sweet potato gnocchi part 1

So i tried some sweet potato gnocchi. Pretty easy, cook some sweet potatos (i roasted although i've been told steaming is better), beat some flour in, knead, roll, cut, press, and boil. Pretty easy really. Perhaps as a product of thinking i've learned so much, thought there wouldn't be enuf gluten in sweet potatos to warrant omitting eggs. So i used a 50/50 semolina and all purpose flour mix. Not a good idea.

The gnocchi, while well formed, not sticky, and cooked well, were far too chewy, thanks to the semolina. Next time, all purpose, all the way. The one bright note was the sauce. After a summer long hiatus on the straight up can based tomato sauce i haven't forgotten anything, in fact have learned, and it was perfect. Simple, just onion, mushroom, and a roasted red pepper, oh and garlic and basil, dang, it was fab. The meal wasn't horrible though, edible for sure, and next time it should be super provided i can get the proper consistency with just ap flour.


One additional note. I may or may not have mentioned to some of you that dry rieslings aren't that super? I finished the bottle, and by the end, it was tasting pretty good - probably a horrible mix for the meal, but it went down just fine.

in no particular fortune

Our first and last love... self-love.

our love life will be happy and
armonious

Another 2 fortune pho day. The soop was super today. What is the significance of the last fortune being trimmed? Of course it is Your life, and it will be harmonious, but what if it isn't? If it were earlier, i'd spend some time reading crap into this. But its not. I'll take it for what it is, a bunch of words printed in some factory onto a little stick of paper meant to make people feel good. And they do.

Perception is incredibly powerful. I've been accusing myself of becoming a hypochondriac of late, but i'd like to think me being such a rational person that it's impossible. Perhaps if i'd be more impressionable i would be... or mabye i am. Its too late to read anything into any of this.

In other news, in case i didn't mention it, i now understand the casement window requirement. Its not for fire safety, its just general safety and liability. Having a door that leads from a second story dwelling to an unenclosed/unsafe space/area is bad. It should be replaced by a casement window that you can't fall out, but can still easily escape from. Makes sense... i'm planning on the deck, but it'll take some time. In the meantime i think a friend is moving in, he'll be 'cool' with the caveats at a slightly discounted rent, and all will be well in the world. There will be one relatively large party to celebrate the quick month of novemeber when the whole house is mine. O yes.

takes two to love

Sometimes when i go for runs to pass the time i try to sing songs. Normally its the movie version of "when the tigers broke free" from the wall. Tonite it was "arnold lane" also from floyd but way older, i think syd sung it. I hardly remember the words... "arnold lane.... had a strange hobby. Collecting clothes, moonshine washing lineee. they suit him fine!... o arnold lane, its not the same, takes two to love.... two to love.... two to love... why can't you seeee!!!" I don't even know if those are right, and i'm certainly missing some.

Anyway i got home from my dart game a little disgruntled and needed to blow off some steam. Instead of buying cigarettes and chain smoking while drinking beer, i decided to go for a nice long run instead. I started through the experimental farm, which is a little spooky and unnerving alone after ten on a weekday. Once i got to the otherside of the locks i was greeted by 3 or 4 different groups of young folk smoking cheeba which was a much more welcome waft than tobacco smoke woulda been. I'm guessing carleton students res's are right there.

Somewhere between bank and pretoria i started trying to sing arnold lane. As the above lyrical mishaps are evidence of, i didn't get very far. That and i could hardly breath so singing just made running harder. I also made an obvious realization about balance. The reason i wanted a cigarette during crummy dart play was because i needed to regain my balance, with pleasure from a smoke. However, it would take balance away from health, making me feel shitty. To componsate for that, i might've decided to go for a run or do some yoga, but it's so less satisfying when you have to fight plugged lung recepticals. However, because i didn't want more imbalance, as i'm getting intolerant of it in my older age, i decide to forgo the smoke, go for the run, and hopefully feel all around better because of it. And i do/did.

Finally, on the home stretch, i saw some girls with candles in one of the glebe parks. I smiled, although it woulda been nice to see what they were talking about. However any sweaty dude approaching girls after 11 in a glebe park may be viewed as suspicious, but next time its less suspicious i should seize the opportunity.

Now, after shower, i'm sitting here eating feta cheese, peanuts, and yellow cherry tomatos to replinish some energy... i'm told you're supposed to eat after you run. Running was tough as i had a belly full of creamy pasta and lots of gas, the latter of which is now mostly dispersed along the canal. Sometimes when i decide to just eat whats in the house its really bad for you. I think i went through a cup or 2 of table cream in my sauce tonite, which is like 50 grams of fat or something. O well. I did learn something, you need a sharp cheese for alfredo. Brie? Not gonna cut it. I also am learning roasting veggies is the way to go for peppers and zucchini's.

Coherent much? Apparently not me today. I apologize for the lack of continuty but congratulate you if you made it this far!!! As a reward, try the all pizza diet (even though its kinda cheating, dude had smoothys for breakfast and only ate 6 slices a day).

coming home

I attended my 5 year homecoming celebration at queen's u in kingston this past weekend. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but i sure got my nostalgia on.



