a million words to go

I'm blogging at Mad Art Lab!

2011-12-05T13:03:00.000-08:00

I am now a contributor over on Mad Art Lab, a blog that explores the intersection of art, science, and skepticism; I'm writing about science issues in food and drink.

You can catch up on my posts here.

See you over on Mad Art Lab!

How to eat 2.5lbs of sausage

2011-05-27T23:53:00.000-07:00

After you make two-and-a-half pounds of fresh garlic sausage, what are you supposed to do with it all?

The answer for us, at least, was to spread it out over a couple weeks and several meals; I tried to do something a little different with it each time:

Orecchiette with broccoli and sausage Pecorino cream sauce

Tomato-y lentils and sausage with zucchini "noodles"

Sausage and kale soup

Sausage-stuffed potatoes

Spinach tomato sausage risotto

We did get tired of the flavor of this particular sausage by the end, and it was potent enough that the other flavors comprising whatever dish it was in couldn't quite cover it up... Nevertheless, it was fun coming up with different recipes in which to use the sausage, and I'm looking forward to being able to try making another kind!

French green lentils with homemade sausage, kale and red wine

2011-05-15T14:22:00.000-07:00

The Charcutepalooza challenge for May was grinding. I had actually purchased the grinding attachment for my Kitchen Aid early, in anticipation of just such a challenge (plus, I really enjoy sausage, so I figured it would be worth the investment).

Not that I expected otherwise, but making fresh sausage was pretty much a breeze. Following Michael Ruhlman's master recipe for fresh garlic sausage, I got to go from this:

...to this!

I must report that this project was not an entirely unmitigated success. After the first several minutes, the meat and seasoning mixture was exiting the extruder in a much more paste-like form than I anticipated, despite my efforts to keep everything cold (though failure to do so was probably a factor). When I went to clean the grinder, I discovered that tough meat sinews had been blocking the grinding plate and clogging up the blade, forcing the meat out smaller and smaller holes, thereby creating the paste-y consistency.

Luckily, the flavor was unaffected. The sausage was a bit too salty, but that's really only an issue if we're eating it on its own. My plans for the sausage mainly involve using it as a component in various tasty dishes, like the one below.

Once we work our way through the remaining two pounds of garlic sausage, I'm excited to try new flavor combinations!

When I think of a dish that is hearty and healthy, something like this is what comes to mind. Add to that that fact that it's a one-pot meal, and what we've got here is a real winner. It was largely inspired by the fact that I had the lentils on hand and half a bunch of lacinato kale that needed to be used up, and I decided to use the same red wine that I used in the sausage--the bottle was open and not yet empty.

French green lentils with sausage, kale, and red wine

Serves 2-3

1/2-1 cup of loose sausage (about two links, casings removed)

1/2 onion, chopped

1 clove garlic, minced

1 tsp fennel seeds, lightly crushed

pinch red pepper flakes

1 cup French green (Puy) lentils

1/4 cup red wine

1/2 bunch lacinato kale, tough ribs removed, then roughly chopped

Splash of cider vinegar

In a pot over medium heat, fry the sausage in lumps until browned and cooked through. Remove from the pot and set aside, leaving any grease in the pan.
Add the onion, garlic, fennel seeds, and pepper flakes to the pot (as my sausage was not very fatty, I needed to add some olive oil). Saute until fragrant, a few minutes.
Add the lentils and stir around to coat, then add the red wine and 1 3/4 cups water.
Bring to a boil, then cover, lower the heat to medium-low, and simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed and the lentils are getting tender (you may need to add more water).
Once the lentils are nearly done, add the sausage and kale. Stir to incorporate, then cover and cook until the liquid is absorbed and the kale is tender.
Add the vinegar. Taste, and season with salt and pepper. Serve.

White Bean and Swiss Chard Soup (original recipe!)

2011-03-28T00:06:00.000-07:00

I tend to cook from recipes most of the time. This is due largely to fact that I enjoying cooking totally new things and I wouldn't have any idea how to go about them otherwise. Even then, though, I'm pretty good at coming up with substitutions and variations to fit my needs/tastes/supplies. And of course I've got go-to dishes (brussels sprouts with bacon, risotto) that I need no directions for.

So I guess I shouldn't be as proud as I am of the white bean and swiss chard soup I made last week, totally from scratch, without following a recipe.

My goal was to recreate an amazing soup I had in January at Nopa. It consisted of kale and miniature white beans in a parmesan* broth, with croutons. "This can't be so hard," I thought to myself, and it wasn't! This soup is hearty and delicious, with complex flavors and simple preparation.

A couple simple variations: if you want the soup to be vegan, use olive oil instead of bacon fat. If you want it to be meatier, cook pieces of bacon (or sausage crumbles) in the pan first, then remove; proceed using the fat left in the pan and then add the meat back in at the end. You could use tomato paste to enrich the broth, or use homemade chicken or vegetable stock (but it was really flavorful made with water, thanks to the caramelized onions, soy sauce, and plenty of salt). I'm also sure this soup would be better with dried beans; maybe it would work to add them when you add the water (you'll need more water, I imagine) and then simmer for a couple of hours before going to the next step.

White Bean and Swiss Chard Soup - serves 3-4

2 tbsp bacon fat (or olive oil or butter)

1/2 onion, thinly sliced

1 garlic clove, smashed and minced

1lb (1 bunch) swiss chard, stems and ribs separated from the leaves and chopped, leaves chopped

4-5 cups water

1 tbsp soy sauce

1 can cannellini or navy beans, drained and rinsed

1 small tomato, diced

Dash of apple cider or red/white wine vinegar

1. Heat the fat in a large pot over medium-high heat. When hot, add the onion and cook until browned, stirring occasionally.

2. Add the garlic and the chard stems and ribs. Cook until the chard is browned and onions are caramelized, stirring occasionally.

3. Add the water and soy sauce and bring to a simmer.

4. Once simmering, add the chard leaves, beans, and tomato. Stir, cooking until leaves are wilted and beans are warmed through.

5. Add the vinegar and salt and freshly ground pepper (and/or more soy sauce) to taste.

Let me know if you try it, and how it worked out for you!

*The parmesan rind I added ended up not doing much for me, so I'm left it out of the recipe above.

Corned beef tongue and corned beef sandwiches

2011-03-14T00:10:00.001-07:00

Yes, you read that correctly, and no, I believe corned beef is normally made from brisket.

However, when the March Charcutepalooza challenge was announced and we were given the choice between making corned beef with brisket or tongue, I went with my adventurous side. I'd never cooked tongue before and this seemed like the perfect excuse.

Did you know that cows have really enormous tongues? The one* I purchased weighed 3.5lbs.

I followed this recipe. The process could not have been simpler:

Combine the tongue, brine, and seasonings in container; put in fridge and forget about for a week or so. When it's done brining, boil in fresh water with aromatic vegetables for a few hours; peel; chill; slice.

Yes, I said peel.

(Thanks to the folks over at FoodTease I had some idea of what I was getting into with the peeling. Turns out it's super easy, especially if you start on the bottom. I thought it was fun!)

Results? Delicious! Corned beef isn't something I eat often, if ever, but I was really pleased with how this turned out. The real moment of pride came when a visiting friend, who didn't know what it was supposed to be, tasted a slice and remarked, "You know, this tastes exactly like corned beef." Success.

I sliced the tongue so that we could enjoy it on sandwiches:

In the spirit of cooking things I've never cooked before, I also decided to make my own deli-style rye bread:

I love trying new things. Especially when they're delicious.

*I actually bought two, not realizing how large they'd be. My friend Jeters kindly took the other one off my hands; now everyone needs to bug her to make lengua for tacos with it!

Brrraaaaaaaaiiiiiiins...

2011-03-01T12:45:00.000-08:00

Last night, I attended a whole hog butchering class with Ryan Farr of 4505 Meats. In about three and half hours, we went from this:

to this:

Actually, that's just the 8th (approximately 20lbs) I took home. It was a fun evening of sawing and hacking and boning and skinning (I spent most of my time cutting the face meat off of the skull). Despite having checked before I left home, my camera battery died shortly after arriving at the class, so I don't many pictures from the evening. (Somewhere there exists a picture of me holding the pig's ears up to my own head...)

To make up for my inability to photoblog the class, I'll tell you about the first thing I cooked with my yield.

See the plastic container in the second picture above? It contains something special. I was one of two lucky students to get to take home (um, gross-out photo coming up)...

...half of the brain!

Actually, no one else wanted any brain. Oh well, their loss, 'cuz that sucker was TASTY. I decided to indulge my latent zombie tendencies and have some fried brain for a lunchtime snack today.

Okay:

I had a vague idea of what to do, but I always feel more comfortable if I have a guide when I'm cooking something totally new. Luckily, a cookbook of traditional German recipes given to me by my brother a couple years ago came in quite handy:

On Ryan's recommendation, I sliced up the brain into thinner pieces:

I sprinkled one side of each slice with salt and freshly ground pepper, and decided not to do the other side because the slices felt like they would fall apart if I turned them over. I put three tablespoons of butter in a frying pan on medium heat until it had all melting and was bubbling nicely. Then, (using tongs) I dunked each slice of brain into a beaten egg, coated it with flour on each side, and put it into the butter:

After a few minutes, I turned the slices over to reveal their crispy, golden bottoms:

A couple more minutes to brown the other side, and they were done!

The cookbook recommended serving the fried brain with capers and lemon wedges, so I obliged:

The accompaniments were good suggestions; the slices weren't quite salty enough for me, so the capers helped with that, and the lemon juice helped cut through the richness of the meat itself.

Verdict? Delicious! The breading was crispy and the brains themselves were creamy and slightly porky. If you have issues with custardy texture, this may not be the dish for you, but the slices are thin enough to avoid too much icky mouthfeel. Still, I don't think my husband will be sad that he was at work for this experiment.

Up next: tongue and trotter?

Bacon Fate

2011-02-27T22:25:00.000-08:00

In case you're curious about what we did with the rest of our homemade bacon...

Most of the bacon, I served alongside cheese and punch at my birthday party. I cubed it and roasted it in a 400 degree oven for maybe 20 minutes:

The simple preparation really let the flavors of the cure come through; very garlicky! Needless to say, there were no leftovers.

The morning after, my husband and I enjoyed some scrambled eggs (with spinach-artichoke dip leftover from the party) and classic, fried bacon:

Cooked to crispy, this bacon basically disintegrates in your mouth.

Finally, I made the last little bit into crispy lardons to garnish some lemony pasta:

Again, the flavor is strong enough to leave an impression even when using just a little bit.

As I mentioned in the previous post, I've got quite a bit of the basic dry cure left. I'm excited to be taking a whole hog butchering class with 4505 Meats on Monday night; with any luck, I'll be bringing home some more pork belly!

In the meantime, here's a preview of what I've got brining in the fridge:

Come back next week for my completion of the March charcuterie challenge!

The bacon is here!

2011-02-19T12:11:00.000-08:00

And it looks like real bacon! *beams like a proud parent*

After letting the pork bellies sit in the cure for 7 days, I took them out of the fridge yesterday and rinsed them off:

...and roasted them in the oven:

Mmm, bacon.

Everybody, this is seriously delicious stuff. The garlic comes through pretty strong, which is certainly not a problem for me. Love it! I do kind of wish, since we ended up curing the bacon in two separate bags, that I'd done one savory and one sweet, but when it comes down to it, I am not disappointed at all with the savory version.

Anyone who knows me or has read this blog in the past should not be surprised at the first dish I chose to feature the bacon, since it combines bacon with two of my other favorite foods:

That's right: bacon, brussels sprouts, and beans. If you're following along, here's the recipe!

Bacon, Brussels Sprouts, and Beans

Serves two as a main course, more as a side

1 lb fresh brussels sprouts

1 can cannellini or navy beans, drained

2-4 slices of bacon (I cut mine thick; how much you use is really up to you)

Salt and pepper

Vinegar (red wine, champagne, balsamic, apple cider--whatever you've got!)

Trim the ends off of the brussels sprouts and slice them in half, top to bottom (if they're especially large, maybe slice into thirds).
Cut your bacon into 1-inch pieces.
Heat a heavy pan over medium heat; when it's hot, add the bacon. Cook until it's as crispy as you like it, then remove from the pan, leaving the grease in the pan.

Add the brussels sprouts to the hot, bacon-greasy pan. Let them sit for a couple minutes to brown on one side, then give them a stir. Let them cook, stirring occasionally, until they are tender. (Depending on how much bacon grease you had, you may need to add a little olive oil to keep things loose.)

While the brussels sprouts cook, drain the can of beans (and rinse if you like).
After the brussels sprouts are tender, add the beans to the pan. Stir, cooking for just a couple minutes, until the beans are warmed through. Remove from heat.
Add salt and pepper to taste, as well as a splash of vinegar.
If serving two as a main course, plate the brussels sprouts and beans, then divide the bacon between the two bowls. If serving as a side, stir the bacon pieces into the sprouts and beans.
Hooray!

Coming soon: homemade bacon

2011-02-15T21:54:00.000-08:00

There's this event taking place in the home-cook blogosphere right now called Charcutapalooza. Each month of 2011, participating bloggers will attempt a different home charcuterie challenge.

February's challenge: the salt cure.

I opted to follow Michael Ruhlman's savory bacon recipe, and my friend Clay (an old friend and recent SF transplant) helped me out. What better way for two former cooking buddies to be reunited?

We put together the dry cure of kosher salt, sugar, and curing salt, then combined it with crushed garlic, black peppercorns, and bay leaves.

Clay got to use my mortar and pestle, which makes everything more fun:

The kitchen smelled truly amazing at this point, but with those ingredients, what's not to like?

Into this mixture we pressed a 3lb pork belly (cut into two pieces, since I only had 1-gallon plastic bags):

Then bagged them up and stuck them in the fridge to cure!

Seriously--it doesn't get much simpler than this. Maybe 30 minutes of work, tops? (And I've got a bunch of the basic dry cure leftover; what should I try next?)

The pork belly's been curing for five days now, and we're just about ready to unveil our creation. The plan: roast it, cube it, fry it up, and serve it as part of my birthday smorgasbord on Saturday. Asked one eager friend, "Can we dip it in chocolate?"

Stay tuned...

Lentil burgers (I love lentils!)

2011-02-08T20:49:00.000-08:00

This delicious-looking burger has a secret.

Do you know what it is?

Okay, so it's not that much of a secret, since I wrote the answer in the title of this blog post. Burgers! Made of lentils!

I'm going through (what I hope is not just) a phase right now where I absolutely adore lentils and beans. I sift through the food blogosphere searching for new recipes with different spices, textures, and styles. I've been avoiding breads and pastas and trying to eat less meat, and legumes have really stepped up to the plate (no pun intended) when it comes to providing the main protein in the meals I cook at home.

So, when I happened across a recipe for lentil burgers the other day, I knew I had to try it. They've got breadcrumbs in them, and we ate them on buns, so they weren't totally in line with my "cut the bread!" goals, but they were definitely delicious.

First cook up a pot of lentils (you can find my go-to recipe at the end of this post). Then, blend up a bunch of them--I got to try out my new immersion blender, which was exciting. You want them basically pureed, but do leave a few whole lentils in there.

Next, mix in some bread crumbs--fresh if possible--and a lightly beaten egg. Stick this mush in the fridge for at least half an hour.

After it's chilled, mix in some bread crumbs, and you're ready to start!

Fair warning: maybe it's because I pureed them too far, but my lentils were definitely not thick enough for me to "form patties" the way the phrase suggests. All is not lost, however! Here's what I did:

Put some oil in your pan and heat it up. Then, use a measuring cup (I used a 1/4 cup; depends on how big you want your burgers) to dump some lentil-mush into the hot oil. Push the mush around with a spatula until it's patty-shaped:

This really wasn't difficult! Okay, now you want to let it cook until it browns on the bottom, five minutes or so. Once you've got a bit of a crust, slide the spatula underneath and flip that sucker over:

The crust on the bottom helps it hold its shape a bit, but I needed to shape it with the spatula again just a little. If you want to add cheese, now's the time to do it! Just lay the cheese over the top and put a lid on the pan. Cook until the cheese is melty.

Ta da!

I really wanted ketchup and mayo on my burger, but we had no ketchup. So, I ended up mixing mayonnaise with some tomato paste and a bit of the liquid from some chilis in adobo; the sauce was creamy, tangy, and smoky all at the same time!

If you're trying to avoid bready things, do what I did the following day: cook a patty just like before, but slide it on top of some greens instead of onto a bun (I dressed the greens with my improvised sauce):

In short: easy, delicious lentil burgers. So good, even dedicated beef burger fans will enjoy them--at least, the one I'm married to did!

