famiree time

HI I'M BACK

2012-01-31T18:36:00.006-05:00

...and in paris! i have returned to chronicle my latest food endeavor: a new batch of macarons each week. i figure that will give me enough time and tries to master them. i don't have class on tuesdays, so that will be my macaron day.

i have made macarons a few times, undaunted by the comments that it is a very specific art: one stir too many and they're ruined. must've been beginner's luck, because the first two times they came out fine and delicious without too much grief. the next time, though, they were a disaster.

mustered up the courage to attempt again today. failed miserably, again. going to have to try a little harder next time, it seems. it was still fun though. for example, TIL: there is only one type of powdered sugar at monoprix, and it comes in a container like this:

?????

anyway, stay tuned until next tuesday, when i will (hopefully) have something more exciting to share! and i hope my counterparts abroad will also soon return to chronicle all things famiree time. until then.

anticipation

2011-08-31T20:22:00.000-04:00

THE FAMIREE WILL BE TOGETHER AGAIN SO SOON (in real life)

ice cream endeavor, part 9: vanilla

2011-08-29T00:52:00.002-04:00

okay, back from ice cream hiatus. my family moved from the house we'd been living in for 15 years to an apartment half the size in the city. exciting, but stressful and tiring and time-consuming. hence, no time to make ice cream, nor blog about it.

i made this vanilla ice cream before the chaos, but didn't get the chance to write about it. simply put: the best vanilla ice cream, ever. EVER. seriously! it's not quite as creamy as french vanilla but is much creamier than your standard vanilla bean, and so much more flavorful than any store-bought variety, from french vanilla to vanilla bean and everything in between.

vanilla ice cream (from the perfect scoop)

(makes about 1 quart)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

pinch of salt

1 vanilla bean, split in half lengthwise

6 large egg yolks

3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a medium saucepan. scape the seeds from the vanilla bean into the warm milk and add the bean as well. [the tiny beans were stuck in clumps and i wasn't sure if they would de-clump while churning or not, so i did a few quick stick blender pulses and they separated immediately.] cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for 30 minutes.

pour the remaining 1 cup into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as your stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. put the vanilla bean into the custard, add the vanilla extract, and stir until cool over an ice bath.

chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator. when ready to churn, remove the vanilla bean, rinsing and reserving it for another use, and then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

also delicious with any topping ever. pictured here with fruit, korova cookie crumbles (best cookie ever btw), and homemade magic shell topping.

the world's largest smoothie

2011-08-09T04:09:00.004-04:00

or, how to use up all of your frozen fruit

yields one giant bowl of smoothie, or 5 normal-sized smoothies

1. empty all contents of frozen fruit bags into a giant bowl

2. dump in as much yogurt as you have

3. pour a large quantity of juice in (always more than you think)

4. stick blend

(my family is moving, hence the desire to use up random freezer food)

삼겹살 (Korean BBQ Bacon)

2011-08-07T05:38:00.006-04:00

For ~$10: An order of bacon, beer, soju, and endless assorted lettuce to wrap the meat in, garlic, steamed eggs (계란 찜), kimchi (to eat raw, but also to barbecue, which tastes really good), seasoned mixed vegetables (green onions and bean sprouts), green peppers, and soybean paste soup (된장 찌개). Possibly one of the best meals I've had in the past five weeks here. I'm going to miss Korea.

MM BLACK SESAME

2011-07-31T06:46:00.000-04:00

A while ago, I ventured downtown to get me some black sesame ice cream from the Chinatown Ice Cream Factory. If you ever find yourself ice cream hunting in New York in one of the ridiculous heat waves, stop by here and make sure you get 2 scoops to maximize on their great selection of flavors!

Noryangjin Fish Market: Seoul

2011-07-25T12:56:00.003-04:00

This past Saturday, my friend Andrew and I went to the Noryangjin Seafood Market. Basically, it's a giant warehouse where individual vendors sell their goodz. IT WAS SO KOREAN AND GREAT. It's kind of nice to see that, despite how modernized Seoul is today, there are still some things that stay the same. For the seafood you can eat raw, they will prepare it for you on the spot (aka you point to the fish you want, they kill it, and five minutes later it's artfully plated). Watching that happen in a matter of minutes was somewhat unsettling, but at least Andrew and I ate dinner before watching that in full. We ate at a restaurant in the warehouse: spicy seafood soup, fish, unlimited panchan, and rice all for 7,000 won (less than $6). I was so full afterwards I could barely thrust my body forward. Here are some blurry iPhone photos of the market:

2011-07-24T11:18:00.004-04:00

Also, I finally made these babies, courtesy of this website.

Korea

2011-07-24T11:01:00.008-04:00

Spicy barbecue chicken and cabbage in Sinchon, Seoul, South Korea. More later, but this (among other things) has been my life for the past month.

And aprons, of course.

More Mexican summer

2011-07-20T22:08:00.002-04:00

This summer, all I ever ever crave is Mexican food. I have been eating a lot of tacos/quesadillas. Not pictured is the fresh tomatillo salsa that I made earlier (blend: tomatillos, lime juice, jalapenos, cilantro, yellow tomatoes).

For this open faced quesadilla, I first sautéed onions, chorizo sausage, and poblano peppers. Then I melted some pepper jack on a tortilla (freshly purchased from the local bodega, made in my area code of Brooklyn whuddup). Add some cilantro for good measure.

The awesome thing about this is that there are infinite variations. It's good with squash, beets, tomatoes, pretty much any combination of veggies.

Pesto on the roof

2011-07-20T21:45:00.003-04:00

Pesto is easy to make! We used basil, walnuts, spinach, garlic, lemon juice, olive oil. I can't remember exactly what else, it was a while ago. If you sauté little tomatoes they become extremely tasty. The other thing we used were garlic scapes. They are the stalk of the a garlic plant before it blooms. They had them at the farmer's market because they are in season right around now. I expected it to taste like a chive, but when you sauté it becomes very mild and delicious. And I grew that basil leaf!

Claire and I rigged up a pulley system using the basket from Nicole's bike, and a few supplies from the hardware store. We ate our pasta on the roof!

oh my mexican days

2011-07-18T21:44:00.000-04:00

I lived on the border of Texas and Mexico when I was little, so I grew up on "arroz con pollo"and
gorditas. Imagine my excitement when Natalie from Fashion Intel posted (a way back, mind you) a dinner she had which included QUESO FUNDIDO. sglkajglasgkj my favorite. It's basically melted monterey jack with crumbled chorizo on top. Eat with piping hot tortillas and fresh salsa.

ice cream endeavor, part 8: strawberry

2011-07-12T19:35:00.004-04:00

strawberry is technically my ninth, but the peach i made before this turned out so strangely i want to wipe it from my memory. and so did the strawberry, to some extent. i think this is due to the fact that in fruit ice creams, one mixes in a significant amount of fruit purée, which in turn makes the whole thing icier and freeze a lot harder. not really sure. i've just been letting the ice cream sit out for a bit before scooping, and (as you can see) it scoops out in chunks, rather than real scoops. oh well, going to have to keep working on these.

the strawberry ice cream still tastes delicious and fresh despite the weird consistency, so i'll include it.

strawberry ice cream (from allrecipes)

(makes 4 1/2 cups)

1 quart fresh strawberries, hulled

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

3/4 cup white sugar

3 egg yolks

3 tbsp light corn syrup

place the berries into the container of a blender of food processor, and purée until smooth. pour into a large bowl, and set aside.

heat 1 1/4 cups of the cream in a saucepan over medium heat until it begins to bubble at the edge of the pan. in a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, egg yolks, remaining 1/4 cup cream, and corn syrup. gradually pour the hot cream into the yolk mixture, whisking constantly. return the mixture to the saucepan, and heat until the mixture is thick enough to coat the back of a metal spoon, about 5 minutes. do not allow the mixture to boil. strain custard into the berry purée through a sieve, mix, and refrigerate until chilled.

fill and ice cream maker with with the mixture, and freeze according to the manufacturer's instructions.

ice cream endeavor, parts 6 & 7: ricanelas & mint chip with homemade magic shell

2011-07-12T18:43:00.007-04:00

oops—it's been awhile. but just because i haven't been documenting it doesn't mean i haven't been making ice cream. here's my catch-up post. i've made three ice creams (well, technically four but the peach was so weird i'm not counting it) since the honey lavender. here are the first two:

stole this flavor from bi-rite—it's cinnamon ice cream with snickerdoodle pieces.

ricanelas ice cream (adapted from the perfect scoop)

(makes about 1 quart)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

ten 3-inch cinnamon sticks, broken up

2 cups heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

one batch of snickerdoodles (but you'll only use a few cookies for the ice cream, so eat the rest)

warm the milk, sugar, salt, cinnamon sticks and 1 cup of the cream in a medium saucepan. once warm, cover, remove from the heat, and let steep at room temperature for one hour.

meanwhile, make the snickerdoodles, and the ice cream will be better if the cookies are on the softer side. chop or crumble a reasonable amount of the cookies (about 5—you don't want the ice cream to be too full of stuff) into chunks.

rewarm the cinnamon-infused milk mixture. remove the cinnamon sticks with a slotted spoon and discard them. pour the remaining 1 cup cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top.

in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions. add cookie chunks right before churning is done or mix into the churned ice cream.

for mint chip ice cream and homemade magic shell topping...

okay first of all i apologize that this may not look the most appetizing, due to two reasons: 1. i was quite impatient and had to have some before it was fully frozen and 2. this was the only scoop i got to eat because MY DAD ATE IT ALL.

according to him, this flavor was "the bomb"—i'm starting to think i should start reviewing my ice creams based on my dad's comments (e.g. "the bomb," "damn good," "ooohhhhhhhhh")

anyway, this tastes almost nothing like other mint chip ice cream, because it's infused with real mint flavor and thus, i think, much better.

also i found a recipe for homemade magic shell topping! the secret ingredient is coconut oil, which becomes solid at only 76 degrees. (so don't be alarmed when you buy it and the "oil" is in fact solid.)

mint chip ice cream (adapted from the perfect scoop)

(makes about 1 quart)

1 cup whole milk

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups heavy cream

pinch of salt

1–2 cups lightly packed fresh mint leaves

5 large egg yolks

5 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (or 1 cup chocolate chips)

warm the milk, sugar, 1 cup of the cream, and salt in a small saucepan. add the mint leaves and stir until they're immersed in the liquid. cover, remove from the feat, and let steep at room temperature for one hour. meanwhile, chop the chocolate into small chunks.

strain the mint-infused mixture through a mesh strainer into a medium saucepan. press on the mint leaves to extract as much of the flavor as possible, then discard the mint leaves. pour the remaining 1 cup of heavy cream into a large bowl and set the strainer on top.

reward the mint-infused mixture. in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. slowly pour the warm mint liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. stir until cool over an ice bath.

chill the mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions, folding in chocolate.

chocolate magic shell topping (from handle the heat)

(makes 3/4 cups)

7 oz semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 tbsp virgin coconut oil (i found this at whole foods)

melt the chocolate in a small metal bowl set over a pan of simmering water. stir in the coconut oil and heat until dissolved, about one minute. keep the liquid lukewarm until ready to pour over the ice cream. chocolate will harden into a shell within a few seconds when spooned over ice cream.

daily lunch

2011-06-20T06:57:00.000-04:00

here's an example of what we have for lunch at school everyday. the mangoes are unreal you guyz - there are at least 16 different types here in india. you cannot beat this. and aren't the trays even cute??
mango, lychee, roti, chana masala, more subgee something, raita, veggies
omnomnomnom

the last supper / ice cream endeavor, part 5: honey lavender / the lightest cheesecake you'll ever eat!

