Orange curd and an overcooked cake

In an attempt to use up left over egg yolks I made a custard, or a curd to be exact, and then an orange curd to be even more exact. But this stuff is like jam on steroids (it is used in jam like situations) and I coulden't decide what to use it for...I closed my eyes and though really hard and settled on cake.

One of the worst things in this world is an over cooked cake. Who wants to overindulge in the empty calories of a dry cake? I was fooled by a pale crust and ...*gulp* over cooked my cake *sobs*. Never trust the color of the cake! Always test your cake with a toothpick or sharp knife (it should come out clean when cooked) or your finger by pressing lightly on the cake (it should spring back and not leave a dent when done) I suppose you could test by temperature as well, but these methods are better suited for cake.

Custards and custardy pies should be shaken to see if they ripple in the middle. If it is still liquid in the center then it needs more time, it should be firm when done (except where Carryover Cooking is accounted for).

Speaking of custards, a curd is a thick pudding-like type of custard that is made with eggs (or sometimes just egg yolks), butter, sugar, citrus juice, and citrus zest. Lemon curd is most common and is easier to find then the lime, or in my case, orange curd. Curds can be found in the jelly or spreads section of your grocery store. But I highly discourage you from buying it when you can so easily make your own. I used Alton Browns recipe (of course) found in his sequel book I'm Just Here For More Food.

Orange Curd
by Alton Brown

• 5 egg yolks
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup orange juice from 1 fresh squeezed orange (add water or additional OJ if short of a 1/3 cup)
• 1 Tablespoon orange zest, from the orange, do not forget this!
• 1 stick butter

whisk eggs and sugar together for at least 4 minutes, combine juice and zest and then whisk in to egg/sugar mixture, over a double boiler whisk the mixture for 8-12 minutes, when thickened remove from heat and add butter a tablespoon at a time, and finally chill for 4 hours before serving. This keeps for 2 weeks in the fridge.

The cake was (or should I say 'would have been') excellent. Yogurt Cake is a staple in French households and is so easy to make, it compliments this orange curd (or lime or lemon curd for that matter) perfectly.

With the cake I wanted something to balance out the over sweetness, richness, and artery clogging goodness of the curd. Here you go!

Gâteau au Yaourt (Yogurt Cake) first pubished on Chocolate and Zucchini provided by
http://foodmusings.typepad.com/food_musings/2005/10/recipe_clotilde.html

• 1 cup of whole milk
• plain unsweetened yogurt
• 2 eggs (or egg substitute)
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 TBSP baking powder
• 1 TBSP light rum (goes even better with lime curd)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• Preheat the oven to 350° F. Butter and flour a round ten-inch cake pan. In a large mixing-bowl, gently combine the yogurt, eggs, sugar, and flour. Add in the oil, baking powder, rum and vanilla and mix again. The batter may not quite absorb all the liquid, but that's okay -- don't overwork it. Pour the batter into prepared cake pan and bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Let stand for ten minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool.

  chocolate or chocolate-yogurt cake would also work great for the orange curd.

Here: http://neverbashfulwithbutter.blogspot.com/2007/12/lime-curd-and-sour-cream-cake-little.html I found a great lime curd cake which uses sour cream insted of yogurt. Some rum would be great with this too. :)

I also found a great recipe here;http://alpineberry.blogspot.com/2007/08/lemon-curd-cake.html This recipe is unlike most curd cakes...curd cakes *laugh*...anyway, this recipe is unlike most curd cakes in that the curd is not layered between the cakes but incorperated into the batter.Yum.

Anyway once you know how to make one curd you've virtually made them all... so get going!

Merry Christmas!!!

Today has been a blast! I got many goodies for Christmas, I am so blessed to have such amazing parents and other fabulously new material items. I got...hmmm..a new camera...it kicks $&% in so many ways and it kicks my old camera out of the stratosphere. It has ten times better focus, picture quality, battery life, video, and other features. I also got shoes, clothes, money, gift cards, and two kitchen accessories; a new rice cooker and waffle iron!!! YES! I swear I have been dieing for a new rice cooker. I broke mine in a previous accident trying to make bread...in the rice cooker. Also I was a little surprised when I got the waffle iron, because I wasn't expecting it but I sure was happy when the waffles came out so much better than store bought brand waffles. I made a really large batch (at least 32 waffles) and froze half of it for toasting later. Riding my sweet potato wave (veiw last post for other sweet potato recipes) I made sweet potato waffles with orange zest and shredded carrot, to complete the beta carotene overdose.

