Hopworks Urban Brewery

On our way to Bend, OR, we googled "kid-friendly breweries in Portland" and the Hopworks Urban Brewery was the first to come up. Not only did they have a great tasting sampler platter of 10 beers (loved their IPA and single hopped beer) but they had a great menu, too. I had a lime ancho chicken sandwich that was flavorful and interesting. But the best part were the multitude (seriously, at least three) of train tables at kid play areas scattered around the restaurant. Luke spent the whole meal transfixed by trains and large rubber dinosaurs and Nathan and I enjoyed a calm meal.

If someone is looking for a new restaurant idea for the south Seattle area, can you please open a child-friendly brewery with great beers and train tables? We promise we would go there at least once a week...

Pan au chocolat

Luke has discovered the pure bliss of sinking one's teeth into a fresh, light, flaky chocolate filled croissant.

Gardening!

Nathan and I started a garden a few months ago. Neither of us have any idea what we're doing, despite the fact that I'm an intern at Seattle Tilth (which has been so much fun, and a great learning resource). Our fantastic yard at our house came with two raised beds and a few pots. We enhanced the dirt with chicken manure and got some seeds from Uprising Seeds and Seeds of Change.

A few months ago, we started by sketching out our gardening space and planning out where we wanted to plant different things. Keep in mind that neither of us have any experience with gardening at all. We planted carrots a centimeter apart, onion starts an inch apart, and lettuce in tiny little rows. The chard sprouts were nearly decimated by a slug infestation and we spent hours mulling over slug trapping solutions. I carefully tended plant starts indoors, including a dozen wee tomatillo plants, only to kill them all when I transplanted them to larger pots. (We've since purchased tomatillo and tomato starts and gave up on growing them from seed.)

But now! Success! Our funny little first-timer garden is taking off, and we could eat giant salads 3 times a day since we have lettuce bursting forth in crazy quantities. (Annie's mom asked me to bring a salad to her graduation party last Saturday: thank goodness because I wasn't sure how to use all our lettuce!)

We harvested our first leaves of chard a few days ago and sauteed them with garlic and lemon- they were delicious! We're eating salads pretty much every night (anyone need some lettuce?), and our tiny little carrots are growing away. I'm still nurturing a couple dozen basil plants indoors (pesto!), and our tomatoes, zuchinni, cucumber and kale are starting to take off.

It's really exciting. I feel like a little kid every time I go wander around the garden and see what's poking up. Even though I took tons of biology and botany courses at UW, it's still kind of crazy magical to me that it actually works to poke a seed in the dirt and have something sprout up and then EAT IT!

Adventure to the Chocolate Factory

Oompa Loompa loompity doo, I've got another riddle for you... 

As part of my Food Challenge 2012, I wanted to explore the world of fair trade chocolate. (Who doesn't, really?!) Fremont, a quirky hipster neighborhood in Seattle, is home to the Theo Chocolate factory. I've been treating myself to Theo chocolates for special occasions for a few years and love it- it's super fancy stuff and incredibly high quality, and so, so delicious.


A classmate of mine in grad school started Kallari Chocolate, and I think this is the first time that the importance of fair trade chocolate really resonated with me. She was (and is) passionate about working with cacao farmers to increase their income and get a fair wage for high quality chocolate, all while preserving the environment that the beans are grown in.


It's becoming a better-known fact that large industrial food corporations like Hershey's get their chocolate from sources that use slave and child labor to farm the cocoa. In my opinion (and I hope yours), it's important to be aware of where your food comes from, and I have no desire to support child labor, human trafficking or slavery. (Plus, once you have high quality chocolate like Theo or Kallari, it's pretty clear that crappy chocolate is a waste of calories and money.)


Theo Chocolate is the first organic, fair trade, bean-to-bar chocolate factory in the United States. They source their beans from a variety of regions and roast and process them in the factory in Seattle. This means that the farmers who grow the beans get paid fairly and respectfully. Their chocolate is made with high quality ingredients, and wow! can you taste the difference.


                                        

My mom's new husband, Eric, and I are both big fans of chocolate, so we took a tour of the factory together a few weeks ago. Our peppy tour guide spent the first 15 minutes talking about the history of Theo and what it means to be fair trade, all the while dispensing samples of the chocolate (almond cherry! chai tea! orange!).

I can't remember what this machinery does but it looks really awesome, right?

Then our little group proceded to a glassed in room in the center of the factory. Unfortunately we were there on a weekend so there was no activity. Or oompa-loompas. Or chocolate rivers. He talked us through the process of roasting the beans, making them into a paste, adding cocoa butter, sugar, vanilla beans, and maybe milk, and then we wandered around. The factory smelled like roasted cocoa beans and was really warm (which makes sense, I guess).

The kitchen at Theo Chocolate. I'd LOVE to explore in here! The marble slabs on the right keep the chocolate cool as they're creating confections with it. 

