Brown Sugar Spice Cookies

So, I have been really silent recently. And that's because of school. It's hard to balance writing essays and studying for tests with writing a cooking blog. So the blog had to go on the back burner. But now, I've turned in my last essay, and don't have another test for 2 weeks. So I think that calls for celebration. And you know what goes great with celebration? Cookies.

I love cookies and always have (I mean, who doesn't like cookies?). I would often make a batch (or two) of chocolate chip cookies and bring them into high school, just cause I could (or for a class party or whatever). Bu after a while, I got tired of the chocolate chips. I know, blasphemy! But I've always found that I prefer the cookie part of the chocolate chip cookie. And then I realized, the chocolate chips didn't have to be there. I was in charge of my cookie fate, so I took the chocolate out. And I loved it. Soft and chewy brown sugar cookies with delightfully crisp edges.

And since it's December, I decided to throw some Christmas spice in the mix (because it makes everything better). And by Christmas spice, I mean cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves. Around this time of year, I find myself want to put it on absolutely everything.

Brown Sugar Spice Cookies

FYI, this makes a lot of cookies. Like, 4 dozen cookies. you have been warned (though I doubt you'll have a problem eating them all)

1/2 cup butter (slightly softened in the microwave)
3/4 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
one small pinch (less than 1/8 tsp) each ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves

Cream the butter and sugar together. The end result of this step is a butter-sugar paste, pretty much. To achieve this, you have to mash the butter against the side of the bowl with the back of the spoon until it's soft. Or, if you have some sort of electric mixer, just blend the butter, then add the sugar and blend (which requires much less arm work).

Once the butter and suger are creamed together, add the eggs and vanilla. Mix until well combined and smooth. Then slowly add the salt, baking soda, spices, and flour in little increments, mixing well after each addition. If you are using an electric mixer, make sure to turn down the speed, or there will be flour everywhere, trust me.

Once this mixture resembles, you know, cookie dough, you're all set. Just dollop them onto your baking sheet (coated in butter so they don't stick) with a tablespoon. Bake for 9-11 minutes (until crisp around the edged, but still soft in the middle).

Tada! Now you have a buttload of cookies! Go share them with your friends, and make their day.

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Today, I am going to tell you Hadestown. Hadestown is a "folk opera" (which is what everyone calls it, but it kinda fits) put together by Anais Mitchell. This album tells the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, but set in some sort of dystopian, poverty stricken South. This album has a surprising amount of fantastic artists working on it. Ani DiFranco sings the part of Persephone. Justin Vernon (of Bon Iver) sings the part of Orpheus. Ben Knox Miller (of The Low Anthem, which deserves it's own review, because it's fantastic) makes a couple of appearances as well. Most striking, however, is Greg Brown's Hades. This man's growl could move mountains. With it, Browns portrays a fantastic world-weary Hades. Each character has a distinct style, and in other hands it might even seem cacophanous, but Mitchell melds them all together into a fantastic tapestry of musical styles. From the upbeat bluesy "Way Down Hadestown" to the almost gospel chanting of "Why We Build the Wall" to Greg Brown's almost spoken word performance of Hades to however you would describe "Wait For Me" (which is definitely one of my favorite tracks, though choosing a favorite is hard out of so many songs. In fact, this is one of the few albums where I can say that I don't dislike any single track.) So if you like ancient Greek mythology, eclectic mixes of styles and unique voices, or just good music in general, check out Hadestown.

Steel Cut Oats

For the longest time, I was convinced that I didn't like oatmeal (which is silly, because oatmeal is delicious and hearty and simple and just lovely in so many ways). What I now realize is that I don't like the traditional "Quaker Oats" type of oatmeal. It tastes fine, but the texture is what got me. It was like eating thick paste, and no matter how tasty it is, I don't really want to eat paste.

But then, I saw Alton Brown make this recipe for steel cut oats, and it opened my eyes. (Also, if you have never heard of Alton Brown and Good Eats, you should fix that. He's like the Bill Nye of food). This oatmeal looks more like risotto than the usual pasty stuff you get, which makes sense, because it's kind of prepared like risotto.

Now, steel cut oats may not be as easy to find as traditional oats, but they should be nearby in the supermarket (sometimes there's an area that has less popular grains, like quinoa and bulgur and whatnot, and sometimes steel cut oats are there. Or I usually get them in the bulk grains area of the health food market in Kensington where I get my herbs and grains and stuff).

Steel Cut Oats

1 tbsp butter
1/2 cup steel cut oats
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
a pinch of salt (it really helps to bring out the flavor of the oats)

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat. Once the butter is melted, and just starting to bubble, add the oats, and saute/toast for a few minutes. (I always do this step, because I think it adds a hint of nuttiness to the final product. However, if you want to skip this step, you totally can.)

Once the oats smell toasty, add the water and the salt, and simmer, stirring occasionally (the stirring is what makes the texture of these oats.) Simmer until most of the liquid is absorbed, about 10 minutes. Then add the milk, and simmer again, stirring occasionally. Simmer until it has reached your desired consistency. Remove from the heat and serve.

Since it's oatmeal, you can do just about whatever you like with it. Do you like raisins in your oatmeal? Throw some in! Like maple oatmeal? Pour in some maple syrup! The possibilities are endless (well, maybe not endless, but certainly very numerous). My usual combination of toppings is ~1tbsp of brown sugar, and a dash of cinnamon and nutmeg.

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So today, I'm gonna talk about something new: a graphic novel. I know, there are a whole bunch of great movies that just came out that I could be talking about (like Cloud Atlas and Skyfall and Seven Psychopaths), but I haven't seen any of them yet, so instead I'm going to talk about how much I like one of my course books for my graphic novels class. It's called Truth Serum, and it takes the idea of deconstructing the superhero to the extreme. It is set in a suburb in Connecticut where almost every person is a costume (ie, a superhero or villain). But none of these characters are particularly heroic or villainous. One of the major heroes, Captain Force, is incredibly petty, and is willing to let a group of (admittedly obnoxious) youths get hit by a truck because they mocked his choice of music. Truth Serum shows that the superheroes that we might idolize from comics are really, in the end, just people, with problems just like all people have. They have to wait in line at the bank and try to deal with awkward social calls. Part of what makes Truth Serum so good is it's sense of humor. It's quite understated, which I find very appealing. In a way, it reminds me of the show The Venture Bros (which is awesome, if a ridiculous), but much less over the top.

So if you are interested in the idea of completely deconstructing the trope of the super hero, you should check out Truth Serum. But don't come complaining to me when not much happens plotwise (because this isn't that kind of story).

