flavorful february!

Despite the fact that Larry was out of the country for half the month, and the other half I survived on a steady diet of Oreos, February ended up being a delicious and flavorful month. Due to our aforementioned busy schedules, I failed to cook our monthly international meal or a loaf of bread, but I hope to tackle those goals this weekend.

When Larry's away, I tend to take the opportunity to eat things he doesn't like: namely, chocolate pudding, curry, and broccoli. It's a strange collection of things that Larry doesn't like, and the chocolate pudding thing is just plain weird. Although, I'm probably weird for being excited about the prospect of eating broccoli! So while Larry was feasting on beef tongue (gaaaahhhh - go read my About Me section for my thoughts about this) and mutton (or as he calls it, old sheep) in Tajikistan, I was eating a mostly vegetarian diet while he was away (the exception being the bacon sprinkled on my broccoli, corn, and potato soup). I made egg curry - inspired by reading Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri and was on a pretty big Mexican kick this month. I made Mushroom, Rajas, and Corn Tacos with Queso Fresco and Salsa Quemada - aka Burnt Salsa - a recipe that starts with the instruction to "Make sure your kitchen is well-ventilated". This was good advice, because it turns out intentionally burning tomatoes is quite smelly. I was well-prepared for this endeavor though - not only was my kitchen ventilated, but I had this within arm's reach (which is especially important if you've disconnected your smoke detector):

Larry and I also made Chorizo + Potato Tacos with Avocado + Tomatillo Salsa. According to the website I got the recipe from, this was a Rick Bayless recipe. He does have a similar recipe in Mexican Everyday, but that recipe uses mushrooms and isn't quite the same, so we'll call it Rick Bayless-inspired. We'll also call it freaking delicious and super easy. Yum. Rick wasn't the only celebrity chef who's recipes we sampled this month - we also made Nate Appleman's Pork Loin Spiedino with Pine Nut, Garlic and Currant Cranberry Soffritto from the A16 cookbook. (I'll admit, after watching him on The Next Iron Chef, I do agree that he's a dick - also, is it true that he works at Chipotle now???)

Also, Larry made Ina Garten's Sour Cream Coffee Cake, but that is a (hilarious) story for another time.

And I promise to post the valentine cookie recipe soon - hopefully on Vicious Dishes later today, since I have gotten several requests.

What we (mostly I) were/was eating and cooking this month: vegetarian, Mexican - several types of tacos and homemade salsa, COOKIES, hot chocolate (it was a cold month!), and several recipes from celebrity chefs.