Skip to content

Posts tagged ‘fast and easy’

May 24

SciFriday: So long and thanks for all the fish….

Tomorrow is International Towel Day!  For all you geeky folks I need explain no further but to any readers who aren’t officials on their British SciFi—Towel day was started in 2001 to commemorate the passing of author Douglas Adams.  Adams wrote perhaps one of the keystones in geek lit—“The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy”—which has failed for the most part in making a popular film adaptation and so most folks still haven’t heard of it.  That’s not to knock the film made a few years back; it just hardly reached the same level of non-geek audiences that say Avengers did last summer.

Hitchhiker’s Guide begins with the demolition of earth for the construction of an interstellar highway—galactic eminent domain.  Unfortunately humanity failed to notice the memo (hey it WAS posted) and gets subsequently wiped out.  All humans that is except for Arthur Dent who discovers in his local pub that his good friend Ford of many years is in fact, an alien, and is whisked away just moments before earth goes all kablooey.  Thus begins their travels hitchhiking across the universe.  Along the way they travel with the President of the Galaxy (who has kidnapped himself), a stolen ship operating by Improbability Drive, the last remaining human female in the galaxy (I see where this is going), and a depressed robot named Marvin.  You find out a certain species of whiskered four legged animal is smarter than humans and very, very evil?  Can you guess which animal this is—hint it’s NOT cats.  The second smartest species being Dolphins (humans are third you see) also escape the demolition of earth after thanking humans for all the fish we fed them over the years.

Oh and the earth was actually just a giant supercomputer designed to determine what the ultimate question is after a super computer determined the answer to the ultimate question regarding life, the universe and everything is….42.  It’s pure, delightful space nonsense.    Yet it manages to also pack some really great punches that are surprisingly on point, make you think and will be quotable even in non-geeky circles.

“Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.”
― Douglas Adams, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy

Tomorrow will also be “Geek Pride Day” which I just always kind of lump into Towel Day.  I mean what could be more geek pride-yer than running around singing So Long and Thanks for All The Fish?  If you planted a geek flag it would be a towel, with the words “Don’t Panic!” waving proud and high for all passing spaceships to see.  Why a towel?  Ah I see you haven’t read the book.  Well did you know that a  towel is the most important thing for a space traveler to carry?

A towel, it says, is about the most massively useful thing an interstellar hitchhiker can have. Partly it has great practical value. You can wrap it around you for warmth as you bound across the cold moons of Jaglan Beta; you can lie on it on the brilliant marble-sanded beaches of Santraginus V, inhaling the heady sea vapours; you can sleep under it beneath the stars which shine so redly on the desert world of Kakrafoon; use it to sail a miniraft down the slow heavy River Moth; wet it for use in hand-to-hand-combat; wrap it round your head to ward off noxious fumes or avoid the gaze of the Ravenous Bugblatter Beast of Traal (such a mind-bogglingly stupid animal, it assumes that if you can’t see it, it can’t see you); you can wave your towel in emergencies as a distress signal, and of course dry yourself off with it if it still seems to be clean enough.

Hitchhiker’s Guide is pretty pervasive in our culture even though you might not have noticed it.  I know of a chemistry professor for example that made sure that he always had a question whose answer was 42 out of homage to the book.  Most of the kids in the class didn’t get it….  It’s somewhat sad to me that so few people still seem to have heard of this book—at least in America—when it’s such an international phenomenon.  Originally written in the 70’s, Hitchhiker’s Guide has been made into several radio shows, stage adaptations, lp compilations, films, tv series, comic books….  I’d argue it’s the British culture equivalent to Star Trek except they also have Doctor Who so I’m not sure which one wins out there for most popular, British geeky space epic.  I wonder if they have the animosity competing Star Wars and Star Trek fans do….

If you are looking for something to do to celebrate the holiday tomorrow there are numerous events going on globally if you check the official holiday website.  Me?  What will I be doing?  What do I ever do when I have a day or even to commemorate?  I cook of course!  Since the book is oh so british, and Arthur Dent is always on a quest for that good English Cuppa, and since the dolphin song is so infectious, I offer to you the official dinner of Towel Day: Tea Steamed Mackerel.  Mmmmmmm.  Tea because duh, British and Mackerel because it’s not only one of the fish that Dolphins in captivity are fed, but because they are one of the more sustainable options at your seafood counter.  I love it when all my passions collide on a plate.  While a good solid English Breakfast tea is great, I really wanted something that would stand up to the strong salty flavor of mackerel.  After sniffing my way through the loose leaf tea section at Whole Foods, I discovered this smoked variety: Lapsang souchong.  It is remarkable with the fish.  Really, truly remarkable.  As it turns out this variety of tea was Winston Churchill’s favorite so I officially consider it British enough.  The best part is that this recipe is simple and fast, so you can easily make it with only a few minutes to spare before the demolition of your planet.

Hitchhiker’s Tea Steamed Mackerel

An Olivia Original Read more

May 8

3 Comments

Only fools Russian….

I’m going to be 25 this June.  I’m still single with no prospects and no dependents.  I’m renting a room in an overpriced Bay Area apartment.  My mom and stepdad are within “I’m crying on the phone because there’s a spider in my bathtub” range.  My mother was 25 years old when she had me.  My mother was married; my mother owned a house and she lived further than 45 minutes away from her parents.  I’d be lying if I didn’t say that part of me gets overwhelmed when I think about how far behind I feel in relation to this.  When I was half my age I would have told you I planned to be having my first child by now too.  At 20 I would have told you I should be getting married at least around now with plans to have a child in two years or so.  Now standing here at the precipice of being halfway through my twenties I feel like marriage, kids, the picket fence…they are years away—if ever.