Roasted Squash and Grain Salad

I should probably admit right now, I love fall. It is absolutely my favorite season, hands down. The weather is perfect (cool and crisp, but not too cold. "Sweater weather", as people say), the leaves turn in a perfect display of complementary colors, and the food is delicious. Roast veggies and squash, apple cider (and fresh apples themselves), hearty soups. And everything is so comforting and filling, it's perfect for those times when something like a salad just won't cut it.

So you might be confused, I guess, as to why I'm giving you a recipe for a salad. Well, that's because this is a different kind of salad. Instead of being based on leafy greens, or crunchy veggies, it's based on whole grains and chunks of roasted squash. And in addition to the incredibly sustaining base of the salad, the spices (though not the traditional accompaniments to roast squash, the chili spice goes incredibly well with the savory-sweetness of the squash) will warm you right up on a chilly day.

Add in the tang of feta cheese, and you've got yourself one heck of a winter salad on your hands.

Also, this recipe has an intentionally vague name. This can be made with many types of winter squash (I've used acorn and butternut squash, and both were delicious. Pumpkin would also probably work, though I've never tried it). And this recipe can use just about any type of hearty whole grain. The original recipe that gave me the idea (over at Smitten Kitchen, as always) used farro. I didn't have farro, but I did have a bag of barley that had been kicking around for ages waiting for me to find a use for, so that's what I used and it was great. And again, the cheese is highly customizable as well. If you prefer goat cheese, go ahead and use it. The Smitten Kitchen recipe uses ricotta salata. Any cheese that is suitably tangy will work wonderfully in this salad. Let your taste-buds lead the way.

(And sorry about the lack of photos. As usual, I totally forgot to take pictures, so you'll just have to use your imagination)

Roasted Squash and Grain Salad

This recipe might seem complicated, but it is not as intense as it might look. There are three major parts of the this salad (the grain, the squash, and the "dressing") that are being made simultaneously, but they are easy to manage because each steps requires a lot of waiting.

1 winter squash (I used butternut squash this time, because it is easier to peel and cut into uniform chunks)
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cumin
1/2 tsp smoked paprika
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp chipotle powder
1/3 cup bulgur (or any other grain)
1/3 cup crumbled feta
1 Tbsp red wine vinegar
1 shallot, minced

Preheat the oven to 375.

Peel the squash, remove the innards and seeds (if you like pumpkin seeds, you should try roasting the squash seeds. Just let them dry, then spread them on a pan, coat with oil, and season with salt and pepper. Roast in a 375 oven for 7-10 minutes). Cut the squash into 3/4 inch cubes (it doesn't need to be perfect, but the pieces will cook more uniformly if they are all the same size).

In a large bowl, mix the squash cubes, oil, salt, cumin, paprika, cinnamon, and chipotle, until the squash it thoroughly coated. Spread the squash cubes evenly on a baking sheet (I cover mine with aluminum foil for ease of clean-up), and roast for 10 minutes. Then flip the pieces over, and cook for about 10 more minutes, or until they are tender to a fork.

While the squash is roasting, boil the bulgur in 1 cup of water. Once the bulgur is boiling, let it simmer for about 20-30 minutes until it is tender.  Drain any remaining water and let cool slightly.

While the bulgur is boiling, combine the shallot and the vinegar. This will slightly "pickle" the shallots, and the vinegar will act almost as a kind of dressing for the salad. Let the shallots sit until all the parts of the salad are ready to assemble.

Once all the components are prepared, it's just a matter of combining them. In a large bowl, toss the squash, bulgur, shallots, and feta cheese. You may want to add more olive oil, but that's just preference (I usually don't, but whatever).

This salad also keeps very well (which greatly adds to its appeal for me). You could probably store it in the fridge for a week.

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While I really want to review the movie Looper (because I saw it recently, and it was fantastic and I really think that everyone should see it). However, I'm not sure how I can review it without spoiling it entirely). I want to talk about the plot, and how it showed a fantastic use of time travel in narrative story-telling. I want to talk about how the antagonists in the film use time-travel to apprehend a character in the most terrifying way (seriously, that scene with Seth was super creepy. Anyone who has seen the movie will know what I'm talking about). I wish I could discuss my theories about what happened, because I love discussing theories about slightly ambiguous stories (and you often get slightly ambiguous stories with time travel).

But I really don't want to ruin the movie, so I guess all I can do is say that I recommend it highly. If you like time travel, you should see this movie. If you like crime/mob drama, you should see this movie.
 If you like Bruce Willis, you should see this movie (since you have Bruce Willis, and Joseph Gordon-Levitt acting like Bruce Willis). So, once again, you should all see this movie.

Chili

Sometimes I feel kind of silly giving you a strict recipe to follow (well, often actually, because I think cooking is such a personal and experimental process). For certain things, like salad or salsa, or in this case, chili, everyone has their own way of making. My friend Diana doesn't eat meat and makes a killer veggie chili. My mom, however, makes a more traditional chili that consists mainly of chunks of beef simmered in spicy liquid until they fall apart. My recipe is kind of a happy medium, I guess. It has lots of ground beef in it, but also lots of beans and tomatoes, and of course lots of spices.

As I said at the beginning, this is how I make chili. Feel free to change this around. If you have some jalapenos (or chipotle in adobo sauce, which is like my favorite thing) sitting around that need to be used up, throw those in. Or if you have an open jar of salsa that no one is finishing fast enough, toss that in too. If you don't like things so spicy, cut down on the spices. If you like more veggies in your chili, you can add some chopped bell peppers (be aware that this will probably make your chili quite a bit sweeter). It's chili, not brain surgery. Go crazy with it.

Also, in this blog you get to see the first pictures I've taken of my Toronto kitchen for this blog. So instead of the lovely commercial range and marble countertops of my parents' kitchen, you can now be treated to my less-lovely Ikea pots and white plastic counters. But the food will be just as delicious.

Beef and Bean Chili

1 medium onion (or half a large onion), diced
2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 pound ground beef
1 tsp chili powder
1/2 tsp chipotle powder
1 tsp cumin
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp salt
1 can (~19 fl oz) kidney beans, drain off the liquid
1 can (~19 fl oz) black beans, drain off the liquid
1 can (~19 fl oz) crushed tomatoes
juice of 1/2 lime

Saute the onion and garlic until softened and just starting to turn transparent.

FYI, I probably should have used less onion

Add the ground beef, and cook until about halfway cooked.

 Add the spices, and saute until the beef is pretty much fully cooked.

 Add the beans, tomatoes, and lime juice.

For this picture, I used whole canned tomatoes that I chopped into chunks, because that's what I had. If you like chunky chili, you can definitely use this approach.

