Several weekends ago, I took a “Mastering Macarons” class at Sur La Table. While we may not have totally mastered them (oh, please, we totally did… ok, I guess that will be determined after we make a second go of it), it was fun learning about a treat I knew so little about! Turns out the teaching chef, Ben Whitten, was a French Laundry alum (& also chef of Candybar — a dessert lounge in San Francisco). That’s one of the things I love about cooking classes, they’re like a fun, easy, and short version of culinary school. One of my 30 Before 30 items was to take a cooking class, and since it was so much fun the first time around, I thought a dessert class should be next.

So here are three cooking tips I learned this time:

1. To separate egg yolk from the white, use your hands.

How do you best remove the egg yolk, leaving just the white? You know the whole “crack an egg and then toss it back and forth between the cracked shell to strain out the egg white” trick? Turns out there’s a better way. Chef Ben taught us a much simpler step. 1. Crack the egg in a bowl. 2. Cup your hand, and scoop the yolk straight out of the bowl, straining out the white. Obviously you need to have clean hands. It really is simpler and since you need to wash your hands after either way, it’s actually much cleaner, as salmonella can be on the shells too.

2. Vanilla extract is the single worst ingredient.

“The more money you spend on fancy vanilla bean extract, the more money you’re throwing away.”  I’ve always been a fan of “true” vanilla extract vs imitation, but “true” vanilla includes alcohol which makes the vanilla burn off anyway if you’re cooking with it. A better (and comparably priced) option is vanilla bean paste.

3. You’re in control of the heat, not the food.

Sometimes when I’m cooking I get a little too busy or if I’m cooking a new or more difficult recipe I can feel like I’m starting to fall behind. At this point, for whatever reason, I often feel like I’m at the mercy of my stove & the recipe (which specifies med-high etc). Note to self: You’re in control of the heat, not the food. Such a good reminder to ignore the recipe, go with your intuition and turn down the gosh darn stove. :)

4. Bonus tip: You can never have too much buttercream frosting.

Yes, I made this one up, and you probably can have too much buttercream frosting, but since there were some leftovers, I felt like grabbing the bowl and running out of Sur La Table was the best option. Instead I stayed and finished building ever last macaron that I could.

Have you taken any cooking classes lately?

Dinners have been a little cheese and carb heavy this week, and for the most part, equally delicious.

Week 3 Menu:

• caramelized onions and blue cheese veggie burgers (2x, I can’t get enough of caramelized onions and blue cheese)
• veggie lasagna (still eating leftovers of this one)
• tomatoes Provencal
• black bean burritos
• brown rice bowl with shrimp, snow peas, and avocado (remind me I don’t like shrimp that much next time)
• catfish with pineapple avocado salsa & arugula side (best meal of the week! The recipe was from Everyday Food, which called for halibut — which I was told at the store is not in season right now. So catfish it was. And it was delicious.)

Thankfully, no accidental mimosa mishaps this week, although I did take a Mastering Macarons cooking class at Sur la Table (more on that soon) last weekend, so the “less sugar” goal was kind of blown out of the water for Saturday, as I sampled my fair share of macarons.

Restaurant Pick this Week:
Mi Mero Mole. Thus far, we’ve been hitting our favorites on our once a week dining experience, so this week we checked out a new place that’s been on my list. I was left with mixed feelings about Mi Mero Mole. They’ve been open for a couple of months and specialize in guisados, which is Spanish for ‘stew’ and apparently popular particularly in Mexico City. The guisados plate (which was kind of like a build your own tacos plate) I ordered was burn-your-face-off hot. Yes, I’m kind of a wimp with spicy food, but it would have been nice to know that I needed to bring a box of tissues with me. :( So I wasn’t blown away, but I’ll give Mi Mero Mole another shot at some point.

Dear Internet, I have a confession to make. I had a mimosa! What!?! was I thinking? I wasn’t. I completely forgot, because it wasn’t at a restaurant/bar. I had a salon appointment on Saturday and when I arrived they asked if I wanted a mimosa, and they never ask that, so naturally, I said “Of course”, and then on the way home I almost got in an accident when I realized that I’d had a mimosa. Le sigh. So I messed up. I guess I’ll call this Sober January*.   *except for that one morning when I accidentally had a mimosa.

Week 2 Menu:
Breakfasts have been fairly similar to last week: fresh-squeezed juice, green drink, avocado egg chipotle breakfast sandwich, oatmeal, banana peanut butter smoothie, breakfast burritos, and fruit/nuts.

