FfNl: Strawberries

You've got to love strawberry season. On Sunday, I gathered a posse of friends and we headed to a local u-pick organic strawberry farm. I personally picked about six pounds of beautiful, red, juicy berries. Which only took about 30 minutes. There was so much fruit! If only I had a bigger home or more people to feed.

Since then I've been trying to figure out what to do with all of them. I froze some, but my freezer is a bit small, so I don't know that I'll be able to freeze too many more. I ate some, of course. I'm thinking of making some jam, but I just don't eat that much jam and I still have quite a few jars of jam left over from last years jam making adventures. There may be a pie or some strawberry bread in my future, but I've still got a big heap of berries.

I took a look in my handy Preserved cookbook and decided to try my hand at making dried strawberries. It is simple enough: slice up your berries and put in a food dehydrator, low oven or drying box for 12 hours. Of the three, I've only the oven, so last night I gave it a shot. They are great! Chewy, sweet and delicious. I think they'll be incredibly tasty on cereal or in the granola I'm always planning on making. Plus, they take up a lot less space once all that water is gone!

FfNl: Corn Tortillas

One of my unofficial New Year's resolutions (official ones always seem to fail, so I'm going to go with unofficial this time out) is to try to use up the ridiculous amounts of food in my kitchen. I really have more food than any one person should have. I just like trying new things and like little challenges in the kitchen.

On to my story. Last night, after a longer-than-I-wanted day at work which was followed by a brief foray to the pottery studio to finish up the saki set I threw monday night, I peered into my fridge and grabbed things that needed to be used and threw together a mexican-type filling. One problem: I had no tortillas. However, I do have masa harina and a tortilla press that had never seen the light of day. Yes, I'm just that kind of person.

So I grabbed my trusty Rick Bayless Mexican cookbook and tried my hand at them.

Pretty, no? They were surprisingly easy. I may never buy corn tortillas again. Well at least until I make it through my current stock of masa harina. Seriously, you should give it a try. Well, you'll need a tortilla press, but for $12 you can have your very own.

Just think about it.

Hello?

Is there anyone still out there? With the frequency of my blog updating I am guessing this maybe includes 4 people (and I believe that maybe an optimistic estimate). Did everyone have a nice holiday? Does anyone even remember their holidays? I do realize it was sometime ago.

I personally had a great holiday; it consisted of the following:

(1) skiing, skiing and more skiing- except for the day it rained. Oh and the one where the high for the day was 2 F.
(2) eating way too much
(3) drinking just the right amount

(4) seeing my totally awesome friends and family

Personally, I could have used another 3 weeks of that. I suspect that most people would jump on that bandwagon with me.

For Christmas I got a couple of incredibly cool kitchen items, so hopefully, if I remember to start taking pictures again, there will be some more Cook this today and FfNl for your viewing pleasure. What did I get, you ask?

Well this:

The real miracle is that I found a home in my kitchen for the gleaming beast. I also got this:

This nakiri knife is seriously the sharpest blade I've ever used. Thus far I've managed to keep all my fingers intact (knock on wood), much to the relief of my sister.

I also got this really cool cookbook.

Well that is it for my grand return! More to follow in the next few days... but i wouldn't hold your breath just in case I'm a lying liar who lies.

See you soon

Cook this today (no. 11)

sweet

Currently I'm going through a struggle in my kitchen. Yes, the dishes are one thing, but also I just have so much food. I collect fun and interesting things I want to try out, but when this gets added to all the other food I use on a daily basis, my petite food prep area kind of explodes. Last weekend I started (or I should rather say renewed) my efforts to go start using up the ingredients crammed into my kitchen. It might explain why I've had hot cocoa every night for a week. It is also what prompted the making of the above recipe. I had frozen bananas, buttermilk and a bit of brown sugar and I was going to make something out of them. You may notice I subbed slivered almonds for chopped walnuts- hey, I'm trying to use up the stuff I have not buy more things. I have to say the results were delicious. Definitely give this recipe a go.

Cook this today (no. 10)

Last night I managed to get one of the many things accomplished on my list yesterday: I cooked some of the vegetables threatening to take over my refrigerator. So I'll call it a successful evening (oh and I did have that G&T, so it was made even better). I made Thai Carrot Soup, a recipe from the rather fabulous Temple of Zeus on Cornell's campus. All there soups are delicious and most are vegetarian or vegan. On their website, they post their recipes but I warn you some are large quantities so you may have to do some math. Here is the Thai Carrot reprinted for your convenience. Enjoy!

