Orange Mini-Cupcakes

Last weekend was a holiday called biphota. Part of the holiday requires the eating of sweets. In addition to the usual Indian sweets, I always make brownies and something else. This year, Human # 1 told me to make orange cupcakes. So, I made mini orange cupcakes. He was surprised.
The picture sucks, it's a camera phone picture from like the day after.

Orange Mini-Cupcakes

Ingredients:

3 cups cake flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1 1/2 cup softened butter

1 1/4 cup sugar

2/3 cup water, orange juice, or milk

3 teaspoons orange extract

2 tablespoons orange zest

4 large eggs

1 8 oz package cream cheese

1/4 cup butter

1 cup powdered sugar

3 teaspoons orange extract

Method:

Oven to 350 F.

Prep muffin tins, I suggest lining with mini cupcake papers.

Sift together flour, salt, soda, and baking powder.

Cream together butter and sugar.

Add liquids, zest, mix well.

Add eggs, one at a time.

Add flour mixture, beat well.

Pour into prepared mini-muffin tins.

Bake until a toothpick comes out clean, say 12-15 minutes at the outside. BE CAREFUL NOT TO OVERCOOK!

Cool.

Beat cream cheese, butter, sugar, and orange extract.

Frost cupcakes. Tint orange, if desired.

Holy Cross 44 Dartmouth 26

Thank god homecoming isn't about football.

In Hanover, or in this case White River Junction

We're in Hanover for the weekend. We were actually here a few weeks ago as well (gotta love the everyone getting married thing that hits in the late 20s).
So we flew in, and as it was late, we ordered pizza from Everything But Anchovies (EBA's). I worked at EBA's once, long, long ago in a land far, far away.

This is what I believe is the best of local junk food in a college town - Human # 1 has a pepperoni pizza.



I have cheesy garlic bread.



Last time we were here, I automatically ordered breadsticks, half cheese half plain, with ranch. My best friend and college roommate is milk allergic. However, the breadsticks simply are better with the cheese.

This Week's CSA

This week's CSA contained green and red apples, spinach, lettuce, pears, sweet potatoes, carrots, and bread from the Breadery.

I think I'm going to make some apple butter. The carrots will become part of a stir fry or similar, the sweet potatoes into sweet potato burritos, lettuce in a salad, and I'm not sure what to do with the spinach. There are many options, but maybe I'll find something new to do.

Stuffed Squash

Note, fair reader, I am making a valiant attempt to post more regularly. I am attempting to pre-schedule at least one post a day during the week. Let's see how well this works. Onward!

I stuffed and froze some delicata squash on Sunday. Wait, that sounds bloody awful. Who wants to stuff and freeze squash? That sounds about as unsexy as humanly possible. Actually, it sounds gross and somehow industrial. Hmm, let me reword that. How about, Sunday I roasted some delicata squash with a savory bread dressing, the preserved the glorious fall flavors for later in the week, reminding me of the buttery, cinnamon-y scents that wafted through my sun dappled kitchen on that crisp October Sunday. Any better? The end result is the same, squash that can be reheated for a fantastic vegetarian supper, served along side a green salad dressed simply. This is also a great idea for a main dish for non meat eaters at Thanksgiving, though make enough for everyone, since it's likely to be gobbled by meat eaters as a side dish. I made this in a heart unhealthy fashion, using a good bit of butter and olive oil. You can cut the fat significantly if you substitute in some stock and up the amount of water. The squash was from Breezy Willow.

Stuffed Squash (serves 6)
Ingredients:
3 medium sized delicata squash (can use acorn or other similar small squash, I like delicata for a savory preparation).
Olive oil in a spritzable form or ready to drip onto a paper towel
Cinnamon to taste
Salt to taste
Cayenne pepper to taste
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 medium to large onion, minced finely
6 ribs celery, minced finely
2 shallots, minced finely
6 slices whole grain bread (I used Harvest Grains from the Breadery), cubed
Salt and pepper to taste
Water

Method:

Wash squash. I don't know why, I just do it.
Line pan with foil if not using a foil pan.
Oven to 400F.





