linguine with white clam sauce

...or if we're being precise, that's thin wheat spaghetti in the picture. thin wheat spaghetti with white clam sauce doesn't quite have the same ring nor did it have the same taste or texture or joyousness.

it was all i could find in the pantry though.

i must try to be better prepared in the future.

i've gotten quite good at guessing which foods the geek will and will not like and i was quite certain this dish would fall on the dislike list. even the geek agreed with this prediction.

we were both surprised and amazed when he ended up eating an entire serving. i was shocked when he said he really liked it.

i'm still not sure how he came to eat a bowl of this in the first place. he must have been feeling adventurous - or really, really hungry. either way, it's now one of our go-to dinners.

second time's the charm oatmeal

the first time i tried this oatmeal it was meh. in all fairness, i did not do the recipe justice.

for one thing, i didn't realize we were out of real maple syrup. we only had sugar-free maple-ish syrup that the geek accidentally bought a while back.

it also didn't help that the only berries we had on hand were fresh strawberries. when baked, they kind of just dissolved into flavorless mush. (sorry strawberries, i really didn't set you up for success here).

the meh-ness was my bad. i should have planned better, so with a big bag of rolled oats still in the pantry, i vowed to give the recipe another shot.

the second time i made this oatmeal, i planned ahead. real maple syrup? check! berries that bake well? check!

and you know what? it was delicious!

the bigger surprise? the geek loved it.

he loved it so much that it is now on the short list of foods that he actually requests.

he loved it so much that he's looking forward to eating it tomorrow...even though the forecast says it will be in the 80s and we're sitting here with all the windows open and the fans blowing. (north carolina, i miss you and the air conditioning we had in our home there).

once the weather begins to cool, i bet he'll fall even deeper in love with this oatmeal.

my favorite sweet and savory snack (hearty bread + fig jam + beecher's cheese)

this is more of a recommendation than an actual recipe.

get a slice of hearty bread and toast it.

generously spread some fig jam on your toasty bread.

now top it with shaved beecher's flagship cheese and enjoy!

can't find beecher's in your local market? substitute goat cheese, blue cheese, white cheddar, or manchego.

marionberry chip royale ice cream

when it comes to ice cream, the geek and i agree to disagree. we usually buy his and hers cartons of ice cream because we like different things. he'll go for the gallon of cookie dough or mint chocolate chip; i'll pick the pint of some limited edition or seasonal concoction (haagen daz, please bring back the reserve hawaiian lehua honey & sweet cream. thank you).

a couple years ago, we found an ice cream we both loved- raspberry chip royale from dreyers/edys. we both thought the combination of sweet cream, tart berry, and chocolate chips was magical. unfortunately, we must have been the only ones in love with the flavor, because it's no longer available- at least not in our stores.

harvard beets

ever heard of harvard beets? i hadn't until i looked online for sam choy's garlic mashed potatoes recipe and saw them as part of the same menu.

depending on the website, these were either named for the university or a tavern called the 'harwood' that was pronounced with a russian accent.

these would probably look a bit more cambridge-like if i had used red instead of golden beets.

but i didn't.

for any university with gold as a color- this one is for you.

these are deliciously tangy and sweet and make for a very lively side dish.

sloppy joes

this is how the geek eats his sloppy joes. he's quite neat about it. i, on the other hand, like to eat them as open-faced piles of sloppy goodness.

i first made these for the geek back when we were dating. yes, i know- this is probably the most unromantic thing to make someone. it's messy and not at all sophisticated. elementary school cafeteria lunch anyone? it's probably the equivalent of showing up for a date wearing sweatpants and an old t-shirt - totally not fashionable, but oh so comfortable.

but the geek is a man of simple tastes. up until these, he thought sloppy joe filling only came in a can. so upon his first bite, he was impressed. he loved it!

he still requests this on a regular basis and he's even learned to make it himself.

and despite my earlier elementary school lunch comment, i love these too. it's saucy, satisfying tastiness on a bun.

blueberry mochi

have you ever experienced a recollection where you aren't quiet sure if what you're remembering actually happened or if your mind is playing tricks on you? where you know many of the details are true because you're remembering something that was once your normal, even if your actual memory of that specific moment is hazy?

i am probably being a bit confusing, so let me explain.

while sorting through old recipe cards, i had one of those moments. i found a recipe for blueberry mochi, written in my handwriting- or in my handwriting of ten or fifteen years ago. i knew i'd never made this recipe, but i did have a memory of copying it down.

my family and i are at my grandmother's house for a visit. as always, she's brought out an assortment of canned beverages and cups on a small circular wood tray. i split a can of something with one of my parents and settle in for our visit. on these visits with my grandmother, we'll have our drinks, watch some tv (usually the gameshow network), then head home. if my grandmother attended a recent church function, she'll bring out an mix of desserts and point out which ones were good or not so good. apparently every function at her church ended with lots of extra desserts, and everyone went home with a sample of leftovers.

on this occasion, she brings out a recipe. while i can't remember what it was written on, i can still hear her telling me, "write this down. oishii."

