St. Valentine's Day

Its that time of the year again, the season of love. Yup, start up your cars, drive to See's Candy (or Trader Joe's, they have great dark chocolate bars) and buy some of those classic, red-heart boxes. Unfortunantely, I will be out of town over Valentine's Day, so I won't get to munch up some truffles with my other single friends. Nope I will be up to my neck in politics; but that is for another time.

So! Some background on the...3rd most delicious (and least nutritious) holiday of the year!
- Named after St. Valentine, who was a christian martyr who lived, and died, in Rome
- About 58 MILLION lbs. of chocolate are consumed PER YEAR on Valentine's day
- $345.00 million dollars are spent a year on Valentine's day chocolates

So with this in mind, why not save some cash and make your own treats? I once went to this chocolate class, we made bars, hearts, sculptures, etc. There were molds and such, but I went for the classic, flat bar. Not with the little squares, like Hershey's, but smooth and flat (but feel free to use whatever mold you want). You melt some baker's chocolate, add in a teensy it of milk, some flavors, nuts, dried fruit, and mix it all up. Or, if you're super fancy, marble dark and white chocolate together. And if you want to REALLY impress your valentine, or your single alter ego, go to any respectable food store and buy some edible shimmer power. It looks stunning.

I'm an ameture here talking, but if you are seriously into this "do it yourself" thing, check out this guy's (David Lebowitz) blog, he is a fab foodie for sure:
http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2013/01/how-to-make-chocolate-bars-recipe

Happy (Belated) New Year!

Wow. My most sincere appologies for not having posted since... last year. I've been so busy with work, and life, and being incredibly sick over Christmas, and then omygoodness just Life. Well, I'm back and I hope to be more of a regular blogger. Anywho, my life's been good. Thus far, no complaints about 2013, except that I haven't been able to cook much. Don't get me wrong, I haven't reverted to frozen food tv dinners, but the creativity of my food has...slipped. I have been trying to eat healthier, eating lentils, fresh produce, and my favorite: quinoa.

Quinoa is a tricky thing, as you can read in this article: http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jan/16/vegans-stomach-unpalatable-truth-quinoa.

Though it is undisputedly healthy, it has serious affects on the economic status of peoples and on the environment. Though I don't want to give up this delicious grain, I think this is just a good time to pause and think about how our food intake affects the lives of people globally. No, don't just think of the starving children in Africa, think about native people who have to give up their multi purpose fields for one food source they will never eat. Think of sugar plantations, think of exploitation. Just reflect on how your life choices affect everyone, near and far.

Goodnight!

Cooking Experiments the Sequel

So today, I decided to make a more conventional, equally delicious, experimental meal. Instead of going all out with veal, and beat chips I made some easier food, and made more of it, so my "focus group" wasn't starving. This time I prepared a main meal of salmon with a dessert of 100% organic dark chocolate ice cream. I grilled the salmon on the barbecue, and while it cooked I baked some white asparagus with oregano powder, olive oil, salt and pepper. At the same time, I candied some persimmon slices, pickled some white zucchini and made zucchini latkes. I also made a vinegar and thyme-infused butter sauce. It was incredibly potent. So I plated this all nicely and served it with a dry white wine. (I'm not one for the fruity stuff). It was delicious, except I didn't have any of the salmon (it was apparently good too). For dessert, I served the chocolate ice-cream with apricot halves, filled with chopped persimmon and ginger and a smidgen of cayenne pepper, and some store-bought eggnog, garnished with freshly grated nutmeg. All in all, it was a satisfying meal, and a great way to begin the holiday ritual of overeating. Happy Holidays to all you Foodies!

wolvesmouth Invite

I got the invite to the wolvesmouth diner this Friday! To be accepted to one of the most exclusive, most amazing things ever is....awesome! I have no idea what to wear, or who to bring but it is still very, very cool. I am so excited to go....if I was going. Unfortunately, I don't have a ride, so I will need to go next time. But I just wanted to share with you readers my immense joy and over reaction to an email. Hooray for me!

And yes, expect some photos and videos When I go, because I will.

Take Two

My continued obsession with wolvesmouth has led me to MORE cooking experiments, as well as signing up on the wolvesden email list. So excited! (Yes, you can count on me to post about it once I go). As I was saying in my previous post, I wanted to try and recreate the dish I made last night, but fancier. Thus my "subject group" was once again stuffed with delicious veal treat.

This time, I wisely seared the veal chunks before marinating them in their own juices. This lets the veal retain its tenderness and juiciness. Once seared, I transferred the veal to another pan which was already filled with olive oil, white wine vinegar, lemon juice, garlic and some lovely chenin blanc. I put a lid over the sauce pan and let them cook while I mixed the sauce.

The sauce is composed of lemon juice and cream. Tada! You just whip the two together into a nice foam and it looks very fancy shmancy when you plate the dish.

For plating the veal, I went for simplicity. A bed of rice, topped with four veal chunks, covered in lemony-cream-foam, with a teensy basil garnish. It was much lighter, said my non vegetarian test subjects, then the previous evenings dish and decidedly more tender. Success! Wish I had the pics to prove it, but I can assure you that It, with a capital I, looked amazing.