Review: Thai Corner

So, last Friday Matchstick and I went out to dinner, since I got my last paycheque from work in the mail. We'd been to Antonio's a few nights before, so we wanted to try something different. Arigato was a little out of our price range, and Fresh Side was bound to be crowded...where to go? I remembered that there was a little Thai place just down the alley by Antonio's, so after some short deliberation we decided to try it out.

Thai Corner is actually in the plaza off Main Street, but it's quicker to take the little (and I do mean little! It's exactly wide enough for one person) alley next to Antonio's. It's next to a little pho shop, which is also on my list of places to try, but rather farther down. Entering Thai Corner, you're greeted by brightly coloured walls, photos of Thailand, and paintings and silhouettes. The place is rather small, and probably always sounds busy. One of the things I liked about the layout of the restaurant is that you can catch a glimpse of the kitchen from the "audience," which is somehow comforting in a small eatery (and the sight of fresh rice coming out of the steamer made me do a little happy dance inside). The menu is large enough to provide variety, and do a good job of explaining exactly what is in each dish.

Matchstick and I both got varieties of curry. We were told that his was of medium heat, while mine was the hottest they served. He had gang kari with chicken, while I had gang bha with beef. The dishes were presented well, with heaping portions of fresh jasmine rice. The gang bha had the appearance of a clear broth, the vegetables in it were cooked just right--tender crisp. The beef was tender and had absorbed the flavour of the curry. While the heat of the curry did grow as I ate, it wasn't as hot as I had hoped.
The gang kari was a yellow curry, of mild spice. It had the characteristic sweetness of yellow curry (or rather, the sweetness I tend to expect), and the potatoes in it had absorbed quite a lot of flavour. The spices could, however, suffer to be toned up quite a bit. The vegetables and chicken were cooked well, and were flavourful.
The issues we had with both curries were the thinness of the curry and the portion sizes. Thai curries are, in general, quite thin, more like soups, but these were just a little thinner than I am accustomed to. The upside of this, I suppose, is that the sauce was more readily absorbed when it was poured over the rice. As for the portions, they were decent, but could definitely do with a little bulking up. They needed more everything, but most of all more meat (I guess that's my American prejudice coming through *laugh*).
The rice was perfectly cooked, and plentiful. You cannot believe how happy it made me to finally have a bowl (well, it was on a plate...) of good rice. Fragrant, sweet, neither too soft nor underdone...The DCs are absolutely incapable of cooking rice and pasta, so when I get to have the real thing it's amazing. Thai Corner definitely understands the importance of rice, and more importantly can prepare it well.

In all, although it wasn't spectacular, Thai Corner is a nice little place. It definitely deserves another visit--I haven't had their pad thai yet! While perhaps a little too tame in terms of flavour for those familiar with Thai cuisine, it's definitely a place everyone can enjoy. Yes, even poor college students; the prices are quite reasonable. Go check it out if you're in the area!

Of course, being the bottomless pits that we are, Matchstick and I were hungry a few hours later. The kitchen in the mod was...disgusting, and the sink was piled so high with EVERYONE ELSE'S DISHES that we couldn't even reach the tap for water... The obvious solution, of course, was to order Wings (prime food for college students: cheap, yummy, and ubiquitous! Just look around for "Wings over *insert town name here*")--a honey barbecue DC-10 and large fries. Yum yum! Saturday we had a big production and cleaned the kitchen. It was fantabulous, by which I mean we both wanted to kill his flatmates afterwards. We reclaimed all his implements, and all was good.

Saturday, we visited a farm stand near Hampshire, which was awesome fun in the mud (he wore his "hooker boots," since they're the only waterproof shoes he owns. Four inch heels!!). We bought a large container (I want to say quart) of little tomatoes--about golf ball size--a butternut squash, and six little sugar pumpkins. We haven't done anything with the pumpkins or squash yet (pumpkin soup is on the agenda!!!), but we did start on the tomatoes. Let me just say that they're absolutely heavenly. I need to go back before the season ends and buy myself some! Maybe even try preserving a few...I should try to find the New York Times recipe. Anyway, those little fuckers are so juicy and sweet it's hard to keep yourself from having another...and another...and another... Matchstick's been making BLTs with them. Sounds so delish!! I hope we'll be able to enjoy plenty of good produce from that farm stand before the season ends. Samhaintide is coming up fast, and the season doesn't last too much longer after that!

Génoise and mousseline, moving in, and other oddities

Ah, how time flies! Already, I'm in the second week of school!! So, this is my first post of the year! Yaye! I'm glad to be back at UMass, even if I have to eat DC food :p But I've had plenty of opportunity to cook already! And, I've gotten to use the brand-new cookware my mother and nonna bought for me :) Thank you so much!! I <3 you both lots and lots!

