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It’s been a busy summer of travel for us, including multiple trips to the East Coast for Jeremy. A couple weeks ago we both were able to take some time off for a 5-day trip to Western Massachusetts, to visit family, and Portland, Maine, where we had both wanted to visit for quite some time.
I suppose it goes without saying that Portland is a big foodie town.
Poutine...made with duck fat...oh yes
That there is a homemade meatloaf panini with gruyere, pickled onions and horseradish mayo at Duckfat, a small spot with a devoted following and a penchant for frying its potatoes in…duck fat, of course. Given our love for poutine, we could hardly resist ordering a large size topped with local cheese curds and duck gravy. All complemented by a Maine microbrew, it was as excellent as we had hoped.
Of course, Maine is best known for its seafood, so we did our duty in seeking out the best. We enjoyed incredible oysters at Street & Co., a restaurant that specializes in uber-fresh seafood and a menu that changes daily. The rustic decor alone is worth a visit, with low wooden beams and antique furniture. We went for a happy hour snack of a dozen oysters – of course now I don’t remember what kinds, but we tried three types, all local to the area. Ironically, we had thought about ordering oysters at a restaurant in Massachusetts, only to be told the oyster of the day was from Hood Canal. I’m sorry, but we’re not flying across the country to get oysters that live within 50 miles of us.
A dozen oysters
Maine is famous for its lobster rolls, so we couldn’t leave without sampling those. We drove down to Cape Elizabeth for what we’d heard was the best lobster roll in the area at the Lobster Shack at Two Lights. Even though it was 2 p.m. on a Monday, the place was bustling with visitors. The view, too, was spectacular.
The lighthouse at Two Lights
The lobster roll and fried clams were both listed as “Market Price”, which we will from now understand to mean “Ask before ordering!” The lobster roll basket, with fries, was a respectable $14.99, but the fried clams turned out to be $27.00! I mean, they were tasty fried clams, but not THAT tasty.
Fried clams and a lobster roll, please
The lobster roll was really good – a hot, toasted bun with big chunks of lobster and huge blob of mayo to cap it off. Mayophobes, stay away from this one.
Close-up of the lobster roll
We weren’t as prolific with the photos on this trip, but for a quick roundup of other sites we hit, eating and non-:
- Evangeline for their three-course-for-$30 Monday night dinner. This French place was right near our bed & breakfast and was truly memorable – fantastic service, impeccably prepared food with local ingredients and a steal at $30 for three courses.
- The Standard Baking Company, known for their fruit scones and brownies so rich that one bite is more than enough.
- Brunch at Hot Suppa! They have a BLT with fried green tomatoes. Whoa.
- Bagels at 158 Pickett Street Cafe in South Portland. I deeply regret not taking photos from this place, not much more than a shack but with all house-made baked goods, including some of the best bagels you can find outside of NYC and Montreal. We got there at noon and they had THREE bagels left – they’re that popular.
- We (briefly) hit up Old Orchard Beach, which is the Jersey Shore of Maine. ‘Nuff said.
- Did some credit card damage at the outlets in Freeport, better known as the LLBean corporate HQ and military compound, as well as at Stonewall Kitchen, the specialty food shop that sells my favorite, garlic and onion jam.
It does sound like all we did was eat, though we managed to squeeze in plenty of exploring and some exercise. My main regret is not being able to spend more time there – 2.5 days were not enough to see all we wanted. I’d love a chance to re-visit and drive up the coast on a Nova Scotia-bound trip in the future.
Do you remember the first dish you ever made on your own? When this question came up on Twitter last week, I knew exactly: guacamole.
Presentation is key
Not only was guacamole the first dish I ever learned to make by myself, but it remains my go-to appetizer for pretty much every occasion. And while I am open to trying other versions, I’ve honestly never tasted a batch of guac that I like better than my own.
We ate Latin-inspired food frequently when I was growing up. My parents got into Cuban food when they were living in Boston as a young couple. Later on, with four kids under the age of 10, a meal based on tortillas, beans and rice was easy to prepare and pleasing to toddler palates. Guacamole was a natural accompaniment.
