How to cook without groceries? Maybe?

Over the holidays, I realized that my bank account is looking sad.  So I am making it one of my new year's resolutions to make do with whatever I have sitting in my pantry, rather than running out and buying extravagant ingredients to make a single dish every time I need to eat or update this blog.  Fortunately, the roommate and I have built up a fairly impressive collection of spices, kitchen instruments, and dry goods for young 20-somethings, so that should help...

Got home from the new job today (apparently I am a "natural" at steaming milk for lattes...I call it beginner's luck) and was starving because leftover baked goods are not really a filling, tide-you-over-until-lunch type breakfast.  Rooted through the cupboard and found some of this stuff:

Last time I tried to use this as a shortcut dinner, I was really upset because it tasted TERRIBLE.  Whatever was in the "spice sack" was bland and awful and processed, so this time, I opted to throw out the spice sack and make up my own blend.

A local restaurant where I was employed for all of two weeks offers a delicious madras curry chicken dish with Israeli couscous on the side that I have been longing to try to make for myself, so you could call that my inspiration.  Unfortunately, their dish has apples, onions, sultanas, and arugula.  All I had were raisins.  And really, those don't even belong to me but the roommate was nice enough to let me use them.

I was feeling adventurous and recipe-less, so I boiled the couscous with some olive oil, tossed in some minced garlic, then put in the following blend of spices:

(That first one is cayenne.  I should also resolve to become a better photographer.)

I have NO IDEA how to season curry-flavored stuff, so I added a teaspoon of curry, a 1/2 teaspoon of cumin, about a 1/2 tsp. of cinnamon, some salt, and a pinch of cayenne pepper.  Then I tossed in some raisins.  No clue if that's the "correct" way to do it, but this is what it got me:

Believe it or not, it tasted OK.  Was it delicious?  Meh.  But it COULD have been awesome with some sliced apples, red onions, arugula or spinach, and maybe a touch more cinnamon.  Mostly I was impressed that the spice blend wasn't totally off...  I crumbled up some candied/spiced pecans (I would have preferred toasted almonds, but again, I was going for free) that I made for Christmas on top, and voila.  A lunch that was tastier than cereal!

I need to figure out a way to add protein to my meals since I don't each much meat at all, beans are hard to sneak into stuff, I hate chickpeas and am not crazy about quinoa, and I can't eat eggs very often, BUT I figure I'm off to a good start for creating meals on the cheap.

In the meantime, I have a bunch of spices in my cupboard that I need to learn how to use.  Coriander?  What does one put that in???

And now I really do need to run to the grocery store....

Now I know how guinea pigs feel

So my friend often feeds kale to her guinea pigs, Winnie and Theo.  They really really love it, but I have always felt so-so about its flavor.  But now I love it, hence the title of this post, in case there was any confusion...

Anyone who has ever lived with me knows that I have a difficult time having packaged snacks around the house because I will DESTROY them within 2 days.  Flavored potato chips are my biggest weakness, and I had to stop buying them because I have no self control and let's face it, they're terrible for you.

But this evening, I discovered a solution to this problem. While stressing about the amount of groceries in my fridge that I must consume before hopping a plane to Arizona tomorrow, I discovered a bunch of almost-fresh kale in the veggie drawer.  The roommate suggested that I stir fry it up and save it, but I really despise leftovers--especially leftover vegetables--and I am not the world's biggest fan of stir-fried kale because it has a mouth-feel grossly similar to raw broccoli. The kale wasn't going to keep until I got back, and even though it's cheap, I didn't want to throw it out because I also despise wasting food.

I also wanted a snack for the 6-hour plane ride tomorrow because I was stupid and bought a 5 PM flight and I am poor and have little money for airport food. 

Put all of the parts of this equation together and you get...kale chips.

Kale chips are one of those foods that my family would mock me for eating.  But they are ridiculously tasty, cost-effective, and are MUCH more nutritional than potato chips.  A bunch of kale costs less than a dollar, and a bag of chips can cost up to $4.  So you can make either a ton of kale chips or buy some potato chips for about the same price.  You do the math.

And seriously, these are hella tasty.  I had to restrain myself from the cookie sheet and grab a plastic container to save some for tomorrow.

I'm ridiculously excited about this new discovery. 

You need:

1 bunch of kale, rinsed, ripped into bite-size pieces (sans stem), and dried thoroughly
a few glugs of olive oil
whatever seasoning inspires you at the moment/salt

Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Spread the kale out on cookie sheets.  For one bunch of kale, either make it on 2 pans or do it in stages--it's worth it because it comes out crunchier.  

