Monday, April 25, 2011

Recipe of the Week Blog Hop - Risotto

This past week I tried making homemade risotto! I have never made it before, and neither had my mom who was visiting for the day. So it was an interesting experience, but one that I wouldn't mind trying again. Here is the recipe I used. I also added a few things and made a couple substitutions so I will include those.

Risotto with tomato and fresh basil 
Via: Simply Delicious Vegetarian - Carla Bardi

Serves 4
Preparation 15 min
Cooking 40 min

1/3 c. butter
1 small onion, finely chopped
2 cups peeled and chopped tomatoes (I used canned)
1 3/4 cups risotto rice (I used basmati, which is an italian rice for risotto)
1/3 c. dry white wine (I left this out, and added extra water)
3 cups boiling vegetable stock
20 basil leaves, torn
1/4 c. freshly grated parmesan cheese
salt and freshly ground black pepper

Melt 2 tablespoons of the butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add the onion and saute until transparent, 3-4 minutes. Add the tomatoes and mix well. Cook until the tomatoes have broken down and the mixture is slightly thickened, about 20 minutes.

Melt 2 tablespoons of the remaining butter in a large frying pan over medium heat. Add the rice and saute for 2 minutes. Pour in the wine (I used water) and cook until it evaporates. Stir in the tomato sauce and basil. Begin adding the stock, 1/2 cup at a time, cooking and stirring until each addition has been absorbed and the rice is tender, 15-18 minutes.

Stir in the remaining butter and the Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper.

Remove from the heat and let rest for 1 minute. Garnish with the extra basil and serve hot.

I also added a little bit of cooking cream to make it a little creamer.


Now it's time for you to share your recipes! The linky will be open until Friday evening at 11:59pm. Be sure to link back to Recipe of the Week in your post!









Firefox Better Than IE For Foxsoccer.tv

I was just watching the replay of Tottenham v. West Brom on foxsoccer.tv on my aged HP nc8230 laptop. In IE, the thing was pegging the processor at 100% regularly, with an average load of about 95%. In Firefox, it hit 100% once in a while, but avergaed about 82% processor load. In IE, the video was jerky and unwatchable, in Firefox, it stalled only once in a while. Nothing else was running.

April Showers


Aren’t they supposed to bring May flowers? Maybe so, but in my case, that April baby shower I hosted recently brought the need to get my back yard and patio cleaned up pronto. After a long winter and a series of serious April showers, this resulted in a few day’s work, but it was oh, so worth it!



The event was held on a warm and lovely Saturday afternoon. It was my hope that guests would drift outside in the backyard and indeed they did. When I sat down to plan the menu, I decided it should be simple, yet reflective of true Southern hospitality. Here is the end result:

Pimiento Cheese
Celery Sticks, Little Toasts

Deviled Eggs
Capers, Homemade Mayonnaise

Tea Sandwiches
Smoked Salmon, Herbed Butter
Cucumber, Goat Cheese, Fresh Dill

Southern Cheese Straws

“Reverse” Chocolate Chunk Cookies

Carla’s Lemon Bars

Honey-Pecan Bars

It ended up being perfect fare for a lovely afternoon. Despite a warning from a friend and co-host that guests don’t eat much at showers, this was not the case. They mingled … they ate … they talked … they ate … they stayed … they ate. In my mind, that’s what Southern hospitality is all about!


Alrighty then. Which of these recipes should I post first? You already know about the Honey-Pecan Bars (always a hit), so I think I’ll start with the cookies. Eat dessert first, right?

http://nevertrustaskinnycook1.blogspot.com/2010/09/will-bake-for-eggs.html

"REVERSE" CHOCOLATE CHUNK COOKIES" (adapted from Ina Garten)

1/2 lb. unsalted butter, at room temperature
1 cup light brown sugar, packed
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
2 eggs, room temperature (I used extra-large)
2/3 cup cocoa powder (I used Valhrona)
2 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon kosher salt
2 11-oz. bags white chocolate chunks (available at Whole Paycheck Foods)

Place butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and cream well until light and fluffy, scraping down bowl several times.  Add the vanilla and beat well, then beat in eggs, one at a time.  Scrape down bowl then add cocoa and mix briefly to blend.

Sift flour, baking soda and salt into a bowl.  Add to the mixer bowl and beat on low until just blended.

Using a spatula, fold in white chocolate chunks. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in refrigerator to chill, at least 2 hours.

When dough is chilled, use an ice cream scoop to roll dough into small balls.  Place balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet, then place in freezer. 

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Line a baking sheet (or sheets, depending upon how many cookies you want to bake) with parchment paper or a Silpat (silicone baking sheet).  Place frozen balls on pan, spacing 2 inches apart.  Bake for 15 minutes (cookies will not appear to be totally baked).  Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes in pan, then remove to a rack to cool completely.