 Simmer until it reaches your desired thickness.

You can serve this in a bowl and eat it with a spoon, or you can eat it with tortilla chips like I do. Also, I almost always grate some cheddar over the top, because it's delicious. Any leftovers you have can be frozen for later consumption. Or, if you only have a little bit left, make nachos.

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Today I'm going to review Yeasayer's Fragrant World, which is their newest album (which was released earlier this summer). Yeasayer is one of my favorite bands, because their sound is so interesting. They blend pop aspects with much more esoteric elements, like afrobeat and intricately layered tracks. Fragrant world is their third studio album, and while it is quite good, it isn't my favorite album of theirs (In case you are interested, my favorite album by them is probably Odd Blood, but All Hour Cymbals has some fantastic tracks as well). Fragrant World is weaker, in my opinion, because their sound has become more straight-forward pop, or maybe more like house music (I'm not sure what words to use to describe the type of music I'm thinking of). Well, this isn't to say that it sounds like anything in the Top 40 (or whatever it's called). I just miss the wonderful excursions into different types of sounds that I'd never heard before.

However, this stylistic shift does mean that almost every track from Fragrant World is a whole lot of fun to dance to. This is the kind of music that could make me actually enjoy clubbing (which I usually avoid like the plague). It's infectious and almost impossible to resist at least tapping your foot along, if not shamelessly dancing along. While Fragrant World is great for this, I just miss some of their more far-out stuff.

While maybe this change will benefit them as a band, making them more accessible to a wider audience, I miss their more experimental roots, and hope that they head back in that direction for their next album.

And here is a taste of some of their music, for those who are interested.
From Fragrant World: Reagan's Skeleton
From All Hour Cymbals (though really this is a studio session for a radio station): Wait for the Summer

Lazy Pasta

Sorry for the random long break in posts. I had been traveling a lot, and subsequently not making my own food. Part of my travels included moving back up to my Toronto apartment. While it's exciting to be back, it does mean I have to say goodbye to my parent's lovely kitchen (with it's marble countertops and it's commercial size range and it's extensive, always stocked pantry).

So, since I've just recently moved in, I'm don't really feel up for cooking anything to intensive, so I'm going to tell you my favorite lazy (and cheap) dish. It's something I can easily whip up in less than a half hour, and can feed a lot of people.

This recipe uses a combination of veggies that looked good at the supermarket today, but you can (as usual), use whatever you want. I often use bell peppers, eggplant, asparagus, olives, etc.

Oh, and of course, I forgot to take pictures because I'm a fool. I promise I'll start making more legitimate posts soon.

Veggie Pasta

Makes 3-4 servings

1 medium onion
2 cloves garlic
1 zucchini
4 crimini mushrooms
1/2 pound pasta
1/2 jar tomato sauce (or if you're feeling adventurous, you can make your own. I'll give some guidelines on pasta sauce recipe further down)


Boil ~5 cups water in a large pot. Add a large pinch of salt to the water.

Dice onions, mince the garlic, and chop the zucchini and mushrooms.

Saute the onions in a large skillet until translucent. Then add the minced garlic.

Once the salted water is boiling, add the pasta, and cook for the recommended time (or until it's your favorite texture)

To the sauteed onions and garlic, add the zucchini and mushrooms. Cook until veggies are your desired doneness (I really don't cook the veggies down that much, because I love fresh/crunchy veggies). Add the tomato sauce, and heat through.

When the pasta is done to your liking, strain out the water.

Serve the pasta and the veggie sauce, and if you want, you can top it with some cheese.


Quick Tomato Sauce

This recipe will probably make more sauce than you need for the pasta recipe above, but whatever is left over you can just put in the fridge and use later. And then you'll have delicious home-made sauce and you won't even have to worry about it.

1 16 ounce can of tomatoes (diced or crushed, depending on how chunky you like your sauce. Or if you really like chunky, you could get canned whole ones and mush them up for a bit in the can)
1 medium onion, diced
2 cloves garlic minced
2 tsp dried oregano
2 tsp dried basil (or fresh, if you have it)
1/2 tsp red peppers flakes

Saute the onion and garlic in some olive oil in a saucepan.

Add the canned tomatoes, and bring to a simmer. Add the herbs and spices.

Here is where the recipe gets fun. You can make whatever kind of sauce you like. Do you want cheese in your sauce? Add some grated parmesan or romano. Want to make an artichoke sauce? Take a can of artichoke hearts and throw it in. If you happen to have prosciutto, you could totally add it in, and it would be delicious. Basically, now it the time to add whatever makes you think "Mmmm, that tomato sauce looks fantastic".

And you can specialize the spices as well. Do you think that rosemary would be really good in pasta sauce? Go for it! Do you like spicy tomato sauce. Add more pepper flakes, or some chili powder. If you hate spicy food, leave it out, no worries.

However, if you're feeling pretty lazy, you can just stick with tomatoes and herbs. And the one herb that I recommend not leaving out is oregano. That's what makes people think stuff tastes like Italian food (in my experience), and also it's just delicious.


So hopefully this post/recipe will remind you that cooking doesn't really need to be hard and intimidating. It can be really easy to make yourself a good meal with minimal effort when all you really want to be doing is sitting on the couch avoiding unpacking all your stuff.

Ratatouille Redux

Do you like Pixar? What a silly question, of course you do! Everyone likes Pixar! While there are the super famous ones everyone knows about, like Up and Toy Story and whatnot, they've made other good movies that less people have seen, like Ratatouille. And it's a shame that less people have seen this adorable movie, because it's a good Pixar movie with an uplifting message, but mostly because it focuses on delicious food. And that movie is the inspiration for this dish.

Ratatouille is usually a sort of stew-like dish of heart veggies in a tomato sauce, which can be kinda heavy and lack-luster. But this is a more delicate dish that still retains all the delicious flavors of the original.

Also, as a disclaimer, this recipe is blatantly taken from Smitten Kitchen with pretty much no alterations, because Smitten Kitchen is a fantastic source for good recipes. I highly recommend you check it out.

Also, another disclaimer, the pictures accompanying this recipe might be a little misleading, because I made a few adjustments. First, I put in a tomato (because it was about to go bad. If you're in a similar situation, try it out). Also, I ended up with way too much veggie slices, so I made a double layer instead of just one. So don't be discouraged if your dish doesn't look like the photos. It will be just as tasty (and more true to the movie recipe). But then again, if you end up with way to many veggies, like I did, know that this is a viable option (as long as your dish is deep enough).