Drizzle olive oil, add seasoning, mix things around a bit.  Bake for 15 minutes or until kale is brown around the edges and crunchy.

 

(I actually had to rebake these for a bit...)

K approves!

UPDATE: My sister just mentioned that TSA might mistake the dried kale for pot.  She has an excellent point... This + some loose leaf tea with a tea strainer MAY rouse some suspicion.  So.  Maybe not the best plane food.

The miracle of back streets (which, oddly enough, includes 34th St.)

As someone with an incredibly crap sense of direction, I tend to stick to my guns when it comes to routes.  Hence my love/hate relationship with Massachusetts Avenue and, to a lesser extent, Wisconsin Avenue.  So while what I'm about to say might sound really dumb to some, it was a point of pride for me.

I discovered how to get home without using Massachusetts, and I didn't even have to look it up on Google maps!  Given that I've lived in DC for nearly 6 years, you'd think my navigating skills would have kicked in before now, but you'd be wrong.

 Pennsylvania Avenue is a disaster sometimes.  The bike lanes are a great idea, but sometimes you just have to shake your head and sigh/cry at the shenanigans that occur along that street.  Cyclists seem to make it their mission to run the red lights at all sorts of bad times, and I saw a car almost plow into a guy who tried to cross against the red on 10th St.  While I was still in my early biking stages, I got hit by a cab crossing Penn on 12th St., and this past spring, a cab made a u-turn in front of me and made me fall off my bike.  Granted, I was biking down the lane on one bike while holding another bike (we call it "ghost riding" and it's what you have to do when customers are dumb and leave rental bikes unlocked outside of the World Bank....long story for another time), but he still shouldn't have turned in
front of me.  In general, streets named after states are approximately 62.5% more stressful than the smaller streets.

Anyway.  It was delightful crossing Mass on 15th Street and being able to use the bike lane for awhile...I turned onto P (but really it could have been any street...and I know/think there are one-way bike lanes on Q and R, but I always forget which lane goes which way), took it through Dupont, took the bridge, and huffed my way up Wisconsin into Glover Park.  Ta-da!

That all being said, climbing up to Observatory Circle and cutting over is probably easier...but it's good to know I have options.  I feel like I have unlocked a chestful of secrets, and it is very exciting.

Sad pumpkin pie and an awesome bike ride

Got up at 6:30 this morning to roll out some dough and make a pumpkin pie for the internship holiday party...and proved to myself that I should not bake at 6:30 in the morning, because my crust slumped and there were weird globs of oil on the top of the finished pie (puree, milk, sugar, spice, eggs...how do you mess that up??).  To console myself, I ate some (homemade!) corn muffins with jam and yogurt and watched several YouTube videos about how to properly flute a crust.   Next time it'll be perfect--PERFECT, I tell you.

I need to get away from this boring holiday baking kick and come up with something more creative than pecan or pumpkin.  Maybe some sort of chocolate peanut butter thing....or this concoction, which my sister (who happens to be pregnant and is probably in need of chocolate) sent to me.  Post about something fabulous to come.

A less-than-eventful bike ride to L'Enfant today.  For the past 5 years, when I lived in the vicinity of AU, I took Massachusetts Avenue downtown. Even though I moved to Glover Park, I still do.  It's a love-hate relationship between us, but I'm familiar with all of its quirks and foibles. Wisconsin through Georgetown would be easier, but the idea of biking through Georgetown at rush hour sounds less-than-fun.  I'm sure there's a way to do it on the back streets, but my sense of direction being as crappy as it is, I don't know what that way would be.  I'll work on finding a route so I have something interesting to post about.  

Lots of bikers along 15th today.  I tried to gun it for the light at I St., which always changes about 1 second before I can make it through.  Sometimes you can run it at the red because there's a turn arrow, but there was a gaggle of pedestrians making ready to cross.  So I stopped, as I should have, but a CaBi biker behind me dinged his bell at the last second, apparently trying to pass me, then grumbled and huffed loudly when I stopped.  Not really sure what happened there or how/why he thought he could pass me OR why he was following me closely enough to be annoyed that I stopped OR that he couldn't seem to see the red light ahead.  I just looked straight ahead and stayed stopped at the stop line.

<slightly self-righteous rant>

It annoys the crap out of me when cyclists and/or cars pull into a crosswalk without stopping at the stop line.  That's why they invented stop lines, so that moving vehicles don't mow down pedestrians.  So yeah, inch into the crosswalk if you have to, but make sure people are out of the way before you do it.  Bikers also tend to turn right on 15th just past the White House when pedestrians have the right-of-way there, and the pedestrians have to stop or jump out of the way. It just seems like arrogance to me. Being on a bike does not mean that you have the right-of-way at all times.  Bikes have brakes for a reason, so be prepared and willing to stop once in awhile.

