"And in the end it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years." - Abraham Lincoln

Every so often, I sit down to re-evaluate and revise my list of things I want to accomplish in life. I remember starting this back in 2002 on the pages of the in house flight magazine as I was flying to New York to visit my sister in her first year of college. On the spread that had the map of the world with all the airport hubs and flights Northwest had between cities, I wrote to ad nauseam things I wanted to do and goals I had in my life. This included everything from sky diving to teaching to falling in love. Sometimes I'll look back at this list or I'll just start over since I am constantly changing with new desires or I've already accomplished some. A few I've been able to check off: salsa dancing and performing, teaching and living abroad.
The Buried Life is a new MTV reality series based on the question, "If you had one day left to live what would you do?" It's like pay-it-forward in the adventures of 4 boys that are working to accomplish their list of dreams - "dreams too often buried by life." I love this idea. And, while most of us don't have the financial backing of a huge network to let us make this our job, it still serves as a reminder not to let our dreams get buried by life. With all the previous "bad choices" and issues and challenges I've experienced, I have no regrets and hope to never have any. Luckily, this is all in my control. I don't usually open emails that have been forwarded to me like chain letters, but I read one the other day and one point stood out to me. . . the only thing I can remember from the entirety. It was a list written by someone dying of cancer, a list of "I wish. . ." She said, I wish I would have invited friends over for dinner more often and not worried about not having a proper table, place settings or space. So true! Living in a New York sized apartment with no kitchen table and frugal funding, I put aside one of the things in life I love to do most: dinner parties. In college, I often had friends over to my nice-sized studio apartment, table set with proper plates and silverware and a spread of appetizers, side dishes, entree and drinks on my parent's dime. My situation has changed slightly now as I live in a Manhattan walk-up on my "hard-earned" income, but I am not going to let this stop me from entertaining and cooking for friends. I was reminded last night of the joy I get from hosting dinner parties. What started off as the normal weekly cooking night with my friend Bria, turned in to a small gathering. Putting the worry about space aside, the informality with good food, drinks, company and conversation made for a great night.

The ancient Incas called it the "mother grain" and revered it as sacred. Quinoa was used to sustain Incan armies, which frequently marched for many days eating a mixture of quinoa and fat, known as "war balls." While quinoa is technically not a true grain, its versatality in cooking treats it as one. The quinoa seed is high in protein, calcium and iron, a relatively good source of vitamin E and several of the B vitamins. It contains an almost perfect balance of all eight essential amino acids needed for tissue development in humans. If you've ever used couscous, quinoa is similar in that it can be mixed with almost anything to make a complete, delicious and healthy meal. I was recently reading 101 cookbooks and came across a vegan recipe called Heather's Quinoa. In the recipe, quiona is mixed with tofu, corn, spinach (or other green), toasted pumpkin seeds, tomatoes and a pesto sauce. This peaked my interest in the quinoa ingredient, and I started researching other recipes that incorporated it. Then, I met my friend at a coffee shop and she got a side of garlicky quinoa with chickpeas, green beans and roasted peppers. It was amazing! That's when I decided that would be the entree for my upcoming cooking night. The meal was simple and quick while also being delicious and beautiful.

I always like having a few appetizers/hors d'oeuvres so that people can munch on that while I can focus on cooking and not feel pressured by them being famished. Olives are always nice to have out and crudite. Earlier in the day, I prepared an artichoke olive tapenade to be served on crostini. I'm kind of obsessed with small plates and tapas and the idea of crostinis that can be topped with almost anything in any combination. The tapenade was a coarse blending of artichokes, pitted green olives, rinsed and drained capers and olive oil. On home-made whole wheat crostinis or lemon peppered cucumber slices, it was a wonderful start. While my brussel sprouts and broccoli, delicately coated with olive oil, salt, pepper and rosemary, were roasting in the oven, I started to prepare the quinoa dish. . nervous since it was my first time using the ingredient.

In a pot of 2 cups of boiling water and salt, I added 1 cup of dry quinoa and reduced the heat, covering for it to simmer for about 15 minutes. While walking through the farmer's market in Union Square, I came across a tent selling a variety of mushrooms and fresh herbs. I was inspired to do a mushroom thyme quinoa dish. In a large skillet, I heated 2 tablespoons of olive oil and added one diced onion. After the onions sweetened and clarified, I added pressed garlic and sliced crimini (baby bella) and shitake mushrooms. As the dry white wine steamed and turned in to a syrup around the islands of mushrooms, fresh thyme was mixed in, and the quinoa had opened. The outer germ twisted outward to form a little white, spiral tail, which is attached to the kernel. It became fluffy when stirred and the water was absorbed, which was my alert that it was ready to be combined with the mushroom mixture. After tasting the product, I wanted to add more garlic and salt. Then, it was finito. Timing with the roasted vegetables was perfect and ready to be served. It was all so good (wish I would have made more to have extra), and I'm excited to use quinoa much more in the future, experimenting with. . .whatever I feel like.

The successful meal ended with a little reminiscent taste of my college years, kir royales. . .chambord and champagne with sliced strawberries. Yum!. .. and yum to the memories of the grad student wine bar on main street with Radiohead in the background and sitting with the girls as we were approached by guys offering to buy us endless kir royales. . .ahhh .. .good times!





Heather's Quinoa Recipe (adapted from 101 Cookbooks)

a splash of extra-virgin olive oil

a pinch of fine grain sea salt

1 shallot, minced

3 cups cooked quinoa

1 cup corn, fresh or frozen

1 1/2 cups kale, spinach or other hearty green, finely chopped

2 cups extra-firm nigari tofu, browned in a skillet a bit

1/3 cup homemade pesto

1/3 cup pumpkin seeds, toasted

1/4 cup roasted cherry tomatoes

In a big skillet or pot heat the olive oil and salt over medium-high heat.

Stir in the shallot and cook for a minute or two.

Stir in the quinoa and corn and cook until hot and sizzling.

Stir in the kale and then the tofu, cooking until tofu is heated through.

Remove the skillet from heat and stir in the pesto and pumpkin seeds.

Mix well so the pesto is spread throughout.

Turn everything out onto a platter and top with the cherry tomatoes.