Out of the Orchard

Christmas 2011

2012-01-01T17:48:00.000-08:00

Over winter break we meant to crank out a ton of blog posts. Obviously, that's really been happening.

We're in Hawaii now bringing in the new year with family, but before we make our way too far into 2012, here's a short recap of our Christmas.

We had a small quiet Christmas in Vacaville this year. But even though our table wasn't full, our plates were loaded.

The lineup: Lamb, king crab, green salad, greek potatoes, persimmon pudding, and gingerbread men.

Persimmon Pudding (dessert first, right?)

This is a really simple recipe from an old tattered Sunset cookbook that our grandma gave to our Dad to take to college so he wouldn't starve.

Persimmon pudding

1 cup persimmon puree *we used 3 hachiyas

2 teaspoons baking soda

1 egg, beaten

1/2 cup milk *we only had buttermilk, but this worked nicely

1 teaspoon lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon melted butter

1 cup flour *we used whole wheat

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon cinnamon *used 2 teaspoons just for funzies

dash of salt

1/2 cup raisins, 1/2 walnuts *or whatever nut ya feel like

Stir together the persimmon puree with one teaspoon of the baking soda. In a large bowl, combine egg, milk, lemon juice, vanilla, and butter. Stir together flour, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and remaining 1 teaspoon of baking soda in another bowl. Add this to the egg mixture, alternating with the persimmon. Blend well after each addition. Then mix in the nuts and raisins.

Pour batter into a greased/floured 8x8 inch square pan. Bake in a 350 F degree oven for about 55 minutes or until browned. Cut into squares and serve with lemon sauce (see recipe below).

Lemon Sauce

half stick butter

1 cup sugar *used a little less

2 tablespoons flour

1 1/4 cups boiling water

1/2 teaspoon grated lemon peel

pinch of nutmeg, optional

1 1/2 tablespoons lemon juice

Mix butter, sugar, and flour in saucepan, gradually adding boiling water. Add lemon peel and nutmeg and boil 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in lemon juice. Serve over persimmon pudding!

Greek Potatoes

This is a recipe our mom got from a family friend. The potatoes are roasted with a bunch of herbs, spices, and lemon so they're tangy and oh so good. I imagine they'd be extra yummy with a little feta or parmesan.

The card the recipe's on is a little worse for wear so I'm not going to try to copy it right now. Maybe we'll post it later.

Lamb!

We've both decided it's our favorite red meat. We had a lamb steak that a local butcher gave my mom as well as several racks (in total, not apiece). Since I don't eat a lot of meat during the school year, this meal was that much more enjoyable.

Now we're in a much warmer climate, but the food has just been getting better and better. Fresh fish, coconut, bananas right off the tree...

We'll update you soon enough!

Till then, cheers to the new year!

Work

2011-10-08T14:21:00.000-07:00

Hello, it's Ryo, your beloved photographer and infrequent poster!

Sadly, this is the first post in a couple of months. Also, there aren't any amazingly delicious or beautiful pieces of culinary delight that I have to share with you this time.

The first part of the school year has been hectic for both of us, although my workload in junior year is microscopic compared to Sydney's workload in Berkeley, who has been getting an average of 4 hours of sleep per night.

I have had some time to take some pictures lately, so I'll pick out some of the good ones to share a little later. My Uncle Mark has given me an external flash for my camera, as well as a sweet 105mm Nikkor lens! Still super psyched about that.

We haven't had many amazing food excursions lately (none at least in the same ballpark as Chez Panisse), but we promise to upload any other awesome experiences, food-related or not.

I'll leave you with my first attempt at a time lapse, taken over the summer. (Be sure to watch in HD.)

This particular time lapse was taken over the course of about two and a half hours. It was quite difficult because of the change in light due to passing clouds, but I'm reasonably happy with the result. Next time, I'll use my new neutral density filters (make-it-darker filters) to create longer exposures on individual frames. This should help overall smoothness.

If you want to see absolutely stunning time lapses, check out TSO Photography on Vimeo. His work is the best I have ever seen, even if it makes my own work look like crap.
Have a good day and I hope to post again soon!

So long, summer break

2011-08-28T22:12:00.000-07:00

and hello, summer veggies!

School started up again for me last week but before life gets too crazy I thought it would be nice to add something to this poor, neglected blog.

This weekend, a good friend and I had a picnic on campus. She brought some delicious homemade miso soup and hijiki rice and I decided to throw together some vegetables I bought at the Saturday Berkeley farmers market and make a salad. Everything was so refreshing and wholesome and it was really nice to start off the year with some quality, home-cooked food.

Arugula Summer Salad

arugula

red onions

heirloom tomatoes

yellow and green summer squash
peaches

basil

mozzarella cheese

simple dressing: olive oil and vinegar mixed with finely diced clove of garlic and some chopped basil

Just mix the above ingredients +/- any of your choosing and lightly dress. It's so summery and delicious!

This weekend also marks the 40th anniversary of Chez Panisse so I thought it was very fitting that we cooked our own meal and used some seasonal ingredients. Then I found out that Cheeseboard was giving out free slices that same night. Oh well...

By the way, we got to go to Chez Panisse twice this summer. I think my life is complete.

For dessert I made a peach galette. I used a recipe I found online for the dough (a Lindsey Shere recipe too!) and just added some sliced peaches, also from yesterday morning's farmers market.

Unfortunately, the oven started smoking halfway through and all of the smoke detectors in my apartment went off. After running around, madly waving couch cushions beneath the screaming alarms, I called the landlord. Hopefully we'll have a new oven by tomorrow. As for the galettes, they just got to sit in the cooling oven for the next half hour. They probably could have used some extra time, but they turned out all right.

The recipe for the galette dough can be found HERE.

The original recipe makes one 10-inch galette but I turned it into 4 mini ones. I'd really recommend the dough because it turns out nice and flaky just like a pastry. I would not recommend that you bake it in a faulty oven.

On a couple of the galettes I added some diced basil, just to be weird. I should have added more or omitted it entirely because it wasn't really an obvious flavor and looked a little weird. But experimenting is fun and I'd definitely suggest you try making these with all sorts of different fruits. A plum galette sounds pretty good.

Now it's time to start they year off right and actually get some work done! Hope to post again before too long.

Strawberry Lemon Bars

2011-06-09T12:58:00.000-07:00

A delicious summery treat!

Last night Ryo and I went to an elementary school teacher's retirement party. She was quite an amazing person so it was sad to see her go.

When we arrived there had to be around 100 people; old classmates, parents, other teachers, all reminiscing about the years past while eating plates full of food (it was a potluck). 100 people, give or take 100. Ryo approximated 200 people. Clearly we are great estimators.

Anyway, back to these bars.

I decided on lemon bars when I noticed the ridiculous Meyer lemons on my grandmother's tree. I swear, one of them was the size of a grapefruit. How does that happen?! I wish I took a picture, but I was too stunned by their gargantuan size and forgot. So just imagine HUGE yellow orbs.

The recipe I used was from norecipes.com. You can find the recipe HERE.

I chose this one because it also uses strawberries which are so pretty and red. Also, a farm sells some really delicious ones only a few minutes from our house. See, I also like to promote local farmers and use seasonal ingredients. It's not entirely about aesthetics.

The only thing I might change next time I make these is the amount of strawberries the recipe calls for. No Recipes uses 3/4 of a cup but I think a cup or a cup and a quarter would be even more awesome.