Guacamole might seem basic, and barely even qualifying as “cooking”. There’s no heat involved, and minimal chopping. It’s made with avocados, which are nature’s ice cream only more addictive, so pretty much no matter how it comes out people are going to scarf it down.
Nevertheless, learning to make guacamole taught me the crucial, elemental guidelines of cooking that today I apply in everything I make. Simplicity of ingredients: don’t get too fancy, and trust what tastes good as you go. Texture is as important as flavor: in my guacamole, it’s mandatory to preserve chunks of avocado. Presentation matters: my dad taught me to always wipe down the sides of the bowl before serving, even if it’s just for a casual appetizer between friends.
Aside from avocados, salt and pepper, the other ingredients can be flexible. You will want to have citrus, preferably lime but lemon is doable. I prefer crushed garlic cloves, but I’ve used garlic powder in a pinch. Cilantro is practically necessary, but I can make do it without it. Hot sauce or salsa are nice to add, if you have it.
I may or may not use all of these ingredients
For me, the most important thing is that you don’t overly mash or puree the avocados. Instead, cut them into chunks as shown below, and add crushed garlic and/or a little bit of chopped onion and/or a dash of hot sauce or salsa and/or a good handful of chopped cilantro and/or a squeeze of citrus and salt and pepper to taste . Then use a fork to gently combine, but making sure to keep some significant pieces of avocado intact. Adjust seasonings to taste, then wipe down the sides of the bowl with a napkin or your finger and garnish so it looks pretty. Sometimes I refrigerate it for a few minutes to let the flavors meld.
Cut it into chunks like so
I like that the first dish I ever made is still the one I return to over and over again, that I can make it without even thinking and that it’s always polished off down to the last scrape.
The ultimate comfort food
We have a tradition for the first meal we eat on our first night in a new apartment. It’s not particularly original – we order pizza. I remember when we moved from Brooklyn to Manhattan, in one of the most hellish days I’ve ever spent – just try to imagine navigating a U-Haul through the streets of the Big Apple – and we finally allowed ourselves to relax, surrounded by boxes, with a pesto pizza from the parlor a few blocks down Amsterdam Ave.
Last weekend, we moved from our well-appointed but tiny apartment in Wallingford to a more spacious pad in Madrona. We now have a washer and dryer, a dishwasher and a (gasp) full-sized refrigerator. The first night, with an almost-bare fridge and most cutlery still deep in boxes, we again ordered pesto pizza, indulging in a garlicky chicken topping.
You get a freebie on moving day. But after that, you have to roll up your sleeves and put away enough kitchen supplies to actually make use of that nice fancy kitchen you wanted so badly. For me, the odds are good I’ll break in my oven with cookies.
The critical components
It used to be chocolate chip was my standby, but Jeremy loves snickerdoodles with an almost-religious fervor. I can get behind that. Snickerdoodles are essentially sugar cookies with the addition of cream of tartar for that distinctive tang, given a quick roll in cinnamon and sugar. Some bakers believe they should be thin and flat, and I’ve made them that way before. We prefer, however, a plumper cookie. That gives you a slightly crunchy crust on the exterior that gives way when you bite it into a chewy center.
My recipe is adapted from an AllRecipes.com entry called “Mrs. Sigg’s Snickerdoodles“. It might not be that glamorous to use an online recipe, but I’ve tried the America’s Test Kitchen version and it honestly wasn’t as good. Also, the AllRecipes one has almost 2500 reviews and over 33,000 versions saved. Sometimes, the masses are just right.
Mmm...cookies...
Snickerdoodles
From AllRecipes.com
- 1/4 cup butter, softened
- 1/4 cup shortening, such as Crisco
- 3/4 cup white sugar
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 1/3 cups flour
- 1 tsp. cream of tartar
- 1/2 tsp. baking soda
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 2 Tb. sugar
- 2 tsp. cinnamon
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Using a hand or stand mixer, cream together butter, shortening, sugar, egg and vanilla. Slowly stir in flour, cream of tartar, baking soda and salt (ok, ok, you can sift the dry ingredients together first if you’re legit like that.)
