take a second to relax to bobross.fm
oh hey look at this
i'm gonna go to a cabin this weekend and make lots of eggs! eggs benedict and eggs florentine! and hash browns!
and it will be GLORIOUS!
Hello world!
5 years ago
Showing posts with label snacks. Show all posts
Showing posts with label snacks. Show all posts
26.2.09
GUEST BLOGGER
SUP GUYS??
take a second to relax to bobross.fm
oh hey look at this
i'm gonna go to a cabin this weekend and make lots of eggs! eggs benedict and eggs florentine! and hash browns!
and it will be GLORIOUS!
take a second to relax to bobross.fm
oh hey look at this
i'm gonna go to a cabin this weekend and make lots of eggs! eggs benedict and eggs florentine! and hash browns!
and it will be GLORIOUS!
16.1.09
FLOG: island soul
wednesday we were gonna hit up la medusa for their prix fixe menu--$25 for an appetizer, a main couscous dish, and dessert--but they were closed. booty.
instead we ultimately ended up going down the street to island soul, a caribbean place that apparently gets mad props from the seattle PI, seattle weekly, the stranger, seattle magazine, et al. we walked in and were impressed by the relaxed atmosphere, good music, and the extremely appealing smell of cooking food--unlike the place we had walked into and promptly out of 5 minutes prior, which had terrible music, wierd decor, and smelled like no one had eaten there all day. as over half of our standard FLOG crew was absent (i'm looking at you, teebah, lynsey, kevin) we didn't order a lot of dishes, but we were pretty satisfied with what we did order.
we started off with the yam fries, which were excellent--i've had sweet potato fries before at various restaurants, and they were definitely enjoyable, but i'd have to say the yam fries at
island soul trumped most of the offerings i've had elsewhere. i usually prefer the outside of my fries to be crispy, and while these were not prepared that way, it did not negatively affect my opinion of the fries at all; indeed, the insides were perfectly cooked. the yams were served with a jerk mayonnaise which set off the flavor of the fries quite nicely. the mayo itself had a pleasant, medium heat, with a strong flavor reminiscent of pickled ginger. i asked carla, our server, if there was in fact any ginger in the mayo, but was unable to get a straight answer out of her; her concern over the possibility of me having a ginger allergy led me to believe my analysis was probably correct.
the second appetizer we ordered were the "little islands," which were like little dumplings
made from corn dough filled with black beans, topped with feta cheese and guacamole. they were very good; the beans were well seasoned and the feta was applied sparingly enough to impart flavor without being overpowering. the dumplings themselves had a good texture and were reminiscent of tamale dough. om nom nom nom.
the rest of the food came. drew ordered the soul in a bowl,
which is essentially a sampler trio of some of the meat dishes they have on offer at island soul: oxtail, curried goat, and jerk chicken; the dish also comes with 'rice and peas' which is really just basmati rice with some red beans thrown in. i'd recommend this for a first foray into either caribbean food as a whole or at this particular establishment; the dish happened to have a taste of almost everything else that we ordered with the exception of the oxtail.
emily ordered the jerk chicken, which (as the name implies)
is rubbed in jerk seasoning and then slow cooked in a smoker. I tried a few bites; it was deliciously cooked--well seasoned, very smoky, and tender. the smoke flavor did not overpower the jerk seasoning. i'd probably order this if i were to go back. the dish was also served with rice and peas and collard greens.
i ordered the curried goat, as i'd had goat before and really enjoyed it. i'm also a big curry fan, so i figured this would be doubly good.
this ultimately was not to be, although the flavor of the curry was decent, if a bit anise-y. the goat dish itself largely consisted of bones and if i had to guess i would say that most of those bones probably originated in the backbone, as i can't really think of any other type of bone that has interlocking pieces. the meat tasted fine but having to break apart and pick meat off of small bones really didn't do a whole lot to enhance my enjoyment of the meal. on the other hand, the collard greens were some of the best i've ever had, and the rice and peas (which seems to be a consistent presence in any dish served at island soul) made a tasty pairing with whatever curry did not consist of goat spine.
