Welcome to 2015

Robert and I have been doing a read-aloud each night of things that we wrote on that date in India. It's reminded me that having this here blog is a wonderful chronicle of our lives, but only if I, you know, use it. So I'm going to try to do that more, even when we aren't living in other countries.

Today was a very mixed bag. On the plus side we had a pretty relaxed day. The sun was shining, Rosie had a nice walk, I made scones and sausage for our New Year's breakfast. Robert and Zion played LOTR Risk, and we Skyped with my parents.

On the minus side, Liel woke up sick (and ended up throwing up a few times), Rosie tore her dew claw about halfway up (and into the quick), but only tore it half off, so it's hanging there. It clearly bothers her some, but no way can we cut it off. She hates having her nails trimmed under the best of circumstances. The internet tells me this isn't a rush to the vet thing, and if her nail breaks the rest of the way off I'll be pretty pleased. If it doesn't, I'll take her to the vet so they can do the honors.

Furthermore, when I went to block the amazingly gorgeous sweater I finished yesterday I was met with the worst smell I've ever experienced while working with wool. NO idea what it was about, but trust me, it was awful. The yarn company was incredibly responsive, but equally confused. I tested yarn from another skein of the same dye lot, and it was fine. Guess I got a bad one?? Anyway, that turned out OK, once I rinsed the crap out of the sweater, so to speak. Now it just smells like a wet sheep.

And the other things will turn out OK too. Liel will be better, and hopefully soon. Rosie's nail will either fall off or the vet will remove it.

After the kids went to bed I decided that what I really needed was some kind of tasty potato snack. So I made a super small amount of potato salad. Robert said he didn't want any, but he ended up eating half of it, since "super small" is apparently relative and I couldn't actually eat it all.

So to sum up: delicious breakfast, sunshine, sick child, mildly injured dog, rescued sweater, potato salad, 2015. 

Well broil my biscuits!

Tonight I turned on my oven and started preparing biscuits. Partway through I realized that the oven wasn't heating. Pretty sure that the heating element is gone (it happened in the oven at our old house), which is both happy (replaceable, not too difficult) and sad (more work for Robert, not positive that we can get the part since the oven is old).

More immediately, how was I to bake biscuits? A quick internet search revealed that most people roundly rejected the idea of using the broiler (ours still turns on just fine) to bake anything. It would burn the top to a cinder and leave the interior raw, cats and dogs would live together and the fabric of the universe would unravel.

But I really wanted to cook biscuits. Mostly because I had no other plan for dinner and really need to go to the grocery store.

So here's what I did. I turned the broiler on high and let it heat up the oven. Then I put the biscuits in on the lowest rack. I set a timer for half their cooking time and closed the oven door with a prayer. When the timer went off I turned the broiler off and left them in there...well, I meant to leave them in there for the rest of the cooking time, but I forgot and left them in there until we were ready to eat, probably twice the amount of cook time they had left.

Results? Yes, you can broil biscuits in a pinch. Mine turned out beautifully golden on top and lily white on the bottom but they were cooked through and delicious!

Bun

One of my kids' favorite cuisines is Vietnamese. And (to borrow a phrase from Zion), I can't blame them! It's delicious. Actually, the very first place we took Liel out of the house after she was born was our favorite Vietnamese restaurant in Lower Manhattan.

I was going to put a picture of that event up, but I can't find it. And I looked for upwards of two minutes! So you'll just have to imagine it-- it was terribly cute. And delicious.

Anyway, when we moved up here to Rockland County we knew we had to find a good Vietnamese restaurant. And boy did we get lucky, cause at the time, there was exactly one Vietnamese restaurant in the entire county! The lucky bit was that it was also delicious...and that the people who run and own it are so, so nice. We've gone there frequently over the years, and they always give us great food, and remember that we don't want peanuts on anything, even though we, responsible parents of allergy kids that we are, usually forget to remind them.

But sometimes you want Vietnamese food, and you don't want to drive to Spring Valley. And that's where this post comes in, because a year or so ago I started making bun, Vietnamese rice noodle salad, at home. It's easy, super fantastically delicious, and as Liel says, the best part is that it is FULL of fresh vegetables (I know, I'm as surprised as you are. My little carnivore, singing the praises of fresh veggies? Awesome!).

The recipe is based on one from Cook's Illustrated.

