We went to the Big Eastern States Exposition (Big E) in Springfield, MA. While there are all kinds of things to enjoy there, we focused on the food, primarily. The pictures below are of Lori and Gemma enjoying giant dill pickles, Gemma and I posing as cows (and being judged by a passerby), Lori’s cool hair clip that a woman insisted on putting in her hair, and Gemma eating FRIED OREOS!!!!!!!

Of course we still had cooking group too. One night we had:

Bean Dip

Quiche

And Pumpkin Mousse Parfaits

Finally, the MOST important thing that happened…Lori bought a Magic Bullet!!!!!!!!

We’re having cooking group tomorrow night. It should be a good nice. Gemma is hosting, and we have Sehar coming as well as Michelle. Hopefully we will have another update after!

Angela DiDomenico (we call her Angela D., you should too) has been joining us for a few weeks. Also, a co-worker of mine, Sehar Mahmood (also one of my Mexico co-travelers) has come the last two weeks. It’s been fun having some new faces, and of course trying new food. Sehar is from Pakistan and has been treating us to dishes she has grown up eating. They have been delicious, but impossible to pronounce. We are working on our proper Pakistani accent.

This provides a nice segue into my current obsession with Indian food. This is not Sehar’s fault, though it doesn’t help that she brings pumpkin curry to work for lunch! I love Indian food, I really do. It’s saucy, and spicy, and involves rice! I’ve been trying to consume less meat these days (major challenge), so veggie dishes are popular. Lately, I have been making what I call veggie curry and chickpea curry. I have no idea how authentic they are, but I find them fantastic. Also, major breakthrough – I MADE AND ATE LENTIL SOUP for cooking group this week!!!!! It was good. I blended it, so the lentils didn’t look like lentils, and therefore didn’t bring back painful memories of lentil soup in a thermos for lunch in grade school. I will definitely post the recipe at some point. I also have some pics on my camera that need to be loaded (once my battery charges).

Ok…there’s your update. Hopefully you will be hearing from the other ladies too, including our newbies.

Ingredients: 1/4 cup unsalted butter, 3 ripe pears, 1/3 cup granulated sugar, 1/3 cup all-purpose flour, 2 tsps vanilla extract, 3 eggs, 3/4 cup milk, 1/4 tsp of salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350F and butter a pie dish.

Slice pears 1/4-inch thick and arrange in the dish.

In a blender mix remaining ingredients and pour batter over pears.

Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.

This is the type of recipe and cookbook well suited to someone like me who is always running late, has a poorly stocked pantry, and only has the bare kitchen essentials!

I have learned that I am a messy cook. I am not sure if this is a result of the fact that I am always running late, but on cooking group nights my kitchen tends to look like it was hit by a tornado.

I have learned that a lack of silverware is not an obstacle to having people over for dinner! When this group started I had very few kitchen supplies and have still not gotten silverware! When the ladies come over we have on ocassion had to use plastic silverware, but this group is more about the friendship and getting together than having polished silverware or any silverware for that matter!

I have learned that I am not very scientific when it comes to cooking. Although I work as a scientist, the attention to detail and accuracy I use at work do not translate to the kitchen. I cut/substitute ingredients in recipes and add a dab here and a sprinkle there instead of tablespoons and teaspoons. I pay a little more attention to measurements when baking, but don’t have it down to a science.

I have learned that there are some really great healthy recipes floating out there in cyber space and in dusty books at the library. Over the last two weeks I made a garden harvest cake that was packed with vegtetables and an eggplant dip for the group. Both recipes were yummy, easy, and on the healthy side.

I am sure there are things I have learned, but am forgetting to mention, as a year is a long time. There are some highlights from the group,however, that will probably stick with me forever: my attempt to make snow cones (that was a disaster), the double feature of greek salad in one night (that was a fluke), and mom’s night (that was a blast!).

I found this website when looking for a recipe for apple tart last weekend. I love it. The creator is a former girly girl who once lived in LA, who was swept off her feet by a cowboy. And I mean straight up, legit, cattle raising, hay hauling COWBOY! Who I must say is delicious. They now live on a big farm, with their four kids, and cattle, etc. She has this website where she blogs about her life, her kids, her photography, and her cooking…as well as allowing members to share recipes, etc. I love it, I love her, I visit daily. Obsession #2 is her fault…

#2 – “French” Breakfast Puffs aka Cinnamon and Sugar Mini-Muffins aka Drops of Heaven

Go here: http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/breads/french-breakfast-puffs/ and make them as soon as possible…I mean, look at them.

Look closer.

Do yourself a favor and make them.

#3 – Madison, Caitlin, and Patrick aka the punks who call me Auntie

They’re pretty cute.

They LOVE a yo-yo.

 
They love to bake.

Mainly, because they love to eat.

