Don't Be Radicchio-lous

Dear Tia T -

I don't think it's stealing at all. Perhaps whoever left those magazines there wanted them taken off her hands! Sometimes I find myself walking out of the gym with a magazine that is not mine, and the way I make myself feel less guilty about it is by bringing another magazine to take its place the next time I'm in. More importantly...what fantastic recipe finds have you acquired? And when will you share them?

Speaking of guilt...Happy Lent! I agree that being pregnant totally negates the whole giving something up thing. Right? Another way to look at it: why give something worldly up when your entire body is working towards giving something back to the world?

Quick question: why doesn't Tia Tay get treats? Are healthy things like veggies what your body/baby wants, or is it a recommendation from your doctor? Do you still get to eat cheese? What about dairy in general? I'M SO SCARED OF GETTING PREGNANT AND NOT GETTING TO EAT CHEESE.

Speaking of cheese (I know, another horrible transition) and vegetables, this radicchio, provolone, and ground beef pizza was a pretty good (and surprisingly light) dinner for us the other night:


I had never bought radicchio before. Up until I saw the sale sign for it at the store, my only acquaintance with the cabbage-like veggie was at nicer restaurants where it seems to be served alongside some sort of reduction or aioli or foam whatever weird things they're calling "sauce" these days.

Radicchio and Provolone Pizza

1 ball of pizza dough (I used some fresh pre-made multi-grain stuff from Whole Foods)
3 slices of provolone cheese, sliced into 1/2 in matchstick-looking pieces
1/2 lb of ground beef (though I'm sure you could use sausage as well)
1-2 tbs olive oil
1/2 head of radicchio, finely chopped (I tossed the rest with arugula for a side salad)
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 medium onion, chopped

1. The morning or early afternoon of the day you make this, coat the inside of a bowl with a little bit of olive oil. Place the ball of dough in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. The dough should be doubled in size by the time you're ready to work with it.

2. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

3. Heat a little olive oil over medium heat. When hot, add ground beef, occasionally breaking up the meat until cooked through, about 5 minutes. Add onions and cook for another minute, then add garlic, cooking again for another minute. Remove from heat and set aside.

4. Sprinkle a clean surface or cutting board with a little bit of flour. Take your pizza dough and divide it into two balls (ha. ha.). Knead each ball for a bit (this just gets worse and worse) then roll out into rounds that are about 1/2 inch thick (or to your preference). Place rounds onto an ungreased cookie or baking sheet.

5. Brush the tops of each round with a little olive oil. Layer the ground beef, onion and garlic mixture evenly between the two crusts. Follow with the radicchio, then the provolone.

6. Place in oven and let bake for 15-17 minutes.

It wasn't as healthy as a plateful of fresh veggies, but between the multi-grain crust, radicchio, and salad, it was satisfying but not overly filling.

In honor of Lent, I'll leave you with the beginning of a list of self-imposed rules I hope will help me develop self-restraint:

1. Do not keep Nutella and graham crackers in the house at the same time.

2. Do not go grocery shopping hungry. That giant wheel of Brie isn't going to un-buy or un-eat itself.

3. Do not be tempted to make any dessert (avert your eyes if they're sensitive to chocolatey goodness) that calls for only half a bag of butterscotch chips as you will find yourself sleepwalking towards the leftovers and waking only when they are already half-chewed in your gaping maw.

4. Do not go to Target wearing grubby or outdated clothes because you will be tempted to buy fresh, pretty, fanciful ones.

Do you have rules for self-restraint?

Loveyoumissyou,

TF

Recycling or Stealing

Dear Tia Fia-

Dripping wet (after pool time) at the Y locker room yesterday, I found 4 Cook's Illustrated from 2002. With my breath short and my heart pounding, I wrapped them up in my towel and covertly stashed them in my book bag.


B thinks my propensity to take magazines from various places (dr.'s office, y, eating area at Whole Foods) is stealing, but I like to call it recycling. What do you think?

Love,
TT

Lent

Dear Tia Fia-
Your chocolate cake looked amazing. If I'd been at your apartment you would've had to physically restrain me as I took an intentional nosedive straight into it- then I would've sucked down that whip cream with a huge straw and asked for more. Seriously, Valentines at my house was much more staid- no alcohol, no chocolate, and only a little whip cream. Pregnant Tia Tay doesn't get treats- which is why it's slipped my mind to give up something for Lent. I keep meaning to check the rule book- are pregnant women required to participate? I'm kinda like the Virgin Mary, o.k. not the virgin part, but I am a woman and knocked up. Also, some religious groups on the internet refer to the gestation period as "doing God's work". Do I really have to do anything else?

