Hello! And welcome to my blog. This is a new project for me, and I'm still working out the kinks in the templates and such (anyone know why blogroll won't work? anyone? bueller?), but over the next few weeks I'll be fixing it up and rolling out some content.

Obviously, the topic of this blog is vegetables, and the always-exciting adventure of using up each week's share from our CSA. But it's also about food, and cooking, and how it's possible to be busy, sometimes exhausted, and occassionally lazy, but still manage to put together some really kick ass meals. However, since it's still only March in Maine, the CSA is just starting its planting, so in the meantime I'll be writing about cooking in general. I'll include my recipes when possible, and Otis's as well. It should be interesting to compare and contrast. (An Otis recipe: start with 1/4 lb of pork fat. A Marya recipe: spray the pan with Pam.)

I'll also post about restaurants we've gone to (I'll soon write about our incredible Shelton Brothers Beer Dinner at Hugo's this past Sunday), and dinner parties, and all sorts of other foodie-type stuff. Thanks for reading!

Easter is traditionally one of those food holidays, probably growing out of its roots and connection to Passover. It's also always been one of my favorites, especially because it usually features ham, one of my favorite meats. (There was some paranoia in my household when I was a child about nitrates or nitrites or something like that, which lead to me being unjustly denied my rightful amount of ham. I've been spending the rest of my life trying to make up for that early disappointment. Sniff.)

Under normal circumstances, Otis and I head to Chicopee, MA, where his Gramma lives. However, this year I just felt spent-- starting a new job, a lot of wedding-related activities coming up for my friend Alysia, and and overall case of the 'spring' blahs-- so I played the bad wife and stayed home. At the last minute, my friend Kendall invited me to an Easter dinner hosted by her BFF, the lovely Leslie of Aurora Provisions.

And what a lucky Easter ducky I was! An incredibly diverse and fascinating group of 20+ folks came together to feast, toast, and chat. A lot of the attendees are active in the Slow Food Portland group. Some were farmers, including John and Stacy of Broadturn Farm and their daughters. Some were restauranteurs, including the couple who are opening Bonobo Pizza, a brick oven pizzeria, in the former Supreme location on the corner of Pine and Brackett. (Otis wants to know the connection between sex-crazed monkeys and pizza. If anyone knows, please advise.) Tom and Sarah Flanagan of Flanagan Fine Art were there, along with their charming children. I also met Karl and Margaret Hathaway Schatz, and got to learn about her upcoming book, the Year of the Goat, and meet their sweet baby Charlotte.

All in all it was a lovely afternoon. Not to mention the delicious, delicious food, most of which was kosher for Passover and chametz-free...morroccan spiced lamb roast, savory matzoh brie, fish balls, roasted asparagus, chicken with preserved lemon, potato kugel, and much more. I rolled on home about 5 with a full belly and the glow of having had a day of great conversation. I still feel a little bit guilty about missing the Baron family Easter, though. I hope they'll forgive me.

Unfortunately, since I didn't do any of the cooking, I have no recipes from Easter. But, Kendall came over for chicken curry on Tuesday, and suggested I share that recipe since she enjoyed it so much.

Here it is!

Karl sent me a link to some great photos of our Easter/Passover party at Aurora. This adorable shot of the babies demonstrates what it's all about. Food. Sharing. Bonnets.

And also, of course... a toast.

Damn you, Norman van Aken.

Saturday night Otis and I were planning on a trip to see Hot Fuzz out at the gloriously comfortable Westbrook Cinemagic theater, but then he started cooking dinner. And he cooked...and cooked...and cooked. We finally sat down to eat at 9:30, after two desperation snacking-moments during the process (snacking moment one: blue corn chips and salsa. snacking moment two: blue corn chips, plain. screw the salsa, I'm starving over here!).

A little background: my friend Sarah spent some time on food writing in her journalism career, and when she got multiple copies of cookbooks, she often gave them to me. The absolute best of these is Norman Van Aken's New World Kitchen, which is his compendium of recipes from throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Everything I've cooked from the book has been incredibly delicious.

But...how shall we say...his recipes tend to be a little fussy. After all, we're talking about a glorified form of home cooking, right? Part of the problem, of course, is that some of the ingredients he uses require a sort of Latin American pantry, which is great if you cook this type of food all the time, but if you're cooking all over the map, you don't really need to keep a cup of annatto oil around all the time, do you? So, a simple recipe, like the Asopao de Arroz con Pollo that Otis made on Saturday, which is a Puerto Rican chicken and rice dish, turns into a marathon because of preparing all of the fiddly bits.