*  As you already know, if you wrap the unbaked "balls" well, they will keep in the freezer for up to six months and you can bake them off whenever needed.  Freezer to oven!  This is extraordinarily helpful when unexpected guests show up or you have to provide something sweet on a moment's notice.

*  I am not necessarily a fan of white chocolate, but I happen to like it in this recipe.  It needs to be in chunks, though.  If you can't find them in the store, you can always chop up a couple of white chocolate bars.

*  I used a 1-oz. (1 3/4-inch) scoop which yielded 10 dozen cookies.  Needless to say, the overflow are resting comfortably in my freezer, awaiting the arrival of my teenaged nephews tomorrow. 

More recipes to follow ... if my nephews don't wear me out, that is.  The next couple of days will be filled with CNN Tours, a turn at the Mario Andretti race car facility and teaching them to drive a stick.  I just hope I can avoid the Coke Museum!



Top three vintage stores

When we moved into our tiny top-floor apartment in Brooklyn last month the open-plan space was eye-wateringly empty. What we needed was some beautiful pre-loved furniture to coax it back to its former glory. And so the hunt began to find some covetable - but not crazily spendy - vintage treasures.

After much sleuthing on the Internet, poking around NYC stores and perusing of markets, here is my top three got to places (so far). But I'll keep adding to it. Let me know of any under-the-radar fabulous haunts that should be on the list!

1) HOT HOUSE MARKET...

Style mavens Doug and Carrie Rosen are the brains behind this genius traveling vintage boutique. They take to the road from their Indiana home to set up shop in markets around the country and dispense their colorful, weather-worn finds.

Tatty but irresistible armchairs jostle for position beside chipped-up painted cabinets laden with kitsch 1950's kitchenware, framed paint-by-numbers and flock enameled tins. And the prices, well, they're  ridiculously affordable.

PS Carrie also does a nice line in handmade aprons, cushions and other textiles. To find out where they'll be stopping by this summer check out their blog. Or just buy from home by visiting their online shop

TOP FINDS



Paint-by-numbers in frame, $65



Vintage Botanical print Armchair, $75




Pink Farm Table $150
2) THREE POTATO FOUR...

This emporium of vintage and modern goodies - curated from an old textile mill in Philadelphia by husband and wife team Janet Morales & Stu Eli - is irresistible: i actually want to crawl inside their website and live there amongst all the lovely things.

Its the pricier end of the scale but there's a magnificently well-edited selection: industrial factory stools, hulking hundred-year-old tailors cabinets, charming elementary school prints, vintage beer hoardings, lemon-yellow typewriters...you'll want it all.

PS we're planning a special Philly road trip to stop by one of their legendary barn sales. They're held the last weekend of every month from 10am - 5pm. The next one is April 30th - May the 1st. www.threepotatofourshop.com

TOP FINDS





Athens Baking Bin $150.00






Vintage Bakery Window Advertisements, $22.00



1920's-1940's Beacon and Esmond Mills Blankets, $395
3) FURNISH GREEN...

Founder Nathan subscribes to the idea that vintage furniture should be priced according to function rather than history. Which is why his fast expanding showroom (run by a passionate team of antiques scavengers and design students) is packed with remarkably affordable pieces.

You'll find it wedged in beside a dance studio on the 5th floor of an unassuming midtown block - but trust me: its a treasure trove!

PS They bring in around a dozen new pieces from their warehouse a day, so check the new arrivals section of their in the morning. Delivery is free if you spend over $500 and around $50 if not. www.furnishgreen.com

TOP FINDS




Shabby White Accent Chair, $54



Child's Chalkboard Easel, $84



Wooden Trunk with Painted Roses, $118

Lovina Cooking Class,Balinese recipe

Bali Cooking Class,Lovina School,Bali Recipe

Our recipe this time is the traditional cuisine of the island resort. Tofu recipe is quite famous Bumbu Bali Recipe Tofu. Bali Island is famous for its cuisine rich in flavor and spicy flavor. Well, for those of you who want to taste the delicious cuisine from the area of Bali just try Bumbu Bali Recipe Tofu following. Here's how to cook Tofu Bumbu Bali!

Know Bumbu Bali Recipe Ingredients:

     * 400 grams of white out / out of China, cut
     * 2 tomatoes, cut
     * 1 joint thumb ginger, crushed
     * 1 tablespoon brown sugar comb
     * cooking oil to taste

Subtle Seasonings Tofu Recipes Bumbu Bali:

     * 6 red onions
     * 4 cloves garlic
     * 10 red chilies, partially seeded
     * 1 / 2 tsp roasted shrimp paste
     * salt to taste

How to Make Tofu Bumbu Bali:

    1. Fry know until cooked or partially cooked.
    2. Heat 3 tablespoons cooking oil, saute ground spices and ginger until fragrant. Enter a tomato and red cave, stirring until cooked flavor.
    3. Enter the fried tofu, stir until the spices to infuse. Serve,,,www.adjanibali.com

Sinful Cinnamon Rolls


Doesn't every culture have its form of the classic cinnamon roll?  
Isn't that a wonderful thing?  
I am always wondering about the first person who decided to add the ingredients of cinnamon and butter together, spread it on bread dough and roll it up for slicing.  What creativeness in the kitchen.


