Birthday Fun

Some of my friends this year decided to get me food inspired gifts for my birthday and all I want to do is share them with the world.  I received a beautiful oregano plant that I actually made a sauce with, which I will post later, a highly popular book on writing about food, and a 6 month membership to igourmet.com connoisseur club. I will definitely do a post about each of these items but for now, here are a few pictures of them.

Kumquats and Almond Tea Cakes

Here is the sequence of events from April 12, Thursday.

12:00pm - I discovered someone at work brought kumquats into work for everyone to take. I took a lot.

1:00pm - I started looking up recipes and found this one from tarteletteblog.com

2:00pm - I realized that I needed a cake tin, immediately purchased one from Amazon and paid the extra $3.99 for 1-day shipping so I could use it over the weekend

4:00pm - I called all of the Trader Joe's and Whole Foods' in the area to see who had millet flour

6:00pm - I went to Whole Foods to get all of the ingredients I needed.

What can I say? I work fast.

I absolutely loved this recipe. I think it helped greatly that the kumquats I took were incredibly sweet compared to any other kumquats I had ever tasted. You will see in the recipe that it calls for Kumquat Compote, which is super easy to make. You cut up 1 cup of kumquats with the rind on and bring it to a boil with 1 cup of sugar and 3/4 cup water. Once it comes to a boil, turn the heat down and simmer for about 10 minutes. Remove from the heat and once cooled, drain the kumquats, saving about 2-3 tbsp of the syrup. Puree the kumquats and syrup until it looks and feels like a thick marmalade.

The cake is very moist and sweet, then when topped with the fresh kumquats, it brings a nice tartness to the dessert. This was actually the first recipe I've tried from tarteletteblog.com, which is surprising because I've drawn a lot of inspiration from that blog. I even purchased the food photography book from the blogger and am so happy to report that her recipes are legit! I will definitely be pulling more recipes from her, but in the meantime, enjoy!

Kumquats!

Some kind generous soul brought in a ton of kumquats into work today and left them in the kitchen. I took whatever that would fit in two paper cups and started researching kumquat recipes. I think I found a good one and will be trying it out this weekend. Wish me luck!

Happy Wednesday

This is the result of a failed cocktail experiment and I liked the picture so much I thought I'd post it.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

Shame on me for not updating more often. I haven't even been very busy so I have no excuse. I did attempt to make strawberry cupcakes though and was super excited to finally be able to use my cakestand, but the cupcakes were a fail. The frosting turned out extremely liquidy and couldn't even frost the cupcakes so I left them off the blog. So I turned to this trusty buffalo chicken dip that I made for a get together the other day. Just by looking at the ingredients, you just know it's going to be heart attack good. Below is the recipe. I promise I will put more time into my blog soon enough!

Ingredients:
1 whole shredded chicken
1 16 ounce bottle of blue cheese
1 cup Frank's hot sauce
1 cup shredded cheddar cheese
16 ounces of cream cheese
green onions for garnish

Instructions:
1. Combine chicken, dressing, Frank's, and 3/4 cup shredded cheese with the cream cheese in a saucepan.
2. Melt over medium low heat until it's smooth.
3. Place mixture in a 9 by 13 baking dish. Sprinkle the rest of the shredded cheese on top.
4. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 minutes and serve with chips.

I DECLARE A BURGER WAR.

Friday afternoon, Sibyl and I had the following conversation.

me: give me something to make for my blog on saturday

Sibylkavak: umm a burger

me: omg what kind of amateur blog do you think i have?

Sibylkavak: WHATTTT

me: LOL

Sibylkavak: burgers are like the gourmet of gourmet

me: ok i can't tell if you're being sarcastic

Sibylkavak: haha im not

me: burgers are like the easiest thing to make

Sibylkavak: omg make a good burger BURGER challenge

me: no problem yo OMG can we?

Sibylkavak: yess haha do you have a bbq

me: wait i'm seriously down for this like tomorrow? no hahha but you do!

Sibylkavak: hahah yes!! tmw! pool and bbq! challenge

This got my mind churning for the best burger. I immediately knew that I would use the Spanish espanola meatball recipe for the patty because the meatballs have always been very moist. Luckily, it turns out the meatball recipes works just as great for a burger! As for the toppings, ingredients started to click for me. A few weeks ago, I went to the Silverlake Cheese Shop and bought this amazing fig jam that I haven't been able to incorporate into anything except cheese. So, I tried to think of things that would complement the fig jam and went with the following toppings: caramelized onions, Monterey Jack cheese, avocado, and arugula.