In this case, that included:

• Steeping saffron in warm chicken stock
• Roasting garlic in oil to prepare roasted garlic and garlic oil
• Preparing annatto oil
• Preparing a sofrito of garlic, onion, and poblano

I really shouldn't complain too much, because although it did take four hours to prepare, the dish turned out to be the best damned chicken and rice I've ever had. But boy, was I hungry.

We did make it to Hot Fuzz on Sunday. Just as funny as Shaun of the Dead. See it!

I have been vanquished and ashamed by the extent of my ambition and my abject failure to fulfill it-- vis-a-vis this CSA documenting project. I look back on my original plan to document every CSA vegetable that passes through our kitchen, and realize it was completely ridiculous. Not that I don't have excuses-- lots of work, USM, freelance programming, attempts to have a social summer-- but really, I am ashamed.

Ahem. That said, let's get back to the vegetables. Otis created a delicious new form of casserole this week, which I'll be sharing with you: Portuguese Kale Casserole (based on the soup.)

In the meantime here's the update!

Last week:

2 heads lettuce -- used in salad
0.3 lb. mesclun -- salad-- I made this really yummy steak with onions, marinated and then stir-fried in a mix of lime juice, hoisin sauce, soy sauce, and chili garlic paste, and then served on a bed of the mesclun with chopped sugar snaps and baby turnips.. Really great.
Kale-- casserole too!
¾ lb. sugarsnap peas
1 bulb fennel fennel salad-- see below
1 bunch baby turnips -- salad
1 bunch carrots -- salad
10 garlic scapes -- stir-fried in peanut sauce with scallions and pork
1 bunch scallions-- same as above

Week before last:

1 head romaine-- used in salad
1/4 lb mixed greens-- used in salad
1/4 lb lettuce mix-- used in salad
1 bunch parsley-- used in salad
.3 lb sugarsnap peas-- used in egg rolls
2 kohlrabi-- used in Otis's chicken salad
10 garlic scapes-- used in Otis's chicken salad
1 head Chinese cabbage-- used in eggrolls
1 bunch swiss chard-- Isn't it nice that greens last so long? This went into the greens casserole.

Now that I think of it, I might have spoken about fennel salad before. But who cares! Fennel salad is so easy, and so delicious, that everyone should know about it and eat it ALL THE TIME.

1. Slice fennel into the thinnest slices you can. We use a snazzy ceramic slicer.
2. Add lemon juice, olive oil, and s & p to taste.

That's it! Easy and utterly delicious.

This week's share was the following:

1 head red butter lettuce
.35 lb mesclun
1 bunch collards (I swapped for some kohlrabi)
1 bunch cilantro
1 bunch beets (yay! I cannot express how much I love roasted beets!)
1 summer squash
1 cucumber
1.5 lb wax beans
.5 lb sugar snaps (this has been a bumper crop this yearm which is great. they are really delicious.)
3 lonely little cherry tomatoes

And that is all. I promise to harass Otis more for that kohlrabi salad recipe, and now the greens casserole.

Who wants to go to the great State of Maine Grilling and BBQ Fest with us? It's Aug 3-5.

Last night Otis and I went out to celebrate his pre-birthday. It had been a hot-as-hell day, already cooling somewhat, as we walked over to Caiola's. We're awfully lucky to have such a stellar restaurant right around the corner, especially when you factor in the gorgeous patio.

We started with the most unusual appetizer-- a salad of figs, raspberries, gorgonzola, and fennel. All four ingredients have strong, even overwhelming flavors, but together they really harmonized. The plate was lovely as well:

After that, I had mushroom risotto with red wine reduction, and Otis had blackfish with clams in a nice brothy sauce (I think I would call it a brodo, but maybe I would be being pretentious) and barley and herbs.

On the way over we discussed the ridiculousness of the opening of Bonobo Pizza being delayed because the city decided at the last minute that they need an additional hand sink. Because if there are two people working there who dirty their hands at the same time, one certainly can't wait
five minutes for the first to finish washing. Ah, our tax dollars at work.

In other restaurant gossip, Local 188 is re-opening Wednesday! With Caiola's, Bobobo, OhNo, Aurora, Local, my goodness, it's really an embarrassment of riches over here.

Anyway. I wonder if mushroom risotto would be good for breakfast? I'm really hungry and Otis will probably be asleep for a while...

