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...