The New Recipe Challenge: Pumpkin Meringue Pie

The most beautiful pie in the world

Look at this pie. It's like, the most beautiful thing in the world. Just read the caption; it says it right there. This pic is not mine. It is not the pie I made. I am a mere mortal, incapable of creating such a heavenly pie. Here is mine. 

My photography skills are fierce, eh? The secret: have 2 Old Fashions, use unnatural light only and work with your phone camera. Ok back to the pie.

I brought this to a Christmas dinner that some friends were hosting. I ran out of time, so I whipped up the meringue and placed in a ziplock bag at home. After dinner I piped the topping and browned under the broiler in my friends' kitchen. Not sure if the meringue lost volume in the transportation, but I got nowhere near the height shown in the recipe's image. Jeez Louise, I forgot how much I love meringue though. I'm realizing that anything with egg whites is an instant win in my book. Meringue, marshmallows, egg white drinks, egg white omelets... Just kidding about the omelets. I mean, they're ok and all. Anyway- PIE! I was talking about pie. The pumpkin portion was fantastic, a little sweeter and darker than a typical pumpkin pie. The meringue was amazing against the custard-like filling. 

The dessert was a success with the rest of the dinner guests as well. One asked for the recipe, another went back for a large second helping, and James started raving and didn't stop until two days later. 

Some modifications I did: I don't care for (american) cinnamon, so I used only half a teaspoon and added a tablespoon of cardamom instead. I have no 8" spring form pan so I just used my regular 9.5" pie pan. (I also used my go-to pie crust recipe, from Joy of Cooking.) This meant no "deep dish" presentation, and surprisingly, the pumpkin filling part of the pie took perhaps an additional 15 minutes to cook. 

Repeat Factor: Absolutely will make this again. 

Next Time: Cut the sugar in the meringue and work on incorporating an additional flavor into it instead? Maybe the cardamom can go here. Or fresh ginger?

Deep Dish Pumpkin Meringue Pie

The New Recipe Challenge: Green Tea Shortbread Cookies

I've had a bag of matcha in the cupboard for a while now. I think originally for flavoring/color in icing? Anyway, was invited to a cookie exchange recently, so I thought it was a good excuse to try out that green tea powder. These Green Tea Shortbread Cookies were simple enough to try. Not sure if the powder breaks down after some time, but my dough, while definitely green tinted, was nowhere near as vivid as the dough shown with the recipe. 

As far as the flavor, this was a nice shortbread. The green tea flavor was very subtle (another sign that the powder may have been old?) After dusting with sugar, I dusted the cookies again with straight matcha powder in an attempt to layer up the tea flavors. However, whenever any hint of moisture hit the powder, the tea bloomed into a dark smear. While this didn't negatively affect the taste, it made for a certainly unattractive cookie. No one likes eating what appears to be a moldy cookie.

Repeat Factor: Possible, but Low

A decent recipe, but not really wowing my pants off, if you know what I mean. 

Next Time: Lay off the powder at the end. ;)

the New Recipe Challenge: Coconut Noodle Salad with Caramelized Limes

EEEEGAAWWWD where to even start with this one. First off, the recipe is sorely lacking in detail. Of course I take this as free license to start freestyling right off the bat. Heavily. I've got about a 50% success rate when I do this with new recipes. That's pretty good odds of strong, unequivocal failure. And I'm chalking this one up on the FAIL side. 

Where did it all go wrong? Well, Numero Uno Bad Sign: I suspect this is supposed to be a cold noodle salad. But nowhere does it REALLY say that. So I decided to make it hot. No protein mentioned in recipe, so I decide to add shrimp. The amount of noodles seemed large, but that's the one thing I apparently didn't have the mind to question. Dressing is supposed to be on the side; I'm going to cook the shrimp in it instead. An entire tb of sugar? I do half. Oh and hey- why don't I try to do this in one pan, just to make it fun? 

Verdict: Overcooked shrimp on a massive amount of almost gummy, bitter rice noodles, not enough discernible liquid left over for moisture, no real understanding what the hell the limes are doing on this plate, blah blah blah. The limes were a mystery all to themselves. They never caramelize- just seeped copious amounts of juices that had to be drained half way through. The peels made for a very bitter component, especially contrasted against the juice-soaked sugar (this flavor combo was the only redeeming element of the experience.) While not exactly palatable on their own, the pulp squeezed from them was intriguing when blended with the dressing. Speaking of dressing, the dish was edible once another side of the coconut cream and fish sauce was added for moisture (this time, with the sugar.) The dish fared better when eaten as leftovers for lunch the next day- debased to the microwave status of ready-to-heat dishes like Annie Chung Pad Thai. 

