Work was decent today, although lunch was definitely the highlight-the dregs of our Tuesday dinner with Sara really brightened up the grossness of the lurking Boston grey. I think I’m losing momentum on the whole weight loss thing. But I’ll clarify.

I just finished my junior year and most of my friends were abroad second semester, leaving me alone to either waste away in a dirty puddle of sorrow or to improve myself, and create a sparkly new me for when my friends (and boys I want to impress) returned. I chose the latter option. Over winter break, I realized I was definitely a little chubs. Actually, I was the heaviest I’ve ever been, and I didn’t feel healthy-I was bloated on sugar, beer, pizza (more specifically tomato and ricotta calzones), and the other excesses of college life. I detested the school gym and had no way of getting to the gym where I was a member, since all my friends with cars were in France, Spain, Israel, and every other country on Earth.

I can be quite a recluse, and second semester I practically became a hermit. I went to class and work, and started walking every day, first for an hour, then and hour and a half, then two hours. I also made a concerted effort to eat healthily, monitoring my portions and eating veggies. Now that Emily is back from abroad, I’m starting to fall off the wagon, what with my easily distractable mind (and stomach). It’s definitely not her fault, since she eats really well, but when I can’t focus all my energy on one thing I get frustrated and lose focus. I think I just need to remind myself each morning and each night (especially when I’m sitting in front of the TV, craving some pudding) about all of my hard work.

I haven’t gotten any bigger (I’m still at my new and improved size 6) but I don’t feel as healthy and am getting bloated again. Since work’s started, I stopped working out for the first two weeks and am just starting to get back to the evil machines. The weather is just so gross, though, and I immensely prefer walking to mindlessly churning away on an elliptical.

I WILL not sacrifice my livelihood, though, i.e. the quality and deliciousness of my food. I just need to try to do everything in moderation, like having non-boring salads and chicken almost all of the time, so I can splurge hardcore twice a week, with one awesome meal out and one delicious homemade meal + dessert at home. We, the interns, are going to Les Zygomates for lunch tomorrow, so I’m going to force myself to have a salad, then perhaps I’ll pick up a can of Amy’s lentil soup for dinner. I think I should just buy a bag of lentils, soak them, and make my own soup since I eat lentil soup so much anyways. I’ve made it before, but unfortunately my uber-insane parents forced me to make the Dr. Weil recipe, which of course was horrible, basically consisting of just lentils and water. More updates on Les Zygomates and the lentils soon…

So I had one tartlette crust leftover after last night's lemon curd feast and just made an improvised apricot clafoutis (in the toaster oven-I think some of the lemon curd dripped onto the bottom of the oven and I don't feel like dealing with the inevitable smoke alarm in my midget kitchen). Worked beautifully-the delicacy of the vanilla seamlessly melded with the softness of the baked apricots. The crust was a little burnt from being double-baked, but I actually liked the contrast of flavors that the smoky outside lent the cloying sweet inner pastry. Next time-add vanilla bean, and perhaps some orange zest. Granulated sugar sprinkled on top? I've come up with a recipe for a plum clafoutis, sugar-plum actually, with extra sugar and some honey swirled amongst the batter.

Lunch at Davio’s, right by Boston Commons, today-one of the higher ups took seven of us lowly interns to lunch. He’s a regular patron, taking clients there practically every day, so we had our own little room, facing the window and its high towers of Boston and beyond. Tom Brady sat in my seat two days before, so I was feeling pretty hot and bothered by the time my pressed caprese with proschiutto (my loyal sandwich standby) arrived. The food was decent but the atmosphere rich; everyone eating in there obviously was making bank, what with the over $20 lunch options and the faux baroque detailing dripping from the ceiling and walls.

It’s one of the first truly beautiful days of this Boston summer, blue skies for miles and the harbor bustling with activity (I can practically see to Maine up here from the 30th floor…at least I have something to look at while I’m compounding spreadsheets all day). Can’t wait to make dinner with Emily and Sara. Em and I made this same menu before, a few weeks ago, pulling the recipes from my Hay Day cookbook I got at the used bookstore in Rice Village on my brief but wonderful trip to Houston. The corn chowder is fresh and creamy, and will be all the more wonderful with the beauteous corn from the SOWA produce market from this weekend. Chicken stuffed with goat cheese is always delish, but even more so when I throw in some herbes de Provence (not called for in the recipe but definitely necessary nonetheless).

I’m trying a new dessert recipe, a French tart crust filled with lemon curd and homemade raspberry jam. I’m still debating whether or not to strain the jam before swirling it into the curd, but am too lazy, and too poor, to pick up a strainer at the store. I will force Em to take a picture of my masterpiece so I can post it, since I have yet to splurge on a new camera.