Anyway, before the epic moving-in day, we had one last family dinner at home: me, my brother, nonna, mother, and father all at the table for one last time before the insanity of autumn set in. With our antipasti we had some prosecco, which is, as Gab said, "the Italian answer to champagne." As its name suggests, prosecco is a dry sparkling wine, much closer to the character of champagne than asti spumante. It's quite nice (you may be seeing another post about it near Yuletide ;) ). Nonna made some absolutely amazing lasagna...I still have a little morsel in my fridge which is screaming "EAT ME!!" I've been saving it because I don't want to run out, as silly as that sounds. Anyway, for a finish to the delicious meal, I made "little 'layer cakes.'" I sandwiched dark chocolate mousseline (generally referred to simply as "mousse") between two rounds of génoise cake and chilled it. For a first try, it went pretty well. I definitely want to develop this recipe further; I feel as though it could become a very refined and delicious dessert.
So, there were a few setbacks with this recipe... First, I had no cake rings and the cutters I used for the rings were three inch rings. Second, I discovered at the last moment that we had no lemon (for the cake) or Cointreau (for the mousseline). Third, I absolutely suck at icing. Despite that, I think things turned out well. Here's my recipe...First gen, if you will *laugh*:

Orange Génoise

6 large eggs
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp orange extract (this is where the lemon zest would go usually)
1 cup sifted flour
1 tbsp melted butter

1. Prep a 9 x 13 pan by buttering its whole interior, then dusting it with flour, tapping out all the excess
2. Combine the eggs, sugar, vanilla, and orange extract in a bowl (I use the mixer bowl) and whisk over boiling water until just warm, about 1/2 min. Be sure to whisk the whole thing evenly, or you'll end up with little bits of scrambled egg on the sides of the bowl
3. With the whisk attachment, beat the egg mixture at a high speed for 6-8 min., until pale yellow "and the consistency of a light mayonnaise." Not having ever made mayonnaise, I couldn't say what that is, but you end up with a light yellow foam, which is quite thick. be careful of overworking the eggs at this point (i.e., don't go more than 8 minutes in the mixer) or the cake may not behave properly when it's baking
4. Add the flour by sprinkling it over the surface of the egg mixture and folding it in, portion by portion
   
5. Fold in the melted butter (occasionally I forget this step ^^; if you're silly like me and do that, don't worry, the cake won't be ruined)
6. Bake at 350°F for 25-30 minutes
7. When finished, allow to cool completely before removing from the pan and cutting into circles

Chocolate Mouselline

4 eggs, separated
3/4 cup confectioner's sugar (or what Mastering the Art calls "instant sugar," whatever that is)
1/4 cup Drambuie (usually an orange liqueur, such as Cointreau, is used)
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate
1 shot espresso (actually, a café restretto would be even better...)
1 1/2 sticks softened unsalted butter (don't make the mistake of using salted butter--the result is pretty nasty, IMO)
1 tbsp granulated sugar

1. Beat the egg yolks and sugar together until it is thick, pale yellow, and forms the ribbon
2. Beat in the Drambuie
3. Set the bowl over not-quite-simmering water and beat for 3-4 min., until foamy and too hot for your finger
4. Remove and beat over cold water for another 3-4 min., until it is cool again and forms the ribbon
5. Melt the chocolate with the coffee over hot water
6. Remove from the heat and beat in the butter a little at a time
7. Beat the chocolate mixture into the yolks
8. Beat the egg whites until they form soft peaks. Sprinkle the sugar over them, then beat until they form stiff peaks
9. Stir one fourth of the whites into the chocolate and yolk mixture. Fold in the remainder
10. Chill until firm

Assembly

1. Spread a thick layer of mousseline on a circle of génoise. Top with a second circle
2. Chill the cakes in the refrigerator
3. Make a whipped cream with minimal flavouring
4. Before serving top each cake with a healthy spoonful of whipped cream

