Taste Life Twice

The First Literary Tea 'salon'

2012-02-06T20:32:00.000-05:00

If you read this blog fairly regularly, you may have noticed a gap over the last month.

Not too much content.

Not so big on the typing of words.

Not even pictures for a distraction!

Distracting.

This may be all the more disappointing after the momentum I had built up in December. Sorry, folks, for dropping the ball. I don't think the fractured arm completely accounts for it, either. I switched gears from an external, writing-focused effusion about upcoming changes in my life to an internal and social-based incubation of projects to prepare for those upcoming changes. So the stew is still stewing, I just turned the heat down and put the lid on- ya follow me? (another metaphor?!)

So, what have I been doing with my time? Not much cooking, unfortunately. I probably could be doing more, but that would entail visualizing each step of the cooking process in advance and then arranging for someone to do the parts that I can't manage (chopping, mixing, jar-opening, etc.) ahead of time, which is just too much planning, even for moi.

Mujaddara

I made mujaddara (found first here, before it became a celeb and was posted here), a dish long on The List, and appealing in its super-easiness. Highly recommended.

Braised Fennel with Balsamic

And then a couple of weeks ago, I had to follow through on an idea I had back in November, involving a fair amount of cooking and advance shopping. In this case, I did have to ask a friend over to chop some onions and fennel and wash some dishes... The reason I felt so committed to hosting this soiree was that its goal was to raise some funds for a non-profit that was having real difficulties financially. It was founded by a good friend of mine and three other education reformers who were looking to take stock of where we are in the U.S. and around the world, and make education systems better for all those involved (donate here if you believe in the importance of this cause!).

I had a great theme for the party too: a Literary Tea. I was reading about bygone food cultures when a tossed-out reference to Literary Teas of the 1960s caught my imagination. It described them as cocktail hours for the New York publishing world, another pushy scene where writers and agents and publishers acted out the social version of Darwinism. Ech. Not my crowd. But 'Literary Tea' had promise, and I crafted my own theme, reclaiming and repurposing the name for better use.

I had grand plans for cooking soups and baking breads and whipping up desserts, but in the end, I admitted it was not realistic to think I would make all these things for 9 people- the max that would fit in my living room! So I did some make-ahead things (twice-baked shortbread, Saltine toffee bars) and then relied on 1) fire-under-the-feet inspiration, fueled by 2) clean-out-the-refrigerator spirit. It worked out great! The stew (main course) that resulted included the following ingredients, roughly in order of throwing in:
onions
vegetable broth
chopped carrots
tomato paste
cooked butternut squash
microwaved sweet potato
Trader Joe's precooked lentils
hot Italian sausage (farmer's market find!)

I asked my friends to contribute what they would have spent on bringing something to the dinner party, since I was taking care of everything (and replacing wine with tea, an AWESOME idea), and they went far beyond that, which was amazing. I was proud to contribute the amount that my friends had pitched in, topping it off with my own contribution, which amounted to $355. Amazing.

Along with the food and drinks, this salon was literary-themed, meaning:

I broke the ice with softball questions about favorite books of all-time and current books being perused. That went pretty well. After that, we dove into a long, involved round of The Origin of Expressions, which I was very excited about for this group. The game requires 1) the ability to bring forth useless factoids of world history and/or 2) the ability to fool people into thinking you know what you're talking about. Perfect activity for all these friends from grad school days, where you hone both of the above skills. One round was enough because of the complex scoring process, then we were on to Boggle, which a friend had brought- several lightning rounds ensued, and in closing, I can't believe I never played the game before. Awesome.

I hope you didn't think I've been idle. I hope you knew there must have been some close-to-the-heart reason that kept me from updating this blog more closely, because there was. But my Literary Tea was a success! and soon there will be lots more where that came from.

**cast coming off in 1 week! Happy Valentine's, indeed!**

A Nod In Agreement

2012-01-26T14:16:00.001-05:00

“You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do.”

-Henry Ford

How true, and how motivational! Good old Henry.

(Arm healing as fast as it can)

Oatcakes and Orange Flower Water

2012-01-14T20:47:00.002-05:00

Greetings, Friends.

The ship may no longer be going Full Steam Ahead, BUT it is not idling away in dry-dock, either.

For all you non-nautical types out there (including me), please refer to my disclaimer about overworked metaphors. While I do have a broken right arm, I'm planning on sneaking my way around that obstacle at least a few times over the course of the next 3-5 weeks. Probably with the help of my friends.

As for my two main goals for the beginning of 2012- training for the 10-miler and increased pace of writing- they will both be put on hold. Tuesday I get fitted for my cast, and I plan to pepper the orthopedic surgeon with questions about what I can do to promote healing and what I shouldn't do to prevent further problems. I dunno, team, do we think I can ramp from nothing to 10 miles in 5 weeks?

Since I am right-handed, typing cack-handed severely slows down the flow of words. I suppose I could still invest the same amount of time and just get half the anticipated output, but I kind of don't want to slog through that. Or am I really just scared that nothing will come if the spigot isn't all the way open? Could be.

I guess we'll find out in the coming weeks!

But now to think back to a time when I had two working arms, when I could multitask like nobody's business, when I could pump out three recipes a night...

That's right, more Scottish food! I actually made these the week before Christmas, as a balance to all the Cookie Swap sweetness. I found a link to the Leftover Queen's recipe, and found that she was quite the blogging queen, coming much belatedly to that party. The dough was quick to come together, easy to manage, simple to scale. The oatcakes' texture was nubbly, toast-y. The flavor was mild and wheat-y and heartland-y, if that makes sense. Pretty great! It made me think more on what a culture's food says about its people... fascinating speculative exercise...

The same day, I thought I'd better get my mojo going on the cookie swap recipes I'd bookmarked. Two that I was closest to having all the ingredients for shot to the top of the list: HungrySquirrelCakes' Chocolate Orange Chunk Cookies and Mrs. Galvan's Dark Chocolate Cafenelas. Here I've got the first one, which got more oooh's and ahhh's from the officemates (even though they were both fab, I think this one was more unique).

Standard mix-and-drop cookie, with one out-of-the-ordinary ingredient (orange flower water, which can be found in Middle Eastern/ Lebanese groceries or near syrups and jams in a Whole Foods), and the need to keep a close eye on the oven exposure- you want to nab these guys before they're fully cooked to avoid going to the Crispy Side.

**Helpful Note for Americans looking to convert this recipe from metric measurements: 225g = ~3/4c butter; 200g = 1 1/4c sugar; 175g = 5/6c sugar; 350g = 3c flour; 175g = ~5/6c dark chocolate; 170 deg C = ~338 deg F ** I think.
Yum. Next up: Cafenelas and what to do with Black Radishes!

Interruptus

2012-01-08T18:53:00.003-05:00

As you may no doubt be able to surmise by the above photo of an X-ray, I've had an accident.

I don't want anyone to think that I've lost my zeal for my new initiatives so quickly- much the opposite!- but I won't be able able to experiment, bake, dry dishes, slice bread, or otherwise use my right wrist for 4-6 weeks.
Who knew the wrist was the lynchpin for all these daily activities??
Seriously though, I hope to be writing, cooking, and running again after I change this plaster splint for a cast and survive a busy next couple of weeks...
Oh, and my first dozen cookies go to the person who can come up with the most entertaining or outlandish use for the device above! :-)

Creative Endeavor Year

2012-01-02T21:42:00.000-05:00

What a delicious last couple of days.

Beet greens rescued from limpness, crisped up with bacon goodness

With New Year's Eve on a Saturday and New Year's Day on a Sunday this year, some may have groused about losing days off work, but I made the most of the celebrations not being smooshed into a few tired late-night hours, only to be confronted with the office coffeemaker the next morning. Ha!

I successfully kick-started my Creative Endeavor Year! I've stated lately what I'm interested in, and how differently I want to orient myself, so you maybe have an idea what I'm talking about. No? Ok, then I'll go first with activities from the last few days, and then would you please chime in?

Lists. Yes, I made lists, in different places, on different-sized scraps of paper, and with overlapping topics. Maybe a little overzealous, but now I get to synthesize! Places I want to travel, places I might want to move, key areas of focus for my new work, my annual review, and goals. Totally exciting, right? Well it is for an introverted organizer.

Slowly Scrambled Eggs (you're allowed to zone out while scrambling!)

Writing. Yep- as the new tagline indicates, I'm going to let writing take up a lot more space in my life this year. The focus will be on this blog, as I navigate the transition, and on the novel, which will give me a product and some experience in creative process (little out of practice).

Outdoors. A long run, several moderate-length walks in the cool air- clearing the clutter that tends to clump onto my brain if I spend too much time inside. You know what I mean: meant-to-do's, errands, shoulda-coulda-woulda's. Unless these get out and on a list, they just hover over my shoulder and make me unproductive or regretful. For me, moving at some speed outdoors tends to banish these thoughts. I return refreshed, like my brain had been through a permanent press and spin-cycle!

Apple, cinnamon-sugar, and perhaps a little butter was involved

Back-to-Basics. Return-to-Roots. (I like alliteration, OK?) On NYE, I made my first loaf of bread in the bread machine I received for Christmas, and have been finding ways to appreciate the simple white slice since then. Today, I tried out my first batch of plain yogurt in the new yogurt-maker, and await the results tomorrow morning. While there are a lot of blogging cooks out there who know how to combine many beautiful exotic ingredients for amazing dishes, I like to take the more minimalist approach. Because really, life is what you make of it. So if you don't have pimenton de vera or spelt flour or fresh cilantro when the urge to create in the kitchen strikes, don't fret. Take what you've got, and figure out how to honor that. In fact, I think that'll be the philosophy for this Creative Endeavor Year.

Stale croissant, melted chocolate = uncomplicated souffle

I've been cooking pretty simply in the past month, both because of the desire for wintry comfort food and the need for something simply being enough. Call it an overworked metaphor if you like, but here are a few photos to inspire you to take a stab at this philosophy. Whatever you've got, honor that.

You may see several of the items listed in my Favorites List, which is no accident. What's on your List?

Let the New Year begin!

2012-01-01T23:01:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year, faithful readers (and chance-encounter-ers, too)!

Are you excited about 2012? Are you weary already? Are you feeling guilty about not yet goal-making and resolution-listing? Or on this January 1, are you feeling bright-eyed, bushy-tailed, and ready for anything?

All of the Above is, of course, an appropriate answer.

I've been on a bit of a buzz from recent changes, one obvious one to any observant folks out there being the blog's New Look. It's only a slight physical change, but behind it is a lot of thought about priorities, commitment, direction, ... you know, all that serious Life Stuff. I am hoping to rededicate myself to efforts I've defined or started, including:

the novel

the cooking and baking

the running and yoga

purposeful travel experiences

Plus, two new areas where I'm branching out in 2012:
educating myself on the business of NOT working for The Man (e.g. freelancing- two blogs which I've been keying onto in the past couple weeks for this are The Clear-Minded Creative and PuttyLike)
volunteering my skills for good causes (reinforced by Rose's sage advice!)

If you've got ideas you've thought about, or thoughts on how we bloggers set goals, feel free to leave them in the comments. I'm inspired by others' passionate efforts, and you just might get a buzz from sharing your positive intentions!

Best wishes for all of 2012.

Launchpad

2011-12-28T22:31:00.000-05:00

So, do you notice a few changes? Yes, the blog's got a new name, a new design and layout, even a new address. Welcome to the new-and-improved blog formerly-known-as-Ma-Vie-en-Rose, now known as:

Taste-Life-Twice

from the quote by Anais Nin: "We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection." It was on an inspiring woodblock-print card on my wall, and struck me as much more in tune with what I want this blog to be: a focused, creative, inspiring, and self-challenging launchpad for many talents and projects to come.

Ma Vie En Rose, and ma vie en general, was sort of drifting along aimlessly. Food, food, travel, observation, food. Well, I'd like to do a little better by you, my audience, and by me, La Créatrice, so I am rededicating this blog not only to tasting food but also to tasting life.

First item of business is showing you what I've got on that go-to list I've been promising you. First thing you notice is that it's pretty plain. No whipping up of cordon bleu or turducken here. The easiest go-to meal is minimal on ingredients and requires little or only contemplative surveillance. These here are my favorite recipes so far, for both taste and comfort.

raw kale salad (originally from Inspire Nutrition but can be found here, minus red onion and carrot)
roasted sweet potato with miso and pork (from WaPo here, connected to a great article)
braised seasoned pork shoulder (season, sear, and forget in the oven)
chinese cabbage salad (like this recipe, only no butter and using chow mein, not ramen noodles)
mini-souffles/ custards (gotta make use of those cute ramekins! everything from eggs to chocolate)
spaghetti sauce (Mom's secret recipe)
banana ginger chocolate bread (famous Orangette recipe, posted by Wednesday Chef)
cocoa lime cookies (from Simply Recipes, SUCH a crowd-pleasing comfort food)
panzanella (torn bread, ripe far-mar domates, brightly colored other produce, oil, and season)
chocolate clusters (melt chocolate, insert anything, chill)
curried parsnip soup (one of my earliest recipes tried, and easiest)
peach cardamom pie (a proud moment, Bon Appetit success!, repeated til peaches retire)
yaki soba stirfry (handy frozen packs come with seasoning packets, enhanced by fresh veggies)
braised cabbage with bacon, etc (use the hot grease to wilt and flavor the stiff greens)
roast cauliflower (oil + salt, 'nuff said)
steamed greens and an egg (Judith Jones' ever-so-simple, ever-so-wholesome approach)
roast eggplant and garlic (classic, inspired by Turkey)
ratatouille (um, not for drudge-like surveillance, but for when you want to get your mind off things)

That is my first cut at a list, and I wonder if you all have similar lists. Is yours meatier? Got more chicken? Use more Asian recipes? Takes advantage of spices more? I hope it gives you the sense of your own home, the way this one does for me.
Why don't you let me know in the comments what you think would balance out this list. I'm all ears!

Someone with a sense of his purpose in life!

I'm happy to have a repertoire at last, something to launch from into the unknown land of cookery, and into the untold wonders of life.

Stay tuned!

New Strategy

2011-12-19T09:53:00.001-05:00

Things are undergoing a change here at Ma Vie, at you may soon be able to see them here on the blog. For the past 10 months I've been contemplating my life direction more avidly (that is not to say in a focused way) and trying to figure out the next set of goals.

I gave you a taste of some of the results of that cogitation, but haven't yet portrayed a clear picture of where I'm going... because I haven't had one! I'm exploring websites, talking to friends, and examining some persistent habits I'd like to ditch. If you've had a renewed sense of purpose in life, a good book that affirms your multipotentiality, or otherwise been inspired, please write it in the comments!

Here's to a launch of something different in 2012!

Tartan Spirit

2011-12-14T07:15:00.001-05:00

By a generous move from friends, I was invited to the Annual Tartan Ball here in Washington, DC.

They correctly assumed that in my current craze for Scottishness, I would be so pleased at all the pageantry and traditions on display that I would fill up my personal Happiness Tank for several days following.