Here's what you need:

--rice vermicelli (8oz will feed the 4 of us, with no leftovers, but everyone full)
--lettuce
--fresh mint
--carrots
--cucumber
--fresh basil
--fresh cilantro
--boneless, skinless chicken thighs
--brown sugar
--white sugar
--lime juice
--fish sauce
--grapeseed oil
--garlic
--almonds

Here's what you do:

--Slice the chicken thighs into thin, smallish bits
--Mix equal parts fish sauce and brown sugar, plus 1.5x's as much grapeseed oil, in a bowl (for about 8oz of chicken I use 1T each of fish sauce and brown sugar and 1.5 T oil)
--Put the chicken in the sauce you just made and let it marinate a while. Doesn't need to be super long...I think I left mine for 30 min today.

--Cut the carrot into matchsticks, or something that vaguely resembles a matchstick. Seed the cucumbers and cut them into matschstick-ish bits too.
--Mix 1/3 c warm water, 2 T sugar, 4T lime juice, and about 1/4 c (or a bit more) fish sauce in a bowl. Add a crushed clove of garlic or two, and if you're not cooking for my daughter, a chopped, seeded jalepeno (or part of one).
--Pour a bit of this sauce on the cukes and carrots. Add a few tablespoons of chopped almonds, stir, and set aside.

--Boil water.
--Add rice vermicelli, and turn of the flame and put the lid on. Let it sit about 8 min, until the noodles are tender.
--Drain the noodles and rinse in cool water.

--Heat a little oil in a big skillet. Cook the chicken.

Here's how you assemble it:

--Put some lettuce in a bowl. You can make one big bowl or several small ones.
--Top the lettuce with the marinated veggies, and lots of fresh, chopped basil, cilantro, and mint.
--Put the rice noodles on top of the veggies.
--Put the chicken on top of the noodles
--Pour the remaining lime sauce on everything.

Then, eat!

It's really quite easy, and as an added summer bonus, requires very little time with the flame on. And Liel likes to help chop the veggies, and everyone likes to eat it. It's full of win!

Hot beverages, south Indian style

Neither Robert nor I were ever big coffee drinkers. My parents didn't drink it when I was growing up, so I never really thought about it until I was about 16. At that point my schoolwork became sufficiently demanding (at least during the busiest times) that my sleep was lacking, and I'd caffeinate myself up on a mixture of coffee, hot chocolate and raspberry flavored black tea. It was pretty damn delicious, actually, in addition to providing quite a jolt.

But, after high school I only rarely drank coffee. My dad did eventually succumb to coffee's charms (aided and abetted by my brother, who came home from Costa Rica with a traditional Costa Rican coffee maker as a gift for dad), and my brother has been an off and on coffee drinker, but although I liked certain types of coffee I didn't drink it daily, or even weekly. Robert never drank coffee.

At any rate, all that changed when we got to south India. South India has a long history of coffee drinking, and coffee culture there is both unique and deeply ingrained. Most Americans think of India and tea, not realizing that in the south coffee is of at least equal prominence.

And south Indian coffee is delicious. It's drunk in small stainless steel cups, hot and sweet. It wasn't long before we were drinking a cup or two every day. Of course we had no idea how to make it, so we weren't drinking it first thing in the morning. Instead we drank it after lunch, and sometimes after dinner too. I don't know if it was because of the time of day we were drinking it or if we were just lucky (actually, in Robert's case we know: he is a fast metabolizer of caffeine), but neither of us ever needed coffee. We just wanted it.

So before we came back to New York, I wisely hit up a stainless steel store on Sampige Rd in Malleswaram and bought a south Indian filter coffee maker. I bought some of the tumblers and davarahs too, for good measure. But what I didn't buy was coffee.

The day after we got back to the states we went grocery shopping, and I bought coffee at Trader Joe's, and ground it nice and fine.  A couple days later I tried making coffee with it in my new coffee maker.

Fail.

I mean, it was drinkable. It wasn't bad coffee. But it sure as shit wasn't south Indian coffee. It tasted American, and Robert and I were both sad. So off to the internet I went. What kind of coffee, available in the US, was closest to traditional south Indian coffee? I asked google, friends on Facebook, and sent emails to friends in India.

There was no clear consensus, and I've been waffling about what to do. Tiju offered to mail me coffee powder, but that would clearly be a stopgap solution, as I can't have him mailing me coffee every month! I think what I'll probably do next is try out one of the New Orleans blend coffees, as they use chicory, which is used in south India as well. But I might order the Mysore blend from the Deckan Coffee company. I just don't know!

Just for kicks today I tried making south Indian style coffee with some TJ's instant coffee. It was still pretty far from right, but it was closer than the coffee made with proper ground beans, which was a little depressing.

