well this looks delicious...
Potatoes on pizza? With pesto? Some people would cringe at the thought. But the idea tickled me enough to try. I have a thing for pesto and for potatoes. And I made some honey wheat pizza dough last week to have in the freezer. You know, for when those I NEED PIZZA RIGHT NOW urges strike. Which happened on Thursday evening. Putting my creative juices to work, I came up with a sweet and salty dinner featuring atypical ingredients. And I loved every bite!
In case this looks remotely delicious, allow me to share with you the recipe!
Potesto Pizza
1. Yukon Gold Potato
2. Pesto
3. Pine Nuts
4. Red Onion
5. Gruyere Cheese
6. Olive Oil
7. Salt
8. Active Dry Yeast
9. Honey
10. Whole Wheat Flour
11. Dried Rosemary (optional)
non-traditional pizza toppings
To make honey wheat pizza dough, take 1 packet of yeast and stir into 1 cup of hot (not boiling water). Add 1/2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp olive oil, and 2 tbsp honey. Add 3c of whole wheat flour, one cup at a time. Cover with a towel and allow the dough to rise by placing it in the oven (it should be OFF, of course) for 30-45 minutes. Separate the dough into halves or thirds. Two halves will give you two medium sized pizzas, three thirds yields closer to three small pizzas (suitable for 1). You can freeze the leftovers for another time.
When dough is suitable for rolling, spread it out onto an olive-oil greased baking sheet (tip: when making a single serve pizza, I bake it in a pie crust with aerating holes in the bottom). Spread pesto, top with thin slices of roasted yukon gold potatoes with an optional light dusting of dried rosemary for flavor. To roast the slices, thinly slice the potato, add salt, and place in oven on a cookie sheet for 5-7 minutes at 400 degrees. Flip potatoes during heating.
To the pesto and potatoes, add red onion and pine nuts. Bake at 500 degrees for 8-10 minutes, or until pine nuts and crust are golden brown. Remove from oven, top with shavings of gruyere cheese and enjoy immediately. Serving size varies.
a gourmet delight!
yep, this affirms it! valentine's day is definitely my favorite!
As I’ve already professed, Valentine’s Day is certainly my favorite holiday. And to cement that sentiment, I came home on Thursday to a heavy package full of Valentine’s Day decorations from my parents. Well, okay, I really don’t think Dad went to the store with Mom to help pick out the cupcake and heart tree or the hand towels, but erm, I’m just going with what the card (see upper right hand corner) said!
You can imagine how happy this little surprise made me. Many of the valentine’s day gifts from my parents have become timeless treasures. I still wear the pink fortune teller cotton pajamas they gave me in 7th grade! The fuschia cardigan from last year is hanging in the closet. Packed away in a box somewhere is a hot pink Russ teddy bear with a bright colored bow from a February 14th past.
While my affinity for cupcakes is likely to wane as the fashionable food goes out of style, every year I’ll be able to pull out these towels (which arguably, could be used year-round) and this tiny tree and remember my life in a impossibly small apartment and how the little things in life made me so cheery.
And that’s something to savor!
tartine
As you can see, my Saturday was spent in the company of fabulous friends and fantastic food. I mean, it doesn’t take much more in life to be happy, does it? I was elated to finally meet Lindsay C. of Legal Style, who writes a deliciously addictive blog with anecdotes of her life as a law student in San Francisco paired with gorgeous photos of her superbly styled outfits. Anna, one of the two photographic geniuses behind DC to SF Photo, also joined. Anna and I live super close to each other, so we conveniently carpooled to the Mission, where Tartine is located. We made some illegal u-turns to clinch rockstar parking (for a Saturday afternoon anyways) and sat down to some mouthwatering eats. I ordered the prosciutto and provolone panini with arugula. Oh and a side of sparkling lemonade! We were all quite intrigued by the baby carrots on the plate, but before leaving, I bit into one and was pleasantly surprised to find a spicy, pickled veggie. Yum!
