A job I love

Yesterday at work I got to talking to someone who I haven't seen in awhile and having a deep conversation about life and goals all while at the bathroom sink. They questioned if the job I'm doing is something I really want to be doing, I guess they could hear the lack of enthusiasm in my voice when I answered how's it going? She asked me what I would like to do if say money was no option. Easy answer - photography and travel. We talked a while about why we do the jobs we do and not the jobs we love; mortgage, bills and responsibilities is always my answer. But what if we could all do the jobs we loved and earned the money to live the lives we wanted? That is the true quest I think for everyone. Very few people actually get to wake up in the morning actually looking forward to the day and get paid enough to sustain their lifestyle. The majority of us try to find a job that will pay our bills and hope it's enough motivate us to get dressed in the morning, all the while looking forward to the weekends and vacation to do what we actually love..
I know a lot of people who are out of jobs right now and wondering how they will make their next mortgage or rent payment and think I should just be lucky I have a job, which I very much grateful for at this time. But it did get me thinking why don't I try to work towards doing something I love and hope the money will follow. Not to say I would ever quit my current job without a steady income and security knowing my hobby will afford me the lifestyle I want.
Recently I found a site and blog I visit almost daily, one just because it makes me smile and two because I'm jealous and wish this was my current job. Shine Pet Photography is pet portraits that will melt your heart and then make you wish you had photos of your pets like this. Grace Chon is a photographer in So.CA who started in Biology of all things and then worked in advertising and now pet portraiture. http://www.shinepetphotos.com/blog gives me inspiration that one day maybe I too can make photographing the things I love; my pets, animals, travels and everyday life into an actual paying job. Be sure to check out her website and blog. The blog will have photos from sessions on there posted pretty regularly.
So today as the weather took an odd turn on us and clouds brought rain while it's still over 90 degrees out, I decided to grab my point and shoot and take some portraits of my favorite subjects, my dogs. Here are a few of my favorites from today and in hope of one day getting my Nikon D90 and turning this hobby of mine into an actual life I want.

Maggie finds her light

Wondering what is outside

The rare occasion she is allowed on the couch

Such sweet little paws

Couldn't get either one of them to actually look at the camera directly

Charlie takes his turn at the window

Easiest Chinese Chicken Salad

Tonight I got home from a long day at work, catching up with all my Folsom office buddies I haven't seen in awhile as I've been stuck down in our Arden office for what seems like MONTHS. I hadn't really planned a meal and that is usually when I look at the dogs for confirmation about wanting to go for a ride through a drive-thru. Instead I looked in my frig to see what I could come up with and then remembered a Chinese chicken salad recipe in the Food That You Crave cookbook. Monday I had cut and browned a chicken breast I had left in the refrig from the weekend and then pulled out the last of the scallions and had a bag of coleslaw cabbage mix. I put this dinner together during a commercial break (can't miss a bit of Project Runway).
I took the coleslaw mix which is already chopped into great bite sizes. put the chicken cubes in a bowl along with 1 tbl low sodium soy sauce and 1/2 tsp of sesame oil and mixed it around and add it to the chicken in small bowl. I then found some slivers of almonds I had in the back of the pantry.
For the dressing I used 1/2 cup of rice vinegar, 3tbl soy sauce, 2 tbl canola oil, 2 tbl brown sugar and 1 1/2tsp of sesame oil. Whisk it up and then toss the cole slaw mix with chopped scallions (3), the flavored chicken and then topped it all off with almonds and chow mien noodles for extra crunch.
It was great and quick. Like the magnet on my freezer door says, If you are what you eat then I'm fast, cheap and easy! If you have some mandarin oranges to throw in there is would be fabulous, but I did not.
I put the the remainig scallions in a small tupperware and the same with the remaining dressing and will have it again for dinner tomorrow night. Now I'll just need to think of a good Friday night dessert to go along with it. Did I hear the dogs say Baskin Robbins has a drive-thru?

