Eating my way through Kansas City

I totally forgot to give a recap on my trip to Kansas City. The meeting was very productive and we got a lot of work done. But the best part of Kansas City was the food. The first night I was in town, we went to this yummy place called Grand Street Cafe. It was right around the corner from our hotel, and had an awesome selection of what I would call "California cuisine". I had a fried chicken salad (an oxymoron, right?) It was delicious. I will definitely be going back there in May.


Our second night we ventured a few more blocks from our hotel to the Beer Kitchen. This place was the bomb. It reminded me a lot of the Publick House in Boston. Lots of artisanal beers and comfort food. I had a reuben sandwich with fries (the fries come with different aoili sauces. YUM!) Our table also ordered these amazing deviled eggs as an appetizer. Highly recommended.

And finally, the mother of all barbeque joints - Gates BBQ. A Kansas City institution.



Our group went all out on our trip to Gates. I had a burnt end sandwich, which is basically all of the ends of the meat on a bun with lots of bbq sauce. That sh*t melted in my mouth!



Katie, our Kansas City Writing Project colleague and host, ordered the 4-boner (heheh). Four different meats on one plate:




She made me take most of it home for Paul. Luckily for him, the leftovers made it home and he was in heaven. I can't wait to go back in May!

Taste of Fall

I'm a big sucker for soups. Pretty much all soups - ones with rice, ones with veggies, pureed, chunky - you name it, I'll dip my bread in it! Fall of course is the beginning of (warm) soup season, and I thought I'd share some soup recipes I'm looking forward to trying soon:

From Craft: Curried Pumpkin Soup with Crème Fraiche

From Local Savory: Pear and Turnip Soup

From Broke-Ass Gourmet: Lobster-Parsnip Bisque

From Martha Stewart: Pureed Butternut Squash Soup

I actually made my own version of this soup last night. It was pretty good, but was lacking a bit in the spice department. I think I'll try Martha's version. It still looks great though, eh?

Kitchen prints

Spotted on Design Sponge a few days ago - John Holcomb's state-inspired food prints. Here are a few of my favorites:





I'm really wanting to fancy up our kitchen soon - just a few coats of paint and some new artwork will suffice until we have the funds for new cabinets and flooring. I think these are perfect for that!

Alert! New favorite food site!

I found out about this new food site Tasteologie on Crafttoday, and it's my new favorite food-related website by far! It basically showcases links from across the internets related to food: recipes, gardening ideas, kitchen wares...you name it, it's there. With pages and pages more to look at, I'll definitely be using this site as a resource in my kitchen!



Some of my favorites so far:

Balsamic Roasted Tomato Caprese sandwiches by Closet Cooking

How to plant a fall veggie garden by Better Homes & Gardens

Sunday Morning Baked Eggs by What Katie Ate

Basil Tops Pesto made in California

I don't think you're ready for this jelly

May I present to you, my latest in canning adventures?





I'm loving this end-of-summer bounty that's going on! Paul picked tons of tomatoes at his friend's house so I made tomato sauce. I've been craving homemade pickles, and Paul's been craving strawberry jam, so I made both last night. The pickling was my favorite (probably because I'm a salt fiend...) We'll see how they turn out in a week!

Happy Easter!

We're heading up to my parents this weekend for some Groveland/Easter fun. I had the inspiration to make Cadence a little Easter present last night while watching The Office reruns. I think the chickie turned out pretty cute!


Wish I had more time to make some cute cookies like these ones. Happy Easter everyone!

from Prudent Baby

Holy marmalade!

I've found another great use for the lemons that we keep getting from our friend's tree: Lemon Ginger Marmalade. Doesn't that sound fantastic? The thought of it makes me wanna toast up an English muffin and drink some Earl Grey. Come to think of it, that might be a nice Easter treat for our visit with my parents this weekend.

Anyway, you can find the recipe on wendolonia's blog (which I just found, and love!) Right now she has some great posts on bento box lunches - just like the one I use (my favorite Christmas present this year!)

image

Mmmm...lemons!