The génoise actually came out quite well. The one immediate issue with it was that I didn't have any lemon zest, so I substituted 1/2 tsp of orange extract. The result was nice, but I definitely should have cut out the vanilla and made it simply an orange-flavoured cake, maybe even using a full teaspoon of extract. Secondarily, I thought that the cake was too dry. That is one of the main characteristics which differentiates génoise from sponge cake. In Antique Bakery (is it sad that I base some of my decisions on a manga?), it's often soaked or brushed with liqueur or syrup, so I think next time I do this I'll make a sort of orange syrup to moisten the cake with, and maybe cut the cake so it's thinner.
The mousseline was a lot of work. I need to build up my arm muscles so I can keep up with all the whisking! It was totally worth it, though. It was very rich and chocolaty, and didn't fall at all. I did, however, think that the chocolate was a little too strong for this use. Perhaps I should use a lighter chocolate next time. Also, as much as I love Ghiradelli, their chocolate has a sour aspect to it which I wasn't thrilled about here. In other recipes, like chocolate chip cookies, it's fine, but here it was a little too pronounced. Perhaps if I have the money I'll see if I can get some E. Guittard, the brand used at the Spoon. Also, the Drambuie could have suffered to be a bit more pronounced. I'll play with the proportions to see if I can get it to speak up a bit.
As for the whipped cream, I've pretty much got the method of whipping down pat. I never end up with cream which is grainy or too close. As far as flavourings go, for this recipe (and probably for many others), you needn't flavour the cream at all; otherwise, it's too heavy and muddles the dessert.
This is a recipe I'm definitely going to develop further.

So, on moving-in day, Matchstick met me to help me move in, and our mothers went off to have a light lunch at the Rt. 9 Diner, where we later met them and had a quick dinner. Then, we all went on a grocery adventure! Matchstick's mother got him a big load of essentials, and my mother got me four Goya ginger beers and a bag of Starbucks French Roast. Thanks so much mom!! Goya's ginger beer is absolutely the best. And I fell in love with the coffee as soon as I made my first cup! It makes an excellent French press.

So, in these first two weeks, we've already had some fun adventures. First, was a beef adventure. Matchstick had forgotten to put the 2+ lbs of ground beef his mother had bought him in the freezer, so it had just been sitting in the fridge...O no!! You really do have to freeze meat right after buying it if you're planning on storing it for a long time. But it wasn't a problem. We cooked it up with a pound of black beans, half a yellow onion, and healthy helpings of parsley, chili powder, paprika, salt, pepper, and crushed cumin seeds (we accidentally got whole seeds instead of ground, so I "minced" them with one of the super-duper awesome knives his flatmate Adrienne brought). We used pretty much the method we used in the taco recipe, but with rather more water to cook the beans thoroughly. I guess it was a bit like chili, the method we used, but with rather fewer ingredients. We froze the whole lot and had some with buttered ziti a few nights later. We topped it with some smoked cheddar that his flatmate Jake gave us (bless his hippie soul), which was quite good. I definitely think our "chili" needed more seasoning...I need to stop being so afraid of overspicing everything!
You know what it needed (apart from less paucity *laugh*)? Blair's. When my mother got me my new cookware, she also got me a bottle of Blair's Original Death Sauce. Let me just say that it's sooooo gooooood!! I remember eating Blair's Death Rain Chips in middle school... O, I did love them so. This sauce is "all this and more!" I made myself a batch of scrambled eggs loaded up with Blair's--so good!! I might actually make some tonight for a snack.

Last night, I was over at Matchstick's and we were at a loss for what to make, so I pulled out a bag of lentils and we made lentil soup. I love lentils. They're one of my favourite beans, and they make the most excellent soups, stews, and porridges. Lentil soup is exceptionally easy to make, very hearty, very filling, and very healthy.

1 pound lentils
4 cups water (or chicken stock)
2 chicken bullion cubes (omit these if using stock)
1 clove garlic, a little coarser than minced
1/2 yellow onion, chopped between coarse and fine
4 potatoes, in smaller cubes
3 carrots, in rounds or half-moons
Butter, butter, and more butter
Salt and pepper to taste

1. In your soup pot, melt a bit more butter than you would generally need
2. Sauté the garlic, then add the onions
3. When the onions begin to caramelise, add the carrots
4. When the carrots begin to become tender, add the potatoes
5. When the potatoes have begun to soften on the outside, add some water to the pot to deglaze it
6. Add the lentils, water, and bullion. Bring to a boil
7. Boil 5 minutes, covered, stirring occasionally
8. Simmer, covered, adding water as needed, until the the potatoes are completely cooked
9. Season with salt and pepper
10. Simmer, covered, until the soup is very thick

This was delicious, but we were a little too light on the salt. It was good over pasta, but I think it would go better with rice. I'm looking forward to making this in the winter; I think it'll be an excellent cold-weather food.

