Getting my wiggles out

You know the saying, when life hands you lemons, you make lemonade. Well, the decision to postpone my defense, and thus the culmination of my MA, felt, at the time, like an enormous mouth full of lemons.  I puckered, I shed some tears, my jaw clenched.  It was sour.  However, now that I've had time to process my choice, I am so glad I made the level-headed, adult decision (this was inspired largely from the encouragement of my wonderful advisor) to give myself some wiggle room.

So . . . I am wiggling. 

You've noticed I have been cooking and writing again.  I have been exercising.  I have been reading books -- books for fun!  I have been spending lots of time in the out of doors.  I have not, however, been exerting enough effort or time towards my paper.  Whenever I walk Tuli, I always tell him "get your wiggles out!"  I figure that's what I am doing right now, getting my wiggles out. 

As my advisor reminded me, I want to present a paper that I am proud of.  This time and space has allowed me to get excited about my project again, as well as lots of other areas of my life that I neglected as a grouchy, stressed, do it all but not all that well graduate student.  How do you like that lemonade?

The following recipe is the fruits of my labor.  Literally.  The Great Samoan Hunter and I hiked up and down and up and down four or five ridges in search of chukar.  On our way back to the truck, we flushed an enormous covey of birds.  The Great Samoan Hunter shot left, I shot right.  I didn't see anything drop from my side.  After missing several birds throughout the day, I was quite disappointed in myself.  I didn't walk all that way to come home empty handed!  Much to my delight, Tuli recovered my downed bird that had landed around the ledge upon which I was standing.  Not only is he an upland game dog, but he is also a retriever! 

I acted like someone who had just won the publisher's clearinghouse -- squealing, waving my arms, jumping up and down.  I may have peed in my pants a little. 

If I tell you where we are, I might have to kill you.

My face hurt from smiling so much.

My retriever.

I can only take credit for one of these birds --

that's why I call him the GREAT Samoan Hunter.

I did find that deer shed in the background, though.

Chukar is very similar to pheasant, which tastes and looks much like chicken.  I am nuts about both of these birds.  Duck and geese, I am still working on.  I decided to make chukar piccata -- lots of lemon, wine and capers.  Had I served this dish to you blindly, you would have thought it was chicken. This dish blew me away.  I had never made it before because I am not such a fan of capers, but I will be recirculating the dish for certain.  Since chukar isn't an ingredient you can easily pick up at the grocery store, try the classic chicken piccata.  Delicious!

Chukar breasts before I pounded them thin.

Familiar breading of flour, egg and panko with the addition of parmesan cheese.

Since I am trying to "eliminate muffin top," I baked instead of fried.

Sauce fixins.

Capers.

Who would have thought wild game classed up so nicely?

Couldn't ask for a more perfect meal.

Chukar (or chicken) piccata

4 breasts, pounded thin

2 tbs flour

1 egg, scrambled

1 cup panko breadcrumbs

1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese (more for garnish)

1 or 2 lemons

1 handful Italian parsley, chopped

1/4 cup capers

1 shallot, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

1/2 cup dry white wine

salt and pepper

olive oil

2 tbs butter

pasta to serve

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  Line a baking sheet with foil, drizzle with a little olive oil, and set aside. Place breasts in a ziplock bag and pound thin.  Dredge first in the seasoned flour (about 1 tsp each of salt and pepper) shaking off any excess, then the egg wash, and then panko cheese mixture.  Once all of the breasts are breaded, allow them to rest for about ten minutes on the baking sheet to ensure an extra crispy crust.  Bake the breasts for about 15 - 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, bring a large pot of salted water to boil for the pasta.  Cook according to the directions.

In a saucepan, heat about 1 tbs olive oil over medium-high heat.  Saute the shallots and garlic until translucent.  Add the wine, juice of one whole lemon (if it's not super juice add the second for good measure), as well as the squeezed lemons and capers.  Reduce by half.  Add the chopped parsley.  Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the 2 tbs butter.  Remove the lemon halves and season to taste with salt and pepper.

Pour the sauce over the breasts. Serve with pasta and extra parmesan.  Enjoy!

I like it a lot

Good Monday morning!  I am writing this post from the river.  The wireless in the river mansion is slower than slow so I am poaching internet from the Great Samoan Hunter's office.  I am using one of the guide's desks, and I keep getting distracted by catalogues of shiny things like this:

Lucky for me, that reel is mine. I received that shiny beauty for Christmas.  For those of you who don't fish, receiving an upgrade in equipment improves ones cast (and badassness for having such a cool setup) enormously.  I went from driving a Hyundai to driving a BMW. Faster. More accurate. Smoother. Sexier. I really like my new reel.

