April 17th, 2011

Seed Starter Kit

I picked up some seeds last week and finally got the energy together to get them growing in this ready made seed starter. I'll be sowing snapdragons, xxx and xxx indoors, to be transplanted outside at the beginning of June.

April 15th, 2011

Explanted Total Hip Replacement ready to be sterilized and cleaned for analysis

A little gory, I know. But this is what I face at work every week. It gets soaked in ethanol, then all cleaned up.

This particular implant is a total hip replacement with a conventional polyethylene liner, that has some clear backside wear. This was a fresh arrival, so its a little bloodier than I usually receive. I thought it make for a dramatic image, however.

April 13th, 2011

Asparagus, Pea and Caramelized Leek Salad

Another spring-inspired dish, this time from the new cookbook I picked up "Power Foods", distributed by Real Simple. It's filled with delicious, mainly vegetarian dishes that are high in nutrients.

This salad used a couple pounds of asparagus, fresh peas, caramelized leeks. It took me several stages to put together, but the end results was a fresh, lemony dish.

April 12th, 2011

Logging after the gym

Damn you flickr. I wrote so much. Damn you.

April 11th, 2011

Il Pasticiotto
Torretta's Bakery
Revere, MA

I am still quite obsessed with Torretta's Bakery. Quite convinced that anything and everything created in the shop is going to meet and exceed every expectation of food that I've ever had.

I decide to try the pasticiotto this week. It was delicious, mind you, but a little less glamorous than some of the other pastries. I believe it was cherry in there with the sweet cheese. I also snacked on a slice of the Sicilian pizza. Wow. I really am not one of those pizza-loving folks. I find it heavy and have a general dislike of cooked tomatoes - i.e. tomato sauce. But this squared-sliced, fresh-baked pizza really hit the spot.

Truly, they can't do anything wrong there.

April 9th, 2011

Snap pea, goat cheese and leek shredded pasta

I'm kicking off my spring meals with some green-inspired dishes. Dinner consisted of shredded sprouted-grain lasagna sheets tossed with fresh, steamed snap peas, fresh parsley, sauteed baby bok choy, sauteed shallots and goat cheese.

April 3rd, 2011

Strawberries

Homemade Strawberry Syrup

Homemade Strawberry Syrup

My favorite place for recipes and inspiration these days is thekitchn.com. I've mentioned this a few times before. A couple of weeks ago, they posted a fabulously inspiring recipe on strawberry milk. Apparently, the author had been using store-bought strawberry milk for a recipe and ended up addicted. However, store bought strawberry milk is loaded with unsavory things like corn syrup and artificial flavors. She thought that she could not only make it healthier, but tastier, but making her own strawberry syrup. And why not?

The recipe is pretty much the same steps that you use to make strawberry jam. Strawberries + Water + Sugar + Heat. Except that in the end you separate the syrup from the fruit with a sieve. Which actually gives you syrup for the milk AND preserves to spread on biscuits or to mix into your oatmeal, yogurt or top your blintzes with!

This was use a cup or two of fresh strawberries, but the original post used frozen strawberries successfully.