Turning Over A New Leaf....

So today I ate leftovers.

*gasp*

I know, I know. You're thinking what the hell, Kate? Everyone eats leftovers! On the contrary, because - I dont. If you've ever: lived with me, were my mother, my boyfriend, my grandma or someone trying to send me home with a plate -you know this is sort of unprecedented.

Why do I not eat leftovers? Eh. Just never liked eating the same thing twice (except pizza). What made me do it, you ask? The economy? Afraid Shawn would eat the rest of something before I did? Nope. I just....felt like it.

Simple Beef Chili
Ingredients
1 package ground beef
1 Onion (3/4s for cooking, 1/4 for chopping).
4 Garlic Cloves, chopped.
1 Can chopped tomatoes in juice.
1 Can Corn.
1 Can Kidney Beans
2 8oz tomato juice cans
2 chopped Serrano peppers

Fresh Basil
Olive Oil
Red Pepper Flakes
(secret: half a sloppy joe seasoning packet!)

Step One: Heat a heavy pot (I used my dutch oven!) on medium. Saute chopped onions and garlic with olive oil until turning yellow. Add ground beef until starting to brown, 6 minutes.

Step Two: Once browning, add two cans of tomato juice - and chopped tomatoes. Simmer for 5 minutes.

Step Three: Add corn, kidney beans, basil, red pepper flakes, peppers and sloppy Joe seasoning. Cover and simmer for 40 minutes.

Serve hot and with chopped onions and cheese! :)

Burn, Baby, Burn.

I love a good bonfire. In the summer there's nothing more American than a toasty fire with friends, its as American as John Cougar-Mellencamp. Sorry, actually its MORE American.

Although, when you live in San Francisco a warm August night is hard to come by, though not impossible. On Saturday- it didnt stop us from soldiering on and coming up with a good excuse to brave the 50 degree fog in Daly City: Burn Farve Jersies. While I did NOT have anything to burn, or particularly care as I am from NY....I attended the event with sympathy and moral support. And food!

There were actually 4 dishes that night that were of mention. I made (see pic to left) Sante Fe Corn Pudding from the Sunset BBQ magazine I recently bought before grill season was over. I made some tweaks to the recipe to turn up the heat but it was fairly simple. The other two dishes that absolutely blew my mind were Tisha's Goat Cheese and Chive Fried Squash Blossom Salad, Shawn's Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble and Josh's Orange Pork loin.

Sante Fe Corn Pudding
Ingredients
6 Boiled Corn Cobbs
1 1/2 Cups of Half and Half

1/4 tbs of melted butter
2/3 cup crushed Ritz Crackers
2 eggs

Shredded Monterey Jack

2 Jalapenos (keep the seeds in for a spicier bake)

Step One: Remove kernels from corn cobb - place in food processor with jalapenos. Pulse 6 times, until pureed with whole corn kernels still visable.

Step Two: Whisk eggs & half and half & butter in sep bowl. Fold in above corn mixture - and 1/3 cup of crackers. Preheat oven to 350 and butter baking dish.

Step Three: Pour into baking dish - cover with Monterey Jack cheese and remaining cracker crumbs.

Step Four: Bake for 45 minutes until top is golden brown :) Serve hot.

<---------- Goat Cheese & Chive Stuffed (fried) Squash Blossoms. I dont know how Tisha did it but if she has a recipe I will gladly send it on.

Corn Bread, Spoon Fed.

I cant bear to let this go one second longer. I have a problem that has become evident in my pictures from this blog: I EAT A LOT OF ASPARAGUS. Possibly too much? Here are the reasons, I confess:

1. Its the only green veggie Shawn will eat.
2. Its really just a vehicle for red pepper flakes.
3. Its gross but I get a little satisfaction from my pee smelling. It's like a science experiment I keep thinking wont work and alas - 2 hours later - fruition.




Anyway, last night we were wandering aimlessly around Whole Foods (I am on Safeway strike, sorry Natalie - the long lines, shitty selection and awesome cost saving deals are by my wayside) - and I asked the deli counter man what I should do with pancetta and he answered without a beat: mix it with cornbread! So right then and there I decided to make:

Pancetta & Chive Cornbread Stuffed Chicken
(all of these words sound weird together but its the only thing I think I can call it).

Ingredients

3 Chicken Breasts
2 Slices of 1/4 thick Pancetta
Small amount of chopped onion
Chives
1 Premade Corn Bread Square (or make your own)
Olive Oil
3 Garlic Cloves

Step 1: Salt and Pepper the chicken.
Step 2: Heat stainless steel pan on medium with the garlic and olive oil. Toss in pancetta and chopped onion. Cook til browned but not burned, 5 minutes. Set aside to cool. Once cooled - mix mix with cornbread until it resembles stuffing.
Step 3: Slice chicken down the middle - and stuff with the cornbread mixture. Reheat pan (pancetta oil should be still in the pan) and toss in garlic til soft looking. Preheat broiler.
Step 4: Cook over medium, covered for 12 minutes.
Step 5: Switch from the stove top to the broiler for 5 minutes.
Step 6: Eat.

