When I am not madly trying to stain 20 slides with 3 different stains all at once I will tell you all about the wonderful time I had Saturday afternoon at Ramekins cooking school in Sonoma, learning how to be a master sushi chef. It was an amazing class so I just wanted to put it out there in the foodblogworld - if you want to take a cooking class or buy somebody a cooking class as a gift, go to Ramekins!!
Website here.
Monday, June 27, 2005
Wednesday, June 15, 2005
Twinkies and cupcakes. Yum!
A long time ago I brought this "sushi" to a party. It was damn good. Yes, it is made out of twinkies. I love twinkies.
Last night I ate an amazing cupcake. A guy in my lab got married recently, and his mother-in-law made the wedding cupcakes. She made lots of test cupcakes and we were the lucky recipients of the extras. Unfortunately, I was on phase 1 of the south beach diet at that time, so those cupcakes were taunting me. They smelled amazing - and looked even yummier! White cupcakes with flecks of vanilla bean throughout, with a sweet glaze. Instead of caving in, I took one home and put it in my freezer to enjoy at a later time. Last night I needed a midnight snack so I defrosted it and gobbled it up. Yum. I think I will have cupcakes at my (hypothetical) wedding.
A few years ago I was wandering aorund Manhattan with my friend Jon (of stinky tofu fame) and he took me to the Buttercup Bake Shop. I think. I had an amazing banana pudding and we split a piece of hummingbird cake. Last summer I wanted to go back, but got confused and ended up at the Magnolia Bakery instead. I had the banana pudding (which seemed too sweet) and decided to try one of their famous cupcakes. I was disappointed. Maybe because of all the hype? The cupcake was a little on the dry side, and didn't have a significant flavor. And everybody gushes over the frosting, but really - you can do that yourself at home with some butter and powdered sugar. I consider something gush-worthy when even though the ingredients are simple, I'm pretty sure they put crack or something in there. Like the butter you get with your basket of bread at Ti Couz - pretty sure they put crack in it. I was eating that stuff by itself. Maybe I was just in a butter phase. But then our crepes came and I'm pretty sure they put crack in those too. I loved them so much I made crepes for breakfast the very next morning. I tried out the apple salsa recipe from the 101 Cookbooks site and it was really excellent with my ham and cheese crepe. The recipe works well with almonds as well - I didn't have walnuts.
No, I'm not on crack. It may seem that way because my post is so disjointed. I guess I just wanted to share my love for cupcakes. And the crepes at Ti Couz.
Wednesday, June 01, 2005
I need this cookie....
This past weekend I went to Boston for my cousin's wedding. This was the first time I've flown United as a revenue passenger - my mom works for United and until I turned 25, I was able to fly standby for a small fee. But they don't let you do that once you get too old (bah!) so I had to buy a ticket.
I've been flying standby my whole life, and there are pretty strict rules as to how it works, so I was pretty excited for this flight. I got to wear jeans. And sneakers. This is very exciting when you're used to an 11-hour flight wearing dress pants, pantyhose, and heels. And I got to order a special meal. Not that I'm vegetarian, diabetic, have high cholesterol, or keep kosher, but it was exciting to be *able* to order a special meal. So I ordered a diabetic meal because I'm trying to cut down on sugar anyway.
With the meal there was a pre-packaged vegan chocolate chip cookie. Normally I scoff at vegan products because, well, I like meat and cheese. But I'll try any kind of cookie, and I have to say, it was hands-down the best cookie, vegan or non, that I have eaten ever. It was really moist and cinnamony, and the chocolate chips were the perfect consistency. It was also made with whole wheat flour, so I didn't feel guilty eating it. So I saved the wrapper in order to find the cookie at home and then buy a whole case or something. I googled "Miyoko's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie" and to my utter dismay came up with only 3 websites, two of which were press releases for something called an UnTurkey. After a little bit more investigation I found a phone number to call and beg for a place to find this cookie. It turns out they don't sell them to the public and only make them for airlines. "Thanks for you feedback though, I'm glad you enjoyed the cookie!" said the woman on the other line. Hmph. Yeah, I enjoyed the cookie. But if I knew it would be my frickin' *last one ever* - grrrrr.
I've been flying standby my whole life, and there are pretty strict rules as to how it works, so I was pretty excited for this flight. I got to wear jeans. And sneakers. This is very exciting when you're used to an 11-hour flight wearing dress pants, pantyhose, and heels. And I got to order a special meal. Not that I'm vegetarian, diabetic, have high cholesterol, or keep kosher, but it was exciting to be *able* to order a special meal. So I ordered a diabetic meal because I'm trying to cut down on sugar anyway.
With the meal there was a pre-packaged vegan chocolate chip cookie. Normally I scoff at vegan products because, well, I like meat and cheese. But I'll try any kind of cookie, and I have to say, it was hands-down the best cookie, vegan or non, that I have eaten ever. It was really moist and cinnamony, and the chocolate chips were the perfect consistency. It was also made with whole wheat flour, so I didn't feel guilty eating it. So I saved the wrapper in order to find the cookie at home and then buy a whole case or something. I googled "Miyoko's Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookie" and to my utter dismay came up with only 3 websites, two of which were press releases for something called an UnTurkey. After a little bit more investigation I found a phone number to call and beg for a place to find this cookie. It turns out they don't sell them to the public and only make them for airlines. "Thanks for you feedback though, I'm glad you enjoyed the cookie!" said the woman on the other line. Hmph. Yeah, I enjoyed the cookie. But if I knew it would be my frickin' *last one ever* - grrrrr.
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Am I a prude because the Paris Hilton Carl's Jr commercial made me blush?
This morning on the radio some people called in to say how they were offended by the Carl's Jr. commercial featuring Paris Hilton making love to a car, a hose, and then the Six Dollar Spicy BBQ Burger.
