Category: Food and Drink

Foodie Websites- the Ridiculous and the Inspirational

I spent some time clicking through to some entertaining and motivational websites today… fascinating what we have available on The Web, isn’t it? Amusement, education and debauchery, all in one spot. Mind blowing, no? You Tube’s “Minimum Trip” is a channel that features miniature food preparation. The channel was featured on a morning news show, recently, and I bookmarked it to come back to eventually. I finally did, going through several of their videos… kind of left me speechless (not an easy feat). My first thought as I watched teeny-tiny shrimp get turned into tempura was “OH MY GOSH, KIDS, COME SEE, IT LOOKS LIKE SOMEONE IS FRYING SEA MONKEYS!!”

There is no music, only the sound of food prep and cooking and a whole lot of closeups of miniature food, little bitty cooking stations and doll house furniture.
What a trip! Interesting, to say the least. The boy and I decided that we liked it, though, and that he now wants to show his friends.

On a completely different scale is NeverSeconds. This is a fabulously interesting site featuring the observations of a young school-aged girl (nine years old at the start), blogging with her father to show what we are offering our children in the lunchrooms of the western world and beyond. Since beginning the blog in 2012, the family has gone on to publish a book on the whole experience (“Never Seconds- The Incredible Story of Martha Payne”), as well as spur on an impressive amount of fundraising for schools in Malawi with Mary’s Meals– these posts from March 2013, “Meeting Malawi’s Madame President,” and from May of 2012 are a great overview.
Click on through these underlined links for an international lesson about school lunches and what can happen when a family’s experiment collides with the blogsphere, social media, and local and international media. I’m pretty sure I’ll be buying Martha’s book.

Here’s to Web Exploration!

Sharing Cookies and Thoughts on Practice and Past Times…

So, there are these people who work for The Husband… they deserve more than cookies. Lol. I’ve seriously been meaning to get treats to them for a long time. This is quite a group of highly intelligent, dedicated, and really interesting people! I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies and crammed more than three dozen into a bag for The Husband to bring into a meeting today. Hopefully, everyone will get two cookies… maybe I should’ve sent in more.

I can crank out 12 dozen cookies in under two hours, including pans and kitchen cleaned, honestly, because I’ve made this recipe for 30+ years. I’ve made and sold hundreds of dozens of cinnamon rolls and can knock out a couple dozen with minimum effort. And I love cooking! It is a lot like an athlete’s love of practicing to develop muscle memory in a sport- I bet that anyone with a passion for anything would agree. Years of practice means few wasted steps in my kitchen; I know which equipment and ingredients to grab, measure, and use. Practice makes perfect, no matter what you are practicing… so be careful where you spend your time, right?

Pile o' cinnamon rolls for the teachers and school staff.
Pile o’ cinnamon rolls for school.

Nothing makes a baker happier than finding people with whom to share the goodies. In January I bring cinnamon rolls to the teachers and staff for Teacher Appreciation Day- ironically, I’m sure I feel more appreciated when they say they look forward to the rolls each year (Cinnabon knock-offs, I swear they are exactly like the shops in malls). It makes me happy.

I identity with these stickers...
I identify with these stickers…

I run a couple miles most mornings so I can eat that second taco or have a nightly glass of wine.

Amazon.com 0.0 I Don't Run
…links to Amazon.com
0.0
I Don’t Run

If people don’t share these cookies and other treats, I’m going to have to earn one of those 13.1 or 26.2 stickers for the back of my own sweet ride. Bake on, people… and keep running, too.

New Menu Monday- Potato Tacos!

I disagree with The Mom-in-Law, I think shredded beef tacos are the ultimate taco goodness. She prefers ground beef. Gotta admit, her ground beef tacos are the best I’ve ever had. Her secret? Simmer the ground beef for a while in a little water after browning with onions and garlic. This turns the beef into a tender, flavorful taco stuffing that is far from any fast food ground beef taco.

But, I like my shredded beef tacos better, and they are quicker. My trick is using leftover roast beef- my roast is more of a tender, falling apart braise than a rare, prime rib style roast beef. It is pretty much shredded when done… that’s how to tell it is done. Does it shred into tender pieces? Yes? Then take it out. A  3lb. chuck roast takes about 3 hours in the oven at 275-300 degrees (here’s a beautiful tip- a frozen roast at 275 degrees and 4.5 hours later it’s happy dinner time).

