Pre-Vacation Self-Control

I had to control myself at the farmers' market this weekend because in two days I'm heading out of town for two weeks. I bought two small bulbs of fennel, rhubarb (probably the last of the season), and two peaches. 1st peach was delicious; it ripened nicely in two days. I have plans for salmon cakes with zucchini fennel slaw for tonight. But, oh boy, I gotta do something with that rhubarb! Probably a quick compote for ice cream and yogurt for the next two days because on top of packing and laundry and errands, I don't want to worry about letting some delicious rhubarb dish go to waste!

This vacation will surely prove to be a culinary treat. A few things I'm looking forward to gobbling up are brezel, wurst, beer (all, duh!), Danish pastries (cinnamon rolls, I hope), and cheese from happy Alpine cows, but there will surely be much more to report when I return.


Hej! Farvel! Auf Wiedersehen!

Taking out a loan to finance my pickle quest

I bought some fresh (refrigerated) pickles at Whole Foods the other week. I love pickles (and many other fermented foods...kimchi, anyone?). I was excited to try them because I had recently been searching for pickles without corn syrup or artificial coloring in them. When I got around to opening the jar I realized there were only four pickles in it. I've been eating them by the half because, as much as I love pickles, they are best in small doses. And, at $7 for the jar--yes, I kid you not--it seems the more economical way to enjoy them. Maybe that summer job I got is actually going to finance my love for pickles...

My search for a more natural (and affordable) pickle continues. Any suggestions?

Rhubarb for Everyone!

In these final days of the school year, I've done my best to spread the love for rhubarb at my workplace. Seems rhubarb didn't really need any support around there though; everybody was already a fan!

For this final day of the school year, I made rhubarb muffins again, but last time I didn't share very generously. Shame on me. When I scooped the remainder of the muffin batter into a small 4 by 6 inch Pyrex and baked it, I had a rhubarb muffin "loaf" on my hands. Not my favorite word in the world (sounds a little gross, no?), but descriptive. Mmm...rhubarb loaf.

Photo credit to this guy.

You can't see the rhubarb in this one, but it's in there--probably in slightly too large chunks. In fact the photographer looked at the other muffin after taking this photo and said, "Umm...that one has something red in it."

With whole wheat flour, no butter, low-fat yogurt, a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar on top, and--ahem--a vegetable, this is one bad-ass healthy muffin.

Some may call it an obsession

I can't stop buying rhubarb at the farmer's market! But last weekend I also brought home some peas and six adorable little squash: zucchini, yellow crookneck squash, pale green zucchini and two globe zucchini: one light, one dark. I took a picture but...not sure where it ended up.

Tonight was a night for originality.

Shrimp and Summer Squash Spaghetti (SSSS)

1/2 pound medium uncooked shrimp

1/3 pound (?) spaghetti

3 petite summer squash, sliced on the diagonal or in half rounds

A few leaves of basil

Dried basil

Can of petite diced tomatoes

Olive oil

2 cloves of garlic, minced


Start the spaghetti.

1. Add the garlic to a hot olive-oiled saute pan. (Talk to your housemate about how good it smells and reminisce about times we've burned garlic. Don't let the garlic burn.)

2. Add the shrimp to the pan. Flip them over after about 2 minutes or when looking pinkish. Let cook a couple more minutes. Add some water, diced tomatoes and dried basil to the pan.

3. In another heated olive-oiled pan saute the squash being sure not to crowd so they get brown. When all the squash is cooked add it to the lightly bubbling tomato shrimp mixture.

4. Toss with spaghetti. Serve with fresh parmesan and garnish with shredded basil leaves.


It felt downright greedy to make this just for myself.

Just can't get enough!

The fear of letting my rhubarb go to waste prompted me to get up a 6:15 yesterday even though I'd stayed up past midnight. My coworkers were the lucky beneficiaries of my efforts. They deserved a little treat; yesterday was the last day of exams for the school year, and the beginning of the end of grading, report cards, and classroom clean-up (but mostly I just wanted to enjoy my rhubarb before it went rotten, shhh....).

It was a balls-y move, getting up at 6:15 to cook something, especially after the last time I tried to prepare food before 7:30 am I sheared off the bottom of a bottle of olive oil, resulting in a giant slick to clean up. Wasn't expecting to be sopping up olive oil for 20 minutes before going to work when the alarm went off that morning. So I guess you could say that yesterday's Rhubarb-Strawberry Pudding Cake, i.e. Breakfast Cake, got me back on the morning-kitchen horse.

If it weren't for melting the butter or cooking the rhubarb with water and cornstarch, this would be a very very simple recipe. As it is, it is very simple, because for such basic ingredients, it tastes so good. If you're going to eat cake for breakfast, this should be the one, with its all-star rhubarb-strawberry fruit mixture hiding beneath slightly spongy sweet cake.

Baja in DC

I've been itching to try my hand at fish tacos for awhile now. The summery weather a few weeks ago inspired this effort. The fresh corn tortillas (I did not make) and the salsa (I am proud to have made) were the stars here. I grilled halibut (instead of breading and frying as more traditional fish tacos are made), but am neither an expert on the grill nor, I think, a fan of halibut. I hope to work on the grilling skills this summer (speaking of which...), but I would love to try this again with another fish. Any suggestions? Tilapia seems too thin and delicate.

Avocado Mango Salsa

1 not-too ripe mango, cubed
1 not-too ripe avocado, cubed
1 tomato, cubed
1/2 red onion
Cilantro, chopped
Juice of 2 limes
Salt
Carefully mix mango, avocado, tomato and onion together. Pour lime juice, salt, and cilantro over and mix gently.