Grapefruit Granita

I find it difficult to blog while watching Top Chef but if I keep putting this off it just won't happen. Some good news: Seth and I have finally finished trekking around the States collecting all of our stuff! Last week we flew to San Diego to pick up my car - and see my fabulous friend, Kerry - where I managed to pick up a Showgirls tattoo and eat the best pizza of my life at a winery in Escondido. Oh, the wine was also pretty tasty, but seriously: pizza, hot damn.

However, this is not my attempt at recreating that delicious pie but my attempt to use more of those damn grapefruit stubbornly sitting outside. Over a week ago I made grapefruit curd (with whipped cream stirred in, making it seem more like chiffon than curd) and, of course, the candied peels, and while I have been hoping to use the fruit in some savory dish I ended up making a grapefruit granita thanks to the suggestion of my sister and the super-easy recipe that shouted to me from Amanda Hesser's The Essential New York Times Cookbook.

Candied Grapefruit Peels

Some time ago I read Smitten Kitchen's post about candied grapefruit peels, in particular how they ended up a complete disaster: SK's recipe didn't specify "completely remove pith" - actually, the recipe (below) states specifically to retain the pith; nasty -so she didn't and as a result her peels were inedibly bitter. I was sad, because the pictures were so beautiful that it was difficult to believe the product didn't match the advertisement, and because I was tempted to try the recipe but was worried the problem had to be something other than pith. I wasn't willing to waste grapefruit just to experiment on some damn candy.

However, now that I am trying to create everything from breakfast to dinner to cocktail time with the 50-pound sack of grapefruit sitting on my sister-in-law's porch, I am no longer concerned with wasting fruit as anything I do with the things will at least serve the purpose of removing them from the porch. My time for candied grapefruit peels had come.

Mushroom Risotto

Last night my sister-in-law chided me for the lack of a recent blog post, admitting she only signed up on Google's blogroll to follow my blog(s) and therefore keep up with how I (and Seth) are doing. I was touched, but could only think of the most pitiful excuses to explain the lack of posts: "I was packing and arranging things in Maryland"; "Seth and I have driven 2500 miles in a moving van over the past week"; "Moving van."

Really, no excuse at all, considering I do have a Jetboil and over the weekend we picked up Seth's camping stove. However, before the torture of driving (for a week) in the most uncomfortable of automobiles (I'd actually prefer a matatu over that Budget truck) I did manage to make a large saucepan of simple, creamy mushroom risotto, simultaneously satisfying my joy of cooking with wine (how I've missed it) and proving that I now truly dig mushrooms.

Satay Sauce with a Touch of Fire

 

Not one to be easily discouraged by my own tastebuds and refusing to believe that I no longer like shrimp (at least not all that much) I gave in to the roommate's request and made shrimp tacos for dinner last night. I managed to eat two but when I tried a shrimp on its own I spit it out. Spit it out! I think my tastebuds have made an exchange of shrimp for mushrooms and can't help but feel cheated. I mean, I am glad I now like mushrooms, but at the expense of beautiful, delicious shrimp? It's just not fair.

A woeful state, I know, but fortunately my love for peanuts is still going strong. Salted, honey-roasted, chili; butter, brittle sauce: I love peanuts in any form. I am eating some chili-coated peanuts right now. I once had a Slovenian try to convince me that peanut butter is, really, actually, quite disgusting, but he did not understand both the deep love Americans have for goobers and my own personal dedication to that modest little nut. I eat peanut butter straight from the jar (having no need for bread or crackers as a vehicle) and, if given the chance, will do the same withe satay sauce because, really, actually, it is warm, spicy peanut butter that happens to go well with noodles rather than strawberry jelly.