5.16.2015 | TI8

SATURDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Hot tea, french toast
Morning Snack: Iced tea
Lunch: Ham and hummus pita wrap with carrots and cucumber
Afternoon snack: Chocolate chips, coke zero
Dinner: Perhaps my best iteration yet of the blue cheese stuffed burgers. We used a different type of blue cheese, from Trader Joe’s, rather than from Costco, which have different melting strategies. But the best part was cooking them sous vide. This really works a treat for stuffed burgers. The patties are so thin, that on the grill, they distort the shape a lot and often leak cheese. In the sous vide at 136F, they were perfectly cooked. Add in a brioche bun from TJ’s, some corn on the cob, and oven baked potatoes and they were amazing.
sous vide stuffed burger
Dessert: An experimental cherry pie. It was OK, but too much booze (kirsch) gave it a weird sour flavor.
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5.15.2015 | TI8

FRIDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Granola, cranberry juice
Morning Snack: A bite of a GNC protein bar I picked up at bike to work day. One bite was enough. Nasty.
Lunch: Ham sandwich with hummus
Afternoon snack: Hummus and chips, plus some candy. Coke zero
Dinner: Leftover pork tenderloin, corn pancakes, rice, green salad
Dessert: Chocolate chip cookies

5.14.2015 | TI8

DAY I ATE

Breakfast: Granola, cranberry juice
Morning Snack: A few small pastries (and a piece of pizza) at bike-to-work-day stations.
Lunch: Turkey cranberry sandwich from Cafe Gabriela in Oakland. It was pretty good, but small. I think the mayo was house-made; really tasty. I would order the sopressata sandwich next time, or the pulled pork. The trouble, though, is that they all are on a baguette, which means biting it will send the filling out the other side.
Afternoon snack: Cupcakes from Cupcake Love in Oakland. Brought in for someone’s birthday. Had little bites of each and all very tasty.
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Dinner: Pork tenderloin, the backyard bbq recipe from Sarah Foster. Also some corn pancakes with a lime cilantro sour cream sauce. Amazing.
Dessert: Chocolate chip cookies with some ice cream.

5.6.2015 | TI8

WEDNESDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Granola, cranberry juice
Lunch: Turkey sandwich with hummus
Afternoon snack: A salted-caramel chocolate. Coke zero
Dinner: Mac&Cheese made from all the leftover bits of random cheese in the fridge. Plus bacon. It was awesome. Also, corn on the cob and artichoke
Dessert: 

4.28.2015 | TI8

TUESDAY I ATE

Breakfast: Granola, cranberry juice
Lunch: Leftover pizza
Afternoon snack: A tiny bit of raspberry tart, Coke Zero
Dinner: Grilled chicken, broccoli, corn on the cob. Surprisingly good for so early in the season.
Dessert: Flourarrangements raspberry cream tart

Corn and Tomato Risotto

Originally found this recipe in The Joy of Cooking and it quickly became a favorite. But then, what with one thing and another, it dropped out of the rotation. The ingredients here are pretty similar, but over time I’ve changed the order of operations and really sped things up.

One of my favorite risotto tips I got from my brother. He currently tests missiles or something else he can’t talk about, but once upon a time, he was a line cook in one of those really fancy restaurants at a resort with a celebrity chef’s name on the door. One day, cooking there, he was gently massaging the stock into the risotto 1/2 cup at a time the way everyone says you’re supposed to do, when a more experienced chef walked by. That guy laughed at him and said “watch this” then dumped all the stock in gave it a stir and told him to walk away. Sure enough, 15 or 20 minutes later, it tasted just the same. A bunch of stirring at the end gets the starch mixed in, but meanwhile, you’re free to prep the later ingredients instead of stuck at the stove. The one thing to watch out for is to make sure it doesn’t run out of liquid before it’s tender… the rice will burn and stick to the pan, and that’s no fun.

Corn and Tomato Risotto

Quick and simple risotto recipe with a bright, fresh taste. Corn and ripe tomatoes give a summer flavor to the rich rice.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time45 minutes
Servings: 6 -8

Ingredients

  • 5 cups chicken stock
  • 2 tablespoons butter
  • 1/2 cup scallions white part only finely chopped
  • 1 1/2 cup arborio rice
  • 1 cup white wine
  • 3 ears corn
  • 1 cup diced tomatoes
  • 2 tablespoons fresh basil chopped
  • 1 lime juiced
  • dash salt

Instructions

  • Put the chicken stock on to simmer.
  • Heat the butter in a large skillet (one with a lid) until it foams and subsides. Add onions and saute until softened. Add arborio rice and saute for a minute or two. Add white wine and simmer until reduced.
  • Pour about 1/2 of the chicken stock into the saute pan. Stir well to mix it in. Then put the cover on (you can also skip the cover, but then you have a bit more evaporation) and leave it to simmer for about 10 minutes while you prep some other stuff.
  • Speaking of prepping other stuff... Cut the kernels off the corn (should be about 2 cups). Take 1 cup of kernals and puree in the Cuisinart. Maybe give the rice a stir and make sure it's not scorching. Add more broth if it's mostly absorbed.
  • Cut up the tomatoes, add with the basil and the lime juice. Throw in a dash of salt.
  • Check the rice. Again, might need to give it some more broth and a quick stir. If it's starting to soften a bit, throw in the pureed corn. Pop the lid back on and simmer for another 5-10 minutes.
  • When the stock is well absorbed, taste to make sure the rice is tender enough to eat. Then stir in the rest of the corn kernels and the tomato mixture. Season with salt and pepper.
  • Serve topped with Parmesan cheese.