2011-06-16T20:37:00.012-04:00

my family is moving out of the 'burbs and into the city this summer. that, in addition to the fact that many of my friends were all leaving at once for their various summer engagements led to to having a last hurrah at my house last weekend.

dinner was very green (homemade pasta with pesto & pinenuts, salad, asparagus, and green beans with ginger & lemon zest)

and i made honey lavender ice cream for dessert, accompanied by my mom's cheesecake. my two favorite ice cream shops (bi-rite creamery and fairfax scoop) both have the most delicious honey lavender ice cream. though after making this, i don't need to go to them anymore for it. it was really really good! though i do still need to go to them for all the other flavors.

note: this ice cream is more time consuming than others; prepare the night before. i didn't chill the custard overnight as suggested, and it came out a bit soft.

lavender-honey ice cream from the perfect scoop

(makes about 1 quart)

1/2 cup good-flavored honey

1/4 cup dried or fresh lavender flowers

1 1/2 cups whole milk

1/4 cup sugar

pinch of salt

1 1/2 cups heavy cream

5 large egg yolks

heat the honey and 2 tablespoons of the lavender in a small saucepan. once warm, remove from the heat and set aside to steep at room temperature for 1 hour.

warm the milk, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan. pour the cream into a large bowl and set a mesh strainer on top. pour the lavender-infused honey into the cream through the strainer, pressing on the lavender flowers to extract as much flavor as possible, then discard the lavender and set the strainer back over the cream.

in a separate medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks. slowly pour the warm mixture into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, then scrape the warmed egg yolks back into the saucepan.

stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a heatproof spatula, scraping the bottom as your stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula. pour the custard through the strainer and stir it into the cream. add the remaining 2 tablespoons lavender flowers and stir until cool over an ice bath.

chill the mixture overnight in the refrigerator. the next day, before churning, strain the mixture, again pressing on the lavender flowers to extract their flavor. ~~discard the flowers,~~ sprinkle some back in! then freeze the mixture in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

for cheesecake:

i'm a fan of this recipe because it's uncharacteristically light. usually cheesecake is heavy and dense but this let the ice cream shine as the foremost flavor. when my friend was getting seconds of dessert, we had run out of ice cream but he asked to pour the leftover dribbles over his cheesecake, like a sauce. the flavors work well together.

raised cheesecake from my mom

1 cup flour

1/4 lb butter, softened

1 egg yolk

2 tbsp sugar

for cheese filling:

1 lb. cream cheese, softened

1 tbsp flour

1/2 cup sugar

4 eggs, separated

1/4 cup heavy whipping cream

1/4 cup sour cream

2 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

combine flour and butter in bowl and blend well. stir in egg yolk and sugar. press 1/2 pastry into bottom of 9-inch springform pan. remove rim of springform pan. bake bottom at 400 degrees 3 minutes and cool.

fit rim of springform pan back onto bottom, then press remaining pastry all around inside of rim about halfway up. (don’t worry if height is not even.) lower oven temperature to 350 degrees.

to make the cheese filling, cream cheese until fluffy. add flour and sugar and mix well. add egg yolks, whipping cream, sour cream and vanilla and beat well. beat egg whites with salt until stiff but not dry. fold egg whites into cheese mixture.

pour cheese filling into pan. bake 45 minutes. cool to room temperature and serve. makes 10 servings.

ice cream endeavor, part 4: grapefruit champagne sorbet

2011-06-11T16:10:00.004-04:00

we had a bout of record-breaking rain last weekend, but luckily it has warmed up and actually feels like summer now. i went to the beach yesterday and got a sunburn in the shape of my swimsuit bow on my back, but that's okay because it's summer. in celebration of this lovely season, i made my first sorbet.

pink grapefruit–champagne sorbet from the perfect scoop

(makes about 1 quart)

1 1/3 cups champagne or sparkling wine

1 cup sugar

2 1/2 cups freshly squeezed pink grapefruit juice (from about 3 grapefruits)

in a medium, nonreactive saucepan, heat about half of the champagne with the sugar, stirring frequently, until the sugar is completely dissolved. remove from heat and stir in the remaining champagne and the grapefruit juice.

chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

IT'S BACK.

2011-06-08T17:09:00.001-04:00

HEYOOOO VANILLA COKE IS BACK, and I bet you didn't even know it left. I hear that it is excellent with coconut rum, but you didn't hear that from me.

Nicole ate whale.

2011-06-02T22:52:00.000-04:00

Dug up some pictures of food we ate in Iceland. Check out that Scandinavian breakfast spread.

Maduros

2011-05-31T22:35:00.004-04:00

I saw some plantains on sale at Mr. Coco, my favorite grocery store. And I was craving Cafe Habana / Habana Outpost plantains so I thought we could give them a try. One thing to know before buying them: if you are planning on making savory fried plantains, buy them greenish, if you are making sweet plantains they should look like an overripe banana. I bought them sort of in the middle, so we had to wait for a few days.

All you do is put some butter in a pan and stick them in there. It takes longer than you would expect, also it's probably better to have the butter pretty hot when you put the slices in. You can add some brown sugar to help the caramelizing process along.

We had one plantain left that I made today. The secret to making it better was more butter and more patience. Probably the solution to many things in life.

When I got home to the apartment today it was at least 75 degrees inside. I had to immediately escape to the fire escape (ha!) but I needed a cold drink to rehydrate myself. This may look fancy, but it is basically a homemade slurpee. All it is is about 6 ice cubes blended with some store-bought grapefruit juice and the juice of a lime.

Naengmyun (냉면)

2011-05-30T14:07:00.001-04:00

The summertime calls for some korean cold noodles. Now there's two ways we could do this, the first being mul naengmyun, which is the noodles in a cold broth. The second way is bibim naengmyun, which is served with gochuljang, a spicy korean sauce. "Bibim" mean mixed, and that's exactly what you're supposed to do with dish. Get in there with your chopsticks and aggressively work it so that the sauce gets on every bit of noodle!

There's even a song about naengmyun which is uh, pretty popular in Korea (?).

Bibim Naengmyun Recipe

Ingredients

Naengmyun noodles, you can find them at korean grocery stores
Zucchini
Carrot
Kimchi of some sort, we used kkakdugi which is a radish kimchi
Boiled egg
Gochuljang
Vinegar
Sesame Oil
Thinly sliced beef

Normally the beef is supposed to be boiled, but we made bulgogi instead. Follow any sort of bulgogi recipe and let it marinate while you're getting the rest of the dish ready. In my mother's fashion, I didn't follow any particular recipe for the bulgogi and mixed together a combination of soysauce, sesame oil, sugar, ginger and garlic which seemed right.
Julienne the carrot and zucchini and sauté them with a bit of sesame oil.
Follow the instructions on the noodle package, although what I've found is that the time that is listed is a bit longer than they should actually be cooked. Our package said 5 minutes, but we had to take it off the heat at 4. Rinse well, and make little balls of servings. My grandmother does this because like all noodles, the naengmyun gets really sticky and hard to separate after a while. It's easier to have them ready to plate than to go back into it with a pair of scissors.
Get that bulgogi on the stove, and I'm pretty sure there's no wrong way to cook it.
Put the noodles in the bowl first, and then place the various toppings, including a boiled egg, neatly on top of the noodles. Serve with gochuljang, vinegar and sesame oil on hand. Enjoy!

SOME MOTHER-LOVIN POPSICLES.

2011-05-29T23:37:00.001-04:00

Nicole's ice cream project got us pretty jealous, unfortunately we ain't got none ice cream machine. So we did the next best thing: vietnamese ice cream popsicles! (mostly condensed milk) All we did was drop some condensed milk at the bottom of a couple plastic cups, some vietnamese coffee (coffee+even more condensed milk) on top of that, plopped a spoon in it and stuck in the freezer. Cut off the cups and there you have it!

Currently gnawing a mango and raspberry popsicle: just blended up mango with some whole raspberries.

ice cream endeavor, part 3: butter pecan

2011-05-29T17:01:00.008-04:00

my ice cream recipe book does not include a recipe for butter pecan ice cream, though it does include a recipe for buttered pecans to mix in. but i wasn't sure if butter pecan ice cream was really just vanilla with pecans in it, or something else. i thought of all the times i've had it and tried to remember just the ice cream's flavor... i couldn't. i asked my dad, butter pecan ice cream aficionado, for his take. "no there's something weird going on," he said, "it's not vanilla. it's BETTER than vanilla."

right he was. the recipe i used makes a very strongly flavored ice cream, more so than any butter pecan ice cream i've had. that being said, it's creamy and buttery and delicious. it's a great combination of salty and sweet. lastly, bourbon goes wonderfully with the flavor and it gives a perfect hint so i would recommend adding a bit to the ice cream, but that's optional.

butter pecan ice cream

recipe adapted from simply recipes (which has great pictures of the process) and the perfect scoop.

(makes 1 1/2 quarts)

for the ice cream:

6 large egg yolks

6 tbsp butter

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

2 cups heavy cream

2 cups whole milk

1 tsp vanilla

2–3 tbsp bourbon (optional)

for the pecans:

1 1/2 tbsp butter

1 1/2 cups pecan halves

1/4 teaspoon coarse salt

1. in a medium sized heat-safe bowl, whisk together the egg yolks until well blended. set aside.

2. pour the cream into a metal bowl set in a larger bowl of ice and set a medium-mesh sieve on top. set aside.

3. in a medium thick-bottomed saucepan on medium heat, melt the butter. cook it, stirring constantly, until it just begins to brown. add the brown sugar and salt. stir until the sugar completely melts.

4. slowly add the milk, stirring to incorporate. it will foam up initially, so make sure you are suing a pan with high enough sides. heat until all of the sugar is completely dissolved. do not let boil or the mixture may curdle.

5. whisk in hand, slowly pour half of the milk and sugar mixture into the eggs, whisking constantly to incorporate. then add the warmed egg mixture back into the saucepan with the remaining milk/sugar mixture.

6. stir the mixture constantly over medium heat with a wooden or heatproof rubber spatula, scraping the bottom as you stir, until the mixture thickens and coats the spatula, about 5–7 minutes. a line drawn across the back of the spoon should not flow back together, comme ça:

7. pour the custard through the sieve and stir it into the cream. add vanilla and stir until cool over the ice bath. chill mixture thoroughly in the refrigerator.

8. meanwhile, make the buttered pecans. preheat the oven to 350. melt the butter in a skillet. remove from heat and toss the pecans with the melted butter until well coated, then sprinkle with the salt. spread evenly on a baking sheet and toast in the oven for 10–12 minutes, stirring once during baking. remove from the oven and let cool completely. chop coarsely.