</slightly self-righteous rant>

Maybe I'm overly cautious about pedestrians and cars.  If it explains anything, I spent 4 years as a bicycle tour guide on the National Mall, so I'm pretty excellent at being patient and people-dodging while being somewhat polite about it. (Unless a tourist tells me to get off a sidewalk on the Mall.  I bristle, turn around, and inform them that the sidewalks on the Mall are technically considered shared-use trails, so look up the traffic laws of places you visit before making stupid remarks, asshole).  I am also good at making loud comments at rulebreakers (i.e. "Oh, did you not see that glaring red light in front of you?") and then turning around and doing stupid shit myself.  I guess none of us is perfect.

Inedible Rice Pudding

Here's how not to make rice pudding....

When you don't have any regular milk, use nearly-expired cream and a can of evaporated milk to equal about 3 cups.  Mix with 2 cups of leftover brown rice, then cook with 1/2 c. sugar. 

Continue to cook for many minutes (about 40), wonder why it's not thickening, panic, then add corn starch to make it instantly gloppy.  Add cinnamon from a crappy container with GIGANTIC holes, then add more sugar because you are worried that you added too much cinnamon and it will be bitter.  

Taste and cry because you just wasted some perfectly good ingredients on an excessively sweet pot of goo that has the texture of masticated frog guts mixed with wallpaper paste that has enough calories to fatten all of the world's starving children.

This is why we don't buy cheap cinnamon containers, kids.

Sigh. 

Live and learn, I suppose.

Baby, it's cold outside.

God.  Damn.  It's cold outside.  I know that's not a very original thought, but it's the only thing running through my mind right now.

Because I don't plan ahead for anything, I had very few bike-friendly things to wear this morning.  When I saw the weather forecast, I panicked and threw on as many layers of clothing as possible...wound up with a wool sweater, a sweatshirt, a peacoat, a giant scarf that's the size of half a blanket, a pair of tights, jeans, and two pairs of socks.  And a pair of Merrell hikers.  And a hat squeezed under my helmet.  And some awesome-ass biking gloves that I purchased from Cycle Life.

Pea coats are TERRIBLE for biking.  Not only do they limit your motion range to practically nil, they're not very warm, so you have to layer underneath them, which allows you to move even less.  So as I made ready to ride the 12 miles down the Capital Crescent Trail from Bethesda to Georgetown then into downtown via Virginia Avenue and Constitution Avenue, I looked somewhat like the little brother from A Christmas Story.  With my computer lashed to my back in a messenger bag.  Nevertheless, I took frost-covered Vancouver and headed out.

There were a surprising number of cyclists on the trail, most of them wearing bright yellow things on awesome touring bikes.  I followed a guy on what I think was a Surly Long Haul Trucker with a Brooks saddle for a while.  The envy drool nearly froze around my mouth.

The trail is beautiful in the morning....there's really nothing like seeing the sunrise over the Potomac River, and if I hadn't forgotten my lobster-style over-mittens and my hands had been warmer, I would have stopped to take some pictures.   Next time.  Maybe I should consider getting these.

Despite the fact that my toes (in spite of 3 pairs of socks, 2 of which are made of wool!) and fingers were frozen by the time I got to mile marker 0, Georgetown is nearly always warmer than Bethesda.  I'm not sure if it's elevation, time lapse, or a combination of both, but I'm usually warmer by the time I get down the trail.  It's not just being exercised-out either...there was no frost on the ground downtown, even in shady patches.

I trundled up Virginia Avenue, which was uneventful, then down Constitution Avenue (on the sidewalk because construction is still terrible and I hate that road), past the National Christmas Tree display (it's so tiny), then stumbled into the garage where I work....only to find that the heat wasn't on.  Sob.

Cinnamon Pecan Pie

I should probably get used to this whole updating thing...it's harder than it looks!  With my old blog (and my short-lived Twitter account), I managed to update nearly daily because I would write random rants about things that pissed me off, but that gave certain people the impression that I was a very dark and angry person.  Which I am not.

Also, I tried to add a bunch of people that I follow, and Blogger keeps not saving them.  I have attempted this no less than 7 times in at least 3 different ways.  I even sent in a help request to Blogger.  So, Blogger peeps, if you are reading this, something's broken.  Please fix it. 