Sweet Potato Waffles
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show:
Good Eats
Episode:
Potato, My Sweet

1 1/2 cups peeled and cubed sweet potatoes 2 cups all purpose flour 1 tablespoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon salt 6 egg whites, at room temperature 1 cup milk 1/4 cup firmly packed light brown sugar 1/4 cup butter, melted 1 tablespoon grated orange rind Vegetable spray, for waffle iron
Special equipment: steamer basket and waffle iron
Put cubed sweet potatoes in a steamer basket. Place the basket in a large pot of simmering water that is no closer than 2 inches from the bottom of steamer. Allow potatoes to steam for 20 minutes of until fork tender. Mash cooked potatoes and set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt and set aside. In another bowl combine the sweet potatoes, milk, brown sugar, butter, and grated orange rind. Stir the sweet potato mixture into the flour mixture and thoroughly combine. Beat egg whites until stiff peaks form. Gradually fold egg whites into batter 1/3 at a time. The batter will be thick. Using a No. 20 disher (scoop), place 2 scoops of batter onto a preheated, oiled waffle iron, and cook until lightly browned, about 5 to 6 minutes.

Merry CHRISTmas!

This is a picture of my Christmas tree...Cool huh?

Do I have to say it? "Its about Christ and the spirit of giving!" There you go. Now on to the food. This years Christmas was (I shouldn't say was, as its still Christmas Eve...pathetic woman blogging on Christmas Eve) sort of like a wannabe Thanksgiving. We did Turkey instead of Ham and had all the works; stuffing, nasty cranberry jelly, mashed potatoes, and I was a little disappointed that I was once again pushed to the side while cooking dinner (I was very "ornery" about it and I made it very clear to my mother...sorry mom). I mean come on! First Thanksgiving then Christmas?? Oh well, my aunt and all of my other relatives are slowly realizing my cooking genius (kidding) so next year I will probably on top of everything.

My small addition to the Christmas menu was pleasantly appreciated though. I made "Alton Brown" Chipoltle sweet potatoes (they were really yams). I have found if you can get passed the heat, peppers have really amazing flavors. I'm an avid fan of peppers now and what better time for spicy foods then winter right? (Be expecting a pepper post soon!) Here is the recipe!


Chipotle Smashed Sweet Potatoes
Recipe courtesy Alton Brown
Show:
Good Eats
Episode:
Potato, My Sweet

2 large sweet potatoes (I used yams), peeled and cubed 2 tablespoons unsalted butter 1 whole canned chipotle pepper in adobo sauce, chopped 1 teaspoon adobo sauce from can of peppers 1/2 teaspoon salt
Put cubed potatoes into steamer basket and place steamer into a large pot of simmering water that is no closer than 2 inches from the bottom of basket. Allow to steam for 20 minutes or until the potatoes are fork tender. Add butter to potatoes and mash with potato masher. Add peppers, sauce, and salt and continue mashing to combine. Serve immediately.

(Just so you know orange peel or juice might also go well with sweet potato/yams)

Any way I can't believe its Christmas! I keep having to remind myself its here! I should probably go to bed.....*Squeal* Santeee Clause! Also I'm getting behind on my blog. My ideas are coming to fast to keep up with. Look forward to these themes for new posts!

• Chowder (TV show)
• Peppers (Spicy!)
• Kraut (the sour kind "har har")
• Sushi (I've got to do it sometime!)
• More Bento
• More XMAS!

Christmas Blues or..The Attempt to Reestablish My Diet

Christmas kills. It kills my thighs, it kill my arms, and worst of all it kills my middle. I have had...at least 3 cookies today, plus cake, and 2 dinners. I am not happy. There is too much food that circulates during the holidays. The seasons are a great metaphor for how in the spring we are fresh and free and diet minded and slim and how we very much like to keep that for the summer. Then its all good in the fall...BUT WAIT! Thanksgiving creeps up behind you and literally stuffs you with stuffing. From then on its a snowball down hill right through Christmas. I haven't even finalized my Christmas dinner plans! I have got one week to grasp the reigns of my diet or I'm never going to keep new years resolutions. That's right people, it's time for some diet KNOWLEDGE!!!

