Recipes Win

I have a minor recipe obsession. Ok, major. Not a cooking obsession, mind you.

My excitement lies in finding recipes and trying them out. I don't spend a lot of time online, but I can spend hours hunting for instructions to make tasty morsels. I get teased because I can't actually cook without recipes. I have mastered following directions. I always liked studying, and I think this is just a continuation of that.

My favorite founts of recipe bliss? Real Simple. Everyday Food. Fresh Direct. The last is especially dear to my heart as you can choose a recipe, have it emailed to you, and have all of the ingredients dropped into your shopping basket with just one click.

I've maybe repeated a recipe just 3 or 4 times in the last year and a half...mind you, I only cook 2-3 nights a week, and that doesn't count stand by's like Annie's Mac & Cheese, fried egg sandwiches, and the like. Impressive you say? I think so. I must have tried out at least 100 recipes by now.

So my new goal is digitizing all of my recipes -- to create my own little web-based collection of our favorite all time recipes. And, I've decided to start with the a little curry treat I made last week.

Curried Chicken and Apple Stew

From "The Dinner Doctor" by Anne Byrn

Serves 4

To Prep: 10 Minutes
To Cook: 9-12 Minutes

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 medium-size onion, sliced (for about 1 cup)

1 pound chicken tenders (about 12), rinsed, cut into pieces, and patted dry

1 can (10 ounces) Indian coconut cooking sauce, korma.

1 cup diced peeled apple

1 cinnamon stick

1 tablespoon heavy (whipping) cream (optional)

2 tablespoons toasted pre-sliced almonds (optional)

Sweetened flaked coconut, for garnish (optional)

Pour the oil into a large skillet and heat over medium heat. Add the onion and cook, stirring, until it browns slightly, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the chicken pieces and cook until they also brown slightly all over, 3 to 4 minutes. Add the coconut sauce, apple, cinnamon stick, and 1/4 cup of water. Let simmer, uncovered, until the chicken cooks through, 2 to 3 minutes. Add the cream, if using, increase the heat to medium-high, and cook until the liquid thickens a bit, 2 minutes longer. Remove and discard the cinnamon stick. Serve the stew garnished with the almonds and flaked coconut, if desired.

Excerpted from THE DINNER DOCTOR copyright © 2003 Anne Byrn.
Reprinted with the permission of Workman Publishing Co., Inc. All Rights Reserved.

In case you do order from Fresh Direct, I highly recommend the prepared coconut rice. Yum.

p.s. Did I mention that one of my recipe stipulations is that it doesn't entail too much chopping (though I did get a Cuisanart for Christmas) or that it calls for ingredients that I have to call my mom to ask what they are?

Recipes or Politics; Politics or Recipes?

Don't think because I haven't posted in almost a week that my love for blogging has waned. I think about blogging a lot...really.

My best blogging thinking happens on the subway where I simultaneously observe how bizarre humans are (take the woman this morning preaching about Jesus and the other woman, who didn't know the first woman, shouting "praise Jesus" in response to the preaching) and ponder random things like how Bed, Bath and Beyond and Barnes & Noble keep ending up in the same shopping centers. (I'm not completely crazy. Such a mecca just opened up in Tribeca.)

I've been meaning to share some recipes since I started my blog, but somehow I've gotten a little distracted by the election (incidentally, my neighborhood in New York had the strongest turn out for Obama...at a whopping 73%.).

I promise to lay off that topic. For now. One thing I will share is that the boyfriend and I had an interesting gmail chat going on at work today about which election is most watched by the international community: 2000 or 2008. My personal thought is that the rest of the world doesn't really get the black and the woman thing. But, they did get that one of the most advanced countries in the world can't count ballots. I'll let you have your own opinion.

Ok, ok...digressing.

p.s. Today's blog title is for the Chris Rock fans out there.

Washington Insider? Update

Wow, there are a lot of things to blog about today. The Super Tuesday results, the sad excuse for an advocacy campaign on behalf of the unions in my neighborhood, the way that companies like to chase trends they know nothing about, the potential of a mud wrestling match between Paul Krugman and Maureen Dowd that I think would be hilarious (Krugman = Hillary lover; Dowd = Hillary NotSoMuch), the yummy curry recipe I made last night. You can see my quandary about what to write about.