The bars turned out pretty delicious--not too sweet but so fresh and lemony.

Ryo and I chatted with a few of our old teachers and when we looked back at the tables of food, most of our lemon strawberry bars had vanished. Mission accomplished.

Greatest Cake Achievement

2011-03-04T21:51:00.000-08:00

The Heaven and Hell Cake

Peanut butter mousse? Dark chocolate? Devil's food cake AND angel food cake?
I just couldn't leave this off the blog.
Plus, you have to love the name.

So here's the procedure: Layer devil's food cake, peanut butter mousse, and angel food cake. Then repeat.

After layering, slather with ganache.

And devour. In moderation.

I feel like a ton of pictures should suffice for this entry.

So just appreciate the food porn. And if staring isn't enough, GO MAKE IT. But preferably invite ALL of your friends. Even the smallest sliver will knock you out.

This is the perfect cake if you want something that both looks and tastes incredible.
It's hard to screw up when you mix peanut butter and chocolate. Turns out, if you add fluffy layers of angel food cake with a hint of almond flavoring between them, something amazing happens.
The Heaven and Hell Cake. Greatest cake achievement to date.

I used this recipe from Food o' del Mundo. Whisk Kid also used the recipe and has some great pictures.
We pretty much followed the recipe exactly but reduced the coffee in the the devil's food cake by about half a cup because it made the batter too liquidy.

I made this cake for Ryo's birthday in January with Dylan. I would definitely recommend making it with another person. It's more fun that way and plus, it's an intense cake. Also, licking all those bowls by yourself might not be the best for your health.

What to do with Persimmons

2011-01-11T17:55:00.000-08:00

Yes, more persimmons.

Green salad with with persimmons, mandarins, apples, and pomegranate

I know. We just had a post about persimmons. Some people love them, some people hate them. I used to fall into that last category. Now that I am older (slightly), wiser (hopefully), and have developed a much broader range of taste (really, I think my taste buds reproduced or something), I've come to accept them. There's no way I would say I love persimmons, but I've definitely developed an appreciation for them, especially now that I've discovered how versatile they can be.

Our fuyu persimmon tree

We only have a fuyu persimmon tree, so this post avoids the hachiyas, used in most baking recipes such as in the persimmon cookies of our previous post. It's a good thing our dogs love persimmons, because the tree bears more fruit than we could ever use. Still, I have been trying to find as many recipes as I can that involve fuyus. Here are five of my discoveries:

Sammy chowing on a fuyu

Beamer would like 10 more

1) If you want to do something really simple, but still delicious, peel a fuyu, slice it up and saute it for a few minutes with maybe half a tablespoon of butter and and some cinnamon. Oh my gosh, it's so easy and so good and it makes the kitchen smell amazing. My dad claims that this recipe was his invention.

Persimmons sauteed with cinnamon

2) Put them in your oatmeal! I have an unusual obsession with oats and have tried many various combinations. Sauteed persimmons cooked into some old fashioned oatmeal with cinnamon and brown sugar is pretty tasty.

Persimmons cooked into oatmeal!

3) Bake them! Hollow out a fuyu, chop up the insides and mix in some brown sugar and cinnamon before throwing it all back into the persimmon body. If you have some walnuts on hand, they would also make a great addition. Bake the persimmon for about 30-40 minutes in a 350 degree oven. Then eat it with a spoon.

Baked persimmon with brown sugar and cinnamon

4) Make a salad. I didn't actually do this myself but Dylan did and it looked delicious. Throw in some pomegranate seeds and mandarins if you want some more seasonal additions. Plus, it'll be even prettier.

5) Okay, finally, the recipe I've used the most. Persimmon bread! I've baked this too many times to count over break because not only is it a great way to get rid of some fuyus, but it's also healthy and delicious.

I adapted the recipe from the blog, Cooking Books, and change it up a little each time I make it.

Persimmon bread

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon salt

other additions: walnuts, raisins, dried cranberries, you name it

3 mashed persimmons (2 if they're enormous)

1 cup plain, nonfat yogurt

1 egg

2 tablespoons oil (or butter)

1 teaspoon vanilla

Combine the wet ingredients in a bowl (everything after and including the persimmons on the above list). Combine the dry ingredients (but not the additions, like walnuts). Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix, but don't over mix. Then add walnuts, raisins, etc.. in amounts to your preference. I probably typically use about a half cup of chopped walnuts and a quarter cup each of raisins or cranberries, but I don't actually ever measure. You can really add whatever you want though. Experiment! It's more fun.

Pour the mixture into a greased bread pan (9x5 should work) and bake at 350 for about 45-50 minutes. It's going to be a pretty moist bread so don't be surprised if it doesn't seem done. You can cover the bread with some tin foil near the end and bake it a few more minutes if you really don't think it's done.

Let it cool a little, slice, and eat! It's great for breakfast or just a snack.

Fuyu persimmon bread!

I used to think persimmons were boring, bland, and just stupid. But after discovering all of these things to do with them, they've actually become pretty fun. Try out some of these recipes or find some other cool ways to use persimmons and let me know!

If you run out of ideas, are completely sick of persimmons, and still have a bunch that are beginning to go bad, don't throw them away. Throw them at things and convert old fruit into new fun. See, you won't be wasting anything!

Persimmon Cookies

2011-01-05T00:25:00.000-08:00

With a spice glaze!

The persimmon season is finally coming to a close. This is probably a good thing as our antiquated oven has already cranked out 10+ loaves of persimmon bread in the past couple weeks. If I make any more for my family and friends, persimmon bread will probably become the new fruitcake. Although, I'd like to think it wouldn't be so greatly despised because it actually tastes pretty good. This persimmon bread recipe uses fuyu persimmons which is strange since hachiyas are typically the preferred choice for baking. Maybe I will do a separate post on this bread later, but for now it's all about the cookies.

These persimmon cookies use hachiya persimmons. A quick differentiation: fuyus are shorter and flatter while hachiyas are longer with a more pointed bottom. Hachiyas are also softer, whereas fuyus are more crunchy. If you don't even know what a persimmon is, that's weird, but not completely unforgivable. Click here to go straight to the persimmon Wikipedia page.

My mom wanted me to bake some of these cookies to send to our grandparents who currently live in Hawaii and miss the persimmons on our ranch during the winter months. Since I don't have many things better to do over break and since baking is pretty fun, I welcomed the task.

It is the start of a new year and most people want to kick off January eating healthier so I decided to modify the typical recipe a little. Below is the slightly changed recipe with original ingredients and amounts in parentheses.

Persimmon Cookie Recipe--makes about 6 dozen. (My batch made 77!)

1 1/2 sticks butter + 1/4 cup mashed prunes (instead of 1 cup shortening)

3/4 cup brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 egg

1 cup peeled and chopped persimmon (about 2 large or 3 or 4 small persimmons)

1 cup whole wheat flour (instead of 2 cups all-purpose flour)

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon powdered ginger

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1 cup chopped walnuts

1 cup raisins

2 cups uncooked old fashioned oats

For Spice Glaze:

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons milk (almond milk worked nicely)

1/4 tsp nutmeg and/or cinnamon (do both unless you really can't stand nutmeg)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease some cookie sheets. Combine the butter and sugars and beat until thoroughly blended. Add the egg and beat well, then beat in the persimmon pulp. In a separate bowl, mix together the flour, salt, soda, cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Add to the first mixture and beat until completely mixed. Stir in the walnuts, raisins, and oats. Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls onto the prepared cookie sheets and bake for about 10 minutes, or until the cookies have puffed and browned slightly. While baking, make the Spice Glaze. To do so, combine the powdered sugar, spices, and milk and mix well to dissolve any sugar lumps and to create a smooth, runny glaze. When the cookies have come out of the oven and are still hot, brush or spoon on the Spice Glaze, then transfer to racks to cool.

