mumblepurr... ramblings of content

klimat connection

2012-05-29T11:25:00.001-04:00

I'll be shooting some food pics @Klimat on the Lower East Side this week. A friend of mine who does interactive and digital marketing asked me to take some shots so I'm working ith the owner Peter to make that happen.

Here are some pics from a few weekends ago along with some brunch photos at Hummus Place on St. Marks.

This hummus was so good!

changes are a comin

2012-05-29T08:38:00.001-04:00

So I reset the template back to some sort of dynamic magic while I redesign the site. I got a new point and shoot (Lumix LX-5) to take to events like GoogaMooga where they say you can't bring a camera with a detachable lens then end up letting people in with them anyway (maybe they had a press pass, I don't judge).

Anyway. Those oranges above and the umami burgers below were the two best (and almost all) food things I ate that day.

It pays to stick by the bartender as he's peeling oranges for super strong drinks so that you can eat them to keep your stomach from growling.

Spuddy Buddy, Dos Caminos, Hash @TECHMunch

2012-05-29T07:51:00.000-04:00

The spuddy buddy looked on as we learned how to make the carnitas hash we ate for lunch @TECHMunch.

That's good hash.

TechMunch & GoogaMooga coming soon to a blog near me

2012-05-21T09:17:00.004-04:00

So this weekend bounced between awesome and wisdom tooth awakeningly horrible. I'm not even kidding. Though outwardly calm (and inwardly I thought) I was apparently so livid my long dormant lower-left wisdom tooth decided to complain along with me. I've got a bunch of pictures from both events and should update in the next week.

M

Here's a picture of berries. Everyone (not allergic) likes berries.

hello, hello, hello... is there anybody out there?

2012-05-18T07:54:00.000-04:00

I know I've been awfully, terribly remiss in posting, but I'm heading to Techmunch NYC today where I hope to pick up some tips to kickstart my blog again. I've been D3 inferno-mode busy these past few months (went to london, got engaged, almost done with school yadda yadda), but I did manage to take a couple of pictures.

Might be moving to Wordpress, might not... this here blogger interface looks mighty purty compared to the last iteration.

some pretties:

deliciousness from Laduree London (still haven't been to the one here)

ok, just a taste. I'll post more later.

Oh and I crawled out from under a rock and discovered John Legend's amazingly beautiful fiance also knows how to cook/eat amazing things. You can all bonk me later for not finding this out sooner: http://sodelushious.com/

also.... I totally got attacked by my bathroom window in the shower on Monday so I'm still sporting a forehead scar (longer story than I feel like writing now).

M

packed puff pastries

2011-09-11T08:49:00.002-04:00

My graduate program had a welcome back rooftop party so I decided to make these. I kinda made it up in my head as I went along so there's nothing really exact.

Here's a recipe:

2 packages Dufour puff pastry
1 1/2 pound package of meatloaf meat (that has a 1/2 pound each of ground veal, beef and pork) or just buy them separately
1/2 pound ground lamb
a handful of fresh tarragon leaves chopped
a large handful of fresh oregano chopped
a bunch of fresh flat parsley chopped
8 cloves garlic chopped into small pieces(or to taste)
1/2 vidalia onion minced fine
fresh cracked pepper to taste
a pinch of cumin seeds ground up in a mortar and pestle (I ran out of powder)
a dash of ancho chili powder
a dash or three of Penzy's Arizona Dreaming spice mix
5 dashes of Hungarian sweet paprika
a dash of cayenne pepper
a couple dashes of Worchestershire sauce
a couple dashes of soy sauce
a dash of sweet balsamic vinegar
a teaspoon of chicken soup base (better than bouillon)
1/2 a small package of feta cheese
6 oz parmigiano reggiano
1/2 pound blue or gorgonzola
butter
2 egg yolks mixed with water for an egg wash

the puff pastry:

You can leave it out at room temperature for 40 minutes, or do like the package suggests and defrost in the fridge for 3 hours. My fridge did not really completely defrost it in more than 3 hours, but if you press your hand against the dough to warm it wherever it needs it will roll out fine.

the filling:

I started out by using some bacon ends I had to render oil for the onions and garlic to caramelize. You can use olive oil or nothing and just add them along with the meat. Once that was done I added the meat and cooked till browned and the juices were almost absorbed.

