2 meals in 2 days!

I guess I am on a roll. I have cooked 2 days in a row!  Last weekend I took the Spud on a shopping eating Saturday night date.  We went to the Japanese grocery store not too far from our house called Mitsua.   I needed to stock up on my asian basics like sesame oil, rice wine, oyster sauce, hoison sauce, ginger, etc.   We also managed to buy udon noodles, sesame noodles, and fresh ramen noodles.  Spud loves asian food more than anything.  There are not many 11 year olds that would eat eel sushi, salmon eggs and seaweed salad over mac and cheese any day of the week, so I try to encourage this in every way I can.  Our highlight of the evening was the dessert.  First we had grilled Mochi Balls with sweet Miso sauce, and then Spud had green tea mochi filled with red bean filling, like a sweet japanese empanada. 

So tonight I made use of my purchases.  I made Chinese pan-freid noodles with chicken.   I pan fried the fresh ramen noodles, and stir fried chicken marinated in a sauce made from soy, rice wine, sesame oil, salt, pepper, sugar .  I cooked it in fresh minced ginger and garlic, and then added a sauce of similar ingredients and green beans and scallions.  Should have added water chestnuts and bamboo shoots, but I don't like them.   I love my Chinese cook book Chinese Kitchen by Eileen Yin-Fei Lo.  We ate it with our new chopsticks.  We bought a pack of 100 disposable wood chopsticks last week too.  The meal was a huge hit for Spud and now he has lunch tomorrow.

It's a busy week, so probably not much cooking going on, but stay tuned for next week when I have another guest chef cooking with me, and another special meal in the works.

Italian with Old friends

  Many people collect many different things, and have a few collections myself.  I collect some coins, piggy banks, cd's, dvd's,  my favorite is my cookie jars, but my most treasured collection is my friends that I have been blessed to have through the years.   I have been very lucky to keep so many with me which is why it is a collection.  I am in touch with friends as far back as the 4th Grade in 1978. I even recently got a note from a friend who went through school with me from nursery school in 1973.  I am still close to my friend from the 5th Grade, and then my next oldest that I am close to is a group of 3 friends, We'll call them Bonzo, Yak and Adrienne.  Those are nicknames you will find referenced on our High School yearbook pages.  
  So 28 years later, Adrienne and I have both been through some pretty major life changes recently and we got together yesterday in the solidarity of friendship to cook.  We share the same passion and both find that we can lose ourselves in our kitchens and yesterday we got lost together.  Adrienne happens to be going to cooking school right now, so we pooled our cooking talents and made a fabulous meal.   I made my cheese ravioli  (from the Lost Ravioli Recipes of Hoboken) for her and she made me the best sauce I ever had.   I had a lot of trouble with my usually perfect dough yesterday.  I think I must have miscounted my flour cups and used too much, and my dough was very dry and hard to work with.  Thankfully by the time it was cooked, it was still delicious.  The ricotta filling was creamy and Adrienne's fresh nutmeg was just the perfect touch.  Adrienne's sauce was just amazing.  She starts with a pork rib base for flavor and adds tomato puree, bouquet garni, and veal stock.  It makes for wonderful rich flavor that was a perfect accompaniment to the ravoli.  I made the Spinach Torta Alla Hoboken as a side dish, we added some good wine and we had a wonderful day and meal.   Along the way we munched on delicious crusty bread with Irish butter, black truffle butter, burrata ( very creamy mozzerella made from water buffalo milk and cream) , Proscesso sparkling wine, and chocolate.   Our boys had a great time together and liked our food, so a good day was had by all.
  

Birthday Celebration

My mother-in-law has a passion for tomatoes.   She is stick thin and likes food, but is lucky enough to be someone who is not the least bit food-focused.  She enjoys it and a a plesure to cook for, but planning meals is sometimes tricky.  She is not a big meat eater, and her husband, loves meat and is particular about trying new things.  That said, last night's meal to celebrate her birthday was focused on tomatoes.  I was buying dinner for spud the the local gourmet grocery on Friday and saw the most beautiful gourmet tomatoes you ever saw.  Green and Yellow and Orange.  When you cut up the green heirloom tomatoes they were the most beautiful swirl of green and red.   I thought what better thing to make someone who loves tomatoes than a tomato salad?  It was a simple dish, of these georgeous tomatoes with salt, pepper and olive oil. Delicious.
So that was my side dish.

I have blogged about my homemade pasta, but one of the other things I first learned from my mother early on was the art of homemade pizza.   It has taken years of work and gone though many iterations, but I finally found the solution.   A good crust recipe is the start but it's all in the pan.   Good crust recipes I have found are Wolfgang Puck and also the mystery writer Patricia Cornwell.  Particia Cornwell writes alot about food and cooking  around her otherwise somewhat greusome medical examiner mysteries.  She compliled everything she wrote about into a cookbook - Food to Die for - and has many nice recipes.  Pizza is one of her specialies.   So last night I used her crust recipe ( secret is in the honey) and then added olive oil,  prosciutto di parma, a blend of good mozzerella cheeses from my Lisa's deli, caramelized garlic onions and fresh plum tomato.  The Calphlon baking pan makes the crust perfect somehow.  And I found this out by accident when I left my pizza pan at a friends for a year, and needed a substitute pan.   The pizza gets crisp and holds its shape.