We have all heard these tips before and it pretty much common knowledge but it bears repeating. (I'm not a dietitian just so you know, this is as I have said, common knowledge)

1. Most people are judged of their weight around the middle. Problem areas for women are where "Christmas Kills" (see above) as in the thighs, arms, and belly. So if you want to look slim and trim go do some Pilate's and work those abs!
2. The sad fact is working the target areas can only only do so much. The key is to get general exercise such as walking, running, swimming, and so on.
3. Then there is eating right. This includes watching fats (see below) and portion control. There is nothing wrong with reading the nutrition facts (though I can't promise you that you won't look obsesed if you do it in public) it is good to see what the portion sizes are and so you can easily keep track of calories.
4. Know how much you should be eating. I found a cute mathmatical equation for seeing how many calories you would need to comsume to maintain your weight. Just times your weight by 11. Its very simple just add or subtract calories by how much you exercise or how much weight you want to loose. For exsample if I weigh 130 pounds (I wish) I could eat 1430 calories to maintain that but depending on how much exercise (or how amazing my metabolism is)I get I could easily eat an average 1500-2000 calories a day.
5. Know your fats. Good fats are unsaturated; Mono- and poly-. Bad are saturated and trans-. Good fats include oils in fish and nuts as well as conola and olive oils (most good fats are liquids). Bad would include the solid fats like butter.

The reason so many people are diet depressed during the holidays is because as I stated earlier there is so much food, and most of it is not that great for you. Also as the temperature drops people are less likey to exercise as they are hauled up in their houses. I encourage you to get a jump start on that New Years resolution by eating well and exercising.

That Melting Feeling; The Sweet Stench of Defeat

Life sunk my battle ship in 2 ways exactly (I may change my mind). First my class lost Penny Wars (It was RIGGED!) and my ice cream failed...its not easy making ice cream. Lets start from the beginning. Meet my ice cream maker.

Say hello to the people!...well...anyway its got a bowl with "liquid whatever" in it that hardens in the freezer so there is no need for salt to keep the ice cream cold. Very Handy. But the small size is prone to overflowing and the bowl never seems cold enough at the end of a 25 minute churning cycle. Alas it doesn't always produce amazing consistency but I did find my last to batches come out rather smooth.

I desided to go for White Chocolate Peppermint and German Chocolate. I ran into some obstacles though. I got over the first hump well enough, as this was the first time I used eggs in my ice cream. Blessed am I that my eggs didn't curdle. Both batches came together smoothly and they spent time in the fridge to chill.

First batch to hit the ice cream maker was the Peppermint. All went well and when put into the freezer results were a positive. All was not so dandy for the German Chocolate. It was a larger batch so it overflowed making a huge mess which is probably why it didn't freeze as well as the Peppermint (the outside of the tub froze first and was fine but the inner icecream was too icey).

after 2 days I got to scooping.



This was messy as the first try was not cold and the ice cream melted quick but I remembered to put the second tray in the freezer so as you can see my second batch was fine. The most difficult part was the mochi. It be really handy if I could stop time because then the ice cream wouldn't melt as I tryed and failed to get it into the sticky mochi. I ended up with mochi and a lot of ice cream that was supposed to be pretty and in my classmates bellies. Oh well.

Bento Mission Complete!

Boy was I decieved by the big Asian food store downtown! I was convinced I coulden't get a cute bento box for AT LEAST less than 10 bucks. I have been proven wrong multiple times now. Twice at the HT market and once at Daiso (the Japanese dollar store).

My first real bento (I'm prone to having faux japanese experiences) was from the HT Mart, a pink three tierd beauty that has been mentioned before (I think) in a previous post. It only cost me 8 dollars but isn't used too often as...pues..it's huge so its good for days when you are going to share with your friends. I've used it also for when I was doing a cooking project for class and I needed a cute container ( it held little mini spanakopitas [Greek]). Its not fancy but definatly gets noticed because of its size. Its sort of annoying to assemble though.



My second bento box was from Daiso and it cost me 4 dollars. I really like that it has latches on its sides as many bentos fall apart REALLY easy and have no way to stay closed, this of course equals an easy mess. Some have a funky elastic band you can put around them but I LUVE the latches.

I really loved this bento! It was just onigiri with furikage, pickled daikon, and some granny smith apples with caraway seeds. This bento is two layered but the top layer is just a little compartment for chopsticks which it came with (yay!) but I didn't need to use for this lunch.

My third bento is new and unused so I have no nummy picture for you but I do have this one...

This is possibly the cutest bento box ever! Its a bowel shape for soups/currys/whatever and comes with an adorable little spoon! It covered head to tow with angelic and bunny inspired cuteness! This was $3.50.

Penny Wars and an Ice cream Party

So my school is doing a fund raiser called penny wars where each class puts in penny's and the winner is the one who has the most...or the least negative, for you see that if one class is too far ahead you can put in silver coins that subtract how ever many penny's the coin is worth...now I thought my classmates wouldn't care and wouldn't waste their money on this but wow, was the game successful. The coins were just counted today so we don't have a definite winner, but the winning class was promised an ice cream party as so I told my classmates if we lost I would make them all ice cream anyway...now that's a way to waste money!