It was held at the Mayflower, that iconic Warshington landmark. Recent political hijinks aside, it is a beautiful space. I had never been inside, so experiencing the cavernous depths of its entryway was pretty impressive. Even the carpets were exciting! There were a lot of people, and they fit pretty well in the area with the silent auction, and of course everyone got a seat for dinner (pictured above).

It was a prefect time to try a new whiskey. With the Ardbeg under my belt (but not conquered by any means), I calmly and rationally analyzed the dram of Lagavulin gifted to the table, hosted by my friends. It was suuuper-fragrant, as in, I could smell it without trying to. But it was surprisingly ... tolerable.

Here was my brilliant idea for a Scottish-themed yet fancy dress outfit: see arisaid for inspiration. I took a strapless black dress for the fancy part, then took a large shawl as a modern arisaid, letting it go from shoulder to belted waist to back of the calf-length dress. And I used a brooch that I have from back in my lilt days (Clan Logan) to secure it and give me some extra strapless confidence! Haha. That's always a bit nerve-wracking.

A lovely party.

Suddenly

2011-12-12T21:35:00.001-05:00

It occurred to me, as I was writing my Cookie Swap post, that I've had what one might call a 'rash' of decisions that have been uncharacteristic of me and seem pretty sudden.

DUMBO

First there was starting the novel. I've always wanted to be a writer; one day, after getting a powerful idea for an opening line of a story, I asked myself what was stopping me? Just start! Chalk it up to the 'Shitty First Draft' if it isn't any good- at least you'll have your first one done. So I've been working on a novel.

Shaw

Then there was the painting job. Another thing that would make me happy, a small thing, an environmental change. So why was I waiting? I lobbed the pitch to the Universe, and a friend showed up, ready to help. What a warm, glowy feeling I get surrounded by color instead of cheesy off-white.

Third: disdaining an offer of a second 5k race, I thought, what if I devoted some serious time to running and getting in great shape? Michelle did it, right? My current pace would bring me in under the cut-off time for the 10 miles if I could just fool myself into wanting to run for an hour and forty minutes. Wouldn't it be cool if I could say I'd run in the Cherry Blossom 10-miler? Ok, let's pitch another one to the Fates, I told myself as I entered my name into the lottery.

I'm in.

Many Good Things

2011-12-12T07:27:00.001-05:00

I am still working on that list of favorites for the Repertoire, so don't worry, any of you who were hanging in suspense from the last post-- it will come soon! For today though, I have something very special to report.

Cookie-Mas has arrived!

In the form of the First Annual Food Bloggers' Cookie Swap- yay!

The Cookie Swap combined many good things that I like: boxes in the mail, surprises, pen pals, new food blogs to explore, and of course, COOKIES!

For my end of the bargain, I made a double batch of a favorite recipe from iPoL, and tweaked it just a smidge:

1 3/4 c. flour

2 c. old fashioned oats
1 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
1 ts. baking soda
pinch salt
3 tsp. instant espresso powder
2 cubes (1 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
1 ts. vanilla
1/2 bag semisweet chocolate chips (Can add more if you want)
1 c. coarsely chopped dried apricots anything you can get your hands on, in this case, prunes, apricots, and raisins

Preheat oven to 350. In medium bowl, combine flour, oatmeal,sugars, salt,baking soda, and espresso powder. Add egg, egg yolk, melted butter, and vanilla, stir once or twice, then add chocolate chips and dried apricots. REFRIGERATE DOUGH for at least 30 minutes to firm it up. Place balls of cookie dough on cookie sheets lined with parchment paper, and bake for 9-10 minutes. Take them out while they still the tiniest bit underdone. Once they sit for 15 minutes, they’ll be just right.

I packed up the pretty, plump ones and shipped them out the day after I made them. I ate the evidence that there were any that were not uniformly plump. (Again, here's a butter-spreading-related question- what did I do wrong in the first photo? Both batches were refrigerated for the same time, and rolled out approximately the same size.)

The double bacth yielded enough for the 3 dozen I sent out to Madeline of Munching in the Mitten, Karen of SoupAddict, and Leah of So, How's It Taste?, plus plenty to satisfy my sweet tooth (more on that later) while I awaited the other end of the bargain- 3 different dozens coming to ME!... The first box I received was from My Life as a Mrs, which were delicious: Soft Frosted Cookies, recipe here. Soft, moist, cakey, and vanilla-sweet. Kept very well, and such cute presentation!

My next mystery box was from Kiss My Whisk: Salty Sweet Cookies, which came with a cute recipe card (which is how I did mine too!) and wrapped like a present-- recipe here. It was hard to keep to my self-imposed rule of 'eat two, and pass on the rest' here, but I did, and my coworkers raved about these.

My last box was the most elaborate, presentation-wise (glass jar! I know how heavy-therefore-expensive those are to ship! Thanks, Girly Obsessions!), and the cause of my abandoning my self-imposed rule. But really, it was for practical reasons, since despite the wax paper, the glass jar, and the bubble wrap, a good third of the cookies crumbled when I tried to take them out of the bag. At which point someone may have started scooping up these Dark Chocolate Wafers with Almonds and Sea Salt with her bare hands and popping them into her mouth. When I- mean The Someone- regained consciousness, there were 6 mostly whole cookies left, and some crumbs, which I used the next day as a dessert topping. So I couldn't have brought in six cookies to offer my twelve coworkers, could I? That would have been just mean.

In conclusion, this was a great idea. Many good recipes, many good people. Thank you to the Amazing Organizers, and if you want to participate next year, sign up here for notifications! Happy Cookie-Mas, everyone.

I Painted Something!

2011-12-10T13:22:00.001-05:00

While I am working on that List of Favorites in my Repertoire, I wanted to give you a peep at the home improvements I've been working on... Namely, the Painting Weekend That Was!

Let me lay a little background. I've been in my current apartment for about two years. I moved in a snowstorm, which leaves no doubt as to the mettle of my fine friends who helped me move. I had a lot more stuff than I thought I did, as per the rule of the universe that dictates that things multiply when you don't mean them to. And when I settled here, 2 blocks away from the last place, I really liked the situation: 4th floor, high ceilings, open kitchen to living room, big bedroom, heat that works- I was very pleased and content.

But.

As anyone who has lived in rental units for a long time knows, white (correction: cheapest possible off-white available) paint can get old, even with lots of prints, cards, and decorations. I had picked up a couple paint samples while helping 2 friends move (turnabout is fair play!) about a year ago, but the little 2x2 squares had stayed taped to the walls, with little to show for their persuasive power.

Until.

Until the week of November 8, when not only was I itching to rearrange my furniture again (normal), I was also staring at those walls, thinking,

'how hard could it be?'

I called on the same friends again (Kim and Juan recently became homeowners, so I know they'd been through just about every paint procedure on a wall; plus, Juan is a painter. And he'd already painted my wall once, with red wine, so he sort of owed me on this one.) Kim was stuck out of the country for work, but Juan was free on Saturday. And thus, once I had involved someone else's schedule, my half-baked idea suddenly became a lot more concrete.

We started at about 10, we waited way too long to break for lunch, so that by the time we found a place nearby, their 30 minute wait time nearly made us pass out. (Don't go there) Finally revived and very full, we started up again and finished at about 7. It was a long day, and Juan was a huge help. Besides the making-me-commit-to-the-idea part, he also did most of the tricky detail painting around the corners. I concentrated on the wide, open expanses, and redid them when Juan pointed the drips (only twice).
So it was a long day, but as I woke up the whole next week faced with my California Poppy, and reading next to my Deep Blue Sea, I was positively glowing. When it comes to repainting when I move, I know it will be a pain with timing the drying period with the packing madness, but for only $170 and a couple sandwiches, it was sure worth it.

A Favorite and a Newbie

2011-12-10T11:18:00.001-05:00

Often, when I tell people I like to cook, they'll ask "Oh, what do you like to cook?"

Damn.

Why is it so hard to think of anything when people ask this? So I am going to think up some answers, write them down here, and hand people cards when they ask in future (I'm sure this will be a hit).

Now, um... er...

Good thing I have my iPhoto library. Using it as I do to see what's next for this blog, I see I have a favorite. I really like cauliflower- not raw, but roasted. Actually, roasted OR blanched and sauteed, they make very easy targets for any kind of spice/ flavor profile you want to lay over them.

My first foray into cauliflower was plain and easy: oil, salt, roast. As time went by, I added paprika, or herbes de Provence, or coriander and curry. Still very easy.
After some time, I tried recipes that tried a different tack: the blanch-and-saute method. A little more labor-intensive, but not yet Gulag territory. It requires a pot that doesn't even get dirty, so it's still in my comfort zone. And what I liked about it was that you can add a little more zazz with other ingredients. Don't get me wrong, I like one-main-ingredient dishes, but sometimes I like to add greens, or a protein, etc. I've recently been adding more eggs to vegetable dishes, and let me tell you, it's a much better meal than the one-ingredient dish, which is sometimes all I have in me for the night.

Mmmm.....

This second entry is, by contrast, a complete newbie, inspired by Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Almond Laceys, a cookie which I tried once and got hooked on! (Well, my coworker definitely got hooked; I liked them very much, thank you.) I thought I might try to see if I could make them, where I could control how many I had access to at a time (ahem).

I'm not sure how to regulate the butter spreading as it melts, but it did so in very unique ways...

I guess if I was going to enter these in a Cookie Beauty Pageant, I would have to figure that out...
Suggestions? Chill the dough? Comments welcome!

The recipe I had found in my Moosewood Desserts cookbook. I like it when I have a dozen books to search through for a recipe inside my head, instead of just Googling it. Where's the fun in that?

I would give them a 7.5 for taste, a 10 for fragility, a 6 for looks. Oh, and a 10 for talent.

And you never know, these might become a favorite.

After a few more tries.

The World Comes to Me

2011-12-09T08:18:00.001-05:00

I am now caught up to November! Let's see, what happened in November...

Well, a friend of mine had a rockin' feast of Pakistani delights, which I felt compelled to catalog.

The country's tastes, and Jessica's, trend a bit spicier than mine, but knowing that ahead of time was enough to make sure the top of my head didn't get get blown off. Slow and steady...

Here's the head chef in the preparatory stages, in front of the stove in her spotless kitchen ...

Here's the special jasmine rice (I think- I'm not very fluent in rice) being mixed in with the tomatoes, herbs, and spices.

Here's the slightly tweaked version of what I know as palak paneer, with tofu instead of paneer- delicious!

A surprise hit of the night- durian chips!

The Spread- the mind boggles. And so pretty!

And the Spread that found its way onto My Plate: that's baked salmon in tomato sauce, spiced chickpeas, the rice with vegetables, and the tofu-palak creation. Mmm, it's enough to prompt a food coma in remembrance! I love times like these, when the food of the world somehow finds its way to me, and gives me a new experience (without the stress of going to Pakistan).

Here's to as many tasty foodie nights as possible before this gal ships off to the Far East!

Injury and Insult

2011-12-05T21:10:00.001-05:00

If I write a post that is not so happy, but just as spirited, will my audience be all right? Well, here goes: a little therapeutic exposition of my recent past.
Injury: About 6 weeks ago, I was heading out to a friend's boyfriend's band's performance. They were great! Happy, happy bluegrass! Ok, back to not-so-happy.
As per my usual, I was a little late heading out to the venue, and so, as I turned left out of my building's driveway, I broke into a quick trot to make up some time. Bad move, Indy.

The sidewalk is none too even in my neighborhood and I tripped so fast over a botchy job at even-ing out the sidewalk that I was sprawled out on elbows and knees before I even knew I'd fallen. Impact fell mostly on my knees and left elbow. These two were taken about a week after the incident, after the initial swelling went down and the bruising got all pretty. Good thing I wasn't going to a ball that month, eh?
While it was painful to hold ice to it while listening to the bluegrass all that night, I'm glad I went. I may never get to lean with my elbows on the table again, but ... well, that would be hard. But at least they still bend!

And these two were taken a day or two later, for comparison.

There you have it, my ghoulish/ proud-of-injuries side. It's a sleeper, so don't blink or you might miss it!

And no, of course I didn't see a doctor about this. I'm terrified of navigating health care waters. But I did make a baby step in the right direction by asking a coworker about help understanding it! (Go, me!)

Part II of this post is about Insult. I live in an apartment which faces out onto an alley, which affords me the occasion of hearing many sorts of human interaction, almost all of them from people passing through on their way hither and thither in this metropolis we call Washington, DC. But this summer, and now this fall, I have been plagued by two pests that set up camp and persist for a time like wasps: a neighbor, and a construction crew. Listen:

That is what I heard, of a sudden, on Wednesday, November 2nd, at 630 AM. Notice the super-strong lights necessary, because it was not yet light out when they started drilling, beeping, and jack-hammering. This went on for most of a few weeks, and it made me want to get out of my apartment as fast as I could in the morning, which is my usual quiet-time, devoid of obnoxious lunkhead neighbors who yell during the evenings (to whom I have just composed a strongly-worded letter, as they are at it again!).

But there is happy ending to this post: the city construction is done and now we have a nice red-brick alley and the convenience store on the other end of the alley has nice parking spaces (that we of course can't use). And my elbow no longer show any traces of the fall; I'm hoping eventually I'll be able to lean on tables with my elbows again.
There: now it's out of my system. I hope to post a lot this week to catch up with all the other fun activities I've been up to (and keep my promise to the Food Blogger Cookie Swap peeps, as well!), so stay tuned!

My Kind of Advertising

2011-12-05T18:24:00.001-05:00

We take a break from our regularly scheduled (Food, Travel, Nature) programming to present you with Unmitigated Youthful Joyful Goofiness.

Good Chinese

2011-12-05T07:19:00.001-05:00

October 28th.

Friends assembled for a fun foodie night out.

In Rockville, MD.

At A&J.

Much to my surprise, not 1 of our group, but 3 of our 4 knew some Chinese (yes, I was the neanderthal here), which made for some hilarity taking turns asking the waitress things....like: how do you say "to go" ?

It was a rockin' restaurant, with great variety, great flavor, and the decor was... well, the food was awesome.
To the left we have for appetizers Spicy Cucumbers and a dish with soybeans, greens, and bamboo shoots- a table favorite.
Below we have spicy beef soup on the left and congee on the right ('jook' for Koreans, and my first time tasting either). The Spicy Beef was too spicy for me, even with plenty of congee. The congee helped my mouth calm down, but on its own was plain to the point of paper paste. Not my favorite, but I'm sure it's best when paired with the right fiery dish (for someone who could handle it, that is!)

Sesame noodles, very tasty, being expertly tossed by Sabina.

We also sampled Ground Pork and Noodle, Potstickers (a different, fat-cigar shape), Thousand-Layer Pancake, Scallion Pancake, and copious amounts of fresh green tea, poured by each other as kind friends do. The Thousand-Layer Pancake lived up to its intriguing taste reputation- not sweet but not just grease, either- and stole my heart.

