Wishlisting

I mentioned to Kyria the other day that I want a hybrid bike and she asked me about it, so I thought I'd post here about what's currently on my wishlist.

1. A hybrid bike. M. and I are trying to make it for at least another year or two of sharing a car. One of the reasons that we looked specifically at homes in our neighborhood is because here we are close to a bus route that takes me to campus. However, I'm just about as close to a bike path that also would take me to campus. Moving has been expensive and I can ride the bus for free, so I'm holding out on buying a bike (I sold my old one on craigslist before we left the Midwest) until the spring. But I'm already thinking about models that I'm interested in and the Novara Fiona is one of them. It's a hybrid bike that blends elements of road bikes (lighter frames) and of mountain bikes (a more upright frame, wider tires). The Fiona is just over 30 pounds and has 24 gears. I'm hoping that my local REI gets her back in stock before long so that I can handle the bike in person before I make a several-hundred-dollar decision.

2. Furniture and art for my campus office. Unfortunately, this one won't be happening for a few months. My office was vacated by its former occupant over the summer, the old furniture was removed, and it was painted. I, along with my colleagues, was supposed to get new furniture that was supposed to arrive sometime during the first couple of weeks of the semester. Due to what I can only describe as a giant inconvenience, we found out yesterday that none of us will be getting our new furniture until January. I don't want to go into too many more details here, but the situation is extremely frustrating. (For me it's compounded by the fact that my desk at home needs repair in order to be usable and we jettisoned some bookcases because I had planned to take most of my books to campus.) It looks like I will probably temporarily have to move into a different office for the rest of the semester and move back into mine at the start of the spring semester. In my dreamworld, though, my furniture is being installed tomorrow and some awesome person gifts me a high quality, framed reproduction of Titian's portrait of Philip II Wearing Armor.

3. Le Creuset cookware. Right now I especially have my eye on the Moroccan Tagine in cherry and the Round French Oven in a serene shade called caribbean.

A new pair of rainboots would be on this list, too, but I just I ordered a pair online....  What's currently on your wishlist?

On the Table: Gnocchi with Parsley Hazelnut Pesto

Once when I was visiting a friend in Amsterdam, she made me a delightful dish of pasta with parsley, hazelnuts, and goat cheese.  I decided a couple of nights ago to turn that memorable meal into a pesto with my Cuisinart.

First I toasted one cup of hazelnuts in the oven at 275 for 25 minutes (or until the skins start cracking), then I removed the skins.

I combined the following ingredients in my food processor:

1/2 cup of olive oil
1 cup of the toasted hazelnuts
1 cup of parsely
3 cloves of garlic
2 Tbsp of honey

Then I blended it until it was the proper consistency.

In the meantime, I put some asparagus -- coated in 1.5 Tbsp of Olive Oil, 1.5 Tbsp of Balsamic Vinegar, a shake or two of lemon juice, a shake of salt and some red pepper flakes -- in the oven to roast for about 25 minutes at 375.  I also got my water boiling for the gnocchi.

I cooked the gnocchi according to the directions on the package, drained the water from the pot, and added about half of the parsley pesto to coat.  I plated it up with some asparagus and generously sprinkled the gnocchi dish with some feta.*

Although I'm a huge fan of regular pesto and make it frequently, this was a lovely change up.  What's your favorite type of pesto?

*I actually prefer feta to goat cheese.  I know, I'm a loser.  However, even I can attest that goat cheese would also complete this dish superbly. 

On the Table: Chicken and Summer Squash in Lemon-Basil Cream Sauce

Dinner the other night consisted of a number of things we had in our fridge from the previous week's farmers' market: yellow summer squash, lemon-basil, yellow beans, and sweet summer corn.  I adapted the recipe from a lemon-chive chicken dish that Anne of The Shepwell Kitchen posted recently.

First I cooked two free-range, organic boneless chicken breasts on medium heat (my stove tends to heat pretty zealously so medium-high heat might work better for you) in a bit of olive oil.  When it was 2/3 of the way cooked (about 7-8 minutes), I added some slices of summer squash.

As the chicken was cooking, I prepared the lemon-basil cream sauce.  In a bowl I combined:
4 Tbsp of Sour Cream
4 Tbsp of Organic Chicken Broth
3 Tbsp of Lemon Juice
1 tsp of crushed red pepper
a shake of salt
1 Tbsp of flour
1.5 Tbsp of Parmesan Cheese
4 Tbsp of Basil finely chopped







I also popped my mostly shucked corn into the microwave to cook for two minutes per ear and began gently boiling my yellow beans.

When the chicken was fully cooked, I added the sauce to the pan and reduced the heat to low.  I cooked it for another 4-5 minutes, stirring occasionally.  I also attended to the yellow beans. 

M. and I decided to pair our meal with a bottle of Chianti.  Our corn on the cob didn't fit on our plates, so we had it as our second course.  :)

Sorry to show you a photo of partially eaten food, but I was so hungry that I couldn't wait!

Have you been taking advantage of farmers' markets in your area this summer?  What are your favorite things to buy at them?