Peach Picking + Lazy Sunday = Peach Crisp

Posted on August 19, 2012 by chezsylvia

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I’ve actually never gone peach picking.  Or at least not until yesterday.

Instead of meandering North, like I would for apple picking, I meadered South, into Jersey, to join some friends in their annual peach picking trip.

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It was a fun outing.  It was my friend’s new baby’s first outing to boot!  I filled up a bag full of peaches all the the while thinking about all the things I could make with them!

First, my thoughts went to peach pie.  I could make a pie, or how about mini pies?  But where would I get mini pie tins?  Or do I need to spend more money for mini pie tins?  I think I saw somewhere someone made individual pies, but empenada like and with pie crust.  That sounds like a good idea.

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Then fast forward to Sunday afternoon, post 15 mile run, post breakfast club meeting.  A wave of laziness fueled by a hearty breakfast and the effects of a long Sunday run, made pie crust seem like not such a great idea.  So, I started thinking, what can I make with the contents of my kitchen and the peaches that does not require effort.  Peach cobbler?  A work buddy just told me she had made peach cobbler and it was really good.  But, it requires milk, and I didn’t have any in the fridge nor was I going to run out and get any (remember…laziness).  How about Peach crisp then?  I did a quick google, and first recipe that popped up used ingredients I had on hand.  Done and done.

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Gluten-Less Brownie Experiment: Take 1

Posted on August 5, 2012 by chezsylvia

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The best brownie I have ever had to date was from a nondescript stand at the Pleasantville Farmers Market on the afternoon of July 14, 2012.  It was a gluten-free baked goods stand, which was probably why I paid it no heed the first time I made a round.  I only returned because I was hungry and they had samples of brownies.  I sampled, then I bought one.  It was delicious, it was moist, and just the perfect balance of cakey and fudgy.  It wasn’t sweet, but full of chocolate flavor.  Perhaps I was just that hungry, but for whatever reason it has stuck in my head.

Lately there has been a huge gluten free movement in the baking world.  Every day it seems a new bakery specializing in Gluten-free goods has been popping up in every town.  Admittedly I thumbed my nose at this.  Have we become so picky with our food that we were all self proclaiming ourselves to be intolerant to gluten?  I understood the demand from those who really were intolerant to gluten, but was this another one of those vegan movements?  I’ve had baked goods that were vegan, and I was not impressed (and still am not).

Over time I have become much more aware of how certain foods make me feel.  I have developed a bit of a lactose intolerance that seems to be getting worse as I get older (no more milkshakes, but I can still have a good small cup of ice cream).  I blame my Chinese heritage, since we are all pretty much lactose intolerant.  As for gluten, over time I have become very aware of how I feel after eating certain foods, like pasta.  While I still eat foods chock full of gluten (nothing comes between me and my baked goods), I definitely cannot eat a big bowl of pasta anymore.

However this doesn’t mean I am on the gluten free bandwagon quite yet.  But it doesn’t hurt to give it a whirl.

Lately I’ve been hearing a lot about this gluten free flour made by a company called Cup 4 Cup.  Supposedly you can substitute this flour to normal all purpose flour cup for cup (hence the name?).  Seemed easy.  To have a bag of flour already gluten free would save me from searching the internet for specialty flours to play with (and mess with ratios to boot).

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I’ve heard about it, but didn’t really know where to find it.  Then, I happen to be in a Williams Sonoma the other day, and low and behold, there it was on the shelf for a whopping price of $20 for a 3lb bag.  That’s expensive.  Then I looked at a brownie mix that uses this flour (just to try it), and that was also $20.  Ummm…why not just get the bag of flour and make my own brownies?  Done.

I used a recipe from Alton Brown’s I’m Here for More Food cookbook for the brownies.  It was a basic brownie recipe except he uses an electric mixer with a whisk attachment to mix everything together.  Odd.  Then the directions were all off, and forgot to include when to add in the butter.  Even more odd.  But here is basically what I did.

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You Won’t See This in the Movies: Roasted Veggie Tarts and Some Salad

Posted on July 30, 2012 by chezsylvia

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Now that I’ve turned thirty, and therefore a bit wiser, I have now come to accept that the movies are not reality.  The “ugly duckling” spinster won’t suddenly know how to put on make up properly and wear better fitting clothes to only walk out the next day, movie star gorgeous and finally get the guy she’s been crushing on for years to suddenly notice her and fall head over heels for her.  That’s not how real life works.  Or at least not in my reality.

My reality is quite the opposite.  In my reality I come home from work to an empty house and change into something more comfortable.  And by that, I mean a pair of old workout shorts and a race t-shirt.  Sexy…I know…

Then I start the battle in my head wondering why I even bother making dinner for one when it would be so much easier to go down the street and just grab something from somewhere.  If I cook, that also means I have to clean.  I hate cleaning.

