February in Instagram

Koi in the pond at the Japanese Tea Garden

Two of my favorite women in the whole world!

After two failed attempts to get a sourdough starter going in the summer (it got moldy), I spent a week getting it going and making pumpernickel.  It was good.  Not worth six months of effort. 

Magnets made from clear Christmas ornaments and sea glass from Rhode Island and Long Island.

Gave a talk on skin color and health at AAAS meeting - I love Boston!

A few extra days with friends and their adorable kids in Boston.

I finally got my library card so that I can spend my commutes listening to audiobooks instead of just hating my fellow drivers.  

Knitting and watching Jayhawk basketball are two of my favorite pastimes.

Hooray for friends visiting!!!

I own way too many spices and I don't even know how to use the more exotic ones.  I put some kala jeera and star anise in this Lagman Uzbek with chickpeas in place of lamb.

January in Instagram

 This month was so busy, I can't even believe that it started out in Kansas with snow and stomach flu.

Our friend Maria came to stay with us for a week.  She lived here for two years so we took her to all her old hang outs and showed her the new Riverwalk extension.

The day Maria left, Jason and Abby came to stay.  Abby was here because we organized a conference, but they stayed through the weekend to hang out.  We had lots of tacos and, of course, visited a mission (we did the Alamo last year).

These flowers were an unexpected thank you gift.

Hank loves to sit up in her cat town and look down on us.

For Christmas, I got the Smitten Kitchen cookbook and only made it to the first page before I decided I HAD to have the apple-sour cream pancakes.

I also got the Super Natural Everyday cookbook and made this rice salad featuring forbidden rice.  Somehow I thought it would be hard to get - turns out you can get it in the bulk bin for $4 a pound.

Scrabble Night!!!! (That's Geoff's game face)

 

Celebrated Kansas Day on the 29th with this gorgeous quilled necklace my mom made.

Finally got the last 7 years worth of photos (since I bought a digital camera) printed and in albums!

Whew!  Quite a month.

Bun with Pork Belly

Those of you who are Facebook friends of mine may have heard me mention the little boy who came to our house to trick-or-treat and asked if we were having hot dogs for dinner.  I said yes, rather than try and explain what pork belly is to a four year old.  The inspiration for me to make my own bun (the Vietnamese noodle "salad") came from a dinner we had in California. I mentioned at the time that "I had the bun with char-grilled pork and the pork was basically bacon" and I haven't been able to get it out of my head since.

I bought a 2 pound pork belly (it shrinks a lot when you cook it) from our local heritage pork purveyor.  Fair warning: it comes with the skin on.  Also, some hair.  But this, my friends, is the omnivore's dilemma.  I forged ahead with an overnight brine and braise with Ming Tsai's recipe. After it came out of the oven and it had cooled a bit, I cut off the skin and (are you still with me?) sliced the meat as thinly as possible.  To crisp up the meat and render the remaining fat, I tossed the strips into a hot skillet.

This is more of a salad than you usually get with lots of lettuce, cucumbers, and whatever else you might want.  Whatever you include, you should top it with vermicelli noodles and positively drench it in this fish sauce (nuoc mam cham).  I got this recipe from my brother and it is the perfect balance of sweet, sour, and pungent with a good bit of heat (the way I made it).  You can even use it to pickle some carrots and onions to add some color.  So the verdict?  The bun itself was pretty easy to make, but I'm going to leave pork belly to the pros.

Grown-Up Treats

Halloween is the time of year where all of our sweet-tooths can be easily sated with jumbo bags of unrelentingly sweet fun-size treats.  But sometimes you need a slightly more complex treat.  Don't get me wrong, there is absolutely nothing wrong with the chocolate chip cookie recipe on the back of bag of Nestle Tollhouse chocolate morsels.  It tastes like your childhood and will always please a crowd.  But if you are looking for a more adult version of this classic, I'd recommend you check out this recipe from Jennifer Martiné.  I have a sweet-tooth, but when things get too sweet, I go into sugar shock so I love that the sweetness of the cookie is balanced with salt and just a hint of bitterness.

I had never tried cocoa nibs before and pushed this recipe aside, assuming that they would be difficult to find.  Then one day I was picking up a bag of dark chocolate chips and noticed cocoa nibs on the shelf above.  If you can't find them at your local market, try your local snooty grocery store.  The cocoa nibs remind me a bit of coffee with a chocolaty undertone and provide a nice texture somewhere in between the crisp of the toasted walnuts and the yieldingness of the chocolate chips.  These are chock-a-block full cookies and I wasn't actually sure that the dough would be able to contain it all!  A few grains of very coarse sea salt provide a final flourish.  Be careful, though, these perfectly balanced cookies are completely addictive.

Hey there, Crabcakes.

I really love crab in just about any form, but I have never cooked it myself.  I think it falls into my broad (unfounded) Kansas-based fear of cooking seafood.  Being far from any place where crabs are harvested, I was a bit skeptical of the tub'o'crab on offer at Central Market.  But it was on sale last week so I went ahead and give it a shot.  While I love crab legs  in butter, if you aren't on the coast, they are crazy expensive.  Crab cakes, however, can - and should - be made at home.  The lump crab isn't quite as sweet as fresh crab, so the other ingredients really pep it up!  I had seen this recipe for Faidley's Famous Crabcakes on TV.  It uses saltines instead of bread as a binder and contains a good bit of mustard, which I always like in crabcakes.  The result is a nice, light crabcake without too much filler.  I added a panko crust for extra crisp before sauteing and the result was definitely something I'd make again.  So far, trying new ingredients has been deliciously rewarding!