Anyway--I made a pecan pie!  My mom makes frosted pecans every Christmas, and they are phenomenal.  I'm not a gigundo pecan fan, but when you coat them in egg whites, sugar, cinnamon and bake them, they become the best dessert treat ever.  Hence, my addition of cinnamon to a normal pecan pie recipe.  I've also found that arranging halved pecans on the top distributes the nuts nicely and gives you a really nice, pure, roasted nut flavor.

I have to give 99% of the credit to this recipe, which is the best corn syrup-less recipe I have found for pecan pie.  Corn syrup grosses me out, and it's a pain in the butt to work with, so I don't use it!  This recipe is incredibly easy, and the pie is oh so very good and hardly sticky at all.

1 c. brown sugar

1/4 c. white sugar

1/2 c. butter

2 eggs

1 tbsp. flour

1 tbsp. cinnamon

1 tbsp. cream (recipe calls for milk, but all I had was soy milk and heavy cream, so I opted for the cream)

1 tsp. vanilla

1 1/2 c. chopped pecans 

a bunch (1/2 cup?) halved pecans

1 unbaked pie shell* 

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.  

Toss butter in a saucepan to melt over low heat.  While melting is happening, whisk eggs until they are frothy.  Mix melted butter into eggs.  Add sugars.  Add flour and cinnamon.  Mix everything together.  Add vanilla and cream.  Fold in chopped pecans.

Pour the whole mess into the pie crust.  Arrange halved pecans on top of the pie in a pinwheel/spiral/snowflake pattern.  Make it look pretty.  Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, then lower heat to 350 and bake for another 30 minutes.  Crust should be light brown and crispy.

Prettily arranged pecans

The crust collapsed a little bit because there was butter in the bottom of the oven that started to smoke, so I had to perform an emergency rescue about 3 minutes into the cooking process.

*Pie Shell Recipe

As you can tell from the photos, I am rubbish at crimping them but when it comes to ingredients, I am a pie crust purist.  My boss asked me why I don't just go out and buy them, and I refused to dignify that with an answer.  YES, it takes time, but unlike homemade pumpkin puree (IMHO), it is definitely, totally, 100% worth it. My roommate  asked me to show her how to make these, and it really is pretty easy.  The trick is to do it in a cool kitchen and be obsessive about keeping your ingredients cold.  It takes some practice to get the feel for it...my first few pie crusts were not great.

Also.  You do not need a food processor to do this and anyone who tells you that you do is being lazy.  You don't even need a pastry cutter (though having one will make your life easier...I adore mine).  You just need a couple of forks or two butter knives.

Have you ever looked at the ingredient list on most store-bought crusts?  Way too long.  A true pie crust has:

2 1/2 c. flour

1 c. butter

dash of salt

dash of sugar (if you want)

ice water (about 8 tbsp?)

That's it.  Nothing else belongs in there.  I don't even like vegetable shortening because, while it supposedly makes for a "flakier" crust, it detracts from the taste.  And a pie, to me, is all about the flavor.  If you properly blend the butter and flour and keep things cold until baking, your crust will be plenty flaky.  The butter basically melts down between layers of flour.

So.

Start with refrigerated butter.  Cube your butter.  Cover and refrigerate it again.  Go be patient for awhile, then come back to the kitchen.

Pour flour, salt and sugar into a bowl, mix, and create a well in the center.  Put cubed butter in well.  Get out your pastry cutter, forks or knives, and blend butter into flour until you have pea-sized chunks.  Make sure you are really thorough with this step (it will take awhile), otherwise you'll get a lot of stray flour at the bottom.

Once things are looking nicely mixed, you can refrigerate again if necessary (I have to in the summer).  If not, go ahead and add the water, a little bit at a time, mixing it into the dough each time.  You may need to use your hands to get the stray bits of dough from the bottom of the bowl.  Keep lightly mushing the dough and water together until the dough forms a ball.  Be careful not to overwork things.

Add more flour to the outside of the ball, wrap in saran wrap (or place in an airtight container), and refrigerate.  This recipe will make enough for 2 single-crust pies or 1 double-crust pies.

I'll write more later (with pictures) about how to roll out the dough, because that can be a little tricky, too.

  

Pumpkin Pie with a Ginger Snap Crust

Move...successful!  The only really crappy part is that I lack interwebz until December 1st, so I am forced to do things like blog at work.  Which is OK, because I've had a total of about 7 customers thus far today.  There's not even work I can pretend to do.

Pumpkin cream cheese pie did not happen on Thanksgiving.  What did happen, however, was a pumpkin pie with a ginger snap crust borrowed from the lovely author of this blog. Frankly, making an all-butter regular pie crust, while satisfying and usually worth it, takes a lot of time, and I was exhausted from moving.