I drained the meat and put it back in the pan with a pat of butter to replace any oil lost, but not risk the puffs coming out soggy from too much liquid.

I added the freshly chopped tarragon leaves and oregano to the pan. Then I added the other seasonings. This was mainly trial and error, I didn't know what sort of flavor I was going for yet so I kept adding things till I liked the taste.

Once everything was cooked through I chopped up the fresh parsley and added it to the mix. Then I added the Parmesan cheese.

I let this sit on the stove for a while then popped it into my fridge in a container to cool more after adding half the package of Greek feta.

Once the mixture was cool enough I crumbled the blue cheese in and added it to the rest.

You will have half of this mixture left over and can use it on pasta or in more puffs later!

putting it together:

Pre-heat the oven to 375 F

Lay the pastry out on a floured board and roll out the rectangle to a 12x12 square. Cut 16 ~3 inch squares out of the sheet with a pizza cutter.

spoon a teaspoon full of filling into the center of each square.

moisten the edges of each square with egg wash and fold over. You can make triangles or rectangles. FYI rectangles are easier when you're tired of folding pastry.

Crimp the edges with a fork or if you're fancy, crimp them in a nicer way. My crimping attempts tend to look like a dog got a hold of the edges and shredded them with its teeth so I still use a fork.

Place the puffs on parchment paper on a cookie sheet or in a roasting pan. You can pretty much use whatever you have handy.

Brush the egg wash on top of each.

Bake in the oven for 25-40 minutes or until the tops are browned and the pastries are puffed out plumply.

Repeat with the other package of pastry.

This will make 32 puffs.

thai iced tea cake

2011-09-03T10:08:00.003-04:00

Before I went to 5 and Diamond and after I made my first pitcher of Thai iced tea I made a cake.

Since I had the tea in the fridge anyway, I added a bit of the undiluted mixture to the cake for extra flavor. Try it, it's yummy.

surprise! quiche

2011-09-03T10:05:00.003-04:00

I ended up leaving some eggs out so I decided they needed to all be cooked right away... surprise! quiche.

I use Mdme. Fromage's recipe from epicurious, but I use all cream and a bunch more cheese.... also no crust!

This one had cubed ham and sauteed zucchini inside along with a bunch of extra sharp cheddar.

5 and diamond

2011-09-03T10:03:00.000-04:00

I went to 5 and Diamond up in Harlem with some friends a few weeks ago and took two pictures.

The first is one of the 5 mac and cheeses they had to sample that night

and the second was a great heirloom tomato salad.

tons of thai iced tea

2011-09-03T10:02:00.000-04:00

I love Thai iced tea. I hate paying 3-4 bucks for a lil thing of Thai iced tea.

Solution?

Make it yourself.

Thai tea leaves

Sugar

Water

Cinnamon, cloves, ginger, nutmeg.

I used over a cup of loose Thai tea leaves and a bunch of sugar with about 10 cups of water.

First let the water boil then add the tea leaves, spices and sugar to simmer for at least 20 minutes.

Let it sit off the heat for 30 mins.

Strain into a heat proof container ( I used flour sack cloth to strain through a colander into a bowl).

Let it cool to room temperature then place in a pitcher.

Serve over ice with half and half, cream or evaporated milk.

You can also make it less sweet initially and then use condensed milk.

crab rangoon makes me cranky

2011-06-13T13:37:00.001-04:00

I realize this is Americanized Chinese cuisine and I'm completely ok with that. What I'm not ok with is how annoying these things are to make.

I didn't have a chance to go down to Chinatown for real (and cheaper) wonton wrappers so I had to use the oddly shaped Quasimodo-esque Nasoya ones.

