a taste of morocco...no passport needed

i like to give my partner a hard time about not having a valid passport. what if we won a trip? what if i found the best groupon deal (ever) and we had to go next week? i would have to go myself or with a friend who has a passport.
morocco is on my list of places i would like to visit. but since we are us-bound for the moment (not to mention the cost-limiting factors associated with being a california state educator), i brought morocco to our dining room. moroccan chicken (recipe below courtesy of cooking pleasures magazine) with whole wheat couscous and a mixed greens salad.
the kitchen smelled great from all of the aromatic spices, the couscous was a nice palate for the tomato-apricot-onion sauce, and the salad was so fresh with tomatoes from my department chair's garden.
credit where credit is due, this magnificent kreation is not an original but i do take credit for moving it from the page through the pan to my plate.
http://www.cookingclub.com/Recipes/ArticleType/ArticleView/ArticleID/9538

the trails neighborhood eatery

it's no surprise i'm a fan of food network and restaurant: impossible. when i saw the episode on a place in san diego, my curiosity was immediately piqued. my sweetie pie, my colleague and i went to check them out a few months ago for breakfast.
it was delish! the place was very cute. and in the interest of full disclosure, it was kinda exciting to go to the place i saw on tv.
on the show, robert explained the importance of a limited dinner service to help the restaurant. since they are only open a few nights a week for dinner and after months of talking about going...we did.
when i read the dinner menu, i had to have robert's blt (peppered boursin cheese, aioli tossed lettuce, roasted tomato, brioche) - of course. if brioche doesn't get you (which it should), everything on it should. it came with a side of yucca chips which were crispy, lightly salted and extra delish! i also tried the meatloaf and mashed potatoes (my partner's plate) and they were very tasty as well.
i think i will try the mac and cheese the next time we go for dinner...   
http://thetrailseatery.com/

baker for hire

i love watching food network. multiple shows highlight common folks who are good cooks (arguably) and upon the suggestion of friends ("you should do this for a living"), open a restaurant or bakery and FAIL!
i'm not cray cray-i know that i am far far away from that. but i do, however, have catering potential (at a small scale).
case in point...baby shower. i did these cute german chocolate cupcakes with a vanilla butter cream frosting (nothing special at all) for a colleague's shower. she requested chocolate-i delivered. she has a jungle theme for the baby's room so i found some cute stickers at micheal's, made my own toothpick kreatures, and voila. very delish and lots of awwws.

second case in point...graduate student reception. larger scale than the shower (~100 folks as opposed to 12). my goal for this one was variety. variety. variety. i also like things in 3s so i did 3 different flavors each of 3 different goodies. cookies (chocolate chip, peanut butter, & shortbread), bars (lemon, espresso cheesecake, & brownies), & cupcakes (lemon blueberry, orange chocolate, & coconut lime macadamia). all of the cookies were tried and true recipes, and two of the three bars were also old favs. but the cheesecake bar and all three cupcakes were brand new. and boy oh boy...oh boy!!! and holy cow. and gadzooks!
(i'll let the pictures try to capture the awesomeness of these flavors and scents)

coconut lime cupcakes with coconut key lime butter cream topped  with toasted coconut and macadamia nuts








lemon blueberry cupcakes with lemon butter cream frosting








 orange chocolate cupcakes with whipped frosting with orange

 

they were so delightful, citrus playing a unique role in each kreation, all wildly different flavors.

 

just wanted to throw this out there...this baker is for hire! i love doing these things and i think at a small to medium scale, i would be so happy doing this all day.

so step right up and place your order :)

last week's homemade supper

usually i wait until saturday night dinner, but i was excited to try a recipe for chipotle mashed potatoes. my carnivorous roommate would not be satisfied with a plate of potatoes, so i incorporated the chipotle theme into my meal by adding chicken and some green beans.

voila! delish!

this cohabitating life

i have had lots of culinary experiences but i have not found the time to blog about any of them. quick update: he met my fam, i met his fam, he moved in. food was involved in all of these milestones and i have tried to be mavericky in the kitchen...watching entirely too much food network, i think i can do what they do. ok, i am not crazy, i can recognize that chefs do a lot of cooking before they are chefs and worthy of food network programming. but after watching all of these food programs and salivating, i think "i want to try that" and therein lies my last two kulinary kreations (er, attempts)

last saturday, i wanted to try to fry my own chicken. author's note: i have never fried an tire chicken before. so i bought a full fryer, that's right a full chicken, complete with the neck and livers and other gross parts inside. i rinsed it (much like i do the turkey at thanksgiving) and started the hacking. i got two full breasts, two wings, one leg, and one leg-thigh. that's right, i couldn't find where the leg and the thigh did their thing and ruined half. however, i learned and figured out the other half. all in all, i think i did an ok job of playing butcher. then i soaked it in buttermilk for about an hour (learnt me that from paula). i made the kfc extra crispy batter recipe (minus the msg) and double-battered them chickies, i heated the oil and i was ready to fry, and i was feeling pretty good. then came the frying. i gently placed the chicken into the oil and it appeared to be doing it's thing. but it did it's thing very quickly. the cookbook said 12-15 minutes turning half way through. in 3 minutes they already started browning, so i flipped them. in 3 more minutes they looked done. but i thought they couldn't possibly be done according to the cookbook so i left them in a little longer. the first two pieces looked a little dark (even for dark meat). i fried all of the chicken and let them drain, but i was super paranoid that they were burnt on the outside and raw on the inside. fortunately, that was not the case, but i will not be frying anything for a while. another author's note: a renewed appreciation of chefs who fry chicken.
(no pictures of this one)

tonight, i made pizza. homemade pizza crusts. i have done breads before but this was my first foray into pizza crusts. the mixing of the dough and the rising of the dough and the punching of the dough and the rising of the dough again...all felt familiar from making bread. the rolling/pulling of the pizza dough...holy moly. that was difficult. it went super thin in some parts and thicker in other parts. when all was said and done, i made a pretty good margherita pizza with homegrown basil, a pepperoni and cheese (for the roommie) and a combination. i have always appreciated pizza chefs but i have a renewed appreciation of store-bought crusts and delivery :)

until my next new adventure...