Maybe I need to buy a fryer...

Another year has gone by and I did not renew my vows of blogging.  Here I am making a mess in the kitchen wanting to share it with the world.  I have to admit Facebook has crimped my blogging as it is easy to post a picture and make a brief snarky comment about it.  It has allowed me to not be my reflective and philosophical self.   There is always time to start again, right?  Isn't that what New Year's resolutions are for? I just happen to start in December.

Winter forces me to slow down and rejuvenate and it was the off season for me as an athlete.  Although I have not been racing since 2010, I still think of the end of the year as the off season.  Others would say every month has been the off season for the last three years.  My excuses for not consistently blogging... I think I wrote about going back to school (graduate work) in the end of 2009 so that consumed most of my time until the summer of 2013 when I finally earned my masters in education in sport management.  Also, I continued to work out when I could but I directed my attention to school and beer tasting!  I enjoyed a beer or glass of wine in the off season when I raced bicycles but I did not make it a habit, hobby or obsession as it has become in the last few years.  I can blame my obsession with beer on many things.  Mostly good things.

One, I stopped racing which for some doesn't have to happen to enjoy a beer or two.  Two, over the last six years, Lancaster, Pennsylvania exploded with many great places to eat and drink and to partake in the arts. The city organized many events that has revitalized the area and Millersville University's presence downtown has added more cultural activities, too.  Three, I must admit work, school and life got a little hectic and I looked forward to that glass of wine (or beer) after work.  But it wasn't just about taking the edge off.  I enjoy analyzing a beer or glass of wine.  The smell, colors and taste; where it was produced and the story behind the it.  When we travel, we love to eat and drink locally.  What does all this have to do with buying a fryer?  What does this have to do with blogging?  The kitchen makes me reflect on what is important in life. It reminds me to let go, to be flexible and everything does not have to be perfect.  Sometimes priorities have to shift. When one has seen my creations in the kitchen, perfection and beauty is not my strong suit yet the majority of the time they taste awesome!!

So the fryer...I do not own one because I am afraid we would eat too much fried food.  I read an article in my favorite magazine, Saveur, called Hot Pockets.  Arepas de Huevo, fried cakes of corn masa stuffed with soft-cooked eggs.  Brad and I salivated on the way home from Crisfield, MD, one Sunday afternoon as I read the article twice, then I read about Abanian baked lamb and rice and yogurt and also about pecans and Miss American pie (salted caramel apple is on the baking list).  I finally found the corn flour.  Actually, it wasn't hard to find.  It was at our local Grocer (Giant), I just kept forgetting to look for it.  I had all the ingredients packed as we were heading to Crisfield for the weekend and there is not much to do there except drink and eat (cook) and relax.  Crisfield is a fishing town and there is not much happening, especially in the winter.  But the weather and sickness canceled the trip. Arepas de Huevo!

The first mistake was not having enough canola oil.  If I had enough canola oil, maybe I would not want a fryer.  I knead the corn flour, salt, oil and water.  The oil heats up in the iron skillet and I test the heat with a wooden spoon. The corn cakes looked good and fried up okay but where I messed up is with the oil.  I did not have enough canola oil so I had to add olive oil and olive oil eventually burns and smokes up the house. And I did not want to use too much oil because I had to use olive oil and I thought I could get away with less than two inches of oil in the skillet.  So the corn cakes did not get cooked all the way through.  Then I could not slice the corn cake to crack an egg in it and fry it again.  Since that happened, I improvised and cooked the eggs separately and plopped them on top of the corn cakes with salsa verde and hot sauce.  Bummed I could not recreate the Arepas de Huevo but my creation still tasted awesome.  I will attempt to make these again with enough canola oil.

Brooklyn Biergarten

 

Ringing in 2013 in Brooklyn again. Thanks Susan, Alex and Matthew.  We arrived to have a few beers (Weyerbacher Quad & Corsendonk Chrstmas Ale) with Alex before we took a walk to Jubilat for fresh sausages and to the Eagle Provisions for me to drool over the beer selections.  We had two hours to walk and browse and Brad and Eli prodded  me every five minutes to keep me on task so I would not end up camping out at the Eagle Provisions.  I whined kicking and whining as we had LOTS of time to browse.

At Jubilat we bought some double smoked sausages.  We haven't cut into the links yet and we are talking about going back tomorrow for ham and more sausages.  Enjoy the last few hours of 2012 and happy new year to you all.

White Chocolate Bread Pudding with Bananas and Rum Sauce

December 2012 Saveur - New Orleans dessert from Matt and Naddie's Restaurant 

I will post the recipe as it was listed in the 'zine and will then proceed to write about all the changes I made for convenience.

