a fine evening

one evening in new york, we were out in manhattan and found ourselves with nothing planned for dinner. we hopped the L train to williamsburgh and took a long walk out to marlow & sons. dinner and drinks were fabulous. of course, we wandered into spoonbill & sugartown booksellers on the way back to the train. i love that shop. full of art books and zines and little knick knacks to pick up.

december 2

just a few outtakes from my friend nicole's beautiful home. she's constantly weaving together those scrap-paper mobiles. i want one hanging in my home!

happy december and happy hannukah. we lit the first candles last night and read the latke who couldn't stop screaming. i'm planning a big hanukkah meal/celebration soon. even though i'm not too big on frying food, hanukkah is all about celebrating light and oil, so a lot of food gets fried.

i'll leave you with some recipes i've got on my mind:

chickpea latke 

porcini mushroom latke

autumn apple doughnuts

orange scented jelly doughnuts

cooking up a storm

i did a great amount of cooking this week, not only for thanksgiving but also for a few dinners with friends. our thanksgiving meal this year was so memorable, with lots of family and lots of homemade treats. i helped my grandma in the kitchen on thursday, roasting and basting the turkey and i made the apple and pumpkin pie the night before. it was bliss to be able to have a hand in our meal and to spend such good time with my grandma.

this weekend we are on a little 'getaway-in-the-city', house sitting for a friend on the other side of town. it is good to get some time away. hope you all are eating well and enjoying the weekend.

xoxo

enjoying the last bits of summer through my meals.
soon will be squash soup and roasted brussel sprouts. for now, i'm mixing up a fresh cabbage, carrot and bell pepper slaw and stirring eggplant into my stir fries and thai curries.

i hope for my posts to be more regular soon--october is a busy busy month and i have yet to get a few rolls developed.

markets

i've been enjoying the beautiful colors of all this summer produce, the vibrancy is so inspiring. we got purple carrots this week, with a deep purple color on the outside and orange inside. they are some sort of opposing color heaven.

i'm happy to be back with some holga shots, too. it's been awhile. these were the first three on my roll, before everything got really foggy and out of focus. maybe there is a reason i don't shoot with my holga as much...

i'm off for a long weekend. see you on tuesday!

menu planning

 

tomorrow night i'm having friends over for cocktail hour in my backyard. i've had a lot of fun planning the menu this week, but menu planning is always something i meet with mixed excitement and terror. i'm the type of person to get so pumped about researching an idea, that i end up finding a million ideas shooting off from my original one and feeling overwhelmed by all the options. for example, i decided to have my cocktail hour be simple, fresh and inspired by summer's seasonal bounty. i have a lot of ricotta in my fridge, so i figured i would make crostini spread with fresh ricotta, deviled eggs, fresh vegetables and homemade ice cream for dessert. simple, right?

while looking for a solid deviled eggs recipe, i found 4 spreads that i could use with the crostini, all completely unrelated to ricotta. then i thought ooh! i'll make that leek tart i just learned how to make. and i'll make pasta salad! and i really should bake something with that ice cream, shouldn't i? and then i realized none of those go together, i didn't have any vegetables in my supposedly simple spread, and i was thinking way too big for my budget. i ended up deciding on a vegetable platter with this dip to go with the crostini and deviled eggs.  to relinquish some control and decision-making pressure, i snuck out of work on my lunch hour to the wallingford farmer's market and let whatever was fresh and good looking dive into my bag to be used on the veggie platter or to be stewed and spooned over ice cream. i ended up finding beautiful thumbelina carrots, a round orange carrots that i've never before seen. i also got fresh rainier cherries and bright yellow string beans. shopping at the market was a great way to clear my mind and really stick to my plan. after all that fuss, i know my cocktail hour will be bright and beautiful, and that's all that really matters.

strawberries!

i don't know if i've ever experienced strawberry season so thoroughly as i have these past few weeks. it all started with a pint we got in our csa. it was full of perfect little sweet strawberries that were so beautiful one day and then turned  mushy and moldy the next. with our second delivery of strawberries, i realized the best thing to do was to not try to savor and elongate the season, but to dive full force into it and use up the 'fleeting' strawberries in every way i could. here's a few examples...

 

two individual strawberry cobblers and one gluten-free strawberry crisp.