And this isn't really a disclaimer as much as a bonus: this recipe is vegan! (which I guess shouldn't be surprising since it is composed pretty much solely of veggies)

Pixar Ratatouille

1/2 onion, finely chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 cup tomato sauce (you can use whatever kind of tomato sauce you want. As usual, I used whatever I had lying around)
1 small eggplant (I used a bunch of little heirloom eggplants that I got from Verrill Farm, because they were so cute)
2 small zucchinis
1 long red bell pepper
3 sprigs fresh thyme
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons olive oil

Preheat the oven to 375.

Pour the tomato sauce into the bottom of your baking dish (it should be around 8"x11", but use whatever you have that's around that size). Sprinkle in the onions and garlic and stir in with ~1 tablespoon of olive oil.

Slice all of the veggies as thin as possible (if you're lucky enough to own a mandoline, this is a perfect time to use it).

Arrange these veggie slices on top of the tomato sauce in layers. You can do them in rows, or if you really want to emulate the movie dish, you can make concentric rings with the veggies. Season with salt and pepper, and drizzle with another tablespoon of olive oil. Remove the leaves from the thyme sprigs by running your fingers down the stem from top to bottom. Sprinkle the thyme leaves over the top of the veggies.

Put in the oven for 45 - 55 minutes. The veggies should still have some structure to them, but they should obviously be cooked.

You can serve this with rice, couscous, crusty toast, or whatever you little heart desires.

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Continuing in my theme of reviewing critically acclaimed movies for you guys, today I'm gonna tell you about Searching for Sugarman.

This movie is a documentary about a 1970's musician called Rodriguez. Never heard of him? Not surprising. He was a massive failure in the US, but a huge success in South Africa (he was more popular than Elvis and the Rolling Stones). However, due to political censoring and other various reasons, Rodriguez was a complete enigma to all of his fans in South Africa. No one knew who he was or wehre he was from, or even how he died. There were many conflicting stories about how Rodriguez died, the most gruesome story being that he set himself on fire on stage at a gig. All of this mystery led to some fans starting to investigate the truth about Rodriguez, and they find more than they could ever imagine.

Now, I don't want you to get discouraged by the fact that this movie is a documentary (I know lots of people think that documentaries are boring). It's very visually interesting, (though I wish they utilized more of the original animations they occasionally used to portray Rodriguez from the past) and the soundtrack is lovely (which shouldn't be surprising, since it's composed entirely of Rodriguez' songs).

And, of course, you can't get past the fact that the story that unfolds is so fantastic it is hard to believe. But even when the main mystery is solved ("How did Rodriguez die?"), many more questions remain unanswered.

And one little detail that perfectly encapsulated the continuing enigma of this film is the fact that there is never an image of Rodriguez without sunglasses, except for one scene where you can see his entire face after the main mystery has been solved. I think that's a wonderful visual representation of the mystery of the film.

So if you are interested in 70's music or crazy real life mytseries or just like watching good movies, you should definitely check out Searching for Sugarman.

Banana bread

This blog has yet to showcase one of my favorite things to do in the kitchen: baking. I love making bread, cookies, brownies, tarts, whatever. I love that you can basically do chemistry and get delicious food out of it. Or, as this apron puts it:

Do you ever forget about bananas for a while, and they end up looking like this?

If so, you shouldn't throw them out, you should make banana bread! Once bananas reach this point of brownness, they are bursting with banana flavor and sweetness, and they are basically mush anyway, so you don't need to work hard to make them into mush to make the batter.

This recipe makes 2 loaves of banana bread, so you have a few options once they're done. If you feel like you have more willpower than I do, you can wrap one up and freeze it for later. Or, if you're like me, you can leave them both out and devour them in a matter of days, before they get a chance to go stale. Your choice.

Banana Bread

2 1/2 cups flour (if you want, you can use whole wheat flour, or a mix of whole wheat and all purpose)
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1 cup butter (softened in the microwave for about 10 seconds, so it's soft but not melted)
2 cups sugar
2 cups mashed bananas (for me, it usually takes about 4 bananas, but it definitely depends on the size of your bananas)
4 eggs, slightly beaten
1 1/2 cup chocolate chips

Preheat your oven to 350. Butter and flour 2 loaf pans. You do this by spreading a thin layer of butter over every surface of the pan that the batter will come in contact in (this means the corners, the edges, everything). Then you take a large pinch of flour and shake it around so that it sticks to all of the greasy parts of the pan (this is always where you can see what part of the pan you missed with the butter). Any extra flour left kicking around in your pans can be put back in the bag (or just dumped in the batter, it doesn't really matter).

In a large bowl (and I mean a large bowl. Use the biggest one you have), mash the bananas with a fork. Depending on their ripeness, this could be pretty easy, or require more effort. Once those mare mashed to a nice mush, add the sugar, butter, and eggs. Mix this all together as well as you can.

Now comes the time where I have to introduce the most important rule of baking (well cooking in general, but baking more often than not): DON'T PANIC! Things will usually look kinda funky in the intermediate steps between start and finish, but you should never think you've messed up. You can always salvage mistakes you make, and most of time it's actually supposed to look like that. For example, at this point in the recipe, my batter looked like this:

It's all lumpy and kinda looks like snot, but that's fine. You haven't made a horrible mistake, it's supposed to look like this (or maybe not, but this is how mine always looks. Maybe a professional baker can make banana bread batter look appetizing, but I can't). So now we move on to the next step, adding the dry ingredients.

Add all the flour, salt, baking powder, and cinnamon to your current mushy batter. This is another point where you might think something has gone horribly wrong. It will look like you have put in way too much flour, but that is actually the right amount of flour. All the liquid in the bananas and eggs and stuff will soak up that flour in a jiffy. Now, once you add the flour, you don't want to stir it too much. Obviously you want to get everything mixed together, but if you stir the batter with the flour in it for too long, it will get tough when you cook it. So just mix it until it looks kind of homogenous (it will still be lumpy, but that's ok, banana bread batter is allowed to be lumpy).

Now the final step with the batter is to stir in the chocolate chips. After this step, your batter should look like this:

Now, you take this batter and pour it into your prepped loaf pans. Try to split it in half as evenly as possible, but some variation isn't going to ruin it.

Put these pans side by side on the same rack in the preheated oven for 70-80 minutes. This doesn't, however, mean that you get to put the pans in the oven and then leave for the gym for a hour or whatever. You should check the loaves about halfway through the baking process and see if they're baking evenly (well, really they'll just look like pans of batter, but it's good to check). Also, at this point, you'll want to rotate the pans. Ovens always heat unevenly, and you don't want one side of one of your loaves to be cooked and the rest of them uncooked. So you should shuffle them around in the oven. Take the pan that was on the left and put it on the right, and vice versa. Also rotate the pans so that what was the front is now the back.

