Home Sweet (New) Home

After moving away from New York City last spring, and a long summer in beautiful Vancouver, we have finally settled down in our new home - a small town outside San Jose, Costa Rica. It has only been seven days, but we're already smitten with the natural beauty and the warmth of the people we are meeting. And don't even get me started on the fruits and vegetables. The words "avocado heaven" flash into my mind at least three times a day.

Perhaps we're just in the honeymoon period, but so far the monsoon rains, exceptionally large spiders and constant muddy paw prints of one particular member of our family have done little to dampen our enthusiasm.

Can you blame us?

Caramels and Care Packages

Whew. You know how life can become crazily busy sometimes, even for just a few days? And then all of a sudden you return to normalcy and are faced with a mountain of emails you have not yet had time to read, voicemails you have managed to ignore, laundry you haven't bothered to fold, and suitcases that won't be unpacked for a month? Maybe it's just me...

Finally things have died down a bit and I have a moment to pop in and share a wonderful recipe that I recently made excellent use of during the Pay it Forward giveaway.


These chewy gooey beauties are Pecan Maple Caramels, recipe courtesy of The Chocolate Gourmand. I came across the recipe months ago and have been thinking of them ever since. Finally this summer I convinced myself I needed a candy thermometer, and I had the last piece of the puzzle necessary to make my pecan maple dream a reality.

They were actually really, really good. Quite a shock for me, in light of previous candy-making disasters, including a batch of "fudge" some years ago that had to be broken with a hammer and chisel just to fit it into the trash bin.

The recipe is not difficult, but be prepared for a good 1/2 hour of constant stirring over the hot stove before the caramel reaches the right temperature. After leaving the caramel to set overnight I cut it into squares and wrapped them in wax paper for easy transportation to my Pay it Forward recipients--the lovely ladies behind Ultra Fine Flair, For the Love of Food, and Angry Asian Creations. Apparently they survived the mailing well, making for excellent holiday gift possibilities.

Try them out and let me know what you think! (And if you want to get in on the Pay it Forward fun, wander on over to For the Love of Food, she may just have a spot left for some lucky commenter.)

Fried Green Tomatoes

Now I know that fried foods are the last thing I need to add to my repertoire of recipes, but sometimes it's nice to try out something brand new and unlike anything I have tried before.

Like many non-Southerners, my first intro to fried green tomatoes was the classic film of the same name released back in the 90s. But until last week, I had never tried a fried green tomato or even considered frying one up myself. I have to thank my colleague, Sneha, for the inspiration. She mentioned to me last week that she was going to try making this classic Southern snack, and it just sounded so tasty. It kept popping up in my mind. In retrospect, that was a good thing. Because when I walked through the farmer's market on Saturday and spied the green tomatoes, I was ready to commit to a new cooking experiment.

I went with a recipe from the Food Network that seemed reasonably easy. A wash made of buttermilk and egg. A couple of tomatoes, sliced into wedges.



After the buttermilk bath, the tomato wedges got a tumble in a cornmeal mix, followed by a dunking in some sizzling hot oil.



Two sizzling minutes on each side, and then the tomatoes reclined for a moment on a paper towel before being served up (and, ahem, sprinkled with crumbled bacon--hey, the recipe calls for it) and gobbled up in about 10 minutes flat. The crispy crust outside, the warm, moist, and miraculously non-mushy tomato inside... Yes, this is a Southern classic worth trying. Just remind me to keep it to a once-a-year indulgence.

Chocoholics, Take Note

I am one of those people who, when ordering dessert in a restaurant, invariably goes for the chocolate option. I am particularly partial to anything with words like "molten," "rich," or "flourless" in the title. You may therefore imagine my excitement when I came upon a recipe for Chipotle Flourless Chocolate Cake on Simply Recipes. The recipe was shared by guest-poster Garrett McCord of Vanilla Garlic. I have learned from prior experience that his dessert recipes are worth trying.