Yaye boi! Culinary Adventures on my Three Month Anniversary

Ah, I've been a very bad blogger. Maybe I need to be spanked... So, I totally didn't write about the week-long adventure of Matchstick in NJ...But I'll try my best to write about some of our adventures in the near future...sometime before I go back to UMass. Anyway:
I went up to RI for two and a bit days to see Matchstick for our 3 month anniversary. So exciting!! This is a first for both of us, having an actual long-term relationship. So that was awesome. On top of that, we got to do some awesome cooking! Yaye!

The first thing we did when I arrived was go to the grocery store and buy things for cooking. Haha aah, we're such food geeks! What did we get? How did we use it? That comes soon! But first, let's talk about absinthe. Absinthe, La Fée Verte, is a liquor made from great wormwood, fennel, hyssop, and several other herbs. It is rather high proof (45%-75% alcohol by volume), and is unique in its drinking ritual--it is diluted in an equal volume of water before being consumed. Three varieties of absinthe exist. Blanche, also known as La Bleu, is clear, having been distilled and then bottled. Verte, the famously green absinthe, owes its colour to a second infusion of herbs. Absenta, a Spanish variant of absinthe, has a slightly different and sweeter flavour, owing to a difference in the herbs used. "Hausgemacht" is a term which refers to home-made, or "microbrewed" absinthe. "Czech absinthe," "Bohemian absinthe," and "absinth" all refer to the same thing--and that thing is emphatically not absinthe. It is, to put it politely, wormwood bitters. What I prefer to call it, well...let's not go there haha.
Anyway, I got the chance to taste a Swiss blanche absinthe. While the full absinthe ritual wasn't performed (sugar is placed in a slotted spoon over the glass of absinthe, and water is poured over the sugar, sweetening and diluting the absinthe--don't burn the sugar!!), it was still a very cool experience. It was fun to watch the louche develop when the water was added. The flavour of absinthe is largely liquorice, but it's slightly bitter, owing to the wormwood. Actually, I suppose it would best be described as having a flavour of liquorice with a slightly disturbing note. Still, very good.

The following afternoon, we made a deliciously evil confection, called brickle. It's deliciously evil because it is essentially crispy crackers embedded in butterscotch and chocolate! And it's so very simple to make!

1 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
saltines to line a baking sheet (about 40, the written form of the recipe says)
1 "large bag" chocolate chips (actually, however much you need to completely cover the pan of brickle)

1. Line a baking pan with foil, remembering to crimp the edges. Line the bottom of the prepared pan with saltines
2. Heat the butter and brown sugar on the stove. When the butter has melted, whisk vigorously to combine
3. Allow the butter and sugar mixture (butterscotch!!) to simmer for three minutes
   
4. Pour the butterscotch over the saltines and spread it evenly
5. Bake at 400°F for 5 minutes
6. Pour chocolate chips over brickle, and as they melt spread them evenly over the surface
7. Refrigerate for 2 hours, then break into pieces. Generally, the brickle will cleave most cleanly along the edges of the crackers

This is a delicious and simple sweet. Anyone with two neurons to rub together can make it. Despite this, there's also room for more advanced techniques to be used. I'd like to play around with the butterscotch a bit, and I'd like to see if I can temper the chocolate so the brickle won't melt so quickly in my hand.

That evening we made tacos for his family, and dinner was quite a nice affair. I've never made taco filling from scratch before, so this was a neat experiment that turned out well! This recipe is a bit (i.e., very) vague, but a lot of this is based on personal tastes.

• Brown 1.5 lb ground beef in a pan
• Drain the beef, and set it aside. In the same pan, heat some oil and sauté a clove (or two) of garlic and some (I used one, but at least two are needed) fresh sliced jalapeños. Add a teaspoon or two of coriander and sauté until the garlic begins to caramelise
• Add the beef, then season with cumin, paprika, cilantro, dried chili pepper, salt, black pepper. Continue to sauté
  
• After the beef has become fragrant, add some water to the pan as if you were deglazing the pan. Allow the beef to absorb the water. Repeat this process as you cook the beef and adjust the spices (I actually borrowed this method from the recipe for aloo gobi, in which you add larger amounts of water as you cook the vegetables to make the sauce)
  
• Add some finely chopped onion and cook until it is tender, continuing with the water treatment
• When the seasoning is satisfactory, remove the filling from the heat and portion it into hard taco shells (16 at most)
• Top with slices of cheese (we used American, but cheddar or pepperjack would do wonderfully)
• Heat in a 325°F oven until the cheese is melted
• Serve hot with chopped tomatoes, shredded lettuce, sour cream, salsa, etc.
  

I think the tacos turned out pretty well, and I was proud that I didn't use any spice mixes. I do need to stop being afraid of overspicing things, though. I definitely needed to "kick it up a notch!" More pepper and onion, and more paprika. Maybe the cumin could be turned up a bit, too, since it's so important in Mexican cooking.