Despite the fact that the only thing I know I can plan is for life to upset my plans, I still have all these guidelines for the love and marriage thing.  The underlying strategy to these guidelines follows that old idiom “only fools rush in.”  Marriage would follow years of dating—children should be held off until the marriage is at least two years tested.  A home should only be bought in a neighborhood that’s been thoroughly vetted for these theoretical children’s future education from K through 12.  Definitely can’t have a kid until I’m ready to simultaneously start saving for their college fund!  All these well intentioned plans that are meant to keep me safe and secure and probably will ensure I never do any of the above.

At what point does this need for security become an excuse to not do any of it?   Is the truth really that I’m just bloody effing terrified of these very permanent life changes?  Will I ever be as brave as my mother was at my age?

I mean I say I’m focusing on my career.  It’s true but if I really wanted to, if I really wanted to I could set aside the money and raise a kid.  I could do it.  I’m physically at the right stage.  I’ve got a real job with real future prospects.  I’m just too damn selfish, too damn scared and well I would ideally like to have a life partner to raise a child with so I’m not really equipped but still…I could do it on my own.  Is there an opposite phrase for “Only Fools Rush In” something like “and even bigger fools need to be pulled in kicking and screaming?”  I know plenty of people who do…well the opposite of what I think should be done and they do it quite well.

Am I just making excuses hidden under the guise of wisdom?  What do you think?  Do you have similar “rules” for planning your future?  Oddly enough this all popped into my head because sometimes when I go for a run at work I find reruns of Roseanne on and I’ll watch them.  As far as sitcoms go this show really was something special.  It was actually clever, had continuity and managed to be thought provoking at times.  It wasn’t just some crass weekly potato about blue collar, white trash in Middle America.  The opening is always the family seated around a dinner table, interacting and loving each other.  I do have a craving for that in my life.

But until I’m ready to give up these selfish ways of my single youth, I can only supply the family meal and not the family.  That’s where this dish comes in—nothing screams Sunday night family dinner more than a classic from my cultural heritage: Beef Stroganoff.  The Jewish side of my family comes from the Ukraine/Russia Ashkenazi tribe and despite having never been to the “mother country” I seem to have retained some sort of cultural tastebuds.  My passion for fermented vegetable juices, cabbage soups, beets…not exactly American.  This main course will appeal to non-Russian Jews though as it’s really just a big pot of pasta, meat and creamy mushroom sauce.  In fact it should appeal to everyone BUT jews since as we all know mixing dairy and meat is decidedly not-kosher.  Oops.  Well like I said…I’m Jewish.   I don’t keep Kosher year round…and I’m fairly certain Nana would approve of this meal.  “If it’s clean, it’s Kosher”

The flavor is OFF THE CHARTS out of this world amazing.  I know it’s far from the healthy food I eat most of the time, but this is exactly the sort of thing I crave when I really want to indulge once in a while.  It’s warm and filling in your stomach.  A more “Russian” approach might be to spike the sauce with vodka instead of red wine, but I guess the one thing I didn’t inherit in my cultural genetics was a love for that fermented potato juice.  It’s just…gross.  I think the red wine adds more body to the sauce–some cognac would be nice too.  Play with it if you like but just remember this: it’s not stroganoff without the mushrooms. Yes mushrooms.  It’s just not stroganoff without them.

“Rush-in” Beef Stroganoff

An Olivia Original – to serve 4 Read more

May 7

Think Thin Tuesday: Vegan Rice Crisp-easies

Do you burn potatoes in the microwave?  Do you know the difference between a rolling boil and a simmer?  Does even the act of cracking and separating an egg mystify you?  Is your idea of making breakfast putting the cereal box next to the milk?  Don’t worry.  It’s not your fault.  When women left the kitchen and entered the workforce we got fat, lazy and lost generations of cultural kitchen knowledge.

No I’m not currently the victim of an alien abduction.  I don’t actually mean to blame this epidemic of culinary ignorance on moms; certainly not with mother’s day approaching.  I once had a professor who blamed our overweight, convenience food culture on women’s lib.  This wasn’t a soapbox about forcing women back into the role of housewife mind you.  He was just trying to grab our attention and demonstrate how a shift in family structure created the opportunity for the fast food market, also known as the fat food market, to gain a stronghold.  Prior to the 40’s, women stayed at home and family meals were a daily job.  Food was made from scratch, at home, and generally was more nutritious as a result.  It wasn’t a matter of grabbing a box of processed junk from the drive thru window while juggling teleconference calls.    Don’t go rushing off thinking your shrink is right and that all your problems are rooted with dear old mom.  There’s no reason Dad can’t stay at home instead and make those meals for the kidlets.  Sadly in today’s world having either parent out of the workforce just isn’t really a possibility even when/if a parent wants to.

As a result we’ve got a whole generation to whom seeing Mom or Dad in the kitchen is an anomaly—and as a result we’ve got kids who aren’t learning how to cook at all.  Heck even stay-at-home moms are so busy with their kids overloaded schedules that cooking is still likely to fall by the wayside when we have so many convenient options for pre-made meals.  It’s all about prioritizing and if someone else can do it then delegate, delegate, delegate…right?

