not the usual kind of cookbook ..

cool. picturecook, by katie shelly.

image borrowed from laughingsquid.com

link post: when in a jam ..

i haven't posted in a while. among other entities, you can blame the NSF for this: most of my available mindspace has been devoted to grant-writing, in the last few weeks.

so no new recipes for now.

i did stumble onto this link today about dressing up ramen noodles. have a look, if you'd like.

apart from the suggestion for nippon ham sausage, the ideas are mostly vegetarian. as a replacement, one could instead use a vegetable-based gyoza, which can be boiled in the same water and give additional flavor to the noodle bowl.

not quite surreal, but .. (oreos)

for some reason i saw these two images off posts from reddit.

can anyone find one of an oreo on a toothpick,
or one of an oreo, a knife, and a fork? (-:

watermelon salad.

i've recently discovered the website wise bread and occasionally they have some interesting tips for cooking, such as:

"6 unique ways to eat watermelon"
by Linsey Knerl.

as for my own contribution, i had an amazing watermelon salad, some weeks ago. i didn't ask for the recipe, so this is my best guess:

• seedless watermelon, diced into bite size chunks,
• seedless cucumber, diced,
• finely chopped cilantro
• fresh lime juice
• salt/pepper to taste.

it really worked. cilantro and lime are generally good partners, and the watermelon adds a simple, fresh sweetness to the mix.

variants:

• i think diced jicama would work, since it's a fleshy, water-rich vegetable. to offset the lack of sweetness, it might be wise to add an orange-lime juice mix.
• mango or papaya could also work well, but this changes the salad to a more dessert-like dish. when i ate this watermelon salad, it was actually a side item with dinner.
• don't underestimate the cucumber: it provides a coolness that is hard to mimick. for example, i don't think celery would do as well.
• radishes are water-rich as well, but their peppery flavor might act strangely against the cilantro-lime.
• if you're not a fan of cilantro, then parsley or basil would probably work just as well, though i'd switch from lime to something more salad-ish, like a rice (wine) vinegar.

friend, or foe?

i love this stuff. then again, my brother thinks it green stuff that tastes purely of soap.

so i guess i inherited the good genes! q-:

Like politics and religion, cilantro elicits strong opinions. People love it or hate it. For some, it's an acquired taste, thus attracting its share of proselytizing converts, such as myself. Even the name of the plant can be controversial. In the U.S., the leaves are called cilantro, while the seeds are called coriander. In Europe, the leaves are called coriander, while the seeds are also called coriander. To confuse matters further, cilantro leaves are also known as Chinese parsley.

more @ Cilantro: The Controversial Herb by Lynda Balslev @ NPR.

an "abominable" carrot soup. (-:

from nichtlustig.de:

as translated by google:

"so this is the terrible secret behind your delicious carrot soup! yuck!"

an un-recipe: (renegade) orange marmalade.

in the end, i should have been patient, and eaten the damned things, one by one.

---

last week i had a bag of 9 oranges which i consistently forgot to open and eat. so i decided to make juice out of them.

nobody told me, though, that navel oranges aren't very good for juicing. i felt betrayed! [1]

pitiful.

out of spite, i sat and thought what else i could do with oranges.

some people lose their appetite when spiteful;
i am not one of them.

just as i hunger for revenge,
i also hunger for food,
sometimes simultaneously.

so i grabbed some leftover bread and looked for jam, but the jar was essentially empty. the remnants barely coated one slice!

i was about to curse my luck when the thought of marmalade occurred to me.

---

actually, i don't know how to make marmalade. i might have read a recipe, some years ago, but all i could remember was that it looked easy ..

.. easy enough not to look up a recipe again. so this is what i did:

1. after zesting the oranges, i roasted them:
   
   
   
   burn in hell, traitors! (-:
   
   admittedly, i don't remember this being in any recipe, but the thought of caramelized orange flesh sounded appealing (which was later verified).
   
   
2. after 1 hour of roasting, the flesh became very soft. i spooned out the roasty remains, and then pureed them in a food processor.
   
   
3. emptying the orange gunk in a pot, i decided that 1 cup of sugar and 1 cup of water would do, and subsequently set it to boil with 2 tablespoons of zest.
   
   then i decided to clean out my spice cabinet, realised that i had far too much garam masala, looked at the simmering pot, and decided ..
   
   f-ck it. why not? [2]
   

it looks strangely brownish, but it's a surprisingly spicy, good taste -- "spicy" in the sense of flavorful, not heat.

revenge is sweet .. and surprisingly spicy!

it's a very distinct taste; i wonder what i'll say after a week of this stuff ..

[1] to clarify: betrayed by the oranges, not by my friends. (-:

[2] at the time i was also considering adding a bit of rum. immediately i thought better of it: waking up to coffee and rum-flavored marmalade is a bit .. much.

stir fry + noodle soup = (-:

lately i've found miso soup paste to be great, in a pinch. for instance:

stir-fry veggie noodle soup.

absolutely simple: saute a combination of what veg you have in your fridge, while waiting for the soup water to boil. cellophane noodles (or another quick-cooking pasta) is also a good bet.

if you also have some tofu (or feel like frying an egg), then add it on top.

---

the great thing about the saute is that the pan flavors infuse into the soup water, making a quick and tasty broth. this is particularly convenient, during those days when you don't want too salty a miso taste (or, in fact, any at all).

in today's noodle bowl, the broccoli and bell peppers were sauteed with store-bought lemongrass powder, as well as freshly ground fennel and coriander seeds. as i brought the saute to a close, i also shook a glug or two of rice wine vinegar.

i tell you: it was great. (-:

article post.

cool: i didn't know that.

i'll have to add spinach to my shopping list,
when i return from visiting my parents.

Kids Taste A Sweeter Veggie, White House Style
by Allison Aubrey

If you didn't know that spinach tastes sweeter when it's grown in cool temperatures, it's likely you haven't been digging around in a winter garden. The White House has just planted a slew of cold-weather vegetables, and a group of students from an after-school cooking class in Washington, D.C., were among the first to visit.

after hours (read: drunken) cooking!!!!!!?!

it seems to me that i haven't done much proper cooking in a while. on the other hand, the "should i, shouldn't i" questions do not pertain to nights after a bit of beer and other bits and pieces besides.

so here: the ugly cooking after a bit of beer. it is ugly, but for now i find it quite good. come to think of it, this food is kin to an english breakfast. if you look closely, you will find tomatoes and mushrooms.

on the other hand, i have never found beans in a good english breakfast. so: ta, to that!

---

epilogue. forget what it is, english or not. it is good .. (-:

miso @ 3am.

late at night, especially winter, it is a fine thing to have miso soup. it warms you up without having a full commitment of making soup from scratch.

of course, saying that requires me to have access to some asian grocery within striking distance, and yes, this is key. were it not for miso paste, i could not tell you how nice it is, after a night of drinking, to set a kettle to boil and chopp green onions and tofu, break a fistful of cellophane noodles, and add it all into a nice, half-fortifying soup.

good times, good soup. no harm, that!

ode to soup noodles.

there is something to be said for one's own culture. people say i'm american (and i agree with them) but i was born to chinese parents, and there will always be part of me that loves good chinese food.

gardenburgers and fries get old,
falafel and hommos get old,

dal and samosas and bhindi masala are wonderful,
but i couldn't eat them all the time.

on the other hand, a mai-fun noodle bowl with choy and with veggie shu-mai can't be beat. it is easy to make at 3am, which is a true test of a comfort food.

i could eat it on the hottest day of summer, sweat for an hour, and still be happy. as it happens, the calendar favors me now, and i can warm up to soup noodles [1] all winter long .. (-:


[1] "noodle soup" reminds me of chicken noodle soup from bad cafeterias. this is not what i mean. i mean noodles served in soup, but not as a stew.

to cook well, then (1) make a menu, and (2) use parallel processing.

occasionally i adjust my strategies, in efforts to cook more often.

one of them includes writing a menu for the week. by necessity they require ingredients and preparation times, which immediate gives rise to setting up schedules and shopping lists.

anyway, here's a rough draft of this week's menu:

southwestern special:

spicy black bean stew w/ adobo,
savory corn muffins,
vegetable fajitas [1]

lazy noodle bowl [2]:

miso soup with rice noodles,
sauteed choy from the asian market
pan-fried gyoza.

proper stir-fry:

curried asian eggplant, mushrooms, and tofu,
rice-quinoa pilaf.

soup which i can cook, while writing a seminar talk:

as made with potatoes, lentils, peas, carrots, maybe fish or seafood, too, and served with good bread and hommos.

---

cooking notes:

[1] along with the standard saute veg like bell pepper, mushrooms, and such, i'll follow a friend's style of adding mashed potato or yam, as a twist on refried beans. it would save me the stylistic redundancy of having beans in two dishes.

[2] this is not so much 'lazy' as impatient. if you stack the steps, then it takes very little time to make this.

it's the cook's version of parallel processing. if you know how to code, then think of the soup as one thread. the gyoza and choy form another thread where the racing condition for the saute pan is solved with a lock; since the choy needs more prep than the gyoza, it goes last.

the key is that you don't have to watch the saute pan every minute. if only for reassurance to newbies -- for a conventional stove on "high" heat settings, there wouldn't be enough time to burn anything anyway ..

first,
(1a) boil water for the soup,
(1b) wash/chop the choy,
(1c) thaw frozen gyoza in microwave (1min),
then add with oil to a frying pan -- 5 minutes.

then,
(2a) add noodles to the boil,
(2b) turn the gyoza over,
(2c) smash/chop a clove of garlic -- 3 minutes.

and then,
(3a) place the gyoza in a separate bowl to cool,
(3b) turn off the boil, remove from heat -- 30 seconds.

lastly,
(4a) add miso paste to the noodles & water,
(4b) fry the choy and garlic,
(4c) dice 3 fingers of tofu, 1 finger of green onion,
add to the noodles, raw -- 3 minutes.

(5) add everything together,
voila: a noodle bowl in <12 min: game on!

today's breakfast: oatmeal, with untried possibilities.

this dish is good but makes poor photography, so as a result: no photos attached.

• 1 1/2 cups oatmeal, old-fashioned or steel-cut,
  cooked in a bath of boiling water, then drained;
  
  
• 2 big spoonfuls of unsweetened applesauce;
  
  
• a drizzle of honey;
  
  
• a few shakes of garam masala
  

remarks:

1. i'm not opposed to milk or cream or soy milk; it's just that i didn't have any in the kitchen.
   
   
2. i have no real loyalty to garam masala, either. it's just that i was unable to find the cardamom this morning.
   
   
3. cut, fresh fruit would probably be good in this, but nothing too acidic. maybe really ripe peaches.
   
   for something more exotic, sweet red beans and condensed milk (in place of honey) could work really well. any takers?

dinner for 2, for a while.

my girlfriend is visiting me, these two weeks. she's what i call a healthy vegetarian:

it's not enough to abstain from eating meat, but one should eat lots of fresh vegetables. so in the last few days we've been visiting and revisiting the produce section of the local supermarket.

it also seems our habit to cook more and eat out less, so i've been doing my best with switching up my recipes.

so far, what we've made:

garden pasta: sauteed squash/zucchini with tofu, tomato sauce from scratch, whole-wheat penne.

curry: red potatoes with green lentils and onions and peas, over quinoa-brown rice pilaf. as a side, there was sauteed kale with tofu and .. er, something else. i can't remember.

mediterranean-ish: hommos on bread, good cheese, fruit, sliced vegetables.

tentative ideas, for future meals:

southwestern: black bean veggie chile over fresh-baked corn muffins, chopped salad.

stir-fry: tofu with shittake mushrooms and peas, sauteed greens, with brown rice.

noodle bowls: miso soup with rice noodles, gyoza, napa cabbage and sliced bell peppers

something which involves an eggplant, 3/4's of a tin of tomatoes, mushrooms .. so i suspect something italian is in order.

more ideas are welcome!

a 3-ingredient late night snack, good with tea.

it's been a while, hasn't it?

since the last post, i've been applying for grants, writing, proctoring, and grading a midterm, and subsequently running damage control for those students i've spooked.

