charlotteann

Quite possibly the most discussed topic in the world, the weather influences everything we do. Obviously. I had something sort of prepared to write about the weather but I’ve already bored myself, so I won’t burden you, dear readers. The idea was that the recent boon of heat had me preparing decidedly “summery” food. Temperatures exceeded 90 degrees (f) in San Francisco this week and we all complained about it. We loved it, but we complained nevertheless. We spent our unemployed days in the park instead of in cheap coffee shops, and we bared our pale skin after applying SPF 75 sunblock. We also went to the farmers’ market to purchase lemons in order to indulge a particularly intense craving for lemonade.

Since today is half over and still overcast, my enthusiasm to write about how fabulous this lemonade was on a hot summer’s day is waning quickly. But I shall do my best.

The coldest summer in 40 years came to an abrupt, record-setting end at the beginning of this week and anyone who had to go to work was probably pretty bummed out. But I don’t feel bad for them because they have jobs. Anyway, I got really sweaty and gross from the heat and just felt like a glass of lemonade. I wandered down to the farmers’ market in shorts of all things and loaded up my bag with summery things like strawberries, lemons, figs, and tomatoes. I also bought an enormous bunch of basil that had seen better days but I needed it for Super Summer Salad Event: Insalata Caprese!

Raw tomatoes are another not-favorite of mine (like eggs). I met someone recently who shares my distaste for raw tomatoes. Or rather, they shared my distaste because they had systematically forced their taste buds to reverse their opinion and start loving tomatoes. Why? Who knows. Maybe because tomatoes are like, but not as bad as, eggs when it comes to things like sandwiches: they’re all over the place and it would behoove oneself to tolerate them. Otherwise you’ll be saying “no tomatoes” for the rest of your life. What a waste of time. But with a homemade caprese salad, I discovered I can handle a thick slice of raw tomato because it’s smothered in balsamic vinegar and olive oil and topped with basil and mozzarella (in case you didn’t know). Is this the beginning of a taste bud-turning journey? Will I someday enjoy raw tomatoes on my sandwich? Only time will tell…

Somewhat ironically, considering yesterday’s blog post written from my environmental soapbox, I had beef for dinner. It wasn’t grass-fed and I bought it from a major chain grocery store. I’m a hypocrite! I know! If it makes you (because it certainly makes me) feel better I eat beef maybe once a month. Having grown up in Montana this is a considerable change from my early years when we ate all kinds of cow on all kinds of days. I think cows are adorable and they taste great, so I have respect for the animal and try not to eat it unless it grew up eating grass like nature intended. Except last night. Last night I made an exception because I am poor and I wanted beef. Are you sick of me justifying my actions yet?

Tasty!

I lifted this recipe from several websites because a google search for “miso marinated steak” resulted in several hits for nearly identical miso-wasabi marinades. “How strange,” thought I, and wondered: Does this mean there is some kind of miso-wasabi standard out there, handed down from the Japanese god of all things that come in paste form? Decide for yourself if this recipe is divine:

Wasabi-Miso Marinated Steak with Soba and Green Onion
adapted from numerous websites/handed down from the paste gods

For the marinade:

Whisk together all of the marinade ingredients in a bowl. Place the mixture into a plastic bag with the steak and allow to marinate for two hours in the refrigerator, turning it over after an hour.

As it marinates, prepare the soba noodles according to package instructions. After rinsing the noodles in cold water, cover and place the colander over a bowl before placing in the refrigerator. This will allow the noodles to chill and drain further.

After two hours, remove the steak from the bag and save the marinade. Get your broiler going and adjust the rack according to your steak’s thickness. Actually, this is an area I know very little about, so hopefully you know your own broiler and where to put the rack. Technically speaking, I just wing it. I also prefer to use my cast iron skillet in lieu of the broiler pan because it’s about 80 million times easier to clean. As the broiler heats up (with your pan or skillet in place), slice the green onions and remove the soba noodles from the ol’ ice box.

When the broiler is ready and your cooking pan of choice is hot, place the steak on it. You can baste the steak with the reserved marinade if you like. I didn’t because I don’t have a baster. Cooking time will vary on steak thickness and your preference for rareness. I think my steak (about an 1 1/2 ” thick) cooked for about 10 minutes, with a quick flip after 7 minutes, and came out a little too medium for me but still juicy.

Slice the steak thin and place on top of soba noodles and garnish with green onions. I would suggest drizzling some pan juices, but I didn’t have any. Instead I used the juice that collected on the cutting board while I sliced the steak. I also added some soy sauce. Enjoy!