Also while Shawn was at Whole Foods wandering around - he decided to make Homemade Strawberry Shortcake on Lemon Scones- the homemade part was the Chantilly Cream:
Chantilly Cream
Ingredients
Small Heavy Whipping Cream
1 tbs of Sugar
1 tbs of vanilla extract

Chill a metal bowl in the freezer for 1 hour (apparently the whisk as well) - and beat together until strong peaks are formed.

Fin. Done. Over. Thats all she wrote.

Other Notable Notes.....

Originally, we were supposed to go camping in the Kern River with our friends from Los Angeles this weekend - but we'd been spreading ourselves pretty thin as it was....so we decided to take advantage of all that rent we pay in San Francisco and stayed in town!

Bullet Points on My Weekend:

1. Golf is hard. After talking to my friend Kevin a few weeks back it really inspired me to finally take up golfing. Shawn suggested we start simple and small and go to the driving range by his old place in Oakland. I was not a natural by any means but I was also not a complete disaster. My body now hurts in ways I never thought possible.....I think I am a ways away from an actual game. but at least I know the difference between irons now.:)

2. Shawn is a great boyfriend! but we all knew that already. After golf on Sunday shawn brought me to Lake Chabot with intentions of going boating, playing backgammon and consuming champagne/food on a sunny afternoon. It was pretty amazing and romantic and just the thing I needed to feel freshly in love again, like it was new new new. The lake was beautiful but even better was the Goat's Gouda, Spicy Salami slices and Almonds from The Noe Valley Cheese Company.

.........but champagne and sun makes me tired. :)

3. District 9 Is Mighty Fine. Oh man so many movies to see lately!

My problem is if I dont see something opening weekend before the rampant critic opinions start permeating my uber impressive brain then I will never go and wait for video and be unimpressed because I should have seen it in the theatre.

I wont give any spoiler alerts but suffice it to say - its refreshing to see something with a very big idea be done so well and on a smaller scale (and not done by Michael Bay). Its what Cloverfield wishes it was. Run dont walk to see this allegorical scary thriller.

4. I made Ice Cream Cone Cupcakes! for Kurnick's bday BBQ in the panhandle. :) I was surprised only one person had heard of them! They are so simple! Just take premade cake mix and fill the cone to brim, bake 20 minutes and frost. Sprinkles, of course help sell the illusion they are ice cream cones....I kind of dont understand why the cone doesnt burn in the oven but who am I to argue?

Also, we saw a dead body there. Yeah. Scary.

Friday Night Bites

I had the pleasure of having some girlfriends over on Friday night, as my good friend Pam was in from Los Angeles to visit her sister Amy - and our mutual friend Jackie came over from the East Bay. Unfortunately, work had been taking its toll on my creative juices so I came up with a menu @ 4pm, shopped at 4:30, prepared til 7 - and everyone came over at 7:30!

Not too shabby if you ask me considering what a success it was. I served:

Homemade Blueberry Ginger Mojitos (though I didnt realize you are supposed to use rum, not vodka in a mojito). I used Darcy's recipe she posted last week as a spring board but cut down on most of the ingredients and hard work to save time and just combined:
*Handful of Blueberry's
*Vodka
*Ginger Ale
* Chopped Mint Sprigs
*Limes & Lemons
*Agave nectar.

Charcuterie consisting of:
*Fresh cut figs with cracked pepper.
*The rest of the goat cheese from Oregon.
*Nuts.
*Brie.
*Olives from Whole Foods.

Main Course:
*Butternut Squash Lasagna with a fresh Basil Bechamel Sauce.

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/giada-de-laurentiis/butternut-squash-lasagna-recipe/index.html

*Roasted Asparagus with Chili flakes.

Dessert
*Toasted Coconut and Chocolate covered frozen banana bites.(another spring board from Darcy's blog.)

HOLY PAN THAT GOES IN THE OVEN!

Originally, my friend Evie had given me a great easy recipe for a pan seared tomato heirloom tomato halibut. Dutifully, while at Whole Foods the previous night i patted myself on the back for remembering to pick up fish for the next night's dinner.

............however, I forgot the rest of the ingredients! So after the gym last night we decided NOT to stop at the grocery store to complete the recipe. Laziness is a great excuse for making something out of what you have and surprising yourself with the end product! I also thank shawn for reminding me that our new stainless steel pan can go from the stove top to the oven in seconds. What came out of the pantry raid was:

Pan Roasted (then broiled) Garlic & Basil Halibut with a Lemon Goat Cheese Almond Sauce. It was delish!

