Pickle Smoochers

Long ago, Krista hosted a pickling party at her firehouse home.



That's Krista looking hott in the purple. Prettiest ginger in the world. Toni on the left and Sai, center. Missing from all my photos is the instigator of all this business, Kara. It's nice that my friends are overachievers because that means all I have to do is show up with some cash for the cost of goods and put in some sweat equity.



We pickled radishes, green beans, and cucumbers.



I wish I had taken a photo of the radishes after they sat for a bit. The brine leeched the red out of the skins and the water turned pink like the color of a bleeding dawn. (Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers reference, and I am teaching simile to my eighth graders. Practice [poorly] what you preach, I guess.)



Toni brought jalapenos, which we added to many a jar. They added a real bite. It was awesome.

I ended up reusing the brine a couple times throwing in carrots or onions, which worked fine but didn't have the same intensity as the initial pickles.

I'll post the recipe soon (fine, probably not). In which case, try the links above. Those girls are on top of their shit.

Flourless peanut butter cake

HIIIIII!

Last night I was craving peanut butter cookies, but just not any peanut butter cookie. It was a recipe that Uyen handed down to me...one she got from a home economics (that's just a weird phrase, btw) teacher at her school a few years ago. It was a simple one: 1 cup of peanut butter, 1 cup of sugar, and an egg. No flour. Mix, bake, eat.

The cravings for peanut butter cookies started around 8pm, but by 11:30 I was making peanut butter cake. Since I didn't have a recipe, I made one up based on the cookie recipe.

Here it is:

About 1 cup peanut butter
About 1 cup brown sugar
About 1 tsp of baking soda
About 1 tsp of baking powder (maybe a little less than that)
A couple pinches of salt
A splash of vanilla extract
4 large eggs

(I didn't really measure anything...I know, this is baking, I should have, but I also didn't have a recipe so it didn't really matter.)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Mix everything except the peanut butter in a bowl. I used a fork and kind of beat it like scrambled eggs. I did it for about a minute to get it "fluffy" since there was no flour. Then add the peanut butter and beat/whip again until creamy and all the peanut butter "dissolves" into the mix. Grease a cake pan...and this is important. USE A CAKE PAN. The first time I tried this recipe I used a loaf pan and the center DID NOT cook AT ALL. Pour batter into cake pan and bake for 25 minutes. Top should be nice and brown.

I made a butterscotch sauce for it and it was pretty tastey. It's good on its own as well. I would suggest a chocolate sauce so it's like eating a deconstructed (my new favorite culinary term) Reese's peanut butter cup. If you have gluten-intolerant friends, they'll love you for this.


The glamour shot


In the pan


Drenched in butterscotch sauce

What we eat when we're poor

Beef stir fry with green beans, red bell peppers, red onions over couscous

Pork Stew

I made this a while back. The pork was unbelievably tender. Served with a couple of old standbys.

Tofu Curry with Curried Lentils

Andrew is not a huge fan of curry or lentils. This was not made for him. The lentils were a nice change from the usual white rice that would normally accompany this. This is basically the curry my mom used to make except I added some fresh corn off the cob for a little sweetness.

Fish Tacos

Lena is my gorgeous 20-year old niece, whose presence has been making me feel OLD. She likes to tell me, "You look good for your age, Auntie."

What I thought was going to be Lena's last night with her turned into her extending her stay by another week. Must have been the fish tacos.


Little Lena ain't so little no more.


I used tilapia filets. I usually bread the fish with panko bread crumbs, but forgot to buy them at the store. Instead I used some corn flour I had in the cupboard. They were nice and crispy.


I had some unused eggplant, so fried those up the same way.


The following morning, I made Huevos Rancheros from the leftovers for the little squirt.


Here we are hanging out at the New York Philharmonic free concert at Central Park.

See ya soon, squirt!

Robster and Crams

Went to hang at Ted's mom's house in Connecticut last weekend. Kat and Ted prepared a lobster boil and steamers. I usually don't care much for lobster, but I got into it. It was fun dismantling the little dude and satisfying to pull out hunks of meat. Mostly it was awesome to sit around a table outside with friends.


Poor little guy.


Serious business.


I don't know.


Na-na-nay-nay! Poor Masha in the back. Her bravery was admirable.



Thanks Kat and Ted!