It's a magical world

Over the past few weeks I've been having more pain in my elbow and forearm and wrist again, and it got particularly bad last weekend when I had to spend the weekend on a very uncomfortable cot - at one point Saturday night I woke up and both my arms were asleep, even with the elbow brace. So yesterday I cut Chinese tutorial and went to PT instead, which was a good decision. My therapist manipulated my neck for a good ten or fifteen minutes (we talked about Bay Area restaurants and Japanese, as usual) and within 20 minutes of when I'd left my head was as congested as it's ever been in my life - in fact, last night I probably had the worst head pressure I've ever had. I've never had this happen before, and I hope it doesn't happen again, but no matter what, it was worth it.

And I got epershand's boss's cold remedy recipe:


This made two cups and is quite tasty with a shot of whiskey and juice of 1/2 lemon each.

# Heirloom Tomato Salad with Burrata - I'm still not clear on the difference between mozzarella and burrata, so I always just buy fresh mozzarella. I used dried oregano and couldn't find opal basil in Berkeley Bowl, and this was still delicious. Also, stored separately, the two halves of the salad keep pretty well. It is still delicious four days later.

# Cornmeal Shortcakes with Peaches, Mint and Soured Cream - This recipe is complicated (somehow I didn't register the need to puree the peaches in the last step and when I read it I was like, "OH COME ON") but well worth it. I would actually recommend increasing the peaches, since the biscuit recipe yielded twelve biscuits but the peaches, after pureeing 1/4 of them, only yielded about five scant servings' worth. I also wound up using dried mint because I forgot to buy fresh, which worked fine, but I would be really generous with it - about 1 Tbsp or so. I used a Meyer lemon rather than a regular one, in which case I would not be scant about the 1 Tbsp of juice to sour the cream (but I would be careful with a conventional lemon). I only used 6oz mascarpone and it was plenty.

# Mama Elsa's Stuffed Zucchini - I love this recipe. I always use fresh tomatoes when they're in season and it is delicious. OM NOM NOM. The one trick is that you basically have to cook the stuffing until it's almost dry - I leave the heat at medium-high throughout, and I always think that I could have left it slightly longer. And, this being Racheal Ray, don't stint on the salt.

# Yellow Tomato Gazpacho - I added practically no water and it was everything I wanted, even though I had to patch the yellow tomatoes out with some random cherry tomatoes I had lying around. Delicious.

# Basil Lime Cooler - I am drinking one of these now. I think it either needs more lime or to use gin, but it's pretty good and pretty easy. Also, since we all know my motto during cooking is "Fuck that!" instead of straining the syrup I just picked the basil leaves out with chopsticks and called it good. Then the chopsticks double as drink stirrers. WIN. ETA: I made it with gin and it basically tasted like a gin and tonic. I like gin & tonics, so I was okay with that, but I actually suspect the real issue is that I did not use enough/young enough basil for the simple syrup. Don't be shy with the basil in the simple syrup! Go for like ten full-size leaves.

I went running this morning and there was a cold wind off the Bay, with fog rolling in, or trying to.

Summer is coming.

I've been trying to cook very seasonally, so I'm also trying to post recipes in as timely a fashion as I can.

# Asparagus with Almond and Yogurt Dressing - These were really good, though I will note that faux-grilling them in the pan set off my smoke detector twice and I was scrubbing the pan with the copper scrubby for a good five minutes straight afterward. I think I would try to substitute an oil with a higher smoke point if I made it again.

# Mexican Zucchini-Corn Soup - This is tear-jerkingly good, I'm not gonna lie. I would definitely cook the zucchini for a full five minutes to get as much liquid as possible out of them and into the soup, since mine wound up more like stew than soup even with my putting in as much of the tomato liquid as I could. But oh my god, it is so good.

# Strawberries and Cream Biscuits - The ¢99 as-is strawberries at Berkeley Bowl are one of the best things about living here, and they were fantastic in these biscuits. I am not even that good at biscuits, but these are amazing. (I used more than a cup of strawberries. Je ne regrette rien.)

