Salty knows.
6.25.2008
Kitchen Creations
I have been getting a lot of mileage out of my kitchen lately. The cooking bug comes and goes, but I've been on a roll. Hwah! *flex muscles*
First was dinner with Pete and Kevin (and an empty chair where Kit would've been sitting). Caribbean was the theme, to go with the season.
* Jamaican Jerk chicken
* Rice and black beans, Haitian style
* Avocado & mango salsa
* Papaya, lime, pineapples
* Jamaican Spinach Soup
* Boscobel Beach Ginger Cake
There was even Jamaican hot sauce. For kicks, we made blender cocktails too! Hummingbird: Rum cream liqueur, coffee liqueur, strawberry syrup, banana, milk, ice. Sounds très bizarre but it was very yummy.
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The next weekend, we hung out with some S'poreans at Soergel's Orchard in Wexford. Took a hay ride to the farm and picked strawberries for 2 hours.
Our basket - came out to just over 4 lbs
What does one do with 4 lbs of strawberries? Freeze a portion, and make jam with the rest.
Homemade Amish white bread, lightly toasted, with homemade spicy strawberry jam
After reading several recipes that emphasize strongly on storing in sterile jars, we boiled the jar and the whole nine yards before putting the jam away... but in the end we finished it in 3 days anyway. Hehe.
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After the Jamaican dinner, I was still crazy about those Hummingbirds so I bought a lot of ripe bananas. I figured if they didn't become cocktails, I could make banana fritters to go with the other leftovers. We finished all but two lonely dark bananas. Inspired by the desire to spice up Sunday breakfast, I made chocolate chip whole wheat banana muffins.
I think I've graduated from being a tragic failure of a baker to a mediocre so-so one. Not bad! It lasted for a few breakfasts. Great on the go.
That's it for now. Tune in next time for another episode of Kitchen Creations! *fluttering cape and superhero music*
First was dinner with Pete and Kevin (and an empty chair where Kit would've been sitting). Caribbean was the theme, to go with the season.
* Jamaican Jerk chicken
* Rice and black beans, Haitian style
* Avocado & mango salsa
* Papaya, lime, pineapples
* Jamaican Spinach Soup
* Boscobel Beach Ginger Cake
There was even Jamaican hot sauce. For kicks, we made blender cocktails too! Hummingbird: Rum cream liqueur, coffee liqueur, strawberry syrup, banana, milk, ice. Sounds très bizarre but it was very yummy.
---------------------------
The next weekend, we hung out with some S'poreans at Soergel's Orchard in Wexford. Took a hay ride to the farm and picked strawberries for 2 hours.
Our basket - came out to just over 4 lbs
What does one do with 4 lbs of strawberries? Freeze a portion, and make jam with the rest.
Homemade Amish white bread, lightly toasted, with homemade spicy strawberry jam
After reading several recipes that emphasize strongly on storing in sterile jars, we boiled the jar and the whole nine yards before putting the jam away... but in the end we finished it in 3 days anyway. Hehe.
---------------------------------------
After the Jamaican dinner, I was still crazy about those Hummingbirds so I bought a lot of ripe bananas. I figured if they didn't become cocktails, I could make banana fritters to go with the other leftovers. We finished all but two lonely dark bananas. Inspired by the desire to spice up Sunday breakfast, I made chocolate chip whole wheat banana muffins.
I think I've graduated from being a tragic failure of a baker to a mediocre so-so one. Not bad! It lasted for a few breakfasts. Great on the go.
That's it for now. Tune in next time for another episode of Kitchen Creations! *fluttering cape and superhero music*
6.08.2008
Go Fly a Kite
The weather has been brutally warm and humid. Quite unfortunately, we only have one (very old) window unit A/C, which we have designated for use in the bedroom. Everywhere else in the house is utterly unbearable.
Like nomads seeking new pastures, hubs and I wander our neighborhood, laptops in tow, for a cozy spot with free wifi and cool respite from the muggy heat. For now, we've settled down at Te Cafe.
--------------------
Last weekend was the first comfortable weekend after a long string of rainy days - not too warm, either. Pete decided to hold a kite-making party, inspired by Daniel Beard's 'The American Boy's Handy Book', a book that was originally published in 1882 featuring fun boy-scouty activities for youth in pre-consumerist times. (Some of the other chapters include: how to make July 4th balloons, kaleidoscopes, fishing poles...)