Thai Carrot Soup

1 spanish onion
6-8 carrots, peeled and chopped (I just used a bunch that I had, I didn't really measure)
1 jalapenos(or chili pepper of your choice)
grated ginger root, to taste
1 cup peanut butter
juice of 1-2 limes
1 can coconut milk
cilantro
1/2 Tbsp cumin
1/2 Tbsp coriander
Salt, soy sauce, or fish sauce to taste

Saute onions until translucent; add ginger, carrots, peppers, coriander and cumin. Saute briefly, 5-10 minutes, stirring to keep from sticking, then add enough water to cover, and bring to a boil. Keep at a low boil for about 20 minutes or until the carrots are tender. Transfer to blender or food processor, adding peanut butter, coconut milk, and lime juice. Blend until smooth, return to pot, and reheat. Add cilantro and salt(soy sauce or fish sauce) to taste.

I think it is the fresh cilantro that really makes it.

What I'll be doing tonight...

For the first time in quite a few nights (don't ask me how many because at this point it takes too much brain power) I have no plans to do anything. I am simply going home and staying there. This certainly doesn't mean I'll be doing nothing, but at least I'm just walking home. No pottery studio, no errands, no gym, nothing. Instead I can do any one of the following (0r all of them if I am content in not sleeping and skipping work tomorrow):

1. Make something (or multiple things) with the vegetables currently stuffed in my refrigerator. Any ideas for things to make with the celeriac, beets, turnips, onions, carrots, potatoes, peppers, eggplant and the herbs that have a stranglehold on my fridge?

2. Take the blueberry jam back out of its jars and cook it again in the hopes that it will set on the second go around.

3. Mend or hem about 6 pairs of pants.

4. Knit something.

5. Photograph some pottery.

6. Watch the Netflix movies currently burning a hole in my wallet.

7. Upholster.

That's just the short list. I think maybe I need help...

or maybe just a gin & tonic.

On work and other pursuits

So I'm headed for Altanta tomorrow to visit my sister and brother-in-law for a (very) long labor day weekend. Yay! As a result I have been trying to get a little bit more accomplished at work this week. Luckily I managed to save the images I got at my early date with the microscope... that is a big step up from last time. More imaging is in my future, I think about 5 hours. Here's some good news, though, my friend Ethan is now Dr. Ethan Chiang, so congrats to him! Also, this means you can see the cake a created in his honor.

About a year or so ago, I started making cell/science themed cakes for people in our lab defending their theses (what we call the B-exam). This is a fine example, actually one of the best, I think. Ethan has been doing a bunch of studies looking at protein distribution on mast cell surfaces using gold labeled antibodies and scanning electron microscopy. So I decided to create a tiered cake representation of an electron micrograph (figure 1D, in fact), complete with gold particles (in two sizes). It was a big hit- maybe because of the chocolate mousse filling and buttercream frosting? Or maybe because we are all a little geeky? Anyway, the cake isn't doing me any good in the getting-back-into-pre-Brazil-shape stakes, but I always was a sucker buttercream.

The pottery studio offically opened back up yesterday, so I headed over there. Where I ran in to Gary, a great guy and a great potter, we had a nice chat. Then he snapped this picture of me hard at "work":

All this activity got me thinking about how much time I spend on projects unrelated to my "work", i.e. my PhD/technician job. I wouldn't have it any other way, I love getting my grubby little paws into all sorts of creative mischief- including this little blog. Just think , though, if I could channel all that energy into my research- wow- it boggles the mind. But it would never work, all this creative stuff is the stuff that keeps me sane so I can still do the research, even when nothing seems to be working. I forsee a lot more food, pottery and knitting in my future. Maybe even the odd upholstery project- my batting finally came in, so now I have no excuse!

Cook this today (no. 9)

dinner

A nice spinach-dill cream sauce on rice. Yum. And I also happened to have a all the ingredients. Definite comfort food.

Chicken Batch reactor??

Okay, so this just weirds me out (it is a link to a cnn article about invitro meat product development). I understand the need for sustainable food production, and am pretty scientifically forward thinking, but my first reaction is pretty much UGH. Plus it isn't like you don't have to feed them anything.... you are just feeding a reactor of bodyless muscles instead of the animal.

P.S. Somehow it seems a bit odd that PETA would have a prize for development of in-vitro chicken.... where will the chicken embryos will come from? (but I probably don't know what I'm talking about)

Lake weekend

Ah, the lake. I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but I love this place. In the summer, as often as I can, I make a beeline up to the Adirondacks for some quality time on Upper Saranac Lake. No matter what the weather it is a lovely place to be.

