Tomatoes Are My Favorite Fruit

Simple, nothing fancy.
Good tomatoes, they are in season now.
Olive oil
Basil
Salt and pepper to taste

The Chop I Came to Love

I usually don't like pork chops. I feel like they often turn out dry and chewy. Charlie's Aunt Liz made a scrumptious one when she was over. I recently tried another way to make them that actually turned out pretty tasty too. I marinated them in red curry, and lime juice for an hour. Then I dredge them in seasoned flour and do a shallow fry. Garnish with cilantro. Now I really, really, love the other white meat.

Something for the Fourth

Ina's Pound Cake with my addition of berries and cream.
This was made for my friend Heather's Fourth of July bbq party.
What is it about whipped cream and berries?
I'm gonna keep eating this until the weekend is over. Yes, I'm still celebrating!

BLT with Poached Eggs

This one is so basic and so freakin' good.
Eggs: As eggs should be, poached in a little vinegar, with salt and pepper.
BLT: Bacon, lettuce, tomato, (salt and pepper). Of Course. But with Charlie's special touch of WASABI MAYO. Crunchy, crispy, salty, and spicy.
SO YUM!

Sustainable Ditmas Park

These are two tomatoes from my window sill garden that started growing the end of last month. So far it seems, it isn't a large enough sill to sustain but I will probably have a tasty salad at some point at the end of summer.
I obsessively watch them everyday to see how fast they're growing. Unfortunately, these babies are regular sized tomatoes so let's hope they can hang on til they're ripe. Otherwise, the courtyard gets them. :(
These will go so well with the basil I'm growing!

Chinese Almond Cookies

2-1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 stick of butter
1/2 cup of lard, crisco
2 eggs, beaten
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon almond extract
1/2 cup slivered almonds, ground coarse
1/2 cup roasted almonds

Preparation:

Preheat oven to 325°. In food processor mix flour, sugar, butter, lard, salt, and baking soda until it forms little balls. Add eggs and extract. Roll dough into balls, flatten into cookie shape. Place on cookie sheet with parchment paper. Place almond in center of each cookie. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Semi Homemade Upgrade

I was walking around in my neighborhood last weekend and found a store that AMAZINGLY had puff pastry. I was very excited to make something with them. But what...? Hmmmmm.....Well, since I had made this recipe before with some crescent rolls, I thought I'd try it with these fancy puff pastry squares. They turned out so crispy and currilicious! I ate way too many of them.

Lovely Basil Sprouts

I'm growing my own basils from seed this year. This is genovese basil, in Italy it is considered a sign of love. I'm also growing holy basil, this herb is revered and worshipped in many parts of the world and is considered a sacred herb with healing qualities.
Both herbs, a total pain to grow. It is slow going...

A Solemn Brunch

My Uncle recently passed away. There was a traditional Chinese funeral/wake for him in Chinatown. He was then taken to be cremated and was to be taken back to Toisan, where he is from. After a funeral, Chinese people have a funeral banquet to celebrate the deceased's return to heaven.
Afterwards, leftovers were taken, this solemn brunch was made.

Snack Attack—Not for Snacking

This pup is Henry and Gigi's son who was given away to be raised in Baltimore. They had WAY too many children as having litters go. His mommy Rebecca took him to a famous local painter, Robert McClintock, who painted his cute mug. You can buy a print of him on his website.
Snack is blond, and sweet, and one of the cutest doggies I've ever seen. I'm gonna see him this month, I hope!

Green Camera Case

This was a present for Elana for her birthday. I thought the neon green was so fun for a case and suit her fun personality too.

Olive You So Much

Anchovy olives are my new obsession. Specifically Fairway's anchovy olives are my favorite—so far. If I could take home their whole bucket of olives, I would. I would sit in front of the t.v. and eat them one after the next, until they were all gone. And the only thing left would be the sadness in knowing there aren't any left...and that I'm such a pig for eating all those olives. Oink!

Eyelet Pattern Camera Case

Get it? :P
Well, in any case, I thought the eyelet pattern would be really cute for a girly knitted camera case. I figured, this way I can put a lining in it and it would show through. For mine I put a shiny blue fabric and I added a cute green button for the final touch.

Rosemary Garlic Frenchy Fries

Im sure you can figure this one out. :P

Orgasmic Thai Larb Pork

I discovered a great, very friendly Thai grocery store called Bangkok Centery Grocery in Chinatown. I was craving Thai food and wanted to try making a meal from scratch at home. My friend Heather always brings in her larb gai from her neighborhood Thai restaurant and am always jealous, so I wanted to try making that at home. I bought some fresh ingredients like Thai basil, keffir lime leaves, and lemongrass, essential in Thai cooking. I also bought some green curry and red curry for later use.
The larb pork turned out really tasty, tangy, and comforting. I could eat this every day! I wish I could have shared it at work with Heather. Unfortunately Heather was on vacation but I'll tell her when she gets back, Im sure she'll be sooooooo jealous.

Super Bowl 43 Buffalo Wings

Buffalo Wings Recipe:
1 package of Chicken wings
3/4 cup Frank's Original RedHot Sauce
1 stick unsalted butter
2 cups of buttermilk
3 cups of flour
2 teaspoons of white vinegar
1 teaspoon of paprika
1/2 teaspoon of cayenne pepper
Salt/pepper
Peanut oil

Separate the wing into two pieces, discard the wing tip.
Soak the wing pieces in the buttermilk. Toss in flour seasoned with salt and pepper.

Add peanut oil to a pot, enough oil for the wings to be submerged, and place over high heat until oil registers 375 degrees on a deep-fat thermometer or when you stick a wooden chopstick in the oil it starts to form little bubbles around the chopstick. At this point, turn heat down to medium. Work in batches, place wings in hot oil, do not over crowd the pot. Cook until wings are golden brown, about 5 mins. Remove from oil, place on paper towels to soak up excess oil. Move wings to a mixing bowl.

In a small saucepan, melt butter and mix in Frank's sauce, paprika, cayenne pepper, and vinegar. Pour the sauce over the wings and toss. Serve with celery and blue cheese sauce.

How to Avoid Sharing at Work

Anti-Theft Lunch Bag designed by Sherwood Forlee.
These are great! Maybe now there will be less passive aggressive notes on fridges at work...but how will we pass the time?!

Tis the Season for Oven Baked Latkas!

Photos by Sherri Liberman
AND steaks! OK. No, it's not the season anymore. It's past the season! But really, people SHOULD have oven baked latkas ALL season long because latkas are delectable and can be low fat too! I made the latkas this way because I wanted a healthy but still tasty version of the traditional fried latkas.
Here is my recipe for OVEN BAKED LATKAS:
5 medium potatoes
1 medium onion
3 tbs flour
1 splash of beer
1 tbs salt
1 tsp fresh cracked pepper
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil

Grate your potatoes into ice water.
Remove potatoes out of the ice water into a sieve in a seperate bowl, squeezing excess water out of potatoes.
Let the remaining water drain out. Dump water.

Let the potato starch settle at the bottom of the ice water for 10 mins.
Drain water, leaving starch at bottom. Add the starch into the potato bowl.
Slice onion into thin slices.
Add onions to the potatoes.
Add flour, add salt, add pepper, add beer.
Mix.

Preheat oven to 350°
Heat cast iron pan on stove top for 3 mins, medium high heat.
Add butter and olive oil.
Put the mixture in the pan, pat down flat with a spatula.
Let it cook for 3-5 mins.
Put pan in oven for 25 mins.
Take out and flip latka and put back in the oven for another 5 mins.

Slice and serve.
Latka-licious!

Steak recipe to come.