Yet Another Food Blog

This week's CSA

2010-08-04T22:56:00.005-04:00

Life gets to me again. However, I think I'm going to try and release the guilt -- I have a list of things to feel guilty about, and while failing to cook is up there, it's not anywhere near as bad as the state of my house. Oh well.

This week's CSA was tomatoes, tomatillos, corn, cucumbers, celery, potatoes, beets, lettuce, and spring onion.

The lettuce became a salad (with salt, truffle oil, and vinegar) for work.

A couple of the cucumbers and celery (it's beautifully dark and flavorful) were cut up.

Tomatoes and corn went into a casserole - next post!

I'm back....

2010-05-31T00:33:00.004-04:00

Well, 2009 was a major fail for blogging. I have an excuse - or rather 3 excuses - until July 28, 2009 food grossed me out, on July 28, 2009 my son Chase was born, and on August 28, 2009 my house caught fire. The house was rebuilt by November, and then there was the craziness of the holidays and I went back to work in January.

So, with that said, I'm going to try this again. We signed up for a CSA share at www.onestrawfarm.com again, pick up at My Organic Market ("MOMS").

Eat local in Howard County

2009-07-16T13:20:00.001-04:00

http://www.hceda.org/newsDetail.aspx?id=97

http://www.explorehoward.com/business/63782/county-residents-urged-buy-local/

Our first CSA pickup of the season!

2009-06-10T19:26:00.002-04:00

Camera not handy, and I have a *ton* of work tonight, so this is going to be text only. We have chard, garlic scapes, a bunch of lettuce, strawberries, and kale.

Human # 3 made dinner tonight, and along with it we shall have salad with garlic scape dressing.

One Straw Farm

2009-03-24T18:11:00.002-04:00

This was our CSA choice this year.

http://www.onestrawfarm.com/

Pickup is available at My Organic Market, and they have a decent website. I'm psyched, though I liked the idea of veggies to my door.

Community Supported Agriculture ("CSA")

2009-03-20T16:49:00.000-04:00

Community supported agriculture is essentially a purchase of shares in a farm, except instead of paying cash dividends, you purchase crop dividends during the season. Or maybe it's more like a bond where you clip the coupon, since very few equities pay dividends anymore. Financial metaphors aside, it can be a fun way of trying new produce.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/02/05/AR2008020500865.html

Since South Mountain Veggie is currently not delivering to me, I will likely be joining a CSA againt his year.

Gordon Ramsay's Maze at the London

2009-03-18T22:06:00.004-04:00

I am a terrible, terrible person. Okay, well, maybe not, but slightly. This weekend we had a family emergency - one of Human # 1's siblings was ill and in the hospital in New York City. Human # 3, being a good sister, stayed overnight in the hospital with the sibling. Human # 1 and I needed to sleep somewhere. Of course, since Human # 1 twitters constantly, some friends of ours (okay, more like my college friends - a lovely couple, KD-her and CR- him) hounded us to hang out. Ironically, the cheapest room in NYC on short notice was the Hilton at 6th and 54th(I'm too old for the many futons and couches that were generously offered). Our hotel just happened to be across the way from The London, home to Gordon Ramsay restaurants. Where we met up with our friends after a long day and night at the hospital.

Hey, come on, it was cheaper than the Hilton's room service.

Of course I don't have pictures. What do you people take me for? So food obsessed that while a relative lay suffering in the hospital, I update my blog? I just took copious notes. Well, actually, my Blackberry camera would no save.

Since we had no reservation, we started in the London Bar. Apparently my husband and CR had amazing martinis. I wouldn't know. We did hang out for a bit, and it was exremely pleasant. More like the bar at Zaytinya than a typical NYC hotel bar.

Maze by Gordon Ramsay is a small plate restaurant. We each got two of the small plates.

We had the following:

Salad of confit fennel and beetroot, fresh ricotta, and candied walnuts.
The beets were amazing. They were interestingly savory, and contrasted sharply with the sweet walnuts.

Venison carpaccio, chilled foie gras, cranberries, globe artichoke.

I did not try this one, however, Human # 1 and CR enjoyed it immensely, though CR added salt. He's also a recent ex-smoker.

Lobster bisque.

I don't usually care for lobster bisque, but this was rich, creamy, and buttery - while at the same time tasting primarily of lobster, not dairy. It was almost like the flavor was all lobster and the texture was all buttery cream. Interestingly presented - basically a piece of lobster and the bisque poured at the table.

Sautéed sea scallops, butternut squash, and red wine vinaigrette.

Tortellini of beef short rib, escarole, trompette royale, and dashi.
This one was almost minty. It sounds weird, but it totally worked.

Pan fried Tasmanian ocean trout, orzo, and fennel heart cassoulet with peekytoe crab.
The ocean trout was deliciously rarely prepared, but with crispy skin. I was a big fan of the orzo. The crab pieces, not so much.

Braised beef short rib, truffle pomme purée, braising juices.

This was the hit of the night. I think Human # 1 licked the plate.

Mango parfait, pine nut brittle, and Douglas Fir sorbet.
The parfait was very good. But the Douglas Fir sorbet was amazing. It was like a distilled Christmas tree, but in a good way.

Concord grape crémeux, homemade yogurt, olive oil gelato, and granola.
Everyone must try olive oil ice cream. I can say no more.

Lemon quark cheesecake with strawberry gelée and pistachio ice cream.

The single best cheesecake I've ever had. The pistachio ice cream had the not too sweet nutty flavor of Indian ice cream, but the texture and mouth feel of gelato.

Anyway, Human # 3 was tortured the next day upon learning of our ahem, hotel and dinner experience. I swear it made sense at the time!

