Gilbert eating some fall leaves
Ahh fall in the northeast. There is nothing else quite like it. The smell of it. I was missing this so much while I was down in South Carolina, but even now I couldn’t quite put my finger on it. It’s the crispness of the air, and the smell of leaves and pumpkins, and how earthy and sharp everything seems. The colors of the trees and the love affair with the bite of the wind is the only way to be greeted home actually.
It feels entirely like home, and it’s warm and inviting and lovely. I’ve got a fire burning, pumpkin smells all over my fingers, and my kitty curled up right next to me. To say that “this is the life” really does not do it justice.
I feel serenely content right now. Just so so fond of this place. Even with my bruised leg from falling off the fence, and the funny donkey noises, this is the most calming place to be. I just always want to remember this moment.
For the man who loved typography, technology, and his wife, the world will be short a great visionary and innovator.
So sad about the loss of Steve Jobs today to cancer. Everyone says it all the time, but you know what, f*ck cancer.
Swordfish
I love swordfish. It’s expensive though, so I rarely ever get it. Still I’ve done the salmon thing just so much, it’s like I have to do something else. Since tuna is such a rarity anyway, I threw down for the swordfish and looked to Jamie Oliver for some help.
My love affair with Italian food will probably never end, and my time spent in Italy was definitely some of the best times of my life, so walking away with a hearty appreciation of olive oil and garlic can’t really be that bad.
The sauce is basically a mixture of mint, oregano, and garlic, it’s so simple it shouldn’t be so delicious, but it is! It’s really fantastic. In the book Jamie Oliver says you can spread it over a chicken before roasting and it’d be great, but I like the way he did it over the swordfish.
Salsa di Giovanna
Juice of 1 lemon
Extra virgin olive oil
Sea salt and freshly ground pepper
3 cloves of garlic, peeled and finely sliced
A sprig of fresh mint, leaves picked and roughly sliced
A sprig of fresh oregano, leaves picked and roughly sliced
I squeezed the lemon into a bowl. Jamie’s recipe calls 3x the amount of olive oil as lemon, so I sort of just let it glug 3 or 4 times. I seasoned it with salt and pepper and added the garlic, mint, and oregano before stirring it all together.
I cooked the swordfish on a griddle pan so I could get the nice grill marks. The key to the grill marks being the pan has to be very very hot before you put the fish on it. I seasoned the swordfish steaks (about 1/3″ each) with salt and pepper and placed it on the very hot pan. I cooked it for a minute on each side, so that the swordfish looked nice and golden.
I threw the steaks on plates and let each person pour the sauce over their fish. It was a very successful meal, especially with some sun-dried tomato and broccoli rabe, and our side salad as always. It is such a light refreshing sauce as well and it really pairs so well with the swordfish.
I love Jamie’s recipes, I only wish he wasn’t quite as stuck up about ingredients sometimes. I know why he is, obviously the better the ingredient the tastier the dish, but sometimes (especially if you’re not a celebrity chef) you can’t really indulge in every bit you’d want to.
Still this recipe is completely worth a try, and I know I’ll be whipping it up for future meals as it’s so easy and so rewarding.
Lime Shrimp Lettuce Wraps
My love affair with water chestnuts is being satisfied here. It was a nice recipe, though I still love bacon wrapped water chestnuts the best, but that’s probably because of the bacon…
A nice appetizer to go along with any dish, it’s light and refreshing, and still savory enough to leave a memory.
* 3 tablespoons fresh lime juice
* 3 tablespoons olive oil, divided
* 2 tablespoons soy sauce, divided
* 2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
* 1 clove garlic, minced
* 1 pound medium to large fresh shrimp, peeled, deveined, and chopped
* 1/2 red bell pepper, diced
* 2 green onions, diced
* 1 (8-ounce) can water chestnuts, drained and chopped
* 1 head iceberg lettuce, cored and halved
* 1 tablespoon chopped fresh parsley
Add everything together and spoon unto the lettuce leaves!