Yes, the commercial is overtly sexual, but that's not what offends me. I just don't think a major chunk of a company's advertising budget should be spent trying to push a 1,000 calorie hamburger with 62 grams of fat (25 of which are saturated fat - ew!) on impressionable young people.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not one of those people who think that it is entirely McDonald's fault for making people fat and unhealthy. Hey now, you chose to eat the Big Mac and super-sized fries every day - don't go suing McDonald's like they put a gun to your head and *made* you eat that stuff.
You know how celebrities are always saying they won't wear fur, or smoke cigarettes in movies because they want to "raise awareness" about issues like wearing fur and lung cancer? I wonder if it will ever come to the point where the fast food industry has really messed with us (today it's Paris Hilton throwing herself at us so we'll eat her burger, tomorrow it's heroin in the happy meals) that celebrities will refuse to eat potato chips on screen to raise awareness (or protest) trans-fatty acids and high cholesterol.
I understand that it's not in a fast-food company's financial interest to make the food healthier. Grade D ground beef is undoubtedly much cheaper than 95% lean ground sirloin. But you know, I would gladly pay an extra $2 or $3 for something healthier, and I feel like that should be fast food's new marketing strategy. Just because it's convenient and fast doesn't mean it has to clog your arteries. You're paying for quality and convenience. This is coming from a poor grad student who technically should be subsisting on cup ramen and mac and cheese - you only have one body, you might as well pay a little extra to feed it right so that you're around for the next 50 years...
Yes, the commercial is overtly sexual, but that's not what offends me. I just don't think a major chunk of a company's advertising budget should be spent trying to push a 1,000 calorie hamburger with 62 grams of fat (25 of which are saturated fat - ew!) on impressionable young people.
Don't get me wrong - I'm not one of those people who think that it is entirely McDonald's fault for making people fat and unhealthy. Hey now, you chose to eat the Big Mac and super-sized fries every day - don't go suing McDonald's like they put a gun to your head and *made* you eat that stuff.
You know how celebrities are always saying they won't wear fur, or smoke cigarettes in movies because they want to "raise awareness" about issues like wearing fur and lung cancer? I wonder if it will ever come to the point where the fast food industry has really messed with us (today it's Paris Hilton throwing herself at us so we'll eat her burger, tomorrow it's heroin in the happy meals) that celebrities will refuse to eat potato chips on screen to raise awareness (or protest) trans-fatty acids and high cholesterol.
I understand that it's not in a fast-food company's financial interest to make the food healthier. Grade D ground beef is undoubtedly much cheaper than 95% lean ground sirloin. But you know, I would gladly pay an extra $2 or $3 for something healthier, and I feel like that should be fast food's new marketing strategy. Just because it's convenient and fast doesn't mean it has to clog your arteries. You're paying for quality and convenience. This is coming from a poor grad student who technically should be subsisting on cup ramen and mac and cheese - you only have one body, you might as well pay a little extra to feed it right so that you're around for the next 50 years...
Friday, May 20, 2005
Fruity Panna Cotta Stacks
About a month ago I bought a box of Knox gelatin envelopes, thinking that one day I might try to make panna cotta. Then I found out that this month's IMBB event involves all things jelled - I took it as a sign that I should actually attempt this and put myself out there in the food blogging public domain. :)
As a starchmouse, I feel incomplete when a dessert doesn't have some sort of floury/cookie/cakey-type component to it. And I didn't want to just serve cookies alongside the panna cotta (I made this for my mother's birthday) but I wanted to make the dessert look "fancy." I toyed with making a three-layer panna cotta, but chilling the individual layers would take so long. Then I thought about putting something solid in between the layers, but it would probably get soggy in the chilling process. Voila! Cookie layers!
I have to warn you - since my mom is on the South Beach diet, I had to make some substitutions. I'm writing down the recipe I *would* have used, but if you would also like to make a sugar-free, low-fat version, just substitute Splenda for the sugar and evaporated skim milk for the cream.
Buttermilk Panna Cotta:
1 cup strawberries
1 cup blackberries
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 packets gelatin (1/2 oz total)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest
1. Blend strawberries with 1/2 cup buttermilk. Do the same for the blackberries and set aside for later.
2. Sprinkle both packets of gelatin over the water to soften and set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
3. Heat cream, sugar, and vanilla over medium heat until hot. Take off heat and whisk in gelatin (which at this point, will be a solid gross-looking mass) until dissolved.
4. Over a medium bowl, pour strawberry mixture and 1/2 cup of cream-gelatin mixture into a sieve. Strain, then set aside. Repeat for blackberry mixture. With the remaining 1/2 cup of cream-gelatin mixture, whisk in 1/2 cup buttermilk and orange zest.
5. Pour mixtures into molds - I was able to get 2 heart-shaped 6 oz molds out of each component, for a total of 6.
6. Chill for 8 hours. Resist all temptation to stick it in the freezer to speed up the jelling process - you'll get a watery instead of creamy consistency. Not that I'm speaking from experience. :/
The individual flavors, pre-chilling. Aren't the colors pretty?
The assembly was a little tricky, since the panna cotta did *not* want to come out as a complete heart shape at all. So I had to fiddle a bit and it didn't turn out as pretty as I wanted. :( But it sure was yummy. I used an almond orange lace cookie recipe I found on Epicurious. I fiddled with it to make it South Beach-friendly for my mom, and it kinda turned out to be a disaster. I was a little nervous about the dough because it looked like a greasy, goopy mess. So I added more flour. Whoops. Not the way to go. It didn't spread out to make a nice and thin lacy cookie. But the orange flavor of the cookie went really well with the different panna cotta flavors.