Cover a baking sheet with a parchment paper. In a small ziplock sandwich bag, mix the sugar and cinnamon.
Shape the dough into small balls about 3/4 inch in diameter. I find it works best to do this with your hands. Then drop each ball of dough into the ziplock bag and shake it around so it’s coated on all sides.
Arrange the balls of dough on the baking sheet with some space in between and then gently press on the top of each one – don’t flatten them, just dimple the tops a bit.
Bake 8-10 minutes, until the bottoms are light brown and the tops start to crack a bit. Don’t wait until the tops are golden-brown – they will be dry and overcooked at that point.
Makes 18-24 cookies, depending on size.
Private lunch for the lucky few
Salumi, the tiny storefront and deli in Pioneer Square, is probably one of the most well-known restaurants in Seattle. That could be because their house-cured meats are out-of-this-world good, or because it’s run by a family with the last name of Batali (as in Mario). Foodies, local workers and tourists on their way to Sea-Tac wait in hour-long lines for their sandwiches, sometimes lining up at 10:30am just to make sure the legendary porchetta doesn’t run out.
The sandwiches are justifiably amazing, but Salumi also offers a more private, sit-down experience — as long as you have a half-dozen friends willing to join you and are proactive enough to book two months in advance. This is the Salumi “backroom lunch”, a private five-course meal for 8-10 people served in the small backroom of the restaurant. It’s only offered on Wednesdays and Thursdays, and for $40 per person (plus tax, tip and wine) Chef Bryan cooks whatever he’s feeling that’s fresh. You just sit back and eat for three hours.
Spurred by a query by Jeremy on Twitter back in January, a group of friends booked a meal for a couple weeks ago. Wine bottles in hand, we breezed past the hungry lineup for the sandwich counter and settled in at our reserved table in the backroom.
First uncorked was a bottle of Carabella 2007 Pinot Gris (thanks to Frank), while we snacked on some appetizers laid out on the table. There was a platter of some of Salumi’s cured meats, like salami, prosciutto and the mole salami, as well as their house-spiced olives and fresh baguette.
Meaty goodness
Once everyone arrived, Brian brought out some lardo-wrapped breadsticks. Lardo is cured pig fat, served warm so it melts on your tongue. He thoughtfully brought out a plate of leftover scraps as well.
So porky
While we tapped into the house wine, Farnese Montepulciano d’Abbruzzo, Brian started bringing out the first courses. Surprisingly, given the meaty focus of the restaurant, he presented us with platter after platter of vegetables. First came out balsamic mushrooms and cipollini onions, cooked until tender and sweet. Then came baby artichokes with parmesan and green beans in pesto.
Naturally, pork was not completely absent from the vegetable parade. One of the best dishes was sauteed Brussels sprouts with guanciale (pork jowl), and asparagus stalks arrived wrapped in prosciutto.
Guanciale makes Brussels sprouts happy
At this point, someone at the table mentioned they’d seen a sign out front offering chicharrones (fried pork skins). Apparently they only offer it rarely, about 10 times a year total, when they have it in stock. Brian kindly brought out a plate full of the warm, crispy, porky goodness for us all to share. These bites were like essence of pork and COMPLETELY addictive.
Chicharrones!
We then tried to take a moment to take photos, but Brian said “gnocchi waits for no one” and delivered a massive platter of gnocchi with sage “made by Mario Batali’s mom.”
"Gnocchi waits for no one"
The main course — and yes, we were quite full at this point, but soldiered on — was a beautifully presented dish of Vermouth chicken with leeks and broccoli rabe. I would love to learn how to make this myself. The chicken was tender and immensely flavorful, and the slight bitterness of the broccoli rabe was a nice counterpoint to the sweetness of the caramelized leeks.
A truly dominating spread
Finally, as several of our party tapped out and went back to “work”, we finished off the meal with a not-too-sweet dessert of red wine-poached pears with chestnut ricotta and honey. Light yet complex, it was the perfect coda to an epic, unforgettable meal.