Anne's Basic Lentils

olive oil

1/2 medium onion, diced

1 carrot, peeled and diced

1 garlic clove, smashed and minced

1 cup lentils (I haven't tried this recipe with red lentils, but green, brown, and French green all work)

1 bay leaf

salt and pepper

Heat a pot over medium heat. Add enough olive oil to cover the bottom of the pan. Once the oil is warm, add the onion, carrot, and garlic and cook until the onion starts to soften and the carrots start to brown, stirring occasionally.
Add the lentils, bay leaf, and 2 cups of water. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and cook until the lentils are tender, stirring occasionally. Check often to see if you need to add more water; if so, add a 1/4 cup at a time.
Once the lentils are done, add salt and pepper to taste. Also, I highly recommend a splash of vinegar (apple cider, red wine, balsamic--whatever is on hand) to brighten it up.
Hooray, lentils!

Nomming our way through the holidays

2011-01-01T18:55:00.000-08:00

Happy New Year, everyone! I hope that you all celebrated in whatever way makes you happiest. For our part, we surrounded ourselves with friends and family, and filled ourselves with delicious food and drink.

I can only hope that 2011 is as filled with deliciousness as these past few weeks have been--just take a look at the tasty things I've been making!

Apparently the holidays mean one thing for me:

CHEESE!

The above Gruyere and Vacherin Fribourgeois (say that five times fast!) were the main ingredients for the traditional Swiss fondue we made a few days before Christmas. A couple pounds of cheese, plus garlic, chardonnay, and a little cornstarch (and some Acme bread for dipping) and voila!

I'm pretty sure that fondue is the definition of indulgence, given that you're basically eating melted cheese (not to mention that I spent about $60 on said cheese alone). We followed the fondue with a sing-a-long viewing of The Nightmare Before Christmas. I can't think of a better way to lead into the holiday weekend.

Fondue wasn't the end of my recent cheese indulgences. In the past couple of weeks I've also made two different cheese balls, following Kirsten Jackson's artisan spin on those retro rounds of cheese and nuts you probably remember from Christmas at your grandmother's. No Velveeta to be found here--these cheese balls feature farmhouse cheddar and stinky blue cheeses, along with aromatic herbs.

I found the Blue Cheese Ball with Caramelized Balsamic Onions to be a little heavy on the balsamic, but I wouldn't steer away from trying it again with a few adjustments.

The Farmhouse Cheddar Cheese Ball with Pecans and Bourbon was a huge hit, both with me and my in-laws for whom I made it. The onions cooked with rosemary are a really nice inclusion.

Okay, okay. After all this cheese we need a change of pace. I took it upon myself to cook Christmas dinner for the in-laws. For the main course, I decided on Mark Bittman's rack of lamb with a pimenton, garlic, and rye bread rub.

Note to self: an important family dinner party is not the place to try an exotic new dish. The rack of lamb I was cooking was larger than the one the recipe called for, and I also failed to remove the thick layer of fat from the top of the rack before applying the rub and popping it in the oven; consequently the cooking time was quite a bit longer than anticipated. In the end, we ended up scrapping the rub into the pan, slicing off the fat and cutting apart the chops to help them finish cooking faster. With the support of my mother-in-law, it pulled through and ended up tasting great, but not without a decent amount of stress.

Thankfully, I had picked a standby of ours for the side dish that anyone who reads this blog should recognize: pan fried brussels sprouts with bacon, cannellini beans, and balsamic vinegar.

There were no leftovers from my Christmas dinner--success!

My holiday baking season ended, as does any good meal, with dessert. For my contribution to our friends' New Year's Eve party, I chose Smitten Kitchen's crescent cookies with jam and cheese.

(You didn't really think I was done with cheese, did you?)

Actually, the queso fresco I used in the dough isn't noticeable beyond what I assume is its contribution to the texture ("like a really awesome pie dough," as my friend Jeters nicely put it). I was an instant fan of these cookies (as were many other party guests). With no sugar in the dough, the only sweetness comes from the jam--strawberry and apricot in my case--and a sprinkling of powdered sugar on top. They were a little time consuming to make, but simple enough and totally worth it. I look forward to experimenting with different fillings, both sweet and savory.

I look forward to more kitchen experiments in general in the year to come, and I hope that you'll continue to follow along. Cheers!

December Decadence

2010-12-12T23:15:00.000-08:00

We got invited to the 11th iteration of a party entitled "December Decadence." Attendees were asked do whatever was decadent to them. Dress up, dress down; bring chocolate or chips and dip... Do what you want, but whatever you do, indulge yourself.

I decided to indulge myself in a little cocktail history.

Champagne (California sparkling wine, actually) and Jamaica rum (Appleton Estates):

Lemon slices:

Maraschino:

...and you end up with Rocky Mountain Punch, a recipe from Jerry Thomas' 1862 Bonvivant's Companion.

Notice I also froze my own giant ice blocks to fit in the jar. #cocktailnerd, anyone?

As the spigot jar was empty in a number of hours, I'll call this venture a success. If I did it again, I would mix the rum, maraschino, and sugar, and macerate the lemon slices first, then add the sparkling wine; as it ws, my stirring made the champagne go a little flat. Either way, it was fun to build the punch in front of everyone; I think more people tried it than might have otherwise because they got to see me make it.

Here's the recipe for Rocky Mountain Punch as written in the book; try it out at a party this season!

Rocky Mountain Punch

For a mixed party of twenty
From a recipe in the possession of Major James Foster
This delicious punch is composed as follows:

Five bottles of champagne
One quart of Jamaice rum
One pint of maraschino
Six lemons, sliced
Sugar to taste

Mix the above ingredients in a large punch bowl, then place in the center of the bowl a large square block of ice, ornamented with rock candy, loaf sugar, sliced lemons or oranges, and fruits in season. This is a splendid punch for New Year's Day.

How was your Thanksgiving?

2010-12-03T19:28:00.000-08:00

With all the leftovers finally gone, I thought I'd look back a week to how I spent my Thanksgiving. And by "how I spent my Thanksgiving," I mean "what I cooked for Thanksgiving."

I think Thanksgiving could easily be my favorite holiday, because it glorifies my two main hobbies: cooking and dining. An annual excuse to cook a large meal to share with friends and family? Yes, please!

This year, I made the same cranberry sauce with orange peel and brussels sprouts with lemon and poppyseeds that I've made the past two years; these dishes are easily becoming traditions. But when it came to the turkey, I wanted to try something different.

The past two years, I've cooked Thanksgiving dinner for four people and chose to roast a turkey breast, rather than a whole bird. It's the right amount of meat and you don't have to worry about overcooking it while waiting on the dark meat. It worked well, but I wanted to be able to try something new this year. And besides, I'm a dark meat girl.

Enter Mark Bittman's braised turkey thighs. With pancetta, cherry tomatoes, and olives, what didn't sound good about this dish?

The answer is, "Nothing."

Braised dark meat, exotic accompaniments--I was all over this. And I even used some Punt e mes in my cooking liquid. Unfortunately, the recipe isn't especially carefully written, and I didn't really know how long it would take to cook, especially at 200 degrees.

Long story short: two hours later, the meat still wasn't cooked through. I put the dish back in the oven at our hosts' house, but the temperature was higher and some of the meat dried out. I enjoyed the porky vegetables, but ended up not enjoying the turkey itself that much. Everyone else seemed to like it, though.

At least it looked nice.

I also made pumpkin pie. This was my first time making a pie crust from scratch. It was successful enough to encourage me to try again (but not so successful for me to consider quitting while I'm ahead). I followed both pie dough and filling recipes from Smitten Kitchen--this pumpkin pie filling is really amazing.

Topped with maple-bourbon cream sauce, by the way.

And next year? Well, I'm obviously planning to make the cranberry sauce and brussels sprouts. But when it comes to turkey, I want to try something different again--next year, I want to skip the turkey altogether.

No, I'm not going vegetarian. But I've added myself to the ranks of those who just don't find turkey that appealing. We cook it once a year, which consequently means that we don't really get to practice it. It takes a long time, it's more food than we really need, and the taste just doesn't make it worth it for me.

If we want poultry, really flavorful roast chicken is dead simple. But why not brisket, or ribs? I even saw a tweet from someone who was making porchetta. Seriously, why not?

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Jasper's Rum Punch

2010-11-27T13:56:00.000-08:00

I've got a couple posts in the works, including a Thanksgiving post, but in the meantime, here are a few words about a drink I enjoyed the day after Thanksgiving.

There ain't no Coca Cola in that glass.

In July I purchased a bottle of Wray & Nephew White Overproof Rum, and used it for making stronger-than-usual Hemingway Daiquiris on the 4th. Since then, however, it's just been sitting on my bar. Given its high alcohol content, Wray & Nephew is often used in combination with other rums in relatively complex tiki drinks, and I hadn't found any recipes that convinced me to buy the necessary ingredients.

While enjoying a cocktail or two at Comstock Saloon last week, my friend behind the bar passed over a copy of Ted "Dr. Cocktail" Haigh's Vintage Spirits and Forgotten Cocktails. We started flipping through and I came across "Jasper's Rum Punch," a drink made with equal parts Wray & Nephew and something called "Jasper's secret mix."

The secret mix, detailed at the top of the page, consists of the following, stirred together and bottled:

juice of 12 limes
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 1/4 ounces Angostura Bitters
1/2 whole nutmeg, grated

With the exception of the 12 limes (I needed a few more), I had all those things at home! And if you're reading this blog you're probably familiar with my affection for Angostura. This had to be done.

So, on the day after Thanksgiving, I juiced 12 limes and avoided grating my knuckles along with the nutmeg, and combined those with the sugar and bitters, and then stuck it in the fridge. A few hours later, I combined 1.5 ounces each of the mix and Wray & Nephew in a glass with cracked ice.

Jasper's Rum Punch is really delicious. You really can't go wrong with Angostura and freshly grated nutmeg, and the spices make it both island-y and appropriate for the holidays. I'd be interested to try it with turbinado sugar, but regular white sugar was perfectly good.

A word to the wise: the ice really is necessary. At 126 proof, this rum really packs a punch, and while the flavors are pretty balanced, this drink does have the power to knock you off your feet. Enough ice crushed so that it will melt sooner than later may allow you to retain your dignity.

Happy Birthday, Andrew!

2010-10-26T00:15:00.000-07:00

I did not end up making my husband (then fiancé) a birthday cake last year, so I made up for it this year with a two-layer banana cake with chocolate butter cream, decorated like a monkey (featured on Smitten Kitchen). I don't think I've made and decorated a layer cake since my second year of college, when I made a Ms. Pacman cake for a friend.

The monkey cake was a success, served at the birthday party alongside those wonderful enchiladas sencillas and cabbage slaw that I've made before--the two pans of enchiladas disappeared in an instant. We're still working our way through the cake.

There is much less than this much cake left.

The party happened after Andrew's actually birthday. On the day itself I made lasagna, with San Marzano tomatoes, Harley Farms goat ricotta, mild Italian sausage, and half a package of frozen spinach that's been hanging around for awhile. The recipe is from Mollie Katzen's Moosewood Cookbook, and I remember my mom making it when I was a kid; the original recipe was vegetarian (my favorite part is the dash of nutmeg in the ricotta-spinach filling), but I was pleased with this compromise: the spinach I wanted and the meat the birthday boy wanted.

For dessert a surprise: rice pudding! To make it extra surprising, I added shaved dark chocolate and some garam masala. The flavors were perfect, but the chocolate made the pudding a little thick, and it basically solidified in the fridge. Next time, I'll use cocoa instead of chocolate.

Happy birthday, Andrew! I hope it was a good one.

I love brussels sprouts

2010-10-18T22:52:00.000-07:00

They're a fairly notorious vegetable. As a child, I knew that my father liked them but that I wasn't supposed to; I don't remember eating them often and I don't remember how I felt about eating them when I did.

It wasn't until much later, after I had already decided to question any food aversion I'd previously had and just try everything, that I came to love brussels sprouts.

While I did try pan roasted them, to good effect, during college, the love affair didn't really blossom until a couple years ago, my first Thanksgiving in Texas and first Thanksgiving when I would be cooking the entire meal myself (if only for four people). I was looking for a good green side dish and found the perfect one: hashed brussels sprouts with white wine, lemon, and poppy seeds:

I had never heard of, never thought to slice up brussels sprouts, but slice them up I did. After briefly sauteeing some garlic in olive oil, the sprouts are added to the pan along with lemon juice and white wine. Cook only long enough to soften the sprouts and turn them bright green, then remove from the heat and stir in a generous amount of poppy seeds. Season with salt and serve.

(This dish is doubly good for Thanksgiving because it cooks so quickly!)

I love the bright green color of the sprouts, the bright, fresh flavor of the lemon juice, the fact that the sprouts stay a little crunchy, and the added texture of the poppy seeds.

Since that dish, sauteeing or stir-frying brussels sprouts has been my favorite way to prepare them--it's fast and delicious and allows to incorporate a variety of flavors, depending on what you're feeling like.

Tonight's dinner (see the photo at the top of the post) is an excellent example, inspired by the brussels sprouts with lentils and prosciutto from The Stone Soup. I started by chopping up a bunch of bacon and frying it up in my Le Creuset french oven. Once it was mostly cooked, I added 8 or 9 brussels sprouts, ends chopped off, cut in half, then sliced into thirds. I allowed these to brown with the bacon, stirring occasionally, until they were tender but not too soft. Then I added a drained can of cannellini beans and stirred everything around until the beans were warmed through. I turned off the heat and added about a tablespoon of balsamic vinegar, salt and pepper. After plating, I topped the dish off with some crumbled feta cheese that we bought yesterday on our tour of Harley Farms Goat Dairy (goats! cheese! awesomeness!).

These ladies have nothing to do with brussels sprouts.

If you think you don't like brussels sprouts, I urge you to give one of these recipes a try, and see if my favorite mini cabbages can't rock your world.

Some recipes I am looking forward to trying:

What I cooked this week, Episode 17

2010-10-11T11:58:00.001-07:00

I've had a couple realizations recently.

The first is that I should really give these posts more interesting names. It's been cool to track the number of week that I've been meeting my goal of doing a lot of cooking and cooking new things, but "Episode 17" is not especially compelling as a title.

The second realization is that I'm probably going to start having a lot of repeat dishes. Looking back on this series, I'm pretty proud of myself for the variety I've had, a mixture of old favorites of mine (but new to the blog) and new things I've tried for the first time. And while I intend to keep trying new things, items from the past few months are going to cycle back in, and while I might have something new to say, I also might not.

So, going forward I think I will limit myself to posting about things that are new, either to me or the blog, or that are at least new experiences (including new experiences with old dishes). Maybe this will inspire me to actually write more tutorials, rather than just listing what I've done. However it goes, my third realization was that I've done a good job of showing myself that I can in fact fit a good deal of cooking into my regular routine, and it's a solid part of my routine now, which was the ultimate point.

All that said:

Episode 17, October 4-October 10

Beet risotto

An old favorite. I remember asking my then-fiancé, "Do you like beets?" And he didn't know, so I made risotto with beets and it was declared a success. While it is certainly tasty, the best part about this dish is probably that the beets dye the rice a brilliant magenta. It's fun with spinach or beet greens tossed in as well.

Chicken-apple-fontina puff pastry

This was a dinner-for-one, using up a bunch of leftovers: leftover puff pastry and apples from last week's tarts; leftover shredded chicken from the tikka masala; leftover fontina cheese from mac n cheese a couple weeks ago. I added some grated nutmeg for a little zest. This was tasty, but would have been better if the apples were sweeter and juicier.

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

Actually 20-25 cloves of garlic in this case, since I made a halfish batch. Another favorite of mine, this recipe comes from Smitten Kitchen. You brown skin-on, bone-in chicken, then add whole garlic cloves, wine, and chicken stock (I used my homemade stock) and braise the chicken and garlic until the chicken is cooked through. Unfortunately, this attempt at this dish did not turn out as well as previous attempts; as you can see the garlic got a little burned, as opposed to caramelized. Still, it results in really juicy chicken.

Curried chicken salad

Another meal to use up leftovers: the rest of the shredded chicken, plus almonds and dried cranberries that were just lying around, and some diced apple went into this salad. The dressing is mayonnaise + plain yogurt + curry powder. Unfortunately, I ran out of curry powder before I had added as much as I would have liked.

Four-ingredient flourless chocolate cake

The Stone Soup is to thank for this recipe, an amazingly simple dessert that takes relatively little work. The little bit of work you need to do is whip an egg white, and if you're willing to get your mixer dirty (I wasn't at the time) then even that isn't really a chore. My cakes did not turn out as prettily as Jules', but they were very tasty, especially thanks to the 82% cacao chocolate bar I used.

