Garlic Scapes

Last Saturday, I was pleased to drag Calli, Jody, and Zack to the farmer's market. We started with crepes at Bradbury's, walked around the square, stopped in at Fromagination, found ourselves viewing a naked bike ride, and then went to Pizza Brutta for lunch. I think we all found some things to enjoy during the day:
I picked up garlic scapes, green onions, and three tomatoes, along with three cheeses from Fromagination.
Calli gets to enjoy whatever comes out of those ingredients, plus the enjoyment of a beautiful morning. Jody and Zack both said hello to every puppy/dog in the downtown area in addition to tasting/buying some delicious cheeses from Fromagination.

tomato, scapes, and gouda

On Monday, I made scape pesto by blending together half of the garlic scapes, a couple of basil leaves, pine nuts, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. So far, I've only used the pesto as a spread on grilled cheese sandwiches...three times.


I don't care that I have to brush my teeth after eating one every time. It is absolutely worth it.


I have a theory (which is practically fact) that when the Israelites were eating manna in the desert, it was in the form of grilled cheese. As a Wisconsinite who most definitely does not keep kosher, manna ideally would be grilled cheese with bacon. Whatever.

Coming soon

I saw a 'preview' for something intriguing today:

Alinea creator Grant Achatz is opening a new restaurant that will offer four menus a year, each with a different space/time theme. For example, the first year will be serving meals from 1912 Paris and 2035 Hong Kong. From everything I've read about Alinea, Achatz's food is brilliant. News like this makes me wish I was both a Chicagoan and rich enough to dine at Alinea/Next.

Well, eventually. Right?

Snapshots of meals past

A couple of weekends ago, I made two dishes from some of my favorite food sites - Smitten Kitchen and Simply Recipes. SK provided a recipe for shakshuka, a brunch-ish meal of eggs poached in a spicy tomato sauce. You crumble some feta cheese into the pan and serve it all with toasted pita bread. The end result is a surprisingly hearty and delicious meal.

Here are the eggs, freshly cracked into the sauce. I think I overcooked them a touch, but that didn't stop Calli and me from devouring the thing.

toasted pita bread w/ kosher salt

shakshuka

The shakshuka was a pretty solid meal that will probably get thrown into my lazy saturday brunch rotation.

Later that day, I tried a dessert recipe from SR. We ate strawberry shortcake sliders, without a trip to White Castle or a carjacking from NPH.

These were pretty tasty, but I don't think my biscuits rose as much as they should have. I can't figure out why that is...I'm going to go ahead and blame faulty baking powder.

Maybe I'm just not a baker.

A Poll of Utmost Importance

Last night, I put together Simply Recipes' Strawberry Shortcake Sliders. The biscuits didn't exactly rise as much as Elise's did, but no matter. They tasted great.

However, making this dessert sparked a debate. What is the best component of strawberry shortcake? Vote on the left.


..and here's a hint. It's the whipped cream.

Peanut Sauce Stir Fry

Tonight, I made a stir-fry with chicken, pea pods, red peppers, onions, and a moderately homemade peanut sauce. I attempted the walk the fine line between documenting the cooking process and setting off Calli's smoke detector (again).

Here's a close-up of my pretty quasi-mise:

...and the peanut sauce looking fairly unappetizing:

Basically, I combined curry powder, peanut butter, milk (not coconut milk, unfortunately. The grocery store I went to didn't have any!?!) and white vinegar.
I promise, when everything came together it was tasty.


Just LOOK at it!



deeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious.

Wednesday's graphic links

It's Wednesday, and I'm just going to share some of the very cool graphics/articles/videos I've been reading over the last week.

Good produced a graphic charting the range of incomes of Americans, divided by religious belief. I think it's a neat image, but there are more things that I wonder when looking at the image.
It would be great to see a geographic component to the graph. Why are Hindus and Jews so much better off than followers of other beliefs in America? I sort of expected that Jehovah's Witnesses would have a different layout than they did. Where are the Scientologists??

Meanwhile, Slate has started a multi-piece series on the growing attention paid to road signs, and it's worth reading. Who among us hasn't gotten lost (through NO FAULT OF OUR OWN) and mentally (or verbally) cursed the blasted signs that led us astray?

Information Aesthetics city maps

I don't know that having these city maps will make you look like less of a tourist, but maybe it'll help. The concept reminds me of the wrapping paper that absolutely refuses to be crumpled up.