For the record we used the goat cheese from our weekend in Oregon (thanks, meghan!) and Shawn's fresh basil he's been growing on the window sill.

Ingredients
2 Halibut Fillets
3 Garlic Cloves
Fresh Basil Bunch
Slivered Almonds
1 Lemon

Goat Cheese
Salt & Pepper
pat of butter
Sprinkle of flour

Step 1: While melting butter in the pan over medium, prepare the fillets by salting and peppering them. Also, squeeze lemon over fillets.

Step 2: Once butter is melted - add sliced garlic and basil until soft.

Step 3: Add fillets. saute in the pan for 4-5 minutes. Add slivered almonds on top and to the sauce. Sprinkle some flour to make the sauce thicken. Keep spooning the sauce onto the halibut to keep moist.

Step 4: Add goat cheese to the sauce and to top of fillets and cover for 2-3 minutes. Once fish looks mostly cooked, spoon sauce mixture (garlic, almonds, etc) over the fillet and place in the broiler until crisp on top!

Step 5: eat face off.

Serve with broiled asparagus and olive oil with chili flakes!

A Weekend Told Through Picture Texts

........................while my boyfriend was here:

I was here...................................

This past weekend while Shawn was at a Phish show in Washington State (alias "The Gorge") - I was spending it poolside in Los Angeles with Meag, Pam, Evie and Jenny! (thanks Matt & Leslie). It was fun and relaxing but unfortunately I dont have many pictures to show for myself because we lost our camera charger a few weeks back at Michael and Natalie's wedding! Sigggghhhhh.....

THINGS I LEARNED RECENTLY:

1. PINKBERRY HAS NEW FLAVORS! Including coconut which is my favorite flavor of anything ever. Shawn will consider this a punishable crime against humanity but Meagan and I stopped at Scoops off of Melrose, walked in and decided we wanted Pinkberry instead. I ordered the new coconut flavor and topped it with choco chips and strawberries. Yum.Town.

2. 500 DAYS OF SUMMER WAS BETTER THAN I THOUGHT!

Meag and I went to see this movie and it was so much better than I thought. I figured it would be your typical "trystooharder indie" look how special I am! :) but it wasnt. it was charming and delightful and light. I do have a spoiler for people who have seen this movie already: LA is NOT an urban city. People dont take the train, they dont live in high rises...unless they are paid to by the city to convince other people that LA is an urban city.

3. I AM NOT A HIPPIE, BUT I DID ENJOY PHISH.

Shawn got us tickets to see PHISH at the shoreline amp. in Mountain View. I enjoyed it! We took this muthafarking huge bus. :) I like anything that people love....you know?

Bring Me All Your Bacon

When you're under 3 feet tall you dont understand why traditions are traditions. You assume its just the ways its always been and King Triton three thousand years ago waved his staff and decreed "You WILL eat shrimp cocktail on New Years Eve" and "You WILL dip apples in honey for Passover" - or in my family's case "You WILL eat breakfast for dinner once a week". My mother would often make oatmeal pancakes and sausage about once a week and I thought it was just the best treat there ever was!

Now, in my late twenties, I realize this tradition of breakfast for dinner wasnt decreed by a higher omniscient power - its just fucking cheap and simple :) And I love it! Shawn and I have a hard on for breakfast and we have it more than once a week for dinner!

I made Orange Lemon French Toast with Caramelized Banana and Blueberries last night and I give it an A! (minus the part where I snapped at shawn and he dropped bacon grease on my foot).

Orange Lemon Brioche French Toast w/ Caramelized Bananas and Blueberries

3 tablespoons of OJ
1 tablespoon of vanilla extract
Lemon Zest
5 eggs
1/4 cup of Milk
Loaf of Brioche Bread

Whisk together Eggs/OJ/Vanilla/Lemon Zest/Milk. Soak the bread for 30 seconds on each side. Sautee in a pan with butter until browned on each side (10m?).

Meanwhile, slice a banana- put it in another pan with butter -

Serve with bacon and bananas and blueberries!

Kitschy! Kitschy! Ya-Ya-Da-Da.

Its the whole gang! This past weekend we spent the night in San Louis Obispo at the famous Madonna Inn. with our friends Jenny & Josh and Evie & Kevin. You may have heard of this delightful motel located right off the 101, known for its famous attention to detail (aka fiercely tacky themed rooms). Each room is dedicated to a single theme. We were lucky enough to get GO! which is part of a merry go round theme. :) the walls were papered with DISCO BALL sequins!

<---- I guess Shawn dressed so that he'd match our room!

Overall, I'd give the hotel a B. Yes , it was fun but - man oh man - people there were OLD and cranky and wouldn't let us drink in the hotel bar past 11pm. :)