Sunday, November 25, 2012

Chickpeas

I finally figured out how to cook them. Soak for 24 hours. It takes about an hour and 15 to cook. Bring to a boil, no salt and simmer partially covered. Leave a tiny space between the lid and the pot. It is the difference between simmering water and water that stands still. When they are cooked they kind of stop simmering and  the water stands still although you did not change the gas setting. Not sure about this one. I made chickpea and roasted pepper salad with them. Recipe is here as expected http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2008/11/chickpea-salad-with-roasted-red-peppers/ I added a little more capers. I used overfilled 3 table spoons and added the garlic to the dressing and let it sit. I do not have a photo.

Hummus Recipe 

I can actually say adapted from http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2013/01/ethereally-smooth-hummus/
I cooked the chickpeas for 1:45 and did not soak them, I had them under a lid on low heat. No soda or salt.

1 cup cooked chickpeas (cooked for 1:45 hours)
1 tbs lemon juice
3 tbs tehina
1/2 tsp salt
2 garlic cloves
parsley (optional) 
5 tbs hummus water



Sunday, November 11, 2012

the smitten kitchen cookbook

wild mushroom tart
salted brown butter crispy treats
broccoli slaw

What can I say. I am addicted to the crispy treats and the filling of the mushroom tart is spectacular.


Sunday, November 4, 2012

Blinchiki

This is from http://www.beyondsalmon.com/2006/05/blinchiki-inspired-and-dedicated-to-my.html
They are quite good. I added a filling.

Sunday, October 14, 2012

Changes

Cleveland Circle Cinema

When I first moved to the neighborhood in 2001, I remember for a long time not being in the best of spirits.  Once I walked down to this theater and in complete solitude watched Riding in Cars with Boys. I remember laughing for the first time in several months and thinking that being alone is somewhat doable. I also remember seeing Lord of the Rings there when it first made it's debut. The show started at midnight and went until 3:30 AM. I went there with a boy crush and not from my side. I remember thinking that this is a genre  I do not like but the movie turned out to be fantastic. I also remember going here during the snow storms with my friend at the time Julie. Everything else we wanted to do was impossible because our cars were buried under feet of snow and so was the road, but Cleveland Circle Cinema was open. We could always count it for times when we did not feel like getting into a car or losing a parking spot. I still miss it even though it closed it's doors in 2008. I think there are talks of building some kind of a shopping plaza there which just makes me cringe.


Videosmith 

I am not a fan of watching videos at home. I prefer the big theater screen and the smell of buttery popcorn as opposed to sitting in the living room in front of a TV screen which in my case is nowhere near the size of the movie one.  However once in a great while I would be in the mood for a video. I loved this place. It had a nice selection of all kinds of movies that would never be available at Blockbusters. Most of all I liked knowing that this place is there if I happen to need it. Videosmith just closed its doors a few weeks ago. I went to the discount movie sale mainly to say good-bye. I was hoping to get "When Harry met Sally" but all the good movies were already gone. The space is being turned into a Child Education Center and every time I drive by and see the construction, it makes me sad.


Ginza
This was a place for us girls to hang out when we were single. Once in a while it would serve as a meeting ground for an occasional date for all of us. I spent a lot of time here over the years. All photos above are from the web and as I glance over them, I wish I took my own. They do not really portray what I feel. I guess I expect things to be there forever and that's not how it is. At least not in the above case.

Tuesday, September 18, 2012

Rosh Hashana

Smitten Kitchen's honey cake. This was just perfect.

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Smitten's Egg Sandwich

Alex's Egg Sandwich from Smitten Kitchen
 ***
I totally thought this recipe would be in Smitten's Cook Book but it did not make it. I am going to post it here so I do not forget how to make it.

Recipe: Lazy Egg-and-Cheese Sandwich
(stolen from Smitten Kitchen)

You'll need:
An English muffin or two slices bread of your choice
1 to 2 teaspoons butter or oil
1 egg
Salt and pepper
1 slice of cheese or a tiny pile of grated or crumbled cheese
Spoonful of sliced scallions, chives, crumbled bacon, or whatever else you want in your eggs

Put the bread in a toaster. Heat a 9-inch skillet, preferably nonstick, on medium.

Beat one egg with ½ teaspoon water (or two eggs, with 1 teaspoon water), a couple pinches of salt and a few grinds of black pepper until just blended. I always use a fork for this.

Melt butter in your pan or brush it with oil, to thinly coat it. Pour in the eggs and roll them around so they cover the pan, as a thin crepe would.

Immediately plop a square of cheese (for we people with unfancy tastes in cheese) or a small pile of grated cheese (for everyone else) in the middle. Toss whatever fixings you wish on top of the cheese, though I never bother. This meal is all about immediacy for me.

A single egg will cook in 1 to 1½ minutes; two eggs in 2 minutes. You'll know its cooked when poking into it with a corner of your spatula won't cause any loose egg to slip through to the skillet.