I can't believe I haven't posted anything for almost a month. Time has been just zipping by; I've been working like a dog at USM, freelancing, and getting ready to start school on Tuesday.

We also had a fabulous long weekend in Wellfleet earlier this month, visiting Otis's parents and brother, complete with a fish fry, bbq, a day at the flea market, delicious crab dip, and lobster. And, of course, drinks at the Bomb Shelter.

Whenever we go to Wellfleet we make sure to pick up a tub or two of the crab dip they sell at Hatch's, along with our fish or lobsters or whatever. Ironically, the dip is produced downeast somewhere, and so it theoretically available in Maine; but it is so decadent and delicious, it's probably better for our waistlines and cholesterol levels that it stay a special-occasion food. I don't have a tub here (thank goodness; otherwise I'd be eating it for breakfast), but I think the ingredients include mayo, crab, ketchup, french onion soup mix, and other seemingly random ingredients that, when combined, end up as delicious, addictive, ambrosia.

Our other Wellfleet summer visit tradition is to pick up boiled lobsters from Hatch's and eat them at Jane and Walter's house, along with fresh corn, bread, and the onions in vinegar that Jane's dad used to make.

A word about Hatch's. Otis and Nick (his brother) both worked there, starting at about age 13, for many summers-- about 8 in Otis's case, I believe. The place is fabulous, and Rob, the owner, is a very funny guy who simultaneously takes his job very seriously and not at all. Otis has a host of wonderful stories about providing fish to various demanding New Yorkers-- many of whom were and are eminences of some note. My favorite story is of the day when Diana Trilling first came in, and requested lobsters, "split entirely in half," live o
of course. (There's more to the story, and I am probably mangling it, but the gist is there. Otis is still sleeping so I can't verify.)

Anyway, back to the lobsters. Normally, we get small lobsters, about 1-1 1/2 lbs, one for each person. This trip, however, for some reason smaller lobsters were not available, so we each had half of a 4-ish pounder. During dinner, I realized that this was the largest lobster I had ever eaten! I think that's what comes of growing up in Maine, where they tend to be on the small side.

The flavor and texture was actually a little bit different. Normally, the claw meat is my favorite, but in the larger bugs it evidently tends to get slightly overcooked, so it's not as tender. This time, the tail was outstanding, and better than in the smaller ones, I thought. (I also appreciated the lobster being pre-split, so I didn't have to wrestle with it, or ask Otis or Nick to do so. Yes, I am lame.)

Regardless, it was really a delicious meal, and a wonderful visit, as usual. Otis brought a jar of his dilly beans, which were a big hit. The recipe is from Putting Food By, the classic food-preservation tome. I'm going to include the ingredients but not the recipe because I really recommend you buy the book if you're planning on doing food preservation. (He modified the recipe somewhat-- I don't think the original includes Thai chiles.)

Dilly Beans

Brine:
5 cups vinegar
5 cups water
1/2 cupl + 1 T pickling salt

For each jar:
2 dried thai chiles
A goodly amount of dill
1 clove garlic
1 T mustard seed
1/2 T peppercorns
1/4 T dill seed

Before I go start my homework (yay!) I shoudl give a shout-out to Margaret Hathaway Schatz, author of Year of the Goat...you may remember her from such entries as Passover Eating. Her book just came out, and we had the pleasure of attending the release party: Goatstravaganza! It was great to see such a huge crowd come to celebrate Margaret, and of course, all things goaty. (You can see the back of Otis's head in the top photo on the left.)

The party was held at Rabelais Books, a really wonderful bookstore on Middle Street, and featured a tasty spread from Aurora Provisions, and photos by the talented Karl Schatz (Margaret's husband). And, yours truly won the door prize, an adorable t-shirt.

Good luck on your book tour, Margaret!

(Note, I haven't started the book yet, but it's on the top of my pile. I just finished Heat by Bill Buford, for the Slow Food book group meeting this month.)

I suppose that's all for now. If I can pull it together I'll post my recipe for Law School Ramen Noodles. They'll blow you away!

Oh yeah, vegetables. Well, suffice to say they are delicious. I'm making quiche for dinner tonight, but you already have that recipe, so that's that. Seriously, I haven't been doing that much cooking, since I've been working on The Website that Must Not be Named, and it's always so hard to extract recipes from Otis.

I did make some Artichoke basil pesto, actually, with some of the CSA basil and some from Jane's overflowing planters. So here you go.

