by Sam Tackeff | Jul 13, 2014 | Uncategorized
This weekend I…
read: “Delicious” by Ruth Reichl – or some of it. I’m actually listening (rather slowly) to the book on tape version. It’s a little frustrating when the reader of a book on tape mispronounces words related to the subject of the book. Grumble.
watched: agile programming for your family (TED talk). Agile is a workflow method commonly used by modern engineering teams – that we happen to use at RunKeeper. In this talk, Bruce Feiler shares how he’s brought the methodology home to his family. I particularly like the adoption of retrospective questions at family meeting: “what worked well, what didn’t work well, what we should work on in the week ahead”.
went to a party on a roof deck in Somerville. A vest party. In the middle of summer. I had to bring it, so I brought it in the form of a white leather metal studded vest from Forever 21. There are no pictures of me wearing this vest, but I assure you it was spectacular. Devon was my complement in a rather neon Reebok safety running vest.
ate at our favorite date-night restaurant – yep, the same place we eat every Friday night – we shared a steak with asparagus, and a lobster sandwich with paprika aioli. Our favorite waiter is heading off to Cleveland to get his graduate nursing degree, and we’re pretty bummed out about it.
ran my very first trail race! Vert Sasquatch, from the Stone Zoo out through the Fells. It was FUN! Unsure of what was in store for me, I ran part of it a little bit conservatively, and still managed to finish faster than I has assumed I would, and! managed to get in quite a few kills. Who knew that I’d like trail racing?!
and… forgot to meal plan for the week. Whoops! Let’s hope we don’t starve!
by Sam Tackeff | Feb 2, 2014 | Meal Planning, Uncategorized
This week at the office was our Hackathon at RunKeeper – two days we take a few times a year to build crazy projects outside of our normal course of work. In an incredible HGTV worthy timeline, the non-technical team “Addition by Subtraction” took second place for building this (working) bar in the back room of the office. (You read that correctly: RumKeeper.)
Week of Saturday, February 1st
Saturday: Langoustine Curry with jasmine rice. I had some leftover khao soi broth from Thai North, which I decided to fashion into something quite different for night two. Spinach salads on the side for some greenery.
Sunday: Stuffed burgers, tater tots (yes), and broccoli. I just can’t do wings, and I wasn’t going to make queso or a guacamole bar or hundreds of deviled eggs this year. But I did want to make something that would feel like “Superbowl Food”, so stuffed burgers (with blue cheese and bacon) seemed like the right way to go.
Monday: Salad with paprika and allspice chicken, chopped vegetables, mango, avocado, mint, and basil. Lime dressing. This week on Jamie’s 15 minute meals, he had a similar recipe which he called “San Fran Chicken Quinoa Salad” – I liked the flavor combination, although not quite sure what makes it “San Fran”…
Tuesday: Pasta with cauliflower, saffron, parsley, and feta. (From Deborah Madison’s Vegetable Literacy). I’ve been reading through this cookbook and everything looks good. It’s been months since we had pasta in this house, and I try to avoid it most of the time, but this recipe seemed too good to pass up – I thought it’d be a nice treat for us.
Wednesday: Braised brussels sprouts and apple, pork bratwurst. I’ve been craving sauerkraut lately (it’s always good to eat fermented foods!), and this was originally going to have sauerkraut, but I couldn’t resist brussels sprouts, and I went to the wrong store for the kraut.
Thursday: Wing it. Actually, I realized as I was typing this up that I had simply forgotten to write something down on the list, and proceeded to do my shopping neglecting this meal entirely. I’ll likely forage the freezer, but it might end up being a Whole Foods salad bar night.
Friday: Out.
–– Sam
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 15, 2013 | Uncategorized
This is what I really wanted for dinner: the Shack Burger from Shake Shack.
I’ve now been in the house since Tuesday night. I haven’t been shopping, I haven’t left for air, I’ve barely even cracked a window. And worse — I haven’t managed to make it out to Trader Joes for samples, which, I usually can muster the energy for in any situation. In fact, I haven’t been eating much at home in my sickly state, which is pretty much the opposite of my usual infirm behaviors.
Tonight I pined for Shake Shack, but it seemed much too much of an ordeal to head over there. And then there was the delivery options, or lack of them.