This weekend, it's been fantastic! Various Rice family members from my Mom's side of the family have been here all this week- which always makes me a bit jealous ( I want to be here all the time). However, it has been great to see them. I've even managed to acquire a bit of sunburn, which, given the way most of this summer has been (rainy and overcast), is actually a bit of a surprise. Rather entertainingly, it is limited to the portions of my body exposed during our little canoe trip yesterday. So there is a 6-8 inch swath of red from mid thigh to knee, my face and my arms from mid-bicep down. Ah well, it was totally worth it, but next time I should probably remember the sunscreen. Although it had the rather pleasant side effect of keeping me warm during the cool night.

The other thing we always do here is eat. And drink. Amazingly good food. Maybe it is the fresh mountain air, but I don't think so. My family really likes to cook. Last night, we had some lovely smoked salmon that my uncle made with cocktails out on the porch. That's my gimlet below, next to my dad's G&T. That was follwed by pork chops and zucchini that were amazing- those were compliments of my mom and aunt (with a little guidance from Donna Hay). Then I made molten chocolate cakes with fresh raspberries (also thanks to DH) to finish off the meal. Then we all fell into a food coma. Heaven.
(my gimlet here was in honor of my finally finishing Julie & Julia- Julie is a big fan of gimlets, so it seemed only fitting. I definitely recommend the book- but that is for another post, maybe my next one...)

FfNl: Seared Feta

I bet you thought I forgot all about FfNl. I didn't I swear. It turns out I have this little thing called work that occupies a bit of time, perhaps you've heard of it? Also I didn't want you to worry overmuch about my food obsession. Anyway, today's edition of FfNl concerns the delicious looking item below:

What you see there is tasty, salty, delicious seared feta cheese. I made it for redemption. My first run-in with this species ended not so wonderfully. It may surprise you, but I am a rather temperamental chef. My first attempt at feta searing involved a pretty Donna Hay recipe, a sticky non-stick pan, not enough heat from an electric element, and a bit of over-ambition. The result was me throwing cheese, insulting my mother and generally ruining an otherwise lovely evening. Luckily for me, my mom is a forgiving soul, and she still speaks to me, even if I can be a really sucky daughter.

So earlier this week I bought more feta. It was a chance to face my newest cooking nemesis (my oldest is perhaps tapioca pudding, which is rather ironic, given how much I love it). If it works, searing feta is a pretty simple thing that tastes divine and makes for an incredibly attractive salad. Lucky for me it worked this time.

I grabbed a non-stick pan and put it on high heat on my gas stove. And I waited until it was hot, really hot. Then I placed slices of feta, slices that had been blotted to remove excess water and brushed lightly with olive oil, on that hot, hot pan. Sure enough it started sizzling and not melting into a heap! It is perhaps possible that my smoke detector might have gone off at this point, causing me to run like an idiot into my bedroom to get it to stop beeping (just maybe). The tricky part was flipping the pieces- it definitely required my sharpish, metal, definitely not recommend for non-stick pans spatula to keep the crispy seared goodness attached to the rest of the cheese. But I was careful, I swear, so that the non-stick remained as such. And Viola! Lovely seared feta.

I put it on top of some balsamic sautéed zucchini with tomatoes, which honestly, was a little lackluster. That seared feta, though? That was a work of art. Maybe in a decade or so I'll try making it again for my mother.

Summer's harvest

My friend Sarah and I had been trying to get out berry picking here in Ithaca for the last month. Between work and the seemingly constant rain, I was beginning to think it would never happen, but finally, Monday, we managed to get out to a couple places in nearby Trumansburg to pick blueberries and raspberries. It was an absolutely gorgeous evening and we picked heaps and heaps of berries (but not quite as many as the people at the blueberry place that had $150 worth of berries, I'm not sure they actually were able to fit all of them in their car). I picked black raspberries at Sliver Queen farm- they were so pretty I couldn't resist them! Turns out this was a pretty good plan on my part, as the season for these black raspberries is significantly shorter than the normal red varieties, so I can always go back and pick more (if I can figure out where I can store the various byproducts). When I got home I threw them all in my refrigerator, but spent tuesday determining what to do with the bounty.