Tomato and Garlic Crouton Salad

I read a version of this in the Homemade Table, but then when I was watching my new favorite cooking show What would Brian Boitano Make, I figured I would give his version a try. It was from the show with the handyman and Brian wanted into his super duper dinner club, but you had to cook for your entry into the club. Now if you haven't see the show, its worth a good laugh and a lot of good recipes so far. Very campy as my friend Randy described it. I LOVE camping, especially with gay guys, so that is probably why I watch it every Sunday morning and then start planning a dinner party of my own afterwards.
Anyways onto the recipe. His was to be a more Italian influence so he made it with mozzarella cheese, where I used goat cheese (mostly because that is what I had in the refrig). First you are to combine olive oil, butter and garlic over a low heat which makes your house smell delicious. I could have just stopped right there. You then cube up some artisan bread or ciabatta bread, it calls for in his recipe and then pour the yummy garlicy oil mixture over it and toss. Then you put the bread in the over to toast. Meanwhile you cut up the tomatoes and mix together olive oil and red wine vinegar for the dressing. In the end you toss them all together with the cheese and then eat.
I LOVED it. I would suggest maybe letting the bread cool down a bit more than I did, as the cheese melted around it pretty quick and it soaked up the majority of the dressing. But it's like having good bread dipped in a garlic olive oil and vinegar mixture at Italian restaurant. I'm sure it won't keep very well until tomorrow but I could only eat so much (had it with my other favorite - Artichoke for dinner).
My refrigerator is new looking like it's something after Thanksgiving with all the tupperware filled with left over soup, chicken I precooked to toss in another salad, and now tomato/bread salad. I took the leftover cake from yesterday to work as I knew I couldn't (and shouldn't) eat it all myself. Luckily it was gone within 2 hours. I swear sometimes I wonder if these people ever eat at home the way they inhale free food. In our Folsom office it's even worse, we had to actually send out a notice to the all staff telling them to wait until the free food has been moved into the break room and no longer walk into a meeting to get it yourself. Shocking the manners of some adults. At least in Arden office there are fewer people so fewer vultures and the food seems to disappear at a less alarming rate. Either way I'm just glad I didn't have to eat the whole cake.
So here is Brian's recipe. I didn't include oilves as I HATE them, only love olive oil. And again let the bread cool completely before adding it to the tomato and cheese mixture as it will be more crispy and not absorb the dressing as quickly.

• 3 tablespoons olive oil, plus 1/4 cup
• 3 tablespoons butter
• 3 cloves garlic, minced
• 1/4 teaspoon red pepper flakes
• Salt and freshly ground black pepper
• 1/2 loaf ciabatta bread, cut into small cubes
• 3 tablespoons red wine vinegar
• 2 pints red and yellow, grape and pear tomatoes, sliced in 1/2
• 1 cup halved, sliced kalamata olives
• 1/2 pound perlini mozzarella
• 8 basil leaves, chopped

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

In a small skillet over medium-low heat, add 3 tablespoons olive oil, the butter, garlic, red pepper flakes, and salt and pepper, to taste. Cook to infuse the butter and oil with the garlic, about 4 minutes.

Add the cubed bread to a large bowl, pour the butter and garlic mixture over the bread and toss to coat. Transfer to a sheet tray and bake until crisp, about 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

In a small bowl whisk together the remaining olive oil and red wine vinegar and set aside.

In a large serving bowl, combine the tomatoes, olives, mozzarella, croutons, basil, and the oil and vinegar mixture. Gently toss to coat all the tomatoes and croutons. Let the salad sit for 10 minutes before serving.

Gâteau au Citron

If you haven't guessed by now I LOVE lemon and add in French-style I knew right away I had to try it. The recipe comes from the book Homemade Table. Again very simple ingredients and lots of lemon. The mix itself was very simple and quick to make, the only substitution I made was using whole wheat flour instead of regular unbleached version. I think that might be why the cake turned out darker than expected, but without any pictures to reference to I'm not sure what the outcome is suppose to be (only compliant about the book, NO photos). I'm a visual learner and without photos for reference I never know if I did it right or not. I'm guessing with my first try, NOT. It isn't that is doesn't taste good or light and fluffy, but the middle completely fell making it look more like it was trying to become a bundt cake with a hole in the middle, but instead just looks sad. And the icing isn't going to cover my mistake.


