Bedroom for One

One of the biggest decisions I made when moving out to LA was about my living situation.  Aside from deciding where I was going to live, I was also deciding between living alone and living with roommates.  After weighing the pros and cons and realizing that no matter what choice I made, there were going to be days that I would regret it, as you all probably know, I decided to take the plunge and live alone.

After three months in my current living situation I feel like I have had enough time to settle in and that I can now assess the situation with clear eyes and officially say that I LOVE LIVING ALONE!!!  Seriously, I can watch whatever I want on the TV, I don't have to share the bathroom and there is soooooo much room in the fridge!  Seriously- look at all the Lean Cuisines I can have!

And there is still sooooo much more room!  I have seriously never regretted my choice for even a second though there are a few tiny things that make me miss having another person around the house...



TRASHY TELEVISION: As my friend Lauren noted one of her recent blog posts, there is something about being able to zone out and watch a meaningless show after your brain has been on all day.  What I really enjoy about trashy television is watching it with friends and having witty (aka: bitchy) dialogue about it.  The crazies of "The Bachelor" just aren't the same when no one is around to validate your reaction.  I've considered blogging during the shows, but that's pretty cliche' and then there is a written record of my rude comments on the interweb... so that seems like a poor choice...

COOKING:  My love of cooking has made several appearances on my blog thus far, but not quite as many as I originally envisioned.  It has become SUPER apparent to me that one of the things I love most about cooking is sharing it with people.  It is also pretty difficult (and a bit depressing...) to prepare food for one.  When I first started cooking, I was making dinner for my family once a week in high school.  In college, I ate like a college kid, and when I cooked, it was usually a large meal that all my friends would come over to help cook and eat.  The only meals I can really remember cooking in St. Louis was a failed post-drinking frozen pizza and a failed batch of Chicken Curry Soup (it is awful when you try to go vegetarian with it!) and in Chicago there were always people around to eat my cooking.

My new cooking strategy is now to multiply instead of divide.  It actually works really well to cook like I normally would and then pre-portion the leftovers for easy lunches.  Since I'm no longer actually sharing my food- I'm going to share one of my recent, delicious endeavors virtually with all of you!  Hopefully this will be a new trend for the blog and hopefully you all like it.  If not... too bad.


Salmon Burger Flatbread

First step of the flatbread is to prepare the spread that I adapted from Food and Wine.  I like to make it the night before hand so the flavors can meld in the fridge overnight.  You will need:

-1 pack cream cheese
-sour cream (I just added this to make it easier to spread.  Skip if you want a thicker cream cheese)
-shallot
-garlic
-chives
-capers
-lemon juice
-ground black pepper

Sooo.... I don't really measure.  I add to taste and I add more of the things I like (capers and garlic).  DO NOT add salt, the capers take care of that.  Go easy on the sour cream- you can always add more to make it easier to spread.  I also added more of the goodies so that the sour cream didn't dull the flavor.  Basically, you just chop up the shallot, garlic, chives and capers, throw them in a bowl with everything else and mix with a hand mixer.  You can also used a food processor or blender if you want it smoother, I like to keep some of the chunks.  The end result is delicious, especially after it has time to set:

Next day- I baked Trader Joe's pizza dough according to the directions but w/o any toppings- if bubbles form, stab them with a knife (or maybe poke them with something sharp, that sounded unduly violent...)

While the crust is baking, I cooked the salmon burgers.  I only used these because I had them in my fridge.  I cut them up into chunks and they kinda looked like chicken chunks.  You could also cook salmon fillets and flake them for the top or use some smoked salmon or lox or some uncooked version of salmon.  Really your choice.

Set the fish aside.  When the dough is done to your liking, handle any outstanding bubbles in the violent or less violent manner of your choosing and let it cool for a few minutes- if it's too hot the spread will melt a bit and could get kinda drippy. If you want it drippy, by all means spread away, otherwise, when cool apply the spread:

Then top with tomatoes:

And avocado: (which you should cut with an avocado knife.  Don't have one? Get one.  They rock.)

And finally the fish preparation of your choice:

Great for dinner.  Great for brunch.  Keeps well.  Works hot or cold. Pairs wonderfully with champagne.  The spread is also great as a dip, on bagels, as a topping for fish, subbing in tuna instead of mayo, etc.  You can also make these mini with English muffins if you prefer:

Can't go wrong if you are enjoying solo or while watching trashy TV with friends :)