Corn chowder with chilies

Fresh corn is still showing up at the farmers' market, and it's getting cheaper and cheaper, so I was excited to try this Pioneer Woman recipe for corn chowder. The special ingredient is canned chilies, a combination of hatch green and chilpotle in adobo. A word of warning: the chilpotles are pretty potent; I only put in two and that was plenty of spice for my slightly-spice-averse husband (luckily he enjoyed the chowder enough to work through the heat!). The other awesome ingredient: bacon. I made a full batch of this chowder and look forward to working my way through the leftovers.

Orange Julius

Partly to counter the heat in the chowder, and partly because I couldn't get it out of my head after seeing the recipe, I decided to make orange julius to go with dinner (also, the colors coordinate so well!). I actually would have liked it to have a little stronger orange flavor, but even so it was delicious.

What I cooked this week, Episode 16

2010-10-05T18:23:00.000-07:00

I was sick all week. Sick as a dog, you might say. Plus I was getting up at 6 most mornings for work. Consequently? Not much cooking. However, I did my best to make up for it on Sunday and prepare something that really counted.

Episode 16, September 27-October 3

Chicken Tikka Masala and cabbage stir-fried with cumin, fennel, and sesame seeds

I have a couple voluminous Indian cookbooks in my collection, and up until last Sunday I had made just a single recipe from either of them (paneer, from 660 Curries). I had browsed through both it and Madhur Jaffrey's Quick & Easy Indian Cooking but allowed myself to be intimidated by the long lists of spices. For shame.

I've built up my spice collection since then, and when I was looking for something to accompany Jeters' recipe for Chicken Tikka Malasa (perhaps my husband's favorite dish ever), I decided up this recipe for stir-fried cabbage. It gets cooked up with onions that caramelize, some garam masala, cayenne, and lemon, and whole cumin, fennel, and sesame seeds. I really liked the texture the whole seeds added to the final dish, and the surprise bursts of fennel.

The tikka masala was quite nice. I used ground fenugreek seed instead of dried leaves, and I'd be interested in acquiring some to see what the difference is; I also added some salt and black pepper. We'll definitely make it again!

Puff pastry apple tart

Man, is store-bought puff pastry the cheater-iest thing in the world, or what? Even more so than last week's pot pie, this apple tart is a cinch to throw together. Following directions from the Pioneer Woman, I sliced up a teeny gala apple from the farmers' market, tossed the slices with brown sugar and lemon juice, and layered them on top of two squares of puff pastry. Into the oven for a bit and voila! I've made this with peaches before, too. I'm sure a homemade flaky pastry crust would be twice as delicious, but this is a nice, rather elegant-looking dessert that requires basically no effort at all.

What I cooked this week, Episode 15

2010-09-28T19:06:00.000-07:00

Good thing I got a lot of cooking done early last week, because by the end of the week I found myself in the clutches of a horrible cold. Still struggling to get free, in fact; I don't expect to have much to post next week.

Episode 15, September 20-September 26

Baked mac n cheese

This was a week of comfort food (perhaps I felt the cold coming on?), starting with baked mac n cheese. Whole wheat spirals, Niman Ranch bacon, and cheese sauce made from leftover Point Reyes blue cheese and fontina, topped with Vella Dry Jack. I have to say, I quite liked the blue cheese flavor and will definitely consider it for future baked macs.

Enchiladas sencillas with chicken

You may remember these enchiladas from Episode 12. Well, guess what? They are still delicious. I used poblano and jalapeño peppers in the sauce this time, instead of serranos, and I think Andrew appreciated the toned-down heat (and I loved the flavor from the poblanos). We put extra cheese on top this time, too. I think these enchiladas are a real keeper; I can make them without following the recipe now, and they've been popular with everyone who's had a taste.

Chicken pot pie with creme fraiche

This is a recipe from Epicurious that I've made a couple times in the past. It's nice because...it's kind of cheat-y. You use creme fraiche to thicken the filling and make it creamy, and you put a layer of (yes, store-bought) puff pastry over the top instead of making a pie crust. Whatever. I like the recipe because the filling is really adaptable. I had cilantro, so I used that instead of the majoram, and I swapped out the carrots for poblanos, to go with the cilantro. I added extra bacon to make up for having a little too-little chicken. Not counting the pan you bake it in, it only takes one pot to make it. What are you waiting for?

Breakfast tacos

The morning I acknowledge that yes, I really was sicksicksick, I made breakfast tacos to console myself. Even my deadened taste buds appreciated the combination of fresh guacamole, bacon, and cheesy eggs in a warm corn tortilla.

What I cooked this week, Episode 14

2010-09-14T22:04:00.000-07:00

I took so long getting around to putting this post up that I'm making it a double--here's what I made in the past two weeks.

If I had been neglecting my kitchen recently, I've definitely made up for it by now.

Episode 14, September 6-September 19

Egg salad

Let's start out simply, with the egg salad I've been making since I was a kid: mayonnaise, honey mustard, dill, salt and pepper. My honey mustard of choice is Jack Daniels, but right now we've got Sierra Nevada Pale Ale Honey Spice on hand.

Mixed greens with blue cheese, blueberries, and walnuts

Labor day was warm here in San Francisco, so we decided to keep dinner light: a green salad with Point Reyes blue cheese, blue berries, and walnuts; I made a bacon-balsamic dressing.

Mixed greens with egg, blue cheese, walnuts, and mustard dressing

I remixed this salad for lunch the next day: same greens, same cheese, same walnuts, but with hardboiled egg and mustard-vinaigrette. Have I mentioned how much I love making my own salad dressings? I will never buy bottled dressing again.

Pizza with chevre, roasted chinese eggplant, proscuitto, heirloom tomatoes, and mozzarella

After eying heirloom tomatoes all summer, I decided to showcase some on this pizza. I used soft chevre as the base, then laid down roasted chinese eggplant, prosciutto, tomatoes, and a little mozzarella. Homemade crust, as always--by the way, I ran out of flour halfway through making the dough and had the run to the store. I ran out of flour the last time I made pizza, too. Seems like I should just put flour on my grocery list whenever I plan to make it.

Pickled grapes

I know--weird, right? But delicious! I'd had my eye on this Smitten Kitchen recipe since it was first posted, and when grapes started showing up at the farmers' markets I saw my opportunity. The grapes pickle in a brine of champagne vinegar, sugar, black peppercorns, brown mustard seeds, and cinnamon stick; I let them go for about a day and a half. I know, I know, it sounds weird, but if you are intrigued at all I highly suggest that you make these for a unique and delicious treat!

Oven spareribs and fresh corn casserole

One of the husband's favorites, Smitten Kitchen's spareribs, paired with a Pioneer Woman corn casserole that I've been wanting to make for ages. Both were quite tasty, though I need to remember that the ribs take SIX hours, not four.

Corny cheesy eggs

I used up the leftover corn casserole by mixing it into some eggs, along with a generous amount of mozzarella, left over the pizza. Hooray for using up leftover ingredients!

Risotto with atichoke hearts, proscuitto, and homemade chicken stock

Speaking of using leftover ingredients, I also had some prosciutto leftover from the pizza. Into a risotto it went, along with some artichoke hearts and chicken I made from my last farmers' market chicken.

At this point in the week, I decided that I had a great deal of pickled grapes, and while eating them by themselves just straight out of the jar was fine, the next best option would be to have...

...a wine and cheese party!

All of the food and wine was from California: fennel salami made locally, grapes, strawberries, and tamari-glazed almonds from neighborhood farmers' markets, Vella Dry Jack, Nicasio Square, and Humboldt Fog cheeses, and even the crackers, since I made them from scratch:

Cream crackers

This is a recipe of Mark Bittman's that I followed the last time we had a wine and cheese shindig, and it's beautiful: the dough is easy to roll out thin, and assuming you roll it thin enough and remember to prick the dough before baking (sorry, batch #1!), they turn out amazingly. This variation uses cream as the liquid, and a large amount of butter as the fat. Mmmm. They're more like pastry than crackers you might think of, and not necessarily the best for serving with cheese, since they are a little soft. But no one seemed to mind.

Onion panade

This is undoubtedly the least visually-appealing dish I have made in a long time. Luckily, it makes up for it being tasty. This recipe from The Stone Soup is basically french onion soup in bread pudding form--tons of browned onions, piled together with chunks of bread and cheese, soaked in chicken broth (I used my homemade stuff) and then baked until warm and melty. As I said, ugly, but tasty.

Pickled strawberries

I reused the bring from the grapes for some strawberries. While they're not bad, I think strawberry pickles would be better with balsamic vinegar as the base and a different seasoning mix.

Linguine with tomato pesto

I really wanted to make this tomato-almond pesto recipe from Smitten Kitchen, but I already had pine nuts and walnuts at home so just used those instead of buying almonds specifically for the purpose. While I still want to try to almond version sometime, this variation turned out well on top of some fresh linguine (store bought--I can't imagine making linguine at home without a pasta roller) with some Niman Ranch sausages for extra protein.

Tofu scramble

A visiting vegan friend provided me with the perfect excuse to try The Stone Soup's tofu scramble, guaranteed to please veggie- and meat-lovers alike. As a committed omnivore, I found it delightful, and I'm pleased say my carnivorous other half enjoyed it as well. The tofu is joined by roasted red peppers (from a jar), tomato paste, and smoked paprika, and we added half a diced onion; we served it over a bed of spinach with some shredded basil (left over from the pesto) on top. This was really, really good, and armed with the knowledge that "scrambling" tofu is the best way to get it to soak up lots of flavor, I look forward to adding tofu to my regular protein line-up.

What I cooked this week, Episode 13

2010-09-06T10:53:00.000-07:00

Another light week--travel and preparing for travel tend to have that effect.

Episode 13, August 30-September 5

Blueberry mini muffins

I wanted to make this blueberry muffin recipe from Smitten Kitchen with blueberries from the farmers' market, but its yield of 9 or 10 large muffins sounded like too many for Andrew and I to eat but not enough for him to take to work and share. So, I adapted the recipe for mini muffins by using mini muffin tins (duh) and reducing the baking time to 15-20 minutes. I probably could have left them in for a little longer than I did to get them browner. This resulted in around 40 minis--plenty for sharing!

Bacon green beans with tomato, and mashed Yukon Gold potatoes

Why yes, I DID use enough bacon in this dish for it to be the main protein of the meal! I cut the bacon into pieces, fried it up, then cooked the green beans in the same pan, adding a little chicken stock and covering. Once they were done, I added the bacon back in as well as some chopped Roma tomato. For the potatoes, I boiled then mashed four small Yukon Golds from the farmers' market, then added unsalted butter, creme fraiche, milk, chopped shallot, and salt and pepper. This meal was delicious.

Grilled salmon and grilled watermelon and tomato salad with basil

While visiting my parents, I took advantage of the fact that they have a grill to try something I've been wanting to make since I first had it at a dinner in Houston: grilled watermelon. I followed a recipe from NYTimes for a watermelon and tomato salad with fresh basil (we used basil from my mother's garden). Our grill was not as hot as it needed to be, but with a little extra time we pretty much got what I was looking for--the heat transforms the texture of the watermelon so that it is no longer mealy, but sort of meaty and smooth. Will definitely try again, and I recommend it!

What I cooked this week, Episode 12

2010-08-31T22:49:00.000-07:00

Well, I made up for the previous week by cooking up a storm this time. Best news of the week? There is an awesome farmers' on Wednesdays that's larger and closer to my apartment than the one I go to on Sundays! Unfortunately it only runs through October, so I need to make the most of it!

Episode 12, August 23-August 29

Chicken stuffed with chevre and sage and pan-grilled corn

I've been making this chicken recipe since my first year of college: pound some chicken breast thin, spread with goat cheese that's been mixed with herbs, roll up the chicken, bread it, and bake it. I used crushed TLC 7 grain crackers for the crust this time, and we could have use more of them (hence the patchy effect), but the chicken was still delicious. The corn I "grilled" in my La Creuset dutch oven in a bunch of butter, which was fabulous. We enjoyed fresh peaches and some out of season grapefruit on the side.

Corn-zucchini-lentil stir fry

We had a cob of corn leftover from the previous dinner. I cut the kernels off the cob and sautéed them in bacon fat with some zucchini. I added half a can of lentils at the end, to give the dish some protein, and topped with some cayenne pepper. Not a bad lunch.

Chicken enchiladas with red sauce and red cabbage slaw

I can always tell when my husband really enjoys something I've cooked because it's the only time he eats more than I do. It was true with the ribs a few weeks back, and it was true with these enchiladas.

My mother recently gifted me two cookbooks by Diana Kennedy, who is probably the leading expert on Mexican regional cuisine. All the recipes sound wonderful, but some of them are a little intimidating, so these "enchiladas sencillas" sounded like a great way to get my feet wet ("sencillo" means "simple"). The sauce is tomatoes, serranos, and garlic with creme fraiche; the enchiladas are filled with shredded chicken and diced onion; and it all gets topped off with a little cheese (veggies and chicken and from farmers' markets). MAN these were delicious, and true to their name they were pretty easy to make. The slaw is red cabbage, carrots, scallions, and cilantro, with an olive oil-lime-garlic-mustard dressing. Crunchy!

Lamb-bulgur burgers with feta and pan fried brussels sprouts

Inspired by last week's chicken burgers, I decided to make naked burgers again, this time with some ground lamb I bought at the Wednesday farmers' market. I used a Mark Bittman recipe as a starting point and bulked up the patties with bulgur, since I had a bunch left from the tagine. I also added a bit of crumbled feta to the patty mix. Next time, I'll skip the bulgur, but they were pretty good. I have a couple extras in the freezer. The brussels sprouts were from the Sunday market.

Chicken quesadilla

I had tortillas, chicken, and cheese leftover from the enchiladas, so I made myself a quesadilla for lunch. I added some canned hatch chiles that I had in the cupboard.

Breakfast tacos

To use up the last of the tortillas I purchased, we had breakfast tacos for a weekend lunch. I made scrambled eggs with creme fraiche and cooked some bacon. We piled these onto the tortillas with some cilantro and store-bought mango-peach salsa. (No egg scare for us--we buy local small production eggs at the market!)

Eggplant ricotta and garlic bread

This dish would be more accurately titled "Ricotta eggplant" as it ended up a little heavy on the ricotta side. Imagine lasagna, except that instead of noodles you have slices of tomato and roasted eggplant. Pretty good, but I didn't use enough oil on the eggplant slices when they went in he oven so they were a little dry. The garlic bread, on the other hand, was surperb. I used a baguette I purchased from the bakery stall at the market and prepared it the way I learned to make garlic bread in elementary school:

1. Slice the bread almost all the way through but leave the slices attached.

2. Melt butter with minced garlic.

3. Spoon garlic butter in between the slices and pour over the top.

4. Wrap in tin foil and bake briefly.

5. Unwrap, tear off slices, and enjoy!

What's in my fridge right now?

2010-08-28T19:05:00.000-07:00

Hint: not these.

As you've probably noticed from previous posts, when coming up with ideas for meals I try to use up leftover ingredients. Curious what I've got to work from right now?

You'll notice a lack of meat and fresh vegetables. I try to buy these things either at the farmers' markets Sunday or Wednesday, or else on the day I'm going to use them, and I try to buy only enough to use in that meal, unless I'm planning to use them again--this way, I can avoid wasting anything. Eggs and fruit are also acquired at the FM. Furthermore, we don't tend to keep bread and pasta around the house.

So, what's in my fridge?

Door:

1/4 bottle Chardonnay
orgeat
Punt e mes
grapefruit juice
ginger beer
root beer
bacon fat
BBQ sauce (homemade)
butterscotch sauce (homemade)
tahini
strawberry jam
honey mustard
mayonnaise
Thai red curry paste
fish sauce
unsalted butter

Top shelf:

mango-peach salsa
1/2 can lentils
1/8 cup creme fraiche

2nd shelf:

leftover lemon-sage brussels sprouts
leftover red cabbage slaw
pickle relish
mayonnaise (someone didn't realize we already had some...)
leftover shredded chicken
bulgur wheat

Cheese/meat drawer:

Parmesan
Feta
white cheddar

Bottom shelf:

filtered water
whole milk
chicken stock (homemade)

Crisper drawers:

Cilantro
1/4 white onion
1/4 head of red cabbage

Not in the fridge:

Aborio rice
brown texmati rice
jasmine rice
dried chickpeas
dried cranberries
yellow onion
Yukon Gold potatoes
garlic
ginger
limes
(flour, sugar, spices, etc)

So, what am I doing for dinner tonight?