I love this stuff. I know I’ve said it before several times on this blog and certainly in person. I don’t think people think of me as being a fiend for ramen as much as they think of me as a nut for pizza or Chinese food, but my appetite for this stuff is becoming insatiable. So insatiable I am willing to risk indigestion by putting %80 of a bowl of ramen for dinner on top of a large, late lunch. Whether its gluttony or hedonism, I enjoy ramen at restaurants and in the comfort of my own apartment at least twice a week. And last week a friend and I finally had our second ramen dinner together at Norikonoko in Berkeley, CA.

A fellow ramen f(r)iend

I had brought this friend to my personal favorite, Tanpopo in San Francisco’s Japantown, where we enjoyed two enormous bowls of awesome before he suggested we try his favorite spot. After our dining experience at Norikonoko it looks as though we’ll be trying to one-up each other, a challenge for which I am more than excited (and think I am winning already, hah!). Norikonoko is a very cozy restaurant with a sliding door and maybe ten tables. It’s a bit beyond the hubbub of that mess of retail stores and coffee shops that exist for UC Berkeley students on Telegraph avenue inside of a dark wood grotto of restaurants and shops. Although ramen isn’t exactly a main feature on the menu (I’d say the robata dinners had that spot), there were four options available. In my experience, the fewer options you have for a particular dish the better: the restaurant isn’t trying to please everyone and (hopefully) as a result prepares those few variations very well.

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I used to think that old saying “breakfast is the most important meal of the day” was a load of you-know-what. Unashamedly I admit I held this opinion because most breakfast menus in America feature and expound upon the disgusting egg. I find eggs inedible and anything but incredible. This leaves me ordering a bunch of sides (bacon, hashbrowns, home fries, toast, etc.) with a side of longing for the ability to ask the chef to make a sausage, onion, mushroom, and cheese omelet without the omelet. Omelet ingredients are often inventive, enticing, and seemingly delicious. Oh, if only they weren’t wrapped up in floppy egg blanket! San Francisco restaurants have come through for me on this issue, however, as they often offer scrambled tofu as an egg substitute, if only with an unfair surcharge. But whatever – I don’t go out for breakfast all that often and recently I have been experimenting in my morning kitchen.

Home fries, cat

Ellie, my cat, is sometimes the one who wakes me up. Usually it’s the glorious morning summertime light beaming in through my gossamer curtains, but sometimes the cat decides that 8:00 AM is the perfect time for a litter box party and I wake to sounds of litter being scratched around and tossed over the sides of the box onto my floor. Cute, sort of.

Eggs are cheap but I am pretty sure potatoes are cheaper. I really like home fries and hashbrown scrambles so I’ve been merging the two in my cast iron skillet and scrilleting up some potatoes, mushrooms, onions, and herbs with butter or oil. Lately I’ve been going through sticks of butter like I was saving for hibernation or something, but so far no weight gain. I’ll get to that part later (hint: the litter box story was foreshadowing).

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It’s true, I do. Paris was really awesome and I really enjoyed spending the 2006-2007 school year abroad there. I mean, it’s Paris. How can you not miss it? Well, not everyone loves it, and not everyone loves the French. Some of you out there hate the French, whether for a good or bad reason. Although I have to say, in my slightly biased opinion that most of the reasons are bad. And all of those reasons - good and bad - just seem like total clichés to me. I can’t even write about them without feeling like a tool, so I won’t. I will just talk about galettes.

Galette with ham and gruyère cheese

A galette, also known as a savory crêpe or a buckwheat crêpe, is really awesome like Paris but you can eat it. It’s like eating Paris. Actually, the galette originates in Bretagne (Brittany) where buckwheat was a cheap alternative to regular wheat, which was taxed. Buckwheat arrived via the crusaders from Asia. I guess religious wars can have their perks.

When we visited Bretagne and Normandy, we ate so many apples and apple-based dishes I can barely remember Mont St. Michel or the D-Day beaches. But when I was in Paris, I took a photography course near the Jussieu métro that serves the nearby Université Denis Diderot. Consequently, a crêpe-making superstar serves throngs of students across the street from the métro entrance. I unfortunately never learned this woman’s name, but she was incredibly kind and sold me several enormous, cheap galettes au jambon-fromage. The classic of course is the galette complète which contains cheese, ham, and an egg. I dislike eggs. My life is incomplete without them I know, so save your energy.

Following the recipe in Culinaria France by Andre Domine (recipe below) I whipped up a batch of galette batter substituting melted butter for lard. Moments later (like I was really going to let it sit overnight) I was enjoying the earthy flavor of buckwheat coupled with grated gruyère and Black Forest ham. Salty, gooey, good.

And now for the photos!

Butter on hand as the crêpe pan heats up

Sliced ham. Yum.

