Holiday penguin and mice cookies

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/mice-cookies

http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/perfect-marzipan-penguins

Chocolate molten cake

Update on Joanne Chang's Molten Chocolate Cake recipe for the poor grad student...In all fairness, she does say to use 62% to 70% cacao... I ended up just using the ghiradelli chocolate chips because they're substantially cheaper.  I also don't own a stand mixer.  

Adding in 1/4 cup of ghiradelli unsweetened cocoa powder definitely helped bring out the chocolate flavor substantially. It also helped with the texture. Still, if one is left to supermarket quality chocolate and does not have a stand mixer, I like my molten cake recipe more...


However, to be fair, here is the cliff notes version of her original recipe--it may come out substantially better if one can buy the high quality chocolate and use an electric mixer instead of doing it by hand.


10 oz bittersweet chocolate
1 cup unsalted butter, melted
8 eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 t kosher salt
1 t vanilla extract

• Position rack in center of the oven, and heat until 400 degrees F.  Butter ramekins, pour sugar into them to coat them, then turn sugar out into the next ramekin, etc.
• Melt chocolate
• Whisk in butter until well mixed
• Use a stand mixer fitted with whip attachment and beat eggs on low speed to break them up.  Turn up speed to medium and slowly add 3/4 cup sugar.  After incorporated, beat for 6-8 minutes until mixture is thick and pale. Add salt and vanilla, and beat to incorporate.
• Pour chocolate butter mixture into eggs and beat for 1 minute or until combined.
• Remove from mixer stand and whisk vigorously by hand to make sure all of chocolate is incorporated.  Mixture will deflate but should still be frothy.
• Divide batter among mugs, filling them to within at least 1 inch of rim. 
• Mugs/ramekins can be covered tightly and refrigerated up to one day.
• Bake 20-26 minutes (on shorter side if batter is fresh).
• Edges should be firm but if you poke your finger into the center, it should be gooey.  Gooey center should be less than or equal to the size of a quarter.
• Let cakes set for 3-4 minutes.
• Run knife around edge of mug to loosen.
• Invert.

Week of December 12

Garlic roasted potatoes with cheese "fondue"
Inspired by my friends Alison and Jess's wedding that involved hors d'oeuvres that included a croquette served over a truffle cheese fondue in a shot glass...

I made garlic roasted potatoes and served them with a four cheese fondue served in a shot glass
(Parboiled diced potatoes, threw into oven with salt, pepper, and unpeeled garlic cloves and baked until golden)
(Made a roux with melted butter, whisked in flour, milk, and Trader Joe Four Cheese blemd)


Ginger mint themes:
Ginger and Mint Teat
Boiled fresh ginger with fresh mint--absolutely amazing with sugar or honey for tea


Ginger and Mint Poached Pear
Peeled a pear, cut into thirds, cored it, and then boiled it along w/ ginger mint mixture and brown sugar

Ginger Pear and Mint Gin Cocktail
Reduced ginger mint sugar mixture over high hight, added syrup to gin, topped with tonic

Reduced Ginger Pear Basalmic Vinaigrette 
Boiled part of ginger mint syrup with basalmic vinegar...kept on heat until volume was reduced.
Blended with garlic and olive oil in food processor

Grilled portobello mushrooms:
Marinade: few cloves of garlic, soy sauce, basalmic vinegar, olive oil; blended in food processor
Destemmed and washed mushrooms, marinated for an hour
George Forman Grill

Molten Chocolate Cakes: by Flour
Substituted bittersweet chocolate chips for the chocolate
Was missing pizazz...and the chocolate chips didn't have as high as a cocoa content as the recommended one...  would add additional chocolate next time or use different brand of chocolate
However, I labeled one of the ramekins with rosemary...the flavor seeped in--I am definitely in love with the chocolate rosemary combo.  Will deliberately enhance the rosemary flavor for next batch.

Potato Latkes and Homemade Applesauce

I thought I started a post when I made these on Dec 4, but evidently forgot...and now I can't remember what I did so I can do it again.  Grrrrreat.
Two potatoes
Shred 'em!
1 egg
teeny bit o' flour
fried onions
orange juice
Colander

Fry by spoonfuls


Applesauce
...great way to use apples that accidentally got left around ripe bananas and starting to get mushy.

