Ah, beloved lunch, brownbag of love…

(For once, my lunch bag actually was brown today – Publix brand, in fact.)

Today was supposed to be a post about butterflied Cajun pork chops wrapped around fresh, teriyaki green beans with crash potatoes, garlic-butter-drowned-grilled shrimp and pieces of multigrain baguette (Publix), followed by molten chocolate cakes or chocolate pots de crème, or the warm chocolate cakes with bourbon crème anglaise found in Entertaining With Bluegrass Winners (so I’d have a ready entry for February First Thursday – damn). As it so happened, things went awry, the shrimp charred itself to the bottom of an old pan and the chops were unsalvageable. Pizza Hut cheese pie and breadsticks ended up as supper, and it was mighty tasty. However, since there’s no sense in posting about Pizza Hut (everyone should already know how awesome PH is) or unrecognizable shrimp and chops, I’m gonna wax rampant about sandwiches.

Yes. Sandwiches.

The plain Jane of the food world, it seems. There are sites for sandwich-love (Panini Happy, anyone?), but more often than not, the poor unloved sandwich can be overlooked for more fancy creations like seared foie gras on a bed of julienned endive topped with basil-mint foam. Sandwiches are the everyday, Joe Schmoe of lunch and supper, breakfast as an afterthought. They’ve been shoved to the back of the middle rack in the fridge, wasting lunchmeat and wilting, neglected greens; or opened-once-in-the-rush-to-work-late jar of peanut butter, sighing sadly to itself in the dark corner of the pantry.

Fear not, lovies. Sandwiches are coming back.

I love sandwiches. I’m not afraid to say it, either. Sandwich = love. Think of the possibilities! No more the days of sagging white bread, peanut butter and grape jelly, sticking to the roof of your small child’s mouth where it stays stubbornly through class after lunch and you spend the next period trying to subtly dislodge it with your tongue while your math teacher writes long division on the board. Now we’re far beyond just white or cardboardwheat – now we have seeded multigrain, focaccia, Gruyere and onion, pumpkin swirl, marbled rye, sourdough! Any meat you desire, at your disposal – corned beef? Capicola? Prociutto and chicken breast? Hot salami? Pepperoni? Cheeses stretching as far as the imagination… blue and veined, smooth and soft, Provolone, Vermont cheddar, Gorgonzola, Emmentaler, the list goes on forever! No more the watery nothing of iceberg, but the sharp bite of arugula, the sweet crunch of baby spinach, the multi-textured goodness of frisee and the deep crunch of red cabbage!

Even past all this, the jump from an afternoon or evening meal back to morning – a lightly fried egg with just-crispy bacon, a slice of juicy red tomato, on gently browned honey wheat. Or fancier, egg sunny-side up, topped with stiff, warm prociutto, a few slices of ripe avocado and strips of roasted red pepper on a toasted ciabatta roll.

And even beyond breakfast to dessert? Slices of warm, decadent chocolate loaf enclosing dulche de leche and vanilla, lightly sprinkled with cinnamon, oozing sweet and silky perfection across the palate. Slaver over that.

My lunch today is not fancy, or sweet, or breakfast, but it is a sandwich. My meat preference for a lunchtime sandwich has been and likely always will be turkey breast. As a child it was very simple: French (really Italian) bread, turkey, lettuce, cheese. A few grapes as a side. Now my sandwich has changed, since I get to be the grocery shopper. The more you load your sandwich with, the better it can be, both nutritionally and taste-wise. A sandwich is the perfect vessel for a quick lunch, nutritionally sound and aesthetically pleasing. Of course, the more you load your sandwich with, the higher the likelihood that you’ll drop pieces as you eat. But personally, I like picking up pieces from my plate to eat seperately, like little treats aside your main meal.

Deli turkey breast, sliced thin but not shaved. Shredded colby-jack and mozzarella in a thin layer – too much shredded cheese and you’ll have a mess all over your desk. Baby spinach, dark and firm, one layer. Slices of ripe, buttery, smooth avocado – can I just tell you how much I love avocado? (I’d better not, or you’ll never get away from here.) All encased in two slices of seeded, multigrain loaf bread, with one slice drizzled with olive oil and topped with kosher salt, black pepper and oregano.

It really is my favorite sandwich. At least, for now.

Apple-cinnamon muffins, with dilemma attached.

I’m an avid reader of Women’s Health – at least, the online version. Maybe it’s the daily giveaways that hook me, I don’t know. But sometimes, the magazine also has some tasty-looking recipes.