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So I braved the crowds on Saturday at the Ferry Plaza Famers’ Market. Among the bridge and tunnelers, the tourists, and the other locals who slept in, were scads of fabulous looking produce. Although the Ferry Plaza market has more variety in terms of vendors and prepared foods, it’s more expensive than the Civic Center market I usually visit on Sundays. I bought carrots, onions, potatoes, fresh herbs, arugula, an eggplant, mushrooms, and wheat grass for the cat. Then I went home and tried to style them into a still life.

Unfortunately, I am no stylist. The composition is fine, I think, but the balance of the original colors is totally off. Thus, a black and white image is born! I eventually gave up trying to arrange my produce and gave in to the rumble in my tummy and made a delicious salad.

Hey gang. Times are tough and I know you’re sick of hearing about it. But there are relatively healthy solutions out there for those of us enjoying funemployment and/or trying to make it as an artist. Even if they aren’t very healthy you can at least feel comforted by them. Take for example the humble yet satisfying grilled cheese sandwich.

Grilled cheese sandwich with swiss and goat cheese

The grilled cheese is not only really easy to make, but you can also put whatever is in your fridge cheese-wise on it and it will all melt together in harmony. Some people like to put green things in their grilled cheese sandwiches (I did last May) but I am finding myself less inclined to do so. I think this is because I am actually using my salad spinner and eating actual salad! I hope my mom is reading this…

Just cheese

Then of course we have noodle soup. As much as I love it, instant ramen takes a toll on your system. I know I shouldn’t use the spice packet, but I do and love every salty, chemical-ridden bit of it. So as I as trying to pick out the least horrible of the instants today at the store, I noticed some fresh noodles in the refrigerated section.

Cheap noodles!

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This last week since I returned from Portland has been a little rough. I won’t tell you what happened as I like to keep this blog appetizing for professional purposes, but I will say that yesterday an exterminator came, turned everything I own upside down, and blasted chemicals all over my studio apartment. The cat and I had to vacate the premises for five hours, which I spent doing laundry and seeing Toy Story 3 in 3-D. I enjoyed the movie and almost cried, but not as much as I cried last week. Last week was really lame and now that everything is back to normal - the cat is snoozing peacefully at my feet right now - I am ready to get back in my kitchen.

Despite having spent a fair amount of money taking care of last week’s problem, I splurged a little on a 3lb organic fryer chicken. Being without any fresh herbs or citrus, I decided to season the bird with olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and the last of my maple syrup (I never make pancakes anyway). Rubbing liquid in between a dead chicken’s skin and flesh is, in a word, creepy. But I managed and stuck it into the cast iron skillet with some fingerling potatoes, half a chopped onion, and some butter flavored with fresh ginger (removed before cooking).

I stuck it in the oven on the middle rack at 400˚ F and checked on it every 20 minutes or so. The recipe I was loosely following suggested basting the chicken with the cooking juices, but lacking a baster or any visible liquids in the pan I ignored that particular step.

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Well, hello! It’s been awhile. You know why? I do. I had school. It seems that I have difficulty blogging during classes. I recently completed a two week long intensive summer course called “Art On Paper.” I made some nifty illustrations inspired by/drawn from old photographs of mine. Click here to check ‘em out.

But now that that’s over, I have time to cook again! Or at least cook something other than instant ramen. And by “something other” I mean “instant pho.” Happy Pho*!

I know what you’re thinking: no way that could be good. Vegan pho? It’s an oxymoron, I thought, as I tossed the $4 box of instant noodle soup into my shopping basket at Whole Foods. I also thought it would be great to blog about, so here we are.

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Hey everyone. I had my first day of summer school today! I’ve never, ever in my schooling career taken classes during that most sacred of vacations, the Summer. Alas, I need this class to graduate in December so I will be showing up every weekday until June 14th at 9:00 AM and working my artistic butt off until 6:00 PM. Sounds fun, huh? Yeah. Actually, I am quite excited about my project. I will be making a book of paper dolls and clothing that will be semi-autobiographical and humorous. Like me. I am semi-humorous.

On Sunday I cooked a shrimp and scallop risotto for a couple friends. One of them had a birthday a few days ago, so we celebrated with food, wine, gelato, and brownies. Having read that risotto doesn’t reheat very well back into its original goopy goodness, I tried making risotto cakes out of the leftovers and used polenta mix instead of bread crumbs. It was easy and it would have been painless if it hadn’t been for all the spitting oil. I ate three.

In other news I have tried to reanimate my tumblr account. So for daily iPhone snapshots of my meals, go here. I just started another project (that’s all about me) where I photograph myself the night before I go out or go to bed, and then the morning after. I haven’t decided if I want to blend the images in an analog double exposure style or if I want to present them side by side as two separate photographs. Rest assured; I’ll figure it out. In the meantime feel free to spy on my personal life here.