I promise I still cook a lot!

My recent posts have made clear how much traveling, and training and worrying about my marathon I've been doing in recent weeks, because it's been quite some time since I've posted a recipe!  I've been doing a lot of repeats, and forgetting to take pictures of dinners and just feeling downright lazy.

This week I went to a conference in Erie, and I got to fly (wait for it...) FIRST CLASS!!!  I had never flown first class before, and when I found out that the SFO-DTW leg of my flight on Thursday, which was booked using our work credit card miles, was first class I lost my shit.  I bragged excitedly to every single person I came in contact with.  I spent a ridiculous amount of time on the Delta website figuring out what perks came along with sitting in first class so that I could take advantage of every single one.

And so at 7am on a Thursday, I was on a plane, in my first class seat when I encountered my seatmate for the next 4.5 hours, whom I have dubbed creepy old dude (COD for short)  He was late 60s-early 70s,  leather skinned, with a cowboy hat, shirt unbuttoned nearly to his navel, and copious amounts of old man cologne.  He made it clear immediately that he expected me to carry on a conversation with him, and informed me that he had already texted his girlfriend to tell her he was seated next to a lovely young lady. Then he proceeded to take my photo on his phone (without asking) and send it to someone with the message "There are opportunities everywhere".   BARF!  Way to harsh my first class mellow, creepster!

Through the miracle of my negative attitude, combined with noise canceling headphones and the fact that COD fell asleep almost immediately, I did not have to converse much after takeoff.

My seat!  Before COD arrived.

I was polite enough to only take a picture of myself, not of COD

Breakfast!  I politely declined the omelet.

They did not have champagne for mimosas, so I settled for a little white wine at 8:30am.  It's 5:00 somewhere, right?

The trip itself was fine.  Kevin had a cold all week and I had mercifully avoided it, until I landed in Erie and started to feel a little tickle in my throat.  By evening it was a full blown sore throat, and Friday was spent prepping for my presentation and consuming copious amounts of vitamin C and Zicam from my hotel room bed.  I left the room for approximately 2 hours for my session and then holed up in bed in my jammies again.

I got home yesterday and made a lovely dinner of Tempeh and Mushroom Fricassee with 40 Cloves of Garlic, from Peter Berley's Modern Vegetarian Kitchen:

Tempeh and Mushroom Fricassee with 40 Cloves of Garlic 

from Peter Berley's Modern Vegetarian Kitchen

2 Tbsp olive oil (This was originally 4 Tbsps, but I tend to cut the oil in Berley's recipe's in half, because I feel like he's a bit heavy handed, but if you like more, by all means go for it!)

1/2 lb tempeh, slice into bite sized pieces

1/4 cup white wine

2 Tbsp soy sauce

2 leeks, white and pale green parts julienned

1 lb mixed mushrooms (I used cremini and shitake)

1 Tbsp flour

1.5 cups veggie broth

40 garlic cloves, peeled (as pathetic as it may sound, I bought pre-peeled garlic cloves at Trader Joes to avoid all the peeling)

2 sprigs thyme

1 sprig parsley

Handful of celery leaves

salt and pepper to taste

Heat about 1/2 Tbsp of oil over medium heat.  Saute the tempeh until it is browned on most sides, about 10 mins.  Add the wine and soy sauce and cook a bit longer until most of the liquid is absorbed.  Put the tempeh mixture in a bowl.

Add the rest of the oil to the pan over medium-high heat.  Saute the mushrooms and leeks until they begin to caramelize and then add the flour and stir another couple minutes.   Add the garlic and veggie broth and bring to a boil.  Tie the herbs together and toss them in. Simmer, covered for about 30 minutes.  Uncover and cook another 5 minutes, until the broth has thickened. Remove the herbs, season with salt and pepper and sprinkle with chopped parsley.