Then Robert mentioned that he was finding his tea unsatisfying. Because, you see, we didn't just drink coffee at Prakruthi every day...we often drank tea, too! And the tea was just as distinctive and delicious as the coffee. Since my coffee experiments were not going well I figured I had nothing to lose and gave re-creating Prakruthi tea a shot. To my delight, that went much better! It wasn't identical, but it was at least a worthy competitor. I think if I buy some nicer tea (I was just using bags of English Breakfast) I could get even closer. Tea FTW!

But you know what? I was totally right to buy tumblers and davarahs. Drinking out them, even sub-par, American flavored coffee, takes me back to Bangalore, and I feel happy. 

Dosa

I have a new food love, and its name is dosa.

Dosa are these amazing pancake/crepe things made from a rice and black lentil batter that's been fermented. They taste sort of like an amazing, buttery, crispy sourdough pancake. If you get a plain dosa it comes with sambar (a saucy vegetable stew) and coconut chutney. Masala dosa comes stuffed with yummy spiced potatoes and a red chile paste (apparently this is largely a Bangalore thing- the red chile paste, not the masala dosa!), and sambar and chutney. Set dosa, which are particularly popular here in Karnataka, are pretty much just like pancakes in texture (ie not thin and crispy on one side), come with chutney and a different vegetable stew, flavored with turmeric and no tomatoes. Onion dosa come loaded with sweet purple onions, and yes, chutney and veg stew.

I'd had dosa before coming here to Bangalore, though not often. My favorite Indian restaurant in Harvard Square served them at their Sunday brunch, but the line was long, and I often just skipped them. Honestly, the dosa I've had in the US have been fine, but not great. Not the kind of dosa you might find yourself dreaming of at night. Not that I know anything about that, mind.

But when we got here and I had dosa in India my whole perspective changed (side note: it also sort of changed about spicy food. Now I just accept that my mouth will be burning to some degree while I'm eating, and that when I'm done I'll have some curd or plain rice and it will go away). I love and adore dosa. I think I'd eat them every day if I could. In fact, I'm going to have dosa for dinner tonight, and then again for breakfast in the morning before we fly to Kochi. I'm giddy at at the thought of having dosa two meals in a row!

What I am not giddy about is returning to the land of sub-par dosa. It has become abundantly clear to me that I'm going to have to learn to make dosa upon our return, and quickly. My friend Tiju recommended that I buy a dosa pan before we leave, but what I'm more concerned about is a grinder. Traditional dosa are made by soaking or parboiling rice and urad dal and then grinding them into a smooth batter. I've started reading up on this a bit, and the consensus seems to be that the only American appliance that might be up to the job is a Vitamix. I know folks who swear by theirs, so I might go that route, but those suckers are $300-400, and while I can't put a price tag on my devotion to dosa, $300 would buy you one heck of a dosa around here.

Actually, once I typed that I had to do the math. $300 would buy you 1000 plain dosa or 820 masala or set dosa at our favorite place. I wonder how long it would take me to make and eat 1000 dosa? Not in a food race kind of way, just in the course of normal life. Hmmm.

If you have tips, recipes, or recommendations for making dosa, I'm all ears! It really is one of the best foods in the entire world. My friend Aaron says they're kind of like buttery Indian burritos, and I think the comparison is apt, especially since burritos are another of my all time favorite foods. In fact, I'm generally a fan of foods that are their own (edible) containers. So helpful and delicious. 

Rice cooker recipe: Shabbos lentils

This recipe is my family's favorite of the many dals I've made up since we landed here in Bangalore. I've named it Shabbos Lentils because, well, I like to make it for shabbos because it's so delicious! If you're lucky enough to have a stove, or two rice cookers, you can make rice at the same time that you're cooking the dal. Otherwise you can do it like I do and cook the dal, transfer it to a big pot, clean the rice cooker and cook the rice. This method takes longer (of course) but is great in a pinch, or for tiny and/or minimalist kitchens!

Ingredients:

-3/4 c lentils. Any type you like will work great, though cooking times will vary.
-1 tsp each of turmeric, cumin, and corriander
- 1-2" of fresh ginger, minced (or as close as you can get it)
- 4-5 cloves of fresh garlic, minced (same)
- vegetables, if you want them
- 3 fresh tomatoes, seeded and chopped
- 2 T tomato paste
- 2- 4 T butter
- cilantro
- some type of milk or cream
- salt
-oil

Directions:

Heat the oil in your rice cooker. Add the garlic and ginger and saute briefly. Add the spices and saute while you chop the veggies (if you using). I particularly like cauliflower and carrots in this dal, but it's good plain too.

