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No Ordinary Joe

In a (perhaps futile) quest to health things up a bit, I made the drastic decision to give up lazy Sunday brunches, delicious trips to lively restaurants, and the beckoning glow of ice cream shops for the month of March. However, even though I can't eat out for a couple of more weeks, my cravings for certain dishes are still managing to get the best of me.

Having made pasta fagioli to go with my Irish soda bread, I was left with a container of fresh sage begging to be employed in my kitchen. One of our favorite places to eat is Longman & Eagle, a Michelin star restaurant conveniently a ten minute drive from our apartment doorstep. If it's after brunch hours, the significant other has the tendency to order their Wild Boar Sloppy Joe. With the right amount of heat and sweetness, this dish knocks it out of the park. The official description of the dish includes crispy sage and onion and pickled jalapeno.

As is the case with sloppy joes, this recipe involved a lot of "a little of this" and "a little of that." I began by crisping up some leftover pancetta (also from the pasta fagioli) for 10 minutes and using the leftover fat to crisp up some sage which we dipped in a flour mixture to replicate tempura as best we could. Next up was carmelizing some onions, browning some bison and then putting the mean, onions, and a made-up sloppy joe sauce together to simmer. We used ketchup, mustard, brown sugar and Worcestershire sauce with no real rhyme or reason. With some pickled jalapenos added at the last second and crisp sage thrown on the top, we were left with a perfectly suitable substitute of one of L&E's best dishes. 

Bread and Butter

There are few places that I've traveled to that are more magical than Ireland. My first visit was in 2001 while studying abroad in Cambridge, England. As much as I loved living in the UK, my roommates had to physically drag me onto the plane to leave my beloved Eire.

10 years later, I found myself touching down in Shannon, Ireland again. This time with my parents and the required age (*sigh*) to be able to rent a car and drive through the countryside on narrow, winding roads. The difference between my original visit and my visit last year? Rather than staying in budget hostels, my parents and I spent our chilly evenings among the comfort of bed and breakfasts. Besides the fluffy beds and occasional family pet, the best part of these stays were often the second part of their names... the breakfast.

Thanks to the magic of tripadvisor, we knew the specialties of each house prior to arrival and after having some pretty delicious Irish brown bread at Daly's House in Doolin, it remained to be seen whether our stay at Milestone House in Dingle could compare. Apparently proprietors, Michael and Barbara, know how to churn out some legendary brown bread. As we sipped on our coffee and enjoyed fresh rhubarb chutney, Michael carried out the bread with much pomp and circumstance. After a few bites, we soon devised plans for smuggling the bread out for our mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks later that day. Thank goodness for disposable napkins!

With St. Patrick's Day on the horizon and realizing that almost a full year has passed since my journey to Ireland, I decided that today was the day to test out a soda bread recipe. Although Michael and Barbara did email me their famous recipe and give pointers, my parents had a massive fail with the recipe. Rather than facing frustration, I turned to my trusty Cook's Illustrated cookbook. Because my cupboards are already full of too many one-dimensional ingredients and didn't need wheat germ added this week, I opted to go for white soda bread rather than brown. Who needs health when it's a holiday?

The results? A giant, pillowy buttermilk biscuit in the form of bread. Ah-mazing. Irish eyes must have been smiling.

Classic Irish Soda Bread
From The Cooks Illustrated Cookbook

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup cake flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1 1/2 teaspoons cream of tartar
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened, plus 1 tablespoon melted for brushing loaf
1 3/4 cups buttermilk

1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and pre-heat oven to 400 degrees. 
2. Whisk together all-purpose flour, cake flour, sugar, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt together in large bowl.
3. Add softened butter and use fingers to rub it into flour until incorporated completely.
4. Make well in center of flour and add 1 1/2 cups buttermilk.
5. Work buttermilk into flour mixture using fork until dough comes together in large clumps and there is no dry flour in bottom of bowl, adding 1/4 cup more buttermilk, 1 tablespoon at a time, until all loose flour is just moistened. 
6. Turn dough onto lightly floured counter and pat together to form 6-inch round; dough will be scrappy and uneven.
7. Place dough in 12-inch cast-iron skillet (I put on cookie sheet). Score deep cross, about 5 inches long and 3/4 inch deep, on top of loaf and place in oven.
8. Bake until nicely browned and knife inserted in center comes out clean, 40 to 45 minutes. 
9. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter.
10. Let cool at least 30 minutes before serving. 