oishii means 'delicious' in japanese. from my stoic grandmother, this is high praise. unfortunately, i remember feeling lazy, not wanting to hand-copy a recipe, and saying something like, "nah, that's okay."

apparently this recipe is really delicious, because she insists, "no, this is good."

my dad steps in and tells me to copy it, so i do. not because i really want a blueberry mochi recipe, but because my grandmother and now my father are telling me to.

now i am glad that i did since my grandmother was right, it is good. she passed away two years ago, and it's been even longer since she was well enough to live unassisted and go to church functions. finding this recipe card brought back happy memories. while i'm not sure if the details are completely accurate, the wood tray of drinks and cups, eating church function left-over desserts, and watching the gameshow network were all part of our regular visits that i'd almost forgotten.

for anyone not familiar with mochi, it's traditionally made by pounding cooked sweet rice until individual grains have broken down and reformed into a chewy blob of slightly sweet goodness. this recipe modernizes the idea, creating what can best be described as a blueberry cake with the chewiness of mochi. it uses sweet rice flour, or mochiko, so no pounding is required.

garlic mashed potatoes

the geek and his mother both have a story about mashed potatoes. he laughs when he tells it; she rolls her eyes with mock indignance when she tells it. i like to think of myself as an unbiased party when it comes to telling this story...

once upon a time, there was a little geek. occasionally, his mother would serve mashed potatoes as part of their the family meals. now, the little geek did not care for mashed potatoes. to him, it tasted like mashed goo. he tolerated it, shoveled it in and washed it down with milk, but he really, really, most definitely did not like it.

this went on for years, until one day, teenager geek took a bite of mashed potatoes and had an epiphany! this bite of mashed potatoes was delicious! maybe he did like mashed potatoes after all!

"wow," he exclaimed to his mother, "did you do something different with the potatoes because they're really good!"

to this she replied, "this is the first time i made mashed potatoes FROM A BOX."

to this day, the geek prefers his mashed potatoes from a box. in fact, the first time i made this recipe, he was so apprehensive about 'real' mashed potatoes that we bought a box to have on hand just in case.

luckily he liked it enough that we did not have to break open the box. it's in our pantry waiting to save the day if the next starch experiment fails because he still insists that the box is the best.

turkey meatballs

this recipe has three winning characteristics. first, it's super simple. second, it uses ingredients we usually have on hand. third, it's delicious (even mr. picky-pants himself is a fan). it's flavorful and a lot lighter than it's beefy counterpart. oh and bonus- it freezes really well.

we usually have these as 'grinders,' sandwiches with saucy meatballs, crusty bread, and a bit of provolone or mozzarella. these are also fantastic with pasta and sauce. add a simple side salad, and you've got yourself a balanced meal. if you'd rather have a side of fries or chips, i won't judge.

my poor baking pan. it's a trooper that has seen better days.

hot chocolate ice cream

over the holidays, we went to visit the geek's family on the east coast. i came home with a large canister of hot chocolate mix in my suitcase.

the geek's grandmother originally received it as a gift. she wasn't sure what to do with so much hot chocolate mix so she gave it to the geek's mom. his grandma just brought it over one day, she didn't try to regift it, in case you're wondering. well the geek's mom offered it to me, and though it weighed a ton, who was i to turn down free chocolate in any form?

so here i am, the third owner this large canister has seen. i am determined to be it's last owner and to put it to good use.

while i could just add a scoop to my morning coffee or declare hot cocoa the official drink of our household, i wanted to do something different. like a hopeful matchmaker, i have been pairing hot chocolate with other desserts in my mind for a while...hot cocoa panna cotta? the texture of panna cotta kinda weirds the geek out. hot chocolate cream pie? the geek is not a fan of pie crust. just as i was about to resign myself to a mug of cocoa with every meal, i remembered a seasonal ice cream i had last winter. hot chocolate ice cream. the geek loves ice cream. we have a winner.

an added bonus- i can check something off my 2013 list of things to do! yay!

cinnamon & brown sugar cream cheese frosting

these cupcakes turned out okay. while i loved the frosting, the banana cupcakes turned out more like banana muffins or banana bread bites. the muffins were delicious and if i were trying to make banana muffins, i would be quite pleased with how these tasted.

but i was trying to make cupcakes. cups of cake. not cups of bread. cupcakes!!!

okay, enough of the sugar tantrum. off to hunt for the perfect banana cupcake recipe.

in the meantime, please enjoy this frosting recipe. it works well on banana muffins and sandwiched between two gingersnaps. it would also be lovely on banana cupcakes, a spice cake, a yellow cake or if you're the geek, a spoon.

simple sugar snap peas on an otherwise crazy day

i wish i could say that i went out to the garden and spent the afternoon picking a basket full of sugar snap peas for dinner. i wish i could say that i lovingly selected only the most perfect ones and then carefully removed the ends and strings. i wish i could say that i expertly prepared the sugar snap peas simultaneously with the beef wellington all while a homemade dessert chilled in the refrigerator.

