Winter is Coming ... Lamb Roast!

Since Lisa's recent post, the Basterds have had a bit of a geographical change. Lisa's now in NYC, Gloria's in L.A., and I'm in New Zealand. That just means more varied and tasty experiences to be had!

So scratch the title of this post. Winter is mufuggin' HERE. Contrary to Lisa's post about summer in NYC, it is winter in New Zealand. It is cold as a witch's teet (whatever the hell that means). So today I'll post a recipe that is fit to be eaten in front of a wood-burning fireplace.

I recently finished my first experience with Willing Workers on Organic Farms New Zealand (WWOOF — check out this international organisation!). This was a lifestyle block (nothing commercial, just a small family farm to sustain the household). As my fellow WWOOFer Steve (and Irish journo — check out his awesome farming blog!) said, "You will eat deliciously wherever you WWOOF." Indeed, I ate well and picked up some awesome recipes and cooking tips from my WWOOF host mom. So here's the first of perhaps will be many posts from my WWOOFing experience near Wakefield, NZ (on the South Island).

Since NZ is a British Commonwealth country, much of the food and culture is, well, British. Hence, Sunday roasts, or roasts for any day, are common. But first — the fireplace!

You see this here? This is a modern wood-burning fireplace. Covered. Heats other rooms in the house. Some models have burners for cooking. While this burner isn't officially for cooking, check out that silver roasting pan! That has free-range lamb shoulder in it from my WWOOFing family's backyard. Basically, slow roast it until it looks done. For roasts, the saying is, "Meat and three veg." Obviously, meat and three vegetables. These carrots, parsnips, and beetroots are from one of the garden patches.

That said, we used four veg — potatoes, parsnips, yams, and backyard pumpkin (crown pumpkin to be exact).

Looks at those yams! I had never seen ones so little and pink before. The yams I'm used to are similar to the NZ kumara (sweet potato). In any case, if you've already roasted the meat, as my family did — take some of the drippings and mix it with the veg that will take the longest to roast first. Here, it was the potatoes. Roast it with the meat at maybe 155–195 degrees C. After about 20-30 minutes, throw in the rest of the veggies and give them a quick stir with the animal fat. Roast until the rest of the veggies are done — 20 – 30 minutes more.

Enjoy your roast made of meat and three (four) veg! Starchy, meaty goodness. Fit for a farmer!

The Time is Ripe for Banana Bread

Summer has arrived in New York City and with it comes the hastening of banana ripening. I bought a bunch that was green before it got super hot and then next thing I knew I had a bunch of brownies on my hands.

Which is not really a problem for me. I'm one of those people who really doesn't care if it's brown on the outside as long as it's white on the inside (which is what happens if you put them in the fridge), and I will eat bananas that are pretty mushy in a hangry pinch. After I discovered that bananas can be an amazing delivery device for Nutella, the texture became secondary. A spoonful of Nutella makes the banana medicine go down.

But I'm trying to eat even healthier now (I feel like I read SUGAR IS MURDER everywhere e.g. Kara Walker) so in a Nutella evasion technique, I decided to try a banana bread with my brown bananas.

I'm not a baker, and this recipe was really easy. My mom makes 'nana bread with chocolate chips and I love her version -- but in doing some searching for a good recipe I saw that Ruth Reichl said it was "not [her] idea of a good time." Good point, healthier is prob better.

So I went with the banana bread recipe from Simply Recipes, which had only a few ingredients and seemed well recommended. I made it in a 85 degree apartment (at night!!) and it made the place smell amazing. I might try it toasted with a scoop of ice cream -- don't want to be tooo healthy now! :)

Goodbye, old friend

Mark Bittman ends NYT ‘Minimalist’ column after 13 years; heads to opinion section, magazine

AHHHHHH

Women Laughing Alone with Salad

Butternut Squash-Feta Muffin Squares

All right, all right, the title of this post is dumb. But I don't know what happened to my muffin tin, so I couldn't really call this creation "muffins," could I? And in the vein of Lisa's post ("Butternutz"...!), I decided to also post a butternut squash recipe while it's still considered winter in this hemisphere.