Chocoholics....RUN, don't walk, to try out this recipe. It truly is just about as easy as pulling a mix out of the box and popping it in the oven, only much much more delicious. Have a look at the recipe--there are only four main ingredients and a smattering of spice. That's it! I confess, I could not find chipotle chili powder (or the recommended substitution, ancho chili powder) so I used just 1/4 teaspoon of regular chili powder (I lessened the amount suggested in the recipe because I was worried that using the wrong chili powder might make my cake taste like tacos). It came out fine and the hint of chili flavor added just the right amount of depth.

I fought my inclination to eat the whole thing then and there and instead took the cake to a colleague's goodbye party, where it was unfortunately very well-received. All that was left by the end of the party was the little piece pictured above, which I took home to share with Ash. (Did I later regret sharing the last piece? Maybe just a little.)

Now I'm thinking, if it's this good with the wrong chili powder, what must it be like with the right one? Anybody have suggestions on where to get chipotle chili powder?

A Cookie Extravaganza

It occurs to me that I have not posted much in the way of cooking experiments lately. Well, let me make up for it with a triple-whammy here.

5 hours
+ 3 cookie recipes
+ 1 wannabe baker
+ 1 Kitchen-aid mixer
+ 1 million chocolate chips
_____________________
= a cookie extravaganza

I realize, having been much-reminded lately (curse you, low fat yogurt commercials), that swimsuit season is upon us. But with a Cinco de Mayo baby shower in the works for a colleague, and me assigned to make cookies, I figured I ought to do the thing right.

I had very specific cookie requirements to work with: crispy on the outside, chewy on the inside, chocolate chips highly desirable, and if I had time, maybe offer a vegan option as well. A little web searching found me exactly what I was looking for.

Blue Chip Chocolate Chip Cookies from Deb at Smitten Kitchen. A basic all-American chocolate chip cookie made amazing through a heavy dose of chips and finely chopped walnuts mixed in.

Triple Chocolate Cookies (with espresso) from Bobby Flay, via The Food Network. My man Bobby did not lead me wrong. Chocolate cookies loaded with white and milk chocolate chips, with just a hint of coffee flavor.

Vegan Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies from Post Punk Kitchen. They were soft, chewy, and delicious (and no need to qualify that by saying "for a vegan cookie"). I added raisins--a good call.

Folks, swimsuits be damned, these cookies were worth it. 'Nuff said.

Links, links, and more links

The problem with reading lots of blogs is that it makes a person feel slightly envious of the many talents of others, and also quite ambitious to improve oneself by learning new things and undertaking new projects. To that end I have been assembling a list for some time of places to go, recipes to try, things to learn, and craft projects to attempt. I thought I might share them here in an effort to give myself a little bit of accountability--sort of like New Year's resolutions or 43 things. So please don't hesitate as the year goes on to check in and ask me, "have you finished knitting that cowl?" or "whatever happened to those caramels you planned to make?" I'll appreciate the encouragement!

Projects on the Agenda:

• Felted nesting bowls:Amy turned me on to these cute bowls that were showcased on Design*Sponge, and I already have some bulky navy blue yarn bought just for the purpose.
• Building a light box: SouleMama posted about this recently and got me thinking about how easy it would be and how useful for taking flash pictures--the question is, where would I keep it?
• These before and after shots of refurbished furniture from Design*Sponge and How About Orange have inspired me to try refurbishing a homely little chair that floats around our apartment.
• This cashmere cowl from Purl Bee has been on my mind for a while, and now that I've seen this sample on MamaCraft, I can't wait to get started on one. I'm thinking I will do it in a nice lightweight baby alpaca yarn.
• Recipe Greeting Cards: I saw these on Steamy Kitchen--what a cool idea!

Things to Learn:

• What del.icio.us is all about (from Unclutterer): I am forever printing out web pages and bringing them home, and then losing them in our clutter. Del.icio.us is just what I need.
  
• How to graft two pieces of knitting together (via Not Martha)
• How to make stretchy bind-offs (via Not Martha): I found this just in time to finish the ribbed scarf I'm working on.
• How to get rid of junk mail forever (from Unclutterer): I think about this every time I pick up the mail.
  