So they're not perfectly square and they're squishy and just generally make me want to punch imaginary babies.

I persevere and get them folded up all nice and tight then begin to fry.

If you leave them one second too long one part of the rangoon is going to spurt hot cheese mixture all over your frying oil.

They still came out great but anything cream cheese filled is going on my "make rarely" list.

Crab Rangoon
1 package wonton wrappers
1 package imitation crab meat
2 stalks scallion
3 cloves fresh garlic
a dash of Worcestershire sauce
1 package cream cheese
salt & pepper to taste
water
oil for frying

I ended up putting everything in the blender to make a smooth paste. I chopped the scallions before adding them.

Place less than a teaspoon of filling inside each wonton wrapper and wet around the filling.

Fold the sides together (not the corners) so it looks kind of like a 4 pointed star.

Heat up the oil and pray none of them break when they fry.

Here are a few links on how to fold/make em:
http://www.starportfoods.com/Crab_Rangoons.htm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ms6f_CBrZOI

nectar diner, an appetizing brunch

2011-05-16T21:39:00.003-04:00

So my boyfriend's cousin was in town and she and her best friend went to the Met.

While they waited on a very long, rainy Sunday line we went to Nectar for brunch.

I love this little diner and its offerings even though I never managed to go there when I went to high school in the area.

For brunch I had two appetizers:

fava skordalia with pita

and grilled octopus with roasted red pepper and fennel orzo.

pretty good for diner fare, eh?

Speaking of the Met and the Line that deserves its own capitalization: this is what it looked like that afternoon:

The line for the Alexander McQueen exhibit was 1.5 hours by the time we finished brunch. Luckily, cousin and bff had already made it in with only a 20 minute wait.

churrascaria plataforma meat overload

2011-05-16T21:26:00.000-04:00

I took my mom there for Mother's Day and there was soooooo much food..

and some awesome strawberry daiquiris.

sweet curried kidney bean soup with tomatoes and coconut

2011-04-18T14:00:00.001-04:00

This was very quick to make:

2 cans of pinto beans (I used whole foods' organic)
sweet curry powder
smoked paprika
crushed tomatoes ( I used enough to fill up a small saucepan, so about 1/3 of a large can)
sweetened shredded coconut
garlic powder
1/2 stick butter
maple syrup, salt and pepper to taste
a dash of soy sauce
2 drops of liquid smoke (optional)

Melt the butter in a saucepan then add the beans.
Mash about 1/3rd of the beans with a potato masher.
Add seasonings, coconut and tomatoes and cook on low for 20 mins or more.

grease and groupons - park slope chipshop

2011-04-18T11:46:00.016-04:00

So the wonderful thing about Groupons
is that Groupons are wonderful things....

...unless you get them for a place you don't normally go to in the middle of Brooklyn.

Not only do you not visit this part of Brooklyn regularly, but the Groupon expires in 2 days and you have TWO of them.

So you end up going to this place two days in a row: once for dinner and then for lunch on a gloriously warm and sunny day.

Since I planned to go back on Monday, the Sunday night we went there I decided to try the sausage and chips.

I saw Myers sausage and, for some reason, thought of the delicious Elgin sausage from Texas instead of what arrived on my plate.

It was ok. It was not what I was expecting and the fried batter around it tasted better than the actual meat.

The chips were awesome, as always.

The funny thing about this chip shop is how un-bar-like it is compared to the one on Atlantic Avenue. It was brightly lit at night.* The tables were decorated the same and there were similar posters on the walls but that's where the similarity ended.

The next day I headed over from the Woolworth Building downtown ard realized that the N only went there on the weekend because of scheduling so I waited for an R.

It was much nicer in the afternoon, though unseasonably hot outside, so I got a ginger beer and salad instead of chips to cool me off.

This is the plaice. I like plaice; it's an unassuming fish. It sounds pleasant. It tastes a bit like flounder's saucier cousin that goes out late on a bender once a week.