Anyway I have been brainstorming and I thought to myself what would be a clean way to go about it??? Then it hit me, Ice cream Daifuku (I've also heard it called ice cream mochi so I'm not sure which one is right)! In other words I would serve the ice cream in perfectly shaped little balls surrounded in a carb fest of mochi (rice cake mixture of glutinous rice flour, sugar, and water). Daifuku is usually mochi filled with an (red bean paste) but I have had really great ice cream daifuku from the HT mart and it's also really trendy at sushi restaurants like Blue C sushi ( a conveyor belt sushi shop in Seattle).



I asked what flavors I should make and I got a really positive responce about Peppermint (it is the season!). I'm thinking about doing a poll or just posting up ideas on the bullitan board and seeing what my class thinks.

Some Ideas;

• Banana and walnut
• Peppermint (festively colored of course) or eggnog
• Mango cardamom cheesecake
• Rose or lavender
• Pineapple coconut
• German chocolate (with pecans and coconut)
• Black sesame (traditional for ice cream daifuku)
• Black walnut (I have lots of walnuts)
• Pear and pecan (Hagan Dazs makes the most best greatest awsomest pear ice cream)

HT Market, Daiso, and my Bento Madness.

I'm signifigantly frusterated with Blogspot because I can't put up videos or slideshows, I probably can't put up music either. I guess this blog shall forever rely on text and a plethora of pictures. And so the story goes...

When I learned they had closed down Larry's Market on Aurora I was dismayed. Then my dismay was quickly overcome with pure bliss when I learned that the store was to be replaced with an HT Market. So I go...and my observations are as such...Its incredibly inenxpensive. I got my first bento box there (a pink circular triple layer bento) for $5. The produce is "organic" in quality but it doesn't matter because I only get stuff I can't get at my overpriced QFC, like persimmons to make my Persimmon cookies.

I don't know about their seafood but I know they have great meat cuts and an amazingly large selections of frozen seafood. While HT Mart is to Uwagimaya in the way that a store like Safeway is to QFC in terms of atmosphere, it is still a lot closer to my house. Uwagimaya also trumps HT market in the fact that is has a lot more selection, the produce is nicer, they have crazy good candy, they have a food court, and a bookstore. Sorry HT Mart.


On to Takoyaki. Wanting to mak it and then that want was rekindled by watching a takoyaki videos on youtube. Oh my word I should go see if they have premade takoyaki at HT Market!*freaks out for a good 5 seconds* I was denied my takoyaki pan at Daiso and I already know they don't sell them at the HT Mart...though it wouldent hurt to look again. I could by a Abelskiver pan or a "puffy pancake" pan but they cost around $30, besides the lady at Daiso said I could get one for like 3-6 dollars though they were sold out when I went there.



Speaking of Daiso, my mom told me of the new store, Daiso, at the Alderwood mall. It's virtually a Japanese dollar store, or to be more acurate a Japanese $1.50 store. I was so looking forward to going and when I did I wasn't dissapointed. I was dissapointed that I spent $20 but I did buy a lot. Yay for bentos!



This post, as it relates to things Japanese is available on my other blog.

Thanksgiving!

Thanksgiving…If my family was a little more “togetherly” (for lack of a better word…that’s what they have that new My Word Coach DS game for [read more about this in my other blog]) then Thanksgiving might mean more than food. But my families’ problems are not your problems; they’re mine, so I’m not going to blab about that. Besides you’re here to read about food, not the common American families troubles…if anyone is here to read at all (wow, I AM cynical today!).



So! My family and I went to my Aunts for Thanksgiving, as is tradition, while the rest of my distant relatives were in Maine. I had a good time and I left the table not feeling like my stomach was going to implode (thats a first). I was really disappointed that I didn’t get to cook Thanksgiving dinner this year…I’m stuck on Christmas dinner duty which is a whole lot harder to plan (and more expensive, $40 for a leg of lamb). But nun the less, on to Christmas!

The Bagel is Holy

Bagels are Jewish, yep, and they have got me thoroughly interested in Kosher food (but thats another blog). I resently tryed my hand at bagel making. Whats that you say? "A Seattle bagel??? Blasphemy!" Well your right, it wasn't great, or good, but it was okay for a first go. There are always things to improve on! Anyway it was a fairly invogorating project...I always make it my duty to do research on whatever I'm making.



