Curious Notions

Last night for a late late dinner, I made us Chicken Marsala and Dutch Potatoes. We have a bunch of potatoes around so I was searching around looking at potato recipes. I wasn’t in the mood for mashed potatoes as I made Shepherd’s Pie just last week but I stumbled on a recipe for Dutch Potatoes that I thought was so intriguing! You basically mash up potatoes and carrots together. Carrots! How perfect! Alan also has a bunch of carrots he bought hoping to snack on but he has so much of it hanging out in the fridge. It’s a good way to sneak some real veggies (Potatoes are really just a fake veggie, aren’t they? So starchy. But the carrots are definitely a REAL veggie) into our meal. After making this, I learned that carrots take a lot longer to boil tender than potatoes. Next time, I will boil them separately and longer. I think it’s suppose to be more blended but I ended up having chunks of carrot in my potatoes. Next time I will also add more onions than the recipe called for and maybe mix in some bacon.

Oh! P.S. I forgot the chives. Ooops.

Dutch Potatoes

Taken from Allrecipes.com

Recipe serves 2 (I scaled it to serve 8 so we could get rid of the carrots)

Ingredients
1/4 cup chopped onion
2 teaspoons butter
2 cups peeled, cubed potatoes
1 cup sliced fresh carrots
1/4 cup sour cream
1/4 teaspoon salt snipped chives

Directions
In a small skillet, saute onion in butter for 8-10 minutes or until golden brown. Meanwhile, place potatoes and carrots in a large saucepan and cover with water. Bring to a boil. Reduce heat; cover and cook for 10-15 minutes or until tender. Drain. In a small mixing bowl, mash potatoes and carrots. Beat in onion, sour cream and salt. Sprinkle with chives.

I’ve never made Chicken Marsala before I order it often enough to know this was a recipe I wanted to try. It’s amazingly easy. I had no idea it’s such a simple dish. You mainly just bread your chicken and cook it in Sherry and Marsala wine.

Chicken Marsala

Taken from Allrecipes.com.

Recipe serves 4.

Ingredients
1/4 cup all-purpose flour for coating
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
4 skinless, boneless chicken breast halves – pounded 1/4 inch thick
4 tablespoons butter
4 tablespoons olive oil
1 cup sliced mushrooms
1/2 cup Marsala wine
1/4 cup cooking sherry

Directions
In a shallow dish or bowl, mix together the flour, salt, pepper and oregano. Coat chicken pieces in flour mixture.
In a large skillet, melt butter in oil over medium heat. Place chicken in the pan, and lightly brown. Turn over chicken pieces, and add mushrooms. Pour in wine and sherry. Cover skillet; simmer chicken 10 minutes, turning once, until no longer pink and juices run clear.

Our Desserts

For dessert we had some festive cupcakes and brownies taken home from work.

The icing smudges were from my 30 minute transit not from my licking it. Though, that would be a very educated guess.

So I have something to say about those cupcakes. They were from HEB and I’m usually not an icing kind of girl. A while ago, I wrote about a delicious cupcake I had at Austin’s first Cupcake Smackdown. I swooned over their icing! Here is the excerpt from that entry.

Upstairs on the rooftop was where are the goodies were and where I ran into Peter Tsai, food blogger, photographer, and engineer (For serious!) who was also a judge at this event. I asked him what cupcake he recommended. He pointed at the yellow cupcake from Wicked Cakes, a cupcake and cake catering company. He likened them to HEB cupcakes which prompted me add HEB cupcakes to my next HEB grocery list. I picked the chocolate with peanut butter cream icing. I don’t usually enjoy icing as most are just too starchy, thick, and too sweet for me but the peanut butter cream was light, fluffy, and HEAVENLY. I gobbled the whole thing up icing and all.

- August 2009

Fast forward 2 months, I have my first HEB cupcake and there is the icing again! I talked to Mary Ellen about this icing and she was telling me that it must be a buttercream frosting that is just whipped differently. I was skeptical because I hate buttercream. I learned today that the frosting is called Elite frosting. I’m so happy to know this.

Yum :)

Ten Random Food Facts about Me

1. As a baby, my mom used to feed me and coax me to eat by cooing, “mum mum mum,” probably while doing the airplane spoon thing. My first word ended up being “mum” usually said over and over again and translating to “FEED ME, MOM. FEED ME, MOM!!”

