survival, day two

day two of survival wasn't about survival so much as it was about making the things that i had originally planned on making when the hurricane threatened to trap us all in. which stole away part of the fun. but also fun was waking up, seeing the tree knocked over across the street, and recognizing that that would be the extent of my casualties {and not my bedroom window, nor my stuffed penguin}. 

not to brag, but what i ate yesterday is going to make me never want to eat out again:

cornmeal pancakes with cherry jam

{and}

lentil sliders with apricot ginger mustard and avocado {and tomatoes and greens} on whole wheat challah rolls

the cornmeal pancakes were satisfyingly delicious and really clenched that weird craving for corn things i get every so often. they were very vanilla-y, which is probably what separated them from being just plain polenta cakes. i can't wait to make these for my gluten free girl friends {gfgfs}.

the lentil sliders were actually probably one of the best things i've ever eaten ever and i never want to eat anything else again. i had a bunch of lentils sitting around from my lentil mustard dip, so i decided to grind em up and make burger things out of them. and behind every good burger, there is a soft and delicious bun... so enter the whole wheat challah bun. and literally, it was holy shit in a bite. you need to make these because they are amazing {and not to be grandma, but they are rather healthyful, too!}

{recipes}

cornmeal pancakes: this recipe from the times. but- add an egg.

cherry jam: simmer the crap out of cherries + sugar + water + lemon juice

lentil sliders: grind up these: cooked lentils + almonds + pecans. chop up and then add these: jalapenos + onions + peppers. then add these: an egg + water + flour + sesame seeds + flax seeds + curry + paprika + cayenne + salt + pepper + garlic + rosemary + truffle dijon mustard. mix it around, form patties, cook in some olive oil on the stove.

apricot ginger mustard: OK. confession, i didn't make this i got it from my mustard-of-the-month club. it's just that birthing another mustard into my fridge would have been cruel, for neglect purposes. 

whole wheat challah buns: a magical mix of whole wheat flour + white flour + rice milk + sugar + salt + yeast + water + butter + kneading + rising + waiting.  

sorry for how unclear these recipes are, but desperate hurricane times leave no time for measuring.

-yeh!

survival, day one

what i am eating this hurricane weekend is entirely homemade,

unless you count an end-of-the-world journey to korea town at around 4 in the saturday morning. 

{thighs + me @ kunjip, eating what could have been our last meal ever}

because when the subways are shut down, and it is simply too windy and unsafe to ride the molly mobile, why not stay inside all weekend and make shit?

for breakfast day one, i made two little breakfast sandwiches:

herby ricotta + cherry/bluebee/strawbee jam + rosemary

{and}

a slow poached farm egg + garlic butter

{atop}

whole wheat english muffins

english muffins are such a sad situation because i feel like for most people, the extent of their english muffin knowledge comes from those thomas' thingies. but if as much care was put into them as any other of their breakfast bread brethren, like say the bagel, english muffins could shine, too. sarabeth's and m. wells make yummy house-made ones, but nowhere can you sit by the stove waiting for a hot and doughy one to flip off the pan {save for your own kitchen}. these set the cooking standard extremely high for hurricane weekend. 

{recipes}

cherry/bluebee/strawbee jam: {in a saucepan, simmerin} cherries + bluebees + strawbees + water + salt --> 1/2 cup sugar --> 1/2 cup sugar + lemon juice 

herby ricotta: heat whole milk + heavy cream to 180 degrees, add lemon juice, strain. add herbies.

slow poached farm egg: go to the market, get an egg, put it in 145 degree water for an hour. using your engineering skillz, don't let it touch the bottom of the pan.

garlic butter: shake up heavy cream until it separates, wash it, add crushed garlic.

english muffins: use alton brown's recipe and substitute 1/2 cup of all purpose flour for whole wheat flour. and don't fret if you don't have powdered milk, i substituted that and the hot water for 1 cup of hot milk.

 for a snackee, some dippy things were in order:

mustard lentil dip

{and}

chili mango jam

these were both inspired by trader joe's things. the lentil dip is because i wanted to make tj's masala lentil dip. but i don't have masala spices... and i do have mustard, you know. even though it's barf colored, it tastes reeeeally really good. and it is healthyful.

the chili mango jam was inspired by tj's chili spiced mangos, which are what i tell the friendly cashier to leave out of the shopping bag so that i can have a commute munchie {but actually on friday i didn't even get to the cashier before opening them because of the apocalyptic checkout line of people buying 100 jars of peanut butter}. both the jam and dip are good on crackers or muffins or... with a spoon, sitting on the couch, in your underpants. 

