On our to-cook list: Smitten Kitchen

It’s embarrassing how little I cook these days; I’m lucky if I can whip up a batch of pasta and have time to add a few bay leaves to the Trader Joe’s sauce.  Who knew that doing all the reading for all my classes this semester would take up so much time?

It certainly doesn’t help that Deb of Smitten Kitchen has been on a hot streak lately, posting a series of hearty fall dishes for my eyes to feast on while my tummy rumbles.  As a result, I’ve built up quite a backlog of recipes to try:

Apple and Cheddar scones

Mushroom lasagna

This one’s raving review had my mouth watering.

Roasted eggplant soup

Perfect blueberry muffins

Beef chili + sour cream and cheddar biscuits

Damn her gorgeous photography and appeal to comfort food!  I will have to leave the books to go grocery shopping soon.

(Click on the photos for links to each of  her posts.)

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Learn to Pair Beer with Food (and other links)

Apologies for the gap between posts.  We’ve been going through a dry spell (in both the literary and alcoholic sense) due to midterms.  Yet we’ve had a few bright spots here and there: A Sierra Nevada hefeweizen, consumed with sunny side up eggs on toast and hash browns after a late night finance problem set, comes to mind.

But for the most part, we were quaffing more caffeinated tea than anything else, wistfully dreaming of the end of midterms and the beginning of a regular circadian rhythm.

Here are a few related links that (in surreptitiously minimized windows) kept us entertained during long study nights:

Learn to Pair Beer with Food — Lifehacker

Beer Brownies — Tastespotting via The Kitchy Kitchen

The San Francisco Bar Experiment: One Woman’s Mission to Drink at Every Bar in San Francisco (complete with reviews!)

There’s Always Money in the Banana Stand

Ingenious.  I have been doing this incorrectly for years.  via Ahmed.

Meanwhile, when I was in preschool, this is how my dad used to prepare bananas for my morning bowl of Life cereal, if I woke up on time and was really really good:

How to Slice a Banana Before it is Peeled (Wikihow)

And finally, you know you want to watch this again — hurry, because Hulu is scheduled to take it down at the end of the week.

Genius Pizza Box

Where has this been all my life?

See the video in full size here. Via Reddit.

Hunter, Angler, Gardener, Cook

The latest pair of posts from Hunter Angler Gardener Cook demonstrate, in a nutshell, why I love this blog  so much.

Hank Shaw is, as the name of his blog would suggest, a man of many talents.  When describing him to Jim and Dennis, I called him “the Bear Grylls of the culinary world”.  From fishing for leopard sharks in San Francisco Bay to making venison sausages to sipping cider brewed from manzanita berries he picked himself, he is a badass in every sense of the word.

“My name is Hank Shaw. I write. I fish. I dig earth, raise plants, live for food and kill wild animals. I drink bourbon, Barolo or Budweiser with equal relish and wish I owned a farm. But most of all I think daily about new ways to cook and eat anything that walks, flies, swims, crawls, skitters, jumps – or grows. I am the omnivore who has solved his dilemma. This is my story.”

Hank Shaw

Mr. Shaw is one of the only food enthusiasts I know that can legitimately say he is involved with all stages of the food that comes to his table, from start to finish.  Yet his posts are incredibly down to earth, and he’s never preachy or pretentious:

And the photographs of his culinary experiences, shot by his partner Holly A. Heyser, are g-o-r-g-e-o-u-s.  What a perfect pair.  Here are a few from his two most recent posts, one on his recent dove hunts and the next on dishes that feature dove.

Subscribe to Hunter Angler Gardener Cook on your RSS reader or follow Mr. Shaw on Twitter.

Jamba Juice BOGO Coupon

Offer valid September 13-22, 2010.  Thanks for the tip, Ajay!

Nutella Snack & Drink

Saw this on Reddit yesterday and my mind was blown.  Apparently they have them in Italy and New York City.  Color me jealous.

P.S.  Amy maintains that this is just an Italian ripoff of Yan Yan.  To which I say, hey Yan Yan, where’s my pearl milk tea?

A Rose Water by Any Other Name…

When I saw the New York Times’ article “Rose Water Adds a Subtle Kick,” I was dubious.  Rose water?  Wouldn’t it make all of my food taste overpoweringly perfumy, or like an old person’s house?  Where would I even buy such a thing?  But hey, it’s the Dining & Wine section of the New York Times.  They know a thing or two.  So I kept reading.  And then I saw this:

"Poundcake and peach compote, both infused with rose water."

And read this:

“Taking a cue from 18th-century bakers, substitute rose water for the vanilla in cupcakes, puddings or scones. Or add a teaspoon or so to your next batch of French toast batter. Put a drop or two in a glass of lemonade for a remarkably refreshing summer drink — or make a rose martini in the same manner.”

John Willoughby, “Rose Water Adds a Subtle Kick”

Rosewater cupcakes at a springtime picnic, decorated with pink icing and little delicate sugared flowers?  All right, Mr. Willoughby, sign me up.

Based on the article, my best bet for finding rose water in Berkeley is probably an ethnic grocery store like Milan International or Indus (which, as a bonus, has very reasonably priced lamb, which rose water apparently flatters as well.)  For convenience, I’ll be checking at Berkeley Bowl’s fairly impressive international foods aisle first, and post back with what I find (or don’t find).

Not convinced yet?  Read the New York Times’ original article, and you might find yourself a convert too.

5 Ingredient, 10 Minute Recipes

Sorry for the dearth of posts lately!

Apartment 205 has been busy with finals, a few precious weeks of vacation, and now our full-time internships.

However, I can promise that there will be some good posts on the way.  Ahmed and I have been doing some tasty home cooking, Amy’s been exploring the gastronomic delights of San Francisco, and Deanne just arrived in Taiwan and has promised to do a few posts from abroad.

Meanwhile, my heroes at Lifehacker just introduced me to Stone Soup, a cookbook comprised entirely of recipes you can make with 5 ingredients in 10 minutes.  If that’s not the perfect remedy for someone working startup hours, I don’t know what is.

I was initially dubious that 5 ingredients could  yield anything more than a few bland and uninspired dishes, each a slight variant on the other.  Not so.  Take these butter beans with chorizo, tomato, and fried egg:

Sure, author Jules Clancy takes some pricey shortcuts, as with the pastry dough for tomato & eggplant pies, below, but for a 10-minute meal, who am I to complain?

Best of all, the Stone Soup cookbook can be accessed in a handy free .PDF download.   And if you like Ms. Clancy’s train of thought, check out the New York Times’ 101 simple summer meals ready to eat in 10 minutes or less.

Saveur’s 1st Annual Food Blog Awards: The Winners

Saveur Magazine recently released the results of their first ever food blog awards.  Two of my favorite food blogs, La Tartine Gourmande and The Kitchn, made the cut.

Categories included Best Baking and Desserts blog, Best Wine Blog, and Best Food photography.  If you’re looking for some new foodie content for your RSS reader, be sure to read Saveur’s complete list of winners.