Cuis-Meme

Homemade pastas

2012-02-18T15:21:00.000-08:00

I made this:

from this: http://smittenkitchen.com/2008/02/seven-yolk-pasta-dough/

Blogging is hard.

2011-10-20T18:03:00.000-07:00

I am tired.

Read This Instead?

More blog posts soon!

Za in Philadelphiza

2011-10-09T12:41:00.000-07:00

I am in Philadelphia. I am about to go eat some pizza. I will be live blogging the event on on my friend Becky's Twitter account. Follow her at @bmast. Experience Za as I experience Za. We will be as one. At long last.

ZA FOREVER

@bmast @bmast @bmast @bmast @bmast @bmast @bmast @bmast @bmast @bmast

Pizza by the Radian

2011-10-02T21:45:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I went to Radius Pizza in Mt. Pleasant. I almost lived in Mt. Pleasant did you know? The apartment I looked at didn't have an oven...

It really is a nice area nonetheless.

So I ate at Radius Pizza and I made an important discovery: eating pizza is more fun if you have friends. In fact, I am discovering that most things are more fun if you have friends. Who knew?

Here is a picture of the outside of Radius Pizza:

I almost bought a Groupon deal for Radius Pizza. It was $10 for $20 worth of pie. Unfortunately, it was for take-out only. I guess I could have ordered take out and ate at the park down the block. Somehow that felt tacky. Also, then I could not have drank beer (legally) while enjoying my za.

Here are some pictures of my friends enjoying Radius Pizza's piazza:

We were very hungry. We also ate a salad and drank beer. All of this is beautifully illustrated with this photo:

We ordered two 12" pies. We are hungry boys and we like to eat pizza.

The first pie was a "Magni," a red-sauce pie with pancetta, soprasetta, peperoni, and mozz. The second pie we ordered was an off-the-menu-on-the-chalkboard special with ricotta, red onions, baby spinach, garlic, olive oil, and mozz. This is what they looked like when they were put on our table:

Two tiers of pizza is always better than one, right? OR OR OR, one Radius Pizza is a tier above the rest? Huh? huh:

Crust: 7

Best crust so far. Not overly abundant, well cooked, crispy around the edges, adequately glutenous. Generally, I prefer the crust to be a little thinner in the body of the pie. My companions on the other hand enjoyed the more substantive nature at the center of these pizzas. It definitely made the slices easier to handle and less likely to flop down the front of your shirt.

Quality and Proportion of Toppings: 8

The terms "local", "organic", "seasonal", and "hand-crafted", litter the Radius menu. And yes, the ingredients were veryvery good. The variety: impressive. The quality: certain. A slight qualm, however: the pancetta was underrepresented on the meaty pie. Only once could I discernibly detect the little pork morsel on a slice. Perhaps Zack got them all...

Originality: 8.5

One of their seasonal specialty pizzas had Granny Smiths and Gorgonzola. Another had pumpkin puree. The fact that they have specialty pizzas at all speaks volumes. Props.

Affordability: 5

High quality commands high prices, I guess. Considering that they billed the chalkboard special as a "build-your-own," we ended up paying nearly $17 for a 12" pie. Wowzers. Was it worth the price? Sure-- but our dinner cut significantly into our after-dinner drinking budget.

(Radius also offer a happy hour deal of a slice and a pint for $5, which makes me wish we'd shown up before 7:00...)

Pretension: -3

Their pizzas are named after vintage Italian scooters (think "Vespa"). They were also playing the Cooking Channel on the flat-screen over the bar. Overall though, not a very pretensions vibe-- perhaps trendy, but not unnervingly so.

Total Score: 25.5

Final Word: An inviting neighborhood haunt with some solid za to boot.

OPOPP: Old Pizza (of) Pavilion Pizza

2011-10-01T20:40:00.000-07:00

I work at the Old Post Office Pavilion, the only building left undemolished in the creation of the Federal Triangle (only because the government was to broke to tear the sucker down). The second tallest building in Washington DC. Future Trump Tower. Home of the National Endowment for the Arts and Humanities. Infested with verminous rats. So old school that the word "old" was added to its name only 15 years after it was opened. Operated under the auspices of the world renowned bureaucracy that is the General Services Administration. Roof leaks. Purportedly running a $5million/year operational deficit. Home to the largest neglected atrium in the western hemisphere.* And the beating heart of the operation? Well, take a look for yourself:

I realize I may be coming across as dismissive of Pavilion Pizza. Not True! No, after a long day of explaining the nuances of ______________ at Bike&Roll, a slice of Pavilion Pie is the only thing that can lift the spirits of the bike weary and downtrodden. Just look at the unbridled happiness that a single slice can evoke:

Yes, yes! We eat this pizza with gumption. With hunger in our eyes and an emptiness in our stomachs. Vicious and visceral, yes! We have full cheeks and sauce on our chins as we edit our GoogleDocs. It's the only way we can, the only way we know how.

Pavilion Pizza:

Crust: 3

Floppy. Soggy. Carb-y. Delicious. Comes every week out of the back of a 18wheeler with Baltimore tags. Delivered frozen by a mustachioed man who's disarmingly attractive in a Frank Sabotka kind of way.

Quality and Proportion of Toppings: 5

The mushrooms definitely come out of a can, but the onions are fresh. They don't skimp on you and the cheese is stringy when it's hot. Grease is universally dabbed off the top with paper napkins.

Originality: 1

Why bother?

Affordability: 5

A slice of peperoni and a slice of veggie set me back nearly $8. I don't know. Somehow, as cheap as this pie is, I feel like it should be cheaper. I guess food court pizza will have food court prices? Am I being stingy? Nit-picky? Feeling entitled? Privileged? I deserve a break because I work here too, don't I? Here's a story: once there was this earthquake in DC and it was like 3:30 in the afternoon before they let us back in the building and I hadn't eaten lunch and everyone in the foodcourt was shutting down so I went up to the Pavilion Pizza and saw that they still had pizza on the table there so I was like "hey can I get a slice of that pizza?!" and they were like "sorry we're closed" but then I pouted at them and the guy who works there took pity on me and even though he had already counted down their cash drawer he gave me two slices in a cardboard box and only charged me $5, which I suspect he just pocketed because they were probably going to throw out all of that leftover pizza anyhow.

