Woo.... glasses and contacts begone!

No post last night, which meant no dinner for me.... how come? Well, yesterday afternoon I finally gathered the courage and had Lasik surgery done! We arrived home around 4:30pm and after the 2 Valium they gave me, I didn't wake up (except for an hour around 10pm) until 8:30 this morning! That stuff really knocked me out. Don't worry, Jeff was well taken care of, he had snacks and dinner all laid out for him to munch on. So far I can see ok today, but it is still a little fuzzy and blurry at times - they say this is to be expected and my vision should continue to clear up over the next couple weeks. Has anyone else out there had a good experience with Lasik?

What else would I do for a thank you to the great nurses and doc that took care of me? In anticipation of things turning out well, I went ahead and baked a batch of our most requested brownie recipe, the Outrageous Oreo Brownies, to take in when I went back for my follow up today - I hope they enjoyed them!

I did feel good enough to make dinner tonight, so I chose a couple easy things to make - we started off by making this Apple-fennel slaw. This fresh and clean salad begins by thinly slicing a fennel bulb and tart Granny Smith apple. A couple carrots are grated and added to the above, along with some sweet currants and a drizzle of olive oil. This mixture is then refrigerated while the dressing is prepared.

Apple juice, mixed with just a teaspoon of sugar, is allowed to concentrate and reduce until it is roughly half as much as when you started. For a tangy bite, a couple shots of apple cider vinegar are added before the mixture is set aside to cool completely. Once the dressing is combined with the licorice-y slaw, the mixture needs sit in the refrigerator for about 20 minutes or so. This gives the flavors a chance to marry and keeps the textures crisp so you can fully enjoy this clean-tasting dish.

When I was at the market on Wednesday, I saw a couple of pears that looked great, but were still a bit too hard. Today they had just enough give, while still being firm, so I was able to make this Wild Rice with Pears, Pistachios and Cranberries to have along with the slaw.

The cooking time for wild rice can vary greatly, so start checking around the 40 minute mark to see if the rice or tender or not - our rice was ready in about 50 minutes. While the rice was bubbling away, we continued the dish by sautéing mild chopped leeks in a couple pats of butter until they were tender, yet not browned at all. The leeks are removed, another pat of butter is added and the sliced firm pears are tossed in. After just a few seconds, a small dose of brandy is poured in and the pears are left to soak up the flavor. The tender, but not mushy pears are combined with the leeks, the cooked rice, ruby dried cranberries and a handful of crunchy pistachios. The sweet pears, nutty rice and chewy cranberries made for a tasty adventure with delicious flavors and complimenting textures (though the colors look a little muddled!).

Recipes
Apple-fennel slaw
Wild Rice with Pears, Pistachios and Cranberries