So I went to the eye doctor this morning and now my pupils are dilated! Hope this isn’t filled with typos – because I can’t see a thing! Please stay tuned.. anyone know how long dilation lasts??
I typically hate New Years. There’s so much pressure to maximize your fun… just thinking about it makes me tired (see Caring for your Introvert by Jonathan Rauch)!
But yesterday someone posted on their facebook page “2010 new years goals (if you call them resolutions, you never ever do them).” Huh.. that seems so true! So here are my DinnerCakes goals for 2010; we’ll see how I do:
1) Read the cookbooks I already have
2) Experiment more
3) Work with foods I’ve never cooked with before
4) Try cooking things I think I won’t like (…many things)
5) More vegetables!
Let’s stick with that for now.
So far this month I’ve made fondue using an electric fondue pot. If you’re trying to make meat fondue, this is really the only way to go. The word fondue is from the French verb fondre, which means to melt. It’s actually a Swiss dish in origin. HungryMonster describes:
During the frigid Swiss winters snow covered mountain valleys isolated villages and towns. Consequently fresh food became scarce. Towns people had to rely upon locally made foods. These were produced by area cheese makers in the summer months. During winter months these cheeses became dryer and more unpalatable. Out of necessity came a wonderful dish, the fondue. It’s named derived from the French word fondue – meaning to melt or to blend. This was exactly what the stale cheese needed to make it more digestible. The cheese was melted in a earthenware pot called the caquelon. Local wines and seasonings were added and even the stale bread tasted delicious after it was swirled in the creamy cheese sauce.
I don’t know how accurate this information is, but it makes a nice story! I was inspired to experiment with fondue after a friend’s sister had my husband and I over for a fondue night. She used to work at The Melting Pot, so she had some good advice along the way. She made a cheese fondue with cheddar, white wine and garlic, a meat fondue with chicken broth and red wine, and a smores chocolate fondue dessert complete with flambee!
In my own adventures after this dinner, I just made the cheese and meat fondue… I probably didn’t need two chocolate fondues in one week (though I wanted it). This is only round one of me & fondue (you’ll be hearing more later as I learn more), but so far some tips I can pass along include
Cheese Fondue (dippers this time – cauliflower, crusty cubed bread, apples)
1) Flour your cheese – more than you think you need to
2) Beer in the cheese is delicious, but only use about 1/3 of the bottle
3) Use more than one kind of cheese for depth of flavor
4) Keep the temperature hot but not boiling
Meat Fondue (dippers this time – chicken and beef, new potatoes and mushrooms & teriyaki and BBQ dipping sauce)
1) Use chicken broth instead of vegetable broth – the veggie broth made the beef taste more like beef stew
2) Don’t use beef that is specifically for beef stew
3) Use dry red wine in the cooking base, like Pinot Noir
4) Veggies like new potatoes and baby bella mushrooms are excellent choices
My friend’s sister also gave me an awesome recipe for Green Goddess vegetable dip. I haven’t tried to make it yet, though, so I’ll let you know how that goes soon!
Happy 2010 everyone! I hope you all had a joyous holiday and a fun (and safe) New Years Eve. I traveled to the windy and disturbingly cold Chicago for Christmas to see quite a few members of the extended family. Despite the shivering, it was a great time and well worth the twelve hour drive it took to get there (that’s right, we drove there). My family, with our German roots, is not big on the vegetarian cuisine and the term “light” does not enter the vocabulary either (I believe the word is “licht”, in case you were wondering). There will be much to make up for these following months.
The new year has started off wickedly cold up here in DC and the strong winds we’ve been getting lately have been so horrid I have given serious thought to becoming a professional hermit. I suppose moving would be a little more realistic…. Regardless, I shall be cutting down on any non-essential trips out of my building and surrounding myself with whatever keeps me warm.