some other highlights of the meal were the cornbread muffins and a habanero aioli. the muffins had grated coconut in them and were almost cakelike in consistency; the coconut added some sweetness and crunch (we took it upon ourselves to give a little character to the muffins with a yam fry and a couple of red beans). andrew noted that the cornbread was complimented very well by the sauce that came with the oxtail, which i unfortunately did not actually try myself. the aioli, we were warned, was "very hot" 
and it was recommended to us that we only dip a single tine of our fork in it to make sure we could handle the heat. it more or less lived up to the hype, as the recommended dose provided eyebrow-raising heat, and a more liberal application caused my eyes to sweat a little.
i'd recommend island soul, as the food is pretty good. i'll probably go back again sometime in the near future myself. the average price per plate is maybe a little bit more than i would have expected to pay, but the service is good, the atmosphere is quite enjoyable, and the food is good overall. i had a less than stellar experience with the goat but i'd say that was more of a luck-of-the-draw thing than anything else; i highly doubt the restaurant uses ONLY goat spine in that dish, and the veggies were all excellent. check it out on your birthday, as carla gives a rousing rendition of happy birthday that will shake you to your very core.
island soul is located in columbia city at 4869 ranier ave s; seattle WA, 98118.
instead we ultimately ended up going down the street to island soul, a caribbean place that apparently gets mad props from the seattle PI, seattle weekly, the stranger, seattle magazine, et al. we walked in and were impressed by the relaxed atmosphere, good music, and the extremely appealing smell of cooking food--unlike the place we had walked into and promptly out of 5 minutes prior, which had terrible music, wierd decor, and smelled like no one had eaten there all day. as over half of our standard FLOG crew was absent (i'm looking at you, teebah, lynsey, kevin) we didn't order a lot of dishes, but we were pretty satisfied with what we did order.
we started off with the yam fries, which were excellent--i've had sweet potato fries before at various restaurants, and they were definitely enjoyable, but i'd have to say the yam fries at
island soul trumped most of the offerings i've had elsewhere. i usually prefer the outside of my fries to be crispy, and while these were not prepared that way, it did not negatively affect my opinion of the fries at all; indeed, the insides were perfectly cooked. the yams were served with a jerk mayonnaise which set off the flavor of the fries quite nicely. the mayo itself had a pleasant, medium heat, with a strong flavor reminiscent of pickled ginger. i asked carla, our server, if there was in fact any ginger in the mayo, but was unable to get a straight answer out of her; her concern over the possibility of me having a ginger allergy led me to believe my analysis was probably correct. the second appetizer we ordered were the "little islands," which were like little dumplings
made from corn dough filled with black beans, topped with feta cheese and guacamole. they were very good; the beans were well seasoned and the feta was applied sparingly enough to impart flavor without being overpowering. the dumplings themselves had a good texture and were reminiscent of tamale dough. om nom nom nom.the rest of the food came. drew ordered the soul in a bowl,
which is essentially a sampler trio of some of the meat dishes they have on offer at island soul: oxtail, curried goat, and jerk chicken; the dish also comes with 'rice and peas' which is really just basmati rice with some red beans thrown in. i'd recommend this for a first foray into either caribbean food as a whole or at this particular establishment; the dish happened to have a taste of almost everything else that we ordered with the exception of the oxtail.emily ordered the jerk chicken, which (as the name implies)
is rubbed in jerk seasoning and then slow cooked in a smoker. I tried a few bites; it was deliciously cooked--well seasoned, very smoky, and tender. the smoke flavor did not overpower the jerk seasoning. i'd probably order this if i were to go back. the dish was also served with rice and peas and collard greens.i ordered the curried goat, as i'd had goat before and really enjoyed it. i'm also a big curry fan, so i figured this would be doubly good.
