Weekend Cooking

I wish I'd thought to take pictures of the dish I made for a dinner party we went to last night. Fine Cooking's Summer Wheat Berry Salad was a hit with everyone, even though I made it with pot barley instead of wheat berries. One of the advantages of using the barley was it cut the cooking time dramatically - it only took 30 minutes. I subbed the barley in at a one to one ratio, and didn't leave it to cool in the cooking water. You can find the recipe for it after the jump!

A quick note: the dinner party was so lovely! We got to meet up with some of my husband's Tumblr friends, drank copious amounts of wine, ate some seriously delicious pork tenderloin. I don't think I've ever had a moister tenderloin in my life. I think our amazing host, Robin, braised it with figs and shallots. Oh, it was sooo good! It was a totally lovely evening - there's nothing like good company!

Today I've been puttering lazily about the kitchen. Earlier, I whipped together some almond-basil pesto for tonight's pizza (I've got to use up the leftover roasted red pepper and artichokes from last night's salad).

I love five minute recipes! I just had to throw the <--------ingredients in the food processor and voila! Pesto complete!  ------>

Now I'm contemplating how I'm going to use up the five stalks of rhubarb I bought mid week. I think it'll probably end up being Martha's Rhubarb Upside Down Cake (but a half size version, because I don't own a 9" cake pan).

Summer weather messes with my style

Now that the weather has cranked itself up to 30+ degrees, I find myself wishing I weren't in the kitchen. See, we don't have a/c, so the thought of cooking anything over the stove fills me with deep, deep sadness.

But, it does mean that I've brought back carrots and hummus into regular rotation in my daily menu. Ah, carrots and hummus. You're just not appropriate in January.

It was in this weather that I first experienced bentos in Japan. The heat and humidity reminds me of stepping off the plane in Tokyo and wondering what I'd got myself into. When my supervisor and my JTE (Japanese Teacher of English) showed up in Gifu city to pick me up, I'd removed my suit jacket because I was in sooo much discomfort.

I'm 99% sure they thought I was unprofessional for doing so!