The following day was our anniversary. That was fun! In the midst of our busy day (haha), we made blueberry spice muffins. I love blueberries, and I don't get them often because I can't have them in the house--my mother is allergic. So this was a special treat. I was tempted to eat the whole pint of blueberries myself without bothering with the muffins... But geekiness prevailed, and we whipped up a batch of delicious muffins based on the Joy of Cooking method.

2 cups flour
1/3 cup sugar
3/4 tsp salt
3 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cloves
1/4 tsp allspice
2 eggs, beaten
4 tbsp melted butter
3/4 cup milk
1 cup lightly floured blueberries

1. Combine all the dry ingredients
2. Whisk the butter into the eggs, being sure not to accidentally cook the eggs with overhot butter
3. Mix the mixture into the dry ingredients with the milk. Don't over mix
4. Mix (the Joy says "fold," but I think that's excessive) in the blueberries
5. Portion into muffin tins, filling 1/3 to 1/2 of the way
6. Bake at 425°F for 15-20 minutes

Aaaah, I loved these muffins sooo much! They were great as snacks, dessert, and breakfast! The berries cooked very nicely and were a bit like a jam filling. I may play with the spices a little, but I think this is overall a very good recipe. Matchstick had never had real blueberry muffins, so this was a great treat for him as well. However, he didn't like the the way the muffins rose, and thinks that the added spices kept them from rising properly. Maybe?

That evening we made ourselves a very nice romantic dinner. We had steak with red wine sauce, sautéed zuccini and squash, and garlic bread. I enjoyed it thoroughly, and I enjoyed teaching Matchstick some more basics. Sautéing and deglazing are so common that it's almost impossible to cook without them. He's learning a lot! Fast study, my boy.

Steak with wine sauce is a very easy recipe, and is also very easy to expand upon. It encompasses two basic elements of stovetop cooking, pan frying and deglazing.

Steak
2 cloves garlic, sliced
Coarse sea salt
Freshly cracked or ground pepper
Red wine (we used Yellowtail Cabernet Sauvignon)
A little butter

1. Prepare the steak by rinsing it and patting it dry
2. Sprinkle sea salt and pepper over one side of the steak, and press it in with your hands
3. In a large pan or skillet, heat the butter so that it covers the entire bottom
4. Add the garlic and sauté it until it begins to caramelise
5. Put the steak on top of the garlic, seasoned side down. (At this point, I like to think of something my father's priest from Rochester said--"What sells the steak is the sizzle." You want a good, hearty sizzle when you cook beef this way, or it won't sear properly and your sauce will be weak.) Season the exposed side of the steak using the same method as above
6. Cook until seared on one side, then flip and sear the other side
7. Cook until 140°F to 145°F at the thickest point
8. Remove the steak to the cutting board and let it rest (this is important when you cook meat! Always let it rest before you carve it)
9. Allow any remaining liquid in the pan to simmer down until the pan is nearly dry (at this point you can butter the pan and sauté any ingredients you'd like to add to the sauce--more garlic, mushrooms, etc.)
   
10. Pour a little more wine than is necessary to cover the bottom into the pan. You should hear a vigourous sizzling and hissing
11. As the wine comes up to the simmer, use a spatula to stir the sauce and get all the yummy brown bits up off the bottom of the pan and dissolved into the sauce
12. Add some butter, and allow the sauce to reduce to concentrate the flavour and thicken it slightly (if you want to thicken it more, I see no reason why you can't use a little roux)
13. Slice the steak, being mindful of the grain (you want the side of the slice you're going to bite to be as close to perpendicular to the grain as possible...sometimes difficult with lower quality cuts)
14. Add the released juices to the sauce
15. Serve hot with warm sauce

This came out pretty well, I think. The steak was a little tough, and I think this is partially because I wasn't careful enough when I cooked it: I'm not used to cooking on a gas range, so I should have been a little more cautious. The flavour, though, was quite good, and the sauce was delicious. I may have needed to let it reduce a little more, but only for thickness. It had good colour and was well balanced. Matchstick had never had a wine sauce over steak before, and said he loved it. "The sauce had a very wine taste to it, which I guess is normal, but it was just something I've never had with steak before. Very good, though."

Sautéing is sort of an all-purpose method of cooking just about anything. It's sort of a more laid-back form of stirfrying.