Shaking in My Shoes

The last few months have been spent visiting a chiropractor and becoming increasingly lazy thanks to a recurring back injury. After plenty (!) of rest and surviving another Sydney orientation, it's time to find my motivation and challenge myself again. Besides cracking every single vertebrae, my chiropractor gave me some words of advice and the all clear to get back to the gym.

How will I celebrate?

By punishing myself with my first Bar Method experience. Who wouldn't want to go to classes that lead to quotes such as these?

Wow, the Bar Method is intense. It works every major muscle group and you're going to be shakin' so bad that you're going to feel like a total a$$.

The bar method is very expensive torture that you actually convince yourself is FUN! HOWEVER.... it will make any exercise bearable for the rest of your life! 

You know that feeling when you are working out and your muscles start to shake because they are about to fail?  This is about 60 minutes of that.

What can I say? It was January. There was a special on. I enjoy muscle failure.

The good news is that you have to book classes online so I bit the bullet today and scheduled my first classes. I have six weeks to reap the rewards of these classes because after that, I would need to be in a different tax bracket to be able to continue at the studio.

My weekend originally appeared to be a bit of a slower one with a visit to the hometown and then a relaxing Sunday as the significant other was scheduled to be in Montana on a mini-break. However, due to "Acts of God," his flight was cancelled and I found myself back in the city with a very disgruntled non-traveler and the task of salvaging a bit of cheer.

In a moment of brilliance, I recommended a late dinner at Tango Sur, an Argentinian restaurant not far from our house. An incredibly popular place, we found out at 8:30 pm that the wait was still approaching two hours. Refusing to be deterred from the promise of BYOB wine, we hit a few local establishments first and suddenly the evening was on the cusp of capturing the joviality we experience in Paris.

Around 11 pm, we took our seats at one of the best seats in the restaurant with a single candle and high-spirited diners surrounding us. Wine was flowing freely at tables and the food was rich and delicious. It was exactly what made me fall in love with Paris in November.

Our journey was for made for four reasons:

1. To eat our body weight in foie gras.
2. To drink our body weight in cocktails and local spirits.
3. To earn miles for a trip to Argentina in 2012. 
4. To help me forget my ill-fated trip in 2001 which left a sour taste in my mouth.

Did we succeed? Absolutely! Some of the best three days of my life. Hands down. Viva la France!

The Banana Stand

With the news that "Arrested Development" has been picked up by Netflix for new episodes, I felt inspired by the prospect of more Banana Stand moments to use up some very black and very odd looking pieces of fruit chilling in my freezer.

I love quick breads and have a pumpkin bread recipe that I have made multiple times and can't imagine switching out. But a great banana bread has always alluded me. What is the secret ingredient that turns a ho-hum bread into something worth touting to the world? Yogurt? Nutmeg? Almond extract?

Many months ago I pinned a recipe from I Am Baker and decided to give it a go. I added 1/2 tsp of instant coffee since I firmly believe that this small addition made my Banana Espresso Chocolate Chip muffins (courtesy of Baked) so amazing.

And the verdict?

Disaster. Like my blueberry muffins of last weekend, the bread came out very dense. Also, because it takes so long to get the middle of the bread baked through, the outside gets too dark too quickly and in this case, caramelized. Although the crust is kind of yummy, I don't really like gnawing on my banana bread.

I was kicking myself for whatever mysterious thing I did wrong for about five minutes. I'm very careful not to overstir and my baking soda/baking powders are fresh.What curse has come over my baking these days?

Then I took a moment. And realized that in my haste to jot down the recipe for use in the kitchen, I didn't include the oil. Can I blame a case of the Fridays?