But, I do have to follow-up on my posting about the Krugman piece. Apparently, this topic -- Krugman vs. Obama -- is a hot one. I (mistakenly) thought I'd find a simple response from the Obama camp to Krugman's piece.

No such luck.

What I did find was a maze of articles covering the topic. Apparently Krugman's issue with Obama's health care plan, and some of his other policies and political tactics, go back much further than Monday's article in the NYT. The Huffington Post (the soapbox for the ultra conservative and slightly off kilter Arianna Huffington) has even written about it.

From what I can tell, their little tiff dates back to late last year, if not earlier. (Note to self: Start a website that tracks the history of ongoing news stories like these.)

It's basically a he said/he said at this point. I can't figure it out . Obama's camp claims that Krugman once supported Obama's health plan. Krugman claims Obama mis-represented what he said.

Seriously, all I'm really looking for is the answer to why Obama decided against putting mandates in his bill.

The one answer I found, interestingly on Krugman's blog, is that Obama doesn't believe that mandates are enforceable. Obama has actually asked Clinton publicly about whether she would penalize people for not getting health insurance, so Krugman may actually be on to something.

Regardless, I'm not sure I even care anymore. I'm exhausted (and bored) after trying to mine through the google results in search of an answer to my somewhat simple question. Time that I could have used to say, write another blog entry. Yeesh.

Tenant's Revolution (sort of)

Walking to work today, I was handed a flyer denouncing the condo development across the street from me (note: I usually always take flyers or postcards handed to me on the street as I feel bad for the person who has to stand there and hand them out like I used to do at political rallies.)

A worker died there last week (see update on this tragedy in the Brownstoner). And now the union has posted its infamous inflatable rat across the street -- which, incidentally, threw both my dogs into a barking storm when I took them out this morning.


I understand the need to bring sub-standard workplace practices to light. I even told the man I would call the number on the flyer to denounce the practice, especially he told me that the company didn't even help with the worker's funeral expenses (which swayed me even more despite knowing that it may or may not be true). However, I don't get one thing.

The number on the flyer was that of the building's owner, Dani Weiss. Now, the flyer doesn't say who Dani Weiss is, but a quick google search revealed him (or her) to be representing the company that is constructing the building.

Here's my question: Why complain to the owner? Clearly s/he didn't care about the worker conditions to start with. And, given the tight housing market in New York, these calls aren't going to prevent him from selling every condo for above market rates.

Now, I have some experience on the housing front here in the city. You see, I started a tenants' revolution in my old building. After several instances (in the middle of winter, mind you) with intermittent heat and electricity and after several calls to the housing authority (HPD), I posted signs in my building alerting other tenants to call to file complaints. Thing is, most other people in my building were Chinese, and most didn't speak English. The reason I call this act a revolution (in the Chinese sense, of course) is that when I came out the next morning, my signs had been translated into Mandarin characters!

The Chinese were pissed too! Several of the women in the building nodded their heads toward me as I left for work that day -- clearly a vote of confidence in my act. (I know this because we had developed a certain level of c0mmunication via body language.)

Oddly enough, the following summer, after I had left the city but was back interning, I got a phone call from a lawyer identifying herself as representing HPD. They were actually filing a suit against the owners (read slum lords) of my old building. And, they asked me for a deposition given the number of complaints I had filed.

Ahh, the sense of vindication. (never mind you that I'm not exactly sure if the slum lord ever got forced to pay any sort of retribution)

So, here's my lesson for the union with the rat...

Please put a phone number for someone who care on your flyer.

Clearly, the building owner does not, or s/he would have insured safe working conditions from the start. Why would s/he then care about a few nasty phone calls from local residents, many of whom have probably wondered what the fabulous new condos will go for?

People who might care, for example: the city authority that manages building construction, your local city council representative, the neighborhood community council, etc.

They might do something.

