Recently I’ve started cooking more.  This is a result of not having any work to do and of having someone for whom to cook.  I figure, I enjoy food, I enjoy reading about food, and eating out is expensive: might as well hone my kitchen skills.

Last night I made some recipes I found on SmittenKitchen, one of my new favorite food blogs (tons of fun recipes, with photographs to aid potential success):

Spanish tortilla with artichokes, potatoes, and red peppers.

Julienned (is that a word?) zucchini with toasted almonds.

Both dishes were supremely delicious, very easy to make, and helped use up the food I am trying to dispose of before I leave for two months.  We topped the zucchini with some crumbled parmeggiano regiano, which gave it a nice saltiness.  Even flipping the tortilla wasn’t disastrous, though I had some help.  I’d like to try to keep cooking in New York so that I can bring more than peanut butter sandwiches with me to work for lunch (Orangette, another one of my fun new food blog obsessions, has some nice brown bag options).  This will be a test of will, clearly.

So the other activity I have been participating in frequently, save for tearing through A Clash of Kings, the second 1,000 page book in George R. R. Martin’s Song of Ice and Fire series (soon to be on HBO with Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister!), is packing.  And rearranging.  And then re-packing.  Right now I am at one large suitcase and two smaller suitcases.  I will be living out of one of the smaller suitcases during an interim period before I can move into my sublet.  The other smaller suitcase, which will also be a carry one, is primarily filled with shoes.  And belts.  And jewelry.  But mostly shoes.

I’m mildly embarassed to be devoting a whole suitcase to shoes.  However, I will be in the city for the entire summer and will need shoes for work and play.  Also, shoes are heavy, and giving them their own home helps avoid the risk of having an overweight suitcase (I hate it when that happens).   Still, having three rolly suitcases makes me feel a little princessy, which is a title I try to avoid.

Anyhow, that’s what I have been doing.  I leave tomorrow evening!  Very excited!

P.S.: What show should I see first?  I plan on hitting TKTS as soon as possible.

P.P.S.: Thanks in advance to Pine View friend Santosh and his roommate for housing my princessy self and the princess’ three suitcases for the interim period before my sublease starts!