After watching a marathon of a show called Alaska - The Last Frontier on the Discovery Channel, we were inspired to seek a little adventure of our own.  This show is about several families who live on a 600 acre homestead in Alaska.  They hunt, fish, grown their own fruits and veggies, can, raise cattle, among other things required to survive in the Alaskan wilderness.  We kept saying we could do that -- we could be homesteaders!  Well, after our self-sustaining weekend, I am confident we could at least feed ourselves. 

Fishing not only puts food on the table, it's fun, too!

Pan-sized dinner.

Tuli won the best dressed award, again.  Damn him.

Lovely.

Dinner.

I had various herbs in the fridge so I made a tasty garlic herb butter:

1 clove minced garlic, zest from 1/2 a lemon, handful chopped parsley,

cilantro and thyme.  Mix with half a stick of softened butter.

The smell is worth making this butter alone -- would be fabulous on just about anything.

Getting ready to bread the fish -- flour, egg wash, panko.

1st: flour with 1 tsp salt and pepper.

2nd: one scrambled egg.

3rd: panko breadcrumbs.

We also dredged one of the trout in chopped pecans, which was my favorite.

Nutty and sweet with the fish. Delicious!

Fried first in half of the herb butter and finished in a 350 degree oven for about 10 minutes.

Love the platter!

Served the fish with sauteed broccolini and lemon wedges.

Can't get any fresher than that.

You don't have to catch your own trout to make this dish.  Do try whole fish, though. I am not one who normally eats fish skin, but with the crunchy breading it wasn't at all fishy or gross.  The only thing I wasn't too keen on were a few bones, but even those were worth the effort of this delicious meal. 

Tonight I will be cooking the chukar that I shot yesterday.  I am telling you, the Discovery Channel might be interested in the adventures of this city mouse turned country mouse.  I like the country as much as I like my new reel.  A lot. I like it a lot.

Muffin top

Before I begin today's random diatribe, I have to briefly give thanks -- to you, dear internet friends.  I realize my blog is but a blip in the garantuan universe of the World Wide Web, and you have myriad other sites to read.  But, all three of you, you keep coming back, and I sure love you for that. 

As I mentioned in the last blog post, the unabashed eating and drinking and being very merry has caught up to me.  There used to be value in putting a little meat on one's bones in order to make it through the cold, bleak winter.  Now that 'extra meat' has evolved into horribly irritating food references like 'muffin top,' which are not at all charming.  The term 'muffin top' annoys me about as much as the abreviation 'EVOO.'  I shutter at that phrase.

Someday when I am a master of English, I am going to strike muffin top and EVOO from the English language.  That's what this near degree has earned me -- the power to make up words, as well as eliminate others I loathe.

Sorry, I warned you about the diatribe.  I have for you a few photos of the merriment that ensued in Saipan.  Because Heather and Nick were cautious of my camera's safety, I didn't take it everywhere. Almost everywhere.

Tuna and avocado salad. I can't wait to recreate this.

Spicy tuna.

So many food options, so little time.

Banana pancakes with caramel sauce AND chocolate ice cream.

Heather opted for the ice cream on the side.

Spam, corned beef hash, chorizo with scrambled eggs and garlic friend rice.

I blame this meal for the muffin top.

Have you ever eaten mac and cheese with chop sticks?

Nope, didn't think so.

$5.00, 5 pound thai feast.

Now that I am home and attempting to establish a routine (still splitting my time between river and city livin), I am also putting forth a diligent effort to gain control of my waistline.  

Here's my plan:

Eat breakfast.  Eat whole, real foods. Drink less beer.  Drink more water.  Move a lot (this has largely taken the form of walk/jogs with the Tuli dog and loads of yoga). 

Easy, right? So far so good. I plan to sign up for a few fun runs and triathalons this summer to ensure that I am motivated to move.  Fear is an extraordinary motivator.

Here's an easy peasy salmon recipe that is both delicious and nutritious.  This dish combines garlic, ginger, seasame oil, soy sauce, sriracha and cilantro to create a spicy, flavorful glaze.  You can whip up the sauce in the time it takes your oven to preheat.  I served mine with quinoa and snap peas marinated in the same sauce.  This would be great on any protein -- fish, chicken or pork.  Try it, you'll like it.