And there was no chance for dessert, we barely rolled ourselves out of there in time for making it to this pool hall/bar on Connecticut Ave for a scant hour before we were spent. Or at least I was!

So many good memories over Good Chinese.

Pub Short Ribs for Coziness

2011-11-21T18:13:00.001-05:00

The first chill of fall (right before that freak snowstorm) came at the right time for me to make this...

Pub Short Ribs

From a cookbook that I have used a few times, after having bought it in one of those it's-such-a-good-deal and the-photos-are-so-pretty moments: Braises and Stews, by Tori Ritchie.

The funny thing is, I couldn't for the life of me be sure whether they were beef short ribs or pork country ribs. I know, peg me with an A for Amateur, but I checked online for pictures of both, and I just couldn't tell. Pigs can get big, right? Anyway, I finally figured it out (I hadn't asked the butcher, just pointed; David Sedaris comes to mind) by realizing that the chapter where the recipe resides is all on beef. So, for those of you may also not have known, these are beef short ribs, and so tender that they are breaking apart into their own little bit-size pieces. Glorious.
I used a regular onion because I didn't want to spend my one red onion on a slow cooker recipe, and I used not a porter or stout but some random dark beer of moderate quality that I had had in my fridge for, like, a year. I don't drink the stuff. But it was marvelous what it did for the flavor of the sauce!
Highly recommended, book and recipe. Now that it's really getting chilly, DC, go to!

Bittman, Baking, and The Best Dishes

2011-11-21T07:44:00.001-05:00

Today, I bring you three recipes tried and news of some fun to come.

The first recipe is for "Autumn Millet Bake," the sound of which is something quite atrocious, but turned out pretty well, even with my typical tweaking tendency. I first saw the recipe at Heidi's site here, and was inspired to try something with millet: how pioneer-like! how quaint! how self-reliant! (You see how I like to get carried away with evocation)

Here were my changes:

scaled it down by half
used cooked squash
didn't have sage
added roasted corn kernels
didn't use nuts
added different seasoning (a disadvantage of losing my notes on this one is I can't remember which)

I don't think I managed to fully cook the millet, and I'm not sure why, but it was quite crunchy, and quite tart from the (frozen-fresh) cranberries. I had it in the morning as a whole-foods pick-me-up at work and it worked out well, providing about 4 servings (so I gather they were estimating for hungrier people in the original recipe!).

It certainly looked pretty with the colors that pop, and satisfied the belly, being made with plain foods and low in fat. If and when I try this recipe again, I would stick closer to the original and maybe cook it longer so that the cranberries had more of a chance to stew.

This next one has only one picture, because it wasn't very photogenic and it wasn't very flavorful. Strike Two (bringing the count to 1 and 2) for the Traditional Scottish Recipes book I bought in Scotland.

Third and final recipe: Italian Apple Cake, from FrenchieTBD, which stands for The Best Dishes in the title of this post. As far as I can tell, it is a defunct blog, and I often find a broken link, but some industrious fishing gets me back to the actual site and recipes. I really liked the writer's style of posting a life anecdote with a dish, so I'm bummed that she hasn't posted in a year, but what can you do: life goes on- thank goodness!

I brought this one for coworkers, and boy, was it good! Moist, as the photo shows, good browning, rich and airy crumb, and with the intoxicating scent of rum mixed in with the fresh, local apples. Ah, life is good.

And now for the news to come: I am excited to participate in the Food Blogger's Cookie Swap 2011!

I haven't decided yet what type of cookie to bake for my compatriots in the Food Blogging World, but I want it to be good! And I'd rather make an assortment of 2 or 3 types to mitigate the risk of disappointing, but we have been instructed to only use one recipe... so I guess I'll look over my recipients' blogs to see what they like!
Try this cake. You won't be disappointed.

Scottish Imitations

2011-11-16T19:54:00.001-05:00

Imitation being the sincerest form of flattery...

My first imitation was Millionaire Shortbread (top: mise-en-scene for the Compilation; bottom: one of several goodies on a dessert plate), but since I brought it to a party and for some reason didn't have my good blogger hat on (cell phone camera), it has gone largely uncatalogued, except in the memory of my tastebuds (and those of the party guests). But I will definitely try making it again for a gathering, just include more chocolate (the top layer swam a bit because it was too skimpy)!

For this second attempt, I went to the next favorite thing on my list of foods tried in Scotland for the first time: tattie scones. Now, I've linked both of these to the internet recipes I used for reference, but I sort of cross-referenced those with the versions in this book, which I got while I was in Inverness, but ... it has its own limitations. So I ended up doing a hybridized, as well as scaled-down, version of both these attempts, and they both came out all right: the caramel shortbread off on some proportions, but tasting fantastic anyway, and the tattie scones lacking in shape, but tasting marvelously Scottish for a' that.

So anyway, how do ya make 'em? Basically, you boil potatoes, mash 'em up, let 'em cool, add some flour so it'll stick together, and then roll 'em out and play patty-cake. Since I am hopeless with a rolling pin, I gave it one 'old college try' then resorted to my hands and this nifty new kitchen tool that you see above: one of those slicer/scooper-up thingies. A name, anyone? I know I'm showing myself as the amateur I am, but Oh Well. I figure this tool will come in handy when another wave of bread-baking comes upon me, since dough and I have been through some interesting times...

Even with the dough slicer, the triangles I formed were less than happy to remain uniformly sized, and so it became a bit of a hodge-podge. It also took longer than the expected 5 minutes on each side to brown them up. Perhaps I should have added more flour? Or even, sacre bleu, an egg?

But here we are, with the finished product, a proper genealogy of tattie scones (you can trace it from the paleozoic era to the pliocene epoch, kids!), as, from left to right, top to bottom, I 'progressed.'

I put half away for later, stuffed myself with the other half (this girl is not used to eating a whole potato in one sitting), and happily fell asleep.

Bake, Saute, Forage

2011-11-07T13:01:00.000-05:00

Baked
Having received the bounty of undamaged ripe pears from my parents' backyard (thank you!), at first I waited. I indulged in a pear-chocolate hazelnut spread snack, but knew I needed to act on the other 3 pears-a-waiting before things got ugly. Enter convenient recipe.
Having bought poppy seeds on an impulse on my way back from Vermont, I now stood poised, wooden spoon at the ready, to make Whole Wheat Poppy Pear Loaf. I didn't have mini pans as the blog author does, so I made one big loaf, saved some for home, and again, contributed to the yumminess level at work.
Recommended.

Sauteed
As often happens when one bakes, there was a need for balancing out the sugar-butter concoctions with greenery. I was out of my favorite standby kale, but had branched out to what I think were mustard greens, but I'm not sure. Bought at the Bloomngdale Farmers' Market (so soon to close for the season! Boo!) from Snowbear Farm, I believe.

What I thought was really interesting here was the growth of little mini-leaves in the middle of the bigger expanse. It may be hard to see here, but they often came in pairs, on either side of the spine, like they had been pinned on. So fascinating, Nature... Anyway, so I shredded the alleged mustard leaves from their spines and used this recipe to guide me from Deborah Madison, whom I like a lot. I had cauliflower, I had greens, and I had potatoes, from my incursion further into the deep interior jungle of Scottish cooking (up next!)...

Some steaming involved, and sauteing...

La mise en place, bien sur...

The spices part (where hopefully I smell up the hallway, in a good way)...

And the greens part, where they all cook down to almost nothing...

Yum, very tasty and good texture. Added bonus: feeling virtuous and healthy.

Foraged

One chilly October night (I've had to turn on heat a few times), probably in the midst of reading, probably not having planned ahead as in the two instances above, I foraged in my kitchen for a picnic-type meal. I came up with leftover squash puree with pine nuts and parmesan, crusty bread, cheese slices, and chutney. Which is, sometimes, just what you need.

Added bonus: delight.

Highlights of Home in October

2011-11-05T10:09:00.000-04:00

Highlights of October, after the Road Trip

Peach-Rhubarb Crisp with Walnuts and Pecans, riffed from this very good recipe, sharing counter space with the walnut fudge I picked up at Dakin Farm in Vermont, which has the byline, "What Vermont tastes like." Good, apparently.

Egg whites whipped a little too stiff for Orangette's Salted Peanut Butter Cookies recipe. I guess the hand mixer made things a little too easy...

These cookies were pretty different from others I've made: for one, salted peanut butter instead of unsalted, PLUS salt, PLUS milk chocolate. I typically trade that stuff out for dark chocolate, but for science's sake, I stuck with the spirit of these cookies.

For another thing, they were HUGE. Instead of a dainty teaspoon or a rounded tablespoon, Molly had us taking big 1/4-cup handfuls (I actually just used my hands and rolled it off like play-doh; it wasn't too sticky for that, thankfully).

And the third thing, as you saw above, was the separating of whites and yolks before combining. Now I've done that for cakes and things, but for a cookie? My efforts, while a little too enthusiastic, were not made in vain. As always, my touchy oven needed to be cut off in its cooking 25% earlier than the recipe said in order not to overcook the beauties, but then they came out, and I had way too many big, gorgeous cookies to hand to deal with!

So I took them into work, and two dozen disappeared in 2 days (I brought them in in two shifts, since we always have people working from home, and it seemed only fair to give everyone a chance). The other half dozen might have disappeared from the counter in that time...
Finally, returning to the savory world, I made this concoction- my first steamed (poached?) egg from Judith Jones' recipe for Steamed Egg(s) Nestled in a Bed of Greens. I really like her recipe-writing style. Something about it is so comforting, warm and reasonable. This felt great to eat, being so healthy and homey, and using up the last of summer produce I had stashed (tomato) plus the rare bit of fall bounty that had arrived (maitake mushroom, sprinkled on after this photo was taken). Happy Fall!

Last Bits of Juice from the Road Trip: Part 4

2011-10-26T13:57:00.002-04:00

The last two legs of the journey. I drove from Vermont to upstate New York, spent the night, and continued on to DC the next day. It was a lot of driving but I certainly found sights to amuse, distract, and make me think over the course of the two days.

On my last morning in Vermont, which was Sue and Nigel's second-to-last morning there, they did a morning run to the Harvest Market in Stowe. Their website may not be much, but their shop is gorgeous and chock full of gourmet delicacies, not to mention fresh baked goods. And we mean FRESH- we ended up waiting for about 30 minutes for garlic sticks that were coming straight out of the oven. They were amazing.

Once I sadly departed from friends, I toodled through Vermont and came upon a Civil War days fair-- didn't think they had those north of the Mason-Dixon line? Well, neither did I. But apparently, country is as country does, and part of country is remembering heritage. Here I heard a lecture about troop badges, and spied some lovely baked goods, as well as women in antebellum costumes. Nevermind the rain, we're tough Yankees!

Dakin Farm is the site of ... my weakening resolve to not buy everything kitschy and delicious-looking in sight. There was lots of good stuff there, and I bought cheese and fudge, both very good!

But really, the stop at Vergennes, VT is where I hit the big time. The couple thrift shops I was going to investigate turned out to be closed, but then this popped up, as well as a different thrift shop, where I found a couple books. The Daily Chocolate has really amazing flavor combinations- I picked up one type of bark named "Nibby" (milk chocolate with a generous helping of coconut and sesame seeds), and another named "Moroccan" (dark chocolate with pecans, raisins, and Garam Masala spices). They were free and easy with their samples, had a reasonable code of conduct on responsible sourcing, and ... so I also bought a little container of maple roasted cacao nibs. Obviously I was totally sold on their creative approach and wonderful flavors! So do try them out if you're in the area...

These next few photos illustrate the totally captivating sense of whimsy I felt while trawling through the picturesque countryside. Perhaps there is a hipster site dedicated to haystacks dressed up as creatures, but I'm completely content to post these as my only sample. Two are haystack creations of a dog and cat (and thank goodness it was a lonely stretch of road, because I had to make a few U-turns), and one is a trailer painted like a cow. Perfect Road Trip scenery, really.

This deserved a mention, even though it was closed (basically a miniature golf course, but with a tailor-made theme ... to please the locals?)

After passing through scenic park land, I came upon this, the Pocono Bazaar, a sort of swap meet writ large for locals and curiosity hunters. I found it a strange, somewhat surreal experience, because I've always heard of the Poconos as a sort of midcentury luxury getaway destination. Here I was confronted with empty lots, creaking structures, and bathrooms serviced by attendants hoping for tips, like Mom and I saw in southern France.

Civil War Memorabilia...

My last stop before the long journey home: Oregon Dairy! I had stopped for gas at a spot that looked like it had a restaurant or two, but turned out to only be Chili's and a bar. So I persevered in the interests of health and foodie-discovery, and came here, unfortunately too late for their dining room. Apparently they close their restaurant at 2 PM on Sundays, and my Pocono visit had made me arrive later than the usual lunchtime.

I found more than enough to satisfy me, even without the restaurant: the supermarket had a great bakery section: see baked oatmeal above- delicious and entirely unknown to me before this. I also tried shoo-fly pie, something I'd heard of as a legend but was fairly disappointed by-- figgy consistency and lacking flavor. OD also had a bulk section, where I found some grains and spices I'd been looking for at a good price. Plus, mini-marshmallows! My resolve, and my hunger, were too weak, and strong, respectively, at this point to resist the cuteness. I had the equivalent of a slider sandwich, then proceeded to the ... Milk House (an ice creamery, truth be told).

I may not have appreciated the sizing titles, but the teens serving me were country-considerate (nothing like the Montreal uni students!), the ice cream was great, it was shelter from the rain, and I wasn't sitting in my driver's seat for a bit-- deliverance! Thus ended my awesome Solo Road Trip adventure. Full of good food, good fun, and dear family, both related and in spirit.

Montreal and The Road Trip: Part Three

2011-10-23T20:29:00.000-04:00

For this post, I think I'll follow a different blogger's example and just lay it out there...

Attendez le signal...until signaled forward!

Corn, Canada

Yellow field, Canada

Montreal

Happy Friends

Notre Dame

Les Couleurs de Notre Dame

McGill University

Le "Mont" de Mont-Real

Architecture gem

Crouching Statue

International Commerce Center hotel chandelier

International Commerce Center Statuary

International Commerce Center Indoor Architecture

Canada Substation

Pylon Landscape

Vermont and The Road Trip: Part Two

2011-10-22T10:11:00.000-04:00

So there I was, halfway to Vermont.

I began to see many landscapes like this one above, composed of single barns, silos, and happy cows.

The weather was accommodating, with only a slip of sprinkles and general overcastness making it easy to leave the windows cracked.

Then I arrived at Smuggler's Notch (what a name) to find Sue and Nigel, all ready to go with gorgeous snacks (a small meal!) and ideas for outings to see waterfalls before the sun went down. Don't mind if I do! :-)

As you can see, it was really hard on the eyes.

We even saw fresh evidence of beavers! This fallen tree was neatly chewed through, a few feet away from a serious beaver dam (difficult to get a good shot though-- you'll have to go visit).

