Zombie Walk

I realize I'm a bit out of order with my posts, but you'll have to bear with me. I've been slow to upload my photos so I forget what happened when, etc. Once I rediscover things, I feel the need to share, which brings me to this post: ZOMBIE WALK 2010. Portland has a lot of cool things going for it: great happy hours, Powell's, Reed, many lovely people, food carts, pretty neighborhoods, and, as I discovered for the first time this year, Zombie Walk. Now Zombie Walk is a very strange experience. Basically it's a bunch of people all dressed up like zombies that lurch, stumble, and stagger around downtown Portland. It started in Pioneer square around 4:30 pm the weekend before Halloween. My neighbor and I decided to go (I miraculously had the day off from work, and I never get Saturdays off). He dressed up as a zombie boyscout, I was a zombie fairy princess. We headed downtown on the bus (and get a lot fewer strange looks than I expected) and walked over to Pioneer Square. It was packed. A bit after we got there everyone started moving around to make space in the square and a few minutes later the music for Thriller came on. Everyone in the square danced, and it was epic. After the song/dance ended, the zombies were off! We lurched along, following the pack. There was apparently a designated route that someone knew since all the zombies were headed in the same direction, but I'm not really sure what it was. Not only were there tons of zombies of all ages (little kids dressed in tuxes with zombie makeup and babies gnawing on rubber, dismembered hands, little skanky preteen zombies, older zombies, zombies from other eras, Snookie zombie(!), etc), there was also a huge crowd of people lining the sidewalk watching and taking photos. It was pretty funny. There were also Zombie Hunters and even a fake ambulance that the Zombie Hunters drove. It go attacked and it was great. I'm planning to do this every year I'm in Portland.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I made pie--apple betty and pumpkin. We also had a champagne turkey, stuffing, gravy, mashed potatoes, green beans, yums, and más. Very yum. There was also a teepee and a lot of war paint. One of the more exciting, delish, and fantastic Thanksgiving's I've had in a long while! Apple Betty Pie


4 Cups peeled and sliced tart apples

1/4 Cup orange juice

2/3 Cup white sugar

1/4 Cup brown sugar

3/4 Cup flour

1/2 Cup butter (1/4 Cup works fine)

1/2 tsp/ cinnamon

1/4 tsp. Nutmeg

dash salt

Mound apples in buttered 9” pie plate

Sprinkle w/ orange juice

Combine sugar, flour, spices, and salt

Cut in butter until crumbly

Scatter over apples

Bake 375 for 45 minutes or until apples are done, and

topping is crisp and lightly browned.

(sorry for the huge font--I'm failing at cutting and pasting...)

Pumpkin Pie (none of that canned pumpkin nonsense here)

Cut pumpkin in half crosswise. Remove seeds and strings. Place in a pan, shell side up; bake at 325 for an hour or until tender and begins to fall apart.

Scrape the pulp from shell and put in blender.

2 cups cooked, blended pumpkin

1 ½ cups evaporated milk (low-fat is ok)

2 slightly beaten eggs

*** Mix together in separate bowl ***

¼ cup brown sugar

½ cup white sugar

½ tsp. Salt

1 tsp. Cinnamon

½ tsp. Ginger

¼ tsp. Nutmeg

1/8 tsp. Cloves

Add to pumpkin mixture

Pour mixture into pie shell. Bake 15 minutes at 425, then reduce heat to 350 and bake 45 minutes to an hour (or more) or until knife comes out clean. Eat with mucho whipped cream.

Excellent Portland Food/Drink

1. Mulled cider drink thing at the Shanghai Tunnels

2. Supposedly the best Indian food cart in PDX. It's downtown and a bit misleading since there are two carts by the same name (apparently one was started by a husband-wife duo, but after the divorce they split into two carts, kept the same names, and set up next to each other...) but the one farthest from the corner is supposed to be the best. This is the $5 lunch special (plus you get chai)

3. Biwa ramen bowl. Major yum.

4. Bacon-infused bloody mary at Genies

5. Scorpian Bowl Thing at Gold Dust Meridian

Butternut Squash Pastas

My mom really loves butternut squash so I discovered it at a fairly young age when she tried to convince my brother and I that it was different from other squash and tasted like candy. Nice try mom! However, I do like it quite a bit more now. The other day I decided to make dinner with some friends and they put me on shopping duty. I wanted something different--not tomato sauce or Alfredo sauce based so I found some recipe for roasted butternut squash+Parmesan. I decided to toss in some peas as well, and my friend decided she just had to have chorizo, so we rolled with it.

Pasta Numero Uno:
Butternut Squash, Peas, Chorizo, Plus Cheese Pasta:
*feeds at least 5
-1 large package whole wheat pasta
-1/2 a small butternut squash, peeled and chopped
-1/2 a package frozen peas
-3 or 4 links of chorizo, chopped
-shaved Parmesan (I think we actually used a Parmesan/pecorino blend)
-onion and garlic to taste (I think we used maybe 1/2 an onion and a few cloves of garlic)

1. Bring a large pot of water to a boil, add the squash (I had never seen it cooked this way, so thanks to Lindsey for teaching), cook until tender
2. Heat some olive oil in a pan, add the onions and chorizo, then the garlic, and cook until chorizo is cooked through
3. Boil more water for pasta and cook until al dente or however you prefer pasta
4. Once the chorizo is cooked through, add the peas and cook until warmed through
5. Once pasta and squash are cooked and drained, mix everything together in a large pot (reserving a little of the cooking liquids as needed), and top with shaved Parmesan or pecorino or whatever cheese you like and let the heat melt the cheese. Enjoy!

