Zucchini and Rosemary Fritatta

So what I should have known going into this: frittatas are more like open-faced omelettes. The difference? In a frittata, the extra ingredients are mixed with the egg while the eggs are still raw, it is typically partially baked or flipped, it is cooked over very low heat, and it is served in slices, not whole. Voila!

According to what I just learned, I shouldn't have used such high temperatures when cooking this on the stove. o.O That may have solved the transfer problem.

Ingredients:
1 tbsp olive oil
2 cloves garlic, minced
2 cups zucchini
4 eggs
2 egg whites
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
1/2 tsp rosemary
1/4 cup mozzarella

Making the dish:
Heat oil  in a skillet over medium-high heat. Make sure the oil isn't to hot! I put in the garlic and it immediately burnt! >.<; Cook the garlic for about a minute and then add the zucchini. Stirring constantly, cook for 5 minutes and season with salt and pepper. Whisk eggs, whites, rosemary, salt, and pepper together. Pour this over the zucchini and "cook for 3 minutes". After this, you are supposed to sprinkle cheese on the top and then broil for 3 minutes. However, I'm uncertain when you switch from the skillet to a dish you can bake in. I tried to cook for three minutes in the skillet, stirring so that it would fit to the shape of the dish. But then I realized that I was just making scrambled eggs, so I poured it all into a square glass dish. I set that on the burner for a minute, then gave up and put the cheese on and put it in the oven.

How did it turn out?
Well, it tasted good. I might add a little spinach next time. The recipe called for fresh rosemary, which I didn't have so I used dry stuff. Using fresh may change the outcome. Also, the cheese called for was "Parmigiano Reggiano," which is supposed to mean parmesan. I don't like that as much though, and I think the mozzarella worked just fine. :)

Zucchini is rich in potassium, manganese, and vitamin c. It also has a decent amount of vitamin k, vitamin b-6, riboflavin (which is vitamin b-2), and folate.
Eggs are rich in vitamins b-2 and b-12, phosphorous, protein, and selenium.

Baked Catfish

I've discovered a trend. If I'm upset or stressed out, I either eat horribly, grabbing whatever's fastest and perhaps even skipping meals, or I go over board and make mealtimes much more complicated. Guess which avenue causes me to create things that I can post on here....

So today's question: How do you cook catfish? Secondary question: Can I cook decent catfish without going to the store again for ingredients?

Discovery: I like catfish! It's kind of sweet.

So, I decided to go for the baked Catfish recipe since it seemed easiest out of the options I found. I also had all the ingredients on hand! Well, kind of. There was an altering of spices.

Ingredients: 
1/4 cup cornmeal
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/2 tsp garlic salt
1/4 tsp garlic powder
1/4 tsp black pepper
1/4 cup milk
1 egg
Catfish fillet

Making the dish:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and line a baking sheet with foil. Since I didn't have one, I used a 9x13 pan. Though I still lined and greased it. Stir together the cornmeal with the spices and the milk with the egg. I cut my fillet into 4ths. Dip the catfish in the milk/egg mixture and then coat liberally with the cornmeal mixture. Place them onto the sheet and make sure to spray the top with Pam or somesuch. Apparently that helps with the crispiness. Then put it all in the oven for 15 minutes about. Make sure towards the end of the time to put your oven on broil or flip over the fillets so both sides get a chance to crispify. I forgot, so i flipped them over and added 4 minutes to the time.

How did it turn out?
I would definitely make it again. Like I said before, it was an almost sweet taste. I ate it plain, and I can see how adding some sort of sauce over rice would be really good. I also put the cold leftovers in a spinach salad. That was really good except for the breading all ended up soggy at the bottom. I passed over a recipe for a chowder, and now that I can imagine the taste of catfish, I'm looking forward to trying it sometime.

Catfish is a very good source of Niacin, Vitamin B-12, and Protein.

Triangle Tramps

So, I've decided to either expand this blog or narrow it, depending on your POV. It will be about the trips I experience, preferably with someone.

