Food Porn

I don't own a scale, a fact for which I am currently exceptionally grateful, as I'm fairly certain that I've gained about 10 lbs in the past six weeks, due to my erratic eating schedule, the high-calorie count of the take-out food available close to the hospital, and my friend's constant craving for cupcakes.

So what do I do now that she's gone away?

I cook.

A lot.

What can I say? Cooking is like therapy to me... if only my hips and belly felt the same way.

What I really need to do is go on a cleansing fast to rid myself of the desire to eat crap--which is at an all-time high right about now--but at the moment I'm a bit too stressed out to deal with a liquid diet, so until I can find an appropriate week in which to rectify my wretched eating habits, I give you...

Food Porn.

#1 Fresh Pasta
Before setting off on his cross-country move to Texas, my friend K had to deal with the frightening aspect of packing up his, um, shall we say cluttered, apartment.

Which is how I ended up with a pasta maker. Score!

Granted, I had to take the whole thing apart to clean it, which took about 2 hours, and then again after I jammed it up with my first attempt... but once I got the hang of it?

So very worth it!

Exhibit A. Fresh Linguini

Exhibit B. Fresh Spaghetti

Exhibit C. Linguini with Red Sauce

Exhibit D. Spinach Spaghetti with Red Sauce & Olives

There was also some Spinach Spaghetti with Pesto, which was, in fact, excellent... but try as I might I couldn't find a photo that made it appear appetizing.



#2 Back to Bread
Since moving to my new apartment, my devotion to home-made bread has fallen by the way-side. Doing it properly can be a time-consuming process--lots of waiting around for dough to proof--and all I wanted to do when I got home from the hospital was watch a few episodes on the DVR and pass out.

No more! The other night I dove back in to my favourite food-related pass time with a batch of olive-oil dough... only, being out of olive oil, I used avocado oil instead, which made a nice substitute. The results...?

Exhibit A. White Pesto Pizza with Olives, Oven-Dried Tomatoes, and Asparagus

There are not words to express how much I love fresh asparagus! This would have been better had I stretched the dough a bit thinner, but I was hungry and impatient. Bad Frog!


Exhibit B. Oven-Dried Tomato & Pesto Bread

Kindly ignore the detritus in the background (my apartment is seven different shades of disaster right now) and feast your eyes on the gorgeousness of these loaves! The original recipe calls for the tomatoes, whole cloves of carmelized garlic, and fresh basil... but the basil always dried out in the oven so I decided to try Pesto instead. I actually haven't tried it yet, so I'll have to let you know how that experiment turned out!


#3 Cookies!!!
There happens to be a Borders bookstore en route to the hospital where my friend was staying, so I made quite a few visits in the past month and a half. During that time, they had a HUGE selection of cookbooks on super-sale ($3-$6 each), all lined up right next to the check-out, and, well, I couldn't help myself.

One of the first that I bought was "The Cookie and Biscuit Bible." These were on the cover, and I'd been dying to make them ever since I bought the book.

Exhibit A. Honey Crunch Creams

They're supposed to be made with Greek Honey, which I couldn't find anywhere, so I used Orange Blossom instead,and Oh... My... God! Wish I'd made a full recipe instead of just a half. My hips, however, are probably thanking me.

That stuff in the middle? Is Honey Buttercream. Yeah. Heaven.



In addition the all of the above, there was also some freaking fabulous Chicken and Snow Peas from my new stir fry cookbook, but I didn't get any photos. I will next time, I promise!

So there you have it.

Anybody else feeling hungry?