When everything is nice and fragrant, add the veggies (if using- but not the tomatoes!) and lentils. Cover with water by an inch or so, and cook until the veggies and lentils are tender.

Stir in the tomatoes, tomato paste, butter, cilantro and salt to taste. Continue to cook until the tomatoes look the way you want them too. Add milk or cream (non-dairy milks work great here too) and you're done!

Our daily life, so far

We're slowly starting to settle into a routine here in Bangalore. Most mornings Robert goes to work, and the kids and I do school work. If Robert doesn't have a lunch date, we walk over (about 20 minutes across campus) and meet him for lunch. So far we've been going to the same place every time, a restaurant called Nesara. It's got yummy thalis, but wow is service slow! After about 20 minutes we usually end up having to flag someone down to take our order. This is more difficult than it sounds, as the waiters are very, very good at avoiding eye contact. Yesterday I literally had to throw my arm out in front of one to stop him walking off. He had taken the order at the table next to ours (they'd come in about 10 minutes after we did) and was doing his best to ignore us. Upon being forced to acknowledge us he was quite polite ("Oh, you haven't ordered!?"), and this also appears to be par for the course. Once we actually order service becomes just fine- food comes quickly, orders for coffee are taken in a normal time frame, and the bill and change come promptly. I'm not sure what it is about getting or initial order in, but eh. So far it's worth it!

Generally speaking my goal is to cook either lunch or dinner most days, but not both. The maid we thought we'd hired last week decided she'd rather not work for us after all, and never showed up. Since our apartment is quite small Robert and I decided to forgo a maid for the time being and just do the cleaning (easy) and the laundry (less easy) ourselves. Not cooking too much is part of this plan :) I don't want to give up cooking entirely however, as I enjoy cooking and like the control it gives me. Since the damn induction cooker continues to defeat us, I'm currently relying on my rice cooker for all meal. So far I've found that I can cook rice in it (of course) but also dhal and potatoes. For lunch today I cooked potatoes with zucchini and cauliflower for me and the kids and it was pretty yummy! I'm sure the copious quantities of butter helped with that, but still. I've got one pot and one knife and I'm making decent food! When we go out to run errands this afternoon we're hoping to buy an electric frying pan. Keep your fingers crossed we can find one.

Yesterday we decided to change some US dollars for rupees, which turned out to be an adventure in itself. There are at least two banks on campus, so we went to Canara bank because it was closest to Nesara. About 10 minutes in 2 different lines there revealed that you can't change money there unless you are an account holder, so we went on to the State Bank of India. Three lines and 45 minutes later we'd successfully exchanged money. I'm really grateful we were able to do so (and got a decent exchange rate too) but man, those were the slowest moving lines ever! Robert spent about 25 minutes in one line with only 3 people in front of him. The kids were super patient, and I read an article about the Indian Institute of Spice Research, and the 50th anniversary of the Cardamom Group while we waited. Robert did the actual line waiting, bless him.

Today I placed my first online grocery order! It's supposed to be delivered tomorrow, so stay tuned for a full (and thrilling) report.

Movin' on up

We're still sick, but things are looking up!

First of all, Liel spent about 30 minutes playing, by herself, with the Angry Birds game we got them for Hanukkah. And she let me brush and braid her hair. She still obviously doesn't feel well, but she's improving! In fact she's right next to me now, singing a Fluffy song, which goes, in part, "Oh Fluffy is such a cutie bat, and she loves her mommy more than anything else..."

Zion is....less improved. But he's better than he was yesterday. He's playing some of the new Hanukkah iPhone games on Liel's phone since his is still refusing to play the new games.

Also, we now have working ethernet in our apartment! It's such a relief to have a secure internet connection. IT guys have been here at least 4 times in the past 10 days, and finally yesterday one of the head IT guys got involved and this morning someone new came over. He spent about 40 minutes working in our apartment and outside of it, and now the ethernet works! He was really nice too. I mean, they've all been nice, but he was my favorite. Of course the fact that he fixed what was broken might bias me somewhat! But when I thanked him he smiled and said, "It is my duty, madame", which was charming.