I modified this Pumpkin and Feta Muffins recipe from 101 Cookbooks, one of my favorite food blogs as of late.

I actually am not a huge squash fan, but given the fact that it was fall when I made this recipe, I figured it was time to try a savory muffin recipe with a winter squash for the sake of feeling like there are seasons in Hawai‘i. And I used peeled, chopped asparagus instead of spinach because that's what I so happened to have on hand at the time.

Recipe

1tbs butter

2 tbs olive oil

2 c. pumpkin or butternut squash, cubed into 1/2 in. pieces

salt and pepper to taste

1 c. peeled asparagus, sliced into coins.

2 tbs chopped parsley or cilantro

3 tbs sunflower seed kernels

3/4 c. grated parmesan

1/2 c. cubed feta

2 tsp. whole-grain mustard

2 large eggs, lightly beaten

3/4 c. milk

2 c. flour

4 tsp baking powder

1 tsp fine-grain sea salt

Pre-heat oven to 405 degrees F. Butter muffin tins (or in my case, 9x13 in. cake pan), or use muffin liners.

Toss the cubed squash or pumpkin with some olive oil, salt and pepper. Arrange in a single layer on a baking sheet and bake for 15–25 minutes. I used one "normal"-sized butternut squash and it seemed to be enough, as the squash will shrink a bit as it cooks (Note: I should've eHow'd it as to how to get the meat out of those oddly-shaped fruits. 'Twas a bit dangerous for me...). Set aside to cool.

Put 2/3 of squash in a large mixing bowl. Gently fold in asparagus/spinach/whatever greens, parsley, sunflower seeds, parm, mustard and two-thirds of the feta. In a separate mixing bowl, beat eggs and milk, then add to squash mixture. Sift in flour, baking powder, salt and pepper. Fold until just combined. Do not overmix.

Pour into muffin tins until each one is 3/4 full, or dump with reckless abandon into baking dish. Sprinkle remaining squash and feta on top. Bake for 15–20 minutes or until golden and set. Do not overcook, or else your savory babies will get dry. Sad face. Makes 12 servings.

What nice surprises with the parmesan and sunflower seeds! A vegetarian's dream meal muffin, I would imagine. And yeah, you had really better like squash to eat these colorful cubes of carb.

Butternutz

My mom delivers seasonal fruits and vegetables to me every time I see her at my grandmother's weekly Sunday night dinner, like a CSA that knows your proclivities. She gave me a butternut squash, and after I roasted half of it with olive oil (delicious!!), I decided to try a soup. Butternut squash has the most wonderful natural flavor. Really does taste like butter.

This is the second veggie soup I've made (the first was potato leek; the post is forthcoming), and I am a total convert. Soups are soup-er simple (Margot isn't the only one who can pun!!) to make when you have a food processor, which I bought only about a year ago. So key.

This was, of course, a Minimalist recipe from his list of Thanksgiving dishes:

13. Sauté sliced shallots in olive oil, then add chunks of butternut squash, some rosemary and chicken stock or water to cover. As the soup simmers, bake strips of prosciutto until crisp. Purée the soup, swirl in some cream if you like and serve topped with crumbled prosciutto.

I used half of a butternut squash, about 1.5 cups of chicken stock, rosemary from the front of my parent's house, and one strip of BACON. so delicious!

Thanksgiving Eats: Coconut-Sweet Potato Pie

It's no secret by now that we love Mark Bittman of the NY Times. I totally jumped on his twist on the traditional sweet potato pie and was not disappointed. I'm not a fan of sweet potatoes (sweet potato fries: I am not impressed with you), but add sugar and I'll eat almost anything. The recipe is here, but I've also pasted it below.