Cut squash in half.



Scoop out seeds with a tablespoon. Get the stringy stuff too.
Spritz with olive oil, cinnamon, salt, and cayenne pepper.
Lay flat in baking pan.
Meanwhile, add your butter and olive oil to a large skillet. When its hot and the butter foams, add the veggies, and turn to medium-low.
Sweat veggies.
Add the bread cubes, tossing to coat.
Season with salt and pepper.
Add just enough water to moisten.
Stuff inside of squashes.
Bake until fork-tender, approximately 40 minutes.



I did freeze them, which might be a bit of a shame. They freeze decently, but I think the texture is better fresh.

This week's CSA

It's well after midnight, so I'm going to have this post tomorrow. I'm at least drinking a nice glass of wine, while holding my foot at an odd angle so this contraption can do its magic. So I figured I'd update.



This week's CSA share included carrots, green peppers, pears, broccoli, onions, potatoes, apples, delicata squash, and brussel sprouts.

I've already done up a lot of this. Most went into the freezer. The delicata squash was cracked open, stuffed, baked, and frozen for a night when some warmth will be appreciated. Many of the potatoes were oven roasted then frozen for the same reason. Carrots became brandied carrots, for the freezer. The sprouts were chopped in half, pulled apart, cooked with indian spices, then frozen. The bell pepper were cut for Human # 1's lunch, and gave me a massive allergy attack.

I feel bad about all this freezing (Gordon Ramsay's always going off about it on Kitchen Nightmares). But I'm a lousy homemaker.

Clam Chowder

We're having a lazy weekend. Human # 3 is visiting her mother, brother, and best friend. Those are three people, not one, just in case that was unclear. They just happen to be in the same place. We went out to dinner Friday, did nothing but run errands and have dinner delivered on Saturday, and today, Sunday, aside from a brief trip to Whole Foods, puttered about the house. Human # 1 is putting up wine racks in the kitchen, I'll post pictures eventually. I froze more dinners. I'm not sure how, but I've been having issues having Human Nos. 1 and 3 to properly reheat them. I'm not sure if it's my directions or not. We'll see.

Since it was just us, we made some clam chowder. It wasn't quite cold enough, but something about today felt like clam chowder. My version omits pork, using liquid smoke instead. It's just as good without the liquid smoke. If you like pork, add some with the butter, reducing the butter to account for the fat of the pork.

Ingredients:
Roughly 2 dozen Littleneck clams, cleaned and de-sanded
1/3 cup butter
1/3 cup oil (olive, canola, whatever you like. I used olive, but cooking olive, not extra virgin; note, you can and probably should use all butter. Again, this was a minor fat and cholesterol saving move).
2 shallots, minced
1 large onion, minced
2 cloves garlic, minced
3-4 ribs celery, minced
2/3 cup flour
3-4 cups dairy, depending on the size of your clams, whether you like this thick or thin, etc. I used 2 cups whole milk and 2 cups half-and-half. Theoretically you should use all half-and-half, I just can't do it!
1 cup diced potatoes, or more depending on your preferences
2 drops liquid smoke
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Over medium heat, melt butter and heat oil.
Add veggies, slowly sweat until they are translucent
Walk off for a minute, take a phone call, and make faces at the dog. Because I know you want to cheat and proclaim that opaque and translucent are the same thing.
Now slowly, SLOWLY, sift in your flour. You're making a roux.
Cook the roux, stirring well, until it smells golden and buttery, not like raw flour. About 5-10 minutes.
In another pot, hopefully fitted with a steamer basket, steam your clams with just enough water to come to the top of the basket. Please do not over steam! Instead, let them just open, pull out and place in a bowl. I actually do this in batches.
Reserve the clam juice.
Add dairy, bring up to a nice heat, do not boil. Add as much clam juice as you desire.
Add the potatoes. Let them cook until fork-tender. If you like big chunks, pre-cook.
Now taste. It should taste like clam chowder. Add liquid smoke, salt, pepper, and extra clam juice until it is right.
GENTLY fold in the clams. "Cook" until the clams are the same temperature. If you have company, you can leave some clams in the shell as a garnish.
Eat with crusty bread. I suggest serving along with some Viognier.