this ultimately was not to be, although the flavor of the curry was decent, if a bit anise-y. the goat dish itself largely consisted of bones and if i had to guess i would say that most of those bones probably originated in the backbone, as i can't really think of any other type of bone that has interlocking pieces. the meat tasted fine but having to break apart and pick meat off of small bones really didn't do a whole lot to enhance my enjoyment of the meal. on the other hand, the collard greens were some of the best i've ever had, and the rice and peas (which seems to be a consistent presence in any dish served at island soul) made a tasty pairing with whatever curry did not consist of goat spine.some other highlights of the meal were the cornbread muffins and a habanero aioli. the muffins had grated coconut in them and were almost cakelike in consistency; the coconut added some sweetness and crunch (we took it upon ourselves to give a little character to the muffins with a yam fry and a couple of red beans). andrew noted that the cornbread was complimented very well by the sauce that came with the oxtail, which i unfortunately did not actually try myself. the aioli, we were warned, was "very hot" and it was recommended to us that we only dip a single tine of our fork in it to make sure we could handle the heat. it more or less lived up to the hype, as the recommended dose provided eyebrow-raising heat, and a more liberal application caused my eyes to sweat a little.i'd recommend island soul, as the food is pretty good. i'll probably go back again sometime in the near future myself. the average price per plate is maybe a little bit more than i would have expected to pay, but the service is good, the atmosphere is quite enjoyable, and the food is good overall. i had a less than stellar experience with the goat but i'd say that was more of a luck-of-the-draw thing than anything else; i highly doubt the restaurant uses ONLY goat spine in that dish, and the veggies were all excellent. check it out on your birthday, as carla gives a rousing rendition of happy birthday that will shake you to your very core.
island soul is located in columbia city at 4869 ranier ave s; seattle WA, 98118.
21.12.08
happy hollandaise
some quick thinking on em's part last night ensured that we were fully stocked up, ready and able to make eggs benedict this morning. holla!
jimmy wasn't able to be part of this process unfortunately as we took him downtown so he could catch his bus to the airport. while we were down there, dave and i popped into zeitgeist for a shot in the dark and a lemon bar. Zeitgeist has the best lemon bars around. A++ recommended, would eat again.
popped back up to the house, threw some kahlua in my coffee and got down to business with this as the end result:
best eggs benedict we've ever made. poached egg credit goes to emily because i always fuck that part up.
we actually did not have a lemon or lemon juice to make the hollandaise the traditional way, which really bummed me out. i love a really bright, lemony hollandaise, but this wasn't an option today so i had to improvise. improvisation in the kitchen usually works out pretty well for me but since this is definitely a high point in my hollandaise game i want to record this for posterity/share it with y'alls.
ingredients:
3 jumbo egg yolks
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup salted butter
~4 tbsp white wine
method:
melt the butter in a pan over mediumish heat. purified butter is a pain in the ass and isn't really neccessary, so don't worry about straining out the milk solids. keep it warm until you're ready to use it, at which point it helps to transfer it to a measuring cup or some sort of poury receptacle.
briskly whisk the yolks and vinegar in a metal mixing bowl over heat (double boiler or direct heat, your call) until they start to thicken. if you see steam rising from the yolks, remove them from the heat, or you'll end up with scrambled eggs. continue to whisk while adding melted butter a few drops at a time, making sure that butter is fully integrated before adding more.
once butter is fully integrated into the sauce, whisk in the white wine. taste frequently. i found that about 4 tablespoons worked out pretty well.
if you're making the sauce as part of eggs benedict (as i obviously did), you should already have toasted your english muffins, griddled your ham, poached your eggs, and been ready to serve the sauce immediately. if not you can keep it somewhat warm by intermittently whisking over heat until your other components are ready.
breaking the hollandaise is a typical rookie mistake. you'll know the sauce is broken when it looks something like curdled milk mixed with movie theater popcorn butter. you can usually rescue it by separating another egg yolk, whisking it up in your mixing bowl, and then and very slowly whisking your broken sauce back in over low heat.
if you find your sauce is delicious enough to drink, congratulations, you did it right.
hollandaise is a great way to eat an entire stick of butter in one sitting and is excellent as part of the widely known breakfast powerhouse known as eggs benedict. it also goes great over broccoli, asparagus, or salmon, so it's versatile enough to span several meal classes.
