Battleplans for 2009

It's 2009. Last year I left graphics behind and freelanced while attending culinary school. I graduated with honors, and briefly worked at the restaurant where I externed. This year B and I are going to have a baby, and I plan to freelance in graphics and look for another gig at a restaurant. But I'm also...gonna do something bigger and better. My first move is going back to school.

On January 7th, I'll begin the management program where I attended culinary school. It's not strictly a restaurant management program; it's an entrepreneurial program, the focus of which is the food world. I just need to be my own boss; I don't know if I really want to be in the restaurant world, but to be able to produce something -- and/or feed people -- hmmmm.

I'm going to continue this blog but focus more on what I eat, what I feed my family and friends, and other musings on the fun of food. I will restart my old blog, Culinary School Confidential, while I'm in the management program, reporting and ruminating on everything that is taught and discussed. While this blog will be daily, CSC will go part time, as the program is only 3 days a week.

On a personal front, I want to push myself farther at home on the cooking front. I'm pretty happy at the trajectory my home cooking is taking -- my pizzas are becoming more complex and have potential to take on personality, and I surprised myself yesterday by baking bagels that could seriously compete with my local bagel bakeries. I want to keep pushing.

I'm happy with my health, but I need to do better. I've kept a consistent 10 or so pounds off since c-school, but I want to train myself to eat smaller portions. Or more particularly, cook smaller portions. This evening's stir fry, for instance, I purposefully tried to do smaller portions of all the ingredients, going so far as putting more than usual into the stock. Still, it all added up to enough for two, which didn't stop me from eating the whole thing, it was so good!

I also wish to eat more seasonally. Ilsa has been riding me a little to eat more fruit and veg, eat more simply. On the positive, I'm really conscious of my urge to eat wintery -- heavy on the carbs, starch, oil, light on the more typically healthy stuff. Hopefully I'll spring back in, uh, spring.

Woah. I just did a spell check and got 'entrepreneurial' on my first go! Maybe I AM smart enough to have my own biz!

ADDENDA:
I went uptown to do yoga with a friend I've never yoga'd with -- the HVS is on the opposite side of the world, and I had to do something after that miserable class I took earlier in the week. It was a beginner hatha class, a style of yoga I've never experienced and...I think I still haven't. The class was fun, as I was able to do 100% of the positions and when people had the option to do a full wheel, NO ONE did, they all were like me and stayed in half-wheel. The HVS would not approve at all! :) It kind of felt like the first half of a vinyasa class, without all the super-flexible model-types downtown. I want to try a more middle-level hatha class, now.

BREAKFAST: 11:30am, half a wholewheat bagel, smoked sable, water, .5 bowl, hunger 4/5
The smoked fish was not a hit yesterday, must eat as much as possible before it goes bad. Goyim, hrumph!

LUNCH: 4pm, club-style BLT with fries, half a pint of good beer, water, 1.5 bowl, hunger 4/5
First bacon of the new year, pretty yummy.

DINNER: 8pm, stir fry with shrimp, veg, brown rice noodles, freshly made shrimp/veg stock, mirin, soy, sesame, nori, caramel ice cream, water, 2 bowl, hunger 4/5
Went all-in on a stirfry, happy with how it came out. All the extra veg and trimming along with the shrimp shells went into cold water and boiled for 20 minutes, before being strained and reduced to about 1/3 of a cup. Peanut oil got infused in the hot wok with fresh pieces of ginger and garlic, then cooked the shrimp half way and held aside. Removed the ginger and garlic, then put in the veg, from slow cooking to fast cooking, hitting with a little soy sauce along the way. When that got far enough, hit it with some mirin, let the booze cook off. Added the shrimp and stock, covered for a minute for some steaming action, then uncovered and added the noodles, which were loosening in cold water but were still crunchy -- they did a good job of soaking up whatever liquid was still in the pan, bringing the whole thing together. A hit of sesame oil, a hit of sesame seeds and chopped up nori, a hit of hot sauce, one final jooj and into the bowl and into mah mouf, yo.

A nice balanced flavor, lots of umami. The stock and mirin (which gave the needed subtle sweetness) really made this the best stir-fry I've done yet, I just wish B wasn't on a bagel-and-butter kick this evening so she could've shared it with me. -wah-