Pasta Numero Dos:
As you might have noticed from the first post, you only use half of the butternut squash, so I had to figure out what to do with it. I also had the rest of the frozen peas, some baby spinach,

-1/2 a butternut squash, grated (I also recently discovered my grating blade on my food processor and was super excited to use it)
-1/2 a bag of frozen peas
-3/4 of a bag of baby spinach, chopped
-half an onion, diced
-a few cloves of garlic, diced
-a few links of chorizo if you have them on hand (which I did)
-a bag of your favorite kind of pasta
-grated cheese of whatever kind you like

-Heat olive oil in a large, deep pan, add onions and chorizo if using
-Add garlic and squash
-Once they soften, add peas
-Once peas are cooked through add spinach
-Season with salt, pepper, and red pepper flakes or whatever seasoning you feel like
-As soon as the pasta is done, add everything else and cheese on top!

*Note: This is not only a really nice, light pasta (I know there's chorizo, but not much. It's really like 3 or 4 lengths between 5 or 6 servings which isn't so bad), but it's unusual and super cheap. For the first pasta I bought 1 butternut squash, 1 bag of frozen peas, 1 bag of pasta, 1 package of cheese, 1 bag of spinach, and 2 bottles of wine for about $17. I already had the onions, garlic, spices, and oil, plus one bag of pasta, so if you factor those prices in, it would maybe be $25 for two hearty, healthy dinners for 5 or so people. Not bad!

SPICY Chili

I had non vegetarian chili for the first time (that I can remember) a few weeks ago at a friends. It was surprisingly good. Lately it's been super cold here, low 40s!, so I needed something cozy to make and figured I'd give chili a shot. For whatever reason I always thought chili was a mixture of beans and ground meat and maybe tomatoes...upon investigating recipes I quickly learned that it was usually meat or beans but rarely both. Too bad! I made my own version. It turned out very well in my opinion but I somehow made it super spicy. And don't believe me (since I'm a spice wimp), my roommate and neighbors both agreed and shoveled it down.

CHILI:
-3/4 medium/large onion, finely chopped
-4-5 cloves of garlic, minced
-olive oil
-1/2 lb ground turkey, broken up
-2 chorizo sausage links, cut into small pieces
-about 14 oz canned whole tomatoes (half of one of those really big cans), including liquid
-2 tomatoes, chopped
-1 jalapeño, seeded and chopped (*)
-1 or 2 chipotles in adobo, chopped (as needed)
-1/2 a red bell pepper (or more if you actually like them...I don't, I just wanted the texture)
-2 medium yellow squash, chopped
-1 can pinto beans (or whatever kind you like)
-3/4-1 can of another type of bean...I used dark red kidney beans)* As needed if it's too hot or too thin--in my case, too spicy
-1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
-salt n pepper to taste
-thyme and basil to taste (I only had dried and used a few tsps of each)

1. Heat a deep, heavy pan on medium heat, add oil to coat.
2. When oil is hot, add onions, cook until they begin to soften, add turkey and sausage.
3. As everything starts to cook add garlic.
4. As turkey begins to brown add canned tomatoes and regular tomatoes, and bring to a simmer.
5. Add 1st can of beans, peppers, and squash.
6. Keep mixture simmering, add spices, chocolate, salt, and pepper.
7.Simmer over low heat until liquid thickens up quite a lot and takes on your desired consistency. Taste frequently and adjust heat as needed (adding more beans or more peppers as needed).
8. Once chili thickens nicely, devour with cheddar, jalapeño, beer bread (coming soon!)

*I, for whatever reason, happen to be an expert at finding the hottest jalapeños...I am not good with spicy food (I like them but they really hurt my mouth...). No idea how I do this since I know nothing about spicy peppers, but the few times I've used them I only have to use one when most people would use several. Weird. Anyway, if you chili doesn't have any heat after one pepper, add as needed since I seem to be gifted/cursed...Enjoy!

Brussel Sprouts

While we grilled the salmon, we also threw some brussel sprouts that had been halved on the grill. I had a few left over and have been meaning to try other ways to cook them.

When grilling: half brussel sprouts, sprinkle with olive oil and sprinkle a little sugar on top

Another way (adapted from Cooking Lite)
-4 or 5 brussel sprouts, sliced into quarters
-olive oil
-salt n pepper
-1/2 a shallot, thinly sliced
-1 clove garlic, minced
-balsamic to taste

1. Heat pan, add oil and shallot, cook until shallot gets soft
2. Add brussel sprouts.
3. Add garlic.
4. Cook until brussel sprouts soften, but still have a crunch.
5. Remove from heat, drizzle with balsamic. Enjoy with a glass of chardonnay.

Things To Do WIth Extra Salmon

The other day I got a 12 lb salmon. Yes, 12 pounds. My friend lives near a bunch of Russian immigrants and I guess one of them goes out and catches salmon and then sells it for $1/lb. Unfortunately for me (or fortunately for my friends) you have to buy a whole fish. My friend took a few lbs off for herself (it was originally 14 lbs I guess), and gave me the rest. It came gutted but not scaled or filleted so that was an interesting and messy experience that I'm not eager to relive...I ended up grilling the salmon with a bunch of people. We went through a lot of it but 12 lbs is quite a lot of fish so we had leftovers. We did rosemary, garlic, and lemon, an asiany marinade with pineapple on skewers, and a maple syrup glaze too.

Salmon-Potato Salad (note: we had the most of the rosemary, lemon, garlic marinaded salmon left over, so that helped me come up with this idea)
-about 5 little potatoes (fingerling or whichever kind you prefer)
-1 T mayo*
-1 T spicy mustard*
-juice of 1/2 a lemon
-1 T german mustard*
-salt n pepper
-1 large stalk celery, finely diced
-1/3 small onion, finely diced
-1 T or so of canola oil
-salmon to taste*

1. Cook the potatoes in boiling water until tender, cool completely (or they'll get mushy when you try to cut them).
2. Dice celery, cut onion, place in large bowl.
3. Mix mustards, mayo, oil, salt n pepper, lemon juice in a small bowl.
4. Chop potatoes, add to larger bowl.
5. Add dressing to everything else.
6. Add salmon in and mix all together!

