Best Cabbage Recipe So Far

We've been getting quite a bit of cabbage (repollo!) from our CSA these last few weeks.

Tonight's recipe was by far the best (sauteed cabbage with bacon, onions and capers):

-1 head small red cabbage
-1 yellow onion, chopped
-Approx 5 oz. bacon, chopped
-3/4 a 12 oz. jar of capers with brine/vinegar
-white wine
-salt
-black pepper

1. Cook Bacon over medium heat in a sauce pan until light brown (almost done). Pour out 3/4 of the grease.

2. Add onions, sautee for 2 minutes. Add cabbage, capers, salt and black pepper to taste stir and continue to cook on medium-high.

3. Add 1/2 to 1 cup wine and continue stirring.

4. Serve outer leaves with some of the onions, bacon, capers immediately. Cover and allow the remainder of the inner core of the cabbage to steam in the wine with the rest of the onion, bacon, and capers.

Enjoy!

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Grumpy

Being a lawyer is hard.

I could not imagine doing it if you didn't love the work.

I love the work.

But right now, I'm not in love with being a lawyer. I'm tired. I want to have one night without dreams about work. I'm frustrated with the amount of work and how it doesn't stop coming.

I think I need a vacation.

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If you need a tear-jerker

And you are the like me, the un-abashed-movie-crying-type.

Then, speaking from tonight's embarrassed that I cried because it was so corny (it had JACK BLACK & CAMERON DIAZ!!!) experience, you would probably do well to watch

The Holiday.

In my defense, while it is corny, and predictable, and I cried in response to the stimuli they presented -- I will say that this movie is great in that it covers the basics:

-death (one main character is a widower)
-children, and the demands thereof
-unrequited love
-sibling love, and the shit we put up with therefor (what's the point of the legal education if you can't throw a little "therefor" around every once in a while?)
-old folks (I mean, how can you *NOT* love old folks, but this movie was clearly written by someone who didn't just love them but appreciated them and cared for them and wished that they had more in their life like I wish for in mine)
-trouble, and the response of hiding behind alcohol, briefly, and the immense *wake-yo-self-up-you-fuck-head* results (if nothing else -- always a good story)
-lonely immediate *I-must-change-my-life-this-instant-actions* to which I and many of my friends can relate (also a good story)

Enjoy!

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You see what happens?

Baby Tomatoes, if cared for, will grow into adolescent tomatoes.

Saturday, a tomato-lovin' friend came over (thanks J!) and we potted up our 219 tomatoes of 34 varieties (including 2 husk tomatoes).

It's a fairly time intensive task, but I find it very relaxing.

First, you separate the plants from each other (because their roots have grown together as they've outgrown the tiny cell where they were planted):



Then, you dig a small hole in the cup of dirt, add a tiny bit of tomato plant food, drop the roots into the hole and add potting soil to fill up the rest of the cup. If possible, it's best to bury the stem with dirt up past the seed leaves, and if you want, you can even remove them if the plant has enough true leaves.

At the end of the day, we had a front yard full of plants:



Anyone need a tomato seedling or 10?

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Roasted Pork Chops over Braised Cabbage

In fairness, this is just a modification of the Herbed Pork Chops over Brussel Sprouts recipe I rely upon to keep E happy.

But, this time, we had savoy cabbage, red cabbage, no brussel sprouts, a white onion (instead of red), red wine (because several recipes suggested it), sage, lemon thyme, marjoram, and more.

I actually thought this recipe was better than the pork chop brussel sprout recipe. E claims that it's sacrilege to hold that opinion. I'm waiting for the lightening strike.

Herbed Mustard-glazed Pork Chops over Braised Cabbage Mix

-1 small head savoy cabbage sliced thinly and chopped
-1 small head red cabbage sliced thinly and chopped
-1/2 bottle red wine (for cooking -- if close to vinegar (because it was a gift that a partner at your firm threw out at the move to the new offices and you kept to cook with despite the exploding cork of dryness), no problem)
-1 yellow onion, diced
-1/3 stick butter
-2 T EVOO
-4 large sprigs marjoram, leaves removed, stems in the trash/compost
-2 medium sprigs rosemary, leaves and flowers removed, stems in the trash/compost
-3 small springs lemon thyme, leaves removed, stems in the trash/compost
-1 T horseradish
-2 T mustard (including seeds)
-2 large boneless pork chops, defrosted