Core and dice apples
Boil with apple cider
Delicious!!!

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/11/18/dining/20101118-sides.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/dining/10chefrex4.html

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/11/18/dining/20101118-sides-5.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/dining/081crex.html

http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/11/18/dining/20101118-sides-8.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/11/19/dining/194srex.html

Butternut squash, pecan, and currants
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/11/10/dining/10chefrex2.html

Lemon Confit Shortbread:
http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/11/16/dining/20101117-pie.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/31/dining/311lrex.html

Spicy mac and cheese with swiss chard and cornbread crumb topping

Cheese Sauce:
Used mushroom and onion base (see below)
Whisked in butter and soy milk
Added half a bag of Trader Joe's four cheese shredded mix
Added the majority of the bag of swiss and gruyere shredded mix

Separate pot:
Boiled water
Dropped in swiss chard for a few seconds and removed
Put in half a box of macaroni
Boiled until al dente

Buttered glass baking pan, poured in macaroni, swiss chard, and cheese mixture; mix well

Crumbs:

I'd saved the cutout portions of my jalapeno cornbread and frozen them; pulsed them in food processor to get crumbs

Heat butter in flat pan, pour cornbread mixture in, until golden 

Sprinkle onto mac and cheese pan

Bake at 350 for 40 minutes

Banana chocolate ganache woopie pies

Background: I hate bananas.  And yet, I never put them on my "no" list for my organic veggie box, as I think the potassium will be good for me...  I end up procrastinating on eating them, have overripe bananas, and stick them in the freezer.  Yes, it's true.  Bananas freeze well.  My roommate dropped the bag of frozen bananas I had accumulating in the freezer and I decided it was a sign to try a new banana dessert.  Having recently succumbed to the holiday cookies edition of the Martha Stewart magazine, I decided it was a great time to try the recipe for banana whoopie pies.  I didn't have cream cheese on hand, so I figured that caramel and chocolate filling would be just as good.  But then, I ran out of butter as well so I had to simply use chocolate ganache (I know, I know...it's a hard life).  I forgot the butter in the first batch and ended up with very low-fat banana cookies--not as good as the full butter cake-ish pie version but if there were not the comparison point, I dare say they were mighty good for a relatively healthy snack...  but then I went to make the real version.. and oh my my my, are they delicious!

Methods:
Banana chocolate ganache woopie pies

-c/o Martha's with slight modifications (a.k.a. I don't own a pastry bag and only have 2 mixing bowls...and I used chocolate filling in lieu of cream cheese)

2 c flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt
1/2 c mashed banana
1/2 c sour cream
1/2 c unsalted softened butter
1/2 c sugar
1/2c brown sugar
1 large egg
1t vanilla extract

Oven: 350
Ziplock bag:
2 cups flour
1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t salt

Mixing bowl A:
1/2 c banana
1/2 c sour cream

Mixing bowl B:
1. Mix until fluffy:
1 stick butter
1/2 c mashed banana
1/2 c sour cream
2. Add egg and vanilla
3. Mix in half of banana mixture
4. Mix in half of flour mixture
5. Mix in half of banana mixture
6. Mix in half of flour mixture

Put contents in ziploc bag
Cut hole in corner
pipette out 1 1/4 in rounds
Bake 12 minutes at 350
Let cool
Fill with chocolate ganache (1 c heavy cream, 1/3 bag of Ghiradelli bittersweet chocolate chips)

Results: LOVEEEEEEEEEEEEE THEM!!!!!!!!!  Ready to make these all the time!!!

Thanksgiving 2010!

