Things & Stuff
breakfast at work: baguette and hot cocoa (made with soy milk)
lunch with C. at Julio’s: chicken and vegetable soup, rice and tortillas. i didn’t even open the tortillas.
work snack: mini-Twix.
dinner: penne with brussels sprouts, bacon and blue cheese. I’m not a fan of blue cheese, but I thought I’d try it. I didn’t love it, and so I didn’t eat much.
night snack: potato chips, sour cream dip (just sour cream mixed with fresh dill and some spices), and chardonnay.
Dinner at the backspace a few nights ago. I tried out a 50mm lens. I’m still undecided about it.
We ate olives (that came still simmering in a cast iron skillet, plumped and delicious); meatballs covered in breadcrumbs, marinara and cheese; pizza with tomato sauce, garlic and oregano; and hazelnut budino. It was delicious, and cozy, and romantic, and fun. The pizza is really great, but my heart belongs to the budino.
First of all, how lovely are these Mexican pastries from Pablito’s Bakery? They seriously do have some of the best-looking pastries in town.
So I realized that I really like gathering information. That sounds really nerdy, but it’s true. I like doing the research before a trip to figure out where we will stay and eat and frolic. I like reading blogs, then saving the information I find in Evernote or on Pinterest. I like reading books and highlighting parts and flagging pages. I like journaling, I like collecting my parking stubs, I like re-reading receipts to see what we bought, I like blogging, I like checking out 17 books at a time from the library, I like reading magazines and then scanning in my favorite pages to Evernote, and I like keeping old letters and cards, and filling in things on my calendar, and making lists of anything and everything.
You know, at one point in time, I wanted to be a librarian. I wanted to get my Master’s degree in Library Science, then spend my days looking up things and cataloging things and shelving things. (But then I got scared that as a librarian I would just be helping kids find their parents, or helping people find the bathroom, and plus the classes seemed kind of boring and also I was tired of school.) Maybe that’s something I should look into again.
Anyway, lately I’m having this crazy desire to catalog everything I eat. And I’m thinking of either writing it all down, or attempting to photograph everything. I’m not interested in a calorie-food diary, just a picture (in words or photos) of what my day of food and drink was like. This is not a new concept. This person did it. This guy did it for a year and made a book out of it (I totally almost bought it). There’s a flickr pool of people who started doing it. Lele keeps track of what she eats and how much she exercises. And, idol of all idols, Ai beautifully photographs every meal and snack (wonderful, fun, exotic-to-me Japanese meals and snacks, that is).
I have no idea why this appeals to me so much, but it does. I thought about writing out my day’s menu in the sidebar (see it over there?). But where do I keep a history of it? So I thought about starting a new tumblr just for my daily menus. And then I thought I’d take iPhone photos of everything. And then I thought I wanted prettier photos, which means I’d need to carry my digital SLR with me everywhere. Which I kind of do already, but sometimes I don’t. And then I thought that might get stressful, trying to remember to photograph every meal.
But the thought of being able to look back on what I ate is so intriguing. I’ve kept food diaries in journals before, and when I look back at them, it’s so fun (I drank a glass of milk?! I ate at Whataburger?! I forgot about that affogato at Asti!). It’s the perfect marriage of my love of food and my love of gathering information. So I’m thinking of doing it again. I have no idea whether that will be here on poco-cocoa, or on a separate tumblr, or in the sidebar, or on flickr, or whether it will be done in photos or just in words, or what. I just wanna do it.
If any of you have any suggestions, let me know. And yes, I am aware that I am a total geek. 🙂
I’ve got another video for you about using my mom’s red chile sauce – this time for asado. Asado is a sort of pork stew; it’s kind of like carne guisada, but instead of a beef gravy, there’s a red chile gravy. My dad has always made it for us, and it’s often served at weddings and quinceaneras in New Mexico, usually with beans, rice and tortillas.
My dad makes this most often in a disco outside. I’ve mentioned it before – it’s an outdoor wok/frying pan of sorts, welded together by my dad. The disc is set atop a propane burner, and you can cook all kinds of stuff in it. My dad sometimes did huge batches of fried potatoes and eggs for breakfast tacos when we had a crowd gathered. He also makes a beef and potato thing in there (Dad, what was that called? It’s kind of like picadillo).
You can definitely make asado indoors, in a large pan/pot. You’ll need:
Things to note about the video:
Thanks to my family – my mom who made the red chile sauce, my dad, brother-in-law and uncle who made and supervised the asado, and my sister who made the tortillas. Enjoy!
Making Red Chile Asado from Crystal Esquivel on Vimeo.
Hi friends. I just love this photo of our friends Linds and Chad with Justin at Vino Vino. It was really dark and red-tinted in there, but it looks so warm and inviting, doesn’t it? I love how Chad must have moved a bit, because he’s a little smudged. It’s neat.
Anyway, today I’m surfing the internet and putting off walking to the market to pick up a few things for dinner. It’s so cold outside! Still, I need a red onion, and some bread flour, and some sour cream. We signed up for Farmhouse Delivery again, and our first bin comes on Tuesday. There should be lots of greens and even some tangerines.
A few things I’ve come across recently:
Lots of lunch ideas.
I can’t wait for Contigo to open.
This short film about The Sartorialist really inspires me.
Oreo cheesecake cookies. Yes, please.
I want to try all of these juice recipes. (I love shutterbean.)
I’m infatuated with Japanese food. How does Ai manage to prepare four separate dishes for lunch? Her eating habits are fascinating to me.
This photo walk makes me want to move to California.
Over and out!