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Oh_food
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Name: Kelly
Country: United States
State: California
Gender: Female
Interests: Food, obviously. I'm particularly obsessed with soups. And at the moment, especially: cilantro, cranberries, anti-oxidants, limes, bones and cartilage, the allium family (garlic, onions, leeks and the like), ravioli, Chinese cuisine, Moroccan food, and anything braised or simmered. As of March-ish, I've been really interested in clean-tasting, simple foods, too: cucumbers, limes, avocados, parsley and cilantro. Carrots and celery. I love (but can't afford)Williams-Sonoma and Emile Henry. Non-food interests include writing, books, my boyfriend Jesse, my friends, emails, yarn, road trips, Third Eye Blind, Montana.
Expertise: Whining, reading quickly, driving Mullet, scrapbooking, thinking too hard but somehow still missing the entire point. (Yeah, yeah.) Figuring out ingredients just based on the taste of something. I'm horrible with cleavers and paring knives but I can chop onions without crying.
Occupation: Student
Message: message meEmail: email me
Website: visit my website
AIM:  akstardoll497
Member Since:
1/26/2006
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| But now that I'm going to be housewifing it up, I should start up again.
OH, FOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOD
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One last visit with an old friend.
It occurred to me recently that as winter is soon to be over (it's hard to tell in San Diego, where mid-December is a balmy seventy outside) that butternut squash's reign of glory is nearly over. Sad! So during my weekly trip to the grocery store I made sure to get one. (Henry's, happily, had organic ones - remember the pesticide warning.)
The squash was actually sort of bland; the season's definitely almost over. But that's okay; it just means we need to find other ways to make eating that much vitamins/calcium/magnesium/folate/manganese/potassium. (Mmm!) I tire of soups quickly, so I made two kinds: one was butternut squash with potato, thyme and rosemary (fairly self-explanatory) and the other, slightly more exciting, lacks a name, but I'll give you the recipe anyway. It ended up being kind of a fun combination of flavors - sweet and rich, with a bit of a kick - and it's really, really good for you.
Unchristened liquid of health!
Half a medium-sized butternut squash
2 cans chicken broth
2 cups water
2 apples, chopped
1 cup carrots, chopped
1 onion, chopped
1 cup celery (leaves and all), chopped
3 cloves garlic
2 tsp fresh ginger, chopped
1 Tbs curry powder
1 generous spoonful brown sugar
Cayenne pepper
In a soup kettle, brown the onion, garlic and ginger with just a dash of olive oil for two to three minutes, then add the celery and carrots. Brown until the onions are nearly translucent. Add everything else EXCEPT one chopped apple and simmer for about forty minutes, then add the still-raw apple and blend it all together using a food processor on an immersion blender (mine, by the way, is on its way - I cannot wait to have it!!!). (If you like your soups thicker, blend just the solid ingredients and add the liquid until the soup has reached the consistency you like.) Add cayenne pepper to taste.
See how easy? And, really, quite healthy too.
In other news, round one of avocado soup failed miserably, because I used the wrong type of chili and then added too much other stuff trying to compensate. (And I like spicy foods - this was just too much.) I'm waiting for the next round of fruits to ripen, and when they do, I'll try again. | | |
| Food-related pictures. For fun. (And since I'm thrilled that I remembered the password for this site.)
(And, um, hi Mom. I hope you're reading this and I know if you are you'll start laughing and try to figure out a way to reply, but you actually have to join Xanga to do that, and I'm pretty sure that'd be beyond you. Hahha.)
Donny gets food, too. =)
This is ART, Serina. Actually this is three jelly beans whose colors I thoguht looked really cool together. As I proved to Tim and Minh, IDing Jelly Belly flavors is one of my talents. Borders on the uncanny, actually. Here we have, from left to right, a banana one, a juicy pear one, and a watermelon one. (Hahah Em, remember how hard you laughed when I tried to take these pictures?)
Two of my favorite things in my San Diego kitchen: a really attractive spice rack Jesse gave me, and a jar from Williams-Sonoma (that I got for seven dollars! I win).
Another key player in the kitchen. Actually, I use it less now that I have a real stove, but my dear friend's saint of a mother gave me this freshman year when I was in the dorms, and it seriously saved me. You'd be surprised at all the things you can make in it.
This is Alvin making slow-roasted cherry tomatoes this summer in Davis. Alvin is probably actually one of the main reasons that food interests me. If you're ever lucky enough to have him cook for you, you can probably die happy.
It was so, so good.
Um, Annie and Tim were really, really impressed this summer when I so masterfully arranged the leftover sprinkles from my Golden Spoon like so. Actually, none of us ever really believed it could be done. I'm living proof to the contrary, though, so don't give up on those dreams just yet.
This is the kitchen I share with Colleen, and this is the ever-fun and ever-loving Annie Marino on her twenty-first birthday. Jesse thought she should have some real alcohol to celebrate the occasion, so he's about to spoon-feed her some Bacardi, and as you can see she's really thrilled about it.
Sooooo delicious!
Sooooo delicious!
My own 21st! Baccione's, in Hillcrest. Our waitress (back left) was delightful. And Annie's trying to hide from the memories. (It's okay! No it's okay!)
My idol Miss Emily Chen led an incredibly deprived childhood, apparently, because she had never made cookies, so when she and Alvin and I went to visit Davis we made some. Hers were really cute. Look how hard she's working. Alvin's doing something in the kitchen, I'm not sure what, but I'm pretty positive it isn't doing dishes.
I, on the other hand, grew up baking cookies with my aunt, which actually meant that she did all the work and I got to cut out and decorate them. It was always a holiday tradition. Here are Jesse and Brett - two of my very favorite men - partaking in it; this is holiday gingerbread!