9. once the ice cream mixture is thoroughly chilled, freeze in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

10. once the ice cream has been formed in the ice cream maker, it will be fairly soft. pour in bourbon, if using, at the last minute of churning. fold in the chopped pecans. put in an airtight container and place in the freezer for at least an hour, preferably several. if it has been frozen for more than a day, you may need to let it sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften it before serving.

lunchtime.

om nom nom

2011-05-27T00:30:00.000-04:00

Digging through my photos from highschool - this project seems oddly appropriate for this blog.

chocolate chunk walnut cookies

2011-05-23T01:19:00.000-04:00

Last night I dreamt of levain cookies. Even though I brought some home on the plane with me (yeah, really) I still miss them so much and my belly is sad. So today I tried to make them based on this interpretation. They turned out yummy and almost sort of satisfied my craving. The only thing I wish is that they were more gooey on the inside because that's one of the reasons why my heart and tummy cannot resist loving levain. It's hard to get that perfect balance between golden on the outside but raw dough-y on the inside because they're so GIANT. You can experiment around and see what works best.

here's how (makes one dozen GIANT cookies - I made mine ~one and a half ice cream scoops big):

Ingredients

2 sticks cold, unsalted butter (cubed)
3/4 C granulated sugar
3/4 C brown sugar
2 eggs
3 1/2 C all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1 T cornstarch (this was an experimental addition! you can try it with or without)
2 C semi-sweet chocolate chunks or chips (the better the quality... the better the cookie!)
1 C toasted and chopped walnuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350.
Cream together butter and sugars in a mixer with paddle attached until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time and mix until incorporated.
Add dry ingredients - flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, and cornstarch - until just combined.
Fold in chocolate and walnuts. (you may need to use your hands at this point, the dough can get pretty dense and the mixer may have a hard time evenly incorporating everything)
Shape your cookies however big or small you like using an ice cream scoop or spoon, just make sure they are roughly the same size because baking will be easier and more even. Put them on a baking sheet with a silpat or parchment paper.
You can bake anywhere from 16-23 minutes depending on how big you made them, how well your even works and how raw you want the inside to be. (and in my opinion... RAW-ER is better!!) Just be sure to keep an eye on them - you want the outside to be golden brown.

ok i'm going to go eat another one now

ice cream endeavor, part 2: pistachio

2011-05-22T01:44:00.004-04:00

disclaimer: my ego is very high right now.

we just finished having a party, at which i served this pistachio ice cream with a chocolate tart. the ice cream got such responses as "amazing" and "intense" (from people who don't even like ice cream) but also "i don't remember having a better ice cream... in my life." how do you respond when someone tells you that you just made the best ice cream that they have ever tasted in their entire 50+ year life?? apparently, it was that good. i feel a little like harper lee—if i've made something this good already, maybe i should just stop now. if i were to continue, will it only go downhill from here? except unlike harper lee, i will make more, since this is my summer endeavor.

i made pistachio because it's the favorite flavor of the guest of honor at out going away party. the perfect scoop didn't have a recipe for it (what?) so i used epicurious.

pistachio ice cream via epicurious with my notes embedded

(makes 3 1/2 cups)

1 cup unsalted shelled pistachios

3/4 cup sugar

2 cups milk (do not use low-fat or nonfat)

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

4 large egg yolks

1 cup whipping cream

3/4 cup unsalted shelled pistachios, toasted, coarsely chopped. didn't use these

finely grind 1 cup pistachios and 1/4 cup sugar in a processor. make sure not to turn into butter. bring milk and ground pistachio mixture to boil in a heavy saucepan. remove from heat. mix in almond extract.

whisk egg yolks and remaining 1/2 cup sugar in medium bowl. gradually whisk in hot mixture. return custard to saucepan. cook over low heat until custard thickens and leaves path on back of spoon when finger is drawn across, stirring constantly, about 10 minutes (do not boil). strain into large bowl. chill cold, about 2 hours.

stir 1 cup whipping cream and chopped pistachios into custard. instead, i used the pistachio pieces leftover from the strained mixture and toasted those. also only added half the cream. turned out fine. process mixture in ice cream maker according to manufacturer's instructions. transfer to container and freeze.

had to serve it with something, so i made a chocolate tart, consisting of: chocolate, chocolate, and more chocolate. oh, and also some chocolate. it was really rich.

aria chocolate tart via chicho's kitchen

(i ended up with enough for two tarts and some cookies from the still extra dough)

chocolate pastry:
320g plain flour
60g cocoa
160g caster (superfine) sugar
a pinch of salt
160g cold butter, diced
2 eggs

chocolate tart mixture:
210g good quality dark chocolate, chopped
60g milk chocolate
60g butter, diced
315ml cream
3 eggs
2 egg yolks

chocolate sauce (for the chocolate glacage):
60g cocoa
200ml water
120g caster sugar
25g butter, diced

chocolate glacage:
300g dark chocolate, chopped
240ml cream
300ml chocolate sauce (recipe follows)

chocolate pastry:
to make the chocolate pastry, place the flour, cocoa, sugar, butter and a pinch of salt in the bowl of a food processor and process until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs. add eggs and process until dough just starts to come together. turn onto a lightly floured surface and gently knead until smooth. flatten into a disc shape, wrap in cling wrap and place in the fridge for 30 minutes to rest.

roll out the pastry to about 3mm thick. line the base and sides of a tart tin with the pastry, and trim any excess. place in the fridge for 15 minutes to rest. line the pastry with baking paper and fill with baking weights or rice. bake for 10 minutes. remove paper and weights and bake for a further 5-10 minutes at 350ºF (180ºC) or until firm to the touch.

chocolate tart mixture:
preheat oven to (320ºF) 160°C. place chocolate and butter in a bowl.

place cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil. pour cream over chocolate in bowl and stir until smooth, stir in eggs.

pour chocolate mixture into tart shell up until about 3/4 full (you'll need to leave enough room for the glacage). bake for 25 minutes until the centre has just cooked and the top has just set. take the tart out of the oven and allow to cool to room temperature before topping with the chocolate glacage (recipe follows after).

chocolate sauce (for the glacage):
combine cocoa, water and sugar in a saucepan and stir over heat until sugar dissolves. bring to the boil, stir in butter until melted and mixed. strain through a sieve placed over a bowl and set aside.

chocolate glacage:
place chocolate in a large bowl. place cream in a saucepan and bring to the boil. pour cream over the chocolate in the bowl and stir until smooth. add in the chocolate sauce that you just made and stir. when the completed tart has cooled, spoon or pour the glacage over the tart and place in fridge until firm.

ps. with all this ice cream, i'm using a fuckton of egg yolks. does anyone have any good uses/recipes for egg whites (besides meringue)?

S is for SUMMER and SALSA.

2011-05-21T20:13:00.001-04:00

Nessa and I are kicking off BK right. All the Mexican groceries nearby make me feel right at home; you know your spices are great when they come in those little plastic baggies. People who have normal prices for tomatillos and peppers have no idea how good they have it (F. U. UWS.) -- A HUGE PACKAGE OF SERRANOS FOR LESS THAN TWO DOLLARS??? Unheard of in Manhattan.

Speaking of groceries, this morning (afternoon? i can't keep track of time) we went to the Fort Greene Farmers Market, which is only a couple of blocks away from our summer apartment, and picked up some tomatoes for our pico de gallo.

Unfortunately, our apartment doesn't get a lot of light and all the pictures I take of our food are rather hard to see. On the plate:

refried beans
quesadilla with monterey jack and cheddar
pico de gallo
tomatillo salsa
unsalted tortilla chips

How I make tomatillo salsa

Ingredients

6 medium sized tomatillos with their little balloon thing still shut because it means that they're still fresh
1-3 serranos - the question is how hot you like it
1-2 jalapeños
2 onions
3 garlic cloves
a bunch of cilantro
salt and oregano - play it by ear

Preheat the oven to 450℉. Dump the tomatillos still in their pods into a bowl of cold water. This will get rid of the stickiness and make them easier to handle. Cut one onion to sauté with salt and oregano.
Remove the tomatillos from their husk and and quarter. Cut up one jalapeño and the serranos ( I usually a couple of peppers to add to the salsa later to intensify the heat). Place the tomatillos, peppers, garlic and sauteed onions into an oven dish and then sprinkle salt and a moderate amount of olive oil. Cook in the oven for about 15 minutes, or until the tomatillos get juicy - then switch to broil for another 10 minutes. Keep an eye on it so it's just roasted enough and not burnt.
While stuff is in the oven, cut up the cilantro, last jalapeño and onion. When the roasted vegetables are done, blend them together (hopefully you have a hand blender !! it makes life easier) AND THEN add the raw ingredients and blend again. Be careful, the salsa will probably be pretty hot from the oven. I don't mind eating it warm, but if this isn't for you, let it sit for an hour and then stick it in the fridge. The consistency becomes a lot thicker after it is refrigerated. We also think it might become less spicy, but we're a bit unsure if that's from being refrigerated or our tolerance.

Add a lime to the corona and shake it all up - serve the salsa with chips and you're GOLDEN. Peace, bitches.

V-Nam Cafe

2011-05-20T11:00:00.001-04:00

So my food adventure with Anthony wasn't quite over...
We decided to walk to Chelsea Market from the Meatball Shop and on the way we fatefully passed by V-Nam Cafe. I had seen this comic review in the Village Voice just the other week as I was cutting up publications to make collages. It obviously caught my eye because it was a comic and it claimed to have really spicy banh-mi. I honestly take it as a challenge when someplace claims to have the spiciest of anything SO OF COURSE I NEEDED TO TRY IT. The chance just so happened right after eating 4 giant meatballs and a bowl of polenta.

The thing that they added to make the sandwich spicier than its peers is a bunch of thai peppers that were marinated in (what I think is) fish sauce. Their roast pork wasn't as good as I'm used to having in my sandwich - alas Dorthy, we are no longer in San Jose; and the bread isn't very crusty so the extra banh mi that I ordered to go didn't keep very well. On the upside, the bread was warm and just crispy enough when they first served it.

The verdict: YOU SHOULD GET BANH MI AT EVERY OPPORTUNITY, just don't take this one to go.

THE MEATBALL SHOP

2011-05-19T23:50:00.000-04:00

Anthony, my foodie friend from high school, was in town so I took the opportunity to go to a restaurant that I've had my eye on since seeing it on Unique Eats on the Cooking Channel. The last time I was at the Meatball Shop I was with a different friend from out of town, but we couldn't get in even after waiting for over an hour because of a party of 30+ for a birthday party. (No worries, we {me + him + his girlfriend + his girlfriend's friend} spent the time drinking two pitchers of frozen margaritas at El Sombrero). Thankfully, we got seated immediately as we got there.

What you can expect:

fun menu that you can write on with dry erase markers to place your order
a lot of other people
relatively quick service considering how many people will be there
a waitress who insists on the desserts
really hip customers in black and super tight jeans running in and out of the restaurant for a smoke break (well, duh. you're in the lower east side)
approximately $15 for straight up food, no drinks.
REALLY GOOD FRESHLY-MILLED POLENTA.

Seriously guys. It was so creamy and absolutely delicious - I really can't say enough about it. The meatballs were good but merely scored an "OK" in comparison to the polenta. Holy shit, guys. So good.

I hope that Anthony and I were not the anomaly for getting seated and served so quickly. I highly recommend it for a fun, cheap outing with friends. And thanks to Anthony for taking these pictures! It really isn't fair how the iphone4 takes such good pictures in comparison to my sad htc hero.

ice cream endeavor, part 1: vietnamese coffee ice cream

2011-05-16T16:34:00.010-04:00

my food endeavor this summer is to make ice cream (at least) once a week. while at barnes & noble, i took 20+ pictures of ice cream recipes to tackle, and there are more than 20 weeks in the summer. then i realized i should just buy the book that all the recipes came from.

i landed last night at 8, got home at 9:30, and got to work on my first batch by 10. i don't waste time.

this ice cream is unbelievably simple. it's even easier than normal coffee ice cream (which involves infusing milk with coffee beans, or something more complicated like that). it uses espresso and sweetened condensed milk, just like real vietnamese coffee.

vietnamese coffee ice cream from the perfect scoop by david lebovitz (of course)

(makes about 1 quart / 1 liter)

1 1/2 cups (600g) sweetened condensed milk

1 1/2 cups (375 ml) brewed espresso (or very strongly brewed coffee)

1/2 cup (125 ml) half-and-half

big pinch of finely ground dark roast coffee

whisk together the condensed milk, espresso, half-and-half, and ground coffee. chill the mixture thoroughly, then freeze it in your ice cream maker according to the manufacturer's instructions.

