Dumpling Pancake, 90s Music, Back-up Plans

In my last post, I mentioned being the proud owner of the biggest head of cabbage ever. In the days since, it made me giggle every time I opened my fridge because the cabbage is apparently of the never-ending variety. No matter what I made with it, welp- there was always more of it waiting in the crisper. 

On a Friday evening, dangerously close to dinner-time, racking my brains for yet another cabbage recipe, I was reminded of a very interesting dish I saw on Johanna's blog called dumpling okonomiyaki. It combines two things I love, dumplings and savory pancakes, into one very interesting and pretty dish. I had a packet of vegetable dumplings in the freezer (it is a staple for us and makes for many last minute meals) and everything else that I needed for this dish was on hand. It looked like a great opportunity to dispatch more of the cabbage.

I started by mixing the pancake batter, following the recipe pretty closely, but with less flour and cornstarch, fresh ginger instead of pickled, and regular green cabbage instead of Chinese cabbage. I added other bits, like cabbage and green onion. It is interesting that the recipe calls for a bit of shredded cheddar, a non-traditional ingredient. While the batter rested, I cooked up the dumplings in my cast iron skillet. 

Then I added the pancake batter around and atop the dumplings (I didn't need all of it and we enjoyed plain veg pancakes the next day). The whole thing cooked for 10-15 minutes, then I tried flipping it unsuccessfully, so I flipped it in sections. Even with my messy and imperfect execution, the resulting thick pancake was so, so good, golden and crunchy on either side, soft and savory in the middle. Absolutely delicious with some soy sauce and chili crisp, one of my favorite things I've made in recent months! It is a fun, off-beat recipe to make and eat. 

* * * 

More cupcakes were made this weekend- chocolate cupcakes with chocolate ermine frosting (rosette swirls with Wilton 2D piping tip) for my Aussie friend's birthday picnic at the park. We had a lovely time sitting outside even though the day set an all-time record for highest pollen count in the air! It was apparently 10 times higher than what is considered extremely high by pollen standards. Oof. On the plus side my grey car is now dyed a bright yellow. 

* * *

The Book Riot's Read Harder 2025 prompt #7 is Read a book about a piece of media you love (a TV show, a movie, a band, etc.) Immediately, I thought of 90s music, which, while not a particular band or piece of media, is a collection of media that I have adored, since, well, the 90s. So I picked up 60 Songs that Explain the 90s by Rob Harvilla, which started as a podcast and was published as a book in 2023. As the author says, the music you loved as a teenager is the sweetest music you'll ever hear. That's how music works and how being a teenager works. In his words, "With apologies to my loving and supportive parents, I was raised by MTV..." and to his credit, he has parlayed his teen obsession into a career as a professional music critic. 

The book has 10 themes with 10-12 songs representing each theme. Some examples of chapters and songs are listed below. (I myself have distinct memories of each of these from the 90s; for instance, Prodigy's Firestarter was the soundtrack of an incredible fashion show in one of the college festivals; I lived with my aunt in college and she loved Sheryl Crow...)

• Chaos Agents (pretty self-explanatory, songs which rocked the culture) includes Madonna- "Vogue" and Prodigy- "Firestarter"
• Women vs. "Women in Rock includes Alanis Morissette- "You Oughta Know" and Sheryl Crow- "If It Makes You Happy" among other legends
• Flukes + Comebacks + Spectacular Weirdos (what the rest of us would call one hit wonders) includes Los Del Rio- "Macarena (Bayside Boys Remix)" and Vanilla Ice- "Ice Ice Baby"
• Vivid Geography includes Missy Elliott- "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" and Soundgarden- "Black Hole Sun" 

I turned this book into my personal multimedia experience by playing songs out loud while reading about them. It was a good time. The chapters are rambling and all over the place, with the author mixing in his memories, impressions, and critiques of the songs/ bands, along with mentions of noteworthy events and "tea" involving the artists, such as feuds and controversies and cultural impacts. 