Recipe

2 medium sweet potatoes (peeled, cut into 1-inch chunks, boiled for 12–15 minutes and mashed)

1 1/3 c. graham cracker crumbs (1 package, which has 9 sheets)

1/4 c. shredded unsweetened coconut

1/2 c. plus 2 tbs. sugar

1 1/4 tsp. ground ginger

1 1/4 tsp. cinnamon

1 stick of butter (8 tbs.), melted

3 eggs

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

pinch ground cloves

large pinch of salt

1 c. coconut milk

Pre-heat oven to 350 F. While the potatoes cook, crush the graham crackers and mix with 2 tbs. sugar, 1/4 tsp. ginger and 1/4 tsp. cinnamon. Add melted butter and toss until just combined. Press into 9-inch pie plate and bake for about 7 minutes. Let cool.

Mix eggs, rest of sugar, ginger, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, salt. Add coconut milk. Mix until just combined. Add mashed sweet potatoes, mix until just combined. Pour into cooled pie crust. Put pie plate onto a baking sheet and bake about 40–45 minutes, until mixture is set but still moist. Cool and serve.

I love the coconut, sugar and spices in the graham cracker crust. The coconut milk in the filling was a little too much coconut for my taste. But I'm still glad I tried this recipe out this year. Maybe Okinawan sweet potatoes or Hawaiian purple potatoes with the coconut milk would be an awesome combination for next time.

Thanksgiving Eats: Bacon-Balsamic-Roasted Garlic Deviled Eggs

I've never had to be at the helm of any Thanksgiving celebration before (thank goodness? Or should I be yearning to stay up the night before, freaking out?). So contributing a dish or two is a way to enjoy seasonal cooking without all the stress. This year, I had two T-Day celebrations to attend (score!) and I ended up making two dishes. The first one was a classic that gets devoured no matter how simple or fancy you make it: deviled eggs. While the bacon-in-everything trend has been beaten to death, that does not change the fact that bacon will always be a delightful salty addition to almost anything. So I took bits and pieces from this recipe and this recipe to create the egg-sellent appetizer.

Recipe

18 large hardboiled eggs

1 head of roasted garlic (in the future I'd either increase this to 3 heads or leave out the garlic and add more mayo)

6 strips of bacon, cooked to crispy and finely chopped

3/4 c. mayonnaise

1.5 tbs grated red onion

1.5 tsp granulated sugar

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

3/4 tsp. balsamic vinegar

chopped chives (optional garnish)

paprika (optional garnish)

Everyone has their own method of boiling perfect eggs. Mine is to heat up the eggs and cold water together in the pot from the get go. Once the water starts to boil, I lower the heat a little so the eggs don't crack. Boil the eggs for 20 minutes, then immediately rinse with cold water and dunk the eggs in an ice water bath so the membrane shrinks back from the white, making peeling a piece of cake.

Slice the eggs in half and dump the yolks in a mixing bowl. Mix all ingredients together, then spoon or pipe the yolk mixture into each egg white half. I don't have a piping bag, so usually I snip the tip off of a Ziploc bag and use that to pipe the yolk mixture in. Works pretty well, if I might say so myself. I chopped chives to use as garnish (the store was out of a lot of other herbs, ha) and added a sprinkle of paprika for color. EGG-STREME!

Hwe Dup Bap

As far as last meal’s go, for me this is it—hwe dup bap. It contains all of my favorites: sashimi, salad greens, rice, and something spicy to linger on my tongue. What lingers is cho gochujang, a vinegary pepper sauce that some Koreans prefer as their sashimi dipping sauce. It’s the addition of this sauce that differentiates it from chirashi sushi, which I find quite dull.

It’s easy to assemble and requires no cooking aside from the rice. Or leave out the rice and save those carbs! It’s just as good without the rice. I suppose it’s the perfect summer meal, but for me it’s always a good idea.

Hwe Dup Bap
1 cup cooked rice
.5 lb. sashimi of choice (sliced into bite size pieces)
4 lettuce leaves, chopped
5 shiso leaves, chopped
1 handful daikon sprouts (these have a kick to them)

Cho gochujang
2 spoonfuls of gochujang
½ spoonful of sugar
3 tb. vinegar

For the cho gochujang, I always freestyle it à la Rachel Ray—glug this, eyeball that. Overall just start with the gochujang and adjust according to your palate. I discovered if you use seasoned rice vinegar then you can omit the sugar. The consistency should be similar to ranch dressing.



