Coolest wine decanter of all time.
May 20, 2010
When I bought this it didn’t have a purpose other than looking cool. Then one day it occurred to me that it is the perfect wine decanter. For everyone who has asked where I got it, Bobs Homebrew.
Pizza Party with the Pendletons
May 19, 2010
Pizza party #2 was a great success. Deanna’s parents Bud and Joanne were in town and gracefully dealt with the vegan/vegetarian leanings of the evening. We did have some real cheese on some of the pizzas, but the pepperoni was strictly veg. I once again used a pizza crust recipe from my favorite food blog, this one with whole wheat white flour. I also wanted to make a cornmeal crust but couldn’t find a recipe that I wanted to make, so I improvised… Turned out pretty tasty, but I think more experimentation is in order. I also made some homemade ginger beer which might be a little addictive, especially when there’s an open bottle of Maker’s Mark hanging around. Meanwhile, I set the table since parents were coming over, but we never managed to break away from the island… Which reinforces that the kitchen is the place to be!
Sunday Supper #3
January 24, 2010
Tonight I made a recipe I’ve had on my list for a while… another one from 101cookbooks.com, Giant Chipotle White Beans… and yum! due to some dietary restrictions (allergies, and such) I split the batch in two and made one with the recipe as is, and one vegan with red pepper sauce instead of tomato. HOT! but tasty. I also made some beer bread, which is the easiest thing to bake ever! All you do is throw some flour, baking powder and salt in a bowl. Add in some extras if you want to (tonight I added green onions, jalapenos and cojita cheese to go with the whole spicy, south-of-the-boarder theme). Top it off with a bottle of beer, bake and eat. To round out the meal, Jen made another delightful salad, and some tasty roasted potatoes, and Russell and Christine brought bruschetta and some decadent looking muffins that I was too full to eat. We played a couple games and then, sadly, it was time for everyone to go home. I guess that’s the downside of Sunday Supper… It has to end too early! But, there’s always next week!
Hand Tossed Pizza!
January 18, 2010
I bought myself a beautiful Kitchen Aid Mixer last month (for Christmas, sort of), and now I wonder how I ever lived without it. For years I’ve been using a great vintage Dormeyer mixer that I picked up at a thrift shop in Tacoma. And by “great” I mean that it looked great sitting on my counter, and works great for general baking needs… but making dough? nope. I finally broke down and upgraded to the Kitchen Aid, and now wonder what I’ve been doing all these years? To say it’s magical may be a little over the top, but that’s kinda how I’m feeling at the moment… especially after embracing the dough hook. Yeast-raised dough and bread have always felt a little beyond my scope, but somehow with the mixer that kneads for you, I feel a lot less daunted. That coupled with great recipes from my favorite food blog, 101cookbooks.com I’ve done some experimenting in the past few week, and when I came across the recipe for “The Best Pizza Dough Ever” I felt compelled to see if I could manage it.
Now, while I sit on the couch writing this, I would say yes, managed. Yes indeed. The dough turned out great, and Jen, Russell, Christine and I took turns trying to toss it… a little tricky (we may need to get Tim to come up from Portland and give some pointers), but tossed or not, all of the pizzas turned out super tasty, and we all ate more than was reasonable. Toppings included fresh herbs (basil, rosemary, thyme), roasted red peppers, caramelized onions, roasted garlic, homemade marinara, olives, veggie peperoni, potato, artichoke hearts, and many other things. Jen made a great spinach salad to accompany the pizza goodness.
To round out the night we played Ticket to Ride, a game I picked up this week at this great game shop on Queen Anne. It’s fun and strategic, German of course. Won Game of the year in 2004… Christine killed, I was in last place. Deanna and her friend from Amsterdam showed up and helped wrangle the cards and give advice. Overall super fun times with friends. See everyone again next week I hope?
Inaugural Sunday Supper
January 11, 2010
I’m feeling fat and happy after what is hopefully the first of many Sunday Dinners. I had the idea of starting some kind of regular supper club for a few reasons… one is because I want to have regularly scheduled times to hang out with my friends which is sometimes hard with all our busy lives, two is I love to cook and to have people over to my house, and three I wanted to take advantage of the wonderful farmers market we have here in West Seattle every Sunday where one can buy all manner of vegetables and fruits, amazing baked goods, fresh salmon, artisan cheese, and on and on.
I decided to kick off the tradition with Shabu Shabu, a wonderful one-pot meal my good friend Remy introduced me to. It is also referred to as Nabe, which I believe literally translates to “pot” and is the focus of the meal. You start with a big clay pot on top of a portable gas burner, fill it with some broth and heat it up to boiling. Then the fun begins…
We were eating Vegan today, so we were heavy on the veggies which included lotus root, daikon, fresh water chestnuts, kabocha (Japanese pumpkin), snow peas, bamboo shoots and bok choy, Add some tofu, udon noodles and yakisoba noodles and you’re set. Once the pot is boiling, you start throwing the aforementioned items into the pot and when they’re sufficiently heated through, you just dig in with your chop sticks. Everyone has a little bowl of rice, and there are a variety of dipping sauces (ponzu, sesame, soy, and some hot stuff). So you grab something out of the hot pot, dip it in some sauce, then eat it with your rice. Yum!
Dinner tonight was me and Jen, Russell and Christine (who brought a delightful slaw salad), and Remy (who brought vanilla ice cream which she sprinkled with something I don’t know the name of, but I think is ground up sesame with sugar).
Dinner was delightful, and we followed it up with a couple games of Metro (which is one of my favorite board games). Christine won the first round, I won the second.
