August 2005 Archives
These, the last two ice creams on Eddie's list, got the best of me. They were sorbets, so they failed to have that satisfying, rich, creamy feeling. They left me a little bit sad, and I almost didn't finish them. I think the orange might make a nice creamsicle-ish combo with some vanilla ice cream, but both were too sweet, either bright orange or bright purple. The raspberry had a bit of a tart finish, but not enough to redeem it. It was the same color, almost, as the raspberry ice cream, but it's amazing what some heavy cream can do for the flavor. The raspberry ice cream was one of my favorites; the sorbet is undoubtedly my least favorite.
Which brings me to the fun task of ranking, or classifying, the flavors for future visits.
Loved It--These can stand alone, although I think the coffee would be decadent in a hot-fudge sundae
Vanilla Fudge
Rum Raisin
Coffee
Cherry Vanilla
Mint Chip
Liked It--I actually think these might make the best components to a banana split or sundae
Walnut
Vanilla
Raspberry
Banana
Chocolate
Would Eat but Wouldn't Order--I like these fine, but why eat them when there are so many better options?
Tutti Fruitti
Vanilla Chip
Strawberry
Pistachio Pineapple
Coffee Chip
Butter Pecan
Orange Sorbet (but only as part of a creamsicle-ish concoction)
Wouldn't Eat Again
Raspberry Sorbet
This is from Everyday Italian, and I like it because it's not loaded with a ton of different ingredients (most antipasto salads seem to have ingredients lists that are a page long!). In fact, with a few substitutions I had everything I needed in my kitchen. I made a vinaigrette out of red wine vinegar, mustard, salt, pepper and olive oil, and tossed that with bibb lettuce I had torn bite-sized. Then I added white beans, a cut-up tomato, strips of hot coppa and small cubes of a really sharp but still creamy aged provolone. Gave that a gentle toss (so all the heavy stuff would be incorporated but not end up on the bottom), then served. It was pretty, too.
I think I may have butchered the spelling of this, but anyway. I've been dreading this flavor, which is almost at the very bottom of the list, expecting a bubble-gum flavored confection that's too sweet to choke down. It is bubble-gum pink, but it wasn't too bad. Creamy. Sweet but not too. Pink flavored, like the strawberry. It had bits of cherries and pineapple in it. Can't say I'll get it again, but it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.
Todd loves this flavor, and I'm not against it. I thought I'd feel the same as I do about butter pecan, too sickly sweet, but the walnuts have a slightly bitter flavor that balances nicely against the maple-y ice cream.
I think Todd may be willing to walk to Eddie's with me more often now that he knows about the walnut ice cream.
We drove out to Long Island this weekend specifically to get vegetables from a farmstand. I think, though, the baby hates Long Island. Hates. It. He has a meltdown every time we go out there. In the restaurant he wouldn't eat his food, got peas everywhere (including all over my white tank top), grabbed at everything, cried, whined. It's not the first time this has happened on LI, either.
So the peaches, corn, baby eggplants and various other veggies were hard won, and while the ratatouille was good I can't say it was worth it. The corn might've pushed it over the edge if August hadn't wailed the whole car ride home. He's much better about the trip into Union Square, and there's much more selection there, anyway.
So the ratatouille. I made mine like a stew, cooking it much longer than the recipe called for. Otherwise it's just sauteed vegetables, right? First sauteed a thinly sliced onion, then added 3 baby eggplants cut into chunks (the recipe said to peel but I didn't and I didn't really notice the skins as obtrusive). Added 1 zucchini cut into chunks and then 1 tomato with thyme, oregano, ground coriander, salt and pepper. Put the lid on it and let it stew for a while (I'm not sure how long, maybe 20 minutes?). Ate it over couscous to catch the juices.
We drove out to Long Island this weekend specifically to get vegetables from a farmstand. I think, though, the baby hates Long Island. Hates. It. He has a meltdown every time we go out there. In the restaurant he wouldn't eat his food, got peas everywhere (including all over my white tank top), grabbed at everything, cried, whined. It's not the first time this has happened on LI, either.
So the peaches, corn, baby eggplants and various other veggies were hard won, and while the ratatouille was good I can't say it was worth it. The corn might've pushed it over the edge if August hadn't wailed the whole car ride home. He's much better about the trip into Union Square, and there's much more selection there, anyway.