THANKSGIVING 2010!
Livy's

The final cut

All items made with organic vegetables except where marked with indications of semi-homemade, purchased, or brought by guest

White Bean dip

Before: Swiss Chard 

After: Swiss chard and four cheese challah pudding

Basalmic and brown sugar butternut squash

Before: Scarlet turnips

After: Roasted sweet potato, parsnip, turnip, scarlet turnip

Four root ensemble: sweet potato, turnip, parsnip, scarlet turnip

Herbed brie croquette salad with four root ensemble

Grilled jalapeno cornbread with queso fresco

Base for Crimini mushroom, thyme and rosemary soup

the ocean waves: Crimini mushroom, thyme and rosemary soup

Wild mushroom with browned butter sauce (semi-homemade)

Scallop tartlet (TJ),
Asian shitake mushroom glutinous rice stuffing (courtesy of guest / Buddhist temple)
Swiss chard and four cheese challah pudding

Thai shrimp dumpling with crabmeat sauce (semi)

The omnivores plate:
Garlic mashed potato with wild mushroom
gravy,
Harvest vegetable biscuit stuffing,
Herbed free range turkey (WF),
Sweet potato mash

The vegetarian platter:
Sweet potato mash
Asian shitake mushroom glutinous rice stuffing
Harvest vegetable biscuit stuffing,
Garlic mashed potato
Wild mushroom gravy

Dessert Platter
Apple turnover (bought),
Jacques Torres individual chocolate indulgence
(http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jacques-torres/individual-chocolate-indulgence-cake-recipe/index.html)
Roasted honey and olive oil drizzled pear with cinnamon essence,
Miniature ginger cakelette with molten chocolate center
(http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Ginger-Cakes-with-Molten-Chocolate-Centers-and-Ginger-Creme-Anglaise-14595)
Chocolate mango truffle (courtesy of brother and Cinderella)

Crimini mushroom, thyme and rosemary soup

Just kidding with the recipe... I decided to experiment with my own thing :/  Shocking I'm sure!

Melt approximately 3 tbsp butter and 1T olive oil
Stir in crimini mushrooms, thyme, and rosemary until liquid evaporates
Add in pre-sauteed onions
Add in flour to coat
Add in a few ladles of vegetable stock
Transfer to stockpot
Add in a stockpot full of vegetable stock
Add in approximately 1 c of wine (I had malbec on hand)
Add in a parboiled potato (I boiled mine in the larger vat of vegetable stock while making mashed potatoes and borrowed one for the soup cause)
Add in rind from manchego cheese (Yes, save the rinds of manchego or parmesan for soup bases!)
Bring contents to boil
Reduce heat to simmer
Add salt to taste
Use potato masher to break up potato / thicken soup

Results: Most amazing soup ever!!!

Green Onion Jalapeno Cornbread

Green Onion Jalapeno Cornbread
(Bon Appetit and Epicurious)


I doubled the recipe.  I only had three stalks of green onion so I used what I had on hand.  I did not measure the jalapeno chile with seeds...Trader Joe's only sold them by the box.  I used three, as part of the doubled recipe.  I also did not reference the directions at the time...so... I melted the butter in a pyrex bowl in the microwave, whisked in then the buttermilk and eggs (opposite order).  




3/4 cup all purpose flour
3/4 cup yellow cornmeal
1/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup thinly sliced green onions
2 teaspoons minced jalapeño chile with seeds
1 1/4 cups buttermilk
2 large eggs
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted, cooled

Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Whisk flour, cornmeal, sugar, salt, baking powder, and baking soda in large bowl to blend. Stir in green onions and jalapeño. Whisk buttermilk and eggs in medium bowl to blend, then whisk in melted butter. Add buttermilk mixture to dry ingredients and stir just until blended (do not overmix). Transfer batter to prepared pan (batter will come only about 3/4 inch up sides of pan).

Bake cornbread until lightly browned on top and tester inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Transfer pan to rack and cool cornbread completely in pan. (Cornbread can be prepared 1 day ahead. Cover tightly with foil and store at room temperature.)

Read More http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Green-Onion-Jalapeno-Cornbread-231072#ixzz16AxRcjZI

Results: Mediocre...I'm not sure I would make the recipe again...we'll see if it's any better grilled with queso...

Chocolate ganache

I've been eating chocolate ganache all week (don't judge) and could not for the life of me find the one I had used...  finally found it!

