Monday, August 18, 2008

Ode to Caponata

I was out of town Sunday (per my previous post) so was not able to make anything for you folks. As I was sitting in my office today I was thinking of all the things that make me happy because currently work is not doing it for me. And Eureka! I thought of Caponata.

Oh Caponata. How do I love thee…Let me count the ways. Caponata is, very much, a labor of love mainly because you can get it canned. Jarred up. Shipped to your local grocer from somewhere out there. I urge you to make it on your own though. Trust me. You will be SO happy you did!

There is much dicing, and sautéing, and simmering involved. When it is all said and done though, it is unbelievable. And it gets even more unbelievable with each passing day. You can serve it up as an appetizer or toss some pasta in and main course it. It’s versatile. It’s satisfying. It’s brilliant. And it is always a journey because you can throw anything and everything in there in addition to the main ingredient – eggplant. (Mmmmm….eggplant.) I had yellow squash sitting in my evil fridge* so I tossed some in and it came out really well.

Sidebar - I swung by Trader Joe’s after work to pick up a few things to make my Caponata. Can I tell you? It’s more happening than the local bar on a Friday night. There are some seriously beautiful people frequenting Trader Joe’s after 5. Trader Joe should consider diversifying from amazing grocer to amazing matchmaking service. Seriously. I’m not even kidding. Love at first sight over organic baby arugula? Believe it. I fell in love at least twice while I was there.

Not only will you be rewarded with amazing Caponata if you make it on your own, but if you venture to your local Trader Joe’s to pick up ingredients you may find the love of your life! Isn’t that motivation enough to try this???

I think so…and here’s my recipe for it. Cute boy (or girl) not included.

Makes approximately 4 cups

1 medium size eggplant – chopped
4 to 6 stalks celery - chopped
2 medium sized onions chopped – white or red – doesn’t matter
2 medium yellow squashes sliced
1 6oz can of tomato paste**
3 plum tomatoes – chopped**
1/3rd cup green olives drained and roughly chopped
4 tablespoons olive juice – I love olives. Purely optional. ***
1/3rd cup capers
¼ cup red wine vinegar or white wine vinegar
¼ cup balsamic vinegar (My secret ingredient. So good!)
½ cup golden raisins – I was a bit generous here because I love raisins. Your call.
Olive oil
1½ cups water
Salt – to taste. I find myself putting in 1 tablespoon.
Sugar – to taste. I find myself putting in at least 2 tablespoons.
Red pepper flakes – I like heat. Your call.

Before we begin, let me say that I would recommend you use a nonstick pan if you have one. Eggplant sticks and requires a lot of oil. A nonstick will make life easier when sautéing the eggplant and will keep you from using up all of your olive oil.

In the nonstick pan pour in oil to coat the bottom of pan. Heat up oil over high heat and add celery and onions. Lower heat to medium high and sauté until onions and celery start to brown. Remove from pan.
Add more oil if necessary and add eggplant. Saute until eggplant is browned nicely. Remove from pan.
Add more oil if necessary and add squash. Saute until nicely browned.
Add back into pan eggplant, celery and onion. Add olives, olive juice, capers, raisins, sugar and salt. Stir.
Add balsamic vinegar, red wine vinegar, tomatoes, tomato paste and water. Slowly stir and mix everything together. Once Caponata starts to boil, lower heat and cover. Let simmer for 30 to 45 minutes – or until the Caponata has reduced down to your desired consistency. Make sure to stir in between and taste along the way. Adjust salt and sugar as needed while it simmers away.

Once Caponata is prepared to your liking, remove from heat and let cool. I placed mine in a Pyrex dish right away and let sit uncovered for a bit so it could cool down. Make sure to put it in the fridge once it is cooled down. It will last you approximately one week. Caponata does get better with each passing day. I, of course, inhaled a good bit right away but did manage to save a bit for tomorrow. Can’t wait!!!



* My evil fridge. I didn’t check my fridge setting until it was too late. I bought the most beautiful head of romaine lettuce at the farmers market on Saturday. I opened my fridge after getting back from Virginia Sunday night and gasped in horror. My Romaine had been murdered. The fridge had killed it. Only then did I notice that my fridge was set to the coldest setting. I’ve been messing with it every since trying to get it to the right temp which is hard because the settings are 1 through 9. What the hell is that? How cold is 9? How cold is 1? Grr…Currently I have it at 7. This is why I had to use the yellow squash in my recipe. I had to save it before the evil fridge did away with it.

