Fall's bounty

So it has been awhile since updating, and I have been quite busy in the kitchen. Besides the normal cooking that I do, mostly with the CSA box bounty, I have done a few other projects to speak of. Firstly, I made a new batch of jam, a Pear Lime and Ginger jam, of completely my own creation. And it seems I've been in a big ginger mood lately, as I also tried a new recipe for ginger cake, or Gembertaart, as Gourmet magazine calls it. It's quite good, but the recipe has some ridiculous steps, such as making a foam out of egg whites and folding it into the very dense batter, which completely deflates the whites. But it is quite good, and makes an excellent tea cake or something to eat a slice with a small glass of sherry.

Speaking of sherry, I have to share that Kyle and I are wine club members of Mount Palomar winery in Temecula, CA and they make the best Solera aged cream sherry. Very nice and hazelnutty in flavor. Anyway, we went up to Temecula for some wine tasting, and we picked up another bottle of this divine liqueur.

Hmm, what else? Well, I made cheese again, this time a mascarpone cheese. It's a very rich yummy cheese, perfect mixed with a tiny bit of vanilla sugar and served along ripe, sliced pears. And of course, like many other people, I keep mispronouncing it "maRSCapone" instead of what it should be, "masCARponE". Otherwise, I have stumbled upon a really interesting vegetable item at Bristol Farms (which has a great full-service butcher, by the way), an upscale market. Brussel sprouts. Yup, you read that right, Brussel sprouts. But on a full stalk, which I had no idea they grew on. I ended up cooking them with a roasted spatchcocked chicken and some roasted potatoes for Thanksgiving. Of course, the best way to cook Brussel sprouts is to cook them simply and quickly. Briefly, I trimmed and washed the sprouts, boiled for 10 minutes, then tossed in a saucepan with some melted butter, minced garlic, some lemon juice, and minced parsley. Very good. And nice to have a simple meal, as I mostly boycotted Thanksgiving this year, as for some reason it always stresses me out every year.

Of course, when spatchcocking the chicken, I used my kitchen scissors and realized they aren't as heavy duty as I would like. I went ahead and bought some Messermeister heavy-duty kitchen shears that should easily handle chickens, and I can also separate the blades for cleaning and sharpening. Of course, Kyle doesn't get how I still need kitchen stuff, but oh well. And related to that, I was able to purchase some lovely All-Clad pans, like a saucier and a fry pan at their outlet, which carry factory imperfections. This means i got both pans for quite cheap, actually for more than 50% off retail since I purchased the pans with a friend and got an additional 20% off. I can't wait till they arrive!

Weekend fun

After recovering from a nasty cold over the week and part of the weekend, I decided to celebrate on Sunday by purchasing many fun gardening items. Among these was the rigging for my very own homemade grow light to help my lemon tree be all it can be. Basically, I went to Home Depot and picked up two of the reflector clamp work lights and some compact fluorescent bulbs. I grabbed a cool white 60W equivalent bulb meant to simulate daylight and a multipack of 60W equivalent warm white bulbs for a grow light and also to replace all the bulbs in the house to be more energy-efficient.

Speaking of, I have been working very hard (and succeeding on many counts) to improve the energy-efficiency of my life and reduce my waste and impact on the environment. I've been recycling pretty well, especially given that I have to make a special trip to recycle, which made it harder to start. I just replaced all the lightbulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs, which should save energy and money. I have switched my husband and I to more local, sustainable dairy, meat and produce. This last one has actually been in process since last September when we joined a CSA program (Community Supported Agriculture) with BeWise Ranch, which has been one of the best, most rewarding decisions of my life. Not only do we support local farmers and organic, sustainable produce, but our quality of life and nutritional content of food has vastly increased with all the vegetation now in our diet.

Well, anyway, I'm really trying to live a more "back to basics" life without a strong reliance on fast food and consumer waste. Unfortunately, the one thing I would improve would be my driving to work. I really wish I could carpool or use public transit, but I work in a small company with no one near to my home. And I tried public transit when I first started working, but it was so unreliable and time-consuming (took me 1 1/2 to 2 hours to get home versus 20 min to drive home). Well, hopefully people will begin to wake up and realize that life should not be lived in selfish pursuit of "more, right now".

Okay, tangent over, I promise. To get back on track, I have a grow light set-up with a cool white CFL and a warm white CFL positioned towards my citrus tree on a timer to supplement when sunlight is no longer streaming through the east-facing window. I also purchased a few plants for a winter lettuce garden such as arugula, swiss chard, and seeds for radishes and seeds for a mesclun salad mix.


This Sunday I went with a friend Holly to the Hillcrest Farmer's market, which was awesome and filled with so much yummy produce, and I picked up a few lovely things. Besides grabbing a swiss chard plant and arugula plant, I also bought a variegated mint plant. I had never seen anything like it before. It's very pretty and has a great mint smell with just a faint anise aroma. I also picked up some beautiful heirloom tomatoes like green zebra, which is my favorite, and some small cucumbers for pickling. I love having such great access to local, tasty and inexpensive fresh produce!