1. Spoon rice into bowl.



2. Layer lettuce, chopped shiso leaves, and daikon sprouts on top of rice Add sashimi pieces.
3. Add desired amount of cho gochujang. I would say start with 2 tablespoons.
4. Fold ingredients together.

Heirloom tomato and burrata pizza

Seriously, who the fuck am I? I'm thinking about putting this post together and making myself barf because of my smarmy San Francisco foodie-ness. I mean, look at the NAME OF THE PIZZA, for chrissakes!!

I'll keep it short. I spied some burrata at the Trader's and chose it as my ingredient du semaine - I learned through the Internet that it is often eaten simply with heirloom tomatoes as a salad, and after coming to the end of that road, here we are. I looked up burrata and heirloom tomatoes and pizza and found this blog post about pitfire pizza in l.a. and their burrata pie. i took the description of the pizza from the blog and recreated it:

On the crust is a layer of their tomato sauce that is then topped with caramelized onions. ... Then of course, there’s the burrata cheese. In case you’re wondering, burrata cheese is mozzarella cheese that has cream in the center of it, which makes it extra creamy when melted. Why more people don’t put it on pizzas will forever be a wonder to me. I could honestly be fine with this pizza as it is now, but then the guys at Pitfire go and cover the whole thing with fresh arugula and drizzle it with a hazelnut pesto. Hazelnut pesto!

I used TJ's whole wheat dough and made my own carmelized onions (MAN they make pizza tasty). I love pizzas with salads on top of them, but this one just wouldn't fit the arugula, so I had it on the side. I added heirloomies and basil and didn't bother with the hazelnut pesto (my yuppie-ness has boundaries!).

slow-cooker jook

november has befallen us, and with it, the scourge of the season - the icky cold. i felt miserable yesterday and made myself a big honkin' crock pot full of jook (gruel, as K calls it).

i actually didn't start to like jook (aka congee, aka "jewk" as biff [a jew!!] calls it) until very recently, in the last 5 years. i discovered its glories on a trip to hong kong in 2008 at the breakfast buffet of the salisbury YMCA hong kong (our preferred place of residence in hong kong). it was laid out with all the toppings alongside - i never even knew you could put soy sauce in it! my parents always make it very sparsely. i went crazy with cilantro and green onions (what do i always say about MAXIMUM ASIAN FLAVOR) and have never looked back.

i've made jook at home a handful of times, and i'm still not quite convinced that the time/effort put into it is worth it, considering you can get this meal for less than $5 usually (my favorite place is hing lung on broadway near stockton in chinatown). the other thing is that i LOVE to eat jook with the oily bread, and it's hard to find good oily bread around the inner sunset (the white sunset, as K calls it). i almost would rather not eat jook if i don't have that deep-fried bread! i remember driving crazily up and down clement street looking for that bread one day to eat with my jook. also i usually just make it with whatever meat i have around, but i prefer to eat it with fish or ground pork. so, jury's still out on making this at home.

i based it on recipes from both the minimalist and the traverse city record-eagle's blog but there doesn't seem to be a wrong way to make it. this time i threw in some leftover roast pork and sliced chinese sausage (in addition to ginger) and topped it with cilantro, green onions, and a dash of soy sauce and sesame oil. today i'm feeling much better. still thinking bout that oily bread.

parmesan chicken

i've made this recipe from ina garten for the past five years: it's simple, and the mix of flavors (salty parmesan and arugula with sour lemon vinaigrette) and textures is great. i have my mom to thank for this recipe - she loves ina garten, and i do too! i try not to eat too much deep fried food, and eating it with a big salad like this makes it feel "healthier."

be sure to use chicken breast, and pound them good (HEH) after you put some saran wrap or plastic over them puppies. dredge em in a mix of flour/salt/pepper, then egg/water, then bread crumbs (i used panko here, but i think the seasoned ones you buy at the supermarket are tastier) and parmesan.



fry em up in butter and olive oil and lay em over a nice bed of salad with lemon vinaigrette. don't forget to shear off some parmesan shards onto your salad for maximum umami!