*No idea how much of all of these things I actually added, so my proportions might be kind of off...feel free to adapt as needed, with more mustard than mayo, and as much salmon as you like.

Baked Eggs

This is a 2-for-1 post. So a while ago at this point (yes, I'm delayed at keeping up with this) I came across a recipe for eggs baked with asparagus here . I love both eggs and asparagus so I was instantly intrigued. The other day I was in the mood for brunch but since it was just me, I didn't wanna go too crazy cooking up a lot of food. I remembered that asparagus-egg dish but then realized I didn't have any asparagus. Fail! Luckily I did happen to have some spinach on hand so i figured I could play around with the baked egg thing and use my cute little ramekins that I got for my birthday: win-win! This was a good idea on my part. I ended up making the asparagus one too later, so I'm including both.

Eggs Baked In Spinach
-1 egg
-3/4 c chopped spinach or more (I think that's about all I had, so more wouldn't hurt)
-1 T finely chopped onion
-1/2 garlic clove, smashed and finely chopped
-salt n pepper to taste
-olive oil
-1 T milk
-grated cheese to taste (any kind works, I would suggest cheddar or jack though)--maybe 1 T or so
-baguette, sliced on the diagonal, toasted and buttered (to eat with the egg)

1. Heat a heavy pan, add oil and onion and cook until onion becomes soft and translucent.
2. Add spinach and garlic and cook until spinach is done to your liking.
3. Remove from heat and put into a buttered ramekin
4. Grate cheese, preheat oven to about 450.
5. Carefully crack egg onto the spinach in the ramekin, add milk around it and salt n pepper.
6. Bake until whites begin to set (I still haven't mastered this step, I tend to overcook my eggs a bit), according to Shutter Bean, 5-7 min. Toast the toast.
7. Top with cheese and cook until cheese is bubbly.
8. Eat with the toast.

Egg Baked With Asparagus
1. Roast asparagus with olive oil, salt n lemon pepper (or however you like)
2. Follow steps 3-8.

Cocktails

I was at the Vern, my neighborhood bar, the other night and was in the mood for something other than beer or whiskey-ginger (my go-to well drink). I asked the bartender if she had any suggestions and she told me that lately after work she's been having raspberry kamikazes. For some reason I never think of kamikazes as a drink to get, not because I don't like them, but more because I always forget about them. A few days later I remembered that I had raspberry vodka, regular vodka, and limes lying around, so I figured I'd make one myself. If you're really feeling fancy, top with champagne and garnish with a lime wheel (I did).

Raspberry Kamikaze, but better:

-1 1/2 oz raspberry vodka or liqueur
-1 oz vodka
-1 oz lime juice
-1/2 oz triple sec
-champagne to taste

-Shake first 4 ingredients with ice, strain into a martini glass, top with champagne and a lime wheel.

*Note: for a less potent drink, leave out the regular vodka, I like both types because it cuts the sweetness of the raspberry liqueur a bit.

Raz-Straw-Black-Cherry-Berry Pie

A few weeks ago I was going through the fridge and realized I had a bunch of several pints of berries that I still hadn't eaten. I'd bought a half-flat of mixed berries because I wanted to make raspberry vodka/liqueur and have some fresh berries to eat too, but then I hadn't finished all of those berries. I haven't made a pie in some time, and I wanted to perfect my pie crust recipe anyway. I was going to make just a berry pie because there were some blueberries in the fridge too, but I've never cooked cherries and I figured, why not!

Pie Crust (makes a top and a bottom pie crust)
-2 1/2 c flour
-1 1/2 tbspn granulated sugar
-3/4 tsp salt
-1 c cold, unsalted butter
-1/2 c ice water (more as needed)
-1 tbspn freshly squeezed lemon

1. Put flour, sugar, salt in a bowl, stir to combine and place in freezer until really cold (like 10 min)
2. Cut butter into 1 inch cubes, add to flour, toss evenly (if it gets warm, put it back in the freezer)
3. Pulse in food processor until coarse and butter is the size of peas
4. Stir water and lemon together and drizzle into the butter/flour mixture a little at a time until pastry is shaggy and holds together when squeezed. Add more water as needed.
5. Dump dough onto floured work surface and fold over on itself a few times. Don't handle it too much because you want it as cold as possible. Divide pastry into two equal parts, wrap in plastic and chill for an hour.

Pie:
1 pint raspberries
1 pint blackberries
1 pint strawberries, chopped
1 pint cherries, pitted and sliced in half*
1/2 c sugar (or more to taste)
3 1/2 tblspns cornstarch
1 tblspn vanilla (if you want, I used less)
2 tblspns cold butter
fresh lemon juice to taste
*about 5-6 c fruit in all

1. Rub dry ingredients together in a large bowl, add berries and toss until evenly coated. Add the vanilla and lemon and set aside for 15 min.
2. Roll out one disk of pastry and place in 9 inch pan, stab dough with a fork several times and add berry mixture. Dot butter on top of berries.
3. Roll out second disk and place on pie, crimping edges, and slashing the top several times to create steam vents...or use cookie cutters to cut out shapes and place on top, or make a lattice crust (I did stars).
4. Chill the pie for an hour. I know this seems unnecessary but it keeps the crust really nice and flaky and solidifies the berry mixture, promise!
5. Preheat the oven to 400 degrees, place the pie on a baking sheet and bake for 60-70 min (until the juices are thick and bubbling). Check the pie after 45 min and cover if it's getting too brown (mine was fine)
6. Cool for 3 hrs to let filling set. Eat.

*note: if you make it yourself, this whole pie takes forever, but it's worth it.