Artichoke Basil Pesto

Enough basil to fill a 14-cup cuisinart
A large jar of marinated artichoke hearts, drained
1/2- 3/4 cup grated parmesan
4 cloves garlic, minced, sauteed very quickly, and splashed with wine (I don't like the really strong raw garlic flavor)
EVOO as needed
S&P to taste

Put all ingredients in Cuisinart and whir until chopped and very slightly chunky.

No nuts! The artichokes provide that nutty unctuous mouth-feel.

I've added a little list of local food friends on the right-- let me know if you think I am missing anyone.

And happy (belated) birthday, Jenn!!!

Don't Drown Your Food.

All of you who grew up in the 70s know what I'm talking about-- the important PSA exhorting us not to overdo it on the sour cream and ketchup. Even back then, I remember wondering that someone felt ketchup overuse was such a terrible issue that they made a whole cartoon about it. In today's world, of course, where presumably the PSAs during Saturday morning cartoons remind kids not to smoke too much crack or become prostitutes or pimps or ad executives, the late-70s worries about excess condiment use seem incredibly quaint.

But, even in retrospect, I am still not sure what, exactly, was the reason behind the message. Was it health? Or just a general preference for plain baked potatoes?

Regardless, it was, simply, totally ridiculous, in my opinion. Sure, you don't want to destroy your palate with a cup of ketchup. But if someone serves you a pile of steamed, un-buttered, un-salted broccoli, as my parents were wont to do in my childhood-- well, I think pouring a nice splash of vinaigrette over that is perfectly justified.

Not to mention that sauces are the foundation of most world cuisines. Just because 'American' food eschews herbs, spices, rouxs (how do you pluralize that, French speakers?) and all gravies save those served on Thanksgiving or with Salisbury Steak doesn't mean that enhancing the flavor of perfectly lovely ingredients is somehow against God and Nature.

So. There.

Jeez louise, I have been the The Worst Blogger Ever™ lately. In my defense, there were a few family health issues (everyone is fine) and then , suddenly, it was the end of the semester. I try to avoid talking about Real Life in here, under the theory that nobody cares, but I am going to marshal the fact that I work full time and take 10 credits in law school as an excuse for poor blog maintenance. Happily, finals are over (pray for As, everyone!) and I have a little bit more time on my hands. Just a tiny bit, though, because I have to go to work today and then jet out to the Old Port to do some horrifically belated Christmas shopping-- I am leaving tomorrow morning for the holiday trip.

So, although I haven't been writing, I have certainly been eating. Here are a few short takes from the last month and a half.

Japanese Overview

Like Thai restaurants, Portland is 'blessed' with an overabundance of Japanese/sushi restaurants. (Note: these are not necessarily synonymous, although here they seem to be.) These include Miyake, Yosaku, Sapporo, Fuji, Benkay, King of the Roll, and Ginza Town. All of these places have specific strengths and weaknesses (with the exception of Fuji, which has only weaknesses), but for the freshest, most unique uses of 'special' fish, I consistently vote for Benkay. When Otis's parents were here in November, they took us out for a delicious dinner there. We had some incredible toro; delicious tuna; and a few really unusual fish I had never had before. I especially love the appetizer they make with their freshest fish and a soy/yuzu sauce. I've only had noodles from Miyake, once, and I wasn't that impressed, but I have been hearing lately that their sushi and sashimi is phenomenal. Evidently the chef came from Yosaku. Oh, Yosaku. It used to be fabulous but the horrible service and intermittently low quality of their fish (there's no excuse for mushy tuna) have made me resolve never to go there again. King of the Roll is fun-- don't go there for the best fish, but go for the deep-fried tempura-battered spicy tuna roll with wasabi sauce. Mmmm. Be prepared for incompetent waitservice, though, which can sometimes be amusing and sometimes make you want to pull your hair out. Ginza Town is 'eh.' If I were French I would shrug my shoulders eloquently. Sapporo is very good but I never feel thrilled with a meal I have there.

So, soon we'll be checking out Miyake. But in the meantime if I want great sashimi I'll go to Benkay and ask what's fresh.