We gathered around on a blue tarp in the living room, with spools of string, sheets of paper, cutting tools and wire strewn around us. There were some interesting ideas and shapes - in the spirit of experimentation, E and I agreed on a butterfly kite. The kite's structure consisted of arcing wooden dowels, which was a bit of a challenge; hubs soaked a few dowels in the bathtub and still broke some, but he finally got a good frame together. My job was to make everyone pizza for dinner. :)
The next day, we met up at Frick Park with our kites and picnic gear. (Whose kite will fly, whose kite will reign supreme?!) It was a beautiful sunny day with strong winds. A few of the other kites broke from the wind, in fact, before they got any height. It took our butterfly kite a while before it balanced itself and took flight. In the end, it did fly, and it flew pretty high - because of the way the frame was built, it even flapped like a butterfly. People came up to us to comment on the kite and give ideas (use lighter wood like rattan, attach a longer tail).
E's carefully engineered butterfly kite, with pretty streamers
It flies! See curved wooden frame
I was tickled by how serious hubs was about this kite. After the kite-making party, he did a bunch of research on kite-building, how to rig up the "Y" (string), how butterfly kites should look and fly, etc. All that effort paid off.
When we weren't playing around with our kites, we sat in the shade of a tree and just hung out. Bubbles, sandwiches, ice-cream truck, making whistles with blades of grass... Perfect Sunday afternoon in the park.
Dinner was going to be with a new friend, EB, whom I got to know at the movie shoot a few weeks ago (see previous post). They had gone kayaking that afternoon; in the end, the kayaking group and kiting group decided to join up for dinner at Abay for hearty Ethiopian fare.
Straw mesob for a dinner table, and we sat on little wooden stools
Tikil gomen, kay sir dinich, doro tibs, gomen besiga, and generous rolls of injera. Community platter - dig in with your hands!
--------------------
Still at Te Cafe sipping on a tall icy glass of ginger lemonade. Air-conditioning is bliss. After all this time, turns out that EB is sitting right behind me in the cafe! Uncanny...
Like nomads seeking new pastures, hubs and I wander our neighborhood, laptops in tow, for a cozy spot with free wifi and cool respite from the muggy heat. For now, we've settled down at Te Cafe.
--------------------
Last weekend was the first comfortable weekend after a long string of rainy days - not too warm, either. Pete decided to hold a kite-making party, inspired by Daniel Beard's 'The American Boy's Handy Book', a book that was originally published in 1882 featuring fun boy-scouty activities for youth in pre-consumerist times. (Some of the other chapters include: how to make July 4th balloons, kaleidoscopes, fishing poles...)
We gathered around on a blue tarp in the living room, with spools of string, sheets of paper, cutting tools and wire strewn around us. There were some interesting ideas and shapes - in the spirit of experimentation, E and I agreed on a butterfly kite. The kite's structure consisted of arcing wooden dowels, which was a bit of a challenge; hubs soaked a few dowels in the bathtub and still broke some, but he finally got a good frame together. My job was to make everyone pizza for dinner. :)
The next day, we met up at Frick Park with our kites and picnic gear. (Whose kite will fly, whose kite will reign supreme?!) It was a beautiful sunny day with strong winds. A few of the other kites broke from the wind, in fact, before they got any height. It took our butterfly kite a while before it balanced itself and took flight. In the end, it did fly, and it flew pretty high - because of the way the frame was built, it even flapped like a butterfly. People came up to us to comment on the kite and give ideas (use lighter wood like rattan, attach a longer tail).
E's carefully engineered butterfly kite, with pretty streamers
It flies! See curved wooden frame
I was tickled by how serious hubs was about this kite. After the kite-making party, he did a bunch of research on kite-building, how to rig up the "Y" (string), how butterfly kites should look and fly, etc. All that effort paid off.
When we weren't playing around with our kites, we sat in the shade of a tree and just hung out. Bubbles, sandwiches, ice-cream truck, making whistles with blades of grass... Perfect Sunday afternoon in the park.
Dinner was going to be with a new friend, EB, whom I got to know at the movie shoot a few weeks ago (see previous post). They had gone kayaking that afternoon; in the end, the kayaking group and kiting group decided to join up for dinner at Abay for hearty Ethiopian fare.
Straw mesob for a dinner table, and we sat on little wooden stools
Tikil gomen, kay sir dinich, doro tibs, gomen besiga, and generous rolls of injera. Community platter - dig in with your hands!
--------------------
Still at Te Cafe sipping on a tall icy glass of ginger lemonade. Air-conditioning is bliss. After all this time, turns out that EB is sitting right behind me in the cafe! Uncanny...
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