Brett's gingerbread church!
... And Jesse's deformed gingerbread man cookie, which, as Jesse pointed out, "Tastes just the same even though he may look different. And it's the inside that counts." Also, a really good shot of my hair looking incredibly manlike. Hot, I know.
Even though she never made cookies, Em is actually really adept at creating really appetizing-looking facefoodthings.
Em's not actually all that modest about her talent, either; but it's okay, because Steph is letting her have her moment, even thoug what she did with her leftovers was objectively pretty inferior. How selfless! (I MISS you girls.)
Lamb m'rozia from Marrakesh in downtown La Jolla. So, so good. SO good.
Strawberry cheesecake from The Living Room in downtown LJ. (By the way, cheesecake's actually got 2/3 cups of liquids, not 2 1/3 ....)
The cake Jesse's family made for him. =) Cute.
My cousin's baby with a canister of jelly beans almost as big
as she is.
A really talented chocolatier just opened up a new shop in downtown Saratoga. Her truffles are beautiful - albeit really expensive - these I bought because I was interested in how they tasted (one was lime, one was chili - the lime was good, the chili needed more of a kick) but the other ones she has are even more beautiful.
The ones with the poppies are especially beautiful; I loved the striped ones, too. Would never buy them again, but I'm glad they ... exist.
My first solo attempt at Chinese food. Jook! Really good, actually.
Spicy tofu. Also good, but there's an ingredient missing that I can't quite ID.
Community Group cultural dinner. From back left, and from what I remember: barbequed chicken wings, cookies, jook, Greek salad, tofu, more cookies, lentil-sundriedtomato-basil-parmesan-champagne soup (mine!), crepes (Jesse's!), garlic bread, rice, a different tofu dish, thai green curry, cilantro/garlic chicken, empanaditas. I <3 Ethnos.
... All the produce I'm going to use next. Coming up is an avocado soup, since the Hasses were 2 for 1 at Henry's. (The lime and serrano chili are going in it, too.) I shall keep you posted. | | |
| Best soup ever. Seriously.
Okay, okay, I know the ingredients aren't really ones that'll make you leap out of your seat. And likely they aren't ones you just have lying around, either; I always found lentils fairly boring, myself. But in fact they are not. In fact, they are subtly, creamily rich - mellow and filling, comfortably clean-tasting and soothing. I make a lot of soups - I'm obsessed with soups - and I think this is one of my best. Try this one, seriously. It requires minimal effort, and it makes quite enough to freeze and use later.
1 cup dried lentils
1 box chicken broth
1 cup chardonnay
2 Tbs dried thyme
1 tsp parsley
2 tsp crushed red pepper
1/3 pound lean ground turkey
1 cup small dried tortellini (optional)
2 onions
1 head garlic
Chop the two onions and the garlic, coarsely. In a kettle or stockpot, add a little bit of butter and brown the onions and garlic over medium heat. Add the herbs and saute a bit longer, then add the broth and the white wine and 1 1/2 cups of water. Reduce to low heat and simmer for about an hour, or until lentils are tender.
In a separate skillet, cook the turkey meat until browned. Drain excess fat and add to the soup; ten minutes before serving, add the tortellini.
Enjoy. =) Possibly the heartiest, most delicious (healthy) soup I've ever made.
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| In the span of a few days, I've fallen horribly behind on reading (when you're assigned about 200 pages each day, missing a few days is killer). I've also had four huge midterms to write/study for. You'd think I'd be studying and reading, but, eh. Instead I made dinner for two of my girlfriends, because that was more fun, and another soup for myself.
Grilled chicken breasts stuffed with garlic, basil and cheeses Really good, and pretty easy to make. I made the college version, which means on the ever-faithful (but a pain to clean) George Foreman. (Who, by the way, is rumored to have named all of his children, sons and daughters alike, after himself.)
Cut two heads of garlic in half, across the top. Drizzle these very lightly with olive oil, then roast them, skin and all, on a pan at 475 for about fifteen minutes. When they offer no resistance to a fork or toothpick or whatever you wield and poke them with, take them out. Remove the cloves of garlic from the skin and throw the cloves into the bowl (what do you call that?) of your food processor. Add about 2/3 cup of some sort of dry cheese (gruyere, parmesan, reggiano, comte), add about 25 leaves of fresh basil, and maybe two tablespoons of olive oil. Blend until combined, but not mixed all that well; you want the mixture still to be coarse. Cut pockets in four thawed chicken breasts and using a spoon, some determination and any other voodoo you should happen upon, stuff the breasts with the cheese mixture. Cook in a grill until the chicken is done; it should be blackened ever so slightly and the cheese should be melting and caramellizing everywhere.
Curried black bean soup
Due to various health complications, I decided to try to make sure that 80% of what I eat comes from vegetables. Tofu and beans count in those, so I've been playing around with different ways to use them. So far, this has been my favorite:
In a soup kettle, brown 4 celery stalks, 3 carrots, 1 onion and 5 cloves of garlic (all chopped) in about a tablespoon of olive oil. Add two cans of black beans, 8 chopped fresh tomatillos, 1 1/2 Tbs garam masala, 1 1/2 Tbs curry powder, and 2 tsp crushed chili peppers. Stir in one can of chicken broth and half a cup of water. Cover and simmer for 45 minutes. Add 1/3 cup of cream (optional). Simmer for ten more minutes, then, using an immersion blender, food processor, or whatever makes you happiest, puree about 75% of the soup and stir everything together. Serve with chopped fresh cilantro (an excellent source of vitamins, natural antibiotics and roughage. Plus, delicious, and cheap). | | |
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