Tabitha, Mariel, Joy, and I all decided to spend our Thanksgiving break doing an exorbitant amount of driving. After a bit of a rocky start getting on the road which included a cop stop, the rest of the way to Seattle went pretty smoothly. Of course, we had to stop and oogle snow.
It was interesting traveling with a group of people who aren't from around here. They get excited about the little things. Like black people. And snow.

So, Seattle consisted of getting to our hotel (I <3 Travelocity's Secret Hotels!), and then driving randomly about the city absorbing the nighttime, fog-ridden sights. We stopped at Uwajimaya, which is way cooler than the one in PDX. Bigger all around with greater selection of "fresh" fruits and veggies and bookstore. We stalked some colored arches and drove up many hills. In the morning, we visited Pike's Market, at which I had delicious breakfast pastries and bought too much art.

Then our drive to Portland began. They wanted to stop along the way and see the capital city (Olympia). We wandered about the main building and then drove around looking for food. After resuming our journey, it was expressed that to see Mt. St. Helens would be of interest. And so, after typing that very thing into the GPS, we veered off the main highway on a detour that would take us three hours out of our way with no glimpse of the deformed mountain.

We approached the capital building...

Pretty lights

It looks like a geometric abstract art piece.

When we finally reached Portland, it was on 84 West. Trying to juggle family and friends was a tad stressful. We met up with another Americorps girl and ate at a horrifyingly Portland restaurant; all vegetarian and live. Not my thing. Been a bit sick since. And after that took a quick tour of the city. Our intent was to go to Voodoo, but the line was a bit long. Instead, we drove around a tad and I showed them the echo circle, Pioneer Square, the South Park Blocks, and the lookout point by the Steel Bridge. Seeing my family was nice, but all too short and we got up far too early the next morning. Skipping Voodoo yet again, we visited the Ace Hotel until Powell's opened. An hour there and Max joined us.

It was really good to see him. I was still having trouble adjusting to being in Portland again. We were being a bit too touristy and.....surface value-y for me too feel at home. But with Max being there, it really felt like home again and reminded me why I love it.

That aside, we visited Scrap and another restore before checking out the Saturday Market and eating at the People's Republic of Sandwich. Then, saying goodbye to Max and Portland, we headed out onto open road again. We'd dallied long enough for the sun to come out and Tabitha got her long-awaited view of not only Mt. St. Helens, but a beautiful view of Mt. Hood as well. :) A two-minute stop at Multnomah Falls told us the Vista House was no go due to construction. However, we got onto the second scenic byway and saw the other overlook. Not quite as good but still a beautiful view. After that, home was smooth and uneventful sailing.

Overall, the trip was a whirlwind. It felt very long, but not long at all. It got pretty tense at parts, but I think we all managed to have a good time. :)

Pork Spare Ribs

So I've been on and off craving ribs. And, after a hard day's work raking ALL the leaves off the museum lawn, I decided that ribs were going to happen. I found a recipe and then went off to buy ribs and the other ingredients.
Harder said then done. After a could phone calls to my mother (and translated through my brother because she was driving) I ended up with some pork spare ribs and a bag of red potatoes......

The first direction was to preheat to 300 degrees. Good, got that done. The second was "peel off tough membrane on bony side of ribs". Excuse me? I tried this SO MANY ways before remembering that my mom's ribs always still have it on. Friggin membrane raw meat time killer. :P And all the reviews were like "oh do it this way! It's SO easy" Bullshit! Thing is a BEAST.
Anyways.
Cooking.

After skipping that non-crucial step, I mixed together the rub (3/4 cup light brown sugar, 1 tbsp smoked paprika, 1 tbsp garlic powder, 1 tsp salt). And it you splash out of the bowl because you mixed too enthusiastically, I don't suggest eating the escapees. It's....odd. Spread rub all over ribs. Both sides.

Then I made a little packet out of foil (using it all up! oops!) around the ribs and stuck 'em in the oven for 2 hours.