Oh, and that thing up top? Twice fried cherry pie. There is nothing quite like getting powdered sugar up your nose when trying to bite into something repeatedly.

*This is pretty much the worst thing that can happen to a place I like to eat at nighttime, besides the apocalypse or running out of the fish I want.

fried pork chops with baby greens

2011-04-07T22:15:00.000-04:00

Applesauce on the side and champagne shallot dressing on the salad.

d bar's drunken haze

2011-04-07T10:49:00.005-04:00

So I went out with friends to D Bar and the beginning of the night was sharp in focus (and the drink was sweet-tart with maraschino cherry liqueur.) This is called the Aviation, but they were out of creme de violet. The mixologist, we'll call him since I'm bad with names, added a few other things (grenadine, a splash of sparkling something or other) and I liked it well enough. The cherry liqueur made it a bit too cloying for my liking.

I'm very picky with my drinks. I like them very sweet, but they have to be effervescent at the same time. There needs to be a lightness or a tart counterpoint for me to enjoy them fully.

The popcorn in the background had truffle oil, rosemary and some sort of cheese sprinkle on it. It was addictive for something I'd assumed was them trying too hard before I tasted it.

Anyway, the rest of the night quickly got out of focus like the following pictures. I tried an applejack drink with maple syrup, lemon and orange but it was a bit heavy on the orange and tasted like an glorified screwdriver. I would replace the orange juice with a crisp cider for bubbly goodness, up the applejack and use grade B maple syrup with a maple candy cube as garnish (or bribe, I do love maple candy).

I ordered the a meat and cheese platter. Soppresatta, prosciutto and three cheeses I forgot and forgot to take a picture of. Did I mention it took a while for our food to arrive? It was partly because we took so long to choose, to be honest.

That's the last picture I can actually show at a relatively large size because my vision and my camera hand were quite unsteady, apparently.

I also had the creamy cannelini beans, which I loved. There was sea urchin pasta that I didn't get a picture of and this delicious roast chicken with potatoes that was huge!

picture of porkitude | spring cleaning

2011-04-06T13:27:00.000-04:00

This is a shoulder roast I made for New Years. Somehow I missed this picture.

In other news, I've done a little spring cleaning on the site and removed the dates entirely. I found them limiting and hard to place in the flow of the rest of the blog. Since the posts remain listed by date you'll still know when I slack. :P

I've added a few little CSS3 enhancements because I can.

simple shrimp scampi

2011-04-04T23:31:00.000-04:00

This is really easy to make. I made enough for at least two days.

2lbs shrimp

8 cloves garlic minced

half a head of parsley

1 stick of butter

olive oil

gin (yes, gin, I didn't have any dry vermouth on me)

the juice of 2.5 small-medium lemons

pinch of smoked Spanish paprika

dash of Hungarian paprika

salt and pepper to taste.

Rinse your shrimp and lay to dry on paper towels while you melt the butter in a large pan.

Add a glug or two of olive oil as the butter melts and heat until bubbly.

Add your shrimp either a bit at a time or all at once and remove the fully pink ones to a bowl then set aside.

When all the shrimp is cooked add the minced garlic and parsley till the garlic is golden brown.

Pour a generous amount of gin into the pan.

Add the lemon juice and spices. Cook till bubbly and reduced (basically until you can discern the oil from the rest of the mixture since most of the liquid will have evaporated).

Put the shrimp back into the pan and coat with the sauce.

Serve over warm pasta. I used thin linguini.

things I forgot, the third and final chapter

2011-04-02T01:52:00.000-04:00

I forgot to post these pictures from dim sum a while ago:

things I forgot, part 2

2011-04-02T01:50:00.000-04:00

I forgot what I put in these awesome stuffed artichokes but I -think- I used the following:

genoa salami
panko crumbs
fresh bread crumbs from a baguette
plenty of olive oil
a little butter
tons of garlic
lots of lemon
oregano
maybe a lil chicken broth?
garlic powder
salt and pepper
tons of parmesan

things I forgot, part 1

2011-04-02T01:46:00.000-04:00

I forgot to post a picture of these soup dumplings from Joe's Shanghai.

red rooster letdown

2011-03-25T09:09:00.002-04:00

I'd read so much about this place before and after it opened. I had high expectations for it coming in.