We finished with seeing a covered bridge. Why does New England have (so many) covered bridges? Sue and Nigel expected me to know since it was Americana, but I come from the complete opposite coast, where such things were quite rare: Strike 1 from me. So we asked the waiter at our restaurant that first night, who, while quite entertaining, turned out to be from New Jersey. Strike 2 from Vaughn.

But don't think we were completely without contribution ladies and gentlemen-- I gave it a college try. My theory was triangulated from the facts: the large amounts of snow, the timeframe these bridges were built (before steel was commonplace) and the remoteness of the location. It was probable that a sloped roof was necessary to slough off the snow so that it didn't weigh down and destroy the wooden bridge, making the way impassable all season.

Vaughn seemed to support my theory.

Again, hard on the eyes, waking up in the Green Mountain State.

This after the sun warmed itself up and got out of bed.

And this is one of those shots I made Nigel pull over for-- Sue told me to do it!

It was just the perfect time for fall foliage/ leaf-peeping/ whatever you want to call it, and I am so glad I was able to make the time to visit such grand friends and experience such beautiful vistas!

Near Jeffersonville (I think), the eminently competent driving team stopped at this 'Old Mill' so I could snap another couple photos. What caught my eye was the river flow- so full!- after a night's steady pounding of rain. You know, just enough to make cozying up with a good book inside a resort just the thing.
The Mill was also the site of a museum on a local celebrity: Wilson A. 'Snowflake' Bentley who proved that no two snowflakes were alike under the microscope. I didn't go in, but Sue and Nigel had been fascinated when they saw the exhibit. I was more interested in the interesting effect of the cross-hatched wooden outer wall- never seen anything like it!

Finally, there was a foodie find here, ladies and gentlemen, that I hope none of you miss if you are ever in the neighborhood (meaning Vermont). It is an unassuming, prepossessing place called The Family Table. We all indulged in appetizers, which meant that unfortunately 2/3 of my entree was toted home in a take-home container. But hold the phone, Irene, what was the appetizer?

"Fried calamari tossed with hot peppers and black olives, garlic, lemon, basil, white wine with a side of marinara"

I haven't tried making it at home yet (still experimenting with those Scottish delicacies), and I must say calamari is pretty intimidating, but... it's definitely earned its place on The List. It had that combination of spice and sourness, crisp and crunch, that rendered one incapable of stopping shoveling it into one's mouth.

Next up: Day Trip to Montreal.

New England and Americana, the Road Trip: Part One

2011-10-20T23:27:00.000-04:00

Lest you think that I've got Scotland-colored glasses on, I will be focusing on American travels today!

Perfect croissants in their limelight at the CIA

Here's the story of how I got to take this road trip. (You didn't think I just decided, ex tempore, did you?)
After a failed attempt at scheduling a meeting of old friends in Edinburgh, those same friends turned out to be visiting the U.S. for a holiday of their own-- in Vermont. So Sue very kindly asked if I could figure out a trip to Vermont, as it was 'in the neighborhood' and they'd be in the beautiful mountain country for over a week. Google Maps informed me that the drive from DC to Vermont would take about 10 hours. Knowing Europeans' penchant for underestimating distances in the U.S., I had thought this would probably be too far-- not to mention getting the time off work. However, I quickly calculated: the drive from Northampton to Edinburgh would have been over 6 hours, and that was what I had asked of them... so I daydreamed and got a little creative.


Witchy woods at Innisfree

During the dates they had booked, I had a large work meeting to help run in Philadelphia. This got me 2 hours closer to my northerly goal, and on the company dime-- yes! Too, I had a family member who lived in upstate NY who I would have loved to hang out with-- my halfway house! If I could engineer the schedule such that I could leave the meeting, stay with my cousin-once-removed, and take a few days off, this could work! So I sent my thoughts out to the universe and...
it worked!
So here are a few photos from the first part of the journey: staying near New Paltz with Ginny, visiting mosquito-ridden but oh-so-beautiful Innisfree Gardens, and stopping for lunch at the C.I.A.

A stone set 'just so' with its lake and lily pads beyond

The always-fresh moss growth which had Ginny wanting to breathe it all in at a gulp

Ginny capturing an intense red bud amid all the greenery

After some serious stalking, we annoyed into flight what we think was a Great Blue Heron. He thought himself quite the Cock of the Walk, I must say- hard to perturb that one!

After getting eaten alive by the midges and mosquitos (wasn't raining hard enough to keep them out of our hair), we gave in and drove over Poughkeepsie way to the Culinary Institute of America.

Funny note: the CIA's grand building was originally a Jesuit novitiate seminary, which succeeded Frederick, MD for the care and feeding of Jesuits from 1903 to 1969. There is still an inlaid crest at the entry which signifies "For the glory of God" in Latin. I suppose one can cook to the glory of God as well...

The Apple Pie Bakery's Grilled Chicken Sandwich (verdict: mighty good)

Ginny enjoying her Truffled Grilled Cheese (N.B. Apple Pie Bakery is the only restaurant at the CIA campus that doesn't have a 'dress nice' code and require reservations, so it was perfect for us garden gnomes)

My golden standard: the chocolate chip cookie (verdict: I've had better. They couldn't decide the statement they wanted to make)

After feasting on all this (and stocking up on bakery goods as best we were able with clear consciences), we browsed the bookstore a bit and perused the gift shop items (verdict: many interesting imported gadgets and homey heartland delicacies, but the prices caused some dismay). After that, we barely had enough time to get back to town and the grocery store to pick up the lynchpin to Ginny's Master Plan for my stay: eating lobster.
I'm not sure what made her think of lobster, but think she did, and it provided quite the adventure for my palate, having never had plain lobster before (lobster bisque or lobster ravioli being the closest I'd yet come). With non-sugarplum'd daydreams of Julie Powell's encounter with Real Live Lobsters vaguely making me uneasy, I still wanted to see how it was done, in a real Yankee kitchen. And I'd tried some really sweet King Crab legs at a Washington waterfront eatery, so I imagined lobster meat would be sort of similar.

Awaiting judgment in the bag on the table

Ginny was the best of instructors, patiently waiting for photos, explaining necessary steps, and encouraging heartily to 'suck the marrow out of' the lobster'-- if only they had some! We settled for trying to get at all the joints of the little legs, 'little' being relative. And I enjoyed the cracking and popping of those legs as much as I do that of my own joints: you kind of know you shouldn't do it, but it relieves the tension.
Oh, and there was lemon butter sauce. Don't forget the expert mise-en-place!

Like a deer in headlights...

A little culinary fun: Scary Crustacean terrifies Vinton the Cat (notice the brandishing of the lobster, and the two eyes glowing from the cat doorway... Mr. Vinton was not best pleased.

Bon Appetit!

Fish Tea, Stravaigin, and a See's Candy look-alike

2011-10-10T22:33:00.000-04:00

Scottish Food, Installment 3 of 3
And here I've got my final three food experiences, all in Glasgow, and all pretty positive (2 out of the 3 also had some annoyances associated).
These first couple pictures are of the "Fish Tea" I ordered at The People's Palace. And while it might sound like a bad Asian packaging description of tea, it actually meant 'tea' in the afternoon-meal sense, and an afternoon meal that included fish. With chips, of course.
I ordered a caramel shortbread along with the 'Tea' and boy, was I rewarded. The little annoyances here were that 1) the greenhouse felt like it had heat piped in from somewhere, and was uncomfortably warm, such that my shortbread got all melty (which was fine, but so did I), and 2) that they lost my ticket for the fish and chips part, and I had to go back up and reinstate my order. They felt bad for losing it and so gave me a free bottle of water (and I was already carrying one, so my backpack got pretty heavy, but I'm not looking any gift horses in the mouth). The caramel shortbread was dee-lish. And very worthy of being reproduced in the States- Go To!

The second experience catalogued here was undilutedly fantastic. I went to a restaurant called Stravaigin (the original, in the Kelvinbridge neighborhood, I think; there are two). If you visit their site, right now at least, they have a picture up of the very same entree- the hake fillet salad! But mine shows the architecture a bit better, I think...

The restaurant, servers, lighting, other eaters... all was lovely and relaxing and amiable. I liked the iron stairs up with lights, the fun second story that overlooked the first, and the fun architectural finishes that made the place seem magical and whimsical, not modern or sleek or posed. It was a great place, and has a fitting name for one like me: 'Stravaig’ means ‘to wander’ and that is exactly what I enjoyed doing while in Scotland.

The final experience was part of an homage to Charles Rennie Macintosh, an architect famous in his hometown of Glasgow, and an artist well-known internationally for those interested in art history. I liked the part of his work that was all about an organic whole, form serving function (Arts & Crafts), natural forms being used (Art Nouveau), nothing thrown in for no reason (Modernism but not the Jetsons kind). It's like smart growth for buildings and furniture!
Anyway, he's famous for designing the Glasgow School of Art and the Willow Tea Rooms, which of course I had plunked on my list as a Must-See. Tea? Scones? Art Nouveau? Yes, please.

This is the dining room, accessible weirdly through a jewelry store on the ground floor...

And look! As I was leaving, this is the line that lined the whole stairwell! (Pays to be an early bird...)

I had the choice of the open-center room or the Room De Luxe, so guess what I chose? Why not, after all. It didn't cost any more. It had the windows out onto the street, which I thought would be nice, but... I was plagued my whole luncheon by a very bad saxophone player busking across the street. Grr. He had no rhythm, which made his rendition of Moon River very jarring. Ah well. After I exited, I got to hear a very talented bagpiper... and the tea was lovely: finger sandwiches (crustless!), a meringue tart, jam and double cream for a scone. Yum.

Why can't we get cream like that here??

Scottish dumpling, not your dim sum variety

2011-10-08T09:42:00.003-04:00

Scottish Food, Installment 2 of 3
The last post was mostly food in Edinburgh, so here we'll progress on to other places and experiences.

First up (and making a grand impression) was the breakfast set-up at my B&B in Inverness. (highly recommended!)
Keep in mind, this was just the COLD breakfast. Gorgeous cereals, fruits, yogurt,etc. Add to that your choice of eggs, meats, and my favorite, tattie scones. They might be a bit of work for one who is not accustomed to having mashed, or in fact any, potatoes on hand, but they were tasty enough to give it a try nonetheless.

Next is the food at the cafeteria of the Culloden Battlefield Memorial site. Now I've heard that there is a fancy guest house and gourmet restaurant nearby, but you're off your rocker if you think I could afford to go there. As it was, I had to check at the bus station for where to pick up the city bus to visit the memorial site, as it was not obvious from their website. After an inside talk, a self-tour of the museum, and an outdoor guided tour, I scoured the gift shop and settled into the cafeteria to stave off a food-headache. I saw these crisps, which amused but did not entice!

I also tried Clootie Dumpling, a traditional fruitcake-type dessert, which turned out to be fabulous, 'smoored' as it was in custard. SO good, especially on the misty, rainy, chilly day that we had that day. But once again, there's a challenge to make it-- where on earth does one get suet in the States?
Third, we have the famous visit to Leakey's Bookshop & Cafe. I loved this bookshop, not least because it had a cafe upstairs where one could procure delectable baked treats and a warm beverage to best accompany the reading material at hand.
On my first visit, I had a pot of tea. And I didn't look closely at the menu because I was busy observing and then speaking with a young Swiss mother traveling with her young son (but not too young- he was old enough to talk excitedly about where they'd been and what they'd seen, about 11 or 12 years old). Did I mention we spoke in French? It was AWESOME!

The second time I returned however, I tried a baked good (a caramel shortbread, I believe) with my tea. And perused the menu details, which included a historic bit. I'll wait while you read.

Good bit of cheeky humor there, eh? And another connection back up to that Diana Gabaldon and her fictionalized version of the Culloden Battle- really fascinating!

Fourth and finally, we leave Inverness to include the day trip to Stirling Castle, in a metaphorical middle of Scotland: between the cities of Edinburgh and Glasgow (E-W), and between the cultures of the lowlands and the highlands (S-N).
At Stirling, I had a very informative tour which encompassed different ages of the castle, famous architectural elements, rituals of life, changes for military needs, etc. But the one place the guide didn't take us to but strongly recommended was seeing the exhibit on the Renaissance kitchens.
There were very lifelike mannequins/models pictured at work, and everything looked so busy! There was sound piped in to mimic the hubbub of a feast in the making. It was really well done.

This shows a servant slowing down in the course of serving all the courses (hehe) at a typical 16th century banquet, which included:

pottage (soup)
roasts
small pies and pastries
tarts or fritters
fresh or preserved fruit and sweetmeats

I guess they didn't go in for salads, hmm...

Here was my favorite- all raise a cheer for the bakers! Rough men's work at the time, because it took a lot of bread to feed the people, who didn't have much of a varied diet unless they were high-fallutin'.
Don't they look real? Better than a wax museum, though; those are just creepy.

The last photo from Stirling kitchens was an oven that was used before the expansion for the palace's guests, when it was more of a fort stronghold. These kids were around and I felt a strong urge to be the witch pushing them into the oven for getting in my shot...

Next up will be the final installment of Scotland food (Glasgow) and some preamble about the New England road trip, where Produce, and not Preparation, turned out to be King (a-ha-ha, we were just talking about the Castle, get it?)

Scottish Food, and I don't mean McDonald's

2011-10-05T21:42:00.000-04:00

I've got a request for "More Scotland, while it's still fresh!" but there are a host of other things going on too, which I'll try to capture in a logical and pleasingly readable fashion.
First, an installment of food-related pictures from the Scotland trip.

Here is the first place in Edinburgh I plunked down for something to eat- it took a lot of thought. I would have been ill-equipped to make the decision had I not spent all morning wandering up and around Calton Hill's fresh air. It was a quite respectable pub-looking place that turned out to be a cut above: The Conan Doyle. This is their Cullen Skink.
No, it doesn't involve skunk like it sounds, skink is a word for a style of soup, and this one came from a place called Cullen. Simple enough, right?
Amaaaaazing. Smoked haddock, potatoes, and onions, a creamy soup but not over-heavy like some chowders here in the States can be. Mmmmmm, next time I get my hands on some smoked Finnan haddie (haddock), watch out!

This was the smoked halloumi salad I got to go with, which was unnecessary because 1) I was full and 2) the smoked halloumi cheese was the only worthwhile part. Oh well. Win one, lose one.

Breakfast setting at the B&B in Edinburgh- pretty glassware can make a big difference. Who knew? (Well, I guess Stewarts are an ancient clan...)

Breakfast surroundings at the B&B in Edinburgh. That is, I believe, one of the reputed Aga stoves? Or am I completely wrong? It looks like I'm wrong by the Google images, but it did look exactly like the stove in the one-room hovel (a 'single-end') exhibited in the The People's Palace (in Glasgow).

And just in case we were wondering, this is the state of beef in Scotland:

Moving on quickly now to safer topics...
this is a Bedfordshire Clanger: meat pasty with 3/4 mincemeat/ savory filling and 1/4 marmelade/ sweet filling. Too good not to give it a go, right? Definitely the most interesting thing on the menu here at The Dogs in Edinburgh, although in practice it was very heavy and I didn't get half through it. Cool decor, though. This is a huge mural behind the bar just visible in the mirror.

