3/22/09 Irish Beef Pie

Got potatoes and cabbage in the veggie box before St. Patty’s; that’s total inspiration to make something Irish. Looked through a bunch of recipes for traditional dishes and settled for Irish Beef Hand Pies (from Martha Stewart’s website of all places). The recipe says prep time 15mins, total time 1hr. Okay, I know better. That may be possible if you are the host of a one hour cooking show and there’s a team of people behind the scene cutting and dicing and prepping all the stuff (and you can pull them fresh out of the oven after the commercial break). The picture for this recipe shows photogenic little rectangular hand pies with the edges of the pies neatly crimped down with fork tines. But here in the studio kitchen of Peggy O’Chiang (with my 29 year old oven), there’s no full staff. Gotta peel the potatoes (Jon did that before disappearing upstairs), chop the cabbage, cook the ground sirloin and the veggies and put everything together for the filling. But wait! Need to thaw the pie crust if you’re not making your own, reads the recipe – who the hell has time to make your own pie crust on a weeknight?!?! And don’t forget to let the filling cool. Then you have to roll the pie crust out from a round 9” diameter to a rectangle and then divide it into 4 pieces to make “hand” pies. I’m sure all of you know I can’t follow a recipe, let alone something from Martha Stewart – turn a round pie crust into a rectangle – are you kidding me?!?! Screw that, it’s gonna be one big pie. Took about half an hour to bake. Came out pretty good. I would make it again, but maybe not on a weeknight. Prep time 1hr, total time 3hr.


In the Veggie Box:
Strawberries (4 boxes)
Chard
Cabbage
Oranges
Red leaf lettuce
Romaine
Lemons
Limes
Baby bok choy
Parsley
Broccoli
Mizuna
Potatoes (white)

3/10/09 Organic Produce

I’ve been cooking practically every night, trying to use up the vegetables in the produce box. Hard to believe we’ve been members with the farm for 2 years now. It’s been great. Two years ago, I had never cooked chard or kale, and beets were never allowed in the kitchen. Now, we actually look forward to chard. And, I found a recipe for chocolate cake using beets…. How pissed would Jon be if I made him a chocolate (beet) cake for his birthday??? That’s just too mean. He has no trouble eating the beet greens though. Here’s a list of dinner menu for a recent week:

Thai red curry with potatoes, cabbage, and beet greens – I was actually thinking about making Chinese yellow curry (like my mom’s curry chicken stew). Ended up using Thai red curry paste, but it came out yellowish.

Pork chops with apples and arugula with raspberry-jalapeno jam sauce + potatoes on the side – We got a jar of raspberry-jalapeno jam for Christmas (from New Mexico) and it was a great base for the pan sauce.

Organic penne with broccoli and red pepper flakes – One can only stir fry so much broccoli in a week.

Spicy tofu with ground pork and Sichuan peppercorn – my mom gave me a bag of Sichuan peppercorns. They are spicy and numbing at the same time.

Pasta with asparagus – Asparagus pee anyone?

Linguine in red sauce with Italian sausage – an old standby

Beef stew with potatoes, carrots, and celery – Jon made this in the slow cooker and it turned out great.

In the Veggie box
Apples
Beets with greens
Oranges
Potatoes (white)
Broccoli
Carrots
Green onions
Celery
Cabbages (2)
Bok choy
Strawberries
Radishes
Arugula

12/8/08 Farmers Markets

I’ve come to realize that the one thing I love to do is going to farmers markets. Maybe it’s my support of the locavore movement, or just my obsession with food and eating in general, but I find that I’m happiest when I’m walking around a farmers market. I’ve been to quite a few good ones this year:

Greenmarket in NYC
I have heard and read about this market, and I had imagined it to be huge. It’s probably bigger on weekends, but I went on a Monday and it was quite manageable. It was the beginning of autumn, so I had a chance to sample some great apple cider. It’s interesting to see the different things offered on the east coast (ie: maple syrup). Living in southern California, our growth season is year-round, so some things we get all the time or later in the season than the east coast, or some things we don’t get at all.

Ferry Plaza Farmers Market in San Francisco
This has to be my favorite of all markets. We were in Berkeley end of October and had a free day to play in San Francisco. Took the ferry across the bay and the market was set up right there outside of the Ferry Building. I was like a kid in a candy store, wanted one of each of everything. But of course, we were staying at a hotel so there’s no place to cook that humanely-raised veal shank, or bake that purple potato galette. No matter, I was free to make up dishes in my mind, magnificent feasts of my sole creation and imaginary consumption. What, try eleven different varieties of apples for a $1 donation? Okay. Oh yes, of course I want to try the different jams. How convenient, the bread for jam samples is from the next booth? But alas, we must head off to our lunch reservation at the Slanted Door.

