It's Spring!

Spring marks a definite change in the way that we eat. For the last few weeks, we've been on the Spring-healthier eating which also means that we are tired when we get home and just slap some stuff together. The easiest and fastest meals appear to end up as what-can-we-slap-into-corn-tortillas tonight? Sometimes it's egg, sometimes it's leftover beef or chicken from another meal. Prepare the condiments -- minced cilantro, grated queso, diced onions, minced jalapenos (not for me obviously), fresh guacamole, homemade salsa verde, and you've got a damn fast, relatively healthy meal. And on the cheap. I really like the fish tacos that we put together this way -- substitute meat with grilled mahi mahi -- but that requires a trip to the market.

Also, I recognize Spring in the fact that J starts making lemonade. He has his own secret recipe, but he mixes it up and plops it into the fridge and then serves it with mint. We'll always have a pitcher in the fridge until Autumn.

The recent weeks have been crazy, so we ran all of our errands yesterday. Today, I am happy to stay home. Since we just recently finished the last of the homemade dumplings, we made a new batch today -- pork (yay, meat grinder), shrimp, and napa cabbage. Generally, I use an estimated 1:1:1 ratio. This was also the first time I chopped all the cabbage by hand. I'm assuming that in the past I've used the food processor, but I think that ends up making more of a mess than helping timewise. And beyond that, I think the food processor turns everything into a kind of paste.

The rough yield is about 150 dumplings or 10 servings. I swear that even though 15 dumplings per person seems like a lot, they are less filling than the frozen ones you buy at the store. I always want to give gifts of dumplings to friends (just like the spring rolls when we make those) but I never know if people will actually eat them or not. I also cleaned all the counters in the kitchen, replaced paper towels under appliances, and generally cleaned up crumbs while the rest of the dumplings are freezing on trays.

Tonight we are having quail, which will mark my first attempt at deboning them. I think I have mentioned before that Bobby Flay states that removing the ribcage from quail is pretty easy, but I think I made J suffer through it last time instead of removing it. So we will see how the minor surgery goes. The last time I tried to reference a DVD while doing something, it was deconstructing a duck while watching Julia and Jacques Cooking at Home and poring over the cookbook at the same time. Play and watch, pause, examine duck, rewind, repeat. It was not pretty. However, it was about the time that I was getting very upset that Julia stated that no one can tell if you mess up anyway! Damn, that was good timing.

My sister mentioned to me today that she's been reading my blog so, hello! Also, J bought a digicam, so perhaps you will see some pictures soon! Too bad I forgot to take pictures of the dumplings pre-preparation but maybe I will snag it so you can see the finished trays.