• HDR Photography: I have been browsing the HDR pool on Flickr lately and feeling inspired, but after speaking with Christian last night, I am ready to take the plunge and try it out.
  

Places to Go:

• Brooklyn Flea: Amy first turned me onto this exciting Brooklyn development, and I have been following it on Brownstoner. Doors open on April 6th!
• Bust Magazine Craftacular: I found out about this crafts show coming up in Williamsburg in April from Not Martha.
• New York Transit Museum: It's right in my own neighborhood, and you get to sit in old-fashioned subway cars! What could be better?
• Tenement Museum: I have been wanting to visit ever since I read Five Points by Tyler Anbinder.

Recipes to Try:

• Hazelnut Brown Butter Cake (from Smitten Kitchen): Doesn't it just sound like something to swoon over?
  
• Tuscan Bean Soup (from Start Cooking): I would like to add a few new hearty soups to my repertoire, and this one seems quite easy.
  
• Baked Scallops (from Simply Recipes): I am looking for things to do with scallops. I have never tried cooking them this way before.
  
• Lightest Chocolate Mousse (posted on Gothamist by Danielle of Habeas Brulee): It looks melt-in-your-mouth amazing.
  
• Spiced Eggplant with Peas and Yogurt (from Orangette): "Spiced" and "eggplant" in the same line means it's a recipe for me.
  
• Crispy Skin Chicken (from The Paupered Chef): If I could ensure crispy skin on my roast chickens, it would be life changing.
  
• Quick Pickled Cucumbers with Chili Bean Sauce (from Habeas Brulee): A perfect next step in my pickling journey.
  
• Hot Fudge Pudding Cake (from Nook & Pantry): I'm a sucker for any of those gooey-in-the-middle chocolate cakes.
  
• No-knead Nutella Challah Bread (from Jaden's Steamy Kitchen). I have been wanting to try the no-knead bread for a while. A swirl of Nutella may be just the thing to get me to do it.
  
• Roasted Feta Cheese (from MattBites): Matt's description won me over, it sounds so delicious.
  
• Red Velvet Cupcakes (from Vanilla Garlic, via Simply Recipes): The last dessert I made inspired by these two amazing food blogs was such a success, I hope this will be the same.
  
• WHO Bread (from SouleMama, also via Tea and Cookies and Love This Life): It has already been made by (at least) three of my favorite bloggers. Clearly that's a sign.
  
• Pecan Maple Caramels (from The Chocolate Gourmand): We are suckers for caramels in this house. They also sound like they would make a nice gift.
  

Baklava

Typically when I see a recipe online that I like I will put it away somewhere for a day when I have proper time to try it out. Not so lastnight. When I saw Elise had posted a recipe for baklava on her blog (courtesy of guest blogger Garrett McCord), I knew my evening plans were set.

Ever since I conquered my fear of working with phyllo dough last year when my grandmother taught me to make apple pita, I have been thinking about making baklava. Baklava is a delightful dessert, full of depth and complexity, and absolutely perfect with a cup of tea. On our honeymoon in Turkey I think I must have eaten it every single day. Wonderful for the spirits, though perhaps not so much for the waistline.

As intimidating as baklava looks, it was remarkably easy to make. There were a few tense moments when separating the sheets of phyllo dough (you have to be speedy so it doesn't dry out), but all turned out well in the end, and any holes I may or may not have poked in the phyllo by mistake are now blended into a buttery, nutty, honey goodness and nobody is the wiser.

Since I followed the recipe exactly, I won't bother to rewrite it here. I used a combination of almonds and walnuts for filling (as that's what I had in the house).

Much as I would love to eat all this baklava by myself, I am trying to hold back. Anyone want to come over for tea and help me out?

News Flash

We interrupt this recap of my trip to idyllic Vancouver to bring you Breaking News. The Village Voice has published an article on the much-watched Food Network show, Iron Chef America. I highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in how it really all goes down in kitchen stadium. I warn you, it kind of takes the shine off the penny.