Oh and did I mention we were also entertained by the (hopefully intoxicated) couple kissing passionately in the middle of the restaurant? Awkward. But hilarious at the same time.
After lunch, Anna and I (both avid Daily Candy SF readers) just had to check out the sample sale going on at Fort Mason. And in the process we had to admire the February weather. Because I’ve lived here 2+ years now, I no longer find it novel that it can be 60 and sunny in the middle of winter. But that’s not to say that I don’t savor these beautiful days that punctuate the rainy season. I wore a simple cotton weave J.Crew tee with a rope-knot pashmina, jeans and flats today. No jacket. Jealous? Yeah, you should be. But then again, I pay 3x more rent than you. That is, unless you live in New York or London. In which case, we’ll call it even.
sunny on a february saturday and i feel fabulous
I’ve never been a big purveyor of designer denim but the last time I bought new jeans was in July 2008 and I’ve been in the market for a new pair for a few months. I just can’t seem to get onboard to spend $200+ for jeans. So I was excited to find a great pair of People’s Liberation for $49.99 at the Warehouse Sale. This is more or less what I would expect to pay at the Gap. I could justify the purchase, for sure. They need hemming, but they’re very comfortable and I think I’m going to end up wearing them a lot. I hadn’t heard of more than half the brands but Anna assured me that People’s Liberation is well regarded. She’s more of a jeans junkie than me, so I took her word for it 
designer denim sale and i score some new threads!
I tried to get a car wash this afternoon, but my go-to place was closed. So I left the city to hit up Target where I wanted to exchange a baby gift I had ordered online. Of course they didn’t stock the product, so instead I bought laundry detergent and toilet paper. You know, the necessities in life.
On the way home, it was dark and I decided to photograph the Palace of Fine Arts. It’s so gorgeous at night (well, it’s gorgeous anytime – let’s not kid ourselves). Funny that I snapped one photo and my camera battery died. Fortunately it turned out decently.
day and night
After an afternoon of being out and about, I came home and finished my 2009 taxes. What began as a nightmare scenario (owing around $4,000) turned out to be alright. A number of charitable contributions (seven, to be exact) saved the day and I’ll be receiving both federal and state refunds in a few weeks. I did have to roll my eyes at the end of the process, when you can view your tax profile versus aggregate 2007 IRS data. Apparently in 2009 I paid 3x as much in taxes as the “average” American paid in 2007. Good thing I’ve already started taking advantage of the numerous pre-tax deductions and savings programs offered to attempt to lower my effective tax rate in 2010. I guess we’ll see how the numbers look at the same time next year 
mmmm
This is a public service announcement. Taco Tuesday has officially been moved to Wednesday!
I’ve been very diligent about sticking to my comprehensive two-week meal plans (yes, that’s 42 meals I have to dream up every 14 days…) until yesterday. The 1″ by 1″ square said lunch was to come in the form of spinach salad with shrimp. I went through the motions of unthawing the shrimp in the morning, but I didn’t have the time (or the interest) in actually cooking the shrimp before leaving for work. Fortunately, that meant that at the end of the day, I came home to 6 perfectly good unthawed prawns.
An improvisational impulse swept over me and I decided to marinate the shrimp in my new Kikkoman Ponzu Lime sauce while I went to twist myself into awkward but healing positions yoga. A simple blend of Ponzu Lime sauce, plus fresh lime juice and garlic did the trick. Prior to grilling, I skewered the shrimp onto a bamboo spear and dusted them with crushed red pepper.
testing the newest magic ingredient: Kikkoman Ponzu Lime
But the fun didn’t stop there. My next endeavor was to make a creamy guacamole with the organic avocado I shelled out $1.99 for at the store on Sunday. Into my mini chopper I added 1 avocado, 2 cloves of garlic, a handful of cilantro, salt, a dash of chili powder, chopped jalapeno and a splash of Ponzu Lime. It turned into a little something like this…
guaco wonder
This was so much fun, I just have to share the “how to” with you!
