Okonomiyaki and my gratitude (for 20,000 views!)

I’m still on blog-cation but I thought I couldn’t let 20,000 views pass by without saying hello and by golly, thank you!!!* So thank you for reading, commenting, linking. THANK YOU!!! You know it totally makes my day to obsessively check my sitemeter and see that someone in Salt Lake / Perth / Bombay / Tokyo / Lima / Sao Paulo was reading my blog for 25 minutes! And to get comment luv. Awww, it’s great!!!

While I’m here, I should show the lentils I sprouted, as well as the riff on okonomiyaki I did with them. Is is really okonomiyaki if I just put stuff into a pancake, and ate it with Worchestershire sauce on top - without the genuine soup and other such? Yes, I know I’m taking liberties - so, feel free to see Just Hungry’s more comprehensive recipe here. But if you are lazy like me and want to just have a whiff of that Osaka sensibility with minimal work….read on!!! (Instead of “lazy” you can always use the word “busy” - works just as well!)

Sprouted Lentils, in a Colander

How to Sprout Lentils

It’s pretty easy. Soak 1 cup of lentils overnight. The next day, rinse and drain. Then loosely wrap the lentils in a few layers of paper towels (or I guess cheesecloth would work too). Leave the wrapped parcel in a shallow bowl. Check on it everyday - keep the lentils slightly wet by dripping enough water. Mine were “done” in about 5 days. Makes 5 cups of sprouts.

Pancake Mix

Lentil Sprouts with Pancake Mix

Okonomiyaki in the Making!

Slice of Okonomiyaki, plated (pre-Worchestershire Sauce)

Slackerrific Impromptu Okonomiyaki

• 5 cups of sprouts; (from 1 cup of dried brown lentils = 1/4 lb = about 20 cents)
• 1 cup of soy milk; (about 50 cents)
• 1/2 cup of prepared pancake mix; (I think this was still too much batter - likely better to just use about 1/4 cup);
• 1 egg; (about 16 - 18 cents)
• Worchestershire sauce to taste.

Wash and dry those sprouts. Because you have been watching over them as vigilantly as hawk, you will have very few “bad” sprouts - rotten / dry / etc. Pick through and discard. Mix the soy milk, pancake mix, and egg into a very large mixing bowl. Mix. Add the sprouts Fold them in. If you have other good stuff, this is the time to throw it in - I think shredded cabbage would be great here too. Heat up a skillet. You can do what I did - made a huge one - or make a few smaller ones. Totally up to you.

Pour the mixture into the pan according to the size you desire. The sprouts will wilt a bit. Check the bottom of the okonomiyaki by slipping the spatula underneath - what color is it? Golden brown? Time to flip it! Flip it. Then do the same check. Eat immediately! Slosh generously with Worchestershire sauce. Makes three - four servings. Takes less than 1/2 hr.

Next time, I’ll use less batter, and will add more more more stuff, like maybe some protein (tofu / chicken / etc.) How did it taste? Well, you can definitely enjoy the sprouts - earthy, not quite crunchy, yet offering some small resistance to one’s teeth. My diners gave it big, big thumbs up! I liked it. Well, maybe because it was breakfasty. Also, anything that gets browned in a skillet with starch is likely to win my heart. (like those jack mackerel cakes! and that spinach frittata!) I think the lentils plus the soy milk makes it very very filling and satisfying.

And now, I’ll include here a totally gratuitous picture of Watermelon Kanten. Yeah, it’s good. Why? Because you have that almost-crunchy resistence of the watermelon flesh, then the give of the kanten. Ok! I’m back on blog-cation now!

Watermelon Kanten

* Right now, this blog has over 19,000 views, and I expect it to reach views 20,000 in a few days, since it’s averaging about 2000 ~ 2500 views/month. (And I remember when I used to get 180 views per month!!! - and it still boggled my mind that anyone would read this blog back then! I don’t even force my dearest friends and family to read it!) Thank you so much for reading!!!

Update: one of my dear kin tells me that my enthusiasm for the number of views I’ve gotten is a bit impassioned, to the degree of causing laughter on her part. Surely you cannot take me too seriously! Doesn’t everybody remember Sally Fields’s 1985 Oscar acceptance speech?