Modifications: used the entire heavy cream container...put it it in pyrex measuring cup...heated it in the microwave....put in 8 ounces of  Bakers' semisweet chocolate bars...  continued to do a mix of heat / stir /heat / stir until it was all melted.  Be careful not to burn the chocolate.  Alright, so it's nothing like the recipe below but I found it helpful to reference approximate ratios.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Ginger-Cakes-with-Molten-Chocolate-Centers-and-Ginger-Creme-Anglaise-14595

Thanksgiving Prep...

Perfect Timing!  My favorite green box ever!

Methods

Ingredients
Onions: cut!  Note to self: wear contacts instead of glasses next time!  You'd think I was crying my eyes out!  I like to do all onions at once so then I can distribute them into various dishes without repeating the onions step...Used to pans at once and then combined the results.

Peels have been put into the strainer, carefully washed, and plopped into the large pot for veggie stock (see below).




Squash: Peels went directly into the pot.  Rest of the squash has been cut

and prepped for roasting!

Part 2: Vegetable Stock...
Background: I haven't had much luck with vegetable stock from stores...  They're always too strongly flavored so I'm trying the vegetable scrap version of making homemade stock.  I keep hearing that restaurants tend to use scraps to make their stocks.  We are going to try the veggie scrap /environmentally sound thing...worst case scenario, I'll throw the whole thing way and have wasted some water.  The nice thing about organic vegetables is that having scrubbed them well, the skins really should be flavorful and good for stock...we'll see!  I'm kind of excited to try something new.

Methods: I'm trying a combination of these:
http://www.squidoo.com/vegetable-broth
http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Vegetable-Stock-14411
http://kitchen-parade-veggieventure.blogspot.com/2009/11/how-to-cut-butternut-squash.html

olive oil, onion peel, sliced garlic (peels still on), butternut squash peels and gunk, kale stalks, thyme, black peppercorn, sea salt, some caramelized onions thus far...

Potential Thanksgiving Contestants

Hors d'oeuvres

• Jalapeno cornbread with queso fresco http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Green-Onion-Jalapeno-Cornbread-231072
• Plus a little help from Trader Joe's: Thai Shrimp Goyza and Savory Scallop Bites

Starting Course

• Roasted butternut squash soup with parmesan crisps
• Wild mushroom soup with arugula http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/bobby-flay/wild-mushroom-soup-with-arugula-and-crispy-serrano-ham-recipe/index.html
• Caramelized Pear, Arugula, and Red Lettuce Salad with Brie Fritters and Wine Dressing: http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/08/health/20101108_thanksgiving.html#0
• My hope is the latter will be akin to what my friend and I had in Budapest... the ocean waves: Europe. on a shoestring.

Main Course

• Turkey -- The omnivores are in charge of this one
• Wild Mushroom Ravioli with crabmeat and browned butter and sage sauce
• Swiss Chard and Three Cheese Bread Pudding

Side Dishes

• Squash stuffing (stuffing: http://simplyrecipes.com/recipes/buttermilk_biscuits_with_goat_cheese_and_chives/)
• Garlic mashed potatoes

Dessert

• Chocolate and ginger lava cakes
• Pumpkin chocolate cupcakes

Buttersquash soup

Adventures in saving soup!

I am in love with butternut squash soup.  Every time my coworker goes to ABP for lunch and returns back with a bowl of butternut squash or pumpkin soup, I find myself incapable of fighting against the power of the soup...and despite having brought lunch to save money, I end up finding my two little feet at the cash register of ABP paying for soup.

It is sad that I am usually too lazy to make soup myself.  Well, I finally took the effort to roast my butternut squash from my last two organic veggie batches and was proud of myself for being so motivated...I roasted the quash with a little olive oil, garlic, basalmic vinegar, and brown sugar... The squash itself was delicious, so I expected the soup to be as well.  I could not have been more wrong!  It was so sad!  As if I don't have more important things to think about, I have been driving myself nutty the last few days with trying to tinker with the soup until all items were in the perfect ratio...  On day 3, I have finally achieved success!

The final ingredients:

• 1 onion, caramelized with several cloves of garlic
• Chunked butternut squash, roasted with garlic, olive oil, basalmic vinegar, brown sugar, freshly ground peppercorn, and sea salt
• Reduced red wine
• Milk (I used soy)
• And the missing ingredients that finally made life oh so much better that I forgot about?
• Carrots!!!!!!!  Improved the texture dramatically
• Cumin
• Thyme
• Cinnamon
• 2T of butter

Finally...  perfection in a bowl!  Phew!

