February 28th - March 6th
March has always been a big month for me. When I was twelve it was the month I finally became a sister. Something my lonely only child self had always wished for. Many moons later it became the month Marco and I started dating and eventually the month we eloped in secret. March 16th to be exact. On our one-year anniversary, we had a second wedding with our friends and family. Three days later we moved cross country to Kansas City. On our second anniversary, yes on the 16th, Kansas City shut down. Now, almost exactly one year later, we have been vaccinated. This technically happened on the last day of February but for storytelling purposes, we are going to roll with March.
At the end of last February, I had gotten incredibly sick. I love an excuse to have a relaxed day from bed to "rest" but this was no excuse. I had a fever, chills, and my back ached like I was hit by a car. Being the lazy, and sick, millennial I am I did a virtual doctor appointment on telehealth and was prescribed a steroid with no further explanation of what I may be ill with. Five days later after getting worse, I saw my doctor in person who confirmed I had the flu. Something the telehealth doctor thought and made a note of but failed to tell me taking away the option for me to receive Tamiflu in the first 48 hours. I had a lot of frustration around this topic because during this time I was approaching my first, and last, 30+ person Board Babe workshop. An event I was not going to cancel. I laid in bed for another week with no real remedy. I had a local company come and give me IV fluids, I slept for what felt like forever, and I binge-watched Pandemic. If you haven't seen Pandemic on Netflix, it is an incredibly interesting documentary about how our plant was due for a global pandemic any day... So while bedridden from one of the viruses this documentary focused on, I then started to watch a new one take over.
After being fever-free for a few days and pumped with Sudafed I ended up doing my event and we headed into March. Our summer honeymoon abroad was soon canceled and we celebrated our second anniversary in a toilet paper panic.
This last year has given me this platform, an online community, and a new "purpose" every day but most of this year has been a black hole of anxiety and fear. Besides the obvious concerns, being completely isolated from our friends and family has been the hardest part. The quick 3-hour plane ride became a nonexistent option overnight. My grandparents are incredibly active and healthy for their age but they are getting older and obviously canceled their trip to visit and see the home we recently bought. My youngest sister, who also is getting older and turning into a full teenager, wasn't able to come to spend two weeks with me over the summer. I may have looked at these as just another visit a year ago but I now see them as precious once-in-a-lifetime experiences that evaporated out of my life. During this past year, we were able to work on making our new house a home. We have landscaped and worked on furnishing all the rooms but not being able to share our home with others makes it a lonely place. My introverted self thought I was fine for many months but I quietly craved a community here in Kansas City. A community we were just starting to build and had to put on pause. Although our city has been very open for a while now, our overly cautious science-driven brains haven't allowed us to go out and enjoy normal everyday activities. We tried eating outside at a local brewery with a huge outdoor patio last summer. We were in a section by ourselves and things were fine until I noticed the server's ungloved hand touching the rim of my glass. Then I picked up on another server grabbing used dishes, dropping them off, and not changing out his gloves. These are things I think I'm hyper-aware of being in the food world and I can't turn that observant part of my brain off. As the afternoon rolled in the patio quickly became crowded and filled with unmasked people eating and drinking. My anxiety got us out of there quickly and we agreed eating out, even outdoors, wasn't worth it for us. With this vaccine, I am most excited about being able to do anything with a little less anxiety.
I'm a firm believer in getting the vaccine right away when you are able to. Don't create fake documents and take a vaccine from someone but if an opportunity falls in your lap, TAKE IT. That's what happened last week when a coworker told Marco about a small town north of us that was inviting neighboring cities to come receive their extra vaccines. We woke up early on Sunday to drive an hour and a half to a small Hy-Vee grocery store and get shot up. I was so excitedly anxious I woke up in a panic at 5 AM thinking we slept through our alarm. The process went smoothly and after 30 minutes we were on our way back home.
I knew we would eventually receive the vaccine but I thought Marco and I had a few more months at least. For the first time in a year, I can go out in public and not immediately panic. I feel so immensely grateful, hopeful, and calm. I am excited for our world's future and for future connections. To see my family and host friends for dinner. For some normalcy in my daily activities and to not be isolated in the box that is my home with furry animals and my husband. We are heading into March with a lot to celebrate. Making it through this year, science, and that better days really are coming.
