mumblepurr... ramblings of content

I'm not dead yet

2013-03-14T11:18:00.003-04:00

... I'm getting better....

I feel happy!

Ahem.

Changes are a comin' and less than soonlike.

Finishing (starting) up my thesis and probably moving this little space to Wordpress.
(I'm so 2000 and late... boom boom pow).

Get ready!

some more shots from castle on the hudson

2012-10-09T14:58:00.000-04:00

Maybe I'll get to writing the full description of this, maybe not. The amuse bouche was a chilled corn soup shooter with black olive dust and some sort of cream. There were little phyllo rolls with eggplant puree and goat cheese and i had a lovely bit of salmon.

yeah sooooo.... life is busy

2012-10-09T14:27:00.001-04:00

...but I try and post things so here goes.

Late nights of work and school work and guilt work and marathon sessions of series on Netflix I never watched when they were current have taken up my life. Its' amazing and horrible and wonderful and insane and leaves me longing for a little normalcy.

What's normal anyway? Is keeping this blog focused solely on food an excuse for me to not post since I haven't done anything particularly food-y in a while? Maybe.

So I say the hell with it and as long as I keep posting about something maybe it'll transform from a delicious albatross hanging from my neck into something I can cultivate better.

That said, I was a busy not-so-little bee this summer and shot my first wedding for a friend of a friend in Central Park.

I was super nervous and the day was super hot. It was a balmy summer afternoon with the distinct promise of rain that never came. I did this for a pittance as I often seem to do since I like to do things for people if it makes them happy and I feel good enough to step outside on a weekend (more often than not I turn into the Weekend Hermit to take a break from it all).

Doing things like this helps me figure out what I'd like to shape my hobby-life into... different flavors of photography are as important as different flavors in dishes.

Yellow is a very happy color. I like looking at these pictures to remind me of the warm summer before things started getting hectic again.

lunch @ castle on the hudson preview.

2012-10-05T12:52:00.000-04:00

So I've been crazy busy, like epic proportions busy and let almost everything I do for myself fall to the wayside.

For example, I took these photos in July and am just getting around to posting a preview. I plan on having a more substantial post this weekend.

Suffice to say I still dream of some of these dishes.. creamy, buttery, delicate nomness. This was one of my favorites: lobster wrapped in another fish and oozing with deliciousness.

Castle on the Hudson is one of my, "if I had an unlimited budget," wedding venues, but since I don't and since it's around $250 a person I'll have to remember my lunch there with fondness.

M

Klimat photography #1: plump pierogi

2012-08-13T13:42:00.001-04:00

The first dish I took photos of for Klimat was their potato pierogi. Plump, fried, little pillows of dough, potato and cheese took on a whole new dimension with a fun camera setup. Yes, my little xsi gave its all and with the help of a nice 100mm lens we got it done!

The sky was overcast but there was still enough light for my heavy, rented Adorama tripod and I to work together. I perched on the creaky wooden steps that led out back to the small yard and had a field day. Note to self: remember to bring chopsticks so you don't get food on your fingertips as you arrange it.

Oh, and by the way, I got to eat a whole new batch of pierogi plus some kielbasa when I was done. #smugface

Cook Out NYC [Giveaway!]

2012-07-02T08:41:00.001-04:00

This post is sponsored by Cook Out NYC ™

Ahem, ahem.... let me clear my throat. *DJ Kool breakdown*

I.... have a last-minute, first-time giveaway.*sniff* I think I popped another food blogger cherry milestone.

The people over at Cook Out NYC ™ have graciously provided me with two VIP tickets to Cook Out NYC ™ to give to one lucky sonomagun that reads my blog or tolerates my tweets. :P

Here's the lowdown. (I figured if I said here's the skinny I'd be misrepresenting myself AND the post.)

On July 7th and 8th Govenor's Island will be overtaken by a swarm of hungry foodies. Join us!

I missed out on the press preview due to something called my "I have to workout because I want to look good in general and for my wedding and oh my God when did I become that person? Am I an adult now?" crisis that leads me to train 3x a week nowadays.

How to enter:
Send your most creative tweet to @cookoutnyc and @mumblepurr at the same time by 11:59 pm Wednesday, July 4th, and I get to choose ONE winner for this weekend's event.

Something like "I promise not to pet @mumblepurr @cookoutnyc this weekend because she might stab me with a pen," could work, but won't because it's mine and it's true.

Bonus: If you were thinking of going anyway and don't win get $5.00 off your ticket by entering "BlogOutNYC” on this page.

It's the featured event of July Good Beer Month. So don't miss out on some seriously tasty brew.

Drink great beer (Sixpoint), eat great food (BBQ, burger cookout, a kimchi eating contest, hot dog competition) and support causes like Just Food's Farm School.

These people look like they had fun last year:
Images courtesy of Sebastian from Cook Out NYC

I'll see you there come rain or come shine but not hail, locusts or tiny, crunchy frogs.

M

Disclosure:
I put up this spiffy little post in return for two free tickets to CookOut NYC from Jackie over here. I also like actually writing about food things instead of saying that I'd like to write more about food things and then playing another hour of Diablo 3. No babies were punched, or even threatened with a punch, in the making of this post.

i am milk

2012-06-29T13:49:00.000-04:00

(to the tune of Milk by Garbage, photo of a piggy sundae @Farmacy in BK)

I am Milk
I am oh so tasty
I am cream
Taste good whipped on pastry

I am cheese
slice me, melt me, bite me
I'm lactose
and M can't tolerate me

I loosen,
I loosen your poo
I make you
act like you're not you

I even clog up your ears toooooooooooo.....

ahem...

I have a love, hate, love, loathe relationship with all things dairy.

If I had my way, Chrissette Michelle style, one day I'd wake up and be able to consume as much dairy goodness as possible without feeling like I'm about to have a cold.

I'd not have to substitute various nut milks that never come close to the real thing when I'm feeling particularly health conscious.

I'd enjoy my morning frosted flakes without breathing all weird at my workout in the evening.

Anyway, due to things beyond my control I'm having a little issue with my latest set of photos or else they'd be what this update is about.

Milk, it does a body pbpbpptppbpbptptht.

klimat test run

2012-06-04T08:34:00.000-04:00

So the day before my birthday (and the day the potatoes I won from TECHMunch arrived) I headed down to Klimat to take a few food photos. Here are the results of a quick shoot. The chef and I plan to do something more substantial next weekend.

The day was a little crazy. I rushed from work to the gym and then down to Klimat having been forgotten by the dude at Adorama who promised me my lighting equipment would be ready by that morning. When I called it was still in the warehouse. B&H I love you except on Fridays when you're not open as late as I'd like, but I understand. I'll never stray again.

This was the regular dip drizzled with olive oil:

The composition was off on this next one. There's organic grilled chicken under there somewhere too!

It was sweltering in the kitchen as I took these photos so my hunger was curbed by the need to not have a full tummy in heat, but afterwards I felt I should have noshed on something. It could have been the burger below. Putting it on a pita was interesting. I like the flecks of parsley I can see on the meat. Dunno if it's the lamb or the beef one.

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!