After ruling out Shake Shack, I started craving Chinese delivery, Americanized takeout box style – crab Rangoon and dumplings and roasted pork, and hot and sour soup and moo shi, and scallion pancakes and something sticky and sugary and meaty, which is to say, nothing like I’d actually order when I head to a Chinese restaurant – mostly I like piles of Chinese greens, soups, and things decidedly healthier than I was going for tonight.
But the options around here, are limited. The handful of places had Yelp reviews so awful that I couldn’t turn a blind eye.
And then it started getting closer and closer to the witching hour – 9:40, 9:50, 10:00 – and suddenly we’d made it past the hour of decent places, and onto the 10 thousand reviews of the place that closes at 2 am – a barely 2 star establishment on Yelp, which is to say – not quite what I had in mind.
And then the clock kept ticking, and I thought, desperately, one more time: Shake Shack? It’s not too late for Shake Shack? And then I remembered that the house was warm, and I haven’t left since Tuesday… And I might as well just go to bed. So tonight, that’s what I’m going to do.
We can’t win them all.
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 6, 2013 | Condiments, Eggs, Ingredients, Uncategorized
A friend in the gym today mentioned that her mayonnaise was breaking, and I felt for her. Truly, there’s nothing like a sauce that refuses to do what you want it to – which is almost always emulsify. I suspected that the Vitamix was the culprit here, so I mentioned my tried and true mayonnaise tool: the whir-whir! (That’s how I refer to my immersion blender. I’m fun like that.)
Here’s my usual recipe. It’s based on a dozen or more ideas for mayo that I’ve read here and there: Alice Waters, Tamar Adler, even J.Kenji Lopez-Alt, Patience Grey… everyone has a basic recipe. It’s a little un-traditional with that whole egg (read: lazy.)
Mayonnaise: It’s Easier Than You Think
When you go to your fridge and you are out of Mayonnaise, fret not. Take the little cup that comes with the immersion blender. Into it, crack a whole egg, preferably very fresh and from a reputable source, and at room temperature (having the oil and the egg at the same temperature helps promote emulsion). You aren’t cooking the egg, and a farm egg tastes so much better. Add a large spoonful of Dijon, a teaspoonful of vinegar, and lemon juice – about a half lemon’s worth. I always like Sherry vinegar, but you could use cider vinegar here, or rice wine vinegar, or maybe red wine vinegar. You could be minimal here – just the mustard and lemon juice, but I like the mix of acidity. And then you pour in your oil – between 3/4 and a cup. I try to use a fairly neutral oil. You could use half olive oil if you’d like, but full olive oil tastes incredibly olive-y and limits what you can actually do with this stuff. Here is the fun part. Stick the immersion blender in and whirr. Within about 20 seconds your mayo will come together. Usually I have to stir a little bit to get it going, but I’ll just blitz until I get to a good consistency, which for me, is slightly less firm than the store-bought stuff.
Optional twists: you could add a few cloves of finely minced or crushed garlic in here and it becomes an “aioli” of sorts. Or, you could add a handful of fresh herbs, or any variety of spice to taste.
Now that you have this stuff on your hands, here are some ideas of what to do with it:
1. Slather it on sandwiches.
2. Put a little dollop on top of eggs.
3. Serve with boiled or braised meats.
4. Place a generous spoonful on a bowl of cooked vegetables.
5. Make a raw vegetable salad with it. I like this recipe for “Coronation Cauliflower“, a raw cauliflower salad.
6. Make some home made coleslaw.
7. Slather it on grilled chicken.
8. Make seafood salad with crab, avocado, and a squeeze of lemon.
Or eat with a spoon, by itself, every time you open the fridge. Don’t be ashamed.
by Sam Tackeff | Sep 23, 2013 | Uncategorized
Today I tackled a nagging task – something that has been plaguing me for nearly a year – and I can’t tell you how much better I feel. My actions didn’t completely solve the problem, but even the small steps forward were a huge weight lifted. Maybe you have something holding you back? Something that started off as a small annoyance that you’ve left for a little too long? You don’t need anyone to give you permission to fix it – but I’ll give it to you anyway. Whatever it is, it’ll be okay. Just get yourself moving. Just take the baby step. Do it! Start!