Dinners have been veggie stir-fry lettuce wraps, caramelized onion & goat cheese flatbread with Herbes de Provence, Tomatoes Provençal, and curried lentils with Paneer (a really quick and tasty recipe from the latest Sunset magazine. We ended up doubling the recipe so we could have leftovers for lunches.) I always love finding good recipes in the Sunset magazine. While it’s not the first magazine I think of when I’m recipe hunting, it’s one of the reasons Sunset is one of my favorite magazine — unexpected finds (and it’s always a nice pat on the back to be reminded of how awesome my Northwest is, even though I still think California gets too much attention).

Restaurant Pick this Week:
Bamboo Sushi. Knowing you only get to go out to eat at one restaurant a week, forces you to make excellent dining decisions. So Saturday, we headed to my favorite sushi place in Portland — Bamboo Sushi. For what it’s worth, they’re the first certified, sustainable sushi restaurant in the world (with fairly reasonable prices considering). After ordering their tart blackberry drink (sans alcohol), we gorged ourselves on sushi (the green machine, tataki carpaccio, and albacore carpaccio were our favs, if you ever get a chance to go).

Tofu Stir Fry Wraps

Serves 2

Ingredients

• 1 package firm or extra firm tofu, cube
• Coarse salt and ground pepper
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium onion, halved and thinly sliced
• 1 red bell pepper, ribs and seeds removed, thinly sliced
• 2 cloves garlic, minced
• 1 1/2 teaspoons grated peeled fresh ginger
• 3 tablespoons soy sauce
• 3 tablespoons rice vinegar (optional)
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch, mixed with 1 tablespoon water
• 6 to 8 Butter lettuce leaves, (about 1 head, also called Boston or Bibb lettuce)

Directions:

1. Prep Work: This recipe doesn’t take long to cook, so you need to have things ready to go. Slice the onion and bell pepper, have the garlic ready to “press”, grate the ginger, mix the cornstarch/water in a bowl, and wash the lettuce.
2. Cube the tofu, season with salt and pepper. In a large nonstick skillet, heat 1 tablespoon olive oil over high heat. Add the tofu; cook, stirring/flipping every few minutes, until almost golden brown, 4 to 8 minutes. Transfer to a plate, set aside. (If the tofu is still too soft, you can also put it on a cookie sheet and bake/broil it for a bit)
   
3. Add remaining tablespoon olive oil to pan, along with the onion and bell pepper. Cook, stirring constantly, until onion is tender and golden, about 2-3 minutes (reduce heat if browning too quickly).
4. Reduce heat to medium; add garlic and ginger; cook, stirring, until fragrant, 30 to 60 seconds. Stir in soy sauce, rice vinegar and cornstarch mixture; remove from heat.
5. Add tofu; toss to coat. Serve in lettuce cups.

Do you like tofu?
Based on this recipe from Everyday Food: Great Food Fast
Originally published October 2007

So four days into 2012, I clicked the fateful “buy” button on a ticket to Hawaii for March! It feels good to be crossing a travel goal off my 2012 Goals list already, and I’m excited to be making my goal of working remotely for 1-3 months actually happen. What else is on my travel list this year?

2012 Travel Goals:

1. Work remotely (not in Portland) for 1-3 months
2. Sublet/Airbnb my condo for 1-2 months (see above goal)
3. Try kiteboarding in Hawaii
4. Apply to at least one new credit card for airline miles
5. Travel to South America (Chile please!) or Portugal for 2+ weeks
6. Visit a new island in the Caribbean
7. Try couchsurfing
8. Visit NYC, San Francisco, Boston or Savannah (essentially: another US city that I haven’t been to)
9. Be a traveler at home: attend 12 new Portland things
10. Go on a quarterly getaway trip with boyfriend (overnight or weekend trip in Oregon/Northwest etc)
11. Take a “spontaneous” same-day trip (using HotelTonight etc)
12. Take a digital sabbatical (no social media/email) while on a trip

What’s on your 2012 travel list?
Join BootsnAll’s 2012 Indie Travel Challenge and share your list. Need some ideas? Check out 18 Travel Resolutions to Keep This Year.

Next up on my list, I need to sublet my condo in Portland for the month. So if you know of anyone who wants to see what it’s like to be a Portlander for a month (albeit not our best month weather-wise, but I still love my city!) in a cute little condo overlooking the river and on the Streetcar line, send them my way please!