For the best and most entertaining visual summary of 90s music, however, I refer you to the series- VH1- 100 Greatest Songs of the 90s- this is episode 1; all episodes can be found online. 

When I want some music in the background, I've been listening lately to an online radio station called Radio Paradise- either their main mix or the rock mix. It is pretty eclectic. One song I rediscovered this week by hearing it on Radio Paradise is by a Canadian musical project called Euphoria - Delirium (1997), an instrumental song. I don't think I ever heard it in the 90s but it was instantly recognizable- I'm pretty sure I heard it a few years ago during an astounding dance performance by the group MOMIX. In any case, this went on my playlist right away. 

* * *

In today's moment of fitness, the importance of If...Then planning. For me, the slow ongoing cultivation of an exercise habit has been an education in human psychology. One tactic that I frequently use is If...Then planning, which is what I informally call "Plan B and Plan C" and what psychologists call implementation intentions, that is, plans you make beforehand about when and where to act. 

For instance, part of my regular exercise schedule is to go on short runs 2 to 3 mornings a week. But running outside is a plan that is prone to many obstacles- everything from bad weather to early meetings to darkness due to daylight savings time. So a couple of back-up plans are needed.

Plan A: If it is a running day on my schedule, then go for a run outside before work.
Plan B: If running outside is not possible, then do a HIIT workout at home.
Plan C: If doing a HIIT workout is not possible, then take more walking breaks during/after the workday. 

I also want to learn how to run confidently on a treadmill (I feel like I am falling off- I don't enjoy it) but have not gotten around to that yet. It could be an alternative to one of the plans above.

I believe that for the average exerciser (me), exercise consistency is way more important than exercise intensity. If..Then planning increases consistency because, first of all, you have a plan in place. And you have alternatives ready and waiting for the inevitable times (for such is life) when Plan A fails. Also, you don't have to come up with alternative plans on the spot. They are waiting in the wings. Having back up plans for various scenarios teaches us to be adaptable and not look for the first excuse to cancel the planned workout. 

Late Winter Meals, Novels, Preventing Injuries

Colcannon

Meal prepping- making quantities of meals to refrigerate or freeze for the future- is quite a thing these days, as it should be, being a practical and time-saving format of home cooking. For most of my cooking life, I have not been a meal prepper, preferring to cook a meal every evening that we eat for dinner, with leftovers for lunch the following day. Rinse and repeat. 

But these days I am a semi-meal prepper because it fits my hybrid work schedule. I have settled into a pattern of 2 biggish cooking sessions every week, one on Sunday that feeds us into mid-week and another on Wednesday that takes us into Friday. Friday evening can be a pantry/fridge-cleaning meal or take-out. It is wonderful to have meals ready to heat and eat on office days.

This week's cooking was hearty, cold weather fare. Winter turned to Spring this week, at least as per the calendar. In reality, the weather is swinging wildly and the season changes hourly. On Sunday, I made the lasagna and enchilada casserole and a pot of pinto beans and rice. On Wednesday I made colcannon and radish sambar (not pictured). I added a romaine lettuce salad and veggie sticks (cucumber, carrots) to round these out. By mixing and matching this food, it fed us all week for lunches and dinners. 

1. Colcannon- Because of St. Patrick's Day last week, cabbage and potatoes were even cheaper and more abundant than usual in the grocery store. V brought home the biggest head of cabbage I've ever seen in my life. I'm talking comically big. Even after 3-4 cabbage dishes, I have half a head in the crisper. Anyway, I leaned in and tried colcannon, an Irish dish of mashed potato with cabbage. I used this recipe but made it in the instant pot, which was dead easy. I served it with veggie meatballs (from Aldi) topped with barbecue sauce- it was so good. The picture is of a lunchbox with still-frozen meatballs! 

Spinach lasagna

2. Spinach lasagna- This is a favorite in my family always, although this time my son inexplicably decided he did not like it. Ricotta, frozen chopped spinach and oven ready lasagna sheets make it quite easy, for a lasagna, anyway. It still requires making a sauce and making a filling and layering everything together. 