Ordering Indian food.

I'm going out of town toward the end of next week so my opportunities are limited, but see if you can spot how many of these items I was able to use in Episodes 12 and 13!

What's in your fridge? And what are you doing about it?

What I cooked this week, Episode 11

2010-08-24T23:27:00.000-07:00

As I mentioned previously, I was out of town much of last week and so didn't have many opportunities for cooking. But I got a little bit in over the weekend.

Episode 11, August 16-August 22

Chicken burgers with sage white wine butter sauce

Another recipe from The Stone Soup, this one had its up and down for me, though these ups and downs had little to do with the recipe and more to do with my technique. The burgers were lukewarm by the time I finished the sauce, which I had to make in a separate pan because the oil burned under the chicken and wouldn't have tasted good, and the sauce need more butter. I want to make this again, and I'll probably put more salt (and maybe some garlic) in the chicken, and more salt in the sauce. Otherwise, the patties weren't dry, and I love the idea of eating a burger without a bun. Also, this recipe was a good excuse to drink white wine (we usually drink red).

Scrambled eggs with onions and zucchini sauteed in bacon fat

Every time I make bacon, I save the fat that cooks off in a jar and stow it in the fridge. I'm saving up to make a pie. But I have quite a bit at this point, so I thought I would liven up this otherwise-vegetarian breakfast with essence of meat. It was not a mistake to do so. Eggs, zucchini, onion, strawberries all from the Divisadero farmers' market.

Getting back into it this week; expect a full post next time!

What I cooked this week, Episode 10

2010-08-14T15:57:00.000-07:00

Posting early this week, as I'm leaving for a business trip.

Look--bigger pictures! There are also buttons down at the bottom of each post to make them easy to share, if you so wish. Expect a few other blog tweaks here are there over the next couple of weeks, but nothing major.

Episode 10, August 9-August 15

Brussels sprouts with lentils and prosciutto

As promised, this is not a Smitten Kitchen recipe! It came from a blog I've just started reading, The Stone Soup, which focuses on minimalist cooking (and minimalist living in general), with most of the recent posts falling into the "5 ingredients, 10 minutes" category. This particular recipe came from a post about using sweet and sour flavor profiles to season dishes, in addition to the standard salt and pepper. This dish called for red wine vinegar; I used champagne vinegar because that's what I had, and I feel like a minimalist would approve of me not running out to buy a bottle of vinegar just for this recipe. I really liked this dish, and will consider experimenting with the vinegar next time--I also have balsamic, which would probably be too heavy, and apple cider, which might be too tart. We'll see!

Spiced chickpeas with cauliflower

Another recipe from The Stone Soup, I was excited to try cooking cauliflower, a vegetable I don't think I've outside of an Indian buffet in ages. It's barely cooked in this dish, and the slight crunch is a nice companion to the soft chickpeas.

Cauliflower brussels sprout gratin with gruyère and italian sausage

Guess who had some brussels sprouts and cauliflower leftover from the previous dinners? Initially, my plan was to follow this Smitten Kitchen recipe to use up the rest of cauliflower (and gruyere left over from the gougeres a couple weeks ago) and then to cook the brussels sprouts with some bacon on the side. However, I discovered that I didn't have enough cauliflower left and, since buying a whole other head would defeat the original purpose of using up what I had left, I decided to just throw everything all together. Italian sausage replaced the bacon, and I cooked it up like a casserole.

Yeasted waffles

In the interest of using up some buttermilk I had in the fridge, I decided to make some waffles. I used this recipe from my friend Jeters, with a couple changes: I used the aforementioned buttermilk instead of sour milk (seriously, isn't it the same thing?), and I had instant yeast instead of active dry. Instant yeast can be added directly to the other dry ingredients without having to take a warm water bath, so I added an extra 1/4 cup of regular milk to compensate for the missing water. The waffles turned out perfectly.

As I mentioned at the outset, I'll be on a business trip next week and so won't be doing any cooking. I may get around to whipping something next weekend, but don't surprised if you need to wait an extra week for Episode 11 to show up. I'll try to get a post or two of some kind up in the meantime, though.

What I cooked this week, Episode 9

2010-08-09T19:49:00.000-07:00

Episode 9, August 2-August 8

Chiang Mai noodles with beef

I had high hopes for this dish, another from Nancy McDermott's Quick and Easy Thai Cooking. Unfortunately, I overcooked the beef, didn't have the right kind of noodles to make "crunch noodle nests," and had an upset stomach before I even got to take a bite. So, kind of a disappointing evening. And even though none of these are the recipe's fault, I probably won't try it again.

Crispy-skinned broiled salmon and mixed greens, heart of palm, avocado, and mango in lime-cilantro dressing

This meal, on the other hand, was thoroughly satisfying. The salmon took maybe five minute under the broiler, and I just threw together a bunch of fresh produce for the salad and whipped up a quick dressing using lime juice, olive oil (I would use vegetable oil next time) and chopped cilantro. This dish had a really summery feel; too bad it's in the low 40s outside.

Heirloom tomato caprese

My husband is not a fan of fresh tomatoes. I am. So, I took advantage of the face that I eat lunch at home by myself and bought some tomatoes, mozzarella, and basil for a quick caprese. It was okay, but the grocery store heirloom tomatoes made me long for the gorgeous ones I see at the farmers' market every weekend. Maybe next Sunday I'll indulge.

Omelet with Gruyère and heirloom tomatoes

Isn't it pretty?

Scrambled eggs, raspberries, and brioche

Sunday morning post-farmers' market brunch, with FM eggs, FM raspberries, and FM brioche. hooray!

Six-hour oven spareribs and corn-peach salad

I no longer have the excuse of not having access to a grill--turns out you don't need a grill for great ribs. These, from a Smitten Kitchen recipe, were amazing. Andrew actually thought they could be a little spicier, and I think I'll enjoy tweaking the rub and, you know, eating them again. The corn salad, dreamed up by Jeters, also could have been spicier--I'd cut the jalapeño by half but wouldn't do the same next time. I'd also add the peach after warming the corn through; as it was, they sort of melted and got lost in the mix. Still, everything was delicious.

Chocolate cake

We topped off the ribs and corn salad with Smitten Kitchen's everyday chocolate cake, with a side of Straus raspberry ice cream. This cake is basically a one-bowl recipe and perfect if you, like me, don't want something too sweet and also don't want to bother with frosting.

I've been checking out a new (to me, not in general) food blog, so I'll actually have some non-Smitten Kitchen recipes next week! Also, I'm growing increasing dissatisfied with the photo-taking light in my apartment; during the day pictures get washed out, and at night they turn out grainy. I've read some light advice and I know the basics, and I've tried pretty much every room in the apartment, but I don't know what to do besides investing in equipment. Halp?

Also, don't forget to request recipe tutorials! Just don't ask about the Chiang Mai noodles.

What I cooked this week, Episode 8

2010-08-02T00:12:00.000-07:00

Look, we actually ate some green foods this week!

Episode 8, July 26-August 1

Guacamole

For our main course this night we had leftover chili, but I whipped up a bowl of guacamole to, you know, mix things up. You can get complicated and add things like fresh tomato, onion, cumin, chili powder... but usually I just like to keep things simple: avocado, garlic, lime, cilantro, salt.

Bacon risotto and balsamic roasted Brussels sprouts

Andrew and I love Brussels sprouts, so I was really excited to try this recipe from White on Rice Couple. It was everything I could have wanted it to be, namely, easy and tasty. We paired them with my standard bacon risotto, for which I got to use my most recent batch of chicken stock. Before heating it up and adding some water, the stock had a jelly-like consistency--what might have caused that?

On Saturday, we had a party! And I made lots of food:

Chicken satay with red curry peanut sauce

One of Andrew's favorites and a standby of mine for when we're going to have company. I just broil the loose chicken pieces on a baking sheet because I don't have access to a grill (well, there is one in our laundry room, but I don't know if it's for general use. Also? It's cold out). Anyway, I can't recommend Nancie McDermott's Quick and Easy Thai Cooking enough.

Green bean and grape tomato salad

Were you worried about the lack of Smitten Kitchen recipes? Well, never fear. I loved the look of this one immediately, and it didn't disappoint. I deviated only in a couple places: grape tomatoes instead of cherry tomatoes, because that's what I could find, and champagne vinegar instead of red wine vinegar, because I didn't feel like buying red wine vinegar when I already have three or four different kinds of vinegar in the house.

Gougères with Gruyère

I had been dying to make gougères again, ever since the first time I did so. Man, I don't think it gets much simpler, considering how impressive they are. They inspired the follow exchange:

Party guest: What are those things?
Me: Cheese puffs.
Party guest: Well, I'm going to eat all of them.

No more excuses--why aren't you making some right now?

Four-plum salad with lime and cilantro

Technically it's two-plum-plumcot-aprium salad (apparently the latter two are actually different fruits). Whatever you want to call it, it was inspired by a recent Mark Bittman recipe for plum-scallop ceviche with tarragon. I really wanted to make this ceviche, but didn't want spend the money to buy scallops for 15 people. So, I just cut up a bunch of plums and plum hybrids, drizzled them with some lime juice, and tossed them with some fresh cilantro. It was awesome.

Gluten-free chocolate financiers

When it came to dessert, all I knew was that I wanted to make something chocolate. I just done a search for "chocolate" on Smitten Kitchen when my friend Jeters happened to mention that her husband, who would be in attendance, was currently avoid grains. Well, lucky him, two recipes caught my eye: best chocolate pudding, and gluten-free chocolate financiers. Now,I love pudding, but I don't have 15 little serving vessels to serve it in, so that didn't sound like a great option. I didn't know what financiers were, but they sounded complicated. I couldn't have been more wrong. This is a one-bowl recipe for little miniature brownie-like cakes (or cake-like brownies) that uses almond flour instead of regular flour (it's the almond flour that distinguishes them from other baked goods, as far as I can tell). I used regular unsweetened cocoa instead of Dutch process, but they turned out splendidly.

Spaghetti with cheese and black pepper

After all that fancy (but easy-to-make!) party food, I wanted to keep things simple on Sunday. Spaghetti with a ton of pecorino Romano and black pepper, plus some butter, olive oil, and pasta water, and a salad on the side fit the bill perfectly. I made another champagne vinegar dressing, but this time added a clove of minced garlic. Yum. Oh, and yeah, it's a Smitten Kitchen recipe.

By the way, I do want to post more recipes and instructions. If you ever see something in one of my posts that you'd like me to do a recipe post on, just leave me a comment!

What I cooked this week, Episode 7

2010-07-25T23:11:00.000-07:00

It would appear I spoke too soon regarding getting back on the wagon. This week was all about the comfort food--gotta beat this cold San Francisco summer somehow!

Episode 7, July 19-July 25

Grilled cheese with bacon and avocado

Not a lot to explain here: cheddar and Gruyère, with crunchy bacon and creamy avocado, on white bread.

Grilled cheese and creamy gazpacho

What better to have the night after having grilled cheese, than grilled cheese again? This time I mixed it up with some pecorino Romano, and a cup of leftover gazpacho on the side--a pleasant twist to the grilled-cheese-and-tomato-soup cliche.

Chili with kidney beans and carrots

A favorite of ours from Smitten Kitchen, this chili is as easy to make as it is hearty. I added carrots for a little sweetness and crunch. Best thing about this recipe? It makes a ton, so I've lunch for the next week (at least!).

I'm planning a post on how to make this dish for midweek--look for it!

Baguette french toast

Half a stale baguette leftover from a weekday lunch became Sunday's brunch, along with some crispy bacon--a delicious way to waste not. As tasty as this was, though, I am about ready to give up on traditional breakfast items, which have not yet failed to set off our smoke detector (which is too high to reach).

Butter chicken with eggplant

A trip to the farmers' market is always a good source of inspiration (in addition to being a source of good produce!). An eggplant beefed up this recipe from Tasty Kitchen, in additional to the young brown hen from the egg vendor. I enjoyed this curry dish more than the one I usually make--with heavy cream and cilantro "to taste," how could it go wrong?

Next week: some green vegetables!

What I cooked this week, Episode 6

2010-07-20T16:56:00.000-07:00

Another week with some slight slacking off--my mother came to visit for several fun-filled days. Yet despite spending more time out of the apartment than usual and dining out more than usual, I managed to miss cooking only one weeknight meal. I'm also padding this post with a coupe lunches, because I had the photos, so why not.

Episode 6, July 12-July 18

Pasta "carbonara" with peas and pancetta

If you want to know why I put "carbona" in quotation marks, I suggest you read @Houston_Foodie's excellent series of posts about the definitive spaghetti alla carbonara (actually, I recommend it in general). My version was a hastily-thrown together substitute for the risotto I had planned but no longer had the time to execute, and despite its inauthenticity, was quite delicious. These may have been the last farmers' market peas of the season, as I didn't see any this past Sunday.

Hummus

I've been following Smitten Kitchen's hummus recipe for awhile now, and I will go ahead and say that you owe it to yourself to go the extra mile and cook the chickpeas yourself. It's just not the same with canned. I had already cooked these--when I cooked the chickpeas for last week's tagine, I made twice as many as I needed so that I could later make hummus (I saved a cup of the cooking water, too). I diverge from the recipe by adding a little olive oil to the puree at the end, for flavor. I serve it with extra olive oil on top, plus a sprinkling of paprika and cayenne. This made a lunch or two, plus a few sessions of snacking during Mom's visit.

Brie on baguette

Unless your definition of "cooking" includes any meal that involves a chef's knife and a hot oven, this was really cooking. But it was a nice way to spend Bastille Day: toasty baguette, melty Brie, and juicy farmers' market tomatoes on the side. (Thanks to @hi_im_monkey for the suggestion!)

Scrambled eggs with shallots

Maybe I'll include a photo of scrambled eggs on toast every week!

Creamy gazpacho with goat's milk yogurt and pecorino Romano cheese crisps

This was a perfect Sunday morning brunch, thrown together in a few short minutes after returning from the farmers' market laden with fresh produce. I don't have much experience with gazpacho, but I really appreciated how it lets the fresh flavors of the raw veggies stand out. This NYTimes version is enriched with yogurt, and I liked it a lot. The cheese crisps are fun and pretty easy; I'll have to remember them as a garnish more often.

Pan-fried salmon, garlic-roasted eggplant, and blue lake beans with onions and garlic

Roasted eggplant is one of my new favorite things. Maybe it's all the olive oil I used, but these came out creamy and buttery. Mmmmm. I'm still trying to decide whether the delicious crispy salmon is worth the preparation; I really despise getting splattered with hot oil. (Also? Never buy seafood from a FM vendor without checking on the price first--ouch.)

I should be back on a roll this week, as life settles back down.

What I cooked this week, Episode 5

2010-07-11T23:03:00.000-07:00

This was the first week since I committed to this cooking schedule that I didn't make dinner on two week nights. I blame the fact that we got into town late and exhausted on Monday night after driving back from Lake Tahoe. Anyway, I made up for it by cooking dinner both Saturday and Sunday.

Episode 5, July 5-July 11

Spinach-ricotta ravioli with meat sauce

I'd made fresh pasta twice before (ravioli and noodles), and I really wanted to try ravioli again. The trouble is, I don't have a pasta press, which means I have to roll out the dough by hand, which is a lot of work. I'm glad I tried it again, and the results were pretty tasty (even if I overcooked the ravioli just a bit), but I am not sure it's entirely worth the effort. Who wants to buy me a pasta press for my birthday? Side note: I tried to make Andrew's famous meat sauce for the topping, but it didn't turn out quite right, leading me to conclude that I should leave the meat sauce making to him.

Rosemary-garlic roast pork with stewed cherries

I had a bag of cherries that had been sitting in my fridge for long enough to get mushy, but not so long to as to have gotten moldy. Not wanting them to go to waste, I asked my friend Jeters what do with them, and she suggested making a sauce for pork or duck. Done! I had never made a pork roast before, and this recipe from How to Cook Everything turned out superbly, moist and flavorful. After pitting a pound of cherries using a knife and my fingernails (no fancy cherry pitter here!), I cooked them with red wine, a little thyme, lemon, and salt. Delish.

Scrambled eggs with fresh herbs

After last weekend's scrambled eggs success, I knew I had to have a repeat performance. Instead of scrambling them with cooked onions, this time I added a mix of fresh herbs (thyme, basil, and marjoram). Again, light and fluffy and not overcooked! I ate mine on toast with a side of avocado.