I will definitely be trying this recipe again with the proper ingredients as the taste is definitely there!

The original (with oil) recipe:

Perfect Banana Bread
Adapted from I Am Baker

2 eggs
1/3 cup vanilla yogurt
½ cup vegetable oil
1 cup ripe mashed bananas
1 ½ cups white sugar
½ cup brown sugar
½ tsp vanilla extract
1 ¾  cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½  tsp salt
½  tsp instant espresso powder

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare chosen pan.
2. Blend together the eggs, yogurt, oil, extract and bananas in mixer with low speed.
3. Add in sugars and fully incorporate.  
4. Add flour, baking soda, salt, and espresso powder and mix until just combined. 
5. Pour into prepared pan and bake 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Start checking early as each oven is different, but mine took 75 minutes.

ATK: Blueberry Muffins

DVR has brought me a new obsession. Episodes of America's Test Kitchen occupy my weekend afternoons and fill my head with recipes and ideas. One of the recent shows highlighted brunch items, including some absolutely delicious looking blueberry muffins. Unfortunately, I happen to live with a certain boyfriend who is allergic to berries. It's almost borderline tragic, really.

However, after receiving my Cook's Illustrated cookbook with an obscene amount of recipes (2,000!), I had to make sure that those blueberry muffins were distinguished enough to garner a spot in the cookbook. And there they were. Waiting for me.

With the assurances that a potential allergic reaction was worth it, I set to work. I followed the recipe to the letter but just knew that not using a muffin liner and using the crumb topping was going to end in tears. And I was right. The crumb topping started to get too brown too quickly and the muffin bodies began to get done too soon as well. Also, apparently my chopstick figure 8s weren't worthy of Perfect 10 scores because my blueberry jam didn't make it all the way to the bottom of most muffins.

These were some dense muffins which is exactly what the receipe was not supposed to result in. I am always careful not to overmix to try to control the gluten formation, but somehow these managed to lose their light and fluffy nature.

Edible? Yes. Worth an Epipen? No.

On a roll.

One of the best bits of living in the city? A ridiculous amount of choices for brunch. The downside? Everyone else has the same idea on Saturday and Sunday mornings which means plenty of long waits. Thankfully with a cup of coffee in hand (preferably brewed from Intelligentsia or Metropolis beans), the company of good friends with stories from the week, and the hipster haircuts to chat about, the time can go by quite quickly. 

Up today? Another stop at Lula's Cafe. After a memorable birthday brunch in the same locale, it was time for another stop. The biggest pull? The sweet, sweet memories of their sticky pecan roll. A hybrid of a cinnamon roll and sticky bun, you can't deny these beauties. Also, what an awesome thing that an "appetizer" at brunch is essentially dessert!

Excuses. Who needs them?

It's.been.awhile. I should hide my head in shame. I should be completely overwhelmed about trying to summarize entire years in one post. I should probably just go to bed.

But I'm not! It's not as if I have spent the last year in my pajamas, watching re-runs of "Locked Up" and eating ice cream out of the container. I may be doing that right now, but certainly my life has been a bit more exciting than that!

I have fallen in love.... with a city.
I have traveled.
I have baked.
I have failed at baking.
I have laughed.
I have felt old ... thank you, back pain!

2011 was one for the records.

So instead of trying to summarize my life in 1000 words or less, I'll just consider this post a potential kick-start for much needed documentation of being a 30-something facing down life and still feeling like a child some of the time.

#11 - Throw Myself a Half Birthday

There's no better year to celebrate a half birthday than the 31st. Right? Right?! Okay, maybe it was just the most convenient.

Besides giving myself some extra attention, it was also the perfect time to try out two new syrups for lemonade and/or bourbon. I made a rosemary version and a delicious ginger syrup. All to be sipped out of a mason jar.

... which would have been even BETTER with a striped straw!

Thankfully, I located some later at Paper Source. Yes, I do rock a striped straw at all times.

See Fernando

In my quest to locate some concert dates for #90, I stumbled across this little gem. I find I don't usually love female artists, but Jenny Lewis is certainly an exception to the rule. The disappointing bit? She was in Chicago last September.


