Hardcore Beggin'

Henry was begging so hard for some ginger to fall off the cutting board while I was chopping that he didn't realize when a piece of ginger actually did. Hm, I guess he'll just have to keep on beggin'.

A Refreshing Salad For These Dog Days

A cool meal of quinoa for this humid weather. Quinoa is also cool because it might be one of the first crops NASA will use for their Controlled Ecological Life Support System someday. Why? Because it's considered a complete food. It's a seed that's related to leafy greens, like swiss chard containing a balanced set of essential amino acids, is a good source of dietary fiber, and phosphorus and is high in magnesium and iron. But I like it mostly because it's dang tasty.

Recipe:
1 1/3 cups quinoa*

Vinegrette:
Zest from 1 lemon, plus the juice
1 tbs red wine vinegar
Salt and Pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

1 1/2 cups cooked chicken, shredded
1 cup green grapes, halved
1/3 cup of dried cranberries
2 cups cucumbers
2 cups cherry tomatoes, quartered
1 cup chopped mint
2 scallions

* Rinse quinoa under cold running water and drain. Bring 2 cups water to a boil. Stir quinoa and a pinch of salt into water. Reduce heat, cover and simmer for 15 to 20 minutes, until quinoa is tender and all the liquid is absorbed. Uncover and let cool.

For the vinaigrette, whisk vinegar, lemon zest, lemon juice, and salt and pepper to taste in a large bowl. Slowly add the olive oil, whisking well. Add the quinoa and toss with two forks to combine.

Add chicken (skip the chicken if you're vegetarian), grapes, cranberries, cucumbers, tomatoes, mint and scallions. Toss well, taste and adjust seasoning, adding more lemon juice if desired. Serve cold.

Shopping at Brighton Beach

I went to brighton beach on saturday to take in some sun and afterwards stopped off to do some shopping along brighton beach avenue. There are tons of Russian fruit shops, dried fruit stores, and pastry places. Their famous and huge M & I International market is always a place I like to hit before heading home. They have so many different kinds of sausage, meats, seafood, desserts, pickles, cheeses, breads, a large buffet area in the back and a dessert cafe upstairs.
I ended up getting some sausage there but I got this bunch of fresh garlic at a fruit market where I was convinced they massaged each individual fruit and sang it lullabies before closing time. Everything was pristine, fresh, and perfectly placed...which is why everything was about 75¢ more at this place than the other fruit markets I passed on the way back to the train. Doh! Live and learn.

I Discovered Pastry Flour!

I made a strawberry rhubarb cobbler yesterday with pastry flour and it was the best cobbler I ever made. And I realized that rhubarb isn't as sour as I anticipated. AND it's expensive to buy yourself some tart celery. I made it even tastier by adding some cinnamon dulce de leche ice cream.
Pastry flour is a low protein/low gluten flour which is good for making pie crusts, muffins, cookies and biscuits.
I'll post my recipe soon.

Rockin' Out at Arlene's Grocery

I played You Know I'm No Good by Amy Winehouse on drums at Arlene's Grocery. The video looks choppy on my end, not sure why or how to fix. Anyway, you can still sorta see me doing my thing. O yeah, I'm over on the right side of the screen.

New Toy!

This is what my new toy created. This sweet machine is called the Atlas Pasta Machine 180. I got the hang of it after a couple tries but I'm still trying to perfect the pasta recipe part. Why don't they have semolina flour at regular supermarkets?! I used a recipe that called for unbleached flour and eggs (see previous post below) and the pasta tastes more like egg noodles than pasta... which is fine for me. I'll just make some lo mein or something. In any case, I think it still makes a good pasta once you add the sauce, and herbs, etc. When I perfect this recipe, I'll post it. In the meantime, go get yourself a pasta machine!

A Yoga Bag for Sherri

It was Sherri's birthday last month and I had to make a yoga bag for her because I thought she did yoga regularly too, like Elana does. After I handed it to her, she told me she didn't really go to yoga that often. Yikes! My bad. But she said, the cute bag would help motivate her to go more often. Otherwise, I guess she could always use it for laundry or something.