Cooking 101: Pasta

I've doing a lot of cooking the last couple weeks - or at least 'a lot' of cooking compared to what I used to do, which was almost none. Now that I'm not on my feet working for eight plus hours a day I have more time and energy to actually put together a meal. Although, in the course of writing this I've realized that so far I've been making pasta almost exclusively. That was unintentional. I always love pasta dishes, but more practically pasta is just quick and easy to cook. Not to mention, you can just throw everything into a bowl and serve it. Anyway, I've decided to focus just on the pasta dishes for this post.

I gathered these recipes from a myriad of sources: off the internet, out of a book, from a magazine. I have found there are all kinds of free recipe sites online and I think that is the easiest place to get recipes from since it's so easy to find what you're looking for.

This dish had a very interesting taste to it because the main ingredients for the sauce are tomatos and limes. I really liked this one although it is a little spicy. But it has a pretty good, multi-level flavor to it. Even though there are only two limes in the quantity I made the limes are much stronger then anything else. I think next time I make it though I might try adding more tomatos. You can find this recipe here.

The easiest pasta recipe I've made is this plain fettuccine alfredo recipe. (That links to a similar though different recipe than I used.) I'm not always a huge fan of creamy fettuccine alfredo dishes because they are often very heavy. This version isn't quite as heavy and it is very simple with only three ingredients. It's great for a busy night. 

I also really like pasta salads. They are great because you can make a large batch and put the leftovers in the fridge for later. I made this pasta salad the weekend Hurricane Irene hit as it was something simple that it I could have eaten if the power went out (which luckily didn't happen). I omitted the feta cheese and added a Tuscan spice blend I bought at a specialty store. I like to make this recipe because I can take a little bit with me to school each day for lunch.

And finally this recipe for "Chicken Caprese" which I found in a magazine and made earlier today. The chicken has tomatoes and mozzarella cheese rolled up inside it. I secured the two ends together with a toothpick. I paired it with some aglio e olio. I love aglio e olio because it has a simple taste and can go with almost anything. I followed a recipe in one of my cookbooks but there are multiple versions of this online such as this one.

One thing I've been doing that makes it really easy to have a good cooked meal even on a busy night, is to prepare the full recipe and keep leftovers for later. With the chicken caprese recipe it made three servings although I only ate one serving because it's just me. Afterwards, I put each of the other pieces of chicken into separate tupperware containers. Then, I divvied up the rest of the pasta in between the two containers. That way, for the next two nights I can just throw one of the containers in the microwave. I like to think of it as my own homemade microwave dinners.

I plan to write a post later about some of the other (non-pasta) recipes I've been preparing. First, though, I'll have to work on making a wider variety of dishes.

Sept. 2-5: Labor Day Weekend

This weekend was pretty eventful. I saw the new Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial, watched my brother's football game, and took a trip to the zoo. Oh yeah, and I read a bunch of cases for this week.

Otterbein Football Game Versus Gallaudet University
Gallaudet is a school for deaf and hearing impaired students so it was definitely different from your average football game. It was even more disconcerting than being surrounded by people that speak a different language at first. I tried to buy a hot dog from one of the fraternities selling refreshments at the stadium. There was a lot of pointing and luckily one of guys must have had a hearing or something because he understood what I was saying. Overall, it was kind of eye-opening to see such a different subset of the population.

The game was super exciting, with a final score of 28-27. At the end of the game the score was tied at 21-21. Otterbein ended up winning the game in over time when Gallaudet went for the two-point conversion instead of the extra point and missed it. But it was a very well-played game.

Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial
While difficult to find, it was worth the trek. Once you find it, it's in a pretty cool location. You can see the Washington and Jefferson Memorials.

Zoo
The best thing about the zoo is it's free. While it's not quite as big as say the Columbus Zoo it still has a decent number of exhibits. Luckily, the day we were there a lot of the animals were pretty playful.

First Week of Classes

Unfortunately my first week of law school, which I've been looking forward to forever, was vastly overshadowed by Mother Nature. But other than that, the first week of classes was great. After being out of school for over a year, it's taken me a while to get used to getting up so early again.

Monday was the first day of classes. They went pretty well all in all. I wasn't the first student called on Monday morning so that was a huge relief.

Tuesday as I was reading in between classes when the earthquake struck. It was a bizarre feeling and as it was happening I just kept thinking "I hope this stops soon because its really uncomfortable." We stood outside on the streets around the school for about an hour before they let us back in.

Wednesday I got called on for the first time in my Contracts class. I didn't make a huge fool of myself so that's always a plus.

