On food writing and oysters

I haven't had a chance to read anything but Children's Literature lately-- specifically some historical fiction, biographies and autobiographies, and nearly every Roald Dahl book ever written. As fun as its been, its definitely made me look longingly at the grown up books reserved in my queue once the semester ends.

Here are a few recent food-related additions (with their Amazon reviews):

 A Homemade Life by Molly Wizenberg
In A Homemade Life: Stories and Recipes from My Kitchen Table, Molly Wizenberg recounts a life with the kitchen at its center. From her mother's pound cake, a staple of summer picnics during her childhood in Oklahoma, to the eggs she cooked for her father during the weeks before his death, food and memories are intimately entwined. You won't be able to decide whether to curl up and sink into the story or to head straight to the market to fill your basket with ingredients for Cider-Glazed Salmon and Pistachio Cake with Honeyed Apricots.

Best Food Writing 2010 Edited by Holly Hughes
Mourning the demise of Gourmet magazine, series editor Hughes asks "is food writing a dying art?" Readers of this year's anthology will offer a resounding "nowhere close." Ethical concerns of organic and locavore movements and free range meats are tidily summed up by now-famous vegetarian Jonathan Safran Foer. Whereas MIT grad J. Kenji Lopez-Alt shares a recipe for making French fries as good as what McDonalds makes: "salty, crisp, light, and not greasy." And travelling to Tokyo, Kevin Pang discovered to his great surprise that eating a bowl of ramen "satisfied every taste sense man is blessed to experience." A sparkling collection.

Made From Scratch by Jenna Woginrich
Part memoir and part how-to manual, Made from Scratch recounts Woginrich’s growing independence and the successes and missteps she experiences as she learns to more fully live off the land. By turns upbeat, dramatic, and sometimes sorrowful, her story embodies the experience of the new homesteader  one who is committed to reducing dependence on commercially produced goods while still working a day job to pay the rent. Woven into the narrative, readers will find easy-to-follow instructions for making clothing, playing a musical instrument, preserving fruit, brewing the best pot of coffee imaginable, and much more.


Have y'all read any of these? If so, what did you think? Does anyone want to sponsor me for $200 so I can take a food writing class at BU? Yes, I just typed "y'all". And I meant it.

This review is looong overdue: Last night, I met some friends at my favorite spot  Harvard Square, Russell House. It is probably safe to say that I have tried about 70-80% of the items on the small plates and cocktail menus. And because everything is so delicious, I can't go here too often. Its very easy for me to spend my weekly food/beverage allowance on Friday evening after work. But I hadn't had been in a while, so I was ready to get my oyster on. 

photo cred: Mysterymeet.org

If you have never been to Russell House, you should go this weekend. It has a fun atmosphere; the perfect place to meet up for after work drinks, or late-night hangout. Its the kind of place you want to wear your favorite outfit-- know what I mean? I have only sat at a regular table once. The bar is prime people-watching territory, and the bartenders are always very friendly. The pricing is relatively inexpensive, but like I said, it can quickly add up.

Allow me to take a minute to tell you my oyster story. I don't think I had my first oyster until I moved to Boston. I know this seems hard to believe, since I have never in my life lived more than 10 miles from the Atlantic Ocean. But, there you have it. When I first tried the Island Creek Oysters at Russell House, it was love at first slurp. Ever since then, I will take any and every opportunity to indulge. So much so, that the weekend bartenders and I are on a first name basis. (Please excuse the googled photos, I didn't have a camera on hand)

photo cred: yelp.com

So anyway, last night while enjoying oysters on the half shell with Sabrina and Joel, we got to talking about oyster eating habits. Like me, Joel didn't warm up to oysters until he moved to Boston (from Venezuela). Russell House serves their oysters with a side of cocktail sauce, sweet pickle relish and a few lemon slices. They are beautiful and so fresh. I love seeing them piled up on a mountain of ice behind the bar. Also, they are only $1 every night from 11-12!

I like to load mine up. But Joel is a purist; he eats them without all the fixin's. So when he asked me about Southern oyster eating, I got to thinking.... If there ever was a symbol of the cultural differences between the Deep South and New England, oysters might be it. I told him about my experience over Christmas with my sisters: a $3 bucket of dirty, unshucked oysters(raw or steamed), eaten on a saltine with a splash of Tabasco. Mmmm. Don't get me wrong, we can do fancy if we want to. I'm told the oysters at Casa Marina are to die for (I've never had them, but their Sunday brunch is fantastic). But generally speaking, we serve our seafood deep fried in love & grease and/or in a basket with a side of slaw and a hushpuppy or two. Just thinking about it made me homesick. But when I do make it back home, I will miss Russell House oysters and Dierdre the bartender.


What is your favorite way to enjoy oysters? Who has the best oyster in the land?
Sanne's birthday is on Monday! Ye-haw!! Also on Monday is the sign-up deadline for the Cupcake Camp. Be sure to tell us if you think Sanne should enter! Vote in our weekly poll on the sidebar over there-->

Higher education and a barrage of links

A few months ago, I raved about a seminar I went to at BU with Judith Jones. Yesterday, I came across a list of the spring seminars. A lot of them are filled already, but I made it off of the waiting list for Judith Jones, so I'm taking my chances next month with Artisan Cheeses of the World. Wish me luck! The seminar includes a talk about cheese making, tastings paired with condiments and wines and a copy of the book The Cheese Primer. Yum! Another class that sounded interesting was All About Sausages. I registered for that one, too. These things are addicting. I'm also looking at a two-day seminar on food and recipe writing. Being in school again has been fun. My Children's Literature class is going really well, and I'm working on my application for the Literacy Intervention Certification Program this summer. I loved being in design, but not as much as I enjoy cooking seminars and education classes... C'est la vie. So, anyone interested in taking a cooking class with me?