Once you rotate them, let them cook until they're done. You can tell when they're done by sticking a knife or a toothpick into the center of a loaf and pulling it out. If it comes out clean, it's done. It it comes out with batter stuck to it, it's not done, and you can put it in for like 10 more minutes (it's ok if there's melted chocolate on the knife. That's inevitable).

Now comes the hard part. You should really let the banana bread rest for like 10 minutes before you try to get it out of the pan and eat it. I know it looks and smells delicious, but trust me, it will be so much better to wait.

And for a serving suggestion, try spreading nutella (store-bought or homemade) over a thick slice (this may seem like overkill, since it already has chocolate chips in it, but I don't care, it's delicious).

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Today, I'm going to tell you about something that I've always been interested in, but let fall by the wayside until recently: poetry. I love poetry, but for some reason I haven't been reading it too much recently.

This changed when I saw the movie Midnight in Paris (which, on a sidenote, is a cute movie, and Owen Wilson does a fantastic job of channeling Woody Allen's nebbish character). In this movie, the main character briefly meets T S Eliot, and gushes about how much he like Prufrock, which reminded me that I wanted to check out The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock. And when I finally did, I was not disappointed. There is a reason it is a classic of the modern age. His portrayal of love and life and the world is so realistic but also so beautiful, you can't help but get sucked into the world he creates. And in amongst this beautiful portrayal of love and life, he has this lingering self doubt ("Do I dare/Disturb the universe?). I think anyone who reads this poem could find something that resonates with them in it.

Another poet that comes to mind when I think of Eliot is W H Auden (I'm not sure why I think of him, but I do. It's like how my mind associates Hemingway and Melville. But I digress). My favorite poem of Auden's is As I Walked Out One Evening. It, too, deals with love, but in a more detached way. Auden describes lovers sitting down by the river, professing their love forever. However, Auden points out that forever is a very, very, VERY long time, and they are making promises that they cannot keep. A pair of stanzas that sum up the feel of the poem perfectly are:

The years shall run like rabbits,
For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
And the first love of the world.

But all the clocks in the city
Began to whirr and chime:
O let not time deceive you,
You cannot conquer time.

Auden understands that human love cannot outlast forever, because forever will outlast all of humanity's existence. Everything we know will fall apart before time ends. And while this may seem like a bleak view, it is told in such a beautiful way, you just have to agree with it (also, it's true).

So go find some poems that you love, and curl up and enjoy the beauty our language can produce.

Homemade Energy Things

So, this title is a bit vague, but I have no idea what to call these things. Basically, they are a bunch of dried fruit and nuts mushed up together into a delicious whole.

I like to pretend that they're healthy, because they're vegan and made of fruit and nuts, but in all honesty, they're incredibly high calorie (since they are packed with sugar and some fat from the nuts). So think of them as an energy bar (like a Larabar, which is definitely my favorite kind of energy bar, but whatever). But these are great snacks to pack for a hike or something like that. Or you can just sit on the couch at home and eat them like candy. Your choice.

Really, these could be made with a combination of your favorite stuff, or whatever stuff you have taking up space in the pantry (which is pretty much how I came up with this recipe). I do however think that some fruits work better than others. I almost always make mine with a base of figs or dates (they seem substantial enough to hold these things together without being too sweet or overpowering. But that might just be me).

Dried Fruit and Nut Balls

1/3 cup walnuts
1/3 cup hazelnuts
1/2 cup dates (pitted)
4 dried pineapple rings
1/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries

~1/2 cup dried coconut (unsweetened)

Put all the dried fruit and nuts (except the coconut) into a food processor. Blend until it forms a mass (it's not going to particularly homogenous, but it will definitely stick to itself).

Now comes the messy part. Take this paste-like mass and form it into balls. I usually make them about 1 inch in diameter. But make them whatever shape or size you want). Take these balls and roll them in the coconut to coat.

Store these in a tupperware container in the fridge

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Movie time! So, I'm assuming if you spend any time on the internet and are interested at movies at all, you've probably heard of Moonrise Kingdom. But that's not going to stop me from joining in with the masses and saying that it's fantastic!

The basic plot layout is deceptively simple: a boy and a girl run away from camp and home, respectively, to be together. But it is done in Wes Anderson's typical style (though, to admit, I've only ever seen 2 other Wes Anderson movies, but after this I want to watch them all). The humor is very straight forward and blunt, and occasionally a little dark, but always hilarious. One of my favorite characters is Edward Norton's scout master, who vainly struggles to control his pack of rowdy khaki scouts (essentially boyscouts). He's incredibly compassionate and tries to do the right thing, but is, in reality, pretty much useless.

Along with the fantastic humor and the wonderful characters, the visuals are perfect. It's set in Maine in the 60's, and the visuals perfectly capture a nostalgia for a beautiful, kind of pastoral, past for coastal Maine. All the costumes are wonderfully vintage, and the choice to film it in a way that looks like it's from the 60's was brilliant.

And, of course, it doesn't hurt that this movie has a ridiculous list of awesome actors in it (Bill Murray, Bruce Willis, Edward Norton, Tilda Swinton, Jason Schwartzman), and the new young talent doesn't disappoint either.

Fun with Alcohol

I absolutely love making (and drinking, obviously) fancy cocktails. Whenever I go to a restaurant, I peruse the cocktail menu and see if anything jumps out at me.

However, it can get very expensive to get fancy cocktails at fancy restaurants. So, I took it upon myself to learn to recreate these fancy cocktails at home. First I started with things like what I've decided to call a Dark and Stormy Daiquiri (recipe below), which is delicious, but only has a few basic ingredients. But then I decided to take it a step further, and make my own flavored alcohols.

I can often be a kind of food/alcohol snob, and therefore think that, often, flavored alcohol is pretty gross (Like that gross Smirnoff vodka that comes in technicolor bottles that everyone in college dorms thinks is delicious. I disagree). But I do like the idea of flavored alcohol, if it's done well, so I figured I try to make my own, because it didn't seem that hard. And, as it turned out, it's not.

As always, this is just a sort of outline of how you could go about making your own flavored liquor. Everyone has different tastes, so go crazy with flavor combinations that excite you. However, some foods don't lend themselves to much to infusing (I tried to make my roommate apple-spice vodka, but that failed miserably and just tasted like vodka). So I would advise using particularly aromatic or strongly flavored things (like oranges, berries, herbs, etc). But feel free to experiment. Maybe you'll succeed where I failed.

Here I'll tell you how I made my orange-anise whiskey, because it is the favorite one I've made so far.