The owner of the building will most certainly not.

Washington Insider?

One of my hobbies (read: fascinations) are the Top 10 Most Emailed Articles on the New York Times website. I think they say something about our culture. What we read and like to pass on is a reflection of who we are.

Today, the most emailed article is Paul Krugman's article comparing Clinton's and Obama's health care initiatives (does anyone else have an issue with calling Hillary by her last name?). In fact, the top 5 articles are about the presidential race (the 6th is about the Irish and plastic bags). Not surprising as tomorrow is Super Tuesday. So, today my insight is not so much about the list itself as the actual article.

Big caveat here: I am undecided. I have never been undecided. I used to work in politics. I am a card carrying member of Emily's List, the PAC that supports pro-choice women candidates. I used to work with Hillary's office all the time. But, still, I haven't decided who to support...this may be an entire other blog entry at some point.

It's a good piece. It describes the key differences to the respective candidates' health care plans. Now, I already knew about some of these differences. And, I think they are one of very few policy differences between the two (reason #1 that I'm having issues deciding).

I won't wax on about the policy differences, but what struck me after reading the article is that Obama has decided not to mandate coverage for all.

The interesting piece about this, as Krugman adeptly refers to, is what it says about Obama's negotiation starting point on this topic should he get elected. We all know that national health insurance is unlikely to get passed by the Congress, at least in its full glory. But, isn't the number one rule of bargaining (other than having a BATNA) to ask for it all, fully expecting to only get a portion of it that you'll be happy with at the conclusion? If Obama has already given up mandating that everyone be covered, what will be the next piece to be compromised?

It makes me slightly concerned about his political saavy-ness...his ability to work the Washington machine where your job as a politician is to ask for it all, and then make compromises to get the best result you can.

I'm sure Obama has his reasons. Maybe he decided that he'll get more independents voting for him if he doesn't go all the way...if he stays on the fence, just like they like to.

Anyways, I'll be looking for his response to Krugman's piece tomorrow.

I Heart Blogging

In just 48 hours, I have discovered the true reason for blogging -- and the reason I can't stop thinking about what I'm going to blog about. Blogging is the perfect outlet for those, like myself, who like to share. For those of us who drive people nuts when we are in our "chatty Kathy" mode, we now have a place to express all of those things that are going on in our heads that no one really wants to hear about. The revelations about life, the cool little boutiques and trinkets we find, the articles we read in obscure magazines, the recipes we tried from Food Everyday Magazine.

And so, I'm addicted. Mind you, I've been addicted to a variety of hobbies, each for a flitting moment in time. As we speak, I'm reminded of my 24-hour hobby of learning water colors as I catch a glimpse of the dust-filled paints that the boy bought me last Valentine's Day (stuffed conspicuously under the bookshelf in our office).

I've discovered that my hobby is actually searching for hobbies. Politics, cooking, hiking, water colors, movie watching, biking, volunteering, knitting, kickball...I've tried them all. I focus all day long at work, and that's about as much as my brain can take. Therefore, outside of work, I fiddle. I dabble. I flirt. I twiddle. But, I don't ever really commit.

My blog will dabble, just as I like to dabble. Why? Because dabbling makes me happy.

Entree Into the Blog-o-sphere

It's Groundhog day, and I did it. I created a blog.

I've always wondered why people create blogs. Here are my top reasons:

- People are bored (though I would contest that there are lots more productive things to do with oneself other than blog).

- People want to be famous. (duh)

- People think they are smarter than they are and that the rest of us really want to read what they have to say.

- People like to have a permanent place in this world. This is also why we name buildings after people.

- People are weird. (you'll hear this theme from me a lot)

There's probably a plethora more, but I digress.

So, why am I starting a blog? I wanted to try it out. See what the craze is about. And, along the way, keep a record of my own musings for my children to amuse themselves with one day.

One last admission: I have failed miserably at similar efforts in the past...keeping up a slam book in middle school, writing about my teenage angst in a diary, pretending I was Felicity and recording myself, logging my travel adventures in a journal.

We'll see how this one works out.