1 zucchini, in half-moons
1 summer squash, in half-moons
1 clove garlic, sliced
A handful of chopped (mincing is waaay too hard) parsley
Salt to taste
Butter

1. Melt the butter and throw in the garlic. Sauté until it begins to caramelise, then add the parsley, continuing to sauté
   
2. Add the zucchini and squash, and sauté until tender, salting just at the end
3. Serve warm

This went well, nice and buttery. I wish I had remembered to add the vidalia onion we had in the fridge...some fennel would have been nice, too. Anyway, this sort of recipe is easy, delicious, and infinitely extensible! Matchstick doesn't eat nearly as many vegetables as he ought to, but this is one of his favourite ways to cook summer vegetables. He heavily salted his (oops...I forgot the salt while I was cooking!), and said he loved them, with or without the onion.

Garlic bread...ah, garlic bread. So delicious. So buttery. So flavourful. This exemplifies garlic: it is a powerful flavour, but it is by no means unpleasant or overpowering. Garlic is highly versatile, and everyone should love it.

1 loaf Italian bread or baguette
1/2 cup butter, melted
3 cloves garlic, minced or crushed with a garlic press
A handful chopped parsley

1. Slice the bread nearly to the bottom crust, but not quite
2. To the hot butter, add the parsley and garlic. Mix well
3. Pour and brush onto the exposed insides of the bread (Matchstick didn't quite follow this recipe. Instead, he halved the loaf lengthwise before cutting it into individual slices and brushing the butter mixture onto the top of the slices)
4. Bake at 350°F for 2o minutes
5. Serve hot

Aaaah, I loved this so much! It was delicious! And best of all, Matchstick made it all by himself!! I'm proud! I said that this exemplifies garlic. It's true. The flavour was clear and pronounced, but by no means repulsive. It was delicious. It was the sort of garlic dish you could eat and not need a mint afterwards.

With our dinner, we drank some of the wine we used for the steak's sauce, Yellowtail's (yes, an Australian wine. They actually make some excellent wines down under!) Cabernet Sauvignon. It was quite good, I think, accompanying the meal. And, as my high school art teacher, Doc O'Boyle says, "don't use a colour in just one place!" Drinking it in addition to using it in the sauce filled out the meal nicely. The wine itself is not really an exercise in extremes. It is not notably sweet, but neither is it particularly dry. It's not at all oaky, which was good, as Matchstick dislikes that quality, nor is it particularly tannic. It is a little sour, but this balances well with the rest of its attributes. This is a good, and not terribly expensive wine.

I had sooooo much fun on my visit! And the food geekery was awesome. *happy wiggling and squeeing* I can't wait to cook with Matchstick at school--he has a real kitchen!!

<lazy>ME</lazy>

So, I've been really bad about keeping up with this blog. A bunch of stuff has happened since the Babas au Rhum. I started work at The Bent Spoon, which is awesome, and discovered a couple amazing cookbooks that are now on my wishlist, but the most important, of course, was my trip up to Rhode Island to see my boyfriend Matchstick for our one month! That was lots of fun, and very tiring...and we got to have a few culinary adventures :) He bought me Martha Stewart's cookie cookbook, which is absolutely amazing, so we took it for a spin, and made her Thin and Crisp Chocolate Chip Cookies, which turned out marvellously. They were a hit with his family, too. The recipe in the book calls for unsalted butter, but I found that you can use salted butter if you reduce the amount of salt you add later by half. We also attempted to make a banana cake...but forgot half the leavening, so it didn't cook in the centre. That didn't really phase anyone, though--we just cut off the good bits and ate them. I also made an American buttercream with mashed bananas in place of all but a few tablespoons of milk, which was quite good, although the sugar tended to overwhelm the banana.

For Fathers' Day I made an Italian almond cake. The recipe is rather interesting. It's essentially a sponge cake made with ground almonds in place of flour. The recipe is flourless, and so my mother likes to make it on Passover. I was lucky enough to get some egg whites from Gab (at work we almost always use the yolks only), and so my cake was made with some very spiffy organic, free-range eggs from Runnin' Free Farm! With any luck I'm going to have opportunity to make this cake again with the same lovely eggs.

Matchstick is coming down this Thursday for a week, and there are definitely going to be some culinary capers happening! Well, if we aren't too tired out from sight seeing (yes, that is possible in NJ). But on the docket is definitely Aloo Gobi, which is part of the menu for the party I'm throwing on Friday, and also cheese cake with lemon curd! So stay tuned!!

Review: Rt. 9 Diner

Yesterday (well, technically the day before, now. Gotta stop this night-owl blogging!) was moveout, and it was surprisingly easy. So, one year of college, done! Exciting exciting! And now I'm back home in Jersey. Ah, the joys of being home... And I'm excited for Jersey Fresh produce! Rhubarb should be coming in soon, and strawberries are just starting, so some fun stuff with those may be showing up soon. And, of course, the family-favourite biscuits are at the top of my to-do list, so they'll probably be next post.