Then we went to the gigantic kitchen, which was my favorite part. Theo makes a lot of chocolate-covered caramels and "confections" on-site, and it was fascinating to see the equipment. The perky tour guide kept the samples flowing. At the end, the sugar-buzzed tour group was deposited in the retail shop and collectively probably spent hundreds on quirky chocolate bars- "bread and chocolate", "ghost chile caramels" and "fig and fennel".

I also don't remember what this was used for, but there's bowl full of chocolate on it.
Tell me... why didn't I go to culinary school??

                             
Eric and I both enjoyed the tour. I actually wish that they'd gone further in depth about the politics of chocolate and what it means, financially and politically, to be a fair-trade chocolate producer, but I guess they have to reach out to a diverse audience and be somewhat accessible to someone who isn't a total foodie. I'd like to return for a tour, but on a busy weekday. I really enjoy factory tours- I like the big machines and watching the repetitive process of chocolates getting wrapped or beer bottles getting filled. I recommend the Theo tour for chocolate fans and Seattleites alike- for $6, you get a decent amount of samples and a pretty interesting, informational tour. And you'll hopefully never go back to eating crappy chocolate.

These gigantic vats are full of chocolate. They're huge- maybe 9 feet tall? 

                           

Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble

One of my favorite uncles is a very picky eater. I've always found it funny, because he's very well travelled and presumably has had to eat strange cuisines all over the world. You'd expect that he would have--at some point--shed fears and dislikes along the way and become immune to unusual flavors and textures. But no, he's still picky- but one of those weird picky eaters who likes peanut butter on everything, including hot dogs. 

But he's one of my favorite uncles, so I can overlook his food quirks. Growing up, I always thought it peculiar that despite his finicky-ness, his favorite dessert was strawberry-rhubarb pie. Rhubarb? Isn't that a little intimidating? Weird? Sour? 

I've come to love rhubarb too, and recently baked a strawberry-rhubarb crumble that my uncle would probably love. Rhubarb, that scarlet, celery-shaped fruit, is one crazy edible plant. It is so unbearably tart on its own, but when it snuggles up with hot strawberries and a generous heap of brown sugar it becomes perky and incredibly flavorful. The hot, buttery crumble on top takes this dish over the edge, and when paired with ice cream... oh my. I ate half the dish (whoops) in one sitting. 

Filling
One quart strawberries, washed and cut in half
1.5 cups rhubarb, chopped in 1" pieces
2T flour
2T cornstarch
juice of one lemon
1/2 c brown sugar

Topping
1 c oats
1 stick butter, melted (yes. one stick. embrace it.)
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 t cinnamon
zest of one lemon
3/4 cup flour
1t baking powder

Heat oven to 375F. Combine filling ingredients, and place in a baking dish. Mix dry topping ingredients in a bowl, then drizzle the melted butter over it, and combine. Sprinkle the topping on the filling, and *important* place baking dish on a cookie sheet, then place in oven. (If you skip the baking sheet, you risk hot bubbling rhubarb dripping all over your oven.)

Top with ice cream for extra bonus points!

"Baking Cakes in Kigali" book review

"Baking Cakes in Kigali" was published in 2009, 15 years after the genocide in Rwanda in 1994. One wouldn't necessarily expect such a pleasant, thoughtful, sweet and readable book to emerge from this country so soon, but "Baking Cakes in Kigali" was a wonderful book. Parkin's writing was really similar to Alexander McCall Smith's very popular "The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency" series in tone and attitude. In the same way that McCall Smith touches on current issues in Botswana (like AIDS and domestic violence), Parkin also addresses the genocide, AIDS, and suicide, yet both authors manage to do so in an observant, personal, matter-of-fact way, and "Baking Cakes" is in no way a depressing book. Rather, I thought it was hopeful and uplifting and strangely not at odds with some of the sadder themes the book deals with.


The main character, Angel Tungaraza, is a Tanzanian living in Rwanda with her husband (who works at a local University) who has a small business baking cakes out of her home on an ex-pat compound. The cast of characters are what makes the book so good. There are quite a few quirky and flawed ex-pat consultants from Japan, the U.S., Canada, and South Africa, a heroic prostitute, a clueless ambassador's wife, several international volunteer/Peace Corps types, a well-liked, hard-working single mother, and quite a few more. I think I particularly enjoyed the secondary characters because I've lived in East Africa and could recognize some of their idiosyncrasies, and I've also spent time as an international volunteer and thought her character sketches of development workers were dead on. 


Angel, like Precious Ramotswe in McCall Smith's novels, is a loving busybody who counsels her clients as she bakes cakes for their various occasions. Each chapter is centered around a different occasion- a funeral, a baptism, a wedding- and Angel's nosiness and empathy help her attempt to solve her neighbor's problems. Angel has a firm sense of right and wrong and it's fun to see her creatively "correct" injustices and connect hapless lovers.


I didn't want this book to end. I'd gladly read anything else Parkin has written. I initially read this book because I thought it was food-centric and would have recipes for cakes or inspire some cake-baking... and it might, but the cakes were really secondary to the beautiful stories in this book. I highly recommend this book, particularly if you're interested in reading something positive and uplifting about Rwanda. 

Eat this right now! (Luke did.)