Aida Bistro

Last Saturday, my husband and I had dinner at Aida Bistro. Though it's located in Gateway, aka that infinite loop office park in Columbia that people become trapped inside, it's one of the most romantic spots in Howard County. Just close your eyes until you walk inside.
Aida has jumped onto the local food bandwagon, bringing in food from Howard County farms such as Larriland. They've got some great wines too. We've had a number of meals here, and I feel somewhat foolish showcasing the simplest fare Aida has to offer, though it's my favorite. I will note that my husband's favorites include the calamari, rockfish, and anything with veal. Now back to our date.



I started with a glass of La Forge Estate Reserve Viognier 2007 (Languedoc, France). It was awesome, and I'm not really a white wine sort of girl. Interesting minerality, lots of grapefruit, nice nose, a nice body.




This is one of my favorite caprese salads. Tomato, mozzarella, a bit of basil, very good syrupy balsamic, and truffle oil.



The Husband had the andouille sausage ravioli. He's a big fan of the red sauce as well.



I had my standby favorite, handmade spaghetti with garlic and olive oil. There's nothing more perfect in this world.



A cannoli for dessert! Truth be told, I don't actually like cannoli. I love sweets, but I prefer them at, say four in the afternoon with tea or coffee. After dinner I'm more likely to have cheese or fruit. The Husband loved the cannoli though.

A relatively simple dinner date, and I would like to note that, in these troubled economic times, it wasn't terribly expensive. Now, you can totally go into Aida and blow $60.00 per person and up, including starters, desserts, wine, and drinks. But there are some good values, especially on their prix fixe menu and on days they have discounts.

For more info, visit their website.

I really love this place, but I will also be brutally honest - Aida can be very uneven. For example, a few months ago I went to Aida for one of my favorite dishes, spaghetti aglio e olio, spaghetti with garlic and olive oil. The pasta at Aida is freshly made, therefore the simple preparation is truly sublime. Except for the fact that the dish was choked with salt. And I really like salt. The poor waitress seemed shell shocked and did not know what to do. She clearly wanted to do the right thing, but she was just overwhelmed. I ended up with a less salted bowl of very good pasta. A young hostess once snapped at us, staring overwhelmed at a seating plan, nearly on the verge of tears. Sometimes the staff is just not trained about the menu items, or doesn't know how to open a bottle of wine (this poor waiter once popped the cork straight in). I will say, however, that I have never, ever had bad service at Aida. The mistakes are human mistakes that can be fixed with experience and training (I may eventually post about the horrible mistakes I once made while waiting tables). And every server has been extremely nice. Most issues arise when the owners do not appear to be front and center, a fairly rare occurrence.

Still, I would recommend Aida over most anything in the county, and certainly over any chain Italian restaurant. And, as a side note, I would like to suggest that the prices at Aida, ordering moderately from the pasta options, are not significantly more expensive (or even more expensive at all) than Olive Garden or Macaroni Grill. It's a fabulous local eatery, flaws and all.

I prefer my restaurants human. Sure, I might go to French Laundry, el Bulli, or Per Se once in a lifetime, and expect perfection. But while Aida is certainly a nice restaurant, it's a nice night out restaurant, not a once in a lifetime restaurant. And I like my nice night out restaurants to be human, to be flawed, to have character, and most of all to be experiences, not cookie cutter examples of blandess.

See their website, reviews on HoCoLoCoGirl, and for more local restaurant reviews check out HowChow.