The round-up of all the entries can be found here. So many entries! Next time I'll make sure my entry is aesthetically up to snuff. :)
As a starchmouse, I feel incomplete when a dessert doesn't have some sort of floury/cookie/cakey-type component to it. And I didn't want to just serve cookies alongside the panna cotta (I made this for my mother's birthday) but I wanted to make the dessert look "fancy." I toyed with making a three-layer panna cotta, but chilling the individual layers would take so long. Then I thought about putting something solid in between the layers, but it would probably get soggy in the chilling process. Voila! Cookie layers!
I have to warn you - since my mom is on the South Beach diet, I had to make some substitutions. I'm writing down the recipe I *would* have used, but if you would also like to make a sugar-free, low-fat version, just substitute Splenda for the sugar and evaporated skim milk for the cream.
Buttermilk Panna Cotta:
1 cup strawberries
1 cup blackberries
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
2 packets gelatin (1/2 oz total)
1/4 cup water
1 1/2 cups cream
2/3 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp orange zest
1. Blend strawberries with 1/2 cup buttermilk. Do the same for the blackberries and set aside for later.
2. Sprinkle both packets of gelatin over the water to soften and set aside while preparing the rest of the ingredients.
3. Heat cream, sugar, and vanilla over medium heat until hot. Take off heat and whisk in gelatin (which at this point, will be a solid gross-looking mass) until dissolved.
4. Over a medium bowl, pour strawberry mixture and 1/2 cup of cream-gelatin mixture into a sieve. Strain, then set aside. Repeat for blackberry mixture. With the remaining 1/2 cup of cream-gelatin mixture, whisk in 1/2 cup buttermilk and orange zest.
5. Pour mixtures into molds - I was able to get 2 heart-shaped 6 oz molds out of each component, for a total of 6.
6. Chill for 8 hours. Resist all temptation to stick it in the freezer to speed up the jelling process - you'll get a watery instead of creamy consistency. Not that I'm speaking from experience. :/
The individual flavors, pre-chilling. Aren't the colors pretty?
The assembly was a little tricky, since the panna cotta did *not* want to come out as a complete heart shape at all. So I had to fiddle a bit and it didn't turn out as pretty as I wanted. :( But it sure was yummy. I used an almond orange lace cookie recipe I found on Epicurious. I fiddled with it to make it South Beach-friendly for my mom, and it kinda turned out to be a disaster. I was a little nervous about the dough because it looked like a greasy, goopy mess. So I added more flour. Whoops. Not the way to go. It didn't spread out to make a nice and thin lacy cookie. But the orange flavor of the cookie went really well with the different panna cotta flavors.
The round-up of all the entries can be found here. So many entries! Next time I'll make sure my entry is aesthetically up to snuff. :)
Thursday, May 19, 2005
I heart San Sebastian
About a gazillion years ago I went to Bordeaux and San Sebastian. Okay, it was really in March. My dad had a business trip in Bordeaux, and my mom works for United Airlines. Together, this adds up to a weekend in France! My dad rented a car so we drove down to San Sebastian.
On the way we stopped in Biarritz, an ocean town "exposed to the sea breeze, nestling in the Bay of Biscay." (Loosely translated from the website.) We looked at the pretty pretty water, then ate salad.
Looks yummy, right? But the real eating began in San Sebastian, later that night. My parents and I wandered around Parte Vieja, a mostly pedestrian area full of bars. We don't speak any spanish, and I doubted my german would get us very far, so mostly we pointed. We discovered you just go to a bar, drink a little, eat a little, settle your bill, then walk on to the next bar. Mercifully, they pour small drinks, or else after three places my vision would have been this blurry:
I guess as it was, I *did* have a lot to drink! I think there were some people celebrating something because a whole parade of people were walking around, shouting some songs and banging their drums. Or maybe that's just a typical night.
We started at Bar Astelena:
These were heavenly. I was really never a big fan of anchovies, but they weren't too salty! Next, we tried some cooked pintxos:
Luckily, somebody told us that we were to grab a plate of what we wanted and the kitchen would cook it for us, or else we would have been eating raw scallops! The other things we really couldn't figure out exactly what they were, but they were deep-fried and had meat inside, so we were happy.
After that, we went to a couple other places, where we had a yummy marinated squid salad and a block of manchego the size of my head, as well as some more anchovies - wrapped around garlic, around olives, on toast...you get the picture. Stuffed, we headed back to our hotel...and the next few weeks were spent lamenting the fact that San Francisco doesn't have it's own Parte Vieja where I can stumble around, drinking tiny drinks and eating fabulous food without going broke. :)
We drove back to Bordeaux the next day, picked up my brother at the train station, then went to do some serious gastronomic damage. My mother and I tackled a skate filet with a yummy caper sauce and my dad and brother had manly meat. Together, we had an entire bottle of wine - a major accomplishment considering I'm drunk after half a glass, my mom will only have a couple of sips, and brother isn't even 21 yet. I was a little tipsy walking back to the hotel and my family laughed at me as I wobbled around.
I'm still full thinking of all the caneles and croissants I ate! And can I just say how much I love escargot? Yum. We talked to a lot of locals (very friendly people in Bordeaux!!) who loved the fact that we were from San Francisco - "ah yes! San Francisco! Relaxed like here in Bordeaux, not crazy like New York and Paris!" Except all said in a french accent. :)
Other pictures from that trip are here.
On the way we stopped in Biarritz, an ocean town "exposed to the sea breeze, nestling in the Bay of Biscay." (Loosely translated from the website.) We looked at the pretty pretty water, then ate salad.
Looks yummy, right? But the real eating began in San Sebastian, later that night. My parents and I wandered around Parte Vieja, a mostly pedestrian area full of bars. We don't speak any spanish, and I doubted my german would get us very far, so mostly we pointed. We discovered you just go to a bar, drink a little, eat a little, settle your bill, then walk on to the next bar. Mercifully, they pour small drinks, or else after three places my vision would have been this blurry:
I guess as it was, I *did* have a lot to drink! I think there were some people celebrating something because a whole parade of people were walking around, shouting some songs and banging their drums. Or maybe that's just a typical night.