South Mountain Veggie

2009-03-03T18:25:00.002-05:00

OMG, this is so cool. Most of you know that I really liked joining the CSA - there were ups and downs with the CSA we chose last year, somethings that worked for our family and some things that did not. However, the biggest pain was actually getting there and picking up the delivery. We get South Mountain Creamery milk delivery already (despite my best efforts, I still almost never drink milk, though others in the household do). They're introducing this:

http://www.southmountainveggie.com/home.php

I am so excited! I do like farmer's markets, but too often on a weekend I'm working, travelling, or if not too darn busy with household projects to take the time to go. I try to, but making it a weekly event is stressful. Delivery conquers a lot of my problems with obtaining local produce.

Of course, since I'm self-centered, I only encourage you to sign up if you live near me and are likely to help make my neighborhood the first test area.

Orange Mini-Cupcakes

2008-11-14T21:30:00.005-05:00

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

2008-10-18T18:46:00.000-04:00

Thank god homecoming isn't about football.

In Hanover, or in this case White River Junction

2008-10-18T01:02:00.005-04:00

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

2008-10-18T00:57:00.004-04:00

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

2008-10-15T11:15:00.002-04:00

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

2008-10-14T11:15:00.001-04:00

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

2008-10-12T13:26:00.006-04:00

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

2008-10-10T18:39:00.006-04:00

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

2008-10-10T18:28:00.002-04:00

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

2008-09-30T22:36:00.004-04:00

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

2008-09-27T15:46:00.003-04:00

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

2008-09-27T15:45:00.007-04:00

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

2008-09-24T21:02:00.003-04:00

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?

2008-09-20T07:41:00.001-04:00

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

2008-09-04T19:01:00.006-04:00

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

2008-09-01T18:15:00.007-04:00

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

2008-09-01T18:10:00.005-04:00

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

2008-09-01T18:05:00.000-04:00

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

2008-08-31T22:35:00.008-04:00

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!

This week's CSA

2008-08-30T12:32:00.002-04:00

Someone stole my camera. He's a very handsome someone, though, so I can't blame him too much. Plus I got it back, but not before I had put away the CSA produce for the week. Hopefully I'll be smart enough to take some pics while cooking this week. And in case my mother is reading this, mom, I'm not standing on my left foot. I'm propping it on a chair. I swear.

This week's CSA consisted of eggs, bread from the Breadery, the most gorgeous blood red heirloom tomatoes, zucchini and yellow squash (I got all baby sized), peaches, cantaloupe, bell peppers, thin japanese eggplant, a bunch of corn, and some lettuce.

The lettuce was salad-ized immediately, with some of the aged balsamic and the olive oil I bought in Seattle. The tomatoes were cut and stacked with some fresh mozzarella. The cantaloupe was decimated by yours truly. I'll let you know what we do with the rest.

Etta's

2008-08-30T12:11:00.004-04:00

We met the younger siblings at Etta's, near Pike Place Market, for dinner. I managed to get us lost on the way there. My poor husband. Wait, I have a broken foot! Poor me!

One funny thing - as usual I asked for a local wine recommendation. We had a bottle that, on the front label, purported to be from Washington. On the back label, the wine purported to use grapes from California, be made in California, and bottle in California.

The siblings claimed to be oystered out. As a good Maryland girl, I know that there's no such thing as too many oysters. So I started out with some.

Also we shared a shrimp cocktail. I think there was another starter, but we can't remember. Human # 1 tried to order the salmon belly tartare, but they were out. We have a strange white blurry picture. Human # 3 and I think it was some sort of halibut crudo, but the picture sucks and as we are sure it was very tasty, I'm not going to post it.

As a main course, I had the Etta’s Rub with Love wild king salmon, shiitake relish, cornbread pudding. Excellent!

For dessert Human # 3 and I both ordered the blueberry crisp. It was just way too sweet for me, I couldn't eat it. Human # 3 liked it, though, but due to its sweetness only managed about a third.

Human # 1 had a root beer creme brulee with a mini rootbeer float. He loves root beer. He also really liked this dessert.

Anyway, Etta's was pretty darn good, but I still preferred Matt's in the Market and Shucker's to Etta's. The price point at Etta's was pretty high, and they did deliver, but I guess I'm spoiled and I preferred the seafood at Shucker's and the local market produce at Matt's. Had we done Etta's first, then Matt's and Shucker's, I think it would have rated much higher.

Matt's in the Market

2008-08-30T12:01:00.000-04:00

We had lunch in Portland Public Market, at a restaurant called Matt's in the Market. Originally the younger siblings were going to join, but they ended up sleeping. My husband is convinced his younger brother is the harbinger of death and disease. We've taken both much younger siblings a lot of places, the youngest brother probably the most places (Williamsburg a couple of times, the beach, Montreal, Hershey, all over DC, etc). Inevitably, when we take him somewhere, my husband gets sick. He's pretty good at powering through, but he either gets some sort of communicable illness, a horrible allergy attack, or is poisoned (that would be what happened at Hershey). This time, he did not get sick, but instead his poor younger brother wasn't feeling well. Anyway, they missed out on probably the funkiest and most fun restaurant we visited, but I'm pretty sure we'll be back!

Matt's focuses on fresh produce from the market, and has that whole local thing going on. Being summer, this was a fabulous time to visit both the area and the restaurant. Actually, I regret not going back to Matt's for dinner.

Tomatoes of all kind surrounded the open kitchen area.

What amazed me was how fast Matt's was turning tables. Very glad we made a reservation - there was a huge line outside waiting for a seat! It was an interesting mix of people, tourists, business people wearing jackets, and refugees from 90s grunge fashion.