Chickpea tagine

Another Mark Bittman recipe, this was a great one-pot dinner, giving me yet another way to use the hens I buy at the farmers' market. I brought an unopened package of chickpeas with me from Houston when we moved, and decided to start using them up. Plus tomatoes, onions, garlic, ginger, cumin, coriander, cinnamon, dates, and bulgar--yum.

And I cooked twice as many chickpeas as I need so that I can make hummus later this week!

Also pleasing: both the pork roast and the tagine allowed me to use the chicken stock I made a couple weeks ago.

What I cooked this week, Episode 4

2010-07-06T23:48:00.000-07:00

Apologies for the late post this week; we were busy getting our relaxation on this weekend at Lake Tahoe, and then spent spent Monday driving back to San Francisco in holiday weekend traffic, 100+ degree weather, with no air conditioning in the car. ANYWAY, without further ado...

Episode 4, June 28-July 4

Curry with chicken and English peas

I bought another young brown hen at the market, and more fresh peas--gotta take advantage of the fact that Andrew likes them! This dish is based on a Mark Bittman recipe for using up Thanksgiving leftovers that I have thoroughly enjoyed.

Chicken salad with walnuts and cranberries

I used the rest of the chicken to make a portion of chicken salad for myself for lunch one day from this Smitten Kitchen recipe. It was okay; I think something got off when I reduced the yield. However, I've been enjoying the leftover cranberries and walnuts.

Pizza with eggplant, prosciutto, ricotta, and basil

Half a batch of pizza dough leftover from last week (I froze it), leftover farmers' market Japanese eggplant from last week's ratatouille. I roasted the slices of eggplant first, and I could have eaten them all. I now find myself encouraged to cook with eggplant more often (especially since Andrew seems to like it).

Butterscotch sauce

Another win from Ratio, I originally decided to make butterscotch because a) the recipe sounded simple and b) I had leftover cream to use up and also happened to have the called-for apple cider vinegar. In short: I think I've found what I'm making for Christmas presents this year. This sauce is simple to make, delicious, and it keeps. Only way to make it better--adding homemade chocolate sauce?

Bacon-wrapped cream cheese-filled jalapeño poppers

These, inspired by the Pioneer Woman, were my contribution to our Fourth of July smorgasbord (along with Hemingway Daiquiris). They served as a surprisingly fiery amuse bouche to the franken-ribs*, grilled corn on the cobb, and baked potatoes that we ate to celebrate our nation's independence. Some of the poppers were mild, and others had us drowning our faces in milk--good times, good times.

Not pictured: the most excellent scrambled eggs I made everyone for breakfast the morning prior. Seriously, I haven't been happy with scrambled eggs in ages, but it seems that my reading has paid off, and we ended up with delicious, fluffy, not-overcooked eggs. I didn't think to take a photo, sadly. (The secret is to stir them continuously and stop while they're still wet!)

Now, I'm going to go enjoy some some vanilla ice cream with butterscotch sauce. Mmmmm.

*They came vacuum-sealed, pre-sauced, and "microwave-ready." I don't think words "microwave-ready" should be applied to ribs, but maybe that's just me. (I did not buy them, in case that wasn't clear.)

What I cooked this week, Episode 3

2010-06-28T17:47:00.000-07:00

Welcome to a week of similarly-colored dishes (at least they all have bright green in common!) and reused ingredients. Since moving, I have been trying to go a better job of not letting things go to waste and spoil in the fridge. (And when things do spoil, I get to compost them!) Also revisited a lot of favorites this week!

Episode 3, June 21-27

Pasta with asparagus, chevre, and lemon

A dish (too simple to call a recipe, really from) from Smitten Kitchen that I made once before, when visiting friends in Seattle a little over a year ago. I wanted something that would feel a little lighter than the enchiladas we'd enjoyed the night before. This dish first came to mind because I decided I wanted to buy asparagus from the farmers' market, but I arrived at the FM only to discover that asparagus season had passed me by. Ah well, this was still delicious. Chevre + olive oil + lemon juice makes an excellent pasta coating.

Risotto with bacon and English peas

Despite risotto with bacon being my major standby dish, this particular incarnation was exciting for two reasons: first, I used the chicken stock I made last weekend! Second, and more importantly, this was my opportunity to cook peas for Andrew and have him like them! And he did! I warmed the peas with the bacon before starting on the risotto itself, then stirred them in with the cheese at the end. They weren't overcooked and mushy!

Consequently, I will be buying fresh peas from the farmers' market every weekend until they stop selling them. I have missed peas so much. (Could mushrooms be next...?)

Pizza with asparagus pesto, yukon gold potatoes, Italian sausage, and mozarella

I used up every last bit of my flour making this pizza dough; I almost didn't have enough. Aside from that little scare, this pizza was great. Mark Bittman supplied the pesto recipe, which helped me use up the rest of the asparagus and made for a tasty base. I haven't made pizza with sliced potatoes before and I was little bit worried about whether they would cook through before the crust burned. They probably could have stood a little more time in the oven but it was pretty good anyway. I've got a pie's worth of leftover dough in the freezer!

Sausage, potato, onion tortilla

Saturday brunch was a good opportunity to use up the rest of the sausage and potato from the pizza a couple night's prior. This was good, a nice eggy start to the day.

Ratatouille

I've made this one, also from Smitten Kitchen, a few times before, but this time there were some distinct differences: for starters, I use all ingredients from the farmers' market! I think it may be the first time I've actually made this dish when zucchini and yellow squash were seasonal. It was fun to use the Japanese eggplant, which is proportionally comparable to the squashes. I used fresh basil (also a FM purchase) instead of thyme. And I made my own tomato puree by blending up some FM tomatoes with garlic, olive oil, salt and pepper. It's not the same as using the stuff from the can--lighter taste, for sure.

Peach cupcakes with brown sugar cream cheese frosting

Let's round out the week with another Smitten Kitchen recipe! I made these once in Houston and have been dreaming of them since. So happy I got up the energy and remembered to buy peaches! I sent Andrew to work with a baker's dozen this morning; I don't expect any to come back (that's cool, though; we've still got ~~seven~~ six left).

BONUS LUNCH: Summer veggie stir-fry with chicken

Since I'm working from home these days, I eat the vast majority of my lunches here. I haven't bothered to include them though because usually I'm just eating leftovers and fruit (case in point, today was cherries, leftover tortilla, and a nectarine). But I was pretty pleased with my remixed leftovers last Thursday, inspired by the Pioneer Woman: I took some of the chicken that didn't make it into enchiladas and fried it up with corn (frozen), zucchini, chili powder, and tomatoes. It was delicious.

I ended up using the rest of the chicken in a quesadilla on Friday, mixing it up with some asparagus pesto and mozarello cheese from the pizza, using tortillas leftover from enchiladas.

Let's see if I can be as good about using up my leftovers and extra ingredients this week; I bought twice as much squash and eggplant as I needed for the rataouille. Hmm...

Pâte a Choux and Parmesan Gougères

2010-06-24T20:23:00.000-07:00

For Christmas last year, my mother gave me a copy of Michael Ruhlman's Ratio. I started reading it a month or so later, but became discouraged. I loved the philosophy espoused in its page, but I felt like the real value would be found in learning the basic recipes and then playing with variations, and I didn't have the energy or a reason to bake bread every week. Before last week, the only thing I'd made from the book was a basic ganache.

Just a couple months ago, however, I started reading Ruhlman's blog, and in one post he included a video demonstration of pâte a choux, a French pastry covered in the book. It looked breathtakingly easy to make, and I don't mean in the way that people who are talented make what they do look easy. And not only did it seems incredibly easy, but also extremely versatile--the video showed one preparation, gougère, but he explained several different things you can do with the pastry dough, from eclairs to finger sandwiches to gnocchi and potato pancakes.

And I thought to myself, "This seems like a project I can commit to." The basic recipe is simple enough, and the variations are simple enough. I had been intimidated, but not anymore, not by pâte a choux. And it went perfectly. You have no excuse not to try this at home yourself. I highly recommend Ruhlman's video, but you can follow along with me if you like:

You'll need flour, water, butter, eggs, and cheese:

The ratio for pâte a choux is 2 parts water : 1 part butter : 1 part flour : 2 parts egg. You can use this fundamental ratio to scale the recipe up or down. In the book, Ruhlman lists a recipe that will make 24 gougères as having 8oz water, 4oz (one stick) butter, 4oz (a scant cup) flour, and 8oz (4) eggs. I made a half recipe.

By the way, see that bowl on the right in the previous picture? I didn't actually need that. All you need to make this dough is a pot and a spoon.

In said pot, combine the water, butter, and a little salt, and bring it to a simmer over medium-high heat:

Once it's simmering, lower the heat to medium and stir in the flour:

Stir until the mixture pulls away from the sides of the pot, like this:

Remove the pot from the heat and allow to cool slightly, either by letting it sit or running cool water over the base. Don't let it cool too much, though--the mixture needs to be warm when you add the eggs.

Add them one at a time and stir until combined:

Ta da!

Aaaand you've made pâte a choux! You can do many different things with it now. If you want to make gougères, keep following along!

Preheat your oven to 425F.

Get the pâte a choux into a plastic bag and squeeze it down to one corner; a ziplock will do:

Snip off the tip of the corner. Now you've got a piping bag!

Line a baking sheet with parchment or a silpat, and pipe out golf ball-sized mounds of pâte a choux:

See those cute those points? They'll burn if left as they are. So, wet your fingertip with water or milk and tap them down:

Much better!

I decided to add some parmesan cheese to my gougères, simply by grating a bit and sprinkling it over the tops (I later learned that you should use French cheese, not Italian):

Put the baking sheet in the preheated oven.

Look how puffy they got! (Apologies for the horrible photo through the oven door; opening the door set off the smoke detector, so I decided to play it safe.)

Puffy!

After 10 minutes, lower the heat to 350F and bake for 10 more minutes.

YUM:

That's all there is to it! So simple and non-time-consuming, I made these at 10:30pm for a snack and still made it to bed by midnight.

Again check out the video or Ratio for lots of other things you can do with pâte a choux. Next up for me? Profiteroles!

What I cooked this week, Episode 2

2010-06-21T16:17:00.000-07:00

Episode 2, June 14-20

Red lentil soup and blue cheese-scallion biscuits

The title is misleading--the biscuits came first. I had blue cheese leftover from last week's salad, and remembered this Smitten Kitchen recipe for blue cheese biscuits with scallions. Biscuits do not a meal make, however, so I fell back on this lentil soup that I first made during the winter of my first year of college. The original recipe calls for French lentils, but I've almost always made it with red. It's really hearty and thick, so much so though that even a self-proclaimed soup-hater like my husband enjoyed it. My biscuits did not turn out as pretty as Deb's, but they were fluffy and delicious.

Salmon and leek quiche

Another recipe in the interest of using up a leftover ingredient, salmon in this case, this quiche from Chocolate&Zucchini was pretty satisfying. I had a little less of both salmon and leek than the recipe called for, so I added another egg. I really enjoyed the creme fraiche filler (especially since we got to use Bellwether!). Yes, the crust is frozen.

Pancakes and bacon, with blueberries

Weekend brunch. Pancake batter was too thin/my pan was too hot, resulting in thin, overcooked pancakes and the smoke detector sending the kittens into hiding for a good hour. I think I'm giving up on pancakes until I acquire an appropriate skillet. The blueberries were huge and juicy, at least.

Gougeres with Parmesan

Finally got around to making pate a choux. Michael Ruhlman has an excellent video demonstrating exactly how simple pate a choux is to make, as well as a couple different preparation. MAN is it simple! You have no excuse not to go make some delicious pate a choux right now! I went with perhaps the simplest preparation, gougere, and topped them with a little grated cheddar. Expect a post mid-week with step-by-step directions, or just go watch that video. And buy a copy of Ratio.

White chicken enchiladas

When I found out we were leaving Houston, by first thought may very well have been "But WHERE WILL I GET ENCHILADAS?" I'm sure I'll find good enchiladas here in San Francisco, but this recipe from the Pioneer Woman was really satisfying in the meantime. Not gonna lie, this one takes some preparation time (and a whole lotta dishes), from cooking and shredding the chicken (another young brown hen from the farmers' market!) to creating the chicken filling and cheese sauce, to filling the tortillas (I used flour, Tex-Mex throwback). Worth it, though. "Sticks to your ribs" is probably an apt description.

I got some extras out of it, too (not just counting leftovers). I've got a container full of chicken fat for rendering, and a whole bunch of...

Chicken stock

The enchilada recipe called for poaching the chicken to cook it, so I started with the water leftover from that, already full of chicken flavor. I returned the bones (stripped of meat/fat/skin) to the pot, along with onion, carrot, celery, bay leaf, garlic, salt, and pepper, and cooked it for a little longer. My last experience trying to make stock did not go well (too much fat, and then I froze the whole lot, instead of in portions, leaving myself with one giant stocksicle), but I'm optimistic this time.

Berries and whipped cream

Yeah, not a lot to this one. Cream, sugar, vanilla. And actually, I kinda wish I hadn't made the whipped cream at all; the blueberries and blackberries were so good on their own they really didn't need it. Consequently, I may or may not have ended up eating the whipped cream out of the mixing bowl with a spoon.

I tried a lot of new things this week, and they all turned out well! I'm especially looking forward to using the stock in a future recipe and trying more preparations of pate a choux.

Moules Mariniere

2010-06-17T17:06:00.006-07:00

I made mussels back in March and wrote this at the time, but just got around to making it postable. Enjoy!

I enjoy variety in my meals. Whenever I go out to eat, I want to try as many dishes as possible, experience a range of flavors and textures. I'm notorious for discouraging my dining companions to order duplicate dishes, and at this point I believe my husband would be surprised if I didn't sneak bites off of his plate.

I first tried mussels at the Hop Leaf in Andersonville, north of Chicago, during my 3rd year of college. The menu listed them as Brussels Mussels, they came with frites and house mayo and crusty bread for soaking up the broth, and oh my, they were delicious.

My one problem with these mussels, on subsequent visits, was that if I wasn't with people who wanted to share with me, I had consume the mussels all by myself which left me too full to want to try any other dishes. This was too much of the same thing; I craved variety.

Now? I happily make an exception for mussels, and I don't mind keeping them all to myself. My current favorites are the Mussels Rabelais, at Cafe Rabelais in Houston. (My Pompeii Mussels at Frijtz in SF were pretty good, though.)

I had read that mussels were really quite easy to cook, and so I was determined this season to make them for myself while they were still in season.

I picked the recipe for moules mariniere with saffron from Chocolate & Zucchini because a) Clotilde's instructions on prepping the mussels were clearest and made me feel the most confident, and b) I still have saffron from my trip to Thailand my senior year of high school and figured this would be a good use to put it to.

I decided to make a little-more-than-half recipe; Andrew isn't really a mussels eater so while he'd probably have a few, I'd be eating most of them myself. The recipe recommended two pounds of uncooked mussels per person for a main course, so I bought three. This may have been a little high, but I had no idea how many I would be throwing out. I bought the mussels from Whole Foods, and they were downright cheap--$3.99 a pound. If this worked out, I promised myself, I would have to make these again, for that price!

I got home with my prize and discovered what is likely the reason that most people don't make mussles at home and are willing to pay a decent amount of money to eat them at restaurants: prepping them is time consuming. First, I soaked them all together in a big bowl of water, sloshing them around so that they might knock dirt off of each other. Air bubbles rose from the bivalves as they disgorged themselves of sand and grit, reminding me that I was about to cook living creatures, which is both exciting and disturbing. Luckily, I am not a squeamish individual. After some time I threw out that water and soaked the mussels again, to get rid of as much remaining sand as possible.

After this second soak, the fun began. One by one, I picked up each individual mussel and inspected it. I checked for cracks or holes, scrubbed off any grime still adhered to the shell, and removed the "beard," the hairlike fibers coming out of the shell. This part could be a little gruesome; at one point I swear I felt the mussel tugging back, and when I finally freed the stuff some flesh came away with it. If you are at all squeamish, this is not for you. Finally, I also checked to make sure that the two halves of shell were sealed tight. If the shell is not tightly sealed, the mussel is probably dead and should be discarded. If the mussel is dead, there's no telling how long it's been dead; if it's been dead for some time, harmful bacteria may have begun to grow. So, it's simpler to just not take the risk--even though I swear some of the ones I had to eliminate had been closed during the soaking process.

If the shell is not closed tightly, you're supposed to tap it gently with your fingernail; if the mussel is still alive, the shell will close within a minute. It's not a quick snap or anything like that, but rather a slow motion. I saw it happen once. And just once. Of all of partially-open shells I found, only one actually showed signs of life. I ended up with a sink lined with mussels and was feeling fairly discouraged, especially since some of the larger ones in the haul had proven to not be viable.

