christina EATS.

tea time.

Sun, 07 Oct 2012 16:33:00 -0400

aviary.

Mon, 13 Jun 2011 17:57:00 -0400

enter the cheese cave.

Wed, 08 Jun 2011 17:13:00 -0400

A friend and I got a chance to go on a tour of the cheese cave at Formaggio Kitchen a few weeks ago. Formaggio’s is well-known gourmet food shop in Cambridge that I’ve wanted to visit for ages, but it’s a bit of a trek over, and I just never made it there. Pretty surprising that I let the long-ish walk stop me since they are known for their interesting, high-quality cheeses (among many other things), and I LOVE LOVE LOVE cheese. Apparently they have killer weekend barbecues too during the warm weather season.

Anyway, better late than never, right? An email from a Food Literacy Program rep about the cheese tour was just the push I needed to finally get over there. So glad I did! The huge selection of cheese, meats, bread, wine, and other gourmet food was impressive, and there were samples galore (the best part, obviously)! And of course, getting to peek into the cheese cave was pretty cool, although it was quite chilly and stunk of ammonia from some of the more pungent cheese rinds.

In the cave, Ihsan taught us all about proper cheese sourcing, testing, storage, and care. I already knew Formaggio was a locally renowned cheese shop, but apparently its reputation for top quality products extends all over the country and even internationally. A lot of the cheese comes from France, the Pyrenees, elsewhere in Europe, as well as from more local sources like Vermont farms. We got to sniff and sample tiny bits of some really unique cheeses from the cave, some really creamy and tasty, and some…a bit too complex for my common palate :P

More samples once we climbed out of the cave. Took a lot of restraint not too buy a pound of everything…

There are tons of other cool fresh and packaged products in the store, and even a bakery. Check out these fresh figs! So pricey, but beautiful, and super tasty I’m sure.

Formaggio Kitchen
244 Huron Avenue
Cambridge, MA

turkey.

Mon, 06 Jun 2011 23:00:00 -0400

A huge pot of homemade turkey broth and a super quick and healthy turkey salad today, using just 2 hefty and cheap turkey drumsticks (3 bucks for both) from the supermarket + veggies and a couple other fridge & pantry ingredients.

This chicken stock recipe is a simple and easy go-to recipe, basically just toss everything together in a pot and simmer for several hours. I used turkey today instead of chicken - I’ve been eating a lot of grilled chicken lately, which my mom says is bad because of hormones or something…not convincing, but regardless, I love turkey too and haven’t had it in a long time.

Like chicken, skinless white turkey meat is very lean and low in fat, high in protein. After removing all the meat from the bones while making the stock, I snuck a few bites (so tender!) and then mixed up an extremely quick, flavorful, creamy but light (mayo-less!) turkey salad with the rest. So easy, just shred the meat with a fork, add a couple spoonfuls of non-fat plain Greek yogurt, some chopped green onions, a bit of salt and pepper, a squeeze of lemon, and a dash of chili powder or Siracha if you like, and mix together. Chill in the fridge for a while to let the flavors really develop and meld. Yum! Great snack on crackers or bread, or just straight with a spoon :)

[guilt-free!] mini carrot cakes

Sun, 05 Jun 2011 18:59:00 -0400

Carrot cake is probably my all-time favorite dessert. My theory is that this preference is actually an adaptation I developed at school after realizing that carrot cake is one of the very few desserts/foods in general that HUDS (our dining service) seems to actually do right…some of my favorite dinner conversations at college have been enjoyed with a side of carrot cake, eaten leisurely with most of the cream cheese scraped off (while I can eat grossly large amounts of regular cream cheese, I am not a fan of sweet cream cheese) and a cup of hot black coffee in hand.

I’m at home for a few days before my whirlwind travel schedule begins, not yet in the real real world but already starting to miss the comfort (and even some of the crazy hecticness) of college…including the never-ending piles of carrot cake.