The Eternal Dinner Made Short

Those of you who have been reading my blog for a while may remember the Eternal Dinner: a Puerto-Rican style chicken and rice dish Otis made from the New World Kitchen cookbook by Norman Van Aken, which took hours and hours to prepare. Well, I was craving those deliciously complex flavors, so I set out to simplify the dish. It came out incredibly well, and only took about an hour. Here you go:

Marya's Stewed Pork and Rice, Van Aken Style

Ingredients:
Pinch Saffron
About 6 Cups chicken stock (we use Imagine foods organic when we don't have homemade)
About 1 T each dried oregano, cumin
S&P
Annatto oil (if you have it. Since the eternal dinner, we usually do have some prepared.)
2 lbs pork chops, cut into large cubes
1 large onion, chopped
1/2 head garlic, chopped
1 bay leaf
2 cups white rice (long grain)
1 1/4 cups grated parmesan
1/2 large can chopped tomatoes (we use Muir Glen fire-roasted)
1/4 cup capers
1 cup green olives with pimentos, roughly chopped
1 small bag frozen peas

1. Heat the annatto oil on medium in a large Dutch oven, and add the garlic and onion, cumin, oregano, s&p, bay leaf. Saute for a bit, and add the pork. Get it brown on the outside.

2. Add the rice and mix well.

3. Add the saffron and chicken broth. Bring to a simmer, then reduce heat to low.

4. Cook for about 10 minutes. Add more stock if it seems low.

5. Add the parmesan, tomatoes, capers, and olives. Stir well. Cook over low for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally and adding more stock if necessary, until rice is tender. (You'll want to make sure the pork is cooked through too, obviously.)

6. Add the peas, stir.

7. Serve, with an array of hot sauces. Cholula goes especially well.

That's it! Now, isn't that easy?

I hereby make a vow that I will be a better blogger in the future. We're going to Fore Street soon, so I will report back on that. And of course, the holiday meals...oysters rockefeller, baked bread, ham, pierogis, etc....I can't wait.

A shout-out of thanks to the Portland Phoenix for including my blog in their story on our online food culture. (Although I do disagree with the characterization of Mr. or Ms. Portland Psst, whose blog I find consistently amusing, if not always enlightening.

I'm about to leave for Boston, and then Wellfleet, in about 45 minutes. In Boston I'll be having brunch with my mom and some friends at Acquitaine, and then attending a play that has something to do with Jewish mothers. I can't remember the title.

Then, off to Wellfleet for the Christmas festivities. Only the strong (stomachs) survive: Sunday night is prime rib, Monday is Oysters Rockefeller, hot wings, cheese and crackers, and much more; Tuesday is baked bread casserole on Christmas morning and lots of other stuff. All seasoned liberally with shots of Crown Royal.

I'm very much looking forward to it! On our return, it's back to work, and then the weekend preparing for our New Year's Day party-- I think we might make a deep-fried turkey. Yes, we do have a turkey-frying kit. Of course, doesn't everyone?

In the meantime, Merry Christmas to everyone. If you have the time, make these cookies. They're delicious. And from Martha Stewart, so you know they're good!

Chocolate Gingerbread Cookies

1 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 t ground ginger
1 t ground cinnamon
1/4 t ground cloves
1 T cocoa powder (use Dutched if you can get it)
1 stick butter
1 T freshly grated ginger
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup unsulfured molasses
1 t baking soda
1 1/2 t boiling water
7 oz semisweet chocalate chips
granulated sugar

1. Sift together first set of dry ingredients (through cocoa in the list)
2. Beat together butter and fresh ginger in bowl of mixer until light and smooth
3. Add brown sugar; mix
4. Add molasses; mix.
5. Dissolve baking soda in boiling water.
6. Add 1/2 flour mixture to bowl of mixer; beat; add soda mixture; beat; add rest of flour mixture; beat until combined.
7. Add chocolate chips.
8. Wrap dough ball in plastic, flatten to 1 inch thick, and chill in refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
9. Form into 1 inch balls; roll in granulated sugar; place on cookie sheet and chill in refrigerator for 20 minutes.
10. Bake in preheated 325 degree oven for 10-12 minutes, until surfaces of cookies begin to crack.
11. Cool on wire rack.

When people come to our house for the first time, they often don't notice the fact that there are two refrigerator-shaped items in the kitchen-- it's only when they go to put their beer in the freezer that they realize that there is, in fact, a full-size standup freezer where there used to be a closet. It's not a very big kitchen, at all, so I attribute this to people's preexisting expectations for kitchen appliances.

And boy, do we love our freezer. Not only does it allow us to easily preserve much of our annual CSA bounty (aside from the stuff Otis cans), but we also have a ton of leftovers preserved for emergencies of laziness. (Or just to use when appropriate. This Thanksgiving I made a pumpkin pie with pie filling I had made from our CSA pumpkin and frozen two years before. It was delicious.)