Orange Anise Whiskey

1 bottle whiskey (I wouldn't splurge on top shelf stuff here, but also don't get swill, because no amount of flavorings can make that taste good)

1 orange

1 tsp anise seeds

Using a vegetable peeler, zest the entire orange, taking care to get just the orange part of the peel, and none of the white pith underneath (it's bitter and won't make your whiskey delicious and orangey).

I find that it's easier to make this all work if you transfer the whiskey to a large tupperware, but if you think you can get away with just plopping stuff in the bottle, go for it.

Add the orange zest and the anise seeds. Let them sit for 3-4 days (though letting it sit longer wont hurt), and strain out the orange zest and anise seeds. If you have it in a tupperware, return to the original bottle.

I enjoy drinking this straight, or with some ice (my friend says it tastes like Christmas).

Other flavor combinations that would be good are:

Cucmber-lime gin (I have made this and it's delicious. Just zest 2 limes, peel and slice one cucumber, and infuse for a few days)

Blackberry-anise gin (I haven't made this, but it sounds fantastic and it's next in line to be made)

Rosemary or thyme gin (This would be a good thing to use in this recipe. Gin tends to pair fantastically with herbs like this)

Christmas-spice whiskey (Taking my friend's description of my whiskey as inspiration, I want to try to make one with stuff like cinnamon and nutmeg and allspice and maybe anise, because anise is delicious)

Ginger rum (Again, I haven't made this yet, but I want to try, because it would be perfect in the Dark and Stormy Daiquiri.) 

Speaking of which, I haven't given you that recipe yet, so here you go:

Dark and Stormy Daiquiri

1 part dark rum (I like to experiment with new and interesting types of rum, though my current favorite is Old Monk)
1.5 parts lime juice
a dash to 1 part ginger syrup (it really depends on how sweet you want it to be)

To make ginger syrup, take equal parts sugar and water. In a small saucepan, heat the sugar and water until all the sugar dissolves. Remove from the heat, and add 2-3 slices of fresh ginger, and let steep for 5-10 minutes (the longer it sits, the stronger it gets).

Shake all ingredients with ice, and serve in a glass. Garnish with a slice of lime.

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Music again this time (if you don't like it, boo hoo). Foals, one of my favorite bands, has recently released a "mixtape" album (emulating an old cassete mix tape). It sounds kinda random (and really, it is), so I was pretty dubious. But upon checking it out, I was pleasantly surprised. This 10 minute 'sample' is has a really cool collection of music that you might not think would work together (like afropop and techno).

Chili-Lime Beef Jerky

All the posts on this blog so far may have been slightly misleading. It's all been focused on produce and whatnot, which belies a massive part of my diet: meat. This isn't to say that I feel the need to eat meat with every meal (I love having just a salad or something like a roasted veggie panini, mmmmm), but I will never deny my love of meat. Sausages (I'm part German, so I have to like sausages), steak, pork chops, grilled chicken, lamb curry, everything.

But I don't make myself meat that often (when I'm not at home with my parents), because whenever I go the butcher shop, I feel like I'm on a strict deadline to use up this meat before it goes bad. So often, to quell my meat cravings and not have to worry about it going bad, I'll make myself some beef jerky.

I've always loved beef jerky ever since I first picked up a random packet in a gas station. But making jerky at home is so much tastier and more cost effective than buying it in a store. And you can make it in whatever flavor you want, as opposed to the limited "plain", "peppered", and "teriyaki" that you can get in the store (though that doesn't mean I don't love making teriyaki jerky).

And while it doesn't have preservatives and therefore won't store as long as the store-bought version, that has never been a problem for me.

Oh, and since I apparently have no planning skills, I totally forgot to take pictures until they were all done, so you'll just have to imagine what it looks like in production (though, to be honest, it doesn't look too appetizing. It's just a pile of meat strips covered in spice paste).

Chili-Lime Beef Jerky

.5 pound flank steak

Juice from .5 limes (unless it’s a particularly un-juicy lime, then use the whole lime)

3-4 dashes Worcestershire sauce

1 tsp chili powder

.5 tsp cumin

.5 tsp smoked paprika

Sprinkle of red pepper flakes

Large pinch of sait

~ 1/8 tsp pepper

Heat your oven as low as it will go. 

Trim any excess fat off the flank steak, then, slice it about as thin as you can manage. Don’t be fooled by those “jerky nuggets” you might see in gas stations, jerky needs to be thin in order to dry out properly (also, those things just seem gross). It is also important to slice with the grain of the meat. This is specifically why we are using flank steak for this. It has a nice long grain that, when cut along, creates a fantastically chewy piece of jerky.

Put the beef slices in a bowl. Over these, add all the lime juice, Worcestershire sauce and the spices. Stir to completely coat the meat in spice mix. Let rest for about 10 minutes (or longer, it doesn’t really matter. Just make sure to put it back in the fridge if you let it rest for like a half hour).

After the meat has rested, lay the slices out on a wired rack in a backing sheet. The rack allows for maximum airflow around the jerky, and the pan catches any drips that might occur. 

Place the rack in the oven until the jerky is completely dried (this can take many hours. I often leave jerky to dry overnight) You don’t wan to see any pink, everything should be a deep brown and stiff (but not burnt. If your jerky is cooking, your oven is too hot, and you should prop the door open with a wooden spoon to cool it down some). 

Store in an airtight container (if your jerky is particularly fatty, you might want to layer it in paper towels).

Variations:

There are countless other flavors of jerky you can make. You're only limited by your imagination (and of course appetizing flavor combinations). Also, it's really easy to make two different flavors of jerky at the same time (as long as you can keep straight which is on which pan). Just split up the beef once it's sliced, season differently, and dry them together on separate pans (or, if you like surprises, just put them together haphazard on each pan).

Other variations that I make often are:

Teriyaki - make or buy teriyaki sauce and coat your slices in it, letting sit for about 15 minutes before drying. These might take longer to dry, since they're covered in wet teriyaki sauce, and will also be sticker as a final product.

BBQ - same as the teriyaki ones, but with BBQ sauce

Curry - (Disclaimer: I've never made this before, I just thought of it, and I totally wanna try it). Coat your beef slices in curry powder and lime juice, and dry just like the chili-lime ones.

If you think of any other great variations, tell me so I can try them out. That way I can have a giant selection of jerky to fit my every mood.

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Back to music for this post. I want to share some of my favorite bands that I genuinely feel like few people had heard of (and if this makes me sound like a hipster, I don't care. It's not the first time I've been called a hipster, and to be honest, the title kinda fits. So whatever). They range from bands from my friend's high school, to small bands acquaintances of mine have written reviews of for their local paper (gotta love Facebook for getting the most out of those incredibly tenuous friendships).

