Musings on green pastes

A while back I got Paris this book, which I read before I gave him (as I do with all books that I buy as gifts.) However, back to the point- this author, Robert Wolke, says that outside of Japan what passes as wasabi is in fact regular HORSERADISH, dyed green. Apparently, wasabi is tricky to grow, and thusly more pricey. He also says though, that true wasabi is a delicate and nuanced taste, perhaps less suited to the american habit of excessive condiment slathering.
Of course, this sort of language makes me crazed with the desire to have some true wasabi. (Perhaps not quite as crazed as Paris gets when it comes to tortas, but I may be prone to hyperbole.) So when this earth-shattering book of culinary secrets mentioned how a wasabi farm can now be found in Florence, Oregon, I was like, hellz YEAH.

Pacific Farms
"Back in 1992, we took up the difficult challenge to grow authentic wasabi in North America. Along the central Oregon coast we found the perfect weather that matched the premier wasabi growing regions in Japan. Here we began our journey. By 1995, we were growing the finest varieties of Japanese wasabi right here in Florence Oregon." 6x small tubes = $20.75

On a different note, this umami paste has me intrigued as well. A heavenly description by Dean de Luca has me salivating: "Rich, deep and intensely savory, umami exists in a number of foods, many of which are blended into this mouthwatering puree of tomato, garlic, anchovy paste, black olives, balsamic vinegar, porcini mushrooms, parmesan cheese, olive oil and just a touch of sugar and salt."
On the Dean de Luca website, check out the customer reviews below the product pricing for evidence of how crazed the rest of the world is; one woman claims her sister dabbed it behind her ears and received compliments. 
13.95 for a 3 pack on Amazon



 And last but not least: an NPR story, including tasting reviews, about the many flavors of KitKat candy bars in Japan, including soy sauce and "Intense Roasted Soy Bean."

Revelations and a slew of crappy pics

It's been so long ago that this actually happened; I think I can only talk about the major points here:

1. Tara had some savory tarts while in Spain that inspired us creatively. We created flat ones, cup-shaped and pop-tart style tarts, filled with amazing things.

2. Actual caramelized onion and/or fruit is delicious. Previously, I believe anything I've ever had that claimed to be caramelized was truly only greased up and warmed. Don't get me wrong: warm and greasy can be just what I need sometimes- but these pears! They were something else.

3. Regular pie crust dough can be used for tarts but must be rolled as thin as you can possibly stand it.

4. I can drink the crappiest champagne in the world as long as I have raspberries to muddle.

5. My phone takes the crappiest photos in the world. Especially when you have food smeared across the lens and don't realize until the end of the night.

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.

March is for Macaroons

Not a surprise this is another America's Test Kitchen recipe. They give great results.

I like to make cookies! I've never made these kind before, and the recipe was interesting. It was the first time I used Almond Flour; and the second time since receiving my new standing mixer for Christmas that I used it. It's a lot of fun and when the recipe calls for mixer slowly, I have to resist the urge to go faster and faster! I only needed to make a half portion of the butter-cream filling. Upon tasting it, all I could taste was butter, and not in a good way. When I used it to fill the moist cookies, it all had the same flavor. It just wasn't right. So I decided to add a little orange extract, and it was just thing to lighten up the cookie! Now these buggers are in my house and every time I start snacking on one, I think TEA TIME!, and brew a cup of tea to have with the second one! Yummy!

Detours

Went to Detour Cafe the other day and had the most delicious and eggy french toast, made with a housemade cardamom bread. Reminded me kind of this. It may be hard to tell from these grainy phone pics, but the place was super cute, with HUGE mimosas, little doll house booths and a rack of gourmet food magazines. Detour has huge family style dinners some nights, all at one table and some crazy cool egg sandwich specials during week days. Afterwards, we wandered around and looked at some streets covered in chalk drawings.

Molasses Cookies, A Holiday Preview

Yum. The best part about these simple molasses cookies is the 3 tablespoons of dark rum added to the powdered sugar for the glaze. Really good, and gives them a little kick. Just use rum instead of water or milk in the glaze. Like I do in my cereal.


*pics taken with our new Canon camera!

Have mixer, will bake.