I fell into a black hole of cookie doom this week. Over the last year, I have made dozens of GF chocolate chip cookie variations. They all have been edible but none blew me away. I was talking to a friend from college who has recently gone gluten-free and the one thing she wanted was a gooey GF chocolate chip cookie recipe that didn't require chilling in the fridge.
Gooey...this word came up about 27 times when I asked people what their perfect cookie looked like. To achieve a "gooey" cookie it technically needs to be slightly underbaked. That way the inside is...gooey. Here is the issue, GF flour blends are a lot different than wheat flour. The reactions they have with the other ingredients are different as well. Every time I made a "gooey" GF cookie 1. the cookie itself fell apart from the lack of structure and gluten and 2. it didn't feel good in my mouth. The flour blends are made of rice, sorghum, and a bunch of starches this caused a grainy almost paste-like texture when left slightly underbaked. It took me a few days to figure out what I wanted to do with this recipe and I decided I'm doing nothing. These might not be gooey but they are easy and really freaking good.
One thing I did to help with the texture was bump up the brown sugar. Brown sugar is sticky from molasses and sticky molasses creates a chew. Extra xanthan gum is also added. Xanthan gum is an emulsifier, thickener, and does exactly what gluten does in gluten-free baked goods. It helps with the overall texture. So these cookies are crispy on the edges and soft and tender in the center. That's my perfect cookie. They are not dry, just baked fully. You can make a big batch and freeze them but I don't think you'll be able to stop eating them.
I used a 1.5 tablespoon scoop and bake for 10 minutes at 350 degrees. If you bake them longer they get crunchy. A different experience that's just as good. Use a chopped bar of chocolate, not chips! Chips have binding ingredients and that will affect the overall shape and texture. The only time I will use chips is to do 1/2 chips 1/2 chopped bar of chocolate. This makes a thicker cookie. Give that a try if that's what you are into!
My late-night food thought this week was: What if I make everything bagel seasoned pizza dough and top it with lox and cream cheese?!
I did it and it was delicious! Everything bagel pizza crust was made by adding about a 1/2 teaspoon each of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, granulated garlic, onion powder, salt, and pepper. It could have used a bit more and next time will add a teaspoon of each.
I whipped up 8oz of goat cheese with 1/4 cup of chopped chives. Cream cheese works too. Just add it to your mixer with a whisk attachment and let it run for about 5 minutes. Spread it on and top with your favorite bagel toppings. Easy peasy and super fun for brunch!
You have seen this potato salad before. It is my go-to non mayo based potato salad. The weather is getting warmer and this is a perfect BBQ side dish but I also love it on top of a little arugula with olives and eggs. Either way, make sure to give it a try!
Oh, green beans! I like green beans with it too.
Ramen Noodle Salad: A salad for when you don't actually want to eat a salad. Here is how to make it:
Boil ramen noodles (I use Lotus Food GF noodles).
Rinse noodles under cold running water to cool them.
Toss the noodles in Scallion Ginger Sauce*
Add in shaved or thinly sliced cucumber, carrots, bell pepper, and cabbage. Edamame and tofu would be great in here too.
Toss and finish with sesame seeds, cilantro, and scallions.
*Scallion ginger sauce I originally used for dipping summer rolls but it also makes a great shrimp marinade and salad dressing.
Recipes From This Week:
Restaurants From This Week:
Marco and I are very serious french fry connoisseurs. I haven't had the pleasure of inhaling french fries at a bar in over a year!!!! Friday night we popped over to Chicken & Pickle for a drink. We couldn't decide which fried potato side to get, so we got all of them. I have never been happier.
My rating best to worst was: Tots, normal fries, sweet potato fries.
Marco's rating was: Sweet potato fries, normal fries, tots.
Thing Everybody Needs:
The trick to accurate baking and perfectly round cookies is using a scooper. I recommend all three sizes so you have options but if you only get one get the medium. That's the one I use the most.
Animal Cuteness:
*Trying to take a picture of Lola*
Ollie: Hi, I can be in the picture too
Random Thing From This Week:
Cool fungi from my walk.
Book I'm Cooking Through This Month:
Hot and Hot Fish Club Cookbook, Chris Hastings
Recap + review 3/31
Two ways I enjoy chocolate chip cookies:
With peanutbutter soread on top
Like a s'more with a toasted marshmallow smushed between two cookies
See you next week,
Marcella
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