A year ago this week, Nathan and I woke up early, dressed in our finest, stood in a freezing rainstorm on the beach and became legally committed to each other. (Luke was an 8-month-old fetus at that point, so we were already quite committed in every other way.) I'd like to say the day was perfect in every detail, complete with gloriously warm weather to highlight the promises we were making to each other. However, I was enormously pregnant and soaking wet and shivering my way through the ceremony while our witnesses clutched umbrellas and endured an uncharacteristically frigid May day. Despite the ridiculously awful weather, it was a beautiful day. 

Our good friend John performed the ceremony, speaking beautiful words about marriage equality, adventure, and commitment. Nathan and I held hands and spoke our carefully thought out vows and we all had a champagne toast. (Yes, even pregnant me. Because my wedding was not happening without a few sips of celebratory champagne.) Afterwards, John, his wife Freddie, Nathan and I and our other guests had a delicious brunch together and celebrated with french toast and smoked salmon eggs benedict. 

                                   

A year later, our whole family --Nathan, Luke and I-- went over to Freddie and John's for dinner. We sat on their porch in the glorious evening sun, chatted about life, food, Luke's little quirks, and their new house. Most importantly, Freddie introduced us to this salad. The salad that is likely to become a fixture in our family's regular rotation of meals. The salad that will feature prominently on our table this summer. A one-bowl salad that covers all the necessary food groups: vegetable, protein, starch and bacon. Satisfyingly crunchy, salty, tangy and creamy, this salad blew my mind. 

It blew Luke's mind, too. As you know, my dear adorable son is sadly not a foodie. This crushes me. Every time I fix a savory stir fry, a fruity pancake, or a tasty soup and he flings most of it on the floor, I'm crushed. But this salad? Luke ATE this salad. He ate bits of smoked salmon, bites of roasted potato, the (accidental) odd piece of green bean and even some crumbles of bacon. Not only when we ate it the first night, with Freddie and John, but two nights later when I was so fixated on the deliciousness of the salad that I had to make it again- a huge bowl of it that Nathan and I nearly polished off in one sitting. 

I can't think of a higher vote of confidence for this salad: My son ate it. 

The recipe came from the PCC website, but I made quite a few changes and additions. It's a perfect salad for Eyeballing it because you can make whatever tweaks suit your fancy. No measurements are necessary and winging it is highly encouraged. (In fact, this salad is kind of a perfect analogy for Nathan's and my first year of marriage: winging it got us through this year, and we sure didn't do anything by the book but here we are on the other side, all the better for it.) 

Creamy Potato, Green Bean, and Salmon Salad

1/2 lb green beans (cooked in boiling water for 4 minutes, then blanched immediately in ice water, chopped into 1" pieces)

1.5-2 lbs roasted new potatoes (roast salt/pepper/olive oil-covered wedges for about 20-30 minutes at 400F)

4 oz crumbled smoked wild salmon

1/2 cup toasted walnuts

1/4 cup red or green onion, finely diced

2 slices bacon, cooked and crumbled

Aioli dressing

1/4 cup mayonaise

1/4 cup nonfat yogurt

juice of one lemon

1 T red wine vinegar

salt/pepper to taste

3 cloves garlic, minced

1/3-1/2 cup fresh herbs- whatever you've got- minced

Mix all aioli ingredients together.

Put the green beans, roasted potatoes (best if they're room temperature), salmon, walnuts, green/red onion and bacon in a bowl, then add the dressing and gently stir to combine.

Possible modifications: Use more yogurt/less mayo to make it more healthy. Use Greek yogurt to make it more creamy. Use less garlic to make it less pungent. Experiment with the herb combination- I used mint, basil, and parsley, but Freddie's version used sage and thyme and it was awesome! Leave out the wine vinegar to make it less tangy. 

Ode to the smoothie

Oh, my. I love a good smoothie. At first, I'd prepare one blender's worth of smoothie, which was enough for a large glass each for Nathan and I. Then, I discovered the joy of the immersion blender, and now I'm not even sure why our regular blender even gets a spot on the counter anymore. Immersion blenders are vastly superior to regular blenders. 

I like to make things in bulk: soups, cookie dough, muffins, pot stickers, enchiladas... and then freeze large portions for later. There's nothing quite like the thrill of being absolutely tuckered out--so tuckered that all you can imagine cooking for dinner is Annie's mac'n'cheese-- and then remembering that you've got a dish of homemade chicken and sweet potato enchiladas sitting in the freezer, just waiting to be popped in the oven. Hooray! 

Last weekend Nathan and I scored a small chest freezer off of Craigslist, and we've started filling it with casserole-y type dishes, as well as bags and bags of frozen fruit. 

Currently, we buy most of our frozen fruit at Trader Joe's. It's inexpensive, and they have a decent selection of organic fruit. It's important to buy organic strawberries and raspberries rather than conventional, because conventional berries tend to have large amounts of pesticides on them. We can't afford to buy everything organic, so I use the Environmental Working Group's Dirty Dozen/Clean Fifteen list as a guide to prioritize our organic purchases. 