Shrimp Tacos With Guaco Wonder
1. Shirmp (Peeled, deveined)
2. Corn Tortillas
3. Cilantro
4. Lime
5. Kikkoman Ponzu Lime
6. Pico de Gallo
7. Avocado
8. Jalapeno
9. Red Onion
10. Garlic
11. Crushed Red Pepper
12. Chili Powder
this is going to be GOOD!
Toss desired quantity of shrimp into a simple marinade of Kikkoman Ponzu Lime with minced garlic (I used 1 clove for 6 large shrimp; by the way, is “large shrimp” an oxymoron?!) and a squeeze of fresh lime juice (I used about 1/3 of a lime for those aforementioned 6 “large shrimp”). Cover and refirigerate for an hour. Remove, put shrimp on a bamboo skewer and dust with crushed red pepper. Grill for ~1-2 minutes on each side, being careful not to overcook.
For the guaco wonder (so named because after tasting it, everyone will wonder how you made something so delicious!) spoon out the meat of 1 ripened avocado. Add 2 cloves of garlic, a handful of fresh (washed) cilantro, 1 tbsp. Kikkoman Ponzu Lime sauce, 1 tbsp. chopped jalapeno, and 1/2 tsp. chili powder in a food processor or mini chopper. Puree until avocado is smooth and remaining ingredients are well incorporated.
To assemble, add a trio of grilled shrimp to a corn tortilla with pico de gallo (I used some prepared pico from Whole Foods, but Tiny Urban Kitchen posted a recipe here), chopped red onion (technically red onion is part of pico, but who’s keeping track?!…), a spoonful of guaco wonder, a few cilantro leaves, and a slice of lime.
someone bring me a margarita!
In May and September 2009, I posted “A Day in the Life” and “A Day in the Life, the Unemployed Edition.” It’s funny to look back and see what my days were like then. And it’s even funnier to see how much has changed AGAIN. People often ask me “how work is going” and I give them a vague but typical answer of “fine,” “good,” or “well.” To be honest, the days are long and full as I strive to create the perfect balance. Since this blog is called Life With Lindsay, it does seem appropriate to go through the motions again of what I do from sunrise to sunset status quo. So here goes nothing…
6:45 am – Alarm goes off. Turn it off, wrap myself tightly back under the covers. Sleepily check BlackBerry. See the overnight e-mail traffic is substantial. Grab my MacBook (within reach of my bed) and open it up, flipping to my inbox. Begin skimming the good stuff first, then deleting the junk.
7:10 am – I am up now. I wash up, turn on my straightener, pick out clothes to wear (heather grey slacks with a powder blue cable knit sweater and brown heels), get dressed, and head to the kitchen.
7:25 am – Making breakfast. Egg white and spinach on Nature’s Pride Nutty Oat toast with a small bit of cheddar cheese, a dollop of pico de gallo, All Spice Cafe hot sauce. Some pecans and a clementine on the side. A calcium + D pill. And a glass of Naked Juice Red Machine. Continue reading e-mails and start to skim what’s in my Google Reader.
7:50 am – Breakfast over, dishes in the sink, lunch items retrieved from the fridge. Brush teeth, straighten hair, gather my laptop, phones (yes, both of them), wallet, and a magazine for the bus. Head outside. I’m fortunate to have a bus stop right outside my door and during peak times (between about 6:45 am and 9:15 am) there is a bus every 5-9 minutes. Brilliant.
8:05 am – On the bus. Get a great seat since my stop is the first one. I hate to stand on the bus given the number of potholes in San Francisco and the fact that last week I fell over backwards into an (unimpressed) strangers lap while trying to manage an oversized umbrella and a very heavy work bag. While most people are fixated on the their iPhones and BlackBerry’s, I decide to read the February issue of Delicious Living.