being snowed in is a really nice opportunity to make a hot classy breakfast for yourself and your friends, as we were happy to rediscover this morning. if you find yourself in the same situation, you'd be doing yourself a favor by doing the same.
jimmy wasn't able to be part of this process unfortunately as we took him downtown so he could catch his bus to the airport. while we were down there, dave and i popped into zeitgeist for a shot in the dark and a lemon bar. Zeitgeist has the best lemon bars around. A++ recommended, would eat again.
popped back up to the house, threw some kahlua in my coffee and got down to business with this as the end result:
best eggs benedict we've ever made. poached egg credit goes to emily because i always fuck that part up.
we actually did not have a lemon or lemon juice to make the hollandaise the traditional way, which really bummed me out. i love a really bright, lemony hollandaise, but this wasn't an option today so i had to improvise. improvisation in the kitchen usually works out pretty well for me but since this is definitely a high point in my hollandaise game i want to record this for posterity/share it with y'alls.
ingredients:
3 jumbo egg yolks
1 tbsp distilled white vinegar
1/2 cup salted butter
~4 tbsp white wine
method:
melt the butter in a pan over mediumish heat. purified butter is a pain in the ass and isn't really neccessary, so don't worry about straining out the milk solids. keep it warm until you're ready to use it, at which point it helps to transfer it to a measuring cup or some sort of poury receptacle.
briskly whisk the yolks and vinegar in a metal mixing bowl over heat (double boiler or direct heat, your call) until they start to thicken. if you see steam rising from the yolks, remove them from the heat, or you'll end up with scrambled eggs. continue to whisk while adding melted butter a few drops at a time, making sure that butter is fully integrated before adding more.
once butter is fully integrated into the sauce, whisk in the white wine. taste frequently. i found that about 4 tablespoons worked out pretty well.
if you're making the sauce as part of eggs benedict (as i obviously did), you should already have toasted your english muffins, griddled your ham, poached your eggs, and been ready to serve the sauce immediately. if not you can keep it somewhat warm by intermittently whisking over heat until your other components are ready.
breaking the hollandaise is a typical rookie mistake. you'll know the sauce is broken when it looks something like curdled milk mixed with movie theater popcorn butter. you can usually rescue it by separating another egg yolk, whisking it up in your mixing bowl, and then and very slowly whisking your broken sauce back in over low heat.
if you find your sauce is delicious enough to drink, congratulations, you did it right.
hollandaise is a great way to eat an entire stick of butter in one sitting and is excellent as part of the widely known breakfast powerhouse known as eggs benedict. it also goes great over broccoli, asparagus, or salmon, so it's versatile enough to span several meal classes.
being snowed in is a really nice opportunity to make a hot classy breakfast for yourself and your friends, as we were happy to rediscover this morning. if you find yourself in the same situation, you'd be doing yourself a favor by doing the same.
"we won't starve to death; we've got fat on our bones."
-emily
30.11.08
oh thanks
oh god.
thanksgiving was ridiculous--it was a 2 day food overload. some highlights:
i went over to tom's this year, where plans were in place to host 2 days of thanksgiving celebration. day 1 was for katie's dad's side of the family. because i fell asleep earlier in the day for about an hour between loads of laundry and then had to take the bus from the Beac to West Seattle after waiting for it to finish, I arrived and walked in the door late (while everyone was actually eating at the table). no one cared, because katie's family is awesome. bonus points: 1
tom made this ridiculous gravy with the turkey brine, peaches and brown sugar. oh, sounds gross? wrong. "ew, fruit in your gravy?" yeah, that's right, baby. i'm one of those people that automatically awards a combo multiplier to the king of all flavor interminglings, the sweet/savory one-two punch, and this one was an instant-kill finishing move. bonus points: 3, including the hat-tip to the fact that there were 2 kinds of meat to smother in this delicious ambrosia disguised as what mortals know as "gravy."
since the whole deal went down at a Wils' brother's house and both Wils bros happened to be in attendance--as well as a large group of people, natch--round 1 culminated in a session of rock band 2. bonus points: 2.
after the festivities ended i resumed the game of Fable 2 i had started the week prior. bonus points: 6, one for every hour of Fable i played before falling asleep on the couch. total points for day 1: 10.