Other updates:

I took the recommendation of Heidi of 101 Cookbooks and used the Magic Sauce with scrambled eggs this evening for a light dinner. It didn't look too hot, but it tasted good.
The Lemon Rosemary Zucchini bread? First loaf tasted great, but second had disturbing pockets of what I can only call acridness. A lump of something like sand in texture, but tasting like... well, the word pustule came to mind. Rather than risk other coworkers besides Catherine and me experiencing this, I threw the rest of the second loaf out. If I was a superstitious person, I would be spitting up a storm here to ward away the bad luck. Yeuch.
Cooking adventures at home since Scotland, including my own Millionaire Shortbread, a rice FAIL, treats at the work retreat, my first ever, of-any-kind, kugel, and a girls' night out for a 7-course meal at Thai X-ing in DC, which was absolutely heavenly.
Oh yeah, and a solo road trip from Philadelphia through upstate New York to Vermont and back to DC. That was pretty awesome too. :-)
All this... and more! Coming soon...

A Known, An Unknown

2011-09-22T09:49:00.000-04:00

I return to cooking and baking. The baked good, I have already mentioned: the Lemon Rosemary Zucchini Bread from Simply Recipes. The cooked good involves famous Heidi's Magic Sauce, but more on that later.

For now, Zucchini Bread. Having failed in acquiring a good used grater, I had to resort to using my Microplane grater to shred the zucchini, which is really supposed to be used for grating, you know, nutmeg, not sawing off whole zucchinis. But, the recipe was on my list; its number was up, come hell or no grater.
What I learned was that repetitive motion of the tricep variety is very tiring. WOW. After 13 minutes of intense concentrated grating, it didn't look like I had enough for 3 cups, so I scoured the fridge and... parsnip? Why not. Sweet enough for the sweet quick bread, and also an oblong-ish vegetable. I did the zucchini the night before, the parsnip the [early] morning of. My triceps needed to sleep on it. This is what the end result looked like going into the eggs and sugar mix:

Yeah. It reminded me of Spinach Souffle, Stouffer-style, which used to be one of my incongruent favorites growing up. Go. Figure.

Anyway, don't worry about that. It blended in. What you do want to turn your attention to (and why you should make this recipe on a nice, gloomy, rainy day) is the SMELL.
Think about it: Lemon. Rosemary. Sugar. Baking.
Yum.
Dry ingredients above (herbs just crushed with mortar and pestle), fragrantly beaming.
All of it blended together below, looking like a spinach-ricotta singalong, but never fear...

We're in the clear! They baked up quicker than Elyse's did, but that's usual for my oven- I have to check everything about 2/3 of the way through to ensure no burning, drying out, or collapsing. I took one in to work that day and it was fell apart a little, but not in a dry way. Not sure what's behind that. Flavor was good, subtle and pleasant. Also, I noted that contrary to common sense, the metal pan appeared to have cooked the bread faster than the glass (they were taken out at the same time). Isn't it supposed to be the reverse?

Now for the unknown. You didn't know that I had cooked up Heidi Swanson's Magic Sauce to stow away until the right occasion. But I did. It was lying in wait for the right occasion, as I said, so of course the right occasion came along. It's called Oven-Minor-Explosion-Wiring-Mess-Landlady-in-Europe-Handyman-Slow-to-respond-I-Can't-Use-My-Oven-Until-Further-Notice. See? Perfect!

I decided to use a third of the stowed-away sauce to punch up a barely-there meal. Bottom of a package of supermarket Broccoli Slaw for precut vegetables, frozen yaki soba noodles for Asian grocery, and Magic Sauce. Plus I used a little bit of the yaki soba flavoring packet instead of adding salt. It was great! I though I'd get 2 servings out of the effort, but no, it was too good. I wolfed it down. Ya gotta move fast in my house.

Osmotic Pressure and Metaphorical Me

2011-09-19T22:10:00.000-04:00

"Osmosis is the movement of solvent molecules through a selectively permeable membrane into a region of higher solute concentration, aiming to equalize the solute concentrations on the two sides."

Often I speak in metaphors which may seem out of place in the current conversation. My brain likes to dig up particularly esoteric or far-fetched descriptions for me to use when I am trying to better convey a certain feeling or state of affairs. This happens frequently at work, and while I register the lack of comprehension, I'm somewhat at a loss to replace my outlandish metaphors with more down-to-earth descriptions. Heave forbid I come off prosaic.

So here is my metaphor from today. I could feel the osmotic pressure of my Within and my Without this morning- the tug and swirl of the happiness experienced through self-discovery and creative effort over the weekend (Inside), contending with the lack of challenge and inability to focus on a long-term goal of the mundane Monday (Outside).

I just sort of floated along with it, letting myself be happy with the former rather than obsess over the latter, and you know what? About 2/3 of the way through the day, my brain started engaging and firing on different pistons, enabling some more cogent contributions to be made to work conversations. Good. Keeping the mind nimble and adaptable. Although- I am thinking maybe the forever-going-around-from-hobby-to-hobby to keep my interest in and mood up is disguising something deeper... but let that go for the moment.

What has been captivating me for the past week or two? All the old hobbies, come back in glorious technicolor: runs on Sundays and yoga on Tuesdays and writing for the novel and baking for friends and cooking for myself. Plus, a new dance course! A style called sean nos, which seems less glamorous but more accessible maybe than step dancing. We'll see. Two classes and I'm already enjoying the improv parts!

And here's a fun video that shows some of the inheritors of sean nos in the Carolinas...

Now as far as the more usual theme for this blog (FOOD), I'll leave you readers with some encouragement. "If you make it, they will come" turned out to be true for me this week:

red wine chocolate cake --- afternoon tea on Saturday with Jess
grilled corn salsa (salad) --- Sunday luncheon with Kim and Juan
and tomato-shallot Tarte Tatin
lemon rosemary zucchini bread --- brown bag lunch with coworkers (I hope- that'll be tomorrow!)

So now I'm off to grate my zucchini with my only pertinent instrument- a microplane!- to make it easier to bake tomorrow morning! :-)

And let me know: do you want more Scotland or more food? I've got both at the ready...

Truth in Advertising, Installment #4

2011-09-10T11:00:00.004-04:00

When I first started blogging here, I had a few examples of cooking recipes that turned out looking amazingly similar to the pictures in the books (I like cookbooks with color photos!). I called these "Truth in Advertising" installments, and it was just a fun way of documenting that I could actually achieve what looked like it took 3 photographers, a stylist, and one of those special light umbrella thingies to achieve. Go, me!

A similar thing happened on the trip to Scotland. I had been researching, pining, yearning... you get the picture-- to escape to Scotland since I bought my plane ticket back in March. This left considerable time to browse photos, think about what I wanted to visit with my limited time, etc. Many of those photos ended up as desktop backgrounds (what can I say, I'm a daydreamer!), such as the one to the above- beautiful, non?

Well, it's a picture of Glen Affric. Sorry to the person who took it whom I am not crediting right now- let's just say I did substantial Google Image browsing, which I don't need to repeat.

Anyway, the image must have sunk deeper in my consciousness than I realized, because I went and took the same photo!

The light was very different, we had different-shaped fog hiding the full mountain, and I was a bit further back, but there is that same stand of trees, jutting out into the water. Truth in advertising- it was gorgeous, and I'd go back to explore more in a heartbeat.

The Peaty Bog

2011-09-07T15:00:00.000-04:00

Here's another peek from the vacation in Scotland:

Where I Found a Bog, Or a Peat, and almost Lost my Shoe!

I had a million+one ideas about what to spend my time on, but a lot of the decisions came down to travel time. I decided against a long-and-involved train day in favor of a morning outing to Glen Affric (where the above video was taken). And against a day trip to the west coast in favor of going inland to see Stirling Castle and the Wallace Monument. I don't regret either decision.Glen Affric was my favorite part of the trip, and Stirling gave me some good history about the only castle I visited while there!
The peaty bog, as I've taken to calling it, was brilliantly colored in reds and yellows and greens and held a whole lot of moisture. At one point I strayed from the path for a different vantage point and delighted in stepping carefully to see how much water I could push out of the moss with my weight. It was pretty fantastic.

De - Tension

2011-09-03T07:38:00.000-04:00

I had never thought of the root or origin of the word detention before this morning. It was a hated word, not worthy of being examined. It represented a feared and loathsome experience in grade school, and so I conveniently forgot it when I left high school.
But I woke up this morning thinking about my exposure to Judaism growing up. It started with the U.S. Open, which 2 people I knew were attending this weekend, who were both Jewish. Then I thought of my first memory of meeting a Jewish person (at a Catholic school in a small California town, this was an event). Then I thought of a friend in high school whose family was Jewish, and what I most remember about her, besides that we shared a penchant for wearing bell-bottoms, was that we got in trouble in Biology for dropping a piece of paper. The ensuing detention was a traumatic event for me, as a goody-two-shoes at the time.
This is usually how my thoughts work, but if you're lost already already, it's ok. My trains of thought often go off-track, and I'm lucky if I can preserve the links before I forget how I got to the end!
Anyway, I started thinking about the word detention, and liked that it sounded like 'De - tension.' I could use some of that right now!
Since I got back from Scotland, it has been a rough two weeks for me. I had to right away take the reins for a big work project from a coworker, we DC-ites had an earthquake, then I got a bad cold (from the air travel I suppose), then we had to prepare for a hurricane, which meant I had to leave on Saturday morning for a Sun-Tues work retreat (in order to make sure my flight would not be cancelled), leaving me with no weekend break, then I had to struggle to stay present with the cold and the altitude, ...
it's all been a bit much. So I am very content to have a 3-day weekend to recover.
I have been able to edit down my Scotland photos, but my first foray into online photo management was disappointing: Flickr is made by Yahoo, but not part of Yahoo, like Google and Gmail are, so there are more hoops to go through. Plus, it segments its accounts into 'free version' and 'paid version,' thus limiting the photos you can put in a 'set,' and send to people. I almost made it- 10 photos and 10 videos did not make the cut. So I'll include a couple of those here, with some explanation. :-)

This first clip was filmed at a free music concert housed in the National Museum of Scotland, located in Edinburgh. There was a pair of talented musicians in to perform some traditional and some contemporary music. Here the lad is enjoying the breakdown of a certain song- I recorded a part right between two choruses, so it may be hard to tell, but can anyone guess the tune?

Glimpse

2011-08-25T07:09:00.001-04:00

I just got back from Scotland, folks, and I had a marvelous time. Lots of historical places, new art, intriguing new foods, and most of all, I enjoyed the temperatures! Ok, ok, not just the coolness in August, but also the ability to be out in the country. This is Exhibit A- heather heaven.

More to come as I narrow down 700-odd photos from my 8 days abroad. Slainte!

Many Things in a Big City Day

2011-08-06T12:13:00.000-04:00

One of the great things about Big Cities of the World is that they present so much variety. If it is a true Big City, that is (this is why Cleveland, even with its 2.5 million inhabitant, doesn't qualify; it's too one-dimensional). Here, for example, is a sunrise:

A sunrise you can get anywhere, of course, but different places have their own kinds of sunrises. There are sunrises over fields of wheat, sunrises over dramatic stones, sunrises over skyscrapers. Each place takes the experience and makes it unique.

It's the same with buildings. There are books upon treatises upon tomes about different types of buildings, varying with function, era, architect, materials, but I'm highlighting location as a key variable here. Some buildings you look at and think, "San Francisco," or "Home."

This one makes me feel at home because it has many of the characteristics of the home and neighborhood I grew up in: Victorian era, color, craftsmanship, greenery. But it also has those stairs, which make it different, and that narrow citified look, which makes it take on a completely different personality as a building. (I love how the people here have put up fabric in the glass part of their door for extra richness of palette). So to recap, we have sunrises, buildings...

And I can't visit anywhere without sampling the baked goods, can I??
No, the answer is no.
I stopped at a delightful [chain] bakery called La Boulange on my long walk from the Mission to Downtown. I had poked my head in one or two before this one, but they were both too expensive and not cheery enough. This place hit my expectations on the mark. I had planned to walk leisurely from where I was staying in the Mission up through Hayes Valley and zigzagging up Market St. to meet my mom and a friend of the family at Samovar for lunch.

I adored the homey, folksy, clunky yet cute style of the bakery, and enjoyed 'un bol' de chocolat chaud, avec un croissant magnifique. I wrote a bit, observing, listening to a French family at one of the round tables, not unlike the one I sat at growing up.

Here's a bit of the character of the place- the small type at the bottom of the functional yet whimsical service sign says, "We have decided to be happy because it is good for our health." It's like a kick of cowboy boots for fun. So now we have seen a sunrise, some buildings, the bakery,it must be time for some culture.
I had singled out the small Museum of Craft and Folk Art on my itinerary because they had a Corita Kent exhibit that would end the day I left, so I figured it was meant to be. Corita was an interesting 20th century American artist, especially since she started out as a Catholic nun.
She bucked a lot of trends.
Here is an excerpt from a page that has the 10 Rules for the art classes she oversaw at the Immaculate Heart College Art Department:

An important lesson, and one which is a good reminder at certain times.

After I met with my mom and Gayle and had a delightfully modern concoction of teas and amuse-bouches (see the commentary on the tea vintage above for a comparison with bombastic wine connoisseurs), it was time to journey on to another feature of the Big City: community gatherings.

Now, as I said in my last post, I've never actually lived in San Francisco (yet), but I had heard about a local organization that does urban foraging for edibles, home cooking, and promotion of local food artisans, all causes which I can get behind. I had signed up for their newsletter, hoping that I could go on a food walk the one day that I would be in town (talk about trusting to fate). It turned out there would be no walk, but there would be a foraged dinner. Well.
I signed up.

It was pretty great. There was a many-coursed meal lit by candles, served by volunteers, foraged from city neighborhoods or local producers. Much of it was very good, and the few things that weren't settled for being fascinating. And as I had come on my own, I met the 4 people on my right and talked with them for the several hours that the meal lasted, making some new friends in this City that contains so many worlds of interest.

Halcyon Day

2011-08-01T21:30:00.000-04:00

Today I'm here to tell a story of a halcyon day, back in June of 'Eleven.

Amid the hustle and bustle of work meetings scheduled across 2/3 of the U.S., and the big family visit east to the Capital, there was a short jaunt just for me. It was to San Francisco, CA.


Famous CA hills and rowhouses in the Mission, but note also that radio tower

Evidence of nature, in amid all the works of man. Plus, mural!

I wrestled a long weekend out of work by leaving on Thursday morning and coming back on a Monday evening in early June. I wanted to explore the city as an adult, having always thought of it as a lovely place to visit friends in, a great place to party on, but never having lived there myself. I thought it might be my next move.
So I stayed in a friend's apartment who was out of town, and I explored. I walked. A lot. Please take note of that radio tower and the camera-holder's proximity to it in different photos.