Update

I would start out by apologizing for not blogging, or for the fact that the focus of this blog is drifting from cooking to eating out, but in many ways this is mirroring my life. I need to develop better organizational skills, I need to develop better scheduling skills, and I need to just be more proactive. But, in the meantime, I've had a bit of fun, and Human # 1 and I even *gasp* went on an actual date! Or at least we had a couple nice dinners.

Eggplant Parm

Three white eggplant from our CSA share this week became two trays of eggplant parm, one destined for the freezer. My recipe is lower in fat than the traditional recipe, but it's not exactly health food here. I think a tray needs at least a cup of cheese, my husband would add 2, but it's really up to you and your cardiologist.

Eggplant Parm
Ingredients
3 white eggplant
a bunch of salt
6 eggs, beaten
4 cups breadcrumbs
big handful dried oregano, basil, or mix
2 teaspoons salt
spritz olive oil

Tomato sauce
2-4 cups cheese

Method
Oven to 350F.
Peel and slice eggplant vertically.


Lay slices down, salt, let sit 5-10 minutes, flip, repeat. Note, white eggplant isn't as bitter as the big purple eggplants, so you can skip this step (though the slices are still a pain to work with) if you like.



Beat eggs with 1 teaspoon salt.
Mix breadcrumbs, herbs, and 1 teaspoon salt.
Rinse eggplant slices.
Drag slices through eggwash, coat in breadcrumbs. Layer in pan. Spritz lightly with olive oil.



Bake at 350 F for 30 minutes. Pull out, add tomato sauce and cheese. Bake another 15-20 minutes until bubbly.



I made quick tomato sauce. Basically 3 onions, 10 cloves of garlic, 3 ribs of celery, all minced and sauted in olive oil. Add 2 big cans of crushed tomatoes, one of diced, salt, pepper, dried oregano to taste. A touch of tomato paste at the end.



I ended up with two large foil trays of eggplant parm. One is in the freezer, one in the fridge for tomorrow. A tray should feed 4-6 easily. Yeah, we're three, but I didn't have smaller trays.

Freezer Week

So this plan of intelligent scheduling and shared dinners isn't working out too well. We ate out three times this week, and ended up with cereal once. For some reason the crock pot liner (the actual pot thing) is missing.

So I've decided to spend the weekend filling the freezer with meals. I do like the commercial places - Let's Dish, My Girlfriend's Kitchen, Your Dinners, etc - however, I find them rather expensive and not necessarily great given the list of food allergies and what various humans do and do not eat. Canine # 1 is much easier to feed - rice, veggies, meat or fish, and some fish oil and garlic for her little doggie heart. And no matter what you make Canine # 1, she thinks you're the greatest cook on the planet and the most amazing and heroic individual of all time, just because you fed her. Damn, I want to be a dog. Or at least replace my humans with canines. Much easier to take care of. Then again, the humans never go to the bathroom on the floor.

So does anyone have any suggestions on what this girl can cook and freeze??? So far my list consists of:

• macaroni and cheese
• eggplant parm
• spinach manicotti
• cauliflower soup
• lemon-butter flounder
• beans and rice / peas and rice
• roast veggies

Ideas, any, veggie or not veggie, are greatly appreciated.

This week's CSA

CSA = Community Supported Agriculture. I basically get a share of something, whatever the farm or its partners feels like, a week. It can be great, it can be exciting, it can be disappointing, but for us it's worth it.

Actually, Human # 3 is now doing pick up, so the posts are going to be even more sporadic than before. Here's what we got in the CSA this week:




Peaches, pattypan squash, pears, tomatoes, lettuce, red peppers, cauliflower, and white eggplant. Hardly visible is bread from the Breadery.

The peaches will be eaten out of hand by the humans who don't itch when they eat peaches. The patty pan squash will be cut in half and stuffed with tomatoes and breadcrumbs. Pears will be poached in whatever I feel like drinking a glass of that night. Tomatoes will be stuffed into the squash. Lettuce will be made into salad. Red peppers will be sliced and taken by Human # 1 in lunches. Cauliflower will be made into soup. The white eggplant will be made into eggplant parm - honestly, I would never suggest doing this with white eggplant, but I'm too lazy to do anything else.