**Most recipes call for a big can of peeled tomatoes – 15oz I think. I did not have any on hand but did have plum tomatoes and tomato paste so made the best of it. Turned out wonderfully!

***As I was merrily chopping up my olives I realized I had a bottle of wine in the fridge. And I could drink it! Because I am a big girl. Funny how the olives got me to think about the alcohol. Oh my pretty little subconscious. Always coming up with clever associations. The wine I sipped on as I cooked away was a Rene Barbier Mediterranean White Catalunya. It’s clean, crisp and perfect to sip on as you slave away over the hot stove or bask in the summer sun. Thanks to my lovely O for the recommendation!

Zippity Doo Da Zippity Yay…

Sunday I drove down to Northern Virginia to see a dear friend who was visiting from Arizona. But this is the end of the story…let me start at the beginning.

As mentioned before, I am not a city girl. I am currently car-less and therefore getting anywhere outside of the city has proven to be quite the challenge. Luckily we have two carshare programs in my city. I chose Zip Car. We had a shaky start but I think we will be ok.

Signing up was a breeze. The customer service is fantastic. That alone, for me, is worth every penny. It’s hard to find good customer service these days! Verizon? Sometimes. Wells Fargo? Forget about it.

I signed up online, swung by my local Zip Office, picked up my Zip Card and reserved myself a Mini to zip me around town and down to VA on Sunday. Taking the car down to VA was a bit of an extravagance but I received a rebate so I did not feel all that bad. For in-town errands though, the Zip Car is quite nice.

Did you know that you can start the Mini with the push of a button? Like the way you start your computer? Or TV? Uh huh. There’s this round key fob thing that you push in and then as you press on the brakes you hit the Start button. And the Mini fires up.

I’m seriously showing my age here but I had a very hard time getting the car to start. I felt very old. And at 7 am on a Sunday, it’s not the best feeling. Luckily all I had to do was ring up the good folks at Zip Car and they talked me through it. I was on the road soon enough.

The Mini is a fun car. I had an automatic but it ran like a manual as the ride was a bit jerky. I’m not a fan of manual so that was lost on me but for all you guys who are into that, check out the Mini!

And if you need to zip around town to run errands, check out Zip Car!

I need my car

I am not a city girl.

This much I have come to realize in the 2 weeks that I have been living in my apartment in the heart of this lovely city. It’s not the city. It’s me. It’s definitely me. I like being able to walk everywhere. That part I rather enjoy. It’s when I have to get from point A to point B, and point B happens to be outside of the city, that I run into issues.

I’m fine with transportation. Transportation is good. It’s the public part of the transportation that I am having issues with.

I am from the second most populous country in the world. I’m really not sure how this particular neurosis happened for me but here we are folks. For instance, I love this city during the summer. Why? Because everyone is gone. They are on vaca, at the shore, whatevs. And the city is all mine! I prefer a cab over taking the subway because it’s all mine! No one to share it with. I love living alone because it’s all mine! Are we sensing a theme here?

I can’t explain it. But this issue is starting to pose some serious problems for me here in the city.

Getting to my parents house, which is a mere 30 miles away, has become a Getting-to-Grandma’s kind of situation. Over the river, through the woods…it’s ridiculous.

Wednesday, August 13, 2008

Oh Snap!

My horoscope today...

Don't let all those compliments go to your head! You know you look good, but don't act like it!

Confessions

I have a confession to make. A few actually.

I am secretly in love with Michael Buble. When I’m blue, his songs always bring a smile to my face, particularly Everything.

Optimus Prime was my first crush. Yes, I know he’s a truck. Yes, I know he’s an animated truck.

I want horses on a ranch in Montana.

I’ve been inhaling coffee the past few weeks. It’s one of my resolutions to decrease the amount of coffee I drink….um, it’s not working.

When purchasing books or magazines from the bookstore I always purchase the one three down in the stack, never the one right on top. Why? Dunno.

I am a slightly obsessive germaphobe. This might explain the previous confession.

I don’t like public transportation. Planes, Trains and Everything else. Don’t like.

I want to produce a movie.

I want to win an Oscar.

I don’t believe in being pigeonholed to be or do just one thing. The world is too big.

I like putting potato chips in my peanut butter sandwich. It’s so good!

Mr. India and DDLJ are still my all time favorite Indian movies.

When eating Trident gum, I eat only half of the stick.

There’s something about McDonald’s Hot Fudge Sundaes – yum!