Why Making Dinner Is a Good Idea

A really interesting post from Wired on why making your own meals may stave off obesity.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies

I would assume that most Americans' first baking experience is with chocolate chip cookies. I can't recall if mine was or not (though I think my first cooking experience was scrambled eggs at age 6, which also sparked a love for lighting matches and gas stove pilot lights. Yikes!). Anyway, if you follow the typical crap recipe, oh say, on the back of a Toll House semi-sweet morsels package, you'll end up with boring-ass cookies. They're fine, just not wow. Kinda flat, nothing unusual.

It was at about age 11 that I came across this chocolate chip cookie recipe on All Recipes (my, how far the site has come since that first find!). It was this recipe and another one from the same site that I've been using ever since, and both recipes get rave reviews every time. The ingredients are basically the same as the Toll House one, but ever-so-slight tweaking makes all the difference. These cookies, aside from the impressive size (if you want. It's not a problem to make them smaller.), appear and taste as if bought from a bakery. Why? A nice, dense, chewy texture. I'll give it away now that it's because the recipe calls for melting the butter first before creaming it with the white and brown sugars. The boring recipe just calls for softened butter. The ratio of brown to white sugar in this winning recipe is also greater, so I guess the melted butter-and-brown sugar combo yields a sort of caramelized effect. Aaaand there's one less egg white than the typical recipe. Apparently yolkier is better. Anyway: Winner!

"Best Big, Fat, Chewy Chocolate Chip Cookies"

2 c. all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/2 tsp. salt

3/4 c. unsalted butter, melted (again, SO KEY)

1 c. packed brown sugar

1/2 c. white sugar

1 tsb. vanilla extract

1 egg

1 egg yolk

2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (I prefer chunks or oversized chips for dramatic effect, sort of to match the cookie texture)

Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees F. If you're using a non-stick baking sheet, no need to butter/grease it or cover it with parchment paper.

Sift the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside.

In another mixing bowl, cream the melted butter, brown sugar and white sugar.

Looks good, doesn't it? Not.

Next, beat in the egg, egg yolk and vanilla extract until light and creamy.

Mix in the dry, sifted ingredients a little at a time. Doing it all at once will give you a kitchen covered in flour and a batter full of lumps.

Finally, stir in the chocolate chips. Look how shiny and silky the batter looks!

If you want the giant cookies, drop the batter using a 1/4 c. scoop, spacing the dough balls about three inches apart. Otherwise, rounded tablespoonfuls will give you the normal-sized cookies. Bake for about 15–17 minutes, or until the edges are lightly toasted or the cookies reach your desired shade of a perfect golden-brown. Let the cookies cool on the sheet for a couple of minutes before moving to wire racks to finish cooling. Obviously, devour almost immediately and down with a glass of milk.

Yields 18 massive or about 36 normal-sized cookies.

P.S. I brought two of these cookies with me when I attempted to donate blood. Good call. Just saying.

Vietnamese Chicken Bùn

Mmm, that cold rice vermicelli salad, or whatever Anglo-ish name you can come up with. You know what I'm talking about. Aside from phở (especially on those hungover or sick days), one of my favorite Vietnamese dishes is bùn (dude, I am not Vietnamese, if you couldn't already tell. Sorry if I mess up on any terms). I usually go for the one with barbecued shrimp and pork, or spring rolls and barbecued pork.

Given the fact that I have a slight fear of grilling (sorry to be a female stereotype), I decided to venture forth by myself with my apartment complex's gas grills and some boneless, skinless chicken thighs. Yay for dark poultry meat! I once succumbed to the notion that white meat was more desirable. But who wants dry-ass meat? Asians know what's up. I feel more at ease cooking chicken than pork. I don't know why...I've made pork dishes several times, but maybe the next meat venture is grilling pork. Anyway, it was a Monday, so I decided to prepare the chicken two ways so I could have a variety of meals for the rest of the week. Way 1 was simply salt and pepper. Way two was a Vietnamese-style marinade. BTW, I wasn't aware of the fact that Andrea Nguyen is a modern-day Vietnamese cooking master. But her name kept popping up during my recipe searches, so kudos to her!

