2010 books

Hi there! Sorry for the prolonged absence, the days just fly.

We got a dog after Thanksgiving, a 5-6 year old Brittany that we named Lily. She is pretty sweet.

So 2010 was a pretty good year for books for me, not a ton of reading but most of the books were very enjoyable:

Love and Summer by William Trevor

Netherland by Joseph O'Neill

Ahab's Wife by Sena Jeter Naslund

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (and the other two books)

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot (really interesting non-fiction)

Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese (probably my favorite of the year)

The Beekeeper's Apprentice by Laurie King (I find that I do enjoy mysteries)

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer and Annie Barrows (I read this in one sitting on the flight out to Hawaii)

The Lacuna by Barbara Kingsolver (probably my second favorite)

What the Dead Know by Laura Lippman

Grilled Chicken Marinade

I've been meaning to post this recipe for awhile - but I never actually measure it out and wanted to wait until I did so to blog it.  I'm on a high protein diet these days so I eat a lot of chicken.  With Lee being gone I find it very easy to whip up this marinade pour it into a ziplock freezer bag with 2 chicken breasts and then my meals for a day are set!  In fact today, I made and froze enough chicken for the next 2 weeks.

This recipe is enough for 2 chicken breasts.  Let chicken soak for 2-4 hours before grilling.

Recipe:
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup white vinegar
1/3 cup soy sauce
1/3 cup worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon yellow mustard
1/2 tablespoon poultry seasoning
1/2 tablespoon garlic powder
pinch of salt and pepper to taste

Enjoy!

H1N1 vaccine

From what I understand the H1N1 vaccine is going to be available to everyone in October. It will be one dose and recommended for health care workers, the elderly, children 24 and under, immunocompromised people, and those with chronic medical conditions. In case any of you are thinking about getting the vaccination, I would wait a few months to see how other people react to it. I would be cautious of any medication that is manufactured this quickly.

I actually posed a few questions to 2 infectious disease specialists prior to the start of our Pharmaceutics and Therapeutics Committee meeting, and they were equally skeptical. Normally, medications take at least 20 years to go to market, and the majority do not even make it. This vaccine was formulated and FDA approved withinin a year... just something to think about.

Ultimately, it's your decision. Seriously ill people should definitely get it. In otherwise healthy people, H1N1 is similar to the flu. For me, even though I am considered high risk for H1N1, I'm probably not going to get it until Dec, maybe Jan, if at all. The best advice I can give is common sense. Wash your hands, cover your mouth when you cough, and do not go to work when you are sick.

Don't get me wrong... I fully support vaccinations (unlike Jenny McCarthy) because I am definitely getting the influenza (flu) vaccine. I am just holding off for this one.

August already?!?

I can't believe how quickly the summer is passing. In the Northeast, it hasn't been much of a summer though, but the weather is starting to heat up and feel like a normal summer. I made this raspberry buttermilk cake recently, another Smitten Kitchen recipe. It was light and delicious, almost like muffins, you could definitely eat this for breakfast without feeling guilty.

Recent Reads: The Forger's Spell: A true story of Vermeer, Nazis, and the Greatest Art Hoax of the 20th century by Edward Dolnick (non-fiction), this was enjoyable. It is incredible how anyone was fooled by the forgeries. Related reads: Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier, an easy, quick read. This is one of my favorite paintings and it is fun to wonder who she really was. Also, another WWII nonfiction book is The Zookeeper's Wife by Diane Ackerman, this was pretty good as well.

Any book recommendations?

Indulgence

Recipe: Easy Chocolate Ice Cream (hopefully that link works)

I have gotten slightly obsessed with America's Test Kitchen/Cook's Illustrated/Cook's Country. I currently have a subscription to Cook's Country magazine. This recipe begged to be made immediately. It is incredibly easy and the end result is indulgent, rich, and delicious. It is a super rich, creamy chocolate ice cream. I am not thinking about the amount of fat that is in each bite....

Recent read: I just finished Special Topics in Calamity Physics by Marisha Pessl (it is fiction), I didn't really like it, it was just too much.  Off to the library for something else.

Whole Wheat Pizza Crust

Recipe: Whole Wheat Pizza Dough

Now that Lee is home I actually have a reason to cook dinner again. Tonight we were craving pizza but didn't want the calories and fat from delivery pizza. I remembered a crust that I had at a friend's one night that was amazing. A quick call to her and I had a link to the recipe.

My only tips with this were that I prebaked the crusts for 8 minutes, then added toppings and put back in the oven for 20 minutes. My crusts were pretty thick and weren't quite done at the end of the 15 min time in the recipe. We made a veggie and a cheese pizza and both were excellent. The crust was perfect. Normally the dogs get the crusts but not this time - it tasted too good to let go to the dogs.

Blueberry Crumb Bars

Smitten Kitchen is one of my favorite food blogs.  The photos are gorgeous and the recipes are so good.  I had to try making the Blueberry Crumb Bars.  They came out very delicious.  I need to go get some vanilla ice cream because, while these bars are quite good on their own, I (and my tasting committee of boyfriend and sister) felt they would benefit from ice cream or whipped cream.  The recipe is really easy and doesn't require many ingredients.  I might try making the crust in my food processor next time to make it even more simple.