Husband

I am so, so proud of my husband, Dylan. Despite some really stressful weeks with school, snow, landlords, money, etc... I feel so excited and so proud and so optimistic when I allow myself realize I'm married to the sweetest and most talented man I know. Here are two things I'm most excited about right now.

Beta Self is Dylan's new blog. It's about life with diabetes, traveling, eating, puppy, DIY projects, video games.... He's the best writer I know and I can hardly wait for his next posting. Check it out.

Black Love is Dylan's band. He's played drums recreationally for forever with our friends Glenn and Travis, but they're getting serious. And it's really really fun. They played a show at Carabar last night and it was awesome. Strangers were dancing and smiling. Here's a video of them playing one of my favorite songs at Monster House a few weeks ago:

Pasta with Edamame and Salmon

One of my favorite things to have on hand are Wild Alaskan Salmon Burgers from Costco. A bag of 12 costs about $13 and they cook in 5-8 minutes. They're super versatile; I eat them on buns, salads, with pasta, with eggs.

For a lazy, quick lunch today I boiled some pasta, added frozen edamame 5 minutes before it was done, and put a salmon burger in a skillet. When the pasta and edamame were cooked, I added them to the burger, flaked it, added a little olive oil, lime juice, dill, red pepper, salt/pepper.

delicious.

tofu

I really like tofu. I like trying new recipes for tofu. But I have awful luck with pan-fried tofu recipes. They almost NEVER turn out like they should. So many say "cook 3-4 minutes until golden brown and crispy" but I cannot get marinated tofu to brown in less than 15-20 minutes and it splatters like crazy making a mess of the range and the floor. It might get a little crispy, but as soon as I add a sauce, it gets chewy and soft. I've tried coating tofu in egg and flour or breadcrumbs, but the coating gets soggy or falls off and it sticks and splatters. I've tried "deep" frying, in an inch or two of oil, and it's okay, but both me and the house stink afterward.

Well, I think I made some awesome tofu two nights ago for pad thai. I'm really excited about the recipe, and think it's going to be my go-to method now for crispy tofu.

Crispy Tofu

1 block extra-firm tofu cut into 1/2-inch cubes and blotted dry

1/2 c cornstarch
1 tsp garlic salt
few sprinkles ground pepper
red pepper flakes to taste

Mix dry ingredients. Put tofu in big bowl, pour dry ingredients over top. Gently toss, shake, swirl tofu until each piece is totally coated with the cornstarch mixture. Add more cornstarch if necessary. Heat about a quarter inch of canola oil in a non-stick skillet over med-high heat. I usually add one piece of tofu and see if it really sizzles when added. Carefully slip tofu into skillet, piece by piece, and turn when golden brown (about 3-5 minutes depending on heat). I made two batches because I have a little skillet.

I ate about 1/4 of the tofu before adding it to to the pad thai. It was crunchy, salty, spicy, fried, and delicious. After tossing it with the sauce, it did soften up a little, but still crunched.

favorite youtuber

If you haven't seen anything from Michael Gregory, I strongly recommend you check out his videos. They're so, so clever. And catchy. The first is an old favorite. The second, I just saw tonight, and think it's adorable.