End of Semester Packaging

Well you can't quite eat it, per se, but you can unwrap it and brew it!  The third semester of urban planning ended well, complete with the surprise of holiday packaging for OQ coffee.  The night before my final, final presentation (a proposal to RUDOTS for a bicycle-sharing program), there was a push to mail out some goods.  I was happy to help; I got to use an xacto knife and cutting board again, play with some lovely, black, satin ribbons and send some holiday cheer (and coffee).  Here, for the first time, is the brand, spankin' new OQ holiday coffee gift set--what more could the coffee-lover ask for?

Nicaragua, Rwanda, and Sumatra never looked so good

Time warp forward to see OQ's 2011 Holiday box design!

Mom said Gong-gong would go for a hike up the hill outside his apartment almost everyday, 

and on his way back, go through this park.

 

My guess is it was very strenuous, yet peaceful. I bet he got a lot of his thinking and praying done here...boy does that sound wonderful! While he can't do that anymore, I'm sure he's much happier with Wai pwo.

(Mr.) Winter Squash

Apologies for the lack of eye candy of the finished dish in this post... However, I offer a photo of Mr. Winter Squash, harvested from our community garden...from seed!  Out of the giant vine that nearly took over our ~10' garden bed, this squash was the only one to really take off--and boy did it ever! #growyourown

October 2010

At first when cutting into it, the squash seemed very hard.  However, sources tell me that winter squashes just are harder, even when they are ripe!  "Baked Butternut Squash Stuffed with Sausage and Apples" recipe from Joy of Cooking ...you can't go wrong.
Or, you need a Ben to do it for you.

Heirloom Tomatoes

From the Dees garden, some heirloom tomatoes:

 

September 2010

Return of the Blaby Tomatoes (BBC)

An interesting article from 2006 on a guy in Leicester, who is spreading and encouraging the growth of heirloom/"heritage" tomoat0es by dropping seeds everywhere.  Apparently, you can contact him, and he'll give you some. ;]

Bent Spoon

If you're after a cool summer treat in central Jersey, look no further than the Bent Spoon in Princeton, NJ (unless you're looking for delicious iced toddy, that is--then you go to oqcoffee.com)

Family was in town and I offered to treat them to some gelato.  Still full from lunch, the gang said, "oh, no, Jessica--we'll just have a bite of yours."  Little did they know, this not your average serving of gelato.

After everyone had their little licks of honey sage and blueberry passionfruit*, dad disappeared into the Bent Spoon with Amy trailing behind.  Mom sat on the bench, but soon enough, she disappeared too.  Minutes they, they returned with the following:

more photos from the life-changing experience:

*all from NJ; some as close as the garden across the street at Princeton U--except passionfruit, but hey!  Sometimes you need a little from the tropics to jazz it up.

Summer of Sowing Seeds

If you've ever thought about gardening and then thought it was too much work, think again.  Granted gardening takes time and care, but what you get at the end is definitely worth the little effort!

New Brunswick, with quite a bit of help from Elijah's Promise (and Paul) and several others, set up a community garden.  You can purchase a box for $15 for a year.

Swiss chard has really been quite the productive little plant in the box.  It just keeps growing!  You cut it, it grows more.  Wonderful.  I would share photos of them in the box, but those photos are on my phone still...will upload later.  For now, I'll share the finished product:

This leafy vegetable (I'm afraid to call it lettuce) makes no ordinary salad (or whatever you're making).  It's definitely flavorful, albeit a bit bitter.  It is also has a relatively thick, chewy, yet crispy texture--quite filling. Here it is simply tossed w/ some olive oil, a teeny pinch of sea salt, diced tomatoes (from a friend's garden), and a thick grating of Parmesan.  A little reading tells me it also tastes good sautéed, especially if you are not willing to take on the bitterness.  Varieties of it produces some really bright, vibrant stalks--from the sunshine yellow you see here to a bloody orange grapefruit pink.

The vodka sauce rotini served as a good supporting dish ;)

Banana Nut Bread Muffins

Bananas are all over the place in the summer.  It felt wrong not to use them as much as possible!    I originally planned on making bread, but last minute made them into muffins.  Ben Schellack said they were pretty good, so I'll consider it quite the success.

I look at two recipes*, used them both, and somehow ended up with this:

I was a bit delayed on the crumble (wonk, wonk), but it worked.  summary of key ingredients?

brown sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, baking power + soda, an egg! and sour cream

*Janet's Rich Banana Bread + Banana Crumb Muffins

Good Lookin' Southern Home Cookin'

the real trick to cooking good food is good ingredients...you can't really mess it up.  However, there was some serious skill in making these meatballs and as you can tell, they came out pretty darn perfectly.

lean beef - 2 lbs

celery - 2 stalks

white onion - 2/3 of one

tomato - 1

egg - 1, 

fresh bread crumbs  - 1/2 cup (made mine from buckwheat walnut bread from Clear Flour Bakery in Brookline, MA...so good!)

unbleached flour - 2 tbsp

makes about 18 meatballs or so? ~1 to 1.5" uncooked

when I get the recipe for the sauce I'll edit the post.