But at least it still tastes good. I think with using regular flour it was taste less , humm, healthy (and maybe wouldn't have fallen). The cake itself isn't as lemony as I expected, in the book she suggests putting on a syrup for more added lemon flavor, but even for me I thought that was too much, but might try it next time. So I just stuck with the glaze/royal frosting, which ended up tasting like a liquid lemon drop, almost too tart and sugary for me (I know I can almost hear all the gasps). On her blog comments, someone changed up the icing with a chocolate glaze which I think would be good too, especially if you added in the lemon syrup when the cake is fresh and hot.
Unfortunately my cake wasn't as pretty as I hoped (from the picture below you can see the ski jump it made in the middle) and I will have to cut it up into squares to take it to work to finish it off, as I can't eat it all myself as I'm almost already in a food coma from this weekend. But I would definitely try it again with regular flour and instead of vegetable oil using olive oil for a more robust flavor. Hopefully that one won't collapse on itself and turn out as pretty as a French cake should.



For the cake:
1 jar plain yogurt
2 jars granulated sugar
3 large eggs
3 jars unbleached all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
2 tsp. grated lemon zest
1 jar canola oil

For the glaze:
Juice from 2 lemons
1/2 jar powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

In a large bowl, combine the yogurt, sugar, and eggs, stirring until well blended. Add the flour, baking powder, and zest, mixing to just combine. Add the oil and stir to incorporate. At first, it will look like a horrible, oily mess, but keep stirring, and it will come together into a smooth batter. Pour and scrape the batter into a buttered 9-inch round cake pan (after buttering, I sometimes line the bottom with a round of wax or parchment paper, and then I butter that too).

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until the cake feels springy to the touch and a toothpick or cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. Do not overbake.

Cool cake on a rack for about 20 minutes; then turn it out of the pan to cool completely.

When the cake is thoroughly cooled, combine the lemon juice and powdered sugar in a small bowl and spoon it gently over the cake. The glaze will be thin and will soak in like a syrup.
Serve.

Lemon Chicken Orzo Soup

Labor Day weekend finally is here and gave me more and more opportunities to cook and shop, two things I love to do. I've noticed the more I'm cooking the more pots and pans and utensils that I'm lacking. So before heading to the store to buy all my ingredients to make several recipes I've earmarked in several cookbooks (including watching Food Network as usual), I decided to get some of my kitchen supplies in order. I headed to Target as I figured I could find what I needed cheaply and pick up some new lipgloss too (a girls got to stay pretty even while cooking). So I got a spring release cake pan (forgot to get just a regular cake pan too), cooling rack and some tongs.
Then I hit the store with my list of ingredients to make a full on meal for myself. The menu is to include lemon chicken orzo soup, heirloom tomato bread salad and yogurt lemon cake. Unfortunately I'm only got time for the soup, but it was well worth it.
This soup was a cross between the greek lemon/egg soup Avgolemono and chicken with rice soup. It has a slight tartness from the fresh lemon juice and the protein and carbs to fill you up. My recipe turned out a little more cloudy then the picture in the cookbook, I think I might have over-whisked my egg lemon juice combo. In fact you couldn't see any of the chicken or rice but it was in there. Also I burnt my onions while whipping together the second part of the ingredients, but you couldn't taste it and it added some extra color to the soup (I omitted the carrots and celery as I don't like either cooked). Otherwise it was pretty quick to whip up and enjoy right away. I was expecting a long simmer process to be considered soup, but really in total the cooking time was under 30 minutes. The only thing I was hesitant about was another pot of hot oil and chicken (if you read my jerk chicken blog you would know why), but luckily this is a pot and not a skillet so no need to worry.
Luckily I had also purchased some artisan bread for my tomato and bread salad that I was to make (we'll try that tomorrow along with the yogurt lemon cake). So I cut off a few slices, toasted them and then rubbed fresh garlic on them for a hint of flavor. It turned out to be a very filling dinner, very tasty and lots of leftovers. I highly recommend this recipe and can't wait for fall to have lots of different soups.

Here is the recipe from the Food You Crave cookbook:

4 tsp olive oil
8 oz boneless chicken, cut into small chunks
1 med onion, diced (approx. 1 1/2 cup)
2 stalks of celery, diced
1 med carrot, diced
2 tsp chopped fresh thyme
6 cups low sodium organic chicken broth
2 large eggs
3 tbl fresh lemon juice
salt and pepper to taste.

