Zester

I am loving my new microplane zester! I have to say it is officially the best thing ever. Can't wait to make more recipes that call for lemon, lime or orange zest!

Oven Roasted Potatoes!

Okay, maybe it is a boring thing to post about oven-roasted potatoes, but I made some and they were good! And I finished the last of my Boston Organics potatoes. The recipe called for a lot of spices, I did not have the basil or the dill weed so I left them out and did everything else the same, it was still good! I actually wonder if it would be too busy with the basil and the dill weed! So now I am down to one small head of broccoli, which I will use to make the Double Broccoli Quinoa again since I have a fair amount of pesto left, 2 carrots (which will be come Sweet Potato, Carrot, Apple and Red Lentil Soup, hope it's good!), mushrooms (thai green curry?), beets (side-dish?), and watermelon radishes (south indian sambar?). Hope I can finish all this food before it goes bad!

Double Broccoli Quinoa

Today I made the Double Broccoli Quinoa from 101 Cookbooks with the broccoli I got from Boston Organics. I was surprised at how delicious it was! It was SO GOOD! Luckily I have sauce leftover and some broccoli left over, so I will just steam some broccoli and make some more quinoa and voila! at least a few more meals... I will be making this recipe again for sure!

sopa de lentejas

I made my lentil soup again with carrots and potatoes, this time it turned out better than last time. I did add an extra 3/4 cup of lentils which makes the carrots and potatoes sparser, but I am not so happy about that! I think it is better because it is spicier (more cayenne) and the potatoes are starchier, which I like. I do have to say the carrots that I get from Boston Organics are pretty phenomenal. I still have a lot of produce left: 4 potatoes, 2 carrots, 2 heads of broccoli, 2 watermelon radishes, 4 beets, 1 box of mushrooms. I wonder if I can finish it all!

new shipment of boston organics today

Today I got a new shipment of boston organics. It's my first shipment after switching to the half fruit/half veggie box. Today I got:

1 lbs of Fuji Apples (3 of them)
1.5 lbs of bananas (5 of them)
3 Bosc pears
2 Temple oranges
3 Satsuma Mandarins
1 grapefruit
2 watermelon radishes
1 box of white mushrooms
1.5 lbs of potatoes (7 of them)
1 lbs carrots (4 of them)
2 heads of broccoli
1 lbs beets

Unsure what to do with this stuff! Kind of wish I got collard greens again to make the fab tofu recipe :)

Last of the Boston Organics!

Today I cooked with the last of the Boston Organics, making sweet chili lime tofu again, this time with broccoli instead of collard greens. I think it is generally better with collard greens but the broccoli made me feel super healthy! I guess I still have the lettuce left, so maybe I will eat a few more salads with the lettuce. Lettuce is definitely going on my no-list, I am bored of salads!

This weekend I will try to make a red lentil, sweet potato, carrot and apple soup recipe I found on all recipes.

Spicy White Bean and Turnip Soup

I had a lot of food in my fridge still, but I made spicy white bean and turnip soup to use my turnips, the last carrot, the last onion, and the last potato. It turned out quite good and it certainly is spicy. Though I did use cayenne instead of hot paprika and I used 1 tsp of crushed red pepper flakes instead of half a tsp. It made a lot, I may freeze some of it.

Tomorrow I may make the sweet chili lime tofu over broccoli with rice and then I will finish the last of my vegetables from Boston Organics.

Cooking has been really fun and I think I lost some weight, woohoo!

an interesting salad recipe

I tried this today:

Romaine Lettuce
1 Avocado mashed up with a tbsp of olive oil, splash of lemon juice, some garlic powder and salt
and sunflower seeds

That was my salad, I mixed it up so that the avocado mixture was coating my lettuce like a dressing. I also added red pepper on top, but perhaps it didn't quite go with the rest of the salad. Perhaps it should have been roasted to go with the rest of the salad.

Hearty Lentil Soup!

Today I made lentil soup from some of the vegetables I got. I used 3 potatoes, 2 carrots, 2 onions from the shipment! I suspect this soup is going to last me for a while. I didn't really follow a recipe. I used the following spices: garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne, black pepper, salt and fresh cilantro (added at the end). It is a bit spicy in the back of your throat, but not overpoweringly so. In addition to the lentils (about 2 cups) and the ingredients mentioned above, I used 1 28 oz can of diced tomatoes and their juice, so the soup is colorful and healthy.

I still have 1 onion, 1 carrot and 3 turnips that will go into a spicy white bean and turnip soup (will be made on a date yet to be decided). My roommate and I finished the last of the sweet chili lime tofu with collard greens and wheat noodles today. She loved the dish and so did I! I think lime zest makes everything delicious!

So what to do with green bell pepper, the broccoli and the romaine lettuce? Perhaps I should tell them that I don't want lettuce because I am not a huge fan of salads in the winter time. It is hard to make the substantial enough. I was thinking I could make a dinner salad of romaine lettuce, avocado, roast red peppers and maybe my own dressing involving garlic, mint, cilantro, lime juice and olive oil? I have no idea if those things taste good together.