Thursday it became apparent that Hurricane Irene was going to hit the East Coast so after classes I headed to Safeway. I stocked up on all kinds of food, but I couldn't find a flashlight there.

Friday, after my only class in the morning, I headed out on an expedition to find a flashlight. I went to this shopping area in nearby Tenleytown. I trekked to Best Buy, Ace Hardware, Radio Shack, and several CVS, but all to no avail; each place was sold out of flashlights. I finally walked by a bike store and I thought, hey why not? In the basement, below the bike shop, I found the Holy Grail of hurricane preparedness. They had not one, not two, but three different kinds of full-size flashlights still for sale! So luckily, I did not return empty-handed.

Saturday I woke up early to finish preparing. I took a shower and afterwards filled the bathtub up with water. I made sure to get cash from the ATM, put batteries in the flashlight, and made a pasta salad to eat later for dinner. By lunchtime I hunkered down on my sofa ready for the hurricane. And then . . . it never really got that bad. I didn't loose power at all, which allowed me to marathon through two seasons of Mad Men on Netflix.

So, all-in-all, a very busy week. Sunday I let out the water in my tub and got down to reading. Nothing too exciting but this week is going to be even crazier.

8.17: Annapolis, Maryland

Wednesday we took a little trip to Annapolis which is only about 40 minutes away from my apartment. It is a quaint little town. It's home to the U.S. Naval Academy. Boutique shops and restaurants line the streets by the docks. It's a really nice place to walk around for a day or afternoon. Every restaurant is stock-piled with fresh sea-food entrees.

Arriving on the main street of Annapolis

Watching the ducks on the dock.

In the afternoon, we took a boat ride on the Severn River on which Annapolis is located. The Severn River eventually opens up to the Chesapeake Bay but the little cruise stayed on the Severn. We sailed around the U.S. Naval Academy and got a much better view of the school than one can get from in the city.

U.S. Naval Academy 

We're on a boat! 

Little sail boats on the Severn River

We also got our fill of seafood. For lunch we ate at a little dinner on the main street (Chick and Ruth's Delly was the name). They had great crab cakes and the rest of the food was pretty good too. In the afternoon Dandrich had oysters from the Middleton Tavern. For dinner we ate at the Federal House. I had a salmon fillet with pesto sauce and Dandrich had a seafood medley with shrimp, crab, and scallops. All the food we had there in Annapolis was excellent and fresh.

Maryland crab cakes and ribeye steak sandwich 

Oysters 

Salmon fillet with pesto sauce, rice and vegetables

Overall, I think Annapolis is a great little day trip, especially if you live or are visiting the D.C. or Baltimore area. I'm sure we'll head back sometime because I really don't think you can go wrong at any of the restaurants there (unless you eat at the Jimmy John's we passed on the main street - don't waste your time on that when there's so much good seafood available).

Annapolis Harbor 

First Days in D.C.

So it's been about a week since I've moved but it's been so busy! I've just now had the time to sit down and put anything together. We left for DC on Thursday at 6am. It was not a smooth start. My brother took a few pieces of my furniture in his truck, a desk and two bookcases. But we were barely on the road for five minutes when the tailgate of the truck fell open. We pulled over, shut it, and continued on. Just a few minutes later it fell open again (and did so again a total of six times). So we returned home and switched cars. I was no longer able to take the desk or the bookcases but at least I was able to take all the other little stuff. We finally hit the road around 8am. To make matters worse on the road our caravan got separated and Dandrich and I ended up getting missing an exit and taking a forty minute detour. Finally we got there, although nearly three hours after our anticipated arrival. But luckily it turned out alright.

Last pictures with my family before I left.

After carrying all the boxes, suitcases, bags etc inside we headed to Ikea to get the furniture which would now also include a desk and bookcase. The boxes wouldn't fit in the cars to take them back to my apartment so we had to sign up for home delivery. The soonest available time they  had was Saturday between 6pm-10pm so that's what we went with. Unfortunately they didn't have everything we needed at that Ikea so Friday we went another one in Virginia. Friday night and all day Saturday and Sunday we spent assembling furniture and putting the apartment together. I vastly underestimated the amount of time it would take to get everything put together. We were running errands for most of Monday and Tuesday.

Q: How many Ikea boxes can you fit in a Prius?
A: This many.

Boxes sitting in my apartment waiting to be unpacked.