I really want a Canon G7, but honestly am going to settle for the most expensive camera I can find on Amazon that’s being sold used for the cheapest price. Last night, I found two different new Canon models priced over $550 that were being sold used for under $60. After another week or two of getting paid I’ll make the sacrifice. Hey, man, if I’m going to cook all this delicious food I damn well better remember (and document) it, more for selfish motives than for my adoring public. I hate not being able to revisit places or moments in the past-it freaks me out, makes me feel like life is moving too fast and passing me by. Transience is not my jam, so I like to have the option of returning to a feeling or a place. Pictures of my food, my friends, and my travels keep me sane. Even the horrible drunk pictures I have to de-tag on Facebook (those are all saved on my computer, never to be seen again by anyone outside a very privileged circle of friends).

the inaugural post

As an almost college grad going the requisite life crisis that involves becoming a-gag-"real person," I thought a blog might be the best way for me to keep track of my insanity. I'm an intern this summer at a giant, muy importante financial firm in their investments department, a history major with a mad passion for cooking. Basically, my mental fracturing can be described thus: my parents are both lawyers and because they expect me to go to grad school, and I hate both business and medicine, I’m starting my applications to law school. I plan on deferring for a year in the first place, so I have a while before I will start anyways. I would love to have my own bakery cum sandwich/coffee shop one day and am wary about how to:

1) Tell my parents. They know I love to cook but see me as the “good” child who’s supposed to go on to make the big bucks at some corporate law firm. Also, they paid for my undergrad education and are paying for part of law school, so if I even mention to them that I may perhaps want to go into food they probs will guard my potential law school funds with their life. Also, I may want to go to law school anyways and maybe specialize in legalities surrounding the food industry.

2) Go about this weird potential path of mine. Is it really necessary to go to culinary school? I.e. do you find the skills you learned there necessary to your everyday functioning? Not that I wouldn’t LOVE to go to culinary school…

3) How am I supposed to make money? Or do I even care? I can’t pretend I haven’t gotten used to a certain quality of life that can only really be sustained with a high-income job or super-crazy success in a less lucrative field. Maybe, though, I could survive in a shittier apartment, in a less expensive area, with less unnecessary material purchases clogging up my pathetic bank statements.

So basically this blog will be dedicated to the pursuit of me, or figuring out what’s actually going down in my head, sifting through thoughts and ideas and years of junk.

Since I’m making bank this summer, I’m supporting myself for the first time and am just getting used to having basically no money. This was my first real weekend since work started two weeks ago and the constraints weren’t too bad. My house had a bangin’ party, complete with three kegs, two fights, and one seeing eye dog (don’t ask). I went to the SOWA market in the South End for the first time, finally. I’ve been wanting to go since its opening weekend a month ago but haven’t gotten a chance. Emily, her boyfriend Joz, and I went to brunch at Aquataine before-we are brunch aficionados and have run through all the places in the Davis Square/Medford area and since I’ve realized the South End is my spiritual home, we started at the top of the line. Aquataine brunch was PHENOM. Soft and warm cinnamon sticky bun, luscious (La Taza) coffee, fresh squeezed orange juice, omlette, breakfast potatoes, and seven grain toast all for $9.95. Quite a bargain, for a self-supporting, cheapskate college student such as myself. The omlette Emily and I ordered was wonderful, with boursin, leeks, and mushrooms. It could have maybe benefitted from a little spice from some dried red chilis or maybe some caramelized mushrooms, but it was really on the button.

SOWA was great, too. It was a little drizzly outside but we had a blast checking out all the booths and crazy shiz at the antiques market. I found a black straw purse with a giant (functioning) clock built into its side and some pretty little antique glass bottles. Next week, when I have a teeny more cash, I would love to nab the glass bottles, plus a little framed black and white photograph and one of those miniscule gold peace sign rings at one of the handcrafted jewelry booths.

I wanted to grab some produce for the week, so I picked up a grapefruit and some veggies from the produce section of the market. So far, I’ve only sampled the grapefruit, but I must say, it was quite delish-just the right combo of sugary fruitiness and sour tang. The boy working one of the veggie stands was looking pretty delicious himself, but unfortunately he wasn’t carrying any spinach, which I grabbed from the Silverhill booth instead. The leaves smell like dirt, which I take to be a good sign. Edible delights on my SOWA wish list for next week:

-A handful of the beautiful baby radishes that lurked around every corner
-Local lavender-scented honey, maybe for a little plum tartlette
-One of the small rosemary pots to plant in the backyard (I’m planning to name it; more on that next week)

Tonight I’m making a Times recipe, involving chickpeas and sautéed spinach on toast. We’ll see how it goes. Tomorrow our friend Sara is coming over for dinner and I think we may try the new Minimalist recipe for the week, which is Thai peanut, kale, and sweet potato soup. I’m making some lemon-raspberry tarts for dessert with the weird David Lebowitz-sourced tart crust recipe. I’m schooled in the more traditional (pate aux choux), cutting butter into flour with some ice water, so this should be interesting, to say the least. Here’s my dinner recipe, courtesy of the Times's Recipes For Health section:

Chickpeas with Baby Spinach

1 tablespoon olive oil
1 medium onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 teaspoon cumin seeds, lightly toasted and ground
Salt, preferably kosher salt, and freshly ground pepper to taste
1 tablespoon tomato paste
1 (15-oz.) can chickpeas, drained and rinsed
1 cup chicken or vegetable stock, or water
Cayenne to taste
1 6-oz. bag baby spinach

(I also added some chipotle chili powder and a crumbled dried red chili)

1. Heat the olive oil in a large, heavy saucepan over medium heat and add the onion. Cook, stirring, until tender, about five minutes. Add the garlic, cumin, tomato paste and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Cook, stirring for one to two minutes, until fragrant and the tomato paste has turned a darker color. Add the chickpeas, the stock or water, and the cayenne, and bring to a simmer. Cover, reduce the heat, and simmer 10 minutes.

2. Stir in the spinach, a handful at a time, stirring until each addition of spinach wilts. Add salt to taste and simmer uncovered, stirring often, for five minutes. Add lots of freshly ground pepper, taste and adjust salt and cayenne, and serve.

(Basically I hollowed out a ciabatta roll, filled it with the goods, and grilled it in my Foreman)