Vietnamese-style Marinade for Chicken

2 to 3 lbs chicken (use whatever kind you like, bone-in or boneless)

1/4 tsp. sugar

1/2 tsp. salt

1 1/2 tsp. freshly ground black pepper

1 tsb. fish sauce (aaahhh! The stage crew for a local SF theater group once substituted in fish sauce instead of apple juice for a fake shot an actor was to take on stage. LOL)

1 tsb lime juice (can also use lemon juice or vinegar. I think you can also use more lime juice than fish sauce if you're freaked out by the, um, pugent nature of fish sauce)

2 tsb. canola oil or whatever neutral oil you have on hand

Mix the marinade ingredients together, wash and dry your chicken, then submerge the chicken into the marinade and massage the crap out of it. OK maybe not that much, but you want some good flavor! Let it marinade for 30 minutes to two hours.

Heat your grill to medium and throw the chicken on, turning every five minutes until the juices run clear. Because I was using boneless, skinless chicken thighs, I only needed to turn the chicken once for a total cook time of about 10 minutes. Juicy grill success! Now for the rest...

Vietnamese Chicken Bùn (for one serving)

1 to 2 pieces of Vietnamese grilled chicken, sliced

rice vermicelli

cilantro

mint

Thai basil (for me, this is optional)

shredded or julienned carrots

shredded or julienned cucumbers (seeded if you like)

1 to 2 pieces of soft leaf lettuce, chiffonaded

1/3 to 1/2 cup nước chấm (nuoc cham without the diacriticals...I'm just linking the recipe here because this post is getting long! At the time I didn't have any Thai chilis and used chili-garlic sauce instead, which worked well enough for me. Here's an article comparing that with sambal oelek and Sriracha.)

If you're using dried vermicelli, soak it in hot water for about 10 minutes, then drain. I like to line the bottom of a giant bowl (a mixing bowl, no joke) with the lettuce, then put the noodles on top. I arrange the veggies, herbs and chicken into sections for presentation's sake, then I douse the whole thing with the nuoc cham. Stir it up and eat it up.

Ginger-Mint Vodka Soda

Being a bartender, I guess I should post a booze recipe. Don't worry, I'm not one of those people who considers herself to be a mixologist or any other ridiculous title (an old co-worker said he's a drink monkey, haha). I don't intend to be a career bartender and feel like an ass when friends ask me to bartend at informal events because the drinks — usually just simple two- or three-ingredient cocktails — don't require any special knowledge. I guess some people get nervous about proportions, but they're just to what your preferences are. However, of course I am always happy to bartend for friends. I do enjoy it and like being helpful (well, sometimes, anyway).

That being said, one of my favorite cocktails is the vodka soda — decent vodka, soda water and a squeeze of lime. I love this recipe because it's the basis for so many tasty, refreshing cocktails and doesn't have an excess amount of sugar that will add to your potential hangover the next day. I think a lot of people think you need sweet mixers or a lot of ingredients to make a decent cocktail, but that's not always the case. This is especially true when using a sweet-flavored vodka. Most would think to mix it with lemon-lime soda when all you probably need is the soda water and squeeze of lime (or lemon, or whatever). Maybe a splash of something else, such as cranberry juice or sour mix, depending of the flavor of the vodka. For the recently trendy sweet tea vodka, I just use soda water and maybe a squeeze. If it's a lower-quality one (ahem, Seagram's), then a splash of sour mix, as well. Orange vodka with soda and a splash of OJ is a nice grown-up version of Orangina. So you see, the possibilities are endless.

One more bartender gripe when it comes to cocktails: tonic water is NOT the same as soda water! A surprising number of people think that tonic is soda and therefore, a diet-friendly mixer. SO not the case. Tonic water basically has as much sugar in it as cola does (there are diet versions of tonic water, as well). And the distinctive taste of it is mostly due to quinine. I'm not hating on tonic water. It actually has medicinal qualities to it and glows under black light! I just want to make sure that alcohol imbibers know what they're drinking. So anyway...