The manager of our apartment building came in after a while too, mostly to observe the IT guy as far as I could tell. He chatted with me some too, asking if the kids had had breakfast, and what they'd had, and if we were from France. Not sure why he thought we might be from France! He also spotted our bag of Hanukkah gelt on top of the fridge and his eyes got wide and he asked if it was gold. I said no, chocolate, and his eyes got even wider! Apparently chocolate disguised as gold coins was something entirely new to him. I gave him some and he looked skeptical and said, "Chocolate??". I assured him it was and he finally peeled one open and ate it. He was quite delighted, and told the IT guy about it. I gave some to the IT guy as well, and he asked if it would keep in his pocket. I told him it might melt! It was a delightful interchange.

Also: cooking success! After my miserable experience using the induction cooker a few nights back, I was feeling pretty down on cooking. But even though I've only used it once, I think I'm in love with my rice cooker (side note: it is a Bajaj brand rice cooker. I don't know if this is a good brand or not, but there is a realtor in Nyack named Raj Bajaj, so Robert and I were pleased to have a rice cooker with a familiar name on it!). Anyway, I chopped some garlic and put it in the rice cooker along with oil. When the garlic smelled garlicky I added chopped zucchini, cauliflower, and cilantro. I let those cook a couple minutes, then added red lentils and water. After 20 minutes I came back and added salt, and after 30 minutes of cook time it was done. And pretty delicious, I might add! I forced some into both kids, too. Normally they wouldn't need forcing, but they don't really have their appetites back.

Tomorrow our maid will come for the first time, and I will hopefully get an Indian sized passport photo for my SIM card application. Big stuff ahead!

Ups and Downs

First, the ups! Yesterday our friend's cousin came over, along with his girlfriend, and helped us run more errands. We got a futon mattress for Zion, bought SIM cards for our phones (they should be functional in 3 days), and got another cooking pot and groceries. I can't remember if I mentioned it, but we got the induction cooker that was supposed to be here 2 days ago, but it only came with one pot. Of course it only has room for one pot, so in some ways that makes sense, but, um, entirely one pot cooking is pretty limited! Oh we went to an ATM for the first time too (after running out of cash buying groceries- classy!).

The ATM should probably be in the downs though, as it gave us Rs500 less than we asked for, but claimed it had given us the full amount. Sigh.

The first big down is the induction cooker, though. Holy crap, that thing SUCKS. I've asked around and I think it is probably a combination of user error and the fact that induction cookers suck, and mostly the later. I'm sure I could learn to use it better, but the thing seems to have two settings- scorching hot (literally burning food in seconds) and overheated, which causes it to shut down. It took me well well over 90 minutes last night to cook rice and lentils for dinner, and they were partly burnt and undercooked. They were underseasoned as well, since I only had garlic and salt for them. I would have cried if I weren't so exhausted from fighting with the damn thing. The kids were quite gracious about it-- they've really been amazing while we've been settling in. They've barely complained at all! Zion said he misses having a yard to run around in, and they're both none too fond of the noise and trash on the streets, but otherwise they've been nothing but cheerful, even when sleeping on couch cushions, eating undercooked/burnt food, and getting approximately 1/8th the amount of Hanukkah gifts they usually get.

The other big down is illness. Robert has had an awful cold for a couple of days, and the kids seem to be coming down with it now too. Also, Liel woke up with a red splotch on her cheek this morning, and what the hell is that!?

I'm feeling somewhat anxious about today. Robert is at the FRRO (please, please let that go well!), both kids are unwell, and I have food but no way to cook it. Oh and I have a pile of laundry waiting for me to hand wash it in a bucket! The food worries me most, though. I need to feed them, but hauling them around the neighborhood (esp since we haven't found really great, healthy food in the immediate area) is not looking likely.

I'm told that induction cookers are only used as backups in India, in case you run out of propane, and that I should demand a gas cooker. I don't know that I have it in me to even try. My attempts to get a mattress were a total fail, and it took a week to get the damn induction cooker, so I'm afraid that even if it were possible to get a gas cooker it would take me a week or more, which would mean another week without being able to cook. I'm thinking about ordering a rice cooker and an electric frying pan and trying to make do with those. Of course that comes with the annoyance of buying appliances I'll only use for a few months, but the bigger problem is still the timing. Nothing I could order would be here sooner than 3-4 days, but I'm not even sure I can order yet since all Indian websites I've tried to order from thus far require a mobile number so they can text you order updates. Until yesterday I didn't have a mobile number, but now the one I have doesn't work and I'm not sure my order can be processed with a non-working number. If that's the case I'm looking at a week before I can get cooking no matter what. At least a week.