Good links to a study researching the origin of taco ingredients - apparently, the average taco travels over 64,000 miles before you devour it in 10 seconds. Tacos from taco bell travel much farther than that, seeing as they aren't made from earth-bound ingredients. (Note: I'm not trying to say they're delicious and therefore out of this world, but that they're not made of "food"). It's a cool image...and now I need to eat a taco.

Finally, Weather Sealed made a map of every McDonald's in America a while back, and now they've made a second version with the top 8 fast food burger joints in the States. I still haven't gone to Middleton's Sonic with Jody and told awful jokes in the minivan!

Lasagna

Today, I made lasagna. It wouldn't be that remarkable - everybody loves lasagna, right? We also all hate mondays and Nermal. These are facts of life. However, this time was a bit special because I made my own ricotta cheese.

How was it?

Phenomenal, and easy. I forgot my camera, so you'll have to believe me...but the ricotta cheese was really, really good. I found the instructions on Serious Eats, and I suggest you use their recipe if you're interested. Seriously though, I made cheese by microwaving white vinegar and whole milk, stirring, and straining. That was it.

Calli and I both enjoy a good lasagna normally, and we could tell that the ricotta was of a better quality than you normally find in the store. I can't stress this enough - I know my food tastes better the more involved I am in its creation, and when creating a major part of your dinner is so ridiculously easy...you just have to give it a try.

...and if you're wondering, yes. After we got done inhaling our lasagna, we spent the rest of the night picking on Odie and napping.

P.S. I will have you know that it took all of my willpower not to write about how now I'm a true native of Monroe, or embed a video of the Beach Boys singing "Be True to Your School." You're WELCOME.

2.17 Food links

It's a busy day today - pitchers and catchers report, Purdue v. Ohio State, Ash Wednesday, Dagwood and Blondie's wedding anniversary...you see. It's full of excitement.

Because of that, I'll just throw up some links to some cool foodstuff.

Serious Eats presents the mouthwatering/disgusting (I can't decide which) FLOOD BURGER.

Chef Jamie Oliver presents his TED talk on childhood obesity:

The TED talks are immensely interesting - go on Youtube and watch more of them. You won't be disappointed.

GOOD combines maps and food, so I'd be remiss if I didn't link to them. I'm most curious about the one hotspot of vegetable consumption in Texas surrounded by vegetable-phobes. That same 'island' also has increased meat/poultry consumption compared to the surrounding area...what's going on there?

I'm not very good at photoshop, but if I could learn how to bake cookies using it I would do it all the time.

1001 Foods Project

Earlier this week, I alluded to a project in the works. For my birthday, I received this book as a gift.

1001 foods that I must taste before my time is up. You can't tell from the cover image, but the book is about 4 inches thick, totaling 960 pages.

Over the next ? years, I will work my way through this book - sampling each ingredient at least once, even if I've already tasted it. I haven't looked at the entire book, but I have read through the "fruits" section. So far, 6 continents have been pretty well-represented. This project might be lengthy and costly.

...AND DELICIOUS!

The first entry is Elderberry flower, which I think might get eaten in the form of a jam. I was originally planning to do the book in order. That plan got thrown out when it became apparent that I would quickly become sick of berries for. ev. er.

Cheese!

For my birthday, I received a gift certificate for Fromagination. On Saturday, I stopped by Cheese Heaven (as I like to call it) and sampled some delicious cheeses. It was sublime.

I walked out of the store with 5 - count 'em, 5 - blocks of cheese. Here are some pictures and descriptions.

Sarvecchio Parmesan

This is an amazing hard cheese - I had some tonight with fettucini and brown butter.

Bella Vitano Merlot-soaked Parmesan

I have tried this cheese before - in a specialty foods store in Door County. The cheese is infused with a delicious essence of wine. To top that off, the rind is a beautifully rich plum color.
Bohemian Blue Hidden Springs

Calli and I tested about four of the store's blues, but finally settled on this one. It was much stronger than the other candidates, and I look forward to just enjoying it with crackers and wine.

Carr Valley Black Sheep Truffle

This is a semi-firm Italian-style cheese with little flecks of black truffle in it. I hate to keep referring to the cheeses as delicious, but seriously. Go to this store. You will believe me.

I used about a third of this block in scrambled eggs this morning, and they were superb.

Cesar's Quesadilla Cheese


To wrap up the day, I got a block of quesadilla cheese. Lately I've been on quite a quesadilla kick, and this can only help, right?

Here are my cheeses all hanging out together:

Restaurant Week Recap

Restaurant Week was once again a delicious success - Wednesday night Calli and I went to Lombardino's.

