And I'm back...

Once upon a time I blogged about the food I prepared and enjoyed.  Then life got a bit crazy, and the time I had to blog disappeared.
Well, I am happy to announce that I am back and ready to blog!  A lot has changed over the past 18 months... Boyfriend and I moved across the country, started new jobs, reconnected with old friends, and have had absolutely no time to cook or bake. So don't worry - you have not missed anything!

Life in Northern California made it easy to cook... there was always a local farmer's market with fresh produce, a close grocery store with a parking lot, and 8 hour work days that left me plenty of time for hobbies when I got home.

Life in Boston - not so much.

I now live in the middle of a bustling city with all 4 seasons, work at least 10 hours a day, and use my feet or bicycle as primary modes of transportation.  Needless to say, my endeavor to teach myself to cook has been halted.  The lack of home made cooking as turned me into quite a restaurant expert though.  

Professionally, my life with food has changed also.  I have the same job responsibilities and duties, but on a much bigger scale.  I am now working at one of the largest teaching hospitals in the country and am continuously making improvements to the patient experience and 'hospital food' for over 600 patients a day.  Hence the reason I don't have the time or energy to cook when I get home. Yet, I still love my job!

My passion for food, nutrition, and cooking remain strong, yet the setting in which I enjoy them has changed.  Who knows, maybe I'll find a little time to cook something just so I can blog about it.  

I cannot wait to share my experiences with food both professionally and socially from the 'right' coast... Stay tuned - I promise not to wait another 18 months to post again.  

Copy Cat

Last week my friends Kitchen M, CAL, and I went to Mustard's for dinner.  Since we all work in Napa we like to take the opportunity once a month or so to discover new restaurants in wine country.  The fact that all 3 of us are dietitians, foodies, and food bloggers,  makes for a photo-filled, nutritious, and giggly meal.

After a mishap at 'Go Fish', the three of us decided to dine at a restaurant that did not smell fishy - literally!  We figured we couldn't go wrong with a restaurant that's known for their 'Honest American Fare' - Mustards Grill.   

Per our usual dining experience, the three of us chose a bunch of appetizers, entrees, sides, and desserts that we MUST try.  One appetizer especially caught my eye as it included two of my all time favorite ingredients: garlic and goat cheese! 

Warm Cabecou Goat Cheese, sundried tomato relish, roasted garlic, grilled bread

The combination of these ingredients was fab.  I don't particularly like sundried tomatoes...although this dish may make me a convert.

It's been oddly warm here for February, but it has made for some beautiful sunsets.  Such a beautiful night for dinner with wonderful friends. 

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As every football - loving American is aware,  Sunday was the superbowl.  As you can see from many of my previous posts, I will do just about anything (even cook) to avoid watching football on a Sunday afternoon.  Well, this super Sunday was no different - It was time to cook.

I could not get the delicious appetizer from Mustard's off my mind, so during my 35 mile, 2.5 hour bike ride on Sunday morning I plotted how I could run to the store to collect the necessary ingredients to make the yummy appetizer before kickoff.

Ingredients:
2 heads of garlic
goat cheese
sundried tomatoes
1 loaf of bread (I prefer seedy bread)

Method:

Cut off the tops of each head of garlic to expose all garlic gloves

Wrap the garlic in foil and bake at 400* for 45 minutes.

Cut the loaf, plate the sundried tomatoes, goat cheese, and roasted garlic

Assemble and Enjoy!

This appetizer is SO easy to make and SO SO SO delicious.  The roasted garlic disappeared within minutes.  Next time I may have to purchase 3 heads! I think I'm enjoying sundried tomatoes more and more each time... or maybe I just like them with garlic and goat cheese, who knows.

The unfortunate part of this dish being so easy and quick to make was that I still had plenty of time to watch football... Thank goodness it was the Super Bowl.  No more football till next year!!  WOO HOO

Work For Food / Food For Work

* CAL - This post is for you!

I realize I have many posts about food I try to cook and food I enjoy at restaurants, but food is also a major part of my life from 8 - 5 Monday through Friday also.  

I currently work as a Patient Services Manager at an acute care hospital in Napa, CA.  Yes, I know what you are thinking... "What is a Patient Services Manager?" and "I thought she was an RD".  Yes, don't fret- I am a Registered Dietitian! Rather than having a traditional clinical job, I work in foodservice management.  It's my responsibility to manage all of the people and processes that are required to get the food from the pot it's made in to the patient in the bed, and then ensure that patients are satisfied with their dining experience.  

Now i REALLY know what you are thinking, "Blech!  Hospital food is gross!"  Well, think again my friend.  I am fortunate enough to work for an amazing company (yay Sodexo!) that makes my job quite a joy.  I am armed with a multitude of fresh ingredients, recipes, and talented chefs that make feeding ~120 patients 3 meals a day a sinch.  

There is quite a diverse group who work in our kitchen, which makes food that much more fun.  Below is an example of some of the fun we get to have.  Those are tongue tacos (they call them la lingue) with onions & cilantro and traditional matzo ball soup.  

You know how there's Asian fusion food?  Well, this is our version - Jewish Mexican fusion.  

I LOVE MY JOB!  

Happy Birthday Boyfriend 2011

After my failed attempt at baking banana cheesecake last year, I decided to switch it up for his 27th birthday and skip baking all together.  I know, I know... practice makes perfect, but simply thinking about the smell of the cake from last year made me ill.  

