shout out

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Recent food adventures

 

 

:: Did a koji and miso fermentation workshop with OurCookQuest.  I really enjoyed it, and it was fun being around other food nerds.

:: I’ve attended a few of this semesters Science and Cooking lectures, presented by Harvard University’s School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.  So far, I’ve seen Margarita Fores, Wylie Dufresne with Ted Russin, and Vicky Lau.  I’ve learned that the nipa palm looks like a torture device, and don’t make donuts unless you’re crazy.  lol!

:: And most recently, I attended a lunch at Juliet in Somerville, MA.  It was a stop on Yvette Van Boven’s Homemade Christmas book tour.  The lunch menu was inspired by the book.  Both Yvette and her husband, Oof Verschuren, are wonderful people, really friendly and down to earth.  I’m so glad I got to meet them both.

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Edible insects (crosspost)

I can now say that I’ve eaten a freeze dried insect, thanks to the Nordic Food Lab.

These are not corn puffs…

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Cookbook price alert

  1.  This post is not sponsored in anyway.
  2. You must be able to travel to Harvard Square in Cambridge, MA.

I was killing some time the other day, and meandered around the cookbook section of The Coop, the official book store of Harvard University.  Believe it or not, I got bored.  For fun, I walked over to the sale section which is just one room over.  Most of the time, there isn’t anything I want.

This time, there still wasn’t anything I wanted… but that’s only because I already owned it.  The Coop had several copies of The Big-Flavor Grill: No-Marinade, No-Hassle Recipes for Delicious Steaks, Chicken, Ribs, Chops, Vegetables, Shrimp, and Fish for about $8.  I bought this book, written by Chris Schlesinger and John Willoughby, back in 2014.  I could read it all day because it appeals to me that much.  Seeing it on the shelf reminded me that I should cook from it before the weather turns cold.

Honestly though, I can make a lot of the recipes indoors sans grill.  The appeal of this book is in all the sauce and condiment recipes.

I love this book so much that I want to buy a copy of it just to gift to someone.

Alas, no one I know is addicted to cookbooks as I am.

But if you are or you like to grill, head over to the Coop.  You can thank me later.

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Shout out to Booze Époque!

So, the story starts like this:  I had an idea for a friend’s bachelorette party in which we have a cocktail making class.

Originally, we thought we could hire a bartender we already knew but that never got off the ground.  Then I thought that maybe I could do a private event through a cocktail making school.  I could only find two in the area, but one was difficult to plan with, and the other lacked any customer response.

So, then I reached out to Boston Shaker.  Boston Shaker is a cocktail provisions store in Davis Square, Somerville that has received fairly glowing reviews ever since they opened.  Alas, the store did not do any private events… however, they did have a recommendation…

And that’s when Booze Époque came in.

Over a month’s worth of emails, Meaghan and Harmony of Booze Époque, were wonderful and easy to deal with.  They offer cocktail catering and cocktail classes in the area.  For classes, you can go to their work space in Union Square, Somerville or they can also come out to your location if you have the space.

For the bachlorette, Meaghan and Harmony came out to our chosen location in Boston.  And they were armed with more than we were imagining.

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They even provided some awesome eggplant spread, bread, and goat cheese that they picked up from a local shop.

If there are ingredients in particular that you want to work with, or have an end goal drink in mind, Booze Époque try their best to accommodate.  For example, one friend wanted to experiment with a boozy version of a mango lassi, while another friend want to try to re-create a ginger fig martini she had once.

The ladies of Booze Époque are very chill, friendly, and awesome in person.  The class deviated a bit halfway through, but Booze Époque were ok with it and had no problems shifting their presentations.

If I ever get a chance to coordinate an event with a liquor budget again, I’m contacting Booze Époque.  There’s no question about that.

 

Reference link:

http://www.boozeepoque.com/
(Their blog has some recipes, so I recommend taking a look!)

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A moment of silence for my BlendMaster, Jr. # 5972B

To my much loved Hamilton Beach BlendMaster, Jr. # 5972B,

You were given to me by my second oldest sister back in the days when I was not such a food nerd. I bet you were just a $15-$20 product, but I felt like I was on the road to cooking awesome food when I unwrapped your box. (It was Christmas, I think.) You only had a two year warranty, and, to be honest, I didn’t think you’d last past it.

You were mine before immersion blenders were on everyone’s wedding registry. I think we were at around ten years together. You helped me through dental surgery, *several* times, and I am forever grateful. I thought we’d last into February at least, but it was not to be.

Rest in peace.

 

Please don’t hate me for replacing you with a colorful Cuisinart.

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flourless peanut butter cookies with chocolate chips

This post is dedicated to Martyna of http://wholesomecook.wordpress.com/. The pictures in this post were not taken with my really clunky and heavy digital camera. I recently acquired a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-WX9 as a result of some confusion and lots of generosity. From here on out, I have no good excuses for leaving my camera at home when I go to food events like the Harvard SEAS lectures.  My WX9 is a travel-friendly small size.

Next time David Chang is in town, I’ll get you a picture of David Chang. (^_^)b

ANYWAY!

Continue reading →

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Earl Grey Cookies

What is this? An update? Really?!

Yes, really. 🙂

I will admit though that I’m posting at the request of a friend. haha, I’m so lazy otherwise or something like that.

I’ve been experimenting with earl grey butter cookies. They aren’t perfect. The flavor is very subtle. I haven’t been able to keep these in my house long enough, but it’s been reported to me that the flavor improves after a couple of days. I’m still going to experiment – need to see if I can bump up the earl grey flavor a notch, but dang! they smell amazing when they are baking in the oven.

Makes about 5 dozen? I don’t know. Uh… I must admit that I lost some of the dough to the floor.

1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs, beaten lightly
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, sifted
4-5 bags of early grey tea leaves (open up the bags and crush with mortar/pestle)
3/4 teaspoon coarse salt

Cream the butter and sugar first. Then add the eggs and vanilla, and mix. Finally add the flour, tea leaves, and salt. Mix until well combined.

Now, you can roll these into two logs and freeze them for at least an hour, or you can fill plastic bags and roll out flat before putting into the freezer. The first method gives you traditionally round butter cookies. The second gives you the chance to make very neat squares. I’ve done it both ways.

After freezing, slice up your logs into about 1/4″ rounds. If you used the plastic bags, cut the bags open flat and cut your cookies into neat squares. Either way, your cookies should probably be about 1 1/2″ in size.

Preheat oven to 375. Space cookies 1 inch apart on baking sheets lined with parchment. Bake until edges are golden, 18 to 20 minutes.

(My oven runs hot. I baked at 360 for 16-17 minutes.)

Cookies made for Tammy Raabe Rao; photo taken by Tammy Raabe Rao. ♥

~Mikan

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Modesty forbids

Mikan-san won’t mention that she made an awesome homemade bread so I will: Mikan-san, your bread was MOST EXCELLENT. Thank you for the sample. I om-nom-nom-ed it with great gusto.

Also, Awesomesaucers and attendees. Equinox party. I have no clue what I’m making as I don’t know what anyone else is making, and since no one knows what else they’re making, no one can decide… vicious circle!

So my question is this: does anyone know what ingredients they’re using or what kind of dish it will be –e.g. main course or dessert? I gotta tell you, anything I make for this event will be something totally new to me, so this is all uncharted territory. I feel a little “safer” doing a dessert but I don’t want to have the dinner be dessert-heavy if everyone else is doing a dessert too.

Ahem.

(Also, so we’re all on the same page, “tropical” means, I’m assuming, any of the following: coconut, pineapple, passionfruit, mango…? Anything else?)