Iron Chef Boyardee by Robert Sietsema

I only wish Robert Sietsema had been able to get the inside scoop on the Chairman, whose quirks continue to mystify me. Like why does the Chairman backflip into kitchen stadium? And why, during the show's intro, does he stare intently at a sweet yellow pepper, only to pull a switcheroo and bite into an apple at the last second? We may never know.

Return to NYC

I know I haven't posted in a while. Thanks to those who checked in on me! All is well, I've simply been on holiday (with limited computer access). Late last night we got back from a week of vacationing and visiting family in Vancouver, and I have decided it is time to move. To Vancouver. Yes it's a beautiful city of friendly Canadians, right on the coast, surrounded by emerald hills and snow-capped peaks, and so on and so on, but the real reason for this abrupt replacement of New York as my favorite North American city can be summed up in five little words: all you can eat sushi.

Okay, maybe that's an overstatement. There are many reasons to fall in love with Vancouver, and I'll share a few in coming posts, but the sushi experience was so life-altering I'm starting with that.

Upon arriving in Vancouver we went straight from the airport to a little Japanese place for lunch. The restaurant looked like nothing special, but it was some of the tastiest sushi I have eaten. There were five of us and for one low (oh so low) price per person we gorged ourselves, ordering whatever struck our fancy, and we actually finished every bite. The fish was so fresh it literally almost melted in my mouth. Our final count ran something like this: 55 pieces of salmon sashimi, 40 pieces of tuna sashimi, 10 pieces of toro sashimi, 5 hand rolls, 70 pieces of maki, 8 miso soups, gyoza, sunomono, vegetable tempura, shrimp tempura, fried rice, and the list goes on...and on.... For days afterwards I kept saying "I cannot believe we had all you can eat sushi for so cheap and it was so amazing!" Finally everyone got the hint and we went there again. That time I was more prepared. I skipped breakfast.

I Have a Date Too

Nobody would begrudge a girl a date on a night when her husband is off next door playing cards with his friends, right? That's what I thought too, so to console myself while hanging out at home all by my lonesome I made a date for myself. And not just any date, but one stuffed with creamy goat cheese, wrapped in a thin slice of prosciutto, and tossed in a warm pan for no more than 30 seconds until the prosciutto softens around the date and the goat cheese melts just ever-so-slightly. Yum. Somebody's missing out, no question about it.

Haaaaaa - llelujah!

Imagine a massive choir breaking into the Hallelujah Chorus from Handel's Messiah. That's how I felt on Friday night at about midnight when, after 4 hours marinating in the fridge, I finally took a bite of my first ever homemade ceviche. For those who are not yet members of the Ceviche Fan Club, ceviche is basically raw fish marinated in citrus juice, usually lime. The acid in the citrus lightly "cooks" the fish and makes for a wonderful and refreshing appetizer or snack. You can eat the marinated fish solo or pair it with herbs, fruits, or vegetables for a little variety.

Ceviche is one of those foods that I swoon at the thought of. The kind of thing that I order without fail if I see it on a restaurant menu. One of the dishes I've been planning to try my hand at ever since I got into this whole cooking thing.

I started with fresh yellowfin tuna (only about 1/3 of a pound, since this was experimental after all) and 1/2 cup of lime juice. I chopped the fish into chunks and marinated it in the lime juice for about 1 hour. That was when the creativity came in. I decided to split the tuna and lime juice into two bowls to try out two types of ceviche, because I really wanted at least one to turn out well! I was loosely inspired by this recipe from Epicurious and this recipe from The Foodnetwork.