2. Growing up, everytime my dad made me ramen (which wasn’t often at all, by the way) he also paired it with a glass of milk. Til this day, I love my ramen with a glass of milk. I find the cold milk with the piping hot noodle soup a very comforting pairing. I even remember the green glasses we had back then which gave my milk a green glowy tint that delighted me. If I ever find green tinted drinking glasses, you can bet your bottom dollar I’m buying.

3. I do not like raw onions. Most squid textures bother me but I do love calamari. I didn’t like escargot but I’m willing to try again.

4. I once ate 25 slices of pizza competing with an exboyfriend who ate 21 slices of pizza. I also ate 8 plates of Chinese buffet food competing with Chris. Chris ended up throwing up. I did lose at an icecream eating contest. I’ve since retired from food eating contests because after graduating college, my metabolism has slowed.

5. My ideal comfort food is warm gooey chocolate chip cookies. Chocolate chip cookies are my favorite kinds of cookies. I don’t do that many kinds of cookies. Sugar cookies are yucky but fun to decorate. I used to settle for McDonalds chicken nuggets for comfort food but Alan has shamed me so often the last couple of years that I think McDonalds comes with a side of guilt now.

Escargot

6. I have major wanderlust and insatiable appetite for life and life experiences. I think this is why I love books, movies, and food so much. It’s a very affordable and convenient way of seeing and experiencing the world. Some of the crazier things I’ve consumed: silkworms, escargot, pig’s blood, haggis (Mary Ellen and I both did this in Scotland), chicken and duck feet.

Durian Icecream

7. My favorite flavors: chocolate chocolate chocolate, avocado, pistachio, coconut, lychee. I never ever get vanilla icecream, I think that’s incredibly boring. However, I love vanilla flavoring in other things. Like chocolate chip cookies. Did I mention I love chocolate chip cookies?

8. The very first time I made cookies when I was still in middle school, I left the cookies in the oven to ‘cool.’ That is just the beginning of a slew of baking mistakes I’ve since made through the years. I hate baking. I’m not a very good baker. Sometimes I forget an ingredient when cooking and I can just either subsitute with something else or just dash it in right then and there. Baking, you can’t do that. Once things are mixed and in the oven, they’re mixed and in the oven! Ovens also add another element of difficulty for me. I often undercook or overcook. I just made Cindy’s chocolate chip cookies for a potluck last week. See below for the recipe. They’re not as orgasmic as when Cindy made them. I guess all this just means I need to bake more.

9. I like things SPICY. Not only do I like things with a lot of heat, I like it to fit into context. I like jalapenos in my burgers and some Asian saucy dishes. I like hot salsa in my burritos. Tabasco in some American and Mexican cuisine. Sriracha and jalapenos in my pho and Sambal sauce in my Thai food. Red Pepper flakes in my Italian. Point is, I would never put Sriracha in my Alfredo and Tobasco in my pho. What made me think of this was I noticed Alan’s Tobasco use is more universal than me.

10. I notice food with my loved ones and try to commit their quirks into memory so I can consider them when I cook for them or when I invite them out. I know Jessica does not like ANYTHING “exotic” and only like Thousand Island as a salad dressing. I know Brandi can’t handle any mild spice what so ever. My brother is not a big fan of tofu. Mary Ellen loves hot pot fanatically. I know Alan always gets a jalapeno when he gets Rudy’s; I know what he likes in his Chipotle. Nino is basically a Vietnamese/Thai boy when it comes to his palate. Kim and Cindy love adventure. No wonder they make GREAT food buddies. (case in point a, case in point b). So as you can see, food is one of my love languages in that it is how I communicate love.

Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies

Passed on to me through Cindy who got it from AllRecipes.com. She made these cookies twice for me. Once near when we first met and I invited her to go gun shooting with me and Kim. And then once more last year when she stayed with me for a couple of months. They are mouthwatering when she makes them. They weren’t as orgasmic when I made them recently but I haven’t given up on this recipe yet.

Ingredients
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 2 teaspoons baking soda 2 cups butter, softened 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar 1/2 cup white sugar 2 (3.4 ounce) packages instant vanilla pudding mix 4 eggs 2 teaspoons vanilla extract 4 cups semisweet chocolate chips 2 cups chopped walnuts (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Sift together the flour and baking soda, set aside.
In a large bowl, cream together the butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Beat in the instant pudding mix until blended. Stir in the eggs and vanilla. Blend in the flour mixture. Finally, stir in the chocolate chips and nuts. Drop cookies by rounded spoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven. Edges should be golden brown.