Worst mistake of Cee Lo's life

2011-05-11T15:42:00.000-04:00

Famiree (or at least most of us) is obsessed with this show, and this week has got us all crazy. Vicci and Niki need to get together forever because they are amazing. Devbo, Nicole and I bought the song on itunes.
Skip to 4:55 and watch until the end. The group hug kills me.

Cee Lo's outfit is also amazing. And very, very red.

Dim sum and shaved ice! Our flushing adventure.

2011-05-09T01:40:00.004-04:00

Guess what time it is? It's I-have-a-paper-due-tomorrow-so-of-course-I'm-going-to-blog-tonight time! You gotta take some time away from your serious stuff so you can come back to it with fresh eyes - hence, the sudden increase of blog posts around midterms and finals.

This past saturday, our lovely lady Steph invited us to her stomping grounds: FLUSHING.

We took a brief tour around the Flushing mall before getting dim sum.

Just open up the top and leave it at the edge of your table for a speedy refill.

The place we went to for dim sum was called Asian Jewels Seafood Restaurant. She said it gets really crowded on the weekends, and even though the restaurant was HUGE, there was a 20~ minute wait. Nicole advises going at 11, right before the lunch peak.

A few memorable dishes: fried taro root, deep fried dough wrapped in noodles (although this was probably the dish that bumped up our bill by a lot), eggplant with fried shrimp inside and dan tat (of course).

Expect to pay around $15 a head here. Bring a big crowd so you can order more kinds of dim sum. Seriously guys, variety is the spice o' life. And boy, do I love spice.

Steph took us to her favorite shave ice place, a Malaysian restaurant called Sentosa. I really liked how it came in a cup. I really did not like how big the red beans were. And I really do not know how I feel about the corn that was at the bottom.

Regardless, grab it to go for $4.

We dropped by the Hong Kong supermarket to pick up some supplies - mainly Hooroorook instant noodles and asian drinks. Oh look, the chocopie is on sale! Anyone? Anyone at all?

famiree google docs

2011-05-08T22:57:00.000-04:00

never gonna give you upnever gonna let you downnever gonna Tiramisu aroundand DESSERT younever gonCHINESE FOODna make you crynever gonna SAAAYBANH MI neveICE CREAMr gonna tell a Lattestop it livySTOPPPPPPPPPPABRACO ALL DAY EVERY DAYAGREEEEEEEEEYAYYYYYYYPPPPPPPPPPPPPand hurt PHOchocolate

I highly recommend simultaneously editing a google document with your friends.

es en double o pee dee o double jee

2011-05-05T20:02:00.002-04:00

On April 30th, 2011, Snoop Dogg graced Columbia University's campus and the Famiree got crunk.
Follow our blog with bloglovin

we do other things besides eat and sleep

2011-05-05T19:33:00.003-04:00

A bit of the eurotrip scrapbook I'm working on (currently on hiatus because of school). It will get done.... eventually.

study snacks pt. 2

2011-05-05T12:00:00.002-04:00

Terren really loves to eat dried fruit as her study snack. When she goes to Trader Joe's, she often gets "Nothing but... Banana, Flattened" and says that the dried Green Mango is like what she imagines crack to be like. Yum.

BIG. GAY. ICE. CREAM. TRUCK.

2011-05-03T18:55:00.006-04:00

Today, half of the famiree went down town to get some of that BIG GAY ICE CREAM TRUCK. The guys who run the damn thing are so friendly and make conversation with people in line. Our regular late night Cooking Channel marathons have been featuring street food in New York. Big Gay Ice Cream Truck has a feature in Eat St - even thought we knew about BGICT before, we REALLY needed to seek it out after salivating all over our telly.

Nicole got Cococone - which she highly recommends even if you don't like coconut, because she doesn't like coconut but it was spiced with curry powder which was an awesome and tasty combination.

Nessa and Terren got the SALTY PIMP which has dulce de leche and seasalt on vanilla soft serve dipped in chocolate.

I got the WASABI CONE and it was so so so so delicious. I could not have imagined how great it would be - who da F knew that wasabi and vanilla were meant to be?????

spontaneous saturday brunch!

2011-05-03T17:11:00.016-04:00

At around midnight last friday/saturday, we decided it would be fun to have brunch in the morning. Here's what we ended up with:

cucumber coolers
cranberry-orange scones
leek, white asparagus and squash frittata
crêpes with brie, jam and fruit
cheddar and dill scones
strawberry and mango fruit salad
plus toast and orange juice! (not pictured)

Cucumber Coolers

We adapted this recipe from Shutterbean's Boozy Cucumber Coolers. We substituted the agave syrup with honey, and gin with rum (because we had some lying around and are resourceful/lazy). I would like to note that these coolers were refreshing and delicious prior to spiking them. Unfortunately, I (Devin) was the only one to try them pre-rum. We are of the opinion that rum is pretty disgusting, so take heed. These coolers would be great as a non-alcoholic drink. Or, if you prefer your drink to be drank, we recommend sticking with the original recipe and using gin.

Cranberry-Orange Scones (recipe from Nicole's mom!)

4 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
2/3 cup sugar + some for dusting scones
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, sliced
3 eggs
3/4 cup whipping cream
zest of one orange
1 1/2 cups fresh (or frozen) cranberries - we used dried

1 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Combine flour, baking powder, sugar and salt in bowl. Cut in butter by hand until mixture is even-textured. (Mixture will resemble fine meal as in pie crust.) Beat eggs with whisk until pale; add in whipping cream and orange zest. Combine liquid into flour mixture,
reserving 1 tablespoon of liquid. Mix in cranberries and walnuts.
Knead by hand until soft ball is formed.

Roll out on floured board to 1/2-inch thickness, adding only enough flour to keep from sticking. Fold dough into thirds, and roll out
again to 1/2-inch. Repeat folding and rolling dough. Divide dough
into half, and roll each half into a circle, 3/4-inch thickness. Cut each circle into 6 wedges. Brush remaining liquid on each scone, and
sprinkle sugar on top.

Bake at 350 degrees 15 to 18 minutes or until light golden brown. Makes 12 scones.

For the savory Cheddar-Dill scones we used the same basic batter and just added some cheddar and dill (sorry, we guessed how much!) and they were great! It might be fun to experiment with other savory combos too. Like ~~something~~ ANYTHING with bacon, duh. eating with sriracha is recommended.

Leek, White Asparagus and Squash Frittata

Recipe here is originally for leeks, asparagus and mushrooms, but just add whatever vegetables and cheeses you want!

Crêpes

2 large eggs

3/4 cup milk

1/2 cup water

1 cup flour

3 tbsp melted butter

butter, for coating the pan

In a blender, combine all of the ingredients and pulse for 10 seconds. Place the crepe batter in the refrigerator for 1 hour (but overnight is best). This allows the bubbles to subside so the crepes will be less likely to tear during cooking. The batter will keep for up to 48 hours.

Heat a small non-stick pan. Add butter to coat. Pour 1 ounce of batter into the center of the pan and swirl to spread evenly. Cook for 30 seconds and flip. Cook for another 10 seconds and remove to the cutting board. Lay them out flat so they can cool. Continue until all batter is gone. After they have cooled you can stack them and store in sealable plastic bags in the refrigerator for several days or in the freezer for up to two months.

study snacks pt. 1

2011-05-02T17:11:00.001-04:00

This is how Steph arranges the Koala cookies before she eats them.

not boring salads

2011-04-05T22:35:00.001-04:00

before college, i used to eat a lot of salad at home. as in, every night. but somehow i slipped out of that pattern this year, and i realized it's because i would buy lettuce from the market and make "salads" with just that. just-lettuce salads are really, really boring.

anyway, this week i got back into the habit of making salads with actual things in them. they were made a thousand times better simply by purchasing a couple more items at the market, and it didn't taste like i was just eating leaves anymore.

currently in my salad rotation: tomatoes, mushrooms, cheese (usually have those); candied walnuts, dried cranberries, pear slices (the few extra purchases)

and voilà, a more colorful and way more delicious salad. the best part about them is you can mix and match almost anything into them.

by the way, here is my mother's candied walnut recipe which, i dare say it, is the best candied walnut recipe ever and makes any salad great (but i might be biased). mine took only 15 minutes to be done; watch them carefully so they don't burn.

Phoebe's glazed walnuts

3 cups walnuts

3 tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

Fresh ground pepper, ground red pepper (optional)

2 tbsp canola oil

Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Soak the walnuts in boiling water for 5 min. Drain in colander and pat dry. In mixing bowl, combine walnuts, sugar, salt, peppers (if you want them spiced; you can also add cinnamon, nutmeg or other spices), and oil. Mix until thoroughly coated. Put on parchment paper or silpat (otherwise it really gets stuck) on baking sheet, spreading out to one layer. Put in oven for 20-25 min, turning every five min until golden brown. Let cool completely before placing in jar.

zucchini bread

2011-01-28T23:35:00.014-05:00

i bought a lot of zucchinis. this is the result.

i think the combination of very moist ingredients and a questionable oven leads to questionably baked moist bread. it took a lot longer than the recipe said to bake. i think the olive oil was a really interesting addition; you can taste a hint of it in the finished result.

nonetheless, it turned out a yummy lumpy mess. i ate it with a fork.

Zucchini Bread

(from souvlaki for the soul)

2 eggs
1/2 cup of olive oil
1 cup of brown organic sugar
2 large zucchini grated
a good splash of vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups of self raising flour
2 teaspoons of cinnamon
1/2 a teaspoon of ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon of salt
1/2 a cup of roughly chopped walnuts
(nicole: i also added some craisins, which i recommend)

Preheat your oven to ~~180 deg C~~ 355°F
Lightly spray your baking tin (i used a 4"x8" loaf pan) with some olive oil or cooking spray
In a large bowl whisk your eggs and gradually add the oil, sugar, vanilla and zucchini
In a separate bowl combine the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, salt and walnuts. Stir this into the egg mixture until just combined
Pour the batter into the pre greased baking tins and bake for approximately 50 mins…ensure the bread is cooked by inserting a skewer in the centre.
Once cooked allow to sit in the tin for 5 mins and then invert onto a cooling rack.

eggplant parm, redux

2011-01-28T22:39:00.009-05:00

i was trying to think of good recipes to support my newly adopted vegetarianism (that story's for another day), and i remembered my somewhat failed attempt at eggplant parmesan. i was also craving lasagna, so i decided to combine the two and make... wait for it... eggplant parmasagna! clever, i know.

i followed the same recipe (in the original post) but added 3 layers of lasagna noodles (4 per layer, for a total of 12). most importantly, the oven actually worked!

it actually looks like it's supposed to this time!

mmm look at those layers.

oh yeah and this time it was SO DELICIOUS.

winterbreak

2011-01-16T17:56:00.001-05:00

Winterbreak is for eating with friends. That is all.

HAPPY BELATED THANKSGIVING, AMERICA!

2010-12-17T19:21:00.003-05:00

Ok dudes, I'm sorry for not posting about the Thanksgiving meal until *cough* a month later. Short story is that friends came down to New York for their break, we spent all day cooking together, and then we ate like kings.

From the top left, clockwise: turkey, green beans & onions, roasted yams, mulled wine, brioche roll, garlic mashed potatoes, traditional stuffing, figs&bacon&brusselsprouts, stick rice stuffing AND fresh cranberry sauce.

Not diagramed: pumpkin pie, apple pie, and baby green+persimmon+pomegranate+candied walnut salad.

