The Busy Gourmand

Beef Guiso

I am on to day two of cooking for one. I am quickly realizing that running a house with two elderly cats with incontinence and a parakeet that likes to listen to both reggaeton and classical music in the same afternoon is quite a handful. We both work from home and I have been spending the first three hours of my day swimming or running, and then on to meditation. I think it was just a reason to be alone for a few hours. Now I realize I have been skipping out on cat and bird duty. Before we got to sleep every night I say, “I love you, BUT NO MORE PETS.”

As for dinner tonight, I am using some leftovers. We always fall in love with steak every once in awhile. This means when you do not have steak often you fall in love with a big steak. Wow, better stay off this subject. Anyway for his sendoff we had massive steaks of which we could eat the usual three bites and we were full. Not to worry. Tonight I am having guiso with beef. It is related to the guiso with pork of which I am very fond. Guiso is actually the term for any kind of stew in Spanish. For me, some meat, some beans, and some spices and that is guiso.

Tonight the beef guiso required some changes. Fresh jalapenos from the garden were used. And one of my favorite indulgences pepper jack cheese all over the top. Not to mention the flecks of cilantro and a squeeze of lime. Que rico! And since I did not want to have to drink a whole bottle of wine, I went with the wine in a box. Go ahead and laugh. It was a malbec. It was very good. And I can have some more tomorrow night when I figure out what I am having for dinner.

And one more picture from our beautiful fall garden.

Basa Swai with Asian Vegetables

In my bachelor days I was not much of an everyday cook. It seemed like cooking a meal for one person was a lot of work and no fun with nobody with which to enjoy it. I would usually bake a bunch of chicken breasts early in the week and serve them over a variety of different salad ingredients figuring that at least there was some variety in my diet, and well, I was working out a lot so chicken breasts are supposed to be good for building muscle mass. Or so I told myself. It seemed like every real bodybuilder in the gym would consume huge quantities of chicken breasts daily. So I would mimic them and honestly my body looked more like Olive Oyl than Arnold Schwarzenegger. You cannot overcome genetics with chicken breasts.

I am going to be on my own for the better part of November and I have vowed not to fall into the chicken breast and salad routine. It still seems like a waste cooking for one person. But at least I can enjoy a nice meal at the end of a long day. I do not think anyone should deprive themselves of a good meal for the dinner hour.

I will probably polish up a few old recipes and try to sneak in a few new ones, time permitting. Tonight I made a version of my scallops with Asian vegetables. This time I used a basa swai fillet as a replacement for the scallops. We have an over abundance of spanish spice peppers so one of those was included. And not having any white wine I used some dry sherry. The vegetables really make the dish. You could use just about any type of fish and come out with a satisfying meal. Although I kind of missed the sweet taste of the scallops.

Fall Blooming Gardenia

After a long hot summer we are having a beautiful fall garden. I thought I would include a few photos so you could enjoy the garden as well. We deserve a reasonable fall after last summer.