And of course the art of bagel making is disputed. The way to shape your bagel, what to boil the bagel in, and the temperature and time of cooking the bagel are different depending the recipe you look at. I used the recipe from my bread maker. The dough was great (thanks bread maker makers!) but the cooking instruction left the bagels too pale (it was ugly in general but that was mostly my fault). I think I should try boiling my bagels in caramel water or barley malt syrup as the bagel was lacking a little in sweetness.

There are also Montreal bagels (tambien). "In contrast with the New York-style bagel, the Montreal bagel is smaller, sweeter and denser, with a larger hole, and is always baked in a wood-fired oven. It contains malt, egg, and no salt, and is boiled in honey-sweetened water before being baked in a wood-fired oven, whose irregular flames give it a random dappled light-and-dark surface colour. There are two predominant varieties: black-seed (poppyseed), or white-seed (sesame seed). Some purists object to any variation on this theme, though most bagel bakeries now offer many additional varieties (including Matzah-like flat breads)." I got all this information from wikipedia! (I couldn't source that tidbit gracefully forgive me)

As I well know by now I love variety and can’t wait to try new combinations, toppings, and spreads, but at the same time I should be able to enjoy a good bagel plain (but still with butter because butter makes everything better!).

As stated by Jim Berman on cheftalk.com (note the graceful citation)“Variety matters, as my students are quick to point out, "hey chef, there are more flavors than vanilla," when I go on a tirade about how overlooked vanilla is equated with plain. Oscar Wilde gave us wisdom in "the world would be a boring a place if we all shared the same sense of humor." I agree. Variety is, after all, proverbially speaking the spice of life. Except with bagels. The best bagel is the plain bagel. In all seriousness, when trying a new pizza joint, you do yourself a disservice by sampling the first slice garbed in mushrooms, onions, pepperoni and sweet peppers. The real experience comes from taking in the flavor of the sauce, cheese and crust. The same goes for bagels. Sure, there are countless shmears, smears and spreads. And a little cream cheese does well to accent the flavor of a good bagel. But, why mask the real flavor of a bagel with some horrific concoction? Fear the sundried tomato and pesto bagel. Run the opposite direction of the rosemary and olive roll with the hole.”

Adventures of Couscous Girl and Feta Cheese Man

Okay so there's no Feta Cheese Man but there is a Couscous Girl and she is loving her couscous. I recently tried couscous again for the sake of a mediteranian style recipe. While I managed to slaughter the recipe with chicken granules and precooked flashfrozen fish as well as some wonderfully bitter green olives the couscous was great. I had a previous adversion to the stuff but now its just like little pasta (which is what it is) and maybe even better. Its cooking method is unusual as Couscous is steamed not boiled. It keeps it's texture really well and can be used in place of pasta or rice and is very common in Medditeranean cuisines such as Greek or in Morocco.

Currently I have only tried two recipes one of my "inventions";Couscous with bell papper pesto and feta cheese



AHH MY EYES! TOO BRIGHT!


I also made a Couscous cherry yougurt pudding (recipe courtesy Alton Brown)...I ate it before I took the picture.

News for yous

Do I even need to tell you I haven't posted in forever (its obvious by looking at the dates)? So Junior year is really hectic but vollyball season is offically over today (26th of october, it countinues for varsity) so I hopefully can relax (only a teeny bit) about school work. The thing is I should be doing my homework insted of blogging. I have a ton to do over the weekend. I don't like lugging around huge books but I really like writing big papers. Its fun because were given a lot of room to decide what we want to do. For my Spanish class Quarter project I am writting about my trip to Costa Rica and the amazing food I had there. I got a little sick of rice and black beans but over all the food was great. I'll post the essay later. I'm also doing a report for Western Civilization class. I'm calling it "Olive Oil: A History of Greek Foods". I will make a dish for both classes as well. Like I said in the 3rd essay thats due this week (like I said lots of homework);

"I really love it when I can fully express my niches, hobbies, passions, joys, interests, or whatever in a school project. It’s like getting rewarded for liking something and being yourself. Loving what you’re working on seems to make the process go much faster (even though in reality you take twice as long on the project because you actually care about it) and the end result seem much more satisfying."

I also said (for the intrest af telling you a little about me)"My interests really haven’t changed that much, I have changed back and forth on what I want my future career choice to be and maybe added a couple hobbies to my arsenal but more or less I’m still crazy about anything art/music related; manga, anime, drawing, videogames, broadway, singing, and acting, as well as cooking, and volleyball (probably the only sport I really like). You will probably also notice I like to list things (I get that from my OCD) and put a lot of parenthese in my writing."

