Emily said...

I said, "I only like grape nuts with too much sugar."

Emily said, "Heat them up and put a little butter on them."

So I did. Thanks, Emily.

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Au Currant(s)

Wondering how to eat the berry of the season? The berry all the celebrities are raving about*? Over the weekend, I used a quart of red currants for three different dishes.



First, currants served as a garnish for Mark Bittman's fluffy pancakes from How to Cook Everything. Though they are too tart for some to enjoy raw, I think the sweetness of the syrup cut their tartness just enough that even currant newbies could enjoy them this way. Dan added lemon zest to the pancake batter, which complimented them nicely.



I also made a rhubarb and red currant tart using a recipe from The Paris Kitchen. I used this alarmingly simple (just watch the screamingly hot bowl) French tart dough recipe method recounted by David Lebovitz. I doubled the sugar in the tart recipe when I realized that it was described as "savory." I wanted something sweet and tangy, not savory. That was a good move. It was still very tart, which I like. I also found that it needed only 40-45 minutes to bake, which worked out well because any longer would have burned the tart crust.

You know how there are a zillion recipes online for strawberry-rhubarb pie? I love rhubarb, but I've always railed against pairing it with the traditional strawberry. I just don't think that baking it with strawberry adds much in terms of flavor or texture. Currant, on the other hand, gives the sour fruit more dimension (says I) and it only becomes a bit softer with baking, so there's still something in the pie or tart on which to chew. Rhubarb is also good with sour cherries, and I've always wanted to try baking rhubarb with cranberry, but don't forget that it's swell on its own.

I have now officially typed the word "tart" too many times. Where's my thesaurus?



Finally, after sharing a few raw handfuls with my 15-month-old, who apparently is as big a fan of currants as I, the remaining berries went into Ina Garten's fruit salad with limoncello recipe. I also used this week's CSA strawberries and blueberries, as well as a few bananas. Without the time (or multiple lemons) to make my own lemon curd (though I've done it in the past and recommend it), I mixed the yogurt topping with a spoonful of lingonberry preserves. This is an excellent summer dessert, side, or breakfast (I tested it three times, of course).

Currants! They're so now! They're so trending! They're so sassy! They're so you.

*Celebrity raves and currant trends may be fictional. I've loved currants since finding them growing on a bush near my childhood home in Dubuque, Iowa. A previous resident must have planted them, and I loved the novelty of being able to eat something right off a plant in my backyard, as well as their sharp, fruity, almost bitter flavor. I think I may also have enjoyed that they look a bit like they'd be poisonous.

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Self-Portrait with Craving

This morning they mentioned Shredded Wheat on NPR. I guess it was probably an advertisement ("sponsorship"). I just remember hearing that it has no added sugar or salt.

So, naturally, I immediately began craving Frosted Mini-Wheats (Bite Size) cereal, and all that lovely added sugar. And then I just had to stop on my way to work so that I could pick up a box. I'm about to have them for breakfast in three...two...one.

p.s. I overexposed/blurred this photo on purpose for those of you alarmed by photos with visible toes. You're welcome. I can't promise I'll always do you that courtesy when I wear open-toed shoes, but it's still pretty early in the morning.

[Skirt by JCrew, Tee and tank from I can't see the tags while I'm wearing them (Forever 21?). Shoes by Blowfish Malibu from DSW.]  

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Poetry Tuesday: How I love her

Were she a mealtime, it's breakfast she'd be:
Cinnamon puff, doughnut-tasting curves,
Brown butter lingering on lips, one
Tall glass of milk, a smooth-skinned good egg,
A sharp shot of grapefruit, pulp in.
 
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Welcome Waffles

    

I'd like to post a belated welcome-to-the-neighborhood for a new shop called Waffle and Wolf. We happened in on the first day and tried a waffle folded and filled with feta and honey. Tasty!



There are lots of heartier "specials" if you want to make your folded waffle a meal instead of a snack. I'm into tuna these days, so my eye is was drawn to that one (mercury load; yeah I know).

Waffles and more? Now that's a tastebud-pleasing business model.

    

Waffle and Wolf
413 Graham Avenue
Brooklyn, NY, 11211
347 889 6240

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There was this one time?

This one time? We had a fairly new baby? And Rusty brought us muffins from Variety?

Much appreciated!  Especially pumpkin cream cheese.

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Poetry Tuesday: The Patient Muffin

Pepitas don't look like
Pepitas taste nice but
A pumpkin muffin is soft and waits
Solidly on your desk, and waits
Warm flavor pausing, waits
For you to remember.