If you really don't want to make this healthier version, just add the full two sticks of butter or 1 cup shortening and use 2 cups of all-purpose flour. But really, you can barely tell the difference, especially if you've never even had persimmon cookies to begin with. Plus, Ryo thought they tasted identical.

This recipe really makes a lot of little cookies, so be prepared to share. Or don't. They're pretty good, we wouldn't blame you.

Winter Baking

2011-01-04T23:48:00.000-08:00

Snickerdoodles and Sweet Dreams Cookies

Snickerdoodles!

After a long hiatus, our blog has finally resumed. Sydney came home from Berkeley a week before Christmas after enduring a grueling week of finals.

She didn't have much time to rest, though. The following day, we had our annual Christmas get-together with our friends. Our Christmas custom for the past couple years has been to give each other baked goods instead of material items as presents. Naturally, we seized this opportunity to make a blog entry about it.

Sydney and I decided to make two different kinds of cookies to give. I chose the classic Snickerdoodles, while Sydney elected to bake "Sweet Dreams," which is a tasty cookie with a chewy mix of walnuts, chocolate chips and wonderful spices. Sydney got her recipe from our wonderful grandma, while I followed a recipe off Presidential Cookies, a cookbook about every president's favorite cookies (something that our grandma also gave us). The recipe that I followed for the Snickerdoodles was Grover Cleveland's favorite cookie.

I chose Snickerdoodles because they are relatively easy to make and they turned out nicely when I made them a few years ago.

The process for making the Snickerdoodles is fairly smooth and simple. There are three basic steps: First, I prepare the dough with butter, eggs, sugar, and flour. Then, I put it in the fridge to chill it. After that's done, they are rolled into balls, covered with cinnamon sugar and popped into the oven for around 8 minutes. Snickerdoodles are very rewarding to make because they are as yummy as they are pretty to look at!

Snickerdoodles from the Presidential Cookies cookbook

2 eggs

1 1/2 cups sugar

1 cup softened butter

1 tsp. vanilla

2 3/4 cups flour

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

2 tsp. cinnamon

2 Tbsp. sugar

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Beat eggs and gradually add sugar. Stir in butter and mix well, then add vanilla. In a different bowl, sift flour with salt and baking soda. Add this mixture to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly. Chill dough for about 2 hours. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon and sugar. Form cookie dough into 1-inch rounds. Toll balls into the cinnamon sugar mixture. Place coated balls on ungreased cookie sheet and bake 8-10 minutes or until light brown. Makes 3-4 dozen.

Syd's Sweet Dreams are up next.

Sweet Dreams Cookies!

Hey, it's Syd! As Ryo said, it's been hard to keep up the blog during the semester. We're sorry for the long break, but since we're now on vacation (or at least I still am), hopefully we'll be able to post a few entries.
When Ryo had cleared the counter of everything snickerdoodley, I made some of our grandma's Sweet Dreams cookies, loved by anyone with any sense. The recipe is as follows:

1 cup unsalted butter
1 ½ cups firmly packed light brown sugar
1 egg room temperature
1 t vanilla
2 cups unbleached all purpouse flour
1 t baking soda
1 t cinnamon
1 t ground ginger
½ t salt
1 12 oz package semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup chopped walnuts
1 cup powdered sugar
Cream butter using an electric mixer. Beat in brown sugar, egg, and vanilla. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, ginger, and salt. Blend into butter mixture. Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts. Refrigerate until firm (can be prepared 1 day ahead). Preheat oven to 375. Lightly grease baking sheets. Break off small pieces of dough; roll between palms into 1 inch rounds. Dredge rounds in powdered sugar. Arrange rounds on prepared sheets spacing 2 inches apart. Bake 10 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes on sheets. Transfer to racks and cool. Store in airtight container. Makes about 6 dozen.

I actually didn't use an electric mixer, as the recipe suggests, and they turned out great. I prefer to avoid the mixers unless it's absolutely necessary. It's just so much more fun to mix by hand.
Anyway, Sweet Dreams cookies are really a perfect winter/holiday cookie because of the pleasant blend of spices. Try them out! You really won't regret it unless you end up eating the whole batch yourself.

What College Students Eat

2010-09-02T08:36:00.000-07:00

I moved back to Berkeley about two weeks ago, excited to be back in the city, to see friends, and to actually have an apartment with a kitchen rather than just a dorm room with a microwave.

You may think college student food = ramen and microwavable macaroni and we will undoubtedly be consuming some similar foods over the year. However, our meals so far have exceeded expectations. For example, we started out the year with homemade wontons. My roommate's parents really deserve all the credit, but we did help out a little. That is, we attempted to learn how to stuff and wrap them as Frank's mother and father cranked out professional status ones at a much faster pace. Still, in a matter of time, wontons were piling up on platters everywhere, spread over our small kitchen table. They were cooked, boiled, and devoured a few minutes later. Yum.

The first Sunday the four of us were together and all moved in, we decided to have friends over for pancakes. For me, at least, Sunday pancakes is practically a tradition. At home my dad would wake us up on Sunday mornings by telling us that blueberry or banana pancakes were on the table. Aside from maybe yelling "fire!" I can't think of many better ways to get someone out of bed.

Having friends come together at the breakfast table made me feel like I was back at home again with my family. It was a nice way to reunite with friends some of us hadn't seen in several months and to share summer stories. Better yet, we had some awesome pancakes. Okay, maybe we used pancake mix, but it's what we added to them that made the difference. My friend Airi, who I blame for first introducing me to Tastespotting and other food porn sites, found a pancake recipe with peaches and rosemary. Since she had the ingredients, we decided to try them out. Dylan added peaches to the pancake batter and then after they cooked, we topped them with fresh, thinly sliced peach slivers and sprinkles of rosemary. After drizzling a little maple syrup, they were ready to eat. It was my first time with peach pancakes but I'd definitely be down to have them again. The rosemary was an interesting addition, but I really liked it and am now curious as to how it would taste mixed into the batter rather than just used as a garnish.

We have had several other nice meals but I think I'll save them for later posts just in case we do start to live off of canned beans and peanut butter sandwiches, leaving me with no pretty pictures. Stasa, one of my other roommates who happens to be able to flip crepes like a pro and invent dishes on the spot, is planning a pasta carbonara dinner this Friday so I think we should be continuing to eat well for a while. I will need to devote a post to her creations sometime soon. Now, I'm off to class.

Blackberry Kuchen

2010-08-18T17:49:00.000-07:00

Kuchen is the German word for cake, but whenever anyone in my family uses the word, we are referring to this particular dessert. What's great about this recipe is that it's easy to make, hard to screw up, and it works with so many different kinds of berries and other fruits. It's also really good. Besides blackberries, I've had this kuchen with blueberries, apricots, plums, peaches, and more. I would like to try it with raspberries or a mixture of several kinds of berries one day.

