Working from home necessicities Part I

Enough iced decaf coffee to drink all day. Decaf because it's better for you after those first one or two cups in the morning (scientific studies show that two cups of coffee per day may actually be beneficial to health, while more is bad for you and underdoing I suppose is better than overdoing it). I was going to do a post showing my own scruffy way of making a bucketful to store in the fridge, with our ugly coffee pot with a horrendous blue glowing digital clock on it (electric blue! why!). But then I had this vague memory of Anna of Door Sixteen writing about a Bodum cold-brewing coffee maker, and I looked it up. The reviews are glowing and I'm getting one right now. Forget about the photos of my scruffy horrid homemade iced coffee that I dump lots of milk and sugar into in order to ameliorate the flavor.

Note: if it's ever a spontaneous internet purchase that benefits my work, I do it with consideration but not much guilt. Working at home needs to be made as luxurious as possible with tiny little luxuries all day long.

Image courtesy Bodum via Amazon

The best turkey burger ever!

It seems like most of the blogs I follow are written by vegetarians, or even vegans. They are better than me. I used to be a vegetarian but then I fell in love with a Texan and it was all over. I'd always saved a tiny spot in my life for meat anyway, like a hidden internal flask, for traveling. When you're in another country I feel it's important to open yourself to all things which includes the food. I was once in the mountains in Spain and followed a little sign with a bed on it, until I came across a house owned by a farming couple who rented out rooms to those ramblers in the mountains. They brought me homemade bread, currant jam, and home-cured prosciutto. From their own stove, their own land, their own pig. What a beautiful thing to do for a stranger.

Besides, when I was in Hungary the only vegetarian thing I could find was deep-fried cheese.

Thus I have become mostly unabashedly meat-eating. And this is the best turkey burger I have ever eaten. Normally I make some cole slaw to put on top and some curry mayo, but this time I did sautéed red cabbage with balsamic vinegar, sprouts, japanese mayo and yes, that's ketchup oozing out. I love ketchup.

The Best Turkey Burger, with slapdash measurements because that's how I cook

2-1/2 lbs.(or thereabouts) ground turkey (organic and free-range if you can find it)
1/4 cup Panko breadcrumbs
2 eggs lightly beaten
1/4 cup minced onion
1 clove minced garlic
Two generous splashes of Worcestshire sauce
One generous splash of soy sauce
Dash of parsley
Dash of Old Bay seasoning
1/2 teaspoon salt
Dash of fresh ground black pepper

Put all ingredients in a bowl and mix goopily with your hands. Form some patties, and they won't shrink down so make them the same size as your buns. Cook them in a skillet over medium heat with some oil, until they're cooked through. Toast some buns, choose your condiments, inhale.

The red cabbage is just slivered red cabbage sautéed slowly in olive oil, with a couple dashes of balsamic vinegar, lots of salt and pepper, and black mustard seeds. In the background is also raw zucchini salad, which is just zucchini slivered with a peeler mixed with olive oil, lemon juice, salt and pepper. We also had corn on the cob with lime and salt.

That was a good meal.

Heart-shaped food

It's too soon to be thinking about Valentine's Day. Way too soon. But sometimes it just starts creeping into your head. You think, what can I make after a day of caring for a 10-month-old? Gone are the days of cooking an extravagant worthy-of-Martha-Stewart meal with braised this and caramelized that. So here are some super-quick ideas for just a hint of fun romance. The casual dinner of baguette, poached eggs and melty cheese for your sweetheart. I have yet to find a way to make salad heart-shaped!

Found, top to bottom, on Molempire, Frolic, and Mel's Adventures in Japan

It rhymes so it must be good

Image from The Caramel Jar

Fleur de sel caramels. Fleur de sel caramels. Fleur de sel. Car-a-mel.

Once when I was upstate in Beacon, NY I saw these little caramels dusted with grey sea salt, and I wanted them so badly. It was $10 for a candy-bar-sized amount, so I pooh-poohed it and walked away. And you know what? For some reason, I don't know why, I have regretted it ever since. Because despite living in NYC and going to some fancy food shops I just haven't run across those specific beautiful nibs.

I don't know why they occurred to me recently. Perhaps because I was in one of the fancy food shops buying some gifts for the family, and once again glanced around to only have my hopes dashed. So I did a quick google search and there are tons of amazing looking recipes out there. And then I came across some Etsy sites that offer batches of them, even can be used for wedding favors. BRILLIANT.

But mostly I just wish I had time to make these for the holiday season. Here's a recipe on Epicurious that has dozens of positive reviews. Someday. Yes, someday.