Every few weeks, I dump a couple bags of strawberries, mangoes, blueberries and/or mixed berries in a bowl, add a few scoops of yogurt (the only way I can tolerate the stuff) and some hefty pours of juice. Maybe a big scoop of flaxseeds if I'm feeling fancy. Give it a solid whir with the immersion blender, and I've got smoothies for a week! I pour the smoothie in jars, put them in the freezer, and every night I put a jar in the fridge to defrost. So easy! 

When I wake up in the morning and start my day off with a smoothie, I find that I'm more motivated to eat healthy throughout the day. Why is that? 

And, magical awesome bonus? Luke LOVES smoothies. I should start sneaking other foods into them, like salmon, or oatmeal, or squash. I do add extra yogurt to his to boost the calories.

(The purple detritus is remnants of a perfectly good blueberry pancake that Luke used for a gravity testing experiment.)

Apple Dutch Baby

I have fond memories while growing up of eating Apple Dutch Babies made by my mom. These were a huge treat at my house -often they were a special weekend breakfast, but occasionally they made their way onto our dinner plates, which was fine by me! They seemed so complicated- the batter would puff up to great heights in the oven, only to quickly deflate once it emerged, and my mom would make a sweet and tart mix of apple, lemon, butter and powdered sugar to top the Dutch Baby with. 

This is another one of those meals (like Carrot Cake Pancakes) that you can delude yourself into thinking is an entirely healthy meal- it's got 2 eggs per serving, so it's full of protein and Omega 3's, and plus- it's topped with apple! Fresh apple! Fiber! Plus lemon, so you won't get scurvy.  

(In addition to baking me many an Apple Dutch Baby, my mom also taught me the fine art of justifying your food: Ice Cream? Yes!! It's got calcium- every woman needs more calcium! Wine? Yes- it's so good for the heart! Chocolate? Hello anti-oxidants! Chips? Salt is an essential mineral! Plus, my mother is gorgeous and in great shape, so her food justifications are that much more believable: Eat ice cream and chips, and you can only hope you'll look as fit as she does.) 

But really, Apple Dutch Babies don't need justification beyond this: They're delicious, and they're really easy. They look fancy and pretty, but really only take a couple minutes of hands-on time. 

Preheat oven to 375.

Batter:

combine 4 eggs with 1/2 cup milk and a generous dash of vanilla extract, then add 1/2 cup flour and whisk well.

In a pre-heated oven-proof dish (like a cast iron skillet or glass pie pan) coat the sides and bottom of the dish with 3 T melted butter, then pour the batter in, and place in oven. It should bake about 20 minutes, but check it at 15. When it's a beautiful light golden brown, remove it and watch as it deflates. 

Filling: I sauteed 3 chopped apples in 1 T butter with the juice of one lemon, a pinch of cinnamon and nutmeg, and a spoonful of powdered sugar, plus a little more powdered sugar to make it pretty when you plate it. 

This is the time to eyeball it, though- if you like more lemon- do it! (Vitamin C!)  Want more butter? (Great source of mono-unsaturated fat, AND Vitamin A!) Think a little scoop of vanilla ice cream will round this dish out? (And, oh, it does. Hello, calcium!)

(Happy Mother's Day, mom!)

What Luke will eat.

Luke won't eat much, but he will eat dirt. Weirdo. He loves to watch us garden and get in on the action by grabbing fistfuls of dirt and munching on it before we can get to him. You've seen what I cook- I can't believe this little man would rather eat dirt!

He also loves mango, in all its forms. Last week it was so warm and sunny, he had a little nekkid time in the backyard and I gave him a mango pit to munch on. He was in LOVE. It kept him occupied for at least half an hour. I think he also consumed quite a bit of grass, too, since the pit kept squirting out of his hands and falling on the grass. Oops. 

Big news, though: I made the Carrot Cake Pancakes again this morning for breakfast, and Luke actually ATE a significant quantity! Better than dirt, I guess!

Carrot Cake Pancakes (Joy!)

Desperately hungry around dinnertime, and craving something sweet, I finally got around to making something from my new Joy the Baker cookbook. I'd been eyeing several recipes, but this one for Carrot Cake Pancakes stood out- I think largely because I believe adding two cups of shredded carrot totally justifies this as a healthy dinner... right? I poured myself a glass of wine and got to it. 

By far, one of the most delicious pancake recipes I've EVER made. They were super-flavorful, had a great fluffy texture despite the moist carrots, and the cream cheese spread was a perfect topping. They tasted *just* like carrot cake, but were much less heavy and weren't overly sweet. (Do you like how in the picture above you can see our fire hydrant? I'm so terrible at taking pictures: Nathan encouraged me to go outside to get better light and while the light was, indeed, better, I captured this awesome background view.) 

I say- 2 cups of veggies? In a pancake? Totally healthy dinner. And I actually made some modifications to make these light, fluffy, spicy pancakes a tad bit (but only a tad) more nutritious. 

