a drop of water

In light of the ongoing financial crisis and economic mood, there seems to be a growing number of people  re-evaluating gift giving, i.e. the site: No Christmas Gifts This Year.  Gift giving is a lot of things for different people.  It can be a burden when you have no idea what to get your distant cousin.  It can be an expression of love for your significant other.  It can be a responsibility to meet the expectation of your child.  It can be an attempt to “keep up with the Jones” in the expense and magnitude of your generosity.  For me, I’ve been rethinking the pragmatism of gift giving.

I think the challenge this year for me is to give sustainable gifts that keep on giving.  I want to give a gift that just isn’t the proverbial fish, but teaches how to catch fish.  On NPR last weekend, a point was made by Chef Jamie Oliver, (most known for campaigning against processed foods in British Schools) that people [Americans] today are lacking when it comes to making tasty, lasting, nutritional meals at home on a budget and with what ever is available locally and seasonally.  He believes that most people today who are used to going out to eat for a good meal, lack knowledge of substitutions, have very little creativity when it comes to deciding what to make based on what is in their pantry, and have very little understanding of what is in season and what is out of season.  The importance of these skills and knowledge is even more important in light of the current economic atmosphere.

So maybe giving a cookbook to a loved one would be something along these lines, to get them started.  But don’t stop there.  Combine your gift of a cookbook with some IOU gifts of time to choose and prepare a recipe together.  Sharing a meal always provides the ground for deepening frienships, but preparing a meal together catalyzes the process.

I do not own these two books, but received recommendations for them, so for what its worth, here is something to get you started:

1. How to Cook Everything – [$18.10] (After $5 Rebate on Amazon.com)
2. The Splendid Table’s How to Eat Supper – [$23.10] (Amazon.com)

You can also check out some of the cooking adventures of a future trophy husband at my friends blog.

1. Rub salt and pepper into both sides of fresh salmon.

2. Bake salmon at 450 for 12 minutes.

3. Squeeze lemon juice on top of salmon.

4. Stir fry minced garlic, bell peppers, broccoli with dashi and a little rice wine.

Our new Lodge Enameled Cast-Iron 6 Quart, Carribean Blue Dutch Oven arrived today!  It’s supposed to be equal to its $250 dollar Le Creuset counter parts in quality but at a fraction of the cost.  It’s certainly of equal weight.  We tested it out first thing with a yummy hot pot meal!

I discovered this past weekend that bruschetta topping on mushroom omelets is super good.  The hashbrowns come frozen from Trader Joe’s and are easy to pan fry with a little olive oil.  Blueberries are from Costco.  Sliced mushrooms and diced purple onions were sauteed in a red wine with a little salt until all the liquid evaporated.  Whipped eggs were cooked in a wok.  Added just a bit of vanilla soy milk to the eggs for a unique flavor and slightly different consistency.  Cooked it about half way, poured in half of the mushroom / onions and folded the egg pancake over on itself to finish cooking on low heat.  The outside of the eggs were lightly browned.  Sprinkled some grated mozarella cheese on top and then some left over bruschetta that Jenn and Cristina had made from Saturday.  Sliced up some avocado to put ontop (so that the avocado is not too warm), put the left over mushrooms and onions on the side and voila, bruschetta mushroom omelets.