The most important thing

I wonder what Olympic athletes actually eat during competition. All the Kellogg and McDonald commercials that try to connect their products with athleticism is really strange.

Anyways, this is one of my imagined breakfast of champions: grapes, greens, frittata and a yogurt smoothie.

Friends in tasty places

My good friend Ehsan is interning at the famed Chez Panisse - which means that he needed to take a break from prepping squid and gem lettuce, and make a proper meal. Well, I obviously invited myself over for a tasty time. Below is a Thomas Keller style chicken, golden beet/dill/goat cheese salad and a salad with the most beautiful summer produce.

His mother offered us a rose-saffron-pistaccio ice cream and it was so very very amazing. I highly recommend it but I think you can only get it at Iranian markets.

midsummer night's update

hello everybody (or nobody) !

here is a mid-summer update.

my time in paris ended on a sweet note at breizh cafe with the amazing crepe briochine (sautéed banana, vanilla ice cream, and breizh's famous housemade caramel sauce). if you are ever in paris, for the love of god, GO (but you'll have to make a reservation first). oh and for pre-dessert get the gallette maraîchère, full of fresh market vegetables.

new york summer started with some fried octopedes because, well, when associated supermarket is selling many pounds' worth of baby octopedes for only $8, why not buy them?

next came the momofuku bo ssäm. i think the topic has been exhausted on this blog but let me just reiterate one more time in case you didn't get it: FATTY PORKY HEAVEN.

there was some excellent banh mi from banh mi saigon, which gives you pretty good bang for your buck. i have since been to v-name cafe on 1st & 1st, and it was equally cheap & delicious. recommend both.

then came a few rounds of dim sum at our fave 88 palace, the first better than the second, further reinforcing the fact that sunday mornings are the only real time to get dim sum so as to get the best selection. pictured here are two of my absolute favorites, jia leung and ham siu gok.

okay now i'm getting confused about the order of things. somewhere in here was a visit to the big gay ice cream shop, at which max & i shared the monday sundae and holy hell let me just say: why doesn't anyone else put nutella in their ice cream sundaes???

we made a berry pie for july 4th because this pie dough from david leibowitz is pretty fun / easy to make and also because fresh homemade whipped cream is da best. we were a little too eager though and decorated the pie before it cooled, which resulted in a melted cream berry crumble creation. still delicious.

after a long, long, long and arduous process of stephen + his friends trying to find an apartment to move into, we finally found a great place in the east village that has been fun to move into. it has also been fun to break in the kitchen with healthy dinners like this veggie mung dal thing i made that actually looked like the picture in the recipe (!)

aaand less healthy creations like homemade mint chocolate chip ice cream (there it is!), a favorite from last summer's ice cream endeavor.

last but certainly not least, i got a $5 stick blender off craigslist for stephen me, thus forever smoothies on the fire escape!!!

here's to many more before the summer's end.

battle of the toppings

How do you like your Mister Softee's?


On another note.

mo' momo

This is extremely belated but check out my winter bbq party spread --- and yes, we did that Momofuku bo ssam. I'm so excited to be coming back home for the summer and you know I'm going to get my grill on. All you babes in Caleee-four-knee-ya, be prepared for a deliciously meat-y summer because MOMMA'S COMING HOME!

Highlights of the winter BBQ: my mother did a soju love-shot with my old friend from highschool. 

Fatih

Today Claire and I went on a mission to find some Byzantine churches in the old part of Istanbul called Fatih. Typically, we did not actually accomplish anything that we set out to do, but we had a good time anyway. Google needs to learn about Turkey. My top priorities for them are Turkish and the locations of things on maps.

We made it to an amazing restaurant called Eski Kafa where you go into the kitchen and point to what you want.

We each got a plate of different delicious vegetarian things including bulgur kofte balls, eggplant stuffed with pilav, potato börek, fasulye beans, and grape leaf dolma.

You can sit outside in camping chairs with a giant stone thingy as your table. The waiter let us try all of their juices that they make, I got hibiscus and Claire got plum.

It comes with yogurt and little pots of hot pepper flakes and mint. Then a friendly cat came to visit and sat next to our table.

Many tulips are in bloom in Istanbul now!

Then we stopped for a sarma from Fatih's famous sarmacısı, in operation for 4 generations, since the Ottoman time.

Sarma is a kind of spongey cake soaked in sweet syrup with apricot jam and coconut and pistachio on top.