Never let it be said that I don’t try to accommodate even the busiest of lifestyles.  I have stretched myself even thinner than usual so I definitely understand the need for something easy to make that takes little time, little effort and little cleanup.  One party dessert popular amongst soccer moms for this reason is an American Classic: the Rice Krispy Treat.  You can make these with almost no kitchen training whatsoever.  The hardest part is melting the marshmallows and this can be done in a microwave—no stove needed!  They are also traditionally pretty low in calories and thus folks like them as a more diet friendly dessert.  The only problem?

Diet food that’s low on calories is usually low on nutrition too.  That’s because foods high in nutrition usually package those vitamins to be absorbed by our bodies—meaning fats or sugars.  My theory is that dieting isn’t really worth it when the calories you’re consuming are totally empty.  Since Rice Krispies are really just fat, sugar and empty carbohydrates I wondered: could I make these slightly healthier at all to justify them as a diet dessert?

The first step was to eliminate the “Crispy Rice” of a certain name brand cereal well all grew up snapping along with.  Instead of using fried bits of white rice, high in fat and low in nutrition, I went for air puffed brown rice instead.  You can buy for cheap at Whole Foods.  This substitution reduced the fat content of each square by 60% and introduced some fiber.  The benefit of airpuffing also means that the brown rice retains most of the vitamins and minerals; one cup has 1/3 of your daily B vitamins. I actually made these during my vegan week so in addition to being low calorie, gluten free they are also totally vegan…and yet still manage to taste like what they are.  Thus instead of using butter I used a flax based butter substitute which cut the calories from fat AND reduced the saturated fats.  As for the marshmallows…well you can’t replace that sugar but if this were 100% healthy I don’t think I could call it a proper dessert right?  Mine do have a little more sugar probably because of the brand of marshmallow but since they also have more B vitamins, zinc, potassium, fiber and less fat and fewer calories…I think I will let that slide.

One last tip: if you aren’t worried about gluten free try using puffed whole wheat, puffed kamut grains or puffed barley instead.  You’ll get even more vitamins and fiber from those!

Vegan Rice Krispeasies

An Olivia Original

  • 6 cups puffed brown rice cereal
  • 1 bag of vegan marshmallows (I used Dandies)
  • 3 Tbsp Smartbalance with Flax (this product does contain some soy)
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract or any flavored extract you like

Prep a 13×9 inch cake pan with lining or a small rubdown with buttery spread.

In a microwave safe bowl heat your marshmallows and butter substitute on high.  Watch these carefully and stop periodically to stir and continue heating.  Once entirely smooth remove from the microwave.  Stir in the extract if you want to add a little oomph of flavor to these treats.

Mix the puffed brown rice cereal into the melted marshmallows. Spread into your prepped pan and let cool for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving.

Vegan Rice Krispeasies: (1 serving – 12 total) 128 calories | 1g Fat (<0.5g Saturated) | 28 carbohydrates (17g sugar) | 1g protein

TraditionalL1 serving – 12 total) 140 calories | 4g Fat (2.5g Saturated) | 28g carbohydrates (14 sugar) | 1g protein

Apr 26

Heads will Casserole

Okay Olivia so far for this “vegan” thing you shared a muffin, a cake and some vegetable broth–not exactly convincing that you are getting substantive fare on a vegan diet.  What about an actual meal?  Alright first of all I’m not necessarily advocating a full vegan lifestyle—remember the word I discovered is “flexitarian” but in being a flexitarian I do need a good vegan main course menu item or two.  Going Vegan for a main course doesn’t mean you have to rely on those expensive and often bland tasting “meat substitutes” they sell at your local grocery store.  Actually I kind of love the veggie dogs but that does not a meal make.  Organic, local vegetables can get expensive too—a meal at Wendy’s is much cheaper than a salad at Whole Foods.  So how do you work with this to make a budget friendly, vegetable heavy and still tasty vegan dish?

Let’s start by eliminating the idea that your only option for protein replacement is going to be tofu.  I love tofu.  It’s delicious when prepared correctly but it’s also soy based and just like corn, we have way too much soy in our diets.  Where corn fills the gap for producing cheap sugars, soy stands in many of your pre-packaged products because it is the cheapest form of complete protein to grow.  It’s cheaper even than the “beef” produced by the corn chomping factory farmed cows Ronald McDonald loves to use.  If you breakdown what goes into the modern American diet…it’s 50% corn and soy.  That’s nuts!  Again from an economic and agriculture standpoint, the high level of soyfarming we do is horrible.  It’s bad for the environment.  One place that loves to factory farm soy is Brazil—in land that used to be rainforest.  There’s also the not so awesome fact that most soy is GMO.  I don’t have a problem with GMO foods themselves; so far there hasn’t been anything to indicate that GM soy is inherently dangerous.  Remember I’ve got a biotech degree.  That being said, the way it’s been manipulated is so that the soy can withstand large quantities of herbicide to kill of weeds.  This means your factory farm can spray much higher levels of chemicals on your food—run off in the water and the seeping of those chemicals into the soy?  Not so good.  All the corn is GM too but depending on the modification we’re discussing I have less of a problem with it.  That’s a post for another day.  Back to the main point: more chemicals sprayed on my food is not something I’m eager to embrace.

There are also the health concerns.  Over-exposure to anything is going to be bad for you and soy is no exception.  Soyeans are high in phytoestrogens which are perfectly fine for you in small doses.  A wide array of our produce contains these chemicals which are plant based—legumes, cereal grains, fruits, vegetables and flax seeds all have phytoestrogens.  Too many?  Well…higher incidence of breast cancer, thyroid cancer and a lowering of testosterone levels which can be bad in men.  Soy also contains phytic acid which inhibits uptake of minerals that we need and some protease inhibitors which actually make it harder for us to digest protein.  Oh and overexposure?  That’s thought to be the cause of the seemingly increased number of allergy sufferers now.

