Garlic Parmesan Popovers

This has not turned out to be the weekend I thought it would be. My beloved kitten, Huxley, had jumped off the bed and hit his back paw wrong and then refused to walk. He's had little sprains like this before but as he's getting up there (9! Yikes) I figured we should rule out anything bad. So that night it was off to the vet.

$528 later they had ruled out any diabetes, kidney, liver, worms, ticks/fleas, upper respiratory, hydration problems and most importantly, paw issues (not even a sprain, better than I expected). Which was a relief. And the vet was amazing. I was also in and out in less than an hour, which helped stress levels for both myself and the Hux. My goodness though... I was not expecting that kind of bill. But this is what savings is for, right? And so, for the next 2 months I'm pretty much broke. Which pretty much put my weekend plans on immediate hold.

Dry Sauteed String Beans

When I first moved to New York, take out was a new and exciting experience. In Dallas we'd get pizza delivered... and that's about it. So coming to a city where I could get everything from Cuban to Malaysian to Salvadorian and at any time of the day... well it was just a tad overwhelming. Thanks to chowhound, menupages, yelp, etc I found some must haves, one of my favorites being Dry Sauteed String Beans at Grand Sichuan.

The beans are nicely blistered, but not burned and the pork adds some nice fatty deliciousness and also picks up the sugar, soy and of course the spice from the chilies. Over some brown rice all the textures work perfectly and even though I wouldn't call it the healthiest meal, it's fairly balanced. And it's a dish I crave over and over, throughout the seven years I've lived here. And even though I've now moved back into delivery range for Grand Sichuan, why not try to recreate this at home?

Chicken Cacciatore

Honey Soy Ginger Shrimp Stir Fry

Well I've got a few recipes I need to type up and get out there but I figured I'd start with this one first because it was pretty delicious, fast and made somewhat on the fly. Exactly what you want for a busy weeknight. I had gotten into my head that I wanted to do a miso glazed cod (a la Nobu), but that needed a while to marinate so while I was at the fish counter I grabbed some shrimp that I could do a quick, Asian-flavored marinade with some fresh ginger and honey.

Having also ended last weekend at a friends' BBQ where the hosts had made some pretty delicious coconut rice with golden raisins, I was determined to recreate as I couldn't get enough. If you remember, I'm quite fond of coconut rice... and was able to find some 5.5 oz. cans of coconut milk from Thai Kitchen which is pretty much the perfect size to get some great coconut flavor with only a touch of the fat. I topped off the rice cooker with some fresh kale leaves to steam (my new favorite dinner trick) and stir fried the shrimp with some shitakes. Balanced, delicious, easy and pescatarian.