The perfect finish
Beef stews - so delicious, so un-photogenic
I promised amazing paleo recipes, and I will deliver. This is straight-up cribbed from the amazing site Mark’s Daily Apple, which is a must-read for anyone interested in paleo or primal eating, or just plain healthy eating and exercise habits. While I love the success stories, fitness analysis and links on this site, of course the recipes are my favorites.
While poring over the site for inspiration, I came across the Beef Burgundy recipe. Like probably everyone else who saw the film Julie and Julia, we desperately craved boeuf bourguignon throughout the movie and then promptly forgot all resolve to actually make it the moment we left the theater.
When I ran across this recipe, months later, I was reinvigorated. It is a bit modified from the original Julia Child version from Mastering the Art of French Cooking, but you should still plan to block off a few hours to commit to this masterpiece. It is absolutely worth it. The slow braising makes the meat become meltingly tender, and the flavors meld into something rich and winey and unmistakeably French.
[Side note: In my limited experience, I'd advices using a quality source for your meat. Not that the cut needs to be expensive — since it's braising for a couple hours, it's going to get tender — but I think it's worth it to get local and/or grass-fed. Obviously it's more environmentally friendly, green-friendly, Paleo-proper, and all that en vogue stuff. But I made this dish with grass-fed Washington State beef purchased at Whole Foods as opposed to another beef stew later with free-range Australian meat from Trader Joe's, and I thought the WA meat tasted much better. Who knows...more testing needed. Price was the same, anyway.]
The recipe makes enough for 8, or a big dinner and 2 sets of lunch leftovers. It also freezes quite well.
Boeuf Bourguignon
Inspired by Julia Child and adapted by Mark’s Daily Apple
- 1/4 lb. bacon
- 4 Tbs. fat of some kind (butter or oil…I used a mix of coconut and olive oil)
- 2 1/2 – 3 lbs. of beef cut into 2-inch cubes. I used the stew meat from the WF meat counter.
- 1 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1/4 tsp. pepper
- 2 Tbs. almond flour (or regular flour, if non-paleo)
- 2 carrots, chopped
- 1 onion, chopped
- 1 Tbs. tomato paste
- 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
- 1 Tbs. fresh thyme (or 1 tsp. dried)
- 1 Tbs. fresh parsley, finely chopped
- 1 bay leaf
- 3 cups full-bodied red wine (I used Chianti)
- 2 1/2 cups beef stock
- 1 lb. white or brown crimini mushrooms
Preheat the oven to 425. Get your big shallow oven-proof casserole ready. I used our cazuela [How do you know you're a hipster foodie? When you have kitchen tools that don't have an English translation!] but any deep and wide oven-safe dish would work.
Cut the bacon into little strips (lardons) and saute with a tablespoon of the fat until cooked but not crisp. You can do this all in your Le Creuset if you are fortunate enough to have one, or in a deep skillet. Reserve the bacon in your casserole dish.
Pat the beef as dry as possible and in batches, brown it on all sides. Take the time to get all the sides brown, even though it takes a long time and is a bit messy, because it’s worth it for the flavor in the long run. As the pieces brown, add them to the casserole with the bacon.
When all the meat is browned, sprinkle it with the flour, salt and pepper and put it in the oven for 10 minutes. The goal is to create a bit more of a crust on the meat. Then remove from the oven and turn the heat down to 325.
In the skillet or saucepan you used to brown the meat, add another tablespoon of the fat/oil and saute the onions and carrots until soft. Then add the tomato paste, garlic, thyme, parsley and bay leaf. After a moment, stir in the wine and beef broth and bring up to a gentle boil.
Let the whole thing simmer for about 5 minutes so the flavors start to meld, then pour over the meat in the casserole pan. Cover the dish with a lid or foil, then place it in the oven and cook for 2 1/2 hours (I told you you need to commit to it!)
In the meantime, slice the mushrooms and saute in batches in the remaining fat/oil. Set aside.
Every hour or so peek in the oven under the lid to make sure the liquid bubbling gently. It’s done when a fork easily pulls the meat apart. You should taste it to make sure.