My camera is officially broken, so these are from my blackberry instead. Anyone have recommendations for a good digital camera?

Work

I haven't been very good at cooking, let alone blogging about cooking, recently. I blame my job. I like my job. But I'm still adjusting. I've thrown things in crock pots, scrounged around, Whole Foods-ed it, gone out, and haven't been around much.

Plus the foot saga goes on. I finally got a bone stimulator this week. It likely will take two more months to heal. Which sort of sucks, but there's not all I can do about it. The stim unfortunately means I can't really walk or stand during the few waking hours I'm at home.

However, I am indeed getting a CSA shipment tomorrow, so hopefully I'll be back.

Are you kidding me?

Did I grow up poor or something? The fact that this is news astounds me.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/wayoflife/09/18/cooking.to.cut.costs.ap/index.html

This week's CSA

This week's CSA consisted of peaches, blueberry bread from the Breadery, some I believe delicata winter squashes, peppers, lettuce, cucumbers, tomatoes, apples, red potatoes, basil, marojam, and thyme. And of course eight ears of corn.

We ate some of it today. The fruit is likely to be eaten out of hand. The rest is still a mystery.



Tonight's dinner used last week's CSA ingredients - the baby zucchinis. I made some easy stuffed zucchini. Omit the parm and this may actually be healthy.

Stuffed Baby Zucchini
Ingredients
6 baby zucchinis
1 small/medium tomato
1 tablespoon olive oil
2 cloves garlic
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons pepper
Parmesan cheese

Method
Oven to 350 F.
Tip and top zucchinis. Cut in half.
Remove inside of zucchinis with a melon baller. Roughly chop insides.
Place outsides in a baking dish.
Chop tomato.
Over medium heat, saute garlic in olive oil until it is golden. Add zucchini guts and tomato.
Cook until tender, season to taste.
Stuff zucchini halves with mixture.
Top with Parmesan cheese, to taste, if desired.
Bake until everyone's ready for dinner, say 20 minutes.




I made some lemon-thyme rice. Totally simple.

Lemon Thyme Rice
Ingredients
1 cup basmati rice
2 spritzes olive oil
1 large garlic clove, minced
1/2 teaspoon salt
Zest of 1 lemon
2 cups water
Juice of 1 lemon
About 2 teaspoons thyme leaves, after they are removed from the stem
Additional thyme to garnish

Method
Medium heat.
Add olive oil, garlic, saute until golden.
Add rice and salt. Cook about 1 minute.
Add lemon zest.
Add water.
Add lemon juice.
Heck, toss in a lemon if you like!
Add thyme.
Raise heat to high. Bring to boil.
Low heat, cover, cook 20 minutes or until done.
Add additional thyme to taste.



I boiled some corn. We're drowning in corn - and I'm the only one who likes it in this house.


Some butter was delivered today. It made a nice picture, though it sort of looks like vanilla ice cream here. Which I would sort of like for dessert. Which I don't think we have. Sad.



Okay, this picture sucks. But it's a simple mozzarella and tomato salad. The mozzarella is from South Mountain Creamery, delivered today.

Shucker's

Our favorite restaurant on the trip was Shucker's. We had our first and last meals here. As Human # 3 said on the first night, it was about the most perfect meal we had ever had. On the first night we were cranky, had just been on a plane for a day, and had a bit too much family togetherness. We were seriously concerned about the fact that it was in a hotel. Yet all three of us put our blackberries away, enjoyed the meal, loved the service, and remembered that we actually liked being around each other. All four of us returned for the last night, and it was just as good. So good, indeed, that everyone submitted to my picture taking and food blogging, even holding up their plates for the best view.