Here's how it all went down:

Bowl Number 1: 1/2 the marinated tuna and lime juice 1 tbsp finely chopped red onion 1 tbsp finely chopped cilantro 1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped 1/4 cup grated jicama dash of cumin dash of cayenne 2 tsp jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped 1/2 Florida avocado, chopped into chunks

Bowl Number 2: 1/2 the marinated tuna and lime juice 3 tbsp mashed or pureed avocado 1/3 cup ripe mango, chopped into chunks 2 cloves garlic, minced 1/2 cup jicama, chopped 1 tsp olive oil 2 tsp jalapeno, seeded and finely chopped 1 plum tomato, seeded and chopped

1. Mix ingredients together.
2. Return to the fridge for as long as you like--I left it three hours.
3. Remove and enjoy as midnight snack.

Both turned out very well. My preference was for the spicier selection in Bowl Number 1. I think Ash preferred the sweetness that the mango added in Bowl Number 2. Next time I am going to be a little bolder and try incorporating some coconut milk! If you're a ceviche fan, I definitely urge giving the homemade variety a try. If I can do it, clearly it's not too tough, and then you can save yourself all the dollars that they love to charge for this appetizer in restaurants.

Pickled Pink

Dorky, I know. Couldn't help myself. Tickled pink is what I am in light of my new discovery--making pickles!

I am a worshipful devotee of pickles of all varieties. My grandparents literally stock extra pickles in their fridge when they know I am coming to town. Now that I have begun experimenting in the kitchen, with a long term goal of learning to make from scratch all the food items that I love and adore, pickles had to come up eventually.

I have already experimented with pickling of the international variety. This time, spurred on by encouraging posts from Smitten Kitchen and Orangette, I tackled the standard dill flavoured pickles we know and love in the United States.

It took about 20 minutes. Less even. I boiled up a cup of cider vinegar and 1 1/2 cups of water, added a tablespoon of sugar, a few cloves of minced garlic, dill weed, and salt, and then decided to get creative and tossed in a few other items I thought might spice things up a little--mustard seed, peppercorns, cloves, and maybe some other stuff I don't remember. I let the spiced liquid simmer for a few minutes and then poured it over my carrots (the easiest thing I could find in the house to practice on). I let them cool and they went into the fridge overnight.

All in all, a good showing on the pickle front. Nice crunch, nice acidity level. Perhaps I tossed in those extra spices with a tad too much abandon; I would have liked the dill flavor to dominate a little more, but hey, that is what experimenting is for.

There are many more pickles to be attempted, both foreign and domestic (bread and butter, sweet, Japanese oshinko, Indian mango pickle, the list is endless...) Surely I'll get to them all eventually. Stay tuned.

Note: Those who have heard me lament previously about the fact that my kitchen is lopsided, have a look at the level of the brine in the pickle jar--there's the proof!

I Cooked with Jamie

Not too long ago while wandering around The Strand, I came across this cookbook. Having read a review here and there, I was inspired to open it. A word to those who are vulnerable to cookbook temptation: if you don't need another cookbook do not even open this one. You will instantly be hooked.

When I came across Cook with Jamie I did not need a new cookbook. In fact, I had just put a moratorium on cookbook-buying until I made some headway into the ones I already have, so I could not allow myself to purchase it. Happily, however, someone noticed the forlorn look on my face when I put the book away and bought it for me as a surprise. Thank you Ashkon.

Last weekend was the first chance I had to flip through the book with the time to try out something from within its pages. A second warning: have a tea towel or something nearby as you read. It could come in handy in case of drooling. The dishes look that good! The photographers, David Loftus and Chris Terry, deserve some serious praise. (And Jamie, of course, for creating such tastiness in the first place.)

After many mouth-watering options were weighed, I settled on a spinach and goat cheese risotto. I just made a basic risotto recipe to start. Then cooked up a 1/2 lb of spinach with a clove of garlic and pinch of nutmeg, and pureed it in a food processor. When the risotto was ready, I folded in the spinach puree and added about 4 oz. of goat cheese, 2 handfuls of grated Parmesan, and an indecent amount of butter, and crumbled a little more goat cheese on top. Easy-peasy and very yummy. I knew Jamie wouldn't lead me wrong. More to come from this cookbook soon, to be sure.

Photographic Success and Culinary Failure

Also known as: how can it look so pretty, and taste so disappointing?