Pretension: -1

These guys serve pizza in a food court. They, like me, are out to make money off of hungry tourists. They have to put up with the same bullshit that I have to put up with. They get asked the same annoying questions. Have to watch awkward middle school-ers eat chicken tenders and wear those annoying Kanye glasses. They're just trying to sell some goddamned pizza. I get it. We're cool.

Total Score: 13

Final Word: If I were to make a political statement by pieing The Donald, I would do it with a Pavilion Pie.

*Many of these fact are speculative and, while based on 100% authentic Holliday experience fostered by a personal & genuine desire for the Truth, may nonetheless be downright false.

Pizza in Paradiso

2011-09-21T20:14:00.000-07:00

On Monday I went to Pizzeria Paradiso on P st. NW off of Dupont Circle. It was my day off and I needed an excuse to get out of the house. Also, I was hungry.

Pizzeria Paradiso has three locations in the DC area-- one on M st. in Georgetown and one on King st. in Old Town in addition to the one I visited. From what I gather, Paradiso is one of the older, more established gourmet, wood-fired pizza joints in the city. As such, they've got their schtick down pat.

When I arrived late in the lunch hour (~1:15p) I was quickly whisked to a table-for-one and presented with an extensive draft list and a small bowl of cured olives in addition to my menu. I used to believe that olives were to be eschewed rather than chewed [NB: turn-of-phrase not a Holliday original], though in the last year I've conceded that they are actually, miraculously, kind of delicious. In fact, the free olives (or "ollips" as my younger brother used to call them) in tandem the beer were kind of the highlight of the meal:

The Cold Foamer [NB: another blatant literary rip-off] pictured above is none other than Sixpoint's Rye Pale Ale, a new and buzz-wort(h)y arrival on the DC beer scene (meaning I read about it on the Y&H blog). IN FACT, in advance of my visit I had heard more talk of Paradiso w/r/t [NB: ibid] its extensive beer offerings than of the glory of its pies. Was this a sign?

Anyhow, the pie itself:

I ordered an 8" Nopoletana (tomato, basil, anchovy, capers, mozz) and in short order it was ushered before me-- straight out the oven, cheese still bubbling. And what did I think? Well:

Crust: 5

Pretty disappointing. It had the satisfying crunch and char of a pie out of a hot, hot, hot wood oven, but the crumb? As they say, "wtf"? Where was the gluten? In pizza dough, it's all 'bout the gluten! Gluten provides the chew, the elasticity of the crust. With this pie there was no chew. In fact, the crust was kind of crumbly! I know that Paradiso had been experimenting with gluten-free pies, but (and no offense to the gluten intolerant), a dough without well-developed strands of gluten isn't much of a dough at all...

Quality and Proportion of Toppings: 8

Good quality toppings indeed! This Paradiso got right. The cheese was chewy and stringy and browned nicely w/o tasting burnt. The anchovies were appropriately salty and exceptionally smooth (no detectable bones). I only found a couple of the capers on the pie (the rest were probably hiding out under the cheese, among the tomatoes) but their taste was pervasive. Good olive oil to boot. Job well done.

Originality: 8

Paradiso definitely leans heavily on the "classics", but also has some curve-balls up its sleeve. You can get a pie with mussels (served in the shell, on the top), or one with an egg (a marked "foodie" trend) and borgata. There are enough interesting pies and enough unique toppings that I feel compelled on their strength alone to make a trip back.

Affordability: 5.5

$11.75 for an 8" pizza is a pretty stiff price. However, the olives were on the house and the beer, at $6/pint, wasn't outrageous... Still, one of the more expensive pies I've had to date.

Pretension: -4

Paradiso is trying to be a fancy pizza (or as they say, "pizze") place. And you know what? They're doing a pretty decent job of it. The staff was attentive and nice, the atmosphere casual and relaxed, and no one smirked when I stuttered in pronouncing "Nopoletana." There were dudes in suits, but no one cared that I showed up sweaty from a bike ride and wearing a hoodie. The only thing that got my goat was that the menu headings were in Italian. I don't think that Italian menu headings make you appear "authentic" (whatever that word means...). They just make you seem like you're trying a little too hard...

Total Score: 22.5

Final Word: A very decent pie with an indecent crust. Probably worth a second visit down the line.

Up Next: Food Court Pizza.

By the By: We the Pizza

2011-09-15T17:43:00.000-07:00

Of all the pizza places in DC, I have probably eaten the most slices at We the Pizza. The pizza-by-the-slice establishment on Pennsylvania Ave SE has several things going for it, most notably the fact that it's on my way home from work:

I like that after a long day of telling people things like, "please don't lock your bicycles to trees because the Park Service will get mad," I can drop by this open-late pizzeria and grab two slices of za and a fountain soda for $10 (well, $11.10 after tax). The pizza arm of celebrity-chef Spike Mendelsohn's slowly spreading common-man-cum-hipster/foodie DC phenomenon, We the Pizza is "hip", but not so much so that I feel self-conscious scarfing down my slices in a booth upstairs, sweaty, grease-stained, and unfashionably alone.

Upon arriving at We the Pizza, one is greeted by an array of perhaps a dozen different pies all splayed out on form-fitting butcher blocks. As is typical with by-the-slice joints, once you place your order, the resident pizza-slinger will caringly select your slices and reheat them in the oven for you. On my last visit I ordered a slice of the white pizza and a slice of the sausage and pepper, the two varieties I have found to be the most consistently decent options from WtP:

I often have to dab a little excess grease off the white, but the dollops of ricotta (at least one per slice-- though I have found up to three if the pizza-slinger is feeling zealous) are worth it. The sausage-pepper is not over-sauced.

Thoughts while eating:

This pizza is good tired-person pizza.

This pizza is good hungry-person pizza.

I would be excited to eat a left-over slice of this pizza for breakfast, provided it was kept in the refrigerator properly so that the crust was not dried-out.

This pizza is good I'm-in-a-hurry-person pizza.