8:35 am – Get off the bus at Battery and Bush. Walk two blocks to my office. Take the elevator to the 33rd floor. Sit down at my desk and realize my orchid is definitely dying. Tweet that my orchid is dying. Consider looking up “how to save a dying orchid” on Google, but realize that I already did that last week. Okay, so I’ve known for awhile that my orchid is dying.
8:45 am – Open Lotus Notes and the Biovail – Acadia contract for a $395 million licensing deal. Continue my analysis of the deal structure, including financials, commercialization plans, their co-promote option, termination rights, and the like. Get side tracked several times but make reasonably good progress.
11:00 am – Time for Weekly Analyst Meeting. Head to the conference room, get the “greatest hits” on what’s going on, offer input, ask questions, and sip some hot chocolate. Meeting ends early and I return to my desk to digest the action items. I realize I should involve myself in more projects, so offer to take on the task of writing a training manual for a new hire in Mumbai, India.
12:15 pm – Not starving, but since it’s lunchtime, head to the fridge and grab my Whole Foods caprese. Devour it in less than 5 minutes. Make a to-do list of ongoing projects. Remember that I promised to help a Contract Risk and Compliance Partner with sourcing potential new engagements. Spend the next 90 minutes filtering some partnerships that my last company had before it’s acquisition, that might be good audit candidates. Pull contracts from the SEC’s website, find the respective language, summarize and e-mail. That’s done.
1:45 pm – Go back to my analysis of the Biovail – Acadia deal.
2:30 pm – Hungry again, so I heat my leftover Coconut Peanut Chicken (leftover from last night’s dinner) and eat at my desk. I have a hard time finishing the small portion, but convince myself that the protein will be good fuel for the workout I have planned later.
yum! leftovers make great lunches...
4:00 pm – My attention span is seriously waning. I change from Pandora to my “Life With Lindsay” playlist on Playlist.com. I read blogs for 15 minutes to re-energize.
4:45 pm – I give up. I pull up NextMuni.com to see when the next bus is arriving. 12 minutes. Beautiful. I put away my laptop, rinse out my pyrex container, pack up, and head for home. I read some more Delicious Living on the way and a middle aged women taps my arm and says “I think there is something wrong with you.” I stare back blankly. ”You don’t have one of those things” she says, pointing to the 10 people around us that are engrossed in the iPhones and BlackBerry’s. I almost consider telling her that I have three devices in my bag (iPod, BlackBerry, Jack) but smile and innocently go back to my magazine.
5:15 pm – Bus drops me off in front of my apartment. I pick up the mail, including a package of Kikkoman Ponzu Lime Seasoning sent to me for free on behalf of the Foodbuzz Tastemaker Program. I also have two catalogs: Pottery Barn and Vera Bradley.
looking forward to trying the latest and greatest from kikkoman!
5: 45 pm – I throw in some laundry, boil some pasta to toss into a soup later, and briefly sign into gchat to talk to Tara.
6:15 pm – Out the door on the way to Cardio Dance! The instructor is genuinely happy to see me after a several month hiatus. I am an incredibly quick learner when it comes to dance routines and my memory is razor sharp. (I can still remember ballet routines from when I was in 6th grade!). I am dripping with sweat after 60 minutes of some intense routines, but my muscle memory is still top of the class. Literally. And I hate to be self-promoting, but I like to be good at things, so not only is cardio dance a good workout, but it’s a huge ego boost.
7:40 pm – Back home again. I toss the laundry into the dryer and jump in the shower.
8:10 pm – Eating dinner (pasta in fire roasted tomato bisque with wilted spinach and red pepper) and reading e-mails.
8:40 – Wash the dishes from the day. Fold the laundry. Grab the ice pack because WOW does my back hurt. (It has been 12 days since my last chiropractor appointment…)
quality time with the dishrag!
9:45 pm – Sitting down to blog.
10:50 pm – Post is published. Time to do a little prayer journaling (the process by which I write down specific intentions) and jump into bed with this bear and these catalogs! Just an ordinary day in the life of Lindsay !
goodnight!