day 2 was planned out for katie's mom's side of the family, and katie's brother's in-laws (tom was friends with katie's brother ben before he began dating her, which is why this was all going down at tom's). i began my preparations for this stressful day by waking up at 8 am and resuming my game of Fable right where i left off and played until family members started showing up; about 2 o' clock. since fable is only very slightly less fun to watch than it is to actually play, katie hung out on the couch with me the whole time and gave me tips from the strategy guide.
once the fam started showing up i migrated to the kitchen to help tom out with food prep (i have mad knife skills; i bet you didn't know). tom had been figuratively pulling his hair out about being able to replicate the gravy from the night prior but was ultimately able to pull it off. two kinds of stuffing were prepared as the vessel to facilitate the transfer from plate to mouth.
there was dinner (oof), there was pie (ouch). and then there was Scrabble, with 20 bucks on the line for the winner. i was pretty confident in my ability to trounce all oncomers as i'm pretty good at scrabble but tonight it was not to be. STORING right out of the gate (double word score and a 50 point bingo bonus) and J_BILAN[T] (J on a double letter plus a double word score plus a 50 point bingo bonus) were both kickass plays that were both, unfortunately, not made by me. I came in third place.
night 2 was capped off with wii bowling and wii golf, and after all family members went home, I watched katie play fable for 4 hours before falling asleep on the couch again.
i woke up at 8 again on day 3 (which turned out to be a leftover extravaganza of sorts) to play more Fable 2. katie and I played in shifts with tom supervising until about 10pm at which point we switched to Fred Claus (highly recommended). Then I went home.
probably the best thanksgiving i can remember having in years and years. there was that one family thanksgiving we had in a condo in carlsbad, california, but this topped that even though we had a deep-fried turkey that year.
many happy returns, master wayne.
thanksgiving was ridiculous--it was a 2 day food overload. some highlights:
i went over to tom's this year, where plans were in place to host 2 days of thanksgiving celebration. day 1 was for katie's dad's side of the family. because i fell asleep earlier in the day for about an hour between loads of laundry and then had to take the bus from the Beac to West Seattle after waiting for it to finish, I arrived and walked in the door late (while everyone was actually eating at the table). no one cared, because katie's family is awesome. bonus points: 1
tom made this ridiculous gravy with the turkey brine, peaches and brown sugar. oh, sounds gross? wrong. "ew, fruit in your gravy?" yeah, that's right, baby. i'm one of those people that automatically awards a combo multiplier to the king of all flavor interminglings, the sweet/savory one-two punch, and this one was an instant-kill finishing move. bonus points: 3, including the hat-tip to the fact that there were 2 kinds of meat to smother in this delicious ambrosia disguised as what mortals know as "gravy."
since the whole deal went down at a Wils' brother's house and both Wils bros happened to be in attendance--as well as a large group of people, natch--round 1 culminated in a session of rock band 2. bonus points: 2.
after the festivities ended i resumed the game of Fable 2 i had started the week prior. bonus points: 6, one for every hour of Fable i played before falling asleep on the couch. total points for day 1: 10.
day 2 was planned out for katie's mom's side of the family, and katie's brother's in-laws (tom was friends with katie's brother ben before he began dating her, which is why this was all going down at tom's). i began my preparations for this stressful day by waking up at 8 am and resuming my game of Fable right where i left off and played until family members started showing up; about 2 o' clock. since fable is only very slightly less fun to watch than it is to actually play, katie hung out on the couch with me the whole time and gave me tips from the strategy guide.
once the fam started showing up i migrated to the kitchen to help tom out with food prep (i have mad knife skills; i bet you didn't know). tom had been figuratively pulling his hair out about being able to replicate the gravy from the night prior but was ultimately able to pull it off. two kinds of stuffing were prepared as the vessel to facilitate the transfer from plate to mouth.