We basically made everything from scratch. Nicole roasted the turkey (like a boss) and made the sticky rice stuffing. Nessa made the traditional stuffing and cranberry sauce. Sophia, one of our lovely guests, made the figs, bacon and brussels sprouts. I made the brioche rolls and garlic mashed potatoes. And our other lovely lady guests, Rachel and Haley, helped everyone out and were the best! Hopefully we've inspired your holiday menu, because I know I'm going to want some more of that sticky rice stuffing later.

In other news, WE'RE ALMOST DONE WITH THE SEMESTER.

thanksgiving from Eunice Kim on Vimeo.

Fresh Cranberry Sauce (2 bags of cranberry, 2 oranges, sugar to taste)

Deathly Hallows Pt. I

2010-11-21T00:41:00.002-05:00

Some of the Famiree went to the midnight showing of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on Thursday. Nicole drew the dark mark on me, Terren and Devin. As you can see, Terren and I were the most badass witches at the premiere. Order of the Phoenix got nothing on us.

We were quite pleased with the film. I was afraid that the beginning would be too boring since they spend so much time wandering around in the woods - but the advantage of watching it over reading it is the beautiful European landscape. Hoooooly turd. It was so pretty. ANYWAYS NOT TO GIVE ANYTHING AWAY - although I can't imagine anyone who hasn't read the last book or seen the movie yet, I'll just say that the audience was emotionally spent when the film ended. AND THEN we went to Big Nick's to fill that emotional void with fried things.

AHHHCAN'TWAITTILLTHENEXTONE

butternut squash muffins/cupcakes

2010-11-04T00:14:00.006-04:00

awhile back we got some butternut squashes in our csa. i found a fantastic looking recipe from tastespotting again for butternut squash cupcakes. i made them, forgetting to add the dry ingredients. big oops. plus our ovens didn't really work (see undercooked eggplant parm) so they turned out to be something like squashy custard.. cheapskate that i am, i saved the dry ingredients with plans to someday get another squash and successfully make them.

the time has come! got two butternut squashes in our last csa. (it was the last one ever, sad.) not to toot my own horn or anything, but they were SO EFFING GOOD. we forwent the frosting and instead used leftover cinnamon butter from the pumpkin pancakes.

here's the recipe, via korean american mommy

Butternut Squash Cupcakes

Ingredients

Adapted from MarthaStewart.com

1 Large Butternut Squash (about 1-2/3 cups to 2 cups)

4 Large Eggs

1 Cup Granulated Sugar (you can add more for a sweeter cupcake)

1 Cup Softened Butter

1/4 tsp Salt

1/4 tsp Pumpkin Spice

1/4 tsp Nutmeg

1/2 tsp Ground Ginger

1 tsp Cinnamon

1 tsp Baking Soda

1 tsp Baking Powder

2 Cups Flour

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400º degrees. Wash, dry and cut the squash in half length wise and remove seeds and place on a baking sheet. Brush on some extra virgin olive oil. Bake for about an hour. Check to see if the squash is done by piercing it with a fork.

2. Scoop the squash out, allow to cool and puree in your food processor. Set aside.

3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda & powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg and pumpkin spice and set aside.

4. In a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs and butter. Add the dry ingredients and whisk until smooth. Then whisk in the butternut squash puree.
5. Prepare your muffin pan and add the batter a little over halfway. Bake at 350º for 18 minutes. Insert a toothpick in the center and check to see if it comes out clean.

JAPANESE CANDIES.

2010-11-03T23:54:00.001-04:00

1. the flan candies were ok at first, but then i realized that they had a not-as-pleasant after taste
2. the milky crayons, well, they're just the how you'd expect them to be BUT THEY HAVE STICKERS
3. the milky candy bar was nomnom.

PUMPKIN PANCAKES aka heaven in pancake form

2010-11-03T19:31:00.003-04:00

Terren made us pumpkin pancakes yesterday. They were amazing. Photos sort of speak for themselves. Here's the recipe she used for the pancakes! Some tips: you can make your own pumpkin puree (just mash up the cooked insides of a pumpkin!) and your own buttermilk (one tablespoon vinegar to one cup milk). Also, double or triple the recipe. If you have giant famiree. Or just if you enjoy eating. And get someone great at flipping pancakes (Nicole) to do the actual cooking.
I made some candied walnuts to put on top. They are really easy to make and extremely tasty. All you do is put some walnuts in a pan with sugar. I used brown sugar and some ground cinnamon and cloves. You stir it until the sugar magically starts to liquify. Yooni is better at it than I am... a lot of the sugar didn't quite adhere to the walnuts. Still tasty though.
Round two. Hi pumpkin!
THEN Nicole and Terren made cinnamon butter to go with it! All you do is mix cinnamon, sugar and brown sugar in melty butter and refrigerate it so it congeals again.
They also made vanilla maple syrup by adding vanilla extract to maple syrup. Oh we fancy, huh?

Aaaand we got some pumpkin seeds out of the deal! We roasted them in the oven later with olive oil and salt a variety of different seasonings (cumin, "country herbs", chili powder, soy sauce).

The Great Vegetable Concoction

2010-11-03T16:35:00.003-04:00

Last week was the motherlode of vegetables. It was the last week of CSA (crying), we had groceries from Chinatown, and the veggies we nabbed from Hewitt's harvest dinner. We had SO MANY greens we needed to eat. So Nicole and I decided to use as many as possible.

SO MUCH KALE WTF
MAGIC HAPPENS
Oh, normal amount of kale.
TASTY.

stuffed acorn squash

2010-11-02T16:57:00.000-04:00

We still had a bunch of acorn squash from our CSA, so we sort of improvised this autumn-y recipe from here. Make sure when you scoop out the insides of the squash that you save the seeds for later because they'll be yummy. We used leftover rice and added celery, onions, pomegranate seeds, chicken, garlic and some cilantro on top. You can basically add whatever you want to the rice and it will be fun.

Midnight snack!

2010-10-21T02:33:00.011-04:00

These are serious cookies.

Besides being chocolate with chocolate chips and mini peanut butter cups, they are (were) the size of your head, melty hot, and served with cold milk. YUMS.

Here's Nicole and Vanessa's secret recipe aka thanks internet:

Levain Bakery Copycat Dark Chocolate Peanut butter Chip Cookies (**Yield - 1 dozen cookies)

Ingredients

2 sticks cold and cubed unsalted butter
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
***1/4 to 1/2 cup good quality dark cocoa powder (we used 1/2 cup)
2 1/4 to 1/2 cups all-purpose flour- Spoon and Sweep method (what? just googled it. didn't do that.)
1/4 tsp Kosher salt
3/4 to 1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips ("1 cup" aka dumped in the bag)
2 cups peanut butter chips (we substituted with TJ's peanut butter cups, which turned out wonderfully melty)

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

1. In bowl of electric mixer fitted with paddle, cream together butter and sugar until well blended and fluffy. Add eggs and beat until well-incorporated, then beat in cocoa powder.

2. Mix in flour, salt and baking powder until just combined. Gently fold in remaining ingredients.

3. Transfer dough to clean work surface and gently mix dough by hand to ensure even distribution of ingredients. Divide into 12 equal portions, **about 4 oz each, and place each on sheet pan lined with parchment paper. Bake in the preheated oven 16-20 minutes depending on how gooey and raw’ish you like the middles (I bake mine at 375 for 18 minutes, as I prefer a less raw’ish’ interior), taking care not to overbake. . Let cool on a rack and store what you don’t immediately eat, in an airtight container. To freshen them after a few days (if they last that long), give them a quick nuke in the microwave for 5-10 seconds.

Note – The Levain Bakery doesn’t use vanilla extract in their cookies, as they feel it’s unecessary. However, some feel you need it. You can add 1 tsp to 1 T to each recipe if desired. Just add it after each egg is incorporated.

** Note – The Levain Bakery uses 6 oz of cookie dough per cookie. As mentioned above, If you want 12 cookies out of the above recipes, a little over 4 oz per cookie (4.1 to 4.2 oz. Use a kitchen scale) will get you that. If you want to use 6 oz of cookie dough per cookie, you’ll probably get only 6-8 cookies. However, a little over 4 oz makes a cookie just as thick and huge, so you don’t even notice the difference.

*** Note – Regarding the Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter cookies. I mostly use Dutch-process cocoa. If you use basic, natural unsweetened cocoa (you know, the Hershey’s in the brown can or whatever), add 1/4 to 1/2 tsp baking soda (I just use a heaping 1/4 tsp when using regular baking cocoa) to the dry ingredients. Also, if they’re too ‘chocolatey’ and rich for you, use only 1/4 cup cocoa powder, and add 1/4 cup extra flour.

[as the site mentions, we were attempting to copy levain bakery (which will soon be our neighbor—hooray!). ours ended up way flatter—still don't know how they get them so thick—but equally undercooked, and therefore equally delicious. -n]

Steamed BBQ Pork Buns

2010-10-19T21:12:00.008-04:00

Also known has char siu bao! Instead of chinese bbq roast pork, I made the buns with an american style bbq pulled pork from my slow cooker

BBQ Pulled Pork

This process is rather difficult to describe because I pretty much played it by ear.

Ingredients

7 pounds of pork shoulder

Spice rub: chili pepper, dried oregano, ghost pepper salt (got it from chelsea market), cumin, cinnamon, nutmeg, clover, kosher salt

1 1/2 cup of brown sugar

1/2 cup of white granulated sugar

probably 1 1/2 tablespoons of worcester sauce

1 cup of ketchup

1/2 cup of vinegar

2 tablespoons of siracha rooster sauce

1 beer

1 chicken bullion cube with 1/2 cup of water or 1 can of chicken broth

Directions

Hack up the pork into manageable pieces and get down and dirty with the rub.
Mix up the rest of the ingredients with the exception of the beer and chicken broth.
Place the pork into a 6 quart slow cooker and then pour the sauce on top.
Add the cooking liquid (beer & chicken broth).
Cook on low for 10-11 hours.
Live life
Remove all the fat that's floated up to the top, and then place the pork in a serving/baking dish. Pour the de-fatted sauce on top of the meat.
Wait another 2 hours for the meat and the sauce to come together and then shred.

I used this recipe for the steamed buns:

Ingredients (the amounts are separated for the different steps you mix them in)

1 tablespoon active dry yeast

1 teaspoon white sugar

1/4 cup all-purpose flower

1/4 cup water

1/2 cup warm water

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons white sugar

1 table spoon vegetable oil

Directions

Mix together yeast, 1 teaspoon sugar, 1/4 cup flour, and 1/4 cup warm water. Allow to stand for 30 minutes.
Mix in 1/2 cup warm water, flour, salt, 2 tablespoons sugar, and vegetable oil. Knead until dough surface is smooth and elastic. Roll over in a greased bowl, and let stand until triple in size, about 2 1/2 to 3 hours.
Punch down dough, and spread out on a floured board. Sprinkle baking powder evenly on surface, and knead for 5 minutes. Divide dough into 2 parts, and place the piece you are not working with in a covered bowl. Divide the dough into balls the size of small clementines. Let the balls rise for 20 minutes before you shape each ball into a disk and place the pork in the center. Put each bun on some sort of leafy green, preferably cabbage, but we used collard greens.
Place steam-plate on a small wire rack in the middle of the pot, wok, rice cooker, etc. Don't forget to put water into the pot - you know, steamed buns. Steam the buns for 15 minutes then CHOW DOWN. yay.

HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAY, NICOLE

2010-10-19T20:56:00.002-04:00

LOOK CAROLINE CAN PLAY THE ACCORDION! also note the little flags that we made for her while she was sleeping.

