Capellini with Shrimp and Creamy Tomato Sauce

This recipe in Gourmet caught my eye because it looked simple and tasty. Unfortunately, I had to make a few substitutions. The leftover heavy cream I had planned to use had gone bad so I used greek yogurt instead to thicken the sauce. Also, we'd forgotten to get sweet vermouth during our trip to TJs so I used leftover white wine. The result was still delicious. I forgot to drain the tomatoes so the sauce was a bit thin but it still clung well to the capellini. Great weekday dinner!

Capellini with Shrimp and Creamy Tomato Sauce
Courtesy of Gourmet magazine
Serves 4

3 tablespoon olive oil
1 lb peeled large shrimp
3 large garlic cloves, minced
1/4 teaspoon dried oregano
1/2 cup sweet (red) vermouth
1 (14 to 15 oz) can diced tomatoes, drained
3/4 cup heavy cream
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1/2 lb cappelini

Heat oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over medium high heat until it shimmers, then cook shrimp and garlic with oregano, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon pepper, turning once until golden, about 2 minutes total. Stir in vermouth and tomatoes, scraping up any brown bits from bottom of skillet. Add cream and briskly simmer until sauce has thickened slightly, about 1 minute. Stir in lemon juice.

Meanwhile, cook capellini in a pasta pot of boiling salted water (3 tablespoons salt for 6 quarts water) until al dente. Reserve 1 cup pasta-cooking water, then drain pasta. Serve immediately, topped with shrimp and sauce. Thin with some reserved water if necessary.

Where's Fred?

Ironically, she's next to a little cat statue...

No Rest For The Weary

Saturday was the first day of Illumina's Six Sigma training. About 20 others and I groggily wandered into work at 8am only to endure six and a half hours of presentations. We were given a few breaks and a 30-minute lunch (yay food) but half way through my eyes were rolling to the back of my head. This was only the first session so hopefully the remaining 9 sessions will be more interesting. After we were released, Kim and I went to downtown La Jolla to pick up my race packet (bib, chip, and t-shirt) and then went shopping. Unfortunately, we were a bit rushed but we both managed to come away with some good finds. That night, Ryan, his family, and I went to Bon Appetito for a pre-race pasta dinner. I polished off my entire meal and probably ate a small loaf of bread on my own. Yes, I thought to myself, I was officially ready to run the race...

Sunday was the La Jolla Half Marathon. Ryan, Kristen (Ryan's sister), Simon (Kristen's husband), and I piled into the Prius at 6:15am and made our way to the Del Mar fairgrounds. There was a monstrous line of cars at our exit and we had to wait almost 25 min just to get within a reasonable distance of the drop off zone. Crunched for time, many runners, including ourselves, abandoned our drivers (bye Ryan) and jogged the remaining distance to the start. From the moment we started running, I knew the race would be hellish. The sun was out in full force and the wind had left us in our time of need. I assumed the first 5 miles through Del Mar would be flat; after all, anything compared to the Torrey Pines hill is flat right? Wrong. The entire course was much hiller than I anticipated and there was absolutely NO shade. Hello, can I get some foliage?? Cursing the city planners, I looked to the water stations for sanctuary. Unfortunately, on a day that reached a high of 90 along the coast, the race organizers had the ingenious foresight to only post water stations every 1/1.5 miles and even ran out of water at some of the stops! Lovely. The sight of exhausted runners battling for water is not a pretty one. I felt guilty grabbing as much as I did but I took every opportunity that I could to rehydrate and throw water on my head/body/face to cool off. Thankfully, some folks were out on their yards with hoses, spraying us down as we ran by. I must add - it is not particularly motivating to see several ambulances on the course attending to passed out runners on stretchers. Long story short, I finished the race in 2:20 which is must slower than I had hoped for (10:40 pace vs 10:00 goal pace) but I'm ok with it given the extreme conditions. Shortly after finding Ryan's parents at the finish line, I was hit was a excruciatingly painful calf cramp. The rest of the day was spent trying to move as little as possible.

Today, my legs are rather sore and my walk is more of a waddle, but I do feel a nice sense of accomplishment. However, because I am grossly competitive, I'm already thinking of signing up for the Carlsbad half marathon just to prove to myself that I can make my goal time. The Carlsbad half is much flatter and in JANUARY so it's really an ideal race I think. Until then, it'll be back to yoga for me.