Let me provide some background here. For my birthday a while back Ash took me out for dinner at Jarnac, a little French restaurant in the West Village. We shared a salad. Fresh figs stuffed with robiola cheese wrapped in prosciutto on a bed of arugula with a balsamic reduction. Suffice it to say that it was one of our food highlights of the year. Since then I've been calculating how to recreate it. Pretty simple ingredients, after all. And I had downloaded recipes from The Food Network and Epicurious for figs wrapped in prociutto with this filling or that filling, and it seemed reasonably intuitive. How hard could it be?

Harder that it looks, is the answer. Perhaps my confidence way buoyed by some surprising successes I've had this week in trying out some new dishes. Perhaps I was feeling . . . cocky?

As soon as I cut open the figs last night and saw how pretty they looked inside, I decided I needed to photograph the salad-making process. I scooped out a tiny bit of each fig half and filled it with robiola--a cheese I expected to be very mild, but was in fact extremely pungent. I was a little apprehensive about that, but plunged onwards. Each fig half was wrapped in a 1 inch wide slice of prosciutto. Then into the oven for 10-12 minutes.














Although the final product looked pleasant enough, I couldn't eat more than a few bites. The cheese was just too strong for me! Did I use too much? Poor Ash polished off the dish and insisted it wasn't bad. Either he was just being nice, or living in France increases a person's cheese tolerance. Maybe both.

So, it turned out this wasn't a dish that needed documenting after all, but I was so pleased with how the photos captured each stage of the process, that I felt I should post them anyway, with a warning to readers that if you are going to try this dish--do something different! I don't know what, but something.

Key lessons learned here:
1. A little humility in the kitchen is a positive thing.
2. When it comes to stinky cheeses, go with your gut.

'Tis the Season

Whether or not you celebrate Christmas, there are some things about this season that are irresistible. For me it's O Holy Night, the piney scent of the fir trees for sale on Montague Street, and Christmas cookies.

For weeks I've been planning to make Christmas cookies to give as little gifts to some neighbors in my building that I have become friendly with this year. The other night I finally had a few spare hours to devote to it. I doubled my gingerbread recipe and planned to make loads of little men, charmingly decorated with buttons and holiday smiles. I didn't recall that the recipe made quite so many cookies. Four hours later I had about 150 gingerbread men. Some went immediately to the test subjects bowling on the Nintendo Wii in the living room. The rest were put aside for decorating. I also made shortbread maple leaves and sprinkled them with red sugar--a Canadian-themed Christmas cookie in honor of my Canuck husband.

My decorating plans for the gingerbread men didn't go quite as I'd hoped. I confess I was not using the proper equipment (pastry bag, tips, etc.). I figured it was my first time decorating anything and I could just do it on the cheap, using a plastic bag filled with frosting. After all, I wasn't making sugar art, right? Just a few smiley faces. I should have followed the advice of Bittersweet. On about the fourth cookie I had a frosting explosion. Seriously. Ziploc bag seams are not as sturdy as one might imagine. As a result, the decorating was put aside. The little fellow above did not even get the smile I intended for him! Oh well, gingerbread men mean "peace on earth and goodwill towards men" even if they are not frosted, right? Especially if they come in little bags tied with red ribbon?

Kimchi! Finally!

Faithful readers of this blog (yes, all two of you) may recall that some months ago I experimented in the kitchen with my favorite Korean dish, jap chae. It was tasty, but conspicuously missing was the must-have accompaniment: kimchi. Since then I have been doing some recipe reconnaissance: reviewing cookbooks, checking blogs (like these three), wandering Koreatown markets, and consulting sources both historical and personal (my friend Tanne was kind enough to pass on his mom's recipe).