I so happened to have a small bottle of PacifiKool's Hawaiian Ginger syrup (aaahhhh, so good!), as well as some fresh herbs from my Vietnamese cooking kick (more in future posts). So I threw together this simple, delicious cocktail. As usual, proportions are up to you!

Ginger Mint Vodka Soda

1.25 ounces of decent vodka (I'm a fan of 42 Below, but at the grocery store nearest to me, Ketel One on sale will do)

1.25 ounces of PacifiKool's Hawaiian Ginger syrup

mint leaves (perhaps a palmful)

lime wedge

soda water

ice

Ideally, you should muddle the mint, but I have neither a muddler nor the patience for that right now. So I just crushed and rolled the leaves around in my hands. I'm sure I lost some of the essence to my palms, but it was fine for my personal cocktail at home.

Put everything together in a glass, stir and sip (or chug) away at any time of day. You can leave out the vodka if you're not that hardcore(!).

Coconut Chocolate Pudding

I first dabbled in vegetarianism while living in London and I still miss the vegetarian food products available there. I can get Heinz beans here if I look hard enough, but things like Tofu Rosso are beyond my reach. What I miss most though is Provamel Soya Pudding. I think it's better than dairy-based pudding. I've tried Zen Soy's chocolate pudding, but it was too sweet (twice the sugar as Provamel's). I ended up chucking the whole pack.

Last November I visited my friend Emma in England. Emma is vegan and it was getting pretty cold then, so I thought it would be perfect to try the Coconut Hot Chocolate recipe from Melissa Clark. It was really rich and tasty. Emma’s Nan (who worries quite seriously about running out of chocolate) raved about it for days ("Ooooh, that's nice.").

So missing the pudding and having enjoyed the richness coconut milk adds to chocolate desserts, I decided to look for a coconut chocolate pudding recipe. I liked the version I found on vanilla & lace best.

*Arrowroot is an ingredients you can't find in a regular grocery store. Trader Joe's doesn't have it either, but most health food store should carry it. Also, make sure not to add too much arrowroot or else it'll become unpleasantly gelatinous.

Coconut Chocolate Pudding

from vanilla & lace

1 14-ounce can of coconut milk (lite is fine), divided
3 tablespoons pure maple syrup
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup arrowroot powder, sifted (cornstarch can be used, however arrowroot is best)
3 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted
1 3.5-ounce bar semi-sweet chocolate, chopped or 3.5 ounces chocolate chips
1 teaspoons vanilla extract

Shake the can of coconut milk vigorously for a few seconds. In a heavy saucepan bring 1 1/4 cups of the coconut milk, maple syrup, and the salt (just) to a simmer over low heat.

While that is heating, in a separate bowl whisk together the remaining coconut milk, arrowroot powder, and cocoa powder. It should look like a chocolate frosting.

When the coconut milk and sugar mixture has started simmering take about 1/4 cup of it and whisk it little by little into the arrowroot mixture, creating a slurry. Turn down the heat to the very lowest setting. Now drizzle the arrowroot slurry mixture into the simmering pan of coconut milk whisking vigorously all the while. Keep whisking until the pudding comes back up barely to a simmer and thickens up a bit, about a minute.

Remove the saucepan from heat, continue whisking while it is cooling for about a minute. Now whisk in the chocolate and vanilla. Keep stirring until the pudding is smooth. Transfer to a bowl and place in a refrigerator to chill thoroughly. When you chill it longer, it takes on a truffle-like texture. Yum!

Pasta with Onion and Bacon

i run basically because i love to eat pasta. a simple al dente pasta with a whisper-light red sauce and a few fresh but succulent ingredients is my idea of heaven. i recently had a wonderful version at the new pizza place in sf zero zero: Bucatini, Mendocino Uni Butter, Garlic Chives, Roasted Garlic and Breadcrumbs. my mouth is watering just at the thought!

i found this recipe from mi amore marco bittman, who's writing for runners world now. i used pancetta cubes from TJs, but it seemed like it needed a stronger meat presence, so i'd recommend bacon or real thick pancetta cubes. i also used TJ's garlic and chive linguine.

first crisp up the pork.


then sautee the onions in the leftover oil until they brown.


smash up some plum tomatoes and cook em with the onions until it becomes a sauce. toss it with the pasta, top with the crunchy pork, fresh parsley, and parmesan.

three delicious ingredients - just like us!