Love Letter to the Twin Cities

Red Amaryllis, Como Park Conservatory, Sunken Garden

The Mall of America is not the alpha and the omega of the Twin Cities. Besides the “royalty” of the State Fair carved into butter busts, the TC has some spectacular art. Who would know that these Midwestern cities offer shelter to some world-class sights? And some pretty good food. I thought that I might take you on an artsy, foodie field trip! It’s my wistful little love letter to the Twin Cities, now that I’m on the West Coast. Join me!

Detail of “The Algerian,” by Cordier

Cherry Spoonbridge, Minneapolis Sculpture Garden

Sights

Whether you find yourself in Minneapolis on a sunny day, or a snowy day, you will enjoy Minneapolis Sculpture Garden. Walk beyond the tall, evergreen borders to become surrounded by art work and restful, peaceful plantings. It’s an oasis that seems beautifully matched to city life. When I visited it for the first time, I didn’t know anything about it. I won’t tell you anything more so that you can have that sense of discovery for yourself. Once there, you might as well walk across the street and enjoy the Walker Art Center’s free admission on Thursday evenings if you are a fan of contemporary art.

To see what people are creating and buying at this very moment, visiting galleries/stores in Uptown is a good bet. The tiny yet potent Moxie is a hair salon during the day, becoming a gallery at night. It’s actually rather striking to see paintings alongside huge mirrors, swivel chairs, and shampoo bottles. Across the street, Soo Vac acts as a community incubator for local artists. Next door, the very tiny Robot Love is perfect for a dose of pop design sensibility. Back across town, in downtown Minneapolis, the Rosalux gallery exhibits local art in the very lovely brick building of the Loft.

Despite my preference for modern art, my favorite museum in the Twin Cities, hands down, is the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Matchless, utterly matchless. (And admission is free, everyday!) It is world-class. It is large, occupying an entire city block. But there is no “fat” in it. It is no mere warehouse. Somehow, the curators are telling the story of humanity, binding each of us with each piece, each room, and every wall. And of course, the works are simply gorgeous!!! The Algerian, a detail of which is shown immediately above, belongs to its ancient art collection.

Also linking us to the past (albeit, less distant - the 1900s) in downtown Saint Paul is the Cathedral of Saint Paul. One of my friends told me that she did not need to take a photograph of the interior of the cathedral because it would be an image that would stay with her. I agree - there is no picture that could capture even the slightest semblance to the experience of walking within it. The stained glass, sculptures, and other aspects of the interior conspire to give you a sense of awe. I’ve included an image of the exterior, taken through a friend’s car window on a snowy day to give you a glimpse that Saint Paulites enjoy everyday. (An observant reader notes that this is a photo of…the Basilica of Saint Mary in Minneapolis!!! I’ve never been inside, but, I’m sure it’s potentially fabulous!!! And I’m working on finding a photo of the cathedral itself.) Update: 06.22.08 - someone has been kind enough to let me use his nighttime photo of the cathedral. Enjoy!

Basilica of Saint Mary’s, Minneapolis

Cathedral of Saint Paul, Saint Paul

North of downtown Saint Paul lies the Marjorie McNeely Conservatory in Como Park, to the side of the immensely serene Como Lake. It is entirely charming to walk through the conservatory’s various chambers to view tropical plants or perhaps flowering bulbs, when the snow remains packed tightly on the land outside. People picnic within the conservatory, taking advantage of its beauty, definitely enhancing their meals. I took the picture of the red amaryllis at the very beginning of this post in the Sunken Garden, (shown immediately below) sometime last spring.

Sunken Garden in the Como Park Conservatory

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Food

Usually, I try to focus my posts on recipes and making food myself, in order to learn about cooking as well as attempting to cultivate the frugality habit. But sometimes it is quite nice to go someplace, eat, and not have to wash dishes afterwards! These are some of the places I shared meals with friends.