So look forward to these essays! I'll probably post some old ones too! (On second thought maybe I shouldent...but I will anyway! Who wants to plagerise my middle school paper anyway?)

Update on Fish and Chips...not really

So I haven't posted in a while, (you are going to get used to hearing this just like I got used to seeing it writen in my journal) but I have exciting news (like anyone would care since I doubt anyone actually reads my blog)! I went thriftstore shopping with my friend and I found a cute Breadmaker which I purchased for....da da da dum...$5! Yay! So, it is a really nice one too! It can make not only basic breads, but has a whole wheat setting, a setting to make dough for pastries that can't be cooked in the bread maker (ex, bagels, doughnuts, croissants), a jam, and cake setting! It has a timer so I can exspect bread in the morning if I throw in the ingredients the night before. Very nifty. It comes with a plethora of recipes and saves me a load of time. Its not even bad at the actual cooking of the bread like many machines that people only use for kneading and proofing.

But enough ranting over my wonderfull machine. I also must tell you I have been indulging in my love of fish. Yep. My father is A-Lerg-ic so I don't get to eat it much but If I have the time I grab a single serving at the store. I must tell you I have found nice Bobby flay recipe and I improvised one of my own!

White Fish w/ Coconut Cilantro Lime Sauce

Sauce:
1/2 can unsweetened coconut milk
2 tablespoons sweetened cream of coconut (recommended: Coco Lopez)
1/4 cup fresh or bottled key lime juice
1 serrano chile, coarsely chopped
1-inch piece ginger, peeled and chopped
2 teaspoons finely chopped fresh lime zest
1 cup canola oil
1/4 cup unsweetened dried coconut
1/4 cup chopped cilantro leaves
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

I left out the rest of the recipe which was originally swordfish skewers because I used a whole fillet of Ling cod insted. I just cooked the fish and put all of the sauce ingredients in the blender (except the cilantro which I added after blending) then plated and poured the sauce on top of the fish. (don't forget garnish!)

If you want the real recipe go here
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_35104,00.html?rsrc=search

Heres my improve fish

Quickee on Kim bap

So I broke my rice cooker trying to make bread in it because I refused to use to use my brain after 5 pm (like many Americans who can't even give a decent Baskin Robbins order [cup or cone?]) and held down the switch till I burned out the fuse because by holding down the switch the temperature of the cooker kept increasing until well.....nothing....no firey explosion or *zap* *Snap* *Crackle* *Pop* *sizzle* whatever. I just turned to see how the bread was doing (as I was carfully watching it by sitting next to it, in case of emergency) and the lights were out and frankly nothing worked. I don't know how to break open a rice cooker to fix a fuse so we just threw it out. I have yet to get another.

Anyway because we have no cooker I am convinced that any rice made will taste mediocre. But I made me some Kimbap anyway....unfortunatly I forgot to take a picture. but here are some shameless plugs to Kimbap related sites.

http://www.aromacookery.com/aromacookery/2005/07/kimbap.html

http://gothamist.com/2006/01/10/street_eats_kim.php

Am a really a bad cook or is it just me being hard on myself that I think the food I make doesn't taste as good as the origonal. In this case it is justified because I had some really great kimbap at this sort of gross (in a just 'barely passed health inspection' kind of way) market but it wwsa VERY good. Okay I know that is a really bad justification but what I mean is that it is hard to make. My boss who is Korean gave me a long lecture on the dificulty on making kim bap. I am now humbled as mine tured out good but not great....It didn't help that I was being picky about recipes so I didn't use one... I will try again later and give you picture and recipes to go by on...

EDIT*

Added pictures of my favorite Kimbap from a Korean market near Jo-anns!

Pickles #2

So I made some more pickles....I'm starting to get sick of them...I'm not a huge pickles fan so...I still havent made watermellon rind pickles which look very complicated and time consuming by what I've seen. I have on the other hand made daikon and curry cauliflour pickles. I'm going to use the daikon pickles to make kim pap (kim bap, kim pop, whatever), which is like Korean sushi...too bad I broke my rice maker (trying to make that bread I talked about in my breakfast post) I'll have to make the rice on the stove.

Baskin Robbins

SO! I have told you I work at Basken-Robbins in other posts but I never gave you the full details. So I started two weeks ago and the hardest parts were the cash register and getting a pretty scoop. Its embarrassing when the register screams at you and your scoop looks like a colorful turd. I'm getting good at it though. Daiquiri Ice is the hardest to scoop, literally...because its all ice... I was worried about the job at first I'm starting to relax now...(one of my class mates got fired from a different BR after three days so I was very tense).