We started at Bar Astelena:
These were heavenly. I was really never a big fan of anchovies, but they weren't too salty! Next, we tried some cooked pintxos:
Luckily, somebody told us that we were to grab a plate of what we wanted and the kitchen would cook it for us, or else we would have been eating raw scallops! The other things we really couldn't figure out exactly what they were, but they were deep-fried and had meat inside, so we were happy.
After that, we went to a couple other places, where we had a yummy marinated squid salad and a block of manchego the size of my head, as well as some more anchovies - wrapped around garlic, around olives, on toast...you get the picture. Stuffed, we headed back to our hotel...and the next few weeks were spent lamenting the fact that San Francisco doesn't have it's own Parte Vieja where I can stumble around, drinking tiny drinks and eating fabulous food without going broke. :)
We drove back to Bordeaux the next day, picked up my brother at the train station, then went to do some serious gastronomic damage. My mother and I tackled a skate filet with a yummy caper sauce and my dad and brother had manly meat. Together, we had an entire bottle of wine - a major accomplishment considering I'm drunk after half a glass, my mom will only have a couple of sips, and brother isn't even 21 yet. I was a little tipsy walking back to the hotel and my family laughed at me as I wobbled around.
I'm still full thinking of all the caneles and croissants I ate! And can I just say how much I love escargot? Yum. We talked to a lot of locals (very friendly people in Bordeaux!!) who loved the fact that we were from San Francisco - "ah yes! San Francisco! Relaxed like here in Bordeaux, not crazy like New York and Paris!" Except all said in a french accent. :)
Other pictures from that trip are here.
Friday, April 29, 2005
Passover and the South Beach Diet
Every year Rich observes Passover, which means he spends ten days not eating bread, grains, products with corn by-products, and not drinking beer! (On a side note, he'll eat shrimp, which is not even kosher, but I've given up why he'll eat this but not the whole wheat matzoh that is marked "not for Passover use." Hmph.) I figured this would be a perfect time for me to start the South Beach diet. We'll spend an almost equal amount of time being restricted by what we can't eat, and since Rich can't go on the diet with me for moral support because if he lost any weight he'd disappear, this will be the closest to moral support I will get.
Most days, I don't let outside factors hinder my ability to enjoy food. My lack of money, for instance. True, I can't go out to restaurants every night, but I can try to cook something yummy at home. And I definitely make cooking a priority - when I was weighing new clothes over a food processor, the food processor won. Other days, however, I realize I can't just eat whatever I want with reckless abandon. And it is reckless - I'm not the girl who can just savor a small sliver of tart, I have several slivers. I can't just have a normal portion of manchego, I have three thick slices. Maybe I was always like this but my metabolism just kept up. But lately it's rebelling. After I ran a marathon last August, I noticed that I had suddenly gained 10 pounds. And several inches around my belly.
I can't just cut back my food and start exercising more - I need structure. So I enrolled in a 6:30am boot camp and borrowed my mom's SBD book and prepared myself for two weeks of no bread and fruit and sugar (wah!!!) My friend said "You love food! How could you just go on a diet that won't let you eat bread??" And I haven't figured that out yet. I think it's because as a starchmouse, I'm controlled by my need for bread and sugar. And I'd like to get to the point where I truly enjoy it, but don't need a "fix." And when I go to my cousin's wedding in May, I would like for the first words out of all my aunt and uncle's mouths to not be "you gained weight!" Koreans have a habit of pointing this out first before saying hello.
Anyways, it's been 6 days since I've started, and I'm pleasantly surprised that I haven't been climbing the walls for bread. I did have a huge sugar craving the other day - I caved in and had some sugar-free frozen yogurt. Ew. I'm definitely eating more veggies than before, but the amount of protein and low-fat cheese I'm consuming is mildly freaking me out.
My last meal before the diet was at Passover Seder. So much food! Rich and I spent 6 hours in the kitchen tending to the brisket...
What a ridiculously fatty cut of meat! I wish we had had more time - we made about 10 pounds, and I think only 6 of those pounds turned out truly tender.
Mike on the other hand, spent four hours brining his turkey and then eight hours drying it out before he roasted it, and it was spectacular...
More pictures here.
Most days, I don't let outside factors hinder my ability to enjoy food. My lack of money, for instance. True, I can't go out to restaurants every night, but I can try to cook something yummy at home. And I definitely make cooking a priority - when I was weighing new clothes over a food processor, the food processor won. Other days, however, I realize I can't just eat whatever I want with reckless abandon. And it is reckless - I'm not the girl who can just savor a small sliver of tart, I have several slivers. I can't just have a normal portion of manchego, I have three thick slices. Maybe I was always like this but my metabolism just kept up. But lately it's rebelling. After I ran a marathon last August, I noticed that I had suddenly gained 10 pounds. And several inches around my belly.
I can't just cut back my food and start exercising more - I need structure. So I enrolled in a 6:30am boot camp and borrowed my mom's SBD book and prepared myself for two weeks of no bread and fruit and sugar (wah!!!) My friend said "You love food! How could you just go on a diet that won't let you eat bread??" And I haven't figured that out yet. I think it's because as a starchmouse, I'm controlled by my need for bread and sugar. And I'd like to get to the point where I truly enjoy it, but don't need a "fix." And when I go to my cousin's wedding in May, I would like for the first words out of all my aunt and uncle's mouths to not be "you gained weight!" Koreans have a habit of pointing this out first before saying hello.
Anyways, it's been 6 days since I've started, and I'm pleasantly surprised that I haven't been climbing the walls for bread. I did have a huge sugar craving the other day - I caved in and had some sugar-free frozen yogurt. Ew. I'm definitely eating more veggies than before, but the amount of protein and low-fat cheese I'm consuming is mildly freaking me out.