While some people (namely my sister) scorn pumpkin-related holiday recipes, I am a huge fan of baking with pumpkin.  It adds a lot of moisture to pretty much anything, so it's hard to really screw up most recipes involving it.  Plus, pumpkin spice tastes like the holidays.  Where can you go wrong?

However, I hate most store-bought or restaurant-made pumpkin pies.  I am picky about crust, and I don't like anything to be under-spiced (blandness is the worst baking sin that can be committed).  I was convinced for years that my grandmother had a super-secret pumpkin pie recipe, because hers was the only one I liked.  A couple years ago, when I caught the baking bug, I asked her what it was, and she told me it was the recipe on the back of the Libby's can, with a little more spice.  Easy enough--thanks, Grandma!

So without further ado, here's the recipe, slightly adapted:

Filling:

3/4 c. sugar
2-3 tsp. pumpkin pie spice (if you're really insane about controlling seasoning, you can separate out the spices, but I'm not going to splurge for cloves for a pie I make maybe twice a year)
1/2 tsp. salt
2 eggs
~2 c. pumpkin puree*
dash of vanilla
15 oz. (one can) evaporated milk

*instructions for how to make this will follow

Crust:

1 1/2 c. finely crumbled ginger snaps (fair warning--these take awhile to smash up)
1/2 c. pecan bits
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
dash of nutmeg if you like nutmeg a lot
6 tbsp. melted butter

 A bowl of crumbs (in case you're not sure how it should look?)

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

Bake the crust first.  Combine all ingredients and pat into a pie pan.  When it looks like a pie crust ought to look, pop it in the oven for 8-10 minutes.  Once the crust is complete, raise the oven temperature to 425 degrees.

For the filling, blend the sugar, spices and salt in a little bowl.  Set aside.  In a larger bowl, mix the eggs, pumpkin puree, vanilla, and evaporated milk.  Mix dry and wet ingredients together.  Add filling to crust.  Put in oven for 15 minutes.  Bring the temperature down to 350 and bake for an additional 45 minutes.  You'll know it's done when you stick a knife/toothpick/whatever in the center and it comes out clean.

Ta-da!

I had some leftover crust and filling, so I lined a muffin pan with the crust mixture, baked the crust, buttered the sides of the tins, poured in the filling, and got these adorable little mini pumpkin pie/tart things.  Good if you hate slicing pie or want to fancy up your pumpkin pie.  Instructions are the same, but bake the crust for only 8 minutes and the pies for 35-40 minutes.

 Sorry about the quality...

To finish, make a buttload of whipped cream (go to town with a whisk and a CHILLED bowl with CHILLED cream, add some vanilla or cinnamon).  Dash on some more pumpkin spice.

Happy Thanksgiving, all!

----------


OK, so to continue this overly long post...I decided to make my own pumpkin puree this year because all the pumpkin enthusiasts say it's a pain in the ass, but that it tastes better.  I will agree with the first part--it is definitely a giant pain in the ass.

But here's how to do it.  Buy a sugar/pie pumpkin.  Slice in half, scoop out guts, cut into smaller slices, and peel.  The peeling is really the difficult part...a vegetable peeler should suit you fine, but if you can find a really sharp one, even better.  Massage thumbs when done.

I'm probably not doing this right.

Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add pumpkin, and boil, uncovered, for 25 minutes.  If your pot is slightly too small, obsessively check that all pumpkin pieces are submerged while other Thanksgiving guests are doing fun things, like playing Settlers of Catan.

Once you have boiled the shit out of the pumpkin (if you stab it with a fork, there should be almost no resistance), get a food processor and blend it.  Don't get lazy and just mash it up with a fork, because it will be chunky and gross.  I tried doing it by hand, but when I mixed it with the other filling ingredients, it looked so wrong that I had to break out a food processor. 

Did it taste good?  Definitely.  Better than Libby's?  I'm doubtful.

The perils of riding a bike

There will be no place in this post to brag about my new wheels on my Gary Fisher Lane, so I'm going to do that first.  Velocity A23s with DT Swiss spokes.  Do I know much about bike wheels?  No.  Do I know that these are AWESOME?  Yes.  Recommended by our shop mechanic and bought by me on super duper clearance.  Cha-ching!  

I live up near the Cathedral and generally commute to 12th and Pennsylvania...sometimes to Alexandria...sometimes to L'Enfant...sometimes to Glover Park....sometimes to Friendship Heights...so if, while I am bitching about this street or that street, my route seems very erratic, it's because I have three separate jobs (well, one is an internship).    