Chocolate Cupcakes with Bacon-Maple Frosting

Yes, I caved to the bacon craze. I've been trying to plan out these cupcakes for a while now thanks to a not-so-helpful suggestion from my dear little brother. I asked him for a suggestion of what I could pair with chocolate besides caramel or fruit and his first response was "BACON!" Now I must admit that I have never been a huge fan of bacon (I prefer sausage) but I do like it, especially with syrup or on burgers. I can't really say I've ever thought of it with chocolate, but my brother is a weird kid and he will eat anything.

Anyway, he did get me thinking about this bacon and sweets idea. I have a killer maple butter cream recipe and bacon and maple are a fairly obvious combo. I've done caramel butter cream with chocolate, so I figured maple would work pretty darn well as a substitute. That lead me to the brilliant plan of adding bacon to the maple frosting and using a not-too-sweet chocolate cupcake as the base. I started making the cupcakes and kept thinking about how to add the bacon to the frosting. Then I remembered I still had maple sugar which would be perfect to sprinkle on bacon as it was cooling and excellent in the frosting. After cooking the bacon and beginning the frosting I had the brilliant idea to add the bacon to the frosting. Best plan! It added more texture than just sprinkling it on top and it allowed me to add more bacon to each cupcake and keep it on top. So here is my masterpiece:

Chocolate-Buttermilk Cupcakes *makes about 24 cupcakes:

-2 C flour
-1 C unsweetened cocoa
-1 ½ teaspoons baking soda
-pinch of salt
-1 ½ C buttermilk
-2 teaspoons vanilla extract
-1 ¾ C sugar
-1/2-3/4 C butter
-3 eggs

1.Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line cupcake pan with liners.

2.In a bowl, combine flour, cocoa, baking soda, and 3/4 teaspoon salt. In 2-cup liquid measuring cup, mix buttermilk and vanilla; set aside.

3. In another, large bowl, with mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter until blended. Increase speed to high; beat 3 minutes or until creamy, occasionally scraping bowl with rubber spatula. Reduce speed to low; add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition.

4. Beat in flour mixture alternately with buttermilk mixture just until blended, beginning and ending with flour mixture, scraping bowl occasionally.

5. Pour batter into prepared tins. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center of cake comes out clean.

Bacon-Maple Frosting:

- 1/2 c butter
- 3 1/2 c confectioners (powdered) sugar...or 1/4 c maple sugar, the rest powdered, if you have it (but it's still yummy if you don't)
-1/4 milk
-1/4 c or more of decent maple syrup (I like the darker ones because the flavor is more intense but really whatever you have on hand)
-about 5 slices of well-cooked bacon, sprinkled with maple sugar (if you have it) crumbled

1. Cook the bacon: heat a cast iron pan over medium heat and cook bacon until crispy. Pat with paper towels to drain, sprinkle with maple sugar (if using).

2. Make the butter cream: with an electric mixer, mix the butter and about 1/3 c sugar at a time, adding more sugar once it has been incorporated, adding milk as needed to thin the frosting out. *You may need more sugar to taste, so taste as you go

3. Drizzle maple syrup into the frosting and taste as you go so it doesn't get too sweet.

4. Crumble or tear the bacon into little, tiny pieces and mix into the butter cream with a big frosting knife or a spoon (you don't need the mixer here).

5. Frost liberally and serve immediately!

It's finally sunny!

...and this calls for a celebratory cocktail!

Banana Daiquiris:
(makes maybe 4-6 drinks)
-4 ripe bananas*
-1 c ice or more as needed
-3 shots of white rum (or more or less depending on your preferences)
-the juice of 1/2 a lime
-a splash of triple sec (optional)
-a splash of pineapple malibu (optional)

-Put everything in the blender and blend until smooth. Serve immediately, adding more banana if the drink is too strong, more lime if it's too sweet, and more ice if it's too thick.

* While I prefer to eat my bananas when they are still a tiny bit green, in this you want really ripe ones since those are the sweetest. You could certainly add sugar, but I prefer to keep it simple and just go with ripe bananas. Also, if you're one of those people who buys more bananas than you manage to eat, toss the super-ripe ones in the freezer, skins and all! Then, when you're feeling the need for a refreshing drink on a gorgeous summer day, you can grab those frozen bananas, cut them in half, peel them, and toss them in the blender. Not only does this stop banana waste, it also cuts down on the ice needed! Surprisingly frozen bananas are really easy to peel. Mine defrosted a bit in the heat, but not much. They trick is to cut them in half and then in half again length-wise and pop the skins right off.

A Fantastic Snack or a Delicious Appetizer

Or a lovely late-night dinner!

My favorite, favorite (and only ah ha) roommate not only got my champagne for my birthday, she also got me some amazing herbed goat cheese. This cheese is fantastic. I love goat cheese and I love herbs, so combine them and throw in some carbs and my life gets that much better. I have eaten about half of that cheese and it has been excellent, but today I realized that I'm out of crackers! Oh no! Luckily, I did realized that I had bread and tomatoes and all the fixings to a lovely snack.

Goat Cheese Crostini (ish) snack--duplicate for apps:
-1 slice study bread such as a wheat sourdough or whatever you like (I LOVE sourdough but I have been really enjoying Trader Joe's Cracked Wheat Sourdough as a slight change of pace).
-1 small roma tomato, thinly sliced (or about have of a big one).
-ideally, a nice chunk of herbed goat cheese. Really, any goat cheese will do (or any cheese. I just like a flavor that goat cheese brings with the other ingredients) and you can add herbs as needed. I'm not entirely sure how much I used...maybe a tablespoon?
-finely chopped rosemary.

-Preheat the burner.
-Toast your bread briefly--the broiler won't toast the bottom of the bread, which really annoys me, so I pre-toast.
-Meanwhile, thinly slice the tomatoes and finely chop the rosemary.
-Spread the toast with a nice layer of goat cheese, top with tomatoes, and finish with the rosemary and top with some small bits of goat cheese on top.
-Broil for a few minutes, until the edges of the toast are dark, the tomatoes are very juicy, and the cheese is melted.