The caramelized onions took a lot longer than I had expected, but was really the star of the show. In case you don't know how to make caramelized onions, you just cut an onion into thin strips and cook them in enough oil and butter to coat all of the onions. Keep them cooking and moving for about 30-40 minutes or until nice and dark brown. I added about an 1/8 tsp of sugar within the last 5 minutes of cooking the onions. Anyway, Sibyl made a burger with bacon in the patty with pepper jack cheese and arugula. It was pretty tasty, but in terms of winning, I won by a longshot. ;) Below is the patty recipe.

Good Morning!

So I realize that I am just posting filler pictures because I haven't cooked any new recipes, but I swear I'm cooking again this weekend! I actually cooked chicken adobo yesterday but I couldn't make it look pretty and the lighting was bad, so I decided not to post about it. Anyway, I wanted to take this time to show you all what Nate had gotten me for Valentine's day! He got me a Chemex coffee maker which I have been debating on getting forever now. I used to have a drip coffee machine, but it started leaking whenever I would make coffee so it was time for an upgrade. Anyway, I woke up super early this morning and instead of going to the gym, I made some coffee! I want to make this a daily routine, but I highly doubt that will happen. =) Until next time!

Farmer's Market

I haven't had much time to cook lately, but here are a few photos I've taken in the last week! I was totally drawn by all of the beautiful vibrant colors.

Scallops over Kale and Brussel Sprout Salad

For Valentine's Day, Nate and I decided to stay in and cook to avoid the restaurant bussel. We chose to make bacon-wrapped scallops over the kale and brussel sprout salad from Parsnips, not Potatoes on Valentine's Day, but Whole Foods was out of scallops that day! I guess everyone else had the same idea so, we decided to wait until the weekend to make it. I went to the Farmer's Market and found beautiful purple brussel sprouts, which I feel really brought some color to the dish and I was ready to start. As I said, the scallops were originally supposed to be bacon wrapped, but I didn't do my research because the bacon would not stay on the darn scallops. I ended up cutting them up and turning them into bacon bits for the salad. Then, I used the bacon fat instead of chicken fat (listed in the recipe since that was what was used at Parsnips, not Potatoes) to dress the salad. I didn't really notice a difference from the chicken fat version so you are fine either way!

The scallops were super easy too. I had tried to make scallops before but they always ended up gritty and firm so I turned to my Ad Hoc at Home cookbook. Thomas Keller recommended brining the scallops in salt water for 10 minutes, then cooking them in clarified butter. The key is not to crowd them or else they start steaming instead of caramelizing. Anyway, below is the recipe for the salad. Enjoy!

Parsnips, Not Potatoes

I've recently been a part of a pop-up group called Parsnips, not Potatoes with a few of my high school friends and we had our first event last Saturday for a Valentine's Day Special. Shin was the head chef while myself, Kristin, and Matt helped with things food related. Yumi and Mimi were in charge of decorations and Phiton was in charge of photos, videos, and the website. I wish I could say that I took these photos, but they were taken by the very talented Phiton.

Anyway, this was such a great experience and I plan on helping out more, but gosh starting up a restaurant is a TON of work. Timing of serving is difficult, prep takes days, great presentation is difficult, the list goes on and on. But I must say, the food we served was all phenomenal thanks to Shin, so much that I'm going to try to recreate the salad with a different protein this Sunday. Here is what the menu was:

1. Petite Croque-Madame Topped with Fried Quail Egg And Mornay Sauce

2. Roasted Chicken Thigh on a Winter Slaw Kale

3. Beef Bourguignon with Short Ribs Over Root Vegetables

4. Walnut Crumble Deep Dish Fruit Pie Apples, Pairs, Cranberries And Figs

So if you like what you see, be sure to check Parsnips, not Potatoes out! Their next event is in April.

Happy Valentine's Day!

Do I like Starbucks? Not particularly.

Did I see their Valentine's day cups and want to go get one? Yes

Did I go on February 4 thinking they would have them, but they didn't? Yes

Did I go again on February 8, just to get the Valentine's day cup? Yes

Did I get a Grande instead of a Tall because the Valentine's day cup only came in the Grande? Yes

Did I ask for an extra cup? Yes

Did Starbucks' Marketing technique work on me? I would say so.

