Brussels Sprout Slaw with Maple-Glazed Pecans

I have never eaten cold Brussels sprouts on purpose, so this recipe from the November 2009 Bon Appétit intrigued me. The salad's garnish, glazed pecans, is made with real maple syrup. I bought my syrup while on a road trip to Vermont, but you can probably find it cheaper at Food 4 Less or Costco.


The Brussels sprouts (perhaps this is as good a time as any to insert a caveat about the spelling of Brussels sprouts ... because they are named for the city, Brussels must be capitalized) are cooked in salted water until crisp-tender and still bright green, about 5 minutes. Then drain them and rinse with cold water. Chop the sprouts well and add the dressing. Chill in the fridge until ready to eat. At the last minute before serving add the pecans.




Pecan instructions:
Heat oven to 325 degrees. Whisk 1/4 C. maple syrup and 1/2 tsp salt in small bowl. Add 1 cup nuts and stir them to coat well. Bake them in a single layer on a small rimmed sheet for about 5 minutes, then stir. Continue to bake until the nuts are toasted and the glaze is bubbling, about 6 more minutes. Transfer the nuts to another sheet that has oil or non-stick spray on it. Separate the nuts.
Dressing:
Whisk together:
1/4 C Dijon mustard
2 TB apple cider vinegar
2 TB fresh lemon juice
1 TB sugar
1/4 C oil
Add salt and pepper to taste

Put 'em on the glass, part 2

Thought of all the peep addicts out there when I saw this:


Sacred heart of Jesus made out of Peeps. Click on that image too see it close up, and get more details here:
Bad Art Museum

Soda

Found these at my QFC and they were amazing! Just tried the orange cream and the vanilla cream, they they were great!
Crater Lake Soda

Seattle Hamburger Project: Teddy’s Bigger Burgers

Teddy's Bigger Burgers opened up in Woodinville this year, and its reputation already grew enough to be included in my list of hamburger places to try in the Seattle area.  The hamburger recommended was the Hawaiian burger.

The place is pure Hawaiian and hamburger kitsch.  From the fish tank to the Coke a Cola signs it is very cliché.  The Hawaiian burger was pretty good, with a slice of pineapple, but it was also very messy.  My preferred hamburger is the Cajun burger with onion rings on the side.  It is so tasty, spicy and beefy, with cool pickles and the onions rings are crispy.

Overall a great place to get a hamburger, I found I can bike there from my house, it makes a great Saturday outing.  Look at these pictures!  Aren’t you hungry?

I went down to LA a while ago for an animation conference. After the conference ended for the day, we would spend our nights searching for the Korean taco truck, Kogi, that my friend Shawna had heard about/obsessed with. Driving around LA late at night, we finally found it. I only had my cellphone for photos. Sorry about the quality.



Two sweet spare rib tacos on the bottom and a spicy pork taco in red sauce on the top. Both topped with greens tossed with soy, chile, salsa, and lime. Both really good.


But my favorite was the kimchi quesadilla. With a really nice spicy green salsa to top them. Super messy and awesome. Totally something I have to try to recreate....

and we went to disneylands...

Getting eggy

Last Sunday I took a break from my waffle journey and made some french toast instead. It turned out to be not too far really from my forays into waffles, as I was determined to make the eggiest french toast ever. I read up on some recipes, and decided to sort of try this recipe of Baked French Toast, off of Epicurious.com. Reviews and descriptions of the recipe described it as an extremely rich, custurdy, bread pudding sort of thing, but I wanted bread fried in eggs (who doesn't!) and I also wanted to amp up the spice, and cut down on the sugar (smother the bread in marmelade? really?) Anyway, with some sausages and fruit it turned out perfect: eggy spicy bread brightened up with citrus.


Halfway depleted pan of bread marinating in eggs. I added lots of orange zest and let the bread sit for half an hour in the mixture, turning the pieces occasionally to get them good and soppy.



I think my recipe went something sort of like this:
5 Pieces of a hearty rustic white bread (I used Grand Central's Como)
1 1/3 cup milk (approx)
3 egg yolks
1 egg with white
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tb cardamom
orange zest from 1.5 large oranges

Topping:
orange slices
maple syrup
fresh ginger

Mix all the liquid and spices. Cut bread in half and spread in deep dish and allow to soak in liquid for half an hour. I was worried I didn't have enough liquid and added some more milk (hence my "approx" above.) Turn bread slices occasionally to keep soaking. Fry up in butter.

I sliced up the oranges and grated tons of fresh ginger into them and let them sit for a while too. I added just a tiny bit of maple syrup to try to justify this as a breakfast, but it totally wasn't needed. The oranges on top of the bread added some extra nice sweet, spicy juiciness to the whole mess. Oh, and of course, you can just fry up those unused egg whites for some scrambled eggs. Lucky you; egg whites are a healthy choice! har har har