Next time: What of these limes? Must explore.

Repeat factor: Non-existent for this recipe. 

Another bad sign: I don't like how "caramelised" is spelled in the dish's name. Click through to see for yourself.  

the New Recipe Challenge: Chocolate-Caramel Pecan Tart

Ah holidays; yes! My favorite excuse to overeat sugar! I made this tart for a Thanksgiving dinner. While pumpkin pie is normally my go-to, the friend that had invited me had already called dibs on creating the most awesomest of all holiday pies. Seemed a perfect time to venture out into the great unknown. Tarts. And now, with no further adieu, Chocolate-Caramel Pecan Tart.

Verdict: DELICIOUSNESS IN SMOKY NUT FORM
Smoky nuts, salty hint, flakey crust- this is nowhere near the cloying goo of a typical pecan pie. 

I had no tart pan with removable bottom, but just threw the crust into a spring-form cake pan. At first I was dismayed to find that my crust shrank in considerably from the edges, but really, turned out to be no big thing. So don't worry about what kind of baking pan you use. 
The bit about cooking the corn syrup for 8-10 minutes... complete lie. Just watch it carefully- it turns fast. Luckily, Mama was on hand and coached me through most. Including a bit where she stopped me from scraping gritty bits of sugar back down to the goey mass. Apparently that is a big no-no in candy making, and I narrowly escaped turning my batch into a gruesome crystalline mess. Or something. 
Next Time: I doubled the salt as well- and I probably could have used even more. Other than that- I'm not changing a thing. 
Repeat factor: Very high. 

the New Recipe Challenge: Chipotle Pumpkin Soup with Chorizo & Apples

Wow, it's been a while! So hectic, much time, blah blah blah. 
Ok, now on to the good stuff; I've been pushing myself to try one new recipe a week. 
Last week I made a large batch of this Chipotle Pumpkin Soup. The recipe can be found here.

Verdict: A solid recipe, that definitely got me thinking about other directions to take this, should I attempt again. 
I usually find smoked paprika a bit heavy handed, and that was no different here. I doubled the coconut milk. The chorizo (as much as I detest cooking it, the oil, ugh) was absolutely necessary to the texture of the soup,  that fatty grease was perfect drizzled over the top! The apples were also an awesome addition- I wanted much more than what the recipe called for. The acorn squash halves functioning as bowls? Completely superfluous, but I had to. 

Next time: Double the coconut milk and omit the cheese. Change out the spices to perhaps some star anise, coriander seed, cardamom, or a chili blend a little more sophisticated. Rethink the protein addition? Halve the recipe as well. 

Repeat Factor: Yes, but doubtful in this exact form again. 

Avoid the County Fair: Make Kettle Corn at Home!

Anyone who's ever lived with me knows that I am addicted to popcorn. And I like all its derivatives: caramel corn, kettle corn, cheesy corn, rosemary corn, brewer's yeast parmesan corn, corn seasoned like Chex mix, and even the commercial riff-raff like Cracker Jack and Fiddle Faddle. But no microwave popcorn for me; I do have my limits. So today I had a craving for kettle corn, that pleasantly salty, lightly sugared stuff you find at carnivals and mall outlets. Maybe it was subconscious because the county fair opened today. At any rate, I made my own and avoided the crowds. It's easy with only 4 simple ingredients:

1/4 cup popcorn kernels
1/8 cup sugar
1/8 cup oil
salt

Put the oil in a pan that has a lid, add 3 popcorn kernels, and place it over medium heat. When the 3 kernels pop, quickly stir the sugar into the hot oil. Add the rest of the popcorn kernels.  Put on the lid.  Shake the pan around on the burner every so often while listening for the kernels to start popping. When you hear the kernels begin to pop, lift the pan from the stove and shake to keep the popcorn from burning. Return it to the burner after several seconds and listen for more popping. Repeat the process until it's all popped. Pour into a bowl and salt to taste.

I ate mine while watching the movie They Live. 

Where are you going to eat yours?

