Getting ready for the week

I just switched blogs and now i am trying to figure out a good blog design so bear with me. I also got a twitter account (@foodgoblin) that i am trying to figure out too. I'm resistant to change and technology, and my sister once said if nobody stops me i'll probably revert back to chisel and stone. I don't think that is entirely true since i am not sure stone chiseling is eco-friendlier than pencil and paper and i rather like paper so i would probably stop at that regression.

Anyway today after workout david and i went to the SoCo Farmer's Market (soco is their name, not mine) and got a few things for the rest of the week so i thought to practice some picture taking i'd go through the process of prepping things for the week. We got some apples, a couple of grapefruits, some free-range eggs, spinach, cilantro, and lettuce. I also had some salmon that i got on sale at Fresh & Easy that i wanted to portion out and freeze for another time.

pretty pretty eggs

First i put the lettuce in a container of water since it was all still attached to the roots. The farmer said that it works with his hardier lettuces, indicating this was not one of them, but i wanted to try it anyway. If by tonight or tomorrow morning i feel it's starting to wilt i will ice water it and then prep it like i did the spinach.

After the lettuce in a jar, i started to smell cilantro pretty strongly. I hate cilantro, this was purely david's purchase. This stuff was so fresh though that it emanated a stench from out of the bag it was contained in so in effort to avoid puking i decided to prep this first, and as fast as possible. I chopped it and put it in the salad spinner, then dumped it out on some folded paper towels to dry a little. Dear god the kitchen smelled like cilantro so much i was gagging the whole time. For those of you who don't know this already i feel like cilantro tastes/smells like i imagine soapy green baby spit to taste/smell like and i think you're lucky if you like it because it is in practically everything vietnamese and mexican which is cause for a lot of disappointment in my case. After most of the remaining water was sopped up by the paper towel (and there wasn't much), i folded it up in the paper towels and stuffed it into a plastic ziplock. I have several reserved for this purpose that i reuse. The kitchen still smelled terribly so i threw a plink in the garbage disposal to try and refresh it with lemony goodness.

I prepared the spinach in the very same fashion. Chop, rinse and spin, paper towel, fold, ziplock, fridge.

supposedly organic spinach

in the ziplock. i think greens stay fresher this way, but i should probably brush up on my produce-keeping skills by revisiting this link just to make sure there isn't a better way. eta nevermind, i can't find the link. i will just consider my way the right way then.

And now for the salmon prep. First i set everything up, with plastic wrap over my scale so no germs get into the crevices, and a few top-folded-over freezer ziplocks ready. I fold the tops over before i start because when you are tying to finagle raw stuff into a bag you don't want gross remnants and liquid to get all over the outside and the seal, so folding it back helps the meat just touch the inside. Then i rinsed the salmon off and set it upside down on some paper towels to drain out any extra water and so now i could cut the skin off. David likes crispy salmon skin but i don't and i also don't like the dark brown weird meat that touches the skin so i decided today i will just chop it off.

I started to slice away at the stuff that holds the skin on and below is a pic of what it started to look like.

And below is the skinless salmon. I know professionals will laugh at the chop job i did but i forgot to use a smaller knife (as i had learned before to use) and then eventually got impatient and just hacked away. With the lighting it doesn't look so bad.

Below you see i portioned it out. First i cut a chunk and weighed it. It turned out to be about 5oz so i deemed it david's piece. Then i cut another chunk, smaller, and it was about 3oz so i named it my piece. The next piece also ended up 5oz and the remaining chunk was 6oz so i cut that in half. Now i get three pieces and david only two! bwahahah. I will probably use the third for a salad protein since i usually eat lunch at home.

And finally i baggied them and labeled them with oz size and the date. This picture makes me aware that my z looks too similar to a 3 but at least i know what i am trying to say.

i thought i'd also snap a pic of my precious sprouted sweet potato. I am amazed it isn't dead after five months, and only a day or so ago i thought to put it in a cup of water. I don't think the water is doing anything. i think today is when i'll cross off the "plant this" on my to-do list. i found how here.

here is other sweet potato's friend. also pictured: the farmers' market organic apples and sweet grapefruit

So now you guys have a basic idea of how i will take a few hours once or twice a week and prep the food for the rest of the week. If i have onions i will usually chop them (unless i know i won't be using them until the very end of the week), if i have a huge package of meat/seafood i will freeze what i don't think i'll use and keep the rest in the fridge, shred a block of cheese, sometimes i will even cook bacon on my prep day so that i have just one day of total-kitchen-cleanup. And now it's easy to grab a handful of spinach to add to an omelette in the morning so i'm more likely to eat my greens. We just got a new fridge but it is smaller than the old one so i will actually do prep work twice a week now most likely, so that i don't overstuff the fridge all at once. It still beats have to chop onions and fry bacon every single time you need it over the course of the next week though.

fyi my next gadget is totally going to be a foodsaver so that there is even less chance of freezerburn and to keep all my food superfresh. if you have one already i am jealous.