You can see the market and the various pigs from the window.

I had a glass of Cor Alba 2007 Celilo Vineyard Columbia Gorge, a Gewürztraminer / Riesling mix. It was fine, not really my thing, but my husband loved it.

I started with the simple green salad. Not much simple about it! Lightly dressed spring mix, cheese, and toasted pumpkin seeds.

My husband started with a cup of tomato soup.

I had a monster tomato sandwich. It was incredible. But it required a knife and fork.

Human # 1 had a cuban sandwich. Which he loved.

I had some coffee. Very good coffee, made my favorite way (in a French press).

This is my husband being beautiful. He is pointing at his pure, unadulterated beauty. He is also reminding me that the tomatoes are not quite as beautiful as he is. Though I still can't get him to shave on a vacation.

Granville Public Market

2008-08-30T11:24:00.000-04:00

My husband and I spent a good bit of time in Vancouver at Granville Public Market. We were enthralled over the weekend. We brought the younger set over the weekdays, when it was no where near as cool in terms of music / crowd, but I actually think cooler in terms of food available. Getting to the island requires either taking a taxi across the bridge then doubling back, or taking the ferry or aquabus across False Creek.

My husband was a big fan of the giant fish displays. I need to take him to Jessup at 5 a.m. one of these days. Then again, I prefer sleeping at 5!

On a weekend the market is a total party.

On our first visit, we got some lunch from the various food stalls in the center of the building, by the waterfront.

The Indian fast food from Curry2U was incredibly good. Here we have rice, naan, channa masala, and peas and potato curry.

Very tasty tuna rolls.

This is my husband staring intently and longingly at some sausages. Soon Oyama sausages went into his belly. And some awesome cheeses into mine. Apparently you can buy Oyama sausages over the internet and have them shipped. I may do this, if I want to be nice to him.

Mango ice cream!

Some sort of pink ice cream.

The Market was a lot of fun, one of my favorite places in Vancouver.

Back in Maryland, and about to leave

2008-08-25T12:35:00.000-04:00

I am the station waiting to catch a train to visit my brother in Manhattan. I left my laptop at home so my updated pacific northwest posts with pictures will have to wait until later in the week. So instead I will give some thoughts about local food and the pacific northwest. This would be random blathering that likely is of no real interest to most people.

The movement of eating locally is much better developed in the Pacific Northwest than it is here. I noticed that almost every restaurant, even the tourist trap on the space needle, advertised its local cuisine.

The resources at this time of year were fabulous - beautiful berries, plump cherries, tasty salmon, creamy oysters. The wines were good - not fantastic, but we weren't on a wine trip either.

My favorite part of the region's food was its absolute simplicity and loyalty to the ingredients. My dad taught me two important lessons as a kid - anyone who can eat can cook, and a good cook is really a good shopper. I'm a big believer in simple preparations and not too many ingredients. I hate it when too many things are going on at once. Simple is, in my opinion, best. When you have really great ingredients, you want to highlight nature's magnificence, not your own skills heating and mixing. This would be another Dad lesson. He also goes (and used to drag me and my brother - hated at the time and my fondest memory as an adult) to the Jessup fish market at o dark thirty to look dinner in the eye before simple grilling or flaming (the man loves flambe) preparations. Of course, being Bengali he also made curried fish - but unlike anything in an Indian restaurant. A truly Bengali fish preparation tastes like fish, not sauce, and the sauce is simple and lightly applied (mustard sauce for shrimp, a light tumeric dyed paste for salmon, etc). To be fair and equal, I must here note that mom makes excellent dishes on the same lines - simple, good ingredients.

The density in Seattle and Vancouver allowed for mature markets in sustainable local produce. I'm not sure if we have the density in Howard County for the markets, but right now I really do think there is a strong opportunity for more paurings between local restaurants and local producers. I have to admit that I chuckled at Aida Bistro earlier this year when I noticed Larriland berries being advertised - mostly since we had been to Larriland that morning.

Yes, the Pacific Northwest is fantastic and we will never have their salmon, but I can't help but think that the mid Atlantic has as fantastic an opportunity to showcase our regional specialties. And I don't just mean blue crab. We have amazing soil and an amazing history - and our gastro-cultural melting pot is as wide and exciting. The blueberries, strawberies, cherries, and apples we grow are every bit as good as elsewhere. Why is it rare to see local restaurants proudly stating they use local fruit? Or our awesome veggies? Or tomatoes - really, we have amazing tomatoes and a history of doing cool things with them. And of course Maryland seafood is rightfully lauded - but not just the crab should be celebrated, but our rockfish, oysters, and other sustainable species. Almost everything is tasty - remember not all that long ago in Massachusettes rebellion consisted of refusing to eat lobster more than three times a week. We do live on land that has great natural bounty. We should enjoy it.

Of course, as always when talking about eating locally, it is important to be reasonable. It takes a lot of gas for a hundred farmers to drive their trucks and cars to markets, and a lot for each consumer to schlep that stuff home. Certainly trains and yes, even ships sending containers may cost less in terms of energy resources. Plus, increased efficiencies of mass scale farming has dramatically increased global calorie production, even though there are extreme social and environmental consequences. Then again, negative consequences also exist from an organic farm that serves only customers in a 25 mile radius. Its impossible to universally laud or demonize any type of food production. There are too many moving parts, too many consequences.

Food politics may be complicated, but food should not be.