In my reality I eat dinner on  the coffee table in front of the TV and the computer.  I eat my salads straight out of the mixing bowl i made it in.

In my reality, I can’t park my car properly most days, I eat way more than I should, my clothes are perpetually wrinkled because I can’t iron and they spend many hours in a gym bag since I pack up the night before.  I am terrible at applying eyeliner, and even worse at keeping the eyeliner where it’s supposed to be.  I spill stuff on me…All.  The.  Time.  I am not graceful, tripping over everything.  I always say the wrong things, but think of the best things to say way after the encounter.  I make weird noises because I can’t process my words fast enough. This list can go on and on especially if you ask for input from others.

I am just full of imperfections that can’t just go away with one life changing epiphany.  I’ve tried…real life doesn’t work that way.

On the other hand, if we were all perfect, then we’d all be the same…and really, what’s the fun in that?

So, me and my imperfect self made some dinner one Monday night just because I felt like something different.

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Deserted Island Dessert: Coconut Banana Cream Pie

Posted on July 23, 2012 by chezsylvia

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A friend of mine recently told me that she was asked who she wanted with her if she were stuck on a deserted island. Her answer?

Me.

Me? Really?

I was flattered, but then she went on to explain why.

A) I was athletic and therefore would be able to shimmy up coconut trees to get the coconuts.
B) I was an engineer and therefore would be able to build a raft to take us to civilization.
C) I’m a good cook, so I can at least make a decent meal out of the coconuts I picked.

I felt so honored to have such resume worthy attributes (really, this should all go on my resume!). But, here is the reality of it all.

A) I am a runner, triathlete and most recently, a crossfitter. So, unless coconuts (or other foods) are harvested by me running around the island for miles (or biking or swimming), or require me to “pick things up and put them down” in quick succession, I might need to start adding some coconut tree shimmies into my workout routines.

B) I am a Mechanical Engineer in the HVAC field. To be more specific, I design stuff, not so much build stuff. So, unless we needed to air condition the raft, I can specify and design, but building would be the contractors job. Just in case, I’ll keep a blow up raft near me at all times.

C) Damn straight I can make stuff out of coconuts!

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Coconut Banana Cream Pie (adapted for a variety of sources, mushed together by me)

To make pie, first you need a pie crust!

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Right Hand Rings and some Salmon Rice Salad

Posted on July 15, 2012 by chezsylvia

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Here is a question for you ladies.  Remember back in the day the popularity of the right hand diamond ring?  Is that still a thing?

Does a diamond ring on the left hand mean “we”, and a diamond ring on the right hand still mean “me”?  I remember when this was a popular thing.  It was just around the time I graduated college, so it wasn’t really on my radar as much.

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Recently, my mom bought me a very beautiful diamond ring as sort her way of saying she was proud of me for working as hard as I have been these past 8 years.

She gave me this wonderful ring, but I feel funny wearing it.  It looks like an engagement ring.  Which is why I wonder…are the Right Hand Rings still a thing?  Can I wear this ring as a reminder that I am worth a damn even if it isn’t an engagement ring?  Especially since it doesn’t look like I’ll be getting one of those anytime soon?  It just seems like a shame to keep such a nice ring hidden away just because it’s not worn on that all important finger and given to me by a man.

As I contemplate if I can wear a diamond ring, let me share a recipe of a dish I threw together and was pleasantly surprised it worked.  It was basically born out of my own version of Chopped except without the basket of weird stuff.

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Grown Up Twist on a Kiddie Treat – Red Wine Jello

Posted on July 7, 2012 by chezsylvia

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I’m not a fan of hot and humid.  Hot and humid means when I finish my run I am completely soaked from head to toe in my own sweat.  I’m not exaggerating like a woman at the gym who has a little sweat spotting on the back of her t-shirt and a slightly damp forehead claiming she is sweating.  I mean, it’s so bad, sweat is dripping down my legs and you can wring out my shorts and leave a puddle in the parking lot.  Very lady like, I know.

Perhaps it means I deal with heat very efficiently, so no fainting spells from this girl.  But, the problem also becomes that I get dehydrated very quickly and must resort to popping electrolyte pills every couple of hours.  Also, chafing is a very real problem that leaves scars and makes that post run shower pretty painful. Hard core stuff.

And my mother wonders why I haven’t met anyone running….

So, back to the point.  It has been hot and humid out lately.  I’ve decided that it isn’t worth toughing it out, so my AC has been running pretty steady, which means minimal use of the stove top and oven.   This then just means lots of salads for dinner and seeking a more creative way to make dessert.