 

straw and cherries macerating in sugar, vanilla and balsamic vinegar

   

early-morning strawberry hulling for a fourth of july dessert

 

and right before time ran out, i sliced and layered strawberries on top of foil to freeze for a later day.

fridays

fridays are for relaxing, good friends, good drinks, good food and good laughs. a couple fridays back, six of my favorite people trekked down to south seattle and filled a table full of amazing mexican food at huarachitos. have you ever had huaraches? they are homemade corn patties, with delicious vegetables on top. the deck of haurachitos was so colorful, with it's multi-colored umbrellas and vibrant plates. this friday i am meeting a special new friend for drinks and a photos walk. then i'm off on a mini trip to visit another friend. hopefully i will get a little reprise from this heat wave we are having. (90 degrees in seattle?!) it should all be very fun and relaxing.

hoping the same for you this weekend.

summer csa

 
it's official, our summer csa is in full swing. we got our first delivery last week and devoured every part of it by the time we picked up our second box last night. this year we are sharing our csa between four people so it is much easier to finish all the wonderful produce boistfort valley farm gives us than it was when just jon and i shared it last year. it may not sound like a big problem to have too much produce, but imagine a big head of fresh lettuce starting to wilt in your fridge because you couldn't eat salads fast enough. loosing food is never fun.

my challenge to myself is to: 1. eat all our produce before it rots 2. make some fun and new recipes with our vegetables as well as find ways to throw produce into all my basics and 3. (this one is the best) take a picture of our csa every week, in some form. i like the idea of documenting how the season slowly develops with what is ripe and harvest-able.

this week, i snapped what was left of last week's box.
feel free to email me if you have questions about community supported agriculture.

a nice dinner

i like dining experiences that take me away and make me feel like i am in another place, on vacation, outside of my day-to-day life. i also love dining with good friends and i love the every-now-and-again splurge of a long, multi-course meal.

you know what is inspiring me today? sandra's animation. just brilliant.
also, i am pumped that in june i get to meet anthony bourdain, for his new book medium raw. seattle-ites, come out for this event!

have a good day!

farmer's markets

it is a funny point in the year where spring produce is in full abundance, but our csa hasn't started up weekly and our garden is only on the verge of bursting, not yet plentiful enough to eat off of. because of this, we have made it a weekly habit to visit the farmer's market. i love watching the dark leafy greens and roots slowly give way to asparagus and rhubarb, and now to see those fade out and make room for the spring onions and green garlic. soon, beans and peas will show up and i will get a cup of ice cream as we shop around.

yesterday was a busy day, so we got to the market just as it opened, reaping the benefits of smaller crowds and first pick from every stand. i got a bunch of mustard greens, green onions and a bunch of collards then went home and stir-fried them all together with some chard pickings from our yard. lately, this type of cooking is so satisfying to me. roasted potatoes and beets are standard and i'm sprinkling chives or green onions over everything. it is all so wonderful.

happy monday and thanks to those of you who left sweet comments encouraging me through my rough week, last week.

edible plants

a couple weekends ago we finished up our garden shopping at the seattle tilth edible plant sale. every year i look forward to this sale. seattle tilth stocks so many unique varieties of edible plants that it is hard not to resist wanting to get creative in the garden. seattle tilth is also a really great resource for gardeners in the seattle area.

we ended up with a box full of eggplant, two types of peppers, basil, edible flowers, broccoverde, two heirloom tomatoes, herbs and more. jon and i rode our bikes to the sale and we took jon's cargo bike, which was able to fit our box of edible plants plus a bag of compost. it was such a fun adventure!

now the plants happily sit on the window sill waiting for warmer weather.

p.s. graham, i have more pictures of the sale for you. let's talk.

rhubarb season

rhubarb season is upon us! okay, so it has been for a few weeks. but, oh! just when i think it is the end of rhubarb at the farmer's market, i see more. and so i keep buying more. usually i can't stray from my usual rhubarb compote recipe, which is so easy and so delicious (chopped rhubarb with water and some sugar, simmered for 10 min). but this year i have branched out with rhubarb cake, roasted rhubarb and rhubarb simple syrup that i put into mojitos. i have one last big bunch of rhubarb before i cut myself off and i want to ask you what i should do with it. i had originally intended to make rhubarb ice cream or sorbet this season and  that is still an option. 

but, i want to know, what is your favorite way to eat rhubarb? any special recipes? from simple to elaborate, bring it on.

p.s. jon took this pretty pictures of our csa rhubarb.

alice waters

"The most policitcal act we can commit is to eat delicious food that is produced in a way that is sustainable, that doesn't exploit workers and is eaten slowly and with reverence."