Coffee in Seattle

2008-08-22T20:35:00.000-04:00

It's odd. With the foot, I can walk (a bit - I've always been a bit of a glutton for punishment), but standing is just excruciating. So we've been barelling down the street then stopping for a lot of coffee. I will admit that there is a lot of very good coffee in the pacific northwest. That said, there are definately places in the Howard county that I would put up against them. Though I will admit that the quality of each stores barristas varies greatly back home.

I think I've only had about 48 ounces of coffee and coffee drinks today. On the upside I've had more milk than usual.

Best train picnic ever

2008-08-19T23:33:00.000-04:00

I'm on the Amtrak Cascades watching the most gorgeous scenery ever, eating black olive bread, a mild goat cheese, some gouda and an insanely sharp 8 year old cheddar.

This is so the only way to travel.

Jealous?

Nu Restaurant

2008-08-19T01:38:00.001-04:00

Monday night we ate at Nu restaurant, affiliated with C Restaurant. While it was excellent and the staff was fabulous, it wasn't quite as polished as C Restaurant, which makes sense given the price point (though both seem pretty pricey to me). The food focused on local products of all kinds.

First, we had fried oysters with a shot of lager. These were cute, and rather tasty.

Then we shared local Black Pearl oysters.

This was my husband's tuna tartare. The picture was blurry.

I had some mussels, along with some fries with awesome truffle mayonnaise.

It rained on us, so we skipped dessert.

The only bad thing about the restaurant were the chairs - they were really rather odd and uncomfortable.

Salt redux

2008-08-18T17:18:00.000-04:00

Human # 1 and I went to Salt Tasting Room again for lunch. This time I remembered my camera. Even though we were late for lunch (2 pm) the place was hopping, totally unlike Saturday.

We took seats at the communal long table and immediately started chatting with some Vancouverites and who brought a Scottish friend. Quicky the conversation turned from food to the location of the restaurant on the edge of Gastown in an admittedly scary area. The local couple was extremely surprised that we tourists ventured this far. Being from between Baltimore and DC, and having worked in or near scuzzy areas of each, I have a pretty high tolerance. That said, a lot of the area outside Salt isn't one that I would hang around in at night. I had no issue with Human # 3 and Brother walking through together in the afternoon, though. But this time, maybe it was the gray weather and an odd encounter with a homeless man, I felt more nervous.

Anyway, we both asked the staff to pick our food and pair it with wines. Mine was cheese and Human # 1's was a mix. The sommelier gave us the same 3 wines. Possibly I have I love big dry wines on my forehead. It was awesome. First was a grigio from Van Western Vineyards, in Naramata, British Columbia. It was very dry, crisp with a bit of acidity. Next was a M. Chapoutier Tavel rose. I loved it. With apologies to my good friend MK, who loves white zin, this is not your stereotypical rose. Dry. Crisp. Light red rather than pink. Slight mineral feel. Finally we had a red blend, mostly Malbec, with some Cabernet Savignon and I think some merlot. I have my paper, but I can't read the handwriting on the name, unfortunately.

My plate started with a beautiful blue, Valdeon, served with honey. Next was Manchego with marcona almonds. This might be the greatest dessert combination on earth. Finally I had an amazing jeune mimolette with pressed date bread.

Human # 1 had a lovely combination of meats and cheeses. First, a capicollo with Guinness mustard, then a French comte cheese with the marcona almonds, and finally varazi with cornichons.

Of course, at this point we decided to order another tasting plate. We had the oka from Quebec, along with those divine marcona almonds, a cheese called poacher from Lincolnshire with olives, and pancetta with Guinness mustard.

We of course had dessert, again the Stilton cheesecake with fig compote and the chocolate mouse.

Tasty. The area's not that bad, and it's totally worth it.

C Restaurant

2008-08-18T02:11:00.001-04:00

Human # 1 and I had a rather romantic dinner at C Restaurant. We were seated on the patio, watching the sunset over False Creek. The food was amazing and the service impeccable. Actually, there was no bathroom (or washroom as they say here) on the lower floor. One of the bussers insisted I use the staff bathroom and avoid walking up the stairs with my broken foot. I heard a waiter scream "a customer can't use that, it isn't clean!" It was actually way cleaner than any staff bathroom remembered from my own food service days. Anyway, back to the food.

C is organized around multiple tastes and presentations of seafood ingredients. They are all about sustainable seafood, and have a lot of local food, though it's not focused on local food. C won my heart by serving butter at, gasp, spreading temperature. The butter was creamy, not salty, but the dish had a few grains of sea salt on top. A bread server went around regularly. I liked the sourdough, but my husband loved the seaweed focaccia.

To begin, my husband and I shared a half dozen Black Pearl oysters. Okay, he had one, I had five. He isn't a fan of West Coast oysters, preferring bigger East Coast varieties. The oysters were served with an apple mignonette, which was terribly clever (apple vinegar and minced apple replacing shallots and vinegar in the traditional recipe) and a perfect compliment to the sweet, creamy oysters. A red pepper horseradish jelly was also offered, but I can't do bell pepper. Of course, the oysters were indeed best plain. I had a glass of sparkling BC wine with my oysters, a very dry sparkler with a bit of gold color.

Next, I had a gorgeous albacore tartare, served with a poached quail egg and some potato chips. I nearly licked the plate.

My husband had a Dungeness crab salad, with the most awesome zebra tomatoes.

For the main course, I had a lovely local salmon, cooked medium rare, paired with a BC pinot noir. The salmon rested on some lovely potatoes and beets, and was topped with salmon roe. It was also served with, and on, a parsley sauce. I've got to say, I don't think the sauce added anything, and sort of had a watery feeling. I think I would have preferred a cleaner presentation, but it was awesome nonetheless.