Tea Smoked Salmon

I recently read about tea smoking, an ancient Chinese culinary technique.  Sounded intriguing! I'm not sure if the old-time Chinese people had salmon, 
but this style of cooking really compliments this fish!  I'm not an expert with 
the barbecue, but this was quite easy.  

First I put my salmon in a marinade for an hour or so: 

• 1/4 cup tamari or soy sauce 
• 1 tablespoon sugar 
• 1 teaspoon finely grated orange or lemon zest 
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes

Then I started a fire with briquettes in my barbecue. While waiting for the 
coals to form, I prepared the smoking ingredients: 

• 1/4 cup mixed whole leaf oolong and jasmine tea 
• 1/4 cup white rice 
• 1/4 cup brown sugar 
• 8 whole star anise 
• 2 tablespoons crushed cinnamon stick
• 5 whole allspice 

I put the smoking ingredients in a few layers of heavy-duty aluminum foil and formed an open packet. 

Smoking ingredients mixed in a foil packet:
The tea and spices infuse the fish with a subtle, slightly bitter taste.
The brown sugar sweetens up the fish and adds a caramel color and undertone.
The rice acts as a fuel to keep the aromatics smoking.

When the coals are white hot, place the foil packet of smoking ingredients directly on them.  Put the grill in place above the coals, and shut the 
barbecue lid. Partially close the barbecue's air vent.  When you see 
smoke rising from the vent, it's time to cook! My coals were quite hot, 
and smoke appeared in just a few minutes. 

Remove the salmon from the marinade and pat it dry. Brush it lightly with 

oil. I used a mixture of sesame and peanut oil. You can place the salmon 

on a pre-soaked cedar plank, but I'm not that fancy. I used a nonstick grill 

basket that I bought  for a few dollars. Put the salmon skin side up (if it has 

skin) and put the cedar plank or grill basket on the grill. Close the lid and 

the air vent. Let the salmon smoke for 3 to 5 minutes, depending on how 

thick your fillet is. Flip the fish once and smoke again to medium doneness.  

Usually this requires another 3 to 5 minutes. I bought salmon trimmings 

that were quite thin, so I smoked it a scant 3 minutes per side.  

My experiment was a success!  I think this was the most delicious salmon I have ever eaten.  Next I think I'll try this technique with shrimp laid directly 

on the grill.

Inexpensive salmon trimmings smoked to perfection in 6 minutes!

Ferry Building Smorgasbord

My friend Alejandra and I went to this event Friday night hosted at the Ferry Building on the Embarcadero, here in San Francisco. The Ferry Building houses restaurants, cafes, small food vendors, a book store, and a Sur La Table. On Saturdays, they have a farmers market set up outside, which draws large crowds. I was here earlier in the week, just roaming around, for no particular reason (it's one of my favorite things to do), and found out about the event.

We showed up promptly at 5:30. As was explained to us, $20 gets you 10 tickets. Tickets get you wine and hors d'oeuvres. Wine was 2 tickets for a glass. And food, depending on the item was either 1 or 2 tickets. We started with 10 tickets. After all, we had already eaten lunch; this was just fun snacky-wine-hangout time.

Tuna tartar... the tuna was fresh, the cabbage was really good, and the crunch from the chip was great. So, I'm tasting all of that, and then the spice monster hit me! Washed it down with a swig of crisp Sauvignon Blanc, and I was good to go.

And there was dancing, ahhh C'est la vie.

Chris Cosentino, the chef and owner of Incanto, in San Francisco, also has a sandwich shop, Boccalone Salumeria in the Ferry Building, where he serves up freshly sliced salumi on rolls of crusty bread with cheese and mustard. He was there that night! He's the one in the background. I made my friend stand in front (hence the cracking up), to pretend I was taking her picture! I didn't want to look lame, and star struck.

Because, you all know how I'm slightly obsessed with Anthony Bourdain and his show No Reservations....Well, when he came to town to make the SF show, Cosentino was one of the chefs he visited at his restaurant. SOoooo, a bit of celeb chef sighting happening here. I know, Imma dork!



Mini lemon and salted chocolate tarts!

"Ooooohhhhh, oysters!" We exclaimed unanimously. Before the night was over, we had spent $40 on tickets, had 2 oysters a piece, at least 4 glasses of wine (but whose counting!), and ate and drank our way through the smorgasbord. As the evening progressed, fun snacky-wine-hangout time became the perfect girls date night. I always have a good time with Ale!

A hot dog walks into a bar...