{recipes}

mustard lentil dip: lentils + water + tahini + honey & whiskey mustard + garlic dijon mustard + lemon juice + sugar + salt + pepper + cayenne + paprika + garlic --> blend {you can probably use any mustards... i recommend having one of them be dijon}

chili mango: {in a saucepan, simmerin} mango + water + salt --> sugar + cayenne + paprika --> more sugar + cayenne + paprika --> lemon juice --> blend

and for the dessert to my snackee {i hope that a lot of people do that}:

lemon rosemary cupcakes

i sort of donked these. they were an attempt at cupcaking this delicious lemon loaf that my mum makes {that, you would never know it, but is from one of those healthfood whatever cookbooks weight watchers extravaganza things}. but either i kept them in the oven too long, or the recipe is just not meant to be cupcaked... and they are all dry and sad pandas now. but, hey! isn't that plate pretty? i made it at camp.

dinner day one was, are you ready for this? 

homemade ramen! 

{hello, poached egg-u!}

lucky peach [issue 1] has a recipe for alkaline noodles where the first step is baking baking soda for an hour and then mixing a ton of it with flour and water. and what baking soda becomes after it's been baked is totally bizarre, make my mouth feel like i'm glad my roommate put that poison control hotline sticker on the fridge. i'm thinking maybe the amount in the recipe was wrong, or i'm just an alkaline noodle newbie. oh well. the texture was super great though. and they were placed in a soy saucey broth with squash and beet greens... and for garnish i added some of the really yummy seaweed that my korean ex-roomie left behind, chopped up jalapenos, and a slow poached 140ish degree egg. and the egg had a sriracha face. face!

anyways. i have officially slept through and survived the premature irene, my first hurricane. but all of my sunday plans are going to remain cancelled so that i can continue hurricane weekend food-making fest. stay tuned for survival, day two...

-yeh!!

more homemade than this and there'd be a cow in my kitchen

this was produced in my home science lab yesterday.

it's ricotta!!

and alls it took was some milk and a lemon

and way more patience than my comfort zone could handle.

if ever you're looking for some good old-fashioned g-rated excitement, try pouring lemon juice into milk that has heated to 180 degrees and then watch the curds and whey separate. 

it is so cool i don't know why anyone would need cable television when they could watch curds and whey separate. 

 today i mixed the ricotta with an egg and some herbies and young broccoli leaves and encased it in whole wheat pasta dough to make humungo ravioli friends. i then introduced them to some tomato friends. and together they made the best dinner ever. 

take that, teensy kitchen!

yeh!!!

earthquake dumplings

 hipster dumplings

atop some ceramics i made at camp dumplings

sunchokes were my lunch today. which led to some really disgustingly loud tummy grumblies {unbelievably loud, in fact}. so when the floor and my chair started to feel like jell-o, i thought oh man these sunchoke tummy grumblies are really getting to me, i should spot the nearest waste basket. and i didn't say anything to anyone until people whom i safely assumed hadn't had a sunchoke lunch were talking about a similar jell-o experience. and it was indeed mister earthquake. my first. and i am just grateful that i didn't know it was happening when it happened because if i did, i would have probably had a fast-breathing attack. and near-fast-breathing attacks call for comfort food. like homemade dumplings! and in my teensy apartment kitchen, that is a big big job. but it happened, and they were so incredibly marvelous and just the kind of post-grumbly-and-earthquake comfort i needed. to be exact, they were {whole wheat vegetable dumplings} and they were rather winged.

the wrappers: whole wheat flour + water + lots of kneading and resting

the innards {mainly a mixture of what looked good at the market on sundee}: squashies + zucchini + carrots + young broccoli + sugar, soy sauce, salt, garlic, flour

the sauce: soy sauce + sesame oil + red pepper flakes + rice vinegar + rice wine + garlic

oh dumpling heavens they were good. i wish i hadn't et them all so i could have leftovers for lunch tomorrow.

-yeh!!!!