Which leads me to reexamine a treat usually relegated for children and hospital patients, Jell-O.

This is a recipe I found in a book I purchased at the recent Greenburgh Library book sale.  I was actually convinced to buy it by the lovely ladies who were running the sale.  As they reminisced about the days of the wonderful jello molds they used to make, I was intrigued enough to buy the book and maybe make a jello mold of my own.

However, today I was lazy, so I decided to make something really simple, but more grown up than the usual jello cups.

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One Trip, Two Days of Celebrations: Cananda Day and 4th of July!

Posted on July 4, 2012 by chezsylvia

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Happy Fourth everybody!  I still can’t believe that it’s already Independence Day.  Where does the time go?

As we celebrate our Independence Day from the British Empire (by watching the Mets fall apart once again in the last half of the game), our neighbors to the North celebrated theirs just a few days earlier on July 1st, or Canada Day, as they call it.

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I had to see this.

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It’s About Balance and Hard Boiled Eggs

Posted on June 24, 2012 by chezsylvia

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I finally made the move and took up Crossfit this year. Crossfit is insane. It is basically strength and cardio done all at once in a 20 minute spurt (sometimes longer for me). It works every muscle fiber in your body and I leave every class feeling more exhausted than some of my longer rides! Crossfit is insane, but you have to be sane to do it safely. There are a lot of arguments against it, and a lot of arguments for. You can seriously get hurt by pulling too much weight or just focusing too much on time rather than slowing down and focusing on form. To really do Crossfit the right way, you have to know yourself first.

It has been a bit of a struggle balancing the physical needs of Crossfit with the increased physical needs of my running.  My short distance running has benefited ten fold from the incorporation of these strength and intense cardio workouts.  I hit the track soon after it got warm, about a year since I was last on a track, and I was pulling splits that were as fast as the ones I was pulling after spending a whole summer incorporating track workouts into my rotation.  It was pretty awesome.

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Why I love long distance running…the views! (Me at the Toughman Tri – Ken Shelton Photography)

Except, Crossfit has had more of a negative effect on my longer distance running.  I find it harder to go the distances due to the general fatigue gained over the course of the week from the WOD’s (Workout of the Day).  Now that I am embarking on my marathon training, this is not a good thing.

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This is how I feel by Thursday…

So, I have to learn how to balance Crossfit with my training.  While I am still experimenting with the right balance in terms of working out, another balance I am seeking is between what I eat.

I don’t eat a lot of meat on a daily basis.  I still enjoy eating meat, and do indulge in a good burger or a perfectly cooked medium rare steak (oh…i miss thee!), but I limit it to special occasions.  Without the meat, and the focus more on a vegetable based diet, the problem is how to get the protein I need without having to eat an entire can of beans or tub of tofu with my meals?  Lately I’ve been trying to incorporate more protein rich foods into all my meals.  But, this also just means I eat everything with a hard boiled egg and some cheese.

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I Dream of a Chocolate Sponge Cake Roll with Tirimisu Filling

Posted on June 18, 2012 by chezsylvia

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I am a dreamer.  I have a very active fantasy life where I have scenarios of all kinds playing through my head such as what it would be like to win the lotto, come face to face with a coyote at 5:30am and maybe my life as a soap opera.   What can I say?  I’m a young, single, female engineer living in suburbia.  I have to find a way to break the monotony of my day to day.

One fantasy I will continually harbor is the day I make the perfect chocolate sponge cake for a cake roll.  I’ve been attempting the same recipe word for word multiple times (this is my fourth attempt) and every single time something is wrong.  This time it was no different.

The recipe I keep attempting is one from Joy of Baking.  It seemed simple, but for whatever reason, it always comes out looking terrible (but still tasty).  This time I figured I had to get this right.  I mean it was my fourth attempt right?  So I decided to make this for Father’s Day.

My father really loves Tirimisu, so I decided to do Tirimisu in a cake roll, where I would use a Chocolate Sponge Cake (as the lady fingers) and roll it with a Tirimisu filling.

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Giving Beets another Chance – Beet on Beet Salad

Posted on June 17, 2012 by chezsylvia

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I want to like beets.  I really do.  But why do they make it so hard to like them?  They are supposidly really good for you, and that color is just amazing!  It was farmers market day, and I saw them, sitting there, looking so tempting.  They were just whispering to me, saying “give us just one more chance…please!”  I looked, and they were so small and the colors of the stems and leaves were so vibrant, I caved and bought a bunch.

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Once at home I started searching the internets for some way of preparing them where it was easy and did not require any special ingredients I didn’t already have in my fridge.  I came across a recipe by Lidia’s Italy for a salad that used the entire beet (beet, stems and leaves), an apple and goat cheese.  All which I had in the house.  So, I gave them another chance.

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