At this point, everything pretty much comes together on its own.

Onions and garlic in butter? Done. Add mussels, cover. They release a lot of liquid and steam in their own juices, almost all the way before you add whatever liquid you're going to add. This recipe called for champagne, but because I didn't feel like opening a bottle we weren't going to finish right then (this was lunch and there were only two of us), I decided to finish off a bottle of French vermouth I had in the fridge. Saffron and black pepper, and... done. Really. After all that prep work, it takes about ten minutes to finish the dish.

I definitely want to make mussels again, and try some other recipes. I think it was a mistake to use the vermouth; it overpowered the other flavors, ended up dominant, and that wasn't really what I was going for. I couldn't taste the saffron at all. I think I'll try French style next, like at Rabelais (white wine and cream, mmmm).

If it weren't for all the prep that goes into preparing mussels, I'm pretty sure that everyone who enjoys eating them would make them at home all the time. Cooking them really is that simple. If you have someone helping you clean and inspect the little suckers, I bet it goes a lot faster. The next time I make mussels, I'm going to invite friends over to share them with me. And if you offer to help prep, I bet an invitation will come your way!

What I cooked this week, the Prequel

2010-06-13T23:46:00.008-07:00

In the interest of posting more fun food photos, here are the cooked-at-home meals we have had (not counting my work-week lunches) since moving in:

Episode i, May 15-June 7

Bresola and pecorino

Bresola dressed with California olive oil and lemon juice, with tomato paste-rubbed pecorino and cibatta toasts, from Say Cheese. Okay, so this one didn't really involve any cooking, just dressing the meat and cutting the cheese. But it was delicious, and we're ecstatic to have such an awesome cheese'n'meat place nearby.

Roast poussin with root veggies

Young brown hen, yukon gold and red potatoes, and carrots all from Divisadero farmers' market.

Step 1: toss cut veggies with olive oil, herbs, minced garlic, and a little honey.

Step 2: slather bird with honey-herb butter and stuff it with a lemon.

Step 3: brown the bird in French oven.

Step 4: throw veggies in the pot, put the lid on and put the whole thing in the oven till it's done.

The chicken came from an egg vendor, who warned that it would need a lot of moisture and wouldn't have a ton of meat. Cooking it with the lid on worked perfectly, and it was just enough meat for the two of us.

Oven-baked omelet

Niman ranch bacon; potatoes from Divisadero farmers' market; homemade goat cheese; onion. This was part of my "I will cook EVERY DISH in my La Creuset French oven!' phase (which is not entirely over, and for good reason). The goat cheese which I made the day before got kind of lost; oh well. I loved that I cooked brown the bacon and the veggies, pour over the egg, and then just stick it in the oven to finish. Hooray for lazy weekend brunches.

Brussels sprouts sautéed with bacon

Brussels sprouts from Divisadero farmers' market; Niman Ranch bacon. A little overcooked, but still delicious.

Braised artichokes and steak

Artichokes were tasty and delicious. Steak was slightly overcooked; I have yet to cook a steak really well, which sad now that I'm finally appreciating great steak. Halp?

Banana bread

We had four, sad, bruised-looking bananas sitting in the bowl. Turns out they weren't bruised at all on the inside. Oh well! They mashed up quite nicely, and this banana bread was a great weekend treat.

Tacos de carnitas with pico de gallo and avocado

Tomatoes and cilantro from the Divisadero Farmers' Market.

I love the shredded pork shoulder recipe from How to Cook Everything (it's the same recipe I used for the empanada filling): cut the meat into chunks and stick it in a dutch oven with a quartered onion, garlic, dried chile peppers, bays leaves, cumin, and water to cover, then let it cook for about an hour. Ta da! For this meal I then took the cook meat, cut it into smaller, bite-sized pieces, and fried it in its own fat until crispy. We served it on tortillas with avocado chunks and pico de gallo. I'd been dreaming about making pica de gallo since tomato season rolled around; I wasn't disappointed.

What I cooked this week, Episode 1

2010-06-13T23:17:00.003-07:00

The hubs and I are trying to eat at home more than we did in our last few months of living in Houston, at least two dinners during the week and at least one dinner and one lunch on the weekend. In the interest of holding ourselves accountable to this, I'm going to post a weekly rundown of what I cook each week. Also, I take a lot of photos that I want to share but don't have the energy to put together a post every time I cook a meal; this way, I get to post them.

Episode 1, June 7-13, 2010

Thai red curry with chicken, zucchini, and yellow squash

An old standby. Zucchini and yellow squash from the Divisadero farmers' market. I explain how to make this dish in this post.

Beet, bacon, goat cheese sandwiches

Beets from the Divisadero farmers' market; Niman Ranch bacon; Redwood Hills Farm garlic-chive chevre. This was a good idea, and all the elements were great (I love roasted beets!), but there was too much bread. Better luck--and less bread--next time.

Peach and blue cheese baby arugula salad with bacon and vinagrette

California peaches; Point Reyes blue cheese; Niman Ranch bacon (at $6 a package, I really stretch this bacon out); homemade vinagrette. This salad, inspired by a special at The Monk's Kettle, was AMAZING. I loved the peach and blue cheese combo. Will make again.

Whole wheat pasta with pan-cooked salmon and arugula pesto

This dish came together in about 15 minutes. Everything about it is fast: Throw stuff in the food processor--you've got pesto. Salmon cooks in five or six minutes. Pasta cooks in less than ten. The pesto was a little bitter on its own but was helped by the other elements of the dish.

We also had some spaghetti with sauce that Andrew made last week (we froze the leftovers, exactly two portions' worth), but I have no photo.

A successful week, all in all. I am taking more care in plating my food these days, and still trying to find the best lighting in my kitchen during the day and at night.

Thai curry

2010-06-12T16:51:00.012-07:00

This is my contribution to the "anyone can cook" camp. If you have 20 minutes and are capable of cutting things and stirring things, then you can make delicious Thai curry.

I learned this dish from Nancie McDermott's Quick and Easy Thai Cooking, but you don't need to open a book to do it yourself. It's so simple!

I'm going to show you how to make Thai red curry with chicken, zucchini, and summer squash.

Part of the beauty of this dish, though, is its flexibility. Use green or musaman curry if you like; use beef, pork, or tofu instead of chicken; use mushrooms, bell peppers, broccoli, cabbage, pineapple, or pretty much any other vegetable you enjoy/have lying around. You'll just adjust your cooking times slightly depending on the meat or veg you use (I'll mention this below, too).

Other pluses: you don't have to worry about your meats or veggies drying out from overcooking because they're in a sauce, so they stay moist. And it only uses one pot!

Let's begin. Follow along step by step, or skip to the bottom for the short (five step!) version.

Our cast of characters:

Red curry paste, coconut milk (unsweetened), nam pla (fish sauce)--all available at your grocery store; look in the pasta or ethnic foods aisle--one pound of boneless chicken thighs cut into bite-sized pieces (you can use chicken breast if you prefer), and one zucchini and one summer squash cut into bite-sized pieces. Not pictured: brown sugar.

It is important that you cut up your chicken and veggies ahead of time--once you start cooking, it goes so fast that you won't have time for doing it as you go.

You'll also want to start a pot of rice cooking now--it will be done by the time the curry is!

All right, here we go!

Open the can of coconut milk. It may look something like this:

Alternatively, you may see solid white. Either way, the coconut milk is separated. You'll want to pour it into some kind of vessel so that you can mix it back together:

Perfect. Now, get out a wok or a pot, pour half the coconut milk in, and turn the heat to medium.

After about two minutes, the coconut milk will start to smell delicious and be bubbling gently:

At this point, add your curry paste. Depending on your taste for heat, you can add anywhere from one to three tablespoons. I usually use a heaping tablespoon:

You'll be able to add more later if you want it a little hotter; you'll also be adding water later so if it ends up a little too spicy, you can dilute it more.

Mash the paste around in the coconut milk until it is all mixed in, for about two minutes:

Gorgeous.

Now, add the chicken. Just dump it all in. Use your spoon to stir it around, coating each piece entirely in sauce and cooking slightly for, you guessed it, about two minutes:

If you're using beef or tofu, just take 1 minute. Also, if you're using tough veggies like sweet potato, pumpkin, or broccoli, go ahead and add them now.

You'll know it's been long enough when the chicken pieces start to look white instead of pink:

Now we add everything else! First you'll add the rest of the coconut milk and half a cup to a cup of water. If it looks watery, don't worry--it's supposed to be that wet. Thai curry is a lot soupier than, say, Indian curry.

Next, add 1 tablespoon of fish sauce:

This stuff smells strong up close (it's anchovy extract, after all), but it's definitely not an overpowering flavor in the sauce. It's absolutely essential. If you're vegetarian or vegan, you can substitute soy sauce. But to you omnivores, even those who think they don't like fish: use the nam pla.

Add your veggies!

Next add two tablespoons of brown sugar. If you have palm sugar, even better, but brown works fine:

Now stir everything together. At this point, taste the sauce to check the spice level. If you want it hotter, add a little more curry paste. If you want it milder, add up to another half cup of water. Simple! (If you're eating with someone with a lower spice tolerance than you, feel free to add a little paste or a dash of cayenne powder to your bowl after serving, like I do.)

Let it cook, stirring occasionally, until the meat and vegetables are cooked through. And...that's it!

To serve, place a mound of rice in a bowl (we used brown Texmati):

Spoon a generous amount of meat and veggies over the rice:

Don't forget to go back for some delicious sauce! The rice will soak it all up:

And there you have it: a beautiful plate of Thai red curry with chicken, zucchini, and summer squash:

Extra bonus feature!*

When you're eating Thai curry, don't reach for the chopsticks! To eat like people in Thailand do, observe the following:

You'll need a fork and a big spoon:

Holding the spoon in your right (or dominant) hand and the fork in your left (or opposite) hand, use the back of the fork to push food onto the spoon:

Then eat from the spoon!

With wet curries like this, it really makes the most sense to eat from a spoon, so you can get all of that delicious sauce. Enjoy!

Thai red curry with chicken, zucchini, and summer squash

Adapted from Quick and Easy Thai Cooking by Nancie McDermott

serves 3-4 (or 2 very hungry people!)

1 can coconut milk

1-3 tablespoons red curry paste

1lb chicken, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 tablespoon nam pla (fish sauce)

2 tablespoons brown sugar or palm sugar

1/2-1 cup water

1 large zucchini, cut into bite-sized pieces

1 large summer (yellow) squash, cut into bite-sized pieces

1. Simmer coconut milk over medium heat for 2 minutes, until fragrant.

2. Add curry paste mix in. Cook 2 minutes.

3. Add chicken, tossing to coat, for 1-2 minutes.

4. Add the rest of the ingredients and cook until chicken and squash are cooked through, stirring occasionally.

5. Serve over rice.

*Yes, it's redundant to say "extra bonus." So sue me.

I've no excuses...

2010-06-12T16:34:00.001-07:00

14th Regiment
Originally uploaded by aynsavoy

...for my extended absence, unless you count moving to San Francisco from Houston an excuse.

I've got a post in the works. In the meantime, have a drink on me.

Mini chocolate cupcakes and some weird frosting

2010-04-06T21:40:00.008-07:00

I have a confession to make: I really don't have much of a sweet tooth. If I have to choose, I'll take savory over sweet any day of the week. My husband DOES have a sweet tooth, but he doesn't enjoy eating the same thing more than once. Consequently, I don't end up making desserts very often. Most recipes just have a bigger yield than what we're able to consume.

But desserts are really fun to make and prepare and serve, so whenever a recipe has caught my eye, I find myself looking for excuses. The one-year anniversary of Anvil Bar & Refuge seemed like just such a perfect occasion, and the timing was excellent as I had just spotted a recipe over on The Pioneer Woman Cooks called "That's the best frosting I've ever had."

Remember: not a big sweet tooth. I like cake and frosting, but I seldom find a frosting that I really enjoy for more than a few bites. But, this recipe intrigued me. For one, it has flour in it, which is pretty weird. For another, probably due to the flour, it apparently ends up light and fluffy like whipped cream, instead of dense and heavy like buttercream.

The makings of some tasty cupcakes

The Pioneer Woman recommended pairing this frosting with her chocolate sheet cake, and I complied. This may in fact be the simplest cake recipe I have ever had the pleasure of following: Combine flour, sugar, and salt. Melt butter over the stove; stir in cocoa and then top with boiling water. Remove from heat; add to flour mixture; add buttermilk (I made my own by adding vinegar to regular milk), eggs, and vanilla. Stir to combine. Bake. DONE. Seriously, it's that simple. I didn't even have to break out my KitchenAid.

Since the anniversary party was going to be a big gathering with a lot of people, I knew I wanted to make cupcakes, as opposed to a sheet or layer cake that would have to be cut. And, since I had recently confiscated the mini cupcake tins from my parents' house, I decided to give them a whirl.

This turned out to be a great plan. Yes, having to fill each little cup several times over was a bit labor-intensive (my little 4oz Oxo measuring cup was awesome for this), but the positives outweighed the negatives: I got 66 mini cupcakes out of one batch of batter, and they baked far more consistently than full-sized ones do (and only about 12 minutes per pan).

So. Remember that weird-sounding frosting? With the flour in it? Turns out, it is weird! But it ends up tasting good, so bear with me.

First, you basically create a roux, heating milk and flour together and stirring until it thickens. Now, I may have made a mistake here. It never really seemed to thicken. Also, I abandoned the pot momentarily and some of it...congealed on the bottom. I had to fish this stuff out before proceeding. Anyway, you let this mess cool to room temperature, and then stir in vanilla.

Meanwhile, cream butter and sugar. I love you, KitchenAid. When the milk/flour/vanilla combo is room temp, add it to the butter and sugar, and beat it until it resembles whipped cream.

Sounds simple enough, yes? Well, it turns out that the comparison to whipped cream is more on than just the end result. I had to beat this sucker on high for a seriously long time before it came together. None of the reviews or directions I read said anything about this, and so I kept second guessing myself. The stuff was wet and ugly-looking, and the granulated sugar the recipe calls for still tasted gritty.

Uh, so, what's up with this stuff?

But I persevered, keeping in mind the whipped cream thing as well as my assumption that the sugar probably needs enough time to dissolve in the liquid. I kept at it. The sugar dissolved, but the frosting still seemed kind of liquidy. I put it in the fridge, but that only caused the liquid to separate out. So, I just kept beating it...and eventually, it did actually come together. It was still a bit wet, and it didn't look especially pretty going onto the cupcakes, but it did actually taste quite good. If I make it again, which I plan to, I'll beat it for a longer time. It is sweet, but because it's so light it's not too much too handle. Plus, since I was doing the frosting, I got to put on as little as I wanted!

These cupcakes turned out really well; everyone seemed to enjoy them. There weren't any left for me to take home, which I think pretty much says it all.

Update: Since I originally drafted this post, I tried both the cake (this time in sheet cake form) and the frosting again. The cake was still perfect and wonderful. The frosting? Still weird. The roux actually thickened this time, so I was hopeful, but ultimately ended up wet and ugly.

Gross-looking...

...but delicious

It still tasted good, so I may give it one more shot; I think perhaps I over-beat it. Let me know if you try it and have better luck!

Empanadas and chimichurri sauce

2010-03-17T21:48:00.006-07:00

This was actually my second time making empanadas--I made them for the first time back in September. The first attempted went quite well, though the filling left something to be desired. Still, it was a somewhat challenging project that was really successful in the end, and I couldn't wait to do it again.

And then the weekend I planned to make them again, I got sick. And then I got really busy with work. And then I started traveling. And life just kept getting in the way until--FINALLY! A couple weeks ago, the time had arrived for Empanadas, part Dos.

Since I wasn't perfectly happy with the filling I had used before, I decided to try a different one. I originally intended to use Smitten Kitchen's chicken empanada filling, but when it came down to it, the recipe sounded fairly involved and I just wasn't sure I was up to it.

Plus, I am a huge fan of pork.

I found a recipe for shredded pork in Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything that seemed straightforward and simple: boneless pork shoulder simmered for an hour or so with tasty things like ancho, cumin, garlic, onion, and bay leaves.

After stewing the pork (and filling the house with delicious aromas), I shredded the meat with my fingers and mixed back in a little bit of the garlic and ancho it had stewed with, along with some diced poblano I had roasted over the flame on my stovetop (I will dearly miss my gas stove if the next place I live does not have one).

The empanada dough is super simple: flour, butter, egg, water, and white vinegar (I used Smitten Kitchen's recipe this time as last). You cut cold butter up into little cubes and then mush it into the flour with your fingers until the whole thing becomes kinda crumbly (I think this is similar to pie crust, yes?). Add in liquids, knead it just a bit, then chill.