Gleeful entertaining

I love watching Glee with others and seeing everyone's faces and snarky commentary.  So a gaggle of gays came over last night and we had a lovely food and gleeful fusion-themed evening.

Arugula salad with pecan pralines, mandarin oranges, and reduced peppercorn, cinnamon, wine, and pear basalmic dressing

Boy choy with Roasted butternut squash and goat cheese stuffing

Peanut and sesame noodles

Chocolate ginger cake with chocolate ganache.  I used the cake recipe below without the sugar (oversight).  I didn't love the recipe and thought about throwing the cake away but the boys and roommie approved.
http://www.marthastewart.com/recipe/chocolate-ginger-cake-with-bourbon-sauce

I was feeling uninspired last night when I received my biweekly case of produce... I mean, yes, it's cheap to make soup but how many times a month can one have kale and white bean together? 

This week's list: green bell peppers, broccoli, carrots, butter lettuce, onions, pea shouts, squash, kale, apples, bananas, oranges, plums...  But just in time, these recently came up!




First, check out the NY Times Vegetarian Thanksgiving Pictures
 http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/11/08/health/20101108_thanksgiving.html


Second, check out the following: http://fiveandspice.wordpress.com/2010/10/21/cheesy-winter-squash-muffins/

Chocolate cupcakes

I went to a fundraiser for the Trevor Project that was held at Rocca. They had the most delicious fried spicy peppers that were lightly battered and salted. Mental note to try them at home some day... They reminded me slightly of the fried red chili peppers we had in Schezuan back in 2001...except, they were not intended to be an entree on their own.

They also had delightful chocolate cupcakes that reminded me of the ones that Kelly and I once made to celebrate James and Oliver's tenth anniversary. Since it was a save-worthy recipe but I still seem to spend hours re-searching epicurious every time I need it, I am recopying it here with a few modifications.  Credit goes to Ginny for finding the cupcake recipe and to Kelly for the frosting recipe...

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Devils-Food-Cake-with-Brown-Sugar-Buttercream-104574

1 cup boiling water
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
1/2 cup whole milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cups packed dark brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
4 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line muffin tin with cupcake holders.

Whisk together boiling water and cocoa powder in a bowl until smooth, then whisk in milk and vanilla. 3Sift together flour, baking soda, and salt in another bowl.
Beat together butter and sugars in a large bowl with an electric mixer until pale and fluffy, then add eggs 1 at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in flour and cocoa mixtures alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture (batter may look curdled).

Bake ~ 20 minutes

Frosting:

2 cups butter (no substitutes), softened
9 cups confectioners' sugar
2 1/2 cups baking cocoa
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup milk

Sunday afternoon food prep

Sunday afternoon food prep

Objective: create segments of meals that let me eat a variety of foods this week with minimal prep time and will help me fight the temptation to buy something on the way home.  Living in walking distance to Trader Joe's is getting dangerous.

I'm at the tail end of the produce box.  The roasted tomatoes went into sandwiches, pasta, and catalan tomato bread (see Europe pics), curried brown basmati rice, black beans and brown rice.  Plums went into drinks and snack...  Roasted cauliflower was devoured as part of salad and part tapas.  Kale went into the hash, rice, and scrambled eggs.  Potatoes went into mashed, hash, and fries (with fresh cheese).  Beets were roasted and eaten with salad and reduced basalmic one night...and Trader Joe's spicy peanut dressing on another.  Lettuce...obvi...

After ten hours of peeling, cutting, and dissecting 

I procrastinated on handling the acorn squash because I have yet to find an efficient way to peel and cut it...or deal with innards... But now that I'm out of the easy veggies, I decided to stop procrastinating.  Plus, I love squash...  just not preparing it.

This week's mix and match set:

1. Grilled pears on the George Forman: Good for salad (almost tastes like jicama).  Good for paninis.  Good as a healthy snack.  I'm sure they'd taste better with butter and sugar but I'm trying to save my sugary intake for ice cream and cake...still have leftover molten cakes in the freezer!