The problem was that my refrigerator is a bit small and with all the CSA produce and other foodstuff there wasn't much room for all sorts of berries. Plus, last week I might have gone a little crazy and bought 2 quarts of currants at Westhaven Farm, and as a result I was feeling pressured to make use of them before they went bad. So the equivalent of an entire shelf of my refrigerator was filled with currants, black raspberries and blueberries. So I did the only thing one can do in this kind of situation: Jellies, Jams, and freezing.

First up: Currant Jelly. I've never made jelly before, so this was pretty exciting.

Second: Freeze black raspberries (freezing them in a single layer on a pan first works really well!)

Black raspberry Jam. Yum.

Worthwhile sticky mess:

Third: Freeze blueberries. Sleep. Work. Blueberry jam.

Awesome. I love summer.

Cook this today (no. 8)

So it is a little late for most east coasters to be cooking this today, but maybe you can make it tomorrow. There is no link for this tasty salad because it's pretty easy and I just threw it together for dinner tonight. It is your basic Panzanella (Bread Salad). So do this:

1. take some fresh tomatoes and slice them.

2. cube some chewy holey bread ( I used some tasty, tasty ciabatta that I got at the farmers market this weekend)

3. cut up some fresh mozzarella (or get the little balls)

4. slice some fresh basil into strips. Throw everything in a bowl.

5. Add sea salt, fresh ground black pepper, white (or regular) balsamic vinegar, and olive oil (I add all these to taste.)

6. Toss together and serve!

Easy, I tell you . It is the perfect way to enjoy some fresh summer tomatoes and basil.

Cook this today (no. 6)

Whew! Sorry it's been so long, hopefully you haven't been starving.

sweet

Yum. Find rhubarb. Now.

I made this for my lab's group meeting today. Now don't you wish you could come?

Ack!

How is it possible that it has been nearly a week since my last post. That is horrible! Wait- why wasn't anyone yelling at me. Or at the very least a little concerned about my absence... hmm maybe because I'm one of the few to actually read this thing, and yelling at one's self isn't generally very effective.

Anyway, you haven't missed too much. I'm getting back into the swing of things at work, so that is taking a bit of effort. Friday I did get something cool in the mail:

It wasn't actually a surprise, but I am still entranced by Amazon's 2-day shipping. As well as the fact that they have the best garlic press collection I've ever seen (this one has two inserts with different size holes!). So now I have a whole bunch of new recipes to play with!

Otherwise my weekend consisted of the outdoor photo shoot I set up for my pottery. I used to take pictures inside my apartment, but with leaves on the trees around my house, it really resembles a dark cave inside. Not ideal for photography.

So imagine this (sorry I forgot to take a picture): me, my camera, pottery, the table I usually use to hold my portable grill, 3 plastic bins of crafts (stacked, to make a higher level on the table), and one roll of white paper for the background being held in place by a Coleman fuel tank and pink lab tap set up in the front lawn of my apartment house at 10 a.m. Sunday morning. I'm sure I was entertaining to my neighbors.

The only other notable thing I did was finally watch the netflix DVD that has been sitting around my apartment for the last 2 months (I'm really bad about watching them). So yes I just paid $20 to watch one DVD. At least it was good. So below is the copy of Bread & Tulips that can finally go onto its next destination.

FfNl: CSA adventure

So, my good friend Alice is out of town for the month of July, and kindly offered me the opportunity to pick up her CSA share at West Haven Farm. I love CSAs, they are a great opportunity to get really good food and support local agriculture! Maybe some year I'll actually get around to signing up for one. Anyway, yesterday was my first pick-up. Now you would think after 10 years in Ithaca I could find almost anything in a 30 mile radius without getting lost. Unfortunately that is not the case. For some unknown reason I always seem to get routes 96, 79 and 89 all hopelessly confused in my tiny little head. So after what we'll call a senic tour of the area, I finally made it to the pick-up place- a cool little barn where you sign in and then pick out your produce (they have a white board to tell you what your share is). This week I got a huge heap of veggies: kohlrabi, turnips (two kinds), kale, chard, lettuce, spinach, red cabbage, broccoli, snow peas, summer squash, basil, parsley, dill and garlic. I also got to cut a few other herbs in the plot next to the barn. I love fresh produce (Thanks again, Alice)!

So last night for dinner I made up a tasty little dish of brown rice, chick peas, fresh steamed broccoli and kohlrabi with feta cheese. Yum.

Bacon Jam ?!?

I've been waiting for the opportunity to show off my sock bacon (above), and thanks to The Pioneer Woman I found this:

Skillet Jam On It

Gotta get some.