I won't bore with all the details, but it was fun. I never had much 'spirit' while i was there, never even went out on homecoming weekend, so really didn't know what to do. Luckily the buddy i went up with did. As can be seen by the image above, we did the obligatory football game, and the halftime 'parade' around the field. This is where all the various graduating classes, from 1935 to 2000's gather in their group and walk around the track. All the students jump the fence and pile onto the field to bang their jackets to the ground in ceremonial fashion. The school's got lots of traditions, most of which are alien and strange to me.

After the game we basically bar hopped till the wee hours. Queens's pub, toucan, grizzly grill, brass, and finally aj's. This would have been a semi-typical friday while attending school, minus the football game and expensive appetizers and beer. Being back at all these places, the brass most of all, reminded me i'm getting older. Not like thats a big secret, but it was one of the things that really hit home. I kept looking at peoples grad classes on their jackets and saying "in 10 years, thats me". Or "in 20 years, i'm gonna look like that?!?!". It was all a little unsettling...

The other thing that became incredibly clear is that when i was at school i didn't 'make the most of it'. Basically i had my head buried very deeply in a bag of weed, 99 cent movies, my first dedicated internet connection, and doing well at school. Its hard to have regrets because i had a great time and everything worked out, but i kinda feel like i should have *some* regrets. And i guess i do. If i had partied and gone nuts in my first year i probably wouldn't of had nearly the success i did have while i was there... but dang, there was a lot of fun to be had for first years, and i missed out on all of if basically because i was shy and had no balls. And really, this tradition continues today... it was kind of an eye opener.

So i'll be back in another five years, thats the suggested schedule. We'll see if i've learned anything by then. Hopefully i will:
- not have a bald spot
- be in decent shape
- go for things i want, and not waste opportunities

simple salad

Ok, so the ingredient of the week has to be: peanuts and/or peanut butter.

I only had an hour or so to chill, decided salad was the best bet. Wanted to try a new dressing, couldn't find any decent peanut based dressings, and had a peanut craving (since the recent peanut butter soop). So i remembered an old recipe for a pasta with peanut butter sauce, but of course no quantities... i could've looked it up, but what fun is that??

I put about 1/4 cup of smooth pb, some soy sauce, some honey, some red wine vinegar, some sesame oil, a bit of water, and a pinch of cayenne (not enuf to make a dif, perhaps more next time). I also added some garlic and ginger powder, again, not enuf to make a diff. Dang, it was good dressing (i'm gonna cut up some apples and carrots and finish it off as a dip tomorrow)... bought some spinach and sprouts at boushys on the way home... then i added "what i had lying around" (ha! i love reading that in recipes, you can learn so much about people by what they have 'lying around'... observe:) - a carrot, a shallot, some mushrooms, walnuts, pumpkin seeds (too salty but o well), almond slabs, a tomato, and some pepper. It was a damn good salad, and dang, i can eat a lot of salad. And i did.

Other than that i played poker tonite and lost a whole bunch of money but had a good time with my friends. Some times i wonder why i bother, other times i know its cause its fun. This is only half of one of those times.

deglutenized

I think i need to do some research into flour and bonding agents. I tried to make some sweet potato gnocchi tonite. Decided to try sans gluten with some gluten-free hempseed flour i had. Also tried my previous no-egg recipe... i'm sure any semi-educated cook could tell me this is doomed to fail. What is there in this mix that will hold the cooked potato/flour mixture together... NOTHING!!! I think you need gluten. Or eggs. I don't know what gluten is, but i should probably find out. The sweet potato, my fav food du jour, needs to be worked into one of my other favorite recipes, gnocchi. Homemade gnocchi, while time consuming and precarious, is incredible.

Luckily i bought some storebought pasta this past weekend... fettucelle. Its basically fettucinni perhaps missing a mm or 2. Did my first tomato based sauce of the 'season' - today, being the last day of summer (o how i will miss they), couldn't be a better time to usher in the comfort canned tomato based sauce. Remember though, table cream (18% i think) is no substitute for whipping cream (35%). If you's be adding it to add that fattening flavourful kick, and you want to call someting "roseh", use the good shite will ya? Speaking of which, are there any cream substitutes that don't involve dairy? This has got me thinking i can alleviate recent tummy woes with a dietary change... why do i drink what is naturally intended for calfs anyways? Marketing? Culture? Mom? I'm old enough now, i should be able to figure out why i "drink milk, love life".

And then afterwards in a nutshelll..... ate, watched family guy, friend came over, went to clocktower, played with plastascene(sp), watched strange creatures come to life, eyed strangers inquisically to no avail, walked a friend home through centertown ghettos (ya right!), played a game of pool, organized future dart meetings, learned that the mill restaurant has decent waiters but the prime rib's too expensive for them to know what it tastes like, and finally, spent the last pint of beer on a cab ride home after walking thru a pool of water in the entraceway hall.... phew. Its amazing how you can think so little happenned but have so much to blab about. I could say so much more, but will refrain for the time being. Nice people were met and talked too, for this and recent anti-shy actions i am grateful, it was a terrific day.

fortunate sweet potato

"Your love life will be happy and
harmonious."

"In youth and beauty wisdom is rare."

2 fortunes for lunchtime pho is great. Both arrrrrrrr so true - the latter ensures i be not too arrogant and self swabbin, and the former tells of the riches to plunder through a life nobly led. Arrrrr.





Eat your mighty sweet potatos like this, just don't miss the 1/2 juice of the lemon else you get the naughty scurvy.

Recipe (not mine) is here.