Sit and drink pennyroyal tea...
It seems that life is finally winding down enough for me to relax and enjoy myself - despite having meetings & a couple finals. I'm feeling pretty good about where I am right now, which is nice.
On top of this is the success of two culinary delights with which I have been experimenting, the first being seaweed salad. Steve and I went out to dinner at Legal Seafood... a month or so ago (wow, seriously?!)... and I had a side dish of seaweed salad that was amazing. Trying to make it at home, however, has turned into a bit of a battle. Now I know I'm dealing with dried seaweed, not the fresh stuff, but it was still just... blah. Not terrible, I mean I'd still eat it, but it just didn't have anything particularly going for it, so it was sinking on my list of "awesome things to eat". I thought this was a real shame, so I took it upon myself this evening to look up some salad dressings, hoping this would add the necessary zing to make it a good dish.
Lo, there was wasabe and rice vinegar dressing. So. Awesome. It's got sesame seed oil, wasabe paste, soy sauce (gluten-free tamari sauce substituted) and some sugar. I had seen recipes prior to this one with sugar and had always left it out, thinking it would take the edge off the rice vinegar. I probably added about half the amount suggested, and I added a bit more wasabe paste, but it turned out marvelously.
My other adventure has been into the world of tea, as I wanted an alternative to nighttime snacking and something a bit healthier than hot chocolate. Also, I just feel like I SHOULD like tea, just on principle. How hipster of me.
So this adventure is only worthy of note due to the fact that up until this week, I hated tea. I would only drink it when sick, because it was too bitter. But, having convinced myself that A. it is an acquired taste and B. I've probably just been given the wrong tea to try, I found myself in the drinks aisle at stop and shop on Monday, staring down the small boxes with their elegant scripts and dainty decorations for about half an hour. I was at first set on getting something decaffeinated, as I did not want to trade one vice of ice cream addiction for the vice of caffeine dependency. Then I ran into the problem of wanting something with vanilla (in order to be complimented by my vanilla rice milk) that would taste good with honey (in order to deplete my surplus of honey) while still being decaffeinated. Apparently, that's impossible, or at least it was in that aisle at that moment. Looking at the labels, I settled on some white tea chai, as it at least has less caffeine than coffee and many other teas. Came home, made some up... and it's grand. Not too sweet, but not bitter at all, and it's got that hint of vanilla I wish everything could come with. <3
Speaking of which... tea time!
On top of this is the success of two culinary delights with which I have been experimenting, the first being seaweed salad. Steve and I went out to dinner at Legal Seafood... a month or so ago (wow, seriously?!)... and I had a side dish of seaweed salad that was amazing. Trying to make it at home, however, has turned into a bit of a battle. Now I know I'm dealing with dried seaweed, not the fresh stuff, but it was still just... blah. Not terrible, I mean I'd still eat it, but it just didn't have anything particularly going for it, so it was sinking on my list of "awesome things to eat". I thought this was a real shame, so I took it upon myself this evening to look up some salad dressings, hoping this would add the necessary zing to make it a good dish.
Lo, there was wasabe and rice vinegar dressing. So. Awesome. It's got sesame seed oil, wasabe paste, soy sauce (gluten-free tamari sauce substituted) and some sugar. I had seen recipes prior to this one with sugar and had always left it out, thinking it would take the edge off the rice vinegar. I probably added about half the amount suggested, and I added a bit more wasabe paste, but it turned out marvelously.
My other adventure has been into the world of tea, as I wanted an alternative to nighttime snacking and something a bit healthier than hot chocolate. Also, I just feel like I SHOULD like tea, just on principle. How hipster of me.
So this adventure is only worthy of note due to the fact that up until this week, I hated tea. I would only drink it when sick, because it was too bitter. But, having convinced myself that A. it is an acquired taste and B. I've probably just been given the wrong tea to try, I found myself in the drinks aisle at stop and shop on Monday, staring down the small boxes with their elegant scripts and dainty decorations for about half an hour. I was at first set on getting something decaffeinated, as I did not want to trade one vice of ice cream addiction for the vice of caffeine dependency. Then I ran into the problem of wanting something with vanilla (in order to be complimented by my vanilla rice milk) that would taste good with honey (in order to deplete my surplus of honey) while still being decaffeinated. Apparently, that's impossible, or at least it was in that aisle at that moment. Looking at the labels, I settled on some white tea chai, as it at least has less caffeine than coffee and many other teas. Came home, made some up... and it's grand. Not too sweet, but not bitter at all, and it's got that hint of vanilla I wish everything could come with. <3
Speaking of which... tea time!