Super Bowl Sunday

I need a backyard. I need a fixed lens. I need a studio! This weekend, I went to Mike and Emily's for Super Bowl Sunday where the lovely Emily made us baked taquitos. I can't say they were the most authentic taquitos because 1. they were baked and 2. they had cream cheese inside, but they were delicious nonetheless! I shot the first picture outside in Mike and Emily's backyard and gosh I really love shooting in direct sunlight. I can increase the aperture as much as I want, which really gives a lot more focus to the photo, which I LOVE being able to do.

Then the second picture was taken with Emily's fixed lens, which was super fun to play around with. It's a great lens to have for indoor photography, where I need great help in. I think it's time to start saving up for a fixed lens! =)

Waffles

Waffles! I had been craving waffles for a long time so it was about time that I made them. This is Nate's mom's recipe which is supposedly famous around Washburn, Wisconsin so I decided to try it out. I wish I could say that I actually cooked the waffles, but I'll admit that Nate and his brother Jeremy were the ones cooking while Val and I were just sitting around drinking coffee. The waffles turned out perfectly though. They were so fluffy and tasted great with blueberries. I played around with my shutter speed to get a shot of the maple syrup being poured onto the waffles, which you see above. To get this shot, I needed a lot of light so I made a makeshift setup on the computer chair next to a window that was pouring in direct sunlight. You do what you gotta do!

I realize I never talked about the pop-up restaurant that I helped out with. I wish I had pictures to post, but there really wasn't time since there was so much prepping to be done. It was a great experience especially because you realize how much people appreciate good food. Our chef got raving reviews and I can't wait to help again for the Valentine's day special. I will be posting again soon because I got some great pictures from Super Bowl Sunday of food that Emily made. She even let me use her fixed lens for a little while and got some great pictures out of it. Stand by!

Macaroni and Cheese

I've been wanting to make this macaroni and cheese recipe for a long time and since it is basically a huge casserole, why not invite some friends over? So I invited Mike and Emily over who just recently got married, but there was an alterior motive. Emily is a photography whiz! She has been so helpful during my learning process so the least I could do was cook her a meal. =)

I'm starting to see that photography is really about give and take and it's starting to get frustrating. This shoot was no exception. There wasn't as much light as I had wished so I had to increase the aperture, but with that, I lost some focus in the shot when that was not my intention. You'll see that the thyme is a little out of focus; gosh, I really need to learn how to shoot photos indoors! I'm also very confused with how much ISO I should use. In my photography class, the teacher really advised against it, but sometimes I just don't know how to bring light into my picture. Luckily, Emily gave me a few tips about using white balance to bring more light and ambience to a picture so I will be experimenting with that. Enjoy!

Intelligentsia Love.

I will be posting soon! but enjoy these in the meantime. =)

Banana oatmeal flax muffins

In lieu of the new year, I decided to make a healthy muffin. My coworker Claudine gave me this recipe and I only altered it a little bit. Instead of 2 tsp of cinnamon, I used 1 since I'm not a huge fan of cinnamon. This recipe is so simple and healthy, I will definitely be making it again. It is not sweet at all so don't expect the taste of a blueberry muffin, but it tastes great with bananas and is a great source of fiber. I will definitely be eating these for breakfast for the next few days.

I wasn't happy with the photos that I got from this shoot. It was overcast outside so I didn't get a whole lot of light and just didn't put in the time to style the scene that well. I keep letting laziness get the best of me. =) I do have some exciting events coming up soon though! I've gotten involved with a group of my high school friends to open up a pop-up restaurant for one night and possibly more if it goes well. We have some great recipes planned out and I can't wait to get some pictures posted, but it probably won't be for a while since we have a lot of kinks to work out first. Anyway, I hope you like the muffins!

SUSHI POT LUCK

So I've tried to upload these photos all week but blogspot was being slow on me so here they finally are! On Saturday, a bunch of friends and I got together to make Japanese food. Nate and I had taken a sushi making class a long time ago and learned how to make mushroom inari rolls so we brought this to the pot luck. We all also made sushi rolls with various fillings like cucumber, avocados, and mangos. To make sushi rolls at home, all you have to do is get Grade A sushi from a Japanese market and get creative with fillings. It is pretty affordable and a little goes a long way.

