When [He's] in Rome

Long distance relationships are hard. It takes a lot of effort to keep one going while separated, but it is doable. And with the right person, it’s worth it.

In our second stretch of time that we’ve been apart, we’ve really made the effort to show that the relationship is important to us. We Skype almost every day: talking about how our day went, complete with its triumphs and grievances. The important thing in any relationship is keeping the line of communication open, but it’s absolutely fascinating how many couples tend to forget that.

The other thing we do during our talks is watch Babylon 5 episodes at the same time together. He got me hooked on the series when he was visiting over the summer, and it is an activity that helps us feel connected despite his being 4500 miles away. We’ll watch one, at most three, and I’ll hear him giggle at my expressions.

(My Can't-Look-Away Expression)

(My Season Finale Expression)

Lately, he’s been having a lack of motivation where meals are concerned. He’s a lot like me in that regard; unless it’s a moment shared with people we care about, food is typically considered food and nothing more. Sure, we are creative with leftovers and think of new things of make, but the spark of cooking just isn’t there. So we came up with a plan to use Skype for more than witty banter and Babylon 5 marathons.

Now, we use it in the kitchen.

I don’t know who decided what the dish would be, but the point of this act of connecting was the following:

1. It would be the same dish.
2. It would be from the same recipe.
3. It would be prepared, cooked, and eaten simultaneously. (My lunchtime is his dinnertime, so it works out beautifully.)

Even 4500 miles away, we can still cook together.

The dish was a Roman classic: Spaghetti Cacio e Pepe. Any Roman will emphasize that it has three ingredients and only three ingredients. Always. No exceptions.

Cheese + Black pepper + Pasta = Delizioso. 

He got the recipe off of the Tales of Ambrosia site, and although I used gluten free pasta and the wrong cheese (It was a Pecorino Romano / Parmesan blend), it was absolutely divine.

I loved her trick of putting the serving bowl on top of the pot to heat it up with steam. The only differences were I made a fourth of the recipe (enough for one really hungry person or two just hungry enough persons) and I simply mixed the ingredients in the drained pot before putting it on the hot plate. Oh, and using a blend of cheeses. (I can already feel the Romans cringing from here…)

(image source)

I still stand by my statement in saying that Tinkyáda’s® Rice Pasta is the best I’ve encountered in my gluten-free journey thus far. We use many of their products in our noodle dishes, and their spaghetti pasta was perfect to use in this recipe. Did I mention it slurps like semolina-based pasta?

Now that's what I call quality.

The Bento Box Snapshot: A Week of Pareve

Much like my summer internship last year, I really have had to focus on what I am able to eat for my job as the camp’s art specialist. As I mentioned before, the community center I work at is Jewish-oriented, as is the camp, so that meant following their dietary laws as well. In the beginning it was impossible to tell which meats the kids brought to camp were kosher, so all lunches are now required to be either dairy or pareve.

BBS 1: Carrot risotto, fresh veggies, mozzarella, and daily apple

Since I’m not Jewish, I was worried about offending people with the food I brought. Regardless of my food intolerances, I took on the challenge to make a week of bento lunches that:

1. Observed the dairy and/or pareve rule as written in Judaic law
2. Consisted of things I could and would eat
3. Were nutritionally balanced
4. Kept me full until dinner

Let’s just say that all my lunches were total successes.

BBS 2: Homemade hummus, rice, and dipping veggies (not shown)

For one thing, I learned that size does matter for a bento box. The one Daddy-O gave me last Saturday on our way back from the National Harbor is just perfect for my active lifestyle and appetite. It is two-tiered, which gave me the ability to either make two small meals, or one lunch with a variety of ingredients.

Much of what I packed were leftovers from dinners the night before, tons of veggies, and freshly made spreads like guacamole and hummus. Beans and rice were common, though I did enjoy tuna salad spring rolls and salmon cakes immensely. Cottage cheese and blueberries showed up twice on the top tier (the one that is split into two separate compartments) upon finding that I loved the combination.

BBS3: Salmon cakes, quinoa salad, cottage cheese & blueberries

I hope to have another week of Bento Box Snapshots this time next Sunday, along with: other recipes that may or may not end up in my lunch box, food from my family’s July 4th festivities (i.e., a Grill day), and the camp’s field trip picking blueberries.

Goodness, I love summer.