I’ve always loved meals with copious chunks of fruit or vegetables and this is because I’ve always been a picker. I would always start munching on whatever Mom was making for dinner before it was ready until she kicked me out of the kitchen. My sister HATED this (“he’s putting his hands in our food!”). You can’t really “pick” a piece of biscuit or spaghetti. You’re either going to get caught or burned. But fruit salad, roasted vegetables? Score.
ANYWAY, with winter in full swing I wanted something as well as filling, so I took a recipe from my hero Alton Brown and stewified it; making it heartier. Next time, I shall add a potato, I believe, but the broccoli was a great addition as part of the soup and for picking potential (you can pick from soup. it’s just harder). Try this next time you’re looking for something to warm the deep chill out of your bones.
Thick and Hearty Lentil Stew
2 tablespoons butter
2 onions; chopped
2 medium carrots; diced
1 stalk celery; chopped
4 cloves garlic; minced
1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro
3/4 lb green lentils; rinsed and drained
1 head of broccoli; chopped into small florets
3 medium tomatoes; chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
12 cups water/stock
1/4 cup lemon juice
10oz spinach; roughly chopped
2 tablespoons butter
2 onions; chopped
2 medium carrots; diced
1 stalk celery; chopped
4 cloves garlic; minced
1/3 cup fresh chopped cilantro
3/4 lb green lentils; rinsed and drained
1 head of broccoli; chopped into small florets
3 medium tomatoes; chopped
1 teaspoon ground coriander
1 teaspoon ground cumin
12 cups water/stock
1/4 cup lemon juice
10oz spinach; roughly chopped
Sweat the onions, carrots, celery, garlic and cilantro until the onions have softened. Add the lentils, broccoli, tomatoes, spices and water/stock. Bring to a boil and simmer, covered, for 30 minutes. Add the spinach and lemon juice and simmer for another 10 minutes. Serve with salt and pepper to taste. Enjoy!
So Bake-a-Thon was a little different this year. In year’s past, a bunch of us have gathered at Edwin’s apartment where we work like a chain gang for an entire day – measuring, mixing, chilling, baking, cleaning, repeat.
This year we hosted the event at Jane’s house, which provided us with a lot more room to scamper around in the kitchen. Bake-a-Thon also coincided with a historically large snow fall on the east coast that barricaded us inside (except for Edwin, who seems to enjoy taking his life in his hands).
But those who weren’t already at Jane’s when the snow started falling could never make it over, thus our chain gang was cut in half. And since everyone brings a recipe of their choice to the event, we were down in cookie varieties. Some bakers even had technical difficulties (sigh… me…). Bake-a-Thon 2009 was, you could say, a struggle. I could tell you tales of hardened espresso powder and overly softened butter…
We also had distractions – watching snow accumulate outside, a whining furry puppy trying to steal butter wrappers out of the trash and New Super Mario Brothers for Wii – we were bombarded on all fronts. It was also the first time I had actually seen Edwin and Jane since moving to Charlottesville in August. Now that I think about it, it’s truly amazing that any cookies were made at all.
Holiday baking is a battlefield. I also forgot my apron and hat – Qué lástima!
There was also some PDA in the kitchen. Tye set up a video camera in the kitchen, so I’m sure there is a time-lapse video of all the trials and tribulations somewhere.
Edwin probably walks away with the cookie award for his perfectionism in the kitchen. He moved along on schedule and his cookies looked beautiful.
Jane enjoyed some tea.
Right before a round of Super Mario Bros Wii.
Yeah… there was a steak break, too. Courtesy of Dong.
Edwin drowned his guilt about gorging on steak by heading back to work.
See? He’s not even looking at the pretty snow outside.
We all had a laugh at Jane’s Espresso Shortbread Cookie dough. Something is just odd about pouring dough in a Ziploc.
Edwin arranged his cookies to cool, while Jane ate them.
Edwin’s Sour Cherry Hamantaschen
I was very embarrassed about my Russian Tea Cakes. I’ve made them 100 times without problems, but the 101st time really got me. Two batches – one with butter softened via microwave and one with it left out for 45 minutes – neither was perfect.
Jane had success with the Espresso-Chocolate Shortbreads from Smitten Kitchen.