Happy happy birthday, from all of us to you. We wish it was our birthday, so we could party too! HEY!!! yay you finally turned the big 1-9, oh wait, you're still baby.

look i can clap happy birthday! better in person.

Video blog pt. II

2010-10-02T02:28:00.001-04:00

let's make soup! from Eunice Kim on Vimeo.

The video is called let's make soup, but it's not really about making soup.

eggplant parm

2010-09-29T20:32:00.012-04:00

we got some beautiful eggplants from last week's csa share. by now they were getting a tad bit squishy so i browsed tastespotting for some good eggplant recipes.

eggplant parmesan, of course! usually the eggplant is breaded and fried first but as the recipe i used points out, the eggplant acts as a sponge and absorbs tons of grease. instead, it says to grill the eggplant first to skip the fat-soaking step.

it also told me to peel them first. with these beautiful skins? no thanks. skipped that step and kept the purple stripes.

if you're wondering why it only looks about halfway baked compared to the intended results, that's because it is. one small problem: our floor's oven peaks at about 200 degrees, even when it's set at the highest temperature. oh yeah, and then after about half an hour, it turns off all together. all things considered, it didn't turn out so bad. still quite tasty, albeit a tad undercooked.

and if you're lucky enough to have a working oven, it should look more like this:

Grilled Eggplant Parmesan (from freshtart.net)

Serves 6

2 lbs. eggplant, trimmed, peeled, sliced 1/2-inch thick

salt & freshly ground black pepper
1/4 c. olive oil, divided
3 cloves garlic, sliced thin
1 tsp. dried oregano
1 24-oz. can Italian whole tomatoes
12 fresh sage leaves
1/2 lb. grated mozzarella cheese
1/2 c. grated Parmesan cheese

Preheat grill. Spread out 2 3-sheet sections of paper towels on the counter, layered on top of each other. Lay eggplant slices on paper towels and sprinkle both sides of the eggplant lightly with salt. Let sit for 30-60 minutes. (nicole: this will eliminate some of the eggplant's absorbency)

Meanwhile, set a a large saucepan over medium heat. Add olive oil, then garlic, and saute until softened, about 2 minutes. Add dried oregano and saute until fragrant, about 1 minute. Using your hands, crush tomatoes one at a time into the garlic. When all of the tomatoes are crushed, add the remaining tomato sauce from the can as well. Add 1 tsp. of salt, a few grinds of black pepper, then turn the heat down and simmer the sauce over low heat for 10 minutes, stirring a few times. Remove from heat and set aside.

In a small skillet, heat the remaining 2 Tbsp. of olive oil over medium heat. When the oil is hot, add the sage leaves in an even layer. Fry for about 30 seconds per side, turning with tongs, until lightly crisp. Drain on a paper towel, reserving oil.

Lay another two layers of paper towels over the eggplant and press firmly to absorb the eggplant liquid. Using the fried-sage oil, brush both sides of each eggplant slice with the oil, laying slices on a plate as you. Grill the olive oil slices for 3-4 minutes per side, or until lightly browned and tender.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

To assemble the dish, spoon about 1 c. of tomato sauce into the bottom of a 10-inch tart pan (enough to cover the bottom). Lay one layer eggplant slices in the sauce. Top slices with a bit more sauce, then sprinkle half of the cheeses over the eggplant. Distribute the sage leaves over the cheese. Repeat with the remaining eggplant, more sauce, and the remaining cheese. Bake for 30 minutes, or until cheese is bubbly and browning a bit in spots. Let rest for 10 minutes. Serve hot.

Video blog pt. I

2010-09-27T04:03:00.001-04:00

Untitled from Eunice Kim on Vimeo.

I am hopeful that this video marks the beginnings of many more videos of our adventures.

coney island

2010-09-22T20:16:00.012-04:00

we have a list of things to do before we enter the months-long period of time that dominates most of the year and makes us forget what the sun looks like (not like we ever look at the sun.. but anyway, you get the point).

on that list was "go to coney island"--as of the weekend before last, check! the weather gods were in our favor as it was in the high 70's and sunny. the public transportation gods were not, on the other hand, as the last leg of the Q was out of service and we had to take a shuttle bus. it was nice to see that area of brooklyn (looks like a lot of fun! must go back.) but also it took foreverrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

the coney island part of coney island was a little sad. the cyclone was $8. no thanks. the rest of the rides were really baby and basically county fair-esque. not to say they wouldn't be fun; we would've gone on them if we had more time. but we didn't.

first got some food on the boardwalk (nathan's hot dogs for yooni + terren, peruvian chicken for the rest of us that was DELICIOUS, btw) and then beached. probably due to the fact that it wasn't absurdly hot (in new yorkers' minds, though perfectly warm for us californians) and the subway was a fail, it wasn't crowded at all.

seeing the ocean was lovely. the water was about as cold as stinson beach which is fine when there are waves to mangle in, but kind of boring when there's not. oh well, still refreshing. we mostly just laid out in the sun, read, and people watched (primarily cute babies & vendors selling "coronas coronas," "mangoes mangoes," and "empanadas empanadas").

day = success.

recently

2010-09-17T00:52:00.001-04:00

On most nights when we feed da famiree we try to consider what veggies we have left from the CSA in planning our meals. This is what we've come up with this week.

We had somewhere around 5 pounds of potatoes so we decided on potatoes au gratin, which Nicole made. It was so yummy. Then we used up a lot of the remaining greens in a salad - lettuce, mizuna, radish tops and radishes. The sauteed vegetables made use of the tomatoes and then we ate the last of the corn.

Tonight I made something like udon. It had udon noodles in it. But also other stuff. I put in some extra noodles, bok choy, the last of the mizuna (finally!), tofu, onions, scallions, some other stuff I can't recall, spices and such, soy sauce... and finally an EGG! so so good and eggy.

In the new batch of CSA veggies we got today, there was so much mint. So we just finished making (and eating) our mint pesto brownies. Those were interesting. But good and minty and green.

lots of leafy greens

2010-09-09T23:06:00.005-04:00

Today was a very exciting day for us - our first CSA (community sustained agriculture) pick up! We weren't quite sure what to expect, so Caroline and I brought several bags to carry things back in. It's around $160 per share/semester, and I'd say that they were very generous with their produce. We're splitting 2 shares for the 8 of us. This week we received red lettuce, mizuna (?!?!), cilantro, radishes, tomatoes, corn, potatoes and bok choy.

We're supposed to pick them up every thursday, which is also the same time the farmers market parks right outside on Broadway. I am so enamored with the different types of eggplants that are available. Egglpants are so beautiful! Summer fruit is so pretty! Strawberries are so delicious! Locally grown strawberries the absolute best. Seriously. Get thee to a pint of strawberries. None of that mutant, unripe "strawberry" business here.

For dinner, we ended up eating salad and pasta with homemade pesto. We used the lettuce, mizuna and radishes from the share, and threw in some avocado we had from before. At first we had no idea what to do with the mizuna, since most of us had never even seen or heard of it before. Apparently, it is known as a Japanese mustard and is used mostly in salads and soups. yum yum yum.

We are starting to get worried that we're annoying our neighbors since we're constantly occupying the kitchen and study lounge. I'm not quite sure what the solution is, because it's not like we're going to stop cooking or hanging out.

!!!!! REUNITED !!!!!!

2010-09-09T22:57:00.001-04:00

Nicole, Terren and I went to the Ikea in Redhook WHICH IS THE FUNNEST THING EVER BECAUSE OF THE FERRY AND FOOD.
We got tons of kitchen things. Yay! I missed us.

파전 (Pa Jun)

2010-09-02T19:21:00.006-04:00

파전 is a Korean vegetable pancake. My grandmother taught me how to make it while I was home. Aside from the pancake and green onion (파) base, you can really put whatever you want in it. We used the salmon my grandma's nephew sent us from Alaska (he a fisherman there apparently?) because we had some left over from the night before. Here's how it went:

My grandma also taught me how to to make 시금치 (seasoned spinach), 갈비 (short rib) marinade, and 매운탕 (spicy fish soup) among other little things, though I don't feel ready or ambitious enough to make the last one.

the pieces are coming together

2010-09-02T00:23:00.011-04:00

photos by yooni. text by nicole.

as of right now, 6 famiree members can be found in the general new york vicinity. as of 5pm today, 3 famiree members could be found at 207 2nd avenue, aka MOMOFUKU SSÄM BAR.

the bo ssäm is a special menu item, and you can only sign up for it one week in advance. it's a big pork shoulder served family style to 5-10 people. read more about it here!

before the bo ssäm we started with a few appetizers, namely:

-steamed pork buns – pork belly, hoisin, cucumber, scallion

-another steamed bun that was not on the menu that had crispy pork, mayo, tomato, radishes.

-warm silken tofu – heirloom tomatoes, myoga, watermelon

then the bo ssäm came out. a whole pork shoulder, slow roasted for many hours, served with a dozen oysters, steamed rice, bibb lettuce, and four sauces: kimchi, kimchi purée, ginger scallion sauce, and "korean bbq sauce"

from top to bottom; left to right: famiree's famiree, warm silken tofu, famiree, oysters, pork buns, famiree's famiree.

at the end there were only a few bits of fat-soaked pork left. i couldn't let them go to waste (oh god i really am my father's daughter, aren't i), so i took them home to eat later. even though we were sufficiently stuffed, we tried a couple cookies at neighboring momofuku milk bar to finish off the meal.

as if your mouth isn't watering enough, here's one last picture of the pork shoulder, right as it came out.

this is making me hungry. i'm glad i took those leftovers.

zazie

2010-09-01T19:40:00.003-04:00

excuse my iphone picture quality.

fig and prosciutto sandwich with cooked spinach, hollandaise, fancy cheese, fancy bread. from zazie in cole valley, a little gem of a restaurant. took a bit of a toll on the bank account, but hey, we paid for the ambiance...right...anyway, outrageous sandwich! sweetness of the figs with the bite of the spinach, plus prosciutto...mmm.

combined with besties, and gorgeous weather -- a splendid goodbye to SF

Hot and cold

2010-08-28T03:08:00.002-04:00

Exhibit A: my first loaf of bread.

I've been eyeing this bread method for a while - Artisan Bread in 5 minutes a Day. Since I don't have the book, I found the master recipe on the Ivory Hut. In general, the masterminds of the process are very generous with their ideas and post a lot of recipes on their blog. Anyways, the stupid stove would not get hot enough. Include the fact that I don't have an oven thermometer and good faith that my bread would some how bake, and you get this little beauty. It actually wasn't bad, but I had hoped for a thicker crust. The oven was so lukewarm that I still had water left in the broiling pan afterwards.

I baked this on parchment paper onto of my brand new Lodge cast iron baking pan. I didn't like how the bottom didn't crust at all - the rest of the bread crusted a bit despite the low temperatures.

Exhibit B: Solid as a rock
In my second attempt, I used an oven a suite over. I made this loaf a big large in hopes to eat it with friends the next day. I read on one of the recipes that the larger loafs take longer to bake, so I think I left it in the oven for 45 minutes. Ah geez. I could barely cut it with the knife I had.

Luckily, it was still very edible, just difficult to take apart. The 5 minute method leaves you with a very wet dough, so even if the outside is super-duper crusty, the inside is all yum.

Additionally, for this loaf, I used corn meal on the bottom to prevent sticking onto my "pizza peel" and pan. I highly recommend it. And, to my surprise, it wasn't messy at all.