Carrot Cake Pancakes

(adapted from the Joy the Baker cookbook)

dry:

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1 t baking powder

1/2 t baking soda

pinch salt

1/2 t each cinnamon and nutmeg and ginger

1/4 c chopped walnuts

1/4 cup raisins

wet:

1 egg

2 T brown sugar

1 cup buttermilk

1 1/2 t vanilla extract

2 cups finely grated carrots

Mix dry ingredients in one bowl, mix wet in another. Add wet to dry all at once, mix to combine, but don't overmix. Cook the pancakes using your favorite method (mine involves butter and a non-stick pan). 

Top with a cream cheese topping. (Let's call it what it is: frosting.) 

4 oz cream cheese

1/4 cup powdered sugar

2 T milk

1 t vanilla extract

pinch salt

pinch cinnamon

Tell me if they are NOT amazing! I'll be making these pancakes again!

And if Luke can ever figure out how to eat... he'll love them too. 

Pioneer Woman!

It's been a good year for food blogger celebrities in Seattle so far... First Joy, now Ree (the Pioneer Woman), and soon, (I hope!) Deb. (Her cookbook should be coming out later this year, and I hope she comes to Seattle!) On Tuesday, Nathan and I ventured out to the Third Place Books at Lake Forest Park to see the Pioneer Woman and have my book signed. I knew she was popular... but this was ridiculous. 

We estimated that there were around 1000 people there- and unlike the hipster crowd at Joy's signing, these were mostly middle-aged ladies, giggly with delight at seeing Ree Drummond. There were, obviously, no seats by the time we showed up, so I stood at the back, my view of Ree mostly obscured by frosted wavy hairstyles. 

Nathan and Luke wandered the bookstore and managed to get this shot for me. 

The Pioneer Woman is, I think, one of the top three food bloggers. She's been doing it a long time, she's a consistent poster, her recipes are approachable (sometimes I think too approachable- she uses a lot of processed foods) and she's now got a show on the Food Network. Her writing is quirky and funny, and since she lives on a working cattle ranch in Oklahoma, the snippets of her country life that she includes in the blog are fascinating.

Unfortunately, since we only arrived a few minutes early, I was in "Signing Group L". When we left the store 20 minutes after her presentation, she was still signing group A and I imagine group L was several hours later. She did, however, say that if you left a copy of the book there with your name on it, she'd sign it and leave it at the store to pick up. With a tired fussy baby who needed to get to bed, I took that option. I thought that was pretty impressive of her. I can't imagine how long it took to sign all those books! I saw one lady waiting for Ree to sign SEVEN copies of the cookbook, and the memoir. (I'm clearly not that gung-ho.)

Just before we went to see Ree, Luke and I went swimming at the Mountlake Terrace pool. I'd heard that it was quite a warm pool and wanted to try it out, but Luke shivered through the entire swim session. (Kid needs to toughen up!) Apparently this is the way to get him to snuggle me (he's really un-snuggly)... make him chilly and he'll hug me for warmth!

"Hungry Monkey" book review

Awwwww, sweet...

I just finished reading "Hungry Monkey: A Food-Loving Father's Quest to Raise and Adventurous Eater" by Matthew Amster-Burton.

This book was published a few years ago by a Seattle foodie and father who endeavors to turn his daughter, Iris, into a fellow foodie. Af first, she's an eager eater and munches down anything they feed her (pad thai, sushi, spicy curries) but as soon as she hits two years old, she turns picky. I've seen this happen to many kids and... well, it might happen to Luke.

The book is a very quick read, with simple meat-centric recipes (no baby purees here, it's all grown-up food that can be adapted to kid's preferences and made with a toddler's help) and lots of stories of Iris and Matthew's adventures in eating. Iris seems to love meat, easily differentiating between different brands of bacon, yet she's picky about vegetables and will only scarf down bok choi if it's a part of a Chinese dumpling.

I found myself aggravated and bemused, in turns, by his stories of feeding his kid. Since Luke is only 10 months old, I'm dealing with a whole different set of food-related issues and I'm still naive enough to hope that he'll be a flexible, mellow eater. The author seemed to allow a certain level of pickiness that I'm not sure I'll have the patience for; allowing her to eat an endless stream of pretzels, cookies, and other starches while steadfastly refusing most things green and vegetabley. On the other hand, Iris chows down on mackerel, lobster and cilantro, so her diet isn't entirely carb-laden.

The book made me think about how I'm going to handle Luke's inevitable "food preferences" as he grows. There's a well-known child nutritionist, Ellyn Satler, who has popularized the term "division of responsibility" in reference to feeding children. It basically states that parents are responsible for the what, when, and where of feeding, and children are responsible for the how much and whether of eating. So basically, I'm responsible for offering Luke 3 square meals a day of healthy and varied foods. Luke's responsible for actually choosing to put that food in his mouth and swallow it.

This is already a struggle for us. Though I've offered Luke innumerable types of vegetables, he rarely actually swallows them. And it's not just vegetables. Luke, at 10 months, is really not all that into food. He may or may not swallow a few nibbles of something but he inevitably spits it all up. It's frustrating and puzzling. Lately, we've found that he really likes freeze-dried mangoes and strawberries. Do you know how expensive freeze-dried mangoes and strawberries are? Yeah. Not cheap. But he'll happily put the mango in his mouth and let it dissolve and (likely accidentally) swallow it. He can do wholegrain hippie cheerios, too, and the occasional graham cracker, and he'll suck on broccoli for ages. But yogurt? salmon? beans? Nope.

