… to have salad and chocolate cake for dinner – sometimes!
So says well-read Jessie.
Case in point:
After a long morning of browsing the stacks at a library book sale (see above) and a very late lunch, I had a hard time even THINKING about dinner. I decided to eat what my body was craving at dinnertime: an enormous bowl of veggies with egg.
I steamed some carrots and threw them over a bed of lettuce, tomatoes, cucumbers, and red peppers (fresh from our deck!), then topped the veggies with a poached egg and Amy’s Goddess dressing. I must have been deficient in micronutrients because I felt much better after eating this salad (I also need to empty the fridge of perishables). Lately I haven’t been taking advantage of summer’s fresh fruits and veggies, which is silly. We need to eat vitamin-rich fruits and veggies every 4 to 6 hours to take advantage of their antioxidant properties, so I will be making more of an effort to include these nutrient powerhouses in my diet.
That said, I knew I had to try a little of the chocolate cake we bought yesterday for dessert. This chocolate cake is from Billy’s Bakery in Fairfield, CT and it is the most decadent mousse cake I’ve ever eaten.
Look at that glassy ganache frosting!
You gotta really like chocolate to enjoy this cake. A little goes a loooong way. While I won’t make a regular habit of veggies and chocolate cake for dessert, it was a nice treat.
Hmm, these food pictures are pretty disappointing: no natural light, the glare of overhead 60 watts apparent. Let’s look at some gorgeous island pictures instead:
Q: Do you get your 5 A Day? How do you incorporate fruits and veggies in your meals and snacks?
Final exams are OVAH!! All four exams went well, and I’ve actually received a few grades already (my professors are speedy). This intense semester of schoolwork, work, and internship is behind me, and now I am a little over a year from becoming a Registered Dietitian. Just call me Jessie E., RD-to-be :D
I’m very excited about this summer. In June, I will be doing something special (which I will reveal in the next post ;) ), and then for the rest of the summer I’ll be working on various projects, including some projects for the RD for whom I work. This summer will be exciting and full (full of good food, too).
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To celebrate the end of my semester, Peter cooked up a fabulous Cuban feast that had me saying: (phrase removed for apparent vulgarity!) (I wish I could say those words meant something like “You’re awesome” or “This food rocks my socks”, but what it actually means is “Get out of here!” )
He began by smoking a four pound pork shoulder for 9 hours until it was super tender. You might have seen my note on Twitter about the billows of smoke coming from our deck. Yes, I said billows.
Peter insisted I show you a picture of him preparing the meat, so here we go:
He’s wearing his smoking outfit. I do not jest.
Peter also baked some crusty whole grain rolls from Peter Reinhart’s Artisan Breads Every Day so that we could have Cuban pulled pork sandwiches.
He also caramelized some onions to go with the pork.
Lastly, he ground a garlic paste to make a garlic-mayo aioli (potent!):
He hand-ground the garlic in our basalt molcajete, a pig-shaped behemoth we call “Watchpig“:
You might wonder why a young married couple would have a molcajete in their kitchen … the only answer I can give you is:
After shredding the pork, we piled everything together with a little Jarlsberg cheese and popped the sandwiches into the oven to melt the cheese. We tied the sandwiches with string to keep them from falling apart.
With a side of panko-crusted asparagi :) :
Action shot! (Altered for modesty’s sake)
Peter also made a tres leches cake to complete the Cuban theme. The recipe was from Rose Levy Beranbaum’s Rose’s Heavenly Cakes.
This is a pretty heavy cake, so a little goes a long way.
Thanks for a wonderful dinner, Peter! I am certainly well-fed :D
I’m off to enjoy a night of relaxation – the first in a while! Stay tuned for an exciting announcement on SUNday-SUNDAY-Sunday!
Q: What’s your favorite way to relax after a busy day/week/month/year?