--Alice Waters' philosophy, as quoted in Spoon Fed

little vintage bits

hello. i am stopping in today to share these pretty bits from an antique store downtown. the life magazines were from the 40's-60's and so so cool. they were shrink wrapped, though, so i couldn't see all the pages of what i imagine to be amazing american lifestyle pictures.

tonight i was treated to drinks at tavern law a mock saloon/speakeasy with a historic and rich cocktail menu. their bent is that they want to make a cocktail that suits you exactly. the bartender even came over to ask a few questions about flavor preferences, which led to a cardamom-lime gimlet. floral, sour, spicy and delicious.

this weekend we biked to the edible plant sale and picked up heirloom hot weather plants: fish hot peppers, jaune flamme tomatoes, thai basil, broccoverde, the list goes on. i will be sure to have more garden details soon.

my goal this week is to catch up on everyone's blogs and say hello again.

secret cafe

a few weekends back, i went to my first secret cafe. the cafe was hosted by some friends in order to raise money for a specific cause (i'm being vague, because it is secret after all). it was a house turned into a restaurant, packed with people at tables of two, four, eight. there were "servers" and "cooks" running around making everyone happy and passing out delicious breakfasts. i had the sweet potato waffle with honeyed whip cream and fruit salad. james had the same, but the dairy & gluten-free version. and jon had a tomato and feta quiche with blue potato hash browns and a carrot-beet shredded salad.

it got me all fired up to host my own secret cafe. i'm thinking about how i can incorporate a cause close to my heart and the preparation of good food in order to raise a little money. we'll see.

new food adventures

this weekend i made an excellent new food discovery. rabe! i have definitely heard of broccoli rabe and i've definitely seen the brassicas in my garden go to seed, but i never really put the two together. this weekend we stopped by nash's organic produce stand at the farmer's market and one whole table was dedicated to rabe in all shades and varieties. apparently any brassica (broccoli, kale, cabbage, etc.) that is going to seed is fair game for sauteing and eating. bring it on! we bought a red kale rabe and a green cabbage rabe (see photos above, but ignore the pink from the red chard--the nice lady at the stand set it there for color).

the texture is likened to asparagus in that most of what you eat is stalk. you eat the whole thing so there is the stalk, the leafy greens and the seed portion, which is similar to tender broccoli. the taste is slightly bitter in a good way. almost like horseradish, but much more mellow. so far, i have found it a refreshing variety from my constant kale intake--i love it.

here is how i've cooked it up:

sautéed rabe 
i like  the mixture of red kale and green cabbage rabe, but i would also try red cabbage, green kale and brocolli rabe in an instant.

ingredients:
preferred type of rabe
olive oil
1 clove garlic
butter
salt, pepper
lemon juice
*all amounts are relative, you could make this for 1 or for 4, depending on how much rabe you want to use. you could also mix this with other fully formed brassicas, adding broccoli and cabbage with the stalks and/or kale with the leaves.

1. cut off the very ends of each stalk, separate the leaf from the stalk with a knife or by plucking
2. cut stalk to desired size (i like bite size inches, but you could keep them long like asparagus)
3. smash and peel a clove of garlic, chop fine or put through garlic press
4. heat a sauté pan over medium heat, add a bit of oil and let it warm through
5. once oil is warm add the stalk portion of the rabe. add a pinch of salt and cover for a minute or two
6. once stalks are darker green and a bit softer, add the smashed garlic a slice of butter and the leafs of the rabe. add more salt to taste and pepper. stir to coat and cover
7. cook, uncovering only to stir more
8. once leaves are wilted, take off heat and squeeze a tad bit of lemon juice over the mixture.

viola! eat this mixture on its own for an afternoon snack, with fried tofu and rice for dinner, on top of a slice of toast, next to fish cooked in lemon, with a fried egg...the options are endless.

bon appetit

cafe besalu

okay.
hold on tight.
we are about to enter cafe besalu.
oh my, this place is amazing. have you ever been to france? you don't need to go (if you live in seattle). all the crunchy, buttery croissants, and yeasty, moist pastries, and rich quiches and delicious coffee are curled right up in this little bakery in ballard. besalu gets packed pretty much everyday, but working your way up to the front of the line is worth it, if even just to stare into their pastry case. you may or may not get a seat, but if you do you will have time to watch bakers weighing out large amounts of flour in their open bakery. at besalu, i can take a bite of pastry, close my eyes and pretend i'm back in france.