there was dinner (oof), there was pie (ouch). and then there was Scrabble, with 20 bucks on the line for the winner. i was pretty confident in my ability to trounce all oncomers as i'm pretty good at scrabble but tonight it was not to be. STORING right out of the gate (double word score and a 50 point bingo bonus) and J_BILAN[T] (J on a double letter plus a double word score plus a 50 point bingo bonus) were both kickass plays that were both, unfortunately, not made by me. I came in third place.
night 2 was capped off with wii bowling and wii golf, and after all family members went home, I watched katie play fable for 4 hours before falling asleep on the couch again.
i woke up at 8 again on day 3 (which turned out to be a leftover extravaganza of sorts) to play more Fable 2. katie and I played in shifts with tom supervising until about 10pm at which point we switched to Fred Claus (highly recommended). Then I went home.
probably the best thanksgiving i can remember having in years and years. there was that one family thanksgiving we had in a condo in carlsbad, california, but this topped that even though we had a deep-fried turkey that year.
many happy returns, master wayne.
15.7.08
cake cup!
i got real excited and had to post this here.
no shit. i was relieved to find that, while listed as an ingredient, it is not necessary to eat the mug after consuming the cake.
for a while when i was a kid (sometime immediately following my "mysterious potion" phase) i'd grab a few swiss miss cocoa packets whenever i went to hang out with my buddy gale.
we'd dump 2 or 3 packets of cocoa powder in our mouths and let our saliva mix with the powder, creating a gritty, chocolatey sludge that was not unlike raw chocolate cake batter. this quickly became our favorite "snack" and our newfound addiction quickly spiralled out of control.
it eventually got to the point where my dad made the connection between my constantly-chocolatey mouth and the fact that we never had any cocoa packs around the house and he quit buying swiss miss from costco altogether.
withdrawl quickly set in and, craving intense flavor in a conveniently packaged, easily-pocketed form factor, i turned to bouillon cubes. bouillon is not as good as cocoa powder, but so what nigga? it got me high.
anyway, seeing the aforementioned "quick cake" blog entry reminded me of that little gem from my kidhood, so i thought i'd repost it here. i have a special place in my heart for junky snacks and foodie creations of questionable culinary merit. which is probably why i like groceryeats so much.
i am pretty sure "testarossa overdrive" on this kid's muxtape gets heavy radio play on electrochoc in GTA4. todey remindey of bellingham dance parties at the vanilla dome. it's a sick remix of KAVINSKY's "testarossa autodrive" shown below:
(only embedding this because i think this video is fucking cool)
mant out.
Chocolate Cake In 5 Minutes!
Ingredients:
4 Tablespoons cake flour
4 Tablespoons sugar
2 Tablespoons cocoa
1 Egg
3 Tablespoons milk
3 Tablespoons oil
1 Mug
no shit. i was relieved to find that, while listed as an ingredient, it is not necessary to eat the mug after consuming the cake.
for a while when i was a kid (sometime immediately following my "mysterious potion" phase) i'd grab a few swiss miss cocoa packets whenever i went to hang out with my buddy gale.
we'd dump 2 or 3 packets of cocoa powder in our mouths and let our saliva mix with the powder, creating a gritty, chocolatey sludge that was not unlike raw chocolate cake batter. this quickly became our favorite "snack" and our newfound addiction quickly spiralled out of control.
it eventually got to the point where my dad made the connection between my constantly-chocolatey mouth and the fact that we never had any cocoa packs around the house and he quit buying swiss miss from costco altogether.
withdrawl quickly set in and, craving intense flavor in a conveniently packaged, easily-pocketed form factor, i turned to bouillon cubes. bouillon is not as good as cocoa powder, but so what nigga? it got me high.
anyway, seeing the aforementioned "quick cake" blog entry reminded me of that little gem from my kidhood, so i thought i'd repost it here. i have a special place in my heart for junky snacks and foodie creations of questionable culinary merit. which is probably why i like groceryeats so much.
i am pretty sure "testarossa overdrive" on this kid's muxtape gets heavy radio play on electrochoc in GTA4. todey remindey of bellingham dance parties at the vanilla dome. it's a sick remix of KAVINSKY's "testarossa autodrive" shown below:
(only embedding this because i think this video is fucking cool)
mant out.
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