However, I definitely do NOT miss the lack of accessible/clean/well-stocked kitchens and fresh food at school. And with such luxuries readily at my disposable at home, I can make my own carrot cake ^.^

Inspired by this dairy-free carrot cake recipe from BGSK (one of my new favorite food blogs thanks to mjw!), I decided to make a healthier, crunchier, raisin-less & nut-less (I HATE raisins and also do not like nuts of any sort, except pistachios and peanuts on occasion) version of the classic carrot cake. My method was quick and dirty, lots of eyeballing measurements and just winging it, but yielded a very tasty end product, surprisingly similar to the taste and texture of a classic carrot cake despite my many modifications. The oatmeal gave the cake chew and crunch even without nuts, and I didn’t miss the real sugar at all - sometimes substituting honey for sugar means a significant change in flavor (often a negative one in my opinion, but that’s because I dislike the taste of honey), but in this case the substituted volume was small enough and the other flavors strong enough that I really didn’t notice a significant flavor difference.

These mini carrot cakes also served as the subjects of an exciting photo shoot with a brand new camera lens and beautiful midday summer sun :D I am now the proud owner of a M42 Pentax 55mm f1.8 vintage manual focus lens, thanks to my benevolent uncle. Took a little while to make the initial adjustments and get the hang of the manual focus, but I am in love with this lens. I feel super-pro using manual focus, and hearing that confirmation beep telling me I’ve focused well is strangely gratifying. Obviously it’ll take some more time to really warm up to this lens and figure out how to get the most out of it, but the improvements are already apparent (even to a photography noob like me) and very exciting! Most obviously, you can probably tell from these photos that the background blur - bokeh, and macro quality in general are much much better. And the cherry on top is that apparently this lens was very affordable too, somewhere around 100 bucks. Suh-weet!

Afternoon tea!

For two :)

——————————————————————————————————————————————

Mini Carrot Cakes
9 mini cakes

For cake batter:

3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1/2 c. regular or quick oatmeal
1 1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground ginger

1/2 c. honey
1/4 c. light brown sugar
1/4 c. water
1/2 c. canola oil
1 1/2 c. finely grated carrots (about 3-4 medium carrots)

For topping:

2 tsp. ground cinnamon
1 tsp. honey
1/4 c. regular or quick oatmeal

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a medium bowl, combine first set of batter ingredients (dry ingredients).

In another bowl, stir together second set of batter ingredients until combined.

Gently add dry ingredients to wet, stir gently until just combined

Lightly grease muffin pan (or cake pan if you want to make one big cake) or line with cupcake liners.

Fill each cup with 1/4 c. batter. Bake at 350 F for appx. 30 minutes.

While waiting, prepare the topping: stir together the cinnamon, oatmeal, and honey until well combined.

After cakes have baked for 30 minutes, remove pan from oven and quickly spoon topping (about one small spoonful) onto each cake, pressing down lightly with a spoon to ensure the topping sticks to the cake. Bake for 10 more minutes, or until topping is toasted and fork inserted in center of cakes comes out clean.

Let cool for several minutes in pan before turning out onto cooling rack or plate. Serve warm or cooled completely. Add (maple) cream cheese frosting if you’re feeling decadent :)

destihl.

Fri, 03 Jun 2011 14:08:00 -0400

Delicious dinner at newly-opened gastrobrewery Destihl in Champaign, IL last night. A hip and nice but not-too-fancy place featuring a remarkably large and varied selection of all house-brewed beers on tap (offered in 4 oz. tasting sizes so you can try a bunch guilt-free) as well as an equally varied, full-flavored food menu, offering well-prepared and presented comfort food as well as more exotic/haute cuisine and enticing desserts.

Our selections:

4 oz. beers (descriptions here): Champaign blonde ale, Belgian pale ale, 120 Shilling scotch ale, Biere brune, & Strawberry blonde ale. The strawberry blonde was the favorite of the bunch, light and crisp with surprisingly strong real strawberry flavor (made with fresh strawberries).

Appetizers/small plates: cheese curds, marinated cucumbers, spiced seared tuna. All delicious, especially the horrible for you but irresistiblecheese curds.

Entrees: spinach w/ grilled portabella mushroom and chicken salad & “Destihl Meatloaf”: prosciutto wrapped meatloaf with stout gravy and veggies. The salad, especially the mushrooms, were good but nothing amazing. The maple jalapeno bacon dressing that came with it sounded good but was kind of off-putting to me for some reason (good thing I asked for it on the side). The meatloaf, on the other hand, was great. YUMZ. Portions were big but not too big.