Takeout box from Pizza Luce

Punch Salad, of Punch Pizza (including prosciutto and walnuts)

Toscano Pizza, at Punch Pizza

Firstly, it’s difficult to survive modern life without pizza. Give into it!!! One of my west coast friends was shocked when she tried a slice of the Garlic Mashed Potato pizza at Pizza Luce in Uptown - like nothing she had ever had, and it was so very good. Amazing texture. Bright, tart feta with tender…potatoes? Potatoes that contribute an earthiness that rounds off the brightness of the feta and the fresh, chopped tomatoes. Simply amazing. I succumbed to the temptation of their free delivery policy many times. Their pizzas are unconventional, and so delicious. Should you happen to be around Xerxes and 50th, very west of downtown Minneapolis, Michaelangelo’s Masterpizza’s is a lovely, lovely, teeny and tiny place to eat with friends. The pizza sauce is unapologetically thick, laden with good, mellow cheeses, on an exquisitely textured dough. It is one of those neighborhood joints that deserves to become a destination. The much-praised Punch Pizza earns its accolades by being the absolute, unequivocal best.

Al’s Breakfast of Minneapolis

Sausage Patty, Eggs, Light Rye Toast, homemade strawberry rhubarb jam, at Highland Park Cafe & Bakery

I love love love breakfast. I’ve expressed my passion for breakfast in previous posts regarding Minnesotan breakfast eateries: Jay’s Cafe, in the Saint Anthony neighborhood of Saint Paul, South Asian Foods in Fridley; my beloved Highland Park Cafe and Bakery in the Highland Park neighborhood of Saint Paul, and Al’s Breakfast, in Minneapolis’s Dinkytown (James Beard awardee). Besides breakfast, I found a few other places I enjoyed. Cecil’s Deli, in the heart of Highland Park, is quite the institution. I love their Reubens. They also make a lovely, lovely hammentashen in the bakery. One day a friend and I were trying to decide between two flavors of the hammentashen - we just ended up getting both. They were large, and simply fabulous. Kramarczuk’s, a Minneapolis landmark, serves a brilliant holubet. I always appreciated the curries at Chiang Mai Thai, nestled in the heart of Minneapolis’s Uptown. All of the food looked really good, but, I stuck to ordering curry because it was relatively inexpensive, and because, well, I LOVE curry!!! In Saint Paul’s Frogtown, Saigon Cafe serves a mean, mean banh mi (ranging from the budget-friendly $2.50 to $3.50). They make their own mayonnaise, pate, and and bake their own excellent bread for this amazing sandwich. And when I asked for extra pickled carrots and daikon - why, by golly, they gave it to me!!!

Reuben on Dark Rye, Cecil’s Delicatessen, Highland Park, Saint Paul

Parking Lot of Kramarczuk’s Delicatessen, in Minneapolis

Miscellaneously Fabulous:

Next to the Mississippi, the Riverview Theatre is a lovely place to see a movie (for only $3.00!!) in a gorgeous, gorgeous 1950’s setting. They also have the best, best popcorn and thoughtfully provide Cheddar powder to enhance it! The Willey House, in Minneapolis, is a teensy Frank Lloyd Wright example. The official website lets you tour virtually, as does a fan site.

Lobby of the Riverview Theatre, Minneapolis

Hot Buttered Popcorn, in the Riverview Theatre

Well, I hope you have enjoyed this mini-tour of the Twin Cities. I shall be going on blog-cation for a few weeks, but will try to stay on top of any comments and emails you might send my way. (You must know bloggers LIVE for comment luv.) I always thought the 46th Light Rail Station in Minneapolis was really pretty, and made commuting such a pleasure. And so I’ll close this post with that. Thanks for coming along!!!

46th Street Light Rail Station, Minneapolis

*********************** Rolling Credits ***********************

Here are the fellow flickr-ites who kindly permitted my use of their works:

• “Minneapolis Sculpture Garden,” by jpnuwat of www.fiveoclockstudio.com;
• “The Algerian,” by mamluke, from his Minneapolis Institute of Art set;
• “Cathedral of Saint Paul” by kodiax2, from his Saint Paul set;
• “Al’s Breakfast,” by m.papaya, from her Minneapolis set;
• “Kramarczuk,” by moncrief.
• Photos of the Riverview Theatre - “1956″ and “Good Popcorn” by Y Entonces, visible here and here.

All others - Red Amaryllis at the Como Conservatory (first photo), the Pizza Luce takeout box, Punch Salad at Punch Pizza,Toscano Pizza at Punch Pizza, Reuben on Dark Rye from Cecil’s Deli, Fountain at the Como Conservatory, the Saint Paul Cathedral, and the 46th Avenue Light Rail Station in Minneapolis - by yours truly!