Stopped by Bird Dog and had a chicken fried hotdog covered in sausage gravy. The illustrious Jr had a rueban dog and some really greasy chili fries. We then vowed to return and eat sausage until the end of the world. This is a hard life. 

New Year's Ravioli

It's a new year, and that means another year to be filled with delicious foods! First dinner of 2012, homemade ravioli. It was my main dish at our Chávez christmas dinner, delicious but not so pretty. Back in San Francisco Mónico and I tried out the recipe again and finally got the knack of it, they were much prettier this time around. And very yummy, it was very hard to stop going back for just one more.


Pasta recipe very simple,

4 eggs
3 3/4 cup flour
3/4 cup water
1 1/2 tsp salt

Mix eggs, water, salt, and 2 cups flour until smooth. Gradually add the rest of the flour. refrigerate 20 minutes. THOUROUGHLY flour surface, and then Roll out 1/8 inch thickness, then flour some more.... and then a little more flour.

we used a biscuit cutter for each side of the ravioli then put filling on one side, brushed a bit of egg and water mixture on the other and pressed them together with a smaller ravioli cutter. they turned out very cute, don't you think?

Filling

Kinda just added a bunch of stuff together. Italian Sausages, browned sweet onion, spinich, tofu, salt, pepper, basil, and other things I am sure. All cut up really small. use whatever you want! yay

Obsession

I dragged my friend, Alejandra, down to the book store at the Ferry Building in San Francisco, on a Friday night, to see Christopher Kimball from America's Test Kitchen. It was pretty awesome to see him in person. He had a cute yellow bow tie on. He answered questions for half an hour and when asked about the ties, he estimated that he owned seventy of them. People asked all kinds of questions. About organic food, which to sum up, he said, doesn't really have any regulations in the states, and that a producer can essentially use the title without really providing an "organic" product.

I don't remember everything that was said however, someone inquired how it was that he got into food. The story is this: When he was about seven he made a chocolate cake for his family that wasn't good, and the frosting came out looking like snot. But, when he served it to the family, everyone remarked how good it was. It was because of that feeling, of making something and then having people appreciate it, that made him gravitate to food.

I even asked him a question. Here's the background: When I make their desserts at home, they'll usually call for a one to two hour cooling time. I can never wait that long to get my hot little hands on the goods, so I, from time to time... okay, I admit it, more often than not, will, take a little bite off the corner immediately after it has emerged from the oven. This mostly pertains to desserts like lemon bars, or brownies, but isn't limited to these by any means.

The question: Do you sneak bites of the desserts before they've cooled, or do you wait the recommended cooling time? My answer: Because we're filming, and we don't want the the whole film crew to wait for hours for the dessert to be ready, we have a backup waiting that is ready to taste.

Ah yes. I always think it's so cute, when on the show, he says he's going to talk to Adam Reid in the equipment corner, or Jack Bishop in the tasting lab, while he's waiting for his dessert to cool. Damn you magic box for fooling me... I shake my fist at the heavens!

He even signed my book. Me and my new BFF Chris!

Me Want Cookbook Club

When I see things like this...



How to start a cookbook club from Tea and Cookies, it makes me long to live in Portland. My friends and family near Portland appreciate food. Appreciate eating and making food, and enjoying these things with friends and family. That's why we started this frickin' blog. I told, Monico, that I thought it'd be awesome to start a cookbook club, as suggested in the blog. They all cook from the same cookbook, each selecting different recipes, and get together about every two months. Basically, me want cookbook club!

What he said to this, matter-of-factly, was that no one here (in SF) would want to do that with me. He's probably right, whether it be the small kitchens, or busy lives, or simply the excuse that people don't know how to cook; it just may be difficult to get people interested, but damn it, I'm going to give it a try. Even if it only happens once, I'd be satisfied. I always say, you don't need to know how to cook, as long you've got a good recipe to follow!

Hardly Strictly Dumplings

Beer and snacks in tow, Moni, Tara and I, headed to the Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival yesterday in Golden Gate Park.







The corn was roasted in their husks, and if you wanted butter, and of course, we wanted butter, they dipped it in it, and handed it over. Tara tried to avoid loosing all the skin on her hand, while seasoning her corn with lemon pepper, garlic salt, chili powder. Everything.

And even though we had snacked all day, I suggested we head over to Shanghai Dumpling King. We've been wanting to check it out, since it's rumored to be one of the best dumpling restaurants in San Francisco. Moni said no, but me and Tara wanted to eat dumps...Two against one, we win!





