decision making...

I'm not particularly good at it.  Therefore, there will probably be a couple of cross-posts before I decide whether or not to cut off the knitting from the rest of the randomness of my life.  As the family has moved closer, it may not be as much as an issue that I don't maintain a journal type blog.

I walked home today after I missed the bus.  I'm going to count that as exercize.  It took about 30 minutes, walking through the grass and whatnot, as the crow flies.  I'm going to be sore tomorrow.  But it's good to know how long it is from here to campus.

The recipes for this week are Smitten Kitten's 44 clove garlic soup, and some Salmon thing that I found in my brandy new Kitchen Aid cookbook.

A recounting of last week:
No more exercize happened.  Got extremely busy. 
However!  The meals were quite tastey.  No pictures were taken because it was not particularly appetizing.

The recipies are as follows -

Spicy lime shrimp.  This was based on a Paula Dean recipe for shrimp kabobs, but I decided that wouldn't cook the shrimp right.
Two pounds shrimp.  The 'local' grocery carries a store brand shrimp that is shockingly high quality for frozen.  Actually tastes like shrimp.  I get this when it's on sale.  It's deviened, which makes taking off the shell real easy when it's defrosted.
Veggies:  mushrooms, zucchini, bell peppers
four or five key limes
smudge of chipotle.  I used maybe a teaspoon, because I was afriad of it being too hot, but I could barely taste it.  Next time I'll probably use a bit more, and throw in some red pepper flakes (but not very much)
little bit of olive oil, and probably some salt and pepper to taste

Based on the internets, I marinaded the veggies for about an hour in the lime juice, spices and oil.  I put the shrimp in for no more than ten minutes.  Apparently high acid marinades kind of cook fish, and so they'll get mushy if you marinade them too long.  This makes sense to me.
I pulled the veggies out, then threw the rest of the shrimp in.  Next time, I wouldn't put any of the marinade in (maybe make a sauce out of it, after boiling it, of course), because nothing browned.  And while my mushrooms were perfect, I think the zucchini was probably over cooked.  Still, it was quite good.  A-

Winter Squash and Cauliflower soup from Vegan Gourmet (book)
1.5 lbs Winter Squash.  I used a small acorn squash
2 cups of Cauliflower.  I used a whole head.  This was way too much.  Luckily, this was M's favorite part.
pasta.  I don't remember how much.  I just threw in an arbitrary amount.  Use something like small shells
broth.  They probably said around 4 cups, vegetable obviously.  I used a 2 c bullion cube, chicken.  and a bunch of water, probably more than 2 cups
"1 can" of WHOLE tomatoes.  I heartily disagree with this.  Who can eat a whole stewed tomato?  I got one can of whole tomatoes, but when I threw it in there I realized their 1 can mean 1 GIANT can, and I threw in one of my reserve chopped tomato cans.  Much better.  Next time chopped tomatos all the way.
1/3 Marsala.  This is WINE.  I know this, but for some reason I always want it to be something else.  Anyway, I found it at the liquor store where I talked to the nice man about Martini and Rossi Rosato and acorn liquer. 
Chili pepper flakes.  I don't know how much they called for.  I used a couple of shakes.  It was actually a little spicey to me, but M didn't mind.  This is odd on both counts.
Rosemary, salt and pepper to taste

The recipie said to saute it and stuff.  I'm not going to peel squash.  So I roasted everything, tossed in oil with the rosemary and salt/pepper.  Next time, I would use less cauliflower (in an ideal world, though I probably won't since M liked it so much) and probably start the squash about 20 minutes before the cauliflower.  It was a little bit difficult to scoop out of the skin.  Since the squash is so cooked, it shouldn't be added until right before serving.  Cook the pasta in the broth with the tomatoes, wine and chili flakes, adding the cauliflower (I think this is probably somewhat more resiliant than the squash) about 5 minutes, then the squash.  The squash adds a nice sweet counterpart to the spicy tartness of the broth.  This does not refridgerate well (the pasta absorbs all the water, and the squash kind of dissolved).  Easy A.