Today at Work I Made...

A salad. I brought red chard, spinach, a tomato and pickles to assemble a salad. I made a simple dressing with apple cider vinegar, olive oil, sea salt, and dijon mustard. I think a soft boiled egg is great when using a simple vinegar dressing. The vinegar  cuts the yolky lipids and makes a satisfying, creamy dressing. This is my first time using the pickles and they're perfectly sweet, crunchy, and tart.

Pickles #2

I ran out of pickles! I eat them often as a side dish to intensely potent dishes because they are cool, crisp and flavor neutralizing. For that reason I keep them simple. I soak them over night in salt to dry them out, rinse and squeeze out excess water, and then soak them in 5 parts vinegar/ 2 parts water/ 1 part sugar. I cut them in chunks and paper thin slices for some textural variety.

Today at Work I Made...

Sesame Beets, Salmon, and Black Rice. Beets have been all over lately. I keep a beet box in my refrigerator for snacks and sides and I will be pickling them soon to keep them alive. They taste like sweet dirt. I crave sugar so beets fill and satisfy me. I coated steamed beets with sesame seeds. I added sesame oil and soy sauce as seasoning. The colors were nice today; they were really deep and bloody.

Today at Work I Made...

I've had these 2 noodly Asian quickies (!!!) on reserve because I messed them up. Neither was what they were supposed to be but I guess that's no reason to hide them since they were both edible. I made egg noodles stir-fried with green beans, zucchini, bell peppers, chilies, and thai basil. I caramelized sugar and soy sauce to make a brown sauce. My big mistake here was trying to cook the noodles in a bowl of hot water. It became a large dumpling.

This is a salad I made which was supposed to be "summer rolls" but I forgot the wraps. The pork was poached in vinegar solution. I turned the peanut sauce (hoisen sauce, peanut butter, rice wine vinegar, and mung beans) into a dressing by adding more vinegar.

Today at Work I Made...

Sauteed Vegetables, Salmon, Quinoa, and Peanut Green Curry. I chopped the vegetables so they were proportionate to the green beans which are uncut. I think that (their relationship to one another) is the most important thing about chopping vegetables and probably often overlooked but I guess I really don't know how other people look at vegetables. The sauce is coconut milk, peanut butter, green curry paste, and fish sauce. I like making the sauce on the side so it functions as a dressing and quinoa is the perfect grain for saucing.

Today at Work I Made...

Roasted Garlic-ed Vegetables with Salmon "Candy" and Black Rice. Darker grains are generally a lot drier than processed grains so I make sure to pair them with creamier foods like cooked carrots and sweet potatoes. The zucchini were crisp and neutral, just lightly cooked which makes them even more refreshing to eat with the salty, sweet, and flavorful  smoked salmon.

Today at Work I Made...

Lightly Sauteed Vegetables, Salmon, and Quinoa. I chopped the vegetables chunky style and sauteed them with ginger and garlic in a little olive oil. I cooked them in stages because they all cook differently. I added a spoon of water when I was cooking the carrots and mushroom (because I wanted the mushrooms to be black and the carrots crunchy but still cooked), then added  zucchini, and finally the red pepper and green onions. I made a sauce to pour over the vegetables which is sesame oil, soy sauce, and ginger. The easiest way to peel ginger is with the tip of a spoon and scrape away the skin. It was really easy and quick to make and touching ginger is very pleasurable.