Paul's best friend Ever has a HUGE Meyer lemon tree in his backyard. Their family makes sweet lemonade like there's no tomorrow! Every time we visit, we're always going home with armfuls of the sweet things - and I'm always trying to find new ways to use them. Today I found this recipe for Meyer lemon panna cotta in the SF Chronicle. I think I might try making it this weekend (since we're heading up there for a birthday party, I'm sure I'll be bringing a few home!)

From the archives....here's Cadence last year, eating a Meyer lemon right off the tree...

It may be raining out....

...but I'm daydreaming about all of the seeds that I'm going to buy from Hometown Seeds. Some jalapeno peppers? Salad Bush Cucumbers? Sugar Snap Peas? Yeah buddy!

I've been inspired to get my garden goin' by Alys Fowler's Garden Anywhere. It's a great book for the urban gardener in us all - ideas for how to use the space you have to create an awesome garden. She has so many useful ideas for planting in containers like old wooden drawers and wine boxes. She even grows potatoes in plastic tubs! I know, I'm getting so excited about this it's scary. If only the sun would come out to play again....

Good Soup. Bad photo.

I've gotten a bit of a stomach bug. Yesterday, we spent the day at the Napa River in American Canyon with my brother and Dana, his friends, and the Hughes family. Aaron and his friends fished while the rest of us watched. We all drank beer and basked in the sun. We barbequed and ate lots. And, I think we ate something bad. Paul and I both were sick last night, had the spins, and hot flashes. Gross. I couldn't hang at work all day today, so I came home to sleep it off and be closer to the bathroom.

Anyway, even though my tummy is hurting, I'm kinda hungry. I couldn't even get out to get groceries, so I made a soup with what I had in the cupboard. It came out pretty well, if I say so myself. Perfect for a gloomy day and a sick tummy.

Potato Soup
1 sliced onion
3 cloves minced garlic
2 skinned potatoes, cubed
1 tbl fresh chopped rosemary
2 can of chicken broth (or the equivalent of. I used a combo of homemade/canned)
1 tbl olive oil
salt & pepper to taste
optional: dollop of sour cream

Saute the onions, garlic, & rosemary in the olive oil. Once the onions get carmelly and soft, add the chicken stock and potatoes. Cook on high until the potatoes start to come apart. At this point, you can leave the soup as is, or use an immersion blender to make smooth (that's what I did). Then, I added a dollop of sour cream and mixed it in to make the soup creamy. This part is optional - it just makes the soup a little more creamy without all of the dairy.

Cupcakes

I've read reviews in the New Yorker multiple times about street vending cupcake trucks in New York city (like a taco truck, only with cupcakes). It would make me sad because I was unaware of any "bakeries on wheels" in the bay area. Well, I had my first experience today (thanks Natalia!) right here in downtown Berkeley. The Cupkates truck was super cute and you could smell sweet smells coming out of it. I was a little overambitious about bought 4 (at $2.75/piece, that's pretty pricey, but I figured they would be valentine's day treats). I kept it simple getting 1 chocolate, 1 vanilla, 1 lemon-raspberry, and 1 red velvet. YUM! Now, I haven't had them yet (last day of the cleanse)...but am saving these goodies for breakfast tomorrow. With a nice strong cup of coffee. And my valentine :)

Happy Valentines Day to all!

Day 5

I'm on Day 5 of my cleanse - this being the most stressful time of the year for me (aka eating and drinking alot), I thought it would be in the best interest of my liver (and colon) to have a break. So, I've been dairy, carb, and alcohol free for 5 days. The last time I did this cleanse was killer, this time it's actually not so bad. I've been filling myself with Mary's Gone Crackers (which I eat even if I'm not on a cleanse), lots of avocados, almond butter, and roasted veggies. I'm not gonna lie, I'm still having a cup of coffee per day (which really is discouraged), but I think that's what has kept me from getting the shakes.

photo by smittinkitchen.com

Anyway, when this cleanse is done, I'm going to slightly gorge myself on this simple pasta dish found on smittinkitchen.com. It's called spaghetti with cheese + black pepper, and is similar to my favorite simple pasta dish (sans balsamic vinegar). In this recipe, it seems like you kind of fry the spaghetti noodles in oil, then douse with the remaining pasta water and cheese. mmm...gooey cheese....