First, is an indie-folk band called The Novel Ideas. They are a product of Newton South High School, which impresses me, since my high school only every produced kinda crappy punkish bands (not what I'm interested in). The Novel Ideas  encapsulate feelings of innocence and romance and summer in their songs so well, it's a joy to listen to them.

Second comes a band called The Lisps. I learned of them after I saw their show (I'm not sure how to describe it other than just "show") called Futurity. It was about an American Civil War soldier corresponding with Ada Lovelace, trying to create an analytical engine to create world peace. The soundtrack to this show was fantastic, with elaborate steampunk set pieces being used as percussion. They ended the show with this song, Singularity, which is when I fell in love.

Last up comes Spiral Beach, a smallish band from Toronto. I've never seen them live, and definitely want to rectify this situation. From what I've seen and heard, I believe their live shows are amazing. But even without seeing the live experience, I can still say they are a great band. They have no lack of energy, and every song is brimming with attitude. Check out this performance of Raising the Snake at the old location for Sonic Boom.

Homemade Nutella

So, I would tell you what I'm making for dinner, but it's another tomato thing (Verrill Farm just keeps producing prodigious amounts of delicious tomatoes), and I don't want this to just be a tomato blog (though tomatoes are definitely delicious).

So, instead, I'll tell you how to make your own Nutella. Hazelnuts are my favorite kind of nut, and combining them with chocolate is always a good thing. And so I absolutely love Nutella. I'll put it on toast, fruit, whatever (or I'll just eat it straight out of the jar).

But I was thinking with my dad recently that there isn't really much in Nutella, and it should be easy to make it at home. And then it gets to have butter in it, and not palm kernel oil (whatever the hell that is), and if you can add stuff like cinnamon and honey. And maybe if you don't like hazelnuts, you can try to make it with almonds or peanuts (though I haven't tried either of those, so I can't vouch for if those taste good, so only try that if you are adventurous and enjoy tinkering with recipes)

Homemade Nutella

1 cup hazelnuts

8 ounces dark chocolate (I used 60% cocoa)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter

2 tablespoons confectioners sugar

1 tablespoon honey

1 heaping tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup milk (or less or more depending on how thick/milky you want it to be)

Preheat oven to 350°F

Spread hazelnuts in a single layer on a baking sheet and roast in the oven for about 10 minutes (you can tell when they’re done when when your kitchen smells like delicious toasted nuts). If you used raw hazelnuts, you can try to remove the skins by rubbing them in a kitchen towel (but be warned, this process can be incredibly tedious and results in hazelnuts-skin-dust going everywhere, and only half of the skin comes off anyway). If you used hazelnuts that have been treated in some way so they don’t have skins (usually they are blanched), you’re all set to move onto the next step.

While the nuts are roasting, microwave the chocolate and 2 tablespoons of the butter slowly until fully melted (for me it usually takes a 2 to 3 30-second rounds in the microwave, stirring in between to speed the melting process). 

Add the roasted hazelnuts and the remaining 2 tablespoons of butter to the food processor and run until it forms a paste (it might be a little grainy, but it will get smoother as you blend more). Add the honey, confectioners sugar, cocoa powder, cinnamon, vanilla, and salt. Blend well

Add the melted chocolate and butter and blend well. Slowly add milk, stopping and tasting as you go, until it reached the consistency and taste you desire. Store in a resealable container. 

Also, as usual, feel free to tinker with this recipe as you see fit (that’s how I got to this recipe in the first place. I found this recipe this recipe, but it called for milk chocolate, which I don’t have in my house (dark chocolate FTW!). And then I added honey, since it was sitting on the counter and called out to be added, and cinnamon, because I love putting cinnamon in chocolate. 

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So, I'm just going all over the place with these recommendation sections, because now I'm gonna talk about movies. I recently saw The Dark Knight Rises, the third film in Christoper Nolan's Batman trilogy, and I highly recommend it. As usual, Nolan took the stories and themes from Batman and made it feel like a serious action film, not just another silly comic book movie. All of the characters are fantastic and compelling (I especially like Anne Hathaway's Catwoman. She effectively uses her "feminine wiles" without being automatically stuck in the romantic interest slot. Bane's approach to his villainy was also fantastic. He was so polite and classy while bringing about the destruction of Gotham. You could easily understand why the citizens were willing to go along with him). I loved when Scarecrow made his little appearance as Banes judge (of course he would take that role where he can sit up above everyone else and pass down judgement on people).

However, I wouldn't say this was the best of the series. I would have to award that honor to the second film, The Dark Knight. In that movie, we don't get bogged down in learning how Batman came to be, like we did in Batman Begins, and Gotham isn't quite as run down and depressing as in The Dark Knight Rises. In The Dark Knight, you see Batman in his prime going against one of his best villains. By that, I mean the Joker. Heath Ledger's Joker was amazingly creepy. He seemed so affable as he was cutting down all your henchmen. But mainly, his motivation was the most appealing part of him. He loved evil for evil's sake. Ra's al Ghul and the League of Shadows think they are making the world a better place, and Two Face came about through guilt and vengeance, but the Joker just raises hell because he's bored. And it's amazing. (It also doesn't hurt that the Joker often sounded/acted like Tom Waits)

Ways to use fresh tomatoes + books

So, while I do love fresh summer produce, I also love cooking things. So, for dinner tonight, a compromise was made.

Using the tomatoes my parents got from Verrill Farm, I made a caprese salad, and a simple cheese pizza.

Caprese salad is so simple but s good, and now that I'm trying to grow basil on my kitchen windowsill, I always have lush fresh basil leaves to layer between the tomato and the mozzarella.

And I absolutely LOVE making pizza at home. You get to customize it infinitely to make the exact pizza you want that night. However, I often stay on the simple side, because I think it's easier to make a really good cheese pizza than a sloppy pizza overloaded with toppings (though if you hand me a piece of pizza loaded with meat and veggies, I'm definitely not going to complain).

Caprese Salad

3 medium tomatoes (get the freshest tastiest ones you can find. Local is probably your best bet)
2 egg sized fresh mozzarella
a fair bunch of basil leaves (I never really measure, I just pick until it looks like enough)

Slice the tomatoes and mozzarella. Layer tomatoes, mozzarella and basil (or, if you're feeling lazy like I was tonight, just pile it on the plate and gently 'toss').

Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle with salt.

Consume.

Pizza

I use store-bought pizza-dough, cause I'm lazy, but if you're feeling ambitious, go ahead and make your own)

I also use both fresh tomato and tomato sauce because I can never make a pizza tomatoey enough with fresh tomatoes without  subsequently making a super-soggy pizza. So I just compromise.