My last meal before the diet was at Passover Seder. So much food! Rich and I spent 6 hours in the kitchen tending to the brisket...
What a ridiculously fatty cut of meat! I wish we had had more time - we made about 10 pounds, and I think only 6 of those pounds turned out truly tender.
Mike on the other hand, spent four hours brining his turkey and then eight hours drying it out before he roasted it, and it was spectacular...
More pictures here.
Monday, April 18, 2005
Below (in backwards order) are pictures of the birthday dinner Rich made me. I did not lift one finger in the kitchen! And it actually turned out very yummy :) Upon perusing his (I think only) cookbook, titled "Clueless in the Kitchen," he decided to make me a stuffed pepper kind of dish. It turned into peppers stuffed with cous cous, turkey, and tomato sauce. It was very very good...and look at the vegetables! All my harping about eating more veggies is beginning to stick, I think.
Wednesday, April 13, 2005
Hmm....
...Rich is going to cook me dinner for my birthday tonight.
When I first met him, he didn't cook much. Mostly he ate out, and if he did make something at home, it was simple, like pasta. A big night of cooking for him was putting some chicken in BBQ sauce and sticking it in the oven, along with some frozen fries. I quickly tried to put a stop to that. As grad students, we can't afford to eat out almost every night. And although he has a high tolerance for eating the same thing meal after meal, I definitely don't. So we tried cooking together.
In the beginning, "cooking together" meant I would tell Rich to saute something, he would say "I don't know how," then I would say (all annoyed) "you just stir the damn stuff in the pan, how hard is that?" To his credit, he wanted to try hard, it was just easier and faster for both of us if I did the work. And when I did teach him to do something, like saute and chop/dice and roast, he wouldn't do it often enough that it would stick, so he'd have to learn all over again.
We realized this pattern of me buying groceries and cooking for him couldn't continue. I was getting cranky from having to buy 3x what I would normally buy because he eats so much more than I do, and he was annoyed because I wasn't letting him help me at all, but would still get mad at him for not helping.
We made a plan - each week we would make dinner twice together. We would plan together, go grocery shopping together, and cook together. We made this plan maybe a month and a half ago, yet we've really only carried it out in full (from planning->shopping->cooking) once. Things happen, people get busy - I guess we just underestimated how much effort this venture would take.
Today he is actually going to take a half day off work (this guy doesn't take off work for *anything*) so that he will have enough time to think of what to make, buy the ingredients, and put it all together. Awww, what a big sweetie. I've always believed that anybody can cook, especially engineers! I mean, all day we come up with ways to solve problems. Sometimes with guidance, sometimes by the seat of our pants. So we should be able to follow recipes, right? I'm sure he'll be pleasantly surprised at how simple cooking can be - and therefore more willing to cook more often with me :) Oooh, I hope he remembers to make cake....
When I first met him, he didn't cook much. Mostly he ate out, and if he did make something at home, it was simple, like pasta. A big night of cooking for him was putting some chicken in BBQ sauce and sticking it in the oven, along with some frozen fries. I quickly tried to put a stop to that. As grad students, we can't afford to eat out almost every night. And although he has a high tolerance for eating the same thing meal after meal, I definitely don't. So we tried cooking together.
In the beginning, "cooking together" meant I would tell Rich to saute something, he would say "I don't know how," then I would say (all annoyed) "you just stir the damn stuff in the pan, how hard is that?" To his credit, he wanted to try hard, it was just easier and faster for both of us if I did the work. And when I did teach him to do something, like saute and chop/dice and roast, he wouldn't do it often enough that it would stick, so he'd have to learn all over again.
We realized this pattern of me buying groceries and cooking for him couldn't continue. I was getting cranky from having to buy 3x what I would normally buy because he eats so much more than I do, and he was annoyed because I wasn't letting him help me at all, but would still get mad at him for not helping.
We made a plan - each week we would make dinner twice together. We would plan together, go grocery shopping together, and cook together. We made this plan maybe a month and a half ago, yet we've really only carried it out in full (from planning->shopping->cooking) once. Things happen, people get busy - I guess we just underestimated how much effort this venture would take.
Today he is actually going to take a half day off work (this guy doesn't take off work for *anything*) so that he will have enough time to think of what to make, buy the ingredients, and put it all together. Awww, what a big sweetie. I've always believed that anybody can cook, especially engineers! I mean, all day we come up with ways to solve problems. Sometimes with guidance, sometimes by the seat of our pants. So we should be able to follow recipes, right? I'm sure he'll be pleasantly surprised at how simple cooking can be - and therefore more willing to cook more often with me :) Oooh, I hope he remembers to make cake....
Tuesday, April 12, 2005
sniffle sniffle hack hack
The yummy-sounding title alludes to the fact that I have been sick since Friday and *still* feel like death on a stick. I also went to Las Vegas this weekend (the trip was already paid for - I couldn't *not* go!) so that probably didn't help. More on that trip soon, when I remember to bring in my camera and upload pictures. Although the only food-related picture I have is of the 20 desserts we ate at the Bellagio Champagne Brunch. I still feel weird popping out my camera in the middle of a restaurant to take pictures of the plates, which is too bad because we had this amazing seafood starter at the Eiffel Tower restaurant. It's Tuesday and I'm still full from the Bellagio brunch. Oy.
Wednesday, April 06, 2005
Spices!
"I think you'll like it, once you get over the fact that it smells like gym socks."
Hmm. This is what my college buddy Jon said to me when he was in town last week. We were meeting one of his friends at Spices! II for dinner later that night, and he was hoping they'd have stinky tofu. Yup, stinky tofu.
Jon is the only jewish boy from Long Island I know who has a master's in Chinese and has eaten zebra. He has the same reaction to certain foods that I do (excited bouncing up and down) so I usually will eat anything he likes without hesitation. But gym socks??