OR


A Noiseless, Patient Muffin

A NOISELESS, patient muffin,
I mark’d, where, on a little office desk, it stood, isolated;
Mark’d how, to adorn the cluttered, flat surrounding,
It launch’d forth fragrance, fragrance, fragrance, out of itself;
Ever unreeling it—ever tirelessly speeding scent.	5
And you, O my Stomach, where you sit,
Surrounded, surrounded, in measureless oceans of work,
Ceaselessly eating, nibbling, snacking,—seeking the foods, to ingest them;
Till the hunger you still have be fill’d—till your breakfast's anchor holds;
Till the pumpkin-y muffin's strings catch somewhere, O my Soul.

 


[Pumpkin muffin from Whole Foods, via Kevin.  Thanks, Kevin.  Sorry, Whitman.]

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Snowy Sick Day Breakfast

 

My sister made homemade orange rolls and posted a photo on Facebook.  I wanted some immediately. But she lives in another state, I can't eat a photograph, and I'm home sick after a snowstorm with neither the ingredients nor the energy to produce my own rolls. Alas!

We were, however, inspired to throw some Pillsbury/Cinnabon cinnamon rolls (find them in the refrigerator biscuit section of the grocery store) into the oven this morning.  No doubt, Cali's rolls were better (as are my mom's, here), but these were pretty good.



My only quarrel with them, really, is that there are just five in a can.  That's an odd number, and there are two people in my household.  How can we possibly share fairly without dirtying a knife?

So, I'd love to have had that sixth roll, but I can acknowledge that this product would be perfect for people with five-person families.  You just can't please everyone, Pillsbury.  You just can't.



Microwave leftover, cooled rolls for 20 seconds before eating.

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Snowy Breakfasts

(photo by Dan)

We had a blizzard a few weeks ago.  I miss it (which I realize is because I could stay inside, safe and warm and dry).  Our lazy, snowy, post-holiday mornings made for some excellent breakfast opportunities.



Ruby red grapefruit (no sugar needed) and jalapeno-cheddar bagel with cream cheese.  Thanks, Dan, for shoveling and stamping through the snow to the store to get the provisions!





"American Pancakes" from Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess and homemade cranberry curd (loosely based on a recipe in the same book).

Here's a tip: if you make more batter than you need, cook up all the pancakes anyway and freeze or refrigerate them.  Throw the leftovers in the toaster to heat and eat when you feel like it.  Pancake batter doesn't keep well, but cooked pancakes do.

Let it snow, breakfast-lovers!

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The Cookbook Challenge: Book One

For a couple of years, I've been wanting to prove to myself that the many cookbooks I've hoarded (about a quarter of which can be viewed in the photo above) are good for something.  I do cook regularly from a number of them, but there are others that just hang out in the kitchen as novelty items.  Far too often, I turn the internet when looking for a new recipe to try.  I know this is, in part, because it is much easier to search for specific ingredients on my computer, but I love quite a few of the cookbooks I've collected -- even ones I don't use often.  They do take up space, though, and I should probably use them or lose (at least a few of) them.

I thought perhaps I would create a challenge in which I attempt to make at least one recipe from each of my cookbooks (and books of "food writing" that include recipes) over the course of a year.  This may help me decide which cookbooks to get rid of, but it might also clue me in to some new favorites.  As a bonus, this could also create some entertaining blog content (for you!) along the way.



For my first book in the challenge, I chose The New York Times Large Type Cookbook (by Jean Hewitt; illustrations by Maida Silverman. Golden Press, NY, 1968).  I don't remember exactly where I picked this up (as will be the case with many of my second-hand sources), but for some reason I was drawn to the format.  The recipes are fairly basic in an appealing way (large print makes everything look easier!), and the illustrations are spare but sweet.



This morning, I made up a dish of the cookbook's: 

Boone Tavern Spoon Bread
 (note: recipe instructions have been paraphrased)

1 1/4 c. white cornmeal
3 c. milk, rapidly boiling
3 eggs, beaten
1 tsp. salt (you could ease off the salt a tad, I think)
1 3/4 tsp. baking powder
2 T. melted butter, cooled


Once the milk is boiling (be careful, as it can easily boil over in a too-small pot), add the cornmeal and stir constantly until it is well-mixed and thick.  Remove from heat and allow to cool.  Preheat oven to 375 F. 


When cooled, stir cornmeal mixture into other ingredients.  Mix (I used a stand mixer) at high speed for 10-15 minutes, or until smooth.  Spread in a pie plate or casserole dish (1-1 1/2 qt capacity).  Bake in oven for 30 minutes.  Serve with melted butter (or cheese or hot sauce or sour cream, I thought, with bacon on the side).  The cookbook specifies that this should be eaten with a fork, which tickled me.  It's "spoon" bread, after all!