Dessert: cedar plank brie - warm, gooey, mild flavored brie with chili & ginger infused honey, mixed berries, and grilled baquette. I normally hate brie, but this one was very mild, with barely any ammonia flavor (the part I hate) and excellent with the honey, berries, and crispy toast. A kinda rich, kinda light, creamy, crispy, and slightly tangy finish to an excellent meal.

Destihl
301 N. Neil Street
Champaign, IL 61820

commencement.

Tue, 31 May 2011 13:52:00 -0400

Finalllllly graduated!! Bring out the H ice cream (thank god for commencement week food » senior week food)!

Celebratory dinner at Sandrine’s, now one of my favorite Boston area restaurants after this lovely meal (filet mignon, lobster risotto, and rack of lamb above) and a recent RW one.

Beautiful. I don’t like lamb, but I can still admire and enjoy this beaut.

Amaaaaazingly good roast duck and escargot appetizers.

Creme brulee to finish.

Perfect portion sizes, expertly cooked and seasoned everything, rich but not too heavy flavors, melt in your mouth tenderness…mmmmm. A shame I never realized the understated awesomeness of Sandrine’s until this semester. But plenty of time to revisit once I go back to Boston in August!

growth spurt.

Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:06:00 -0400

Growing up so fast, I can barely keep up. This photo was actually taken several days ago. - baby eddie has sprouted leaves and is now about 12 inches tall!

3 days later - another height check-in:

Wowee Eddie, you iz tall!!

pamplona

Wed, 20 Apr 2011 00:40:00 -0400

“Cambridge’s oldest cafe” (and also the first place I ever ate at at Harvard/Cambridge!) - Cafe Pamplona is quirky, kinda dank, a bit pricey, but very delicious (and has its own wiki page). The turkey, provolone, roasted red peppers, and garlic mayo panini special is AMAZING. Tried the weirdly satisfying guava & muenster too - surprisingly complex and complementary flavors! The pieces of guava jelly do kind of resemble worms buried in the panini, but they are delicious worms. Not too sweet, with a bit of bite.

(Photos (c) WXM)

The popular “Cafe Pamplona” - espresso & condensed milk, YUM. Just don’t forget to stir it up first :)

Lisboa

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 17:31:00 -0400

Finally getting a chance to catch up and write this long post about my recent spring break trip to Lisbon. The city was old yet modern, beautiful, welcoming, and VERY hilly. And plenty of good local eats, of course. We hit up most of the touristy sights and also ticked off quite a few recommended activities by the NYTimes “36 Hours in Lisbon” article.

Food was quite pricey by my frugal college student standards, but we managed to eat well on a reasonable budget by taking utmost advantage of the free breakfast buffet at our hotel, snacking lightly throughout the day, and saving up for nice dinners.

Much of the food wasn’t quite my cup of tea, especially the locally popular dry and salty codfish, but it was fun trying different dishes, and many of them were very tasty. Pork alentejo style (above, at La Trinidad in Bairro Alto) - pork with clams and delicious sauce - was one of my favorites.

Dinner at La Trinidad that night also featured milk cream with absinthe on top for a flambe style dessert.

And of course, always plenty of great bread, seafood paste, cheese, butter, and wine to go around (for a usually unspoken and unpredictable price, we discovered…)

The LX Factory in Alcantara was full of hidden quirks and goodies, including this weird pop artsy restaurant/fashion museum/club with very expensive dim sum.

5 euros for these shrimp dumplings. Which comes out to about 2 bucks a pop. They were good, but not THAT good…

Landeau bakery, also in LX factory, was one of the best finds of the trip. From my preview post:

Amazing chocolate cake (the only thing on the menu) at Landeau bakery, newly opened in the LX factory in Alcantara. Warm and gooey, rich yet light and not too sweet, melt-in-your-mouth delicious perfection. Wowed even the non-chocolate lovers in our group! Not in plain sight so we had to look hard for the place, but it was well worth it, especially with a pretty reasonable price tag of a little over 2 euros per slice.

Landeau
Lx Factory
R. Rodrigues Faria, 103
Alcantara, Lisboa

I also loved the decor in the small shop, tucked away in an eclectic industrial-looking loft that houses various other shops and offices.

Adorable kitchen!

Another super cute bakery and gelato shop next door.

