Wontons with Citrus Soy Sauce

Sorry for the delay in posting. I've been swamped with interviews and getting my dissertation in to committee, so I have been taking less "me" time (oh no!). I've finally caught a break, so I wanted to share with you a delicious meal that the boy made for us a few weeks ago: wontons with citrus soy sauce. Technically, these were supposed to be gyoza, but our local grocery does not carry gyoza. Ah well, wontons work just fine.

Kumquat Beef

The boy and I have a habit of picking up random things at the grocery store, including, once, prickly pear fruits (hint: don't touch with your bare hands or try to eat straight!). One item the boy purchased recently was kumquats--and he immediately regretted it. I did not try it, so I can't verify the claim, but he said they are all but impossible to eat raw. So, when I found a fairly quick beef dinner that used kumquats, he was happy to relinquish his kumquat rights for the greater, and yummier, good.

Breakfast of Champions: Cooking for Science

I have the pleasure of being involved in a group that offers statistical consulting services to faculty, post-docs, and graduate students in my department. Since we meet at 8 am (yay! mornings!) on Mondays, someone usually brings in breakfast to help everyone get a kick-start. I insisted on bringing in breakfast today and had an enormously good time designing a menu that involved four of the major food groups: dairy, grain, protein, and fruit. We had three "dishes", and I had my friends and colleagues rate them on their "yum" factor. I computed the average correlation between pairs as an estimate of the yum-reliability, and found that yum-reliability is incredibly low (r = -0.17). This gets to an super important point, though--everyone has different tastes! Some like things sweet, others savory. As such, I'm glad that I made enough dishes that everyone really enjoyed at least one.

Champagne Cocktail: The Best Part of Waking Up

Another holiday tradition in my family is to enjoy some champagne late Christmas/Thanksgiving morning. I have not really liked the taste of orange juice for awhile now, so I decided to make a very easy twist on a mimosa to mask it somewhat. I call it "the best part of waking up", and it is as delicious as it is beautiful.

"Brie" Stuffed French Toast

Aromas in Williamsburg, VA, has a heart-stoppingly delicious breakfast: Brie stuffed french toast. Everything about it is delicious. The cheese: melted and gooey. The overall taste: sweet yet savory. The boy was even kind enough to run out of the hotel and bring some back for me when I developed a hankering the next day.

When we started eating healthfully, I knew I would have to make a slimmed down version of this dish. We started with brie, but when we found out that no grocery store near us carried light brie, we switched to Camembert. I think this actually was a great idea, because the Camembert has more flavor in and of itself. As such, it stands up better in a slimmed-down version of stuffed french toast.

Thanksgiving Dinner

Somehow, we still had room for dinner. One of the highlights of the evening was the eggplant (classic Thanksgiving dish, yes?). We ended up with eggplant simply because we wanted to try a new vegetable. It was one of our best decisions--the only downside was figuring out what to do with the leftover miso. The boy was in charge of making the "paste", and he got it done quickly and efficiently. The eggplant turned out marvelous. I used to be scared of eggplant, but now I know the trick: get the skinny ones, or Japanese eggplants, and leave the big fat ones alone. A whole lotta eggplant (1/4 of the recipe) is 115 calories.