Weekend update, August 11, 2013

“Find out who you are and do it on purpose.”

Dolly Parton 

There's a little rule of relaxed living I've tried to remember to follow ever since the night I ordered vegetarian spaghetti at an IHOP. 

Let things be what they are, and let them do what they're best at.

That long-ago plate of  IHOP-o-ghetti taught me that expecting great spaghetti from a restaurant named after a breakfast food was not only unfair, it was a little unreasonable. "Want spaghetti?" that sad little plate of pasta said, "Go to somewhere else. Somewhere that sounds Italian."

And it was right.  If  one has the good fortune to be at IHOP, one should sit back, pour the coffee, pick a syrup, and ask for whipped cream on that stuffed french toast, and bacon with those pancakes.

because that's what they're great at.

The IHOP rule came to mind a few times this week, both in and out of our little kitchen.

Out of the kitchen?

Well, my very generous mother treated me to lunch at one of the grooviest East Texas barbecue joints I've ever moseyed into, and do you know what I ordered? Standing there, in mesquite-smoke scented air, slabs of juicy ribs and piles of tender beef before me? 

I ordered a salad. 

And it was not exactly an awesome salad.

I've been kicking myself (and craving a burger) ever since.

And mom, I promise. The next time you take me to a great barbecue place, I'm eating barbecue.

It's the IHOP rule.

Things should be allowed to be what they are.

except puppies and kitties.
Puppies and kitties should be dressed like something else
as often as possible.

And the IHOP rule at play in this week's kitchen?

First, the balsamic steak and zuchinni. A fine, fast weeknight supper- or it would've been. The thing is, I know next to nothing about cuts of beef- where on the beast they come from or how to use them. You know that really, really thick steak? No, the thicker one. The really dense one. Whatever that one is.

That's how thick I am when it comes to beef.

So, when the recipe called for skirt steak, and there was nothing wearing that label on the meat shelves of the grocery store, I took home the styrofoam tray that I voted most likely to be like skirt steak. 

This

I took it home, marinated it, and threw it on the grill. A nice little steak, half an inch thick.

Except it wasn't! 

In one of the coolest surprises ever, that steak turned out to be a stack of thinner steaks. A little smooshing at the edge with the grill tongs, and one layer after another peeled away! It was amazing! Look!

Like thin sliced beef from the deli!
So cool!

Honestly, I'm avoiding the phrase "paper thin" because I think I may have wrapped presents in thicker paper.

Hmm. Now that gives me an idea. I think I know what I'll be using to wrap that box of reindeer jerky this Christmas.

Behold, the perfect gift wrap for your favorite carnivore.

These little things were overcooked two nanoseconds after they hit the grill, so the result was not great- but in the past few days, I've learned what steak milanesa is and next week, I'll be letting these intriguing little steaks do what they're made to do.

Notes to self: 1.A skirt steak recipe is for skirt steak.

                     2.Learn what a skirt steak is.

                     3. The next time you get lost in the beef section, swallow your shy and ask  for directions.

                     4. If you must make mistakes, continue to make interesting ones.

Next up was the cashew chicken. If you're looking for a recipe that's only a little more time consuming than opening a jar of stirfry sauce, this recipe is worth a try. But learn from my mistake, and pay attention to the recipe proportions. Or learn from what I learned from my mistake, and read this nice little guide to cornstarch to liquid proportions.

My instructive mistake? Stirring the liquid ingredients of the sauce together, and then, instead of measuring, casually jiggling the box of cornstarch over the pot.

Just a little....oops.

 To compensate for going too heavy on the starch, I added more broth, and in the end, it was okay cashew chicken, with a slightly gloopy sauce. Still. I do wonder how much better it might have been. 

Two recipes this week that are definitely worth repeating: 

The really great savory pastry and sublime cheesy filling of the zucchini galette. The food processor did all the work of making the pastry, and then did all the work of stirring up the filling, so things were much faster and easier than a read through of the recipe made them seem. The filling was doubled as the recipe suggests, and we ended up with a rich, flaky pastry and a deep ricotta filling that was terrific as it was, but would also be amazing topped with a variety of meats or veggies. Look! 

This is one of those recipes that looks much more impressive that it has a right to.
I really like that sort of recipe.

And the chicken pad thai? Fantastic. It came together in 30 minutes and was much tastier than the cashew chicken. At least I thought so. But then, I cooked the Pad Thai sauce according to the recipe, and the cashew chicken sauce, well. I may never know how tasty it could have been.

Sometimes, I apply the IHOP rule to more than restaurants, and watch it go a little sticky-

(stickier than a vinyl booth on a summer day)

Because sometimes, before you can be what you are (on purpose)

 You have to find out who you are.

And sometimes the only way to find out who you are

is by learning who you're not. 

And that can be not easy learning.

But I hope this week, you have hours and days

To do what you're best at.

And learn, in the doing, wonderful things about who you are.

I hope that once or twice this week you feel the happy confidence that comes from doing, in that moment, 

something you were made to do. 

The kind of confidence that makes your beautiful soul stand up straight and say

with a grin and a grace that embraces the whole world 

"Go ahead world, and be what you are, because, well...

I yam what I yam too."