Alright, well, that's the news today :)

Prohibition-era dinner

We're having some friends over to dinner tomorrow night and I've spun my interest in prohibition-era cocktails into an entire prohibition-era dinner! Turns out I'm just as enchanted by reading about food from different eras as I am about booze from different eras, and I'm contemplating doing other decade-themed meals. But, one thing at a time, right? Right. Here's what I'm planning for tomorrow:

- Chicken ala king. I've never eaten this, but food history tells me it was invented in the 1890s in NYC, and continued to be very popular throughout the 1920s.  I can't decide if I should serve it on biscuits or rice though. Or pasta, I guess.

-Ceasar salad. We all know what this is, and it was a 1920s smash hit. Nothing like ground up fish in your dressing (no, really. there isn't)!

-Ambrosia. Funny story: I've never made ambrosia. When we were kids my grandmother used to buy it for my brother and me at the deli counter when we spent the night with her, but no one in my family ever made it. In fact, my mother is probably learning that we even ate it right now, and is horrified. Anyway, Robert said his mom used to make it and he'd get her recipe. And you know what it calls for?? Pineapple tidbits! OK, maybe that's not super funny, but the name cracks me up. I told Kenny about it and it cracked him up too (side note: he and Jenny have only used the tooth powder once so far, but they like it!). Neither of us were sure what a pineapple tidbit was (crushed pineapple?) which surprised and amused Robert. He tells me it's like pineapple chunks, only "sliced more".

-Jello "salad". Again, never made this. Not sure what I'm going to do exactly, but something with Jello and fruit. Reading recipes on the internet turned up something I hadn't thought about in, oh, 30 years. It's a dark Jello (blueberry? grape?) with matching fruit and walnuts. Or maybe the walnuts are their own layer, my memory isn't *that* clear. And on top is a layer sour cream. Amazing the things our brains hang on to. Kenny remembers it too. I'm not making this though- I draw the line at dairy in my Jello. Standards, I haz them!

-Cocktails: thinking colony cocktails and french 75s for this. They both seem very light, which would be a nice counterpoint to the rather creamy meal, right?

I am soooooo excited to make (and eat) this meal. I will probably even take pictures!

Best Ever Leg of Lamb

Seriously. Best ever. Also the easiest! You gotta know that I'd never choose ease over taste, so really the easiest is more of a bonus than an actual feature.

Here's what I do.

1. Remove leg of lamb (bone in/bone out, whole/half...whatever you've got) from the freezer.

2. Make a paste of crushed garlic, salt (kosher works great, but not necessary), pepper and rosemary (I use dried because that's all I've ever got).

3. Rub the paste on the lamb.

4. Put the lamb in your crock pot.

5. Mix 3 parts water with 1 part balsamic vinegar.

6. Pour this into the crock pot.

7. Turn crock pot on high.

8. Come back 5-6 hours later and eat the delicious lamb!

Rellenos

The lovely Paige (another Californian in diaspora here in New York- we gotta stick together!) asked for some of the relleno recipes from Saturday. Here you go!

Poblano Chiles Stuffed with Beans

This recipe is from a 1955 Spanish/English cookbook my brother picked up when his college library was dumping it. I don't remember the title, but if I come across it I'll post. It's not much of a recipe, actually, more of a guide. The chile prep instructions are mine, I learned them when I lived in New Mexico.

Poblano chiles
cheese (mild- queso fresco or muenster or something)
cream
beans (we cooked pink beans (pintos would be good, too) and then simmered them with espazote, diced tomatoes, onion, and salt).

Roast the chiles over a flame (like on your stove, as long as it's gas!) until their skins are nice and charred. Put them in a paper bag to sweat, and then peel the skin off when they are cool enough to handle. Cut a slit up the side and remove the seeds and veins (try to keep the opening small, but don't fret if it splits all the way open). Stuff the beans into the chiles.

Now you have a choice to make. You can either bake them as they are, which is what we did (just sprinkle with cheese and poured some cream on them and baked at 375) or you can batter and fry them. To batter you'll need eggs (say, 2-3), flour, salt, and oil. Separate the eggs and whip the whites until the form stiff peaks. Mix the yolks in, and then fold in a few spoonfuls of flour and a pinch of salt. Be gentle- this is a very frothy, fluffy batter. Oh, if you're doing this you should dust the chiles with flour before you stuff them. Then put a spoonful or two of the batter on a plate. Lay a stuffed chile on top and carefully coat the rest of it with batter too. Slide it into hot oil (about 375) and fry. Repeat with other chiles. Then put them in a baking pan with some cheese and cream and bake til the cheese melts.

The next recipe is from Diana Kennedy's "My Mexico".