They laught at my jokes.

And, LUCKILY, Maddie loves to clean (at least for now).

Love them…just cause.

I went apple picking with Lori and our friend Ursula yesterday, and of course picked a TON of apples. For me, I go apple picking for two reasons
 
1) It reminds me of going with my brother and grandfather as a kid and
2) I LOVE to bake, and who can resist an apple dessert?

We went to Tougas Farms in Northboro (www.tougasfarm.com). When I got home I decided I was not going to wait to bake, and so I jumped online and started looking for an apple tart recipe. I came across a recipe posted on a…….BLOG. So, of course I had to try it. This is the link to the blog (http://thepioneerwoman.com/cooking/2009/05/quick-easy-and-yummy-apple-tart/) It’s not just cooking, it’s a pretty extensive page, which I intend to browse more. I will not bother posting the recipe, since the link is there (p.s. I added a sprinkle of cinnamon). The tart came out pretty nice, though the sugary juice did burn a bit. I would definitely do it again, to experiment. My mom and I ate it warm with light vanilla ice cream…my dad, I think just ate it plain. I also put a plate in the kitchen at work this morning. Haven’t heard any reactions yet. This is how it looked fresh out of the oven!

Apple Tart with Puff Pastry

The group did not meet this week due to the holiday, but I hope we meet soon so I can try recipes from other chefs that I have bashed! I feel as though we are going through somewhat of a transition at the moment and it will be interesting to see what comes out on the other end.

1. In a bowl toss together 1/4 cup soy sauce (I used reduced sodium), 2 tbsp grated ginger, and two pounds of thinly sliced pork loin. Marinate for 20 minutes.
2. In another bowl, mix together 2 tbsp soy sauce, 3/4 cup rice vinegar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, and 2 tbsp sugar (it also called for 1 tsp of salt here, which I omitted and utimately never needed). Set this mixture aside.
3.  Heat a few tbsp of vegetable oil in a big soup pot (at least 5 qts) on medium high. Add in pork and marinade and cook for 4 minutes stirring contantly, until pork is no longer pink. No need to cook it to death, it will finish in the soup. Stir in 1 8oz can of drained and rinsed bamboo shoots, and cook for one more minute.
4. Turn heat to high, and add 12 cups of chicken stock (I used reduced sodium) and bring to a boil. Add 2-3 tsp of ground black pepper (spicy as you like it) and  3/4 lb sliced shitake mushrooms and reduce to a simmer. Simmer 20 minutes. Add one 12oz block of firm tofu drained and cubed, simmer 5 minutes. Add soy and constarch mixture, and simmer 5 more (soup will thicken a bit).
5. In a small bowl, beat 4 eggs with 1/2 tsp of sesame oil. Slowly poor eggs into soup in a thin stream while stirring slowly in one direction (tricky!). Simmer another 5 minutes.

Serve it up with scallions and/or cilantro. It’s got a good flavor. The spice is more delicate than a traditional soup, since you’re using the non-traditional black pepper, but it’s quite good still.

The Market is located in the W Hotel in the theater district and is run by Jean-Georges Vongerichten. I have no idea who this chef is but can assure you that his dishes are fabulous. I had a salad to start that had melt in your mouth goat cheese and candied wasabi. The main course was halibut, which was cooked to perfection. The piece de resistance was the cookies and confections I had for dessert, that included a variety of cookies, chocolate and blueberry marshmallows. I would definitely go back to this restaurant even if I had to save up for the occasion!

Cookies and confections at the Market.

Erbaluce is an Italian restaurant that is also located in the theater district. Even though yelp reviews raved about this place, I would give it a miss. I had cod and kale soup to start and hake fillet for the main course. The soup was hearty, however, the fish was covered in unidentifiable globs of green. Although I was excited about the idea of peaches with marzipan and mascarpone for dessert, this dish tasted a little like cough syrup!

Hake fillet with globs of green!

Even though I have been eating out far too much lately, I have done a little cooking.  This weekend I made home-made marinara sauce for the first time. I am amazed that all it takes is some tomato, onion, garlic, basil and olive oil to make a great sauce! I am also excited by a cook book I found in the library called Arabesque with recipes from Morocco, Turkey & Lebanon. Since dancing and cooking are among my favorite things to do, this book has my name written all over it!

I will also get to do some cooking for the group this week, as we are meeting tomorrow. I am going to try a low-fat chocolate pudding recipe and will let you know how it turns out.

It came out well. I would advise doing it in a mini food processor or blender to get it really smooth. It’s a small amount of dip, and was hard to get very smooth in a big processor. You could easily swap out the sour cream with plain yogurt if you had that on hand. You should also be sure to let it sit in the fridge over night, or at least a few hours. It tastes a lot better after that.

ENJOY!