Just like at P.F. Chang’s, only shrimpier instead of chicken. Delish. A very nice appetizer to my asian noodle dish. So crunchy and easy, I loved it.
dive for dreams
or a slogan may topple you
(trees are their roots
and wind is wind)
trust your heart
if the seas catch fire
(and live by love
though the stars walk backward)
honour the past
but welcome the future
(and dance your death
away at the wedding)
never mind a world
with its villains or heroes
(for good likes girls
and tomorrow and the earth)
in spite of everything
which breathes and moves, since Doom
(with white longest hands
neating each crease)
will smooth entirely our minds
-before leaving my room
i turn, and (stooping
through the morning) kiss
this pillow, dear
where our heads lived and were.
- e.e. cummings
Dinner Spread
So I looked up some recipes, as well as skimming through some Korean books I have and came together with this.
Kalbi Marinade
Kalbi/갈비 Marinade Recipe
1 1/2 C soy sauce
3/4 C brown sugar
1/4 C sesame oil
1/4 C Mirin
5 cloves of garlic, minced
1/2 of a medium yellow onion, chopped
3 large green onions, cut into small pieces
2 Tbsp toasted sesame seeds
1/2 tsp of red pepper flakes
4-6 pounds of Korean short-ribs
Kimchi and Cucumbers
You’re supposed to marinade it for 12 hours, so I threw it together yesterday and left it to do its delicious thing. I have some kimchi of course, (what self respecting Korean doesn’t have some in their refrigerator?) but I wanted some other banchan to go along with this meal. Korean pickles take too long, at least a week, so I did a quickie pickling and hope it works out.
Mandoo
I decided to go with some mandoo and some marinated soybeans/공나물 무침since they were easy.
I am also making pa muchim, or scallion salad that restaurants usually serve with BBQ.
Bean Sprouts
Scallion Salad/파 무침
4 scallions, sliced lengthwise into fine strips
Red leaf lettuce, bite sized pieces
2 tsp sesame oil
2 Tbsp sugar
2 Tbsp rice vinegar
2 tsp gochugaru (Korean red chili pepper flakes)
Kalbi
The only thing is I didn’t find Korean ribs the way they are supposed to be cut, so I tried to just do it myself. The pork was too thick and didn’t have enough fat marbling it, so it was a little tough where I expected more tenderness, so next time I’ll really have to find a Korean market to get the meat from. (Also I didn’t really think about it, but I think it’s supposed to be beef and not pork… oops)
Still my boys thought it was amazing and I enjoyed every bit of it as well. It isn’t quite like being in Korea, but it will really have to suffice.
Ben’s mom sent him to Charleston with a crockpot, hoping that it would come to some use. We’d discussed it several times but I finally decided that this rainy week needed to be lifted with a little chili. So after perusing various recipes and seeing the mish mash that chili tends to be I sort of threw together my own little thing based loosely off of J.M. Hirsch’s chili recipe.
6 strips of bacon, cut into 1 -inch pieces
2 tsp chili powder
2.5 tsp cumin
1 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 Tbsp 1 tsp paprika
2 tsp dried oregano
2 Tbsp brown sugar
1 large yellow onion, diced
1/2 large green pepper, diced
1/2 large red pepper, diced
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 lb ground beef
1 lb ground chuck
Half of a 12-oz bottle amber beer
15-oz can kidney beans, drained
28-oz can diced tomatoes, drained
4 Tbsp tomato paste
1 beef bouillon cube
Juice of 1 lime
Salt and pepper to taste
Sour cream, to serve
Set a large frying pan on medium heat. Add bacon and fry until it renders enough fat to coat the pan.
Add the chili powder, cumin, cocoa powder, paprika, oregano, and brown sugar. Cook, stirring constantly for 3 minutes.
Add the onion, peppers, and garlic, then saute for 3 minutes. Add the ground beef and ground chuck and saute for another 5 minutes or until browned.
