with that one. But let's just say that every time I cook couscous, I giggle.
But dinner tonight? No giggling needed. Straight-up good. Good for you, good tasting, and good on the wallet. Tilapia with bell pepper and some parsley spiked couscous.
Couscous.
*Giggle, giggle*
Recipe from Everyday with Rachael Ray, March 2011
Serves: 4 Prep Time: 10 minutes Total Time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
1 7.6ounce box couscous
1/2cup plus 2 tablespoons chopped flat-leaf parsley
In a small saucepan, bring 1 1/2 cups salted water to a boil; remove from the heat, stir in the couscous, cover and let stand for 5 minutes. Using a fork, stir in 1/2 cup parsley, salt and pepper. Keep warm.
Meanwhile, in a large nonstick skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over medium-high heat. Season the fish with salt and pepper, add to the pan and cook, turning once, until golden-brown and just cooked through, 5 to 7 minutes. Transfer to a serving platter, squeeze a wedge of lemon over each fillet and tent with foil to keep warm.
Using the same skillet, heat the remaining 1 tablespoon olive oil. Add the bell peppers and onion and season with salt and pepper; cook until softened and golden-brown, 6 to 8 minutes. Spoon the vegetables over the tilapia and sprinkle with the remaining 2 tablespoons parsley. Serve with the couscous and remaining lemon wedges.
I mean, I try really really hard to be a good one. Tip-toe through the apartment at night to not disturb the people downstairs, offer to help the old lady next door to carry up her groceries... see? Proof that I TRY to be a good neighbor. And I would have said that I was ACTUALLY a good neighbor, until the other day showed me otherwise.
My neighbor was walking toward her apartment, laundry basket in front of her large, pregnant belly.
"Baby is almost here, right?" I asked. "Probably just a few more days?"
She looked at me with an odd expression for a few seconds and then said, "She is already here. She was born three weeks ago."
WHA...? I walk past their door how many times a day? How on earth did I miss that?!
See, not as good of a neighbor as I thought.
But this weeks 'Sundays with Joy' recipe totally made up for that. I mean, who could think I am a bad neighbor when I bring them a nice, fresh loaf of vegan pumpkin walnut bread? And on Pumpkin Day no less? Yeah, that's what I thought. I pulled it out of the oven and let it cool, and then wrapped it up (with what I had on hand, which is why that is yarn), and headed over, being all good-neighborly.
So maybe I am not so much of a bad neighbor as an unaware one...
Wanna be a good neighbor? Joy's recipe makes two perfect pumpkin loaves, great for sharing. Or great for keeping all to yourself. It's OK, I won't tell anyone ;)
PS -- Yes, I am sharing my usual Sunday post today, on a Friday. That's because today is National Pumpkin Day and, more importantly, I have very special thing to share with you on Sunday. So come back and check it out! See you then :)
It has been ages since I have posted a new recipe. And by ages I mean two weeks. But when you love to cook, two weeks can seem like ages.
Yesterday, though, the business slowed down a bit and the rain paused long enough for me to do what I enjoy. Who cares that there was laundry to be done and work to do? The conditions outside were right, and I wanted to cook.
This is not actually a new recipe. In fact, this was one of my original recipes on this blog. But it was time to do it again. What can I say -- my pictures in the early days were atrocious. ATROCIOUS. Oh well, I have lived and I have learned. And I needed an easy unprocessed recipe for dinner. What's easier than pasta??? I like the ingredients on this bag of penne: organic whole wheat flour. YES.
Pesto is always so easy to make if you have a food processor, and this pesto is no different: walnuts, garlic, parsley, olive oil, and lemon juice. Mix it up and that's it.
The recipe called for cooked mushrooms and spinach, but there was no spinach to be found in my fridge... but there were brussel sprouts! Yes, you heard me correctly -- I added brussel sprouts. Don't yuck my food just yet. These things taste good when cooked right! And I cooked them right :)
The end result? A fast, unprocessed, vegan meal that you can make in 20 minutes or less. And a happy, happy Tiffany.
Man, it feels good to be back in the kitchen!
Recipe adapted from Everyday Food with Rachael Ray, August 2010
Ingredients
1 pound whole wheat penne rigate pasta
1/4cup plus 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil
2 cups white mushrooms (about 5 ounces), thinly sliced
1 cup brussel sprouts, leafed or spinach
4 cloves garlic
1 cup walnut pieces (about 4 ounces), toasted
1/2cup coarsely chopped parsley
Grated peel and juice of 1/2 lemon
Salt and pepper
Directions
In a large pot of boiling, salted water, cook the pasta until al dente, about 12 minutes. Drain, reserving 1 cup of the pasta cooking water, and return the pasta to the pot.
Meanwhile, in a large skillet, heat 2 tablespoons olive oil over high heat. Add the mushrooms and cook, stirring, until lightly colored, about 5 minutes. Stir in the brussel sprout leaves and cook until wilted, about 1 minute.
Using a small food processor, mince the garlic. Add the walnuts, parsley and lemon peel and process until finely chopped. With the machine on, add the lemon juice and remaining 1/4 cup olive oil; season with salt and pepper. Process to form a paste.
Add the walnut pesto and 1/2 cup of the reserved pasta water to the pasta; toss to coat thoroughly. Stir in the mushroom mixture, adding more pasta water if needed; season with salt and pepper.
