Chopping Blog

A huge thank you to my Esteemed Readers, who complain, occasionally, that I do not write or cook anymore. The truth of the matter is that, after the enormous success of my beignets (http://whatscookingamerica.net/History/BeignetsHistory.htm) I went on a diet and it my cooking hence consists of mainly chopping stuff for salads. I went on a diet from my own cooking! Ouch!

However, because beans are so good for your diet, I cooked my famous Chili, based on this recipe: http://www.greatchilirecipes.net/sahara_chili.html, but I added lots of half-cooked beans and more cans of tomatoes to it. (It came out delicious, but I hat time to make it only a week after my workplace had the chili cook-off, so I didn't win the blue ribbon.)

Moreover, I discovered that there is a trick to the best salads, like, ever: I mix the chopped tomatoes, bell peppers, cucumbers, and onions with the dressing and any crumbled cheese, douse it with some balsamic vinaigrette (http://www.vinaigretterecipe.com/VinaigretteRecipes/BalsamicVinaigrette.htm or Newman's Own) and let it sit together before I top some baby lettuce leaves with it. This way the vegetables that can withstand the vinaigrette for a while absorb all the flavor, and the lettuce doesn't wilt down to a disgusting wet newspaper texture.

My family also loves the Massaged Pasta Salad: use cooked and somewhat cooled pasta with it, al dente, and mix it with halved cherry tomatoes, lotsa olive oil, lemon juice, crumbled feta cheese, and fresh basil leaves. Add salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy, and please comment away with your successes!

And now I'm off to take a constitutional law exam for a job application with the Legislative Counsel Bureau.

Nagyi, This Is For You

It was the second anniversary of Nagyi's departure, and it is not getting any easier. This year, the anniversary also coincided with Good Friday, and then Easter Sunday coincided with Abigail's fourth birthday (she is our younger daughter, if you didn't know that yet). So on Good Friday I attempted a Cioppino, thinking that Nagyi never had the luxury of seafood at the grocery store in Hungary. I am so very lucky living on the California Coast, picked up some king crab legs (cost an arm and a leg, which Nagyi would NOT approve) and some tilapia filets, and used the cioppino mix from the jars right there. I don't know why I got so lazy, I should have made my own sauce, because the soup came out fine by me... but Abel (my husband) and my mom (she lives with us) thought the soup had a funny aftertaste. As a result, I have more cioppino in my fridge than anybody in the house cares for, and it will go bad if not finished by tonight. But guess what, I have to attend an event at school, put on by Anne-Marie, something about unenumerated constitutional rights, as we have a policy of attending each other's association events. Alas, I will not eat at home tonight. (Anne-Marie will have sushi served at the event, which is great, and if Abel and the girls eat the seafood, we will all smell like fish tonight.)

And I spent Saturday editing an article about the corporate governance of Chinese Listed State-owned Companies, so I had to take it easy the next day. For Easter Sunday and Abi's Birthday, I warmed up a precooked Ham, opened a can of chipotle chiles and mixed two of those with three tablespoons of light mayo, which came out really spicy and went nicely with the ham and the thinly sliced boiled eggs. We added some vegetables, and cooked jasmine and forbidden rice, and mixed the two together (the kids loved it!), but really, the main attraction was a hit: ham, eggs, with chipotle mayo. Having a Birthday Party on Easter Sunday was enough reason for us to watch three movies, and for me to top it with a House, M.D. episode, skipping any studying.

The movies worthy of mention are Family Law, from Argentina, which inspired the theme of this Blog, and Mi Familia, by Edward James Olmos, which was simply great. Seeing Argentina made me more homesick than seeing East L.A. made Abel... Yes, Budapest is a lot like Buenos Aires, case in point is the movie Evita, which was made entirely in Budapest.