Don’t lose your head and go running to the doctor just yet. Don’t think you have to stop eating soy completely.  Vitamin C can make you sick if you eat enough.  We just need to stop mono-dieting and make sure that our bodies are fed as wide a variety of foods as possible.  Since soy isolates are in over 70% of what’s on a typical supermarket shelf, I’m going to share a main course recipe that doesn’t have any soy products but is still high in protein.

Really my main point is this: if you want to get healthy, get away from processed foods.  When you do eat them, read the labels and know what’s in them.  I minimize my intake of what comes out of a box so I don’t worry about it as much if I want to have delicious tofu in wasabi cream sauce once a week or two.

I know most vegan food people think looks like dog food.  I guess this one kind of does too but don’t go running away.  I know it looks like health food but one bite of this casserole and you will be transported to Italy.  It’s the sun-dried tomatoes that do it.  Those little nuggets of tomato goodness can make anything taste amazing.  In fact I haven’t made my sundried tomato basil bread in ages.  I need to do that soon.  The original recipe came from Vegan with a Vengeance but it was very simple and un-seasoned.  Since I largely know people who wouldn’t eat broccoli if it were pureed and hidden in a chocolate bar, I decided I needed to jazz the recipe up a bit.  I was craving pizza and this is what came out.  It’s delicious and trust me one bite…your head will roll.  Plus garbanzo beans contain all of the essential amino acids needed to make it a complete protein for an adult.  Bear in mind that histidine, which is the 9th “essential” amino acid to create a whole protein, is typically produced by an adult body in sufficient quantities so long as the other essentials are present.  In children however this is not the case so if you have a little one to feed be sure to add some whole grains to this meal OR mix it up and use some cauliflower or mushrooms in the recipe.  These veggies contain histidine too.

Broccoli Tomato Garbanzo Casserole

Adapted from Vegan with a Vengeance Read more

Apr 9

Think Thin Tuesday: Avoiding Vegetative S(t)ouper

My number one piece of advice to someone looking to force themselves to get more active, and also save a little money, is this: cut the cable.  Do it. It’s scary I know and if you are a sports fan…well I can’t help you there as much but if you aren’t addicted to ESPN cut the damn cord.  Cable is expensive and with the myriad of online subscription options expanding every day you don’t need it.  Add them up and they are still cheaper than your hundred dollar plus Comcast bill.  Do you own a tablet of some sort that streams video?  Even more reason to get unhooked to the actual idiot box.  Not being stuck in front of the tv all night after work will get you moving and doing other things.  The advantage to streaming is that you can watch when you want—catch up on a day when you are genuinely immobile or commuting on the metro.  Take it with you on the plane.  When you don’t have a choice about being immobile, that’s a good time to watch.

But Olivia I don’t want to fall behind on my shows. In fact I like watching them LIVE when I can.  Fine you whiner I already thought of the solution to that AND it gets you moving.  Ready? Now here’s what you do with that money you saved: buy a gym membership.  There are a lot of cheap deals out there for 30-40 bucks a month.  Spend the money on online subscriptions and gym membership.  How does a gym membership help? Well with the exception of certain premium stations like HBO, big gyms with cheap fees like 24 hour fitness have cable subscriptions.  If you want to watch oh say, Glee on Thursday night at is actual broadcast time—go to the gym and use their television.  Hop on a treadmill and walk a light pace; you don’t have to break a sweat if you don’t want to.  3 miles an hour is fine—hell 2 if you’re really lazy and an annoying as fuck slow walker….  The point is you save money and instead of sitting on the couch eating, i.e. gaining weight while actively doing nothing; you can get a little bit of electrical activity in your legs and watch the show.  This way you aren’t munching away an entire bag of potato chips.  I mean we’ve all done it.  Instead you burn maybe 100 calories that hour, keep your metabolism awake and get to watch your favorite tv show for half the cost.

Genius no?

I think it is so shut up.  This plan works really well for people who just abhor cardio with a passion.  If you just can’t find the enjoyment in going for a run, cycling classes, aerobics or swimming and you need to distract your mind to get your body moving this is the perfect fix.  It’s not going to get you Spartan abs ala 300 and it won’t result in significant weight loss in the long run, but it will help you lose a few pounds or just avoid the late night vegetative stupor that comes with primetime tv.  If you hate gyms and can afford it then just buy a damn treadmill/bike/stair climber…whatever you prefer and put it in front of the tv but you better use it. Typically I see people buy equipment with this intent and get lured in by the seductive nature of their couches.  Just can’t resist those alluring fibers and springs….  I like the gym membership because it really forces you to go get moving.  You can’t sit on a couch and use the gym tv.  And for those channels that air our favorite shows but aren’t carried by the gym’s cable?  Well that’s where your PC tablet comes in handy.  I’m not going to tell you how to get ahold of Game of Thrones without a cable subscription but I know some of you have it so…get walking.

And for those nights when it’s cold, windy, and rainy and you just feel crummy and need to curl up on the couch…well how about a nice vegetable skinny soup?  It’ll fill your tummy without all the excess sodium and empty calories the bag of lays has AND it might be one of the few things that help you to avoid becoming what you eat.  Indulge in a sourdough roll with it since the soup is so light on calories and fat OR you can bulk it up a little more with rice or whole wheat pasta.  The choices are endless.

