More eggs. And paneer.

I had some leftover paneer, half an onion and some potatoes lying around. Time for a fry up!

Boil the potatoes in small chunks until soft, drain.
Slice onions into thin slices, throw into frying pan on medium heat with some veggie oil. Stir.
Add potatoes. Stir.
Add 1/2 teaspoons of coriander seed, cumin and turmeric. Stir.
When onions are almost cooked, throw in cubed paneer and stir until either warmed through or slightly brown and crisp on the outside.
Remove potato mixture, crack on egg into the pan and attempt to do an over-easy egg. This doesn't always work well for me, so I'll take what I can get.

So glad that last essay is over. So glad, in fact, that I'm using some of the notes to protect my keyboard from splatter while eating at the computer. I'm not a *huge slob, but stuff falls off of forks occasionally. It's interesting that everything that was white when the cooking started, ended up being yellow, predominately due to the turmeric. Eggs just do that on their own.
It's also interesting to note that most of my posts are well after the midnight mark. Might have to do something about that along the way.

"It's a good thing."

 I'm done my first year. I am so tired. Slightly dead.

To celebrate, we had a pot luck party on Friday to pre-celebrate the end of the year. Most people were planning on bringing beer and chips, but since I had the day off ahead of the party, I made apple cupcakes! This recipe is from Martha Stewart's website, the buttercream I used is a homegrown recipe of butter, vanilla and icing sugar.

Apple cupcakes topped with a generous amount of brown-sugar buttercream make an appealing finale. If desired, top with tinted fondant leaves.

• Yield Makes 2 Dozen

Ingredients

• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking soda
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter softened
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 4 cups coarsely shredded apples such as Macintosh (about 1 3/4 pounds)

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 standard muffin tins with paper liners; set aside. Whisk together flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a medium bowl; set aside.
2. Put butter and sugar into the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; mix on medium-high speed until pale and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Mix in eggs and vanilla. Reduce speed to low; mix in apples. Add flour mixture; mix, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, until just combined.
3. Divide batter among lined cups, filling halfway; bake until tops are springy to the touch, 18 to 20 minutes. Remove cupcakes from tins; transfer to a wire rack; let cool completely.
4. For fondant leaves: To tint the fondant the desired color, use a toothpick to dab on food coloring, and then knead it in with your hands. Roll out the fondant to 1/4 inch thick, and dust with confectioners' sugar to prevent sticking. Cut out shapes with a 2-inch leaf-shaped cutter. Gently press the backside of a knife down the center of each leaf to create a vein. Bend leaves slightly and place in an empty egg carton to shape. Let the leaves dry overnight. For 24 cupcakes, you will need 1 pound of fondant. If you're like me, you'll ignore this step and just top the cupcakes with buttercream.

A few things.. mostly school

So... tired... more papers... to.. write.
The end is near. Or at least it better be if I plan to survive my first year of grad school.

On the food front. We went to One of  a Kind again! The spring show was last weekend, and my roommate and I loaded up of food, more so then any other year.

Me:
Asiago and garlic shortbread cookies by Coach House
Maple fudge by Bruce County Nut and Fudge Co.
Olive Hummus and herbed pita chips by Sun Sweet Catering
Salmon pate (sooooooooooooo good) by The Fishery

Her:
Garlic spread, also by Sun Sweet Catering. They do great stuff, 8 different kinds of hummus too.
Salmon pate, see above.
Hot pepper oil (which is actualy hot in Carribean standards) by the Wicked Gourmet
Mango salsa by I'll have to get to you on that one... sorry!

The lovely ladies from Bbj were there this year too! Got myself a lovely Greta Garbo magnet, one of Audrey Hepburn and my roommate got a unicorn dancing on a rainbow that says 'Super Gay!' It's pretty fabulous. I bought a beautiful screen print of antique cameras, and when I'm back at home with the thing in front of me, I'll tell you who made it. Sometime the OofaK website isn't as helpful as it needs to be.

I also pass by this booth every year, and have had to stop myself from buying her stuff recently. I have 4-5 books already that have nothing in them, so until I start writing in them, I can't buy anymore. We'll see how long that lasts. I have two plans for books that I already have of hers.
Plan a) a food journal. I eat fairly well health wise, but my portion control has never been good. Maybe the tedium of writing it all down might aid me in keeping track and realizing how much I put back.

Plan b), and very much actually going to happen is my journal for Paris. We are required to produce a journal of the happenings and trips we take on the Paris course, and for the rough notes I carry around with me, I'm thinking one of her journals would be perfect! They're spiral bound so I can roll them over to be just one side and are compact enough to be light in the purse, in which space will fast become a premium. I have one that's title is "Mutiny in the Bay." Seems perfect.

Speaking of Paris: 28 days to go!

On a separate note, April is National Grilled Cheese Month... sure, whatever, works for me! Need to get some stuff to celebrate with!