Today we had a bit of a breakthrough. After slurping a large chunk of pear through this ridiculous mesh feeder (he won't actually eat a pear chunk) he seemed interested in my grapefruit. So I offered him some, thinking, "what baby likes grapefruit"? Mine, apparently. Later, I was eating avocado and spicy salsa and he exhibited curiosity, so I offered him a small chunk. Yup. He was totally into it, and ate at least a tablespoon. Weirdo.

So, who knows what our food future will bring with this particular, quirky little boy of ours. I enjoyed "Hungry Monkey", largely because the author is so clearly a food-loving man and wants nothing more than to enjoy his favorite things with his daughter. Despite her pickiness and strong preferences, Iris seemingly enjoys food, cooking, eating and trying out restaurants. It's an important reminder to me that it's important to stay relaxed and encouraging about this whole food thing, and know that, at some point, Luke will be excited about food.

Moroccan tagine

yes, it's a terrible picture but I was distracted by eating 

and barely remembered to even take a picture. whoops.

Oh my. This was one of our culinary highlights of the year so far! I wanted to make a tagine of some sort for my 2012 Food Challenge. I'd read about tagine in "Trail of Crumbs"and it seems to be making the food blog circuit, too. 


After googling, I found quite a few recipes that I borrowed from, like this one, and this one. Generally, they all called for similar ingredients, so (as I like to do) I winged it and created my own! 


I baked the tagine in a clay pot that looks similar to this pot. Nathan found it at Goodwill- interestingly, it's from West Germany. I soaked the pot in water for several hours, then threw in about 10 chicken drumsticks that were marinated overnight (see recipe below), a roughly chopped onion, a can of green olives, a handful of raisins, and about 3 diced preserved lemons. This baked in the oven (at about 400F) for around 90 minutes. We served it with brown rice, sauteed chard and homemade sweet potato french fries and a creamy herb dip. (Thanks to Chelsea and Scott!)


The sauce is tangy, bright, and rich thanks to the combination of spices, chunks of happy lemon and salty olives. The chicken was ridiculously tender- literally falling off the bone. (I recommend using bone-in chicken- preferably a combination of dark and light meat.) The raisins added some low, dark sweetness and didn't interfere with the texture of the dish (if the idea of squishy raisins concern you.)


This dish got rave reviews, and we plan to make it again.  In fact, I've got my second batch of preserved lemons going in the fridge- they are incredible. I'm going through a lemon withdrawal as we wait for them to finish the preservation process (it takes about 4 weeks.) 


We used the clay pot to be more authentic (as authentic as Seattle-dwelling caucasians making a dish from a country they've never visited can), but this dish can be made in a crock pot (Moroccans everywhere are gasping in horror) or in a large, covered saute pan on the stove. 


Considering how complex and rich the flavors are, the process is really easy! You don't even need to stir the ingredients, they all magically meld together in the pot. 


To a soaked clay pot (or other coverable, heatable vessel), add:
1 chopped large onion
1/2 cup rasins
1 cup green olives
1 cup chicken broth
3-4 chopped preserved lemon (remove the seeds, but just loosely chop the whole lemon)
handful fresh parsley
and
8-12 pieces of bone-in chicken- marinated


Chicken marinade*:
in a small dish, combine:
1/4 cup olive oil
1 heaping teaspoon each of turmeric, cinnamon, ground ginger, paprika and cumin
1/2 teaspoon each of saffron threads (if you have them- they won't make or break the dish)  
       and ground black pepper
3-4 diced cloves garlic**


Cover the clay pot and put it in the oven, THEN turn the oven heat on to 400F. If you put the clay pot directly into the oven, there's a risk of it cracking.


I let it bake for about 1.5 hours and it was perfect, so check your chicken around an hour and determine if it needs more time. Your house will smell amazing and your guests will be drooling. Enjoy!


*I put the chicken parts in a large ziplock bag and added the marinade, massaged the chicken firmly to coat it in marinade, and put it in the fridge overnight. 
**Note that I didn't add any salt: the preserved lemons and olives are pretty salty, so it's best to add salt after you've cooked and tasted the dish- if it's even necessary. 

Joy! (The Baker)

why does Luke look like he's doing a martial arts move?

Joy the Baker recently visited Seattle on a book tour, and I went to hear her speak and have my copy of her cookbook signed. I'll definitely write about her cookbook when I have a chance to review it, but for now- here's a picture of Luke and I at Luke's first book signing. 


Joy was sweet and lovely and cool and awkward, which is exactly how I'd describe her blog. She spoke for about 30 minutes about baking, blogging and her cat to an audience of around 100 women (and maybe 3 men?). Several local Seattle bloggers, including Ashley of Not Without Salt (I love her "dates with my husband series"- so romantic!) were there and baked goodies out of Joy's cookbook. 