Serve over wide egg noodles.

Yum.

Strawberry Torte

I'm cheating:  back-posting to 2007 to share one of my earliest attempts at baking...recipe from allrecipes.

Christmas:

Fightin' off the summer heat of spring

...with the perfectly creamy combination of OQ coffee's decaf espresso from Oromia, pulled over a small scoop of vanilla bean ice cream...an unplanned yet much welcomed surprised. 

Hey over-heated-spring, that's affogato to you!

shot of the week

Looks so good you could smell it

If you thought gardening just wasn't your thing, or worth your time---think again.  Some gentleman at the Slatton Manor (namely Ben and Paul) tend a garden in the middle of New Brunswick--in which there is nothing fancy involved except some time and care.  They have but a narrow sliver of soil upon which a handful of seeds have blossomed into some of the most heart-breakingly-beautiful flowers.  Throughout, there is also scattered some herbs here and there... Occasionally, a hearty sunflower that survived a spring storm, proudly stands up tall.
Ben came over with a bouquet of these last week, [: and the vivid colors exploded all over my apartment for days.

It may be a touch late now to drop some seeds as we near the end of May, but there is always the Fall...and then again, there is always next Spring.
...looks so good you could smell it:

May Mason Jar

They don't call it "spring" for nothin'

leave it to the NYT to host the task of my dreams:  find out what people all over the world are doing at the exact same moment in time.  It's brilliant...And no research funding necessary!

Check out the New York Times photography blog post at Lens

Here is an excerpt:

So far, that portrait seems to be one of surprising tranquillity. No one has to tell readers of The Times, or just about anyone else, how upended and violent the world seems to be at the moment. But our respondents tended to show moments of repose, rather than anxiety; of warmth, rather than heat. It may not constitute a “realistic” view of the human condition, but it does offer something of a balance to the images of suffering and destruction that are more often a staple of the Lens blog.

2 May 2010 - Highland Park, NJ

Hot Dark Chocolate

Now, you may be wondering, "what is so special about that?"

Well let me tell you! First, this is no ordinary hot chocolate. For starters, it's hot dark chocolate. And it's not just hot dark chocolate, it's really good hot dark chocoalte. It is made from:

2.00 tbsp - Askinosie single origin cacao powder from Davao, Philippines

1.25 tsp - Gunter's buckwheat honey

4.00 oz - 2% (organic) milk

3.00 oz - boiling water

No rules here, you should know how to make hot chocolate...but I'd feel bad if I didn't offer my suggestion: Pour a scotch of hot water (like 2 tbsp) over the cacao powder to make a thick syrupy-like texture...not too much, but enough that it's like honey...OH! How convenient...then add the honey, steamed milk (it doesn't have to be, you could add it straight from the jug, so as long as you have that water boiling still on the stove), and the rest of the water.

Voila! Perfection, in 6 minutes.

**this isn't very sweet at all, esp. compared to hot cocoa powder mixes you've probably had in the past. But give it a try, it's pure, chocolate goodness

A little bit on Cacao

...and yes, "cacao". Prioritizing my studies has led me to a two-and-a-half-hour informal research session on chocolate... I consider it time well spent :]

Preface to The Top 10 Facts You Want to Know About Chocolate:

The chocolate as you know it comes from a bean; the bean is the seed of a fruit; and this fruit comes from a tree!

The Top 10 Facts You Want to Know About Chocolate

1. Tree is species = theobroma cacao L.
2. Native to South America (though more than half of the cacao supply today comes from E. Africa now)
3. THREE (3) main varieties = criollo, forrestero, trinitario (see Note 1)
4. Grown at low elevations, usually in riparian zones, where climate is consistent at 70-90F = aka tropical
5. theobroma cacao aka "cocoa butter" is (essentially) an unsaturated fat (like olive oil)
6. cocoa is really just an error in translation. But now, it is often associated with a powder product to make chocolate milk :) For real, it's cacao
7. White chocolate is not chocolate, per-se. Instead, it is mainly cocoa butter, sugar and milk.
8. Please know where your chocolate is from. (see Note 2)
9. Chocolate is incredible with coffee. (see Note 3)
10. It is good for the heart--literally.

Note 1

Criollo is likened to the Arabica coffee varietal; the finer grade. It is usually pleasantly bittersweet, delicate, yet complex. (1-5% of production)

Forestero is similar to the Robusta coffee varietal. It is by far the highest yielding varietal for the reason that it is most resilient to diseases. Very bitter--sometimes overwhelmingly so, characteristically tannic/astringent, with a powerful aroma. (80-90%)

Trinitario is a natural hybrid of the former two. (10-15%)

(?) Arriba (and/or) Nacional. I'll try to write about the dispute over this one later.

Note 2

A large majority of cacao occurs in West Africa. Human trafficking, particularly in the Ivory Coast (Côte d'Ivoire) is a major problem, with most of the labor exploitation victimizing children. See this entry for more details (FT certification is a whole other topic)

Note 3

Okay, this might be more of an opinion than fact, however! It is very true. As a side note, chocolate and coffee share a lot of issues in terms of the economy, culture, and production process...but are also very unique and distinct produce.