In a delicious broth, these suckers were my favorite...




Yum Yum, delicious! We also got green beans with onion, which were heavily salted, but perfect. However, it's all about the dumplings here, and I'm glad we went. It was a great food day for sure.

On the Hunt

Every time I’ve tried blackberries while living in California, be it from the store, or a farmer’s market, they’ve been, not what I’ve expected. They’re sour, and not sweet. The blackberries here are a serious disappointment. I’ve stopped buying them. I’ve resorted to asking people to send them, or transport them, over state lines from Oregon, in order to again taste the sweet goodness that is an Oregon blackberry. Needless to say, it’s been awhile since I’ve eaten a tasty blackberry.

Recently, my sister came to visit me from the Portland area. She told me she was bringing some with her. I was so excited. When she arrived I first hugged her. Immediately after, I looked to see where she kept my blackberries, I was like a dog panting for its treat. She started to explain, “I brought them with me…” I stopped her, “Don’t say BUUUUT!” She continued with a grimace, “But...” “Nooooooooo.” “... they didn’t make it.” Being such a gentle delicious fruit busting with flavor, they couldn’t survive the long hot car ride. I was bummed. I’m sad to say, I’ve had no luck in procuring the elusive Oregon blackberry.

Paris flaunts in it my face that he and Natalie went for a little stroll and happened upon blackberries, and not knowing what to do with them, posted the above photo on facebook to ask for suggestions. I know exactly what you can do with those blackberries, Parrrriiiissss.

I decided last night, that if I can’t eat blackberries, then I’ll have pumpkin pie instead! Smooth, creamy, one-of-my-favorite-pies ever! This recipe calls for grated fresh ginger, and some candied yams in addition to pumpkin puree. So good that I’ve been stealing bites from the fridge all day long. I probably won’t be hungry for dinner, I’m an adult now, I’ll eat pumpkin pie instead!

What? You are still here?

I know it has been a while since I posted, I lost my login info for a while, or was trying the wrong one or did I lose my camera? Anyway I am sure it was something stupid and Paris-like. But I am back, just in time to tell you about one of my new favorite cookbooks(and cookbook author!). I enjoy reading Fine Cooking magazine, everything I have made out of it has been quite good.

A while ago we decided to try to make their French Macaroons. They turned out excellent, as documented in this official photo:

Don't those look delicious?

Well that might have been the end of that, except when watching a cooking show I have been enjoying lately, Simply Ming(good show, you should check it out), the author of the article(Joanne Chang) and recipe showed up as a guest, and I discovered that she had a baking cookbook out! So we rushed out to Barnes and Nobles to get a copy.

As Rachel mentioned below in her Seattle post, I made her birthday cake out of this book. We also made the Brioche au Chocolate. And since then I have made the lime cornmeal

cookies and the parsley-sage biscuits. All of which have been excellent!

In fact the cornmeal-lime cookies inspired me to play around with them and I made the lime glaze with tequila instead of water, and sprinkled a bit of pink sea salt on top. It was very tasty, but a little too salty, I need to play around with it more. I can't wait to make more stuff out of the book.

The recipes can be a little involved, for example the brioche was about a 3 day project. Be sure the read the directions all the way through before starting. We learned that the hard way.

I think you should pick up the book, and pay attention if you see an article by Joanne Chang or see her on TV. She hasn't failed me yet!

By the way, I think I read she has a degree in physics from Harvard and decided to become a pastry chef instead. I admire the hell out of her.

Baking With Tom

One of my favorite things to do on a day off is bake while listening to Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers. One of my favorite songs is Breakdown.

When I moved to San Francisco seven years ago my palate was limited. I didn’t eat goat cheese. I didn’t like tomatoes, or avocado. To say the least, my food world was limited. But yesterday, I was about to order geoduck sashimi for lunch! It didn’t happen for a two reasons; 1. It was priced at 30 dollars a pound, while the required amount to purchase was at least 2 pounds, and 2. There were only 2 of us. Today, I made rosemary polenta cake with peaches and honey whipped cream for dessert. For dinner, we’re having enchiladas verde, refried beans, with guacamole and chips for starters. All made by ME! Okay, I didn’t make the chips, but 4 out of 5’s pretty good. A few years ago, I would have never considered a savory dessert, but today I’m excited to try it. I did turn 30 this year, so that may have something to do with my new found love of eating delicious, interesting food.