Chiles Anchos Rellenos de los Andrea

THE CHILES
6 large ancho chiles (we use about 12 medium)
3 T vinegar
3 T dark brown sugar (or piloncillo if you can find it)

THE FILLING
2T vegetable oil
1 small white onion, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic finely chopped
12oz ground pork, inc a little fat
12oz lean ground beef
salt to taste
8 oz chopped tomatoes (we used canned diced since it's not tomato season yet)
4 peppercorns
2 cloves
1/2" cinnamon stick
1/8 tsp dried thyme
1/8 tsp dried marjoram
1/3 c raisins
2T (heaping) slivered almonds or pine nuts
1T vinegar

TO SERVE
1 1/2 c creme fraiche (used sour cream) diluted with a little milk
parsley
pomegranate seeds (if you can get them. yum.)

Slit the chiles and de-seed and vein as I described above. Put them in a pan with water to just cover and the vinegar and brown sugar. Simmer 5 min, then set aside to soak for approx 30 min- until they are plump and soft.

Heat oil in skillet and saute the onions until translucent but not browned. Add the garlic, saute 30 seconds or so. Add the meats and salt and cook, breaking up lumps, for about 3 min. Add tomatoes, cover pan, and cook on medium 5 min or so. Add spices and herbs and cook, uncovered and stirring occasionally another few minutes, then add the raisins, nuts, and vinegar and cook until the meat is well cooked and shiny but not juicy.

Stuff the chiles with the meat until they are very fat. Pour the sour cream over them and sprinkle with parsley and serve at room temperature.

You will be very, very happy.

In which it is shown that Jovis probably shouln't bake cakes

So, Zion's birthday is on Monday (for the historically inclined, today is the day, 4 years ago, that I caved in to my own desperation and took castor oil!). When I asked him what kind of cake he'd like he gave me a surprisingly detailed and creative answer for a four year old (at least in my experience). He said that he wanted, "a vanilla cake, with almonds. And with chocolate frosting so that it looks like a chocolate cake, but really it's a vanilla cake!" (I am totally glowing with foody mama pride over this, in case you were wondering!)

Anyway, this request was later modified somewhat to include strawberries and whipped cream and vanilla frosting instead of chocolate. I had this vision in my head, a vision of a layer cake with strawberry jam in between the layers, with a light coating of vanilla buttercream and sliced almonds all around the edges. Just before serving it would be topped with a glorious mound of whipped cream.

This afternoon I made strawberry jam (12 oz organic strawberries + 3/4 c sugar). Then I read a bunch of cake recipes, none of which were quite right for reasons of flavor or eggs or both. Then I baked my own cakes.

First the overflowed and burned a bit in my oven (the overflow, not the cakes). Due to the overflow the cakes were not pretty, but I didn't mind since they'd be covered up anyway. The real heartbreaker is that one of them just plain refused to come out of the pan, and the other came out rather unwillingly, resulting in further damage to its aesthetic appeal. *sob* Two guesses who'll be baking another cake tonight after the kids are in bed....(the party is in Brooklyn tomorrow, you see.)

I suppose I should look on the bright side and focus on how much nicer this is than being 9 days past one's due date and drinking castor oil!

Later that evening....

Well, I just couldn't face making another cake. So I decided to try putting the jam on the one layer, and then some sliced almonds, and then topping it with whipped cream tomorrow. Here's the result. It's not too bad, right?




And, for fun, here is the jam. Robert tasted it and said, "Good strawberry jam!" "Yes," I replied, "I'm very good at making jam. Just not cakes!"

Watch what you say...

So, remember when I whined about the less-than-stellar heat distribution of my Emile Henry pot a few weeks ago? Well. A few minutes ago I put it on the stove and put some oil in it. I turned on the flame, and set to work chopping onions and garlic. And then I looked over at the stove to see how the oil was doing and there was oil dripping from the bottom of the pot. I rushed over to look at it, and yes, there is a hairline crack running the length of the pot. I almost cried. My $200 pot, which lives a life more pampered than many house pets has a f&**ing crack in it!

Apparently Emile Henry pots do not enjoy being slandered on my blog.

I decided to contact Emile Henry USA to complain and discovered that all their products have a 3 year warranty. So, we're well within warranty time (the pot is 27 months old)! I've sent an email to their customer service and hopefully I'll have good news to report here soon.

I said to the man, are you trying to tempt me?

It's snowing! We've only had a few snowfalls this winter, and only one that stuck. Oh, we've had plenty of very cold weather, but every time we get precipitation it's warm enough for it to be rain. Nice, huh?

