Anyway, renowned chef Dale Miller, owner of an Albany restaurant by the same name, did a cooking demonstration for us GenNEXTers followed by some shmoozin’ and boozin’ (my term, not theirs).

Yours truly is on antibiotics for a sinus infection so I skipped the booze part of the evening and made some new friends instead. While the conversation was great, the highlight was Dale Miller’s demonstration. It wasn’t anyway mind-blowing; he prepared a simple salmon filet with a miso glaze. But I love watching people cook, food nerd that I am, and he was a quiet yet funny guy. He reminds me a lot of one of my best friends fathers: short, sweet, and wonderfully corny.

The glaze was simple: sake, oil, sugar, miso paste, all simmered together in a pot. We sampled small portions. It was delicious. I’m a little biased though, because I love salmon but never have it unless the Boyfriend cooks it.

I was most surprised to learn that miso applies to our fifth taste. You know the four: sweet, salty, bitter, and sour. Apparently scientists have recently identified a new taste: umami. It could also be called “savoriness.” I’m clearly not a reliable source on the matter, so follow the link for some better information for you. From Wikipedia. Of course.

The following appeal to our umami tastes: miso, mushrooms, ketchup, and cured pork. Go figure.

After the demonstration and before bidding us adieu, Chef Miller left us with one more corny tale. While he was visiting Japan, the tour guide reminded them how important it is to chill out every once in a while and “lerax.” “So tonight, don’t forget to chirr out and lerax,” he instructed us.

Fair enough. Between umami and lerax-ing, tonight was just about the craziest Wednesday night I’ve had in a while. If you’re in the Albany area, check out Dale Miller or the soon-to-be-reopened Sperry’s in Saratoga.

Like Chef Miller, I’m keeping this post short and sweet because it’s sweltering in our office. The Boyfriend insists he did NOT break the ceiling fan when he crashed into it during a victory jump over the U.S. win during the World Cup preliminaries today. But I know better.

Instead of eating old Larabars for lunch everyday this week (as appealing as THAT sounds), I forced myself to get a little creative and scrounged around for the makings of a pasta salad. I ended up with half a box of orzo, a can of tuna, and clementines. I was trying to recreate this salad my aunt makes that has orzo, chicken, mandarin oranges, celery, and a dressing with mayo, dry mustard, and white pepper. Unfortunately, I did not have chicken, celery, oranges, or mayo. So… pretty much the only thing that links these two dishes is orzo. Think of this Easy Orzo and Tuna Salad as an homage.

I started by cooking the orzo and tossing in the tuna and clementine. Tasty, but it lacked a little crunch, so these guys got chopped and added:

I also added a sad half of an avocado that was losing life in the fridge. It added some creaminess that replaced the missing mayo.

For the vinaigrette, I just winged it since I was missing the key ingredients. Check out the recipe!

I ate a nice bowl for lunch this afternoon:

I wanted to put it over some spring mix, but to my dismay the remains of the bag was past its prime. (We are FAIL on the vegetable front over here.) I still think this is a good way to get a little more filling fiber into this lunch.

The salad is very light. At first I feared it was too light, but I think I am still caught in the doldrums of heavy winter stews and sauces. Each bite is quite refreshing and keeps you guessing: you’ve got a little heft from the tuna, a nice citrus spritz from the clementines, carrot-y crunch, and creamy avocado. The recipe makes a nice batch to last you through the week.

Penguin Tupperware: for use all year round! Let’s hope this sunny weather keeps away any real penguins, though!

Of Eastern New York, Albany got the least amount of snow in terms of accumulation, but from Tuesday to Friday it was cloudy and snowing or raining every minute of every day. Talk about needing some motivation and Vitamin D.

I tried to brighten the days with some color in the form of fruits and vegetables. It’s amazing how thankful I am for an orange when the ground, sky, and everything in between is gray.

That particular lunch also featured leftover pizza topped with hot sauce and pesto for a little excitement (I’m not even kidding, sometimes pesto is the most exciting part of my day.)