Heat 2 teaspoons of the oil in a soup pot over medium-high heat. Season the chicken with the salt and pepper and add it to the pot and cook, stirring a few times until just cooked through (about 5 minutes). Transfer the chicken to a dish and set aside.
Add the remaining 2 teaspoons of oil to the pot. Add the onion, celery, carrot and thyme and cook, stirring over medium-high heat until the vegetables are tender (about 5 minutes). Add 5 cups of the broth and bring to a boil. Add the orzo and let simmer until tender (about 8 minutes). Turn heat down to low to keep the soup hot but not boiling.
Warm the remaining 1 cup of broth in a small saucepan until it is hot, but NOT boiling. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs. Gradually whisk the lemon juice into the eggs. Then gradually add the hot broth to the egg-lemon mixture (You can't have the broth too hot or it will cook the eggs). Add the mixture to the soup, stirring well until the soup is thickened. Do not let the soup come to a boil (again this will cook the eggs). Add the cooked chicken to the soup. Season with salt and pepper and serve.

Nightstand Reads

Someone suggested that I should add to my blog book reviews as it seems I go through a book a week. I usually read for an hour before actually falling asleep as a way to relax. But, as I have found it does make me sleepy, sometimes it has the opposite effect as I enjoy what I'm reading so much I stay up longer or think about it long after I close the book.
Since I have finished 3 books in the last 3 weeks, I thought I would just do a quick review of them and then try to do a more through book review going forward.

First book is Skinny Bitch by Rory Freedman and Kim Barnouin. I thought the book was going to be just sarcastic ways to stay skinny, like be on the grapefruit only diet. But as it turns out it actually had a lot of good information on why one should be a vegetarian, if not a vegan. The book definitely has some straight forward humor about the reason behind your big behind... Like eating cheese and dairy products pumped full of hormones (notice the kids going through puberty a lot sooner nowadays?). They give a very in-depth, sad look into animal factories and slaughterhouses which will definitely make you want to become a vegetarian for sure. At first I found this book really funny with facts (or so I think they are as I haven't looked them up myself) turned into a real education about the food you are putting into your body and why we are now a very overweight, sick nation. Definitely a worthy read for anyone thinking of changing their eating habits. I know I will be eating a lot less meat and diary and if I do it will be local and organic.

Next book was a fun novel Italian for Beginners by Kristin Harmel. I read somewhere on the internet that they are planning on making a movie out of it, even though in the book it references the old film Roman Holiday. It reads very quickly and easy and fun. It's about a woman who is in her thirties, not married and no real prospect in site who loves Italy and photography (No, it's not my biography, but very familiar subject for me). She ends up meeting a man who turns out to be married and on a whim takes a vacation back to the last place she was happy, Rome. The book follows her misadventures while there. There are some good laughs. I would say it falls a bit under the chick lit category and will translate well into a movie, as long as they don't completely change it like they did to Under a Tuscan Sun and RUIN the book. For those who have been to Rome will enjoy it for it's familiar surroundings and people. Look for it on the big screen soon staring someone like Anne Hathaway in the lead role.

The last book I finished this weekend is Homemade Table by Molly Wizenberg. This is a combo life stories mixed in with recipes. I really enjoyed this book a lot. The chapters were quick and each recipe came with the story behind it. She started with a blog called Orangette, which then turned into this book. (wonder if the movie is far behind with the success of Julie and Julia?) This book made me laugh and cry. I know it sounds like a cliche, but she puts a lot of heart into personal stories, having to do mostly with her family and it's very clear how important they are to her as well as cooking. She has some mouth watering recipes in there, mostly vegetarian because she is, but they all sound great. You don't know if you want to read the next chapter or go straight to the kitchen to try the recipe (I'll be trying her French Yogurt Lemon Cake tomorrow, look for that blog). She has spent time in France but most of the recipes are from family, are user friendly and not intimidating at all. I believe she also just opened a restaurant called Delancey in Seattle according to her blog, Orangette. Hopefully I can talk my boss into having a meeting up there so I can find an excuse to stop by and give the food a try in real life.