Anyway, the inari rolls are easy; you just have to buy inari rolls and shiitake mushrooms. You saute the mushrooms with equal portions of soy sauce and mirin, then stuff the inari with rice, then the mushrooms and voila! you are done. I don't know the exact measurements because I just eyeball it now, but just make sure there is just enough liquid for the mushrooms to absorb. Don't overdo it. Anway, I encourage everyone to make sushi at home. I haven't gotten food poisoning once yet! =) I wish I had pictures of everything from that day like the twix bars and boston creme cupcakes Rui made, but I only got pictures of the sushi and the inari rolls. Enjoy!

Banana-blueberry smoothie

I went to breakfast this morning with my sister and her friend Megan and my sister and I were craving a smoothie, but the restaurant only had a green matcha smoothie. Who would order that? Anyway, I got home and walked Cooper over to Trader Joe's to pick up ingredients for a smoothie. I played around with the proportions and the results were perfect! I was a little nervous that the smoothie would be too tart because the blueberries weren't very sweet, but it turned out really good.

I wish the colors were a little more vibrant, but I made due with what I had. I also wish I had a straw to put in the cup/jar but that's ok. If you can tell in the first picture, I really tried to concentrate on the blueberries and LOVED that you could see some water droplets on the fruit. I LOVE MY CAMERA.

I will be posting some more pictures shortly of a Japanese themed pot luck we had on Saturday. We had sushi, mushroom inari rolls, soba with dashi, Boston creme cupcakes, and homemade twix bars! I didn't get pictures of it all because I was too distracted playing BOGGLE, but I will post what I have later.

Sauteed chicken breasts with tarragon

Happy New Year!!! I know I always state the obvious in my blog, but gosh, lighting makes such a big difference in photos. I cooked this meal during the day, even though to me it was more of a dinner, but it was totally worth it. I wanted to make this first post of 2012 special so I decided to choose a recipe out of my Thomas Keller cookbook called "Ad Hoc at Home". I made Sauteed Chicken Breasts with Tarragon and I must say that tarragon has really started to make an impression on me lately. I've used it for this asaparagus soup recipe that I will have to post sometimes and now this dish. This recipe was so easy and I will definitely be making it again. I paired the chicken with a simple salad with this amazing pear champagne vinaigrette and pears from Trader Joes and some white wine that I used in the dish.

I really tried to focus on the photography this time around. I tried experimenting with the shutter speed to get a shot of the sauce being poured onto the chicken, but failed miserably. I forgot that with a faster shutter speed came no light captured so all my pictures turned out black. Well, at least I'm learning. I also spent a lot of time trying to think of styling techniques which is why I bought the flowers, cheese and a baguette. I thought they would be a good backdrop and have been craving RedHawk's Cowgirl Creamery (the cheese that is displayed). It is the stinkiest cheese I've ever had, but SUPER good so try it! ;)

I'm not really sure what I will be cooking next, but I will make sure that it is sometime soon! I want to try to post at least once a week. Wish me luck! Here is the recipe for the chicken. I will go back to putting the recipe on a picture from photoshop, but didn't get the ideal picture for that this time around.

Ingredients:

1 tsp paprika

1 tsp curry powder

6 chicken breasts

salt

canola oil

3 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp minced shallot

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

1 tbsp coursely chopped tarragon, plus 1 tbsp tarragon leaves

black pepper

Instructions:

1. Mix the paprika and curry powder in a small bowl and season the chicken breasts on both sides. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. (I did this for about 1 hour out of impatience)

2. Lay each chicken breast between two large pieces of plastic wrap and pound until about 1/4 inch thick. (This part is fun)

3. Season the chicken with salt and heat on a pan with canola oil for about 1 to 1.5 minutes on one side. Flip over for another 1 to 1.5 minutes until fully cooked through.

4. Set chicken aside, perhaps in an oven at 200 degrees to keep warm.

5. Melt 1 tbsp of butter in the same pan and add shallots for about 30 seconds.

6. Pour in the white wine and cook for about a minute before adding the chicken stock.

7. Bring the mixture to a boil then stir in the chopped tarragon and remaining 2 tbsp of butter.

8. If there is any juices from the chicken in the oven, add that too.

9. Season with salt and pepper and serve with chicken.