So I've been back in California for roughly a month. I didn't think this would be any sort of a transition as I've lived in California for most of my life, with the exception of my 2 year adventure in Texas. However, moving - moving anywhere - is a dreadful process. And needless to say, during this process, I did not cook a whole ton. However, now that Louis and I are more settled into our new (to us) home, I've had a few opportunities to start my cooking habits up again. We're still in the process of unpacking our boxes and boxes of, ehem, crap, but the first thing we did was set up our kitchen. And having a kitchen set up, despite the boxes everywhere else, does indeed make a house feel like a home.
Since moving back I've gotten very involved in the Sustainable Seafood program our company is attempting to launch as one of our goals, including me writing a blog of our One World One Ocean webpage. You can find that link here if interested: http://www.oneworldoneocean.org/blog. That blog is completely devoted to sustainable seafood information, recipes, interviews, and news. I thought I would keep this blog in order to illustrate my personal life in the kitchen.
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| To The Arctic Irvine event, Greg, Shaun and Barbara with Sylvia Earle. |
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| To The Arctic Irvine Event: Sylvia Earle, Greg, Queen Noor, Katie, Shaun, Barbara and me. |
We had several members of our board in town for the Irvine Premiere of "To The Arctic" and so I decided (with encouragement from Barbara) to make dinner for them one evening. Since we were thinking sustainably I decided to go with some nice fresh tilapia from Whole Foods (who has completely removed all of their red-item fish from their shelves, yay!) and then compiled my menu from there. Since it was warm I chose with a nice gazpacho made with bell peppers and tomatoes, with avocado on top. I thought the tilapia would be excellent roasted with olive oil, salt and pepper and then served with a home-made chipotle aioli.
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| Gazpacho (bell peppers and tomatoes) with avocado |
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| Seasoned tilapia, roasted and served with chipotle aioli. |
For side dishes I roasted tons of vegetables including: fennel, baby carrots, leeks, onions, bell peppers, sweet potatoes and asparagus. Just a simple olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper was all they needed for seasoning. I also made up a large salad with quinoa, arugula, shaved fennel and apple with a lemon and grapefruit vinaigrette. For appetizers I aimed for my traditional dairy-free smoked salmon dip, served with bell pepper and cucumber.
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| Roasted Veggies |
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| Arugula, Quinoa, Fennel and Apple Salad |
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My mom set the tablescape beautifully and my dad prepared his usual pomegranent martini. All in all the night was a huge success and I think our board members were delighted with the fare. For myself, it just felt great being back in the kitchen, prepping and creating a meal. And with the view from my parent's house, who could blame me?
