Posted by RenaissanceTrophyWife on January 18, 2010
“In the depths of winter, I finally learned that within me there lay an invincible summer.” -Camus
In the depths of a chilly winter, I wanted a contrast to all the squash-focused and root vegetable dishes, and hearty meals that mark the season until the groundhog sees his shadow. Since it’s crab season, I decided to take on a different kind of work this weekend– shelling my own fresh crab. Yum!
I picked up 3 smallish crabs, planning at first to make crab cakes with cucumber-mango salsa, but then decided to go with a less work-intensive version. The crunch of cucumber goes so well with the softer mango and the sweetness of the crab. And I love a kick of pepper to spice things up– just the thing to satisfy a warm weather craving!
Summer Crab Salad
All the proportions here are approximate and can be adjusted to taste.
1/2 large English cucumber, peeled and diced
2 mangoes, peeled, pitted and diced
1/2 lb crab meat (Approximately 1.5lbs whole crab)
1/2 tsp cayenne powder
1/2 tsp paprika
juice of 2 limes
sea salt and pepper to taste
Prepare the cucumber and mangoes first, and toss with salt, cayenne, and paprika before letting it rest in the fridge. The cucumber will release water while you shell the crab; drain the excess liquid when you are ready to add the crab. Fold in the crab, dress with lime juice, adjust seasonings. Serve on a bed of lettuce with fresh French bread on the side.
Posted in Apple a Day, Domestic Diva | Tagged: cooking, crab, food, salad | 2 Comments »
Posted by RenaissanceTrophyWife on January 13, 2010
Lately I’ve been reading a lot of bento sites– I bring my lunch to work regularly and thought it would be fun to add a little extra something to my midday sustenance.
There are some seriously inspiring creations out there! I mean, check out the work of these artists:
AnnaTheRed's farm bento
AIBento's decorated sandwiches
However, I’ve decided that given my cooking habits and the way we eat, bento making is probably not in my near future. Over the weekend I do the bulk of my cooking consisting of the protein and a large portion of veggies. During the first part of the week we eat these two basic dishes in a number of variations with some sort of carbs, scrambled in eggs, in soup or chili form, or on top of salad… Basically anything that doesn’t require more than 5 min of prep when I get home. Because I’m lazy like that. (Of course, the best is when he cooks and there’s NO prep whatsoever. 
)
I also bring food to work in tupperware, hence the bento idea– it’s just a different container, right? And then although my guy comes home for lunch, I thought I could make 2 every day. One for me, and one for him. That illusion was dispelled fast!
Have you ever tried to portion out a chunk of pork shoulder or pot roast into a bento box? Even turkey sliders gave me trouble. Veggies and rice are easier, but a man-sized meal doesn’t fit easily or prettily into a bento. I tried this once, dividers and all, foregoing any of the cute decorative elements. It looked, shall we say, less than appetizing. No amount of cherry tomatoes or apple bunnies or cute toothpicks could have saved that thing from its ugly (although nutritionally balanced) demise.
Nothing like the cute bentos from Lunchinabox… how disappointing.
After that, I told my boyfriend, “Think of the fridge like one big bento. It contains food with diverse colors/textures and good nutritional value, you just have to portion it out accordingly.” Tiny Japanese bento box not necessary. I guess we all have to have something to aspire to, right?
Yeah. Maybe when we have kids I’ll start making cutesy lunches to encourage them to try new foods, but I think the fridge-as-bento concept works for now.
Anyone else get overambitious in the kitchen? Oh, the stories I could tell…
Posted in Apple a Day | Tagged: bento, food, lunch, nutrition, time | 1 Comment »
Posted by RenaissanceTrophyWife on October 12, 2009
Today, Elinor Ostrom became the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in economics.
Ostrom said it was an honor to be the first woman to win a Nobel Prize in economics — and promised that she won’t be the last. She said people discouraged her from seeking a Ph.D. when she applied for graduate school but she loved studying economics.
Cheers to that! And speaking of educated women, a Swedish study found that men with educated wives had a lower risk of dying. Talk about a modern-day dowry. Women can bring home the bacon, AND help their partners live longer? Sure beats the old herd of sheep or pair of cows.