When I took it out to apply the BBQ sauce, I learned something. The rest of my house uses the same BBQ sauce and there was very little left! So, we had to run to the store. After acquiring such a crucial ingredient, I bumped the temp up to 350, opened up the packet, dumped out the liquid, slathered it in sauce, and then stuck it back in for 30 mins.

Now, apparently you can grill the sauce on in 1-2 minutes, or broil it on a broiling pan, but this seemed to work well. Unlike with those, I'm unsure whether you BBQ both sides and cook it on, but I did not. And it tasted delicious. And was very tender and eatable. We even sat at the table to do so! The potatoes were boiled and buttered as a delicious side. :)

Vodka Drink II

So it all started with roommate number one bringing home a pomegranate to make juice out of. She had some weird technique that didn't really turn out and it was pretty watery. We didn't want to waste the juice, however, so we decided to try and save it. Who knew such a decision against waste would lead us on an epic messy juice-making adventure?

I had a bag of oranges that I've been wanting to make juice out of. Alas, they were moldy and we could only rescue three of them. Still watery.

So, we added an apple. (side note: apples are pretty big and hard on blender blades. Oh, did I not mention? We were using the "smoothie" setting on her blender and then running the result through a strainer.) Still watery.

We added some yogurt (mixed berry), honey, and tried to add some carrots.......but, we think they just got chopped to tiny pieces, so we switched to the juicer. With that addition, we proclaimed it juice! 

Next came the vodka. I think there is something like 250ml in the pitcher, which is about four full cups. It wasn't bad. after putting it in the freezer to make slushie out of, we realized we could have used the plums and some lemon! Ah wells. Next time.....

Garbage Soup

So I'm living in four different places right now waiting until I can move into my own place (Wednesday!! YAY!). This means I have a very odd assortment of foods at my disposal. So, today when I was craving soup, I knew it would be an interesting affair. What I really want is what google search tells me is sometimes called "Poor Irish Soup" with ham and cabbage and potatoes. This is what I ended up making:

I started with a base of Campbell's Vegetable Soup, which is disgusting, so I'll never eat it.
I added some scraps of cabbage and bemoaned how horrible it tasted.
I had...maybe a cup and a half of old rice I'd made with chicken bouillon that was too old to eat alone, so I dumped that in.
Then about a finger's breadth of extra tomato sauce to help with the base taste, as well as some garlic powder, basil, paprika, and oregano.
Then I brought it to a boil, covered it with a plate (I don't own lids. >.<) and simmered it.

The result? It's edible. I wish I had some sour cream to mix in there. It's a bit tomato-y but I took a can of soup I'd never eat and made it edible so....I guess I can't complain too much. :) I'll try some cheese on top and quit whining. I'm lucky I was able to make soup.

Mac and cheese would have been a good addition as well.

Update: I mixed in some "Mexican Blend" shredded cheese and it's now delicious! :)

WAAAM

So Jeff and I were getting a little testy on the ride home after a pointless trip to Portland (I know, hard to imagine one of those, but it happened!). So, we saw a sign for this museum and decided to stop and have a go.

First off, we did NOT realize how far off the highway it was. Not too far, but farther than I've ever been in to Hood River. However, I really do recommend this museum. We both got student rates, so it was only $12 for us to get in. The first warehouse is full of old cars and planes and motorcycles. The second warehouse was full of old army jeeps and weapons and some newer cars, like a hummer. We even got to go into one of the planes! One of the museum staff asked if we wanted to see the cockpit, removed the rope, and pulled the "Do Not Enter" sign off the steps. That was pretty cool.

I thought the old bikes were awesome and Jeff was fascinated by the guns. My favorite part, however, was the kids section. All over there are signs to watch your kids, not to touch, etc. Only, there's this fenced off area where the museum build a submarine, helicopter, jeep, and a snowmobile out of random parts for kids to crawl all over. My favorite was the submarine, I think made out of old oil drums? I don't remember, but it had so many buttons on the inside!