In college I could eat an entire pizza pie. In one sitting.

The Hills is my favoritest show. Ever.

When I’ve had a bit too much to drink, I read out loud from the Dictionary.

I want to learn to play the piano.

I want to learn French.

I think Bhojpuri is a gorgeous language.

I miss my Dadi. All the time.

Monday, August 11, 2008

Today's Horoscope

You've been feeling quite lonely lately but some exciting news today will change everything.

No exciting news yet...about half an hour to go. Hmmm...What do you think it is folks?

Monday Madness

Mondays are hard enough. And after the perfect Sunday I had yesterday this particular Monday was even harder. It was tough getting out of bed, getting to work, sitting through work, so on and so forth. As you all know, I'm a planner extraordinaire (heavy sarcasm there) and decided some time ago that Mondays would be the perfect day for my session with the personal trainer. Why of course! Makes perfect sense! Put my body through excruciating pain at the end of a day that already sucks. Really? Really.

I was this close to cancelling on him today. But I do love him dearly. He's terribly good to me. He's patient. And deals with my craziness. That's hard to find. Plus I figured a boost of endorphins could spruce up my Monday a bit. And wouldn't you know it, I feel great. At least for now.

Come Wednesday, it's going to be an entirely different scene. The last session (two weeks ago) I felt for an entire week and my arms didn't stop hurting until two days ago. Two days ago! So if we do the math, I was sore for almost two weeks. Really the man is a genius. I was cursing him, mind you, the entire time but deep down, I know, he's a genius.

Not only are the sessions therapy for my body but he's so much fun to talk to. He's like the cool big brother. So it's like body AND soul therapy all wrapped up in a lovely gym towel.

He gave me homework to do which I will totally do, um, everyday. Really.

Sunday, August 10, 2008

Breakfast Stack aka: First Homemade Meal in Apt

It started out as a simple idea: A sunny side up egg and a slice of spelt toast. As I started getting the eggs and bread out of the fridge I noticed the red onions, the red bell pepper, and the cheese just hanging out with nothing to do. I decided they needed a little love and attention too. So out they came and this is the trouble we got into:

Home Fries:

1 medium potato quartered and sliced thinly
½ of a small red onion sliced thinly
½ of a red bell pepper cut into small chunks
1 tbsp garam masala
Salt to taste
½ tsp chili powder

Note: I have a tendency to desi-fy everything, irrespective of the origin of the dish. Mexican? Add a little garam masala. Japanese? Add a little more chili powder. Unless it comes out of a cookbook and there are clear instructions to follow. But even then, I will add a little heat to it. Given this recipe sprung up from my own mind, it’s spicy and a combo of various flavors – Indian, Mexican, etc. – so be careful and as always adjust to your taste.

In skillet on high with a little olive oil sauté red onions and red bell pepper. (At this point my fire alarm started sounding off. Used my spatula to calm it down. Funny now that I’m looking back on it. Not so much as it was happening.) Add some salt. After about 10 minutes, add potatoes and spices. Mix it up, lower the heat, add a splash of water and cover slightly. Let cook for approximately 20 minutes or until potatoes are cooked all the way through, stirring in between.

Eggs:

Hot skillet with olive oil. Two organic eggs. Sunny side up. Sprinkle of salt and freshly ground pepper on top. Lower heat and let eggs cook. Crunchy on bottom and velvety smooth on top when done. Gorgeous!

Toast:

1 slice spelt toast
Monterey Jack Cheese

In the same skillet as eggs are cooking merrily away, place slice of bread and warm up one side. Flip and place however much cheese on top and let it melt.

Breakfast stack goes like this:

Cover entire plate with home fries. Place toast on top of home fries in the center. Place eggs sunny side up on top of toast.

It’s a party in your mouth.

Sunday Shower

At this moment I am pretty much in heaven. It’s Sunday late morning. I have finished my inaugural made it myself meal at the new apartment and am looking out the window at a gorgeous gray blue sky.

The day started out bright and sunny. I picked up my morning cappuccino and walked to Trader Joe’s to get groceries for the week. Bought a very regal looking orchid to keep me company as well. Was inspired to make breakfast and what started out as a simple sunny side up egg with toast turned into home fries with red onion and red bell pepper, spelt toast with cheese on top toasted in the pan alongside two sunny side up eggs, crispy on the bottom and smooth and velvety on top. (Recipe to follow shortly).