Paris recently gave me his recipe for homemade refried beans. I’m using it again tonight, and I’ve gotta say, I will never eat canned beans EVER again. It’s too easy to make them from scratch. There’s a little more work involved besides popping open a can, but the reward for flavorful beans is so worth it. I’ll never go back! Make your own beans!

No surprise here that the recipe for the cake comes from America’s Test Kitchen. I’m hooked. But, if it weren’t for some of my favorite shows like ATK, Top Chef, and No Reservations, I just may be relegated to eating beans from a can, and never enjoying savory sweet baked goods like this…

Cake:
1 cup whole milk
2 sprigs fresh rosemary
1 ½ cups instant polenta
3 large eggs
¼ cup honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup cake flour
¾ cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces and softened

Topping:
2 large ripe peaches, peeled and sliced into ¼ inch thick wedges
1 sprig fresh rosemary
1 tablespoon sugar
Pinch salt
½ cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon honey

1. For the cake: Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat to 350. Grease a 9-inch cake pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2. Bring the milk and rosemary sprigs to a simmer in a medium saucepan, then let steep off the heat for 10 minutes: discard the rosemary sprigs. Meanwhile, spread the polenta over a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven until fragrant and lightly golden, about 10 mins. Carefully whisk the hot toasted polenta into the steeped milk.

3. Whisk the egg, honey, and vanilla together in medium bowl. In a large bowl, whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together. Using an electric mixer on medium-low speed, beat the butter into the flour mixture, one piece at a time, about 30 seconds. Continue to beat the mixture until it resembles moist crumbs, 1 to 3 minutes.

4. Beat in the egg mixture until combined, about 30 seconds. Break up any large clumps of the polenta with your fingers, then beat it into the batter, one handful at a time, until combined, about 30 seconds. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat the batter until smooth and uniform 2 to 4 mins.

5. Give the batter a final stir with a rubber spatula to make sure it is thoroughly combined. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and gently tap the pan on the counter to settle the batter. Bake the cake until the top is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30-35 mins, rotating the pan halfway through baking.

6. Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 mins. Run a knife around the edge of the cake, then flip it out onto a wire rack. Peel off the parchment paper, then flip the cake right side up, and let cool completely, 1-2 hours.

7. For the topping: While the cake cools, toss the peaches, rosemary, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl and let sit until the peaches release their juices, about 20 mins. Before serving, whip the cream and honey together with an electric mixer on medium-low until frothy, about 1 min. Increase the mixer speed to high and continue to whip until the cream forms soft peaks, 1-3 mins.

8 To assemble: Spread the whipped cream over the top, leaving ½ inch border around the edge. Discard the rosemary sprig from the peaches and arrange them in a concentric patter over the cream.
Voila! I am considering messing around with the peaches. My peaches were ripe and tasted great, but weren’t soft enough for the fork to slide through them while they were on top of the cake. Had to push them off and construct the perfect bite. Maybe I didn’t let them macerate long enough, maybe they weren’t ripe enough, but would love to find a way to have softer peaches consistently, maybe sauté, or bake them.

It's More Than A Meal, It's An Adventure

R and G Lounge San Francisco. Monico and I have walked by here a few times, while either on our way from, or headed toward Chinatown. I heard it was good. Well, mostly from Monico, saying this is where his Chinese friends bring their parents when they visit. And and...Anthony Bourdain ate here when he filmed his SF episode of No Reservations. Needless to say, we've been wanting to try it, plus I've been in serious need of a crab fix lately. The crab was 38 bucks (market price) and we paid it. It is there signature dish, so we kind of had to get it, plus did I mention I was in a bad way about needing crab! It was delicious! It was everything I wanted it to be and more. Using the tools they provided I broke into the crab. My fingers were greasy. The coke I ordered was a perfect compliment to my salty-meaty pieces of crab. We ordered a side of rice and something else called, something like, three delights, I don't know really, because the crab, the crab, it's all I wanted, it's all I can remember!

After lunch I had to urge Moni to walk slower on account I didn't want to get a cramp. Since I'm a fatty, of course I ate too much, as I often do, I don't know my limit. When something's this good, I just don't want it to stop.