Of course we started with oysters. Everyone finally decided that I was right, and there was no such thing as too many oysters. We had four types of local oysters. We then ordered another dozen of our favorites. They were amazing. Creamy, sweet, and luscious.



We also had a shrimp cocktail. Tasty.



I had fried oysters, served on potato wedges, with some cole slaw. Best fried oysters ever. And I've had a lot of fried oysters, trust me.



My husband had a Dungeness crab cake. He erroneously believes they are better than Maryland crab cakes. They were good though. Nice grilled asparagus and buttery mashed potatoes.



Human # 3 had the steak. A fourteen ounce piece of sirloin, creamy, buttery mashed potatoes, and sweet giant carrots.



Husband and Human # 3's brother (and therefore my brother-in-law) had the fish and chips. The fish was fried halibut from the Queen Charlotte Islands. Human # 3 and Brother argued about whether these were the greatest fish and chips, or whether the fish and chips at the public market Vancouver were the greatest. Outside the Pacific Northwest, a small restaurant in Astoria, Queens and a stand in Reykjavík are suggested. I think we need to have a world-wide fish and chips tour.



For dessert my husband and I had a chocolate cake with a glass of Côtes du Rhône each.



The other two split a peanut butter ice cream pie. Which I nearly stole.

It was a great meal, and a great culinary end to the trip. This is my highest recommended restaurant we visited, no question about it.

Sky City, Seattle Space Needle

Okay, I'll be honest. It was a revolving restaurant at Seattle's biggest tourist trap. It was overpriced. But the food was decent, the ingredients local, the service very good, and the view spectacular. Would I recommend it? There's better dining. But it's not bad, especially if you want to sit and see the Space Needle view. I can recommend the halibut sandwich, as well as the Caesar salad. Just make sure you do the restaurant first, since the observation deck is included.



Here's Mt. Rainer. I think.



We ordered the Lunar Orbiter. Mainly because everyone else ordered one. It was basically just a scoop of chocolate ice cream, some chocolate sauce and a cherry, and some smoke. It did look cool.

Ray's Boathouse

We met a good friend of mine from college, JW, and his girlfriend, JT, for dinner. And by met, I mean that they picked us up and picked an awesome restaurant. Damn, I love my friends. And his girlfriend is lovely, smart, very pretty, and has a wicked sense of humor. To be fair, I usually like my friend's significant others (though there have been some, ahem, exceptions). I almost think as a post-college young professional there are few other ways to make new friends - though my friends have dated or married in some pretty cool people.

Back to the food. Didn't bring a camera, but here's a link. The restaurant itself was gorgeous. We had a table right on the water. Actually, I nearly got seasick looking down. A couple police boats sirened around that night.

We shared the shishole sampler, which consisted of Dungeness crab, manila clams, scallops, prawns, and alaskan king crab.

JW, my husband, and I all had the sampler for a main course. The sampler had a piece of grilled Columbia River chinook salmon, with local mashed potatoes, green beans, and a nectarine sauce. Next, it had a piece of Chatham Strait sable fish cooked with sake, with choy sum, jasmine rice, radish sprouts, honey soy, and scallion oil. Finally, the sampler had a piece of grilled Alaskan halibut with some kale. The salmon and halibut were amazing. I didn't really care for the sable fish, but I think I just didn't like sable fish. JT had Alaskan King crab legs. They were huge. Gorgeous. Pre-cracked with some cool tools. Served with green beans.

Almost everything on the menu was very local, and the location of most of the food was noted on the menu. The location was beyond beautiful.

Oakland Mills Farmer's Market, the Tree from Hell, and tonight's dinner

I normally love trees. Today I don't. Yesterday I woke up to a thirty-foot present - the tree in our backyard, straddling the fence with the common area - had shed an enormous branch. The branch fell through our yard, the common area, and the next door neighbors yard. Today we cleaned it up. Luckily we have awesome neighbors, and they ended up staying to dinner. But in order to earn our meal we were half eaten by mosquitoes and engaged in massively painful work. Yeah, it really sucked. Days like this are when I curse home ownership. When I lived in my apartment, I never had to worry!



