Return of the camera phone

Last night's dinner was...uninspired.  To show you my level of blah, I took all dinner pictures with a camera phone.

Yup.

No, that's not the reason.  I sometimes like to write my posts at my office (during my lunch hour!...usually...) because, it helps me work better.  Yes, I can hear you laughing--but I'm serious!  I would say that at least 90% of my daily work tasks are writing or writing-related (editing, researching, correspondence), and much of that is pretty dry stuff--reports, letters, more reports.  Having a creative outlet, another type of writing to open up the more creative side of my brain while I'm at work, really does help me bridge the gap and bring that creative spark to my professional writing.  And, really, doesn't the act of writing help you to become a better writer?  Plus, on this ol' thing I don't really have to edit myself much--I can rant, rave, experiment, stream and ramble on, and publish without worrying about fact-checking or grammar or anything.  It's freeing, and as a writing exercise it helps.

Or so I tell myself.

Anyway, i left my camera on my desk last night, so the craptastic camera phone was all I had last night.  But, it's ok, because the level of effort it puts out about equals the level of effort I put out last night, also known as not much.  See, last night was my first "boot-camp" style workout in over a week, and really, I've been slacking for a few weeks at the gym, so I knew I wasn't going to be much in the mood (or have the time, patience, energy, etc) to cook a huge-ass feast when I got home.  Last week, I sliced up a couple of Ribeye steaks and froze them in a Korean BBQ marinade I tore out of Bon Appetit a while back. Or I think it was Bon Appetit, but I can't find the recipe on Epicurious.com, so who knows.

Meat. 

Basically, it was a simple marinade--in a blender, combine a few oz of water, 6 Tbsp soy sauce (I subbed in some fish sauce too), ginger, garlic, sesame oil, sugar (I think) and a bunch of sesame seeds. Marinate the steak, then grill and serve.  Since I needed to either use or freeze the steaks last week, I made the game-time decision to freeze them in the marinade, then cook them up when ready.

It really worked like a charm.  The marinade went deeeeeeeep into the meat--so be sure before you try this method that you really want to taste marinade in front. I took out the bag mid-afternoon, and it was mostly thawed and ready when I got home.

Yeah, camera phone.  Way to focus on the shadow!  

To go alongside, I made a quick brown rice pilaf--sauteed some garlic and onion in a pan, toasted the rice and some sesame seeds, then added the water and about 1/4 cup of the marinade and cooked as usual.  (Side note--I'm really getting into using rice more. I never used to cook with it, because I had the constant problem of white rice turning out all gummy and sticky, and I couldn't figure out how to change it.  But brown rice has changed my life--it cooks up nice and nutty with distinct grains, and i think it's much more forgiving--no need to rinse first or delicately handle--I don't do delicate.  It's my style of rice.)  I'm liking this easy pilaf method of sauteing some flavorfuls or veggies, toasting the rice and any spices, and using something saucy in addition to water/stock.  Easy, healthy, good.  Some steamed (read: microwaved) green beans finished 'er up.  I know, I know, you can do so much more with green beans--and they practically beg for sesames--but I just didn't.

So, not the most inspired of my cooking days...but this was actually really, really good.  I'm going to have to freeze in marinades more often....like....FAJITAS.