Dear Lord

It's going to be a high of 90 degrees on Sunday, the day of the La Jolla Half Marathon! Is someone trying to kill me???

Jury Duty Stinks

Don't get me wrong. I understand my duties as a citizen of the United States of America. I understand the critical role trial by jury has in our judicial system. I'll gladly participate in a trial if chosen! Well...I might grumble a bit at the time commitment...

But honestly, does the process have to be so inefficient? We were requested to arrive at the courthouse at 7:45am. Like many others, I overestimated the amount of traffic so I actually arrived downtown at 7:20am. At 8am, we had a brief orientation and watched an inspirational video about how wonderful it is to serve as a juror. Yippee. It wasn't until after 9 that they began calling names. The rest of the day was spent twiddling my fingers and praying I wouldn't be called. I read Wired and Gourmet and started on Harpers after the lunch break, but found myself dozing off. Finally, the remaining jurors (still about 50 of us!) were dismissed at 2:30pm. I ran out of the courthouse like a rabid animal that had just escaped captivity and raced to my car. It wasn't until I had been on the freeway a good 15 minutes did I breathe easy again.

Thank god I don't have to go through that again for another year.

Old Friends

Pizza Hut and I are old friends. During those rare moments in high school when my mom allowed us to eat out, Monkey and I would order a pizza with mushrooms (sometimes with half pineapple), breadsticks, and buffalo wings. Back then, it was the tastiest thing on earth. Since going to college, I have grown apart from the Hut. Boston introduced me to more authentic pizza joints, and NY certainly drove the point home. To this day, it's hard to tell if I miss Stromboli's, on St Mark's and 1st, more than I miss my NY friends (sorry guys). Either way, the thought of ever eating at the Hut again was laughable.

Strangely, moving back to CA has made me nostalgic for my pizza past. The first time we ordered from the Hut, it was almost as a joke. But as soon as I bit into that breadstick and those buffalo wings, I knew I was home. We don't often order pizza but tonight we caved in after Ryan's soccer game and my 6 mile run. We feasted on the junky goodness and watched Transformers on demand. The movie was pure eye candy as can be expected, but surprisingly I also enjoyed the plot and the cheesy but humorous dialogue. I would definitely recommend it for a night of mindless entertainment. After the movie, we gobbled down some Haagen Dazs ice cream. Not a bad way to top off a busy weekend.

Rice and Beans

Tonight I made a simple dinner of Mexican rice and beans. The rice was made with the same recipe I used for the dinner party. The beans were black refried beans straight from the can (who has time to cook their own beans) and were sprinkled with cotija cheese. Sometimes, the best foods are the simplest.

Sorry, Legs

I've spent the better part of this afternoon wondering how terrible it must be to have no legs. I'm not normally this morbid but circumstances have left me thinking.

This morning I woke up at the crack of dawn to run the longest run of my training: 12 miles. On a day when temperatures reached a high of 94, I was already roasting when my coworker friend Rob and I began running at 8:30. Our route along Mission Bay was very pleasant and flat. There was lots of running, walking, dog walking, and aerobic group exercising going on - plenty to distract from the pain in my legs. At around mile 8, my knees began complaining quite loudly but I plowed along and we finished in ~2 hours and 4 minutes.

Since I've gotten home, my legs have progressively gotten more and more achy. It's easy to imagine how after all this abuse, my legs could just pack up and abandon me. Luckily, the worst is over (until the race at least) and I can spend the next two weeks winning back the favor of my knees and muscles.

Mexican Wedding Cakes

Last night, I made the Mexican Wedding Cakes that fell off my dinner party menu on Saturday. These buttery cookies are easy to make and require few ingredients. They've got a dry crumbly texture that just disintegrates in your mouth. I used about 1/2 tsp cinnamon since I didn't think 1/8 tsp sounded like a lot. I think I've eaten 10 cookies already. Thankfully, Ryan took some to work today. Maybe once the half marthon is over, I'll stop eating like a behemoth.