Tune in next year for the 4th Annual Bake-a-Thon! Will we have another record-breaking snow? Will Edwin finally fall victim to distraction? Will I ever reconcile my differences with room temperature butter? Time will tell…
You may have noticed Edwin and I are taking a little mini vacation this week. He’s off to Chi-town with family, and I’m trying to do all the Christmas shopping that exams prevented me from getting done!
If you haven’t heard, parts of the east coast were slammed this past weekend with record snowfall. Eek. I’m still working on digging out my car, and I take my life in my hands every time I leave the house. We did have Bake-a-Thon, however many of our usual bakers were unable to make it due to the snow… more on that later this week!
In other news, my baby dog is becoming an adolescent dog. And we got him to finally wear his Christmas bandanna – take a look!
Here’s a roundup of DC Christmas Recipes from last year!
Kitchen Tips – Butter
Strawberry Spinach Salad with Yogurt Poppy Seed Dressing
Pumpkin Oatmeal Bites
Blackberry and Apricot Thumbprint Cookies
Mesclun Green Salad with Honey Vinaigrette
Cinnamon Streusel Coffee Cake
Steel Cut Oats with Apple & Coconut
I am so anxious for my holiday festivities that I am practically counting the hours as they go by. Not only will the time off be greatly appreciated, I’m doing a big family get-together this year. This year, we celebrate in Chicago where the bulk of my mother’s side of the family lives. I’m not looking forward to the cold (or the loooooooong drive), but I am looking forward to seeing family I haven’t seen in quite some time.
Been a while since I’ve done a stir fry, though this one did not go the way I planned. The garlic did not come out as strong as I wanted, though the potatoes and green beens kept a good texture. I’m not sure where I’d take this if I did it again; perhaps asparagus over green beens, maybe some rice wine and more garlic sauce. Still, a good quick meal.
Potato And Green Bean Stir Fry
1 russet potato; cut into match sticks
1/2 pound green beans; trimmed and cut in half
2 tablespoons oil
2 tablespoons onion; in half slices
4 garlic cloves; minced
2 teaspoons soy sauce
2 teaspoons chili garlic sauce (optional)
1/2 cup water
salt and pepper
Par boil the potato and green beans separately in salted water for 3 minutes each. Drain and set aside. Saute your onions in oil under medium high heat until brown; approximately 3-5 minutes. Add garlic and continue until fragrant. Add your potato, green beans and sauce and cook for 5 minutes. Raise the heat, ad the water and cover. Cook until water has mostly boiled away. Enjoy.
Who is getting pumped for Christmas baking?!
So last night I kicked back with Julie & Julia. I’ve been told multiple times to watch it, but I have to say, I didn’t love it!
Meryl Streep is always an amazing actress, but I don’t think even her abilities could save the movie. Were we supposed to feel sympathy for Julie, played by Amy Acker? Mostly I just felt that she was extremely obnoxious. The splices between Julia Childs and Julie just didn’t seem to fit to me.
Also, I expected to be wowed and made hungry by all the food in the movie, but it was no Waitress. Waitress makes you want to go straight from the theater to your kitchen and to start cranking out pies. Maybe pies speak to me personally more than Beef Bourguignon?
Please tell me if I was missing something here. It did make me wish for some more formal training in the kitchen and a larger repertoire for cooking – but do I really need to know how to bone a duck? It’s an interesting question that a lot of food bloggers and modern cooks probably wonder. Do you have to be the Iron Chef, able to make a meal with any sort of flavor and food item that’s thrown at you, in order to be a good cook?
This may seem a bit odd, given my recent rant on meat substitutes, but I made a delicious Tempeh Club Sandwich this weekend thanks to Totally Vegetarian
I browned some slices of tempeh, followed by adding a bit of tamari. Stacked that on bread with lettuce, roasted red bell pepper, red onion, tomato, swiss and a bit of french dressing. Grilled that sucker up and it was delicious. Tempeh is, by far, my favorite meat substitute.