And without further ado, the rating:

Crust: 6.5
-There is a lot of it. After you eat most of your pizza you are left with two big bread-sticks. I usually eat them but it is done without much fanfare. Would probably be good to eat while drinking/drunk.

Quality and Proportion of Toppings: 7.5
-As is chic, all ingredients are earth-friendly. The toppings on the "specialty" pizzas I have found lacking (see: canned pineapple?) but the pies uniformly have a solid distribution of crowning goodies.

Originality: 5.5
-WtP recently took their most original pie off the menu. It was a potato and pancetta pizza with fresh rosemary. Many of their specials are vague, unoriginal, or boring (see: "Mexican" pizza, with... chicken?). A co-worker recently tried their Buffalo-chicken pizza and she said they were trying too hard. I don't find that hard to believe. As a by-the-slice place, they tend to stick to stuff they know they can sell reliably, perhaps limiting their options.

Affordability: 8
-Considering what other trendy "fast but not fast-food" places (e.g. Chopt, Chipotle, Taylor Gourmet, et. al) charge for a meal, WtP is quite resonable. Other "boutique" pizzerias charge $12+ for a 8" pie. WtP remains competitive with national chains, while delivering a substantially better product.

Pretension: -6
-While the pizza is pretty down-to-earth, I feel that the whole "we-the-pizza" motif is a little over-played. The napkin holders all have sayings on them like, "when the power of love overcomes the love of power, the world shall know PIZZA." Also, there is a TV showing a repeating reel of highlights from Chef Spike's time on TopChef. Ugh.

Total Score: 21.5

Final Word: Solid za (however, I wouldn't make the trip down here just to try it).

Where should I go next?

za za za za za za

2011-09-12T05:58:00.000-07:00

In an attempt to revitalize this blog I am going on a mission: to eat at and "review" any and all pizza joints in/around WashDC. I have already been to several notable pizzerias, but in the interests of "fairness" I guess I will just have to go back...

Anyhow, I was walking my roommate's dog last night and I thought of some categories on which to "judge" the pies:

1. Crust (cardboard index)
2. Quality and proportion of toppings (the lone shriveled peperoni? index)
3. Originality (the successful integration of arugula? index)
4. Affordability (also known as the eye-popping-guilt-inducing-i-could-have-bought-groceries-for-the-rest-of-the-week index [EPGICHBGRWindex])
5. Pretension (the it's just pizza, k? index)

Pies will be scored on a scale of one to ten (1-10).

Here is the cursory list of all the pizzerias I know in/around DC (in order of approximate proximity to my house, BTW):

1. New York Pizzeria
2. Matchbox
3. 7th Hill
4. We the Pizza
5. Armand's Chicago Pizzeria
6. Ella's Wood Fired Pizzas
7. DC Slices
8. Z Pizza
9. Graffiato
10. Vapiano
11. Pizza Paradiso
12. 2Amys
13. Comet Ping Pong
14. District of Pi
15. Rocco's (in TKPK)
16. Mama Lucia
17. Pizza Pavilion
18. A Slice of Italy Pizzeria
19. RedRocks Firebrick Pizzeria
20. Pacci's Neapolitan Pizzeria (in SS)
21. Flippin' Pizza

Any glaring omissions/oversights will in due time be corrected. Suggestions are also welcomed!

Stay "tuned," I think I might go get a slice this afternoon!

A pretty good sandwich

2011-05-02T13:35:00.000-07:00

Wheat Bread
Butter
Arugula
Sopressata
Shaved Romano
Fried Egg
Pepper

Poutine

2011-03-09T19:38:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I achieved two of my life goals: ordering from a trendy "food truck" and eating french fries covered in cheese curds and gravy.

Image courtesy of Google

The hipster/foodie pheNOMenon of food trucks has long been a fascination of mine. I even watched a silly FoodNetwork series called "Food Truck Wars." The experience was everything I expected it to be. I rode up to the truck out of breath on a tandem bicycle with a coworker and stood in line and acted cool as I studied the menu. I even ordered the poutine under its correct adopted name of "WonkyFries."

Out of focus "WonkyFries"

The food truck guy made jokes and acted hip and I smiled and tipped him, etc. The hardest part of the experience was riding the tandem back to work holding a cardboard plate full of poutine. Needless to say, by the time we arrived everything was covered in gravy.

Poutine too lived up to my expectations; it was exceptionally delicious, messy, and gave me a belly ache. My coworker Rachel, who lived and Canada for a while, said that they were "pretty good." This was less than the "SO AUTHENTIC!!!1" response that I was hoping for, but I would have to agree; they were pretty good.

Ryan eats "WonkyFries"

Some things that I have eaten recenly

2011-02-20T12:54:00.000-08:00

I continue to eat food:
Lunch at work: leftover curried lentils, brown rice, and misc. vegetables.

Delicious Sunday breakfast: bagel&eggs, potatoes.

Homemade hot-pocket with green peppers, black pepper, and garlic.

Sandwich from Taylor Gourmet: Sopressata, Genoa salami, roasted red peppers, pesto, fresh mozz.

Birthday Cake (E4Evan): Chocolate, raspberry, chocolate.

Kimchi Fail

2011-02-15T18:03:00.000-08:00

After seeing all the kimchi at the Chicago Food Corps I was really inspired to make some spicy fermented cabbage. Having never made kimchi before and not lucky enough to own a copy of the wonderful Wild Fermentation, I was left to the vast wasteland that is the internet to search for a suitable recipe. These People seemed to know what they were doing, so taking a leaf from their book I gathered my exotic ingredients like "Napa cabbage" and "Daikon radish" and set out with the fresh face of a boy happy to pound vegetables into a mush and let them sit for a week before eating them. To say that I followed the recipe loosely would be an understatement. I added way too much radish and ginger and I don't think I had quite enough cabbage. However, I know it wasn't my vegetable ratios that rendered this fermented friend inedible. My problem was twofold:

1. I used WAY too much salt. Like, WAY WAY too much. When I was pounding the vegetables in my mixing bowl I misjudged the amount of cabbage I had and ended up doubling the amount of salt in the recipe. This is already after I had doubled the salt to make up for the fact that I was fermenting the kimchi without whey, apparently a key ingredient for fermentation (I'm not sure I believe this). Effectively I quadrupled the amount of salt. As you might expect, it was unbearably, well, salty. Even when I ate the kimchi with lots of white rice and plain, uncooked tofu it was hard to stomach.