When done, take the meat out of the oven and strain it through a colander with a bowl underneath, so the liquid is in the bowl and the solids in the colander (not the other way around!) Put the liquid in a saucepan and bring it to a boil, then turn down the heat and simmer for about 10 minutes. Meanwhile, put the meat back in the casserole (or another serving dish of your choice) and add the mushrooms.
When the sauce is done, pour it over the meat and mushrooms and top with chopped parsley.
Cooperface!
I don’t want to be writing this now, almost at midnight, alone, not about something fun like food or cooking or traveling. I would much prefer to keep this full of fun and engaging posts.
But it’s been almost a week since my mom called me at 6am to tell me that our family dog, Cooper, had died suddenly, and I think I have moved fully from shock to grief.
It sucks. I’ve cried about six separate times today. I am trying to deal with this and my only recourse is to write it and share his life the best I can.
I have never known a dog that was more beloved, or radiated more love, than Cooper. He was the biggest, most gorgeous golden retriever you’ve ever seen. Everywhere we went, his entire life, people stopped us on the street and said, “oh, what a beautiful dog!” He was always smiling – not just a dog smile, a real smile — and all he wanted was for people to pet him and mind him and love him. And everyone did. I can take comfort that he lived a full, happy life, surrounded by people who loved him and that he was always treated like a prince.
One of my favorite photos, Cooper with his tiny friend Ollie
He wasn’t even nine years old when he died suddenly in his sleep last week. Just the day before he had been happy and full of energy. We don’t know what caused it — could have been a heart attack, or a hidden cancer too deep to spot. At least he didn’t suffer at the end, and for that I am infinitely grateful. In his entire life, he never really had to suffer ever, except for pained looks when we didn’t give him table scraps or some minor stomach discomfort when he ate something he shouldn’t have.
Everyone says losing a dog is like losing a family member, and it’s true. Our family is missing a piece without him. It’s hard to imagine what my parents and younger brother are going through, since they have to live in a house that’s now missing the sound of his collar as he runs up the stairs, missing his muzzle shoving into your hand because you weren’t petting him enough, missing his paws scrambling into the kitchen at the sound of an apple being sliced. I’m dreading going back to the house and having to face the fact that I will never see my dog again.
I know we’ll get another dog someday, maybe even soon. None could ever replace Cooper, and none of us would ever want that. But once you’ve opened your heart to that kind of love, it’s hard to live without it in your life. If you have or have had a dog or a pet you loved dearly, of course you know what I mean.
I just hope it gets easier. Because this is so, so hard.
Always wanting to snuggle. RIP.
We promised more detail in the last post about how we’re eating these days, so here’s the backstory. As you may know, we’ve been doing Crossfit for several months now, as Jeremy first wrote about back in June. We’ve grown to be strangely addicted to the 30 minutes (and sometimes 45, or 60 or — shudder — 75, depending on the instructor) of all-out, kick-your-ass workouts. We’ve upped our visits to the Crossfit torture center to three times a week, and do Crossfit-style workouts on our own or, for Jeremy, while he’s traveling for work.
We definitely feel stronger and more in shape since doing Crossfit. But the exercise part is really only half of the equation. The other part is what you eat. For months, Jeremy had been trying to convince me that we should “go Paleo” and complete the nutrition part of the program. I was skeptical. I figured working my butt off at Crossfit gave me the leeway to eat whatever I wanted — macaroni ‘n cheese with bacon is guiltless after you’ve just destroyed yourself doing Fran! Plus, anything that didn’t let me eat bread…or cheese…or rice and beans…yeah, as someone who can’t stop thinking or talking about food, I wasn’t having it.
But right around New Year’s, we were chatting with one of our instructors and he mentioned his New Year’s resolution was to go Paleo for six weeks. Maybe it was because we had just gorged ourselves while in Austin, or maybe it was the post-workout buzz going to our heads, but for some reason six weeks sounded doable. We started that night with a dinner of roasted salmon and sauteed spinach and haven’t looked back since.
That’s right. Since Dec. 30 or so, we’ve been 95% (allowing for the occasional unavoidable rule-breaking) free of dairy, grains and legumes. And we feel really, really good.