Not only does this museum have tons of antique vehicles, they run, too! On certain days, they take them out and give rides. You can even sign up for a three-session workshop to learn how to drive a Model T. Did you know they have a gas lever on the steering wheel? Crazy stuff.

No pictures because we were pretty beat. But, it was fun!

Mt. Hamilton

So, funny thing. This girl I met in Canada, who was from Montana was here in Portland! (Her family's here) She had this great idea to go hiking and, after making sure his ankle wasn't too damaged, I dragged Jeff along. :D

It started out getting up a little too early. XP But, Danielle was driving. So we couldn't complain too much. :D
We weren't sure if the weather would hold up for us or which mountain to climb....but eventually I made an executive decision and we climbed Mt. Hamilton.

I'm really glad we did it. This was a fun thing. The pace was a little wonky. I'd like to take another hike up there, but slower.

Baked Salmon Fillet

What happens when I'm way too busy? I don't do anything, go to the store, and make delicious food! Luckily, this salmon was easy to make and didn't take long to cook, so I didn't waste too much time. The meat counter was closed, so the leftovers were on sale! (Yay cheaper and nutritious, delicious fish!) I bought this half pound fillet and some shrimp I hope to use tomorrow. 

First, I rinsed off the salmon. Why? Because the recipe told me so. However, the Internet tells me that this is a practice bourne more out of habit than from any real need. Apparently, rinsing doesn't actually get rid of bad surface bacteria, it just makes you feel better about it. Proper cooking, however, does get rid of it. And washing may splatter this bacteria around your kitchen sink, so it has been advised against.

After succumbing to a tradition I knew nothing about, I placed the fillet in a 9x13 pan. The recipe I was following was for a whole pound of fish, but the half pound cooked just fine. I just wanted to use the glass pan.

I "brushed" (read--rubbed around with my fingers) the fillet with some mayonnaise and squeeze-tube dill paste, and then sprinkled it with garlic salt and black pepper. Before going into the oven, I topped it with two thin slices of butter and some fresh lemon squeezings.

It cooked for about 10-12 minutes, uncovered at 400 degrees F.

It was pretty delicious! The original recipe called for onion powder, and I wonder if it wouldn't be even better if I first sauteed onions and garlic in the butter and put them on top..... 

Camping Weekend!

So, we both needed a break from life. And Jeff wanted to fish. What did this turn into? A weekend of camping! Well, we actually only had time for one night. But camping!
The first question was where? What is open this early and where is there fish? I asked around and got pointed towards the Daschutes River.....but that's all the way over to the Dalles. I didn't want Jeff to have to backtrack. After being thoroughly frustrated, I called my uncle and he directed us to the Henry Rearson Campgrounds, on Lower Nehalem Rd. It's a first-come, first-served place, so no need to worry about reservations.

Jeff got here Friday night. In the morning, Squirrel helped me wake him up. :) After some initial antsyness because I wasn't prepared at all, we were off!
We found the campground all right and decided on the cheaper, walk-in sites. They were more secluded and woods-y. Jeff tried fishing right away.

Ninja dance move!

But soon the tent was set up and he wasn't catching any fish in the fast-moving river. So, we took a drive to Lost Lake.

Happy Jeff!

Concentrating fisherman

But.....that didn't work either. All the fish were in the middle of the lake! We got our exercise walking all around it, though, So we went back to our campsite to make some dinner--bacon and corn and eggs and beans!

Our campfire/stove. Look at all the wood I collected! We didn't bring any firewood, so I was scavenging sticks. I think there was one or two more loads after this...

Yay bacon cooking!

I thought it was weird that the tree was property....O.o

This was the water source at the camp! It was fun. :)

This was all the wetness under our tarp under our tent. Guess where we were sleeping?

When we left the next morning, we realized that we were 23 miles from the coast! So we HAD to go visit the ocean. Jeff was less then impressed by the touristiness, but I went and played in the ocean! :D

Jeff bein cool.

Overall, successful weekend. :D