Enchilada casserole

3. Enchilada casserole- I had a few corn tortillas stashed away in the freezer, and also had some fresh tomatillos from a rare trip to the Mexican supermarket. I made salsa verde and used it as the sauce for this casserole. The filling was a bunch of vegetables and soy curls. 

I have plans for some of that never-ending cabbage tonight. I'll post it next week if it works out! 

* * *

There's a whole stack of books I've been devouring and this week is all about the fiction. I read this novel for the PS 2025 Reading Challenge Prompt #14: A book about a nontraditional education- Never Let Me Go, a 2005 novel by Kazuo Ishiguro. 

(Possible spoilers ahead...) The narrator of Never Let Me Go is a 31 year old woman named Kathy. In this book, written in simple prose and in the first person, she reminisces about her childhood and schooling and interactions with fellow students. The nontraditional education here is what appears to be a pleasant English boarding school, but turns out to be a school that provides an upbringing to "clones" who are created for the sole purpose of donating their organs to other humans, with their lives ending after a certain number of donations. 

This book is shelved in the science fiction genre and I don't feel that it is an accurate characterization. I had more questions than answers about how this whole cloning system in this fictional dystopia works. (Turns out somebody on reddit had the same exact questions as me!) These questions were so distracting that I didn't particularly like the book when I was reading it. But it left me feeling deeply uneasy and I thought about it for days after. This was an interesting feeling- a book that affected me after I closed it much more than it did while I was reading it. 

The second book I read was also set in Britain, but is less of a dystopian read and more of an escapist novel- You Are Here by David Nicholls, published only last year. I read this book for the Read Harder 2025 Challenger for Prompt #9: Read a book based solely on its setting. The setting that attracted me was the English countryside. This witty, romance-lite book is about two lonely strangers, each reeling from a failed relationship, who are thrown together on a coast-to-coast "ramble" (hiking trip). It was fun to join these characters on their trip through geographical features (crags, moors...), pubs and various lodgings, bad weather, and various complications. If you're looking for a light-hearted read, I recommend this book! 

* * *

Today's moment of fitness discusses something we'd rather not think about- injuries. In the last few weeks, I heard of two serious exercise-related injuries. One of my childhood friends tore her ACL while "doing some stunts in the gym" (no idea exactly what, and I'm afraid to ask) and needed surgery to repair it. The dad of one of my local friends- a fit gentleman in his 70s- was on a group bike ride, crashed into a hard-to-see barrier and had major spinal injuries (he is in rehab and expected to do well.) News like this is always sobering. 

Exercise, an activity where we are purposely and intentionally stretching our limits and subjecting our bodies to controlled stress, certainly has its risks, but they are far outweighed by the benefits. Of course, everything in life carries risks. Even the most mundane of activities carry a chance that things can go wrong. Not exercising is riskier in the long term. Exercise risks can't be eliminated but there are ways to minimize them. 