As a port city, Lisbon is obviously known for seafood, so I was surprised to discover that pastries are just as, if not more, popular and delicious among locals. Small and not too sweet or expensive, pastries were perfect on-the-go fuel for our daily adventures. I loved the queijadas (cheese pastries) with cinnamon (not really cheesy at all despite the name) and chocolate biscuit and mousse pastries we tried in Sintra, a beautiful World Heritage town with castles, palaces, mountains and parks, after climbing up to the Moorish castle.

The climb was a lot steeper and longer than expected but well worth it!

Amazing view

Beer pastry (made with beer but doesn’t taste like it at all, a nice almond-y flavor instead) and a traditional Belem egg tart. Probably my favorite pastries from the trip.

Probably the weirdest dish ordered on the trip - little fried fish with their tails in their mouths at a seafood restaurant across the river in Almada…fortunately they tasted better than they looked.

Dinner at a fado restaurant in Bairro Alto our last night in the city. Bluesy and mournful, fado definitely isn’t upbeat music (aka my kind of music), but it’s very Portuguese and thus a must-see while in the city.

Brought home some cheap and yummy seafood paste with mini toast (tuna paste above, already all gone :P). Didn’t think I would like the taste or consistency of seafood paste, but we had it almost every day with bread at dinner and I actually really liked it. The tuna paste is pretty mild, but the sardine version is much stronger and fishier tasting.

Some canned sardines in olive oil brought home from A Vida Portuguesa, a super cool shop in Chiado that sells very cute, affordable, and beautifully packaged soaps, stationery, chocolates, packaged food, perfume, etc. I’ve never been a huge fan of sardines, but in olive oil, these were quite mild and tasty.

Some final non-food highlights:

Beautiful Jeronimos monastery in Belem, where Vasco de Gama is buried.

Ridiculously adorable otters massaging their cheeks, sleeping, and playing at the Oceanarium.

MUDE fashion and design museum - bizarre and fascinating, free and definitely worth a visit.

lookee!

Mon, 18 Apr 2011 16:49:00 -0400

My edamame plant is growing, my edamame plant is growing!

Get your own here!

rustic folkiness.

Mon, 11 Apr 2011 20:33:00 -0400

(Photo credit: WXM aka moesha)

Ciabatta roll, sliced salami, and truffle pecorino bathing in sunshine (at last!) atop Mt. Auburn cemetary’s Washington Tower

chicken & waffle.

Sun, 27 Mar 2011 12:18:42 -0400

brilliantly scrumptious brunch at Tupelo

sweet lisbon.

Sat, 19 Mar 2011 03:44:00 -0400

Quick preview of what will surely be a massive series of posts on Lisbon eats:

Landeau
Lx Factory
R. Rodrigues Faria, 103
Alcantara, Lisboa

sandrine's

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:45:00 -0500

spontaneous RW dinner at Sandrine’s in the square:

Soup of the day was creamy clam chowder

Pan seared duck in brandied cherry sauce for Hua Szu

Pan seared scallops in tomato beurre blanc for me

Caramelized warm apple cake w/ice cream + vanilla bean cheesecake w/berry sauce to share >.<

Sandrine’s Bistro
8 Holyoke St
Cambridge, Mass

taza chocolate tour.

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 22:35:00 -0500

So many free samples = chocolate overload (yes, it’s possible) at the Taza Chocolate Factory in Somerville: 100% stone ground, organic, direct trade chocolate

Cacao nibs

Machine that crushes the beans into nibs and gets rid of the shells

Custom made grinding stones

Salt and pepper chocolate, anyone?

More samples and goodies to take home :)

Tempting, no? Book your own factory tour!

baby macarons.

Mon, 07 Mar 2011 19:56:00 -0500

(photo courtesy of Will’s beloved Moesha)

tory row.

Sun, 30 Jan 2011 17:13:00 -0500

Spanish cheese plate: manchego, serrano ham, fig jam, marcona almonds; + riesling and chardonnay

snow day.

Thu, 27 Jan 2011 16:55:00 -0500

Too bad we still had to go to class -__-

Footsteps along the frozen Charles.

Iciclezz

Lamington, meet Meringue. (and please try to play nice)

Fri, 21 Jan 2011 19:50:00 -0500

Sooo a few days ago I tried to replicate this beautiful, fluffy meringue lamington with a more traditional, chocolate lamington inside.