Baked salmon with spicy glaze

1 lb fillet of salmon

1 clove garlic, minced

1 inch piece of ginger, peeled and minced

1 handful of cilantro, chopped

2 tbs soy sauce

1 tbs seasame oil

1 tbs sriracha (more or less depending on your affection for spice)



Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.  In a bowl, combine all of the above ingredients.  Place the salmon in a baking dish and pour the glaze over (I spooned the chunks over the salmon).  Cover the pan with foil, bake for about 15 minutes or longer depending on your desired doneness.  Serve hot or cold and enjoy!

Merry Christmas one and all!

Are you having deja vu?  Me disappearing shortly after Thanksgiving?  I guess I need to embrace the fact that December is one busy month!  Well, here I am.  Refreshed, renewed, at least five pounds heavier and excited to begin regularly blogging again.

As you all know, this site is as much a photo journal of my adventures as it a cooking blog.  This post will align with the first description more than the second. Sorry if I dissapointed. 

This Christmas marked a couple of firsts: I hosted my very first Christmas, complete with the grocery shopping, decoration hanging, bed making, Christmas wrapping, and all the mayhem associated with hosting nine humans and three canines in one house.  It was remarkable -- everyone got along, no one got overly intoxicated, and I didn't poison anyone with my food.  Merry Christmas one and all! 

Also, the Great Samoan Hunter and I cut down our first Christmas tree.  I imagined the outing would resemble others where we hike into the woods, climb mountains, and return 12 twelve hours later exhausted and starving with a Charlie Brown tree.  Much to my surprise, we found a glorious tree after walking only 50 yards. I think it was the prettiest tree in the whole forest. 

  

Since Heather, AKA Martha Stewart, could not join us for the holiday, I had to step up my wrapping game.  3337 pieces of tied yarn later, not sure the beauty was worth the effort.

My consolation prize for HOURS of wrapping, the Cooking Channel and Food Network.

Before everyone arrived at the river mansion, the temperatures hovered around zero.  When the Great Samoan Hunter decided it would be fun to take his dad duck hunting a few days later, the temperatures dropped to a balmy -14.  My camera frosted shut.  My shutter reluctantly captured a few shots before it retired for a cup of hot coffee.

These ducks were not shot the day my nostrils and eyelids froze shut. 

Nothing moved in those temperatures, less the hunting lunatics.

Thanks to the cold temperatures, we were able to utilize the deck as a walk in refrigerator/freezer, as the kitchen was bursting with delicious food. In fact, I still have enough food stored to host another Christmas.  Don't judge me if I feed you Christmas ham in March.

Christmas Eve buffet table with all things good and holy.

In addition to wonderful food and family, we also were incredibly lucky to receive a special visit from Santa. His visit was complete with crying babies, presents and camouflaged muck boots.

After the family left, I ditched the frigid temperatures and snow.  Four airports, a sunrise, a sunset, and innumerable crying babies, I arrived:

 Saipan!

I packed an extra suitcase filled with Heather and Nick's Christmas presents and got to celebrate all over again!  I couldn't get enough of the fake snowmen and palm trees decorated with lights.  

 We rang in the New Year with true Hodges class.

And danced with the Japanese teenagers who had overrun the hotel.  They couldn't get enough of Heather.

In addition to hopping from beach to beach, happy hour to happy hour, mainly I ate my way through Saipan.  Heather and Nick were the most amazing tour guides. I sure miss them. 

Thursday night street fair = fabulous people watching and cheap and delicious food.

Whole squid, anyone?

 

This is called the Saipanda.  I consumed as many fruity beverages with flowers and/or umbrellas as my wallet and waistline would afford.  Thanks to this trip, I am now actively seeking employment and a personal trainer.

Between the beach lounging, fruity drinks, spicy tuna rolls and snorkeling, we snuck in a tour of a merchant marine ship.

 

 As you can tell from the photos, the past several weeks have not been any fun.  Truly, all I can say is that I am so grateful and feel very blessed for having the opportunity to spend time with family in amazing locales.  2011 went out with tons of love and laughter and 2012 has continued with even more.  I'm looking forward to the great fun that is in store in the coming months.  I hope you and yours also had a wonderful holiday! 

I promise my next post will be food related . . . a recipe even . . . probably a healthy one considering the decadence that has ensued recently.  See you then! xoH