I can't believe I have almost finished all the fruit in my shipment. But mostly eating my own food for the last week makes me feel really healthy and thinner in fact. Sometimes I feel like my own food isn't fatty enough, because I often find myself craving fatty food. But maybe they will go away after a while! Anyway, that's all for now folks! :)

So far made sweet chili lime tofu with collard greens and whole wheat linguine from the stuff I got from Boston Organics. Next time I will use soba noodles instead, I'm not sure I liked the taste of the whole wheat linguine. But the sweet chili time tofu was fab. I got the recipe from here.

I have leftovers for lunch tomorrow, what should I make tomorrow evening? A salad with my romaine lettuce? Perhaps I should put that on my no list since I am not sure I like salads.

Boston Organics

Got my first shipment of food today from Boston Organics, in the $29 dollar 2/3 vegetable, 1/3 fruit shipment, which turned out to be:

3 carrots ( = 1 lb)
3 turnips ( = 1 lb)
3 red onions ( = 1 lb)
4 potatoes ( = 1.5 lb)
1 bunch of collard greens
1 head of romaine lettuce
1 green bell pepper
1 bunch of broccoli
3 Macintosh apples ( = 1 lb)
4 bananas ( = 1.5 lb)
2 oranges
2 pears

Anyway, excited to cook with it!

prismatic scarf

prismatic scarf
Originally uploaded by mangokiwi.

I love this scarf! I made it for my sister out of manos del uruguay silk blend. Too bad I gave it to my sister :), I should have kept it for myself! :)

Finished projects so far...

I kind of wanted to quantify my knitting progress this year, so I am making a list. I should do that image gallery that Grumperina does of finished projects in a year... (hmm, how do I do this?). Anyway, here are the projects finished in 2009, so far.

1. Chevron Scarf from Last Minute Knitted Gifts (although this is definitely not a last minute project)
2. The kit that my friend Minh got for me from La Droguerie (oh, how nice is the alpaca!)
3. Tanzanite Hedera
4. Handsome Mittens from IK Winter 2008
5. Embossed Leaves Socks in STR 24 Karat
6. Prismatic Scarf in Manos del Uruguay Silk Blend
7. Elm Row Scarf in Sundara Sock Cranberry Over Punch

The sad part is that I have even more projects in progress! Sigh! Need to finish some things! I will finish a few more things before the year is over. Namely, I will finish a pair of jaywalkers and who knows what else!

Xmas knitting

Can't wait until Xmas is over so I can finally display the images of what I have knitted recently!

Koigu purchased from Purl!

koigu 001
Originally uploaded by mangokiwi.

I had such a hard time picking what I wanted since they had such a great selection! Now the question is what to do with this...

Prismatic Scarf

I started knitting the Prismatic scarf for my sister for christmas (so I won't be posting any pictures just in case she is reading). But I do have to say that the design of the prismatic scarf is ingenious, especially the I-cord edging. It looks really polished and professional, if I may say so myself :) The pattern is not hard at all and is easy to remember. Some might find a bit boring, but since I am working with Manos Silk Blend, it is hard to get bored of it!

Went to Purl!

Yesterday I was in New York to give a talk in the business school and since I was in the area, of course I had to go to Purl! What a nice little yarn store! The yarns are presented really well and they have a lot of selection. I wish I bought more actually, but was feeling a bit conservative and didn't want to buy something that I didn't have somewhat of a plan for it (except for sock yarn). I bought some Manos Silk Blend in the Violets colorway (to make a scarf - but what pattern? oh the choices!) and two different colorways of Koigu (one of which with tons of bright colors, the other of which I like to call Halloween yarn). Perhaps I should come up with a plan for the Koigu that doesn't involve socks. My housemate commented on the fact that I should make more mittens rather than socks so that I can show them off more :)

White Witch Mitts

mittens 004
Originally uploaded by mangokiwi.

My first fair isle project. Frankly it looks a little sloppy. The tension on my left hand is much looser than the tension on my right hand. Also I used DK weight yarn when the pattern called for sport weight yarn and still used US 3 needles which I think was a mistake. Another weird thing is that when I stick my hand in the mitten I can feel all the yarn that was carried across in the back when I was using the other color for a while.

Hedera Socks

I finished this a while ago and started them much longer than that ago. But here are the pictures. I think I am bored of regular sock patterns and need to work on sock patterns that teach me a new trick (such as two at time) or give me more practice with fair isling! Notice the color difference with flash and without flash :) The yarn is STR Tanzanite, I think I like real Tanzanite better :)

White Witch Mitts

I started working on these again and I have started to realize that I really like fair isle. Probably because it it something new and different, it still seems challenging to me. I seem to have gotten the hang of these continental + English style knitting too. And the end product seems like it will look very professional :)