Weekend: This and that.
Happy weekend! I did a little of this and that. I took a lot of photos of Merlin because he was being extra cute and funny.
Saturday was Burlington’s Mardi Gras parade. Yes, we celebrate – not on actual Mardi Gras – up north. I volunteered with some friends, but wasn’t sure what I would be doing. They put us on float patrol. We wore bright yellow t-shirts that said “Float Patrol. Please stand back.” It’s a parade that lasts like four blocks…..I thought it was a little dramatic. I wish I brought my real camera though. The parade was pretty cute, and on a gorgeous winter day. The forecast called for rain, but instead we had a warm breeze, blue sky, and fluffy white clouds.
I’m drowning in CSA root vegetables. I stayed in Saturday night and cooked. I roasted a bunch of sweet potatoes and cooked some cabbage. I made cookies. I tried out a recipe for “carrot cake” waffles. (I’m not a huge fan of carrots on their own, but I LOVE waffles.)
They were pretty good, just a tad too dense for my taste.
Sunday was snowy and cold. This was the day we picked to do our long run, after a string of like forty e-mails over Sunday’s optimal weather conditions. What luck!
How cute is that? I love a cat in the window.
Long run smoothies are back. I like to slice bananas and freeze them to make quick post-run smoothies.
Merlin tried to drink my smoothie – AGAIN! Check out his pissed off face.
I have SO much food, it’s ridiculous. I invited a friend over for dinner (less stress than a party). I’m not sure what to call this? It’s soba noodles stir-fried with ginger, carrot, cabbage, and leeks. Topped with a fried egg, crispy shallots, soy sauce, and sesame oil.
Yum!
I thought it was fitting to talk about my lack of cooking and love of burritos since I’m going out with some friends to El Cortijo Taqueria Y Cantina for dinner tonight.
Despite the amount of food in my fridge, I’ve been avoiding cooking. (This is about to change. I picked up my new CSA share today, reorganized my fridge, and made a list of its items. I’ll be cooking all weekend.)
But for the past few weeks, I’ve been on a TOTAL burrito kick. I made up a bunch of these chicken and black bean burritos a few weeks ago, which I froze for quick meals. I’ve also been to Bolocco twice this week. I like “The Summer” with the black beans and mango.
These burritos have a lot of cilantro in them, which I used to detest. In fact, I remember shortly after college, someone putting cilantro on my eggs for breakfast. I had to choke them down. Something about the smell and bite of cilantro repulsed me, then magically my taste buds changed and I crave it.
Weird.
I made homemade black beans – Homesick Texan’s Austen-style basic black beans – for the first time. No messing around with this recipe. I soaked the beans overnight, then cooked them with a host of other ingredients: garlic, carrot, adobo chipotles, 1/2 cup of cilantro, tomato paste, and lime juice.
I used kombu instead of epazote (which I could not find) when cooking the beans, which supposedly aids in digestion.
They took forever – soaking them overnight and then cooking them for hours – yet tasted about a million times better than the canned version. I kept thinking, “Did cowboys actually MAKE these back in the day? They take all day!”
I have no idea. My only real reference is from reading Lonesome Dove. Gus and Captain Call traveled with an actual cook. So maybe they did eat them on the range. (Side note: They ate a lot of biscuits in that book. I was always craving biscuits while reading it.)
To assemble, I layered some of the Austen-style black beans on a flour tortilla. Topped that with with a mixture of sautéed chicken, onions, and pepper seasoned with cumin. Then added in a bit of Monterrey Jack cheese.
I like to roll them up, slather salsa on the top, and blanket with a layer of cheese. I’ll flash freeze and individual wrap them for easy reheating.