2. I added oyster sauce to my kimchi. As soon as I did this I regret my decision. Sean had some kimchi in Chicago that had fish sauce or something in it and it was really good so I thought I should try it with oyster sauce which I usually enjoy. Ultimately, I don't think that Oyster sauce should be fermented.
It probably didn't help that the glass container that I used to ferment the kimchi was previously used to store pocket change (even though I scrubbed it I am not convinced that it was sufficiently clean. I don't have a pot large enough to boil the damn thing).

Now, I am not a very picky eater. In fact, I have happily ingested some pretty unappetizing dishes (many of my own creation). Essentially what I am saying is that something has to be really, really fucked up for me not to eat it. However, this kimchi is going in the compost. Maybe I'll try again in a few weeks. If I do, rest assured that I will be following a recipe to a t.

Matzo Ball SOUP Redux

2011-02-13T17:28:00.000-08:00

I made more matzo ball soup because it is winter and I was cold. However, there were complications. I decided to boil my matzo balls in my stock instead of in a separate pot of water. This was a mistake because they absorbed more of the stock than I had anticipated. To make matters worse I then added egg noodles because I thought that my soup needed more carbs. This only thickened my soup to casserole consistency. In a last ditch effort to revive my "soup" I added frozen peas because peas make everything better, right? The end result kind of reminded me of the Polish delicacy chicken in aspic.

On the bright side I now have lunch for the rest of the week. All I have to do is add a little water and, voila, lunch.

Ba Bay

2011-02-12T15:27:00.000-08:00

Earlier this week I stopped by Ba Bay to try their three-course prix fixe lunch (for only $20). I had just returned from Chicago hungry for noodles and wanting to hold onto my splurging lifestyle one day more. Lunch at Ba Bay did the trick. I really like this restaurant because everyone there is so nice to me. Also, they played Jimmy Eat World between the appetizer and the entree. Perfect timing.

First Course: Squid with mung bean and lamb sausage pasted served with tasty sesame cracker. I asked the waiter how they made the cracker because it was so delicious but she didn't know. I think they baked foam.

Entree: Spicy shrimp and pork broth, thick rice noodles, pork shank, loin. So many noodles. I really wanted their pho but it wasn't on the lunch menu. This was good though. I think they suvee'd the pork loin, which was a treat. I think that in generally I like the idea of things being suvee'd. Also, I love noodles.

Dessert:
Black sesame cake with coconut ice cream and some other things I forget. I was so full at this point. I remember being confused by this dish because one of the lumps on top of the cake is ice cream and the other is some sort of whipped cream. It was good and covered in coconut.

In conclusion, I like fancy restaurants. I also think I have a liking for Ba Bay because they opened up at the same time as I moved to the neighborhood so we're like friends or something.

Chicago

2011-02-08T12:33:00.000-08:00

I went to Chicago. It was covered in snow. However this did not stop me from doing things I like, such as eating hot dogs and playing board games. It's too bad that so many of my friends live in Chicago and I live in DC.

Chicago is full of food and snow and hipsters. I couldn't live there because I don't have any boots and my feet would always be wet. And yet, wet feet might make up for the $600/mo I could save in rent if I moved there. That would be $600 I could spend on hot dogs and polish food. Here are some pictures from my trip:

Hot Doug's!

Chicago style hot dog with dill pickle and celery salt. Fancy hot dog with lamb sausage, Camembert cheese, and lemon Dijon mustard foam. French fries fried in rendered duck fat. It was everything I wanted and more!

Sean grates cheese for fancy pizza, Sarah says something intelligent. Fancy pizza with mushrooms. Kool-Aid wine. Yummy!

Sean and Sarah eat pop-rocks, the perfect snack for an afternoon of Boggle.

Seth and Dan have food blogs too! They are taking pictures of the leftover Brandeurysm sandwich that Seth tried to eat in under an hour at Brand BBQ restaurant. Dan live-blogged the event. We are so tech-savvy.

We ate noodles at Urban Belly, a resturaunt that Miriam thought was a pregnant yoga studio. I had faux-pho, with pork belly and ramen. It was fancy and delicious.

On the train ride home I ate rice cracker and nut snacks from the Chicago Food Corp. The Chicago Food Corp is probably my favorite grocery store ever and is almost reason enough to move to the windy city. Too bad.

Miso Soup

2011-01-30T20:24:00.001-08:00

One day I made miso soup for breakfast. And then I made miso soup everyday until my miso was gone.

Here's what I would do:

1. Mix a big spoonful of miso paste with a splash of warm water in the bottom of a soup bowl (enough water to form a watery-paste).

2. Cut some firm tofu into little squares and put it in the soup bowl.

3. Tear up a sheet of roasted seaweed into bite-sized pieces and put them on top of the tofu.

4. Boil some water in a kettle and pour it into the bowl.

5. Let it sit, stir it up, eat yo soup.

I don't know if I am killing my miso with the boiling water so sometimes I will heat it until it is just about to boil or other times I will let it sit for a few minutes before I pour it into the bowl (though not often because I am impatient). Perhaps I am not getting the full health benefits of the miso, but who is to know for sure. I am willing to bet that this is the 100% inauthentic way to prepare miso soup, but, at least I'm not fronting. It tastes good.

Pizza

2011-01-28T17:41:00.001-08:00

I am cooking pizza RIGHT NOW. I like pizza soooo much. Anyhow, here is a picture of the last pizza(s) I made:

One had cheese and chickensausage and peppers and sauce. The other had caramelized onions and balsamic vinegar reduction and goat cheese. I made them at my parents house a couple of days ago. The pizza I am making right now has onions and peppers and cheese and sauce.

UPDATE:

LIVE BLOGGING DINNER: IT'S TOO HOT TO EAT!

quiche

2011-01-28T08:56:00.000-08:00

I made a quiche.