1 pizza dough
1 medium tomato (sliced)
1/4 cup tomato sauce
1-2 egg sized fresh mozzarella (sliced)
1/4 cup crumbled feta
Basil (chopped)
Parmesan

Preheat oven to 450 (or as hot as you can make it).

Stretch out the pizza dough. There are many techniques, but what I do is first press it relatively flat on the counter. Once you have a manageable disc of dough, pick it up and stretch it out over the back of your hands and knuckles.

Once the dough is a good size, lay it out on your baking sheet. Spread the tomato sauce as thinly and evenly as possible over the entire pizza (leaving some space for crust). The evenly distribute the tomato, mozzarella and feta. Place the pizza in the oven and bake for 10-15 minutes, rotating once in the middle.

Once the pizza is suitably cooked and crispy, remove it from the oven. While still too hot to eat, grate some parmesan over the pizza, and sprinkle with the fresh basil.

Once it is cool enough to eat, cut into slices and enjoy.

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So I keep giving music recommendations, which I could do 'till the cows come home, but I feel like you might get tired of me telling you what to listen to, so I'll switch it up by telling you what you should read instead.

It's summer currently, and that means you might have some more free time that you can spend reading (I love going to the library, getting a book, and lying in the field across the road and reading. It makes me feel so literary).

So I'll give you two recommendations, from different points on the 'literature' spectrum. First comes my most hard-core English Lit-type rec. It's called Brideshead Revisited by Evelyn Waugh. It has lovingly described passages of English elite lounging on lazy summer days, mixed in with a plot fraught with romance and friendship (or possibly just more romance and infatuation), and an oppressive religion and culture overshadowing everything.

And on the other end of the "high-class literature scale" (though it is still one of the best books I've read in a really long time) is called The Fault in Our Stars by John Green. A boy and a girl meet in their cancer youth support group and fall in love. Sorrow is skillfully balanced with humor and beauty in this book, and you'll be just as likely to laugh as cry. Featuring a scene with a blind guy trying to egg his ex-girlfriend's car (unsuccessfully) and impressively poetic descriptions of beautiful places (Green really manages to capture the feeling of Amsterdam with his description of it), I cannot recommend this book enough. It was one of the few books that I simply didn't put down once I started it.

Morning Smoothie

I love my blender. It makes so much good stuff, like hummus and milkshakes. But the main reason I love my blender so much is smoothies. I love smoothies so much. They are so tasty and so easy, and relatively healthy (they're packed with sugar, that I admit, but at least it's sugar from fruit and not from soda or something).

And, I can say from experience that it goes fantastically well with toasted multigrain bread drizzled with honey.

Morning Fruit Smoothie

1/4 cup frozen peaches
1/4 cup frozen blackberries
1/4 cup frozen blueberries
1 medium sized banana (if you have huge bananas, just put what looks good and eat the rest while you blend)
1/3 cup plain yogurt (I use greek, but that's just cause I love greek yogurt. Any other yogurt would be fine as well)
1/3-1/2 cup juice (I used currant juice here, but I also love using fresh orange juice when I have it)

Put all the ingredients in your blender, blend until smooth. It may require some stirring (I make my smoothies thick).

Variations:

Let's face it, this is a smoothie. You can make it however you like. Use frozen blueberries or mangos or whatever else you want. If you like thinner smoothies, add more juice. Go crazy, it's your breakfast.

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As my recommendation today, I'm going to show you one of my favorite site  to check out music. It's called la blogotheque, and they do this thing called "concerts a emporter" (which translates to "take away show") where bands perform songs randomly around a city. Occasionally, they wander the streets, other times they congregate in a park, or on a roof. This time, with Yeasayer, the journey spans a subway ride to a rather mysterious apartment with a piano. Though it was rather chaotic, it seemed like a worthwhile adventure.

Summer Salad

One of the many things I love about summer is the veggies. I love fresh vegetables to death, but often in the winter in Toronto I feel like I'm not eating enough veggies. Everything you'd find in the supermarket would be bland an unappetizing.

But in the summer, this isn't an issue. Delicious produce abounds. And so, when summer rolls around, I love to make salads like this.

I love salad, but given the choice between a leafy green salad and this kind of chop salad, I'd never eat the lettucy one. Because this salad is essentially a collection of my favorite veggies in a bowl together with dressing, cheese, and bread.

With recipes like this, I highly recommend you only look at my instructions as guidelines. If you have an idea of what could be added, go for it, and leave it in the comments so I can try it out.

Summer Salad

5-6 large servings

2 bell peppers (any color)
1 cucumber
2 tomatoes (Just get whatever looks the best and most flavorful)
1/2 large onion (sweet or red)
Feta to taste
4 thick slices of bread (lightly toasted optional)

Chop everything into bite-size pieces (~1 inch square) and toss in a large bowl. Top with dressing (recipe to follow). Toss salad to thoroughly coat with dressing.

Dressing

3 Tablespoons lemon juice/vinegar
1/3 cup olive oil
1/4 teaspoon oregano
Salt and pepper to taste

Combine ingredients in a jar or tupperware container and shake it into submission. It's ready when the mixture is homogenous. Don't feel obliged to add it all if it looks like too much. Everyone has different tastes. If you don't use all of it, just reseal the container and keep it in the fridge for later.


Variation:

I can rarely finish all this salad once I make it, but that's not a problem because it keeps wonderfully (another reason I love it more that leafy salads). If you think you can't finish it all at once, simply add the bread as you go. Serve yourself a bowl of veggies, toast a slice of bread and break it into your bowl. Give it a second to soak up all the dressing, and then enjoy.

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Continuing the theme of summer, my music selection for today is my current summer playlist. It just elicits this feeling of expansive landscapes and sunny skies and warm breezes. Essentially it epitomizes summer. I hope it makes you feel the same.

In the Yard - Bowerbirds
Skinny Love - Bon Iver
Madder Red - Yeasayer
Richard Parker - The Novel Ideas
Home - Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeros
Algebra - Airship
Alabaster - Foals
Alpha Shallows - Laura Marling

Hello world!

Well, hello everybody! So, this is basically going to be a collection of things that make me happy. This mainly includes food and music. So expect to see lots of recipes and music recommendations/reviews. I love cooking simple, delicious food (for myself, and for friends). It's so cheap and easy to make your food taste just the way you want it (rather than spending money at a restaurant for someone else to make your food their way. And I love listening to music while I cook. I'm not ashamed to dance around the kitchen while I'm making my dinner. Cooking is fun, and music just makes it more fun. So I hope you'll enjoy whatever recipes and music I dig up for you all :)