Step 1: Make rushthatspeaks' yummy apple tofu spinach salad. 

Step 2: Sit down at table, drop fork on the floor. 

Step 3: Decide floor is too dirty for five-second rule, get a second fork. 

Step 4: Sit back down, fumble fork and plate off the edge of the table and onto the floor. Grab futilely at plate as it goes by, manage to grab most of the spinach and some of the apple-tofu mixture. Hold it in your hands over the floor until your roommate brings you a bowl to put it in. 

Step 5: Lick the sauce off your fingers before you wash your hands. Decide it's pretty tasty.

Step 6: Clean up the mess with your roommate. Laugh at yourself. 

Step 7: Get a third fork. Give yourself a high-five when you manage to actually eat a bite.

Step 8: Lament the loss of 2/3 of your portion. Contemplate eating the other half of the recipe that you were planning to eat for dinner tomorrow night. 

Step 9: Decide to have another piece of cranberry-walnut bread and call it good. 

Step 10: Decide that the apple sauce needs more roasted garlic, for next time. 

# Tamarind Soup - Finding the ingredients for this soup involved trekking to three separate grocery stores, for the tamarind concentrate. I wound up using Neera's tamarind paste, which despite what the packaging says is, I think, the same as the "tamarind concentrate" the recipe calls for. (I also really like Neera's curry pastes too.) More importantly, the soup was totally worth the two-day ingredient quest. It is so good--rich and tart and a little sour and spicy and delicious. I'll be making it again, for sure.

# Espresso Chocolate Shortbread - I took these to a vid party last Sunday, and they were quite popular--and darn tasty, if I do say so myself. Just as good, they're shockingly easy! You make the dough, roll it into a gallon bag, refrigerate for two days, cut the dough into squares and bake. Done! Also, the espresso breaks up the sweetness in a way that I like.

# Aztec Gold Brownies - I made these twice in the past two weeks. As usual, the fresher/higher-grade your spices and chocolate, the better, but oh, so good. As usual, don't microwave anything as long as you have a double boiler.

# Pseudo-Moroccan stew - I finally figured out how to make this amazing. For the spices, use 2tsp cumin, 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 4-5 whole cloves, and 1Tbsp dry harissa (paste I'd imagine would be similar). Use two quarters salt-preserved lemon and 1 cup Israeli couscous. Nom ALL the noms.

Sara's Pizza Crust
One jar tikka masala sauce
Chicken
1/2 red onion
Mozzarella cheese (at least 8oz)
Olive oil
Cilantro

1. Make pizza crust according to directions, preheat oven to 450ºF, and arrange crust on pan.
2. Spread tikka masala sauce over crust, leaving 1/2 - 1" perimeter around the outside. Spread cheese around on top.
3. Sauté chopped chicken in a little bit of tikka masala sauce if defrosting (you can use a cooked chicken breast, or defrosted frozen chicken strips or whatever), then spread chicken around. Dice the red onion and scatter on top. Brush exposed crust with olive oil.
4. Bake for 12 - 14 minutes, or until crust is golden brown. Sprinkle chopped cilantro on pizza after it's out of the oven.

Originally posted at Dreamwidth Studios; you can comment there using OpenID or a DW account.

adapted from a recipe by Emeril Lagasse via Martha Stewart

3 lbs sweet potatoes
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup bourbon
3 Tbsps light brown sugar
2 Tbsps molasses
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup toasted chopped pecans or walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Place potatoes on baking sheet lined with foil or parchment paper. Bake until very tender, about an hour and 15 minutes. Let stand until cool enough to handle.
3. Cut open the potatoes and scoop the flesh out from the skin; discard skins. Heat the heavy cream in a large pot over medium-low heat, and add bourbon when the cream is just starting to bubble. Cook, stirring, for a few minutes (you need to cook off the alcohol in the bourbon) and then add the brown sugar, molasses, and salt. Heat together, stirring occasionally, for a few more minutes, and then add the sweet potatoes to the pot. Combine and mash everything together, seasoning with pepper (use white pepper if you have it) to taste, over the same heat. Stir in the pecans.
4. Serve immediately, or transfer to an oven-safe serving dish and warm the potatoes at low heat (250ºF) until serving them.