1. Melt butter in a large casserole over medium heat.
2. Add onion, saute´e until light brown.
3. Add chopped cabbage, stir.
4. Add wine. Cover. Cook on med-high for 5-10 minutes.
5. While cooking, blend herbs, olive oil, mustard in cuisinart.
Remove cover and place 2/3 of cabbage mixture in a baking pan.
6. Cover both sides of pork chops in cuisinart mixture. Place on top of cabbage and put into pre-heated oven.
7. At the 15 minute mark, turn pork chops. Return to oven. Allow to cook 10-15 more minutes based on how dry they look.
8. Serve to bowls -- place cabbage mixture on the bottom and place pork chops on the top. Allow to cool 5 minutes.
9. Enjoy.
10. Save remainder of cabbage mixture for future meals (soup bases, side dishes, etc.)

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Making the Best of It

Every once in a while, I am reminded that whatever my personality flaws (and trust me, I've got a TON), one of my good qualities (or annoyingly pollyana qualities, depending on your perspective) is that I can't help but make the *best* of a situation that others would consider ridiculous.

Today, for example, I picked up our delivery from our local CSA (we've subscribed for a box for 9 weeks 'til the tomatoes are in full effect), and realized that our harvest was mainly leafy greens.

"No Problem," I think, pretending I don't have a husband who hates leafy greens. That is, until I show up at the house with the big bag of vegetables including parsley, escarole, red cabbage, large leaf lettuce, turnip greens, Orach, and Mei Quin Choy (not to mention the head of savoy cabbage from last week's box that we haven't used and the garden's vigorous heads of various greens).

Yeah, it wasn't a problem, but only because E is awesome.

I started with a plan of making Saag with a collection of the Orach and other leaves. But, then, halfway through, I realized we had leftover roasted vegetables from last week: parsnips, beets, carrots, and onions from the oh-so-modifiable-roasted-winter-vegetable recipe. And, why not add them?

You see where this is going?

I realized the *best* of this situation involved the combination of roasted winter vegetables combined with Saag ingredients.

So that is what I did. And that is what we ate. And it was delicious.

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Pasadena's Good Eats

R, J & I had the pleasure of a celebratory meal at Bistro 45.

We showed up at 5:30 -- they weren't really ready to seat folks but treated us extremely graciously and made us comfortable until our server was ready for us.

We all had salads, each of which were delicious, 2 house salads, and my beet and goat cheese salad (mmm... I swear, I order at least one of these each week during spring... I love beets, and I love goat cheese, how can I resist?)

R loves rose´s, and since it was her big day, we ordered one of their inspired selections, The Jacaman 2006 vin gris de pinot noir -- probably my favorite rose that I've ever tasted (of course, it's sold out!).

Our entre´es were all amazing. J is a vegetarian, so he ordered the Baked Polenta with Fennel ratatouille, fondue of spinach and Sonoma goat cheese. We were blown away with the presentation (of course, J is throwing signs, perhaps to compensate for his non-blood-thirsty vegetarian ways?):



R ordered the trout, and it came so delicately prepared that I couldn't believe it was the same fish I ate growing up camping -- not a single bone to be found, so moist, so well-pared, and, most-importantly, so not-fishy.

I ordered the ahi and salmon tartar. It was excellent and had the extra-special bonus of being the right size to leave room for dessert.



For dessert, R ordered the crème brule´e en cage. Damn. First, it came with a celebratory message on the plate for R's graduation and a candle -- such adorable service on a Saturday night for under-dressed patrons without a reservation.

Plus, the cookies with which the dessert was served were so good that R later admitted she almost didn't share. It wasn't 'til the final bite of the oatmeal flour cinammon heaven cookie that she finally realized she wanted to *talk* about how good it was, and in order to do so she'd have to let us have a bite, so she grudgingly handed us each a small morsel. Amazing!

The only slightly below-average offering was the cheese plate. The blue cheese was a huge ball of salt. The cow's milk cheese was just okay, as was the sheep's milk. But the dessert was amazing and the coffee was perfect, so just skip the cheese and you'll be thrilled with the entire experience.

Overall, I was very impressed and sincerely enjoyed the meal: ambiance--great, service--friendly and excited to share the celebration for R's graduation with us, wine selection--impressive, food--delicious, pricing--great value (approximately $77/pp including generous tip for a leisurely meal of 2 amazing courses each, a shared dessert, a cheese course, an excellent bottle of wine, and 3 coffees).

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