But before that, Human # 1 and I went to the farmer's market in the Oakland Mills Village Center, also known as the shopping center with the ice rink. I'm not going to pretend that this farmer's market is anything on the scale of the I-83 Baltimore farmer's market, or the Waverly market, or the Arlington Courthouse market, any of the other large local markets. But it is nice, it does showcase local folks and local food, and it's close. I do hope more producers and more consumers start attending, however.


We bought some sorrel, or rather African sorrel. If you've never tasted this before, the best way I can describe it is as a salad green that's super flavorful and vinegary, almost as if the dressing is inside the leaf. It's pretty cool, I highly recommend it. I want to visit this stand again next weekend, the farmer had bitter balls, which can be used to great effect in Bengali Indian cooking.



Also got some heirloom tomatoes, as it's still August.



These tomatoes were pear shaped, and not ginormous like some of the others we have had recently.



Also bought some okra. A lovely veggie that has a bad reputation, in my mind at least.



Did you know that in British English, an okra is called a ladyfinger? I just learned that last night. The human members of my household were at my parents, to steal their truck then have them feed us. It's extremely convenient being a stone's throw away. I'm not sure how, but we were talking about Italian cookies, ladyfingers. At some point, my husband asserts that where he comes from, ladyfingers are fireworks. My mother then asserts that where she comes from, ladyfingers are okra. Of course, my dad immediately asks where she comes from - she asserts somewhere that uses British English. Of course, 33 years ago my parents married, then moved into an apartment in Wilde Lake. And before that my mom lived all over Asia, with a plurality, but not majority, in India. So I'm pretty sure she's asserting that British English is used in Howard County.



Seems a but bigger than a lady's finger to me. Man I need a manicure!



It's a sweet onion. It's pretty.



I'm pretty sure all recipes start with "saute some garlic and onion in olive oil." Maybe I should use this as a stock photo.

Anyway, back to the meal....


Tomato Salad
Ingredients:
Tomatoes
Salt
Olive oil

Method:



I quartered the tomatoes and lightly salted them, then let them drain their water out. I'll do something with the tomato water in the morning.

I then tossed them into a dish, and glugged maybe a half tablespoon of olive oil over them.


Summer Okra and Tomatoes or Fresh Bindi Masala
Take your pick on the ethnicity you want to cook from. Then do what I did. Or do something totally different. Dude, it's okra and tomatoes, this isn't rocket science.

Ingredients:
4 sprays olive oil
Half a sweet onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, crushed
1 lb okra, cut into rounds
2 medium tomatoes
Olive oil
2 tsp cumin
2 tsp corriander
4 tsp tumeric
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:

Heat at medium-high.
Saute onions and garlic.
Add spices, cook about 2 minutes.
Add tomatoes. Let them sizzle and stop dripping juice.
Add okra.

Cook until okra doesn't fight back. It should still be brightly colored, though.



Along with the tomato salad and okra we had some cornbread, as well as black-eyed peas and rice.



Black-eyed Peas and Rice
Ingredients:
1/2 sweet onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, crushed
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon corriander
1 teaspoon cumin
2 teaspoons tumeric
1 bay leaf
2 cans black-eyed peas, drained.
1 cup white rice (can use brown, adjust water and cooking time)
2 cups water or stock
Salt and pepper to taste

Method:
Saute onion and garlic in olive oil over medium heat.
Add spices, saute about 2 minutes.
Add black-eyed peas. Cook a bit. Taste.
Add rice and water/stock. Bring to a boil.
Cover, turn heat to low, let cook until done (20 minutes, or more depending on the type of rice used).
Season with salt and pepper to taste.

My house was an absolute mess, but it was nice to have people over despite that. The neighbors also brought over beer and dessert. Always a good thing!