What did I find there?
I found wide, sweeping vistas. I found color in unexpected places. I found activity and community and voices dripping with cynicism at the table next to me at Tartine. I absorbed the feel of neighborhoods, re-acclimating to the California habits of landscaping, of creativity, of disposable income.
I was delighted by the alleys (which DC has, but they're different), by the hills (which DC has, but they're really different), and by the joyful beauty (...).
I don't see much of that kind of expression in DC- joyful beauty. There is the watermelon house in my neighborhood, true, and the wonderful red-toned edifice in Dupont with the antler accoutrements, and the crazy-colored mansion on R St., sure.
But I realized I missed a certain sense of joyful liberation in how people set up their nests. I liked seeing the evidence of others' finding their true selves.

Color! Height! And a hobbit door!

I mean, look at this one. The front part of the home is painted light lemon yellow and houses a gorgeous nature-inspired metal pattern (TREES), which is echoed in the trees/ bushes they chose to dot their winding entrance. And there are steps resembling individual stairs instead of something broad, brutalist, and centrally planned (ooh, maybe I have been here too long...).
It reminds me of a cross between the book Mandy and the Mission church I grew up in: a sweet, rambling style from decorator magazines, but with a direction and focus all its own. That's what I want.

Oh my! I'm right at the base! It took several meandering hours, several questing turns, and a bit of sunburn, but I got there: Twin Peaks. Beautiful views and diverse housing stock.

See? It's the little things that make life worth living: how you choose to live is all you've got, so you might as well make it joyfully beautiful.

For this delightful grub, simply cruise on down to 758 Valencia St. Reservations recommended, but no tie necessary, just a good appetite!

I had:

SEMOLINA-CRUSTED TOFU FRITES,

summer corn, caramelized onion, napa cabbage, apricot, applewood smoked bacon..... and it was gorgeous.

The s'more meringue concoction was not as delicious, but very tasty and very pretty. At least the chef went for joy- don't you just want to eat it all up?

Houston, Texas: Take 2!

2011-07-28T18:21:00.000-04:00

Yes, in the space of 2 weeks, I visited Houston twice. The first time was nice, I got to go to this fun place with some coworkers. It was hot, it was new, I got to meet some new colleagues, and see how these meetings were SUPPOSED to roll out.

Then the second weekend, our team (2 of the same people, 2 different) took a more flying-by-the-seat-of-our-pants approach, which made the weekend more interesting than a repeat would've been. Plus we had almost twice as many people attend the meeting (go recruitment!). Also, we were able to go here:

This is the wall and chandelier of the private dining room at Philippe, a tres chic dining destination in Houston.

I went with their bouillabaisse. It was pretty good (but I wasn't wowed). I also had their Ile Flottante, which definitely made me say WOW... (but then I've always been biased toward the sweets, we know this)

the lake where Andy Pettitte has a house near Conroe, TX

But besides all these different things, what made the second trip the most special was that I got to visit relatives- second cousins- that I've only seen a few times in my life! Glory be to Facebook for keeping us all in touch, sort of.
Highlights:

love love LOVED the cornbread in its tin!

The family members, especially Yvette, all pitched in to make "Texan food," which turns out to be the exact stereotype of 'grill-out food,' and since it was about 100 degrees, was perfect! Smoked brisket, coleslaw, potato salad, baked beans, and cornbread- talk about your Western smorgasbord!

when horses are a part of work, the tack is kept in the front office!

Here I am with Belle's little filly

And here's me on Suzie, with Shelly on Cutter

I think it should be explained that Suzie missed a growth spurt, so her awesome cutting bloodlines were put to pasture as it were, and now she hangs around the house as a beloved pet. Or at least I think that's what the arrangement is. At any rate, I got to ride her in the round pen without a bridle, and got to help in training her a bit, which was a new skill! :-) The family's opinion was that she takes after Ginger (meaning she's a brat and will only answer to my dad's cousin Louis!).

In front of the guest suite (super nice!) with a pint of Blue Bell ice cream Super yum!)

So the second trip was far more exciting! Go, Work-Life Balance!

Houston, TX, Take 1

2011-07-24T19:34:00.000-04:00

Backtracking to the First Houston trip (cuz there were two), I have some evidence from it as well. I observed and took photos of things that struck me as potentially Uniquely Houston. For example:

Starting off the adventure on Friday with a Jeep Liberty. Tres Texas.

Following another Jeep on the freeway that seemed to think a dangling rearview mirror did just fine. Yikes.

Spotting this and catching it right after an exclaimed "Look!" from Maria. Perfect timing! But no idea what it actually is. We dubbed it 'Mini Rushmore.'

Oh, and there was a lot of this: complicated freeway intertwining architecure (eep! someone call some engineers!). We also got a lesson in something called Texas U-turns. And of course we all got frustrated by the frontage road arrangement...
But one of the Uniquely Texan things about this First Visit may have been the decor in the Holiday Inn whee we stayed- oil rigs hard at work. I suppose it might make some visitors feel at home??

Bizarre.

Book Club bonding and blueberries

2011-07-10T22:17:00.000-04:00

Last weekend I went blueberry-picking. This weekend I was in Houston for a Saturday meeting facilitation (read: work). While I have documentation of neither for you here, I do have evidence of the first activity.

It was a recipe I pulled up in a mad rush of trying to decide what to bring to my book club (which was reading this), since I had to take a shower, finish the book, and make something yummy to contribute in the space of an hour. I spent 20 minutes deciding, 20 minutes pulling it together, took a shower while it baked, and didn't end up finishing the book. Win some, lose some. Judging from the "Mmms" from the book-clubbers, I chose the right answer.

It produced a very tasty cake-y type of confection, but I would have liked more time to be able to do the biscuit-type topping instead. Next time...

Camaraderie, born on the Fourth of July

2011-07-04T22:07:00.000-04:00

Hey, y'all!

It is still the 4th of July as I post this, and that means I had so much fun I couldn't wait to share it! (Or that I know if I wait, I'll forget to share it)
There was some covert nudging and elbowing going on in June that produced an invitation to a grill-out for the Fourth at my friends' house in Maryland, just outside DC-- but importantly, still accessible on the Metro. Kim and Juan have recently bought a house, and so we predict there will be many more such occasions to gather at.

First rule of a happy marriage- be able to put up a badminton net together without anyone losing an eye: Check. (Note instructions booklet on the lawn)

First rule of a Fourth of July party- someone has to bring some mini firecrackers. These were the kind that could go on a fancy birthday cake, i.e. just my speed. Thanks to Doug!

First rule of a potluck grill-out- bring plenty of food. Luckily our hosts had a lot of spoons to go with. And the secret to drop-dead easy watermelon juice: a blender!

Oh, and side note: Juan was kept busy because he was very concerned about the flies. Here he is armed with a badminton raquet near the buffet table, awaiting the challenge.
We left in time to escape the drops of rain that threatened (but turned into nothing- just that juicy DC summer air), and as I exited at my metro stop, I could hear the fireworks on the Mall, a 20-minute walk away. As I climbed my infamous stairs, I had my own view of the fireworks- not anything to invite anyone over for, but it was enough for the fireworks gremlin to be sated:

Ah, home. And ready for my 4-day week.

I was in a rush to get to Maryland, but I made quickie versions (and severe alterations) of this, this, and this. Oh and by the way I made some pretty good chocolate chip cookies and Sin Bars for my weekend escapades- more on those later. :) Thanks to Kim and Juan for hosting!
And a bonus thank you for Mom sending me the Off-tastic battery-operated repellent fan. It worked- only 4 bites all evening!

Good Aunt Points

2011-06-27T06:39:00.000-04:00

I have survived.

And I think I've even chaulked up a few Good Aunt Points.

I'm calling that a Victory. Now for Recovery.

Showing Early Signs

2011-06-17T20:55:00.000-04:00

I have folded sheets. I have arranged towels. I have set out folders with information. I am baking banana cookies as we speak.

You may think that I am the proprietress of a bed and breakfast, but you're wrong. I am, however, showing early signs of heading in that direction.

No, I am all a-flutter with anticipation that my sister, her husband, and their two kids should have a wonderful vacation here in Our Nation's Capital, with me as their Hostess with the Most-ess.

There are some that might gape, incredulous: "But you live in a one-bedroom apartment; how is't possible?" Well, it's been a lo-o-o-ong time since I went camping, but here's my chance!

Haha. I'm borrowing an AeroBed to sleep in the living room while the other four take my pretty spacious bedroom which, in all fairness, is almost the size of the hotel room they might have paid for.

And what do I get out of this? Besides the quality time with a sibling, Martians from the planet Childhood, and a tall guy to help hang stuff on the wall? I get to be a tour guide! I love being a tour guide. :-)

Plus, these Banana Cookies are nothing to sneeze at... nom nom nom...(and I love the story that goes with them)

No Charm

2011-06-15T22:49:00.000-04:00

Apparently I have no charm, because I do not have a third post in me on this third day back in the swing. I am full up with preparing to host family in my apartment for 10 days, and planning what seems like a dozen trips for myself. In terms of numbers of trips, the work jaunts (4) far outnumber the vacation trips (1), but in terms of effort going into planning them? A little heavy on the vacation end... :-)

Here, then, are two quotations which have jumped out at me in the search for the Scotland itinerary and inspired me to make it through another work day...

#1: Scotland exudes "a liberating feeling of seclusion" from Time Out Scotland.

---that's what I'm looking for!

#2: H.V. Morton writes: "Scotland is the best place in the world to take an appetite."

Yes!

A One-Two Punch... to get in the SWING of things!

2011-06-14T22:32:00.000-04:00

Ohhh, I love a good groaner, pun, quip, whatever you want to call it. (Thesaurus online also informs me I could use the synonyms calembour, equivoque, or paronomasia-- good to know!)

So to follow up my first post in a while, I have a second post on the second day; that is my one-two punch, and I am hoping it will get me back in the swing of things, 'Things' being the new name for this blog.

Just kidding.

No, those are not potatoes...

Dinner tonight! (Talk about a fast turnaround.)
So what is so exciting it got me to post about it right away? It has nothing at all to do with the food, per se; the deciding factor was a little time on my hands, a surfeit of reading (heaven forbid!) and okay, I am proud of having yoinked out a new recipe.

I had radishes that were wasting away and I knew I'd seen and heard of a strange thing-- cooking radishes-- so I decided to try this new witchery and taste the results. I used another recipe of Deborah Madison's - she's a good go-to for vegetables that I didn't grow up with - "Braised Red Radishes." I link to the New York Times 'adaptation,' which consisted of doubling hers. I went the opposite way, as well as substituting garlic for the shallot, since I was plum out.
I had to simmer longer than 3-5 minutes, but they did turn tender. I cooked the liquid down, but maybe not long enough. I added a glug of red wine toward the wine, when maybe I should have added it at the beginning of the reducing time. What do you think? The sauce was disappointing, but the radishes themselves were interesting; they'd turned pretty bland, with just a whisper of wine and thyme. Will go for a more gravy-like sauce next time.

While I was waiting for that magic to happen (get it? witchery? magic?), I went in another direction to use the asparagus I'd bought on Sunday (only 2 days ago, but the poor bundle had been in the cold fridge unlooked-after). I steamed half of it under lemon, salt and pepper, let it cool, added oil, balsamic, and draped it with prosciutto. Sexy, hein? This is prosciutto from La Quercia in Iowa, a font of sustainable admirability. I mean, from what I can taste and read. I first tried their cured meat at The Publican, another incredibly amazing spot for foodies in Chicago. Maybe I'll rave more about them later. Back to dinner tonight.

What else is there in that picture? More green? Yep- that would be Trader Joe's Minted Peas, frozen and convenient. Mighty tasty, too. Here's to versatility!

Delicate Rush

2011-06-13T20:56:00.000-04:00

Inspired by a great friend who does great things, I'm back. This required substantial force to overcome the inertia, but that's one of the reasons for the inspiration- it can be done, and many a time!
So, here I am, ready to toss off a short review of a recipe from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone without so much as a mention of the weeks and weeks that I haven't posted.
Not so much as a mention..... did you catch that?

So much for thwarting inertia; it had to be acknowledged.

So I'd found not Napa cabbage (excellent for making soy-ginger-dressed salads in a snap) but Savoy cabbage at the farmers' market. Hmph, I thought, that has to translate into something interesting. Well, I didn't do the usual exhaustive research because my internet was down (please click that). But the second cookbook I looked in had an intriguing 'Gratin au Chou' or 'Cabbage Gratin' if that sounds any less fou-fou to you. Lightly boiled chopped cabbage, mixed in with milk, flour, egg, tomato paste and cream, and sprinkled with chopped herbs and pepper.

Only the closest thing I had to cream or creme fraiche was vanilla drinkable yogurt. So in it went! And everything else was thirded down to fit into 2 ramekins instead of a 'gratin dish,' whatever that is. It was supposed to serve 4, with 3 eggs, and I used 1 egg but it was 2 meals. Go figure.
I only out in a smidgeon of the herb I'd picked to substitute, and it duly hid its flavor under a bushel. It did take 50 minutes, even though the quantity was so much less, perhaps because of the depth of the liquid in the ramekins. And of course, probably the most important lesson to impart, I used the toaster oven, in order to 1) decrease heat (it is DC in June) 2) decrease AC necessary (I am saving up for a swish vacation) and 3) waste not, want not.
In the end, I pronounced it pretty good, but it could have done with either more salt or more cheese (which contributes a salty tang). Any thoughts?

Before the 50 minutes

And so, with that, I sashay back into blog world, and let the world of Other Writing recede a little. Next hope up: post pictures and writings of the trips to Charlotte and to San Francisco! Maybe when I get another delicate rush of inspiration.

Local Flora, Part II: QUIZ

2011-05-08T18:43:00.000-04:00

Yay! I hope you enjoyed the flower-fest of mobile uploads in the previous post.

For this second piece of the 2-part series, I thought I'd try to provoke some interactive response.

Since I don't carry an Eastern US Flower Book with me at all times, when I catch these appealing flower cameos, I often don't know what I am taking a picture of. Since today is Mother's Day, I will dedicate this post to my Mom- the original flower picture-taker- and probably the one who will come up with the most answers to the Quiz! ;-)

Please leave comments with answers for the numbers you know. Let's see how many I can get labeled and posted to the wall with a stick-pin.

These things are so cool and alien-looking!

These ones I actually know, from asking the house-owner on my block.

This one I think I know, but always thought they were something else... haven't tried the wikipedia approach to fact-checking yet on this one...

Pretty detailing on this one...

This red bloom looked like it cute have been stuck on a headband or hair clip, it was that prettily blousy.

This isn't a trick- it's the tree! Smells so wonderful! (that's a hint)

Now this one is all over, and hard to get a good picture of. It comes in white, pinks, corals, and blooms at the same time as cherry blossoms, but I haven't gotten a name... obviously not a fruit tree with that slender base...

Another alien species one, but beautiful butterfly-like coloring.