Tofu Poke

All right, here is the tofu poke recipe to which I was referring in the Tofu Salad with Miso Dressing post. I know you soy lovers were just soaking your beans in water for this.

Mini lesson: Poke (POH-kay) is a Hawaiian term roughly meaning "to slice" or "to cut." Don't use this as a reference for any papers, but you get the gist. There are so many types of poke found in supermarkets, fish markets and restaurants (hell, even in a fine wine and liquor store) in Hawai‘i (side note: sorry if the Hawaiian diacritical marks make me look like a haole douchebag who's trying too hard. I write for a publication where it's mandatory to use them, so I just got used to putting those suckers in). Other cultures have similar dishes, like the Chamorro (Guamanian, etc.) kelaguen or South American ceviche. The normal poke is made from raw ‘ahi, which is SO ADDICTING, by the way. You can also find it with different proteins and sauces, such as kimchi tako (octopus) poke, mussel poke, wasabi poke, spicy ‘ahi poke or ... drum roll, please ... tofu poke.

I like this dish because it's affordable, easy to make, relatively low in fat, high in protein and just frickin' tasty. I originally looked to this recipe, but I've made this enough times with some modifications and have found a recipe to my liking. Bring this as a püpü/side to the next barbecue or potluck you attend, or have it with hot rice and your favorite greens for an awesome entree. Like a lot of the other dishes I've posted, ingredient proportions are up to your taste preferences. Dilute the soy sauce if you're worried about sodium content, add more chili flakes if you like spicy, etc.

Tofu Poke Recipe

1 12-ounce block of firm tofu, sliced into bite-sized cubes (first drain the water from the container, wrap the whole block in paper towels and put a weight on it for up to 20 minutes to get some excess moisture out of there, then slice away. Otherwise, your cubes will break apart way too easily and your sauce will get too diluted.)

1/4 cup thinly sliced onion (preferably sweet Maui onion, but yellow or red onion will do)

2 tablespoons soy sauce

1 tablespoon sesame oil

1/2 teaspoon Hawaiian sea salt

1 teaspoon dried chili flakes

1/2 cup sliced green onions (once again, f*ckyeahgreenonions!)

1/2 cup re-hydrated wakame (dried seaweed, the kind usually found in miso soup)

1 tablespoon sesame seeds

Gently toss everything together, cover and refrigerate for at least an hour. Sometimes I like to make this a day ahead to really let the flavors meld together and soak into the tofu. This may sound like a strange and unsavory dish upon first introduction, but it always gets great reactions. Eat this, tofu haters! And lovers!

Watermelon Lassi

Oh, Aarti Party, why must I think about your Hot Dog a la Rose so often? I haven't even made them (yet). OK, OK, it's just because I really love hot dogs. And I don't care what anyone else thinks! However, another one of Aarti Party's recipes from the same hot dog episode that I have made (sort of) was a strawberry lassi, or "Strawberry-Basil Yogurt Cooler" (hahaha) as the site says. Way to anglocize.

Anyway, from the same barbecue that the excess mushrooms came from for my Arugula Pesto Pasta post, also came a whole seedless watermelon. So I figured, why not a watermelon lassi?

I left out the water, as I figured the watermelon would have a crap ton. Also missing from the picture are the salt and sugar.

Result: I should have definitely cut down on the amount of watermelon. But at least the texture made the lassi easy to pass through a straw. Also: shout out to the basil leaves. I went to a nearby open market to actually buy a frickin' basil plant for this. Only $2! Sadly, this is the second attempt at tending to a sweet basil plant. I'm not sure how long my little bugger will last. Hard to get direct sunlight from my 29th floor apartment. Leaving a small plant outside on the lanai leads to death by trade winds.

Anyway, very nice mix of sweet and savory. But because I made this for breakfast, I probably should have cut down on the pepper and basil. For a dinner drink, the original proportions would be a good to complement to a savory dinner.