Next comes the actual formation of the pastries. The first step is rolling out the dough. For the second step, I tried a couple of different approaches; I'm still not sure which one I like best. I think the simplest way to do it is to trace something round with a knife, leaving a nice flat little circle of dough. Unfortunately, all of the round tracing objects I had were either too small or else made pretty frickin' large emapanadas. I probably did most of them this way, and just ended up with really large pastries, which is fine, though I'd like to be able to make smaller ones in the future, for party food or whatever.

The other method I used was just pinching off an amount of dough, rolling it into a ball, and then rolling that ball flat with the rolling pin. This worked...all right. Sometimes the shape came out a bit wonky. It just wasn't consistent enough, even though it gave me more control over the overall size of the pastry.

Once you've got your little circle of dough, take some filling--not too much, though I'm certainly guilty of this--and plop it in the middle. Then simply fold one half of your circle over the other and seal the edges together, using a fork or other crimping method. I used a fork, which worked well enough.

I placed the number of empanadas we wanted to eat for dinner on a baking sheet, brushed them with beaten egg, and popped them into a 400 degree oven for about 20 minutes. (The rest of the empanadas got the flash freeze treatment, and ended up as dinner a few nights later--I'm finishing off the last two tomorrow for lunch.)

What can I say--these empanadas turned out even better than the first ones. The filling had a great flavor, though it could have been moister for my tastes, but the dough was absolutely perfect--rich, flaky, golden brown on top.

I served them with chimichurri sauce, from a recipe I pulled up on Epicurious.Take a bunch of parsley, a bit less of cilantro, garlic, olive oil, red wine vinegar, red pepper, cumin, and salt. Into the process it all goes, until it's completely pureed. Voila.

Super tasty, super simple dipping sauce. Long story short, I will never again make empanadas without making this sauce. And since I intend to make empanadas again, I will definitely be making this sauce again. By the way, this was the single most worthwhile purchase of parsley I have ever made--I used more than half the bunch just on this single recipe.

Empanadas are a really impressive dish that, while it requires a bit a of time commitment, is definitely within reach for any home cook. And regarding the time thing, you could use a different, less time/labor-intensive filling, or cook the filling a day ahead of time, or make the dough ahead of time. Whatever you do, the end result will wow the lucky people you end up sharing them with--if you can bear to share any at all!

No. 51: Martinez

2010-03-10T20:36:00.005-08:00

I recently finished reading David Wondrich's delightful Imbibe! (a must-read for anyone interested in cocktails, or American history for that matter). At one point, the book pretty much credits vermouth with the evolution of the cocktail beyond subtle variations on the spirit + sugar + bitters + water formula.

Now, I have not always enjoyed Italian (sweet) vermouth; in fact, after completing list and free to make my own selections, I steered away from drinks containing it. But after reading about its early importance and popularity, I felt, well, ashamed of my distaste. As someone who prides herself on her broad palate, I felt that I was missing something and should try again.

So, the next time I found myself at Anvil, I asked Justin to help me out. He served me a selection of drinks featuring the fortified wine, and hey, I enjoyed them all! They were all cocktails I had tried during my journey through the List, but for whatever reason (different brands, different bartender, passage of time?), I liked them much better this time around.

The first of the cocktails I savored that afternoon was the Martinez:

Heralded by many as the predecessor of the Martini, the Martinez consists of Italian vermouth, gin, maraschino liqueur, and orange bitters. With that list of ingredients, I shouldn't have been surprised to enjoy this one. The drink is pleasantly sweet, not cloying (despite what one *ahem* might be lead to think from the combination of sweet vermouth and maraschino), and the fact the vermouth, not the gin, has the starring role means that you can enjoy a Martinez without getting too sloshed. At least, not after just one.

Making Paneer

2010-03-10T06:36:00.006-08:00

In January, I decided to make a foray into the wide world of cheese-making. I had just finished the first chapter of Harold McGee's On Food and Cooking, which happens to cover dairy, and I was intrigued enough by the processes described that I wanted to try it for myself.

I started out pretty much as basic as you get--paneer. I figured the non-aged, unflavored farmers' cheese would be a good place to start. Plus, as a big Indian food fan, I LOVE paneer, and I had a curry recipe that I bet it would go great in.

I followed the recipe for whole milk paneer from 660 Curries by Raghavan Iyer. It's really not much of a recipe, it's so simple: bring milk to a boil, stir in a curdling agent, then separate the curds and whey and press to drain out as much liquid as possible.

This really was an easy, if slightly time-consuming process. I brought a gallon of whole to a boil, which took about an hour, stirring the whole time. Once it reached a boil, I poured in 1/4 cup white vinegar. The directions said that curds would appear within 15 seconds or so, and it really did happen much more instantaneously than I expected.

I poured the contents of the pot into a colander lined with cheesecloth (this is it's true purpose!) and wrapped it tightly before setting a water-filled tea kettle on top. I let this sit for the next five hours, pushing down on the kettle occasionally to make sure as much liquid as possible was squeezed out.

And, voilá!

My paneer, after draining/pressing for 5 hours and then chilling in a mold (read: tupperware) in the fridge

The cheese had a pleasant, if mild, taste, which was to be expected since I hadn't added even so much as salt for seasoning; it was crumbly in a way similar to feta but a little rubberier.

The crumbliness had me worried; after all, I was supposed to cube the cheese. In the end, the edges crumbled but I was able to cut most of it into nice neat cubes which I then fried in a bit of vegetable oil. I am a reluctant pan-fryer; I don't like hot oil splashing all over my hands and arms. But I thought that crisping up some of the edges would help the paneer stay intact after being stirred into the curry. Also, browning = flavor.

Pan-fried paneer, though only on two sides because I am impatient

I then proceeded to whip up Mark Bittman's recipe for curry with spinach (originally designed to be used with leftover thanksgiving turkey) and mixed in the paneer:

Mmm...tomato-coconut milk curry, spinach, and homemade paneer--what's not to love?

The process of making paneer was altogether really easy and one that I would repeat. I look forward to trying more cheeses. I plan to try the Homesick Texan's queso blanco with herbs and chiles next, and hopefully move into rennet-based and aged cheeses.

Did I mention I'm a cheese fiend?

Back in the saddle?

2010-03-07T21:24:00.008-08:00

First, a confession:

I've started a couple posts like this one since my last posted post, but they all devolved into apologies and justifications for not posting, and you know what? That is some boring crap to read. But, I want to start writing again, in a form somewhat longer than 140 characters, so here goes:

Not gonna apologize for not posting, and not gonna spend much time justifying it either, but guess what? I've really been pretty busy and involved with life since I last posted. A couple big things happened. In chronological order:

1) We got a new cat.

His name is Fezzik, after Andre the Giant's character in The Princess Bride. We named him this because he is a big sweetheart. Emphasis on the "big," by the way; he's a really large cat. Also, he sleeps like this:

2) I finished all 100 drinks on Anvil's list.

It was a good experience--I tried many things I probably never would have otherwise and both broadened and honed my tastes. Since I completed list I've become more adventurous and further developed my palate, but this was an excellent starting journey. I've read a few books now on the history of drinks and cocktails, and I've even started mixing some of my own.

I really did mean to blog the whole 100, but I was too busy drinking 'em to stop and write about 'em. ;) Still, I've got a huge collection of drink photos, should anyone care to take a look.

3) I got married!

Yes, married life is grand. In fact, it's lot like my previous year of unmarried life, when I was living with the love of my life and working hard and having a good time. I got married because I loved my the life the way it was, and I'm so unbelievably happy that I get to keep having this life, with this person, for as long as I am alive.

The wedding was wonderful. I'll spare you the details, but it was full of light and color and swing dancing and cupcakes and family and friends and sincerity and love and joy. Just like weddings should be.

And it was not the best day of my life. I know that that day is yet to come.

...And THAT was all before the new year!

Expect a post from me soon about what I've been cooking recently. Until I find a way to get back to writing fiction, I plan to focus this blog on cooking and cocktails, with a helping of travel and significant changes in my life, which has really only just begun.

Cheers.

Wedding photos copyright 2009 Hawes Photography & Design

No. 87: Smash

2009-09-06T22:06:00.003-07:00

Of Smashes, Jerry Thomas writes "This drink is simply a julep on a small plan." (He has quite a lot to say about the julep, which I'll get around to soon.) Your spirit of choice, a little sugar, some water, a glass filed with shaved ice, and a garnish--that's pretty much all there is to it.

I recently enjoyed a Brandy Smash made by Sebastian, and I wouldn't be surprised if he used Jerry's recipe:

Brandy Smash.
(Use small bar-glass.)
1/2 table-spoonful of white sugar.
1 do. water
1 wine-glass of brandy.

Fill the glass two-thirds full of shaved ice, use two sprigs of mint, the same as in the recipe for mint julep. Lay two small slices of orange on top, and ornament with berries in season.

By the way, a digital copy of Jerry Thomas' 1862 bartenders' manual How to Mix drinks: or, the Bon-Vivant's Companion is available through google books! Just click the title to take a peek.

No. 22: Corpse Reviver #2

2009-09-05T14:16:00.002-07:00

Show up at Anvil and ask Justin for something refreshing, and chances are he'll offer you a Corpse Reviver #2. Corpse Revivers are drinks designed to wake the dead, as it were, in the most delicious way possible.

Originating probably in the late 1880s, Corpse Reviver #2 contains equal parts gin, lemon juice, Lillet blanc, and Cointreau--and a dash (or two) of absinthe. For those who are a bit intimidated by the wormwood-derived, anise-flavored spirit, this drink could make a good first impression.

No. 7: Aviation

2009-09-05T11:46:00.002-07:00

The Aviation takes its name from the sky blue tinge derived from Creme de Violette, a liqueur that was apparently at one time almost impossible to find. Consequently, the titular ingredient was actually left out of many recipes, including the recipe in the influential 1930 Savoy Cocktail Book.

Luckily for us, Rothman & Winter is producing a Creme de Violette that is now available in the US (this is the brand that Anvil uses), which means that we can enjoy the Aviation in its original incarnation. Originally published in Hugo Ensslin's 1916 "Recipes for Mixed Drinks," the Aviation also calls for dry gin as its base, fresh lemon juice, and Maraschino liqueur:

Aviation Cocktail (Original Recipe)

1/3 Lemon Juice
2/3 El Bart Gin (no longer available; substitute another dry gin)
2 Dashes Maraschino
2 Dashes Creme de Violette
Shake well in a mixing glass with cracked ice, strain and serve.

The Aviation is one the drinks that I will happily reorder once, you know, I'm finished trying all 99 other cocktails on the list.

(Sources: Food&Spirits and Cocktail Hacker)

No. 82: Seelbach

2009-08-31T18:31:00.002-07:00

Justin topping off a Seelbach with champagne

This bright little number had 7 dashes each of Angostura and Peychaud’s bitters to thank for its brilliant red color and accordingly bitter taste. It takes its name from the Louisville Seelbach Hotel, which first opened in 1874 as an exclusive gentleman's club and later served as the model for elements in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.

With Kentucky bourbon as its base and additions of cointreau and champagne, what really makes the Seelbach stand out are the large quantities of two different bitters. Perhaps this means it is not a drink for everyone, but I am a huge fan; this is definitely a drink I will be ordering again.

No. 52: Martini

2009-08-27T17:22:00.007-07:00

"Six parts gin to one part vermouth" is the final line of the Tom Lehrer song, "Bright College Days," but it is apparently far from the final word on the correct composition of the Martini. From Bernardo DeVoto's perfect Martini that calls for 1.845206 oz of gin to 1/2 oz vermouth and "five hundred pounds of ice" to Hemmingway's ratio of 15 to 1 (both via Eric Felten), this point of contention seems like it can really only come down to your own tastes--and what's fashionable at the time, of course.

Oh, and shaking versus stirring really does make a difference. Shaking the martini both makes the drink colder and dilutes it further than stirring, and even has an effect on the taste. Try both; don't feel pressured by James Bond (he preferred vodka martinis, anyway).

Of the Martini featured in my photos, I know neither the proportion of gin to vermouth nor the method of mixing (though I could probably bug Matt to remember), but I do know that he made it with Hayman's Old Tom gin, which is a favorite of mine (an older style, slightly sweet). Anvil's ingredient list, at least, matches Felten's "Original Intent Martini" recipe: gin, French (dry) vermouth (4:1) and orange bitters.

And in my mind, you really can't go wrong with a lemon twist.

Update: Anvil's ingredients may match Felten's, but Justin would like everyone to know that he uses a ratio of 2:1 gin to vermouth, with 2 dashes of bitters.

No. 1: Absinthe Drip

2009-08-25T22:27:00.006-07:00

I started my posts with the drink on the list that was first made (oldest) and followed it with one of the first cocktails I ever had at Anvil. For post number 3, let's take a look at the first drink on the alphabetized list, Absinthe.

While prevalent enough in popular culture that most people seem to be at least vaguely familiar with "the Green Fairy," the notorious beverage is commonly, mistakenly believed to still be illegal in the US. In 2007, Lucid Absinthe was approved for legal distribution in the US, and this broke ground for other brands to eventually make their into American bars.* Thujone, the chemical in wormwood long blamed for absinthe's apparent psychotropic affects, is regulated in modern absinthes, although arguably the spirit's high alcohol content is the real culprit.

The absinthe drip that the List refers to is the traditional method for serving absinthe. A sugar cube is placed on a slotted spoon (often specially designed for this purpose) and then balanced on the glass full of liquor. Then cold water is dripped onto the sugar cube, dissolving it into the absinthe. This process not only dillutes the alcohol but causes it to become cloudy (see the first picture).

An absinthe fountain

Lucid absinthe, with an absinthe spoon and partially-dissolved sugar cube

Not everyone who tries absinthe is especially fond of it. Its strong anise flavor (the same as black licorice) is off-putting to many people. In its undiluted state (I had a taste this afternoon) it is almost unbearably harsh. No small number of drinks on the List include absinthe as in ingredient, including the Sazerac, which is served in a glass rinsed out with absinthe. Whether you enjoy it or not, however, you should take any opportunity to try this culturally-weighted spirit if for no other reason than to say that you've had absinthe.

The List Itself

2009-08-25T22:14:00.007-07:00

For all who are curious, Bobby Heugel has kindly made the List available online (click for a larger view):

And now, back to our regularly scheduled drinking.

UPDATE: the lovely Treelight has typed out the list, in case you want a text version: http://dirtykitchenadventures.wordpress.com/2009/08/26/anvils-list/

No. 61: Negroni

2009-08-22T14:07:00.007-07:00

I had a Negroni the first time I ever went to Anvil. After trying a few drinks from the seasonal menu, I asked our bartender, Justin, to make me the drink that he would most like to have at that moment. His response was the Negroni, a drink that highlights one of his favorite cocktail ingredients, the Italian aperitif Campari.

Comprised of equal thirds Campari, gin, and Italian (or sweet) Vermouth and garnished with an orange peel, the Negroni is anything but mild, from its bold red color to its bright and bitter profile, both derived from the Campari; in his anedotal guide to classic cocktails How's Your Drink?, author Eric Felten goes so far as to point out the presence of a Negroni in the hand of many a villain and "ne'er-do-well" in literature and film. Its creation is commonly attributed to one Count Negroni who had his bartender stiffen his Americano by adding gin, sometime in the early 1900s. However, there seems to be little consensus on any details beyond that.

I must admit that I did not especially enjoy my first Negroni; however, I have since developed an appreciation for Campari and look forward to my next experience of this cocktail.

No. 73: Port Flip

2009-08-21T22:59:00.007-07:00

One strategy I considered for actually trying all of the cocktails on the the List was to drink them in chronological order by origin--oldest to newest. The oldest drink on the List is the Port Flip, a drink made with a decent amount of port, some sugar, and whole egg, yolk and all. As you can imagine, after shaking this results in a rich, creamy drink.

In the 1887 Bar-tender's Guide or How to Mix Drinks, author and cocktail pioneer Jerry Thomas gives the following recipe for a Port Flip:

Port Wine Flip.
(Use large bar-glass.)
Take 1 small tea-spoonful of powdered white sugar.
1 large wine-glass of port wine.
1 fresh egg.
2 or 3 small lumps of ice.

Break the egg into the glass, add the sugar, and lastly the wine and ice. Shake up thoroughly and strain into a medium sized goblet.

Anvil's Bobby Heugel takes a slightly differently approach, adding the egg to the port.

Definitely a different sort of cocktail; I don't think I've ever had anything quite like it. Don't skip No. 73: the Port Flip!