1. Warm up and cool down. Start each workout with dynamic stretches (e.g., arm circles, leg swings, high knees). End each workout with static stretches. Start and end each run with a brisk walk. 
2. Use proper form and technique. Improper form can lead to tears, strains, sprains. Proper form can be learned with a trainer, or with exercise videos, watching carefully and practicing, ideally in front of a mirror. 
3. Start slow and progress gradually. This is a big one. We get excited and impatient; we want results fast, want results NOW. It is only human to be this way, but it is a huge risk factor for injury if you go too hard, too fast. This is my main problem with trendy gyms like F45 fitness, Orange Theory fitness, Crossfit. They often emphasize boot camp style workouts, with high intensity and a fast pace. You're doing complex movements, and doing them fast. It is a competitive and hyped-up atmosphere with instructors urging you to keep going and smash that workout. It is a group setting where your form is generally not being watched closely. All of this comes with a higher risk of injury, and this is especially true for people who are older and/or deconditioned (i.e., not accustomed to exercise). These gyms are popular for a reason. They can make exercise exciting, and they often build devoted communities of exercisers. But they are intense and that's not always a good thing for every person.
4. Pay attention to intake of water, food, electrolytes. Being dehydrated and depleted makes you fatigued which can lead to everything from dizziness and fainting to just impaired reflexes/ judgement as you exercise. 
5. Use appropriate gear such as well-fitting shoes and safety equipment. This is a reminder to myself. I went running two days ago before dawn (dawn is late these days because of daylight savings time) without any lights on me, and felt unsafe as I was crossing streets- I don't think cars could see me at all. Clearly, I need visibility gear.
6. Rest and recover. Don't work the same muscles hard every day. Rest and recovery time is what allows your body to respond and adapt to exercise to make you stronger. 
7. Curb your ego and listen to your body. There's no heroism in finishing a race if you feel intense pain in the middle of it. There's no point trying to lift an impressive weight if you're not ready for it. It is a learning process to figure out when to push yourself and when to draw back and stop and rest. We can't always get it right but we can keep working on it. 

* * *

Are you a meal prepper or do you cook on a daily basis?

Black Forest Cupcakes, Beet Dip, Progressive Overload

Last weekend was a busy one- I both attended a party and threw a party. It stretched my social stamina and by Sunday evening, I was all caked up and partied out. The party I attended was a first birthday (more on the food from that party below.) The party I hosted was a farewell party for my former boss and his wife, a couple in their 80s, who are now moving several states away to be closer to family. 

Over the last dozen years, the whole time we've lived in GA, they have been close family friends and bonus grandparents for our kids, attending all the holiday concerts and dance recitals and preschool graduations and grandparents' days at the kids' schools. For the last couple of years, my daughter has visited Mrs. C almost every weekend and learned to quilt from her, a very special activity that they enjoyed together. They are a big part of our life. All of this to say that this farewell was bittersweet, and I hosted a Happy/Unhappy Hour for them and a bunch of our former colleagues. 

Happy hours or tea parties are much easier to host than full dinners and just as much fun. We kept it quite simple with a menu of drinks/ snacks/ cake. For the celebratory dessert, I went with cupcakes instead of cake for easy serving. I considered many different flavors and then landed on a oldie but goodie that I haven't made in a while- Black Forest Cake. It was prompted by the jar of Trader Joe's syrupy Amarena cherries that I was hoarding in my pantry and jonesing to use. 

Those of us who grew up in urban India likely have a nostalgic fondness for Black Forest cakes- likely the first "fancy" pastry that any of us encountered, with chocolate cake soaked in syrup, a whipped cream topping with chocolate shavings and a cherry on top. This delightful NYTimes article covers how this German confection has improbably found popularity in different cultures in all corners of the world. (I posted a black forest cake recipe in 2005 and another one in 2015, so perhaps this is a once-every-decade thing for me?)

Black Forest cupcakes

1. Make chocolate cupcakes. I used this recipe mostly because it makes 16 cupcakes which was the number I needed. (I knew Stef back when I lived in STL and she is truly creative with her flavors as well as being a rigorous recipe tester.) Cool cupcakes completely.

2. Make cherry filling (I used frozen cherries and made the cherry filling from this recipe). Cool the filling completely.

3. Fill the cupcakes- I used a paring knife to cut a cone out of the top of each cupcake, and lopped off the tip of the cone to leave just a disc. Then I filled the cupcake with a heaping tsp. of the filling, and covered it back up with the disc. It doesn't look terribly tidy but will get completely covered by the frosting.

4. Top with whipped cream (I used this recipe) and a preserved cherry.

To really tick the black forest boxes, what would have good in addition to the above is (a) soaking the cupcakes with a kirsch- cherry syrup mixture, and (b) topping the whipped frosting with chocolate curls or shavings. But the cupcakes were delicious! It was my first time making filled cupcakes and they are so easy and good. 