Finally, last week, I felt ready to undertake the project. I assembled the necessary ingredients: salt, cabbage, scallions, garlic, ginger, anchovy sauce, salted shrimp, and Korean chili powder, and went to it. This was last Thursday. After mixing, I left the whole concoction out for 40 hours. (I have to note here that my brother and husband were very tolerant of my project. Kimchi is pungent, to say the least, and not everyone would want its unique aroma wafting through one's apartment for 40 hours straight.) Then it went into the fridge, where apparently the flavors continue to deepen day by day. Today is day 3 of KimchiWatch and I decided it was time to put it to the test. We had it at dinner, paired with some of the aforementioned jap chae, and it was quite a hit. I'm already planning my next batch.

If you want to try this at home:

Ingredients:
1 head of cabbage (Napa is most commonly used); 1/4 cup coarse salt; 14 scallions, roughly chopped; 1 tbsp Korean ground red pepper; 1 1/2 tbsp anchovy sauce; 1/4 cup minced garlic; 1 1/2 tbsp grated fresh ginger; 1/4 cup sugar; 2 tbsp salted shrimp (you probably want to mash them into a paste to avoid having their little shrimpy eyes look up at you out of your kimchi)

1. Layer the cabbage leaves in a colander and sprinkle the salt between the layers. Let it sit over a bowl for 4-6 hours. Then rinse and dry.
   
2. Mix together all other ingredients, then roughly chop the cabbage and toss it with the spice mixture, ensuring the cabbage is covered in the spices.
   
3. Store the kimchi in a container and leave out (of the fridge) at least 24 hours. Thereafter refrigerate. The flavor will continue to grow stronger daily.
   

A Snack to Swoon Over

Everyone has got a snacking weak spot. Something that you absolutely cannot resist. If, by some great misfortune, it is not available in the United States, perhaps it's something you dream longingly about, scour the Internet for, and beg overseas travelers to bring back to you. That, friends, is what Wai Wai is to me. The tastiest, spiciest, crispiest, most delicious of all snacks. Add to that the nostalgia factor of it having been my most favourite snack from the time I was about 5 years old, and you have a veritable drug. The tragedy is that Wai Wai comes from Nepal and can only be found in select parts of Asia. That is why I am forced to bribe people to bring it back to New York for me. Believe me, the entrepreneur who has the foresight to introduce Wai Wai to the U.S. market will be raking in the millions one day. Perhaps that's the brilliant business idea I've been looking for?

Wai Wai is essentially ramen--packaged dried noodles. It can be made into soup, but (in my opinion) is best eaten dry with the accompanying spices mixed in. It's a product of Chaudhary Group, and a quick Google search reveals that it's one of the company's biggest sellers. From the CG website:

CG Foods (Nepal) Pvt. Ltd. is the introducer of the most favorite brown noodles WAI WAI. It holds the top brand position in Nepal for past many years.Wai Wai is a brand that not only rules the national market, also leads and holds a remarkable position in the international scenario.

Well, I hadn't realized it held "a remarkable position in the international scenario," but I think that sounds very promising. For this batch of Wai Wai (already almost gone) I have to thank my brother Grady, who brought it all the way from Nepal, and managed to resist eating it on the long trip. Thank you!

On the Topic of Cookbooks

Cookbooks. I love to buy them, read them, even take pictures of them. But now there is something new on the horizon: the prospect of making a cookbook.

So yesterday, while browsing through some of my favorite blogs, I happened across this post on 101 Cookbooks talking about how to create your own cookbook. As it happens this is something I have been thinking about for a few years, and the project has become increasingly ambitious as I have discovered websites like Blurb, and now Tastebook, that allow you to put together a pretty snazzy-looking product. My plan has been to create a cookbook out of my Grandmother Walker's collection of recipes. There is a battered notebook in which all of her favorite recipes were written down, or clipped and pasted. I've only gotten a glimpse of the notebook's contents a couple of times, but as I recall her famous lasagna is in there, as is the recipe for African bobotie clipped from the New York Times sometime back in the 1970s, along with countless other dishes. My Aunt Diti and Uncle Bill in Tennessee have the notebook and treat it with reverence, but I'm willing to bet that a nice fresh copy (with no pages falling out, and in entirely legible script) would be well-received by all the members of the family who remember Grandmother's tasty (and quite gourmet) cooking. Then Aunt Diti and Uncle Bill can add the original book to the treasure trove of family heirlooms my grandmother left behind (like the fragment of rope used by some Texas bandits to kidnap and tie up Great-great Grandpa Uriah Lott).