The best word with which to describe today is "yikes".  I walked out the door at 8:19 AM, and Wisconsin Avenue was a parking lot.  Massachusetts Avenue was even worse.  Perhaps it was a motorcade or something, but I heard no sirens...anyway, I wimped out and took the sidewalk down Mass.  Sometimes I try and ride down it in the street, but it was pretty much impassable today, and I like not being stressed.  The sidewalk has its own share of stressers, but fewer that could kill me. 

Can we talk about Dupont Circle for a second?  And how pedestrians there absolutely suck?  People usually cut in front of me when I have the light on the inner loop, and at the south part of the circle where the inner and outer loops intersect.  One time, I hit an old lady who was crossing in a pack of (pseudo folk etymology heads-up!) sheeple.  She was behind a tall man, so I thought I was in the clear when he moved, but I didn't see her.  Fortunately, she was fine, admitted it was her fault, and then she asked me for directions.  Weird.

I'm also beginning to have serious problems with the 15th Street cycle track.  A friend of mine once remarked that, "Cycle tracks must exist in heaven," and I must say, I profoundly disagree.  Today, a lady cut the light where the road turns into Vermont Avenue while I was going one way and some other guy was coming the other way.  She effectively blocked both of us at the same time and said, "Oh, sorry, I always forget that's there!"  Ughhh.  Then I tried to stop for a couple of pedestrians who I thought were going to step out in front of me (not at a crosswalk), neglected to signal the stop, and the guy behind me had to slam on his brakes.  I apologized and explained why I stopped...fortunately, he was nice about it.  He wasn't even following me too closely, so I can't really fault him.   

To contrast with that, my coworker and I were riding down E St. today, and that cycle lane has its own set of annoyances.  Namely, cars parked or driving in the bike lane (that site, while slightly overly territorial, makes a good point).  There's that ongoing debate about which side of parked cars the bike lanes should be positioned in, and I'm not sure which side I'm on.  You're really in dooring territory either way (unless, like in Montreal, you have a thicker barrier between the street and the bike lane), and when you're next to the sidewalk, you have the added hazard of clueless pedestrians.  I still encounter people parked in the 15th Street lane, and joggers use it all the time.  

There's also the alternative option of positioning the lane in the middle of a busy, wide road (a la Pennsylvania Avenue).  The biggest problem with that, besides the pedestrian issue, are cars making U-turns in front of cyclists.  I've been knocked off my bike once and had the shit scared out of me several times.   Again, concrete barriers would help, but those are (probably) expensive and would (likely) annoy people.  Though they would be ten times better than those flimsy plastic things they position every 100 feet that always get knocked down...

Is it an infrastructure problem?  Or is the collective unconscious of DC just not attuned to the presence of bicycles?  Will this get better with time?  What does anyone who reads this think?

Next blog will hopefully be a cooking one.  I am moving to Glover Park, so all of my kitchen stuff is packed, but I am in charge of pie for Thanksgiving...I'm thinking pumpkin cream cheese pie....

The perils of not riding a bike

Remember how I said I would blog about biking?  Well, here's my first blog post about biking--actually, this is more about not biking.  And why not biking sucks.

Here are the reasons why, when it is raining, you should not look out the window and go, "Bleh, it's raining.  I think I will ditch my bike."

1) Once you're used to biking, walking is so slow.  So say, if you're walking to an event after work that's "only" a mile and a half away (from L'Enfant to Union Station), that mile and a half will feel more like a day and a half.  Especially in the rain.

2) Waiting for the bus for 20 minutes when you could've walked home in 20 minutes just doesn't make any sense.

3) Bethesda Metro Station at morning rush hour = hell.  Except for that guy who plays the trumpet in the tunnel.  I really like that guy, and if I carried cash on me once in awhile, I would totally give him a few bucks.

4) Biking is free.  WMATA is not.  Even for old people--they even make them pay.

5) I have a raincoat and rain pants for a reason, and while they do look superbly dorky, I will not melt.  It's just water.  If it were precipitating hot, sizzling oil or balls of lead, however, that would be another thing.

6) Being a pedestrian is scary.  I feel like I'm even less visible on foot than I am on a bike.  Would it be totally ridiculous to walk around wearing bike lights all the time?

So even though the Metro DOES drop me off basically in front of my building both ways, and even though I can be a lazy slob from time to time and I enjoy passive commutes where I get to read, biking really trumps all.

For the record--this is my bike.  Her name is Vancouver.  Don't mock.