Brining Helped My Chicken Curry

Neighbor’s Red Poppy

I want a little more excitement in my chicken dishes. Maybe brining will come to my rescue? The way it surely saved my Thanksgiving a few years back - it was so amazingly moist and tasty - my first time roasting a turkey!!! Fourteen pounds of Butterball, I believe. I was very intimidated. I was cooking for 12 friends. I was making the foundational dishes: turkey, gravy, stuffing, pumpkin pie, cranberry salad, mashed potatoes and possibly even fried rice - just to be safe. Oh, no pressure or anything!

I used Emeril’s recipe (leaving out the thyme) for brine and it turned out great!!! I remember thinking, “They have no idea I how much I agonized over the gravy…and they love the turkey.” The bird turned out to be the easiest part!!! I kept asking my diners to sample the gravy because I worried they might not like it, but somebody finally said that it was not necessary because the turkey was actually good - not tough or dry. Oh, life’s not fair, but then again, nobody ASKED me to spend 90 minutes stirring the gravy like a maniac. Well, that’s enough reminiscing. I have poultry issues of the moment to dispatch.

It’s very common to brine for “big” occasions, like Thanksgiving or some dinner party when you are serving roasted poultry. But why not brine to fight off the blah of the everyday? My challenge: long, forgotten, freezer-burnt chicken quarters. Too much freezing dries out the chicken. I’m not sure they had much chicken-ness left. No harm in trying to coax it out, though!

So, I brined the chicken overnight.

Brining Solution (for 3 chicken quarters)

• 9 cups of water;
• 1/3 cup of sea salt (table salt is not recommended by the authoritative cooks and I won’t argue);
• 1/4 cup of “raw” sugar.

(If you are curious about the science of brining, Dave Scantland gives a great explanation of the science behind the miracle of salty water on eGullet.) And then of course, I made curry out of the chicken.

One Pot Madras Chicken*

• 2 cups of onion (1 large onion);
• 9 cloves of garlic;
• about 2.5 cubic inches;
• 2 lbs of potatoes (I sliced 6 smallish - medium Idahos in halves and quarters);
• 5 tablespoons of madras curry powder;**
• 3 glugs of ngouc mam (fish sauce) to taste; and
• 3 chicken quarters, each cut into 3 parts (about 4 lbs);
• dash of sugar;***
• vegetable oil; and
• a very large skillet.

Note that you might want to lower the amount of ginger. I LOVE ginger, and it was very very gingery. I would even wager to say that the ginger factor added quite a bit heat.

* I’ve previously posted instructions for Madras Chicken for the slow cooker, including approximate cost breakdowns, so mea culpas to those who might have read it already. Brown the chicken, about 4 minutes per side. Let the brown bits stuck to the pan stay. (it will be your “fond”). Take the chicken pieces out of the pan. Then, brown the curry powder in a few tablespoons of vegetable oil (but not olive oil, because you won’t taste it - and it might burn). Then sweat the onions, garlic and ginger. Then add the curry powder. Then the ngouc mam and about two cups of water and scrape the bits from the bottom of the pan. Get it boiling. Add the potatoes and chicken. Add enough water to barely cover about 3/4 of the chicken height. Get it boiling hot. Simmer, simmer, simmer, on very very low for about 90 minutes. Your house will smell GOOD! And very strongly so. If you burn anything in the process, be sure to cut off the burnt parts and return to the pain. Serve with rice. *** I didn’t add any sugar, but, I think I should have.

I think the brining helped a lot. The chicken was tender and moist - not dry at all - almost falling off the bone. The potatoes are silky smooth, with a little resistance still. Very nice, if I may say so myself!

* Suraj powder is quite inexpensive, if you can get your hands on it - about $1.59 for a POUND! Sold in Canadian supermarkets, I believe.