Homemade Pizza

Paul bought me the BEST cookbook a few weeks back:


Needless to say, he's been the guinea pig for my new creations. One of my favorite recipes so far was for pizza dough. The dough turned out very tasty (I used 1/2 white flour and 1/2 whole wheat flour). It was nice and crispy on the outside, and chewy on the inside. I topped it off with thinly sliced zucchini, garlic, mozzarella & parmesan cheeses, and basil. It was DEEELISH! (and even Paul thought so)...

Productive day

Today I took the day off to enjoy some post-event activities: baking, napping, cooking, laundering, and shopping.

Some of the yummy things I made:

Kalamata Olive Hummus

Butterscotch cookies (Paul's favorite)

My mom and Kevin are in town tonight (leaving for Hawaii tomorrow) and I'm making this yummy dinner from Cooking Light:

Pappardelle with Roasted Winter Squash, Arugula, and Pine Nuts

lookin' good...

These sweet potato gnocchi from The Dinner Files look amazing! Can't wait to try them when I get back home.

Mmmm...chutney....

I think I've only had chutney once or twice...but this homemade version (courtesy of Elise Bauer and Craft Mag) looks really good! The recipe looks pretty simple, and you can dress up the jars in any way your heart desires. The ingredients include any combination of fruits (apples, pears, mangos), raisins, currants, or cranberries, sugar, spices, and vinegar. Mmmm...how about some mango chutney on crackers with goat cheese?


This definitely gives me an idea on how to use the extra jars I have left over from the wedding...

Homemade Raviolis

I had some amazing butternut squash sage ravioli's at Denver's Venice Ristorante, and after returning home, I thought I could make them myself:

Making the dough...


The filling...


Assembling the ravioli's....


The finished product!


They turned out a little more dough-y than I liked (I hand-rolled out the dough, and I don't think it was thin enough), and I could work on the filling a bit. I think they turned out pretty good for my first time! And, Paul loved them, which made it worth it :)

Jammin'

Berkeley Bowl was having a sale on strawberries, so I bought a few containers and decided to make jam. I found some cute, small little jars at my favorite Alameda hardware store, Paganos, and used them for the jam. I found a recipe that didn't include pectin (because, well, I didn't have any on hand!), and tried to limit how much sugar went into the recipe. Though the jam did turned out a little runny, it's still delicious! (and easily spreadable on toast or as an ice cream topping). Paul definitely approves.

Summer eats

I'm not sure if I've told ya'll about the other blog I keep:

Ladies that Dine

Some of you may know that I have a weekly dinner with 3 of my bestest friends in the Bay Area (Erin, Jenny, and Marcelle). We decided to keep a blog where we could post our dinner dates, pictures, and recipes. I'm the editor of it, so between this blog and that one, I'm a bloggin' maniac.

Anyway, check it out! We've made a lot of tasty things throughout the past year, and the list keeps growing. And if you're ever in the Bay, come on over!

pumpkin cupcakes

I found this great recipe for low-cal chocolate cupcakes in my hungry girl cookbook. Instead of using eggs and oil, you simply mix a box of chocolate cake mix with a can of pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just canned pumpkin). The batter is SUPER thick, and it seems like you need to add water, but don't give in! They took about 20 minutes to bake and turned out excellent! They don't really taste like pumpkin, but they are super moist and delish! I didn't put any frosting on them because they were just good by themselves. I gave some out to friends and they really enjoyed them (and had no idea they had pumpkin in them!) Paul didn't like them too much, but his co-workers did!