If you remember, back when I made knish in October I only used half of the dough, putting the other half in the freezer. Well I was tired of looking at this lump of tinfoil whenever I opened the freezer so I used the dough as the crust for my quiche.

The quiche was filled with onions and mushrooms and eggs and milk and Parmesan cheese. I seasoned it with salt, pepper, and rosemary. The dough bubbled a lot and I lanced a really big bubble with a chef's knife so the whole thing wouldn't spill all over the oven. Because of all the butter in the crust, it was very, very delicious.

rice and fish and seaweed and stuff

2011-01-26T16:50:00.000-08:00

I really like eating sushi, more so than anyone else in my family, I believe. So I can't help but think that it was for my sake that they proposed a sushi feast last weekend.

Yes, that is enough sushi to feed an circus. Anyhow, I found it amusing that my dad and my brother got so into the endeavor. We had rolls with marinated tuna, spicy fried salmon, sesame + cucumber, and one with avocado and surimi ("california roll"). And then we also had the ones with the big pieces of fish aka "nagirizushi." It was awesome.

As you can see in this picture, some of the sushi was kind of weird looking. I made a couple of rolls that were too big to eat and some that just fell apart. My dad however, was very interested in the "presentation" of the food, so that is why these plates looks so nice.

Cooking at my parents house is nice because they have nice things to cook with, a big kitchen, and I usually don't have to buy the ingredients. This was probably one of the best meals I have made in a long time. We didn't end up eating until 9:30 it took us so long to make everything. #worthit. I was eating sushi for days afterward, breakfast, lunch and dinner.

Noodles & Yeast

2011-01-14T07:04:00.000-08:00

I didn't get home from work last night until 9:00. Noodles & Yeast for Dinner!!!!

I have perfected my noodles & yeast recipe:

1. Cook desired type of noodle (I prefer angel hair or thin spaghetti) in boiling water with a pinch or two of salt until al dente.
2. Strain noodles in a colander.
3. Melt a big 'ole piece of butter in a pan over low/medium heat.
4. Once the butter is melted and making noises and stuff add the noodles to the pan and stir around a bit.
5. Add some salt.
6. Add some nutritional yeast.
7. Repeat steps 5 &6 until your noodles look like my noodles (above) and taste good and stuff.
8. Plate noodles.
9. Enjoy

I love noodles and yeast. Cooking it in the pan prevents the noodles from clumping together and evenly distributes the butter and the yeast. I can't verify that this is true, but I also think it kind of subtly fries the noodles so they taste better and are more chewy. They don't look fried though...

Note: If you don't care for the taste of nutritional yeast don't make noodles & yeast. Also, you are a loser.

What's With All That "Cajun Shrimp?"

2011-01-06T18:32:00.000-08:00

Well, truth be told, I stole it:

Perhaps you have noticed that this is the third time I have posted a picture of "Cajun Shrimp" on this blog. I recently started working at a new store in my neighborhood. The grand opening was catered by Pound Coffee and Cafe, and at the end of the event there were several gallons of "Cajun Shrimp" soup left over. I must have taken home no less than a dozen containers of "Cajun Shrimp." They almost completely fill my freezer.

The first couple of times I had the soup, it was delicious on its own. After the fifth time, I needed some convincing. Tonight I augmented the soup with peas and corn and cheese. I also fried the left-over polenta from last night and put it at the bottom of my bowl. It was pretty alright. I only have three containers of the soup left. STAY TUNED TO SEE WHAT CRAAAZY THING I DO NEXT OMG.

Former President Goes on "Plant-Based Diet"

2011-01-05T18:34:00.000-08:00

What the hell is that? A VEGAN? Next he is going to be wearing TOMS loafers and drinking hemp milk. Cool mr. formerpresident. Real 'Cool.'

My favorite part, aside from my staunchly vegan boss telling me 'i-told-you-so,' is how the mainstream media describes the word vegan (vay-gain?) to the world. I also like how Clinton has to say, "no dairy, no meat of any kind, no chicken, no turkey," because turkey isn't real "meat of any kind."

(though, chickens are dumber than some plants.)

Anyhow, in honor of Mr. Clinton I ate a vegan dinner of Brussels Sprouts and Polenta:

It's funny because this is exactly the kind of meal that would have made 8-year-old Jeffrey groan and then trow-up. But it was pretty good. I sauteed the Brussels sprouts with garlic and served it with delicious/mysterious sweet Thai soy sauce. If anyone knows where to get more delicious/mysterious sweet Thai soy sauce in DC, please let me know!

More things that I have eaten.

2010-12-30T18:07:00.001-08:00

1. Olive Garden
2. Steamed Dumplings
3. Banh Mi that my boss bought me from Ba Bay
4. Shrimp and Couscous mush
5. Ice Cream and Bananas Dinner
6. Stir Fry Tofu
7. CHRISTMAS Brunch
8. Shrimp and Couscous mush part ii.

Hot Dog

2010-12-30T18:02:00.000-08:00

There is a new Hot Dog restaurant in my neighborhood.

I got a Chicago Style dog. The pickle was crisp, but it was no Hot Doug's....

Sean came to visit. He ate some things and then he left.

2010-12-30T17:50:00.000-08:00

Sean was in Ireland. I picked him up from the airport and I was so excited that I got us lost in NoVa. FML.

Somehow we made it back to my house. Then we made some food and then ate it.

1. Fried Grits
2. Granddad Breakfast
3. Biscuits and Gravy
4. Polenta Pizza

5. Ted's Bulletin
6. Shredding

some things I have eaten recently:

2010-12-06T20:44:00.000-08:00

Here are some things I have eaten recently:

Rice congee with Rockfish, Bok Choy in Oyster Sauce at Ba Bay

Cheesesteak explosion! from some diner in north Jersey

Spicy rice, beans, vegetables, an egg

A delicious creampuff from some creampuff store in NYC

Farmhouse breakfast, at Good Enough to Eat in NYC

YUMMY,OHHEY

Eggs, Fat, Seth, Etc.

