Keen on WHAAAAAAAA?????

That title may be a new low in puns.
I had this bee in my bonnet about using carrots for dinner today, but I didn't want to chop them into a basic salad, and I didn't want to cook them again, and I still haven't pickled any, so I am kind of up against a wall.
A quick web engine search found a Danny Boome recipe for carrots and couscous, and I thought, what the heck - I'll try my own version, but with quinoa, as it's Meatless Monday, which, uh, kind of fell apart when I was eating lunch and realized that my leftover bulgogi and rice didn't quite fit the parameters of said weekday.
Now, again, I was using what I had, and this recipe is what I had.  Editorial in just a moment...

Real Men Eat Quiche... Because it's Delicious, and Not Just Because Their Beautiful Wives Make it for Dinner

I am a baking fool.  Most of Saturday, I spent in the kitchen, except for the short time that I had to run to the store because my Friday store jaunt did not get two of the ingredients I had on my list, which I had left at home (not super useful).  Of course, I left YESTERDAY'S list at home, too, which required me to ask Scott to go BACK to the store to get one more thing.  I need a sign on my door that says, "Do you have your shopping list?"
But at least when I was in the kitchen I wasn't falling apart.  I made three different cookies for a fundraiser. More on that to come; I have the honor of being a guest blogger at Frosting for the Cause this Wednesday, April 13.  Stay tuned!
I also had to figure out something for dinner.  I wanted to make sure that I used as many of our veggies as possible; we still have some from last week's pick-up, and we got arugula, spinach, AND lettuce this week, so there are a great many items that will get slick and slimy if we don't use them toot sweet.
Thus, last night's menu included not only cookie batter, but also a quiche and glazed root veggies.

Anatomy of a Salad

In an attempt to balance my need to not throw any more slimy veggies into the compost bin AND use the anise-scented fennel that we got in last week's share,  I decided to make a hot salad.  Reasons:

1. It would use lettuce
2. I could roast the fennel, diluting the anise-y-ness.
3. Scott had a soccer game, so he wasn't going to eat something very heavy.
4. I was being kind of lazy.

In addition to the fennel, I chopped up some beets and the radishes that I could have sworn we had the other day but wasn't able to find until last night.  All of these were tossed in a little olive oil and thrown in the oven after I attempted to make croutons with the last few end pieces of bread that I had, sitting and taking up space in the fridge.  

I cut the pieces up into little squares and tossed them in a bowl with olive oil, cracked black pepper, salt, garlic powder, and onion powder.  Then I threw them in the oven for about 15 minutes at 400°.

a leeeeetle crispy...

The good news is that I made enough croutons to go on the salad.  The bad news is that I still ended up burning over half of them.

Still terrified that I would suffer through a licorice salad, I roasted the veggies until the fennel was crispy and kind of black.  At least the beets were tender, right?

Then, I constructed.

Polenta Dancing

Excellent....

On Sunday, our friend Danielle brought up our limoncello to begin "Phase 2" of the process.  I hadn't seen our little jar since January, and it was YELLOW.  The lemon zest really had gone to work, coloring the Everclear a bright canary yellow.
We then made a simple syrup; after it cooled, we poured it in.  The liquid and zest swirled around, and it immediately became cloudy - a good sign, according to my friends who have made it before.  I then set it aside, and we wait, once again, for at least 45 days.  After that time frame (if we can wait longer, we will), we'll be able to filter it and should have limoncello!  My friends plan to give theirs away as gifts... sorry, friends.  We are splitting it with Danielle and keeping it, but perhaps if you come visit us in the heat of the summer, we'll share a sip or two.
Unless it's terrible - then we'll give it away.

Sushi in the Sky With Diamonds

We have a kind of unspoken agreement in our house that even if we are dirt poor, we will go out at least two times a year - for our birthdays - and it shall be grand (the whole decadent philistines thing, doncha know?).

What REAL sushi looks like!

All I wanted this year was sushi.  I mean real, honest to goodness sushi, with raw fish that melts in your mouth.  As I had made this mandate a good while ago, Scott had been on a search for such a place, and he found it in Shimogamo in Chandler.

My birthday being on a Wednesday, we didn't bother to make reservations, and we were able to walk right in and sit at the bar.

Our chef Al introduced himself and explained the four specials of the night.  He was great - it was clear that he loves what he does, and he had a great rapport with the group of three sitting a bit farther down the bar, clearly some of the many regulars who were there that evening.  He was willing to not just give us the rundown of what was in the various rolls but also to educate us about the different fish that they had, where the fish was from, and more.  It was a meal, a show, and a lesson all in one!

Lettuce Pray

One of the items we receive regularly from our CSA this season is lettuce.  We've gotten both red leaf and green leaf.

Now, I don't want to complain, as this is fantastic, fresh, and flavorful (you gotta love alliteration), not to mention absolutely beautiful.  And lettuce grows like gangbusters here in Arizona, where there are few pests to ravage the crops.  However this bounty means that this is the one item that we CANNOT go through fast enough.  

I am trying extremely hard to reduce our overall waste, with specificity to our food waste (did you know that the average American throws out 1400 calories A DAY????).  But I feel like I am constantly peeling off the outer leaves of a head of our lettuce because it's gotten slimy and brown, tossing it in the compost bin.  And each time I do, I cringe, thinking of those leaves as dollar bills that I am throwing away.

Here's the thing: there are only so many salads that this woman can consume in a week.  And only so many sandwiches that feature lettuce.  

And that seems to be ALL lettuce is good for.  

We also get Swiss chard, arugula, spinach, collards, mustard greens, kale, etc.  These are fantastic; there is so much a person can do with these different greens.  But lettuce... I mean, really - type "lettuce recipe" into a search engine, and I challenge you to find something that doesn't also contain the words "salad" or "sandwich."  I did come across a soup recipe, but it called for some specialty lettuce, and I wasn't sure how a basic leaf variety would do as a substitute.

I'm desperate here.  If you know of a recipe that calls for lettuce but isn't a sandwich or salad, please send me the link or post the recipe.  A reward may follow.  I don't know what that reward (if there is one other than oodles of praise being sung from the rafters) might be, although the way Zooey has been behaving may result in the reward being a cute but naughty three-year-old coonhound.

But in all seriousness, I'm at the groveling stage.  

The Essence of Local and a Return of Balance to the Force

I have been wanting to try Essence Bakery in Tempe for quite some time.  I'm not sure how I originally stumbled across the restaurant; it may have been in one of many searches for local restaurants that use local ingredients, as this is something that Essence strives to do.
After I first learned about it, I was intrigued.  Then I found this article, and I can honestly tell you that I was salivating the entire read.
That was it.  I had to get there.
Of course, it's not the closest place to eat, and I knew that busy mornings (and lunchtimes) had the possibility of creating a cranky Wee One, so I've held off.
Fortunately, I was at a workshop in Tempe today, and I convinced my co-workers that this was where we needed to go to lunch.