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.

Meats and Sweets

Or, Seattle Happy Birthday Time
Or, I turned 30 in Seattle,
Or, My continued obsession with Anthony Bourdain and cured meats!



My obsession with Anthony Bourdain and cured meats continued during my trip to Seattle. While I was visiting Portland, I watched the Portland episode of No Reservations. It only stands to reason that, while visiting Seattle, I indeed watch that episode of No Reservations as well, which led me to Salumi, only a hop, skip and a jump away from Pikes Place Market. I bought Paris a pre-birthday meal, since his birthday is the day after mine, and with lunch in our hot little hands we crossed the street and ate picnic style. We made sure to purchase a log of delicious cured meats to take with us so everyone could partake in the joy that is Salumi.

In the Italian episode of his show, Anthony Bourdain remarked that he kills that which he loves. By enlightening the masses, we come and tour and eat and crush, and eventually, squeeze the essence from these unique food sanctuaries. I want him to know, I am grateful for what he has done for me personally. I'm sure many would agree with me... I am a better person with delicious, juicy, particles of meat and fat and grease dribbling from my mouth and eventually making there way into my grateful tummy. My knowledge of food has grown exponentially because of him and his show, and I say thank you, my tummy thanks you. I promise to not crush, and to always tip generously!


Ceviche ala Paris, recipe...Rick Bayless, winner of Top Chef Masters Season 1. It is delicious and super easy, exactly my kind of cooking!


Beecher's was also on No Reservations. It's at Pikes Place Market, across the street. I ordered mac-n-cheese and watched them make the cheese right there. Good times!


Salumi meat, provolone, apples, and a baguette, a perfect afternoon snack.


Paris and I made birthday cakes for each other. He requested carrot with vanilla frosting. Which, I was opposed to immediately, since carrot cake usually dictates a cream cheese frosting, but you have to make concessions, and give people what they want on their birthday, if at no other time during the year. It was pretty tasty, since it was, America's Test Kitchen recipe all the way baby. I used fresh ground pepper this time, and there was no doubt that pepper was in there, which made it interesting, but didn't ruin it. For mine, I wanted none other than my go-to-have-to-have-above-all-else...yellow cake with chocolate frosting. Num num in my tum. His recipe came from Flour, a book that he remarked, is his new favorite. I had lots-o-fun, until next time Seattle!

2011: “One of these days I am going to get organezized”

I decided to organize my cupboards for this new year. I added to my collection of containers, and put everything in my cupboards in one! I am so proud! I need to do some baking now.

The bottom right container is some organic blue corn masa I bought. It smells really good and really fresh! I can’t wait to make some blue tortillas tomorrow.

The Wonders of Paris' Garden (part 1)

I'm holding down the home steady for Paris, which means aside from feeding his carnivorous kitties, and plants , I also am caring for his community garden lot, which is full of goodies! I picked some of the swiss chard, which is getting a bit too big. I have a couple ideas for cooking it, but I started with a simple little soup.

swiss chard
Potatoes
carrots
mushrooms
rice noodles
chicken broth
usual yum yum spices
lots o garlic
fresh thyme!( I love having Paris' herbs available)


It turned out super yummy, but even though I added the swiss chard last, it was still a bit over cooked. The next day I heated the rest of it up(mostly potatoes and broth left). I put it in this cute little bowl, found through the vigorous cleaning of Paris' apartment, and then I put the rest of the chard in, closed the lid, and let it just sit for a bit.

It was just right! but I wish I had more rice noodles to add.

stay tuned for the Wonders of Paris' Garden part 2!!

The longest journey begins with a single taco.

I am cold. There is no sun today, in fact there is a drizzle of rain. Since it is the middle of August I certainly didn't bring a coat, and I am getting a little wet. And you know what? I am not alone here, there are other crazy people here. At least some of these people brought a coat.


Why are we here? Outside? In the rain?


You have probably already guessed, Taco truck=tacos!

Yes, I go to the taco truck twice a week for lunch for the tacos, and the mind destroyingly awesome tortas. And today I felt like a soda to go with it.


Anyway, I am heading out of town today and I plan on trying tacos throughout my trip! Next up is Happy Fresh Taco in New York City! Then California is in the plans!


(this taco truck is located in the parking lot of the Chevron gas station next to the Bellevue Fred Meyer.)

Soup fit for summertime

Natalie wasn’t feeling well recently, and normally what makes her feel better is my chicken soup. However, with the temperature in the 80s, how can I made a hot chicken soup that doesn’t feel out of place in the summer?

Normally I like my soups with potatoes, rice, pastas, and other hearty ingredients. I decided to go lighter for the summer. I made a standard chicken broth, shredded some of the chicken breast in it.