Italian Vegetable Soup

An Olivia Original Read more

Mar 26

1 Comment

Think Thin Tuesday: Better get the Parsley started

Welcome to the first part of my Virtual Seder!  I hope you learn, I hope you feast and more than anything I hope you are entertained.  I will do my best to be both reverent and irreverent over the course of these posts. Traditionally the story of Passover is told near the beginning of your Passover Seder.  First it is preceded by blessings and the drinking of a cup of wine.  After the wine everyone washes their hands and moves on to the first element of the Seder plate.  Now the Seder plate is a literal plate that has been set with 7 symbolic foods for the telling and remembering of Passover.  These foods are consumed in a specific order.  Tonight we feature the first – the Karpas.  This is the first food eaten of the night after the washing of hands.

The Karpas is a vegetable, usually something bitter like parsley, and it is dipped in salt water before consuming.  This is meant to symbolize the bitterness and tears of slavery for the Jews of Egypt.  This action, dipping of vegetables in salt water, is meant to prompt curiosity of the children and lead them to ask the question: Ma nishtana ha lyla ha zeh mikkol hallaylot?
Why is this night different from all other nights?

SO why do Jews celebrate Passover?  What prompted this holiday in the first place?  Well it’s a line from Exodus in the Old Testament that provides the basis for the entire ritual:  You shall tell your child on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what Adonai did for me when I came out of Egypt.’” (Exodus 13:8)

The Story of Passover – as overly-simplified and wryly told by Olivia.

Once again those people with the funny looking sideburns were the target for some genocidal lunatic.  They ran away, survived and now to remember the fact that we once again managed to avoid extinction spend by spending 8 days eating, drinking and praying.

Haha very funny Olivia.  So what is it…really?

Well the story that most people who are familiar with is the Biblical narrative of Moses.  Many many years ago the Jewish people were enslaved in Egypt.  Some crazy Pharoah decided that all male Hebrew babies should be put to death.  One mother managed to hide her child for a while and eventually, in a desperate attempt to save his life, set him adrift on the nile in a basket to avoid the soldiers that had come to kill him.  The child was discovered by the Pharoah’s daughter and raised as a member of the family.  Many years later the boy, who was named Moses, intervened when an Egyptian was beating a Hebrew slave.  Intervened as in he killed the slaver.  Whoops.  Papa Pharoah not so happy about that so Moses flees, winds up saving some more Jews, marries one and hey look you’re actually one of us.  Who knew? Oh Moses did okay cool.  Anyway.

Eventually after having what some might argue was a pyromania fueled schizophrenic talk with some shrubbery, Moses believes he has the command of G-d to return to Egypt and set his people free.  Moses commands the Pharaoh release the Hebrews and when he doesn’t, 10 plagues descend upon Egypt.  Water to blood, frogs and lice as afflictions of the land followed by flies, diseased livestock, disfiguring boils, hailstorms, locusts and days of darkness all followed as the Pharaoh refused again and again to free the Jews.  Finally the tenth plague was death of all the first born sons of Egypt.  Ah the story has come round from the beginning, clever narrative or a just G-d depending on your personal religious leanings.  The Hebrews marked their homes with the blood of the lamb so that death would know that Jewish people lived in this house and pass over their doors, sparing the Hebrew children.

And that is where the term Passover comes from.  Isn’t the Old Testament so much more fun than the New?  By fun I mean just the kind of radical and violent story we love to read.   It may be a bloody and horrific tale but it’s certainly a captivating one.  There’s a lot of “Blood of Lamb” references to Jesus but the original use of this term to denote the favor of God upon the innocent, his “children”, began with some other Jews in Egypt.  I say other because as Avenue Q loves to remind us “Hey guys, Jesus was Jewish….”

Moving on…seeing children die, including his own son, apparently gets to Pharaoh.  Finally he relents, frees the Jews only he changes his mind.  Actually the exact wording is that G-d hardens his heart…what a dick.  Apparently he set up the Pharoah to fail?  I never understood that bit.  Anyway for whatever reason he changes his mind and sends his soldiers against the fleeing Israelites.  There’s a whole chase scene involving water being parted in the Red Sea thanks to Moses and his big stick.  The Jews hustle through like there’s a sale at Loehmann’s on the other side.  Once safely across the parted ocean waters, the waves collapse back down drowning the pursuing Egyptians.  (Then there’s the whole Ten Comandments and getting lost in the desert thing but that’s a whole other story and holiday for another time.)

Endeth the story.  Onto the Karpas!

I’ve almost always seen Parsley used as the vegetable for the Karpas and it’s probably the only time (other than some out-of-date 90′s restaurant plate styling) that you ever see curly parsley on a table.  Thus I always think of Passover when I see curly parsley at the store.  Typically the Italian Flat-leaf variety beats out this cousin because it’s a little less bitter but with much more flavor due to a higher volume of oils in the leaves.  For my recipe today I used both varieties.  I wanted to really showcase the flavor of the parsley.  The result?  Broiled Tilapia with a parsley-vegetable pistou.  Tilapia is a fantastic fish to use when you want something with a mild flavor so I knew it would be just the thing to let my main star shine through.  It’s so easy to cook if you have a broiler on your oven.  If you need something simple and Kosher for the middle of the week, this is just the ticket.  The whole meal can come together in 30 minutes.  Plus this is a great Think Thin Tuesday post since Pistou is similar to Pesto but lower in fat and calories since it omits cheese and pine nuts.  Traditional pistou is just basil, oil and salt.  Mine has considerably less basil and a lot more vegetables to bulk it up.