Today I was originally going to post a pre-drafted post that is way too upbeat for my current mood, but I can talk about cooking without feeling totally inappropriate at least.

• On Tuesday I made this pumpkin, chickpea and spinach curry recipe by skud. I just had another serving of it for lunch, and it's so tasty, seriously, and nicely spicy. Rather than be left with an awkward half of a large butternut squash I simply used an entire small-ish squash, with delicious results. Though, I would in future consider adding another small can of tomatoes, simply because I like tomatoes and there aren't as many of them in the curry as I could wish. Some notes: when leaving the curry to boil, you should make sure to add enough water to cover all of the squash chunks. Also, I guesstimated "a sachet" of tomato paste to be roughly equivalent to 1 Tbsp + a squeeze for luck. 
• Last week I made this Thai red curry mac 'n' cheese by Aarti Sequeira of Aarti Party. It was also delicious! I wound up using 3/4 cheddar and 1/4 Monterey Jack because I bought one bag cheddar and one bag cheddar Jack, with no ill-effects. I also suspect that you could use 4 cups whole milk and one cup non-fat milk without any real ill effects on the final product, in lieu of what I did this time around which was 4 cups whole milk, 1 cup non-fat milk and ~2 Tbsp butter (butter + non-fat milk being an acceptable substitute for whole milk).
• I really want to make this cardamom and triple ginger pumpkin bread by kindkit. I did recently make my tried and true pumpkin bread recipe from Betty Crocker, which is extra delicious if you use fresh spices and lightly plump up the raisins in a little bit of water over low heat (what is the name for this technique again? not blanching, but that's all I can think of) before adding them to the batter.

I'm putting this up here so I don't almost lose it again, sob, you have no idea how sad I was when I thought I had lost this recipe, it's so delicious. shveta_writes sent it to me in the spring by email.

Ingredients
1 medium onion, finely chopped
3 carrots, finely chopped
2 medium celery stalks, finely chopped
2 cloves garlic, minced
1/2 c olive oil
1 medium zucchini, coarsely chopped
3 c greens (chard, mustard greens, or spinach), shredded
1 (19 oz.) can white beans, drained
1 (19 oz.) can tomatoes
3 c vegetable broth
Salt & pepper
1 bunch parsley, chopped
2 c day-old Italian bread, cut into cubes

Topping:
Pesto
Olive oil
Shaved Parmesan

Sauté the onions, celery, garlic and carrots in olive oil until tender. Add the tomatoes, zucchini, parsley and greens, and then add just enough broth to cover. Cover, and cook for about 1-1.5 hours. Add the white beans and cook an additional 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper to taste. Put 1/3 of the soup in a food processor or a blender and purée until thick. Return to the soup pot and mix well. Add the bread cubes and simmer until almost dissolved and then use a whisk to mix in the bread completely. Serve soup at room temperature, drizzled with a little pesto mixed with olive oil, and some Parmesan shavings.

Variations: Almost any variation of vegetables could be added as desired, including cabbage in place of the greens.
Originally posted at Dreamwidth Studios; you can comment there using OpenID or a DW account.

Because it's not all doom and gloom (and it's for damn sure not all book reviews, either) around here, I swear.

# Auto-reload on my Clipper card. Number of times I have been caught fareless riding around the Bay area since setting it up: 0!

# georgetakei on Twitter!

# f.lux on my computer! The link goes to rydra_wong's rec post. I haven't noticed a radical improvement in my sleep habits (because my sleep habits are terrible), but I have noticed much, much less eye-strain, and a more natural feeling of tiredness around midnight. It'd be amazing just for the eyestrain relief.

# Chocolate banaana bread OMNOMNOM. Being me, I have a few modifications: I used three large bananas and added an extra 1/2 Tbsp (=1.5 tsp) of cocoa powder; baking time needs to be increased to about 90 minutes. I also used light sour cream (and semi-sweet chocolate chips). Conclusion: BEST EVER.