Spices! II, unfortunately, did not have stinky tofu, but if they had, I probably wouldn't have been able to taste or smell it. The first dish to appear on the table was "numbing spicy cucumber" - marinated cucumber spears that were garlicky and hot - it looked just like this kimchi my mom makes, so I wolfed some down - and then my mouth was on fire. I can handle hot stuff, but this was....yowza! I panted my way through the rest of the dishes - braised pork with pickled peppers (the peppers were slightly sweet so a very yummy combo), eggplant with fresh garlic and basil, dry-braised eel strips, and tan-tan noodles. Everything was really good - or were my tastebuds just shot? At any rate, the chinese pop music videos in the background were amusing enough to distract me from the flames shooting out my mouth.
There is also a Spices! I a couple blocks away, and they serve stinky tofu. But the dishes are different. On Monday I went after a salsa class and we ordered the cucumber and tan-tan noodles. For something new, we tried braised beef shank with 5 spices. Disappointing. :( The cucumber tasted slightly medicinal and the tan-tan noodles were greasy from some weird ground beef sauce, a far cry from the peanutty goodness we had tried the first time. The beef shank just tasted salty - no 5 spice flavor anywhere. So from now on, we'll stick to Spices! II.
Hmm. This is what my college buddy Jon said to me when he was in town last week. We were meeting one of his friends at Spices! II for dinner later that night, and he was hoping they'd have stinky tofu. Yup, stinky tofu.
Jon is the only jewish boy from Long Island I know who has a master's in Chinese and has eaten zebra. He has the same reaction to certain foods that I do (excited bouncing up and down) so I usually will eat anything he likes without hesitation. But gym socks??
Spices! II, unfortunately, did not have stinky tofu, but if they had, I probably wouldn't have been able to taste or smell it. The first dish to appear on the table was "numbing spicy cucumber" - marinated cucumber spears that were garlicky and hot - it looked just like this kimchi my mom makes, so I wolfed some down - and then my mouth was on fire. I can handle hot stuff, but this was....yowza! I panted my way through the rest of the dishes - braised pork with pickled peppers (the peppers were slightly sweet so a very yummy combo), eggplant with fresh garlic and basil, dry-braised eel strips, and tan-tan noodles. Everything was really good - or were my tastebuds just shot? At any rate, the chinese pop music videos in the background were amusing enough to distract me from the flames shooting out my mouth.
There is also a Spices! I a couple blocks away, and they serve stinky tofu. But the dishes are different. On Monday I went after a salsa class and we ordered the cucumber and tan-tan noodles. For something new, we tried braised beef shank with 5 spices. Disappointing. :( The cucumber tasted slightly medicinal and the tan-tan noodles were greasy from some weird ground beef sauce, a far cry from the peanutty goodness we had tried the first time. The beef shank just tasted salty - no 5 spice flavor anywhere. So from now on, we'll stick to Spices! II.
Monday, April 04, 2005
Oysters, Beer, Basque food
Grrr..
This weekend I found myself in North Beach, shivering in flip-flops, downing a plate of oysters. Huh? I never thought of myself as an oyster-lover, but I figure if I *enjoyed* a plate of the suckers that I bought at a festival I must like them. Hell, even love them. Maybe it was the beer. Anyways, at this oyster and beer festival, we sat front row at a cooking demonstration. Sounds fancy, but really it was just a bunch of hungry and drunk people hoping to get a taste of whatever was being demonstrated - there were potato pancakes topped with oyster, a "scotch egg" except made with oyster, and my favorite, the bloody mary oyster shooter. Yum. I even got to be the "judge" - there were two versions and I had to say which one I liked better. All after trying to down a humongous oyster in one shot, tomato juice dribbling everywhere. Attractive.
Because we were in the area, we decided to have an early dinner at Iluna Basque. I was sooo excited - having just come back from the Basque region and sampling the yummy tapas there, I wanted to see if I could get my fix at home. And I had read really good things about this place.
We got three dishes - fresh dungeness crab with avocado, a Basque cheese plate, and peppers stuffed with salt cod. I know, I can't judge a whole restaurant based on three measly dishes, but I was discouraged. The "fresh" dungeness crab dish was horrible - the texture seemed like it was actually thawed-out frozen crab, and it didn't have any dungeness flavor. Actually, it had no flavor, except for a really fishy smell. The cheeses were good, but for the price (almost $9) you'd think we'd get more than three tiny slivers. The peppers were good - nice sweet roasted flesh, filled with a salt cod and potato filling. It was also very reasonable ($4.25) considering it was a lot more food than the cheese plate, plus took more work to prepare.
I'm tired of going to "amazing" restaurants and getting disappointed. This is the fourth hyped-up place I've been to (the first three were paul k, Boulevard, and the Carnelian Room) that has left me wondering who the hell reviewed these places and how they got so many people to believe them. Sigh.
This weekend I found myself in North Beach, shivering in flip-flops, downing a plate of oysters. Huh? I never thought of myself as an oyster-lover, but I figure if I *enjoyed* a plate of the suckers that I bought at a festival I must like them. Hell, even love them. Maybe it was the beer. Anyways, at this oyster and beer festival, we sat front row at a cooking demonstration. Sounds fancy, but really it was just a bunch of hungry and drunk people hoping to get a taste of whatever was being demonstrated - there were potato pancakes topped with oyster, a "scotch egg" except made with oyster, and my favorite, the bloody mary oyster shooter. Yum. I even got to be the "judge" - there were two versions and I had to say which one I liked better. All after trying to down a humongous oyster in one shot, tomato juice dribbling everywhere. Attractive.
Because we were in the area, we decided to have an early dinner at Iluna Basque. I was sooo excited - having just come back from the Basque region and sampling the yummy tapas there, I wanted to see if I could get my fix at home. And I had read really good things about this place.