We went with the Insalata Lombardino and the Squash Soup for appetizers, and the Spaghetti alla Bolognese and Truffled Trumpet Mushrooms for the entree. When we had finished enjoying those courses, out came a Brown Sugar and Cinnamon Panna Cotta and Tiramisu. How can you go to Lombardino's and not order tiramisu, really?

Last night I made reservations for 6 at Sardine to officially celebrate my 24th birthday with the family. The only things we did not try were the Grilled Salmon and the Assorted Cookies plate.

It was my first time trying Duck Confit, and I was blown away. Hopefully I will be able to have that dish again and again. Also, Sardine made the absolute best Vanilla Bean Creme Brulee our table had ever met. We just barely managed to restrain ourselves from licking the bowls.

Congratulations, Madison Restaurant Week Winter 2010. I'm about to go make a countdown until the summer version...

Beer and Cheese

The Isthmus is sponsoring a Beer and Cheese Fest at the end of the month. I don't have a lot to say about it other than one year, I hope to have $40 to burn so I can attend without feeling a little anxious about my wallet. However, I was walking to work today and the thought struck me - much like some foods are meant to be eaten together, some words beg to be combined.

Examples are:
tomatoes and basil
marshmallows, chocolate, and graham crackers
glove + mitten = glitten
headband + bandana = headbandana
rockstar + archaeologist = rockstarchaeologist
bacon and ______ (seriously, everything)

Well, I do not think it is a coincidence that beer and cheese taste excellent together, and when combined form cheer (Cheese + Beer).

Seasonality Map

I came across a really useful, informative, and easy to use map today. The map tells what foods are in season, letting the user choose what state and month to display. This is something that I've been wanting to find for a while now - I've been going to the farmer's market for a couple of years, but I still don't have a solid grasp of all the produce that's in season in Wisconsin. The map isn't an exhaustive authority on all foods, but it seems to be a great start. After reading The Omnivore's Dilemma a few apartments ago* I got fairly interested in seasonal eating and slow food. Combine that with maps? I'm sold!

Map found at Epicurious.

*Maybe this is just me, but since I've been living in apartments I think I've started keeping time by them as well. I've got multiple calendars in my head now, and it's getting confusing. Calendar year, school year, field seasons, apartment years, baseball season...I need to consolidate my brain.

Lunch

I'm on the road for the job this week, but I don't think the per diem would cover a lunch of this magnitude.

Yeah, you read that right - 47 thousand dollars for 6 people. That is:

my rent for 2009 for one person's lunch.
well over my salary for 2009 for a table's lunch.
...over 3.5 times what Aaron Miles made per hit in 2009? Yuck.

h/t to Serious Eats, Cot's Contracts and The Hardball Times.

Refreshing Honesty

Bronson Arroyo, a starting pitcher for the Cincinnati Reds, had quite a lot to say in an interview with USA Today. Go read it - it's interesting - but one thing that stuck out to me was this:

"You think this country really cares about what ballplayers put in their
bodies?" Arroyo asks. "If we really care, why are we pumping Coca-Cola in
every kid's mouth, and McDonald's, and Burger King and KFC? That (stuff) is
killing people.

It certainly is interesting comparing the things that get people riled up (PED's, touchdown celebrations) with the things that get 30-day jail sentences and community service/fines.

Arroyo might want to reconsider his supplement programs, however...the 5.04 ERA isn't pretty, and his 5.37 FIP is even worse.

Playing with Food

I don't mean for the title of this post to suggest that I disapprove of this - it looks really amazing. I've been thinking about taking a short vacation sometime in January/February, and one of the ideas bouncing around in my head has been a train trip departing from Chicago. Alinea is going to be part of that trip if it happens, I think.

Food! on the table! Sweet.

Madison Restaurant Week

Twice a year several area restaurants participate in Madison Restaurant Week. I first heard about it in the winter of 2007, and since then have made it to at least two establishments during each week. Restaurant Week has given me dates both good and not-so-good, birthday dinners, large group meals, and delicious food.

Today is the first day of Summer Restaurant Week 2009 - and it comes with just one problem. Most of my visits to these restaurants have been with my partner-in-crime Greg, and he's currently in China...and as much as I enjoy the opportunity to try some of Madison's finer cuisine at reasonable prices, it's not worth the crushing depression of dining alone. So...

Wanted: Accomplice(s) for Dining/Adventure the week of July 26-31
Contact Jeff at 608.214.6919