Bake: Birthday Cake

I’ve become a little obsessed with cake decorating. I’ve become mad like every other passionate baker with sprinkles and unicorn cakes. And that’s when I saw this chocolate frosted rainbow cake.                                        

Fabulous right? So of course I had to attempt it.                                              

Oof, so lopsided and messy, but it's the thought that counted and my friends appreciated the effort.

Cook: Prosciutto and Tangerine Jam Sandwiches

Yesterday morning was iced coffee Saturday, and Cecilia had risen earlier to bake a whole wheat rye bread in which to slather butter and a chili fig jam. It was scrummy, and I took home three more slices of fresh bread. I had recently printed up a recipe for a ham and blueberry and white wine jam, and so I ate my own variation of that for lunch. The jams I had in my fridge and pantry were strawberry and tangerine.        

And so tangerine and prosciutto and Irish butter of course. Delicious y’all. But it has to be on a very crusty baguette or a slice of an artisanal bread.

Clay: Opal

I again need to resolve to work more thoughtfully when making ceramics. Keep it minimal. Keep it functional.                

The clay body is Frost Porcelain, and the glaze is Coyote’s Archie, Opal. But the pot was fired to cone 3 instead of 5. And it looks like it matured to cone, so maybe I won’t re-fire it.

Cook: Chicken Karaage

I wanted Hawaiian and hence Japanese food. Opened the black binder of recipes and spied this fried chicken and remembered the packet of potato starch in my spice drawer.                        

I should have used mirin instead of sugar. Next time.                           

I love how much crispier a potato starch or rice flour crust is. I had added wheat flour to my packet of potato starch to have enough to coat these chicken thighs. Yep I’m adding a box of mochiko to my cart the next time I’m at Suruki or Nijiya. And any meat marinaded in soy and garlic and ginger has to be accompanied by steamed Asian rice. Oh and Hawaiian Mac salad too.                                       

 

This is twice I’ve cooked this week instead of eating leftovers. And Asian meals too.                              

Fried chicken is always right for a weeknight.

Cook: Banh Mi

Summer is so glorious when you can cook from your garden. And so I've been preparing a lot of Mexican meals from the jalapenos, tomatoes, and onions from hubs' plot.

And I'm still loathe to eat out at this time during the pandemic but was wanting very much to eat a banh mi for even more fresh vegetables to go with some pork deliciousness in a meal. And so I went to a French grocery store and bought a can of pate along with a nougat. And trekked to one store for the pork belly and then to the supermarket for fresh baked baguette even if it wasn't going to be a loaf of rice and wheat flours like you'd get in Vietnam.

I chopped cilantro and coarsely julienned cucumbers from the garden after I peeled and de-seeded them.

Brought out the mayo and the ham loaf from the fridge.

And brought out Hoisin and Sriracha while browning the pork belly. And then the construction! I cut the baguette into 3 rolls--one for me and the other two for neighbors. I even wrapped their sandwich in parchment paper and rubber banded it together like a Vietnamese sandwich shop would.

Below you see my handiwork.

And my banh mi was a gustatory delight.

Cook: Shepherd’s Pie

I defrosted a pound of ground lamb the other night, and even though you'd think it'd be too hot to bake and eat a shepherd's pie in August, our Bay Area weather has been chilly.  

Leftover corn from surf and turf, frozen green peas, carrots, onions and Yukon gold potatoes from the garden, beef broth, butter, heavy cream, a bit of cornstarch, and this pie was declared to be a favorite from the neighbor with whom I shared.

Cook: Gazpacho

This past Saturday the community garden, where we "farm" had their first-in person potluck since the pandemic began. I tried to integrate all that we grew into the gazpacho we proferred: heirloom tomatoes, cucumbers, yellow onion, garlic, and spring onions. I did have to buy a cubanelle or yellow Anaheim pepper.

I also added sea salt, fruity olive oil and a couple teaspoons of Spanish sherry vinegar and whirred it all until smooth and creamy.

Transportable in two one-quart jars.

Cook: Surf and Turf

A favorite summer meal in years' past is grilled salmon, summer squash, corn and sliced fresh tomatoes sprinkled with sea salt and basil. It was this summer's favorite meal too. Throw in an expensive prime rib eye, and it becomes a surf and turf feast. Before...

....after.

Such a perfect meal...

...to be on repeat for the rest of the growing season.

Cook: Pizza

The other night we ate BLTs, and I still wanted to eat heirloom tomatoes from our garden. 

And so I topped ready-made pizza discs with burrata, spicy Italian Sausage, some cheddar on the hubs pie, some parmesan on my pie, sliced basil and splotches of chopped heirloom tomatoes as well as jarred chunky pizza sauce.

Cook: BLTs

I asked hubs last night what he wanted for dinner: BLTs or grilled pizza? I had hot Italian sausage in hand to cook and top a burratta and heirloom tomato and basil pizza. But he opted for the tomato in its most delicious and therefore raw form.                                    

All this Cherokee Purple needed was sprinklings of sea salt on its slices.  

And the garden is out of lettuce and so I bought a heap of butter lettuce—my favorite for a Cobb salad this weekend.      

Generous lathering of Duke’s mayonnaise on toasted sourdough with sprinkles of black pepper and then lettuce and tomato encasing bacon that I baked in the oven for easy peasy cleanup. And compliments from the hubs to the chef for one of his favorite dinners.

Cook: Kale Salad Bowls

Last night a neighbor threw an impromptu birthday party for a couple who celebrate both their birthdays in consecutive weekends, and I decided to use up the rest of the glass noodles to make another Vietnamese bowl but with the addition of Asian pork meatballs. While walking Sadie, I cut mint and basil and remembered to pickle more daikon radish and carrots.                    

For the meatballs, I ground garlic with lemongrass and ginger and white pepper.

I had also added a teaspoon of cornstarch and baking powder to give the meatballs a soft texture, but I needed to have ground the pork finely in my Vitamix blender before frying. Oh well I’ll try again some other time, but there are only 3 meatballs left and so at least they were delicious. I still had the components for a Vietnamese dish to feed a crowd of five with some leftover to add shrimp and lettuce for lunch.         

And it had been a gorgeous California day for harvesting from the garden and then putting together a birthday bouquet and a floral arrangement for my living room.        

I’m wondering if I should pickle these jalapeños.

My birthday present to the couple. And a trio of dahlias for the kitchen or living room. I took a bunch of basil from Jen’s plot. And early that Saturday morning I put together kale salads.                      

While surveying and cleaning out the fridge I found the remains of a balsamic vinaigrette and jars of red cabbage Curtido. That’s one salad to which I can add beets, walnuts and goat cheese.              

I had also found the remains of pickled daikon radish and carrots from all my banh mi making as well as a little bit of miso dressing for the rest of the kale greens. I will probably add leftover Vietnamese glass noodles and shrimp or teriyaki tofu to this lunch bowl. Oh and I also used up the rest of three flour tortillas to make carnitas and cheese burritos. Lunch done!