We got three dishes - fresh dungeness crab with avocado, a Basque cheese plate, and peppers stuffed with salt cod. I know, I can't judge a whole restaurant based on three measly dishes, but I was discouraged. The "fresh" dungeness crab dish was horrible - the texture seemed like it was actually thawed-out frozen crab, and it didn't have any dungeness flavor. Actually, it had no flavor, except for a really fishy smell. The cheeses were good, but for the price (almost $9) you'd think we'd get more than three tiny slivers. The peppers were good - nice sweet roasted flesh, filled with a salt cod and potato filling. It was also very reasonable ($4.25) considering it was a lot more food than the cheese plate, plus took more work to prepare.
I'm tired of going to "amazing" restaurants and getting disappointed. This is the fourth hyped-up place I've been to (the first three were paul k, Boulevard, and the Carnelian Room) that has left me wondering who the hell reviewed these places and how they got so many people to believe them. Sigh.
Wednesday, March 23, 2005
Soon....
Once I finally get over jetlag and import my pictures, I'll have updates on my trip to Bordeaux and San Sebastian. Lots and lots of yummy eating there....
Friday, February 25, 2005
Japan!
In December my family went to Japan. We started out in Kyoto and after three days took the Shinkansen to Tokyo. The food was amazing - not just how it was prepared, but how it was served, and the fact that even though we ate the same type of food three meals a day, 7 days straight (well, there was a Mos burger, but that story comes later) it was so yummy we never got sick of it.
It's interesting - I've seen lots of japanese TV and thought I had a handle on what typical japanese cuisine is like - but it really is amazing. So simple! Simple preparation, simple flavors, simple presentation - but all together, totally yummy and aesthetically pleasing. I am now obsessed with japanese pickles, and hot tempura soba, and broiled fish, and egg custard. There's a line in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray is on the phone with his wife and he says "I want to start eating like the Japanese..." or something like that. But it's totally true. A week of this and you're hooked.
In Tokyo is a huge fish market - the Tsukiji market. We went at 8:30am I think, and it was "slowing down" because all the professionals had already come and gone, so all that was left were civilians. We saw huge slabs of tuna belly, whole tuna (probably weigh more than me!) and all sorts of sea creatures. But what was really amazing were the rows of restaurants - most were packed, and had a huge line out the door. At 9am!! We chose a sushi place because the price was extremely reasonable (not just for Tokyo) and waited. And when we finally got in, it was....incredible.
First of all, I was a little skeptical because...sushi in the morning? Yew. But everything was so fresh that after a couple bites you just had to have more. I had all my favorites - salmon, tuna, bonito, yellowtail - and nearly tried horse (thank goodness somebody translated that for me) but the two things that stood out were the yakitoro (grilled fatty tuna) and ankimo (monkfish liver).
Imagine a huge slab of fish, marbled pink like beef because of the fat streaks. Then, a blowtorch is used to brown the top surface. And when the bones of the fish have been pulled out, they leave these little nubs that get really brown and crispy. And it's been salted, so there is no need to dip it in soy sauce. And when you finally eat, you *literally* roll your eyes because it *is* the most amazing thing you've tasted.
And the ankimo - it's my new favorite thing. Foie gras of the sea. :) Creamy, without the organmeat smell you find in cow's liver. And served with a citrusy sauce and grated radish, which helps bite through the richness. Apparently, it's easy to prepare, so I might try doing it here at home.....
So, all I can say is, if you ever go to Tokyo, you will of course find yummy sushi anywhere, but for the price and experience, just go to Tsukiji. The only bad thing is that you'll be so spoiled it will be a long time before you can go back home and eat sushi there without sighing and thinking of Tsukiji.....
It's interesting - I've seen lots of japanese TV and thought I had a handle on what typical japanese cuisine is like - but it really is amazing. So simple! Simple preparation, simple flavors, simple presentation - but all together, totally yummy and aesthetically pleasing. I am now obsessed with japanese pickles, and hot tempura soba, and broiled fish, and egg custard. There's a line in Lost in Translation where Bill Murray is on the phone with his wife and he says "I want to start eating like the Japanese..." or something like that. But it's totally true. A week of this and you're hooked.
In Tokyo is a huge fish market - the Tsukiji market. We went at 8:30am I think, and it was "slowing down" because all the professionals had already come and gone, so all that was left were civilians. We saw huge slabs of tuna belly, whole tuna (probably weigh more than me!) and all sorts of sea creatures. But what was really amazing were the rows of restaurants - most were packed, and had a huge line out the door. At 9am!! We chose a sushi place because the price was extremely reasonable (not just for Tokyo) and waited. And when we finally got in, it was....incredible.
First of all, I was a little skeptical because...sushi in the morning? Yew. But everything was so fresh that after a couple bites you just had to have more. I had all my favorites - salmon, tuna, bonito, yellowtail - and nearly tried horse (thank goodness somebody translated that for me) but the two things that stood out were the yakitoro (grilled fatty tuna) and ankimo (monkfish liver).
Imagine a huge slab of fish, marbled pink like beef because of the fat streaks. Then, a blowtorch is used to brown the top surface. And when the bones of the fish have been pulled out, they leave these little nubs that get really brown and crispy. And it's been salted, so there is no need to dip it in soy sauce. And when you finally eat, you *literally* roll your eyes because it *is* the most amazing thing you've tasted.
And the ankimo - it's my new favorite thing. Foie gras of the sea. :) Creamy, without the organmeat smell you find in cow's liver. And served with a citrusy sauce and grated radish, which helps bite through the richness. Apparently, it's easy to prepare, so I might try doing it here at home.....
So, all I can say is, if you ever go to Tokyo, you will of course find yummy sushi anywhere, but for the price and experience, just go to Tsukiji. The only bad thing is that you'll be so spoiled it will be a long time before you can go back home and eat sushi there without sighing and thinking of Tsukiji.....