2. Brie (<$5)

3. Trader Joe's multigrain loaf

4. Roasted acorn squash, garlic cloves, and onion.

After dressing: olive oil, basalmic, red wine, oregano, brown sugar (LOVE using pyrex, putting on the cover, and shaking it all up to save on minimizing the use of another prep bowl!)

5. Goya white beans (on sale at Stop and Shop)

6. Eggs

7. The rest of the bag of cooked frozen shrimp I splurged on at Trader Joe's

8. Half of a sad basil plant--learned the hard way that the radiator is under the sunny window...  oops!

So far, we've made
1. Grilled panini with brie, grilled pears, and basil...definitely way less pricey than the grilled sandwich that I was tempted by at Panera's.

2. Roasted garlic white bean dip with italian herbs (half of one can of white beans, olive oil, roasted garlic from the roasting batch, sea salt, oregano, basil)



3. Squash and white bean dip (other half of the can of white beans with the roasted onions and squash)
4. Scrambled eggs with shrimp, cheese, and basil

...I still have leftover barbecue shrimp pizza with whole wheat crust (trader joe's!) that's in the freezer... looking forward to other combos... squash risotto?  squash pasta?  squash stuffing?  squash and white bean salad?

Ode to Henrietta's bread pudding

Saturday mornings

Background Saturday mornings are my favorite... there's nothing quite like lying in bed with the sun streaming through the windows, and not feeling rushed to leave the house after having selected "snooze" on my phone ten times. I once thought that having "calypso" sounds in the morning would help wake me up. Instead, I'm fairly certain that I'm now traumatized by the mental images of the Caribbean every morning that signal to me that I'm running late...

The second best part of Saturday mornings is eating breakfast at home. Last weekend, it was the chocolate chip pumpkin pancakes and the kale potato hash with eggs... This morning's adventure: a breakfast edition (a.k.a. no rum) of chocolate bread pudding with caramelized bananas. The idea came to me after having dinner with Rod and Marc. We'd gone to dinner the other night at Henrietta's Table www.henriettastable.com/ after Marc gave a lecture at Harvard on glbt youths in religious schools. As part of their weeknight "yard sale" of picking two items, we'd had dessert: Henrietta's chocolate bread pudding with caramelized bananas. We all know that I've been obsessed with bread pudding for years. I thought it was high time for making a simpler but tasty breakfast edition.

Banana bread pudding with chocolate and cherry sauce


Methods

1. Whisked (soy) milk, one egg, vanilla, cinnamon, and cherry preserves in a large glass bowl
2. Cut up / ripped up chunks of challah and tossed in bowl to coat / soak
3. Melted 1 t of butter in a skillet
4. Poured butter into large bowl of other ingredients
5. Cooked sliced bananas (from the produce box!) over medium heat.


6. Buttered a mini loaf pan
7. Tossed all ingredients in with a few chunks of bittersweet chocolate (from Trader Joe's pound plus bars)
8. Cooked at 350 degrees

Results a happy camper for a smidgeon of the costs!

Breakup drinks

Background My roommies and I had a post break-up girls' night in... also known as a good excuse to eat pie, kettle corn, drink, and watch dvr'd How I Met Your Mother episodes incessantly. Good times. It's been ages since I've had a real drink. I love Drink, a bar where you tell the bartenders what kinds of things you like and they'll mix up untraditional drinks, and Oishii, where one of the bartenders has also created incredible and amazing unique drinks. The unfortunate part about their bars is that they charge an arm and a leg for the drinks (a.k.a. Miami South Beach prices). So here's my homage to Drink and Oishii's fantastic drinks.

Here's version 1 and 2 of what I created.

Methods
Version 1: The Fall Breakup Martini

Equal parts gin and natural pomegranate soda
half a sliced plum
real vanilla extract
cinnamon stick

Review: Delicious!

Version 2: The Sweetener
Same as above with a quarter teaspoon of whole dark cherry preserves

Review: Also delicious!