Here is my confession: I found this slice of homemade pizza in the back of the fridge and I admit that I cannot remember the exact date of its birth. But it looked fresh and (more importantly!) SMELLED fine, so it was added to the lunch menu. You can ask The Boyfriend: I am extremely sensitive to smelly things. If something smells off (pizza, produce, milk, your feet) you had best get it away from me pronto.

The random bit of pesto was from a Real Simple meal The Boyfriend had made the night before: Cod with Beans, Corn, and Pesto.

As you may have heard, The Boyfriend has been making fish lately.

The recipe is meant to have green beans, but when the boy came home from the store he announced that green beans were nowhere to be found, so he bought peppers instead. I was nervous about how the peppers would pair with the fish. Peppers are so flavorful and full of zing, whereas green beans are much milder. I said nothing though, which is unusual for me, but I am wary to criticize the hand that feeds me.

Let me tell you: The Boyfriend is 2 for 2. First the tilapia, now the cod. Success, my friends, delicious and fishy success! I was surprisingly full, without even eating a single noodle or slice of pizza.

Dinner was accompanied by a bottle of wine from our nice neighbors downstairs.

Dessert was accompanied by an episode of Criminal Minds (you can sneak a peek at Gideon and Hotchner in the background).

Following in The Boyfriend’s footsteps, I made a comforting Real Simple recipe for dinner the next night. (*I accidentally just typed “foodsteps” instead of “footsteps” — it still works, right??) I found this recipe in the magazine a couple of issues back and it just spoke to me. Seriously, how good does Creamy Barley with Tomatoes and Greens sound? The recipe makes a big ol’ pot, too.

I hate to say it, but this was honestly a little bland for me at first. I ended up adding some smoked Cheddar to the pot, and I think I would recommend skipping the Brie all together in favor of a smoked cheese. I also added some red pepper flakes for a little zing. I will say that I am completely in love with barley though. It’s so comforting and has such a good flavor. Barley stew has the same qualities as risotto: warm, filling, and good for you. I do recommend this recipe, but just add that you should be open to added your own favorite flavors.

So the fact that in the same week I’ve eaten scallops AND tilapia is sort of a big deal.

The Boyfriend cooked dinner tonight (because he is magical). This gave me time to clean my desk, YouTube Tom Petty, and sit around in wool socks.

Score.

He used a Real Simple 20 Minute Meal recipe to make Seared Tilapia with salad, with a few variations: canned mango instead of fresh, no ginger, yellow onion instead of red, and spring mix instead of watercress.  I personally have no photos of the process because I wasn’t there; the following snapshots are from The Boyfriend. Halfway through cooking he grabbed my camera off my desk and said, “I want to be proud of my tilapia.”

Ingredients, minus that box of truffles you see in the background:

Cooking the fish:

The finished product:

The dish was good (actually, my exact words were “This is freakin’ good!” through mouthfuls of fish). I’m terribly wary of anything too “fishy” and, brat that I am, I was sort of craving something hot and soup-like versus a salad on such a blustery evening. But the recipe (and the cute chef) won me over. After a week of eating only leftover Valentine’s Day cupcakes (I jest — or do I?), eating something real was refreshing. Definitely bookmark this recipe and save it for those nights when you’re hungry NOW but you want to do your body one better than frozen pizza.

While dinner was searing, I finished up a book my mother gave me for Christmas:

I quite liked it: the narrative is about eating and working and freaking out about the future, all of which are my personal hobbies. Phoebe details her entrance into the world of fine dining through her time at New York restaurant Per Se. Her style is relaxed and witty, like she’s your best friend, recalling her day at work while you two share wine and late-night take-out. The story focuses on beginnings: the opening of Per Se as well as the opening of Phoebe’s adult life. It’s an amusing portrait of haute-cuisine and the people who eat it. This was an accessible, friendly read, perfect for a recent graduate with no money and a penchant for anything edible. Gosh, my mother knows me well!