Exhibit C: small packages

Seeing that my last two bread endeavors were minor failures, I felt that I needed to try something a little different. I came across this recipe on the website, and I knew I had to try it. And man, it was so easy. The only thing I would have done differently is roll out the dough more so I could have more layers of cinnamon and brown sugar when I turned it into a roll.

Summer of the kitchen appliances

2010-08-25T23:14:00.002-04:00

BEHOLD, THE MIGHTY SLOW COOKER. Prooooobably my favorite kitchen appliance. Commonly associated with stodgy housewifery, the slow cooker is one of the most under-appreciated kitchen appliance. Which I don't understand because using it makes cooking SO EASY, especially if you're dealing with meat. You just throw all your things in there, set the temp to either low or high (not very complicated), and turn on the timer for however long it needs to cook. Peace out, come back a work-day later, and TADA. Dinner.

So my slow cooker arrived a day earlier than I thought it would, which meant that I didn't have time to make the inaugural use super fancy or anything. This is a really easy bbq chicken that has a lot of pre-made things going into it, but it was super yum. A good alternative to pulled pork if you prefer leaner meats.

the building blocks:

3 frozen chicken breasts (6 halved chicken breasts probably would cook faster, but I didn't have that option)

1/2 cup of italian dressing

3/4 cup of bbq sauce

1/4 cup of ketchup

1/4 cup of dark brown sugar

2 tsp garlic powder

1 tsp chili powder

3 sliced serrano peppers

Instruction manual

Place the chicken breasts into the slow cooker

Mix the rest of the ingredients together and pour them over the chicken

set the temp to high, or low. If you set it to low, the meat should be a lot more tender.

Cook for 3 1/2 hours if set to high, or about 7 hours if on low.

When the cooking time is over, take out the chicken breasts and shred them with 2 forks. Pour the sauce over the chicken and mix. Serve on bread or as a pizza topping IDK GO CRAZY.

I'm trying my hand at bread baking tomorrow - wish me luck!

lunch lately

2010-08-24T13:00:00.000-04:00

I've been making this if I don't have anything planned for lunch:

bacon, onions, tomatoes and spinach. Sometimes I eat it with pasta and cheese. It's good stuff, you guys.

LEVAIN BAKERY OH MY GOD

2010-08-23T10:41:00.000-04:00

This was honestly the biggest, most delicious cookie I HAVE EVER EATEN. drooool. I mean, Levain Bakery beat Bobby Flay in a throwdown so they MUST be hot shit. Get the chocolate walnut cookie. It's some serious yum.

Padrón peppers

2010-08-23T01:19:00.003-04:00

I forgot to take a picture until I had eaten almost all of them. I am crazy about padrón peppers. This type of pepper is originally from Spain and is sort of hard to find here. They only have them in late summer.

You take the peppers, cook them briefly in a pan with tiny bit of olive oil. You sprinkle course salt on them and eat them whole. Most of them aren't spicy, some are a little spicy, rarely are they extremely spicy. But when they are.... I drank 4 glasses of milk after that.

homemade toaster strudel? YES

2010-08-22T19:26:00.002-04:00

When I saw homemade "poptarts" on Panini Happy I was like "I MUST HAVE THIS IN MY TUMMY NAO". She was adapting the recipe from other blogs that used a pie crust, but she decided to use puff pastry - which made me realize that it was much more of that mystical toaster strudel.

So I will tell you a satisfying tale of sunday brunch in 5 parts.

1. Thaw the frozen puff pastry sheet and cut into 12 parts (or however many you'd like).

2. Add the filling of your choice. I used nutella and blackberry preserves. Leave room to seal along the edges.

3. Place the sealed pastries into a panini grill (HELLO GEORGE FOREMAN) for around 7 minutes at a medium high heat.

4. Take them out of the grill when they are a golden brown. Let them cool for a bit. You might burn yourself on the jam.

5. OMNOM.

biryani

2010-08-19T18:59:00.000-04:00

last night I made an indian feast of (left to right) palak paneer, chicken biryani and garlic/cilantro naan. even I impressed myself.

Home

2010-08-16T14:14:00.003-04:00

This is what dinner basically every day at home looks like.

Thanks, Grandma.

free time

2010-08-08T01:04:00.009-04:00

...it's not all wasted on the internet. i've been pretty crafty lately, which makes up for the fact that i have about ten books checked out from the library and i have yet to finish (or start...?) any of them. or it at least partially makes up for the fact.

i've been getting back into jewelry making, initially because i needed birthday gifts for some friends.

i made these for a friend but liked them so much i made another pair for myself.

i like the look of feather earrings but i don't like the price. i guess i just have a hard time paying twenty, thirty, even seventy (?!) dollars for something that weighs like, negative three ounces. luckily for me my local bead store sells feathers! i sort of made up how to connect them to the hook with these little doo-hickeys i found at the bead store (i think their original purpose is to attach cord to a clasp? who knows.) but it seems to have worked relatively securely, and looks somewhat professional no less. you can't really see in the picture though.

if it were 2005 this would be my myspace "default"

i made this coral-themed set for another friend's birthday. when i gave her the present she said, "nicole, you could make a living making jewelry... holders!" i guess she thought these were cooler than the actual present itself:

haha. i'm guilty of backhanded compliments too. better than no compliment at all, right?

ps. you may notice my somewhat excessive usage of seed beeds. they're so cheap! 99¢ a strand.

BEETS

2010-08-06T17:59:00.006-04:00

i got a bunch of four GIGANTIC beets at the farmer's market and subsequently made a beet-themed dinner. well really i just made beet ravioli and beet chips.

for the beet chips you don't really need a recipe. just peel and really thinly slice the beets (a mandolin is best), lay on a baking sheet and brush with olive oil. then sprinkle with salt and pepper—be sparing though, mine were too seasoned. bake at 325º for 25-35 minutes, depending on the size.

beet ravioli filled with ricoota & goat cheeses and mint

for the beet ravioli, i used this recipe except i didn't really follow the recipe for the beet pasta dough. i didn't cook the beet (yes only one—they were that huge!) long enough so it was still chunky when i tried to puree it. i knew this would create problematic holes in the pasta dough so i only mixed in a little bit, hence why it is light pink instead of dark pink. i also mixed some into the filling for flavor and color. not gonna lie, the mint was a really delicious addition.

"dan tat"

2010-08-03T19:52:00.001-04:00

look what i did everybody

"dan tat" or chinese egg tart/custard is my favorite thing. my grandma had been telling me how hard they were to make and how i wouldn't be able to do it, which is why i ended up making them. if you want the super flaky crust you have to use lard and that freaks me out, so i just used extra butter and it still tasted good. i also used skim (!) milk instead of whole because that's all we had. then i baked them in cupcake tins. here's the recipe i used. it's very great to make two dozen of your favorite thing especially because when we went to dim sum we didn't have to order any dan tat because i just came home and ate a bunch.

i'm up in the woods

2010-08-01T03:30:00.008-04:00

liv and friends here. we're having fun being adults up in the mountains. tonight we cooked bruschetta (easy favorite), string beans with shallots, avocado salad, rosemary lemon chicken, the man made himself a steak, and baked potatoes. strawberries with nutella for dessert. wine from Italy and California throughout the night. NOM.

this dinner was super simple, and tasty. who knew it could be so easy.

japanese food

2010-07-25T01:16:00.009-04:00

i tried to think of a creative title for this post for awhile. the thing is i just suck at thinking of creative/interesting titles. like on essays, you're supposed to have an interesting title to grab the attention of the reader but i usually just leave it blank. oops.

anyway, there are a lot of upsides of working at a michelin-rated restaurant. one of them is that i don't have to pay as much for really delicious yet expensive food. one downside is that i always want the food though. yet one more upside is that they give me really good ideas for recipes / sushi combinations so i can just recreate them. which is what i did last night.

i thought my dad took some pictures of the sushi but instead there's just this picture of me right after someone had called my name. cool.

anyway, besides the sushi i also made tempura shrimp and green beans, which can be seen at the very bottom of that picture. you know what's fun? panko! so fun and crunchy and makes tempura so much better.

today i worked the lunch shift and every time someone orders a california salad, i die / crave it so badly. it is made up of spring mix, cucumbers, tofu, crab, and avocado, with miso-tahini dressing. IT IS SO SO DELICIOUS. so i recreated that for lunch, except with salmon instead of crab because who keeps crab at their house?

for the miso-tahini dressing, i combined mainly soybean paste & tahini (essentially sesame butter), mirin (or sherry), rice vinegar, soy sauce, lemon juice, some sugar/honey, and some water to thin it. it's really deliciously addictive dressing.

EXCEPT I FORGOT THE AVOCADO!!! so when i had yet another salad for dinner i made sure to eat it with avocado.

also i made tempura tofu because there was a lot of extra tofu and also extra tempura batter and extra tempura sauce. everything was really effing good.

mochi and macarons

2010-07-22T18:05:00.002-04:00

For my friend's birthday I decided to make mochi and macarons.

Traditional mochi is much fancier and more difficult than what I ended up doing, but the final product tasted right. I followed this recipe, which uses the microwave and mochiko (glutinous rice flour) as opposed to $200 mochi makers or a mallet and bowl to mash rice into paste. I divided the mixture and used food coloring to make the green and pink ones.

This was the first time I've had semi-success with making macarons. The recipe I used was sort of a mixture of things from the book "I Love Macarons" by Hisako Ogita and this recipe. They ended up more meringue-y than I would have liked, but still pretty tasty. The middle is a buttercream recipe also from the "Macarons" book. It was almost too sweet, though. I'm going to keep experimenting with different macaron recipes until I finally get it right!

Confession

2010-07-17T00:33:00.001-04:00

I miss France and am aching to go back -- and for more reasons than one. There, I said it.

Curried Quinoa with Mango

2010-07-15T17:52:00.005-04:00

OH WHAT UP, first time on FT. I shall introduce myself as the one that sucks at cooking, but could be wined and fine dined for eternity. Today was one of those perfect weather days in the East Bay. This morning, I went to Berkeley Bowl and felt like I died and went to organic produce, yuppie heaven. I bought a bajillion fruits and vegetables, and came home and made this weird dish for lunch. I wanted to try to make quinoa, because no one in my house knows how to cook quinoa. Thus, no judgement. I sort of stuck to this recipe, but added red onions, cilantro, and lime. It resulted in this:

Laughter ensued. Today I learned that I cannot chop a mango. Who knew it could be so difficult to chop up a mango. It was a mushy, mushy (yummy) mess. Anyway, it was pretty good but it's hard to get the texture of the quinoa right.

PS New froyo opened up in Montclair. Montclair was actually lookin pretty cute today.

- L

Peach and cherry fruit crumble with candied walnuts

2010-07-15T10:00:00.000-04:00

A while ago, CPK and I went to TJ Maxxxx and Michaels to buy some life supplies (and kitchen ware). Peaches are on sale for 89 cents a pound at the store, so I thought of making a crumble in our newly purchased ramekins.

Ramekins are small ceramic bowls that are usually ovenproof and are used to serve all sorts of yummy goodness: molten chocolate cake, baked mac&cheese, ice cream, souffles, and CRUMBLES!

I used a combination of several crumble recipes from the Martha Stewart website - fun fact she's a Barnard Alum. Then I topped it with some candied walnuts. My mom used to make candied walnuts as a treat for herself (and I obviously snuck some) and I think they are a perfect topping for most anything sweet - crumbles, french toast, ice cream, etcetcetc.