Tilapia with Parsley Pistou

An Olivia Original Read more

Mar 25

L’Chaim Muffin Monday: I’ll bake to that!

Passover begins tonight.  For the goyim readers out there Passover is a Jewish Holiday, one of the more important ones really, but it’s relatively glossed over during Easter time in the stores.  Don’t worry I’m not about to rant about how most Americans only know Hanukah (a far less important holiday) or how a very Catholic girl I knew once said “Yeah they always show the Moses story for Easter but I don’t know why.”

Oy.

You might have noticed this holiday in the past though.  Maybe a Jewish friend starts whining about not being able to eat pizza or shows up to work hungover after something called “First Say-dur?” and you’re a little curious just what this Passover thing is all about.  Okay so let me explain.  No wait, there is too much, let me sum up.  This is how I explain the point of most Jewish holidays to my coworkers or semi-interested friends: someone tried to kill us, we survived, and now we celebrate surviving yet another attempted genocide by eating weird foods and getting drunk.  Sound about right?

Okay so that’s something of an oversimplified explanation but Passover can be a little hard to explain in detail to the totally unaware.  And again I’m not going to whine about how no one knows anything about Jewish holidays or how far too many people who claim to be Christian and know their bibles have no clue about a key part of the Old Testament.  I’m not.  Really.  Because you know what?  I don’t know shit really about Islamic or Hindu holidays.  I know more than the average Uh-MARE-ican.  Enough that I know what the point of Ramadan is and not to eat in front of my Islamic friends those long days.  I know that I would love to someday see and participating in celebrating Diwali and Holi because from what little I know, these Hindu holy days that utilize light and color sound beautiful.  I’m actually really intrigued by Hinduism.  There’s a lot to it from what little I’ve researched (or in other words spent hours on Wikipedia procrastinating) that appeals to me.

I guess my point is I’m at least aware of the existence of some non-mainstream Christian holidays which is all I ask of most people for Passover too.  I try not to be haughty when people don’t know the deal with that weird flat bread (Matzo) or get annoyed when people reduce it to a week of the Atkins diet.  I’ll be patient when I explain why I’m cooking up a storm for Seder dinner aka the Jewish Thanksgiving (except not really because we have a lot of those, it’s called Shabbat or every Friday night.)  ?  Oh wait, what’s a seder?  The first night, and second, nights of Passover (which lasts for 8 days) feature a large feast with prayers, songs, wine and a lavish ritual meal.  This is called a “seder” and is a very big deal for the holiday.  The point of the meal is also to teach the youngest members of the family about the meaning of the holiday through a series of questions asked every year designed to retell the story.  There’s also the “Seder Plate” which contains 7 foods present at every Seder to help with the telling of the story.  Thus I had a thought: I’m not going to get to have a proper Seder with my friends this year.  Most of them are scattered across the land anyway in faraway places like LA, New York and I shudder to think of it—Montana.  How about a virtual seder through my blog?  You’re all invited to attend.  Starting tomorrow for each day of Passover I want to feature a food inspired by one of the Seder plate offerings and give you a little insight into the holiday.

In the meantime I’m getting in my last bit of chametz (bread) with these Masala Chai Tea Muffins.  Wait—Chai?  Olivia you’re mixing up your cultures!  Chai, pronounced with a soft ch like chimichanga, is a term for flavored black tea from India.  Chai, with a hard chhhhh phlegmy sound, is the symbol for life in Judaism.  You’d be most likely familiar with the term as a toast offered by Jewish friends with wine— “L’Chaim!” which means “To Life!”  These muffins are tasty enough that you might get a little culturally flustered too.  I prefer to think of it as a melding of worlds in tasty, pastry form.  Just sit back, enjoy the ride and take your last few bites of bread until April 3 rolls around.  I promise they are a tasty way to toast to the holiday.

Masala L’Chaim Muffins!

An Olivia Original Read more

Feb 11

1 Comment

Muffin Monday: Just an orangery old coot….

Deep down inside I think I’m really just an 80 year old man.  With man boobs.  Aw man. **anyone know what I’m quoting?**  I seem to be a cranky old sailor (despite my penchant for sundresses and floppy hats), ready to complain about kids hover-boarding on my lawn and I’m not even 25 yet.  People love to say I have an old soul but sometimes I wonder if that means I’m all withered up like a prune in the “fun” centers of my brain.  Then again I know of other 20 somethings who feel like they had more in common with Mr. Wilson than Dennis so maybe this isn’t so rare after all?  My friend Brian likes to poke fun at my willingness to “rage” on the internet but couldn’t that be simultaneously a symptom of immaturity as well as a lack of youthful spirit?  I prefer to think of it as righteous indignation—because that has the word right in it so clearly I must be correct yes?  Maybe righteous indignation coupled with wisdom, passion and a flawed but ultimately belligerently adorable ornery Olivia state of mind?

Ornery Olivia–she comes out when I’m tired or cranky—not that unusual I think for someone to be a little bit on edge and snappish when stressed.  The bigger issue then maybe is that I’m stressed too often and need to learn to “let it go” as it were.  “Raging” or ranting can release the frustration I feel but sometimes it just leaves me feeling worse off than before—agitated primarily at myself for getting so, well, agitated.  I just don’t know how to not be a smart ass sometimes.  I was contemplating this the other day after leaving my yoga studio.  I just got out of a particularly challenging Bikram session that left me physically drained but very happy with my practice when a young white bald man approaches me.