Now, I’m a skeptic. I’ll admit that. Any magazine with ‘health’ in the title has recipes that I associate with hippies and weight-lifting fanatics : tofu, soy milk, heaps of flax and oat bran and wheat germ, protein powder, etc. So I’m skeptical of trying anything. But I saw the recipes for healthy muffins, including this one for apple-cinnamon oat-bran muffins, and thought, ‘hey, why not?’ I’m trying to make better choices regarding what I eat, and I do better to eat breakfast every morning when I have something already fixed. Plus, I fondly remember a version of oat muffins I made early in high school. They were dark, moist, toothsome, cinnamon-y little treats and I loved them – but I don’t remember where I got the recipe from, and I can’t find it now. In the back of my head, I was hoping these would come out vaguely similar.

I’m sure you’ve figured out, by now, that my hopes and dreams didn’t exactly come true.

Changes in the kitchen for 2009.

I learned a long time ago not to make new year’s resolutions. What’s the point? I don’t keep them, and that would inevitably lead to feeling horrible and guilty about myself for not keeping such good intentions. That said, not making set and concreted resolutions apparently helps me to stay on track with what I’d like to do this year, instead of what I’m going to make myself do. For example:

1. Lose inches and get fit.
2. Learn to cook and eat more healthily.
3. Pay more attention to my food costs – waste not, want not!
4. Learn to cook – and enjoy! – more types and kinds of food, from soups to curries to blood pudding (okay, a bit of a stretch, but you get the idea).
5. Slim down my lifestyle and my belongings, not necessarily limited to my pantry (but a big part!)
6. Eat as fresh and seasonally as I can!
7. Post more recipes (and pictures)!

These things are continuously swimming through my head on and off, and have been since before the first of the year. In readjusting the energy of my apartment, I cleaned out the refrigerator and started on the pantry (still in progress). I want to downsize the amount of stuff in the pantry – a good bit of it I don’t use, so what’s the use of it taking up space in an already space-limited area? I started from the ground up, where my cans are stored. A good many of them are going to my in-laws church can drive, cans that I ‘inherited’ from my old roommate, stuff that I don’t eat (like canned apricots and Campbell’s condensed soup, ick). I cut my canned food space in half, leaving me with my favorites – black beans, pineapple, chickpeas, Allen’s green beans, mandarin slices, etc. Now I have room to stock more black beans, Le Seur peas (354 won’t eat any other peas), chickpeas and a good many of new groceries I hadn’t considered before, like kidney beans and cannelinis. (I’m pretty picky when it comes to canned fruit, so no new stuff there.) Now comes the next shelf up, which was supposed to be for sauces and savory condiments. The shelf above that is the one that worries me – my ’spice rack.’ I may have to be harsher on myself than I’d like on that shelf.

The refrigerator itself wasn’t difficult, but the freezer is hard. It’s full of meat that I simply haven’t cooked or don’t think about until it’s too late to thaw for supper. I’ll keep the freezer in mind for the future, so I can clear out some space for containers of frozen stock (another non-resolution for the year – homemade stock), sauces, pestos and whatever else. My new cookbooks and appliances are giving me all kinds of ideas for the year, and I’m looking forward to kitchen testing as the year goes on.

I’m also trying my best to follow the Body+Soul 2009 Challenge. It’s something new for me, but I think a little challenge is good for a body. Week 1 is the detox week, which is difficult, but probably not as difficult as I think it will be. Today is Day 2 for me (you can start whenever you want), and tomorrow starts the meal plan. I normally don’t consume a lot of real meat anymore, either because it’s expensive or because I’m lazy, but the idea of going without for some days on a prescribed plan kind of makes me tweaky. Maybe it’s a problem with being told what to do – only child syndrome, or something. In any case, I’m going to do my best to stick to it. I love legumes more now than I ever did before, so some cooked beans will satisfy. I have whole brown rice in the pantry that needs eating, and I just bought some gai lan (Chinese broccoli) at the Asian market a day or two ago. I’d like to make some real hummus (just need to find tahini) at home to cut back on extra sugars or preservatives, but I can run by the grocery and pick up some quick fixes if I have to. All in all, while I don’t agree with a plant-based diet, the detox won’t necessarily be a bad thing for me. I’m kind of looking forward to learning my body better and reigniting real hunger and necessity for food instead of a mindless chain of eating for no reason. I think this blog is essential for that, and has been ever since I started it last year. Normally I wouldn’t write down what I cook or eat, but posting it here has been a way not only to share my creations but to look back at myself and how I’m eating.

Over this year, while I’m not going to stop posting things that are good and not good for you, because those treats have their place, I’m going to try and cook with healthier, fresher ingredients. I’m going to try to branch out to local markets like the local MarketFresh or the local CSA to find what’s fresh and seasonal. I’m going to try to season my food better, see what I like and don’t like. I’m not saying I cook like Julia and drench everything in butter and salt (I still love you, Julia!) as it is, but I could do better. (Ari’s post for the new year is an inspiration.) And as I go, I want to share my progress with readers, not only for your optical enjoyment, but to keep me honest, too. Maybe along the way I’ll become a better blogger, a better designer, a better food photographer, in additon to a cleaner, healthier person.

So here’s to 2009, a new year where anything can happen.