See Fernando

Jenny Lewis | Myspace Music Videos

A 101 Sign?

Yesterday I get out of my car at work and one of the maintenance guys was waiting for me in the parking lot. He hands me a gift card and wishes me a "Happy Birthday." The gift card? DQ. The amount? $20. The freakiness that he remembered my birthday from a whole year ago? Immeasurable. The odds that #70 will be accomplished? Sure thing (and probably more than just one Blizzard for $20).

Trying to pump some life in a very dead blog...

It has been an embarrassingly long amount of time since I've posted. As I'm sitting on the couch and have the entire day with nothing to do, I might as well re-invigorate this little blog for 2011. Living in Chicago has been absolutely amazing and I should be recording all of the fabulous new places that we like to eat and drink, my newest experiments in our micro-sized kitchen, and trying to fit in at a gym where the muscles are larger, the parking garage is the challenge, and new classes have me flailing.

Last night we hosted some local friends at our apartment for a New Year's Day celebration as my New Year's Eve consisted of baking chocolate chip cookie dough cupcakes and prepping my first-ever attempt at baked beans. And did the cupcakes match Annie's? I'd say so:

The party was a success with plenty of bourbon being consumed (thanks so some thoughtful Christmas giving) and plenty of laughs to ring in 2011 a day late.

And how is my 101 list coming along? I haven't even paid attention, which is pathetic since a year has already passed. However, glancing at the list, I see that I've completed a few items:

#19 - Write a toast for Brooke's wedding. And delivered it! And got a few laughs...

#20 - Find a source for grass-fed beef. Living in Chicago gives me access to Whole "Paycheck" Foods where we can get beef and even better, grass-fed bison.

#22 - Get my Mac fixed. And it was done for free thanks to Apple's extended warranty. Amazing! Now just to reload everything and start using her again.

#57 - Watch the sunrise. Accomplished in Houston with Aunt Carol and coffee in hand!

#59 - Attend a book signing. Thanks to my friend, Janel, I braved the lines and met Bakerella. :)

#61 - Try a new hairstyle. My hair got long. Excessively long. A "trim" last week took off about 8 inches. I'd say that counts.

#63 - Attend a professional conference. I headed to Kansas City last May for NAFSA (National Association for something related to international education...). I don't feel bad not knowing the name as I don't think ANYONE does.

#67 - Discuss future of my status at company regarding living in South Bend. Ummm...yes. I know live in Chicago most of the week and there were definitely some awkward discussions but it's worked out for the best. Love, love, love the life in Chicago and still love, love, love my job! Win win!

I just read #84 (Attend a real NYE party). Guess 2012 will have to be the year! Also, I better go purchase my teeth whitening kit! This is what I get for slacking...

#16 - Pear Crisp a la FABULOUS

The winner in this Sunday's three recipe showdown? The Pioneer Woman's delectable pear crisp.

I have been known to whip up a crisp or two. I even made practice apple crisps during my stint in 4-H (and have a nice scar on my right hand to show for it). But I had never tried pear crisp. Mostly this is due to the fact that until fairly recently, I hated pears. I'm not sure if it's lingering memories of being made to eat them at a baby-sitter's house or the thought of eating the canned varieties with school lunches, but pears were mushy and disgusting in my book. Then I started eating the right kinds. On the right salads. And my world was rocked.

Thank goodness for that or else I wouldn't have this to show for it.

And boy, oh boy, am I glad I have this to show for it. I followed the recipe except I added in oats instead of pecans and as my pears were rock hard, it took an additional 10 minutes. I almost died with anticipation.

#15 - New Pizza Crust Recipe

A long, long time ago, my friend Laura gave me her pizza crust recipe which I've been using ever since. Today, Ken and I decided to use up some of our blue cheese on a pizza and since I had the cookbook out and all of the ingredients, I went with PW's. (Her recipe isn't on her blog, but this is it.)