Meanwhile, I’ll be hiking the Stairway to Heaven on Oahu. :)

What the what?! Yes, January is [self-imposed] Be Healthier: Cook at Home month. So in the name of healthiness, it’s really not too challenging (like going raw for a month or doing a cleanse), instead it’s about refocusing on cooking at home, being healthy, and saving money. My once goal of going to more new restaurants turned into a bad habit of going out to eat almost every day, and with so much good/cheap eats in Portland, it’s an easy habit to continue. My one loophole since I work from home, is that coffee shops are ok, where I shall order the largest mug of tea available and stare longingly at the pastry case. Otherwise I would be homeward bound for the month!

How the first week went down:
For my bit of complaining, I’m eating fantastic meals, and having a lot of fun actually cooking every night, and wasting less time on the Internet (yes, seriously).

Breakfasts have been avocado banana smoothie, fresh-squeezed orange and grapefruit juice, green drink juice, avocado egg chipotle breakfast sandwich, oatmeal, banana peanut butter w/Amazing Grass smoothie, pear custard pie, and fruit/nuts.

Lunch and dinner has seen tasty kale, squash, chevre tacos, slow-cooker veggie & chickpea coconut curry and rice, tomato and feta dill orzo, Spanish tortilla, this delicious avocado citrus salad:

and all the tasty leftovers!

The downside? My limited caffeine intake of 1-2 cups of tea a day (& the resultant headaches) took four days to power through. I’m also missing restaurants, so picking my ONE restaurant for this week was a tough choice.

My only meal out this week. Making it count with a fav… (@ Dove Vivi) 4sq.com/xnQaLa

— Olivia Raymer (@poweredbytofu) January 7, 2012

January 31 at midnight, you’ll find me at Rum Club with an Old Fashioned followed by a bowl of cheese. Kidding… kind of.

What have you been cooking up lately?

Surprisingly easy to replicate, and so delicious.

Squash Kale Chevre Tacos Recipe

Serves 2
Ingredients

• 6 corn tortillas
• kale
• butternut squash (acorn works too)
• Chèvre or feta cheese (2 oz)
• Pico de gallo
• olive oil
• salt/pepper

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Peel squash and cut into 1″ cubes.
3. Toss squash with oil & salt on a cookie sheet, spreading out in a single layer. Cook for about 30 min.
4. Lightly fry/heat the corn tortillas in a skillet. Set aside.
5. When the squash is almost done, heat olive oil on med in skillet and add several kale leaves. (cover with a lid for a few minutes) Cooking until soft.
6. Top tortillas with a layer of squash, kale, chèvre, and pico de gallo
7. Enjoy!

Shortcut: I was told Trader Joes has cubed squash in the freezer section.

These tacos are best with a side of black beans and rice (which I had at the restaurant, but didn’t plan ahead enough when I tried this recipe for myself). Verdict: I think these are my new favorite tacos!

Do you have any favorite restaurant recipes?

So as Part 3 of my End-of-the-Year wrap-up, here are a few of the things on my list for 2012…

2012 Goooooals:

• Grow savings to $X
• Sublet condo for 1-2 months
• Apply to at least one new credit card for airline miles (only did 1 in 2011, but for 80,000 miles)
• Make more money
• Plan an iPhone app
• Work remotely (not in Portland) for 1-3 months
• Roll over 401k
• Run a 5k
• Continue 3-5x week fitness plan
• No alcohol for 1 month
• Volunteer again
• Travel to South America or Portugal
• Visit NYC, San Francisco, Boston or Savannah (essentially: another US city).
• Attend 12 new Portland things (this one gets more difficult every year!)
• Go on a quarterly getaway trip with boyfriend (Oregon/Northwest etc)
• Find a mentor
• Sew/craft something again (it’s been way too long since I’ve used my sewing machine!)
• Find more girlfriends (with my best friend moving to Hawaii, I’m recognizing that I’m going to have to be a bit more proactive about getting closer with current friends and making more friends in 2012).

And to kick things off, January is going to be some kind of hybrid “be healthier and cook at home” goal + no alcohol. And with that, Happy New Year!

Part 1 – Yearly Goal Setting Template
Part 2 – 2011 Year-End-Review: So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu…
Part 3 – My 2012 Goals

What’s on your 2012 goal list?

Yesterday, I shared my yearly goal setting template. For me, setting yearly goals is slightly similar to the dreaded New Year’s resolutions, in that they’re things I plan to do in the coming year, but way different in that my expectations are different. It’s not about guilt or “omg, I didn’t finish this” at the end of the year. Unlike resolution type goals like “lose weight” or “stop drinking”, these goals are more about specific accomplishments and at the end of the year, even if you only finish 70% (or 30%!) of your items, reviewing them is fun and yeah there might be a couple in there that make you think “well, I could have tried harder for that one”,  it’s generally a time to sip a latte or a glass of wine and clap your hands about all the cool stuff you did this year.

So as a follow-up to that, here are a few things I’m proud of starting and/or finishing in 2011!

2011 Goals Completed:

1. Reviewed my car vs no-car plan to see if it makes more sense to purchase an old car or continue my Zipcar/public transit/biking in summer plan. Decided to buy a new bike!
2. A new job title: Product Manager
3. Started a tumblr, and then abandoned it for Pinterest
4. Added $X to my savings (no big international trips this year, but hey, look, I saved money!)
5. Successfully listed/rented my condo on Airbnb
6. Tried Crossfit
7. Donated $572 with my Forkover Friday project
8. Traveled to Maui, New Orleans, and Florida for play and Vancouver, BC twice for work.
9. Northwest trips to Oregon wine country, biking the San Juans, camping at the coast, Seattle for Bumbershoot
10. Took a cooking class at Sur La Table
11. Hosted a dinner party (2 actually!)
12. Made an effort to go dancing with boyfriend
13. Went to about 250 new restaurants, coffee shops, bars. (maybe a 2012 goal should be to eat at home 250 days/year)
14. Did 12 new Oregon or Portland things: McMenamins Grand Lodge, OMSI After Dark, Willamette Valley wine visit, tubing on the Clackamas River, joined a Pedalpalooza group ride, musical at Keller Auditorium, Backfence PDX, 80s dancing at Crystal Ballroom, box seats at a Blazers game, rollerskating at Oak’s Park (Thermals show), Waterfront Park on July 4, Movies in the Park, soap box derby on Mt Tabor.

And a few things I didn’t accomplish….

2011 goals that kicked my arse:

1. Running a half marathon
2. Getting paid more moolah
3. Volunteering
4. Traveling to South America
5. Finding a mentor
6. Starting a book club

Next up, setting 2012 goals!

Part 1 – Yearly Goal Setting Template
Part 2 – 2011 Year-End-Review: So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu…
Part 3 – My 2012 Goals

What are you proud of this year?

Since I’ve been asked for a bit of the process behind my personal planning, I decided to share an example of my Yearly Planning spreadsheet this year. (After downloading this Excel file, you can import into Google Docs or just use Excel or OpenOffice to use the template for your own goals).

Download the Goal Setting Template:

Tips for doing an Annual Personal Review:

Accountability
I like the idea of posting all of my goals for the world to see for accountability, but some are also personal, so while I’ll mention a few here on my blog, I keep a Google Doc with all my goals. Whatever your system is, share it with someone (start with your BFF!)

The Grand Picture
Some of my yearly goals tie into my 30 Before 30 list (which is now a 31 Before 31 list), some were new goals, bigger goals, smaller goals, BHAGs, etc.

Pick a theme
I’ve seen some people have a theme for their year or a one word description, which I’ve done in the past but I decided to do a quote this last year. 2011 was “Let the beauty of what you love be what you do” — Rumi. This quote really covered the different areas of my life from work to personal to fitness, and I added it to my chalkboard inspiration stripe in my bathroom to remind myself all year.

Categorize!
I like to break out my goals into broad categories. In previous years, I’ve done really specific categories (eg. job, fitness, learning, money, family, blog etc), but this last year I decided to go a little wider with the general themes of: Health, Wealth, Happiness. They all go together, yes, but then I could stick the usual sub-categories under each, like “Health” has Fitness & Learning, and Service & Spiritual etc.

What by when?
Just like typical goals, I try to follow the GTD method to my year-end personal planning. I will… {do what?} {by when} and the {next action step} is. With a  {quarterly review area} and {final review}.

Example: I will put $5,000 in my IRA for 2011 contribution by April 15 (tax time). Next step: Transfer money from my savings account to my IRA account.

A more fun example: I will list my condo on HomeAway or AirBnB by June 1. Next step: Look at current studio listings in Portland for ideas.

An even more fun example: I will take a cooking class in 2011. Next step: Look at class options and schedule at Sur la Table.

Part 1 – Yearly Goal Setting Template
Part 2 – 2011 Year-End-Review: So Long, Farewell, Auf Wiedersehen, Adieu…
Part 3 – My 2012 Goals

Do you do an “annual review” of your personal life?