I am starting to crave ice cream now (that's what I get for being around it all the time). I try not to eat to much as I am supposed to be on a diet from all that early summer junk food eating. I hate summer for that. The reason I got a job was because I didn't get accepted to a scholarship to spend the summer in Japan and I needed some cash. Its a great experience and I can at least guarantee that I can name 31 of there now 41 flava's. Its fun to see the behind the scenes of a business. I do admit I am already getting tired of working long shifts. I wouldn't be able to stand full time! Wow real life stinks....

Food Humor v.0001

"b rakfast" brought to you by Me channelinng Anthony Bourdains cynical wit

"b rakfast" or breakfast to you. The eventful start of the morning filled with savory pastries if you live in France, eggs, bacon, sausage, and biscuits if it's Sunday and you live in most parts of America. Or you could be our family, like many Americans who eat instant oatmeal or crusty cereal for breakfast, my family does the same, except on sundays when we "forget" (grr) to go to church and then my mom serves me what starving Africans would consider a hearty meal; one egg and overcooked slabs of bacon...yum....

I LOATH breakfast 'with a passion'. Maybe its because I have never had a decent one unless it consisted of all carbs (I love me some carbs). Waffles, pancakes, could I at least get a biscuit? I mean I have had the frozen crap (excuse my French*) every day if I'm not having cereal or a smoothie(the best brekfast I've had all summer, and thats not an insult, they are gooood!), or a protein bar *gags*. I just never found a fancy for many breakfast proteans. I don't like bacon (as I havent had decent bacon) but I semi-like sausage (not those gross tiny ones but a big spicy italian one!) and egfgs I only eat the white...I'm pathetically picky as a five year old..when it comes to breakfast.

I'm hungry! So I go through all the shelves, cabinets, and fridges/freezers in the house to find the only thing I could make with little or no effort was microwave pancakes. I know I had fallen but I had to give it a try. They looked okay but when they had done there time in the microwave I could see that all that was holding then together was preservitives. One Word. Expired (and just plain gross). So I continued my search.

I'm not very good at just throwing things together with what I have in the kitchen yet. Mostly because I don't trust myself. so I was looking for somethink to make with the limited stuff we have in the kitchen. At this piont I already got a job so I felt free to smear QFCs good name by saying it sucks and is not worth the prices. Unfortunatly it's the only dang store close enough to my house so we throw away cash on such small amounts of food you would think we were going through a food shortage and we could only go by rations!

Then I saw the rice cooker and in my insane pleas for carbs I went with it. Rice for breakfast...yea...they do it in many parts of the world...like Japan where they don't go a day without it... then I remembered a recipe I never did from long ago in ages past; La Bouillie (Africa). Its pretty much rice with peanut butter but I thought I would give it a try so while I looked for the recipe I came across a crepe recipe. Of course, crepes! So I started to get out ingredients when I realized...no eggs...AGAIN...my house is infamous for not haveing any eggs because my rotten family can never remember to save some eggs for when I have to EAT! wow I'm channeling a very angsty teen right now...anyway crepes were out because of the eggs problem...the fridge should always have eggs! Without exception! Arggrgagragragar!

So we were back to rice and I wan't upset about it I was looking forward to the simplistic experience. I also figured I could try that rice cooker bread after I cleaned the cooker out then I had an epiphany! I already had one but you know where I'm going wiuth this! Yes! I could try going a day ith only using my rice cooker to make my meals! I would start with the peanut rice then go to the bread then, then....hmmm if I can find a decent source for cooking chicken and such in a rice cooker I would be set!


so this is what I ended up with.... ^#%&*^#%(& Thats for you Anthony

Mmmmm salami

So I rarely go to Costco and I really don't like american style sandwitches (weirdo!) but those Italians really know how to make a good sandwitch! Anyway...I went to Costo and I got olive tapenade, motzerella, pesto, three different types of salami, and ciabatta rolls and I made all these yummy italian style sandwitches.

The problem with costco is that everything is in bulk so now I have to find a way to use up my huge tub o' tapenade. I don't think I'll have trouble with the pesto because I love me some pesto!


It's not the prettiest picture as I already ate a huge chunk of it before I realized I should take a picture!

Recipe
Use your George Forman grill to heat up the bread (cut it in half first) and give it preatty grill marks then spread on some pesto layer with choice salami, motzerella, maybe some bell peppers with balsamic vinigar (the real and really expensive kind) then put back on the grill to the cheese melts.

I also had a soda (not pop :P)with some grilled spicy pinnaple which I just grilled with some sugar, honey, and crushed spicy red pepper on top.