And given that I still have zero furniture (I did purchase a fantastic rug this weekend though!) I ate my wonderful meal sitting on the floor with the plate resting atop a stack of magazines – the top most being the Special Green Issue of Marie Claire, naturally. Part of the reason why it’s taking me forever to find suitable seating for the place is because I like the idea of minimalism and using what you have.

While eating my breakfast, the city was hit with a brief thunderstorm. Nothing major but enough to cool the place down. The air now smells of fresh earth – like how it smells just before or after a rain shower. It’s one of my favorite smells because it brings back a host of wonderful memories. The rain is on and off now and there is a cool breeze coming in through the windows. I love overcast weather. It’s another one of my favorite things.

So it’s late Sunday morning, my belly is full with yummy goodness and I’m looking out the window at an overcast and gray blue sky. It’s bliss.
Now I’m off to do some cleaning and contemplate a name for my orchid.

Friday, August 8, 2008

Mmmm....Fall

It's August!!! We're almost to Fall. I'm so happy. I've had the windows open at the apartment, enjoying the fresh air. No need for A/C. It's great.

Even though I'm a summer baby I can't stand the heat. July was awful. And to all those people who are thinking "But you're from India. You should be fine with the heat." Um, no. Oh, you don't think I've heard that before??? Yeah I couldn't believe it either when I heard it the first time and realized the person wasn't trying to make a bad joke, they were actually seriously asking that question . The second and third time I just gave in and eventually it started to roll off my back but yeah, it's happened more often than I care for.

But I digress.

So I love Fall. I love the clothes, the smells, the proliferation of pumpkin spice nutmeg cinnamon everything, the massive encyclopedia size issue of Vogue. It's bliss.

Wednesday, August 6, 2008

First day. New Apt.

And the day has come.

I am writing to you from the living room floor of my new jewel box of an apt. It's completely adorable.

My family helped with the move. There wasn't much to lug in as I have zero furniture. Pillows, clothes, toiletries, etc. The kitchen got a lot of TLC as mom did her magic in there. The stove has already been used to make copious cups of tea. I'm slowly settling in and can't wait to turn this place into a home.

To all you lovely people, the door is wide open. Visit soon and visit often!

Tuesday, August 5, 2008

It's My Birthday!!!

My apologies for being away for so long again. But I was busy getting ready for my 29 and 1 Month Birthday. And here we are!



So the big plans for today are...drum roll please...to pack for my move to my apartment and enjoy a fabulous meal with my family prepared by my amazing mother.

My present to myself when I turned 29 was a faboo gem of a place in the city. It’s less than a half mile from my office, it’s across from a park and it’s in a young and energetic part of town. Now mind you, it’s a glorified studio. It’s billed as a one bedroom but really it’s a glorified studio.

Nonetheless, it’s cozy, cute and I love it!

This past weekend I went shopping with my parents and have been reluctantly packing the past few days. Why reluctantly you ask? Because I am going to miss my family. They drive me nuts but that’s their way of loving and I’m going to miss it. Who would have guessed? I’m only an hour away and can easily get home but it’s not the same. This doesn’t mean I’m having second doubts about the move. I’m definitely moving and I am definitely excited about it. Just caught off guard that a part of me is sad too.

So let’s review this past month and see how far I’ve come with my resolutions:

1. Be present for family and friends. - Check
2. Laugh a little more. Not worry so much about wrinkles. - Happy to say, check.
3. Exercise at least 3 times a week. - Um, have hired a personal trainer. Who I've seen once. But will be seeing again this coming Monday. I'm working my way up to it!
4. Limit the caffeine - Yeah, failing miserably at this. I think at least one day this week I had two grandes from Starbucks AND a Mocha Frappuccino. WTH???
5. Start the projects I have been talking about for years now. - Check, check and check. There are quite a few projects that I was afraid had taken up permanent residence in my brain. In that they never wanted to leave, to come out and make themselves known. However, I have made headway on two of them thus far and will be posting on that shortly!
6. Travel. Reclaim old places. Discover new ones. - Not yet but I'm not discouraged.
7. Eat my veggies. - Check!
8. Save enough to buy a place soon. - Not yet. But will become a budgeting diva in the coming months.
9. Get organized - from closets to checkbooks to important contact information. - With the move, this is in progress.
10. Quit my addiction to bottled water. Go aluminum. - Partial check. I've renewed my vows with Brita. I purchased one for my apartment and am quite happy with it thus far. I will be ordering the aluminum bottle this week.
11. Follow through. In every sense. - Check.