We never made it inside a Byzantine building, but we did get to the Şeyzade Camii, built by Mimar Sinan in 1548.

adventures in being classy as hale

hi famiree, and non-famiree lurkers (?), i don't know if the latter exist, but if so, hi to you also! if you can believe it, this is my debut on famireetime. i know, i am horribly lazy and this is quite overdue. hi, blog world! anyway, with so many culinary prodigies in famiree i always felt a bit intimidated to post, coupled with the fact that i cook so rarely. unless you count kraft mac n' cheese (WHICH I DO). once, i tried to microwave hershey's kisses in the microwave with the foil still on. in my defense, i was 14, but this may give you some clue as to how much natural kitchen prowess i have. (read: none)

however, i have a lot of free time now that i am taking some time off from school and living in phoenix. i need some projects to challenge me, and cooking is one of them! my friend and i have started a weekly tradition of getting together and cooking dinner, and i've surprised myself how fun and relaxing it is when you have a partner in the kitchen. when i'm by myself i get scared and second guess myself, but more on that another time.

last night we made a delicious flatbread with balsamic, prosciutto, goat cheese, caramelized onions, and basil. spoiler alert: IT WAS QUALITY. really easy, really delicious, and really really classy.

YOU WILL NEED: (for two small flatbreads)

1 yellow onion

about 3/4 a tablespoon brown sugar for caramelizin'

1 tablespoon of salt

balsamic vinegar

some goat cheese

a lil package of prosciutto

fresh basil

2 small flatbreads (we got ours from whole foods but if you're feeling ambitious you can use dough, or make your dough from scratch! we're not at that level just yet)

the whole process is pretty intuitive, but if you're a noob like me, listen up:

cut up yo onion, and heat a medium skillet with some olive oil and a small amount of butter. listen to that sizzle! throw in your onions and let them sit for a bit, then add your brown sugar and salt. stir. let em get nice and brown and caramelized. we let ours sit for longer than normal but that just made them extra sweet and delicious when paired with the bitter balsamic.

wash your basil. get your flatbreads ready! we poured some balsamic on to start (eyeball it), added the onions, goat cheese, and strips of prosciutto. pre-heat your oven to 400 F, and then throw those babies in. we let them sit for about 7 minutes, enough to warm everything up, let the cheese get soft and melty, and the prosciutto crispy and delicious. take them out and top with basil and a drizzle of more balsamic!

EAT AND ENJOY. this is seriously good. and truly easy!

into ze oven

protip: enjoy with wine! we chose a cheap chardonnay from my local sketchy liquor store. see, classy as hale!

Apple & Banana muffins with creamcheese filling

Guys, we said we'd have a fun international friendship experience! Seize the moment! BLOG NOW!
Here are a handful of muffins that I made the other day. Who doesn't love cream cheese? With apples? And Bananas????

3 parts cold cream cheese, 1 part granulated sugar. Cream and roll into balls to place on the top of the muffins before you bake.


Apple Cake/muffin adapted from Martha Stewart
1 cup of whole wheat flour
1 1/4 cup of all purpose flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
2 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp of cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 tsp kosher salt
1 stick of unsalted butter
1 3/4 cups of sugar
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups of shredded apples
2 Tbs of bourbon

Preheat oven to 350, line your tins, whisk your dry goods except sugar in a medium bowl. Cream butter and sugar, then mix in vanilla, eggs and bourbon. Mix in apples, add flour in 3 parts. Add batter to the tins halfway up the cups.
Add creamcheese balls, pressed lightly into the batter before placing in the oven. Bake for ~17 minutes.

Banana Muffins adapted from Smitten Kitchen's Jacked up Banana Bread
4 ripe smashed bananas
1/3 cup of melted unsalted butter
1 1/2 tsp of kosher salt
3/4 cup of light brown sugar
1 egg
1 1/2 tsp of vanilla
2 Tbs bourbon (to be honest i was pouring liberally)
1 tsp baking soda
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg
1 1/2 cup of flour

Heat oven to 350. Mix butter and bananas. Then add vanilla, sugar, egg, bourbon, salt, and spices. Add baking soda and finally the flour in 3 parts. Fill cupcake liners half way and add the cream cheese balls to the top and press down lightly. Baked for ~18 minute.
To be honest, I liked the apple recipe better. 

photobooth update

Two things:

1. Crochet Strawberry necklace I made the other day. I don't, yet, have the balls to wear this in public. But I will, never fear, I will.

2. The newest (and possibly the most practical considering my kitchen appliance addiction) member of the family: the 6 1/2" baby cast iron skillet. Literally the perfect size for two eggs. There will be more photos of the baby in action l8r. 

HI I'M BACK

...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.

ice cream endeavor, part 9: vanilla

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

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)

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

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!

Korea

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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 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. 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...