My grandmother dropped a blackberry kuchen off at our house the other night, made with the last of the berries from down by our creek. Although we had it for dessert after dinner, this kuchen recipe serves as an excellent breakfast or brunch dish. I think blackberry kuchen is my favorite kind, but go ahead and try it with whatever fruit you have lying around the house. It'll probably turn out equally delicious!

Out of laziness, but also because my grandmother has cute handwriting, I'm just posting a picture of the recipe she gave to my family a while ago instead of typing it all out.

Front

Back

A Monday Brunch

2010-08-18T00:31:00.000-07:00

...with chocolate French toast!

One thing I love about summer vacation is that even if it's the middle of the week, you can still relax outside, drink some fresh-squeezed orange juice, and enjoy a leisurely brunch with friends. And if you're friends with my friends, go ahead and add "indulge in some delicious chocolate French toast" to that list. Since I already consider normal French toast to be a synonym for perfection, I was curious to see what would happen when my friend, Emma, said she was making it with chocolate, one of the world's greatest inventions. What would happen when you add two perfect things together? Would it result in some insanely perfect creation that only a god could eat, or would the blending of these two majesties clash horribly and cause some sort of disaster that would destroy the universe? I didn't have long to wait.

When I arrived at Emma's house, one of Vacaville's gorgeous historic homes, homemade bread and freshly picked oranges were already resting on the counter. As we chatted, Emma sliced the loaf into triangles, dipped the slices into an egg batter swirled with spices, and started cooking the French toast in a frying pan over the oven.

Then, after heating the slices for a while, she springled semisweet chocolate chips on the bread and folded one slice on top of the other, creating a sort of chocolate french toast sandwich.

When they were done cooking, we took the food outside, passed around the syrup and some cinnamon sugar, and eagerly cut into the slices. Chocolate oozed out of mine and mixed into the warm, maple syrup. The chocolate flavor was at first subtle amongst the taste of cinnamon, nutmeg, and egg in the bread, but grew stronger as I made my way to the ooey gooey chocolatey center. I thought it was fantastic, and definitely a great French toast variation. Better yet, the French toast and chocolate went together wonderfully, leaving the world intact.

Emma was inspired to make this chocolate French toast after trying some from Joan's on Third in Los Angeles. Now I must visit this place.

Putah Creek Cafe

2010-08-16T00:14:00.000-07:00

I move into my apartment in Berkeley on Friday so I am trying to enjoy as much good home cooking and tasty local restaurant food as I can in these last few days. I'd say so far I'm succeeding. This week, my grandma not only brought over three types of baked goods on separate days including peanut butter chocolate bars and fresh out of the oven banana muffins, but she also took my mom and me out to a delicious dinner in Winters. Note to self: remember to be as awesome as your grandma when you have grandchildren. We had been planning on getting tapas at Ficelle since I have never been (everyone tells me it's pretty great), but as the owners were gone that night, we decided to head across the street to Putah Creek Cafe.

Filming for the Food Network show, Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives, is currently in progress this month at the restaurant, which is exciting since Winters is our small, but charming, neighboring town. Hearing this news only made me anticipate the meal even more. Putah Creek Cafe is located right across the street from the Buckhorn and is under the same ownership. In the outside seating area, you can watch pizzas going in and out of a wood fire oven. Inside, the atmosphere is comfortable and there are wooden tables with fresh flowers and large windows, allowing for a nice view of downtown Winters.

The three of us decided to split 3 sides and a vegetarian pizza. Since I don't have a menu and can't locate one online, I'll just post some pictures and describe the dishes as I remember them.

We ended up with a fresh and tasty tomato and mozzarella salad,

Corn pancakes with lox,

and delicious, crab cakes!

Then our pizza came out of the oven, topped with caramelized onions, peppers, artichoke hearts, and more.

Even though we were all pretty full, we couldn't leave without trying one of the enticing baked items in the glass case up front. After mulling over the menu for a few minutes we decided to split a piece of chocolate cake. When it turned up, we realized we should have ordered a few extra people along with our extra napkins, since the one slice was more like a quarter of a cake. The cake was moist and especially chocolatey, the latter being a feature that immediately earns high marks from both my grandma and myself. I'm glad I got her dessert taste bud genes. Leftovers were brought home to a hungry Ryo and we left satisfied and happy!

Since Putah Creek Cafe is very popular for breakfast, I'd definitely like to return sometime during the morning hours. It'll probably have to wait until the next time I'm home from school.

P.S. As you may have noticed, this post has more pictures than writing. That's because I realized I won't have Ryo photographing all of my culinary adventures when I'm at school and therefore decided to finally purchase a DSLR camera of my own. I ordered a Nikon D3000 and have been trying to test it out a lot. Yeah, it's not as nice as his or as many other bloggers', but it'll work for me.

Portland, Part 1: Food Carts

2010-08-12T12:14:00.000-07:00

One of my favorite things about our recent trip to Portland? Definitely the food carts. Food carts are genius. Need to grab something quick during your lunch hour? Food cart. Too excited about exploring the city to sit down? Food cart. Just want a cheap, quality meal? Food cart. In Portland, there are hundreds. There's the Thai food cart that sells out daily, the cart devoted to grilled cheese, Korean fusion carts, Czechoslovakian food carts, and for basically anything you could possibly be craving while walking the streets of Portland--yes, there's a cart for that.

bloop, the oatmeal food cart in Portland.

We sampled several food carts during our trip, but I'm going to start with the one I found most exciting. Browsing the local carts on foodcartsportland.com, I happened upon bloop, the oatmeal cart. Over the last year I've made the drastic change from oatmeal despiser to oatmeal fanatic. I used to only be able to swallow a bite or two before I was back to wondering who in their right mind would eat a bowl of mush for a breakfast. Now, I swear, I could eat it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner (and occasionally I do). I'll make it over the stove, add some blueberries, sliced bananas, a pinch of cinnamon, a drizzle of honey, and it's a great meal. Oats are healthy whole grains, they're filling, and they're a fantastic way to start your day. A bowl of warm oatmeal with fresh fruit is little short of perfection. Don't ask me why I was so against it before. It's good to know some people change for the better.

Back to bloop. After discovering the cart online, bloop was automatically transcribed into my internal itinerary so Monday morning I walked a few blocks from our hotel and located it on 3rd and Washington. I was already impressed that a food cart specializing in oatmeal existed, but when I saw the cart, it had something else going for it. This thing was cute! I won't waste time describing it, so just check out the pictures.

close-up of bloop's "Peanut Butter Banana Dreams" oatmeal

I ordered the Peanut Butter Banana dreams oatmeal, described above, and which was voted one of the "10 Best Street Eats in America" by Men's Health magazine. After taking the first warm, chewy bite, my verdict was already decided: de-lishhhh-ous. But how could it not be when it's called "Peanut Butter Banana Dreams" with a chalkboard description that'll make your mouth water? My dad tried the simple oatmeal with just almond milk, oatmeal and brown sugar, and my mom got the same thing but with an addition of cherries. Both were similarly awesome.

Simple oatmeal with cherries

All of the menu options are vegan and all of them sound great. I'm going to have to find some almond milk and try to recreate a few of them. If that fails, I guess I'll just have to come up with another good excuse to go to Portland.