I started the meal with baked stuffed tomatoes.  Large beefsteak tomatoes, stuffed with breadcrumbs. olive oil parmesan and basil.  Baked until browned, they just melt in your mouth.

We finished the meal with chocolate pots ( so easy!) and ricotta creme. 
It felt great too cook again, and now I have to go to the task of finishing to clean.

More on my superbowl gathering tonight!

Blog Update

 I have been away from my blog for quite a while.  To any of you who read and know me, you undestand why.  If by some chance I am blessed enough to have anyone read this who doesn't know me personally,  I need to explain.   My sweetheart, Coco was quite ill for sometime, and actually began to decline right around the time I began this blog, although I didn't know it at the time, or at least was in denial about it. He got progressively worse through Thanksgiving, and even though I cooked a full meal and for 8 people for the holiday, my heart just wasn't in the blog to update you.  Coco entered the hospital on December 1 and passed away on January 8.   I haven't cooked much since, and have actually lost 20 pounds through the ordeal because my focus left food.   Amazingly,  food still played  a role through the process.  Friends delivered meals.  Friends and family cooked for Spud and I.  Never did we eat so much chicken! People shopped for us.  Coco only seemed to have the will to eat and we brought him as many of his favorites as we could.  We kept his Christmas Eve traditional meal of crab legs, we brought him Booberry and chocolate ice cream and iced coffee.  Spud and I went out with friends for New Years Eve for Sushi.  Human nature is to feed people through tough times.  I guess it is the one thing we feel we can control.  Foodwas delivered to my home in droves in the days following.  I fed the homeless of hoboken for 2 days and am still eating our way through the freezer full.  

Admittedly , I am having a problem with food now.  Food was a commonality for Coco and me.  It was him I cooked for. We loved to eat out together.  I cook becuase I love it, but also for my ego.  I know I do it well  and like to have it appreciated.  As much as Spud loves food,  his taste is not as discriminating, or maybe too much so, and he is my biggest crtic.   Either way it isn't the same.   I know that whatever people are in my life as I move foward, I need them to appreciate food and help me find the joy in it again.

As I return to this blog, like my life right now, I cannot predict what it will be like, but hopefully those reading this will follow the joruney with me and see where this experiment if self exploration continues to take me.   I have re-entered the kitchen a few times this month and returned to the grocery store yesterday with only Spud, and no other friends or family, and even paid the grocery bill myself for the first time.  I held my head high and got through it like nothing had changed. 

I miss Coco with all my heart, but I am also eager to move along and get back to life, to move on and continue to make him proud of me for being strong especially on the days it is so hard, like today.  

As I write this morning I am remincisent of the Sunday morning in August that I began this blog, which I think is what made me log in to begin with - a lazy Sunday that I am procrastinating the tasks and events at hand.  It is hard to believe that it was almost 6 months ago.   It seems like a blink in so many ways yet everything has changed.  Hopefully food will remain the joyful comforting constant that it has always been for me and I can find others to be proud of me for my passion.

This blog remains dedicated to Coco, who will be forever with me everytime I run out of something in the kitchen mid-recipe.

Self Discovery

I have learned one thing over the last few weeks, and that it that I am definately blogging to cook not cooking to blog.   As I stated at the beginning of this project, I am not a writer.   I enjoy writing if I am bestowed the time to to do this , but with no time or real motivation it's much harder than I expected.  I have been cooking through my absence from blogging however.  The food part is the passion, so I haven't given up on that.  My intent was to sit here on day an catch up on everything I have cooked in the last few weeks, but that would only be hum drum for you to read if it's posted that way.  So that said , here I go on today's food and hopefully I will catch up along the way.

Today the freezer yielded some fresh Chorizo and I planned this meal out with my colleagues this afternoon.  I decided to give a twist to a Garlicky Bean Burrito recipe from Everyday magazine.  I started by cooking the crumbled chorizo and garlic in olive oil, and then I added the white beans and chicken broth and cooked until the means were mashed and heated through.  This filling then gets added to either flour or corn tortillas and then lay the rolls in a baking dish, pour a bottle of Salsa verde over the top and then top with your favorite mexican or spanish cheese ( tonight I used cheddar, but pepper jack or manchego would be great!)

My office is having a family game tonight tomorrow and I decided to make some desserts tonight.  I went back to my baking bible - The Great American Bake Sale.   I made the Great American Brownie, which is pretty much a basic classic brownie, pretty similar to the Katharine Hepburn Brownie I have previously made.  I also baked another favorite, Toffee Turtle Bars, as I know my friend Papo is a caramel fan .  I changed up this recipe and left out the nuts, and the chocolate topping, and I made more caramel for the topping.  Instead of toffee bars, they turned out like yummy chewy carmel bars.  Hopefully everyone will enjoy and a fun time will be had by all!