i wish i could say all of that, but i can't.

what i can say is that we do not have a garden. i can also say that i spent my day trying to get actual work done between conference calls. i can say that we did indeed have sugar snap peas but they came pre-washed and trimmed in a bag from the grocery store. i haphazardly prepared them while simultaneously defrosting the shoyu chicken, letting the dog out, and sorting the mail. i remembered to make the rice to go with our meal ahead of time, so i count that as a success. as the geek ate his sugar snap peas, he declared the dish 'not offensive'- which from him is high praise when it comes to vegetables.

as for dessert, i think there's ice cream in the freezer.

don't mind the protective layer of ice, i hear it seals in the flavor.

fruit dip

have you ever had a sound or a smell evoke memories from your past? maybe you're driving along and a song comes on the radio, and just like that, you're back in college or high school or summer camp. or you smell  something familiar baking and you're suddenly back in your childhood kitchen.

me? when i hear smashmouth's all-star, i'm instantly happy. i'm back on a roadtrip with friends and find myself singing loudly and badly - just as i did years ago when it played almost hourly on the radio. cool water? one sniff and i'm once again in middle school. i swear, so many boys wore it that you could probably smell our campus from a mile away.

the taste of this dip has an effect on me too. it transports me back to the 80s, where i'm still a kid, cartoons are my world, and apples and dip are the best treat ever.

while i associate this dip with the 80s, who knows when this dip was actually invented? it has only two ingredients - cream cheese and mashmallow fluff - and both have been around for ages (the newer of the two being the fluff which made it's appearance in the early 1900s...thank you wikipedia).

the nostalgic part of me probably loves this dip for what it represents...simpler times and a higher metabolism.

hot artichoke dip

this dip is so simple to make and it tastes amazing. considering that it has only 4 ingredients, it has the highest compliments to ingredients ratio of anything in my recipe box.

i've seen variations of this recipe on the web. this one has garlic, others don't. some add cream cheese or sour cream, this one doesn't. to me, it's perfect just the way it is. but, i could be biased. this version was the first artichoke dip i tried, thanks to a college friend who brought it to a potluck.

shoyu chicken

shoyu is japanese for soy sauce.

growing up in hawaii, shoyu was right up there with ketchup when it came to our tabletop condiments. it was also a common cooking ingredient and my family had both a tabletop bottle and a gallon size bottle to serve each purpose.

i love shoyu. it's salty, it's tasty, it's probably the only reason i liked eating tofu as a child. (tofu, the perfect vehicle for shoyu!)

sadly, the geek does not love shoyu. in fact, he does not like it. he'll go for the miso ramen over the shoyu ramen because he 'really doesn't like that flavor.' when eating a piece sushi off my plate, he won't dip it in shoyu voluntarily.

so imagine my surprise when he hesitantly tried shoyu chicken for the first time and realized he really, really liked it. when shoyu is combined with mirin, brown sugar, garlic and ginger alchemy occurs and the result is a delicious flavor the geek loves.

it's now become one of his favorite meals!

the geek's favorite chili

the other day, i mistakenly opened a can of kidney beans. i mistook them for black beans as i foraged through our pantry. not wanting to waste them, i put them in the fridge and declared the next day a chili day.

for the geek, chili day is a great day. chili is one of his favorite meals and the leftovers taste great the next day.

simple chicken quesadillas

quesadillas make for a quick and easy meal. while these are in no way authentic, they are quite tasty and satisfying. this is more of a suggestion than an actual recipe, so use what you have on hand and enjoy!

serve these as appetizers or as a meal.

five-spice braised short ribs with rice

five-spice has a very distinct flavor. with it's combination of cloves, star anise, cinnamon, fennel, and pepper, it is hard to describe with words.

in fact, i didn't even attempt to describe it to the geek. five-spice is the star ingredient of these luscious ribs, so i just served him some ribs with a big scoop of sticky rice and left them alone to get acquainted.

i think the meeting was a success...kind of. while the geek still cannot identify which part of the overall flavor can be attributed to the five-spice powder, he declares these ribs "very tasty, tender, fall off the bone" and says he "rejoices" whenever we have them for dinner.

roasted shrimp cocktail

shrimp cocktail is one of the simplest appetizers to make. cook some shrimp, pour some cocktail sauce and you're ready to serve!

many recipes call for simmering the shrimp in seasoned water; however, roasting is a simple and tasty alternative.

these shrimp are delicious served warm or cool. the geek eats them without cocktail sauce.

more than anything, these are basic guidelines. the amounts are just suggestions and can be altered to your taste.

black bean and corn salad

the geek's father was born on december 24. this makes for a doubly festive christmas eve/birthday dinner! for his birthday dinner request, the geek's dad usually goes with either spaghetti & meatballs or enchilladas.

during one enchillada year, i wanted to bring a salady type side to the dinner. a black bean and corn salad sounded like the perfect compliment... a cool and fresh contrast to the warm, saucy goodness of the enchilladas.