Highland Cafe & Bakery (blissful altar of breakfast post #4)

Fish and Chips

From the outside, it just looks like a normal restaurant. You expect (and you get) meatloaf, bacon and eggs, walleye, etc., your classic Midwestern Americana. And it’s good, solid stuff. It’s CONSISTENTLY good. The owner earned his chops at the behemoth of Twin Cities breakfasting, Keys Cafe. Oh, but it’s better than Keys.*

I love it. One by one, my friends succumb to my indoctrinations about the greatness of the Highland Park Cafe and Bakery. They also fall in love. We are usually ordering around dinnertime, but, I order “breakfast” dishes on countless occasions. And I become addicted to their homemade strawberry rhubarb jam. Oh yeah, it’s GOOD. I see a glimmer of brilliance. Hm…

Sausage, Egg, Toast Breakfast with homemade strawberry rhubarb jam

But wait a second…the soup is to die for. Should you ever get your hands on the clam chowder, well…your life will never be the same. No really, it won’t. It is absolutely MAGICAL. I grew up in a beach town, a FISHING town, with access to clam chowder of every kind - every child should know that there are “red” and “white” chowders by the age of 8. No, none, none of them could hold a candle to this unexpected jewel. How can seafood be better so far from the oceans!?!?! A mystery.

The clam chowder sells out so quickly, my friend tells me that I should call the place to make sure there are two bowls of it left. And yeah…I actually DO IT! My impulses have have been PTSD-related. You see, after one evening there because…well…there was only ONE bowl left. My memory is fuzzy, but, I like to think I was the bigger person and went without clam chowder that evening, so that my friend could partake.

And then, one day, visiting the restaurant, I see words like “kofte” and “lassi” stuck in the middle of a menu. My eye stops! What’s going on? Apparently, HPC&B serves some Nepalese dishes. I have tried the momos (both vegetarian and meat versions) and the curry - they are all DELICIOUS!!!

Chicken Curry

Momos, with spicy tomato dipping sauce

Dessert. Very very important. I’ve had chocolate cake of various sorts there. Berry pies. They are good. But one day, I try the bread pudding. Oh, it’s so good. The “secret” is simple: they use their own caramel rolls as the “bread” for the pudding. These caramel rolls. Oh, they are absolute genius. One of my indoctrinated friends used to buy rolls to take home to eat on the weekends for breakfast!!! They are DIVINE. Truly.

Bread pudding, with apples, ice cream, whipped cream, and caramel sauce

So, if you are ever in the Highland Park neighborhood of Saint Paul and want to be delighted, try it. You might just love it.

Highland Park Cafe & Bakery
1931 Ford Pky
St Paul, MN 55116
(651) 698-3400

(testimonials from chowhound)

* The caramel rolls, everything, even the liver and onions is better at HPC&B.

Part 4 in a series of my posts about establishments serving breakfast:

1. Jay’s Café of St. Paul, MN (blissful altar of breakfast #1)
2. Al’s Breakfast of Minneapolis, Minnesota: prosaic American breakfast as an art form (blissful altar of breakfast post #2)
3. South Asian Foods, giving you halwa puri, yes, in Fridley, MN (blissful altar of breakfast post #3)

You might also enjoy reading about poaching eggs: Luxurious, Lazy and Thrifty - Poached Eggs

Mango Kanten

I am falling in love with kanten all over again. Summer = = cool, fruity desserts. Like mango kanten! Sometimes mango kanten comes out like this:

And that’s fine. It’s actually quite pudding-like. But, I kinda like it to be firmer, more like yokan.*

Mango Kanten

• 1 can of sweetened mango puree ($3.49 for 30 oz - I used Ashoka, a brand sold in Indian markets);
• 2 cups of water;
• 4 grams of powdered kanten (about $.50 worth);
• sugar to taste (optional); and
• lime slices (optional).

Boil the water. Add the puree. Mix, mix, mix. Once the temperature rises again to barely a simmer, add the powder. Mix, mix, mix. You want to avoid lumping! Taste it. Add sugar/sweetener if necessary. Pour into a 9″ pie plate (it will just barely fit). Let it cool to room temperature. Then cover with wrap and refrigerate for 2 hours. Cut it into squares and serve. Makes a lot…at least eight or nine servings (turns out to be about $.50 per serving or less). Squeeze a bit of lime if you have it - I kinda like the contrast with the dense mango flavor.

*One of these days, I will have to make a tea-flavored yokan (photo displayed here by kind permission of ya ma):

P.S. I had no idea that people prepare kanten in Mumbai…interesting!

P.P.S. Here is some gratuitous food porn, of castella (fantabulous Japanese dessert by way of the Portuguese):

It’s something you can enjoy even if it’s cold and gloomy out!