BBS 4: Tuna salad spring rolls, and cottage cheese with blueberries (not shown)

The Bento Box Snapshot: Turkey, White Bean, and Quinoa Chili Verde

Yesterday my evening class was canceled, so I was able to come home for dinner and my Bento box was lovingly put in the refrigerator. It just meant I had a lunch already prepared for today, which is great because I tend to get hungry between 10:30 a.m. and 1:10 p.m. (the same time as my three-hour CAR Integration class). And since I’m feeling significantly better than I did this time last week, I think I’ll be going to the gym for an hour afterward. Along with the chili I cut up some veggies and corn tortillas and packed my daily apple and spirulina-nut butter spread combo (as well as a can of wild salmon in case I'm still hungry).

Despite my being a week behind schoolwork, everything is still merging into something wonderful. For one, I can see the floor of my bedroom and my desk is almost completely cleared off. For another, my life after college is coming into focus. At this point, because some crucial grades from my time in Sweden have still not transferred, applying for Grad school may have to wait. I had intended on starting immediately after graduation, but I think the Cosmos is trying to tell me something, and it's something along the lines of taking things slow and to enjoy the ride. Maybe I’ll apply to the various research assistant positions at the USIP or work at a restaurant to learn the tools of the trade. Maybe I’ll join the ranks of some bangin’ NGO or create my own non-profit. If Grad school wasn’t meant to be in January, I’m sure August will be a different story. It’s all about adaptation and timing.

I do my best to stick to other people’s tasty recipes (heck, my own), but sometimes I either don’t have a particular ingredient or don't have enough of it, and I tend to add and subtract others as I go. Sometimes it doesn’t go as I expected it to, but usually the result is extremely delicious and post-worthy. The philosophies found in cooking can be relative to those in life. So if something just isn’t going to happen no matter how hard you try or want it to, find something that will. You can always go back to it when you’re ready.

This Bento Box Snapshot comes with a recipe. It must have been Monday (getting sick turns days into one consecutive day) when I decided to try my hand at white chili, but ended up adding more chili powder than I had planned to and turning it flamingo pink. So it wasn’t white chili by definition, but it was very different than the chili we usually make. It wasn’t exceptionally spicy though there was a nice kick from the jalapeño and green chile, and there was a delicate sweetness the cut-up apple provided to balance it. The tomatillos that I replaced the tomatoes with gave it a green undertone beneath its pinkish coloring, and the ground turkey made it light but still comforting to the tender stomach. It also was a great dish to use up all that leftover quinoa we had.

Turkey, White Bean, and Quinoa Chili Verde

 3 tbsp. Olive oil
1.25 lb Ground turkey
2 lb Tomatillos, coarsely chopped
24 oz Water
1 can (15 oz) Pinto beans, drained and rinsed
1 can (4 oz) Fire roasted diced green chile
1 Jalapeño, seeded, veined, and coarsely chopped
1 Red onion, julienned and finely chopped
11 oz (2 c.) Cooked quinoa (you could also use rice, millet, pasta, etc.)
1 Sm. Granny Smith apple (about 4.5 oz cored), finely chopped
1 tbsp. Chili powder
1 tbsp. Crushed garlic
1/2 tsp. Sea salt
1/4 tsp. Cracked pepper

In a large mixing pot, heat the olive oil on medium-high and separated the ground turkey into chunks as it cooks.
Add in the remaining ingredients (or cook up some quinoa if you don’t have any on hand and put it into the pot when it’s done), and let it simmer on medium heat for thirty to forty-five minutes.
Serve in your favorite large drinking mug or soup bowl, and garnish with your choice of cheese, fresh salsa, herbs, and finely chopped sweet onion or shallot.

Serves 6 – 8.

The Bento Box Snapshot: Broiled Plantains, Stew, Quinoa n' Beans

This particular BBS was a complete success! I felt a lot fuller and wasn’t ravenous at the end of the day. This was especially important since Thursday was a big day for me: a three-hour class, about an hour at the gym, and preparing for the CARmunity informational later in the evening. 

It was around the time I left home for the meeting on campus that the weather went from summer to autumn, with me dressed in my favorite olive green jacket (very light and extremely worn) with a pair of jeans and black ballet flats. Not very smart for a person who tends to get sniffly at any sign of a cold front, I know, and I have a feeling Rooibos Chai Lattes will be my official drink of the season.

Dr. Scambledstein's Monster: It's boiled... BOILED!!!