Monday we did venture to Chinatown for lunch. We ate at a place called Full Kee. The restaurant was terrific. They had a very authentic Peking duck. It was delicious. Thursday we ate at a great Japanese restaurant, Mokato. It was very traditional - patrons are even required to remove their shoes and wear customary Japanese slippers. I didn't get any pictures there because you are required to turn off your cell phone. The food was great. We got a ten-course meal which sounds like a lot more food then it really was because each course was rather small. But what it lacked in size it made up for in deliciousness. It was one of the best meals I ever had. Wednesday, once we finally had a bit of free time we went Annapolis, Maryland but I'm planning on doing a separate blogpost about that adventure.

Gateway in Chinatown

Moving and Flogging Molly

So I haven't been able to post for awhile and not because of a lack of things to post about. I have actually been insanely busy with the moving process. I had to move out of my old apartment in Columbus by the end of July but won't be moving to D.C. until August 11. So I've been homeless for a few days now. Luckily my parents have let me crash in their basement.

Now I know moving is never fun, except when your five and all you have to do is ride your tricycle up and down the ramp of the Uhaul truck, but I have realized the bigger the move the less fun it is. The logistics required for a move out-of-state are frustrating. It is a lot easier to get friends to help you move boxes for an afternoon than it is to get them to dedicate two or three days, which, by the way, is understandable.

Some things I've learned:

• When you pack a box/bag/suitcase etc. make sure to label what is inside. It sucks to have to reopen a bunch of boxes just to find one thing. 
• It is easier, and depending on the size of your place cheaper, to buy new furniture once you get there. Moving trucks are super expensive if you aren't moving in-town. For my move it would have been $600 plus gas costs plus 10 cents a mile on top of that! 
• You find all kinds of lost treasures when you move! 
• Things will not go the way you plan. Just expect to be frustrated and overwhelmed multiple times before you settle down. 

To further complicate matters during the weekend I had to move I happened to already have tickets to a Flogging Molly concert. And I couldn't let those go to waste. So after moving all the furniture and heavy stuff Friday we headed over to the LC Pavilion for the concert. We had barely found our spot on the lawn when it started raining, and eventually pouring, for the next four hours. 

But we stuck it out even though the first band, Clutch, sucked and kept getting delayed. At one point during the torrential downpour the frontman of Clutch said "Hold on guys, we're going to take five for a minute." Finally Flogging Molly took the stage. It was totally worth the wait. They played for just a little over two hours, which is a pretty long set, especially during an outdoor show bombarded by a  monsoon. They played all the songs I wanted to hear and some cool new stuff off their most recent album as well. 

I have no pictures or video of my own. (I didn't take my camera because of the rain). But, check out the video above I found on YouTube from the show. So in summary, a lot going on right now but I'm not going to bore you with all the banal details. Suffice it to say that since I'll be moving this Thursday there are about to be an explosion of new posts. Stayed tuned! 

July 15 & 16: Yard Sale

Oh Marion, you never cease to amaze me. Spending two days interacting with Marion's finest is not exactly my idea of a great way to spend some time off work. But, I needed to sell some stuff before I move. First of all, renting a truck to drive all the way to D.C. is really expensive. Also, I have a lot of stuff I probably don't need to take with me. And if I can make some money at the same time than that's even better.

I did not realize having a yard sale was such hard work. I spent Tuesday, Thursday, and most of Wednesday bringing stuff to my parent's house. Not to mention, for a few weeks beforehand I'd been stockpiling stuff from my apartment. I found a really helpful website with a lot of tips and advice.

Friday morning we got ready to set stuff up at 7 am since our signs said that we'd open at 8 am. But by 7:15 we already two cars parked in our driveway. They wasted no time in barging into the garage and trying to buy things that weren't even for sale. You can imagine my anger with people who have no reading comprehension skills. I guess my advice would be to make sure you have everything ready to go the night before. Also, I would get things set up well in advance of the start of your start time.

Some interesting visitors:

• The Amazing Racist - A friendly man who started out as not that crazy but ended up telling us a bunch of racist things that I was afraid would scare off other customers. 
• A tough guy (with long hair, piercings on the bridge of his nose, and lots of tattoos) who looked for about 5 minutes at my old prom dresses and nothing else. 
• Some little boy who mumbled non-stop while walking in circles around our garage the entire time his dad browsed our sale. 

All in all, I think the yard sale was a success. I made twice as much money as I had hoped for, which is always nice. Thankfully though, the stress of the yard sale is over and I can move on to the next task.

July 4 - 7: D.C. Preview

This last week a visited Washington D.C. to look for an apartment. While that is still pending, I also got a chance to look around the city. I don't want to go into too much detail on the city since I'll have three years to explore the place in detail, but I do want to include a few pictures from the trip.