2010-12-03T18:33:00.000-08:00

My friend Seth came to visit me earlier this week. Seth goes hard and so when he showed up at my house at 5:45 in the morning, what else were we going to do but drink a beer and watch the sunrise:

Seth likes to cook too, so pretty much all we did all weekend was cook delicious meals, drink beer, and play board games. We went to the grocery store a total of three times to buy random ingredients, mostly eggs:

Eggs benedict with bacon, homefries with katsup.

boom.

Mushroom and onion pizza, skip-bo.

Seth blogs too.

Late Night SOUP (Ramen, carrots, heavy cream, an egg, onions, chili, green onions)

Happyhanukkahdonuts.

Cooking with a friend is far superior to cooking alone. My only regret about the weekend is that Seth didn't get to have a Jumbo Slice:

Next Time.

NEWYORKER REUBEN

2010-11-18T20:16:00.000-08:00

Today for lunch I had a NewYorker Reuben from Jack's Deli on 3rd and E NW. It was delicious. Apparently when you make a Reuben sandwich with pastrami it is called a NewYorker Reuben. Anyhow, this sandwich was delicious. Jack's Deli is great. They have birch beer and fancy potato chips. They also have a sandwich called the Cloak and Dagger. COOL!

Mutter (Mat{[ta][e]}r??) Paneer (Tofu??), or, The Hard Peas

2010-11-17T18:08:00.000-08:00

Last week I was strolling through the food court of the Old Post Office Pavilion looking to buy something for lunch when I stopped by the Indian food place (I'm sure it has a name, I feel bad for not taking notice...) and peered through the smudged glass at what they had to offer. I've been eating at this same spot since I was in high school and would come downtown to go to the Smithsonian or the E Street Theater. In all that time the spot is still run by the same man and they still have the same lunch special, with a small Styrofoam cup of lentil soup and a mysterious, unnamed flat-bread. However, on this particular day I passed over the special and decided on a Mutter Paneer, vegetable Biryani combo. Neither dish was particularly life-changing, in fact it was underwhelming on the whole (and a little cold), except for the peas. The peas in the Mutter Paneer, they were really good. They were firm and big and sweet and meaty. Good peas.

Fast forward. Last night I went and got some Indian food with my bocce team before our game. We went to Jyoti on 18th street in Adams Morgan. I ordered the Mutter Paneer (except they spelled it Mater Paneer-huh?- the internet seys it's spelled Mattar Paneer. That seems right...?) and here's what I got:

Okay, cool, some mattar paneer and some garlic naan. This dish was alright, in fact much better than the one I got in the food court-- except for the peas, which would best be described as "bloated." Damn.

Anyhow, I tried to make some mattar paneer for dinner tonight (if you thought I might be tired of this dish you were wrong). Everything was going great until I opened up my can of peas:

I know, what was I thinking! Canned peas! OF COURSE THEY ARE GOING TO BE MUSHY AND GRAY (here is what I was thinking: "THESE ARE 30 CENTS A CAN?! OMFGDFUEFR! SIGN ME UP, I'LL TAKE TWO!!!!"). The peas tasted like 4th grade cafeteria. Anyhow, I was already knee deep into making my dinner and there was no way I was stopping because of some limp peas. Here's what the end result looked like:

You can tell it's good because it's STEAMING.

Here's a rough recipe if you want to make it yourself (I used tofu instead of paneer because it was on sale at Harris Teeter and I didn't want to make a special trip just for some recipe I was going to make up as I cooked. It turned out well, and probably resulted in a more healthful dish?? Maybe?):

Cook yr brown rice! Press yr tofu! Cut yr onion and 8 cloves of garlic! Chop 2 tbs of ginger! Get cooking!

Cut the tofu into bite-size pieces and fry in vegetable oil on low heat , 15 minutes on each side.

Sautee the onions, garlic, and ginger in a pot on low heat until the onions are translucent. Add 2 tbsp. paprika, 1 tbsp. curry powder, 1 tbsp. whole cumin seeds, and 2 tsp. salt. Cook. Add your sorry looking peas. Add 6 oz of tomato paste, a half cup of water and a half cup of cream. Stir. Cook on low heat, stirring regularly, until the tofu is done. Add the tofu, serve over rice:

Matzo Ball Soup

2010-11-15T16:05:00.000-08:00

I am sick. And while matzo ball soup won't make me better, it will make me feel better.

I made vegetable broth out of 3 carrots, 8 cloves of garlic, an onion, pinch of sage, pinch of oregano, pinch of salt, and a lot of black pepper. Boiled for a while (maybe an hour and a half???).

For the matzo balls I just followed the directions on the box:

The soup turned out well and now I have soup for the rest of the week.

I ate the soup with a piece of toast with butter and nutritional yeast.

PadThai

2010-11-10T10:14:00.000-08:00

Cooking at my parent's house is a treat for many reasons, chief among them being that I don't have to buy the ingredients! Last week I made the overly-celebrated Pad Thai, adapted from this recipe. I was surprised to find that my mom had certain obscure ingredients like tamarind and Thai fish sauce. The dish turned out well, though I really would have like used a wok rather than a steel pot. Using the pot the dish turned out a little clumpier than I would have liked. That said, it did taste like Pad Thai I have eaten in the past, so at least in that respect it was a success.

Fish, Etc.

2010-11-01T13:19:00.001-07:00

Haddock, pan seared in butter with paprika, chili powder, salt, pepper.

Zucchini fritters (shredded zucchini, onion, egg, milk, flour, salt, pepper), pan fried.

Green beans with garlic sauteed in butter.

LazyBrunch(tm)

2010-10-25T09:41:00.001-07:00

LazyBrunch(tm) is:

1/2 Banana, sliced
1 chicken apple sausage, sliced, seared
1 large brown egg, fried
2 Harris-Teeter roll-n-bake Croissants w. butter
1 cup ginger green tea

I wish I could sleep-in and eat LazyBrunch(tm) every day.

Potato & Onion Knish

2010-10-18T17:34:00.000-07:00

Rachel's birthday was last week and as a present I bought her Aliza Green's Starting with Ingredients:

This cookbook is great. Organized by ingredient, not only does this voluminous text (1050+ pages) supply recipes for provocative dishes like homemade lemoncello and braised octopus terrine(!!!), but it also gives a surprisingly detailed profile of each ingredient it catalogs. The book also features odd bits of folklore and history. For example, Green has this to say about the knish:

"In Brooklyn and other places with a strong Yiddish culture, when guys said they were going out to get some knish, they didn't mean the pastry. In Yiddish slang, a woman's genitalia are also referred to as a knish. It doesn't take much to see the resemblance..."