The question is, when will I have a chance to copy all those recipes and get started on this project? Naturally the recipes will have to be cooked (for testing purposes). Photos of the dishes will have to be taken (for cookbook aesthetics). Anecdotes from family members may need to be gathered (for that personal touch). And that's only the first of the cookbooks I would love to make. The second will be "Serbian Recipes from the Govedarica Kitchens"--recipes from my other grandmother and great aunts! I had better get moving. I'm thinking I need to make a visit to Tennessee...

Spice Market

So often I feel as if I don't get much accomplished in the evenings. Not tonight. I arrived home feeling inspired to tackle a task I've been thinking about for a while now--reorganization of the spices, oils, vinegars, sauces, and other sundry items in our cabinets.

The inspiration was the result of a trip to Patel Brothers, an Indian grocery in Jackson Heights, Queens, near where I happened to be working this afternoon. After spending yesterday afternoon making a list of "Spices I Must Buy" while browsing through The Soul of a New Cuisine: A Discovery of the Foods and Flavors of Africa (a much-loved cookbook by Marcus Samuelsson that I actually bought by mistake on Amazon.com last spring--darn that one-click ordering!), I couldn't pass up a trip to Patel Brothers when I was right in the neighborhood. I had to go elsewhere for the berbere, but they had just about everything else. Whole cloves, star anise, coriander seeds, crushed fenugreek seeds, cumin seeds, cinnamon sticks (For 1/4 the price of our local grocery! Hot apple cider anyone?), and much more. How could I help but be inspired to reorganize when I had such exciting acquisitions to accommodate?

Reorganizing the spices doesn't sound like much, but it took a fair bit of time and brought me an amazing peace of mind when all was arranged (and inventoried, of course, with a list of everything on each shelf taped to the inside of the cabinet door). Now I feel I can rightfully reward myself by relaxing on the couch for an hour and watching Law & Order.

Is This Becoming a Cooking Blog?

The other day I Googled "how to use egg yolks." I had 10 egg yolks in a bowl in the fridge, having used the whites the night before to make a no-wheat/no-soy/no-sugar/no-gluten party snack for a friend's birthday celebration (spicy potato pancakes--quite decent actually). I couldn't let all those yolks go to waste. Google did not let me down. The very first search result told me I could use 8 of those 10 yolks by making creme brulee. Coincidentally we were given a creme brulee set as a wedding gift (complete with blow torch and ramekins), and had yet to use it. Thus began an afternoon of kitchen firsts:

1. First vanilla bean.
2. First blow torch experience.
3. First flash of understanding that there is something truly wrong with our oven.

Who could have guessed that 4 tiny inches of vanilla bean could fill the apartment with such a heady aroma. I scraped out the seeds and simmered them in heavy cream, then mixed the cream into the whipped egg yolks (tempering it, so as to avoid making vanilla scrambled eggs). I filled the ramekins and into the oven they went for the suggested 35 minutes at 275 degrees. An hour later, it still looked more like soup than creme. I upped the temperature. Another 55 minutes at 350 degrees. STILL soupy. It was supposed to "jiggle slightly in the middle." I turned it up to 450 degrees. 40 minutes later I had the consistency I was looking for. What the heck? Clearly our oven is way off (the recipe could not possibly be that wrong). Well, that could certainly explain a number of past cooking problems. How can I figure out how hot it really gets in there? Oven thermometer? What would Alton do?

Moving on. After the 3 hours of baking came the fun part:

It actually worked! I might have gotten a little carried away and burned the first one, but I was pleased as punch when the spoon cracked the hardened sugar just the way it's supposed to. Sadly, I do not like creme brulee, so poor Ashkon had to eat all four of them.