Cutiepies

With dreams of my very own bakery dancing in my head, I made mini-tarts this weekend. I’m calling them cutiepies! Paris had made these amazing looking mini blueberry pies, so I wanted to make minis too. I knew exactly what I’d make, I went right for a recipe I got from a Food and Wine magazine. A Food and Wine magazine that I picked up after visiting Portland, because Noel and James get Food and Wine, so I’m scoping it out to see whether or not it’ll be the next one I order.
Recipe for free form tarts:

Pastry

2 cups all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon salt
1 ½ sticks cold, unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
½ cup ice water

Filling

Use whatever fruit you want, cut it up of course, the magazine suggested mango, and it’s absolutely the best fruit in these tarts, amazingly yummy! They also suggest pineapple and berries, use your imagination! I also like the way bananas taste after they’ve been baked, they have their own natural sweetness.

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Sugar, for sprinkling
Crème fraiche or vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream, for serving. But these suckers taste amazing the next day as is as a breakfast treat.

Now that you’ve got everything together, Do This:

1. Make the Pastry- In a food processor, pulse the flour and salt. Add the butter and pulse until it’s the size of small peas. Sprinkle the ice water over the mixture and pulse until it comes together. Transfer pastry to work surface and knead a few times until it comes together. Divide in half and flatten into disks. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for an hour, can be made a day ahead.

2. Preheat oven to 400. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. On lightly floured surface roll out a disk to 1/8 inch thick. Cut out rounds that are 5 inches in diameter, can make 4 per disk. Place on baking sheet. Repeat with second disk. Refrigerate for 10 minutes.

3. Arrange the fruit on dough rounds. Bring the pastry edges up and around the fruit, pinching firmly to form pleated edges around fruit. Refrigerate 10 minutes more.

4. Brush tarts with melted butter and sprinkle with sugar. Bake 35 minutes, until pastry is browned and fruit is bubbling. Cool on wire rack.

-If you want to make them super tiny like I did…I made them 3 inch rounds, and decreased the temperature of the oven to 350 for the first 15 minutes, after that, I rotated the pan and turned the oven up to the standard 400 for the rest of the time, still cooking them for a total of 35 minutes. I made some with tops too, just remember to make holes in the top crust. Enjoy!

Mexican Gazpacho

Oooh boy, summer in a bowl. I made this last year, and as soon as it FINALLY started to warm up here, I jumped at the chance to make it again. I go heavier on the poblano chiles, add an extra piece of bread to the crumbs mixture and usually fry up more bread cubes to sprinkle on top as croutons. My favorite part is the mango chunks and crispy bits of radish. I brought this to a potluck party once and my friend who claimed to never really get into chilled soups said it was delicious. But to be fair, it's not really even like a soup, more like an excuse to pile a bunch of fresh stuff into an amazing salsa.

Recipe from The Spiced Life, found here.

Espresso and chamomile

Ok, first things first: OMSI After Dark is awesome. They (Oregon Science Museum peoples) stay open late for the 21 and over, with microbreweries set up in booths all over the place. There are special activities and presentations geared towards adults (think: Taiko drumming and the science behind beer tricks, not XXX) and music, and you get a pint glass and there was a sausage truck and and and...PROS: Awesome! Beer! Science! No kids!
CONS: Really crowded and long lines.

Just had to throw that in there because for some reason I really like it when reviews sum it all up in a "Pros" vs "Cons" sorta way.

I was at first determined to sample all the brews available at the event, but I abandoned that quest after a short while when I found myself gravitating towards two repeatedly.

Beer #1: Oakshire Espresso Stout by Oakshire Brewing
This stout was so crazy good I think Tara had two pints. Oakshire Brewing is in Eugene. While James immediately recognized it, I had never heard of it. This stout was heavenly, creamy, coffee, thick and smooth. I just purchased two bottles as a hard week's reward. And because I couldn't get it out of my mind.
PROS: Delicious. Stout. Tastes like coffee.
CONS: Filling! And I think it may have got me drunkish but who's to know?

Beer #2: Chamomellow by Buckman Brewery
This was the first sample that I tried and kept going back for, and then they ran out and I cried for two seconds before running over to the Oakshire stand again.
Chamomile beer. Two of the most comforting things in this world, beer and chamomile tea, got together and had a beautiful baby, that when imbibed, will immediately transport you to a state of relaxation and unicorns. For some reason, it just works. Looks like Buckman Brewery is right here in P-town; I will soon be hunting it down...
PROS: Beer was never more soothing. Herbal and light.
CONS: Beer was never more soothing.