I'd overslept yesterday, so I skipped breakfast. Turns out this worked in my favour, because by the time we were done moving everything out it was lunch time! My father took me out to lunch at the Rt. 9 Diner, which I had recommended. I'd had an absolutely delightful breakfast (never mind that it was after noon!) there with Matchstick some weeks earlier, and I had been craving it again. So, since I hadn't had breakfast at the usual time, and was still craving breakfast food, I had what could only be called a diner breakfast: two eggs over easy, with wheat toast, bacon, homefries, grapefruit, and a cup of coffee.

OMG so good! Fried eggs are something that I'm rather picky about, just as I am with quite a few other foods. These eggs were amazingly good. They're cooked so the whites are fully cooked, but still tender and flavourful. They're perfectly done, and the yolks are still runny. There's absolutely no eggy odour at all. And, of course, they go deliciously with the toast, which is warm, perfectly crisped, and slathered with butter. You don't need to salt the eggs if you eat them with the toast. (I do, however, pepper the hell out of my eggs. This is due in part to a scene from All the Pretty Horses, but is mostly because my dear friend Ami got me addicted to black pepper during our camping adventure last summer. All I can say is, "pepper is yummy.")
The bacon is made exceptionally well. If anyone says that they don't like bacon, they ought to try the Rt. 9 Diner's bacon. It's cut thick, with more meat than fat. It's cooked perfectly, neither soggy nor crunchy, and it's just salty enough without going overboard. It's really a joy to eat.
The homefries are flavourful and soft. Perhaps a little softer than some are accustomed to (Matchstick mentioned they were a little softer than he would have expected when I mentioned I was writing this review), but hearty and filling nonetheless. They're made with green peppers, too, which is unusual, but it gives a nice textural contrast.
The grapefruit was delicious, of the ruby red variety. When I went with Matchstick, the grapefruit was a white grapefruit, so it was rather more tart, but this one was sweet and sour and refreshing, a perfect finish for a heavy breakfast. I love grapefruit, so I enjoy both white and red varieties, but if you're the kind of person who likes to honey or sugar their grapefruit, I'd definitely recommend red over white.
And now we get to the coffee. It's diner coffee. If you're looking for good coffee, hie thee to Starbucks! But, at the same time, it's not really bad. I've had bad diner coffee, and I've had good diner coffee. This was definitely good diner coffee. I don't know why I like diner coffee. As coffees go it's pretty bad, but there's just something about it... And with half and half and two sugars, it goes perfectly with a diner breakfast.

I also ordered a piece of their baklava. It was, needless to say, diner baklava. I'm accustomed to baklava being crisp and flaky on the outside, with honey-sweet layers of filo and nuts inside. This, however, was sodden with honey. There was very little difference in texture between all of its components, but it was rich, and tasted of spiced honey and nuts. If you're expecting true baklava, this isn't what you'll want to get, but if you're looking for diner food, this is a delicious finish to a meal!

The diner itself is delightful. Its interior is very well decorated, and it can get absolutely packed without being claustrophobic. It's classic, really, with its chrome, glass, deep booths, bar, and jukebox. There are also little jukeboxes on the wall of each booth. They have a delightful selection of music, both older music and more modern. The waitstaff is friendly and efficient. It really is a delight to eat there, and I highly recommend the Rt. 9 Diner.

The End of the Semester is a Perfect Time to Start a Food Blog

Well, in one way, I suppose. Starting out with summer cooking gives me a chance to refresh my memory and get back in the swing of cooking. It'll also give me a chance to expand my repertoire, and actually write down some of my recipes! This last thing will be especially important, since I'm going to be starting a "little black cookbook" for my boyfriend, Matchstick, which he'll be able to use in our kitchen escapades next semester. Lucky [Hampshire!] boy's going to be living in a Mod, so he'll have a full kitchen, a far sight better than the mini one I'll have in Brown. So, we're anticipating plenty of fun once we're back, and I'd expect we'll have a few fun culinary adventures when he comes to visit me in July.

So, on to the main topic[s!] of the Premier Post~!


Hard Boiled Eggs

An old standby, and one of the best snack foods. Yet, for some odd reason, I know how to fry eggs, but didn't know how to boil eggs until just recently. I'd expect many people "know how to make hard boiled eggs," but don't do it quite properly, at least judging from my childhood memories of rubbery eggs and grey yolks. But those problems are for troubleshooting. First, the procedure! After comparing several methods, this is what I've come up with. It works well in my electric kettle, so I'd expect it works well on a stovetop too.