My gorgeous husband had an ultrarare seared Albacore loin for his main course, served with a truffle cesar salad. I can't even describe it - it was amazing.

We did have some dessert - mine was Valrhona chocolate in three textures, my better half had a chocolate mint pudding with berries. No pictures though, we were too busy eating.

Salt Tasting Room

2008-08-17T12:38:00.000-04:00

Salt Tasting Room has an interesting concept - no kitchen, just meats, cheeses, bread, condiments, desserts, wines, beers, etc. It was awesome, incredibly so. I forgot to take pictures in the restaurant so unfortunately all I have now is some pictures of the papers they gave us, and some really awful cell phone pictures, which unfortunately I am having some trouble uploading. I'll edit this when I have a better connection.

The location in Gastown, at 45 Blood Alley, was interesting. When we arrived a wedding party was taking photos. The surrounding streets were posh, but the alley was, well, an alley. That part of Gastown is slightly on the edge of a not-s0-great area of Vancouver, as we found out when we walked back and got slightly turned around. Okay, hobbled back.

We each ordered a tasting plate, Human # 1 and I had our plates paired with wine flights, while Human # 3 had a big bear beer bottle with her tasting plate. We shared two desserts - a sublime Stilton cheesecake (and I think I licked the plate), and a chocolate mousse over a layer of apricot preserves. The chocolate mousse was very, very good, and the salt crystals on top were sublime. That said, it was simply classic French chocolate mousse, well executed, but not special. The Stilton cheesecake, on the other hand, was beautiful, layers of flavor and an amazing texture.

I chose my own cheeses. I chose a tallegio, an Italian semi soft dessert cheese, which was paired with a dry Italian red, Renato Fenocchio Dolcetto. Next I had an Oka, which was new to me. It's a semi-soft nutty cheese from Quebec. This particular cheese had a round, creamy, fatty mouth feel. The cheese was paired with a sherry, Alvears Amontillado. While I appreciated it, I have to admit I didn't really care for the sherry. It was just a bit too sweet for me. Finally, I had a beautiful, creamy Brie from British Columbia, paired with a lovely steel-aged Chardonnay from British Columbia, Joie Un-Oaked Chardonnay, which I found crisp and refreshing, despite a hint of residual sugar.

Human # 1 ordered the BC plate and BC wine flight. Salt chose the foods and the wines, illustrating the best of local foodstuffs. Toscano Salami with cipollini onions was paired with Joie Chardonnay. Though I really liked the Joie, Human # 1 hated it, and described it as apple juice. Ironically he likes the residual sugar and I love the dry wines. He does like his chardonnays with more oak, though. Ash camembert with Okanagan apple chips was paired with a Sandhill Viognier. Oh my god was that cheese good. And I really liked the wine (I traded for my sherry). A pancetta casalingo with quince was paired with Pentage Cabernet Franc. Now, I hate cabernet franc. What's supposed to be earthy tastes like muddy to me, and I swear I taste something moldy in every cab franc. So I'll say this - I didn't want to spit it out. Human # 1 absolutely loved it.

Human # 3 ordered the cheesemonger plate, three cheeses and condiments of the staff's choosing. A French Roquefort was paired with quince, and a British Comte was paired with Marcona almonds. However the best of the plate was a Jeune Mimolette with Spanish pressed date bread. The four of us - including one adamant non-foodie - nearly fought over it. To say it was awesome isn't enough.

The space was interesting - funky, halfway between a butcher's shop and a coffee shop. Very industrial chic. The menu changes constantly and is placed on the chalk board.

By the way, I'd love to see something like this locally!

In the Pacifc Northwest

2008-08-17T10:25:00.000-04:00

This blog has been spotty recently, not only because I'm terribly undisciplined at times, but because (1) I just took the Bar exam, and (2) I have a very broken foot. Two months ago we thought my toe was just hyperextended and foot sprained. I followed instructions with great diligence, but it still hurt. Went to a podiatrist - of course, it's very broken. Which means I'm in a walking cast and am really not supposed to be standing around and cooking. Thankfully Human # 1 and Human # 3 are excellent and helpful. Canine # 1 wants to help as well, however, she's not as helpful as she thinks she is being.

We decided to go on vacation anyway, the three of us and my husband's (and sister-in-law's, obviously) brother. This year, we decided on the Pacific Northwest, specifically Seattle and Vancouver. Since all the outdoorsy stuff I wanted to do is foreclosed upon thanks to my broken foot, gastronomy is the only pleasure for this trip. This isn't the usual focus of my blog, but I think I will post a bit about where and what I have eaten, with an emphasis on the local foods of the Pacific Northwest.

We arrived Friday night in Seattle, and had an amazing dinner at Shucker's. Amazing Washington oysters. We're going back, so I'll post more about them later. Now we're in Vancouver - got here via Quick Coach bus, with wi-fi! It's gorgeous here, and we had an awesome lunch and dinner. Lunch at the Salt Tasting Room and dinner at C Restaurant, each of which deserves its own post.

Vegan Blueberry Tart

2008-08-10T20:02:00.000-04:00

Had a party last weekend. I made a bunch of things, but the only thing that I think was really different and special was the vegan blueberry tart I made.