The Washington Monument as seen from the Vietnam Wall

The Capital Building 

The Supreme Court 

Capital Building and Washington Monument as seen from the Lincoln Memorial 

The school I'll be going to! 

Me in front the Thomas Jefferson Memorial

June 18: Picnic with the Pops

This weekend Dandrich and I went to see a performance of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra at their popular Picnic with the Pops series. Unfortunately, it rained all day up until the concert though luckily it did taper off by the time the concert started.

You can't take pictures during the concert so I only have a couple from before. 

The Picnic with the Pops is a series the CSO puts on through June and July. Each performance includes a special guest performer that is featured in the second half of the concert. For the first half, the CSO played more traditional music that you would expect from a symphony. My two favorites that they played were "Cuban Overture" by Gershwin and "Que Diferencia Hace Un Dia" by Vanacore.

Braving the rain

Saturday's guests were the Jazz Ambassadors of the US Army Field Band. They played some nice arrangements of classic jazz songs by the likes of Duke Ellington and others. I liked the Jazz Ambassadors but I preferred the CSO better. Also, on a side note, there were a few truck stands of food available at the concert: Graeter's Ice Cream, Donato's Pizza, and another with Mexican food.

Sun-dried tomato chicken, garlicky spinach, and Spanish rice

Since it looked like it was going to rain, we didn't take a picnic with us. Instead we cooked a nice little meal at home before we left. We made chicken with a sun-dried tomato sauce with garlicky spinach and Spanish rice. It was quite delicious. Even though it rained, it was still a lot of fun. If we have time, we my try to hit another one before I leave.

June 15: Learning to Cook

I decided to learn to cook, finally. I've never really done that much cooking. It takes too much time that I don't usually have. However, several reasons have forced me to change my mind. First of all, food in the United States is not very diverse. This is especially true if, like me, you are often eating later in at night. By the time I get off work, I am often not eating dinner until around 10:30pm. At this time there are very few places still open to get food. Of course McDonald's, Wendy's, Taco Bell etc are still open but none of these are healthy. (They are, in fact, quite the opposite.) Which brings me to my second reason, which is that food made at home is a lot healthier. It is hard to find healthy food, in general, in restaurants.

To start out my adventures in cooking, I tried to find some things that were quick and easy; something I could prepare and have waiting for dinner when I get home from work. So tonight, I've made two separate things that can easily be packed for a quick meal. The first is a pasta salad with a tomato parmesan dressing. Into the pasta I added tomatos, spinach, mozzarella cheese, and basil.

The other thing I made is not so much of a thing really. I made fruit salad with strawberries, kiwi, and a little bit of mango. I love fruit and it's really healthy for you so it's a win-win situation. Since I don't like most breakfast foods I prefer fruit, so I thought it would be nice to have some ready to go.

Big Changes This Summer

The doors we open and close each day decide the lives we live. 

- Flora Whittemore

This last year has been hectic for me what with filling out law school applications, visiting schools, and generally trying to decide what I'll be doing for the next three years of my life. It's not an easy process or decision by any means. If you asked me even a month a go where I would be going I would have given you a completely different answer than if you asked me today. But I've made my final decision and I will be going to American University, Washington College of Law in August. 

I am extremely excited to start school at WCL because they have very strong public interest and international law programs. And I am also thrilled to be moving to the nation's capitol. It will be a slightly different culture than what I am used to here in Columbus but I am looking forward to all the new experiences. 

Now that I've finally made a decision, I will be busy trying to find housing and arranging the move to D.C. It's going to be a lot of work, but totally worth it. 

June 8: Hiking at Delaware State Park

This week Dandrich and I went for a hike over at Delaware State Park. Even though it was hot, it was a great way to spend an afternoon. The best part is it lets you work out and exercise while doing something kind of different. It makes it seem more like an adventure than exercise!

If you stop at one of the little information stations you can get a map with all the trails marked on it which can be pretty helpful.  We took a trail that ran from the campground area to the marina. It seems like most of the trails at Delaware originate near the campground area.

At the marina there was another information station that also sold hot sandwiches so we got some hot dogs and onion rings to refuel for the return trip. The food there was better than I thought it would be. Near the marina there is also a frisbee-golf range that seemed pretty cool. The information/food stand also conveniently sells frisbees in case you don't have any with you.

Overall the trail was not too difficult. It was an enjoyable way to spend an afternoon. I will say it's probably a good idea to either wear jeans and long sleeves or soak yourself in bug spray first. We didn't do either and returned home covered in huge mosquito bites.