All of the other meals we had at the food carts were lunches. Ryo tried burritos at two different Mexican food carts and rated them both pretty highly. My parents and I had Korean burritos at a cart called Korean Twist. These burritos contained bean sprouts, spicy chicken, rice, spicy sauce and some other veggies. I'd never had anything like it before, but after trying these, I wish I had! Unfortunately our hunger prevented us from snapping some pictures of these meals, but trust me, they looked and tasted great.

Handmade mozzarella sandwich from the Portland Soup Co.

On our first day my mom wanted to stop at the Portland Soup Company cart since she'd seen a video about it online. She and I each had the sandwich with handmade mozzarella, fresh basil, marinated roma tomatoes, balsamic syrup, and roasted garlic aioli. My dad had to try the slow smoked pork butt sandwich with purple cabbage apple slaw. You couldn't go wrong with either choice.

Next time you're in Portland, try a few of the carts, and give me some recommendations for future visits! Now excuse me while I go make some oatmeal.

A Taste of Berkeley

2010-07-31T20:33:00.000-07:00

I went down to Berkeley yesterday with my mom to drop a few things off at my apartment and somehow managed to eat a Souffle Pancake at Bette's Oceanview Diner, a few slices of Cheeseboard pizza, and a cone of ice cream from Ici. It's not every day that I get to eat that much good food from not one, not two, but three quality sources. I'm still savoring yesterday's meals. Let me just say, if you're on the fence about attending UC Berkeley let the abundance of fantastic restaurants in the city shove you onto the right side.

First stop was brunch at Bette's on Fourth Street. My parents have been many times but yesterday was my first time actually sitting down for a meal there. One day, after making the mistake of walking from past campus all the way to Fourth Street (note: take a bus unless you have hours to kill and some comfortable shoes), I stopped at Bette's To-Go right next door to the diner. You can pick up bakery items there, or, in my case, a nice and refreshing organic frozen yogurt. But never before had I stepped foot into the restaurant, which is a little surprising considering that I'm in love with breakfast/brunch.

We had about a twenty minute wait before getting a table, but easily filled the time exploring the surrounding shops on Fourth Street. When we were seated, I already knew what I was going to order from researching the menu, so spent my time taking in the homey, comfortable atmosphere amidst the hustle and bustle of quick but friendly waiters carrying steaming plates of blueberry pancakes and scrambled eggs. I also observed the delicious dishes of the people around and behind me with the help of mirrors that lined the cute diner. Yes, I was that hungry. I had ordered a seasonal fruit Souffle Pancake, a favorite at the restaurant and which also appeared on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on Food Network. When it came it looked a little like the picture below. Only better. Ryo wasn't there to snap the photos with his nice Nikon, so I couldn't give the wonderful food I ate as much justice as it all deserved. Also, you have to be able to smell it and, well, eat it, to get the entire experience.

Seasonal Fruit Souffle Pancake from Bette's Oceanview Diner

If you're like me you're probably wondering what this Souffle Pancake is. After finishing it off, I would describe it as a really light and fluffy pancake that tastes a little like a huge popover with tons of fruit. At the diner they make it in a pan and cook it over the stove and in the oven to get it all puffy, warm, and delicious. My mom ordered some great lox scrambled eggs but after tasting some of the Souffle Pancake decided she would have to order it next time too. I have never eaten something for breakfast with such a fluffy texture and am now tempted to find their recipe and try it out myself. They sell a book containing some of their recipes called The Pancake Handbook at the front of the shop. Maybe I'll have to acquire one.

The Daily Pizza and Salad at Cheeseboard Pizza Collective

After browsing and shopping a little and stopping by my apartment, it was about dinner time so we headed down to the Cheeseboard Pizza Collective on Shattuck. Cheeseboard deserves an entire post of its own so one day we'll get some really nice pictures, eat several slices a piece, and write one. For now, I'll just say the pizza at Cheeseboard is incredible. It's a favorite of many, raved about constantly, and also very affordable, especially in contrast to its neighbor across the street, the great Chez Panisse. So, go to Berkeley and eat a few slices! It's equally owned and operated by the Cheeseboard Collective and they make one kind of vegetarian pizza to serve all day. My mom and I had the pizza, as described on the chalkboard in the picture above, along with a salad a piece. I would have never even considered putting corn on pizza, but man, is it a good idea--at least if it's on a Cheeseboard pizza. I've only been a couple times which is a shame, but I'm already dying to go back. I just can't stop thinking about it. I think I'll take Ryo before school starts again.

Cheeseboard is closed for the next week I believe, but you can check out the week's daily pizzas here. If you live in the area, you might want to bookmark the link too.

Pizza from Cheeseboard. Go get some.

Even though eating a couple slices of amazing Cheeseboard pizza is enough to keep you in a really good mood for a long while, we just had to grab some Ici ice cream on College Avenue before we left since my mom had never been. Usually the line is tremendously long after dinner time, but we had eaten earlier than usual and since the fall semester hasn't started we didn't have to wait long at all. At Ici, ice cream is handmade every day from organic ingredients. There are 11 flavors that change daily and range from your generic flavors to the more interesting and exotic. Pay a visit for yourself to see what cool flavors they have to offer you.

When we went, I ended up getting the oatmeal-chocolate chip in one of their crunchy and sweet hand-rolled cones with chocolate tips. My mom got the rose vanilla flavor. Both were great and made for the perfectly sweet end to a fun summer day trip.

Oatmeal-Chocolate Chip Ice Cream from Ici

Blackberry Crumble Tart

2010-07-27T22:58:00.000-07:00

Hey, it's Syd, and yes, it's blackberries again. But this time it's not just your everyday cobbler or the garnish on a cake, it's cute mini blackberry crumble tarts! With the help of my good friend Talia who came up with the idea and shared the recipe, we had the dough made, blackberries picked, and tarts baked in only a couple hours this afternoon. As a recommendation from Talia, I knew they would turn out great and immediately jumped at her suggestion. Whenever I'm over at her house it is so common for someone to be pulling something warm and delicious out of the oven that if I didn't know better I would have guessed I had mistakenly entered a bakery.

We made the dough and crumb topping for the tarts first so they could cool in the fridge while we picked the berries. Then after coming back with two colanders filled with the fruit and only a few scratches (we wore full-on rain boots for extra protection--laugh all you want, it helped!) we rolled out the dough and cut out circles. Talia had brought adorable never before used mini tart tins so we molded the crust,

piled them high with juicy blackberries,

sprinkled on the topping with almonds,

and popped them in the oven!

This recipe was adapted from Gourmet's "Raspberry Crumble Tart." We substituted blackberries for the raspberries and used the same dough and topping but baked the tarts in small individual tins rather than making one big tart that you have to cut. When it comes to baking, I usually think smaller = cuter = better.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into cubes

1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening (but we just used butter)

1/2 tsp. salt

5-7 Tbsp. ice water

3/4 cups sliced almonds

3/4 cups sugar

6 cups blackberries

For the dough: Blend flour, butter, shortening (or butter), and salt together in a bowl until the mixture is crumbly with some small lumps of butter. You could pulse it in a food processor but we just used our fingers to get it to this consistency. If you're making one big tart, transfer two cups of the mixture to a separate bowl and reserve the rest for the topping. However, if you're making mini tarts like we did, transfer more, maybe around 3 cups. (We transferred two cups and had way too much topping leftover that could have instead been used to make more tart crusts.) Stir about 3-4 tablespoons of ice water into the transferred mixture with a fork and chill for an hour or so. During this time, make the topping and pick berries!