Vegan Blueberry Tart
Ingredients:
6 cups blueberries, picked over and washed
1/3 cup sugar, or to taste based on the sweetness of the blueberries
One stick Earth Balance Butter Sticks, or similar, cut into small pieces and popped in the freezer for 10 minutes
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons sugar
Cold water, enough to make the dough dough-like, usually about 4 tablespoons
If desired, powdered sugar to garnish (I don't)

Method:
Oven to 425F.
Sift together the salt, flour, and 2 tablespoons sugar
Using a pastry blender, or a food processor, cut the buttery stick pieces into the flour mixture. It should resemble pebbles.
Start slowly adding water until a dough forms.
If things are getting too melty, pop into the freezer for a few minutes.
Grab your tart pan, and pop your dough into it. Using your *clean* hands, push the dough around the pan until it's fully covered.
Place a piece of parchment paper over the crust, weigh it down with some pastry weights or beans, and bake 10 minutes.
Reduce heat to 350F.
Mix together the rest of the sugar with 3 cups of blueberries. Pop it into the crust, and place the pan back in the oven for 35 minutes or so, until the blueberries have turned into jam. At least once or twice, pop into the oven and stir the blueberries.
Pull the tart out of the oven, and place the rest of the blueberries on top. Really, you could place them in concentric circles. But I don't. I actually think that's slightly crazy. They're pretty enough without perfection.
If desired, sprinkle some powdered sugar to garnish.

Millions of peaches, peaches for me...

2008-08-07T17:13:00.000-04:00

Peaches come from a can, they were put there by a man, in a factory downtown....

Okay, well, peaches don't come from a can. Except when they do. Like now. Except they were put there by me, a woman, in a suburban kitchen. I assume they're delicious. I wouldn't know, because peaches make me itch. However, many people like them, including Human #1. So I'm canning some poached peaches, to be eaten later, or to be given away as holiday presents.

While Human #1 and I were in Charlottesville (Canine #1 and Human #3 stayed home), we drove up Carter Mountain, which is right by Monticello. They have fabulous fruit - they actually supply a lot of the local Whole Foods. We got half a peck of freestone peaches, and half a peck of nectarines. The latter are basically in my stomach. The half peck got a little lighter, so I added in the peaches from this week's CSA. Bad idea - the CSA peaches were clingstone, not freestone, which meant that they needed to be done separately. Oh well. Here's how you poach peaches. Get thee to one of the farmer's markets, or a local farm, or a farm stand, or the grocery store, and poach some peaches. Serve it over ice cream, or in a bowl with some cream dribbled on top, or just eat it with a spoon.

Poached peaches

Ingredients:
1/2 peck peaches
3 cups water
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup honey
2 sticks cinnamon
1 tsp ground allspice
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg

Method:
Blanch peaches. This means take a small pot, fill 3/4 of the way with water, and boil. Grab a big mixing bowl, fill 1/4 full of ice and 1/2 full of cold water. Note both the pot and bowl are only 3/4 of the way full. Stick a peach in the boiling water for about 1.5 minutes, then pull it out with a slotted spoon, let it drip a few seconds, plunge it in the ice water. Slip off the skins.

If the peaches are freestone slice in half with a paring knife, and pull out the stone. If, on the other hand, they are clingstone, start cursing. Then ignore the whole slicing open thing and follow the steps with the pit in. And remember to get freestone peaches next time.

Take a big pot, fill with all the other listed ingredients. You can do all honey or all sugar, I just used what I had on hand. Bring to a boil. Decide whether you're a presentation kind of person. I am very much not a presentation kind of gal. Like, so totally not it's not even funny. So I just break my peaches in half and cook them. I assume you could cut them nicely. Slap the peaches into the liquid. Lower heat, let cook about 5 minutes, maybe 10 if they are big chunks.

If you have stones still in your peaches, cut the peach with a knife and fork (I swear it works), and pull out the stones. Bring to a boil for 1 minute to kill any germs introduced in this process.

Now, how to store? You can serve immediately, put them in the fridge, or can them. Basically, that just means taking hot peaches, placing them in hot sterilized jars, and processing them in a hot water bath for 5 minutes. It's easy, but I'll give better directions in another post.

These peaches are fabulous for just about anything. Be creative. And try tossing my recipe, and poach with vanilla! Or basil!

This week's CSA - July 3, 2008

2008-07-03T13:16:00.000-04:00

This week's CSA included bread from the Breadery, a dozen eggs, and the following:

Cucumbers, lettuce, cherries, cabbage, broccoli, basil, potatoes.

Not sure what I'm going to do with it, especially the potatoes. Currently, I have too many potatoes on hand, but no high starch ones so gnocchi is out.

Chocolate Chewies

2008-07-03T12:09:00.000-04:00

This is a flourless chocolate cookie, which is gorgeously crackly, chewy, and deeply chocolatey. Great for those who can't have flour for some reason. It's low fat, but does anyone really care?? It's still full of sugar and is nutritionally somewhat devoid. Except for the fact that chocolate has flavnoids and other beneficial compounds, and eating chocolate makes one happy. Happy is good.

Chocolate Chewies
Ingredients:
32 ounces powdered sugar
8 oz cocoa powder. I prefer non-dutch processed for this, since I think the flavor is more interesting in a fairly naked cookie.
1 teaspoon salt.
1 cup of egg whites - if you end at an egg under a cup, crack another, erring on too much egg white.
1 tablespoon vanilla

Method:
Preheat oven to 350F.
Put parchment paper, silpat mats, or more grease than you think reasonable on 2 big cookie sheets. Let's just realize non-stick is a figment of the imagination.
Sift together the dry ingredients.
Mix together whites and vanilla with a fork in a vessel with a spout.
Stick dry ingredients into a mixer. Start on low/medium with the paddle attachment (say 2-3 on a Kitchenaid).
Slowly, slowly, slllooooowwwwllly pour in the egg mixture. Do you remember when I said slowly?? Literally dribble it in. Every 1/4 cup stop and scrape the sides.
Mixture will look dry and just wrong until the very end.
Place about 1 tablespoon each on the the cookie sheets, about 12 per sheet.
Bake 6 minutes, then pop out, reverse top/bottom and front/back, and bake 6 more minutes.
Let cool 1-2 minutes on the cookie sheet, until they're a bit hard, then move to wire racks to finish cooling.