Well that's all I have for now, so may the competitive school spirit set your inquisitive hearts afire with curiosity! :-)

Local Flora In Season, Part I

2011-05-05T20:43:00.000-04:00

I was doing pretty well monitoring blog post frequency on here this week. Getting into a rhythm of downloading photos one morning, writing some text the next, and publishing at work (shhh!). But yesterday I plugged my camera in to download and it only had 3 measly pictures! Weird... So then I remembered I had the camera phone to worry about. One hundred and eleven (or eleventy-one) pictures.

Many of them are the shots of flora and fauna and sky that I capture in a moment of being present to the world I'm walking through. Aren't camera phones great? If you use them this way, I certainly think so. The photo above isn't the greatest light-wise, but I was trying to capture the moment when the fuzzy-wuzzy pussywillow-type nub started busting out into bright yellow spore-like bristles. Amazing how Nature works.

Daniel Webster at Thomas Circle looking cool among the cherry (?) blossom trees.

A better up close shot of the "Poof!" that occurs on these trees, at the end of March it was, this year.

This is the view walking out of my apartment building: now that's what I call "Spring Green!"

These are actually blossoms on a beautiful old crooked tree I walk past, also in Thomas Circle. It is a great one for Fall of the House of Usher type shots during winter because it is in front of several churches, which you can capture in the frame if you tilt up... it may appear later on the blog...

Because these are phone camera pictures, it's basically a walk along M St., my route to work. THis is looking straight up through blossoms; how can you get better than that? And can you see the clear blue sky? Several of the photos were shot in gray, the product of gray rainy spring days (DC has some schizophrenic weather this spring- jeez louise!).

This is the Jefferson Hotel, and it has a beautiful line of small trees- not sure what kind they are except that they blossom along with the cherry trees, so...? Any help, Readers? (There will be a more intensive quiz later.)

I told you there would be another feature of this one! There's that Spring Green again! And I don't know if you can really see, but those are some unique blossoms. Now the tree is all in leaf, much more normal-looking.

Oh wait! It's like time lapse- now we're on to a later stage of the Jefferson trees- the stage where POOF into blooms. This picture was funny because it made it look like a pompom-cheerleader tree

This was going up 15th St. to Whole Foods- what a pink!

This one's near the Convention Center- so amazing, right? This year, I felt like I appreciated every sighting of color popping on the trees. And maybe I did, ya know, because this is a lot of photos...

And here we are, the alternating pink and green of the Baroque period...

And one more spectacular rose shot, even though it doesn't fit into the color scheme. This one was the most recent, since I think roses are more summer blooms, and we're just getting around to thinking about summer (thank goodness we've had such a long and schizo spring, I say- who needs summer??)

Only on the East Coast in April

2011-05-03T07:34:00.000-04:00

A funny video I thought I'd put up for all you out there who haven't seen hail in decades... it turns out to be one of those things that is really fun to see. When one is safely ensconced inside.

This one occurred on April 4th, and I had to take a video of it, it was so novel! :-D Have you got any wacky weather stories to relate?

The Infamous...

2011-05-02T17:35:00.000-04:00

My party, as promised :-)

So. I floated along in a glow-haze for the whole week, but I guess it's time for documentation. Proof that so much fun could, in fact, be had. Well, here it is, folks. My very own pinata party, out on the green.

(This is me being cheeky and pointing out over right field where my homerun would go, hehe.)

Here's Rachel, giving it a go (left). So what else did we do, besides swing away? You're right, it wasn't all violence; we don't roll like that. Since it was actually a dual celebration for my friend April (born 4/19/someyear) and me, we had two mostly-not-overlapping groups of friends, so people got to meet and talk and bascially just loll about in the perfect California-weather day. It was awesome- felt very Chosen People-ish (but more on that below with the bowling).

There was also a fair amount of food. It was hard to stand it, but I managed to sample a few things here and there. I brought Nora's red pepper spread recipe, Molly's Banana Bread, and some cranberry bread with no chocolate, since it was not yet Easter and I knew at least one person would be abstaining from chocolate for Lent (that is one old habit that should die a fabulous death).

And here is April of the 4/19 bday, in a great Action Shot (right)! Her mom was in town too, and so helped with the logistics- I think the older Filipina woman did a great job blending in and having fun with all us young'uns!

But the pinata party wasn't the only event. Nay, there were pre-party rumblings heard as early as Sunday. Rumblings that took the form of... a Korean Triple Play !

Lovely beef and noodle dish at Palace Restaurant

Me, Nina, Nora at the Lanes

Jess, Nora, Marc focused on the 'pan-chan' (terrible anglicism)

The Korean Triple Play was born of my desire to continue field tripping into adulthood. If we're going to go into Virginia, we might as well make hay, right? Or something like that. So especially for people who couldn't make it to the pinata party, it was a nice outing. Consisting of:

1) 'Palacial' dinner at Palace Restaurant, a Korean BBQ/ Grill place of tasty food and wonderful service

2) Burning off a few of those calories at AMF Annandale Lanes, just down the road

3) Burning off some more (and losing our voices) as we choke through an hour of karaoke at a Korean private-room karaoke lounge

It was a great idea, let me tell you. PLUS, we had a great time bowling- we went Jews v. Gentiles; each team had an N, a J, and an M (isn't that crazy? natural selection or something?), and each team won once. That's all we had strength for!

Ahh, 30. I am embarking on this year with a powerful feeling of self-possession, balance, and drive. TOward what? Well, we'll see. ;-)

Last Best Bits

2011-04-22T12:04:00.000-04:00

Here is the last post about the party the welcomed Jess back to DC. I hope breaking it up into 3 parts was easier for you all to digest. I could have just gone on and on (as the prep that day did in fact seem to go on and on...), but 1) that might have been boring to read and 2) I would have only been able to give myself credit for doing one post! This way, I get to pat myself on the back 3 times! haha... yes, folks, the secret to better stats is not strictly more work, but better and more crafty presentation. ;-)
In this post, I have the last few bits and the people (the best bits).

I made a beet hummus, which someone saw and cheekily suggested was made in honor of the Cherry Blossom Festival, which we were right in the middle of! Alas, no such planning had been in my head, but I wanted something fresh, healthy, and different (seems to be my M.O.) and saw this recipe on Simply Recipes which sounded great! It was pretty easy, since I started with the already cooked Trader Joe's beets (yes, I am a dyed-in-the-wool TJ's fan, try as I might to be objective).

Beet Hummus: the horror movie

It turned out rather well, as a sweet tangy pucker in a fresh earthy dip.

Second, I wanted a green dip, so I searched and found one by a friend that did not use mayonnaise- perfect! It used up artichokes in a jar that I had, spinach in a bag that I had, and included plenty of lemon and garlic, always a good indicator of quality.

No photographic evidence was obtained because, like the Baked Brie, it had to be in the oven until presentation, so ... I balked at showing the picked-over leftovers in a picture. Yes, yes, so there is definitely some natural selection on this blog; that's why the photos are so good! ;-)
But I can certainly say I had it for leftovers for several days and did not tire of it!

Third is the crowd pleaser: Chocolate Orange Pound Cake, from a mix my mom sent in a care package, and which I had been waiting to pull out for the right 'convenience-needed' moment: bingo!

It was delicious served at the end of the meal with mango, which we took turns slicing and dicing, since it is kinda hard to do. Any tips on this? They were champagne mangos from Mexico (via Whole Foods) and not as ripe as they could have been, but I tried the cool-looking scientific method, which wasn't perfect, but served the purpose. Purpose the mangos needed to be riper...

And finally, the friends that made the party such a joy to host: Jess, Dany, Steve, Suzanne, Figo, Mandy, Nora, Rajiv, and others that didn't get captured on celluloid. Thank you, Friends!

And now that I've presented all the high points of Welcome-Back-Jess party I hosted, which the Nina Post called "elegant and sophistocated... very adult," I will hopefully be back shortly to report on my birthday party of a couple days ago, which involved Candy, a Cookie Monster pinata, and what else?

Good Food!

Baking Bits from the Welcome-back Party

2011-04-18T11:40:00.001-04:00

Ok, so next up on the party line-up we had "Onion Tart with Mustard and Fennel" which basically starts out with an armful of onions... It is a recipe from Smitten Kitchen, a blog which I didn't get into for a long time, then realized how awesome, honest, and funny Deb the writer is. And I was looking for something low-maintenance, low-cost to fill up stomachs. This is a GREAT choice for that because it also tastes AMAZING!

When I saw what was involved {onion-caramelizing, real mustard, good cheese} I knew it would be a taste winner. The fennel would be a new twist for me and the long stove time would be fine because it was mostly no-fuss, no-touch, the kind of pot-watching I at which I excel. Tip from the photo at right- keep onions moist with parchment paper loosely covering your football field of onions. Then your reward is this:

YUM

You mix in a little cheese- it was supposed to be all Parmigiano, but I was wrestling with old HARD Parmesan and using both a microplane grater and a chef's knife, both unsuccessfully, to make it work. So I substituted some pre-grated mozzarella. I know, sue me! My fingers sure thanked me, but as you will see it led to a not so pretty result in the oven.

Here I was using my sister's old ruler to demonstrate that I was emphatically NOT at the required stretch-out length of 15"x12"- it was too ... crabby. Each time I tried to coax it out, either by hand rolling or with the rolling pin, it would ooze back into itself like a crabby-crab that didn't want to come out and play. This may have something to do with the fact that I let it rise too long... any help, readers?

No matter, I eventually got to this stage, where I could schmear all that caramelized fennel-onion goodness onto the dough and it looked lovely. But then as you see below, sprinkling mozzarella on top of the tart made it broil and turn a different color- a bit weird-looking.

But it's all good, since it was dee-licious.

The other dish I feature today was a Baked Brie. No pictures, since it was in the oven, then out, then pretty much gone. And it was ri-di-culously easy. I bought two wedges of Brie from Trader Joe's, stuck them together facing each other, and placed them on a defrosted piece of puff pastry. I then rolled the puff pastry up over the Brie, and flipped it so that the squished-together bits were on the bottom. Then I baked it for about 40 minutes.

I served it with Trader Joe's Mango Ginger Chutney- a shortcut because I was making so many things but also a favorite of mine- but I also could have done as my base recipe told me and slathered it on top of the brie before closing it up in puff pastry. I forgot, and it might have been messier that way to flip it... if you try it, let me know!

Two dishes to do-mostly-ahead that would be great for a gathering at home! You're welcome.

The pictures are coming! The pictures are coming!

2011-04-16T21:49:00.000-04:00

I always have a backlog of pictures that could be uploaded and used for blog posts. But right now, I have a bachache from how much it is weighing on my mind to get these out to you- before I have another party and generate more photos! yes, this spring is turning out to be a domestic social explosion.

I orchestrated a welcome home party for a friend coming back from a tour of duty with the State Department. It was 14 months of hard, hard work, and we were all glad to see her back and in the thick of DC culture and foodways. I invited a ton of people and combed all my starred blog posts in search of the perfect appetizers to wow everyone. I picked appetizers because with the amount of people coming, I figured grazing food would be easier than trying to do a dinner for that many people, not to mention less expensive.

That's what I thought.

Sweet potato laughing in its jacket

Pretty Knotty Pine Pattern

An aerodynamic space-mobile or alternatively, battering ram-o'-war

And yes, this is me playing with my food. It was too tempting!

I decided on 4 or 5 dishes needing 'creation,' and a couple things that just needed buying and plating. In this post, I am highlighting two of the former: Baked Sweet Potato Falafel Balls from never-fail 101 Cookbooks, and Marinated Feta & Olive Skewers from Fine Cooking's Appetizers issue- a great gift from my sister 2 Christmases ago.

Here's a quick sketch of the first one with running commentary:

Done with baking, added cilantro, ready to smoosh

brutally let down by Whole Foods at the last moment (no chickpea flour), I substituted a mix of whole wheat flour + mashed garbanzo beans to make a sort of paste

mixing it all together would require a little muscle...

which is good because I often don't have the discipline for push-ups, but for cooking, I'll do it!

Featuring the amazing potato masher from Michelle, still going strong :-)

And the final product! Verdict: texture was not exactly falafel because no fried outer crust, and not exactly bread-like, which left it in a bit of a limbo-land. Also, I think there was too much cumin for me, and they could have done with more garlic flavor...they were interesting but not my favorite.

Dish Number Two: Marinated Feta + Cucumber + Mint on a Stick

now doesn't that sound classy?

Fresh orange juice, zest, fennel seeds-- made the apartment smell great!

Things got a little bit ... pulpy.

Being a good cook with my mise-en-place and assembly line skewering operation

The cuteness! It's like they're in little hats!

Believe it or not, they didn't all disappear.

This is because I went completely overboard! But that's ok; it meant lots of leftovers for the week after.

Verdict: a nice combination of refreshing, zesty, and briny. I could definitely make these again, but would pair them with something meaty instead.

Next post: the Onion Tart with Mustard & Fennel, and Baked Brie with Mango-Ginger Chutney (bought at Trader Joe's!)

A fudge cookie with a case of meringue

2011-04-01T15:27:00.000-04:00

What a treat you are in for today!

The same day I resolved to make something with those mushrooms, I also got the hankering for something less virtuous and more instantly smile-inducing. Enter: Fudge.

I had seen this lovely recipe for Chocolate Espresso Fudge Cookies on a favorite blog, and it looked like exactly what I wanted. Crinkly, crackly, but way fudgy, not a dry cookie all the way through. And it delivered-- SO much so that I had to mail out a few dozen so I didn't end up eating them all (which would have been very sad and awful in its repercussions)!

I didn't fiddle with the recipe, since what I wanted that day (as you saw from my mushroom post) was not tinkering but honest-to-goodness comfort food. Although the batter was quite wet meringue-like in its soft peaks, it wasn't too difficult to make it into tantalizing, wispy-but-substantial, cookie forms.

This is one of those times where I might wax scientific about the outside ingredient creating a crinkle texture, while the heat ratio contains and preserves the the gooey center, etc. But really? Just make them and enjoy. And thank Lindsey for posting the recipe!

The Woodsy Type

2011-03-31T21:49:00.000-04:00

A couple weeks ago I went to the Dupont Farmers' Market with a couple friends in the early morning. This was not usual because one of the friends (Nina) is NOT a morning person. But the other friend (Sarah) was, so Nina sacrificed for her visit to town. They are good friends.

At the market that day I saw something I had only seen in a blog post before: hen of the woods, also known as maitake mushrooms. They were going for $8 a paltry pint, which sounded like a deal because it was less than the $10 every other pint cost. Plus, they were just so interesting! Then Sarah got one, so I had to follow suit, no excuses.

La mise en scene

Then the poor thing waited in my fridge in its paper bag for a whole week. I felt like a bad mother! I had to do something by the following Sunday, and act I did. After some searching (never being one to go into battle unarmed), I found a likely candidate recipe, but it didn't knock my socks off in terms of a meal, so I embellished. You know, like I never do usually.

I tried to take the methods from that recipe and amp it up with another recipe, from one of my favorite cookbooks by Judith Jones, for a mushroom risotto. It is not unlike most risotto recipes, so I won't go into the tweaking, just to say I didn't embellish it too much because I wanted the special mushroom flavor to shine brightest.