Just so you don't think I'm a COMPLETE lazy slob, however, I should mention that I did bike around the entire District of Columbia this past Saturday with a friend.  That's right--the whole gosh darn thing.  And while it's "only" 43 miles, have you SEEN Southern Avenue?  It's pretty much careening hills the entire way with little to no shoulder.  Had I been thinking harder about it, I would have taken more photos and blogged the experience, but because I'm not in tremendous shape, I was busy trying not to die.  As proof, here is a photo of me at the intersection of Southern and Eastern Avenues.

 And there's the route.  As intense as WAGBRAD?  No, but pretty darn cool all the same.  I should also mention that the route we took had us on US-50 (New York Avenue) for about a half mile, and the calories I burned from the adrenaline of sheer panic caused by crossing over exit/merge lanes with cars zooming along at 65 MPH was easily (easily!) worth the seven extra miles of the "actual" WAGBRAD ride. 

I was also really surprised at the conscientiousness of drivers along the route.  You always hear that "Oh, drivers outside NW aren't used to cyclists, so it's really dangerous to bike there." Or maybe you don't hear that, but I do.  I'm going to make a bold leap and say that's a claim largely supported by anecdotal evidence.  There is that video of the guy getting harassed and hit (in SE?), but I am SURE similar things have happened in the "safe" part of the city.  Maybe people just say that because those areas are poorer and more "dangerous"--I dunno.  I bike through Bethesda all the time, and it's full of assholes behind the wheel.    

Anyway, My traveling companion and I did not get honked at once.  We got a lot of stares, sure, but we did look pretty funny trundling along around DC with our light touring gear.  And I got hollered at a couple of times, but that's the unfortunate side effect of having a blond ponytail sticking out of your helmet and cycling tights that make it WAY too obvious that you're a girl.  My favorite were the couple of times when people rolled down their windows to shout encouraging (not nasty) comments...that was pretty nice.

I guess the moral of the story is to be careful wherever you bike and to not make snap judgments about the safety of this or that area based on socioeconomic conditions.

Actually, speaking of crazy bike rides, a co-worker of mine, avid cyclist, writer and bike mechanic Matt Wittmer, recently put out this awesome book entitled Where to Ride?.  He spent a lot of time researching good routes around DC, and it's a really nice compilation.  Full-color illustrations, route notes, maps, advertisements for great cycling organizations, etc. Totally worth your money even if you're a veteran DC cyclist!

It's supposed to be pouring again tomorrow, so we'll see if I heed my own advice.  Heading to Bethesda tomorrow night, however, and the Capital Crescent Trail in the dark and the rain kind of sucks...oh, the dilemmas.

Cheaper Chai Cupcakes

 The chocolate cupcakes are a different variety...I'll write up that recipe later.

When I was 18, my friend Tommy and I made vegan chai cupcakes from Vegan Cupcakes Take Over The World.  They tasted a bit more like muffins, though, and the problem with vegan baking is that if you're not normally a vegan, the ingredients are pretty expensive to buy just to make a batch of cupcakes.  Especially when you're a college freshman.

So, inspired by the fall flavors of chai, I scoured the internet to find the perfect non-vegan recipe.  The closest I found was this...but it calls for all sorts of expensive spices that I don't have.  So I altered it a bit using a steeping technique from the vegan recipe, and I was pleased with the result.  It's not a strong flavor, but it's definitely present.

Here's what you need!

Cupcakes:

1/2 c. light cream or buttermilk
4 vanilla or spiced chai teabags (I recommend Bigelow Vanilla Chai)
1/2 c. butter
1 c. sugar
1 1/4 c. flour
1 tsp. apple cider vinegar (1/2 tsp. if you are using buttermilk)
1 tsp. baking soda (1/2 tsp. if you are using buttermilk)
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. cinnamon
dash of nutmeg

Frosting:

1 c. butter
1-2 tsp. vanilla
2-4 c. powdered sugar, depending on how thick you want your frosting
a few tablespoons of chai cream mixture

Preheat oven to 325 F and line a cupcake pan with papers.

Heat light cream on the stove on LOW until very warm (don't boil it), then steep 4 chai teabags in it. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes. Remove teabags and squeeze excess cream out. Let cool slightly so it doesn't melt all the butter in the next step.  Set aside a few tablespoons of this for the frosting, and put that portion in the fridge.

Cream butter and sugar (if you don't know what this means, mush them together into a nice, slightly grainy paste using a mixer or by hand if you're feeling strong) and add 2 tsp. vanilla. Throw in cinnamon and nutmeg. Add chai cream mixture and flour to the bowl, alternating between the two and adding in increments.  Mix until just stirred--do not overmix.