So the ratatouille. I made mine like a stew, cooking it much longer than the recipe called for. Otherwise it's just sauteed vegetables, right? First sauteed a thinly sliced onion, then added 3 baby eggplants cut into chunks (the recipe said to peel but I didn't and I didn't really notice the skins as obtrusive). Added 1 zucchini cut into chunks and then 1 tomato with thyme, oregano, ground coriander, salt and pepper. Put the lid on it and let it stew for a while (I'm not sure how long, maybe 20 minutes?). Ate it over couscous to catch the juices.
This started out as a recipe from Bill's Open Kitchen, off Leite's Culinaria, but I got lazy about sauteeing the shrimp and discovered I didn't have the chiles or garlic to flavor it, so I just threw it into the risotto with the last batch of stock. It turned out good, with creamy, lemony risotto and sweet shrimp. I like my risotto kind of loose so that's how far I took it.
Can't say it was a good idea to make something that requires constant stirring on a day like today. It's another slighty hot, very muggy one here. But citrus risotto sounded refreshing (can't say that it is, though).
Get 3 cups chicken broth simmering in a small saucepan over low heat. Saute half a minced onion in a tablespoon each butter and olive oil in a wide pan until it's translucent, then add 3/4 cup arborio rice. Stir that for a couple of minutes, then start adding the broth, about 3/4 cup at a time. Stir until the liquid's mostly absorbed, then add more until you only have one addition left. Add that with 1/2 pound medium shrimp, another tablespoon of butter, salt, pepper, the zest of a lemon and the juice of half the lemon. Stir and cook over low until the shrimp are pink and the risotto's the way you like it.
This started out as a recipe from Bill's Open Kitchen, off Leite's Culinaria, but I got lazy about sauteeing the shrimp and discovered I didn't have the chiles or garlic to flavor it, so I just threw it into the risotto with the last batch of stock. It turned out good, with creamy, lemony risotto and sweet shrimp. I like my risotto kind of loose so that's how far I took it.
Can't say it was a good idea to make something that requires constant stirring on a day like today. It's another slighty hot, very muggy one here. But citrus risotto sounded refreshing (can't say that it is, though).
Get 3 cups chicken broth simmering in a small saucepan over low heat. Saute half a minced onion in a tablespoon each butter and olive oil in a wide pan until it's translucent, then add 3/4 cup arborio rice. Stir that for a couple of minutes, then start adding the broth, about 3/4 cup at a time. Stir until the liquid's mostly absorbed, then add more until you only have one addition left. Add that with 1/2 pound medium shrimp, another tablespoon of butter, salt, pepper, the zest of a lemon and the juice of half the lemon. Stir and cook over low until the shrimp are pink and the risotto's the way you like it.
Have you ever seen a jicama? Brown, hairy, sort of shaped like a squat rutabaga. My family eyed it warily yesterday when I took it over to my brother and sister-in-law's for dinner last night. She was making enchiladas so I decided to make a jicama salad.
I only used half of the jicama. (It was a 2-pounder; I almost wonder, if I could have found a smaller one, would it have been sweeter?) I peeled off the brown skin and cut it into sticks. It's kind of a cross between an apple and a potato, with a kind of starchy potato texture and crunch, but a little bit of sweetness and juiciness. I tossed the sticks with lime juice, salt and chile powder and added some cucumber sticks (peeled, seeded and cut in sticks). It's a nice, fresh side for something as rich as enchiladas.
I also made some guacamole; so easy! Avocado, lime juice, cilantro, tomato, salt, chile powder. Now that I know how easy it is, I'll do it more often.
When I was a child my parents drank Postum. It's a beverage, supposedly a coffee substitute, made from chicory and roasted grains, and so I took a pass on the early morning hot beverage habit. Then I met my future husband during my first week of college. He was a senior and his coffee-guzzling habit was one of the things that added to his aura of maturity. We were friends first, would go with a big group to the local coffee shop to argue about the kinds of things you argue about in college. Then we moved on to just the two of us, at Perkins late at night, where they set a big pot of coffee right on the table (saving the waitstaff all that time dispensing refills). Those nights I'd lay in bed, my heart racing -- was it love or the pints of coffee coursing through my veins?
So coffee has always been more about relationships than beverages to me. Now it's my relationship with my son, who from the moment his presence was known in my womb has had me drinking decaf (and still he doesn't sleep at night). Decaf can make you an outcast, though. The guests with the coffee habit who have to have regular in the morning. The restaurant that doesn't have decaf or, even worse, only has instant. The sacrifices in taste and price. Being one of those people who "can't have" something, the bane of their hosts.