It was pretty good. I think I may not have risotto down, because the rice seemed a bit overblown, maybe overcooked? Does it ever get so full of moisture it just explodes? Like that.


Mushroom, olive oil, salt = yum

I made enough for 3 tidy servings, bringing some to work, and the aroma in the office made it seem like I had it better than I did. I guess I'm just one for that woodsy type!

Anaesthetic Bread

2011-03-25T18:43:00.000-04:00

I have a friend from college who called the ends of the bread "the butt," whereas I grew up calling it "the heel." No matter, we still managed to be friends.

And while this picture of my last loaf of bread purports all-American friendliness......really, it's got a bit of a problem. Some issues under the surface, you might say. I don't think I did anything too unusual, but it was a first recipe from a new book. Apparently I didn't tuck the edges up underneath as neatly as I needed to in order for this NOT to be called the "butt" of the bread.

You've heard of anaerobic, right? Well, this was ... anaesthetic!

It came out looking like a butt. I ask you, what is a girl to do in this case but slice the ends quickly off and laugh herself a silly fit? ;-)

Girl at Work

2011-03-23T21:27:00.000-04:00

Here is a short post about food at work. Well, food is always at work while we're noshing on it, but I mean food which I consume at work. Here is Case #1:

Le Grilled Cheese avec Cornichons

'But how,' I can hear you saying, 'does she manage this gourmet fare at the office, with neither grill pan nor George Foreman at the ready?'
Well, dear Reader, I will tell you, I have never used a George Foreman grill, and my grill pan has only been used to spectacular disappointment thus far. We have a toaster over at work, which I bribed into both melting the cheese and crisping the bread slices. And the cornichons were carried in a jar from home to give the meal a 'je ne sais quoi' of specialness. Ah, les francais...

Case #2: Ye Ol' Irish-American Celebration Midday Dinner
As I get older, I am forced to reflect on many things. One of them is how much effort and of which type I feel like putting forth for certain celebrations. This year, while I had planned to trot down to the Dubliner, a fine neighborhood-in-a-stretch establishment, to partake in Irish music and food and frolic for that day when the Irish Snake-Charmer went out of business, I came home and decided that what was really calling my name was the corned beef stewing in my pot for 3 1/2 hours. So I went with that instead. :)
But at least here's the proof that the next day at work I did honor the ancestors. With corned beef, potato, and kale salad.
More to come on butt bread, chocolate fudge espresso cookies, the secret to delicious instant polenta, and springtime. Stay tuned!

And special note for Ginny: thank you soooo much! You turned around my evening :)

Wedding favors; returning with joy

2011-03-20T20:35:00.000-04:00

Before I get into more baking bliss, I am giving credit where credit is (partially) due. For a weekend in February, I was in a friend's wedding in Mississippi, and it was a happy, happy affair. I was glad to leave the funk of bad eating habits and avoidance for a bit, and happy to let the new attitude stick on me if it could. I had some small worries on the trip, but mostly I came back with a heart full of happy.

Sushi, sweet wings, cinnamon-spiced potstickers

Since this is a food-centric blog, I will highlight that aspect of the trip, but as usual, use food as a vehicle for explaining what's going on with me. To the right here is Plate #1 of Rehearsal Dinner food at Pan-Asia- a wonderful restaurant, very atmospheric and modern, nevermind delicious.

Delicious cucumber-vinegar salad, tasty scallop stirfry, beef chow mein

And to the left is Plate #2 of food that I was determined to enjoy and sample, but not overdose on. I didn't. I love being able to sample and enjoy without filling up on one or two things; thankfully, so does the bride!

Below, my 'artsy' photo of wedding 'schtuff' I had accumulated by the reception: wedding program, scarf, lei, bouquet, and clutch.

And lastly, here is me seeing things through rose-colored glasses. I saw this lone red-boa feather on the sidewalk outside work a couple days after returning to DC, and it reminded me of the great time all the guests had playing with the costumes and photo booth at the wedding reception.

Conclusions:

1) What one chooses to see in life is one's life.

2) When one selects good people to surround oneself, one is encouraged to be a good person.

Also, with Mardi Gras and Ash Wednesday following quickly on the heels of the wedding, I was encouraged to reflect on how not to return to the previous destructive behaviors. I came up with the Conclusions above. And songs like this help.

Scottishness and savory scones

2011-03-12T09:45:00.000-05:00

I was on a Scottish jag last week- listening to Scottish folk songs, reading a great travel writing book about Scotland, rereading a romance that takes place in the Scottish Highlands, and finally, making Scottish shortbread.
So, to the shortbread. [Unless you're interested in the links above? Let me know :-)]

The recipe I used was for Sharp Cheddar Scottish Shortbread from Jana at Cherry Tea Cakes, a fellow DC food blogger who has some very entertaining stories and a lot of energy to devote to cooking up fabulous creations. I ended up at this recipe (you do know that I search and search, looking for the exact right fit for my mood, right?) because I had the task of making something for book club that 1) was savory, since others claimed they would bring sweets, and 2) was Scottish or Indian, since those were the two ethnic backgrounds tapped into for the book we had read, Arthur & George, by Julian Barnes. (It was a very interesting book, and I can't spoil the ending, but I learned a lot about British history reading it.) By the way, I ended up not needing to find a savory recipe, as 3 people cancelled on the day of due to RAIN. It's rain, people. Unless you are this creature, you should not let it deter you.

Anyway, the biscuits, while being quite fragile, were very tasty. I mean, how can you go wrong with cheese and butter, right? They were really crumbly before baking, which is why I had to abandon any hope of rolling out and go for slice-a-log approach, and they were very crumbly after baking, since I had to slide them warm into plastic bags and slog through the rain to ~~Grandmother~~'s Elyse's house in Columbia Heights. But they were still delicious!

Feel free to assail me with recommendations on how to improve that crumbly-ness. :-)

Lesher Scottish Shortbread (adapted from Sharp Cheddar Scottish Shortbread by Cherry Tea Cakes)

1/2 cup salted butter (left out to reach room temperature)

good pinch salt

1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper

Pinch of cayenne pepper

7 ounces Lesher cheese, grated

1 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Using ~~electric mixer fitted with paddle attachment~~ good old elbow grease, beat together softened butter, salt, black pepper, and cayenne until blended (take as many breaks as your arms need- and switch arms for coordination skillz!). Add cheese and flour and mash some more until it looks like it could almost be called a dough. Press dough into disk (wet a little with a tsp of water if needed to stick together), wrap in plastic wrap and chill for half an hour.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line 2 large baking sheets with parchment paper.

~~On lightly floured surface, roll out dough to 1/4-inch-thick round.~~ ~~Using 1 1/2 round cutter, cut out rounds and arrange 1 1/2 inches apart on baking sheets.~~ Mold dough into a long block, as if you are a sushi chef. Try for a squarish log of about 12 inches. Slice off to form shortbread squares and place on papered pans.

Bake until lightly golden and beginning to brown on edges, about 9 to 11 minutes, turning once. Cool on sheets.

This Week Recap(tured)

2011-03-06T09:40:00.000-05:00

Hey All!

So I've had some downs in the past few weeks, feeling those ol' blues again. And they had a different feeling, a kind of 'I know this isn't based on anything specific, so I have to just try to wait it out" feeling, which doesn't do much when you are feeling powerless in general. I also started binge-eating, a new and not-good symptom. (Since when do I buy Hershey bars? That chocolate is half plastic!) Symptom of what? I'm trying to figure it out.
The icky feelings have mostly receded this week though (O Happy Day), thanks to a sick day on Friday.
Here was my attempt at getting out of the hole I'd dug on Wednesday evening:

It was a super simple recipe, which I'd settled on by searching lemon + pasta on supercook, a good website for inspiration, if not for the exact recipe you use. You plug in ingredients and it gives you possible recipes you can make from a number of cooking sites it searches for you- perfect! Just buyer, beware, it doesn't quality-test some of the search results...
I took this MS recipe (I don't like giving her name any more currency) as a base, and did what I wanted with it: no whole wheat spaghetti, but semolina linguine should work; parsley on the windowsill (first cut!) but not 1/4 c- oh well. It was kind of exciting to use parsley cuttings from the windowsill kit I got from Mom. :-) The parsley and chives seem to be acclimating, but sadly not the basil. It might be a little cold around here, even in a plastic greenhouse.

Fast forward to Saturday morning: I'd had the Friday to myself, I'd gotten a haircut (a real one!), and I was feeling better, more committed to getting back on track. I had Pink Lady apples wrinkling in the crisper, so I decided to make a fruit compote for breakfast, throwing in some chopped prunes (a la francaise), brown sugar, butter, 5-spice powder, cinnamon, and fennel seeds (My own improvisation, no recipe). You may deduce from the fact there is no picture that it went fast. But don't worry, it was enjoyed thoughtfully in two servings.

Next adventure: biscuits yesterday. I amassed a few potential recipes for something to bring to Book Club on Sunday, but reading through found that one of my frontrunners, Irish-American Sodabread Scones, should be made day-of because they get very dense and rock-ish after that. But I wanted to BAKE Saturday morning. So I made these Buttermilk Cheddar Jack Biscuits from the DC blog Cherry Tea Cakes.


Buttermilk Parmesan Biscuits

There they are, resting on our Book for February (we were a little late getting together on a date to meet), Arthur and George. Pretty good. I am looking forward to the discussion.
As always, I adapted: substituted 1/3 whole wheat flour, exchanged cheddar jack for parmesan (apparently the only cheese that does not go bad, and therefore I have 4 varieties of it still on my fridge shelf). I had one and a half of these before a dance class in the afternoon (which was great fun and had a great instructor), which is why for dinner you see one and a half below. Not a mouse. Just me.

The biscuits were joined on the plate by various leftovers cleverly (if I do say so myself) combined with others: spaghetti squash and beans (from the cinnamon-spiced red-and-black beans from the party, and I hope leftovers that last like that don't gross anyone out, ahem, Eileen) and the last lettuce leaves of a greenleaf head mixed with some bagged herb salad from TJs, tossed with homemade vinaigrette. It felt like the perfect proportions for what I needed.
Here's to recapturing more of what I need in the weeks ahead!

Vision Collage Party

2011-02-13T19:30:00.001-05:00

It was a lovely party.

Unfortunately, I didn't take any photos.

I was able to do the beans beforehand (see left for soaking additives), and season and start the pork beforehand (see below for spices), but the food, and the dishes, and the art supplies, and the people, and getting the door, ... I didn't get to take any photos. My friend Juan did, but I don't know if he'll share them...

The party theme was creating your own Vision Collage. I borrowed the idea from Melia, whose blog is basically a documented case of Realizing One's Vision- an amazing journey, and now preparing for a new phase (sidenote: yay!).

annatto, coriander, 5-spice, cinnamon, cayenne, pepper, salt, cilantro, chili

The idea is this: set aside some time for thinking about what you want from this year. [It's February, so I got a late start, but that's not important- any chunk of manageable time is fine.] Get a bunch of arts and crafts supplies, some food for sustenance, drinks for those who need that kind of sustenance, and gab or reflect, whichever you prefer, while the group steadily goes through dozens of magazines, looking for words, colors, images that catch their eye, draw their attention, and speak to them in some way. Cut these out. Get a god pile going. When you come to a natural break (did somebody say 'dessert'?), look at your pile and see if if there is a theme, an overarching focus that your sub-conscious mind is handing to you. Stick it on the base-paper (after dessert, of course) however it strikes your fancy. If you're comfortable with the people at your party, share what you think it means, and what you will do about it. Proceed through the year, and who knows, maybe you'll collect $200?

Oh, and the menu this time? Pork shoulder with spices (above), bean-tomato stew (above, sort of taken from this recipe), baked sweet potatoes, asian-spiced bok choy, green salad. Dessert and wine were brought by guests, which resulted in a euphoric state of cupcakitude! And brownies, and pound cake, and pie... a sweet ending.

Mini-Bundt Beauty

2011-01-31T07:50:00.000-05:00

I love that scene in My Big Fat Greek Wedding where the Greek mother is trying to get her mouth around "Bundt cake." And I suppose I share a feeling of Bundt cakes being foreign, since I don't own a Bundt pan, and I have no idea where that Teutonic appellation originated. Oh, wait, I have the internet at my fingertips. Still, for a long time, my banana breads have been confined to loaf pans, those humble and useful servants.
But last summer I found a beautiful purveyor or ceramics. His name is Terence Tessem, of Tessem Stoneware. I can't link to a page because he doesn't have one! I imagine him holed up in a cold drafty barn of a studio in rural Pennsylvania, emerging only to follow the Renaissance Faires during the summer months. At any rate, I bought a mini-Bundt pan and a utensil-dryer. Fanciful, you say? Not practical, I hear? Not so!

I've used the utensil-dryer since last fall, and it's a tidy way of drying silverware that leaves more counter space for other dishes drying. Excellent. And pretty too.
But the the bundt has been a little harder to sell. Sitting on the bookshelf, it looked pretty, but it also got dusty. FINALLY, today, I saw my chance. I had bananas to use up, searched my Google Reader for banana cake, and presto!- Banana Espresso Coffeecake with Chocolate Chips. I figured I could halve the recipe and use my dish and end in some deliciousness. Actually, half her batter yielded two of my-size cakes! Woo-hoo! And they are delicious, just like the normal banana bread recipe I use, but in a fun shape.
Alterations for my version:

didn't have milk, used a dollop of greek yogurt and water
didn't use the glaze
halving the recipe led to a time of 36 minutes for the first crop and 34 minutes for the second (slightly less batter)

Enjoy!

Sicilian Sardines a la Squire, Squire, Hackham, and Dudley

2011-01-17T14:25:00.001-05:00

I've done it again! My crazy mix of organizing recipes via Google Reader, an email folder, a web browser folder of bookmarks, and scattered among a few dozen cookbooks and a scrap recipe book-- the system has produced a completely new recipe!
Or at least a recipe that I didn't get from someone else. I used Mark Bittman's broiled sardines as an inspiration (SARDINES! APOCALYPSE!) and looked to an old favorite from Pink of Perfection: Sweet and Spicy Cauliflower Penne, which turned out to have anchovies, not sardines. And Bittman's had fresh sardines, not canned ones like I had in the pantry. So on to Bittman number two: Sardines with Bread Crumbs and Parsley. But I don't kep parsley around and my window plant is not healthy enough for a harvest. Are we seeing a pattern here?
Anyway. Sardines. Mark says that his Bread Crumbs and Parsley dish is Sicilian. I think I will call everything I make with sardines "Sicilian." Sounds better, right? Squire, Squire, 'Ackham, and 'old on!
And, wonder of wonders, I made a pasta dish without garlic- incredible, I know, but TRUE.
Here's my list of of what went in, in the order it went in:
olive oil, sourdough bread crumbs
olive oil, onion, salt n pepa, white wine, lemon zest, canned tomatoes, mustarded sardines (from World Market)
macaroni noodles

Now for a special challenge, try to make it from there! :-)