The Kitchen Scale

It's just a fond farewell to a friend

Some promised photos:
  My Cold Soba noodles with radish, carrots, green onion and sesame.

A lighter version of stuffed zucchini blossoms- instead of mozzarella I used light ricotta, Parmesan, and anchovy paste. Coated it in egg white and dredged it in panko then baked it.

Chocolate Marshmallow frogs inspired by and in honor of Harry Potter, a phenomenon that has truly impacted my life and the lives of many of my peers. We were so close in age to Harry when the books started and we grew up with him, as (perhaps unfortunately) cheesy as that sounds. In my mind the chocolate frogs were always filled with marshmallow, so that is what I did. I melted down a few different dark chocolates and handmade marshmallow (which is surprisingly easy). I absolutely love my chocolate frogs. If you ever need to handle  marshmallow or any sugar candy type thing keep your hands wet to prevent sticking.

So with this, it is good bye for now. I don't have the drive or desire to do this right now. I hope to return to you soon, but probably not for another month or so.

Don't forget about me though, and check back at the end of September. There will be some more pictures at the very least by then. Thank you for reading and hopefully I'll be back.

A little boost if you wouldn't mind

So. I have a couple posts in the works that I'm hoping will be exciting- one involves frogs, another involves yet another Italy memory and another involves sesame.  I'm still trying to get everything lined up and waiting for a little creativity to come my way. But first I need something from you all. It's not for me, it's for the blog.

My blog is suffering from a little low self esteem, so I... I mean it... wants to hear from you. It's your turn to abuse that little comment button. Let my little bloggy hear what you like, what you don't, who you are, or feel free to even leave a threat if you like (Foff, I'm looking at you). I don't care what you say, just say something. The silence is deafening, except for the occasional cricket noise. Even if you discover this post weeks after its posted the blog would still like to know who is reading.

Ethiopian Food: The Sequel

So when I made Ethiopian food a couple weeks ago I had some left over Berbere spice blend and decided to make some tasty mushrooms. (I had also gone to a farmers' market and gotten a pound of shitake mushrooms for $7.00.)

Its a pretty simple recipe. So simple I'm not even going to give you measurements.
Quarter a bunch of mushrooms (remember they shrink)
Chop up some onion
Dice up some garlic
Throw all of that into a moderately heated pan that has been greased with pam or butter (this is such a simple recipe that I really suggest the butter).
Don't mess with it while it caramelizes and cooks, shove it around occasionally, but remember the more you mess with them the less tasty they will be.
A few minutes before they're done add in a splash of vegetable or chicken stock and let it reduce. When you add in the stock add in the berbere spices and a little more paprika if you like the heat. Finish cooking and if you feel so compelled you can add in a handful of grated Parmesan. But that is completely optional.

"How's your Gag Reflex?"

Tonight one of my friend Vanilla Bean and I went to one of our favorite restaurants- Tamarind Tree . It is such a great restaurant and this is the second time we've been there (perhaps premature to call it one of our favorites, but the first time we went with a few other people and got to try a lot and it was all fantastic). This time we went I wanted their spicy noodles; however, the waiter told me no. Apparently it's too fishy... I don't know where he got that from, but I trusted him. Even though I was a little annoyed because spicy noodles sounded really good.

So I ended up getting stuffed grilled squid. It was good. Almost an acquired taste at first, but I really liked it. I really wanted dessert though, so when we got the menus I noticed all the great ice cream flavors they have- roasted coconut, taro, black sesame, ginger, pandan, and durian.  I have never had durian before, even though I have wanted to for a while now.  Durian is just so bad ass. It terrifies some people and is banned from a lot of public places. However, since this was my first durian experience I wanted to make sure I would have some other flavor to help clear my palate. Luckily the menu offered a sampling of four of the ice creams. I chose two of my favorites taro and coconut. And I had to get the durian so I picked the ginger to hopefully be strong enough to balance out the durian if needed. It was like my emergency parachute. When I told the waiter what I wanted he looked at me like I was stupid or crazy or both. I don't claim not to be either, but I knew I wanted to try it.

