January

January is turning out to be a month of change for me. I have a new job. This new role will involve much less, in fact, almost no travel at all. That means that this blog will be more focused on food events and meetups, along with my own cooking, rather that restaurants. I have a new apartment, which means that my kitchen and cooking capabilities are different. Time to explore.

My new kitchen features a gas stove, more workspace than I previously had, but much less cabinet space and poorer lighting. I’ve already made popcorn a dozen times (my go-to snack), but moving reminded me of some of the culinary toys I have that I rarely use, namely, my food dehydrator. I layered each disk-like tray with kale and gave it a dash of “mixed up salt,” a combination of salt, onion power, garlic power, and a few other herbs. Turning on the switch, the heat fan spun up and all I had to do was wait as the bag of kale I paid $3 for turned into $20 worth of kale chips. They were crunchy, mildly salty, and all the bitterness of raw kale was gone. Will definitely repeat.

It’s been a while since I made my last post, so there have been a number of gastronomic adventures that I’ve had since then. One was a hibachi dinner. Everyone brought some kind of protein and veg, or other accompanying part of the meal and, setting up four teppens (or electric griddles) we cooked and clambered over one another for pieces of shrimp, seared beef, and sautéed vegetables. The night was raucous and the hostess claimed her house smelled like a hibachi house for a week afterward.

I attended a “Screen Cuisine” event where everyone brought a dish to share, no cooking involved and subsequently picked a movie for the evening. One of the gentlemen bought a 16”, 4-cheese pizza from ALDI, but then dressed it up with fresh cut pear, kale, and feta cheese. The cost of the take-and-bake pizza was under $10, plus the toppings made for an enormous and delicious contribution.

Later this week, there will be a chili cookoff at my office. I was a late arrival, so turkey chili, vegan chili, chicken and white bean, and three kinds of traditional chili were already accounted for. So were salad, cornbread, and dessert. Already having introduced myself as a food fanatic, I was sure that expectations would be high. Chili is one of those dishes that is never the same twice with me, and I have no recipe. I signed up for a vegetarian chili (vegan was taken bus vegetarian wasn’t). My plan of attack is to caramelize onions first, add those to the crock pot. Then roast diced tomatos and garlic, add those. Black, pinto, garbanzo, and kidney beans will be added along with salt, pepper, cumin, chili powder, srirachi, and anything else I feel I need. No tofu or tempeh here. I plan to make it a day or two in advance to ensure the flavors meld. Next update will have results.