The signing was held at Book Larder- a new cookbook store in Fremont. It's a gorgeous store and I'm looking forward to going back and perusing their book selection. They had a beautiful demonstration kitchen there, so I'll have to check out their class schedule, too!


This was a great food adventure- I'm hoping to go to a few more cookbook tours this year. (Pioneer Woman is coming next month, and I can only hope that Deb of Smitten Kitchen will be visiting Seattle, too!)

Final Veggie Count!

It took a bit over a month, but Luke has officially tasted/squished/spat up/flung/chewed-upon 29 vegetables! (Take that, France!) 

 sampling a roasted parsnip

Favorites include anything cruciferous: kale, broccoli, purple cabbage. 
Dislikes: well- it's hard to tell. My kid appears to be one of those strange babies who won't eat. If you've met him, you know how stubborn he can be. He is adamant that any food that enters his mouth is brought there under his own power. He won't eat purees, steamed chunks of food... nothing. But he'll happily sit in his chair and slurp on a chunk of broccoli for 15 minutes, so for now, we're going to have to be happy with that. Hopefully some day soon he'll catch on to that whole "swallowing" thing. 

post beet bath

Here's the final list!
1. carrot
2. sweet potato
3. avocado
4. kale
5. peas
6. acorn squash
7. celery
8. bell pepper
9. asparagus
10. cucumber
11. brussels sprout 
12. arugula
13. zucchini
14. purple cabbage
15. broccoli
16. artichoke heart
17. spinach
18. bok choy
19. mustard greens
20. green bean
21. chard
22. parsnip
23. sunchoke
24. onion
25. broccoli rabe
26. snow pea
27. beet
28. edamame
29. turnip

tooth brushing is a critical part of veggie sampling. 

too bad he doesn't know which end is which.

Food Adventure: Paseo

For some reason, Paseo, a Caribbean restaurant in Seattle, has come across my radar lately. The weird thing is, I used to live about a half mile from it (for 4 years!) and never once thought about eating there. Over the past few months, though, I kept hearing about it. It got mentioned on a couple food blogs that I follow, and several friends mentioned how delicious it is.

So, I added it to my Food Challenge 2012 Adventures list. Since we live about a half an hour away, we didn't make it there until just recently, when we had another exciting food adventure across the street. (I met Joy the Baker, Eeeeeee!!)

I know next to nothing about caribbean food, so I can't attest to Paseo's authenticity, but I can attest to the deliciousness of the grilled chicken breast sandwich!

The bread. Oh, wow. I don't know how to describe it. It was a large baguette, with the most amazing crust. Can anyone tell me how they made the bread? It was as if just the thinnest layer of the outer crust was deep-fried, but without being oily. The texture was crispy and crunchy but immediately giving way to a chewy yeasty fluffy middle. The baguette demanded something exciting to fill its insides- butter wouldn't do. The marinated chicken breast and accompaniments were perfect.

The marinade was sweet and smoky- I would have loved to dip the entire sandwich in a vat of the marinade with each bite. The sandwich was decorated with crisp romaine, pickled jalapenos and a generous smattering of cilantro. The cilantro was what did it- it perked up each bite! There was some sort of aioli smeared on the bread (oh, the bread!) which didn't lend anything to the flavor but definitely helped with the mouthfeel- the creamy-coolness was great and melded with the spice of the jalapenos well.

For $8.50, the size of the sandwich was just right. The restaurant is tiny- I think there was seating for about 12 people inside so Nathan, Luke and I walked outside into the rain. The ambience wasn't anything special, so I didn't feel we were missing out, but it would have been nice to sit and ponder my meal. In summers, there is a small patio with more seating, so it would be more comfortable then.

The only things keeping me from eating at Paseo more often are the distance and the sourcing of the meat. I'm pretty sure the meat isn't organic- most places in Seattle usually brag about which local farm their chicken or pork came from- and we try to avoid conventionally farmed animals whenever possible.

If I could find out where their bread came from- or convince Nathan to perfect the baguette- we could totally replicate this at home. Now, to find a caribbean marinade recipe...

"Trail of Crumbs" book review

Trail of Crumbs: Hunger, Love, and the Search for Home

Kim Sunee

2008

(Image credit: http://www.kimsunee.com/books.html)

I really, really wanted to like this memoir. It had been recommended by a few friends, and the description on the book jacket made it seem right up my alley- an adventurous young woman travels the world in search of love and a sense of place (she was born in Korea and adopted by an American family at age 3), cooking all the while. 

It took me a while to post this review, because the book was such a drag to get through. I hate to spend much time writing about a book that I didn't enjoy (because it's not like anyone reading this is going to go out and read it now) but it was on my list of books to read in 2012. So. I read it. 

I think part of the problem for me was that the majority of recipes that Kim interjects into each chapter were based in French cooking. And (no offense to Julia Child), French cooking just doesn't intrigue me. It's stuffy, inaccessible, heavy-sounding, and relies too much on animals and animal parts that I don't want to eat. 