Voila! Low-fat, gluten free cookies. But never tell anyone that.

North Carolina!

2008-07-02T19:50:00.000-04:00

So one of my friends and I decided to play hooky. Mostly so I could study for the Bar. Went to OBX for a few days.

On the way home, I bought some fresh (as in a few hours dead) shrimp, some corn, cute baby potatoes, and some luscious tomatoes. And when I say luscious, I mean I ate one out of hand in the car, with juice dripping down my chin. Sliced the tomatoes, and everything else went into a shrimp boil.

With the leftover tomatoes and corn, I made a corn and tomato pudding, in which I reduced the fat fairly decently.

Corn and Tomato Pudding (lower fat version)

Ingredients:

4 cobs corn, boiled and cooled
3 tomatoes, diced
Salt to taste
Chili pepper
3/4 cup buttermilk
1 egg
1/4 to 1/2 cup cracker crumbs
A bit of olive oil

Method:

Cut the corn off the cob.
Toss together the corn and tomatoes. Salt and pepper to taste. Place into casserole dish.
Mix buttermilk and egg.
Pour buttermilk and egg mixture over the corn and tomatoes in the dish. Mix well.
Mix just enough olive oil to moisten cracker crumbs, then spread on top.
Cook covered on 350 degree until hot through (roughly 45 minutes), then remove cover and raise heat to 425 F for about 15 minutes or until the top browns.

This week's CSA

2008-06-28T23:42:00.000-04:00

I was actually in North Carolina when the CSA share was picked up, therefore don't have pictures. This week's take was a bit more eclectic. Onions, zucchini (a lot!), blueberries, cherries, a huge amount of spinach, bread, and soap.

Since I came back late Saturday, I am not quite sure what I'm going to do with all this food. My standby dinner is rice or cornbread, seasoned beans for protein, and then whatever veggies need to be consumed, sometimes steamed, sometimes sauteed in garlic and olive oil, and often served with plenty of butter.

This week's CSA

2008-06-19T12:04:00.000-04:00

My friend and I joined a local CSA - ours is Breezy Willow Farm in Howard County. We joined totally last minute - the saga of the joining and our friend who ditched the project is long and pretty boring. No experience with this CSA, but I'm psyched for something different - and one thing I very much like is that they don't pre-pack (and pre-squish) the coolers.

Here's this week's take:

That is, kale, salad greens, beets (with their delicious greens), red potatoes, broccoli, eggs (I love the cool colors), squash, and green beans. In the back there is some cranberry pecan bread from the Breadery, and there were some blueberries not shown.

Strawberry sorbet

2008-06-13T15:53:00.001-04:00

How to make strawberry sorbet.

Ingredients:
A whole lotta strawberries.
Lemon juice to taste.
Sugar to taste.

Okay, really, it's that simple, but here's what I did this time.

Ingredients:

4 cups of strawberries, cleaned and hulled.
1 cup of sugar.
1/4 cup of lemon juice (the strawberries were very sweet).

Method:

Toss together ingredients.
Puree ingredients or toss into a blender and buzz until smooth. I use a stick blender to puree. Some may try and run the mixture through a food mill or sieve, but I don't get that.
Chill the mixture well, about 6 hours.
Freeze according to your ice cream maker's directions.

Eat!

Strawberry Ice Cream

2008-06-13T15:04:00.000-04:00

Strawberry Ice Cream - with nods to the many recipes I've read over the years. This is darker than the usual pink strawberry ice cream.

Ingredients:
4 cups strawberries, measured then hulled and halved / quartered
1/4 cup white sugar
pinch of kosher salt
1 tablespoon lemon juice
4 cups half-and-half (or 2 cups whole milk and 2 cups heavy cream!)
6 egg yolks
3/4 to 1 cup white sugar (to taste)
1/4 cup balsamic vinegar

Method:

Wash the strawberries, then hull.
Cut the strawberries into halves or quarters, depending on size.
Note, if you are using Maryland strawberries in season, you will likely need only halve the fruit.
Macerate strawberries in sugar, pinch of salt, and lemon juice.

Scald half and half
Whisk egg yolks and sugar together in a bowl, until they are well mixed, the mixture is light in color, and has increased in volume. Temper into hot half and half

Cook custard over medium to medium low until it coats back of spoon.

Meanwhile, reduce balsamic over medium heat about half (depends on your vinegar!) in big skillet
Increase heat of skillet to high, toss in strawberries, and let them bubble away!
Try not to swoon.
Now, here's the question - do you like chunks? I really prefer smooth ice creams to chunks, however, I have a strawberry loving human at home who adores chunks. So chunks it is. If you like it smooth, just puree the strawberry balsamic goodness and add to the custard base.

Strain the balsamic strawberry goodness into the custard. Push a bit. Set aside (and chill) the chunks of strawberry left.

Mix the custard base and the balsamic goodness together well.
Strain into another vessel. Unless you're a grand master, you will have some scrambled egg in there. If you never get scrambled egg, well, you're a better woman than I am.
Chill both parts 8 hours +
Prepare according to your ice cream maker's instructions.
Let harden in freezer. Don't let anyone lick the ice cream maker bowl - tongues will stick.