Anyway, yesterday I was heating water for tea in the microwave when it started smelling funny. Kinda chemically/plasticy yuck. But there was also a touch of incense or something in there, so I decided it was our upstairs neighbor and let the microwave continue. Then there was a loud bang and a really awful smell, so I rushed over and turned it off. And that was the end of the microwave that Robert bought when he was a sophomore in college.

So this morning we headed out to buy a new one. And new jeans for Zion. And underwear for both kids. And sunglasses (with flames!) for Zion. What we didn't buy was new shoes for Zion, though he's going to need them pretty soon. The kid has huge feet! He wears a size 11 right now, and he doesn't have growing room in his current shoes. I figure he'll either grow into his feet, like a puppy, or...he'll have big feet. Either way! All in all we were good patriotic Americans and spent a bunch of money. Would've been more fun to spend it on wine, yarn, socks, perfume, and robots, but that's life, right?

In other news, I have created frozen yogurt perfection! In my own kitchen! If you're a frozen yogurt fan you've probably tried (or are at least aware of) the newish chains (Pinkberry, Cocoplum, Red Mango, Hello Yogo etc) that serve a fairly tangy frozen yogurt. It is delicious. Well, the other day I got to wondering (again) why I don't use my ice cream maker more often. Regular ice cream doesn't do a lot for me- I'm a bit of a glutton and find that consuming something that is 40% fat actually puts a damper on my ability to just relax and enjoy my gluttony. So I'm always on the look out for something that tastes awesome and isn't going to harden my arteries while I'm still actually eating it.

Here's what I did: I made yogurt (Hehehe, but it's true!). Then I strained the yogurt to remove some of the water, since more water = more ice crystals and less creamy texture. Then I mixed the strained yogurt with sugar and a teeny splash of vanilla (Penzey's double strength!). Then I chilled it in the fridge, but only for about 20 minutes, cause I got impatient. Then I popped in my ice cream maker.

I am not kidding when I tell you that only my great love of Robert and the kids kept me from eating the entire batch straight out of the ice cream maker. It is by far the easiest and tastiest frozen dessert I've made, and what's more, it would be easy to gussy up with chocolate or fruit flavor.

I am making more today.

Mousakhan

Andrea asked for a picture of some of my meals, bless her heart! I love any excuse to show off food, lol. Unfortunately I didn't get her request until after we'd eaten tonight's dinner, but luckily I have taken pictures of mousakhan in the past (no, I'm not obsessed with food, why do you ask?), so here it is! Oh, sumac is a spice made of dried, ground up berries. It's commonly used in Middle Eastern cooking and has a delicious tangy flavor. Also very good sprinkled on rice!

Since I'm babbling rather than posting the damn picture I'll also add that, despite Becka's skepticism, my yogurt turned out quite well. Very delicious. Becka totally has friend tenure (we've been friends since we were a year old and she's really more like a cousin than a friend!), so she is allowed to critique my food adventures. Sometimes ;)

OK, really, mousakhan. Roast chicken with sumac and caramelized onions and walnuts and olive oil is put on top of fresh pita bread and broiled.

51 orange tentacles

This is what that looks like, if you were curious. 24 more to go!

Also, a couple of food notes: 1. I made a delicious kohlrabi slaw a couple nights ago. I shredded the purple kholrabi we got from our CSA along with a couple of carrots and some spring onions (also from the CSA). I salted and drained the kholrabi very briefly and squeezed out some excess water. Then I added some red wine vinegar, some pepper (Penzey's Tellicherry black pepper, if you're interested) and a couple biggish spoonfuls of Veganaise. Mixed together and yum!

2. I have mastered the eggless Key Lime Pie. In the past I've had trouble getting the proper consistency using my trusty Ener-g Egg Replacer. Normally this stuff is the bomb- simple to use (just substitute for eggs- 1.5 tsps of the powder + 2 T water = 1 egg) and impossible to detect in baked goods. For custards, tho, it's really a bit lacking. It doesn't lend the smoothness and richness of eggs, and even less of egg yolks. Furthermore, I've found that doing a direct subsitution, which normally works flawlessly, is not sufficient for custards. They just won't set up properly. My Key Lim Pie recipe uses 4 egg yolks. I know that if i put 4 Egg Replacer egg yolks in, my pie won't hold pretty slices. So I've tried different things, and here's what I find works: put in enough powder for 5 egg yolks, but only enough water for 4. Voila. Beautiful and tasty egg free Key Lime Pie!