*You could pretty easily do this as a nice appetizer: fill a tray with briefly-toasted toast, spread with cheese, top with tomatoes and rosemary, and toss in the broiler. The nice thing is, even cooled, this tasted great! Enjoy, ideally as dinner with a baby spinach salad and a glass of wine.

Desserts

I've mentioned happy hours, I've talked about wine, but I haven't really discussed desserts. Yes, I love baking and making desserts, but I rarely have them when out to dinner. Very recently I went to Paley's Place (for the second time--still highly, highly recommend) and tried some of the desserts. That got me thinking about the (few) not homemade desserts I have since moving to Portland and here are the highlights:

1. Creme brulee--Paley's Place. I love creme brulee. Seriously. It's probably one of my top 5 favorite desserts ever and man oh man this is one of the best I have ever had. Ever.

2. Chocolates--Van Duyne. I volunteer right near there and my wonderful bosses gave me a box of their chocolates for being such a good little worker. Yum. When it comes to chocolate, I'm rather picky. I don't like nuts, I rarely like fruit fillings, and I'm not a huge fan of nougat...usually. I grew up with some fantastic chocolate nearby (Mackenzie's, Sees, Marini's...) so I am a little hesitant when it comes to other specialty places. This place rocks.

3. Milkshakes--Moonstruck. While I think Moonstruck has cuter chocolates than Van Duyn, what I really love are their milk shakes and their desserts. Especially their ice cream sundaes.

4. Typical desserts, in particular The Concord--Pix. This dessert is phenomenal. My only slight issue with Pix is that they put so much almond in everything.

5. Cupcakes--Saint Cupcake. Go for the pumpkin spice or the chocolate with cream cheese frosting. Hands down, those are my two favorite cupcakes with Sprinkles' lemon cupcake to make my top three. However, I should note that Cupcake Jones makes one of the best red velvet cupcakes I have ever had, but with the filling it's just too sweet for me.

6. Froyo/ice cream--Tart. I do love Ben and Jerrys and Coldstone, but when it comes to frozen yogurt, Tart is the best I've found yet. It's not my hometown "Gurt," but the frozen custard is certainly excellent.
7. Caramel apple pie--Red Star Tavern. Well, I haven't been here since my freshman year of college, but this dessert was memorable enough to last...

8. Exotic desserts: Oba's cream-filled banana doughnut-things Apparently they're called "malassadas" but what do I know. All I know is that they're delicious and I wanted about 5 more plates.

9. Doughnuts--Voodoo. The apple fritter is excellent, as is the bacon-maple one. The less appropriately named ones are disturbingly delicious as well...

10. Dessert cocktail--Vault. Well, this might be cheating a little but in my defense I have yet to find an amazing dessert cocktail. Vault's "Lavender" is my stand in.

Movies That Never Fail To Make Me Happy

There are just some movies that no matter how I'm feeling always make me happy. And I have compiled a list off the top of my head in no particular order. So enjoy:

1. Strictly Ballroom. The accents! The dancing! The horrifyingly fabulous costumes! Really, you can't help but smile!
2. 10 Things I Hate About You: Not only is it based on a Shakespeare play, it's full of glorious '90s slang and a young Heath Ledger!
3. Disney's Alice In Wonderland: Ohhh Alice, I do have a weakness for Alice. Despite what critics may claim, I love this version and its whimsical take on the books.
4. Enchanted: Thanks Mom for my love of musicals! This combines not only that, but also my love of all old Disney. Hey, and even guys like it!
5. Men In Black: Maybe it's just nostalgia but Will Smith and this movie cannot fail to make me smile. Especially since my quality VHS copy has his music video at the end.
6. Ferris Bueller's Day Off: I mean, who doesn't love this movie? And who hasn't wanted a day off?
7. Clueless: Sure, it might be dumb, but the dialogue is hilarious, and the characters are all so lovable in the end...
8. The Brave Little Toaster: I loved it so much I apparently dressed up as it once when I was little...and I watched it recently, and it still holds up! Any movie that can make normally boring household equipment seem cool gets an A in my book.
9. Zorro: Antonio Banderas, Catherine Zeta-Jones, and sword-fighting...do you need more?!
10. The Phantom: For whatever reason this movie is one of the most memorable from when I was little. Maybe it was the pirates and the jewels, the magical aspect, or the witty guy in a sweet purple suit, I don't know, but I loved it and I still do. No shame, no shame!

*Disclaimer: I never said they were quality movies, they just make me smile...

2 Pizzas

I can't believe I haven't mentioned pizzas on here yet! I have my go-to favorite pizza, and now what may become my new favorite pizza. Pizzas are great because, like crepes, you have so many options and so much variety with them. You can have the standard pizzas with cheese, tomato sauce, and pepperoni or olives, etc, or you can add on more veggies, you can top it with a fried egg, you can ditch the red sauce, and you can make it completely your own. For someone who is not a huge fan of cooked tomatoes (don't get me wrong, I definitely like traditional pizza), this is an awesome option.

When I was little I was given a book called Fanny at Chez Panisse by Alice Waters. It's both a kids book and a cook book, and I still completely love it. I've used this pizza dough recipe from the beginning and it's the easiest, most fool-proof recipe I've found.