For the topping: Add almonds and sugar to the reserved dough mixture and mix with hands until clumps form. We let the topping chill along with the dough mixture while we were picking.

To assemble tarts: Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll out dough with floured rolling pin on lightly floured surface. We actually rolled it out between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, but either way should work. Then cut out circles to fit whatever size tart tins you are using. The thickness should be similar to a pie crust. Mold the dough into the tins, fill them with the berries, and sprinkle evenly with the topping. Bake until topping and crust are golden and filling is bubbling. Ours went for about 45 minutes but oven time can vary based on tin size, as will number of tarts produced. Cover with a foil sheet, if crust seems to be browning too much. Finally, when tarts are done, let them cool a little and then enjoy!

Blackberries

2010-07-25T00:37:00.000-07:00

Beautiful Blackberries

Hey guys, it's Ryo again. A while ago, I decided to get a macro lens to make my food photography a little better. I searched every nook and cranny of Ebay and Craigslist and I couldn't find anything that was within my price range. Finally, I found a Vivitar 90mm 2.8 on Ebay for a reasonable price. I'm still figuring it out, but I think it's really cool. As well as shooting pictures of food, I'm planning on taking pictures of flowers and insects, like this guy here.

It's blackberry season, which means it's time to go down to the giant blackberry bush to harvest the marvelous fruit. Blackberry picking has never been one of my favorite things to do because every twig and leaf is covered with sharp and poky thorns. Sometimes the blackberry juice on your fingers fools you into thinking that you are bleeding quite profusely from your hands. However, the displeasure of picking blackberries is often overshadowed by the tastiness of the treats that is made with them.
With the blackberries we picked today, I decided to make a blackberry-blueberry cobbler. I adapted the recipe from Ellie Krieger's "Mixed Berry Cobbler." The recipe is here. We used about 4 cups blackberries and 2 cups blueberries. Thanks to Ellie and Food Network, the cobbler turned out to be easy to make as well as delicious.

Blackberry-Blueberry Cobbler

Here are a couple more shots taken with the new lens:

Crape Myrtle Background

Cobbler Close-Up

Linguini with Everything

2010-07-23T23:48:00.000-07:00

The Creation

Last night I risked everything and tried making dinner without a recipe. I guess for the more experienced this might even be a pretty normal thing to do, but considering that I have only recently been spending more time in the kitchen, it was a little more of a challenge. Fortunately the only people whose taste buds could be disappointed if the dish turned into an atrocity were my immediate family members so I didn't have to be too worried. If I screwed up, I could live with it, and they'd still have to live with me. Well, hopefully. I shouldn't push my luck but I'd hope not to be kicked out of the house and sent back to Berkeley a few weeks early all because of one less than satisfactory meal.

Anyway, none of that applies because everyone enjoyed the dish. This is what I made: linguini with green zucchini, yellow zucchini, bell peppers, onion, garlic, basil, sungold tomatoes, thai chilis, chili pepper flakes, a cherry tomato sauce, shrimp, and goat cheese. In other words, basically everything in our kitchen. I wanted to use up a lot of vegetables since I knew we'd be getting a new box the next day so I just grabbed everything I saw on the counter or in the fridge that seemed like it had the potential to work in a pasta. The baby shrimpies were added for protein and because they're just so delicious (and cute!). To make the sauce I just sauteed everything little by little starting with a tablespoon of olive oil and the garlic and onions and gradually adding the rest of the vegetables, pureed red cherry tomatoes, and spices. I tossed in the sungold tomatoes near the end and the shrimp last. Then, just before pouring the mixture over the pasta, I stirred in a couple ounces of goat cheese. This was inspired by the spinach pasta with goat cheese on the menu at Mescolanza on Clement St. in San Francisco (we went last weekend and thought it was pretty good-especially the bruschetta). The goat cheese really adds flavor and gives the pasta a nice texure, making it creamier. The linguini was a little spicy because of the 2 thai chilis I added, leftover from the green curry, but the spicy flavor went well with all the ingredients. We set a few hot rolls from Trader Joe's on the table, seasoned the linguini with a little salt and pepper, and the meal was complete.

This success in creating a meal more complicated than a sandwich without a recipe has given me a little more confidence and I will definitely try more dishes in the future without instructions. It's much more exciting and gives you the chance to express some creativity at the same time.

-Syd

Shooting Star CSA

2010-07-20T17:10:00.000-07:00

Locally grown CCOF-certified organic produce from Shooting Star CSA Farm

Here's just a short entry to say, look what we got! Our family signed up to receive weekly boxes of vegetables from Shooting Star CSA, a certified organic farm in Suisun. Last Friday, we got our first box which contained sungold tomatoes, cucumbers, basil, etc... just look at all the beautiful vegetables in the above picture! Shooting Star CSA has 8 different drop-off sites in northern CA including a very convenient location in Vacaville. They still have a few openings left, so if you're from around here and want weekly boxes of great veggie assortments that are both locally grown and organic, go to the site here and sign up! My mom already made some delicious homemade pesto with the basil and we used the carrots for our carrot cake. Getting these weekly boxes is really a great way to make sure everyone in your family is eating their vegetables. You'll be forced to serve them at meals and cook with them all the time because come the next Friday, there's going to be another awesome box! I sense ratatouille in the next couple days and maybe some tzatziki. Yum!

Carrot Cake

2010-07-19T23:55:00.000-07:00

Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting topped with Wild Blackberries

You can expect blackberries to be a common theme in our posts for a while. A couple weeks ago I walked down to the side of the creek by our house where we have several wild blackberry bushes growing. Most of the berries were still green, but I did find 5 glistening purple ones and quickly devoured all of them. You know you would have done the same.

Well last week Ryo and I went out again in hopes of finding something to garnish our plain carrot cake with and found quite a few more than 5. I won't elaborate too much about the berries because I foresee many more days of picking them by the basket and making cobblers and kuchen and maybe even a pudding.

I suppose the main thing to talk about is the carrot cake. In my lifetime I've run into quite a few people who are not the biggest carrot cake fans, including Ryo. I can't really understand why, but I guess it could have something to do with the word "carrot" and an assumption of healthiness due to the mention of a vegetable. That's where I think carrot cake gets a little deceptive. In the UC Berkeley dining commons they even went as far as calling it "Healthy Harvest Cake." As if people already don't have enough trouble with the freshmen 15 without these misleading titles.

When I dug out our old carrot cake recipe that we've used most of our lives, I'm not sure what I was expecting, but it certainly wasn't the cup and a half of oil it demanded. I was a little shocked by this and also kind of disgusted by the state of the recipe scrawled out on an old index card that was more than a little worse for wear (I really think we should digitalize our disorganized recipe drawer at some point). Well, that's when I decided it was time to try to find someone else's version.

After looking for 2 seconds online, I found one billion other recipes. Eventually I got a little overwhelmed and just decided to pull out our Cooking Light book. The picture of "Carrot Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting" looked good and the 1/3 cup of oil was much more appealing.

I called Ryo over and we whipped it up in not too much time, picked (and ate) some blackberries while we waited for it to cool, slathered on the cream cheese frosting, and topped it with a few of our finest, juiciest berries. It was a hit later that night (even with Ryo) when we celebrated our dad's birthday and we've been having leftovers for the last couple of nights.