Summer's Bounty Salad

I love grilling vegetables in the summertime.  The intense heat of the grill intensifies the flavor and caramelizes the edges to bring out the sweetness.  This composed salad can be made with any combination of summer vegetables you may have on hand or find at the market that week.  I used slabs of eggplant and zucchini cut 1/2" thick, sweet onions, and red bell pepper.  Once grilled over medium heat until tender all the way through, the vegetables were tossed immediately in a red wine vinaigrette.
The warm vegetables are contrast with a cold salad of pear tomatoes, mozzarella pearls, and fresh basil plus salty kalamata olives and caperberries.  Any type of cheese would be nice, especially a fresh goat cheese, and you could substitute whatever types of olives, pickles, or maybe giardiniera you may have on hand.  I included caperberries after seeing them at the deli counter.  The only time I had tried them before was a few years ago at a small Italian restaurant and I remembered really enjoying them.  Caperberries are the fruit that results from the caper bud being allowed to develop; they are bright and briny with a nice crisp texture.  The ones available at Central Market were a little too salty, but a brief soak in water will reduce the saltiness.  If you are a fan of olives, capers, and other briny goodness, they are worth tracking down.

The variety of flavors and textures keeps the salad plenty interesting, but some bread finishes out the meal nicely.  Any type of bread would be good - in fact, this reminds me a lot of plate of assorted breads, cheeses, and marinated vegetables I frequently had for lunch at Wheatfield's bakery in Lawrence.  I made my standard pizza dough and rolled it out into approximately 8 inch rounds which I lightly oiled and grilled.  Once off the heat, I rubbed the flatbread with a cut garlic clove.  Leftover, veggies, and mozzarella make a great panini the next day.  

Red Wine Vinaigrette


2 tbsp olive oil
2 tbsp red wine vinegar
2 teaspoon minced fresh oregano
salt and pepper to taste
1/4 tsp crushed red pepper
1/4 tsp garlic powder
salt and pepper to taste


Mix all ingredients together.  Great on salad, vegetables, or even as a marinade.

Ch-Ch-Ch-Chia

I've heard of using chia seeds as a vegan substitute for eggs and Sarah added it to couscous for a round of Feeding Friendship, but this recipe from SkinnyTaste was the first time I had seen it used in a pudding and I was intrigued.  Chia is known as a "super-food" and is touted as a source of protein, calcium, iron, potassium, and anti-oxidants.  Take the health claims as you will, but trust me when I tell you that they make a surprisingly tasty pudding.

When chia seeds are soaked overnight, they develop a coating of gel, much like a tomato seed.  I know that doesn't sound very appetizing, but it actually reminds me a lot of tapioca pudding (which I hated for it's texture as a child, mostly because my dad liked to refer to it as "fish eyes").  This version is lightly sweet and a nice summer dessert, especially if you are entertaining vegans as this recipe calls for almond milk and coconut milk in place of dairy.  I found it a bit bland so I amped up the flavor a bit by adding some almond extract, but some cinnamon or perhaps cardamom (a nod to kheer) would be tasty too.  The chia seeds are virtually flavorless, so the potential combinations are unlimited!

Moroccan Merguez Ragout with Poached Eggs

Have you ever heard the proverb "success has many fathers, failure is an orphan"?  I think it holds for meals as well.  So it should tell you something that this recipe is the fortuitous offspring of a meal at my favorite brunch place in Lawrence, KS, an impulse-buy at the grocery store, and one of my favorite food sites.

A few months ago I was gazing at the massive number of Chinese sauces for sale at the grocery store (50% of which are just flavored soy sauce) when a little can of harissa caught my eye.  Harissa had its food moment several years ago in the U.S., but it is staple of northern Africa - a cuisine I love, but rarely cook.  I brought the harissa home and it sat, forgotten, in my pantry until my epic clean-out a few weeks ago when seeing it reminded me of the recipe for Moroccan Merguez Ragout I saw on Food52.  I couldn't find ground lamb to make my own merguez, so I made my merguez patties by cutting open 2/3 of a pound of premade pork and lamb sausages and mixing in a tablespoon of harissa and a tablespoon of homemade ras al hanout.

Here is where the Milton's influence comes in.  Summer and I had brunch there last Christmas and I couldn't decide between eggs Benedict and eggs Florentine so they graciously stacked ham, spinach, and eggs under a layer of Hollandaise. The spinach makes you feel just the tiniest bit virtuous and adds a mineral coolness to contrast the spice from the sauce.  The combination of harissa and warm spices from the ras al hanout gives a roundness to the spice instead of just a chili heat.  I can totally understand why harissa was the en vogue hot sauce for a while there (I believe it is now sambal).  I suspect you could poach pretty much anything in this sauce with great success. I imagine spinach and chickpeas over quinoa would be a fantastic vegetarian main course.  And if you try it, may I suggest a poached egg on top?