Dough (from Fanny at Chez Panisse)
-3/4 c warm water
-1 tblspn milk
-2 tsps dry active yeast
-2 c all purpose flour
-1/2 tsp salt
-extra flour and olive oil

-Measure the water and the milk into a big bowl. Add the yeast and stir with a wooden spoon. Stir in the flour, salt, and olive oil. Mix until it's too thick and sticky to stir.
-Spread your workspace with a little of the extra flour and turn dough onto the table. Kneed until it's smooth and elastic (it usually only takes a few minutes).
-Clean and dry the bowl (or if you're lazy like me, get another large bowl), rub it with olive oil, place the dough inside and cover it with a towel.
-Let the dough rise about 1 1/2 hours and then punch it down. Let it rise again about another hour.
Heat the oven to 450 and bake for 15-20 min with whatever toppings you like.

Favorite Pizza #1 (more basic and cheaper)
-Caramelized onions: slice 2-3 yellow or white onions into thin slices, cook them in a little less than 1 tablspn of olive oil and a spoonful of sugar until they are a rich caramel color)
-Fresh sliced tomatoes (Roma are nice since they are fairly sturdy): I generally use about 2 1/2 Roma tomatoes but it just depends on the size of your crust, etc.
-Whatever cheese you like--I like a mix of mozzarella, some feta, and Monterey jack: it's really to taste, 1-2 c grated should do the trick. I generally slice or grate as I go so I don't waste any.
-Fresh basil and any other herbs you want: totally to taste.
-About a tblspn olive oil, salt, pepper, 2 cloves or garlic, crushed.

-Make pizza dough ahead of time and once it is done, flatten it out on a greased baking sheet (just spraying a baking sheet with Pam will do the trick)
-Preheat the oven to 450
-In a little bowl mix the tblspn olive oil, a few pinches of salt and pepper, and the crushed garlic and mix or whisk together. Spread this evenly on the crust, adding more olive oil as needed, leaving a border around the edges of about an inch.
-Spoon the caramelized onions on top of the olive oil mixture and spread around evenly--they should pretty completely cover the crust up to the border.
-Top with thinly sliced tomatoes--enough to cover the onions without overlapping.
-Add the cheese on top to mostly cover the tomatoes (gaps are OK).
-Finish with any herbs you like!
-Bake for 15-20 min, let cool, and devour.

Favorite Pizza # 2:
(Adapted from Smitten Kitchen: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/06/fresh-ricotta-and-red-onion-pizza/ )
-Basic dough recipe listed above
-2 red onions (thinly sliced and caramelized with 1 tblspn olive oil, 1 spoonful of brown sugar, and once cooked, finished up with 2 tblspns balsamic vinegar and 1 large pinch of crushed red pepper--also see recipe above)
-about 1 c ricotta (homemade if you're feeling fancy...I wasn't)
-2 1/2 thinly sliced Roma tomatoes
-Maybe 1 c fresh baby spinach, torn in half or so
-5 or so slices of prosciutto, chopped in quarters or so
-A sprinkling or dried (but ideally fresh) basil and oregano
-The olive oil/salt/pepper/garlic mixture mentioned above.

-Preheat the oven to 450.
-Make the dough ahead of time and once ready spread with the olive oil/garlic/etc mixture explained above.
-Cover the dough with the red onion marmalade.
-Top with the tomatoes.
-Spoon the cheese on top and do whatever you can think of to get it to spread out--I just used my (clean) fingers...also you can add some feta if you feel so inclined.
-Add the baby spinach on top of the cheese.
-Finish it off with the prosciutto.
-Sprinkle on the herbs.
-Cook for 15-20 min
-Let cool and enjoy.

Brunch!

I have new neighbors! Well, they moved in maybe a month ago, but still! They are very nice, they fit in well with the rest of us, and they fall into the "20's" age-range...all ideal. The only downside is that they often work weekends. One of my neighbors happened to have this past weekend off and suggested we do brunch. As you might have guessed, I love brunch and breakfast, so I was totally game. She made huevos rancheros which were excellent, I made a baked french toast (recipe follows), another neighbor brought some lovely garlic-cheese biscuits (alas, no recipe), and my other neighbor brought champagne and carrot-pineapple juice (which is not only the most fantastic shade of neon orange, and actually tastes quite good plain and with champagne.

Baked French Toast (aka easiest brunch dish ever), barely adapted from Smitten Kitchen:
-one loaf of cheap supermarket white bread (I used an "Italian" bread although she calls for Challah)
-butter (enough to grease a 9x11 baking dish)
-2 and 3/4 to 3 cups 1 % milk (or whatever you have on hand, also I used the lesser amount)
-3 eggs
-3 tablespoons sugar
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1 mini bottle of baileys (think airplane-size)
-a few splashes of triple sec (*next time I will just use orange zest or lemon zest, as I couldn't taste the triple sec)
-a splash vanilla (I don't think I even used a teaspoon considering how strong the baileys is)
-cinnamon (on top)

*This is one of those nifty things that you prep the night before and roll out of bed and shove in the oven the day of...ideal, in my mind!

The Night Before:
-Butter a 9x11 inch baking pan well
-Add two rows of tightly packed bread (her directions tell you to cut the bread into one-inch slices and it didn't occur to me until the next day that she meant bread that wasn't pre-sliced...so apparently being an idiot I cut my pre-sliced bread into one-inch slices. Upon eating it, I do not regret this because having slices of crust kind of scattered all through the french toast gave it awesome texture. It is extra work, and frankly probably wouldn't matter if you were feeling lazy)
-Whisk the milk, eggs, booze, vanilla, sugar, and salt in a bowl and drizzle evenly on top of the bread
-Sprinkle cinnamon and sugar to taste on top
-Tightly cover and stick in the fridge overnight

The Next Morning:
-Preheat the oven to 425
-Bake until puffed and golden (about 30 min) and eat immediately with syrup!

*Note: it puffs up a lot in the oven, so really wait until it's gold on top. If you don't eat it immediately, it will fall, but fear not, it still tastes glorious! It also keeps at least 2 days covered in the fridge.