Right now, this is what's in our freezer:

baked rigatoni
puerto rican pork and rice
pureed tomatoes
shucked oysters
chicken tikka
beef stew
beef stock
bbq sauce (otis's secret recipe)
more pumpkin pie filling
pureed squash
pesto

plus an assortment of purchased items:
whole grain english muffins
pitas
frozen chicken and vegetable dumplings
whole wheat tortillas
a frozen spinach pizza
fake breakfast sausage
linguica
chicken sausage
chicken thighs
bags of innards from chickens (for making stock)
handle of vodka
ice

and probably more stuff... I didn't want to keep the door open too long. I'd say we're fairly prepared. For lazy Sundays, at least.

Otis and I took an extra day off MLK weekend and jetted off to San Francisco. It's was a fairly long trip for such a short visit, but due to our schedules (school started for me on Jan 22) it was really the only viable time we could go; plus, my mom was visiting at the same time, and it turned into a big family weekend.

My grandfather, Moe Haber, lives in SF, in the Jewish Home for the Aged. He just turned 93, and I hadn't seen him in 2 and a half years. (The actual birthdate is a matter of some internal family debate, since he always said his birthday was Dec 25. It now seems that was a dramatization, and his real birthday is Dec 29. Part of this also stemmed from the fact that his parents were named Mary and Josef. He is a character.)

So, we flew out of Boston early Friday morning (6:10) and had a whirlwind weekend visiting the city and my family. We had gorgeous, sunny weather, and had the chance to see my grandpa, my cousins Leila and Damon and their respective spouses and adorable children, my uncle Merrill and aunt Nancy, and my mom. We also got to visit Otis's old high school friend Seton, his wife Patty, and their adorable little toddler Eva.

Part of what makes spending time with my family amusing is the constant food-related talk. (Hey, I come by it honestly!!) This is a group of people who plan their dinner while eating breakfast. We basically arrived, went to visit my grandpa in the home, and then went out to dim sum, without a pause.

So, there was a lot of delicious food to report on:

- Friday dim sum at Mayflower Seafood
- Friday dinner at my cousin Leila's house, which featured a delicious warm shrimp salad which was prepared from a recipe Merrill and Nancy learned at a cooking school during their recent trip to Vietnam
- Irish breakfast at O'Reilly's in North Beach
- Burritos at a restaurant in Alameda with Seton (I forget the name of this one, I'll have to check with Otis!)
- Pastry and coffee at Caffe Trieste
- Sunday brunch with bagels, lox, some insanely cheesy hash brown casserole, and mimosas at Leila's house
- Dinner at Cafe de la Presse

I think that's it! A lot of food in one short weekend! It was a wonderful time, and if I have a chance I will post restaurant reviews. And, as a special treat, here is the warm salad recipe from Vietnam. The recipe calls for squid, but you can make it with anything, really.

Also, there are comments written on my copy by my uncle Merrill... but I can't read them, his handwriting is so bad. Hopefully there's nothing important! (This recipe is from the Red Bridge Cooking School in Hoi An, Vietnam. If you're ever there, it sounds like a fabulous day of cooking and eating!)

Warm Squid Salad in Half a Pineapple

100 grams sliced squid
2 t vegetable oil
1 t garlic, chopped
1 t ginger, chopped
1/2 t sugar
1 t light fish sauce
1 T tomato puree or tomato sauce
1 T sweet and sour chilli sauce (recipe below)
1/2 cup chopped hot pepper
1/2 cup chopped pineapple
1/2 cup chopped tomato
1/2 cup chopped onion
1 T water
Few pieces cilantro

Add vegetable oil to wok with ginger and garlic. Add squid, fish sauce, and sugar, and stirfry 1 min. Add vegetables and tomato puree, and stirfry 3 minutes. Add water. Serve in hollowed-out pineapple sauce and top with cilantro and hot pepper.

Sweet & Sour Chilli Sauce

1 T water
1/2 t sour chilli sauce (super sour sriracha is probably what they mean here)
1/2 t tomato puree
1/2 T finely chopped white onion
1/2 T finely chopped pineapple
1/2 T finely chopped tomato
1/2 t crushed ginger
1/2 t veg oil

Heat oil in wok and add all ingredients except water, sour chilli, and tomato puree. Fry for a few seconds, then add reserved ingredients. Bring to simmer, simmer until cooked.

I've been spending the week crunching numbers, which makes a girl crave something a little more crunchy and tasty. How about...bacon cups? What a brilliant idea. There is a 100% chance I will make these for our next party. The possibilities for filling are endless!