So what did I have that kept a grumbly tummy at bay? For lunch I had a hard-boiled egg (that cracked during the boiling process), a rice cracker sandwich with chèvre (goat cheese) and slices of cucumber and tomato, a Granny Smith apple with spirulina-peanut butter spread, and canned salmon.

For dinner, I went to the salad jar (pun intended), filled with peppers, tomatoes, avocado, carrots, and cucumber, marinated with coconut aminos, lime juice, and salt. In the Bento box itself were baked plantains (broiled for a minute or so on each side for that caramelized burnt crunch), leftover beef and butternut stew, quinoa, and kidney beans, garnished with black and white sesame seeds for texture and giggles.

The Bento Box Snapshot: Pork roast with rice and veggies

Before my 4:30 class starts, I thought I’d post the first "Bento Box Snapshot" of the semester! I can tell my Mondays are going to be busy. From 1:30 p.m. to 7:10 p.m. I have class, with 1 hour 45 minute break in between. With fifteen credits to take to graduate (three classes or nine credits for my anthropology minor and one class or three credits for my last conflict resolution class as an undergrad), as well as CARmunity starting up again, applying for grad school and looking for a part-time job, I have a feeling BBSs will be rather common this semester.

And that’s fine by me.

For lunch I packed another rice cracker sandwich with roasted turkey and gouda slices with a granny smith apple and a dollop of peanut butter.

As for dinner, I sliced up last night’s pork roast with a side of a combination of sweet brown and black rice. Along with my protein and grain is a salad, consisting of Kumato (or Olmeca) tomato, carrot, red bell pepper, cucumber, and labneh. There is some coconut aminos sprinkled around… somewhere. Oh yes, and sea salt and cracked pepper brings it all together.  

The Bento Box Snapshot: The Leftovers Stuffed Bell Pepper

You remember when I said I think I finally got the hang of Bento?

Yeah, about that...

Although I believe I am getting better at the nutritional balance aspect for every meal, it still remained on the lighter side. Maybe it had to do with it being the last official week of classes. Maybe I was particularly tired that day. But come 7:10 p.m. Tuesday evening, when my class let out, I was still hungry.

But that’s okay. I didn’t mind eating a bit more. The Old Me would’ve had a slight panic attack at the very idea of eating something after dinner if I dared to still be hungry. The Old Me would’ve counted calories and thought of ways to limit my intake the next day. Granted, I did go to the gym afterward, but that was due to my restless disposition instead of burning off the additional consumed foodage (okay, mostly).

This is a snapshot of what I’ll be having for lunch in a few hours. And I think this one will actually keep me full until dinner with the folks. I wasn’t even thinking about Cinco de Mayo (to me, it's just another day), but the end result turned out being very appropriate and festive. Plus, I got to clean out the fridge.

For today’s lunch:

Stuffed red bell pepper (cut horizontally) with: a halved slice of Fontina cheese layering the bottom, two BBQ patties mashed and mixed with 1/2 cup refried beans and a ring of finely diced red onion in the middle, and two rings of red onion on top. The red bell pepper was first softened using a boil/steam method on the stovetop. When all the ingredients were put together, I put them in a preheated oven at 350ºF for ten minutes.  Then, simply because the oven has a broil option, I broiled them on “high” for another 5 – 10 minutes.

The salad is a looser version of guacamole. It has 1/2 Kirby cucumber, 1 – 2 tbsp. finely diced red onion, 5 small heirloom tomatoes quartered, 1/2 lime, 1/4 avocado, and 1 tbsp. of Trader Joe’s Garlic Chipotle salsa.

I am also starting a new dosage of Armour Thyroid today. It is moving up to 60-60 a day; what that means, I'll let you know later.

The Bento Box Snapshot: Lox Sans a Bagel Spring Roll

This cloudy morning has brought me two things: a cancelled anthropology class and my blog’s first (official) supporter. Melanie of Mindful Food commented on my I-Can’t-Believe-It’s-Avocado and Carrot Muffins post with these kind words:

"Hi - I saw your post on Karina's FB page and came over to see what you are about. GF ratio rally! I don't remember seeing you in the big list last week. I also had a recipe in the rally…

Melanie's Gluten Free Ratio Rally entry... YUM!

I also am fairly new to food blogging but have surely caught the bug. I've signed up as your first follower!

I love the idea of using avocado as the fat in baked goods - I haven't tried it yet - but your recipe has inspired me!