From Reuters (via Jezebel):
Bachelors take note: If you want to enjoy a long life, marry a highly educated woman. In a study (in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health), researchers found that a woman’s education was a stronger factor in her husband’s risk of dying over the next decade or so than the man’s own level of education…men living with a woman without any high school education were 1.25 times more likely to die than men living with a college graduate.
Ladies, feel free to tell your significant other “you’re welcome.” And don’t forget to thank yourself, while you’re at it.
Posted in Apple a Day, Venus & Mars | Tagged: education, health, marriage, nobel, relationships, women | 1 Comment »
Posted by RenaissanceTrophyWife on May 25, 2009
The weather’s warming up and all sorts of veggies and fruits are in season… I love the beginning of summer! City Girl’s cucumber watermelon cooler and Smitten Kitchen’s asparagus/goat cheese/lemon pasta got me jonesing for those hot summer nights that haven’t quite reached the West Coast yet… you know, the ones where you lie around basking in doing nothing.
Speaking of doing nothing, it’s pretty easy to achieve in the kitchen when you’ve got a bunch of produce and can just throw things together. I always have salmon (flash-frozen wild alaskan from Costco) on hand because it’s tasty, easy, and good! Since I was resisting the lure of Whole Foods one weekend morning, this was our brunch: pan-grilled salmon with wasabi (canola) mayo, avocado, and tomatoes on a toasted English muffin. I popped some potato wedges with herbs and parm in the oven before prepping the fish, and voila– lazy Sunday brunch! It’s pretty healthy too, what with all those omega-3s and monounsaturated fats… enough that a small grating of cheddar didn’t hurt.
At first I was debating about putting this up since it’s not really a recipe, per se, but I was drawn to the colors and the sheer simplicity. Honestly, during the height of summer I probably could subsist on caprese salad, fruit, and grilled veggies alone; the less stovetop cooking, the better! Mmmm, heirloom tomatoes and sweet corn…
What’s your favorite “taste of summer” food?
Posted in Apple a Day, Domestic Diva | Tagged: brunch, cooking, food, healthy, lunch, salmon, sandwich | 3 Comments »
Posted by RenaissanceTrophyWife on May 21, 2009
This story really makes a chill run down my spine. In case you hadn’t heard, a woman named Colleen Hauser has disappeared with her teenage son Daniel, who has Hodgkins lymphoma—because she doesn’t believe chemotherapy is the best treatment for her son. Apparently, she testified that “she had been trying to ‘starve’ Daniel’s cancer with supplements, an organic and sugar-free diet and high-alkaline water.”
While I was trained in Western medicine, I believe there is absolutely a place for complementary (or “alternative”) therapies, especially for disease states in which the mechanism of action remains unclear. However, Hodgkins does not fall into that category.
Seriously, if we could cure cancer by following a diet and drinking high-alkaline water, don’t you think we would’ve stopped spending millions of dollars on cancer research by now?
Well, we can cure some types of cancers. Although the word “lymphoma” sounds serious, and it is, if caught early AND TREATED, survival rates are fairly decent—on the order of 90%. If not treated appropriately, survival is, expectedly, very poor.
It’s not as if this treatment is experimental, or a last-ditch alternative in this case—chemo has the potential to cure the kid.
It saddens me to think that a mother’s religious beliefs may factor into the matter of her child’s life or death. I realize that faith is a helpful tool in many situations, but if you’re going to use that argument, whatever happened to the basic tenet of “God helps those who help themselves”? Relying solely on mineral water and faith seems like a pretty poor effort to me. Thinking about it gets me all worked up so I’m trying to be polite here… but all I can hope for at this point is that this woman will turn herself in so a treatment plan for Daniel can be discussed and put in motion. Sigh. The alternative of death by withholding of care is a pretty horrible option.
Is anyone else similarly shocked/upset/disappointed?
Image source: AP Photo/The Star Tribune, Kyndell Harkness
Update: Read about the happy resolution here! Thanks, Kristan!
Posted in Apple a Day | Tagged: cancer, children, health, lymphoma, medicine, parenting | 5 Comments »