In other news, the continued battering from Ye Olde Man Winter is starting to get me down. However, last week I invented a speedy way to make creamy and delicious chicken pot pie in a remarkably short period of time.

Short-Cut Chicken Pot Pie

1 grocery-store rotisserie chicken (I got the herb-rubbed chicken from Whole Foods)
1 bag frozen peas
1 bag frozen carrots, or whatever other veg you want. (I used mixed carrots & green and wax beans, which Otis didn't like that much. I thought the beans were tasty.)
1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup butter
2 cloves garlic
1 1/2 cups chicken broth
Splash white wine
1/2 cup half-and-half
s&p and herbs and spices (I used thyme and marjoram)
Drop biscuit dough

a. Preheat oven to 350.
1. Make a roux with the flour and butter. add the garlic. Sautée in heavy pot until brown.
2. Slowly add chicken broth, stirring, so as not to form lumps
3. Add herbs, spices, s&p, any other seasoning you desire
4. Add wine
4. Simmer on med-low for 5 minutes
5. In the meantime, pull all the meat off the chicken and put it in a bowl.
6. Pour the drippings from the chicken into the sauce.
7. Snack on some of the chicken skin. Give some to the dog. Give some to Otis.
8. Add the half-and-half to the sauce, simmer for another 5-10 minutes until it seems the right creamy texture. Remember to stir once in a while!
9. Remove from heat, stir in chicken and frozen vegetables
10. Pour into large flat pyrex pan.
11. Make biscuit dough* and drop in large spoonfuls onto top of pot pie mixture
12. Bake in oven until biscuits are nice and brown and pot pie mixture is bubbly and hot, about 1/2 hour to 45 minutes. In the meantime, catch up on your law school reading while drinking a Pabst.

* A note on biscuits. There is no need for bisquick. Seriously, people. Cut 1/4 cup butter into 2 cups flour, 1 T baking powder, and 1 t salt, add a cup of milk, mix with a fork. Ta dah!!

That's it! A nice cozy dinner requiring less than half an hour of prep time. I wonder if chicken pot pie would be good in bacon cups. I guess the filling would run out the holes...

We had a wonderful weekend last weekend, as Otis's parents Jane and Walter came up for the Maine Boatbuilders Show, some delicious eating, and lovely conversation.

Friday night we went to Local 188 for fancy old-timey cocktails, and then headed over to Caiola's for dinner; as usual everything was delish (channeling Rachael Ray, sorry), especially our deep-fried sardine appetizer.

It's always nice to have Walter and Jane here, although they do tend to bring pretty crappy weather with them-- what's up with that?

Anyway, my fingers are sore from all the typing I've been doing on the big paper I have due Tuesday, so I hope everyone will forgive me for a short-but-sweet entry. Happy Easter!

I've been battling a hideous cold all week and can barely sit still without coughing, but I remembered I wanted to make a point about service. I do frequently bitch about waiters so I wanted to make sure I called out what I consider to be outstanding service.

Last week when Otis's parents were here we went to breakfast at Hot Suppa. I was starving, and I ordered biscuits and sausage gravy, with eggs over medium. When the plate arrived I noticed the eggs were undercooked (more like over easy, which makes me a little queasy). I told the waitress, who promptly whisked my plate away, returned it without the eggs so I could eat my biscuits while waiting for the refire, and then took $2 off our bill without being asked.

I was so impressed! Good service doesn't require fine dining, or snobbery. It just requires someone who cares about his or her job. Thanks Hot Suppa waitress whose name I don't know! You've restored my faith in Portland waitstaff!

(Plus the food was tasty, as usual!)

I'm a creature of ridiculously boring habits. Until this week when I vowed to give up soy products I've been eating the same breakfast every day. Now, unfortunately, I'm going to need to find a replacement for my much-beloved Morningstar Farms fake sausage patties. It's fairly tragic. If anyone has any suggestions I would much appreciate it!

Breakfast is such a balancing act. I want to have enough food to keep me satiated until lunch, but not too much-- I'm often just a touch queasy before 8 a.m., but since that's when I get to the office I need to eat around 7. I've been trying cereal (Barbara's hippie brand) but I start getting hungry at 11, which is inconvenient. I love eggs on the weekend, but I don't have the energy or time to cook in the morning. For a while I had wasa with peanut butter and cottage cheese on the side, but for some reason that's just not satisfying me lately either.