And with that, the knish.

A knish is a fist-sized pastry filled with potatoes and sometimes other fillings, such as cabbage, broccoli, mushrooms, etc. I opted for the classic and easy potato and onion knish. I made the dough this morning:

1/2 lb. butter
1/2 lb. cream cheese
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 cups flour
1 tbs. salt

You cream the butter and cream cheese, add the heavy cream, and slowly kneed in the flour and salt until the mixture appears homogeneous. You wrap this fatty bundle in tin foil and let it sit in the fridge for at least an hour, as to let the gluten "relax."

The filling for the knish is quite simple. Boil six medium Idaho potatoes until they are well done but not falling apart. Let them cool and then remove the skins. Saute two onions until brown and mix with the potatoes. Add two eggs, beaten, salt and pepper to taste. (I also added about 1 tbs. of red chili flakes to give the filling some heat.) Once the filling cools, you are ready to stuff:

Roll out your dough and cut out circles that are about 6" in diameter. Pack as much filling as you can into the pastry dough, close is up and put it seam side down on a baking sheet. Cut a small "V" in the top of the dough to let steam escape. (I was able to make seven knish with the amount of filling I had and I put about a third of the pastry dough I made in the freezer for another time.) Bake those suckers for 35-45 min.

I neglected to paint my knish with an egg wash before they went in the oven so they don't really look how knish are supposed to look, but they tasted good enough. The dough is very, very rich-- almost like pie crust and the filling was tasty, if not a little boring. Next time I make them, I will fill them with something more exciting. At least now I will have lunch for the rest of the week!

Basil Old Fashioned?

2010-10-16T17:34:00.000-07:00

New Post, Eh?

It only took me a few months to figure out that I could use the webcam on my computer to take pictures of what I eat (and in this case what I drink).

I just made my first cocktail in my new house. Colin (my housemate) has too much basil growing in our backyard. I bought some wild turkey after work because it is the weekend. I thought, "hey, why not?"

I don't know if this is technically an old fashioned (esquire might know) but for lack of a better name that is what I am going to call it:

Basil Old Fashioned?

1/4 cup simple syrup
12 leaves of basil
3 dashes of bitters
1 1/2 oz wild turkey 151
4 large ice cubes

I made the simple syrup (1 cup water to 1 cup sugar, boil, cool) and muddled it with the basil and the bitters. Add the bourbon, ice, stir till cold.

It's pretty sweet, very easy to drink. The basil is a little more subtle than mint. I think I will have another?

Hello August, Goodbye Internet

2010-07-24T18:42:00.001-07:00

The internet at the farm died again, thus the lack of posts. I am leaving on a three week canoe trip tomorrow morning and won't be able to make posts for all the food I have eaten in the last. I will do it when I get back. Additionally, I will share some dishes from the trail, hopefully including some fresh caught Walleye (!!!).

In the meantime, I leave you with a picture of all the food that my group of 12 will be eating for the next 24 days. We spent $1,700 at the coop alone, which is the biggest purchase they've had at their new location. It really sucked packing it. In all, we have roughly 350 pounds of food (1.5 lb food per person per day, for 24 days), organized by meal, put into six dry bags (~60 lb/ bag). We are going to have some rough portages! Good thing they'll get better as we eat it all up! Till then...

Curried Rice, More Miso Beans

2010-07-20T14:34:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday there were only six people at Farm Day, an all-time low in my book. I volunteered to cook and once again made "shit-in-a-pot."

First, I know I already made miso string beans this week, but there are so many beans in the garden that I just couldn't say no! I spent the first part of Farm Day picking beans (I got about three pounds in 20 minutes). I then went to the Coop and bought some red miso (and visited Rachel, she works Saturdays). I blanched the beans and made the dressing and set them aside to cool.

For the curried rice I first fried tofu in a wok in a blend of sesame and canola oil. I used tofu that had been cut into small cubes a couple of days before (we were going to use it for house dinner but then things go complicated). Leaving the tofu in the fridge pre-cut for a couple of days turned out to be a good idea because it dried out the tofu nicely, making it crispier when fried. I chopped and added onions, garlic, zucchini, and fresh tomatoes to the mix. I added 1/4 cup Hungarian paprika (it's a lot but so worth it!), 2 tbs. curry powder, cardamom, and salt and sauteed it on medium heat for 15 minutes until everything was starting to fall apart and blend together. I then added rice that had been previously cooked and refrigerated (again left-over from the fiasco on Thursday night). Pre-cooking the rice and making sure it is cold is KEY to making sure your fried rice doesn't all stick together. Also, undercooking the rice just slightly lets the rice absorb more of the spices as you reheat/cook it a second time.

This dish was so yummy that I made a much smaller version during my lunch break today. I substituted chicken sausage with sun-dried tomato for the tofu-- it too was delicious. The dish keeps well in the fridge and can be reheated on the stove top or eaten cold (my preference).

Sweet Potato Fritters, Miso Beans, Corn

2010-07-15T07:09:00.000-07:00

I bought a bag of sweet potatoes from Fountain Acres Foods on Monday for a couple of bucks. I wanted some produce and I knew Rachel didn't like tomatoes. Anyhow, I made sweet potato fritters for dinner last night. Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman's latke recipe in How To Cook Everything Vegetarian

Sweet Potato Fritters

3 large sweet potatoes, peeled & shredded
1 medium onion
2 cups chopped spinach
4 eggs, beaten
1 tbs. chopped fresh rosemary
3 boards matzo, crumbled
2 tbs. Hungarian paprika
salt & pepper to taste

Mix all the ingredients in a large metal bowl until you approach homogeneity. Pour vegetable oil into a flat bottom pan to a depth of 1/8". Heat the oil on medium heat until the oil starts to shimmer. Use your hands to shape the potato mixture into fritters and use a spatula to lower the fritters into the oil. Cook for five minutes on each side or until "golden brown." Dry on a paper towel and place in a low oven to keep warm until all your fritters are done. Should yield about a dozen fritters.