Our weekend was packed full of celebrating, so there was very little time for baking anyway.  This year I stuck with a recipe that's tried and true and purchased the cheesecake from the Cheesecake Factory.   

Pictures courtesy of my iPhone - Sorry for the poor quality!

Fresh Banana Cream Cheesecake: banana cream cheesecake topped with Bavarian cream and fresh sliced bananas.

When boyfriend asked why I did not bake him a cake - I told him to take a bite.  He had no more questions!  Maybe I'll try baking again for his 28th... or 30th...

HAPPY BIRTHDAY BOYFRIEND!!!

Going Green: Holiday Card 2010

Every year my mother composes a beautiful, informative holiday card.  This year, I opened MY big mouth and offered to help her make an e-card to save the trees.  I forgot that I have NO experience with making slide shows - let alone movies!  I think I'm going to stick with learning to cook because there is no way I could tell you how I arrived at this final product...

Please press play to enjoy the movie.  To view it larger, press the button with the arrows in the lower right hand corner. 

Mamma's Turkey Chili

It's the middle of November and it's still 70 degrees out - where is fall?  The leaves are changing color and falling to the ground, but the air is still so warm. I need to move back east STAT!

Boyfriend loves football - I guess most men do, but his Sundays consist of sitting on our couch watching every single game on television.  Me being the girl I am, cannot stand to watch football ALL day, so I have vowed to cook something on Sundays to take up some time and keep me entertained while the boy is glued to the television.

This Sunday boyfriend put in a request for chili.  I reminded him that it's still sunny and 70 degrees outside, but he insisted it was time for chili and rice (one of his favorite meals).   Boyfriend and I both love the mother goose's chili, so I did my due diligence and emailed Mother Goose for her recipe:

Ingredients
2 pounds ground turkey 
1 large green pepper, diced
1 large onion, diced
1 large garlic glove, minced
1/3 cup chili powder 
3 cans red kidney beans 
3 14-oz. can tomatoes
1 6-oz. can tomato paste
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 teaspoon sugar
1 bay leaf
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper 


Method
1. On saucepan over high heat, cook ground turkey, green pepper, onion, and garlic, stirring frequently, until all pan juices evaporate and beef is well browned (about 15 minutes). 
2. Stir in chili powder; cook 1 minute.  Drain liquid from kidney beans into meat mixture; reserve beans. Stir in tomatoes with their liquid, tomato paste, water, salt, sugar, and bay leaf; over high heat, heat to boiling.  Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 45 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. Stir in reserved kidney beans. Cover and simmer 15 minutes longer to blend flavors. Discard bay leaf
4. Serve with brown rice & cheese

Browning beef with pepper, onion, and garlic

Stir in tomatoes with their liquid, tomato paste, water, salt, sugar, and bay leaf

Kidney beans reserved for later

The whole mixture before boiling

Adding the kidney beans 

 Boyfriend has a very specific way of putting the chili in the bowl....
* Not sure why these pictures turned out so yellow though. ugh

First comes the brown rice 

Then the cheese 

And then finally add the chili on top

Mix it all up and ENJOY!! 

Boyfriend attempted to make this recipe one time when we lived in Boston, but he somehow switched the chili pepper and cayenne pepper.  Yep, he added 1/3 cup cayenne pepper and 1/2 teaspoon chili powder... To say that chili was spicy is an understatement!!!  We added a bunch of sugar to the chili because it's supposed to balance out the spicy, but it was still pretty hot.  Luckily one of our friends really likes spicy food, so he had enough dinner to last him a week.

This batch had the right amount of ingredients added and it was scrumptious, even if it does still feel like spring! I'm just happy to have something to keep me busy while football Sunday continues. Until next week...

Fresh in The City

A few weekends ago, I had an out of town guest visit me & San Francisco for the FIRST time.  No pressure to show her a good time....  So we took the ferry from Sausalito to San Francisco. 

The picture above was not changed in any way... this is REALLY what Alcatraz looked like from the ferry!

When we got to the ferry building, we went to the extravagant farmer's market.  First Stop: bakery 

Check out the colors of these veggies - amazing!

some organic dried fruit

I tasted these pears... they were delicious!

This picture actually got taken by accident, but didn't it turn out cool?

weighing the fruit 

Sometimes you feel like a nut... 

I just love the way these squash look

I actually really hate the way this lettuce tastes, but it looks cool 

Ready for fall 

More baked goods - I just cannot resist

These sandwiches caught my eye - my favorite!  lox & cream cheese

Boyfriend's favorite: artichoke & brussel sprouts

Who knew this is actually how brussel sprouts grow?  so cool

More pumpkins

Ginger settles your stomach :)  YUMM

The pretty Ferry Building.  but check out how grey that sky is!

Edible Flowers

Can you tell it's fall yet?

I call these edible weeds...

For some reason, I love taking pictures of pomegranates.

yummy looking persimmons 

my favorite smell - lavender 

Circled back to buy a lox & cream cheese sandwich.  SO DELICIOUS!!!

Lox, cream cheese, onion, capers, & heirloom tomato on a slice of sourdough - DELICIOUS 

We ventured into the ferry building and visited Blue Bottle Coffee.  As you can see, each cup is prepared individually so it takes a while, but it is SO worth it!!!!!!

The one in the middle is mine.

After all the tasting at the farmer's market and the delicious sandwich, it was time to move our butts up to Union Square to do some shopping before taking the ferry back to Marin.  

Just another wonderful fall day shopping & eating around the city with good friends.  What else could a girl ask for?