I hope you appreciated my "large print" homage.

Spoon bread is like a corn bread casserole.  I found the recipe plain but filling, which seems true to the aesthetic and contents of this cookbook.  I have a hunch, flipping through it, that there are other things in this volume I would enjoy making and eating.  The New York Times Large Type Cookbook is staying on the "keep" pile for now.



How many cookbooks do I have, anyway?  I'm taking bets.

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These days, I'm running on...

Chocolate Cheerios (also pictured: multi-vitamin, fish oil caplet, and calcium pill)!

[Duck Canvas Tote by Baggu; Canvas Pleated Booties by We Who See - both from Urban Outfitters]

I've been switching up my work breakfasts -- fruit, cheese grits, oatmeal (with brown sugar), smoothies, and cereal are all options -- and I try not to have the same thing two days in a row. So I don't have the cocoa beauties pictured above every day, but some days I come back to the office kitchen for a "second breakfast," and it's nearly always Chocolate Cheerios.

You might recall I first spotted these while stopping at an ATM in a bodega, during Steph's bachelorette party. I didn't buy a box because we were headed to a fancy restaurant, and I thought it might be gauche to walk in carrying my find. But I kept an eye out for them and found them recently at the Union Square Duane Reade.

Not only are they tasty and crunchy (if eaten swiftly), but the leftover milk is perfectly chocolate-y, without tasting phony. I've already gone through two boxes in 3 weeks.

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I'm more into the nibbles than the sips.

Longman & Eagle has been open less than a year in Chicago (near the Logan Square Blue Line stop). I had the opportunity to have brunch there with one of the owners (a friend of Dan's) and his wife, which was a first for me.  It was a singularly decadent experience -- and an awesome meal.

I ordered the Brioche French Toast Stuffed with Housemade Seasonal Preserves, Honey Creme Fraiche, Blis Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup. So yummy.  So next level.  The preserves were an enormous pile of a squarish blueberries. The creme fraiche carried the faintest tinge of lemon foam. Wow!  Dan had biscuits and pork gravy with a side of potato terrine, and I loved my bites of that, too.

The photo above, though, is of Mike's Bloody Mary (I'm told the shot of beer he ordered with it is a midwestern thing, but I never noticed such a tradition in Kansas).  I took a snapshot with lust in my heart because the drink came garnished not just with lemon, lime, and spices, but with a cornichon AND a small block of cheese.  Be still my beating heart!  This is what I like to see.

I wish this place were in my neighborhood.  Smashing menu, great decor, sidewalk cafe, beer garden?  It's fab.  When they do someday turn the rooms upstairs into hotel rooms, I'll be happy to check in.

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B at the B&B

Welcome to Ray's Bucktown B&B, Chicago!

As far as I'm concerned, this "B&B" can stand for "Breakfast and Breakfast."



The chef (I believe her name was Maureen) made delicious apricot pancakes for me (and a made-to-order omelette for Dan).  We shared roasted potatoes with rosemary, which were perfectly crispy.





There had also been a pre-breakfast spread of fruit, juices and pastries.

I hope it's clear I recommend this place.

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Icelandic AM

It's been a rough few weeks.  Some days, Icelandic yogurt is what gets me through.

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Photo Essay: Peace, Love, and Little Donuts.

The building.


In line.


Before too long, we were entering.


The menu.


The machine.


The shop.


Ready-to-eat.


Depending on how soon you're going to eat them, they package them differently.  We bought some to eat right away and some to take home for the rest of our crew.  The "now" doughnuts were the best doughnuts.  These were ginger sugar and...lemon, I think?


My first Little Donut. Subtle ginger.  Warm and soft.





Donuts "To Go."  Cinnamon, Ginger, Raspberry, Chocolate.  Easily eaten.

Strip District
2018 Smallman Street
Pittsburgh, PA 15222

p.s. The Pittsburgh Slow Food lady was really disappointed that I was going to blog about these because, "Their doughnuts come from a mix!"  Yes, but I ate them (and they were good).  There are probably better doughnuts out there, but this was a fun experience.  And this is not a slow foods blog (though I hope it is, sometimes, slow foods friendly).

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What a find!

Here's something I desperately need to try: Chocolate Cheerios.  I had no idea they existed until I spotted this box at a bodega in the middle of a bachelorette party (while some friends used an ATM).  If we hadn't been on our way to a fancy restaurant, I would have bought a box and carried it around with me for the rest of the night.

Update coming soon.

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