In a separate bowl, mix baking soda and  apple cider vinegar.  Let them do their cool volcano-y thing, dump into batter and mix.

Pour cupcakes into cupcake pan until each is about 3/4 full. Put in oven for about 20 minutes. Take out, stick a toothpick or knife in the center and if it comes out clean, they're done.

Let cupcakes cool. In the meantime, make the frosting! Blend butter with vanilla, and add powdered sugar in increments.  Add chilled chai cream mixture.  Keep mixing until fluffy and frosting-like.  Toss in some cinnamon, if you want some extra kick.

Once the cupcakes are cool, mush the frosting into a sandwich bag, cut open a corner, and pipe it onto the cupcakes. If you have a fancy frosting kit, use that. You can also use a knife and put on the frosting the old fashioned way, but using the bag is more fun, and it gives you an excuse to lick globs of frosting off your fingers.  One thing--you will have a lot of leftover frosting, so you may need to make another batch of cupcakes (oh, darn).

Garnish with a puff of cinnamon.

 Yum.

This recipe makes 12, however, if you eat 7 after you make them, your friends need never know.

Winter Squash Chipotle Chili with Bulgur Wheat

I love to bake and cook, and my notebooks are frequently full of greasy, crumb-filled pages with half-legible recipes.  A blog seems as good a place as any to keep track of them, and to share them with the general public. Some are blatant rip-offs from other blogs, so I will temper my lack of originality with the occasional post about the trials and tribulations of biking in the District of Columbia...an idea that, to be fair, was largely inspired by this guy and these guys.

The immediate reason why I decided to start this blog is a very creative vegetarian chili I just threw together, and I am VERY happy with it.  Truth be told, I'm a better baker than a cook, so I get really stoked when my thrown-together recipes turn out OK.

I am by no means an expert and cook very much by trial and error.  I'm sure that real cooks would read my recipes and scoff at my laugh of technique, but whatever.  

(I kind of forgot to add the spinach for the first serving....it was still simmering, so I went back and added.)

Here's what you need!

2-3 tbsp olive oil

1 acorn squash, gutted, peeled and cut into 1/2-inch chunks*

OR

Whatever winter squash you have sitting in your kitchen and keep forgetting to cook

1 red onion, chopped

4 garlic cloves, chopped

1 red pepper, chopped into smallish chunks

2 1/2 c. vegetable broth

1/2 can of whole tomatoes (usually they come in a 28 oz. can...a 14 oz. can of diced tomatoes would also work)

2 cans (15 oz.) black beans, washed and rinsed

A couple handfuls of spinach or chard

1/2-3/4 c. bulgur wheat (technically, optional, but it makes this chili very hearty--who needs beef?)

2 tsp cumin

1 or 2 chipotle peppers in adobo sauce, sliced

OR

2 tbsp chipotle chili powder

a few dashes of cinnamon (I neglected to measure)

a drizzling of honey (also forgot to measure)

salt

grated cheddar cheese (optional but highly recommended)

sour cream (same)

Pour oil into a large pot, heat on medium high heat.  Add onion and garlic and saute until onion is translucent.  Add a dash of salt.  Throw in red pepper.  Saute for a couple more minutes.  Add acorn squash chunks, chipotle, cumin, cinnamon, and cook for a few minutes until fragrant.  Pour in veggie broth, tomatoes, and black beans.  Aid the breaking down of the tomatoes by smushing them against the side of the pot with a spoon (it's fun!). Bring to a boil, then turn heat down and simmer.

In the meantime, toast the bulgur wheat in a skillet.  If it starts to pop, you'll know it's done.

Add bulgur wheat to chili.  Simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, depending on how tender you like your squash.  Taste for spice and add honey and salt accordingly.  When chili is reaching a satisfactory level of done-ness (and the bulgur wheat is no longer crunchy), add the spinach and stir until it's slightly wilted, no more than a couple of minutes.  

Ladle into bowls (I don't understand why people include steps like that in recipes....you don't have to.  You could eat it straight from the pot with 5 friends while sitting around a campfire.  In fact, it might be better that way.) and add as much sour cream and cheese as your heart desires.

Grab a glass of red wine, some homemade cornbread, and revel in the smug satisfaction that you have cooked a successful vegetarian chili.

  

*Because of its ridges, acorn squash is a pain in the butt to peel.  If you are an amateur and have no patience, like me, hack at it with a vegetable peeler until you are ready to throw it across the room.  Then cut up the squash with whatever peel remains on it and cut the rest off from there.  I thought leaving some skin on would be OK, but it resulted in some unpleasantly chunky, wood-like bits.

Look at that lovely spinach!