I love sweets, but, I don’t make very many…I guess I’m trying to be more daring about my desserts! So, here are some other recipes I’ve blogged about that are perfect for you if you are a novice like me:

• My Mom’s Kohi Kanten;
• Tropical Influenced Fruit Salad: major hit with no added sugar!; and
• My Grandma’s Cranberry Salad.

Kotonk Chow Fan // Spam Fried Rice

Beware of Hawaiians. They will laugh at your “mainlander” accent. They thought I talked funny because I am a kotonk. I speak native Californian! Meanwhile, they spoke pidgin. Who’s right? Ah, when in Rome…do as the Romans do. And in Hawaii, that means, fall in love with Spam. From the Honolulu Star-Bulletin:

Hawaii residents consume nearly 7 million cans of Spam a year, an average of about six cans for every man, woman and child.

Not a fan of spam musubi (mandatory for Hawaiian residency). But, I do love it in my fried rice, as do many Hawaiians. Putting spam in your fried rice is a modern nod to the more traditional char siu. Plus - spam costs a lot less!

Kotonk Fried Rice

• 3 cups of cooked, refrigerated Japanese rice;
• 1/4 of a full container of Spam (thanks mapgirl!) ham / other savory meat-like thing;
• 4 green onions, sliced moderately thin;
• 2 eggs, beaten like they owe you money;
• salt and pepper - be generous!

Use your favorite skillet - for this, I used a cast iron pan. I like to start off by frying the Spam. Then, add the rice - use your spatula vigorously! Add vegetable oil whenever necessary. Ideally, you would scramble the eggs separately, but, let’s not get too crazy here. Add the green onions when the rice is hot and the eggs are scrambled. These will wilt in a matter of seconds. You are done! Season with plenty of salt and pepper!

(My mis en place…well…minus the rice, salt, pepper and vegetable oil for frying…)

(action shot of beating the eggs)

(plated, just for you!)

P.S. I’m going to have to do the price calculations later. But, I think this is quite inexpensive to prepare! I think 1/4 of a container of Spam is going to work out to less than $1.00.

My Mom’s Kohi Kanten - Coffee Pudding (Vegan - and about $.10 per serving!)

Kanten…so many reasons I love it:

1. it’s a naturally ZERO calorie food. That’s right. I said, ZERO!
2. it’s filling and yet not wiggly-jiggly (unlike gelatin);
3. even the laziest prep yields yummilicious results; and
4. I grew up eating it!

Below is a picture of agar agar in stick form.

At any Asian market you can find premixed packets of almond kanten for less than 2 or 3 dollars - really tasty with even the least interesting fruit cocktail. Growing up, we had that all the time. Perfect summertime dessert. Nice and cool! But avoid buying agar agar at Whole Foods. I have seen the Eden versions for almost 6 dollars!!! You should be able to buy the stick agar agar for $2.00 or less per 10 grams (.35 oz). the urban vegan recommends buying the stick format and sticking the sticks into the food processor to make flakes.* I’m used to the stick forms, but, I think this is a great tip for people accustomed to the flake format. Also, people can get quite glamorous with agar agar (also known as kanten in Japanese). I am stockpiling ideas for what do with it. And coffee kanten is a classic (kohi = coffee in Japanese). So here it is!

Mom’s Kohi Kanten

• 2 cups of boiling coffee - sweeten to taste (pennies);
• 5 grams of powdered agar agar (about 1/2 of a stick of agar agar - about $.50 worth); and
• coconut milk - this is optional (about 10 teaspoons - roughly 1/4th of a 13 oz can - $1.59 = $.40 cents worth).

Dissolve the agar agar in the boiling hot coffee in a saucepot. Mix mix mix. Add your sweetener. Mix. Pour the piping hot mixture into a pie plate. Alright, just cover and chill it for about 2 hours. Done. It’s traditional to cut it into squares (as you see above). Splash on a teaspoon of coconut milk per serving. If you have them around, put a roasted coffee bean on top. Makes eight~ ten servings, depending on the size (less than $.10 per serving - half of that if you do not use the coconut milk of course). Be sure to have this with some lovely tea!

(you can also cool it into cute little cups for individual servings)

* the urban vegan’s post is actually VERY helpful for gaining a good understanding of agar agar. Read it and let the erudition flow!