I came across this simple cinnamon roll recipe after deciding this year, I was going to delve into the baking arena.  I tried it once and thought the deliciousness of the outcome was just beginner's luck.



I tried a second and third time with this recipe and met with succulent success each time.  Something like this, cinnamon rolls, seemed so scary to me for so many years.  So, I made them yet again to see if it really was possible to continue duplicating yumminess,  BUT this time froze them ahead of time to simplify holiday prep time.  From freezer... to thawing... to oven they were sweet deliciousness.



I just love spreading the cinnamon butter mixture all over the pillowy dough.  Then, using dental floss to gently and cleanly slice through the rolled dough is nothing short of amusing fun.


I put my dough in muffin tins because I liked how they all come out the same size. 




{I know, a little "Type A" here...}



I've made these with two types of frosting.  The cream cheese frosting sits up nice and thick on top of the cinnamon rolls (Shhh...I use Pillsbury frosting in the can. Yum).  






A glaze type frosting cools transparent and has less presentation but is so tasty.  I just melt a stick of butter and then keep adding powdered sugar until it looks nice and glazy.  I also cannot resist adding a tsp. of vanilla to it.

S.Kenney 2011
S.Kenney 2011
These easy cinnamon rolls originally entered our house around Christmas time but they are becoming a year round holiday request. 

Spring is here, Spring is there, Spring is soon going to be everywhere!
I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday weekend.  Whether you celebrated the Spring tidings with the Easter bunny and Easter baskets or the religious celebration of Easter, relaxing and being together with loved ones is a holiday everyone needs.  I can tell from everyone's beautiful blogs, that sugar was definitely involved and consumed!








Sinful Cinnamon Rolls:

Ingredients

  • 3/4 cup milk
  • 1/4 cup margarine, softened
  • 3 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 (.25 ounce) package instant yeast
  • 1/4 cup white sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/4 cup water
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
  • 1/2 cup margarine, softened
  • 1/2 cup raisins (optional)

Directions

  1. Heat the milk in a small saucepan until it bubbles, then remove from heat. Mix in margarine; stir until melted. Let cool until lukewarm.
  2. In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 1/4 cup flour, yeast, sugar and salt; mix well. Add water, egg and the milk mixture; beat well. Add the remaining flour, 1/2 cup at a time, stirring well after each addition. When the dough has just pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, about 5 minutes.
  3. Cover the dough with a damp cloth and let rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile, in a small bowl, mix together brown sugar, cinnamon, softened margarine.
  4. Roll out dough into a 12x9 inch rectangle. Spread dough with margarine/sugar mixture.(Snippet's Note:  Be sure that the butter isn't too soft. It will drizzle and ooze off of the dough.) Sprinkle with raisins if desired. Roll up dough and pinch seam to seal. Cut into 12 equal size rolls and place cut side up in 12 lightly greased muffin cups. Cover and let rise until doubled, about 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).
  5. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, or until browned. Remove from muffin cups to cool. Serve warm

The Elders

Words fail me.

Unfortunately, words don't fail them.
“We’re extremely careful not to claim that we’re going to take a problem and solve it. What we’re saying is that from time to time, in certain situations, a problem needs a little push.” - Lakhdar Brahimi.
Words seem to be all they've got.

A quick set of clicks around the Interweb Tubes show that old Lakhdar was critical of the Iraqi provisional government following the fall of Saddam. No doubt he was critical of the US Marines as well. It's hard to say just where he stood on Saddam's agents feeding people into shredding machines in the years prior to the invasion. Probably well outside the splatter zone, talking, talking, talking, his voice drowned out by the sounds of the machinery and the screams.

Oh well. It's not like he and the rest of The Elders are around to solve problems. So if you've got a problem that doesn't need to be solved, but needs someone to talk at it, give Lakhdar and Jimmy Carter a call. They'll be on the job in no time.

You can tell they're global deep thinkers because they sit around a big table with a map on it.


Pre-posting Update: Mary Robinson, the Elder, adds this bit of genius: “Part of the wisdom of the Elders is to remind the world that we actually have universal values that are accepted by every government in the world and yet they are not being implemented.” Good effort, Mary. Why don't you sit down and have a nice, cool drink? Apparently the heat from Global Warming has you a bit disoriented and you've forgotten about the not-quite-so-filled-with-universal-values atheist regimes of Pol Pot and Chairman Mao.