Kim writes of what must have been a confusing, dramatic time in her life with very little passion. She's supposedly madly in love with a famous French business man (who, to be frank, seems to be a complete ass from the beginning of the book), and claims to find solace in cooking. Why did I feel like her writing was so passion-less? I wanted to drool over her words, feel inspired to cook new French dishes, admire her emotional strength. Instead, I struggled to stay awake through each long chapter. (And to be honest, I made it about 4/5 of the way through the book, mostly through a sense of obligation, and then it was due at the library so I returned it before finishing it.)

There were, however, two food items that I was inspired by in "Trail of Crumbs". At one point, Kim travels to North Africa and eats a dish with harissa, a hot sauce common in the region. I've read about it before and I'd like to try it. I live in an area with a lot of African immigrants, so I think I'll be able to find a can of it to try. The other dish is one that I'll cook some time in the next few weeks- an Orange Couscous Salad. 

(Inspired by "Trail of Crumbs")

2 c. cooked couscous

1/4 c. olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

2 oranges- one juiced, one zested and chopped

handful chopped parsley

handful chopped mint

chopped cucumber

1/2 c raisins

Adventures with Sunchokes

Have you ever heard of a sunchoke? They're the same thing as a Jerusalem artichoke. I hadn't heard of either until recently, and they've been on my list of things to try for my 2012 Food Challenge. They aren't from Jerusalem, nor are they related to artichokes. Sunchokes are in the sunflower family and are native to North America.

Fascinatingly enough, in my research (on good ol' Wikipedia) I discovered that the sunchoke gained notoriety in the 1980's when they became part of an agricultural pyramid scheme. Apparently farmers in the midwest were coerced into believing that sunchokes were the next big thing in the tuber world, and many started planting and selling the seeds to those lower on the pyramid. This didn't work out well- obviously- since sunchokes haven't really replaced potatoes or yams on the American table.

 I acquired a few fresh sunchokes yesterday from Full Circle Farms, and did some googling to figure out what to do with them. Most recipes compared them to potatoes, and since I had two giant leeks and an armful of russet potatoes, I decided to incorporate them into a potato leek soup.

I peeled and sliced the sunchokes and added them to chicken broth along with sauteed leeks and chunks of potato. After simmering for about 30 minutes, I blended everything with an immersion blender. I also added a bag of frozen spinach to make the soup pretty and green (and healthier, I suppose). I finished the soup with a couple cups of whole milk, a dollop of sour cream and some heavy dashes of cayenne pepper.

Before I pureed the sunchoke in with the potatoes, I sampled a piece. It was beigy-grey and had a texture and flavor similar to artichoke hearts. It was a notable flavor in the soup, too... somewhat nutty and mostly similar to artichoke heart, but without the fun tang. I'm glad I tried it, but I don't think I'll be going out of my way to buy sunchokes in the future. It wasn't overly impressive. That said, I'd like to try it again- perhaps cooked by a professional chef in a different way. 

Have you tried sunchoke? How was it served? 

Crepes

I've never been to France. I hear their crepes are incredible. However, I have been to Germany. I don't think crepes are the first thing that comes to mind when one thinks of Germany (foods ending in -schnitzel and -wurst DO, however), but I did have some amazing crepes in Germany. 


Every day in Bonn (where we were working at a UNFCCC climate change conference) after a long day of taking notes, Nathan and I took the superbly efficient train from the conference center to downtown to find a place for dinner. At the train station, just as we exited with the crowd, there was a small, nondescript crepe stand. The first few days, I barely noticed it, but towards the end of the first week I thought about the crepe stand all day long. (I was hungry and I tend to have long food fantasies.) 

One night, as we got off the train, I dragged Nathan through the crowd of German students and business women and drunk men and pointed to the picture of a crepe crammed with Nutella, bananas, and whipped cream. It was so, so good. I think I ate two that afternoon and had one nearly every day until we left Bonn. 


Since Nutella isn't an easy-to-find ingredient, those crepes have slipped off my radar until recently, when I read "The Sharper Your Knife, The Less You Cry", by Kathleen Flinn. I really enjoyed the book, though most of the recipes were more meat-oriented. I lingered over the crepe recipe and last night decided to make it as part of my 2012 Food Challenge. 

Crepe batter:
¾ cup flour
Pinch of salt
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup milk
1-2 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
3 tbsp melted butter melted

Filling for the crepe:
Thinly sliced bananas
Nutella 

1. Whisk together the dry ingredients in a bowl.
2. Mix together the milk and the vanilla.
3. Add a third of the milk mixture and the eggs to the dry ingredients, slowly incorporating in the flour.
4. Whisk in the remaining milk and melted butter.
5. Allow it to rest for 30 minutes.
6. Heat a non-stick pan on a low-medium heat and brush it with a little butter. 
7. Pour about ¼ cup of the batter onto the heated pan, and tilt the pan to coat it evenly.
8. The crepe is ready to flip once the edges are slightly browned. Stack them up.

Add nutella and sliced bananas and fold the crepes in quarters, or roll up. They were delicious as is, but we sent them over the top by adding a couple scoops of vanilla ice cream.