So lately it's an ambivalent relationship. But I'm still in love. That's why I'm making these brownies, which like my husband get their maturity from coffee, for about the 400th time. So I can share them with a new friend (a new-mommy friend) who's husband is doing me a favor. And so I can share them, again, with you.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Then beat 1 cup sugar and 2 eggs with a mixer on high until it's pale and thick (about 5 minutes). Add 2 teaspoons espresso powder dissolved into a tablespoon of water, 1/4 cup melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix.
Next mix 1 cup flour, 2/3 cup cocoa powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Add to sugar mixture and spread it in a 9-inch square baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for about 25 minutes, checking at 20 minutes to see if it's cooked through. They're fudgy, so moist crumbs should be attached when they're done.
When I was a child my parents drank Postum. It's a beverage, supposedly a coffee substitute, made from chicory and roasted grains, and so I took a pass on the early morning hot beverage habit. Then I met my future husband during my first week of college. He was a senior and his coffee-guzzling habit was one of the things that added to his aura of maturity. We were friends first, would go with a big group to the local coffee shop to argue about the kinds of things you argue about in college. Then we moved on to just the two of us, at Perkins late at night, where they set a big pot of coffee right on the table (saving the waitstaff all that time dispensing refills). Those nights I'd lay in bed, my heart racing -- was it love or the pints of coffee coursing through my veins?
So coffee has always been more about relationships than beverages to me. Now it's my relationship with my son, who from the moment his presence was known in my womb has had me drinking decaf (and still he doesn't sleep at night). Decaf can make you an outcast, though. The guests with the coffee habit who have to have regular in the morning. The restaurant that doesn't have decaf or, even worse, only has instant. The sacrifices in taste and price. Being one of those people who "can't have" something, the bane of their hosts.
So lately it's an ambivalent relationship. But I'm still in love. That's why I'm making these brownies, which like my husband get their maturity from coffee, for about the 400th time. So I can share them with a new friend (a new-mommy friend) who's husband is doing me a favor. And so I can share them, again, with you.
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Then beat 1 cup sugar and 2 eggs with a mixer on high until it's pale and thick (about 5 minutes). Add 2 teaspoons espresso powder dissolved into a tablespoon of water, 1/4 cup melted butter and 1 teaspoon vanilla and mix.
Next mix 1 cup flour, 2/3 cup cocoa powder and 1/4 teaspoon of salt. Add to sugar mixture and spread it in a 9-inch square baking dish coated with nonstick cooking spray. Bake for about 25 minutes, checking at 20 minutes to see if it's cooked through. They're fudgy, so moist crumbs should be attached when they're done.
This was just chunks of tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil tossed with a little bit of salt, but the tomatoes and basil came from a cool, fresh morning at the farmers' market so they tasted great. (We also got blueberries, peaches and what I can only assume will be the last of the strawberries, plus zucchini and white baby eggplant.)
We took it on a picnic to Storm King Art Center, which is a big natural park with sculptures scattered throughout. It would've been a perfect day had it been 10 degrees cooler (but it was still really nice). We also had sandwiches (either pepperoni or ham with provolone and arugula), cantaloupe, strawberries and some cookies for dessert. Pretty basic. I sopped up the juices from the salad with some bread: so tomatoey, more so even than the salad itself.
Storm King's a great day trip, a fun place for a picnic with a few really interesting sculptures (and a lot of stuff that seems like nonsense to me). It's just past West Point in the Hudson River Valley.
This has the nostalgic taste of chocolate syrup to me. It's Eddie's perfectly decent vanilla with ribbons of icy chocolate throughout. I ordered a pint of this to go, scrounging through my change to come up with enough quarters to pay for the $5 pint. But they pack the ice cream in there, so it's one of the biggest "pints" I've gotten. I'd take this one again. (I probably will, along with coffee, raspberry and mint chip. Maybe rum raisin, too.)
Only the sorbets and two more flavors to go.
This was exactly what I expected: Eddie's good vanilla ice cream with those annoying little brittle chocolate chips. I still don't know why anyone would bother when you can get it plain or, even better, vanilla fudge.
I ran in and got a pint of this, then it was a race home in the car with a paper bag of ice cream before it melted. The ice cream was that perfect, almost soft-serve-like texture.