But, I gave up meat for Lent. So. How about copying our favorite Mexican joint’s potato tacos? We LOVE the So. Cal restaurant El Ranchito… I’ve never had better refried beans. We discovered the potato tacos last year and I loved them, too. Tonight I made a big batch of what we call Camp Potatoes (sliced potatoes fried in butter and oil with sliced onions, garlic, salt and pepper), and fried up a mess of corn tortillas. Cast iron pans are the best, aren’t they? The Husband stuffed them, we cheesed them and after about 15 minutes in the oven, we had a great dinner. We are soooooo making these again.

Onions up, potatoes in the line up...
Onions up, potatoes on deck…
Onions and potatoes frying... Yum.
Onions and potatoes frying… Yum.
Time to stuff the torts.
Time to stuff the torts- potatoes and shredded cheddar.
Tortillas in the oil, onions and potatoes almost finished.
Tortillas in the oil, potatoes almost finished.
Dinner!
Dinner!

Kombucha Coming Atcha!

Kombucha.

God bless you.

No no no. You aren’t supposed to say ‘bless you’ after hearing someone say ‘kombucha.’ My spell checker sure doesn’t recognize it as a word. The Crunchy People have brought us another good-for-you product, that’s all. It’s a drink, kind of like a fizzy, fermented soft-drinky tea-ish sort of thing. Sweeter than plain tea, not as yeasty as beer, practically no alcohol and can be sold to and drunk by anyone. Especially by people who are trying to do new things. The best thing about kombucha is that it is yet another one of the foods you can eat that is really good for you- it is in the same category as yogurt, kimchi and sauerkraut- it’s all in the probiotics, baby, and although kombucha supposedly has a lot, it is also killed off in the pasteurization process.

Here’s a link to a good article on the subject:  Kombucha- Is It Really Good For You? 

The kombucha craze is just beginning to rev up. It is in more stores and you may be hearing of it or reading about this lightly fermented drink with more frequency.

The Husband and I tried three flavors of kombucha being sold at North of the Border Bike Shop on Sorrento Valley Blvd. Doug, one of the owners, was game to selling the stuff, setting up the taps and voilà, kombucha on tap for you to imbibe. And you know what? I liked it. The orange kombucha was my favorite, The Husband preferred the cherry. I’d drink this stuff fresh on tap as is, I’d like to bring some home, and I would pick up a bottle from a store, now that I know I like it.  Doug and Mike are even selling small take-home kegs for your drinking pleasure after hours.

*UPDATE* Doug has since said “Please do note, ‘Kombucha Gardens,’ the brand we sell is NOT pasteurized. A benefit of selling on tap. So, you do get the good stuff… probiotics.”

Go for it. Try something new. God bless you.

You know, I like this stuff! Kombucha on tap at North of the Border Bikes
Tasting, testing… aaaannnd… you know, I like this stuff!
Kombucha on tap at North of the Border Bikes

Mmmmmm… Lemon Drop Cocktail

Yea! Talked The Husband into picking a couple of lemons off of my little Meyer lemon bush… it was after dark, and that is when the black widow spiders come out. Ick.

It was worth his trouble, since I let him make cocktails for us. I’m nice like that.

Lemon Drop Cocktail-

Per drink you will need:
1 1/2 oz vodka
3/4 oz lemon juice
1 teaspoon simple syrup
1/4 oz Cointreau

optional- lemon flavored sugar to put on the rim of the glass

Anchor Hocking 5 oz. Measuring Glass (Amazon has them, click the photo to go to Amazon)
Anchor Hocking 5 oz. Measuring Glass (Amazon has them, click the photo to go to Amazon)

And as far as kitchen tools are concerned, this little bugger (pictured left) is great. For this drink tonight, we wanted to measure out these fussy, small amounts correctly to decide if we really liked this recipe. We use it whenever we need to take the pains to accurately measure small amounts of liquids. Like tonight.

Small, easy to clean and inexpensive and store citrus juicer.
Small, easy to clean and inexpensive and store citrus juicer.

I’d also recommend a small, easy to clean and store citrus juicer, like the one pictured on the right. Unless you have all the space in your kitchen for cute, green for limes, larger yellow for lemons and largest for oranges citrus squeezers, go right ahead. I don’t. (Click that link to see…)

This was really tasty, by the way! The Husband recommends having well chilled vodka for this, or shaking the concoction with ice before pouring into your glass.

Cheers!