What about you? What are some of your food quirks?

Alan and I watched This is It last night which was also opening night. I was expecting it to be good and interesting but it was much more! I left pretty enthralled. It’s basically the concert that he was going to have in England. I knew he was beyond talented but I had no idea he was so involved and is such a perfectionist. He had the theatre cracking up a few times. It was a real treat. Alan tells me it’s only showing for two weeks so you should hurry and go catch it! Oprah was very timely and opened up her show about This is It today. You know, Oprah gets most of her shit right.

I’ve been helping Alan dog sit Bill’s dog, Palmer. I’ve helped with Palmer before when Alan and I were roomies. I’ve grown to really love this dog. He’s such a cuddle bug. All he wants is cuddles. I bet he misses Bill and Jen though. If he could write, this is what he’d tell his daddy and mommy.

Dear Maw and Paw,

I hope you’re enjoying your trip. I’m really having a great time at Alan’s. Friday night, they took me to meet Rogue and we went for a midnight stroll around their neck of the woods. Paw, Maw, this bitch was CRAZY. She kept kissing me and chasing me and chasing me. She wouldn’t leave well enough alone. I kept trying to walk far ahead of Rogue, but right after our walk, Alan and Linda led me right into her home! I did my best to keep her in check though. It was the first time Alan and Linda saw me actually bite another dog. I hope they don’t think too badly of me now. It was funny though, cuz I would sit on Rogue’s couch right? And well every time Rogue tried to get on her own couch I nipped at her. Haha. Needless to say, I was glad to leave! Rogue was in love with me. She turned down a walk with her owner so she could spend more time with me.

Saturday, I got walked a lot and hung out at home. It looked like Alan was slapping around Linda so I bit him. Man, I have to keep everyone in check around here!

Sunday, Linda woke me up at 2pm (we go to bed late) to go to the dog park and we met up with Rogue and her owners. It was pure heaven! The creek actually had water in it and there many dogs to play with. Rogue looked kinda sexy frolicking in the water. I actually started to really like her. Don’t tell anyone but I cried a little when they dropped me back at Alan’s. Hopefully, I’ll see them again soon.

I got home to Alan and got my 2nd bath since my stay. I didn’t get to rest but an hour before Alan took me to have Guy’s Night. He played cards with his buddies and introduced me to Coop and Leroy. Coop’s a big clumsy dog. He’s a’ite. Leroy is this little dog. Maw, Paw, he’s a boy dog, Leroy, but he kept HUMPING ME! I think that’s what you call “gay.” He would not get off my jock!

Sunday, we hung out with the same guys and dogs. Coop, Leroy, Alan’s friends. Only Linda joined us too. It was a pretty chill day. Leroy was locked up so I actually enjoyed my time there. No boy dog trying to hump me.

Yesterday, same old. I’m starting to miss you and can’t wait for you to pick me up. I know Alan and Linda are a little glad that you missed your flight because they kind of love me. I think I have that affect on humans and dogs alike, regardless of gender.

Anyway. Hurry home! Come get me!

- President Palmer

Other Dog Entries

July 17, 2009 – Austin wants her toy
July 9, 2009 – Austin, the cutest dog ever
April 17, 2009 – Meet Rogue

I’ve been cooking more in efforts to not eat out so much and I’ve also been experimenting with new recipes. One of the recent meals consisted of Tilapia baked with capers and oregano with a side dish of Succotash. Both recipes were new and I got off of Epicurious.

The fish I overdid on the salt. It had flavor but was a bit too salty for me. I subsituted the olives that the recipe called for for capers since Alan doesn’t like olives. I fricking love olives.

The Succotash, Alan enjoyed because it was healthy. It was too clean and light a bite for me and made me crave french fries. I used edamame instead of lima beans. I’m definitely going to save the succotash recipe for later. It gets you fresh veggies and adds a lot of color to your meals, a win win situation. The fish is a good basic recipe. It makes me sad I over salted but I’ll probably try to find more adventurous fish recipes in the future or use my older fish recipes.

Recipes sharing time.