Community Supported Agriculture

2008-06-13T14:31:00.000-04:00

Community Supported Agriculture ("CSA") refers to programs in which community members purchase shares of a farm (or group of farms) output. Basically, you pay for a share of what's grown, though you don't know

How to make pasta

2008-06-13T11:50:00.000-04:00

This is dead simple, but a lot of my friends are "amazed" when I do it, and many ask me to teach them how to make pasta. I'm somewhat afraid that the magic will be lost after I post this, but, eh, it had to go sometime. If there's interest, I will post how to make vegan pasta, which is either blander (just ignore the egg) or slightly more complex (replace the egg). As is often the case in Nina-land, the hard work is done by the kitchenaid. I have an actual pasta machine, but you can get the kitchenaid attachment. Actually, it's totally easy to make up the pasta *without* the kitchenaid, but I'm pretty lazy. Good results also can happen by simply tossing into the kitchenaid, switching it on, and ignoring it - but following these directions yields a better texture. I often make all semolina pasta, but Human # 1 claims it upsets his stomach, and a 50/50 AP flour to semolina is best. Pasta made with only AP flour tastes bland to me, but hey, try it out and do what tastes best to you.

Also, in my NOT so humble opinion, the best way to eat fresh pasta is garlic and olive oil, a touch of salt and a crackle of pepper - and *nothing* else. But the rest of my family likes sauces.

Ingredients:
3/4 cup semolina flour
3/4 cup AP flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
3 tablespoons olive oil
~ 2 tablespoons water

Method:
Mix together flours and the salt.

Mocha Angel Food Cake

2008-06-12T16:52:00.000-04:00

This isn't local, but I had egg whites left over from the ice cream making process. Human # 3 loves angel food cake. Human # 1 hates angel food cake, but tolerates angel food cake if it's chocolate. Human # 1 thinks it fundamentally tastes low fat - though I just fix that by covering it with whipped cream.

The recipe is adapted from the Joy of Baking, another one of those things I put together years ago as an easy weekday thing.

Ingredients:
1 cup egg whites
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons hot coffee
1/2 cup sifted cake flour

Method:
Oven to 350 F
Egg whites to room temperature
Mix sugar, egg whites, salt, and cream of tartar.
Beat to soft peaks. There are lots of great ways to do this, including dividing the sugar, etc. but really, the kitchen aid takes care of it for me.
Dissolve 3 tablespoons of cocoa powder in 3 tablespoons hot coffee
Temper the chocolate / coffee mixture with the stiff peaks - add about 1/2 a cup before remixing
Mix together tempered coffee / chocolate / egg mix and stiff peaks
Fold in sifted cake flour GENTLY!
Prep a half sized angel cake / tube pan. Mine is silicone, but I still always butter and flour it, since I've had the non-stick constantly stick!
Place in half sized angel / tube pan. If silicone, place on a cookie sheet, or else disaster will result.
Bake in oven until a toothpick comes out clean - about 30 minutes.
Immediately remove from cookie sheet. Let it cool a bit, then take it out of the pan and let it finish cooling on a plate.
Serve cool or cold, with whipped cream or powdered sugar if you like.

Strawberries!!

2008-06-12T14:45:00.000-04:00

I love strawberries. Real strawberries. Tasty, yummy, wonderful strawberries. Not those red watery things that taste like nothing. Luckily, we went strawberry picking at Larriland Farm, and picked about 20 lbs. Of course, this was while my toe was still dislocated, so it wasn't exactly pleasant. However, strawberry season is too short to worry about things like pain.

We ate a bunch of strawberries out of hand, both plain and with sweetened whipped cream (I always add a bit of salt to it, something about the salt makes the sweet even better). I made an ordinary and not very good strawberry pie that was gelatined. But I made some extremely tasty (if I do say so myself) strawberry sorbet and strawberry ice cream. Posts to follow.

On the importance of eating locally

2008-04-01T09:58:00.000-04:00

I'm not one of the nutty people. I swear. I'm not going to tell you Red Dye 40 will kill you, or that chicken from the supermarket will make you sprout wings, or anything like that. However, I will say that I have a pretty strong preference for eating locally grown foods. If I have time, I was planning to do a 100 mile challenge this summer.

There are many reasons to eat locally. First, quite often what is local and in season tastes better - it's fresher, it's more likely to have been picked when it was actually ripe, and it's often grown on small scale. Second, there are real social issues to local food security and agricultural preservation. Third, it takes less energy, and therefore less waste and carbon emissions, to move the food from place A to your table. Fourth, well, you get to know the people who feed you. There are a myriad of other reasons to eat locally.

I'm not going to throw a hissy fit about the mass production of food. Actually, a lot of it is incredibly beneficial to society. The number of people who are hungry has drastically reduced. Malnutrition is combated by some of this mass production. There is a lot of good in the food industry. But there's also negatives - and balancing those is something that every person must do for himself or herself.

I'm not going to pine for the time when every family fed themselves off their own land. I like my job, and my work doesn't allow me to run a farm at the same time. I like my baby townhouse, despite it's lack of land. My husband likes it for the lack of yard work. I like the fact that my husband can take mass transit to Our Nation's Capital, and do whatever it is he does for a living. I like the fact that I can visit just about any store I want, all within 5 miles of my home, eat at a myriad of restaurants, walk to the grocery store, and at the same time trek not too far to hit farm land.

However, a change is coming - localization is the wave of the future. Energy prices are going through the roof, consumer preferences are changing, and the revolution in communications allows for specialization and customization, rather than the mass standardization of the last wave of agricultural and industrial changes.

I like getting citrus from far away in winter. But in the spring and summer, I'm lucky enough to be able to taste our local bounty instead.

About this Blog

2008-01-26T21:46:00.000-05:00

I am using this blog to keep track of the different things that I cook, eat, and drink.