If I could afford it I would get a breakfast sandwich from the OhNo every morning on the way to work, but the cost would add up quickly, and I would feel too guilty about being extravagant.

Weekends are another story. There are so many options for a breakfast out in Portland it's crazy! (Erin of TypeA is doing a poll at the moment-- head over there and vote for your favorite.)

Depending on how we feel and what we're in the mood for, Otis and I will head to Ruski's, Local 188, the Porthole, the Bayou Kitchen, Hot Suppa, or the Front Room. All of these are great for what they are-- obviously you can't expect gourmet food at Ruski's but it's always well cooked and yummy. (Note; I like weird fake hollandaise sauce. If you don't, don't order the benedict.)

One restaurant I don't enjoy is Bintliff's. When we first moved here about four years ago we went there frequently... but the quality of the food was very inconsistent, and the prices are astronomical. The last straw came when I ordered huevos rancheros and got a pile of unseasoned canned black beans and white rice with eggs on top and a teaspoon of bland salsa. It was so nasty I sent it back to the kitchen...and still got charged the $12.95 or however much it cost. It's just not worth it, especially when you factor in the long waits for a table.

I'm excited to try a new option Mothers' Day weekend-- Caiola's is opening for weekend brunch! It will be wonderful, I'm sure, and once the sun warms us up again we'll be able to sit outside on their lovely patio. When I was growing up the West End Cafe was in that location and I loved going to brunch there with my parents.

The one restaurant that developed my love of brunch, though, was the Magic Muffin on Congress Street. When I was in high school I'd go there with friends all the time. They had the best little glass/ceramic coffee mugs that they'd eternally fill with coffee, and the coffee cake muffins were phenomenal. It was a long time ago, but I think the special breakfast, which included 2 eggs, coffee, meat, and a giant muffin, was around $4. I loved that place. The waiters were always great to a bunch of degenerate teenagers, and let us nurse our coffees forever.

I wasn't living in Maine when it closed. I wonder what happened to it?

Edited: As I was posting this, evidently Erin was posting the results from her poll. Bad timing. Regardless, I think it's interesting that her results, and opinion, diverge so dramatically from mine. That's why there are practically as many restaurants as people in Portland, I suppose.

Edited again: The Breakfast Club (which I was not aware of and just added to the blogroll; I found them courtesty of the Portland Food Map) just re-reviewed Bintliff's.

The sun is shining, the bees are buzzing around the garden, and it's time to grill.

Around our house, there's a shamefully sexist division of labor-- Otis does all the grilling and barbecuing while I make salads and such. Or sometimes, just stand idly by and drink beer. Regardless, he is a master of the Weber, so I am happy to leave it up to him.

This being Memorial Day weekend, we were invited to our friends Jenn & Matt's for dinner last night, and were treated to some lovely jerk chicken by Matt. We and the rest of the guest brought side dishes, and without any discussion managed to overlap perfectly: Zeynep made rice salad, Trent and Rebecca made pasta salad, and I made potato salad.

Oddly, I have never made potato salad before. I'm not sure why. Partly I suppose it's because of my historic but now abandoned refusal to eat mayonnaise. But I did feel inspired yesterday and came up with this recipe. It was actually quite delicious, if I say so myself!

Made-Up Potato Salad

2 lbs potatoes, cut in cubes
2 onions, chopped or thinly sliced, whichever you prefer
1/2 cup mayo
1/4 cup dill relish
1/3 cup mustard (I used Otis's homemade beer mustard. It's grainy.)
1 t celery salt
1/2 t onion powder
1/2 garlic powder
s & p

1. Boil the potatoes with some salt for about 12-15 minutes. Drain and rinse with cold water.

2. Whisk together the mayo and the other dressing ingredients.

3. Add the onions and potatoes and stir.

We're leaving in about an hour for the cape. Too bad the weather is so dreary, but regardless I am looking forward to a wonderful 5 days of food and drink and relatives and relaxation. Evidently there is some fresh-caught cod awaiting us, thanks to a friend of my brother-in-law, and a plan for dinner out Friday night.

Mostly I'm thinking about sitting on the Baron family deck with the dog, reading a book, and eating crab dip.

When we come back I have high hopes: I am planning to do a blog redesign by the end of the summer. I'm also done with school, so I'll be back in the kitchen and posting CSA-veg-related recipes, which after all was the whole point of this project!

There's also a possibility that my friend Ravinder will become a guest writer, focusing on cocktails. If we can ever sit down and talk about how to work that!