P.S. I don’t really follow diet news, so, maybe someone can tell me if there are any standards for what is “low-carb”? My very casual research shows me that the FDA hasn’t made a decision yet, but, I’m guessing that might not be the latest info.

Update: VegCookingBlog, thanks for linking to this post! My stats are blowing up !!!! I’ve also written a post on making Mango Kanten.

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Housekeeping notes:

(1) I’ve added a “Tips” page to the blog to park handy things I learn about (and/or blog about). For example, last week, limes went on sale - 10 for a dollar. So…I’m not going to use ten in a given week…and they don’t last forever…but they can last longer if you slice them and freeze them. Like so:

Might be better to peel skin off - haven’t tried it that way yet. Works grrrrreat in iced tea. (This is a tip contributed by my mom.)

(2) Not sure why, but Feedburner sent off an old post (from April ‘07) on May 10. It wasn’t my doing! I’ll try to find out why that happened.

Luxurious, Lazy and Thrifty - Poached Eggs

If you have a little vinegar, and a small pot, you can have the most glorious poached eggs. Do you need silky golden yolk slipping away from a firm white? Don’t get me started!

Poaching away. Happily.

Adorned with a stripe of salt and black pepper.

Digging in!!!

Lately, I have been thinking about lowering my fat intake by just a little bit. Having fried eggs all the time is no path to glory. So I thought I might try poaching eggs instead. Many many ugly eggs later, victims of my experiments, I realized I needed perhaps to actually learn how people do it. I got a serious bee in my bonnet after fixating on …Lisa’s… eat, drink and be a fat bastard photostream on Flickr, where she displays her first proper set of poached eggs. I was totally inspired! After a few more tries, I feel like I have it down to a science!*

Poached Eggs

• 2 eggs; (about $.16)
• water in a pot, enough to cover the eggs by 1/2″ or so - about 2 cups;
• 1 tablespoon of vinegar (the very cheapest distilled or apple cider is fine - mere pennies, if at all).

Bring the water to a boil. Shut off the heat. Wait until the bubbles stop. Add the vinegar. Crack each egg carefully and slip them in. Wait about 5 minutes, if you like them a teensy bit runny (as I do). Fish them out of the pot with a flat spatula. If you have some roasted garlic or garlic butter lying about, drop a teaspoon or two on the eggs. I like my poached eggs with some pita bread (about $.10 per pita) - costs less if you use regular bread (shown above with a toasted white roll). Lot of goodness for less than fifty cents. Enjoy!!!

*With practice, it’s totally multi-tasking friendly. For example, the other day, I started the water, made a short phone call, checked email, plopped in the eggs. I was done with the eggs at the end of the call!

Kitchen Feng Shui

So…I’m not a resident of NeatFreakStan…I’m sure my friends would be shocked if I even got a tourist visa. But even I know that without some kitchen feng shui, your cooking is dead (or at least, miserable!). A few weeks ago, I helped someone reorganize her kitchen. This kitchen was a rather hardworking one - meal/beverage preparation up to four or five times a day! It’s amazing how many things were so out of reach or otherwise difficult to use.

I told her that the space was limited, and she should treat her kitchen as if it was downtown Tokyo or New York - not a square inch to be wasted! That means…stuff that she uses all the time, she could assign to premium real estate, such as the cabinets nearest the stove or even the countertops themselves .

In deciding where to put things, I weighed a few factors:

• frequency of use;
• reachability; (yeah, might not be a real word but this is the INTERNET!)
• bulkiness, weight or other barriers to use; and
• visibility.

So…these are the things I did to help…

Prioritized (what I wanted)

I went through a “diagnosis” stage to figure out the major uses and the really big obstacles - just figuring out how she (and everyone else) actually used the kitchen.

Identify the Nonnegotiable (what was not going to happen)

Despite my non-expert (yet fabulous!) opinion, I knew that there would be things that I could not change or affect. It was extremely important to learn what she was willing or able to change: (1) she did not want to spend any money (and we did not); (2) some storage she designated as “off-limits” or display-only; and (3) there were many things she was not ready to throw away (argh!).

Execute (what actually happened!). Lots of decluttering. Out with the unused plastic food storage missing lids, glass jars, containers, or any other things that never get used. Moving things around. As Nike says, Just Do It!