Collard Leaf-Wrapped Herb Rice with Radish Tzatziki, or "Pseudolmades"



Spring greens, aka collard greens, are everywhere now, and both Tesco and Asda are selling huge bags for 50 pence. I found myself with yet another bag of these leafy vegetables because I cannot resist a cheap deal. Keeping a lookout for what's on offer and what's in season is also one of my best ways to stay within my real food student budget. After too many consecutive meals of spring greens thrown into all my soups and broths or into all sorts of stirfries, I wanted something different, and this recipe came to mind.

Dolmades are Greek parcels of rice wrapped with grape leaves or vine leaves, and there are loads of different varieties. I could have done this with some minced meat in the rice mixture too, or extra diced vegetables, but I really wanted it simple for the zesty spring herbs (that I freshly 'harvested' from my windowsill garden) to shine through. I liked them instantly when I first tasted them because they reminded me of dish from home- Chinese lotus-leaf wrapped rice 荷叶饭 loh mai kai- but now with an edible wrapper! It's hard to come across vine leaves, so collard greens, with their huge tough leaves, are a great alternative, i.e. pseudolmades (creative rights go to the real food dudes).

Pseudolmades
makes 8 parcels
8 large collard leaves
1/3 cup brown long-grain rice, soaked (plus 1/2 cup water)
3-4 spring onions, white parts, chopped finely
2 cloves garlic, chopped finely
handful of currants (or sultanas or preferred dried fruit)
handful of pumpkin seeds, soaked and dehydrated or toasted (originally pine nuts, but they're expensive)
handful of chopped coriander and mint leaves
juice and zest of half a lemon
sea salt and pepper, to taste
1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil

Method
1. Saute the onion and garlic in 1 tbsp of evoo, then add the rice, currants and pumpkin seeds to toast for 2 min more. Add the water, season, bring to boil and then let simmer till cooked.
2. Add the chopped herbs and lemon juice and zest to the cooked rice mixture.
3. Steam or blanch the collard leaves in boiling water for 5-10 min so you get cooked, flexible leaves that you can work with easily.
4. De-stem the leaves.

5. A picture speaks a thousand words, so 4 should be more than enough.

(Originally you would stuff the vine leaves with uncooked rice and then let them cook inside the vine leaves, but I think the collard leaves will turn to mush by then.)

5. You can eat them cold as an appetiser or warm, by steaming the parcels.



Ok now for the tzatziki, totally optional but you must do it.

Tzatziki is a great mediterranean dip that's really refreshing and easy to make! It kind of remindsme of Indian raita too, which is also basically yogurt and cucumber. I added radish too as it's in season and it adds a bit of pepperiness, you can cut it out and add more cucumber!


Radish Tzatziki
Ingredients
1 1/2 cup plain yogurt
1/2 cucumber, peeled, deseeded and minced
2-3 radishes, minced
4 cloves garlic, minced
handful of chopped mint (or dill)
juice of half a lemon
extra virgin olive oil

Method
1. To make greek yogurt, just strain the yogurt for a few hours till you get a thick creamy consistency. I use Yeo Valley organic yogurt, which is so creamy it's almost greek-like in consistency already so I skip this step.
2. Mix all the ingredients together, and refrigerate for half an hour or so for the flavours to meld.

This is great with toasted pita bread or as a dip for all sorts of things or even to accompany poached fish!


I served my dolmades with lemon slices and tzatziki spooned over generously. Together, they form a great dish that makes use of all that spring has to offer: collard greens, cucumber, radish, spring onions, lemons and fresh herbs like mint and coriander! How's this for a super springtime meal!

This is part of Hearth and Soul Blog Hop.

I am a creature of the night.


A couple of weekends ago I had a lovely night with Eric at Viruss. He was so stunning with his vinyl boots... oh, I loved him so much!!


 

And I was dressed as a pin up girl that night. Eric curled my hair and I used my red polka dots corset.


First of all, we went to Dixie, where we met Laia; she looked so lovely and pin up too! Eva was there with her too!
And after a copuple of drinks, we went to Viruss... Blut, Donna, Markos... everybody was there! An we danced all night.
 
 

I took this photo of Markos & me, I really love this picture! You may don't know, but Markos is one of my besties around here, and I really admire him and the rest of my "club boys" 'cause they're so true and great... even if we don't see very often each other, Markos and I know when we're feeling sad and how to cheer us up!


Corset - Bershka (old)
Skirt - Syndrome BCN
Cardigan - Zara
Socks - Oysho
Shoes - Mustang

I've been a little bit sad these past few days 'cause of spring; this time of the year makes me feel sad always... but anyway, this week my mum's coming to Barcelona and we'll spend some time together, so I'm happy about that! And in less of two weeks, I'm going to Murcia, for the SOS festival... live music, come to me!

Have you got some music plans for the next weeks?