I mean really; I have nothing else to sacrifice. I spurned multiple boyfriends when I met B, cigarettes (I haven't had one in over 2 years!) when we moved to Chicago, and now with the pregnancy I don't drink the wine, vodka or margaritas I love or eat sugar. What's left? I try to replace the aforementioned with expensive beauty supplies, but the brown sugar kumquat body scrub I got the other day just didn't do the trick. Beauty products just take energy to use and that energy has been on the Much Needed list for the last 4 months. Furthermore, I LOVE a buzz- be it from alcohol or sugar.

I could abstain from complaints, but I'm not ready to give up what I consider a temporary pass to grumble about everything from the way my feet feel to the way E. Bean kicks my cervix in the middle of the night. Also, I just had to purchase a belly bra (more to come on that one) and it's too easy of target to give up voluntarily. I mean if you had to eat like this:

everyday; what would you do?

Let me know. Love you .

Tia Tay

What's Love Got to Do with Chocolate

Dear TT,

It's President's Day, and I'm sitting in my reading chair, post-oatmeal, blissfully enjoying the silence of the morning. Except for the neighbor's loud Rage Against the Machine (really, red-eyed, greasy-haired neighbor? Must your musical choices be so predictable?), the corner's presumably gay gentleman screaming in a high-pitched voice at his presumably unfaithful partner, and the usual distant whine of cop cars, ambulances, and hipsters.

You'd think we lived in downtown New York or San Francisco (though I believe there are REAL hipsters frequenting those locations) with all the racket, but it's just Richmond. Speaking of racket - how was your Valentine's Day? That has to be one of the worst transitions written in history, but I'm having trouble concentrating this morning.

I feel pretty ambivalent about Valentine's Day, though, like most women, enjoy the opportunity to dress up and eat chocolate. I spent yesterday afternoon baking so at least one of the two could happen, and I chose a cake that would yield some tasty, gooey, salmonella-laden batter: as good for licking off the spatula as it would be for eating in cake form later.

However, unlike 90% of the couples in the city having awkward Valentine's Day conversations over overpriced, oddly themed dinners, J and I celebrated in ratty jeans and rattier sweatshirts. It was GLORIOUS. Except for the part where I made an 11th hour grocery trip to buy heavy whipping cream to top the cake. After lovingly adding grated lemon zest, lemon juice, sugar, and vanilla to the cream, I went to work with my hand-mixer for, like, twenty minutes. Only to end up with really pretty pictures of cake covered with light cream that has been whipped into foam that looks like spit.


At least it tasted good. The best part: we glutted ourselves not just on the cake, but on so many episodes of Arrested Development that we're still talking like some of the characters this morning.


Hope you, B, and E. Bean had a great weekend...I look forward to reading your next letter!

Love,

TF

I Don't Want To Cook

Dear Tia Fia,

I'm so over cooking right now. With the Bio class, the full time job, my volunteer service and the whole sharing my body with another human thing (that I don't even KNOW) cooking has made me feel more and more like an indentured servant. My generosity levels have been depleted. I think B can tell- right now he gets a can of beans with cheese on top instead of a meal.

Because I don't have much to give we went out twice for fabulous meals on his b-day weekend.

One was Mixteco (my favorite):





















And the other was a Korean BBQ place, San Soo Gab San. They bring out a grill and you cook your own meat. B did all the work.















Gotta go! I love you. Stay warm in all that snow.

Tia
T

P.S. I have a longer letter for you, but I wanted to get this out.

Chikun Good

Dear Tia T.,

Congratulations on your first BIO class as a nutritionist-to-be! Thinking about going back to a college science class gave me all sorts of scary feelings, but I know you'll do great. I was totally terrified about going back to school - I think I spent at least two days alternating between binge-eating and driving your brother crazy by asking him what outfit he thought I should wear on my first day back despite the fact that I had no desire to try on ANYTHING since all of that binge-eating made me feel fat.

I've been thinking about my college years a lot lately, coincidentally - mainly because I think I now understand what the phrase "a fully stocked pantry" actually means. I spent all five of my college years carting around what seemed like the same bag of flour, ramen noodles, bottles of ketchup and mustard, and three plastic spatulas from dorm room to apartment to apartment. Now, however - I finish entire bags of flour, and have to restock the pantry's supply of canned tomatoes, rice, and breadcrumbs more often than I ever have. It's a little frightening to be so much of an adult that I plan out a weekly menu for all of our dinner meals before I go grocery shopping. . . but part of being an adult is embracing anything that will make my domestic routine a little easier.

The snow has been a huge detriment to my domestic routine. Girl, I am OVER IT. What was once beautiful sparkling mounds are now impossible-to-navigate piles of gross muddiness that have been shoved to the sides of the roads. What was an exciting reason to stay in and play with the cat and make homemade hamburger buns is now a desire to get out of the house and do anything that doesn't involve getting my feet wet from the sidewalks covered in slush.