Pickles

Well everysince I was young I didn't like the taste of the cucumber pickles my parents bought. I've started to get more accostomed to the taste. I still am not a big fan of cucumber pickles (because they are common and boring) or hot peppers (I have a low-medium heat tolerance) but I have been reading a lot about pickling so I desided to try it out!

If I haven't told you yet I am a kind of person who hates boring food. I always go for the recipes that seem out of the ordinary. Because of this I decided to not do cucumber but to pickle fruit and eggs insted! :)

I did smokey dark and lovely eggs and pickled pears/plums

there are limitless ways to pickle eggs; use beet juice, or go smokey, spicy and of course plain and boring.

I tryed Dark and Lovely smokey eggs;
Key; TBS=tablespoon, tsp=teaspoon

• 1 1/2 Cups cider vinigar
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 TBS brown sugar
• 2 tsp granulated sugar
• 1 tsp pickling spice
• 1/4 tsp liquid smoke
• 2 tsp salt (kosher or pickling salt, not table salt as the iodine will make yo pickles go FuNKeY!)
• a dozen eggs

Heat all the ingredients in a non reactive pot until sugar is melted, simmer for five minutes, then pour the mixture into the jar over the eggs. Put in the fridge for 1-2 weeks and consume!

I also made sweet pickled pears/plums because I made too batches and I wanted some to serve at our 4th of July Barbie-Q.

Probably the best pickles ever; Iwould double the amount of fruit (not liquid) if using a quart jar like I did because there is a lot of leftover space (the recipe only filled up half the jar.)

• 1 Bartlett (or firm) pear, thinly sliced
• 1 red plum, sliced
• 1/2 lemon, sliced (I used one whole baby lemon)
• 1 TBS ginger (I would grate it for stronger taste, I just sliced it)
• sprig of mint
• 1 cup Water
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 cup rice wine vinigar

Put all but the last three ingredients in a jar. Heat the water sugar and vinigar till sugar is disolved and por into jar over fruit. They are great right away but you should wait a day or two before eating.

My Seattle explorations

So I know I earlier said that people who live in Seattle don't get to experience it like tourists do...well.... I don't know.... I thought it over and maybe the reason it seems that way is because we're like "We live here, we have all the time we want to go to Salumi or the pike place market or eat a Gooeduck!" and I have to admit I have done all of that except eat a gooeduck..

I have only been to pike place market like ...7 times? And I only went to Salumi once and that was a few weeks ago because it's summer and I had time to...(because I'm a kid haha, I do have a part time job though..i'll tell you about that in my next blog)

My first trip to Salumi wasn't as pleasent or well it was fine just not what I expected......


So Its the beggining of summer and me and my dad want to go out for lunch downtown...I recommend Salumi as I have been PATIENTLY waiting (I mean it) to go. Salumi is a old fashioned Salumi restaraunt owned by Famous Itallian chef Mario Batali's dad.

We go and when we get there my dads already complaining. About the line, the fact that there arn't many places to sit...arg...anywho it was frusterating because his arguments wern't even valid!! There was vertially NO LINE and that is EXTREEEEEMLY rare for Salumi if any of you know about it...the line can go for blocks. *resists makes 'blocks' uppercase* there was space to sit you just had to share the table with other people, Oh the Horror!! Besides the fact that the line moves slow enough without my dad not knowing what anything means and arguing with the people their about his dislike of goat cheese. Don't get me wrong, I love my POPcicle but it was a little stressful because some stranger had to explain that this was award winning food and well worth the wait...

http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/chronicle/archive/2005/09/21/FDG9IEOIIV1.DTL

http://www.salumicuredmeats.com/ourstorefront.htm

On a side not I also hear there is a secret gourmete club called Gypsy in Seattle but I have only heared of it once while watching "No Reservations" on the travel channel. I have yet to find it.

About me

To start out my first post I must say that I live in Seattle, WA.*cringes* Yes I know what your thinking; "Oh great, a seattlite, she already lives in one of the centers of the food world, what perspective can she bring me?"

The sad fact is that most seattlites experience way less of the food world that Seattle provides then tourists. ...and it REALLY bugs me.

I hopefully will be able to give you insight into my life and my food "explorations" as I only just recently got into the complexity of food. I'll be celebrating my cooking aniversary soon by doing something really challenging!

I got into cooking last summer, I don't know why or how. But I did. So now I belong to a family that is supportive but doesn't seem to appreciate food the way I do.

One last note; Please don't look down on my opinions because I'm young, I can be just as stuborn about my Christian or foodie views as anyone else. Also excuse any bad grammer...just cause :)