And now there is one more blog to follow.

The last weekend

Well, now that my presentation is finished I can focus on much more important things- namely talking about my last weekend here in Brazil. It was a big weekend, and I’ve lots to talk about, so here it goes.

The weekend started on friday night by going to the photo exhibition that Vanessa had pictures in. Then we celebrated Juliana’s successful completion of her qualification exam with some tasty sushi and tempura made by some friends. I of course ate more than I should have (big surprise). Then we watched a movie.

On saturday we did something I’ve been looking forward to for weeks: we went to a municipal market where there were stalls of foods and other goodies. This is how I ended up with and entire suitcase filled with food. I am not kidding. I have 2 Kg of peanuts. 2 kg! Am I crazy? Yes. But these peanuts are really, really good. If you are nice to me I might give you some. I also managed to acquire cachaça (the national liquor), doce de leite (two kinds), banana candies and hot peppers. I’m actually a little worried that all this food is going to put my bags over the weight limit, even though I left plenty of room for expansion when I came.

After the municipal market it was on to a birthday celebration with some very tasty feijoada, pork and black bean stew (a national specialty). Then we went to the Feira do Livros to browse the books. Finally, we got milkshakes (pinapple!) and managed catch a bus, dodging the big thunderstorm that hit around 5pm.

Saturday evening, I (sigh) had to work on my presentation for Monday, but managed to enjoy more sushi (made by Vanessa and Juliana this time) and the company of some good friends. Tired yet (believe me, I was)?

The reason I worked on my presentation Saturday is that I had big plans for Sunday. I was watching the Confederation Cup final with some Brazilian friends at bar. Not just any bar, it's called Agua Doce - a Cachaçareia. Its a big place and they had a projection screen to watch the match. In case you live under a rock, the match was the USA vs. Brazil, following the USA’s dramatic win over Spain in the Semis. In case that rock you live under is on a different planet, I’m going to let you in on a little secret: football (the game we know as soccer) is kinda a big deal here in Brazil (I think it may come before God and country). I’d say there were at least a hundred people in the bar- of which I was (I think) the only one cheering for the US. So I cheered very quietly, with tiny arm gestures- I have no death wish. By the end of the first half, my friends were threatening to disown me, as the US was up by 2 goals. Alas, that didn’t last through the rest of the game, and I was very sad to see the US lose. I won’t torture myself or you with anymore details except to say that our goalie was bloody amazing! The result of all of this football watching in Brazil is that I think I may have caught a bit of the football fever... be careful or I might spread it to you.

I now interrupt my weekend recap to say a few words about the way Brazilian women dress. Now, I am by no means an expert of fashion, and even if I were my expertise would be wasted in my current line of work (poor graduate student). But I’ve got to say, they have drape-y (that’s a technical term), sexy shirts down to an art form. I saw a plethora of bias cut soft knit fabrics in many colors and patterns gracefully adorning the upper halves of Brasileiras throughout the bar. I can’t say that I’m surprise by this, but it did have me feeling a bit frumpy in my pink Ann Taylor polo shirt. Now back to the update (its nearly done, for those of of you still actually reading).

After the disappointing loss (and more food), Vanessa and some photographer friends picked me up and we went to the final free concert at the Feira do Livros. This is where I really wish I had had my camera. We were at the very front of the crowd and I could have gotten some really cool pictures. The music was really good, however my eardrums may never recover. I don't think I've ever stood that close to gigantic speakers. After the concert we piled back in the car, picked up some pizza and headed home to eat a late dinner.Thats it! Pretty much the whole weekend- and now I need another weekend to recover, but I wouldn't have miss a bit of it. This may well be my last post from Brazil. I leave tomorrow and am not sure if I'll have internet access then.

So for now, Tchau, Ate mais!

Cook this today (no. 4)

Dinner

Sweet

All I can say is yum. Seriously, make both of these as soon as physically possible...

Cook that!... Part II

So I like my "cook this today " section.
But I realized today there was a fatal flaw in my plan when my Mom told me she was going to try the tasty pasta recipe I posted. It is a delicous recipe and I was happy she wanted to try it, but I posted it last week. So it's not there anymore.
Now, since in all probablility, my mom is one of two people who looked at the recipes (myself being the other) it wasn't a big deal to email it to her. However if I ever have a few more readers, it could be a problem. So now I'm thinking the set-up was just a little short sighted (just ever-so-slightly idiotic).
So we'll try again, now giving cook this today its very own proper blog postings.