An Anvil Challege: the 100 Drinks List

2009-08-21T22:20:00.005-07:00

Anvil Bar & Refuge in Houston has issued a challenge to its patrons in the form of a list.

Specifically, it's a list of 100 classic cocktails that they believe everyone should try at least once in their lifetime. The List was released last Wednesday along with stamp cards for patrons to keep track of which drinks they've enjoyed so far. According to Anvil owner Bobby Heugel, finishing the list will get you a 100 cocktails manual; the first five to finish all 100 drinks will receive a special surprise.

In the interest of furthering my knowledge of cocktails (and indulging my nerd tendencies) I have decided to try to blog the List: all 100 drinks. A photo of the drink, at Anvil, accompanied by a little bit of information so that the List Challenge is not just delicious, but also educational. (Nerd, remember?) I'm not going to do any major research, but I'll do my best to provide some kind of background information on each cocktail

While I will be competing to drink all 100, I will not be blogging the cocktails in the order I drink them. Nor will will the posts follow the list order (which is alphabetical). I may develop a consistent strategy, I may not. In any case, I'm looking forward to this project.

Enjoy!

The Haps (or, Blame Twitter)

2009-08-08T15:35:00.005-07:00

Looks like blogging is becoming a monthly thing for me. This is largely an effect of the fact that I am now on Twitter. If you use Twitter, or would like to keep up with what's going on with me, you can follow me @aynsavoy. I've also put a tweet feed over in the right margin of this blog.

Anyway, if you haven't been following me on Twitter, here's a run-down of the past month (if you're here for food photos, skip to the end):

Travel

We were all over the place in July. We visited our folks in St. Louis over 4th of July weekend, also taking the time to check out some wedding stuff. It was a short, hurried trip. Toward the end of the month we headed to Comic Con, met up with old friends, saw some panels (highlights: Stephan Pastis, creator of Pearls Before Swine, Henry Selick and Neil Gaiman discussing Coraline, cartoon voices panel, and the creative team of Doctor Who + David Tennant!), and bought some books and artwork (I got a personal sketch from D ave McKean!). Finally, I closed out the month by traveling back to St. Louis for work--Reasoning Mind is expanding to a few campuses there and I'll be supporting them.

Work

Speaking of work, my department has been superbusy preparing for the upcoming school year. Mainly this has meant training teachers. We've had at least one training a week since the end of July; next week there will be three simultaneous trainings. It's been pretty nuts, but we've pulled through. Which is good, since school's about to start.

Play

I've also become thoroughly engrossed in my current hobby: food. Being a foodie came pretty naturally to me, espeically now that I know other people who photograph all of their meals. Twitter has been really instrumental helping me meet other members of the Houston food commuity and learn about events, happenings, and tasty places to go. At the center of all this is my current fixation: a place called Anvil Bar & Refuge.

Anvil makes the best mixed drinks I've ever had--which doesn't seem to say a whole lot considering that I'm mainly a beer drinker...until you consider that the drinks at Anvil are coaxing me away from beer and toward spirits. I'm addicted to the place--the feel of it and the people who work there as much as the drinks themselves. The staff have real passion for what they do, and it shows. And through Twitter, I've met up with other Houston foodies at Anvil.

In addition to Twitter, the best way to keep up with me is to check out my Flickr account. The majority of the photos you'll find there are of food (and drinks from Anvil), but considering that my social life these days consists of eating and drinking, it's a pretty accurate representation. I'm not going to post all my recent favorites photos here right now, but here are links to photo sets from some of the awesome things I've done/eaten recently:

5 Course Dinner at Reef with Cocktail Pairings by Anvil

Dinner at Jeannine's Bistro

You can find more photos of my dining exploits in my Houston Food set on Flickr.

I'm also easing my way back into cooking (lots of travel is not conducive to kitchenings). Most recently, Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic:

Before that (and before San Diego and St. Louis), I had a few other tasty experiments:

Thanks for reading! See you next month ;-) or on Twitter.

Test post

2009-08-07T07:28:00.006-07:00

(Hey everyone, I'm just testing this code out for someone else, but if you'd like to donate to the awesome non-profit I work for, feel free to click the button below!)

Photo update

2009-07-01T16:29:00.005-07:00

Some of my favorite pictures from the past month, in reverse chronological order:

A Peruvian Riddle at Anvil Bar & Refuge

Strawberries for woebegon dumplings

On the Damon Blue Line platform in Chicago

Outside The Violet Hour

Happy Graduation to me!

Happy cat

Speaking of food...

2009-06-08T16:24:00.005-07:00

Not only do I love cooking, but I love eating (go figure). And it turns out that Houston is actually a pretty great place to be for a food lover--apparently the city has more restaurants per capita than any other city in the world. I've actually been planning a series of posts about my favorite restaurants here.

In the meantime, I've been ocassionally taking photos of things I eat or drink around town. Coincidentally, Eating...Our Words, the food blog of the Houston Press, recently started featuring one reader photo every Monday--the weekly Snackshot. A photo of mine was featured the very first week they started doing this, and then I got lucky again last week and today. It's a fairly minor thing, but also kind of exciting. You can view my Snackshots with the links below:

Cioppino at Farrago

Cheese Plate at Cafe Rabelais

Mojito Limonada at Empire Cafe

Recent kitchen exploits

2009-06-07T15:48:00.005-07:00

Being done with my paper means I can finally get back to doing the things I enjoy doing without feeling like I'm procrastinating. Which, apparently, was mainly cooking, an activity I pretty much gave up on during the last few crunch weeks.

But I'm back now, and here are some of the things I've made since last Wednesday:

Homemade pasta

Andrew wanted to make his famous* spaghetti sauce, so I thought I'd try out this recipe for homemade noodles.

It was pretty simple, really, just flour and eggs. And rolling it out really wasn't that bad. So it's definitely something I'll do again (though let me tell you, I was happy to let Andrew do the rest of the cooking that evening).

*it would become famous if more people got to eat it

Braised baby artichokes, Provencal-style

This was a Mark Bittman recipe I have been drooling over for a month, but when it first came out I couldn't find baby artichokes anywhere. But, when I was at the store getting this for the pasta, there they were: baby artichokes, all boxed up and ready to go.

This dish has amazing flavor, thanks to the slow-cooking, seasoned olives, and (basically) candied garlic you end up with (and I added shallots, which also caramelized by the time the dish was done). It's pretty simple to make; aside from prepping the artichokes, you really don't have to do anything except except add it all to the pan and let it cook.

We ate it with French bread and chevre, and white wine. The outer leaves of the artichokes weren't really cooked enough to eat, but the steams, hearts, and chokes were amazing.

Yellow cupcakes with sticky fudge frosting

I recently started reading The Pioneer Woman's blog, and this cupcake recipe has earned her a permanent place in my heart. Not only is the cake delicious, moist, and pretty straightforward to make, but the frosting is a one-step process that takes only a saucepan to complete.

I used 70% cocoa dark chocolate disks, and the frosting is definitely rich and not very sweet. I could stand it a tad sweeter, but considering my recent complaint has been cupcakes that are too sweet, these were a pleasant change.

There you have it. For more pictures, click any of the photos above to access my Flickr page.

Photo update

2009-05-27T20:35:00.004-07:00

In case you didn't notice the edit to the post below, I have finished my paper! I've also started heartily abiding by my only-one-meaty-meal-a-day rule, and it's been going all right so far. The house is getting cleaner.

I just uploading a bunch of pictures, some I've had stored on my camera for awhile, and a bunch from this past weekend's trip to Seattle. I'll post a few of my favorites below; to view the rest visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/30368264@N08/.

Goals:

2009-05-18T20:31:00.003-07:00

Edit: one down!

Also, I forgot a really import goal: get back in touch with all the friends I've neglected while I've been so self-involved trying to finish/forget about this paper. I've missed you!

short-term

~~finish BA paper~~

clean the house
get a haircut

long-term (in no particular order)

go to the farmers' market regularly
eat meat only one meal a day
survive work this summer
keep the bedroom neat
buy more business-dressy clothes
do creative writing again
practice belly dance outside of class every week

keep your eye on the prize !

Facelift

2009-05-02T10:07:00.002-07:00

New colors! New author photo! Hooray!

This is me looking forward. Looking forward to being finished with my thesis (not quite there yet, but a draft is due Monday and I'm on my way), and moving forward with my life without something looming over me and reminding me that whatever I'm doing, I should be doing something else.

Which is why, as I explained ages ago, I haven't been writing on here. Even when I'm not working on the paper, there's a voice in the back of my brain going, "Isn't there something you should be doing?" and so while I've certainly become an expert procrastinator, certain activities seemed inexcusable. Blogging was one of them.

So, this me saying that I'm going to continue to be absent for the rest of May, and then hopefully I'll back in one form or another.

Just for fun:

2009-03-04T22:16:00.004-08:00

Immanuel Kant was a real pissant

Who was very rarely stable

Heidegger, Heidegger was a boozy beggar

Who could drink you under the table
David Hume could out-consume

Schopenhauer and Hegel

And Wittgenstein was a beery swine

Who was just as schloshed as Schlegel

There's nothing Nietzsche couldn't teach ya 'bout the raising of the wrist
Socrates himself was permanently pissed

John Stuart Mill, of his own free will

On half a pint of shandy was particularly ill

Plato, they say, could stick it away

Half a crate of whisky every day
Aristotle, Aristotle was a bugger for the bottle

Hobbes was fond of his dram
And René Descartes was a drunken fart:

'I drink, therefore I am.'

Yet Socrates himself is particularly missed
A lovely little thinker but a bugger when he's pissed!

Thank you Monty Python.

Is this normal?

2009-02-22T23:16:00.002-08:00

I have a question for the internet community at large:

There are some townhomes under construction next to my apartment. Unsurprisingly, there is a porta-potty for the workers out front; it has a padlock on it but apparently isn't locked.

The reason I know it isn't locked is that on at least two occasions, I have seen someone drive up from outside of the neighborhood, park their car, get out, go into the porta-potty (presumably to use it), get back in their car and leave.

My question is: is this a normal thing to do? Is it common for people who need to go to the bathroom to scout for construction sites and use their portables?

If it had only happened once I might have assumed that the person knew someone working on the site and was therefore aware of its presence, but I've seen it happen two or three times now. We're near amajor road, but we don't get much drive-by traffic and you can't see the porta-potty from a major road, so people either need to know about it or be hunting for one. Maybe the people I've seen go in aren't actually using the toilet; maybe it's being used as an exchange point for drugs or black market pedigreed dogs or something.

Anyway, it's just struck me as really bizarre that people would use a random portable toilet on some out-of-the-way construction site, but maybe I am just not in the know. Is this something you've seen/heard of people doing?

Hey you, creative person! Want an Arbitrary Art Grant?

2009-02-20T23:20:00.003-08:00

I think this idea will interest most of you who read this blog regularly. From Greg Lundgren, via The Stranger:

...I wanted to talk about my Bumbershoot exhibit this year that I am curating in the Olympic and Orcas Rooms. It is called Dada Economics, and I think it's going to be quite fun. I'll be announcing and producing (12) + Arbitrary Art Grants over the next 5 months in mediums such as dance, writing, painting, music, art dealing (hey the market's falling) and sculpture. Actually, sculpture is the first one I am announcing and even though the art grants are only $500.00, I anticipate the collective project to generate a lot of work (and yes it will be the good, the bad and the ugly). ...Here is the poster:
ARBITRARY ART GRANT
$500.00
to one person who builds a
sculpture
inside of a steel grocery cart,
created only from the store inventory.
Build it, photograph it and email a picture to:
info@vital5productions.com before May 15th, 2009
On May 30th, a winner will be randomly selected, called, and handed $500.00 in cash. There is no application or judge.
Visit www.vital5productions.com for more information.

This sounds really cool, and I plan to participate. The website spells out the mission of these grants, which is in short "to fortify the arts community, reinforce the ideology that all people are artists and stand as a catalyst to create large scale group performance." Hopefully the website will be announcing each new grant.

In related news, I actually wrote a piece of fiction last night, for the first time in quite awhile. It's not in any shape to display publically, but I will tell you that it is (surprise surprise) zombie-related. The zombie stories I enjoy best are always the ones that take a different angle on the situation, and I hope to do that with this idea.

Anyway, when/if I participate in these grant thingies, I post my photos or whatever here. If you participate, post yours on your own blog, link to mine then comment here and I'll link to yours. Sweet!

distraction...

2009-02-15T17:14:00.003-08:00

Who wouldn't be distracted by this precious bundle of fluff?

One other thing

2009-02-13T11:19:00.003-08:00

Today is a perfect day for sitting inside, drinking hot tea, and writing. It is far too dark for 1:30pm, the raining keep starting and stopping, and there is a slight chill in the air. I am drinking Russian Imperial, with jam mixed in (crazy?).

Back to work.

Warm-up

2009-02-13T10:35:00.004-08:00

The inability to get writing done is one of the easiest things to make excuses for. Can't focus for a variety of reasons--must be your environment: the wrong seat, the wrong music, haven't eaten, cat's distracting. The mythical beast of "writers' block" (if you can put words--any words--on paper, you don't have "writers' block; as Neil Gaiman has said before, you're just stuck).

I have had an impossible time trying to get anything accomplished on my paper at my apartment. So I decided that if I was going to blame my surroundings for my inability to focus, I'd better believe my own half-truth (instead of a simple lack of will power) and find a place that allows me to focus better. So here I am, for the third week in a row, at the Te House of Te, lunching and drinking tea, and thinking about getting down to work.

So why am I blogging, instead of turning off my wireless and working on what I'm supposed to be working on? Last week, I wrote a response to a friend's blog post and then got right into writing my own stuff; I think writing something got me going...in the groove, if you will. An d that's not completely surprising, since the most common advice to writers is to just always be writing. It doesn't have to be good or long or evern worth rereading, but you need to keep yourself in the habit. Cory Doctorow wrote an article recently on getting writing done in the digital age, and I like his suggestions a lot; unfortunately, my work (job work) has been so exhausting lately that it feels masochistic to make myself sit and work when I get home (also, remember the no will power thing). It's more fun to cook or look at pictures of other people's weird weddings or annoying the cat.

Long post short, wish me luck on my work! I'm going to grab another pot of tea.

Cupcake envy

2009-01-27T20:11:00.007-08:00

Mississippi Mud Cupcakes--chocolate cake, oreos, and chocolate chips. Recipe from "Cupcakes!" and baked by me.

This blog and this cupcake shop (advertised on The Stranger's website) have me seriously jonesing for an excellent cupcake. When I still lived in Chicago, I could count on Swirlz Cupcakes whenever I was in the mood and had the time to venture up to Lincon Park, but I have been sorely disappointed since the move to Tejas.

No doubt there are good cupcakeries in Texas, but the couple places I've tried here in Houston have really fallen flat for me. One place had decent cake, but the frosting was too dense, too sweet, and there was too much of it; a 1:1 ratio of cake to frosting is more than I can handle, especially when it's super sweet. Another place actually keeps their cupcakes in a refrigerated case--a big no-no as refrigeration dries out what might otherwise be a moist and tasty cake (and their frosting was also far too sweet and dense, also thanks to the frigeration).

There's at least one more exclusively-cupcakes bakery in town, but according to their website they will ship their cupcakes nationally. Baked goods like cakes, with toppings like frostings, that are made with fresh, honest ingredients, really don't ship well, so I'm kind scared to even try them. And the one other bakery that at least purportedly has tasty cupcakes has been closed since August with no word of what's coming next.

(And if it seems like I am unfairly dogging on Houston for its lack of delicious cupcakes, I'll have you know that I initially wanted cupcakes for my St. Louis wedding, but have since been scared away by descriptions and photos of the confections from both of St. Louis' exclusively-cupcakes bakeries, and have decided to go with a tiered cake from Cravings--they only use real, fresh ingredients.)

In fact, the only cupcakes I've enjoyed while in Houston have been the chocolate sour cream cupcakes I made myself from my copy of Cupcakes! But I am usually too lazy to make frosting, especially when I'm only making the cupcakes for myself. I really need to have an occasion to justify baking a batch of cupcakes AND decorating them (answer: I should have more parties).

So: anyone from the Houston area have cupcake recommendations? Anyone want to come over so that I have someone to bake cupcakes for?

On a more positive note, Whole Foods is currently selling 18lb bags of Texas grapefruits for $8. Guess what I lugged home, and what I'm having for dessert. As soon as I buy more eggs, I'm going to try this recipe for grapefruit yogurt pound cake, from Smitten Kitchen (part of my apparent quest to try every recipe from that blog).