Black pepper-sesame paste

So, it's been about 10 days since my last post...To tell you the truth, blogging hasn't been at the top of my priority list lately. I'm still cooking a lot, but I haven't felt like taking the time to measure all my ingredients, take notes as I cook, and prep photos. I guess I've just been wanting to cook in a more casual way recently. I don't want to post recipes unless I know for sure that they are reliable, so my throw-together meals never end up on the blog, even if they taste awesome.

Another aspect to my blogging less often is this: when I was in grad school, I was feeling a lot of uncertainty about my career path, along with a bit of unhappiness about my research job, and I think that blogging helped me to find the satisfaction that I wasn't getting from my job. And now...I love my new job, I really do. I'm very happy and my life in general has been feeling very fulfilling, and my priorities have shifted.

I've been thinking a lot about the role this blog plays in my life, and the bottom line is that it's supposed to be fun. So, I have decided that I am going to continue blogging, but I'm only going to post when I really feel like it - I'm not going to worry about whether I'm posting regularly or often, I'm just going to do it when I want to. I really hope you'll still read the new posts, whenever they end up happening...

And I do have a recipe for you today. I've been loving the flavor of black pepper lately and have been really amping up how much I use in my cooking. I created this particular paste with some inspiration from Hot Sour Salty Sweet, and some inspiration from Heidi Swanson. It's got a deep toasty flavor from the sesame seeds and aromatic notes as well as heat from the black pepper. Garlic, cilantro, and soy sauce round out the flavors. I think this would make a great sauce for almost any stir fry, and would also be a nice rub for meat.

Brown rice cakes

Have you guys caught on to the fact that I love brown rice? I don't eat it just because it's healthy - I eat it because flavor and texture-wise, I really prefer it over white rice. Even as a youngster, I'd be thrilled when my mom made brown rice. My sister though....not so thrilled. Her palette was not as refined as mine (I kid, I kid). So you can imagine how proud I was to hear that my 11-month-old nephew ate brown rice at dinner tonight! He obviously has very good taste.

Anyway, I could go on for a while about my nephew's superior qualities, but I'll get back on track here and tell you about this recipe. The inspiration for these cakes came from these brown rice balls on 101cookbooks and a recipe for savory rice cakes in Gourmet Today. I knew I wanted to go with an Asian flavor profile, and ended up mixing the rice with black sesame seeds, green onions, carrots, and ginger. After a quick pan fry, the cakes get wonderfully crispy on the outside, and they make a nice light meal with some eggs on the side. I'm pretty excited about this new way to use my beloved brown rice, and I'm looking forward to experimenting with more variations on this idea.

Granola bars

This past Sunday, I ran my first half marathon. A year ago, I never could have imagined that I was capable of running 13.1 miles. I would have told you that half marathons are for crazy people, because no sane person would ever run that far by choice. But now...I guess I've become one of those crazy people! I started running last May because I wanted to do cardio exercise more regularly and improve my fitness for health purposes. I slowly built up my mileage over several months and found that I really enjoyed long runs, even in sub-freezing temperatures. I eventually decided to run the Half of Quincy and couldn't have asked for a better experience for my first half marathon. The weather on Sunday was gorgeous, and the first few miles of the race were along the ocean, which I loved. My training paid off and I felt great on race day, although I'll admit that miles 11-13 were very challenging, both mentally and physically. My goals for the race were pretty modest, since I'm a new runner - I wanted to run/jog the whole thing without walking breaks, and I wanted to finish with a smile on my face. I'm proud to report that I accomplished both those things, and I already can't wait to do it again!

While I was training, I made a conscious effort to refuel properly after running. I wasn't trying to lose weight, so I tried to replace the calories I was burning by adding some healthy snacks to my routine. One of my go-to snacks was granola bars. I tend to find that packaged granola bars are often too sweet, too dry, or have some components (like certain nuts or fruits) that I don't care for. So it seemed obvious that I should develop a recipe of my own that is suited to my particular tastes! This granola bar recipe went through a couple iterations - the first version I made had nice flavor but the texture was too soft and the bars didn't hold together well. I made several changes and finally ended up with this version, which I love. The texture is chewy rather than hard, but the components of the bars still have good crunch. They are full of ingredients that you can feel good about, and have really great flavor with just the right amount of sweetness. I'll definitely be keeping a supply of these bars around as I train for my next race!