Dupont Circle Farmers Market in Washington DC
It was 8:00 on a Sunday morning and temperature was around high 20s / low 30s. The farmers were just setting up the stalls. I was in DC for a conference and was staying at a hotel half a block from the market. Fresh breads and pastries, meats of all kind, fresh shellfish from the Chesapeake, holiday balsam, wow, I would totally stay but really late for a lecture on the neurobiology of decision making. Hmmm, let’s decide. Which one is more fun – farmers market or lecture? Wow, is that a quince?? Better go check it out.

In the veggie box
Carrots
Radishes
Cabbage
Beets
Green kale
Baby bok choy
Oranges
Apples
Tomatoes
Grape tomatoes
Red leaf lettuce
Romaine
Cilantro

11/22/08 Meat Cake

My friend Scott is a true carnivore. He used to have a sticker on his truck that read something like If We’re Not Supposed to Eat Animals, Why are They Made of Meat? He really knows how to cook meat too. Anyway, he is not a fan of sweets. He can maybe choke down a handful of peanut M&Ms, only because it’s more peanut than M&M. So usually for his birthday, instead of a birthday cake, I would make him a green bean casserole or jalapeno corn bread. This year, I invited him over for his birthday, and I had to come up with something I know he would like. Cooking any slab of meat for him would be out, since I’m not that good at cooking meat and he would probably end up cooking it himself. It would have to contain meat though, and it would have to be something birthday appropriate. So thus, I made a meat cake. It’s actually like a taco casserole. It’s a casserole of ground meat, taco seasoning, salsa, corn, and cheese on the bottom, with a jalapeno cheddar corn bread topping. It’s quite tasty, and I think Scott liked it. I think he was mostly enamored with the idea of calling it a meat cake. Hey, Peggy made me a meat cake. Hey, I just had a piece of meat cake. Oh, it’s just what I wanted, a meat cake. I got a meat cake for my birthday.

In the veggie box
Apples
Green pears
Oranges
Tomatoes
Cherry tomatoes
Arugula
Green beans
Green leaf lettuce
Red leaf lettuce

9/13/08 Four More Days in NYC

9/13/08 Cross Town Doubleheader
Since both ball games in New York were rained out the night before, the Mets were going to have a doubleheader starting at 4pm, and the Yankees were going to have their doubleheader starting at 1pm. Our tickets were good for both teams, so we went off to do the first game at Shea Stadium in Queens and the later Yankees game in the Bronx. Met up with our friends Leslie and Tom (better known to some of you as Mr. and Mrs. Foston in our Fantasy Baseball League). We thought we had good seats behind home plate, but it was the last row under the overhang, behind home plate. All I could see was the very large dude in front of me.


We didn’t get anything to eat cuz Jon and I went to Ray’s Pizza in the Village before the hour-long trek on the subway to Shea. I wasn’t sure if that was the famous Ray’s Pizza, but I was pretty sure it was the same one Leslie took me to 20 years ago. (I still can’t believe the first time I was in New York was 20 years ago). Mets lost to the Braves, and after the game, we trekked over to Yankees Stadium and sat down in the box seats with Tom and Leslie.


I went in search of food and brews, and settled for the Italian Sausage sandwich. It was probably the best that Yankees Stadium had to offer, but everything was so expensive I had to charge it. Yankees won, Frank was on the PA after the game, and a great day was had by all.

9/14/08 Feasting in the the hot weather
Feast of San Gennaro, the famous weeklong festival in Little Italy. I’ve heard much about it, and couldn’t wait to go. Several blocks between Grand and Canal were blocked off, and food stands were set up on the streets.