With the leftover lopped-off cupcake tips and filling, I made two sundaes for my daughter and her friend.

* * *

The other thing I made for this happy hour that ended up being a huge hit was a beet dip. I first tasted it a few weeks ago when another friend brought it to a potluck. I love beets ("dirt candy") but they're not a favorite in my household and not a vegetable I buy regularly. 

This dip is a revelation, though, with raw beets blitzed with nuts and some terrific Middle Eastern flavors like pomegranate molasses. (I found a bottle of pomegranate molasses in the local international market quite easily.) It is so easy to make, looks beautiful, and is a total crowd-pleaser. 

The recipe for this beet dip comes from the NYTimes Cooking section but is subscription-only; however, it is available on some blogs, like here and here and here. 

• You can see from the links that any kind of nuts can be used here- almonds, pistachios, walnuts. I used walnuts and thought they were perfect. 
• I reduced the amount of olive oil drastically but otherwise followed the recipe closely. 
• For the yogurt, I used homemade plain yogurt that I hung up to thicken slightly. 

* * * 

Our Brazilian friends threw a birthday party for their baby boy, and there was some GOOD food to be had, all of it made from scratch by one of their mothers. This lady is aspiring to do some small-time catering and she would certainly make a success of it. 

For lunch, there were trays of Brazilian Style Shepherd's Pie called Escondidinho, or "little hidden one". The vegetarian version had veggies and tofu sauteed in a mushroom sauce. There were also several flavors of brigadeiros, beautiful little treats made with condensed milk, and a lime cake. It is truly a treat to eat lovingly prepared homemade food. Also a treat to go to a birthday party and eat something other than pizza! 

* * * 

In today's moment of fitness, I will talk about a concept called progressive overload, a key principle of strength training. It is a proven method to improve strength and gain muscle mass by gradually increasing load on the muscles over time. Doing just a little bit more than you did before. 

Let's take an example of one muscle group- biceps, the major muscle of the upper arm. Say we want to gain muscle mass in the biceps and get stronger. A typically exercise for the biceps is the bicep curl, a very recognizable exercise. 

There are different ways to use progressive overload to strengthen the biceps:

• Increased intensity (probably the most common): gradually lifting heavier dumbbells. You may start with doing 8 repetitions of bicep curls with 8 lbs dumbbells in each hand, then a couple of weeks later, you may progress to doing the same with 10 lbs dumbbells, then 12 lbs and so on. 
• Increased volume: gradually increasing the number of reps or sets of an exercise. You may keep the weight the same but go from 8 repetitions to 12, or 1 set of 8 reps to 3 sets of 8 reps.
• Increased frequency: gradually increasing the number of training sessions per week. Over a period of months, you may go from doing bicep curls once a week to twice to three times.

This works on the principle of adaptation. Your body keeps adapting slowly to the controlled overload/stress you introduce by building muscle tissue (as well as the connected ligaments and tendons), by improving the neuromuscular connections, etc. Doing it slowly and steadily minimizes risk of injury and results in sustainable progress. 

Can progressive overload continue forever? Beginners tend to progress quite fast but of course it isn't feasible for gains to continue in a linear fashion forever. A time will come when progress is very slow and incremental and you plateau with your bicep curls- you can't do any more reps and/or can't increase the weight you are curling. 

What then? There are many options:

• Maintain: If you are satisfied with how strong your biceps are, just keep lifting at the same level to maintain muscle mass.
• Change up the exercise: Instead of conventional bicep curls, try a variation like hammer curls, reverse curls, or curling an EZ bar. Challenge your muscles in a slightly different way.
  
• Change the focus: Instead of focusing on strength, shift the focus to another aspect of fitness, like doing power curls, which train explosive strength. 
• Focus on recovery: If a plateau occurs at a time when you should be reasonably progressing, consider taking a week off (deloading), or increasing recovery time, and then getting back to the routine. 

* * *

What's a great new recipe you've tried recently?