Speaking for myself, the gastrointestinal discomfort (sorry for the imagery) that I used to battle constantly has virtually disappeared. I don’t feel sluggish or weighed down like I used to after eating a croissant or pastry in the morning. We’ve both lost weight, though it’s hard to say how much since we don’t own a scale and that wasn’t the goal of this decision. Overall, we both feel lighter, leaner and just better about what we put in our bodies.
Okay, so slow down. What is Paleo exactly, and why would anyone do it?
While it’s gaining traction in the mainstream media recently (a recent Washington Post piece was a well done, while a New York Times Style story made it sound extremely douchey) the Paleo lifestyle isn’t a particularly new idea. While I really hate calling it a “diet” because diet to me implies the goal of losing weight, The Paleo Diet website has a good explanation of the basics behind the theory:
With readily available modern foods, The Paleo Diet mimics the types of foods every single person on the planet ate prior to the Agricultural Revolution (a mere 500 generations ago). These foods (fresh fruits, vegetables, lean meats, and seafood) are high in the beneficial nutrients (soluble fiber, antioxidant vitamins, phytochemicals, omega-3 and monounsaturated fats, and low-glycemic carbohydrates) that promote good health and are low in the foods and nutrients (refined sugars and grains, saturated and trans fats, salt, high-glycemic carbohydrates, and processed foods) that frequently may cause weight gain, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and numerous other health problems. The Paleo Diet encourages dieters to replace dairy and grain products with fresh fruits and vegetables — foods that are more nutritious than whole grains or dairy products.
In other words, eat meat, vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, and lay off the grains, dairy, processed foods and carb bombs.
This has not been as difficult as you would think.
First thing we did was to throw away or hide away all non-Paleo foods in our apartment. The next thing was to go to the grocery store and stock up on things we could eat: lean meats and fruit and vegetables, but also things like coconut milk, almond flour and sunflower seed butter (ADDICTIVE). Many recipes in our current cookbooks are or can be made Paleo-friendly, but there are thousands of Paleo recipes online on dozens of Paleo and Crossfit blogs as well (I’ll share some of our favorites in future posts).
It’s cut down on our dining out habits, which is an excellent step financially. But even eating out is not an obstacle at most restaurants. Pretty much everywhere will sell you a big entree-sized salad with some kind of protein on it, and given the rise in allergies in recent years most establishments are sensitive to wheat-free or dairy-free needs.
While technically alcohol is not Paleo, a glass of red wine once a week is considered acceptable. If you “have” to drink, tequila and clear liquors are the way to go — in fact, apparently some bars now sell a version of a margarita called a “Paleorita.”
Are we perfect Paleo? Of course not. I mentioned 95% earlier, which allows for the occasional “don’t ask don’t tell” situation at a restaurant where we don’t scrutinize too closely how those coconut shrimp were prepared. And there have been a few times where circumstances made it virtually impossible to adhere to the rules. But for the most part, we’ve stuck to the plan.
And we’ve stuck to it not because we feel mutually obligated or because it’s some silly resolution, but because it really does feel better. I can’t say that I’ll eat this way for the rest of my life, but for right now it works for me and it’s easy to do. I’ve eaten pretty much whatever I wanted my entire life up until this point. It’s worth it to us to see what happens when we try eating more consciously.
Do you think we’re crazy? Do you want more information? Are you wondering why I wrote 1,000 words on this? (Me too.) Feel free to share in the comments. In the meantime, I’m looking forward to some of the delicious recipes I’m planning to share soon.
Even though been a while since we’ve posted, it’s not that we haven’t had anything interesting to share. Definitely the opposite — the fall has been packed with our usual mix of eating, drinking and sporting events.
Rather than highlight any one event, I thought I’d just do a roundup and give some link love to some of those who are actually motivated enough to blog responsibly. I realize this also makes it seem like we eat all the time, but I figure people would rather read about food than the grueling Crossfit workouts, hours sweating in a hot yoga studio, or late nights at the UW athletic communications office or on the road in exciting places like Kalamazoo, Michigan.