Light Spring Pasta

In an effort to be healthy, I bought a bunch of veggies. Once I put them in the vegetable drawer, I completely forgot about them. A few days later I remembered them and knew I had to use them immediately. I've been trying to use up the various pasta and rice I've also bought and forgotten about (yay buying in bulk) that I have, so I figured asparagus pasta would be the perfect option. I started cooking everything and looked in the fridge for cheese...FAIL. Only cheddar! So then I noticed I did have part of a lemon and garlic, and figured out a fantastic pasta.

What I think I love about this the most is how light it is. Leaving out the cheese turned out to be one of my better ideas, and the still-crisp asparagus gives an excellent texture to the pasta. The garlic keeps it flavorful and the lemon keeps it fresh. Try it today!

Light Spring Asparagus-Lemon Pasta
-8 oz of your choice of pasta
-About 10 spears or so of asparagus, washed and cut into small chunks
-1/4 of a lemon
-salt
-lemon pepper (or regular if you don't have it)
-olive oil
-1 clove of garlic

-Put lightly-salted water on to boil
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
-Meanwhile, clean the asparagus, put it in an oven-proof dish, drizzle olive oil on top, season with salt and lemon pepper and cook to your desired done-ness (about 10 min for still slightly crunchy)
-Once the water boils, add the pasta and cook to your desired done-ness (mine took about 10 min)
-Peel and finely chop or press the garlic
-Once the asparagus is done, chop it into small pieces (bite-sized) and put in a medium-sized bowl
-Once pasta is done, drain and add to bowl with asparagus, add the garlic, add a drizzle of olive oil, salt, lemon pepper, and squeeze the lemon juice on top. Adjust seasoning as needed.

End of Napa

My skills: there lies the top of the champagne bottle, cork and all! And the "saber" that I used.
Pouring the freshly sabered champagne (check the top of the bottle)!
Excellent champagne

Napa Cont.

V Wine Shop
Cool trunks
Robert Mondavi himself! In a fabulous cork jacket.
Wine barrels up close.
So much wine! Also, fun fact: they apparently paint those red stripes on the wine barrels so you can't see the drips and stains...pretty smart!

Napa Cont

Huge wine-making barrels
Checking out all the grapes
I miss California poppies
This would have been a lot cooler if we'd come when the grapes were ripe: the rock to the right says "chardonnay" and the one to the right is a different grape. Once the grapes ripen, you can taste each grape and see each side by side to get a better sense of the differences and similarities.

Next Vineyard: Robert Mondavi Winery
Stunning day and gorgeous view
Special!
Wine barrels
Those bottles were HUGE!

Admiring the champagne-making tanks
Taking notes
A delicious rose--the bigger glass was the commonly found version and the baby glass was the fancy, more expensive version (that had been aged longer)
Domaine Carneros--known for their champagne
Amazing little bites at the CIA

Napa

The only other thing to note since the Apple/Caramel/Awesome/Spice Cake before I tell you a little about my trip to Napa is our Easter brunch. I really like Easter as far as holidays go because I get to wear something girly and pastel, and because it often involves yummy food and chocolate. We had fourteen people this year in my little 2-bedroom apartment and it was a smashing success! There was totally enough food! We had: biscuits and (actually good) vegetarian gravy, blueberry buttermilk cake, fruit salad, quiche, deviled eggs, mimosas, bacon, mini croissants, and some excellent egg mess with homemade chips. So yum!

Anyway, back to the point of this post: I went to Napa with my mom and another mother/daughter pair for a short weekend getaway. It was my first time to the Napa Valley and hopefully not my last! The highlight for me was sabering open a bottle of champagne (and not hurting anyone or myself, dropping the bottle, or spilling too much), although the entire trip was fabulous. I loved being able to sit down with a sommelier and have them walk me through exactly how they figured out which wine was from where, what the year was, what it smelled like, etc. We saw how and where the wine making was done and got to try quite a bit too. The only downside was realizing that most of them are out of my price range! Oh well, I can dream.

The 5 'S's of Wine Tasting:
1. See. Is the wine red or white? Is there anything in it? Bubbles? What color red or white--dark or light (apparently red wine gets lighter with age and white wines get darker)?
2. Swirl. This apparently increases the surface area so the molecules of smell come out. This is also where you get to see the wine's "legs" (a term I find amusing). When you swirl a glass rather vigorously, you watch where the top edge of the wine has hit the glass and the lines that fall down from that are the legs. The faster and the slower they fall depend on alcohol and sugar content--the faster they fall, the less sugar or alcohol there is, and vice versa.
3. Smell. F.E.W: stands for fruit, earth, and wood: when you smell the wine does it smell really sweet? Then it probably has a lot of fruit in it...a chardonnay often has a more mineral-y smell which can be described as earth.
4. Sip. This is when you confirm or deny your guess of what the wine is like based on the first 3 'S's and you use the F.E.W. words again.
5. Spit or Swallow. Pretty obvious--if you like it, swallow it, if not, spit.

Pictures following!

Julie and Julia Inspires Me: A Fancy Cake

My mom sent me the book Julie and Julia only a little while before the movie came out. I read it right away and really enjoyed it. I'm really bad about going to movies when they're actually playing (thanks to the $3, 21+ theater by my house where you just have to wait a few extra months and then you can enjoy any of the popular movies with a beer), so I didn't see Julie and Julia until a few weeks ago--yes, I'm a little behind the times. Part of the reason I made the roast described in the previous post was to bribe my friend and neighbor to download the movie for me to watch on his fancy TV...I guess it just wasn't his cup of tea (of course he watched it, though). The roast turned out wonderfully, if I do say so myself, but for Julie and Julia, I was just craving some ridiculous, fancy cake. Luckily, we didn't have a roast, garlic mashed potatoes, asparagus, AND a triple layer buttercream-frosted cake all on the same day, because I don't even think my athlete brother could have handled all that food!

