redfox

It really is true that the key with paprika is more, WAY more, than you think is sane. For my goulash (made with Buddhist "mock duck") I must have used at least two tablespoons, and possibly three or four, for about four servings of food.

Inspired by the paprika thread, I made vegetarian goulash (very successful!), served over braised cabbage, accompanied by a salad of romaine lettuce, basil leaves, radishes, carrots, olives, and currants. Oatmeal cookies for dessert.

When I was an undergraduate, I made all kinds of weird things -- no warm sherry vinegar dressings! I cooked for a small eating group and fed us all on something like $15 apiece per week (breakfast and dinner only). I think I did pretty well, considering, but with picky co-eaters and tight budget, I think I would have swooned at the feet of Larry's dinner! Now that I am a grad student with a more-solvent spouse and no picky people to feed, the options are greater. Tonight I wanted to use some things up, so we had a humble vegetable stew with chewy wheat gluten, seasoned cheatingly and lazily (but tastily) with furikake, over barley. The barley was surprisingly terrific, made in the rice cooker on the brown rice cycle and enriched with some excellent organic miso. The miso is made by a company called "South River" and is I think the best I have ever had, for soup or any other use. It's a yellow miso made with brown rice, and everything is a little rough and rustic in the texture -- something a lot of people might not like (and which I was skeptical about, myself), but I find it very appealing. Now I am having a Maker's Mark on the rocks and contemplating eating a couple of my remaining gingerbread hamentaschen. I might have coffee ice cream instead.

Our dear old faithful friend roasted cauliflower, with onions, garlic, and capers, topped with a fried egg. Also a salad (with romaine lettuce, radishes, and walnuts). Not fancy, but awfully good.

Speaking of Pudding Pops, do they still make those Jello pops that were made of some whipped Jello gelatin substance? Oh how I loooooved those as a kid, and I haven't seen any in ages.

Shallow-fried tofu with curry spices, lime juice, green beans, tomatoes and cilantro: Also, little croquettes of sweet potato and caramelized cabbage and onion, not pictured.

Just wanted to clear up a possible misunderstanding: Weight-resistance training is indeed great but yikes! Metformin isn't a supplement, it's a prescription drug. It is a great drug for many people with Type II diabetes (my husband among them) but it's not without its side effects, and I wouldn't advise anyone to take it not under a doctor's supervision. (Is it available over the counter in Canada? It's not in the US.)

Happy Purim! I bet the butter does make some difference. The dough wasn't wet, but I thought maybe the wetter filling might have made the bottoms a little soggy and hence fragile. I think the main thing is just that I rolled them too thin, and maybe also that I messed with them before they were really really fully cool. They taste fantastic, though, so I'm happy.

The "successful gingerbread hamantachen," as imageGullet calls them. I did not take pictures of all the cracking breaking ones!

Today we wanted something light, and we wanted to pretend that the produce offerings had caught up with the lovely spring weather. I made a soup of fennel, leeks, carrots, shallots, and jarred roasted peppers, with a splash of yuzu ponzu. No cream or potatoes or any other thickeners, just the vegetables and stock. Hothouse basil as a garnish brought out the flavor of the fennel. Very nice.

The Solo behaved pretty well, though thicker would have probably been better. In some combination of factors including rolling my dough too thin, a too-wet filling, and a fragile dough, these cookies have turned out to be very fragile. They are breaking all over the place -- the ones I am taking to a friend tonight have had to be wrapped like Faberge eggs. That cream cheese dough looks nice and sturdy. Maybe one could contrive a gingerbread version of that?

Thanks for all the suggestions. In the end, this week wound up being way too hectic to let me go off my beaten track to investigate any bakeries at all, and this afternoon I made a batch for myself. What an ungrateful egulleteer I am! Clearly my duty was to try out ALL your suggestions and report back, and here instead I have done none. Well, at least I will know for next year. And I have a lot of good baked goods of other sorts to track down in the meantime, clearly. Thanks again!

I have made the gingerbread apricot hamantaschen. I am not a practiced hamantaschen folder and pincher, so I have a rather homely collection of cookies. But they taste divine, so I am not complaining. I ran out of filling (Solo) just as I was finishing up, so I have three that are filled with ginger preserves. I wonder if they will be good or just Too Much. We'll see. Thanks so much for the recipe and idea.

Frittata containing onion confit and Trader Joe's frozen asparagus. Still-warm whole wheat buttermilk bread. Big salad. Coffee ice cream. Today I was very very good and not only put in a full day of work, but also went to Home Depot and bought a plumbing snake, cleared our gnarly bathtub clog, and cleaned the apartment -- with vacuuming, even. So now I am slowly winding down for bed with bourbon and Fritos (!), because I deserve a treat.

Herb and cheese dumplings simmered in vegetable broth, with poached egg on top. Spinach and romaine salad with red onions, roasted red peppers, walnuts, and wheatberries, dressed with a mustard vinaigrette. Cheap-ass merlot. Edited to add: And a homemade orangeflower amaretto for dessert.

Crackers, triple cream cheese, and onion confit, followed by a salad of greens, sauteed shallots, and scrambled eggs that was inspired by a recent article in the NY Times.

I still want that gingerbread hamentaschen recipe, by the way!

The puppy dog eyes get 'em every time!

Me too?

A stir fry with particularly large quantities of mushrooms, over mixed grains. I thought we would have tons of leftovers, but it turns out that we are greedy, greedy children, and it is not so.

I like rice and eggs, which is much like the above, only with rice and made back to front: Have some cooked rice on hand, then take a couple of beaten eggs, seasoned with salt and a bit of ground cumin and begin to scramble them in butter. Dump in the rice and stir. If the rice was warm, then just put a lid on the pan or pot and let sit off the heat, if not just go on cooking until it seems done. Eat. This is also lovely for those recovering from dental work.

Sad, but kind of what I was expecting. I grew up in a nice Jewish neighborhood with several good bakeries and never quite get over the fact that you don't find that kind of food everywhere.

My thought exactly!

Dump it into a big pot and cook it down quickly? I'm sure it's confit in there, just too wet.

I am having an enormous craving for superb hamentaschen, and don't want to make my own. Where should I go to buy the best?