Again, the rosemary is the key to making these fritters 'pop.' We ate them without any sauce or garnish and they were delicious. However, I'm sure there are some creative sauces out there that would make this dish spectacular.

We ate the fritters with a string bean miso salad also adapted from a recipe from How to Cook Everything Veg. Basically you blanch the string beans and mix them with a simple dressing:

1/4 cup white miso
2 tbs. ginger
1/2 tsp. sesame oil
2 tbs. sweet soy sauce
2 tbs sesame seeds.

I overdid the ginger in our dressing so it had a little bit of a kick. This recipe originally calls for walnuts, but I liked it with sesame seeds instead. The sweet soy sauce also provides a good contrast to the spiciness of the ginger. We used about three cups of Dragon's Tongue beans that came from the farm's own garden (we have beans coming out of our ears). They were very tasty.

The corn came from Fountain Acres Foods. We lightly steamed it. It too was delicious!

late night early breakfast

2010-07-14T17:12:00.000-07:00

The internet at the farm has been down since our house was hit by lightning (!!!) a couple of nights ago during a storm. This is a picture of what I ate for breakfast on Saturday morning:

We had quite a rager the night before and waking up and cooking breakfast before FarmDay was especially hard. The party was space-themed and the kitchen was covered in sticky shot glasses and glitter when I cooked the eggs. One thing I have found to make eggs taste better and look nicer is dill. It adds a fresh taste and makes you feel a little fancy pants.

Fajouille Pt. 1

2010-07-08T21:23:00.000-07:00

Communal living has its ups and downs. For example,

Ups: House Dinner.

Downs: My night to cook.

Living at Miller Farm for the past two years has taught me a thing or two about cooking meals to feed a dozen plus people on the cheap. You want it to be easy, you want it to taste good, you want it to be filling and nutritious, you want there to be enough of it, and you want clean-up to be as quick and painless as possible. My strategy when approaching house dinner has over time developed along the lines of my back country cooking strategy: get everyone fed and don't burn the rice. It doesn't make for the most gourmet cooking but it gets the job done.

Over time I have found that one-pot meals are the best at achieving this goal. Rice and beans is the ideal, but people start to raise their eyebrows if you cook the same dish more than two weeks in a row. When cooking house dinner more often than not I tend to wing the recipe, creating dishes "inspired by" traditional meals instead of following step by step instructions. The results are varied (though tasty more often than not!). Some of my housemates resent this strategy, dismissively calling my dinners "shit-in-a-pot." Sarah says that anything that doesn't have a specific name (and a recipe that it follows) is shit-in-a-pot... so I made up a name for all my dishes-- fajouille!

There's a long back story behind this name which I won't bore you with now. Just know that for the last several months at the farm Thursday night has been fajouille night. Tonight we ate fajouille that looked a lot like chili. Noor had a large number of dried dried fava beans which we combined with bulk black beans from the coop and dried pinto beans from the pantry. We added onions, garlic, peppers, corn, crushed tomatoes, and spices (including bay leaves, oregano from our garden, paprika, cumin, cinnamon, and red and black pepper) and let it simmer for almost an hour. Notable ingredients in this rendition of fajouille are TVP and Budwiser, because you can't make a good chili without at least a little beer (Aaron says that coffee also works). We ate the chili with brown rice (prepared with garlic a la Seth) and cornbread made by Rachel.

Needless to say, it was delicious. Check in next Thursday to see what we make for Fajoulle Pt. 2. I promise it won't disappoint.

Pizza Patate (Potato Pizza)

2010-07-07T16:53:00.000-07:00

There is no house dinner on Wednesday nights. The kitchen generally gets pretty nuts when everyone is trying to make something for themselves and tonight was no exception. Carmen and Sarah made tamales, Haven made mystery bok choy, Aaron & co. made some back of the fridge stir fry, and I made pizza patate.

Pizza patate is just a fancy Italian name for potato pizza. The basic recipe I used was adapted from Jim Lehey's My Bread, which my parents gave me for the holidays last December. However, for the crust I winged a recipe similar to the one I used in Bloomington a couple of weeks ago at August and Lucy's.

Crust:
1 cup warm water
2.5 oz active dry yeast
1 Tbs sugar
1 Tbs olive oil
1 Tsp salt
1 1/2 cup white bread flour
1 cup whole wheat bread flour

Potatoes:
6 medium size potatoes
1/3 cup olive oil
1 small onion, diced
1 cup green onion, diced
1 Tbs fresh rosemary, diced
salt & black pepper to taste

(Wash, peel, and slice the potatoes to a thickness of ~1/16". Soak the potatoes in lukewarm salted water (1+ Tbs salt / 1 quart water) for a minimum of half an hour. Strain and pat dry the potatoes and mix in a large bowl with the rest of the ingredients. Spread evenly over the rolled out pizza dough and cook in the oven at 500F for 30 min or until the tips of the potatoes get brown and start to curl.)

I really enjoyed the simplicity of this pizza. The thin crust is a good, crispy platform for the potato topping. It's filling (carb loading, eh?), delicious, and not too heavy on a hot summer evening. The fresh rosemary is really clutch in my opinion, as is generous quantity of olive oil. I am excited to try some other sauce-less and cheese-less pizzas as the summer goes on... cauliflower next?

ch-ch-ch-chia!

2010-07-05T18:49:00.000-07:00

Rachel brought something home from the coop the other day that is going to change my life. Chia Seeds! At first I was skeptical, but after she explained the ten benefits of this power and brain food, I saw the light. Not only are chia seeds full of calcium and protein, but they also help to clean out your intestines. Geez do I love super foods.

I put a teaspoon of the seeds in a glass of water and let it sit for ten minutes before drinking it down. The seeds were kind of slimy but not unpleasant. Rachel says if you let them sit overnight they will be absorb more water and be more nutritious. She also says you can make a paste out of them. Cool! Maybe I'll make chia pancakes for breakfast tomorrow. Cool!