Finally our desserts come and Vanilla Bean happily digs in to her flan. And the waiter tells me that he can't visually tell the difference between the ginger and the durian ice creams and wished me luck. So I poked at the ginger and durian ice creams and sniffed them. No odor, which is supposed to be the worst part about the durian fruit, so already I feel a little less bad ass and a little more thankful. So I took a small bite of one of the creamy white scoops. It was a very spicy ginger and it was amazingly vibrant. So that meant the other one was the durian. I took a small bite and I was waiting for the hit of durian potency. It tasted faintly of vanilla and was super creamy. Then it hit me. The aftershock. Not taste mind you, shock. It was onion and garlic that had been out in the dumpster for several hot summer days. It wasn't candy, but it wasn't the worst taste ever. Except that I feel like it traveled through out my body. It was an odd sensation.

Vanilla Bean saw that I didn't die and wanted to try it to. Of course I would share my durian ice cream with her, I would share durian ice cream with anyone. As she was about to take her bite it occurred to me to ask her how her gag reflex is because it is a little shocking. But she handled it like a champ. Now I gave the durian ice cream the necessary second bite (this time bigger). And it tasted better the more I ate it. This is not to say that I finished it. But I tried because for one thing it was pretty good and for another thing I wanted to prove to the waiter I could handle it. That is such a stupid idea by the way. Anyway I ate almost all of it and swirled some of it with the ginger to make it a bit... smoother going down. And of course the taro was nutty and delicious. And the roasted coconut was perhaps the best coconut ice cream I have ever had. To be honest though, an hour and a half after I'm still occasionally burping durian. But it wasn't that bad. It was a good introduction and I feel a little bad ass now.

Reflection in a Dragee

After my last post I was sitting back on my couch, proud of finally posting again and thinking about desserts and personality.  I know in the last post I spoke rather harshly about decked out desserts and I wanted to elaborate on my dessert stance. I don't like a plate cluttered with decorations and sauces. However, I do like a drag queen-esque cake. Brightly colored fondant and crystals galore, its a funny cake and a fun cake. But its about balance. If the fondant is bright orange and purple with a pearly sheen and crystals hanging off of it then thats one thing (right now I'm thinking Charm City Cakes, or the wobbly cakes that look like they are going to tip over). It's another thing if it's the same cake with roses, pinwheels, and blown sugar figurines. I'm sure someone could make it work, but its just too much.

For me there are two distinct dessert camps. The first is the rustic, simple, elegant dessert. It's classy and unfussed with. In my mind its the simple black dress and completely honest. Like a classic, glamorous movie star- Hepburn perhaps. It fits everyone and isn't pretentious and has an instant comfort effect. There may be a small bauble or flourish with the dessert, like a well thought out accessory. It doesn't steal focus, it may draw attention or break up what could be monotony, but it isn't over done.

The other camp is the fun, whimsical almost drag queen camp. I don't know why, but lately I have been in love with a certain aspect of the drag queen spirit. Fun loving and larger than life. Subtlety is unnecessary and the cakes that channel this are honestly fun and are on the sparkly side of balance. All I can think of is pure fun (and I know I keep running back to the word fun, but for me thats what it's all about), maybe a little retro or kitsch. These desserts are about a seven foot tall glamazon in the Audrey Hepburn dress (except this time in red) with a pair of fierce heels and decked out in some sparkly jewelry. Over the top fun. Not excess by any means. But still over the top.

I don't know if this made sense to you, but it does for me!

Dedication and a new relationship

I have failed you all horribly. My absence was due completely out of laziness and a general lack of creativity. I should have forced myself to blog, to fill you in on all the exciting and not so exciting things that I have been cooking and baking and melting and reforming and well you get the idea. I should have cobbled together some meager words for you.