For the Bread Pudding:
4 1/2 cups of milk (4 c; 1/2 used for the pan frying portion that I did not do)
20 tbsp unsalted butter (16 tbsp; the other 4 tbsp was for the pan frying)
1 c sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 tsp kosher salt
12 oz stale country white bread cut into 1/2 inch cubes - about 8 cups
 6 oz white chocolate, roughly chopped, plus more for garnish
1/2 c toasted slivered almonds
8 eggs (6 eggs when not pan frying)
1 c flour (I did not use as I did not pan fry the sliced bread pudding - too much work for a party held at someone else's house)
2 c panko bread crumbs (ditto - related to pan frying)

For the Rum Sauce and bananas:
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c heavy cream
4 tbsp unsalted butter, cubed
2 tbsp dark rum
1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice (did not use)
1/2 c turbinado sugar (did not use - see above)
4 bananas, halved lengthwise and then halved crosswise (ended up putting them IN the bread pudding as I did not pan fry the bread pudding)

I mostly followed the recipe when making the bread pudding and the rum sauce but I nixed the pan frying portion of the recipe.  I made the dish during my Thanksgiving break and froze both the pudding and sauce.  Since I had a holiday party two weeks later, I knew I would be exhausted from work as it was the busiest time of year with the end of semester and graduation.

To make the bread pudding:  I brought 4 cups of milk, 16 tbsp of butter, the vanilla, nutmeg and salt to a simmer in a 4 quart saucepan over medium heat.  Remove from heat and let cool for 20 minutes.  Combine the bread cubes, chocolate, almonds and bananas in a large bowl and set aside.  Add 6 eggs to the milk mixture and I then also added some rum - I don't know how much as I poured it from the bottle - maybe a 1/4 cup.  Whisk until smooth.  Pour the custard over the bread mixture and stir until evenly combined.  Let sit to soften bread which is about 20 minutes.  Heat oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.  Pour bread mixture into a 9"x13" metal baking pan, which for me was a foil pan because it was going to be frozen after I baked it.  I made sure the ingredients were evenly distributed and I covered with foil as the recipe instructed and baked it for an hour.  I let it cool of course, before I bagged it into a 2 1/2 gallon zip lock and put it in the freezer.

While the bread pudding cooked, I made the sauce.  In 1/2 cup of water, bring the sugar to a boil over high heat stirring until the sugar dissolves.  Continuing cooking sugar mixture without stirring until the sugar turns into an amber-colored caramel, which is about 15 minutes (I forgot to do this step).  Add the cream, butter, rum and juice and stir until smooth.  I then let it cool, placed it in a container and put it in the freezer.

The biggest worry was freezer burn and it was a non-issue.  The other thing I discovered was that the bread pudding was so moist probably because I had added some rum.  Maybe freezing it added some moisture but not to the detriment of the bread pudding.  My friend had a convention oven so I had to bump up the temperature to 400 degrees Fahrenheit and it took at least an hour to bake again.  I baked it with the foil on for at least half of the time and just watched that it did not burn.  It was still moist and custardy that it did not really need the rum sauce.  While the bread pudding baked, I heated up the sauce and poured it on the plates for individual slices of bread pudding.  My friend whose heart is in the same place as mine could not wait for the bread pudding to bake and she helped me keep an eye on it, tasting it along the way, too.

I thought it turned out pretty good and I plan to make it again while I have time over this second holiday break and freeze for another occasion.  I will do without making the rum sauce and improvise again by using the leftover heavy cream I froze in November combining it with soy milk because we don't usually have milk on hand and I don't want to buy it again just for this dish.

Uni (Sea Urchin)

As you all know, I have been slacking a bit so no picture here.  Now that I have upgraded my cell phone and the plan, too, I might just be able to do better at taking pictures - impromptu. 

I love Lancaster but don't wear the bumper sticker on my car or bike.  I fantasize we are the baby city of big Apple and my dream came true over the weekend.  At Sukara, I think the best sushi place in the whole county, I had fresh Uni.  It was a Saturday where I was scheduled at the office.  I caught up on my work when the day's real work must have spread amongst my colleagues also working on a beautiful weekend on the East Coast in December.  I was determined to have a mug of beer at Iron Hill - and did so when released from my duties.  They do a fabulous job at being consistent with their batches of beer.  Of course I had a Belgian Tripel and I was set.

Having a late lunch did not leave much room for dinner so when we when to Sakura, with the air of a Belgian, I was game for something light and different.  The wait staff know us a mile away and he barely told us the specials and I say; "Why not?!"  Then I asked, what is Uni?  Sure, okay.  Again, why not.