In love with organic veggies

Background:
I receive a box of organic veggies and fruits from Boston Organics every other Thursday. It's wonderful because
a) I don't have to lug vegetables home from the store by foot
b) It makes me feel as if I'm loved enough to get packages in the mail (hey, so what if I paid for it myself?)
c) It forces me to eat a variety of items...but if I'm going on vacation, or if there's something I truly don't like, I can opt out of the delivery without fretting about finding a replacement
d) I get too stressed out at grocery stores by how much the produce will cost...whereas if I know I'm spending $29 every two weeks on produce, it's far easier to plan the rest of my food budget.

In any case, it's been a fun week of cooking. I tried detouring from my usual Chinese style cauliflower this week, and made roasted Cauliflower instead. It was amazing--I tossed the pieces in a little garam masala, cumin, chili powder, tumeric, and olive oil. I'd do it again in a heartbeat!

The other highlight of this week was kale potato hash. I am in love with brunch foods. My favorite place in Miami (Ice Box Cafe) used to change their menus daily based on what was seasonal. As always, I spend forever choosing between options and am always in fear of ordering the wrong item and spending my mealtime in envy of a friend's meal choice. Ever since on one such occasion, a friend ordered a meal that included kale hash, I've been intending to try it at home as well.

Methods:
Friday night:
Kale
1. Wash kale
2. Dip into salted boiling water until the leaves just turn dark green.
3. Remove from heat. Depending on supply of kale from the produce box, drain and freeze anything not planning to be eaten.

Potatoes
1. Peel potatoes, boil them until fork can go through but not mushy. (I'm lazy and just use the water still left from the kale)
2. Remove and store for the morning... if looking for a midnight snack, turn one of the potatoes into mashed potato... (not that I'd ever make comfort food in the middle of the night)

Saturday morning:
1. Grate potatoes.
2. Mix with kale
3. Pan fry in a skillet that's been coated with olive oil.


Results
It turned out far easier than I expected. I couldn't have been a happier little girl when I had them along with chocolate pumpkin pancakes... (yes the joy of home brunch is that I don't have to choose between the savory and sweet...I can have both!)

Homage to Ice Box

Cherry Almond Molten Truffle Cake

I think this might just very well be my favorite recipe I've ever created!

Methods

Participants

Cake
23 squares from Trader Joe's Pound Plus bittersweet chocolate bar with almonds
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla
1 ½ cups flour
½ teaspoon baking powder

Filling
Whole cherry preserves
Ghiradelli chocolate chips
basalmic vinegar

Procedure

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees
2. Line muffin pan with cupcake holders

1. Melt chocolate and butter in microwave--stir after first minute and then after ever 30 s--do not let chocolate burn.
2. In separate small bowl, microwave approx 1/2 cup to 1 cup of preserves and a little basalmic vinegar; when mixture is bubbling, add in chocolate chips until a chocolate fudge is formed
3. In large bowl of the chocolate butter mixture, whisk in sugar, eggs and vanilla.
4. Stir flour, baking powder and salt into the chocolate butter mixture.
5. Fill cupcake holders about 1/4 way full with chocolate cake mixture. Spoon on a teaspoon-tablespoon of cherry fudge filling. Cover with chocolate cake mixture.
6. Bake 15-20 minutes depending on oven

Results: Excellent!
Happy Canadian Thanksgiving!

<24hour trip to Vancouver...the border police thought I was highly suspicious for staying less than a day in Canada (I know...I love Canada...why wouldn't I just stay there for weeks or months?)

My grandparents took me for sushi for an early lunch at Kamei Royale... It was delicious.

Then it was onto Kelly' wedding...  a few select pictures from the 9 course vegetarian amazement at the reception at Shangri La in Vancouver...

Europe. on a shoestring.

Europe. on a shoestring.
Items to try replicating in the states...

Free gaspacho that was delicious...must. try. immediately.


Fried cheese curd with currants and red cherry sauce... I am determined to figure this one out.



Herbed goat cheese. Should be easy? ...we also had an amaaaaazing chestnut dessert that would be lovely to recreate if possible...



Last supper... I am pretty sure that Pa Amb Tomaquet is TOTALLY doable. As is sangria. As are patatas bravas. Goat cheese with a berry based sauce... fun things to try!