“Hare Krishna” he says.  I smile and nod as the social expectations dictate even though I didn’t ASK to be approached on the street by a stranger with a greeting.  My phone is in my hands and I’m trying to make sure that I don’t have any missed important messages regarding a brunch I was planning the next day.

“Can you say Hare Krishna?” the man is speaking to me like a child who doesn’t know her words.  Apparently my normally socially acceptable smile and nod was insufficient for this individual who wishes to engage me in his practice.  Ornery Olivia is tired and rears her head, which ironically provides me with a surge of energy.

“Do I have the powers of speech?  Yes I do.”

“Well are you going to say it?”  I roll my eyes.

“Thank you goodbye” my attention turned back to my phone and I shift my bag ready to walk away.

“Do you know what Hare Krishna means?” I am asked.

“Yes thank you goodbye”

“Well then what does it mean?”

“It means I’m about to punch you in the throat if you don’t leave me alone.”  Okay I admit this last bit was a thought bubble and not what came out.  I’m ornery but not generally violent, at least not toward total strangers even if they are being obnoxious.

“I don’t speak on command like a pet.  Now thank you and GOODBYE.”

“Well maybe you’ll do better tomorrow.”

“Not if I see you first.” and then I turned and walked away.

I know I didn’t need to engage but sometimes my mouth just gets away from me.  Still I just HATE being stopped on the street by total strangers.  Pan-handlers are bad enough but at least I understand the begging.  I get far more annoyed by petitioners, especially ones who dress themselves up to look like city officials, who do their best to make you feel guilty for having places to go.  What’s more I don’t find it particularly safe to just stop on the street whenever any person wants to ask you something.  It’s a city mentality I suppose, a crotchety one, but I didn’t grow up in Mayberry and I don’t think it’s wise to assume that people have benign intentions.

Then there is the other side of me.  The shiny, Kaylee, bubbly sundress wearing, parasol twirling little girl who sees the world with Vanellope Sweet-candy eyes.

I guess I confuse even myself.

Anyway after a day of being the old lady version of myself I decided to embrace some sunshiney weather with equally sunshiney orange muffins.  I turned Ornery Olivia into Orangey Olivia.

See, see what I did there?

I loved the flavor in these but not so much the texture.  I tried out a recipe from a cookbook I rarely use (because I own too many cookbooks and am trying to branch out from Dorie) and was immediately suspicious of this being too cake like.  Sure enough they were very cakey and as a result they really were only good day of baking.  I put them out for a brunch on Sunday (made them Saturday) and found that the muffins were probably the least popular thing on the table…but they sure brightened it up with their chipper appearance.  Also don’t tell anyone but they actually got a nutrition boost from my own addition to the recipe: flax meal.

Ornery Orange Muffins

Modified from “The Buttercup Bake Shop Cookbook” Read more

Jan 15

Think Thin Tuesday: Dieting is like living in Purgatory….

Eggs in PurgatoryI don’t do breakfast meals enough on here so today in honor of waking up to a new year, I’m sharing a skinny wake up meal.  I know that usually most of us are running out the door in the morning so it might be something you do only on the weekends.  All things relative, this also doubles as a delicious weeknight dinner because it cooks up pretty quickly.  Just not quickly enough if you have to rush out to catch the subway train in ten minutes.

Time to admit it: raise your hand if one of your New Year’s resolutions was to lose weight.  Now raise your hand if you are already off or struggling to stay on your diet and exercise routine.  Seriously people?  It’s only halfway through the month!  Get it together.  No don’t go!  I didn’t mean it.  Jokes are so hard to convey via the internet….  Look if you are struggling or already broke that resolution it’s not the end of the world and it certainly doesn’t make you a bad person.  Of the top ten resolutions people make year after year, health focused concerns make up half the list.  Getting physical, eating better, losing weight, quitting smoking and reducing the alcohol.  These 5 goals are annual repeats and yet we so often set ourselves up to fail and make the resolutions again the following year only to fail once more.

Eggs in Purgatory 5

Meanwhile here is what really happens: on average, Americans gain 2 pounds a year.  Now that doesn’t sound like much at first but think about it this way.  That means that in 5 years, from say the age of 20 to 25, you will have gained ten pounds.  By the time you hit 30 you’ll be twenty pounds heavier.   That’s a LOT and this average has been going up rather than down.  Why?

Most people don’t know how to eat on a diet and still enjoy food.  It’s interpreted as rice cakes, cardboard, and plain lettuce, rabbit food, with tons of diet soda, artificial crap that leaves you feeling bloated.  Food on a diet doesn’t have to be bland or boring.  Take this recipe for example: Eggs in Purgatory.  It’s a classic but so few people have heard of it.  It’s full of spices that will delight your tastebuds and low in calories to the delight of your skinny jeans.

Eggs in Purgatory 3

How many of you skip breakfast as a way of cutting calories?  Yeah stop that.  Cut it out right now.  Breakfast isn’t something you ought to skip guys.  It also shouldn’t be waffles and syrup or bowls of most namebrand cereals.  Cereal is bad in my book for dieting unless you are eating it plain as a snack, which I do with my FiberOne cereal quite frequently.  I think it’s a great breakfast for kids—high metabolisms and usually five minutes to get to a school bus mean you need something with calories and convenience—but adults aren’t growing up, only out.  Cereal serving sizes are actually really quite small and I know I always go back for a second bowl or eat something else with it.  Plus the milk adds quite a bit more, especially if you use more than a cup which hey, most of us do.