Monday, February 14, 2005
Eats
I love breakfast.
I could eat breakfast food all day long. You know those huuuge plates of food at the Pork Store? I can finish one all by myself. And *still* pick at everybody else's plate. That's how much I love breakfast food.
So of course, I was excited to try out a new place. I needed to pick up a chocolate mousse cake at Schubert's Bakery (which is so yummy it will get its own post later) on Clement, and we were hungry and passed by a full diner with people waiting outside. That pretty much sold us, so we put our name on the list and prepared for a 25 minute wait.
The place is called Eats, at 50 Clement st.
Looking at the menu, it has your typical breakfast diner food - omelets, pancakes, etc. In addition to their buttermilk pancakes, they also have ricotta, blueberry, and conrmeal pancakes (all separate items ) - yum! But I was feeling like I wanted a little bit of everything, so I chose the pancake special - two eggs, two pancakes, and bacon or sausage, just $4.50! Rich had a veggie omelet with hash browns and toast.
I know the place was fully, but it wasn't *that* big, and we had to wait *forever* for our food. I'm pretty patient, especially when it comes to waiting for breakfast food, because then I figure the extra time equals extra yumminess. But I was disappointed when our food came out.
Not that it was horrible - my pancakes were pretty good, and the omelet was excellent - full of yummy things like spinach and avocado and tomatoes. But his potatoes looked really greasy and had too much prapika. I like nice crispy potatoes. Also, my scrambled eggs were fake!! You'd think with the amount of time they took, they would have at least cracked open a couple real eggs, but no, I got the rubbery out-of-the-box stuff. Ew. The omelet was made with real eggs - why couldn't they just do that for scrambled eggs??
So hit or miss. I'm definitely going back to try the ricotta pancakes, and if I order egg dishes again it will definitely be omelets or fried eggs.
I could eat breakfast food all day long. You know those huuuge plates of food at the Pork Store? I can finish one all by myself. And *still* pick at everybody else's plate. That's how much I love breakfast food.
So of course, I was excited to try out a new place. I needed to pick up a chocolate mousse cake at Schubert's Bakery (which is so yummy it will get its own post later) on Clement, and we were hungry and passed by a full diner with people waiting outside. That pretty much sold us, so we put our name on the list and prepared for a 25 minute wait.
The place is called Eats, at 50 Clement st.
Looking at the menu, it has your typical breakfast diner food - omelets, pancakes, etc. In addition to their buttermilk pancakes, they also have ricotta, blueberry, and conrmeal pancakes (all separate items ) - yum! But I was feeling like I wanted a little bit of everything, so I chose the pancake special - two eggs, two pancakes, and bacon or sausage, just $4.50! Rich had a veggie omelet with hash browns and toast.
I know the place was fully, but it wasn't *that* big, and we had to wait *forever* for our food. I'm pretty patient, especially when it comes to waiting for breakfast food, because then I figure the extra time equals extra yumminess. But I was disappointed when our food came out.
Not that it was horrible - my pancakes were pretty good, and the omelet was excellent - full of yummy things like spinach and avocado and tomatoes. But his potatoes looked really greasy and had too much prapika. I like nice crispy potatoes. Also, my scrambled eggs were fake!! You'd think with the amount of time they took, they would have at least cracked open a couple real eggs, but no, I got the rubbery out-of-the-box stuff. Ew. The omelet was made with real eggs - why couldn't they just do that for scrambled eggs??
So hit or miss. I'm definitely going back to try the ricotta pancakes, and if I order egg dishes again it will definitely be omelets or fried eggs.
Thursday, February 10, 2005
Bacar
I didn't take advantage of Dine About Town as much as I would have liked to, but I was very happy with the one place I did go. We went to Bacar and it was very yummy! They also treated us nicely, which is important because I feel like I've been to a string of nice restaurants lately where they have treated us like crap because we look young, and therefore, are unworthy of decent service. Blargh.
Anyways, what I had:
Wok-roated PEI mussels: this dish was amazing. First of all, it was a "starter" but could have easily been an entree because it was a *bucket* of maybe 30 or so mussels. I've never had PEI mussels before, I'm only used to the frozen New Zealand kind, so I don't know if it's the way it was prepared or the natural flavor, but they were very sea-tasting. Not everybody's favorite flavor, but the intensity of it, plus the garlic, was very good.
Pan-roasted poussin: almost too cute to eat! A little difficult to carve up your own tiny chicken, but the flavor was good. It came with spinach and mushrooms. Not just any mushrooms, a whole assortment of wild ones, with the really earthy flavor.
Caramel panna cotta: a little too much gelatin, perhaps, so it wasn't as creamy as I would have liked, plus the caramel sauce (while good) was a little overkill, but the dark chocolate saved the dish.
Definitely worthwile - it's a place I would go to again, even though it's not really in my grad-student-budget. :)
Anyways, what I had:
Wok-roated PEI mussels: this dish was amazing. First of all, it was a "starter" but could have easily been an entree because it was a *bucket* of maybe 30 or so mussels. I've never had PEI mussels before, I'm only used to the frozen New Zealand kind, so I don't know if it's the way it was prepared or the natural flavor, but they were very sea-tasting. Not everybody's favorite flavor, but the intensity of it, plus the garlic, was very good.
Pan-roasted poussin: almost too cute to eat! A little difficult to carve up your own tiny chicken, but the flavor was good. It came with spinach and mushrooms. Not just any mushrooms, a whole assortment of wild ones, with the really earthy flavor.
Caramel panna cotta: a little too much gelatin, perhaps, so it wasn't as creamy as I would have liked, plus the caramel sauce (while good) was a little overkill, but the dark chocolate saved the dish.
Definitely worthwile - it's a place I would go to again, even though it's not really in my grad-student-budget. :)
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