Fold the part of the egg closest to you over the cheese, like the first part of a business letter fold. Repeat this on the three remaining "sides," forming a small square. You can also have fun (yes, I just said "fun") here and fold it into a shape that matches your bread, i.e. larger for sandwich bread, long-ish for rye. Leave the folded egg-and-cheese in the center of the skillet to cook for another 30 seconds, then slide onto you muffin or toast. Top the sandwich with the other half and eat it at once.

Thursday, April 5, 2012

Birthday Roses

From a friend at work

Wednesday, April 4, 2012

Garden

Beginning
When peas were small
Before the tomatoes were born
Cucumbers replanted
Peas

1. Egg crates are the best to raise seeds in
2. Place the crates next to a heater if you can, and not a vent kind
3. Put one seed in each space. Even if some do not come up you will have plenty that will.Otherwise you will have multiple seeds and you will have to thin them.
4. When re-potting do not remove the egg crate. If you disturb the roots it will stunt the plant's growth. It may even destroy the plant.
5.  Thin by cutting the plants, never separating roots
6. If you know a plant will grow fast you can plant the seed in a bigger container otherwise you will have to replant right away
7. When planting use rocks to separate the soil from the plastic pot.

Gardening supplies:
http://www.highmowingseeds.com/
http://www.cowpots.com/
http://coastofmaine.com/soils-barharbor.shtml

Notes:
Seed Cascadia peas 2 weeks before planting. In 2 weeks they grow tendrils and attach to each other.
Plant cucumbers mid-May
Tomatoes end of May

More Notes:
Replant seedlings per schedule. They have trouble growing outside if they spent too much time indoors.
Tomatoes seem to grow better when you do not thin them but not sure.
 

Sunday, March 18, 2012

Almost spring

Kugel

This is a lovely mix of butter, milk, sour cream, sugar, raisins, cinnamon, apples and of course noodles.

Saturday, February 11, 2012

Chocolate covered strawberries

The chocolate starts hardening up after a while so you have to work fast.

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

Today I went knitting ..

I went knitting today. I am still working on my mom's sweater which I started here and continued here and here.The knitting lady was very nice and fixed a hole in my dad's sweater. I also started on the neck and got instructions for the end of the sleeves. I want to say I miss the place but I no longer have an attachment to it. It's official .. I have no interests.

Notes:
I forgot that you have to split the neck into 4 pieces, even out the stitches for each interval by either increasing or decreasing and pick up stitches for the neck. Neck should be 8 inches. I know I will forget tomorrow so I will note it here. Also you connect the shoulders by holding them together on the wrong side and doing each side going in from the edge. I went all the way across today and had to undo. I don't get upset anymore. I had to go home today to get a 16" #6 and wasted forty minutes.

Sunday, January 22, 2012

Guacamole


This post is dedicated to my friend Maya. A very long time ago she gave me my one and only cookbook where this recipe came from and for the longest time this is the only thing I knew how to make in addition to Salat Olivye. This recipe came out so good that for a while based on this dish alone I was under the misconception that I could potentially be a great chef had I happen to know more then two recipes.

To make this guacamole you will need 4 avocados, 1 medium sized lime, 1 1/2 teaspoons of salt, tomato, some green onion and cilantro. I usually use 2-3 pieces of green onion and a fist full of cilantro but you can use as much as you like or as little as you like. The avocados have to be soft but not too soft. Here's a how to tell if your avocado is soft enough. The original recipe calls for jalapeno chiles seeded and minced but I never put them in. I am originally not from the U.S. and had no exposure to spicy foods growing up. As a result I have a very hard time using ingredients that set your mouth on fire.

Begin by cutting the tip of the avocado to remove the stem end and then cut the avocado in half while leaving the pit intact.

Take a large knife and hit the pit in the center far enough so the knife is stuck. Twist the knife to remove the pit from the avocado and then remove the pit from the knife. Be careful with the knife when doing this step so that you do not accidentally slice your hand while removing a particularly stubborn pit. Repeat  for the remaining 3 avocados. You can also remove the pits by using a spoon or even your hand but then some of the avocado flesh remains on the pit and it's not easy to scrape it off. Besides you look way cooler doing the knife method especially if you have an audience.

 Using a spoon or your hands remove the green flesh from the inside into a bowl.
Cut the lime in half and squeeze out the juice. I like to do it through a strainer but then sometimes I don't so whatever you feel like doing. Take a potato masher and mash the lime juice with the avocado.  I am very fond of my potato masher but feel free to use a fork if you do not own one. You can mash the avocado fine or leave chunks depending on how you like your finished product to look like.
Add 1  1/2 teaspoons of salt and mix everything together. Salt pretty much makes or breaks this dish so be precise.

Chop the green onion, tomato and cilantro. I try to chop everything very fine. If you want to be a little extreme you can put the chopped tomatoes on a paper towel so it will absorb the juice. This prevents the guacamole from having a  puddle of water at the bottom of the container after it spends a day in the refrigerator. However every time I do this I feel like this borders on the absurd. After you are done (!) blotting the tomatoes with the paper towel add the chopped ingredients to the avocado and  mix everything together.


Find a nice bowl to put the guacamole in. Preferably something that would compliment the green in the guacamole. You are done.

 Bon Appetit!

The End

Saturday, January 14, 2012