Breakfast matters though because it replenishes your glycogen—stored carbohydrates—from the day before.  If you are following an ideal diet plan you should be eating your lightest meal at the end of the day rather than the start.  You want to fill your stomach before a day of activity not a night of sleep.  Thus breakfast should be when you eat a meal that has a good balance of protein, sugars and fiber to both get you going AND regulate your metabolism.  If you eat something balanced and leaving you just full enough to be sated but not stuffed, you should have more control during the day.  I know that on weekdays this can be tough.  I am not going to suggest we all have time to cook breakfast during the week so I know my recipe today isn’t going to be practical as much for M-F on a 9-5 schedule.

Eggs in Purgatory 4If you want some advice for that here’s what I do for those rushed mornings.  I keep some hardboiled eggs in the fridge, some fresh fruit on the counter and some pre-packed baggies of FiberOne cereal.  You can hardboil a half a dozen eggs every few days and eat two in the morning with some fruit on the way out the door.  Snack on the cereal throughout the morning if you sit at a desk like I do to keep you from going for donuts or pastries at that 10AM coffee break trap.  For fruit I always like to switch it up but if you want something you can buy and store over a long period of time go for classics: apples and oranges.   Apples and citrus keep the longest, especially if you store a bunch of them in the fridge and pull out one or two to keep on the counter each night for the next day.  I also am absolutely MAD for apricots.  They are low in sugar and because they are small you can eat a couple of them and feel like you are getting to eat more than you really are.

On mornings when you do have time to cook, like say a lazy Sunday brunch, this is a fantastically delicious recipe that will fill you up and won’t make you feel like you are suffering the blandness of a diet.   Serve these on top of whole wheat toast or an english muffin and your total breakfast stays under 400 calories!.  The more traditional version of this dish is loaded with more of a Spanish flavor profile in the spices and served on tortillas but I was feeling Italian today and craving a bowl of spaghetti.  Not on the diet of course so instead I turned to this dish. Plus like I said earlier, this doubles really well as a fast option for weeknight dinner.  You can serve it up with a bunch of steamed vegetables and make a very filling and healthy supper.   I particularly like to eat this with a few slices of roasted eggplant which is why I went Italian.  Mmmmmmmmm.

 Eggs in Roma Purgatory

makes 3 servings an Olivia Original Read more

Dec 12

2 Comments

Trying to jam it all in….

Jam Cookies (2)I’m trying to keep track of everything but it’s getting harder and harder to make it through the week.  I am getting busier at work, it’s a good thing, but I can tell that as things ramp up I’m only going to be able to keep all the balls in the air so long.  Something is gonna fall.  It also means I’m even more tired by the end of the day than usual because I’m running around trying to make sure I don’t forget anything important.  It also makes getting into the kitchen during the week a real challenge.  I need recipes that are simple and easy for those nights when I absolutely have to make something to distress but don’t have the physical energy to roll out fondant.

Jam CookiesI know that cancer research is all well and good but I’m really wondering why we aren’t funneling more money into research to quell our need for sleep.  That could be the deprivation-crazy speaking though.

One thing I love to do when I’m tired, but kitchen bound, is make jams and jellies.  I just whipped up a batch of apple butter for the first time ever and I love doing this because it’s such a passive activity.  I get to make something and satisfy that urge to create but mostly I just chop and stir.  It’s nice because I can have something on TV to watch—and really I don’t have time for that at all anymore but I’m trying to finish Breaking Bad.  I was slow to start on this show but now that I’m entrenched in season 3 I find it hard to stop watching.  Well I would find it hard to stop watching if I didn’t have to physical succumb to the few hours of unconsciousness my body absolutely requires each night.

The problem is that these are usually pretty big batches and there are only so many slices of jam on toast I can fit in my little tummy before it explodes. Well okay actually I can eat at least half a loaf of toasted bread quite easily.  I’m one of the few people who manages to get FAT when they get sick because all I do all day is eat buttered toast.  After popcorn I think bread and butter is seriously my favorite food.  I know, I know, how can someone who is obsessed with a gourmet foodie mentality pick popcorn and toast as her favorite foods?  Sometimes the simplest things are the best things in life okay? The truth is that simple is much harder to do well.  Most people confuse simple with cheap; like a loaf of delicious rustic French bread versus the over processed crap that dares to call itself “wonder”bread.

Jam Cookies (5)

Anyway I needed another vehicle for some of my jams and I needed it to be SIMPLE.  I owed Chris a cookie from my last trivia question challenge on the blog and because we established recently that in my friend group he’s our “Joey” for jams, I wanted to use that inspiration to make his treat.  ***TRIVIA QUESTION: What show am I referencing when I say Joey for Jams?  First person to answer correctly wins homemade treats mailed to them by me.  Most recent trivia winner is ineligible**  This is a freakishly easy question if you know what I’m talking about.

Jam Cookies (3)Dorie Greenspan, of course, has a recipe for just about everything and sure enough she had a recipe for cookies that uses a healthy serving of marmalade or preserves.  Aha and it was a snap to come together.  Not a recipe that needs any chilling, rolling or pressing.  Just simple cookie dough that you can scoop out after mixing.  I was pleased to discover how perfectly these cookies baked into round, puffy delightful and simple treats.  I will say I wasn’t quite satisfied with the level of jam flavor that came through and so I made a glaze with the extra marmalade to smear on top.  I think it just added a little extra to the cookie.

Buttery Jam Cookies

adapted from Dorie Greenspan’s “Baking from my home to yours” Read more

« Older Entries
Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.

Join 808 other followers