While shopping for roast ingredients, I remembered that apples were in season and picked some of those up. Upon investigating my kitchen, I also realized that I had cream in the fridge. Over the holidays I made Gourmet's Spice Cake with Caramelized Pears and Maple Buttercream and it was spectacular. I figured, "hey, I've got apples and cream--I could make a caramelized apple version with a caramel buttercream!" Well, I realized after the fact that it's surprisingly tricky to find a recipe for caramel buttercream, but that didn't stop me! I just made a regular buttercream with less sugar and then added caramel...yes, rich, I know. Also delicious!

Spice Cake with Caramelized Apples and Caramel Buttercream
For Spice Cake, please see link: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Spice-Cake-with-Caramelized-Pears-and-Maple-Buttercream-355980
Now ignore the rest of the link and keep reading for the apples and caramel buttercream:

Caramelized Apples:
-4 or 5 apples of whatever brand you like (I believe I used Braeburns)
-1/4 c of red wine (really whatever you have along as long as it's not 2 buck chuck but ideally something fruity
-1-2 tablespoons of sugar (it's mainly to taste...also I used brown because I love brown sugar)
-1-2 tablespoons of butter

-Peel and core apples, then finely chop them
-In a deep-sided cast iron pan, heat 1 tablespoon of the butter until melting
-Add the apples
-Cook down for a bit and add sugar and red wine as the apples begin to soften
-If the apples start to stick, add a little more butter
-Cook until very tender and sweet

Caramel Buttercream
Caramel Sauce:
*This is my favorite caramel sauce recipe because they are the only one that suggests that you add water to prevent burning. Yes, the caramel takes a little longer to come together, but it's sooo much easier than having to constantly re-do burned caramel.
** I halved the main recipe, but I would even suggest quartering it
-1/2 c white sugar
-2 (it calls for 3 but I don't think you need it) tablespoons butter
-1/4 c heavy whipping cream
-1/4 c water

-Get all your ingredients measured and near you before you start--this makes things easier for you since you have to work quickly.
-In a tall, heavy sauce pan, add the sugar and the water over moderately high heat
-As the sugar beings to melt, stir it vigorously
-As soon as the sugar comes to a boil stop stirring (it's hard, I know)
-Once it looks nice and golden, add the butter and whisk until golden
-Immediately remove from heat and add the cream--whisk until smooth
-Add a pinch of salt if you like

Buttercream:
*any buttercream recipe will do--just add a little less sugar no vanilla
-1 cup unsalted butter or margarine, room temperature (use vegetable shortening when pure white icing is needed)
-1/2 cup milk, room temperature
-1/4 teaspoon salt
-2 pounds confectioners' sugar

-Combine all the ingredients in large mixing bowl and mix at slow speed until smooth.

-Add the caramel to taste

To Assemble:

-Cool layers of the cake

-Once cool, lightly frost the bottom layer on the top and add about 1/3-1/2 of the apples

-Repeat with the second layer

-Add the top layer and frost, adding any extra apples after (or just eat them plain).

-Enjoy

*PS-How cool are those colored candles?! We decided to pretend it was Cary Grant's Birthday...I mean, who doesn't like him?! Happy Birthday, Cary!

A Roast

For the first time in my life I made a roast. I'm not even sure if I've really ever eaten a roast before, but when a friend of mine asked if I could make one, I said "Sure, why not!" I probably should have been more nervous about making a roast for someone who had actually grown up eating them, but when it comes to cooking, I have somehow or other convinced myself that I can cook anything, as long as I do enough research on it. Luckily for both myself and Matt, the roast turned out just fine.

Pork Shoulder Roast with Rosemary and Garlic:
-1 4lb pork shoulder for a roast
-several cloves of garlic, sliced in long quarters or thirds
-a big bunch of rosemary
*garlic and rosemary depends on your preference

-Preheat the oven to 375
-Trim the fat off the meat as best you can (and get a sharper knife than I have to make this easier) and make several incisions all over the meat (this is where the rosemary and garlic will go)...really, just stab it all over (but this does not quite sound as nice).
-Stuff the incisions with a piece or two of the sliced garlic and a small bunch of rosemary.
-Season the meat liberally with salt and pepper
-place on a rack in a roasting pan and stick in the over for an hour and a half to two hours or whenever the internal temp reaches the appropriate done-ness for pork.

Fabulous Sides To Accompany a Rosemary-Garlic Roast:
Roasted Asparagus:
-1-2 bundles of asparagus, washed and the ends snapped off
-lemon juice and zest (if you want)
-olive oil
-salt n pepper

-Preheat the oven to 350 or 375 (you can just add these at the end when you take out the pork since they take no time at all)
-Place washed and trimmed asparagus in a pan or on a cookie sheet
-Drizzle olive oil over (to taste--I don't like a whole lot, but that's my preference)
-Season with salt and pepper and zest if using
-Cook for 10-15 min until tender (I would do about 10 since I like mine a little crunchy)
-After removing from the oven, squeeze lemon juice over and serve immediately
Garlic Mashed Potatoes:
-5 russet potatoes or more (I had leftovers but I don't eat a lot)
-maybe 1/2 a cup of milk
-salt n pepper
-smashed garlic--a few cloves or to taste
-2 tablespoons of butter or so

-Put the potatoes in a big pot and cover with water
-Boil until tender (maybe 10 min--not totally sure)
-Once tender, remove from heat and pour off almost all of the water
-If the pot isn't too hot, just use a potato masher or, ideally, a hand mixer to smash and whip them up. You can also use a very deep bowl
*Note-it helps to cut them up a bit before attempting to mash and whip them...if you don't, you may end up with potato pellets attacking you out of the bowl. Woops!
-Add the garlic, butter, and about 1/4 of the milk
-Continue whipping them and season to taste
-I like my potatoes a little chunky, but add more or less milk according to the desired tendency.