Fish Fillets with Olives & Oregano

Ingredients

4 (1 1/4-inch-thick) pieces white-fleshed skinless fish fillets, such as halibut (6 oz each)
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon black pepper
3 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
4 very thin lemon slices
1/2 cup dry white wine
1/3 cup pitted brine-cured green olives such as picholine, halved lengthwise (2 oz) 3 tablespoons of capers
1 to 1 1/2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh oregano or 3/4 teaspoon dried oregano, crumbled

Preparation

Put oven rack in upper third of oven and preheat oven to 450°F.

Pat fish dry and sprinkle with salt and pepper. Heat 1 tablespoon oil in a 12-inch heavy skillet over moderately high heat until hot but not smoking, then sear fillets, skinned sides down, until browned well, 3 to 4 minutes. Transfer, seared sides up, to baking dish (reserve skillet), then top each fillet with a slice of lemon.

Add wine to skillet and bring to a boil, scraping up any brown bits. Boil 30 seconds, then pour around fish. Scatter olives around fish and bake, uncovered, until fish is just cooked through, 8 to 12 minutes.

Transfer fish to a platter, then whisk lemon juice, oregano, and remaining 2 tablespoons oil into cooking liquid in baking dish. Season sauce with salt and pepper and spoon over fish.

Succotash

Ingredients

2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 1/2 cups chopped onion
Coarse kosher salt
1 large garlic clove, minced
3 cups chopped red tomatoes (about 1 1/2 pounds)
2 1/4 cups corn kernels cut from 4 ears of corn (preferably 2 ears of white corn and 2 ears of yellow corn)
2 cups fresh lima beans (from about 2 pounds pods) or 10 to 11 ounces frozen lima beans or baby butter beans, thawed a bag of edamame
3 tablespoons thinly sliced fresh basil
print a shopping list for this recipe

Preparation

Heat oil in heavy large skillet over medium heat. Add onion and sprinkle with coarse salt. Sauté until soft and translucent, about 5 minutes. Add garlic; stir until fragrant, about 1 minute. Add tomatoes, corn, and lima beans. Reduce heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer until corn and lima beans are tender and tomatoes are soft, about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Season to taste with salt and pepper. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and chill. Rewarm before continuing.

Stir in basil and serve.

I’m missing my long distance friends. Jon facebooked me from NYC asking me to send him Juan in a Million and Salt Lick. I told him I wanted a care package consisting of Max Brenner and Pomme Frites. I also miss the Jennifers (Madison and Philly), Mary Ellen (Boston), Thomas (LA), Will (Dallas), Kim (Houston who’s thinking about moving!), and Cindy (Houston). Why do people have to grow up and move? I’m really thankful for things like facebook, email, gchat, free long distance, blogs, texting, postage, and airplanes. I don’t think we’d survive without all that.

Makes me super thankful for the amigos I have here in ATX and also Alan. Alan’s a fun playmate. Last night at 1 am we made sloppy joes from scratch. Really easy. Put down the Manwich and try it yourself.

Anyway, just a soft shout out (whisper out?) to my long distance friends.

So not too long ago, we had our first alphabet pot luck with the letter “P.” We finally had time to have our second alphabet pot luck and last night’s letter is the letter “A”! Rules are simple, bring anything that begins with the letter “A.” I’m just going to walk you through all the awesome eats with the photos.

I made artichoke and angel hair with garlic sauce. I like it better at Katambra’s then when I was first making it and I think what really completes it is Parmesan which I didn’t have when cooking.

Nisreen brought “Ants on a Log.” She brought black ants and red ants. That’s Katambra’s reaction to them after sharing that she does not like celery nor does she like peanut butter. (I don’t understand how anyone can not like peanut butter!)

Brittany, our little overachiever brought artichoke dip with Asiago Rosemary Crackers….

And Atomic Bombs….

And carmel apples! Seriously, if this were a game, she’d win.

Deesh and Brittany brought liquor and mixers to make apple martinis. They’re apparently really strong. I did not partake but I managed to capture a couple of reactions on video….

If you didn’t catch that, Nino checked his belly for chest hair.

Nino brought his famous Asian chicken wings. My brother said the best chicken wings he’s had are Nino’s. I can see the appeal! Word on the street is he marinates it in oyster sauce.

