Settling In

It is always really hard to get in the swing of things at the start of the semester. This semester I have so much freedom and flexibility that it is even easier to shuffle along with the lowest acceptable daily productivity, and then assuaging the guilt by indulging in guilty pleasures. Tonight, for example, I watched three episodes of the NBC show, Heroes. I got hooked on this last semester, but have been busy or gone every monday night since January. If you haven't seen it, you should definitely check it out. It is really surprisingly creative for a major network production. But getting back to cooking and blogging is hopefully one piece of a productive routine that is already back in place. Here are the first two meals I cooked when I got back from paraguay. First was pan seared tilapia with lemon caper sauce and a watercress salad. My mother bought me some of the most phenomenal olive oil for Christmas that I used for the dressing. It has lots of rich vegetable and mineral flavors, in particular a really pronounced and delicious tomato aroma.

Then I also made our chinese new year longevity noodles. They were technically Japanese noodles. Udon noodles with Kimchee and crispy tofu. I coat the cubes of tofu in potato starch and fry them. They have lots of great textures: crispy on the outside, creamy inside, and as the broth softens the outside it gets glassy and kind of gummy. This was really delicious. I just can't seem to shake the noodle kick that I am on.