Started off by baking and assembling some cute little ‘lamingtons’ - really just chocolate-covered mini sponge cakes since I don’t like coconut and coated the bites in cocoa powder instead. (Recipe after the jump!)

Next, I whipped up a beautiful, white, soft & fluffy meringue. Don’t you want to just jump right in and frolic in the fluff?? I was nervous about this part since I’ve never tried making meringue before and always heard it was difficult to do properly. It was actually fairly straightforward and fun playing with the fluff - this tip sheet was very helpful (detailed instructions below). So far so good!

Then, I spooned the meringue over each ‘lamington’ to cover them completely and baked them for about 10 minutes to brown the tops a bit.

Looking good, right?

Unfortunately, despite the good looks from the outside, I had a very rough time cutting through the meringue - it was very soft and sticky, which I wanted, but even a wet knife couldn’t cut through without sticking and wreaking ugly havoc - so I decided to bake them for a while longer to dry them out a little. And then stuck them in the freezer for a few minutes to firm them up even further. Seems like a reasonable solution, right?

Big mistake!!! Huge! My cute fluffy balls transformed irreversibly into this:

I could now cut through them much more easily but totally lost the big jolly fluffiness and beautiful lightly browned shell I had before. The horror! I should have predicted that more heat followed by freezing would deflate and discolor the meringues…too late now.

Fortunately there was still a substantial layer of fluffy sticky meringue hidden inside, and I actually found this end result to be very tasty despite being far less attractive than this (scroll down on the linked page for a beautiful cross-sectional photo!). Because the meringue is so sticky and sweet, having less of it paired with a chewy outer coat was actually a good balance for me. The sponge cakes hidden in the middle were softer than I would have liked, and the chocolate coating bled in too far on the bottoms - again, probably due to the overcooking - but they were still quite tasty, a good textural contrast to the sticky and chewy meringue.

I asked Ms. Humble how she managed to cut through her lightly cooked, still very moist meringue lamington so cleanly, and she advised using a VERY SHARP damp knife. Didn’t occur to me at the time to make sure my knife was very sharp, but I will definitely remember for next time.

All in all, not my proudest creation, but the semi-success was still very satisfactory and gobbled up without hesitation. The ‘lamingtons’ were also very tasty alone - a much firmer, better texture having just been chilled in the fridge, no extra baking time in the oven.

Obviously still lots of improvement needed, but a good first attempt!

Lamington Meringues (meringue- and chocolate-covered mini sponge cakes)
12 cakes

For sponge cake:

1/2 c. butter
3/4 c. white sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 c. all purpose flour
4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 c. milk

For chocolate coating:

4 c. powdered/confectioner’s sugar
2 tbsp butter, melted
1/2 c. milk
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa powder

Suggested toppings: cocoa powder, dessicated coconut

For meringue:

6 egg whites (be careful to not get any yolk in with the whites - any kind of oil or fat that is present can interfere with achieving a nice fluffy meringue)
1 1/2 c. powdered/confectioner’s sugar (contains cornstarch, which helps stabilize the meringue/foam)

Prepare chocolate-covered sponge cakes: Use this recipe with the following notes:

1. Freeze cake before cutting for easier, cleaner cuts and fewer crumbs when dipping in chocolate. To reduce crumbs even more, freeze cakes after dipping, then dip in a second coat of chocolate (prepare more chocolate coating if necessary). Freeze again before serving or covering with meringues to maintain a nice spongey but firm texture.

2. If you’re like me and don’t like coconut, roll the squares in cocoa powder or other toppings instead. This substitution means the cakes are no longer considered traditional lamingtons (or even lamingtons at all, to some folks), if you care about that sort of thing…

You can stop right here and serve the lamingtons as is, or proceed to the next step to cover the cakes with meringue for more complex (and delicious, in my opinion) lamington meringues.

Prepare meringue: In a clean, dry metal bowl, beat egg whites with an electric mixer on medium for several minutes, until soft peaks form.

Slowly add in sugar while beating on high. Beat for several more minutes, until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat!

Assemble and bake lamington meringues: Preheat oven to 350 F. Place chilled lamingtons on a baking sheet 2-3 inches apart. Pipe or spoon about 1/3 c. meringue onto each square, covering it completely. Bake in oven for 5-10 minutes, until tops are golden brown. Serve immediately. To cut through meringues, use a very sharp knife dipped in cold water.