arielle clementine

Everybody. Today I ate lunch, and then I finished George’s lunch, even though I wasn’t hungry, and then I went directly to the most spectacular tea party/bridal shower and ate everything there, and even though I skipped dinner (unheard of!) I still feel so gross. I basically ate four meals in the span of two hours and I’ve disgusted myself. And you too, I’m guessing. It’s all so gluttonous. And now I’m looking at pictures of all the food I cooked last week and I feel like it’s going to be hard to talk about a massive slow-roasted pork shoulder.  I’m sure I’ll change my mind in the morning, but right now I feel like I want to only eat raw vegetables for a week. And oh my god what a week. It’s the last week before my little sister gets married! The next time I write a blog post she’ll be a wife! I’m all over the place, let’s just get to the food.

Also, our chickens were old and not laying all that well and their food was expensive and my brother-in-law Javi took them to add to his flock and now I have to buy eggs at the farmers market, like a sucker.

Mango and Avocado Sushi, Miso-Glazed Eggplant, Sunomono. Sushi for Henry, because he loves it. My favorite roll to make at home is mango + avocado + cilantro + sesame seeds. I really suck at rolling them- I don’t know how people manage to have the stuffings centered in the rice- mine are always at the edge. And oh do I love miso eggplant! This is the dish that taught me that there are good ways to cook eggplant. Before that I thought it was watery and bitter and I hated it. The eggplant here goes all soft and smooth, and the miso stuff on top is crispy and salty and sugary. And you can see quite plainly that I burnt it and we still ate all of it, because it is that good. The sunomono was delicious- maybe my favorite way to eat cucumbers.

Crispy Pulled Pork Shoulder. I just don’t want to talk about this pork. It was delicious, but I’m too full to think about a big crispy salty hunk of pork right now. Would it be enough to say that you should make it? Cuz that’s all I got.

Pulled Pork Tacos, Beans. Still don’t want to talk about it. The leftover shredded pork was great in a taco though, y’all.

Focaccia Sandwiches with Pesto, Grilled Vegetables, and Mozzarella, Tempura Fried Green Beans with Ranch Dip, Cucumber Peach Salad with Lemon and Mint. This dinner! Oh, it was the best.  The focaccia is probably one of my favorite things to cook. It takes three days to make, but the whole process is so easy, all the more so if you have a stand mixer. And it’s such a well-written recipe, and really teaches you about bread baking. I’m shocked it’s so far down on the list when you search food52 for focaccia- it is the queen! The ne plus ultra! As good, and soft, and crispy-edged, and oily as it gets. I love to eat it with grilled or roasted vegetables, mozzarella, and pesto stuffed inside like a sandwich. My sister helped me make dinner and we decided to tempura fry the green beans and dip them in ranch dip, and this was one of the better decisions of my life. And she made a gorgeous cucumber salad with the first cucumber from our garden, and mint and lemon and a tiny little peach. I think she used a good amount of champagne vinegar too. It was just magical, the whole thing. A perfect summer dinner.

Creamy Alfredo-Pesto Fettucini with Broccoli, Bruschetta. We had leftover pesto from the focaccia sandwiches, and I also had all the stuff to make alfredo, so what the hell. Put your hands together and make both. I made the linked-to alfredo recipe, my favorite, and then just mixed in the pesto right before tossing it with the noodles and broccoli. I wish I had had tomatoes to top the bruschetta (NB: they’re at the farmers markets this week!), but it’s still spectacular without it. Slice a round loaf of country bread thickly, and grill it over charcoal. When it’s toasted, rub each slice with raw garlic, and drizzle with plenty of olive oil, salt, and pepper.

Avocado and Radish Sprout Sandwiches, Green Salad with Cashew-Tamari Dressing. If you have been to Mother’s Cafe here in Austin then I don’t need to sell you on how outrageously delicious this dressing is. It makes me crave green salads, a sort of magic. And this recipe replicates this shit exactly! And in 30 seconds. It is so easy and I’m going to make it every day from here on out. If you haven’t been to Mother’s, please believe me when I say you will not regret trying this. Leave the cashews a little chunkier than shown in the picture. Store the dressing in a mason jar, shake it just before serving, and make sure to scoop out some of the cashews from the bottom of the jar to add to your salad- they don’t pour out easily. The sandwich is the perfect hippie accompaniment to this salad.

Oatmeal Cream Pies. These have five sticks of butter in them. Obviously, they’re amazing. There’s bourbon in the cookie part, and you can really taste it in the finished product. I thought it was a neat touch. The cream in the middle is made with browned butter, which tastes great, but adds a few steps to the whole production because you have to brown the butter (you probably figured that part out on your own) and then chill it so it firms up again before beating it with another stick of softened butter plus cream and sugar to make the frosting, so yeah. These definitely don’t fit into my newly adopted all-raw vegetable diet.

And here we go, full-steam into Operation Have a Wedding in my Backyard During Monsoon Season! See you on the other side.