Cooking for others

Today's Boston Globe features an interesting article by the restaurant critic. She acknowledges feeling guilty reviewing swanky restaurants and at the same time reading about the current rice and cooking oil shortage in developing countries. Her proposal is this : If you're planning on going out to dinner, change your restaurant to one a step down in price range than you were planning on going to, and donate the rest to world hunger organizations. Not a bad idea, eh? You could take it one step further by going homespun and cooking that meal you were going to have at home, then donating that money. I think that a steak dinner: Steak, salad, potato, etc. is just as good, if not better, at home, and think of the money you could save! Feed your palate and your conscious at the same time.
Here's the article. Her blog also features a list of organizations who need donations.

The Gnomes and Fairies helped me

I baked a cake recently that was magical: A plain chocolate cake batter, but then you mixed sugar, more cocoa and boiling water together and poured it on top of the batter. When it bakes, the top magically becomes cake, and the bottom magically becomes a chocolate/pudding sauce. Fantastic! Unicorn dreams and rainbows!

It is good. I'm too lazy to type the recipe right now, but if you really want it, email me and I'll post it.

The cake made me think of other magical foods, specifically the most famous magical food: Impossible Cheeseburger Pie. For those who don't know, it's ground meat, Bisquick and cheese: except that you pour all that shit in a pan, and it magically separates and the crust floats THROUGH the meat to the top of the pan.

I know there's scientific reasons for all this, but I don't care. I prefer to have it be magical! Pixie dust and unicorns!

24 hour cauliflower

I recently read the woman who writes the Orangette blog's column in Bon Appetit. She talked about a meal she had as an exchange student in France that blew her mind and shaped her palate from there on out. One of the things she spoke about was a plate of steamed leeks with a vinaigrette. For some reason, this sounded just about perfect, and since I had the day off (Patriot's Day: A holiday only in Massachusetts, Maine, and strangely, Wisconsin, that celebrates the revolutionary-type Patriots, not the soul-crushingly defeated football team), I thought I'd make a nice meal. I roasted a chicken with lemons under the skin, and cut up a cauliflower I had to roast as well. The reviews of the cauliflower on epicurious all talked about how "transforming" it was, how good, so I thought I'd give it a shot.

We had a lovely meal, the leeks were delicious, and this morning when I got up the husband asked "hey, weren't we going to have cauliflower last night?" Oops. I opened the oven, and there they were: Shriveled, defeated, a shadow of their former glorious selves. Full disclosure: When I reached in the oven to get them out, I put on a pot holder. Why? What can I say-it was early. He started to throw them away, but I wanted to try them.

They tasted like cauliflower bar mix: salty and crunchy. Well, and cauliflower-y.

I ate the whole pan.

Next tag line: Too Busy to Cook? Leave the Meal in the Oven All Night!

Why breakfast is the best of all possible meals

This revelation came to me recently watching, of all things, a Denny's commercial. It just looked SO GOOD. But think about it:

1. Any thing you could possibly make is quick.
2. There's toast.
3. Everyone loves it.
4. It perfectly fits the occasion it inhabits (weekday quick bowl of cereal;post-hangover greasy eggs and hashbrowns)
5. It involves coffee.
6. It's cheap.
7. Easy decisions at a time when you need it. If you can't decide between pancakes or eggs, it's encouraged that you get both. Try that with a Chinese/italian/Thai/sushi/steak discussion.
8. It's ok to have breakfast at other times of the day. No such luck with the other way around. (Shrimp scampi with your coffee?)

I think I'll go make some pancakes.

Spring forgiveness

With Spring finally here (sort of), it feels right to celebrate the fresh start of the season. Today is opening day for the Red Sox, and the easiest thing to do would be to have hot dogs, cracker jacks, etc. for dinner. I like sports theme meals for a couple reasons: it makes sports more fun for people who don't give a Sox, and it adds some flair for people who do. Plus, you can tie in regional touches depending on who's playing. Clam chowder for the beloved Sox, and for their opponent Detroit....well, for that one I'm stumped. Cherry pie? Tiger steak? Car parts?

Spring also equals rebirth, from flowers to 0-0 records, and maybe even letting go of the past. You can get rid of your old ratty, coffee stained coat, forgive yourself of winter pastiness and pounds, and try something new. This is neither homespun, nor urban, but (I'm embarrassed to admit) inspired by the fact that I got a little choked up seeing Bill Buckner throw out the first pitch. And I didn't even grow up in New England.

If you don't know what I'm talking about, and care, just click on his link. It's forgiveness of mythical proportions. Seriously. At least in New England.

thanks to http://www.liz-adams.com/ for the artwork today.

Ricotta Frackin' Gnocchi

I made this Gnocchi recipe last night. It's so good, it's making me fake swear. Don't trust the reviews on Epicurious. It's really frackin' good.

back and sad

Back from the fabulous Homespun vacation in...(in case you didn't guess) Hawaii. So sad to be back. But let's reflect on what we learned:
1. It takes a good 5 days for a fast paced urban gal to be able to sit still all afternoon and read a book. But once she does, woo boy...
2. Food really is seasonal and local for a reason. There's no way I wanted pot roast or lasagna while sitting under palm trees in 80 degree weather. The most perfect meals consisted of fish, vegetables, and maybe pineapple for dessert.
3. You can go on vacation and not get fat when you go to places that make you crave fish, vegetables, and maybe pineapple for dessert.

Jet Lag Journal, Part 2

Jet lag cured. See you in a week.

No Jet Lag Party Planning

images
Originally uploaded by kaytwhy.

Ah, to be away at a mystery destination...even if you're not, there's no time like the winter/spring 'shoulder season' to fight ennui with one of our favorite homespun urban things: a theme party. Channel the destination of your choice, whether it involves baguettes, pina coladas or the spam sushi pictured here. Dress like a native, download some local tunes, turn up the heat if need be, and send yourself somewhere fun without leaving home!

The Jet Lag Journal, part 1

One half of Homespun Urban is on vacation. I won't say where, but let's just say it's a place that uses lots of vowels in their native language (which rules out Wales). This little piece of paradise was going to keep me off the blogging, but since it's about 6 hours out of my time zone, I have the unfortunate habit of waking up every morning around 3:30. My sleep loss, blogspot's gain.

Before I left, I got wrapped up in "Gordon Ramsey's Kitchen Nightmares" on BBC America. I love this show not only for the copious amounts of swearing, but also watching crappy restaurants (that remind me of many places I used to work) get turned into workable joints. Gordon tends to do the same thing to each place, but it works: get rid of complicated menu items, simplify, and have the food reflect the location and type of restaurant. There's not many places that can turn out sea urchin foam on broiled rabbit's foot, so why even try? Stick to fish and chips.
The place whose location I will not divulge features a cuisine that's big on fish, pineapple, and spam. Spam not withstanding, I felt a little like ol' Gordo when we went out for our first meal. Some of the food was what you'd want on vacation, but there was also a beef tenderloin with blue cheese creme fraiche and garlic mashed potatoes. Let me tell you, people don't travel to this place (which I can't tell you where it is but it rhymes with "Mawaii") to eat garlic mashed potatoes. Or so I thought. After husband and I had a good time imitating Gordon and swearing rapidly about the menu, the table next to us ordered everything we had just made fun of.
I guess people like the food that makes them comfortable, and who I am to judge? Sometimes the "eat what the locals eat" backfires- like the burrito I had during my layover in Phoenix (Southwest, makes sense, right?) that left me exploring every bathroom in the airport whose name I can't mention, but I can tell you I received a type of flower necklace that sounds like something dirty.
Aloha from the mystery vacation spot. See you at 3:45 am.