---

anyway, i've no new recipes yet, unless you count this one. i prefer to think of it instead as an excuse to use two disparate ingredients:

• two slices of whole-grain wheat bread, lightly toasted,
  
  
• natural peanut butter
  (the kind which, on the ingredient label,
  reads only: peanuts, peanut oil)
  
  
• freshly ground black pepper!!!!
  

the directions can be easily surmised. (-:

quick tips, when making rice.

as long as you're taking the easy route to steamed rice, it's easy to infuse flavor into it. try:

• replacing water with vegetable or seafood broth.
  
  lighter flavors are best,
  as not to overwhelm the simple flavor of rice.
  
  
• adding ground herbs or spices to the rice mixture.
  
  again, avoid strong flavors (like rosemary).
  
  moreover, be careful with fresh herbs: if you're a cilantro person, then it's best to steam the rice and stir in the chopped cilantro just before serving. otherwise you get wilted, gobby green flakes within a sea of rice.
  
  as for what i've tried:
  
  jasmine tea leaves (resting on top of the rice),
  lemongrass powder or garam masala (both stirred in).
  

a warm salad: recipe without words.

+



+



=

(-:

pasta without tomatoes.

it wasn't until college that i started making pasta without a tomato sauce of some kind. for some reason it seemed sacrilegious.

in fact, there were a few times when i ate spaghetti with medium salsa .. but hey, we're all young once. (;

---

when i think about it, this recipe sounds like one that mark bittman (the "Minimalist") would think of.

green (but not pesto) pasta
(serves 1, but can be scaled up)

ingredients:

• 1 serving whole wheat thin spaghetti / angel hair pasta
  
  
• 1 fistful curly parsley [1], finely chopped
  
  
• 1 small bowl of frozen peas, thawed [2]
  
  
• 1 big / 2 small cloves of garlic,
  smashed with the side of a chef's knife and chopped finely.
  
  
• enough olive oil to dress the pasta
  
  
• salt & pepper to taste
  

<digression>
if anyone cares to try, some ground parmigiano-reggiano cheese would probably do very well, but i didn't have any.

small, pitted deli olives would have been good, now that i think about it. argh .. i should have bought some!

the best thing about this recipe is that it can be made in parallel: several steps at the same time!
</digression>

"directions"

1. boil water, thaw out peas, chop parsley. (since the water will take a while to boil, you can slow down your chopping; i'm not that fast, myself.)
   
   
2. add pasta to the boil, smash/peel/chop garlic.
   (as a tip, smash first, then peel.)
   
   
3. add peas to the boil, heat up a pan and add olive oil.
   when ready, add garlic to the pan.
   
   
4. when you can smell garlic, remove from heat.
   drain pasta/peas in a colander, but do not rinse!
   dress pasta with the garlic and oil, parsley, salt, pepper.
   

[1] at some point in my life, i developed the habit of buying the cheapest fresh herbs (per bunch) from the grocery, each week. admittedly, i like cilantro more than parsley, but parsley seems a more adaptable ingredient.

[2] a bag of frozen peans are great in a pinch. they also serve well as an ice pack, in the event of sprains, bruises, and burns.

thoughts about a(n upcoming) dinner party.

1. having friends over for dinner is a good excuse to buy several types of good cheese. some items, in plenty, are too decadent for solitary consumption.
   
   
2. one guest has repeatedly offered to make something. in retrospect i should have let him make the salad. in conversation and in email, he's brought it up ..
   
   as for why i didn't, he called me (less than an hour after emailing me) about whether he should bring salad. i was at the grocery at the time and had just bagged a head of green-leaf lettuce, as well as other sundries.
   
   he's on baguette-&-red wine detail, now. hopefully he isn't offended.