I spent a good deal of my day in limbo – that first baby step turned out to be slightly more complicated than I’d have hoped. While waiting, I visited my mom’s preschool class, and had lunch with the kiddos.
First we had “lunch” in the playground sandpit, where I was surrounded by a group of eager children scooping sand by the spoonful into my bowl. “It’s chili!” I started off. “What are you putting in it?”. The great thing about imaginary chili is that you can spend minutes at a time naming off ingredients for them to add. “Do you like avocados?” (Mixed reviews). “Where’s the cheese?!” I’d ask, as someone eagerly dumped more sand into my bowl. The older ones would start rattling off ingredients of their own. “Chile Peppers!” “Red or Green?”. And then eventually we all broke out giggling when someone threw in a handful of “chocolate chips”. At that point we decided that it was actually imaginary oatmeal, but before we could get really started, it was time to head inside.
Later, at lunch, I had a two year old in a spider man outfit repeatedly lick me, and a four year old ask if I’d like to see his butt. I opened up gogurt, and apple carrot pouches, encouraged a few more bites of sandwich, and then confused several of them when I admitted that I don’t like raisins. Preschoolers are rad, and a good time was had by all. Sometimes I’m pretty sure that I relate better with certain four year olds than I do adults.
After work, my mom and I headed over to the Juicery to grab a pick me up – it’s a local spot owned by the older brother of a kid I went to elementary school with. Technically I went to school with him too, but he was definitely “a big brother”, and I still see him that way. It’s good to see that business is doing well, and that the juice, as always, is delicious.
The Juicery
Juicery.com
51 Hanover St Portsmouth, NH 03801
(603) 431-0693
by Sam Tackeff | Nov 11, 2012 | Uncategorized
Despite my best intentions, I didn’t get to CrossFit until the very end of the week. I was hoping to make it to the 9 a.m. class, but was thwarted by the Newton Chilly Half – I couldn’t find a way to get around the runners!
Instead of getting to class at 9:20, and being forced to do lots of burpees, I headed over to the Charles River Center, strapped on my Garmin, turned on my RunKeeper, Pandora, and set about trying to beat my 5k time from 8 weeks ago. I’ve been exhausted for the past 7 days straight, but I still managed to pull out a 31:40 run, which was an improvement on the same course!
After my run, I headed over to the gym to get some strength training in. Things were quiet because most people were watching gym-mates compete at the Garage Games Finals at Crossfit Southie. I went for one of the workouts I missed this week:
Skill: Power Clean & Push Jerk – worked to 2 reps @75#
WOD: “Max”
12-9-6 reps of:
Power Snatch (115/80)
Thruster (115/80)
Although the prescribed weight for women is 80, I went with 55, and it nearly killed me. My Snatch form is horrific, and I spent the whole time just muscling up the weight. (For non-gym folks, this means that instead of using intelligent form and force, I slowly pulled the entire weight and tried to push it with no momentum over my head. Ouch.) After watching me suffer for the 20:21 it took me to get through this, Coach D-Payne was super kind to help me out on technique. Keep the bar close! Drive those hips! DROP INTO A SQUAT! After some serious practice, watching video of myself on Coach’s Eye, and much appreciated patience, my form was significantly improved.
When I got home, I made myself a banana pancake with almond butter and maple syrup, a cup of coffee, and read a few chapters of Shucked, which I’m very much enjoying.
I had a significant amount of work to do today, but maximized my productivity by batch cooking for the week. I started out by roasting carrots with olive oil, salt and cumin.
Then I chopped up two heads of cauliflower, and steamed them with a half dozen cloves of garlic for a half hour until tender. I then drained the pot, added salt, pepper, and a generous spoonful of schmaltz (chicken fat!) and pureed it with my immersion blender. I transferred it to a pyrex and put it in the fridge. The “Mashed Faux-tatoes” will last me several days, and reheats well.
I also roasted some delicata squash with salt, pepper, and coconut oil.
And fried a few fresh sausages for my lunches. One’s a fresh pepperoni, and the other is hunter’s sausage with bacon, both from M.F. Dulock.
For dinner, I fried up some pork chops, served them with some of the mashed cauliflower, and a side of collard greens cooked with bacon and cider vinegar.
Now if I could only get some rest before this long week ahead of me! Happy cooking!