Perhaps I was trying to do too much. Perhaps I was distracted by the wedding. Or perhaps I was thinking about how I just purchased my first pair of Spanx, but I had a few "oops" moments with this one. A) I didn't realize the recipe was for two crusts. B) I put the double the amount of yeast in. Hey, usually it's one packet. This recipe had MORE flour, MORE liquid, and MORE olive oil. Why would it have LESS yeast? Anyways, it worked out, but I think that it's ultimately supposed to be a bit of a crispier and thinner crust.

Which will I use in the future? Laura's recipe or PW's? The jury is still out....

#14 - PW's Buttermilk Biscuits

Disclaimer: I now call the Pioneer Woman by the affectionate nickname of "P-dub." Ken hates it. He mocks me. But he doesn't mock me when I churn out some delicious foods! And he SHOULDN'T mock me when I'm making biscuits for HIS morning breakfast.

This was the first of 3 "P-dub" recipes that I did in a single afternoon. Ken was getting ready to purchase some horrible chemical-filled biscuits at Meijer and I remembered seeing a recipe in my cookbook for something similar. And thus, I found myself rolling out dough with a soda bottle. I really should invest in a rolling pin.

The results? Who knows? Ken has to eat them tomorrow morning and let me know! (He has also put in a request for some sausage gravy. We'll see...)

Recipe #13 - Cocoa Banana Bread

What to do when one has two overripe bananas and some cocoa powder that is begging to be used up? One types "banana cocoa powder recipe" into google and one ends up with this. A little loaf of this bread got Ken and I through numerous evenings of TV watching and although I found the cake by itself to be a bit too dense, a little ice cream and a little zap in the microwave, made this a yummy treat.

Recipe #12 - Rice Pudding

I've had a rather large package of arborio rice sitting in my cabinet for a considerable amount of time. As much as I do love risotto, I find it hard to believe that it is worth the amount of labor that goes into it. After 45 minutes of constant stirring and adding liquid, the end results, though good, are too blah to warrant the effort.

Thus, when my BFF blog, Smitten Kitchen posted this recipe for Almond-Vanilla rice pudding, I couldn't resist. It also helped that I bought an entire bottle of almond extract for Christmas cookies and hadn't touched it. I couldn't rationalize purchasing vanilla beans for this particular recipe, but even so, the results were tasty enough. I don't think Ken liked the almond extract and next time I may mess around with it a bit more. No doubt an actual vanilla bean would make this magical. But I'm pretty sure vanilla beans could make mud magical.

Recipe #11 - Roasted Potatoes with Blue Cheese Walnut Butter

As you know, my sister is getting married on 1 May (coming up!) and last weekend we made a family trip to the florist to pick out bouquets and all that jazz. Attached to the florist is a country market and when I couldn't think about tiger lilies any more, I popped in to see if they had any parmesan cheese. Not only did they have the parm, but they also had a very enthusiastic owner who pulled me to the side to see if I was a "cheese connoisseur" and apparently I passed the test, because I was soon sampling spoonfuls of English Stilton blue cheese. 1 hour later, Brooke had her bouquets, table centerpieces, and boutonnieres and what did I have? A full pound of blue cheese and endless possibilities.

Isn't she beautiful?

And then, out of the "blue" (pun intended), I saw a recipe posting on a blog I frequent for Roasted Potatoes with Blue Cheese Walnut Butter. It seemed easy enough. I like cheese. I like walnuts. I like potatoes. And did I like the result? Yes! Tasty and simple to throw together. Nothing to get too superexcited about, but definitely a nice change to the usual potato recipe.

For some reason I can't get it to twist properly, but you get the idea.

Doesn't count, but....

This can't count towards my recipe total, as I've been known to whip it up a time or two, but I just wanted to share it! And the photo is pretty.... Ken and I made Rachael Ray's Balsamic-Glazed Chicken with Mozzarella from her 365: No Repeat book. This was actually one of the first meals I dared to make for Ken as a surprise. Since that time, we've made it a few times with a variety of cheeses and techniques. I have to say that last night's balsamic glaze was the best we've done! Here's the recipe.

And a little encouragement from Rachael herself: