Month: January 2007

3rd cookie date — crackly cinnamon wafers

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Our cookie making schedule was a little thrown off by my trip out of town, but we recovered, and last night was our third attempt. This week we made crackly cinnamon wafers (p. 71), and they were quite tasty.

My skill with the electric mixer is improving, although I must admit that I find myself oddly stressed while using it. I commented that I felt as if I were in a race, because the dough-making process goes so much more quickly and is not at all meditative (which I generally find baking to be). With this recipe, though, the dough also went quickly because there was so little to it — butter, sugar, an egg, flour, and cinnamon. The more elaborate and somewhat time-consuming part of the process was putting them on the sheets: it required making small uniform balls, squishing them flat with the floured bottom of a glass, brushing them with an egg white mixture, and then sprinkling sugar on top of them.

In general, they were very close to how we imagined they would be, and a very light, buttery, melt-in-your-mouth kind of cookie, perfect to accompany tea or coffee. They did not taste as strongly of cinnamon as we’d expected, especially with the strong cinnamon smell that filled the kitchen as they baked. We also didn’t put quite enough sugar on the tops of the first batch; we used granulated sugar, as we hadn’t been able to easily locate sparkling white sugar, which comes in larger crystals and likely would have increased the crackly nature of the cookies.

They disappeared, well, like cookies when we shared them with our friends this afternoon, though, so I think we can safely call them a success.

overall ratings:
ease of preparation: 3.5
match to expectations: 2.5
“the cookie itself”: 3.5

3rd cookie date — crackly cinnamon wafers

turnips

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One of the surprising aspects of our farm share arrangement is the volume of turnips that we have received. I don’t remember if we knew ahead of time that turnips were a major crop, but if we did learn that, I didn’t really understand what that would mean. What it’s meant is that we have received dozens of (smallish) turnips, of several varieties, over the course of the past few months. I have always liked turnips, so this hasn’t been a problem in terms of taste, especially since the particular turnips we’ve received are tender, sweet, and fresh out of the ground when they’re delivered to us.

The challenge is more one of volume. I could, and probably will, fall back on simply roasting turnips as a vegetable dish, but I prefer to find recipes that include turnips as a main ingredient. I’ve found three this fall that I’ve liked—turnips and greens soup, a Marrakesh lamb stew from Simply In Season (that I make with ground turkey), and a chicken soup. Over the course of the fall, I’ve used about a crisper drawer’s worth of turnips in this manner, a fact of which I’m rather proud.

That being said, I currently have a crisper drawer, plus an additional gallon bag, full of turnips. As a result, I find myself trolling the internets looking for turnip recipes. I could try some of Mr. Neep’s suggestions, many of which look quite good, or look through the lists on any number of other cooking sites. A quick read suggests that I can (1) make them into a soup, (2) cook them with butter, (3) mash them with butter, and/or (4) eat them at the side of a big hunk of mammal or mixed in with cheese. Option four doesn’t meet our stringent household dietary codes, but I am pretty sure I can work with the other three categories.

Mmm, turnips. Conveniently, it’s lunchtime.

turnips

BMC bookshop

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Today will be my first day of volunteering at the BMC bookshop here in town. The store is a non-profit organization, run by volunteers, with the income generated going toward scholarships to my alma mater. You can imagine that a used bookshop is not in the position to provide full funding to students, but every little bit counts, and it’s a neat set-up. All of the books are acquired through donation, and the shop is run by volunteers.

I anticipate that, as the youngest weekday volunteer by at least 20 years, I will be doing a lot of lifting and carrying. I am looking forward to getting back to regular bookstore work as well. Alphabetizing is, I’ve found, a much more satisfying activity than exam grading (for example).

To get to the shop from my house, I’ll need to branch out and take a Metro bus. I could, I suppose, just take two trains and walk an extra mile and a bit. But, the weather forecast includes 25 to 35 mph winds today, so I’m thinking that the bus is a better option. There are two buses I could take: one that is more geographically direct, but requires me to walk about 1/2 mile once I get off the metro, or one that is more geographically distant, but picks up right outside the metro stop. I think I will try the latter this morning, and the first this afternoon, when I will be starting to hit rush hour traffic and the time spent walking will likely equal the extra time sitting in traffic. I have my schedules printed out and ready to go in my bag, and if I just don’t forget to bring change and get a bus transfer, I’ll be good to go.

In keeping with the buying part of my book challenge, I am going to endeavor to convince myself that books from a used bookstore count as ‘new,’ and not end up bringing things home from the shop every week. I slid a bit at Powell’s, and bought some used poetry books, but I’m back on the wagon. I swear.

BMC bookshop

how I went to Portland and ate

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I just got back from my first trip to Portland, OR, courtesy of friends from college. I have to say that the dominant feature of the trip was not the mountains or the coast or Powell’s or the gazillion bridges. It was eating.

The day I traveled out, Thursday, I ate five meals. They were all time-zone appropriate—breakfast (6:30am EST), breakfast (9:30am CST), lunch (12pm MST), lunch (2pm PST), and dinner (7pm PST)—but still, holy many meals in one day, batman!

The meals before I got to Portland weren’t notable, but once there we went to the Blue Moose Cafe for lunch, and I had my first hummus sandwich with vegetarian chili meal of the trip. I haven’t had a hummus sandwich in a couple of years (I used to get them at the Maryland Food Collective when I was still teaching) and I have to say it was pretty darn good. Mostly, it was nice to be in a place where the avocado was ripe and included as a fixin’s option. We couldn’t resist dessert, and shared two, both of which were excellent: the shop’s ‘moose bar’ (a peanut butter puffed rice bar covered in chocolate, with rice syrup rather than marshmallows) and apple crisp.

For dinner, we went to Caprial’s Bistro, which is (I learned from a display on the way out) associated with a cooking show. We were treated very well by the staff, as my host goes there relatively frequently, and we had a fun evening catching up. I was happy to sample an Oregon pinot noir, and a Willamette Valley Riesling, and catch up with friends. And let’s not forget a delicious apple galette that included almonds and raisins (yum!).

The next day, Friday, I had another excellent deli lunch at Vepadoes: my favorite sandwich (pepper turkey with avocado) and a Kombucha Wonder Drink. This was my first KWD, and I am totally hooked. I loved it, and the fact that it tasted a little weird just made it better, in the vein of Cel-Ray soda (now owned by Pepsi, much to my regret). While there, I enjoyed checking out the pottery they had for sale, by a local guy who apparently is the neighbor of the owner of the shop (they have a display for food bartering system of some kind, I imagine). My own work is nowhere near that level, but I liked imagining that I might one day be making large vases or display bowls.

That night for dinner, I met a friend and we tried to go to the Kennedy School, but decided to pass on the wait (it wasn’t too long, but we were getting kind of hungry). We walked around and admired the interior, and then headed over to the Concordia Ale House, where we had really excellent pub food. She had the fish and chips (beer-batter dipped, but not the thick nasty buttermilk kind of batter) and I had a turkey reuben on marbled rye (what I know as a ‘Rachel,’ but that’s not a consistent designation). I actually didn’t/don’t drink much beer, but I tried a glass of a local red, which a high school friend conveniently showed up in time to finish. I find it kind of amusing that the bar is relatively new, and replaced a dive that sounds much more the style of my friends 10 years ago, but that I wouldn’t have enjoyed nearly as much now.

The next day, Saturday, my good friend from college took me to the Tin Shed, where we had an excellent breakfast. I was put in mind of some of my favorite Ann Arbor breakfast options, as the place had the feeling of the Northside Grill (with complimentary unlimited coffee and tea while you wait) and scrambles in the style of the hippie hash at the Fleetwood (except with gourmet type combos of veggies and cheese). Passing on the dairy meant I had my scramble (the salmon one) cheeseless, potato pancakes (instead of the cheese grits), and toast (sourdough) instead of the buttermilk biscuit. But it was still great.

For the other meal of the day, we went to Hedge House, where I had my second hummus sandwich and veggie chili meal of the trip. The sandwich was great, and the chili was good, too, but not as good as the Blue Moose version. Again, I didn’t have a beer so I can’t report on the legendary brewmeisters of Portland, but the food was good and it was empty in the late afternoon, so we got a booth and were able to hang out and talk. Those following along at home may have noticed the predominance of places in NE Portland (where I was staying); we went to this one in SE Portland because it was right around the corner from my other friend’s house.

The next day, Sunday, we didn’t eat out in Portland at all. At lunchtime, we were at the coast, and ate lunch while warming up at Brewin’ in the Wind, in Oceanside, an establishment that has the winter business for that stretch of the shore pretty much locked up. The food was basic, but hot and pretty tasty, if overpriced for what we had (the prerogative of the one place open in town). In the evening, we ate at home, a lovely meal cooked by one of my hosts: pasta in garlic and oil, blackened green beans, and pear tarte tatin. This was accompanied by a white table wine from the region, that was pleasantly dry and flavorful.

My last day in town, Monday, developed an Asian theme later in the day. Breakfast was a home-cooked frittata, with potatoes and onions, prepared for us by my host. It was delicious and filling, especially with the tasty campagnolo bread from Grand Central and blackberry jam. For lunch, we ate at the Daily Cafe in Rejuvenation. The sandwich was nothing special, but the macaroon I got was excellent! Besides the chocolate drizzle on the top, it turned out to contain chopped pecans, chopped dried apricots, and little tiny dark chocolate chips. I think I can say that the only thing that could have possibly made it better would be coconut rum. They were so good that I bought several to take back with me on my flight home.

After lunch, we visited the Portland Classical Chinese Gardens, and warmed up afterwards in their tea house. The tea house serves Tao of Tea products only (which I hadn’t realized was also a local Portland company), and we each only had tea. I tried the red clover, and my friend had the black peony. They were both lovely, and we whiled away the time drinking many small cups of tea.

For dinner that night, my final meal in Portland was at Mio Sushi (I’m not sure which location, but not the one in NW Portland), selected for the head-clearing properties of wasabi and the tonic quality of miso soup. We ate a selection of tuna and salmon rolls, with a couple of veggie ones thrown in for variety, all of which were quite flavorful. This also presented an unlooked-for opportunity to demonstrate my mediocre chopstick technique; I have been told that a vacation to China or Japan will quickly remedy that for me. At any rate, it was sushi west coast style, and that was good enough for me.

Finally, as if all of these great restaurants and home-cooked meals weren’t enough food excitement for one trip, I finally sampled a tangelo, beloved fruit of one of my favorite people. The one I had was organic, from New Seasons market, and (as advertised) totally juicy and delicious.

So there you have it.

how I went to Portland and ate