You have to allow enough space between the eggs so the water can bathe them, so I only cook four or five at a time.

• Put eggs in the kettle and cover with water
• Bring to a boil on the highest setting. On a stove, you probably shouldn't go quite full bore.
• Allow to boil for one full minute
• Unplug the kettle and allow the eggs to sit for twelve to fifteen minutes. I usually go for 12 minutes
• After the eggs have been let to sit in the hot water, drain the water and cover the eggs with cold water. Swirl them, then drain and refill with cold water

And that's how to make eggs! When they're opened (I like to cut them open then scoop out the meat), they should not have an eggy odour. The yolk should be light yellow and of a uniform consistency. The yolks should not be grainy, but almost creamy; the whites should be tender.

If the yolk takes on a grey or greenish tint, especially on the outside where it meets the white, it's a sign that the egg has been cooked too long. Reducing the time it sits in the hot water should solve the problem. If the yolk is grainy, it means it was boiled too long or too hard. This kind of treatment will also cause a grey layer on the outside of the yolk. An eggy smell and rubbery white mean that the egg was cooked too long. Reducing the time the eggs sit in the hot water should take care of this problem, too.

Lots of people insist on salting their eggs, but I've just been eating them as-is. They're quite good, really. I prefer to cut the egg in half, then use a spoon to first eat the yolk, and then the white, separating it carefully from the shell.

Fresh Side, a review

So, on Friday, which was the 16th, Matchstick took me out to dinner at Fresh Side, which bills itself as "a little eatery and tea place." As Matchstick says,"it's awkward if you've slept with the waiters, but the food's good[sic]." So, yes, one of my former...uh...paramours...works at Fresh Side, but usually works backend. That night, of course, just to make things interesting, he ended up being our waiter! *cough* So, yeah. But drama was avoided, and we enjoyed our meal quite a lot.

Of course, when I say "our meal," I really mean, "our meal and a portion of some other stuff too." The place was absolutely packed, and the entire staff was completely discombobulated and out of their minds because of it. We ordered pad thai with chicken and Thai basil cellophane noodles with chicken, and also some Edo tea rolls. The first time 'round something somewhere went toes-up and we ended up with vegan pad thai and Peking pasta. They both looked, smelled, and tasted quite nice, but alas were not what we ordered. Our order was eventually set aright, and our tea rolls came out, and we ordered a pot of Moroccan mint tea.

The tea was not what is customarily thought of as Moroccan tea, that is to say it was not a strong, decocted green tea diluted with mint tea and sweetened. It was, rather, a combination of gunpowder green tea and mint tea, steeped in sweet water. It was delicious, and actually went quite well with the meal. The pot was, however, a little too small to warrant the price. The tea rolls were rice with a wheat wrap, topped with peanut sauce and crushed peanuts. They were quite good, although perhaps a bit unwieldy. The wrappers themselves were a little too chewy, but the flavour made up for it. There was allegedly cilantro in the rolls as well, but I couldn't taste it.
The pad thai was delicious, rich, and spicy. Matchstick added a little peanut sauce to it, and the combination was quite good, although in my opinion the rich sauce was perhaps a little overkill. The noodles were cooked perfectly. They did have a tendency, however, to stick together and clump. The chicken was rather bland; it was obvious that it was boiled separately.
The Thai basil noodles were cooked perfectly, and not at all sticky. They had a faint dark green colour from the basil, and there were whole basil leaves mixed in. They had a strong, delicious scent, and the flavour of the basil was very strong. The basil was wonderfully complimented by ginger, onion, and spinach. While their method of slicing the ginger was perhaps not as refined as would be expected from a chic Asian-fusion restaurant, the large, crunchy slices of ginger provided a bright and refreshing contrast with the dark and pungent flavour of the basil. The chicken was rather better than in the pad thai, but it had obviously been parboiled separately and then finished in the sauce. It was a little less flavourful than one would expect, and slightly dry. But, that was a minor detain in an otherwise spectacular dish. It was very filling.
All three dishes made wonderful leftovers.

The restaurant itself is very cute, and nicely decorated. Their glassware is quite nice, water ("But it's tap water!" Matchstick cried. "They could have at least boiled it." Ah, OCD is so cute) in wine bottles or spring-capped bottles, nicely curved vodka shot glasses for tea cups... The atmosphere of the place is private, even though it can get quite loud on a busy night. The prices are pretty decent. Matchstick says of it, "definitely a nice place to stop by." I highly recommend it.