With the holidays fast approaching, I'm daydreaming of all the delicious recipes I've been stockpiling. I FREAK out come the end of the year, getting preoccupied with making sugary sweets, frothy eggnog and all sorts of roasted spicy things. It gets a little insane at times, until before I know it, Tara and I are trying to shape home made marshmallows out of cookie presses, surrounded by champagne or trying to force people to try our eggnog meringue. Getting into the spirit of things, Tara and I have begun compiling a list of all goodies we will be attempting (and possibly even failing at a few, but who cares when it involves ingredients like these.) Here's my check list so far- all from recipe sites that I really enjoy- lots of other great non-sugar related recipes on most all of them:

Dulce de Leche Marshmallows from: The Spiced Life
My marshmallow love knows no bounds. I've killed hand mixers on batches of them, experimented with espresso and cocoa mixes and am now ready to move on to the next.

Buckeyes from: Smitten Kitchen
I have made a home made peanutbutter cup thing in past years, but now I'm looking forward to trying these. They look a bit more sophisticated, but that may just be the beautiful photography that Smitten Kitchen consistently provides.

Cherry-limade Bars from: Cheeky Kitchen
The lemon bar is a CLASSIC. My cookie book's page that holds this recipe is neatly annotated by my mother's hand but is gummed down by layers of sugar and lemon. I'm not quite sure I can get behind the maraschino cherries and food coloring called for in this version, but it opens up some great possiblities that I never imagined. Layered lemon bars? Holiday colors? Yes. YES

Salted Gingersnap & Hazelnut Bark from: Bitchin Camero
I LOVE how grown up this looks. Like, Harry and David good. Like, I ordered this from some catalog just for you this Christmas. But wait, I actually made it! This is what I imagine the conversation will go like when I gift my friends sweet packets of this salted chocolate confection. Oh, and I also love how freaking EASY it sounds to make. But I leave that part out of my imaginary conversations.



French Bread Pudding from: Epicurious
Tara and I are also going to be doing a bread pudding- however, most recipes I have been looking at call for chocolate, french toast, sweet breads, caramel and other extras when all I really want is plain good bread, eggs, cream and sugar. This recipe looks simple enough to satisfy those cravings, with dried cherries to add some tartness.


Burnt Sugar Lollipops from: Fig & Kindle
These rustic candies look so unassuming. I imagine all the better to appreciate all the differing degrees of caramelization. I can see these wrapped up in stiff cellophane and brown bows.


Hooray for the holidays! Time to dust off those rolling pins and start stocking up on refined sugars. YES. What are YOU guys making for Thanksgiving/Christmas/whatever?

Exploring the Galaxy (Cafe)

Austin has too much good food. How a city with so many in shape and fit people (who don’t look like they eat all that much) can financially support so many delicious restaurants is beyond me.

One place I really liked, is called Galaxy Cafe. Everything here is good. I really can’t say more. Also, I’m on some weird salad kick. I’m eating salads everywhere. Who does that?!

Also, I have so many backed up food posts to do, it’s insane. If I was a religious woman I might ask the Lord to give me strength, but I guess I’ll just have to rely on Jean Luc Picard to motivate me.

Yes, I would like some Basil

The little farmers market by our house happens every Wednesday and Sunday. I have time enough on Wednesdays on my way home from work to pick up some good eats. Heirloom tomato season is coming to an end, so I wanted to make sure I ate some, today! I also picked up some apples and chard and green beans and of course basil, to go with my tomatoes.

Yum, yum!

And then I made this while Moni was making pasta with lots of veggies.

And I made this super easy tart, that my friend Alejandra, the chef, whipped up for us one day. We already had the pastry crust in our freezer. It's super easy and quick. Thaw crust, peel apples, toss with sugar. Put apples in heaping mound in middle of thawed crust, brush with egg whites and sprinkle the top with more sugar. Cook in oven at 350 til golden brown.

I was like, "lets make whip cream". And he was like, "NO! Let's make ice cream, banana ice cream!" I was like, "you can't just whip it up like that, you need a recipe." And he was like, "No, you don't." And he was right. And it was good! The End...or is it?

Chow time

There's this website I like to look at, www.chow.com. I've watched this post in particular a few times, about making the perfect chocolate chip cookie. They look amazing! I think a lot of the people and recipes featured are San Francisco based. Take a peek...they have all kinds of other recipes on the site too :)