***warning: ranting starts now***

It’s actually pretty frustrating to see clear potential (in this case, in a kitchen) totally stagnated - and rendered into something that hinders people. I saw stagnation, stagnation, stagnation - everywhere! But there were a few standout culprits:

• Culprit #1 was a large rolling cabinet that never got rolled anywhere. Its depth, one foot, ensured that anytime she reached for plates in the overhead cupboards she was extending her arm fully and possibly having to get tippy-toed to reach certain ones. I moved the rolling cabinet so that it was out of the way.
• The kitchen had an OK amount of counter space. However, jam jars, peanut butter jars, condiments, and totally miscellaneous snacks (Culprit #2) occupied major aspects of usable space (instead of being relegated to…STORAGE!).
• The pantry, and other food storage was definitely Culprit #3 - no one could find anything! Marinated artichoke hearts, etc., would simply disappear one week after purchase…leading to repeat purchases of the same items! I found FIVE, five, FIIIIIIVE 28-oz cans of enchilada sauce (or like nine POUNDS of it!!!)…where no one has made any enchiladas…for the last year!

*** end of ranting…almost time for a pretty video…***

As a result of my help, not only does she report that her kitchen is easier to use, she is making changes - on her own initiative! This makes me SO happy, and makes me feel like I helped her get some positive momentum (and gives me greater optimism about my own decluttering!). Sometimes it really does help to have someone else look at your stuff, so that you don’t have to do things the same way, over and over again. You can do it better! That’s pretty much the backdrop of the plot in Kitchen Stories - the Swedes actually studied ergonomics of the kitchen in the 1950’s!

P.S. The music in the film is nice!

P.P.S. Been wanting to write about this book somewhere on the blog - I loved reading Justin Spring’s The Itty Bitty Kitchen Handbook: Everything You Need to Know About Setting Up and Cooking in the Most Ridiculously Small Kitchen in the World–Your Own. Got it from the library a few months ago because it looked cute. Who knew it was actually useful? He teaches readers how to organize a small kitchen in personable, enjoyable prose. Hello - he even gets into issues like lighting your kitchen! He presumes the absolute worst space situations - and still helps you pull off beautiful dinners. Once you start reading the recipes, it becomes very clear very quickly that he just might know what he’s talking about…the guy grew up on a 36-ft boat. I still need to try his toaster oven Shirred Eggs. Basically, butter a ramekin, put the egg in it, sprinkle some herbs / cheese on it, pop it in the toaster oven and take your morning shower. BRILLIANT!!!

Canned Fish is a Superstar III: Spicy, Instant Spaghetti (about $.30 per serving)

Faster than you can say puttanesca, you can muster up a nice lunch from a can of California Girl Sardines in Chili Sauce (there are also tomatoes in this). Not too hot - just a small twinge of heat. For $1.49, you get 15 oz. I’ve seen these in the wilds of Cub Foods in the Twin Cities as well as the Safeways of California - I’d be shocked if you can’t get them in a supermarket. If not, they will surely be on the shelves of your local Hispanic/Asian groceries.

Part III in a series of posts about the wonders of canned fish - click here for part I (about fishcakes and capellini), and here for part II (about fried rice).

These are quite delicious. Surprising, actually - maybe I had low expectations? I boiled about 1/2 lb of dry spaghetti (usually can be found for $1.00/lb - likely $.50 worth), drained it. Turned off the stove and threw in minced garlic (pennies) and olive oil to get the garlic to sweat in the residual heat. Added about 6 or 7 filets from the can (~$1.00 worth) and a bit of Parmesan. Mash the fish with the garlic. Throw the spaghetti back into the pan and mix, mix, mix. That’s it! Garnish with green onions/chives/etc.

Make many servings - five or six for $.150, at least (so, about $.30 per serving). Total time is about 15 minutes - 10~12 minutes to boil the pasta, and a few more minutes to add the garlic, sardines, and parmesan (I used the grated parmesan by kraft - very inexpensive at Costco). If you have diners that like sardines, I think this is actually good (and pretty enough) for company. My taste tester gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up!

The snipped chives and green onions garnishing the dish came from some container gardening - here’s a closeup of them.

P.S. I found this handy chart for measuring various ingredients in their cooked/uncooked states (like pasta diameters).

P.P.S. And, one of my friends found this video on Youtube…lesson of the day, kiddos, is that you must have the best tea no matter what!