(You have to sing that in a Melissa Etheridge voice.)
I’m in a much better mood today! Phew, right? It’s sunny, the air is post-rain fresh, and I’m wearing a new blouse that feels all the better for having been the first item of clothing I’ve purchased in months (I was on a tear there around the holidays). Last night we watched Pitch Perfect, which Mike hadn’t seen before, and he liked it as much as I hoped he would. For dinner we ate coconut rice bowls with our weekend leftovers, which made me realize thateven though I don’t have many pictures, I should share some of the kitchen-ing I did this past weekend.
Saturday was gloriously, comfortingly rainy – we had nowhere to be, nothing pressing to do. I was recovering from a sinus infection, an excellent excuse to be lazy. We nested. There was pizza involved.
I made my first-ever batch of homemade granola, and it was delicious. What was I waiting for? Rather than going strictly off a recipe, I looked at a few online, and cobbled something together. Here’s the rough breakdown:
- 5 cups rolled oats
- 2 cups almonds
- ¼ cup canola oil (next time I might try olive oil)
- ½ cup pepitasÂ
- ~6 oz maple syrup
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- a few shakes of chile powder
It all went into the oven for twenty minutes or so, then I pushed it all to the side of the baking pans so it would clump up as it cooled. As is only right and appropriate in this day and age, it then went into mason jars.
While the granola was in the oven, I made a double batch of coconut rice. Aromatic and nutty, this rice is exactly like your normal pot of rice, except I toast the grains in coconut oil before adding the liquid, and I substitute a half or two thirds of my cooking water with coconut milk. We then use the rice for days for our version of bi bim bap. For me that means I top a bowl of rice with dried seaweed, kimchi, mango, avocado, sauteed greens, and an over easy egg. Mike keeps it simpler on the veggie front, and adds a lot of chili sauce. Delicious for days.
All this time I also had an IPA brewing in preparation for Mike’s birthday in a few weeks. It’s called Nipples of Venus, and it’s the second beer recipe we ever made, for Mike’s 32nd birthday. Ian made the label for the bottles; this time around, we’re kegging it. We’ve grown simpler over the years. My my, time has just flown like a jumbo jet.
After all this brewing and boiling and baking, I took a nap. Napping to the sound of the rain is just lovely, especially when you live in a rickety old Victorian like we do – it feels like you’re sleeping outside, except that you’re warm, and cats are stacked on top of you.
When I woke up I had one more trick up my sleeve. Or, should I say, baking compulsion in my apron pocket (?). A few grapefruits had been sitting in a bowl on the kitchen table all week, remnants of a big batch of mezcal palomas. Their juice and zest went into an olive oil cake, with a grapefruit rum glaze on top. We ate half the next day with friends, and half went into the freezer to test its wedding cake potential. In a few weeks we’ll see how it fared.
Oh, did I not mention I’m thinking about baking my own wedding cakes? Yeah, well, we’ll see how it goes.