One relatively mild Saturday evening Kay, her friends and I met up for a little foodie feast. The place was packed, the dynamic difference between those seated with reservations and walkins is more than I can cover in a humble food blog. Just go and see.... hmm.

I started off with the Harlem Nights house cocktail which had earl grey tea in it and something-infused bourbon. It was just ok.

I decided on the corn bread with honey butter and tomato jam as my first appetizer.

This is not what cornbread should look like, sorry. They toasted it which removed all the moist goodness that cornbread ought to have and made the crust inedibly, tongue-moisture-vacuum dry.

Like seriously I could feel the moisture transferring from my mouth to the cornbread. No bueno.

Next I had these adorably delicious corn tacos and tostadas which had yellowtail ceviche, salmon and a bit of avocado puree on each.

I could probably eat about 20 of these. They were really tiny and quite delicious. I've always been a sucker for yellowtail. I get the amuse bouche part, but after the cornbread I wished I'd just ordered two of these plates.

Kay ordered the other thing I'd thought about getting: the spiced duck liver pudding with duck pastrami and kumquats. Looking at their previous menu offerings there used to be almonds paired with this which would have given the crunch necessary to offset all the smooth ducky goodness. I liked the pastrami I sampled.

For my entrée they had a special lobster salad with pear and pistachio. It had a sweet note to the vinaigrette, but I forget if it was honey or not. There was also wasabi on the side in case you felt it necessary. I did, Kay didn't but I won't hate her for it in the morning.

There was a plate of red snapper with a lot of cauliflower and the famous mac & greens, but I guess my hand gets less steady when I'm mid-chow so those pictures came out a big fuzzy mess.

I brought an order of fried yard bird home for him and then realized I'd have to eat it myself the next day since it was interestingly spiced and the bottom was covered with greens (which I enjoyed). The bird itself was ok. It's hard to impress me with fried chicken though.

I guess what really disappointed me was that the things that were supposed to be amazing, weren't. It was like they were made for a palate not used to such cooking which I guess could describe most of the patrons seated in the reservation area. (bad me, said I wasn't going to comment)

After the initial allure is over, what will be there to keep people coming back beyond the dishes you can find elsewhere at places downtown that have no real connection to what I thought the restaurant was about? I suppose time will tell if you want to summon an old cliché.

taquito flavored kisses

2011-02-09T19:04:00.002-05:00

These I made a long time ago, right after Christmas. I used the chicken that I made broth for the dumplings with to make these flautas.

I probably seasoned the meat like this:

ancho chile powder
paprika
chili powder
soy sauce
Arizona dreaming (penzey's seasoning mix)
pepper
butter

Anyway the hardest part of these things is the "traditional" way of dipping the tortilla in the hot oil to soften them enough to roll. My fingers disliked me immensely afterward but it wasn't too hard.

Using tongs you can dip them in the oil for a few seconds then lay them in a pile on paper towels.

When they're cool enough or when you're tired of waiting you place a tiny bit of filling close to one edge and roll it inward.

I used two toothpicks per flauta because with one sometimes an edge would come loose and there'd be little chicken bits floating all around.

Cook until crispy and serve topped with cheese. I popped the plate in the oven for a little bit just to melt the cheese a bit more.

You can also add a bit of crema to the plate if you like.

super bowl quickie

2011-02-09T18:55:00.000-05:00

So I didn't really make much for the Super Bowl since he made clam dip and hot wings, but I did make these potato skins the next day.

Russet Potatoes
Sharp cheddar
Mexican 4 cheese mix
Vermont Smoke and Cure smoked pepperoni
Chives
pepper

I had mine with sour cream.