I think I'm also a little over cold weather food. I realized that most of the meals I've been writing you letters about are served in bowls and eaten with spoons. Don't get me wrong - I think stews and soups are amazing in how they often hit the high notes of every food group. But I've been getting a little tired of them. So I was pretty excited yesterday about more than one thing: a) the sun was out all day b) I could drive to the gym without worrying about slipping and sliding into the car in front of or beside me and c) I made something for dinner that tasted like springtime.

This oven-baked chicken was so easy to make. I know your mom swears by panko bread crumbs, but I had never cooked with them before. Girl, I'm never going back. I did all the prep work for the chicken and threw it into the oven, and by the time I had showered, set the table, and made a quick arugula salad, it was ready. And spicy. And juicy. And crispy.



Oven-Fried Panko Chicken for Two

1 c panko breadcrumbs
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1/2 stick unsalted butter, melted
1 1/4 lb bone-in chicken thighs
salt and pepper

1. Preheat oven to 450 with rack in middle.

2. Stir together panko, cayenne, and a few grinds of salt and pepper together in a plate.

3. Stir together melted butter and a few more grinds of salt and pepper. Brush butter mixture all over chicken pieces, front and back.

4. Add chicken pieces one by one to crumb mixture, using your hands to press the crumbs into both sides of chicken until pieces are evenly coated.

5. Transfer pieces to a shallow baking pan. Bake chicken until well-browned and cooked through, about 35 minutes.

I served this with an arugula salad dressed with lemon juice, olive oil, and shavings of Parmesan.

Can't wait to hear all about your class, little bean, and everything else. Write back soon!

Love,

Tia F.

PS: I made that spinach artichoke dip for my friend Anna Claire's Super Bowl party. It was a huge hit! I don't think the onion and artichoke matters as much as all the creamy goodness.

PPS: Please tell B that J and I are very sorry for the horribly off-key rendition of "Happy Birthday" we left on his voicemail. Blame it on the snow.

I Swear It's Not Baby Brain

Hey Girl!
Hanging around in a mumu sounds perfect. I want a hot pink one, but my leopard print Snuggie is gonna have to do. It's the best thing ever, but I think B only lets me wear it because I'm pregnant. It is really unflattering. How's Virginia? I saw y'all got snowed in this weekend. You've probably gotten more snow than we have this year. Chicago has been MILD; it better not stay this way or everybody'll want to move here.

The easy January and already look'n good February has left me spoiled. I've actually wanted to leave the apartment and I've barely seen snow on the ground. My new snow boots aren't even needed! All of this is lucky though- I've had a huge change in my schedule and anything that makes it more doable is fine with me.

The huge change? I've gone back to SCHOOL and I'm starting with Bio 121 for SCIENCE majors. My first degree was in English; now I want to get a B.S. in Nutrition. The absolute terror with which I've read my first few chapters has left me tense and irritable; B, Leland and Pretty Girl Earl lock themselves in the bedroom when I take out my books to study.
So with all this science class pressure I can't seem to follow a recipe. On Monday night, B and I were invited to a friend couples house for dinner. My ONLY responsibility was to bring the appetizer. I decided to make it in between studying, swimming, and writing thank you notes.

When we arrived, I was so impressed by her kitchen prowess. She'd made Parmesan crisp bowls to put her salad in- they were so good! Not only was the salad great, but we had Beef Wellington, asparagus and risotto: all of it excellent.

I was somewhat intimidated, but glad I'd taken my Spinach Artichoke Dip (it's like queso to Mid-Westerners) because it's a safe bet that everybody in the crowd will love it. I used a recipe from Casserole Crazy and put additional pepper flakes in it. When I took it out and heated it up I thought something was missing, but I couldn't tell what. The next day on the bus I realized I'd forgotten salt, onion, and also the artichoke. I wonder if they noticed?


Spinach and Artichoke Dip
2 (13.75 ounce) cans quartered artichoke hearts, roughly chopped
2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and drained
3 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 large white onion, chopped
16 ounces cream cheese, softened
1 cup of mayonnaise
1 tablespoon of dried basil
1 1/2 cups Parmesan and or Romano cheese, grated
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
salt and pepper to taste
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine all ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Transfer to a 2 1/1 to 2 3/4-quart baking dish and bake, uncovered, for 45 minutes to an hours, depending on how deep your dish is. You'll know when it's done when it's bubbly. I like to sprinkle a little of the Parmesan/Romano on top before I stick it in the oven.

I want to hear all about your snow weekend!

Love,
Tia T