Last comment: don't diss healthier recipes because if you spend a little time looking for a good one, more often than not they'll taste just as, if not more delicious than your alternative. Here's Cooking Light's recipe. We served ours with some plain frozen yogurt from Trader Joe's along with a few more berries. I'd recommend this combination.

Carrot Cake With Cream Cheese Frosting (from Cooking Light)

cooking spray

2 1/4 cups all purpose flour

2 tsp. baking powder

1 1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp. salt

1/4 tsp. baking soda

1/4 tsp. ground nutmeg

2/3 cup granulated sugar

2/3 cup packed dark brown sugar

1/2 cup applesauce

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1/4 cup plain fat-free yogurt

2 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 large egg whites

1 large egg

2 cups finely shredded carrot

Cream Cheese Frosting:

1/2 cup fat-free cream cheese, chilled

1/4 cup butter or stick margarine, softened

1 tsp. grated lemon rind

1 tsp. vanilla extract

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 375. Coat 2 8-inch round cake pans with cooking spray and dust with flour. Lightly spoon 2 1/4 cups flour into measuring cups, level and combine with baking powder, cinnamon, salt, baking soda, and nutmeg. Stir well with a whisk.

Beat sugar, brown sugar, applesauce, oil, yogurt, vanilla, egg whites, and egg at medium speed of a mixer. Add to flour mixture, stirring just until moist. Then stir in carrot.

Pour batter into pans, tapping to remove air bubbles. Bake for 25 minutes or until wooden toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes on wire racks, remove from pans, and cool completely. Put one layer on a plate, spread with 3/4 of cream cheese frosting. Top with other layer and spread remaining frosting over top and sides. Store in the fridge.

For frosting, beat cream cheese, butter, lemon, and vanilla until smooth. Gradually add sugar to mixture and beat at a low speed just until blended.

*We didn't use a mixer so I guess that part of the recipe isn't so important. We also made several other errors and it still turned out fine, so I'd say this recipe is fairly foolproof.

-Syd

El Caracol

2010-07-18T01:24:00.000-07:00

~Our 20th Anniversary of El Caracol~

Hello dear followers. I’m Ryo, and this is my first blog post. I normally just take the pictures, but this post is a very special one. You see, 20 years ago, a year before my dear sister was born, our father was walking around downtown Vacaville when he came across a small hole-in-the-wall El Salvadorian restaurant named El Caracol. He ordered a burrito, and they made him the biggest burrito he had ever seen. He of course, being a man, ate the whole damn thing. When he trekked back home, he realized that the enormous burrito he had just devoured was actually the best pile of grub he had eaten. Needless to say, El Caracol was an instant hit. We grew up eating El Caracol on special occasions, and it became our favorite restaurant. Even when it moved from downtown Cowtown to the backstreets of Alamo, we kept eating there.

Usually when we were young, my sister and I ordered bean and cheese burritos because that was the only thing we liked (or cared to try). But, as we grew older, we tried other things, like sopes (a delicious El Salvadorian dish), enchiladas, chile rellenos, quesadillas, tostadas, flautas, garlic shrimp, spicy shrimp, and burritos with everything.

We were celebrating our dad’s birthday today, so we decided to eat at El Caracol. Today I ordered a large chicken burrito (large = the size of a football) and a shredded beef enchilada. Sydney got a chicken burrito with beans and rice on the side. They were both amazing.

El Caracol is a family-owned restaurant that serves great food. The service is slow, but it's well worth the wait! If you're in the mood for a gigantic burrito or some delicious garlic shrimp, head over to 3081 Alamo Drive. Also, be prepared to bring home some leftovers!

Thai Green Curry

2010-07-16T18:18:00.000-07:00

Spicy, cleansing, delicious. Make this now. It's seriously terrific.

Thai Green Curry. It has become one of my favorite dishes in the last couple years and it is amazing. If you love spicy dishes and Thai food (as everyone should), you should love this. If spiciness is not your thing, still make it but just use less curry paste. If you don't like Thai food, make this dish and you WILL start liking it. If not, give it to a friend with higher quality taste buds. Also, we're no longer friends.

My mom and I have made Thai green curry with chicken on multiple occasions, but last night it turned out the best. We started out originally with a recipe from a book at the library but have since adapted it to our liking, modeling it after the green curry at our best, relatively local Thai restaurant on 1767 North Texas St. in Fairfield, California called S&L Thai Restaurant. Whenever we go we usually get the green curry, the pad thai, the citrus prawns, some sautes, eggrolls, and the papaya salad and share all of it. I highly recommend all of the above. Go with your whole family, an empty stomach, and be prepared for a crazy delicious feast. I can't think of a place I've had better Thai food and especially green curry. So many places screw it up by adding too much coconut milk or oil. Take my advice and give S&L a try if you're in the area.

To make the green curry as we did last night, use the following ingredients:

1 1/2 Tbs vegetable oil

3 Tbsp. Thai green curry paste (we used Mae Ploy Green Curry Paste from our local Asian market)

about a pound of boneless, skinless, chicken thighs cut into 1 inch pieces

2 lemon grass stalks with the outer layer removed and chopped finely

3 Tbsp. diced shallots

3 Tbsp. coarsely chopped garlic

1 Tbsp. finely chopped galangal (you could also use ginger)

Several lime leaves

1 tsp. fish sauce

2 tsp. sugar

a bowl* of veggies including:

-sliced pea aubergines (we actually used Japanese eggplant this time which was fine)

-sliced red and green bell peppers

1, 14 oz. can of coconut milk (use light, it's better for you)!

some coriander leaves

Thai basil leaves (or regular basil) The more the merrier!

*Recipes always call for specific amounts of ingredients, but just use as many vegetables as you want. We ended up filling a medium sized bowl with sliced egg plant and bell peppers. You could also throw in some green beans.

Once you have all your ingredients ready, heat a wok or a large frying pan until hot, and then add the oil and green curry paste. Stir-fry for 2 minutes and then add the chicken pieces, mixing until they are coated in the paste.

Next add the lemon grass, shallots, garlic, galangal, lime leaves, fish sauce, sugar, and stir-fry for a minute.

Add the pea aubergines or whatever eggplant you used and the bell peppers and pour in the coconut milk. Lower the heat and let it all simmer for 15 minutes or until the chicken is cooked. Finally, add the coriander leaves and basil, stir it up, and serve nice and hot over rice!

Note: We used three tablespoons of curry paste and that was the perfect degree of spiciness for me. However, many people would consider that level of spiciness to be too spicy so if you always order mild at a restaurant, try maybe 2 tablespoons instead. Taste the curry while you're making it and if you realize that it is too spicy you can dilute it with some more coconut milk. Also, if you're a vegetarian, try tofu as a nice substitute for the chicken.

Make sure you crank up the AC if it's a hot summer night because this curry will make you sweat. The capsaicin molecule in chilis activates the same receptors as heat, known as capsaicin receptors or TRPV1 so that's why we feel hot when we eat spicy foods like this. If you don't have air conditioning, follow this up with a session of Bikram yoga and consider your pores cleansed for the next month or so.

Most of all, enjoy! This really is one of my favorites so I hope you like it!