Being a fan of Bourdain, I felt like I was in one of his shows when the Uni arrived (it must have been the Belgian).  It was fresh, they said it was alive (I was a little freaked as we did just watch Bourdain in Brooklyn at this awesome Thai "Asian" restaurant called Pok Pok NY but their seafood was still moving - at least the Uni was not - that I could tell).  Renown "Asian" chef, Eddie Huang, talked about "Gringo chefs doing Asian Food" especially those that win James Beard awards - doing "Asian Food".  How authentic can they be?! Huang goes in thinking those chefs suck and he ended up loving Pok Pok NY...  As I was saying, I felt like I was in an episode of No Reservations in Lancaster City - Pennsylvania.

I ate the Uni without soy sauce and wasbi to get the full taste and it was fragrant and a bit slimy but good.  It was served in it's shell on a bed of ice as part of the presentation with some of the spikes still moving.  Not sure that I would order it again but was honored to partake in Sakura's adventure of offering something different and fun for my palate. 

Rejuvenate, Recharge and Verboten

I took Thanksgiving eve off from work to do whatever.  Initially a day of relaxation almost became a day of cookie baking frenzie.  Thrilled to spend the day with my niece baking cookies, I decided to do a test run on Sunday and discovered we might need more than one day for baking.  I went through my recipe book and I realized I haven't made any cookies other than Toll House chocolate chips and variations with oatmeal, cranberries or nuts.  I flipped through my Saveur magazines and they too, were limited with cookie recipes so I relied on the internet.

The list of cookies I chose included:
Rich Chocolate Rum Cookies (Gourmet, 9/1996)
World Peace/Korova Cookies (Paris Sweets - Great Desserts from the City's Best Pastry Shops, 2002)
Toll House Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chocolate-Chunk Oatmeal Cookies with Pecans and Dried Cherries
Snickerdoodles (Saveur)
Vanillekipferl (Saveur, 12/2010)
White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Cookies (Saveur, 12/2012)
Peanut Butter Cookies (Saveur, 10/2012)

Then I forgot I needed to make a fruit salad, prep broccoli and I wanted to bake a cake (from scratch) for Thanksgiving.  For the next two days I shopped for the ingredients and gathered pans from a friend.  Since I created a potentially hectic cookie baking day, I decided to make some cookies doughs Tuesday night to limit the frenzie.  I researched the potential freezability of the doughs and that is how I picked some of the cookies, too.  My niece ended up going to a sleepover with friends Tuesday night, rescheduling our cookie date.  I was glad and disappointed at the same time.

Thanksgiving eve was again my day to relax.  I still made some doughs, rolled them into logs and froze them for our December date.  Did some charitable work, checked in online, rode the Schwinn to market for two dozen eggs and a Weyerbacher Verboten from The Fridge and then rode home and made a Hummingbird Cake (Saveur).

 I spent the evening closing The Fridge with Brad and some friends.  Earlier in the day the owners unfortunately told me the keg in waiting when the Verboten kicked was Duvel; Brad's favorite beer.  One Verboten after another led to three or four and Thanksgiving fuzziness.  Duvel was tapped that night but thankfully I was out of cash.  Hopefully we will return for Duvel before we head downtown on Black Friday evening for the Christmas tree lighting.  Happy Thanksgiving all.  

Burgers for Breakfast

What can I say?  Gearing up for winter by pulling out the air conditioners, doing some laundry, pulling weeds, raking leaves, maintaining the grills and the next thing I know, I want burgers for breakfast.  Gotta love the smell of a grill being fired up.

Fish & Chips

Sorry, I was too hungry and forgot to take pictures of our humble but fantastic dinner of Britain's famous meal. I think what makes fish & chips really good here and in Ireland is the fish and oil are fresh, and the batter is light but crisp.  It probably helps if you get the fish & chips from just a fish & chips shop, too. That is what they specialize in along with anything else fried.  Our restaurants at home don't even touch the flavors and freshness of what I have had so far in the UK.  Although the chips usually aren't fresh cut potatoes, for some reason they are just fine.  Everything gets wrapped up in paper and even with a bit of moisture, the batter on the fish holds up well.  The shop asked if we want it showered in salt & vinegar before it is all wrapped up and we say yes! with excitement.

We drove into Frimley as the Wednesday fish truck was not in the neighborhood.  Dale and I popped into the Railway Arms for half pints of Youngs Special Ale as we waited for our cod & chips order.  When we arrived for our takeaway in the steady rain, there were three other customers.  After our half pints in the slightly dodgy pub, the fish and chips shop was jammed with customers.  Other items they fry are real chicken nuggets, sausages, saveloy (a highly seasoned sausage common in English fry shops) and other fish like haddock, skate and roe.

I actually found the link for the fish & chips shop while writing this post.  Their description of why their food is so good was a guess on my part from devouring it last night.  Kims Plaice is exactly where we got our takeaway and the gentleman in the picture is who served us up with a smile and a laugh.  Brilliant!!