Katambra, who hosted, made Appledews. Named after 2 of the ingredients, apples and Mountain Dew. It was AWESOME. I’m not an apple pie or apple tart kind of girl (I usually don’t like fruits in my dessert), but this was AWESOME. I have to get the recipe from Katambra. The Mountain Dew was somehow reduced to the syrup. You can’t taste the Dew. You can taste the Awesome.

Jesse brought apple oatmeal cookies made with almond milk instead of regular milk and honey instead of sugar. It tasted and is very healthy. Good. It’s perfect for a hike or camping trip.

We scarfed down the food and played Apples to Apples, Bing’s “A” contribution while watching football.

And I close with an Awkward Family photo.

Chen’s Noodle House
8650 Spicewood Springs Rd
Austin, TX 78759
(512) 336-8888

Last week, I had dininer with my good friend, Jamie at Chen’s Noodle House. A new place for both of us. We wondered about Chen’s Noodle House when we tried out Asia Cafe which is pretty much caty corner to Chen’s. Chen’s Noodle House has a very very modest and humble looking storefront. Inside, there’s maybe 8 little card tables that seat maximum 4 people each. Who needs the fluff of decor and fancy signage when your food speaks for itself?

To start, we ordered steamed dumplings and onion pie. Sometimes I find the dumpling wrappings to be too thick and starchy for my liking but Chen’s steamed dumplings were just right for me. I thoroughly enjoyed them. Jamie likes her dumplings fried so she wasn’t as big as a fan as me. The onion pie is now the best onion pie I’ve had (beating out Coco’s Cafe in Austin and Fufu’s Cafe in Houston. Not as doughy as Fufu’s and not as greasy as Coco’s. Chen’s the winner!

Noodles in Bean Paste

I loved this dish and would come back JUST for this dish. So comforting, so savory. There is ground pork in it and slices of cucumber. I loved the slices of cucumber in it. Kind of unexpected but completely works. Noodles were super fresh.

Stir Fried Noodles

Jamie ordered the stir fried noodles. It was pretty good, I probably wouldn’t order it again since the noodles in bean paste sauce completely beat it out for me.

I was quite pleased by my experience here and I’m definitely coming back to this hole in the wall restaurant. Thank you, Jamie for being my dinner buddy!

My lovely dinner companion

Kasbah Grill
2851 Esters Rd
Irving, TX 75062
(214) 596-9206

A couple of weekends ago, before leaving Dallas after Nisreen and Nino’s wedding, my brother, Deesh, Brit, and Alan and I tried out a Moroccan restaurant called Kasbah Grill. From the outside it looks a little desolate located next to a fire station. It was once a 7-Eleven. Kind of cool right? Deesh and Brit read good reviews and wanted to give it a try. Walking in, it was kind of neat to see the decor. A big change from a gas station! Here are some snapshots of the inside.

Pricing was very affordable. We all started with sides of hummus. Nothing spectacular. I haven’t yet had bad hummus. It was good.

We also ordered a large pot of mint tea. I was the only one who really didn’t l like it. It tasted like melted toothpaste to me. The others liked it though.

The teapot and cups were gorgeous. It kind of elicits a ceremonial feeling.

Now comes the fun part. The foooooooood! Alan and I ordered the same thing, the Royal Couscous which was meat and couscous with vegetables. Alan’s words on couscous: “Couscous, so good they named it twice.” Har har! He ordered his with chicken and I ordered mine with lamb.

Alan’s with Chicken

Mine with Lamb

The meat was so fricking tender. The lamb fell off the bone and was delicious. The vegetables were delicious too. Chickpeas, zucchini, squash, carrots. What really made it for me though was how tender the lamb was. A really good dish for under ten dollars!

Fes Chicken Tagine

Deesh and Brit both got the Fes Chicken Tagine, braised chicken preserved with lemons and olives. Brit educated us on Tagines. Tagines is the Moroccan pot that is used to cook the dishes.

My brother got the Kasbah Lamb Tagine: braised lamb with onions pictured below.

All in all it was a fantastic experience and I kind of wish I lived in Irving. I guess I’ll settle with my memories :) Mmmm lamb. This kind of inspired me to experiment with lamb when I cook.

The first video is of Selina dancing with her daddy at her wedding. The song and watching them made me want my daddy.

Below is a video of G and I voguing at their wedding. Lookit his face. So intense!