- The Rachel Dinner, aka Foods That Scare Us, in honor of Rachel’s food phobias, including tongue, blue cheese, tendon and chicken liver. May I just say that the pigs’ ears were absolutely delectable?
- There was Chinese-Jewish (aka “Chewish”) night, that came about from some matzah-ball soup-related Twitter trash talking and evolved into a massive potluck that included standards like the classic aforementioned soup, knishes and brisket (my contribution, from Joan Nathan’s recipe), as well as more creative efforts like Naomi‘s guanciale-spiked kugel (kugel is SO much better with pork!) and Lorna’s red-cooked pork belly which is the perfect combination of melty crispiness.
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Protest Nachos
Thanksgiving, which I desperately wanted to be Mexican-themed but we’re not all yet quite enlightened enough. One day. It still featured “Protest Nachos” as an appetizer and five kinds of pies.In the head-to-head of Columbia City‘s pumpkin vs. my Aunt Maureen’s, the homemade version was a clear winner.
- Cookies and Dumplings, originally two events but combined into one glorious afternoon. Picture, if you can, a piano top with every inch covered by plates of cookies, from chocolate to maple to meringue to chocolate chip and chocolate chip and chocolate chip. And lest you get distracted by the sugar, noticed that dumplings of all kinds are being cranked out in the kitchen, some Chinese-inspired, some that go hand in hand with long-stewed chicken in a restorative broth. The bag of cookies I took home from this lasted a solid week.
- Latkes, which happened because every Hannukah that I’m in Seattle I make my father make latkes. No one makes them lighter or more spidery. Trust me, spidery is a very good quality in a latke. (Sorry, didn’t get any photos of them. Next year, maybe.)
- I went to The New Guard‘s holiday party, which brought together art, music and food by Poppy pastry chef Dana Cree, who re-envisioned an old-fashioned holiday meal of ham, green bean salad, homemade onion dip (addictive) and many, many kinds of pie.
Breakfast tacos, I love you
- And finally (though I’m probably forgetting some things) we went to Austin, Texas, and dined on breakfast tacos every morning while managing to squeeze in swimming, biking, exploring and BBQ, of course. But really, the breakfast tacos were the best. I’ve never had flour tortillas as soft and buttery as the ones we had in Austin. Filling them with fluffy scrambled eggs, bacon, avocado and hot sauce was practically overkill. They were so good that we had to smuggle 20 extra home in our suitcases.
It’s been an incredible year being in Seattle. We can’t wait to see what we’ll do (and eat) in 2010.
Pierogies in front, sausage in back
One of the things we love about Seattle is that we are always discovering new food experiences. Whether it’s an authentic Mexican dinner for 40 on a rooftop or a soft opening at one of the hottest new restaurants in the city, it seems like we’re constantly learning of (often through Twitter) meals both unique and delicious.
One place we learned of recently through friends is the Polish Home, and more specifically, the PB Kitchen. Every Friday night and Sunday afternoon, the local Polish association serves dinner in their basement/dining hall. Pierogies, sausage, stuffed cabbage, and of course stout bottles of Polish beer.
Being from Pittsburgh, Jeremy was raised in the U.S. capital for Polish immigrants and pierogies. And my Russian ancestry makes me conditioned to go for the little dumplings at any opportunity. So we knew we had to check this place out.
Just don't ask us how to pronounce it
When we arrived around 8 p.m., the place was packed with Capitol Hill hipsters ironically munching on pork hocks, groups of yuppies 10 to a table, and community members chattering away in fluent Polish. It was loud and bustling, and it was easy to feel like you were in some Eastern European beer hall, especially when ordering beer at the bar went something like, “I’ll have a Zy…a Zoo…uh, the one that starts with Z” (aka Żywiec, a nice Polish lager.)
We ordered a mixed plate of pierogies — meat, sauerkraut & mushroom, potato & cheese — a plate of sausage, sauerkraut and potatoes, and some fried mushrooms to nosh on for an appetizer. We considered the stuffed cabbage and cranium-sized pork hocks we saw passing by, but decided to stick with the basics for our first visit. It was a busy night (I suspect they always are) but the people-watching made the time pass quickly until our food landed.