I also mentioned before that we are a part of the Boston Food Bloggers webring. Today, I saw that they announced something called Cupcake Camp, a contest for professional or amateur (or hobbit?)bakers and a cupcake-palooza for sweet-tooths. Their website, cupcakecamp.org describes it as "... an ad-hoc gathering born from the desire for people to share and eat cupcakes in an open environment." Um, yes please. How many of you think that our Alyssanne should participate in this? Vote in our new poll of the week on the sidebar.

Finally, in other education news, I received an email this morning from the president of BU announcing that they are raising tuition and room and board to $53,558.00. What do you think about that?

Making Masala

Tonight is more of a review than a how-to.



I found this sauce in the ethnic food section of Shaw's, and am hoping to find a cheaper alternative to one of my favorite take out entrees, Chicken Masala.

I started by sautéing 2 cloves chopped garlic and 1 small chopped yellow onion in olive oil. Then I added 2 chicken breasts, chopped into bite-sized pieces. I tossed in some salt and pepper, chili powder and curry for flavor, and about a cup or so of some leftover frozen vegetables that we had in the freezer.

Once the chicken was cooked through, I added the sauce. The instructions say to add 1/2c water, but I used coconut milk instead.

I let that simmer for about 10 minutes or so, so that all the flavors infused and my rice could finish cooking...

Its pretty good. Next time, I would probably let the chicken marinate in lots of spicy spices. It's no Annapurna, but in a pinch, it'll do.

Oh, and there's a new question for you --->

Have a good Monday!

From-Scratch Brownies!

Why is it so difficult to buy something chocolate from the grocery store without feeling guilty? Do you guys feel that? Sanne went to the store tonight and came home without any chocolate and, of course, a few hours later was craving something chocolate. I am always craving chocolate. Lucky for us, we have coco powder and Sanne is a Keebler Elf, so, like a good little baking Hobbit, whipped up some brownies hella-fast. Aaaand she made up her own recipe. Tricksy Hobbitses.

Here it is:
1/2 stick of unsalted butter
2 eggs
1c brown sugar
1c flour
1/3c applesauce
1/2c coco
2-ishT wheat germ
1T vanilla
1/2t baking powder
1/2t salt

and a splash of milk, because it's pretty thick. If you like your brownies thick and fudge-y, forget the milk. Sanne is wishing she had some Mexican vanilla because it is The Shit. Next time, she would add a "generous amount" (3T?). Next time...

Okay, bake at 350 for about 20 minutes. Devour them with a nice, cold glass of milk.

p.s. How many of you have seen this show and how many of you love it and how many of you want a wardrobe-overhaul after watching it? I love her cute little dresses!

Chuck's wearing false yellow eyelashes (!)

Home is where the Pie Maker is.

Fresh vegetable pasta

First of all, why do you guys feel so negatively about your cooking? We know there are some really good cooks among you, but so far, "messy" and "boring" are leading in the poll... What's up with that?

Secondly, today's cooking is dedicated to the Sweetest Fig, Figgaro, the cat with a thousand names and at least as many expressions.

Sanne made a trip this week to Russo's, an amazing vegetable market in Watertown. Take a look at her booty...

We decided to make an arugula and mushroom pasta with lemon basil sauce. And playing our other favorite game, "I'm gonna play your song". It's where you say, "I'm gonna play your song, and then pull up an old music video on youtube.

We started by sautéing 5 or so cloves of minced garlic for a few minutes and then added 1c milk and 1c chicken stock, and brought it to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and add a taste of pepper.

the greatest smell

In a separate bowl, whisk together juice from 1 fresh lemon and 2T corn starch. Add to garlic sauce and let simmer. Because it was a little too lemon-y, Sanne added a little greek yogurt. This neutralized the lemon and made it a little creamier, too.

I chopped up a big, beautiful fresh basil leaf and added it to the sauce. It was probably about a teaspoon, and I'll add more if needed.

We thickly sliced a handful of mushrooms, since they are the meat of this operation. Add them to the sauce and let simmer. Cook and then drain 1lb. penne pasta.

Toss pasta with sauce and fresh chopped arugula. Garnish with cherry tomatoes, halved.

This would be great with chicken, but it is excellent without. The lemon makes the sauce less heavy than other cream sauces. A perfect Saturday lunch for our first Spring-like day of 2011! Hooray! Enjoy this pretty weather, Massholes!

I'm gonna play your song:

...and so reignites my childhood crush on Harry Belefonte.

Purple Potatoes and Harry Belafonte!

Breakfast this morning consists of Starbucks Sumatra coffee, purple potato hash browns and strawberry-meyer lemon pancakes.

Purple potatoes look cool until they are cooked. Then, they look kind of disgusting. Probably the only way to make them look even more disgusting is to fry them up in some vegetable oil, like I did.

Warning, the following pictures may be graphic in nature.

turd-jerky?

no, yummy friend purple potatoes

Luckily, its very difficult to mess up potatoes + oil + salt, so these potatoe-troll-cakes were delicious. Now, on to nicer things...

Happy Sunday!

Antipasto!

Well, the most painful part of this project I've been devoting 80% of my time to is behind me. I gave my Roald Dahl presentation tonight. To celebrate giving a puke-free delivery, I made a beautiful and deeelicious antipasto salad! Tomato, basil, mozzarella, salami, balsamic vinegar and a little evoo...

And some milk for Figgaro. Today you are 13. Happy birthday, old man.

p.s. I've added a new poll to the sidebar. We promise we'll do something with the old question... sometime. Also, We ARE working on getting Rajiv's sister to come over and teach us how to make curry.