Then in the bowls I was serving it in, I sliced up some fresh chard, spinach, and thinly sliced broccoli. Then I poured the hot broth and chicken over it, topped it with some cilantro, some slices of avocado and a few slices of tomato. When I gave it to Natalie, the green veggies under the broth were just barely cooked, and when a bit of lime was squeezed over it, it tasted really fresh!

I don’t normally think of soup in the summertime, but this was pretty damn good!

the curse and the ramen: a story of noodles and the consequences thereof

 

cucumber gimlet : lemonade : mint cucumber fizz

 

spicy beef udon

 

tokyo ramen (pork, bamboo) : miso ramem (chicken, corn)

 

okonomiyaki (japanese pancake)

 

We all went to Boom Noodle today (I’m up seeing Paris and Nat Nat) and the curse hit again. Every time I eat out with ONLY Paris and Tara, I inevitably order the least yummy thing out of the three of us. Apparently, the curse has grown now, and it affecting me when just with Paris and any other person. Although my tokyo ramen was good, it was no where as awesome as the other two noodle bowls.

Major highlight though: the japanese pancake. I used to have a little ghost place in my neighborhood that served these things. So delicious! They are sprouty egg cakes, griddled, with fish flakes, japanese mayo, a brown sauce and lots of other goodies on top. Kind of difficult to find, but this Boom Noodle did a wonderful job.

One Saturday evening in May

   

 

 

 

 

 

Whole wheat

Made a whole wheat bread last night, contains all whole wheat, some brown rice and sweetened with honey.  Took the directions from Crust and Crumb and it turned out pretty well!

Gimmie Gummies

Those of you that got Christmas presents from me, probably got one of these babies in the package too:

And then if you visited me shortly after Christmas, you probably got sick on the leftovers with me too. This is my favorite “bad” candy. You have all the staples of a good meal: pizza, hamburgers, fries, hotdog, and two bottles of coke to wash it down.

And they taste dreadful. Like candy flavored Styrofoam. I just get some kind of regressive childhood pleasure out of eating candy shaped like junk food. It makes me happy.

Now imagine my awe when I saw this lovely item in the store:

That’s right, MEXICAN DINNER GUMMI! Complete, all the way down to the cliché Mexican kid in a sombrero! All your favorites are here:

Starting at the top you have Tortilla (I think Spain style, as I have never seen a tortilla like that in my life), frijoles, and huevos rancheros. Then as sides, feast yourselves on: A chile, taco, coke, corn on the cob, some kind of fruit drink, and a drink that looks like lemonade. And look at that adorable Mexican style packaging!

How do they taste you ask? Fucking awful. It is like they forgot to even add the sugar to their Styrofoam mix. They aren’t sweet, and I get the distinct impression I shouldn’t swallow something so obviously unnatural.

The “drink that looks like lemonade” actually turned out to be tamarindo flavored. For those of you that are fans of the citrus-spicy flavor of fake tamarindo, it may satisfy.

Why oh why did I buy a dozen of these. If you want one let me know!

Seattle Hamburger Project: Skillet Street Food

The traveling Skillet van was on my hamburger list, probably due to this little creation: Bacon Jam.

I bought Noël one of these to help her with her waffle quest, and was a little disappointed to find out it wasn't an actual jam with a gelatin base, but more of a relish, made with onions, brown sugar, and balsamic vinegar.

But it was still pretty good on crackers and Noël's Christmas waffles, so I needed to find a time to get to the van. The problem was, that it travels around and usually in the Seattle area, not the Eastside, although I heard rumors that they came out to Microsoft some days. So to find them, I signed up for their facebook page, so I would get their locations before they went out, so I could plan around it.

Then one day in the Month of February, they posted they would be out in Woodinville for a wine tasting, so we organized a trip. After driving around Woodinville on some strange GPS generated wild goose chase, we found it and saw the line:

I hate lines. The hamburger better be good, to be worth standing in line with so many snobby rich eastside wine tasters. Over an hour in line, we finally got our order in.


I ordered the hamburger with some chipotle mac & cheese, and Natalie got the Vietnamese sandwich with fries. And I ordered us both the drink of the day with was cucumber, citrus, mint and Fresca all together. It sounded interesting.
It was a pretty good meal, you can see the photos below. The hamburger tasted like a homemade one, the patty was very good, with some blue cheese, arugula and the jam. And a really nice bun. Natalie's sandwich was good, and the mac and cheese as just a little spicy, to make it interesting. The drinks, tasted like ground up cucumber. It was good insomuch that cucumber is good, but the other ingredients didn't seem to do much.
Overall it was good, but worth that wait? I don't really think so. Order some of their jam online, and make your own hamburger at home without the wait....but then the prep time is longer than the wait...so who knows. It is quite the pickle.

Like spotting Bigfoot

One of the few known photos of food created by Natalie. This is stir fry.

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?