3 peaches, cut, pitted and peeled

1 can of drained canned cherries (for pies, make sure there's no sugar added)

1/4 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of flour

squirt of lime juice

half a stick of butter

graham crackers, any type of cookie you can crush up

oats (we probably used 1 1/2 cups

sprinkling of cinnamon (some for the crumble and walnuts)

2 cups of walnuts

sugar

cinnamon

sprinkles of nutmeg, cloves, and ginger

serves 8

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
put your fruits in a bowl with 1/4 cup of sugar, 2 tablespoons of flour, and a bit of lime juice. mix 'em up and let them sit as they become syrupy.
we just used whatever we had on hand: half a stick of butter, crushed up graham crackers, a ton of oats, and cinnamon. mix 'em up too, making sure the butter is creamed/evenly distributed.
put a bit of the oat/cookie mix at the bottom of each ramekin before you put a spoonful of the fruit. set the rest of the oats mix on top of the fruit and stick 'em in the oven for 20 minutes.
while the crumbles are in the oven, spread the walnuts on a pan at a medium-low heat for a couple of minutes. The amount of sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger and cloves have to be put in by your own judgment. Constantly stir the walnuts as you sprinkle the sugar over the pan - your stove is probably too hot if the sugar starts caramelizing immediately. You want to give yourself time to coat all the walnuts before the sugar starts melting. Once the sugar starts melting, add the spices. Feel free to constantly be adding more sugar, it's supposed to be candied after all. When you're done, you should have little rocks of sugar and spicy goodness at the bottom.
Take the candied walnuts and the yummy sugar that was a byproduct of candying, and place a hearty spoonful on top of each crumble.
serve with milk.
nom

EL GRULLO

2010-07-15T00:32:00.002-04:00

When I was back home, my friend Mara took me to THE BEST TACO TRUCK EVER. El Grullo is located on 26th and International in Oakland, CA. You absolutely cannot miss it. Thinking about it is making me supa hungo again.

Mara got the (i think) beef tacos, pictured below - YUM. I got the ultimate carnitas quesadilla FOR SIX DOLLA BILLS and it was perfection. The pork was so perfectly cooked, and it was ooooozing with a beauty of a cheese. Even though it was super cheesy, it wasn't nearly as greasy as I was bracing myself for, which I can appreciate. I especially love the radishes on the side.

The mister in the truck gave me much more than I could actually eat, so I'm planning on fasting before the next time I go so I don't waste a single bite.

Hibiscus and the best sandwich ever

2010-07-12T19:46:00.005-04:00

What is the most delicious sandwich that is also very easy to make, you might ask? The answer is an avocado and cheese sandwich. This is an old dad recipe of which many variations exist.

1. Take some bread (in this case an English muffin from the Cheeseboard) and toast it.
2. Put a slice of cheese (I used Pepper Jack) on each piece of toast and broil them for 5 mins or less.
3. Put avocado on the bread. Add chili flakes/other salsa depending on what's around. Salsa verde is very tasty or anything with tomatillos.

Now for some tasty drank. Have you ever had the Hibiscus iced tea at Peet's? That is where I was first introduced to this delicious beverage. Now that I think about it I've had it at Bissap Baobab, which is a Senegalese restaurant. If I recall correctly they make it with ginger! I should do that next time. My friend Alice made her own version last summer, using dried hibiscus from Mi Pueblo, a Mexican grocery store at 1630 High Street. I was in the Mission recently and I got some there. This is what it looks like:
I presume it comes from this plant. Which we now own. My mom wants to dry our own since those shrivelly guys kinda freak her out.In Spanish the word for Hibiscus is Jamaica, which is pronounced Ha-mike-ah. It turns out this isn't just a Mexican drink, it's popular throughout Latin America, and in some parts of Africa and Asia as well. It has its own Wikipedia page in fact. It's full of vitamin C too!

To make it, I kiiinda followed this recipe. I used different amounts of stuff though. I used 6 or 8 cups of water, almost a full cup of dried flowers (wash them off first and they expand), and a little more than a 1/2 cup of sugar.
I boiled the water first and let the flowers and sugar steep for 15 minutes.
Then you have to strain it and let it cool. I added the juice of 5 limes, which was a very good addition.
You might want to water down the juice or at least add a few ice cubes.

IN N OUT

2010-07-10T16:30:00.003-04:00

Making your mouth water just because I can. Actually, it's just making my mouth water because I can't have it in New York. It was the first thing I ate when I went back home 2 weeks ago. In-N-Out is only available on the West Coast: Arizona, California, Nevada and Utah.

Fun fact, they were the first to conceptualize a drive-thru, hence the name IN N OUT. derr.

It's 97 degrees in New York.

2010-07-07T16:59:00.001-04:00

What's better than coming home from work on a paralyzingly hot day to homemade orange popsicles that Yooni and I made yesterday?

NOTHING.

Yum.

Ici

2010-06-29T23:28:00.000-04:00

Ici

There are many great ice cream place in the San Francisco Bay Area, but Ici just belongs. It's just so cute, and refreshing, and cute. Kids and faculty (HI LINH AND VANESSA) from our highschool frequent Ici all the time. yumyumyumyum I hear their honey lavender is quite delectable. I'm personally quite enamored with their basil. I had a scoop of caramel pecan and fresh creme apricot (which tasted quite like the Bakesale Betty's scones).

Their cones are quite delicious with chocolate at the bottom. The weather was warm enough that the chocolate was soft at the bottom. Yum.

Summer Rolls

2010-06-29T19:22:00.006-04:00

It's summer. Let's make some summer rolls.

1. Chop up veggies. I used cucumbers, carrots, jicama, and green onions. For herbs I used mint and cilantro. Also lettuce.

2. Marinate tofu slices. You don't have to do this but it makes it tasty. I used peanut sauce, a little soy sauce and some rice vinegar.

3. The rice paper wrapper you can get at most grocery stores and they are really cheap. I got Vietnamese Bánh Tráng brand Spring Roll Wrapper Galettes de Riz. You need a shallow bowl of water. Swirl the rice paper in water for about 10 seconds until it gets soft.

4. Load up the goods.
5. Roll it up. I don't have a very special technique for this, just fold the ends in and then roll it tight.
6. EAT. With Peanut Sauce. I used Thai Kitchen Peanut Satay Sauce, which was pretty good, but not the holy grail of peanut sauces. Should probably hit up Little Saigon for that.

Rosemary & beets

2010-06-28T01:50:00.007-04:00

Yesterday my brother and I made pasta. We used the recipe from the pasta machine, which is 500 grams of flour and 4 eggs. Since we had some beets, my brother had the idea to make the pasta beet-colored. We weren't sure the best way of getting the beet color into the dough. We ended up food processing some and kneading it into the dough, which wasn't perfect since it left little piece of beet that made a whole in the dough when we tried to roll it really thin. We also added food processed rosemary. My general rule of thumb for using herbs and spices is that you can never have too much. I grabbed a veritable branch from our rosemary bush and chopped it up. It looked like a huge amount, but it gave a nice hint of flavor that wasn't at all overpowering.

Max rolling the pasta

Word of warning: do not do this. Just because there is flour does not mean that the pieces won't stick. Next time we will use layers of wax paper.

The bottom layers stuck together. We actually cooked it just like that because we couldn't figure out what else to do with it and it turned out fine; you couldn't really tell. The pasta cooks in about 3 minutes because it's fresh.The finished product. We used a sage butter sauce, which is literally just sage leaves and butter sautéed. There were also sautéed shittake mushrooms.These are the beets. I have had beets in many shapes and forms and this is the best way to cook them in my opinion. It's really simple too. All you do is cut them up and bake them with salt and a little olive oil until they are soft when you stick a fork in. I added some of the extra rosemary too. If you cut them sort of thin they carmelize a little and it is delicious.

grilled goodness

2010-06-27T02:50:00.006-04:00

tonight's dinner had two themes: almost every item was a) grilled and b) on sale at safeway.

spare ribs were on sale so i went through my folder of bookmarked recipes on my computer and found one that i've been wanting to make: coffee-infused ribs. you make your own bbq sauce (yum) and one of the ingredients in it is coffee.

counter-clockwise, from left: coffee-infused ribs, brussel sprouts, assorted grilled vegetables, brown rice

we weren't planning to make brussel sprouts for dinner but yesterday i saw this really simple but delicious-looking recipe for grilled brussel sprouts, and since they were on sale—why not? topped with shaved parmesan cheese, mmm.

assorted grilled vegetables: portobello mushrooms, bell peppers, zucchini, & eggplant.

we had brown rice because the brussel sprout recipe mentions this:

Oh and in case you are wondering why they are good for you, let me give you a small explanation. Brussel sprouts are high in protein. Although the protein isn’t complete, it can become complete with whole grains. Which means? Yet another way to get complete protein NOT from an animal!! Plus they are low in calorie and high in fiber.

and lastly, we had some buttermilk to use up so for dessert, my mom and i made a lemon buttermilk cake with raspberries.

we used this recipe but instead of frozen strawberries we used fresh raspberries, and we made 3/4 of the frosting recipe, skipping the lemonade concentrate and adding a little lemon extract along with the lemon zest.

looking forward to the leftovers.

magnolia cupcakes

2010-06-25T21:43:00.004-04:00

one of my best friends left for argentina today. she's studying abroad there for the whole year, so i won't see her for a very long time. i sort of hate emoticons but if i used them i would put a sad face here.

she had a potluck a couple nights ago to see everyone before she left. i made cupcakes, using the magnolia bakery recipe. i mean, it's the one from their cookbook but i'm not entirely sure they would release the exact recipe they use in the bakery. still, they tasted pretty darn similar to me, and therefore they tasted pretty darn good. (maybe it was because for the two batches of cupcakes and two batches of frosting, i used 9 sticks of butter total. mmm mmm butter.)

recipes:

vanilla cupcakes

chocolate cupcakes

vanilla buttercream frosting

chocolate buttercream frosting

blueberry-orange scones

2010-06-24T19:57:00.001-04:00

I made these scones the other day. I'm not sure where the recipe is from (the internets somewhere) and I changed a few things based on what we had available. I also made up an orange glaze to put on the finished scones.

2 cups flour
1/4 cup sugar
1 tbsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking soda
grated rind of two oranges
1/4 cup butter
3/4 cup plain yogurt
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla
a bunch of blueberries! (maybe 1 or 2 cups, however many you like)

1. Mix the dry ingredients. Cut the butter into the dry ingredients with a blender, until fine.
2. Mix wet ingredients and then add to the dry, stirring until the mixture is moist. Add blueberries.
3. Drop spoonfuls of whatever size you want your scones to be onto parchment paper.
4. Bake at 400 F for 18 minutes.
5. While the scones are still warm you can drizzle them with a glaze of the juice from the oranges and sugar. You can also add in some of the rind if you have any left. This makes the orange flavor even stronger, but if you like crispier, drier scones you shouldn't use too much of this because it makes the scones a little soggy if there's too much. The last thing I did was to sprinkle the scones with sugar, just for extra crunch/sweetness.

I bet other fruit/berry combos would be good and fun to do also. I think this recipe made about a dozen scones, but I made them pretty large. Enjoy!

Summer in New York

2010-06-23T00:35:00.003-04:00

Yesterday, Cpk and I went to Bryant Park to watch Goldfinger. I love the James Bond series. I own all the movies at home. I knew Cpk would hate the movie (the Bond Girl's name is Pussy Galore), but I think she liked being outside. The weather at night has been really nice, so the HBO film festival in Bryant Park is going to be quite a treat. Cpk guessed that there were several thousands of people on the lawn. Considering that's where they used to pitch the tents for fashion week, I'd say it's possible.

There are other movies playing at the Brooklyn Bridge Park and Central Park - actually all around. I can't find the page on gonyc, but it's there.