Best of luck! I'll be back. Blessings, Melanie"

I did that? I inspired someone? She’ll be back?

Melanie, you truly made my day.

As for anthropology, does class being cancelled mean I’m going back to bed and laze the day away until 4:20 p.m. for my three-hour community conflict resolution class? Goodness gracious no! I’ve got awesome Morri things to do today.

Like this post, for example. And this recipe.

My first week of blogging has been such a delight. Family members and friends alike have been so supportive, commenting on my pancake post, suggesting recipes and trying out mine. Really, thank you for everything. I hope to hear more of your voices as this blog goes into full swing. Feel free to comment on the recipes, ask questions, make suggestions, and email me. It’s as much of a learning experience for me as it is for you.

And I am hungry for more.

Speaking of hunger, after my hypothyroid diagnosis and five days of being on the Armour Thyroid, she has gone from being a feral cat scratching and biting at my arms to a playful kitten pawing for attention. I’m not waking up at 4:30 a.m. or getting these intense headaches throughout the day. My body temperature has gone from 96.5ºF to 98.1ºF (thus, I am no longer a member of the lizard family). My hands and feet aren’t like ice, and they’ve lost their yellowish hue. My jaw line and neck is more pronounced. Pants that were tight fitting are looser. I have more energy and am hardly fatigued. And these are just the physical changes. Mentally I can retain the information I’m given, both in social and academic settings, more efficiently. The channel between what I’m thinking to what I’m saying isn’t blocked. I am vigilant and aware, with a winning attitude and a confident stride. I am not dwelling on things I can’t control in my life, and with the complete 180º of my mental/emotional/physical/spiritual focus, life (although a bangin’ adventure before my treatment) has never seemed so crisp and clear and beautiful.

The only downside I can think of is the menopausal-like hot flashes I’m getting 1 – 3 times a day. (To think, women deal with this for ten years or more.) But I like how my mom described it: “It’s like turning on the furnace after it has been off for an entire summer.” Eventually, the flushing will subside, but the fact I’m experiencing this at all means my body is working up to its full potential. And when you’re body is functioning properly, the first thing it tells you is that it’s hungry.

I admit I arrived late on the bring-your-lunch-to-school parade (a senior in college). But with my classes being at the times they are, it was necessary if I didn’t want to start getting my daily fiber intake by gnawing on my desk. It took me a week or so to get the hang of it, but pretty soon I was munching away while taking notes on Social Identity Theory and debating the differences between free will and determinism.

That’s where the idea of Bento comes in. Now, if you haven’t been to Just Bento, you really should. I became enamored with this site (and its sister, Just Hungry) while in Sweden, and looked forward to having a bento box of my very own. By February I got my wish. Sadly, my beautiful bento box is not insulated, so I bought a flat purple lunch box to keep the food at a safe eating temperature. Plus, I can add other little containers for snackage when my body needs it.

So what does a Morri put in her bento box, you ask? Why, a ton of things, a ton of things indeed. I am all about variety and trying out new things, but I strive for nutritional balance for every bento, with tons of veggies, plenty of protein, and maybe a grain (like rice) or a root vegetable (like sweet potato). 

This recipe was something of an experiment, but a successful one. You’ve heard of lox on a bagel, right? How about lox in a spring roll?

How to make a spring roll (source)

I think what is so amazing about the concept of a spring roll is how flexible they are when it comes to taste and preparation. They can be sweet or savory. They can be raw, fried, or baked. A cashier at my local Trader Joe’s suggested using rice paper to make wontons (definitely on my to-do list, by the way). And really, your average spring roll is, with practice, very easy to make but also an elegant dish others will gush over.

 

Lox Sans a Bagel Spring Roll 

8 Sheets of rice paper (check label to see if it's gluten free)

16 Fresh basil leaves

4 oz (one package, typically) Wild smoked salmon, separated into eight parts

4 oz Cream cheese (I used soft goat cheese), separated into eight parts

1 Small red onion, diced

Sesame seeds (optional)

Take one piece of rice paper at a time.

Dip it into warm (not hot!) water for 5 seconds.

Place it on a plate.

Add basil leaves, smoked salmon, cream cheese (or any soft cheese you like), and diced red onion on the rice paper.

Wrap it up into a roll.

Sprinkle sesame seeds on top for garnish.

Makes 8 spring rolls. Serves 2 as a light lunch or starter.