For a cold, rainy, Seattle fall night, nothing hits the spot like Eastern European comfort food. The sausage had a nice snap to it, and the pierogies were cooked perfectly. I liked the tangy beet salad they served alongside. Plus, they sprinkled bacon across the pierogies — how can you go wrong?
We definitely will be going back for a repeat visit, this time with a crew of friends in tow. It’s the kind of place you want to bring a large group along to share in the over-sized beers and platters of savory comfort food.
It emerged on Twitter, of course, where all good food parties are born. I don’t even remember how the topic came up, but someone started talking about comfort food and someone else brought up macaroni and cheese and another person chimed in with fried chicken and the next thing I knew, a bright-orange Evite was in my inbox announcing a Macaroni & Cheese / Fried Chicken Potluck.
A spread of cheesy goodness
I decided to go for the mac n’ cheese, which like any good human being I love, though oddly before this weekend I had never made it myself. I’ve always tended more toward the quick and dirty boxed variations, growing up with the occasional Kraft or shells + Velveeta before graduating to the more virtuous Annie’s. For whatever reason, I never felt the urge to make it from scratch.
So this was the perfect opportunity. Naturally, I obsessed about it for days. Basic? Bacon? Mushrooms? Green chiles? An attempt at the legendary fried mac n’ cheese wedges from Denver’s Cherry Cricket?
Ultimately I did the obvious thing and turned to one of my most reliable cooking resources: my cousin Megan, currently a pastry chef at the delicious Columbia City Bakery, always ready with recipe suggestions and sure-fire potluck winners. We consulted, and she gave me the guidelines for her crab mac n’ cheese with Gruyere, Comte, and chives.
I ended up using a Barefoot Contessa recipe for lobster mac n’ cheese as the template for Megan’s crab mac n’ cheese, and I have to say I was pleased with the result. It’s always nerve-wracking making something for the first time, especially when you are making it for other people and even more so when you aren’t going strictly off a recipe. But it turned out gooey and bubbly, with the sharp bite of the Comte cheese giving it a nice kick while the savory crab paired well with the chives.
The reviews from the others at the potluck were positive too, and almost all of it got eaten — which is the best kind of feedback, especially considering there were about 8 or 9 other kinds of mac n’ cheese and a few types of fried chicken.Some of the other offerings: Lorna‘s prize-winning macaroni and cheese had six kinds of cheese and a pound of bacon (!), Valentina creatively rolled up long, wide noodles individually, and hosts Sarah and Frank fried up ridiculous amounts of popcorn chicken that everyone devoured like…popcorn. [Update: Lorna thankfully has better photos in her blog post.]
I only took one hurried photo before diving in, but you can see my little mac on the right side in the red casserole.
If you need a dish for a potluck, macaroni n’ cheese or otherwise, I’d recommend this one. It makes a ton of food so you’ll need some help eating it. I have an entire pan full of it in the freezer still.
Crab Macaroni n’ Cheese
Adapted from Megan Bokan
- Kosher salt
- Vegetable oil
- 1 pound cavatappi or penne
- 1 quart whole milk
- 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, divided
- 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 12 ounces Gruyere cheese, grated (4 cups)
- 8 ounces Comte cheese, grated (2 cups)
- 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
- 1 pound cooked crab meat (canned is fine unless you’re a high roller)
- 1/2 cup chives, chopped
- 1 cup panko (optional)
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
Drizzle oil into a large pot of boiling salted water. Add the pasta and cook until just al dente but not completely done. Drain well.
Meanwhile, heat the milk in a small saucepan, but don’t boil it. In a large pot, melt 6 tablespoons of butter and add the flour. Cook over low heat for 2 minutes, stirring with a whisk. Still whisking, add the hot milk and cook for a minute or two more, until thickened and smooth. Off the heat, add the Gruyere, Comte, 1 tablespoon salt and the pepper. Add the cooked noodles, crab, and chives and stir well. Place the mixture in 1 big casserole or 2 medium ones.
Melt the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter, combine them with the panko, and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the sauce is bubbly and the noodles are browned on the top.
Lisa
Jeremy