Walked around a bit before settling for lunch on the covered patio of Da Gennaro on Mulberry Street. I had the best rigatoni alla vodka ever. Service was swift but we still had to endure the cheesy dance club version of The Godfather theme being blasted out of a boombox over and over again from the carnival stand on the corner. Had to get out of there but it meant going out to the 90deg + heat. It was so hot, even the hard torrone was melting on the candy stand. Ended up in the shaded street stall in front of Ferrara for cannoli & gelati. Wanted to get a drink downtown but got on the wrong subway. On the Q express, I knew we were on the wrong train when we came out from under ground. (Jon said Hey there's the Brooklyn bridge! Yeah, that’s because we’re on the wrong train) Didn't let us off until DeKalb Ave. in Brooklyn. Sheesh. just wanted to get a drink and get out of the oppressive heat. Should have walked a few blocks, but 40min later and a roundtrip across the East River, we got back to where we started. Ended up walking over to the Soho Grand. The Soho Grand Hotel is a fancy boutique hotel where the beautiful people stay and everything is decorated in what I think is Gotham upscale Pottery Barn. I ordered water and a drink called Spa. It's Hendrick's gin, cucumber, mint, and lime. It was kinda peppery too. Cooled me off. Then Jon came up with a brilliant idea to ride the Staten Island ferry. It's free. Really cheap and romantic date for those of you into cheap but romantic activities. We went there around 6:30, so the sun was going to set and it wasn't blazing hot. Got off the subway and walked right on the ferry. Jon got one of the cheapest beers in New York on the ferry (from the saloon deck) for $3.50. That totally put a smile on his face. After getting back to Manhattan, we walked around the financial district but didn't linger around because we had been there before. Little did we know the entire financial market was going down at that exact moment. We were hungry by 7:00 but dinner reservation wasn’t til 9:30. So we went into the Millenium Hotel right across from Ground Zero and asked the concierge where we should go for an appetizer. He suggested the Trinity Bar and restaurant on Cedar. It was a bank vault under ground and you walk through the vault door to get in. Saw the last minute of the Charger game. They, for the 2nd week in a row, lost in the last 20 seconds of the game (Norv, you are not going to last as the head coach). We shared a small plate of empanadas and headed back to the hotel to change before dinner. Dinner reservation was at Gramercy Tavern, one of Danny Meyer’s restaurants. Walking out of the hotel, I was thinking maybe we should get a cab, since I was wearing strappy heels and wasn’t sure how I was going to do walking with those shoes and going from subway to subway. That’s how you can tell if you’re a tourist or a local. The tourists will be wearing sensible shoes whereas the locals will be popping out of taxis in thousand dollar stillettos. We took the subway, and for some reason, Jon couldn’t get through the turnstile after he swiped his weekly pass. I was already inside the subway station. He swiped it again and it wouldn’t let him in because he had just swiped it. (This is to prevent many people from using the same weekly pass). He kept swiping and I was yelling at him to stop. He was not going to get through for probably another 5 to 10 minutes. We were late for dinner and I told him he should just go and get a single ride ticket and come through. He was really pissed and swiped his pass one more time, just to get denied one more time. Finally he turned around, muttering bullshit the whole time, threw some money in the machine, got a single ride ticket, came through the turnstile, and slammed that ticket into the trash can. (Should have called a cab) Popped out of the subway station and realized we were looking at the Flatiron Building. Had to walk a few blocks, and finally got to the restaurant 15 minutes late. Jon and I were both flushed and sweaty by the time we got there, and they gave us a few minutes on the benches to enjoy the air conditioning. Once we were seated in the dining room, our waiter came by and introduced himself. He looked just like Seth Meyers from SNL. Jon and I decided on the tasting menus, he chose the summer tasting menu and I picked the vegetable tasting menu. We left the wine to the waiter, and he came back with the perfect pairings. The service was impeccable, and the food was excellent. It was a great food experience in the big city.

9/15/08 Puttering around on a work day
The pace and sounds of NYC are totally different on a weekday. Jon went to Starbucks and got coffee and juice and totally noticed the difference. People are in the city to work, to get things done. We ate the breakfast muffins that came with our bill from Gramercy Tavern (other people got granola but the wait staff must have known we weren’t locals). We headed out to Rockefeller Center and decided to go up to the “Top of the Rock.” Great views in all directions from Midtown. Took the subway down to Union Square and had lunch at Blue Water Grill. It was nice to sit on the patio and watch the movement of the city on a late summer day. And of course, I had to walk through the famous Greenmarket and see what was offered by the local farmers and growers. Headed over to Macys and did some shopping. Popped back to the hotel to clean up and change for dinner. Met Leslie in the Meatpacking District at Brass Monkey. Saw the guy with the blond spiky hair from the Food Network. Went to the trendy brasserie Pastis in the area but the food was only mediocre and the service was surly. I guess that’s where the pretty people go to be seen. The night ended with Leslie on the PATH train back to Hoboken and us on the subway back to the hotel.

9/16/08 Last of the vacation
I was on a mission to get a decent bagel in the Big Apple. Walked all the way to the Hudson to Hells Kitchen for the H&H bagel factory. The walk was long enough that Jon had to stop in a Dunkin’ Donut to get a second cup of coffee half way back to the hotel. The bagels were awesome. On full stomachs, we headed out to the Natural History Museum uptown. Got on the express train and shot all the way to Harlem. Had to turn around and got off at Columbus Circle. So instead, we went to Central Park and walked around. Walked over to the Lake and the Boat House. It was so nice to walk around in the Park, knowing that we were surrounded by the beat of the big city. We ended up having our final meal of the trip at another park, a great lunch at the Bryant Park Grill.

GRAMERCY TAVERN
Summer Tasting Menu:
Citrus cured arctic char / Lemon confit
Smoked trout / Cippollini puree and pickled onion vinaigrette
Cod / Zucchini puree and avocado squash
Duck confit / Heirloom peppers and eggplant puree
Rack of veal / Corn, tomato and basil
Tasting dessert

Vegetable Tasting Menu:
Summer squash and house cured pork loin / Husk cherry vinaigrette
Zucchini soup / Crispy baby trout and marinated cucumbers
Fennel and lemon risotto / Razor clam
Warm salad of vegetables and faro
Ricotta ravioli / Guanciale, corn and stewed tomato
Tasting dessert