Mexican Dinner Party

Tonight, we had a dinner party for the entire Gordon clan. As expected, I was dashing around like a mad woman because I didn't give myself enough time to make everything before our guests arrived. I even had to abandon a dish entirely (Mexican Wedding Cakes) due to lack of time. Furthermore, we didn't have enough chairs so we had to borrow some from Kristin and Simon and make seats out of end tables. Aside from the time crunch and lack of supplies/seats, it was a great success!

Theme: Mexican

Location: Our house

Num. of Attendees: 10

Beverages: Corona and some white wine Kim brought.

Appetizer: Kristin's Famous Bean Dip - Unfortunately, Kristin has been very sick the past few days so Laura, Ryan's mom, made the dip and it was just as delicious as we all remembered.

Salad: Bean and Corn Salad with Creamy Dressing - Laura made this great salad that was very tasty and a perfect start to the meal!

Soup: Mexican Corn and Bean Soup - I've made this several times before and love how quick and easy it is. The soup is spicy and brothy yet easily made into a main dish if you add some bread to accompany it.

Side: Mexican Rice - This rice was a real hit. I was worried that the rice was too wet after the 20 min simmer but I didn't want to overcook it. So I set it aside which I tackled the rest of the meal and happily, it dried to the perfect consistency.

Entree: Spinach Enchiladas - This was a bit time consuming since I had to blanch many batches of spinach and blacken the poblano chile peppers over an open flame. SO WORTH IT. The dish was very rich (thank you cheeses and creams) and well spiced. I skipped the step where you soften the tortillas in oil and it really made no difference. Will make again for special occasion.

Dessert: Double Layer Chocolate Cake - Laura brought this cake over and it's amazing that no matter how ridiculously full you are you can still find room for chocolate. Yum yum yum.

Note: I made all the recipes vegetarian by substituting chicken broth/boullions for veggie equivalent

I really meant to take pictures of the food but I was so busy I forgot! Oh well, next time I'll be sure to have some visuals.

Recap

Tues: I went to a wine tasting event at Bristol Farms with a small group of people from work. We started with a three cheese platter: pungent goat, mild goat, and manchego. The cheese was accompanied by crackers, grapes, a yummy quince jam, and two glasses of white wine - a sauvignon blanc, which was not bad but a bit fruity for my taste, and some other white that was obviously not memorable. Next, we had a bean and sausage soup, paired with a merlot, followed by a bizarre chilled mango champagne salsa "cleanser" which nobody liked. The main course was Italian flank steak wrapped around basil and roasted bell peppers, with a side of asparagus. That was paired with another red. For dessert, we had bread pudding and coffee. I'm pretty sure we tried 5 different wines but now I can't remember when we had the 5th. The wine wasn't fabulous (I tend to like drier wines) but overall, the food was tasty and I had fun conversation with people I don't normally hang out. What more can you ask for on a Tues night?

Wed: I attended the first session of the Intro to Molecular Biology class at UCSD Continuing Education. Boy was the teacher a rambler. I didn't want to be rude but I was hoping he would notice my eyes rolling back into my head and stop telling his long irrelevant stories about having dinner with famous geneticists. That stuff is interesting but not when its 20 minutes long. When he did talk about the subject matter, it was great. The first class was a chemistry review and a discussion of the chemical structure of biological molecules. It made me realize how little chemistry I'd retained from college. How could I have forgotten about valence electrons and the different electron orbits, e.g. 1s, 2s, 2px?? I used to really enjoy chemistry...except when I slept through my chemistry final and had to hysterically call the professor to beg for amnesty. That was not so enjoyable but at least I still passed the class (god bless freshman pass/fail). Anyway, it turned out there was someone else from Illumina taking the class. I chatted with her at break and we both agreed it'll be interesting to see just how out of control the teacher's rambling can get.

Fri: At lunch, I ran my 8-mile tempo run inside at the gym. It was a bit warm so I really didn't want to be out in the heat. Bizarrely enough, I was able to run the entire thing at a 9:40 min/mile pace without stopping. I give thanks to the bagel I ate for breakfast. Breakfast of champions. After work, Kim, Jon and I went to Cozy's for some happy hour margheritas and to dabble in some gossip. Ryan, Brian (Kim's husband) and Trish met up with us and a good time was had by all.