a delicious year

2008 although strange & difficult in many ways, was a great year in the kitchen for us. Aside from simple meals like cheese grits with Uncle Bruthas hot sauce, desserts containing booze, meals with friends that make us say 'we are so good at this!' & a tattered Joy of Cooking bringing the old fashioned American baked goods like biscuits & pie crust back into our house, there's been a number of all-day cooking extravaganzas and adventures in eating this year. Partially, I think this is because of our decreased pocketbooks and increased interest in sustainability, self-sufficiency, and decreasing the amount of food waste we create. Partially, it's because of our gastronaut leanings, wanting to explore all the kinds of things we can eat and prepare and the challenge of stretching a meal or ingredient as far as it will go, deliciously.

Best things I ate this year that I didn't cook (in no order):
Cheese Columbo with Eggplant from Coppola's (Richmond)
Virginia's Japanese Pickles (so spicy! send reinforcements!)
Juliana's French Onion Soup (blissfully vegetarian and so cheesy!)
Mom's biscuits (why are they so much better than mine)
Conner+Ben's PB Fudge
Baked Tagliolini with Mushrooms at Ciprinani's
Bonnie's Veggie Burger is still the best I've found in NYC & their fries w/ chipotle mayo (suggestions on competitors welcome)
hibiscus beer on tap at Beer Table - wish i could remember what it was called!
wild figs from Virginia's yard
lavender donuts from Donut Plant
Dave's lavender butter on apple pancakes (this recipe from a dream)

... probably there's a lot more that time and shoddy memory are forgetting... so to all those that fed me well this year - many thanks! come on over and we'll cook you up something good in return.

Thanksgiving kitchen-a-thon

although it was just Dave and I in Brooklyn for thanksgiving, we still managed to cook nearly all weekend. I recently, gratefully acquired a friend's Tassajara Bread Book which is by far the best bread book I've encountered (introduced to me by Brigette's Open High baking class!) for beginners and experienced bakers alike. Although the recipes require significant patience and all-day rising - they're worth it.
Although im pretty sure this glass bowl from ikea will break every time i use it (so far, many years later, it still hasn't) it's awesome for showing off the airy rise of this whole wheat dough. According to Tassajara this is because we used a starter and kneaded it till, as Brigette would say, it was smooth like a baby's butt.

This oat-molasses bread was just what we were craving and went great with the pear-apple butter.

The pie crust above was filled by dave with a banana cream pie. I'd never baked just a pie shell before - it's not the prettiest, but it did taste good! (Especially filled with pie!)

also on the cooking list for the weekend - yeast starter, and later the beer-to-be for a Red Lager (turned ale since we don't have lagering ability) - here's the mash:

also on the thxeating menu: mashed potatoes+carrots, and 'celebration roast' with delicious vegetarian gravy.

gravy makes everything good.

got my cards read & she said big changes were in my future.

courage is necessary.oh, hey. it's been a while, huh? did you hear i'm moving to New York on Sunday? I'm a little nervous, and hoping that my couch surfing won't be too much a burden on my friends. have you a reasonably priced apartment for us? just me, the fellow and our charming cat. hopefully this orchid and trompe l'oeil print will make it too. it's trying to snow today and i wish it would, while simultaneously sending everyone to leave me big tips at the pizza shop tonight.
so, moving out of state, for good even, is kind of a big deal, and there are a lot of things I need to do and meant to do but will never get to (for now)

To Do:
-Beardstravaganza, find kickass beard or merkin to wear to my first appearance at this annual shindig - perhaps dave's pricklypear beer will make a debut?
-get rid of lots of stuff - do you need some blank periwinkle t-shirts? a biography of Proust? a Schwinn Peapicker lowrider? a '94 Saturn SL2? slightly broken sewing machine? a huge green couch and a pair of star trek-esque endtables? some old magazines?

-find a suitable tenant for our apartment - is it you?
-go dancing - but where?
-leave this fucking town. yay! screw you yuppies and politicos. remaining friends: I still love you.

meant to do in DC, but won't:
-visit all Smithsonians - only got to less than half. bummer. still time to hit the aquatic gardens and portrait gallery?
-eat vegetarian soul food, eat at Cafe Nora,
-see the Beastie Boys at the 930 Club, spot Dave Grohl hanging out at Black Cat,
-ride the secret US Capitol subway,
-write a DC city guide for Bust,
-fight for District equality including having true Congressional representation, and proper budgeting for the seriously suffering public schools. oh well.
-ride bikes to Mount Vernon (did i ever really mean to do this?)
-get on the board for Transformer gallery (James said I could if I had $5K. Maybe next year)

We Eat Brooklyn

Saturday we walked and ate and drank all day. Woke up leisurely, got coffee at my daily stop The Wyckoff Starr and walked thru Bushwick down Knickerbocker to the M train. It's like a foreign country there - cheap stores & lots of fancy sneakers, everyone speaks Spanish and there are old men selling snow-cones with real scraped ice and real pina syrup. (snow cones are on the list for next weekend's eating). The M train is above ground, so we took the scenic route across the Williamsburg Bridge and into Chinatown.

Destination: The Donut Plant.

Have you ever eaten a donut before? maybe not until you've had one of these monsters. they are so good, and written up in nearly every foodie mag. A white peach-iced donut alone might be worth a trip to NY. Dave was in bliss with a tres leches cake donut. Nearly $20 also got us blueberry jelly, peanut butter+jelly, coconut creme, valrhona chocolate, a coffee and a damn good iced chai. also a serious sugar buzz.





















Walked it off in Chinatown, hunting for the elusive Indian Mango (it remains elusive), and decided to head to the shadier (with trees) Park Slope. Indulged in window shopping and shoe-trying-on and made our way over to Biercraft. Made out like bandits with 4 kinds of beer, including a growler of Chelsea Sunset Red which we finished with a munster + yellow tomato sandwich on chewy bread and Zapp's honey bbq chips back at my place. Whew! time for a nap!

Feeling refreshed, D+I met Corey, a photographer, and Juliana, a for more beer in Williamsburg at divey Cyn. Polished off the evening with late night slices from Vinnie's Pizza, owned by Hampshire alums, and experts on deluxe pies - black bean avacado; vegan sausage + BBQ sauce; avacado nacho slices and fresh mozz-tomato-basil. yes please!

yum. im full just reminicing.