Sushi and eggs

Just a quick update on the produce I got on Thursday night: green beans, red beets, cucumbers, eggplant, green leaf lettuce, purple onions, oranges, apples, and cherry tomatoes. I think I'm going to make pickled beets using a Martha Stewart recipe I found that looks pretty simple. Yum, pickled beets! Course, my husband with have none, as he despises all things pickled, the poor guy. He's really missing out on so much. Not sure what to do with the eggplant or green beans yet, as I don't usually cook either of them. Also, the eggplant it nice and tiny, so it shouldn't have any seeds, or at least R tells me so.

So last night Kyle and I went out with R&A for supper good, affordable sushi. Oh, the joy of living in San Diego: all the sushi I can stuff my face with for less than 20 bucks! We got some standard goodies, such as a mixed rainbow roll and a spicy tuna roll, but also a less traditional roll named the Hot Hot CA roll. This roll is basically a California roll smothered in a hot sauce (mix of chili paste and asian mayo), heated in a broiler till toasty warm. Soooo good! And of course, I had my yummy salmon roe nigiri, which is basically just fish eggs on rice. Good and salty, with a fun bursting sensation in your mouth when you eat on. Mmmm, sushi is so good!



What else, what else? Made a smoked salmon frittata tonight, which turned out really well. Also steamed some asparagus I had gotten on special, so it was still a pretty healthy night greens-wise, even with all the eggs. Speaking of eggs, I tried my hand at making hollandaise sauce with my mini food processor, and it was so easy! There's this little set of holes on the lid just perfect for dribbling in fat to sauces so that a nice emulsion is formed. At least one sauce fear is conquered, although I'll be trying it again soon to make sure I have the by-hand technique down (ie the whisk). But now I shall sign off, and watch "From the Earth to the Moon" with my hubby, the Tom Hanks-produced mini series on space travel.

Fuschia fun

Lots to tell so far, at least cooking-wise. Didn't do too much last weekend, but Kyle made me some yummy baked pork chops with plums and green chard, which was good as we had more chard than I knew what to do with. In fact, on Monday I made a frittata with red chard, thyme and yogurt cheese, which was quite tasty if a bit dense. Of course, it was dense because I forgot to add the milk to the egg mixture, so the resulting frittata had an odd texture. And I finally used the red cabbage to make borscht, a tasty cabbage beet soup popular in Russia and Poland. Turned out there's hundreds of ways to make borscht, much like chicken soup, but the version I tried was pretty good. A bright fuschia color, thanks to the beets :) However, since the version I tried left me with tons of soup, I think I need a break from pink soups, at least for a bit. But the pity is that I still have half of a head of red cabbage, and no idea what to do with it. Maybe I'll just try braising it or something.

More yummy produce

We got our second allotment of produce this week, as you can see in the pic. More chard, yummy oranges, some salad, heirloom tomatoes, and some really green celery plus other stuff was what we got this week. One thing about this, it means I sure am eating my greens :)

Tonight Kyle and myself and a bunch of friends are going out for Mexican food and to see the new movie Serenity! Yay!!! Finally get to see the Joss Whedon movie we've been waiting so long for. For those who don't know, I am a huge HUGE Joss Whedon fan, and I LOVE his shows, especially Buffy and Firefly. In fact, I'm just a tad obsessed at times.

Pate , etc.

Whew! It has been a busy week so far, at least cooking-wise. On Monday I made sort of a stir-fry with the mizuna, some purple bunching onions, somen noodles, ginger, and soy sauce. It was quite good, nice and light especially since Monday was pretty hot here in San Diego. The mizuna had a light taste, slightly spicy like mustard, but mostly it just smelled really fragrant. And the purple onions added a nice flavor, a little more like a cross between green onions and shallots than like a red onion, which is what I was expecting.

I also made a chicken liver pate on Tuesday night, which turned out pretty well. Again, reading Julie Powell's blog and also Julia Child cookbooks inspired me to give it a shot. I think it turned out pretty well, and people seemed to like it at our dinner party tonight. Speaking of our weekly food/America's Next Top Model/Lost night, this week it was our turn to host. I made minestrone soup in the Crockpot, which was super easy, and I also made panna cotta. I have been wanting to try panna cotta for so long, but everytime Kyle and I try and order it at an italian restaurant, they're out. It turned out really well, nice and creamy with a texture similar to flan. I also made insalata caprese, a tomato, basil, mozzarella starter that went so well with the last of the heirloom tomatoes I got from BeWise Ranch.

All told, it was a great night, filled with lots of friends, wine, and wonderful Lost, which of course didn't really reveal anything else about everyone and the island. Grr! Well, the mystery is part of why I like the show so much

CSA produce

Thursday was the first week of our CSA produce pick-up. CSA (community supported agriculture) is a great program where the people in the community can pay a small amount each quarter and get fresh produce weekely straight from the farm. We got a lot of stuff, some of which I'm not sure what to do with. We got yummy heirloom tomatoes, mini tomatoes, limes, lemons, red chard, red cabbage, some purple bunching onions, and something called mizuna. Mizuna is apparently a mustard flavored green that's usually placed in salads. Not sure what I'm gonna do with it, maybe a stir-fry of some sort? Also have no idea what to do with a whole head of red cabbage. One of the nice things about the CSA deal is that I can try new, strange types of produce, and try more thrown-together dinners