Peking Duck in Sports Bras and Drop-Crotch Pants

Introduction
With the recent onslaught of prelims, projects, and problem sets (oh my!), I've resorted to dressing and eating in extreme comfort.  Not quite comfortable enough to, say, wear leggings as pants, but comfortable enough that instead of wearing a real bra, I've

The Food
Matt said he wanted to roast a duck when I suggested we roast an animal several weeks ago.  So he was super duper ecstatic when I proposed this recipe for Peking duck.  Though, we are not as adept duck-roasters as that lovely human being, we decided to give it a whirl.  So, we started by removing the innards from our slightly frozen duck.

Matt running the duck under some lukewarm water.

Heart, lungs and spinal column to be used for a broth later.

After that thirty-minute struggle was over, we had to pull feathers out and score the skin to maximize fat-drippy-ness.

Scoring with what I thought was a super sharp knife (nope)

Flipping the bird.

There's a part in the instructions that says to tie the legs together with a piece of birch string or something.  Do I have fancy things?  No.  Do I even have spare string?  Nope.  So we decided to cut a slit in the skin-fat and pull the legs through it.

Not creepy at all.  Nope.

So then we roasted it for 4 hours, flipping the bird every hour.  At hour three, we made a glaze of soy sauce, molasses, agave nectar, and sriracha.  I don't even know what's an acceptable substitute for honey, but agave nectar supposedly tastes just as good and has almost the same consistency.  Due to an allergy, I have no idea what honey tastes like.

The glaze

The bird!  With the glaze.

We ate the bird with tortillas and saved the fat for later.  It was beautifully executed meal with Magic: The Gathering and much laughter that followed.  I had not seen Matt for a whole week since he had silly fraternity initiation things to do.  But I had him back, so that was nice.

Corn tortillas are gluten-freely and magically delicious.

My half of the bird.  So good!

3/4 of a cup of duck fat.  Not too shabby.

The Fashion
Duck is a luxury food and luxury sometime equates with comfort.  Comfort to me is a good pair of pants (or no pants if those are the best pants I can find) and a sports bra.

Sweater (Esprit), pants (ASOS, fun fact: I got them that evening), tank top (American Eagle), sports bra (Lululemon athletica), necklace (bought in China), and hat (knit by my friend's mom)

Not to get too personal, but this semester has really taken a toll on me emotionally and personally.  I really wish I could find more time to do fun cooking things and spring break will hopefully open up the doors to some personal development.

Keep it yummy,

Jo

Bombay Curry Pasta: East Meets West

Man, do I look awkward.

The last time I wore these pants, I was on the Great Wall of China.  They are from Free People and the top in the above picture is from Hot Topic and the bangle is from Lucky Brand.  The bottom outfit features a top from Ecote, the bracelet my mother bought me, pearls I bought in China the day before, and pink Converse I found in my house.

I am resting on a window on the Great Wall of China.  Don't hate.

So I decided to wear them again because of their epicness.  Also, because no matter how many times I wear them at work, everyone compliments me on them.  They are a very good ego-boost.  But this look is inspired by the rich patterns and textures of the east (or something like that).  Naturally, I wanted to pair it with the west and make a curry pasta with grilled chicken dish.

From the left: squash, onions, corn, bok choy on top of basil and green beans.  Next to it is veggie stock and corn penne.

I pureed the squash to make a type of sauce with onions and the basil stems.  The brown stuff is curry, coriander, and cinnamon (for extra flavor).

Here, I added the greens.

The finished product: now, featuring grilled chicken.

Um, wat.

On a super random note, this squirrel was trying really hard to get into a jar of peanut butter.  It ate through most of the lid before we scared it away.  Animals, man.

Keep it yummy,
Jo