Add the beer, beans, and tomatoes and mix thoroughly. Add the tomato paste and the beef bouillon cube and mix them in well. Bring chili to a simmer and transfer to a crockpot. Set on low and cook for 4 to 6 hours for maximum flavor (even on low for an hour makes the beef very yummy).
Add the lime juice at the end, mix it in, and garnish individual servings with cheddar cheese, sour cream, or whatever.
I also made some cornbread because for some reason I feel like cornbread and chili just go together. That’s the deal for today my loves, I would take pictures, but chili generally tends to look pretty similar. Still I’ll take one once we eat it later tonight.
Pad Thai
So after shifting through some recipes, and imagining the worst scenarios (soggy noodles, or not cooked through, undercooked shrimp, or burned scallions) I threw caution to the wind and came out on the other side entirely successful.
For your culinary pleasure, an easy attempt to a very satisfying pad thai.
Rice stick noodles (about 1/4″ wide)
Thai Kitchen: Original Pad Thai Sauce
4 Shrimp/serving
2 scallions, chopped into 1″ pieces
8 oz can of beansprouts, drained of water
Ground peanuts (I chopped them up in a food processor)
Lime, sliced into wedges
Soaked the noodles in hot water for 20 minutes. The noodles should be pliable, but not super soft, almost like al dente pasta. Drain the water and separate the noodles into increments of 1.5 to 2 cups (which is one serving for this recipe).
The successful way to make the pad thai is to make individual servings so as to not overload the wok/frying pan and to ensure everything cooks evenly.
Heat a wok (if you have one) or a large frying pan on the stove. Add a splash of vegetable oil, about 2 Tbsp and coat the pan. Add the noodles and 1/4 C water. Stir constantly to keep the noodles from sticking to the pan and to check noodle firmness.
When the noodle is soft, taste to be sure, push it to one side of the wok and crack an egg in the pan. Let it cook for 10 to 15 seconds before mixing it together and then incorporating with the noodles.
Add 4 Tbsp of the Pad Thai sauce and mix thoroughly before adding 4 shrimp, a handful of beansprouts, and a handful of ground peanuts. Mix together and keep the food moving.
Once the shrimp is cooked through, about a minute, add the chopped scallions and cook for another minute. Serve it up to your guest, and cook up another serving for yourself!
Don’t forget to squeeze the lime over the whole thing, and let your guest have extra lime just in case, I’m a huge lime fan so I used like 3 wedges on mine.
Tuna!
Ryan and I went away last weekend, after spending so much time taking care of other people he thought it’d be nice for me to be taken care of. How right was he! It was a really wonderful time, and we went to beautiful scenic Beaufort, South Carolina, just in time for the 56th annual water festival.
We stayed at the Rhett House Inn which is famous for serving as the backdrop of several famous movies, including Forrest Gump which we had just watched a couple of weeks ago. We were beyond charmed with the complimentary champagne service as well as having a private entrance to the balcony. We also delved into the complimentary dessert set out, nothing like a little apple pie before walking around to watch the sunset. Having breakfast out on the veranda was something Ryan felt particularly keen on, so we tried to have a lowkey night so we would be able to wake up and get a good seat.
Which brings us to the other reason we decided to head to Beaufort, I wanted to take Ryan to his first ever drive in movie theatre, and just outside the downtown area lies the Highway 21 Drive In Theatre. We saw Transformers 3 and the end of Zookeeper since it was a double feature. He enjoyed the experience immensely, but he might have fallen asleep a little bit.
I loved it because there’s something so classic and different about seeing a movie at a drive in. Ryan’s mom called me and she mentioned that she used to go all the time, and now they’re just going the way of the dinosaur.
Other than the drive in, we went to a beach in the state park as well as a tour of a shrimp boat and a Coast Guard boat. It was generally just a nice day weekend. I missed Jabba cat a lot, but she’s snuggling with me here now. I’ll post pictures later 