I have not forgotten you. How could I? I know most of you and have seen many of you in the past month, perhaps because my readers thus far are comprised of people I know and have witnessed some of the things I have made lately (and eaten) I don't feel like I have to document it.  But I do! And I should. And I will. Prepare yourself for a deluge of posts, or at least a light sprinkling. As I am rededicating myself to you and to me. This all seems like a good first step to a rather healthy blogging relationship, doesn't it?

Now to make the first step (because after all that lovely little paragraph is all good and well, but not very informative). I am going to tell you a little more about me. This has been an issue I have struggled with because for me I am already letting you know so much of me and the internet can be a little... well you know. But after a debate with my mother in the car about how much to tell and how to handle things I figure that anyone who reads this and knows me will be able to figure it all out quite easily and I am trying to censor myself as little as possible these days, so more information about me is what you shall get.

You may not have noticed that I mentioned Seattle in my last post and that is where I live most of the time for school. In fact I am back in Seattle this very minute. My sister is in New York  City (most of the time), so I may blog from there on occasion. And one of my brothers is in Portland, OR. So you will hear from me there too. However, if I'm not in Seattle there is a good chance I am home with my parents in a small town in Northern California.

One of my favorite things about NorCal and California as a whole are the farms. I love driving down to SoCal and passing Gilroy and getting the instant hit of Garlic. I grew up with agriculture land around me- tomatoes, rice, corn, sunflowers, orchards, almonds, strawberries, etc.  And we have one of the best farmers' markets in California, this may just be my opinion but it is fantastic.

When I was home a while ago there were two newer additions that are now my new favorite booths at the market. First is Flour Chylde . My mom and I were wandering through, not planning on stopping at this new booth but then the man said, "Want a free sample of chocolate cake?" It was like a siren call and my mom and I couldn't resist the sample. Sample would become the word of the day.

My mom and I deliberated for a while and we settled on these three. We asked for the Chocolate, Vanilla, and Lemon Coconut. We did not get those though. When we got home we discovered that we received the chocolate, a vanilla caked with strawberry preserves and a lemon cake. (Just so you know these are "individual" cakes, not whole giant cakes.)

I was disappointed at first, but the vanilla cake is amazing. It is how I aspire to bake. They use the best ingredients and leave the cakes simply pure and rustic. Some people compensate their desserts with glazes, flowers, pulled sugar, little sprigs of whatever, shavings of this, stencils of that, tuiles and sugar cages that are unnecessary. These all have their places, I suppose, but I like rustic and simple and if you put a pansy on top of a slice of cake sitting in a puddle of raspberry caramel dribble with shards of hot pink sugar glass and dragees embedded in it like a war torn country I will hate the dessert. It could be life changing but I will hate it. Pick one. (As a side note I thought the plating of the desserts in No Reservations was as complicated as it could get, there is so much to be said for the elegance of simplicity. And yes they even used a sugar cage.)

Back to the dessert. The vanilla cake is flecked with vanilla bean and given a fantastic texture due to almond flour/meal. It was fantastic and I must learn it's secrets (the man told me his wife would kill him if he gave away the recipe...)

One last look at the cakes before I move on. From left to right: Chocolate Torte, Vanilla with Strawberries, and Lemon.

The next booth we went to was heaven in booth form. It was a booth of Bolanis and sauces (spreads mostly and pestos). The Bolani Man gave me sample after sample. "Lasagna" (basil pesto, sun dried tomato pesto, mint and garlic cheese). His old favorite. His new favorite. This spread with that spread. The other spread with this spread. That spread plain. That spread with the other two spreads. Or perhaps this combination. I had at least a dozen samples. I am not exaggerating too, as some women are prone to do. If anything I am not doing my abundance of samples justice. It was amazing. And I learned something important about myself, if you feed me you will have my devotion forever, or until next week's farmers' market and a whole new batch of samples.

  Mmm blurry bolanis. A Bolani is a flat bread and in this case it is filled with spinach. It is absolutely amazing and compact. It tastes richer than it claims to be and is an amazing snack. And if I had even an ounce of bolani patience then they would probably also be amazing toasted. Maybe next time.

  And with that m'dears I hope this has made up for some of my absence.