-Syd

Rice Pudding

2010-07-16T11:11:00.000-07:00

It's not uncommon for our fridge to be full of leftover rice by the end of the week. Leftovers are wonderful and convenient but they can get a little ridiculous. Often, I'll look in the fridge and it's like there's a little village of white bowls with matching Saran wrap roofs. Who thought it was necessary to save the last few leaves of salad from last night's dinner? Yes, wilted greens completely saturated in dressing are always my snack of choice, but three bowls from various meals throughout the week, really? My family is pretty good about being practical and trying to save only what's likely to be eaten, but even still, when analyzing the fridge a little, there's bound to be something that makes you wonder what exactly the person was thinking who decided to save half a pancake. (That person? Probably me).
Well anyway, yesterday I made good use of leftovers. Rice is probably one of the better things you can save, at least in our household. We eat enough dishes that call for rice so that having leftovers is often convenient. Also, I'll occasionally use rice to make chazuke for lunch. If you haven't had it, chazuke is just a really quick and easy Japanese dish that involves puring hot water or green tea over rice and then adding whatever you want to it like nori, or stirring in an egg. We actually have these little instant packets that are pretty good. I feel like next year in college without a meal plan, I'll be having chazuke a little more frequently than I'd normally prefer. Yesterday, however, I was thinking of other things you could do with old rice, and remembered rice pudding! I was never really a huge fan of it when I was younger, but over the last year or so I've started to like, or at least take an interest in, pretty much anything you'd label as food. I looked up several rice pudding recipes online and found that all of them were about the same, so I tossed the common ingredients together and it turned out pretty good! Here's what I used:

2 cups cooked, leftover rice
3 cups soy milk
1/3 cup sugar
pinch of salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
a bit of nutmeg
1 teaspoon of cinnamon

Add the rice, soy milk, and sugar to a pan and place over heat. (You could use other kinds of milk, but I've been really into soy lately. Even if you're not a fan, try it in cereal and you just might change your mind). Bring to a boil, then turn the heat down, add the vanilla, and simmer for about 35 minutes (could be longer or shorter so judge by consistency). When most of the milk has been absorbed, add the spices. You could also throw in some raisins or other yummy additions while it's cooking. I would recommend adding more milk if it looks a little too thick or if you plan on serving it cold because it thickens a little in the fridge. You can serve the pudding right off the stove, nice and warm, or chilled. Either way, it's bound to be tasty. We topped ours with a little fresh fruit.
If you want a cinnamony, delicious, cool treat for a summer afternoon, definitely try this out!

-Syd

Good morning crepes

2010-07-12T22:00:00.000-07:00

I have awesome friends. I come over well past your typical dinner time and am welcomed with chicken tacos and homemade guacamole. I wake up the next morning, and it's time to heat up a skillet for some crepes! After Caltech, my next stop was UCLA to visit a few other old friends. In the kitchen Sunday morning, Emma soon filled the air with an aroma of pure delicious. We sliced some fresh strawberries and washed some blackberries while listening to the crepes sizzle. I've never made crepes before and have actually only had them a few times so I asked for the recipe she used. Since it consists of only a few ingredients and I watched her expertly fill a plate with them, hopefully I will be able to successfully recreate them later this summer. We topped these with strawberry jam, some cinnamon and nutmeg, and a little cream cheese, rolled them up, and happily ate all of them.

Crepes

(from Better Homes and Gardens)

1 Cup flour

1 1/2 cups milk

1 tbs. cooking oil

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs (beaten)

Combine eggs, milk, flour oil and salt; beat until combined with minimal lumps. Cook on a skillet greased with butter or cooking oil.

-Syd

Best breakfast in California!

2010-07-12T21:16:00.000-07:00

In the morning my alarm clock wakes me, but the thought of breakfast is what actually gets me out of bed. Breakfast is, hands down, the most delicious thing ever. A steaming bowl of oatmeal with fresh berries and a drizzle of honey, a stack of warm banana pancakes...just thinking about breakfast makes me a little happier.

Anyway, I was in the Sacramento airport last week, waiting for my plane and flipping through the Food Network magazine in one of those book/magazine/overpriced souvenirs for the busy travelers who forgot about their families shops and happened upon an article titled "50 States, Fifty Breakfasts." Naturally, the word "breakfast" caught my eye and I read on eagerly. The article selected the best breakfast place in every state, with pictures and descriptions of what you should order. You can check out the best breakfasts for all the states on the Food Network website here. Under California, Marston's Restaurant was named. I had never heard of it so I scanned the foldout U.S. map in the magazine for its location. As soon as I saw the little red star pinpointing Marston's, I knew that it was my fate to be sampling the pictured "Fantastic French Toast" that very weekend. For what was my destination? Pasadena. Location of my best friend Alison at Caltech, and location of the best breakfast in California! Can you ask for a better combination?

Sure enough, we ended up at the restaurant a couple days later and split both the famous, featured French toast as well as the macadamia nut pancakes. The pancakes were creamy and buttery and the added macadamia nuts gave each golden fluffy bite a bit of crunch and a lot of great flavor. The French toast was made with sourdough bread dipped in a batter containing cornflakes, so the result was a warm crispy exterior with a tender, slightly cinnamony center. Each plate was served with real Vermont maple syrup, automatically earning a little of my respect, and we both left very full, but very happy. Check out the menu, here.

Now, I'm not sure I would agree that Marston's Restaurant is the best breakfast in California, but it sure made for a very satisfying and delicious brunch. Maybe I will try all the other breakfast places in California and report back later.

-Syd

Tomatoes.

2010-07-06T20:53:00.000-07:00

The Tomato. Fruit? Vegetable? Love it? Hate it? Both of us are guilty of harboring some hatred toward tomatoes as children and for me it has not been until this year that I've stopped purposefully avoiding them at all costs and carefully removing them from my plate when this just wasn't possible. Now, I am happy to report that although I'm still not going to grab one as an afternoon snack, I enjoy them when cooked in dishes and will eat them excitedly if someone placed a few slices in my sandwich. Well, "excitedly" might be stretching it a bit, or, a lot, but I'd sure be excited if someone gave me a sandwich.

And really, who can hate something as beautiful as these yellow and red cherry and grape tomatoes? Even if you're not a fan, you have to admit they're pretty adorable. Thank you again, Aliki's.

Since I was told to cook dinner tonight I figured I should probably use some of the fresh produce overflowing in our fridge. Right now when I swing open the metallic door, my eyes are struck by bowls and baskets of plums, peaches, melons, cherries, blackberries, blueberries, strawberries, and more. It's almost impossible for me not to consume several different fruit species on the spot. I never would have thought I'd die of a sugar overdose from fruit.

Anyway, baby tomatoes in hand, I went online and found a pasta recipe from Serious Eats, a food blog I consistently read until I started summer school. This recipe was Mario Batali's Spaghetti al Pomodoro. We didn't have quite as many tomatoes as it called for and more certainly would have been desirable, but the dish turned out to be a nice summer meal. I also substituted parmesan for the pecorino due to ingredient limitations and added extra basil because I love it so much and also got a little carried away when I was picking some leaves. But I don't think you can really ever go wrong with a little extra basil.

On an interesting side note, apparently the Supreme Court ruled the tomato a vegetable in the Nix v. Hedden case of 1893. The issue arose because of a tax that applied to vegetables but not fruits. However, botanically, the tomato is considered a fruit. If you ask me, I'd just say eat the things. Tomato, tomato.

-Syd