In the meantime, if anyone who wants to pay me to write about food so I can find more time to do this, feel free to let me know and help me get discovered!  I am thinking I might love test kitchen work.

Saturday Night Sushi Tour

    Tomorrow is Spud's 11th Birthday!  Some months ago as we were wandering Chelsea Market he overheard someone giving a tour of the market.  We asked about that tour and upon inquiring we found out about a sushi "tour".  http://www.foodsofny.com/artofsushi.php   Spud wanted to do this desperately and I gave him the choice to this instead of a birthday party, and he jumped all over it.  I was thrilled to not have to give a kid party.  This tour was actaully a sit down tasting dinner at Ariyoshi Japanese Restaurant, located at 810 Broadway (between 10th and 11th Streets), New York, NY.
    It was a multi-course dinner done in two parts. The first part was a Japanese Tapas tasting. The second half was a sushi tasting. Sadly I forgot to take the menu, so heere is my best description of what we were served.

PART ONE
Course one: ( Served with Ichiban beer)
Fried chicken in Ponzi Sauce
Asparagus wrapped in Bacon in Ponzi Sauce
Seared Beef in Ponzi Sauce
Salmon & Yam wrapped in radish
Grilled Freshwater Eel

This portion of the meal focused on Ponzi sauces and the key ingredients and how different they can be just by changing the proportions of the ingredients. 

Course two:
Miso Soup with Crab Yam dumpling

This was like Japanese Matzo Ball Soup, with a delicious rich miso broth, and a very tasty light dumpling

Course three:
Grilled Tofu served with 2 different kinds of miso sauces

This also focused on Miso and how many differnt types and flavors they can be. This didn't make me a lover of tofu still, but the miso sauces are so very good, and very different from each other.

PART TWO - Served with 2 sakes - One was sweet and served cold, the second was drier and served warm
Course four
Sashimi tasting: Red Snapper, Horse Mackerel, Yellow Tail

Course five
Sushi Rice, Salmon, Fluke and Eel Sushi

Course six
Blue Fin Toro Scallion Maki

The sushi courses focused on quality of sushi rice, chopstick etiquette, Real vs. fake Wasabi, and fresh vs. frozen fish. (it is illegal in the U.S. to serve fish that has not been frozen), and Nori ( the seaweed that wraps the rolls)

Course seven
Dessert which consisted of Green tea infused rice dish, made into something like large tapioca pearls. 

This was a very different flavor, but nice and light and a very nice green tea flavor.

I highly recommend this dinner as a great introduction to Japanese cooking, and some insigh to the culture as well.  Our host/guide for the evening was highly knowledgeable and very personable to be around, and the food was wonderful. Spud had a wonderful time and ate every last bite!

Momufuku Ssam Bar

   Wednesday evening I abandoned Coco and Spud to join my friend Carmy for dinner in nyc at the Momufuku Ssam Bar.  A facebook friend had recently posted how much she enjoyed this restaurant, so I used this evening out and as excuse to try it.  The restaurant is located at  207 2nd Ave. nyc 10003 corner of 13th St and 2nd Ave. It is a small restaurant with a long counter where you sit on wood backless stools opposite your guest.  You get pretty packed in next to your neighbors.  If you like to listen to other people's conversations, this is the place to do so.  Our fellow dinner companions got quite an earful of my life that evening!  This is not a comfy cozy place, but it is well worth the food! They leave piles of napkins on the table and chopsticks standing up in holders.  Think cross between a bar, restaurant, and a malt shop!
It was a perfect selection for sharing and sharing we did. Our menu was as follows:

steamed pork buns – hoisin, cucumbers, scallions
( a yummy update on the chinese classic)
cracked jonah crab claws – harissa mayo 
(seved cold on ice, and they were perfect)
bev eggleston's pork shoulder steak – japanese eggplant, hericot vert, watercress
( an interesting cut and innovative way to serve pork)
long island crescent duck – lobster mushroom, daikon, orange
(cripsy and delicious, with a lovely side of duck confit along side the sliced duck)
pb&j – concord grape, peanut butter nougat, ritz craker
( tasted just like a PB&J sandwich, but with a twist - more to come on this)

We had a nice bottle of Pinot Noir with it anad it was a lovely meal!  the PB&J was amazing and watch for a blog soon to come where I will tell you about my attempt to recreate it!

Another find we came across was Wine Wednesday's at Metrazur on the balcony at Grand Central. On Wine Wednesday we got a bottle of wine for $15! It was a Merlot, and I couldn't tell you what it was, but for $15 in Manhattan, who cares?  We sat right at the railing overlooking the clock in Grand Central, and it is just a great place to people watch.  When you have an evening out like this with your best friend, it doesn't get much better!