on hiatus

so, i realize it's been awhile since my last entry, but do not fear, just because the show is over does not mean that all my creative juices for cooking and writing are sapped. in fact, i've spent the past few weeks compiling a pantry of new culinary thoughts and recipes to share with you all soon. however, i've also been selfishly taking some time off from writing to recoup from the exciting but very strange whirlwind of being on reality tv and more than day-job hours at my day-job. i spent last week in the comfort of my parent's home in the dc area, spending some well-owed time with my parents, working during the day and playing in the kitchen with my parents in the evening.

i came home to find my dad been busier than usual in the kitchen. since the airing of the show, he himself has been inspired to conduct a little of his own experimentation in the kitchen. over the last week, i learned about the pleasures of poaching chicken from him and i must say, i don't think i know of any other method that makes a more delicate textured piece of white meat for a stir-fry. i come from a dark meat family. my mom tried hard to train my brother and me to like white meat when we were little so she could have more of the good stuff to herself, but sadly, she failed. i know there are more benefits to the white stuff - we all buy that boneless, skinless chicken breast, george-forman it up and feel good about ourselves afterwards. however, lets talk taste over health here. so, you have to burn off a couple more calories but those natural fats in dark meat give it a much richer flavor and a more tender bite. but if you've got to do the white stuff, here's a way to make gnawing through that meat just a bit easier. slice the chicken breast against the grain into one-inch pieces. bring some chicken stock to an almost boil and add the sliced chicken. allow it to simmer until it's cooked through (i.e. poach that chicken). you can then use these poached chicken pieces as you would for any stir fry but it'll be incredibly soft to the palate.

this past weekend, i migrated up to new york where my original plan was to spend the first part of my summer conducting taste-tests at every hole-in-the-wall dive chinatown has to offer, eating ice cream on my friend's stoop in the west village and seeing how hard it is to actually cook in a new york studio kitchen. in four days, i've been to two chinatown dives where a huge, heaping bowl of noodles with a side of roast duck and chinese bbq-ed pork (cha siu) is 5 bucks a pop. there is no better deal out there. i have yet to eat ice cream on my friend's stoop cause new york hasn't quite reached that humid, all i can do is eat ice cream summer intensity yet but i did cook in my little studio kitchen tonight. i figure i had to put the one hundred dollar worth of groceries i ordered from fresh direct to use. this whole ordering groceries online is a dangerous thing. it's one thing to fill up your cart in the grocery store but filling up a grocery cart virtually is just a little too easy. six boxes of pasta and six 28 oz. cans of muir glen's diced tomatoes later, i've got enough pasta to carboload for the rest of the year! i could get used to getting your groceries delivered to your door deal, but i think eventually i would miss being in a grocery store, picking out my own produce and marveling at all the great cheeses that exist in the world and that perfect piece of marbled meat from the butcher's. it just wouldn't be right to give up that kind of fun for some mere convenience.

however, my rendezvous in the big apple is going to be cut short as i am shipping off to europe sunday night for project work through early september. yes, do remember that i have a day job. it involves the power of microsoft excel and power point, conducting business and market assessments and hopping on planes at a moment's notice. sexy, eh? ok, not quite as sexy as picking that perfectly plump roma tomato, but sexy in its own way. but don't worry, i'll be keeping in touch, writing you all from hotel rooms all over europe. i'll share with you all that whole pantry of recipes and culinary ruminations i've been saving up over the past month. so stay tuned for new ways to dress up your ordinary pasta dishes (i've discovered many over the past three months of carboloading for my training for the sf marathon), my report on "is dutch food really as bland as they say it is?" the lowdown on great pubs in london and just anything else that pops up in this frenetic mind of mine.

Comments

[Tracy]

Jess, So glad to see you are back. I have been here a few times to see if you had written anything, but was always dissappointed. I'm jealous of your travels. I look forward to reading your further ruminations and cooking tips.