Food, glorious food, plus other...stuff

So, I pretty much stopped cooking about a year ago.  Too tired, too sore, too...something.  It's really been sort of interesting to find out which muscles are affected by a mastectomy.  Stuff that wouldn't have occurred to me suddenly became painful--chopping vegetables, addressing Christmas cards, unlocking a window...  Anyway, I was thinking that I would make a New Year's resolution to cook a new recipe, at least once a week, and get back in the cooking groove.  Well, on February 1: I finally cooked.  :)

I went shopping, fully intending to start cooking, at Whole Foods Tuesday night, to pick up some ingredients for the first few recipes that intrigued me.  Oddly, they didn't have several ingredients I was looking for, and they were so crowded, I got too tired to cook.  Sigh.  Good thing I bought some prepared food--it's a compromise between cooking and ordering takeout.  It was microwaving.  ;)   On the plate, we have grilled salmon, roasted butternut squash and forbidden rice with peppers.  They were delicious. 

I was determined to try again.  Last night's recipe came from Saveur magazine.  I enjoy Saveur.  The picures are great and their features are usually on a topic completely new to me.  I decided to make one of their 'essential recipes' from the Jan/Feb 2012 issue.  Of course, because I'm me, I made a few changes.  One change: the recipe is for Swordfish Puttanesca.  Well, the swordfish at Whole Foods Tuesday did NOT look too tasty to me.  So...I decided to just make pasta puttanesca.  Not exactly rocket-science-cooking, but it's a start.

I also decided to use anchovy paste instead of buying anchovies; not sure why I made that decision.  I guess I figured I could get more use out of anchovy paste which can stay in my frig much longer than anchovies.  Oh, and I also used black olives instead of green.  I love me some kalamata olives.  I could probably eat them in three meals a day.  I do love the olive bar at Whole Foods.  Although there was a woman at the bar who would NOT get the heck out of my way.  Move it, lady!  I need me some kalamata olives, stat!  :)   So I set my ingredients out on my non-existent counter and got started.

Clearly, I didn't read the entire recipe beforehand.  This is one of my worst habits.  I need to read the complete recipe before I start.  I've gotten into more trouble with just that one skipped step.  If I had done that, I would've noticed that I should've started the sauce BEFORE I put on the pasta.  Oh well.  Live and learn.  The sauce tasted pretty good with only the seven minutes or so of simmering, but clearly would be better after more mingling of flavors and more reduction of the sauce.  It still looks pretty good, though, right? 

Here's an interesting tidbit:  you know how you're always told to liberally salt the pasta cooking water?  Since I knew the sauce had anchovy paste, capers and black olives, I figured the salt content in the sauce was enough, so I didn't put much in the pasta water.  Big mistake.  The pasta tasted bland.  How that could happen with that savory sauce, I just don't know, but I'm sure it was because I skimped on salt in the pasta water.  It's actually kinda fun to find out those chef-tips were really right!  :) 

I also cheated and put a little fresh mozzarella in.  I had some left over from an antipasti I  put together over the weekend (that's not really cooking, is it?  throwing together a plate with olives, bread and cheese?  that's why I didn't mention it earlier).  So, in actuality, I didn't make the Saveur recipe.  lol     I became one of those people who comment on food blogs who say, "omg, I love this recipe!  well, I substituted basil for the cilantro, shrimp for the chicken, and cumin for the ginger.  but other than that, this recipe rocks!!"   Those comments always make me giggle.  So... I guess I became one of those oddballs.  Oh well.  The pasta was tasty and I had plenty leftover for lunch. 

I'm hoping to get to Trader Joe's on Friday to get more ingredients for other recipes I really want to try.  There's a roasted butternut squash with miso recipe from my Vegetarian Times magazine that I'm dying to try, and also a spaghetti squash fritter-type thing from Everyday Food.  Oh, and a farro pilaf with cranberries.  I have some farro already, so maybe I should focus on getting the rest of those ingredients.  Hmmmmm...

Other stuff.  OK, so, yesterday, the news broke that the Susan G Komen Foundation was removing their funding of Planned Parenthood.  This is distressing to me on so many levels.  I'm sure there's more to the story, but what has played out so far is frightening.  In my opinion.  Of course, a not-for-profit can make granting available to whomever they want.  But to make women's healthcare political is crazy.  Planned Parenthood provides healthcare alternatives to uninsured women who have nowhere else to go.  Is the Komen Foundation now saying that only certain women are entitled to healthcare?  I sincerely hope I'm misunderstanding what's going on.  I was so proud to walk in last year's Race for the Cure, and I was so excited to get my notice that they've set the date for this year's race.  I was already planning my fundraising spiel for both the AIDS Walk and the Race for the Cure.  Now...I'm not so sure.  In reading a lot of the materials, it seems like Komen is more determined to support their brand than to find a cure or help women in need.  They spend a lot of money advertising their pink ribbons and suing other organizations who dare to use the phrase 'for the cure.'  If their goal is to eradicate breast cancer, doesn't that have to include making sure ALL women get screened, until there's a cure?  I'm really pretty upset about all this.  I hope I'm wrong about all the negative thoughts I'm having...

p.s.  one of my favorite blogs, Smitten Kitchen, has a section at the bottom of each post, telling what she posted about one year ago, two years ago, etc.  Fun.  So I thought I would point out that five years ago today I sent out a review e-blast of "The Spanish Play" (thumbs down), "Frank's Home" (thumbs up, except for the lady sitting behind me that I had to yell at to shut up), and the Seaside production of "Drood" (thumbs WAY up!!  I can't believe it's been five years!!)