Kpeya Agricultural Enterprise, Sierra Leone (C.2010 transfairusa.org)

Spring Hatchings

in the most literal sense...

Sustaining the Cacao Farmers and Families

The following is but a short (and hopefully growing) list of organizations, co-operatives, and companies that either pay fairly for the cost of cacao, or have direct relationships with the farmers:

(not to mention they are very, very delicious and in my opinions, quality)

Favorites

• Alter-Eco* (inter/national)
• Askinosie Chocolate (MO)
• Fine & Raw (NY)
• Kallari Association* (national)
• Divine Chocolate (U.S.)

Also good

• Dagoba Chocolate*
• Equal Exchange
• Green & Black's*just went fair trade! (C.N.)
• Global Exchange
• Theo Chocolate (WA)

This list is also safe for organically grown cacao. Double check, but I've *star the ones I am sure offer organic. Some specify that only certain products are organic.

Listed companies/cooperatives have a direct relationship (meaning, they've been down to the farm where the cacao is harvested) or pay a fair price.

Arenal

SO as I plated my untraditional breakfast of eggs and rice (yes, rice w/ some chopped chives), I chuckled to myself as steam arose from the pile of rice. It reminded me of breakfast, or the tipicos, you can order at any of the many sodas in Costa Rica. Needless to say, I shaped my rice into a mini volcano after that:

You don't quite see the steam as you would from the volcano in La Fortuna,

but it came kind of close :)

Compare:

Arenal gives off some steam, midday - August 2009

Impromptu Soup

I was really just wanting to take a break from Bloustein (which is a finger-numbing icebox in the spring/summer, and a stuffy hot waiting room during the cold months—HVAC FAIL), but what ended up happening took much longer than I had expected, and much tastier than I had anticipated:

Cream of Tomato Basil Soup with Rice

I’ll take credit for this recipe, as I failed to really follow any one :) but I did follow the guidelines from a RecipeZaar recipe. Here’s the recipe as I ended up making it.

• 2 cups - cooked rice*

• 2 tsp - oil
• 2 stems - leeks; washed thoroughly, sliced in half long ways, 1/4" up to a bit of the green
• 3 large cloves - garlic; minced

• 22 oz - vegetable broth*
• 1 1/2 - large tomatoes*
• 1 tsp - fresh basil; chiffonade

• I cup - light cream*
• 1 tsp - butter*

*Rice – long grain is better, wild rice would be even better

*Broth & Tomatoes – If you use plum tomatoes, I have a feeling you’ll get a sweeter, heartier soup. They are juicer and thicker, but then you may need more like 30-32oz of broth

*Cream and Butter - Heavy cream, no butter may thicken it up more…

*Between the regular tomatoes, and light cream, I actually liked the consistency—it was creamy, but not too thick. If you choose to use regular short grain rice, this will thicken it up. If you use wild rice, I would go a little thicker on the soup (ie, heavy cream, plum tomatoes)

Sauteé the garlic in (~2tsp) vegetable or olive oil (not virgin or extra virgin though) and add leeks. Cook until leeks get a little transparent and a touch browned.

Add tomatoes, broth and basil. Bring to a simmer for about 20 minutes.

With 5 minutes left, heat up the cream on the stove over low heat.

Puree the soup in portions in a blender (or however you’d like to mix things up).

Bring back to stove and slowly add heated cream over low/med heat (not too high! Because the soup is now thicker, heat will have a little more difficult time coming though. It’ll make your soup pop a bit!), stirring often.

When soup is all incorporated, pour over rice (as much or little as you want; ~3/4 c. per serving works for me).

Garnish with basil leaf…bon appetito! :]

Musings of Spring

Rutgers Gardens, April 2010

Bicycles

It's getting to be that season...and I'm thinking a bicycle would be a pretty good idea sometime soon...before the 18th! ...Since I not only have a 20% off member discount @ REI, but also dividends from the past year :P

Considering and open to others:

Marin Redwood Women's Bike at REI.com

GT Traffic 3.0 Step-Through Women's Bike - 2010 at REI.com

Raleigh Detour 4.5 Step-Through Women's Bike - 2010 at REI.com (apparently a review says it's somewhat heavy, otherwise gives it a great review)

Dinner w/ the Adhikaris

Anne whipped up some really delicious dinner. This list doesn't do it justice, but it went something like:

• London Broil (broiled, ;)
• + au jus (w/ a French accent, of course)
• Salad (no lettuce)
• Mashed Cauliflower

...and we added a minor Strawberry Spinach Salad:

The recipe as we made it:

• 1 tbsp - poppy seeds
• 1/4 cup - white sugar (I'd even use less)
• 1/2 cup - olive oil (maybe a squidge less)
• 1/4 cup - red wine vinegar (some ppl. Like distilled white vinegar)
• 1/4 tsp - paprika
• 1/4 tsp - Worcestershire sauce
• 1 tbsp - minced purple onion (I’d do a bit more next time)
• 10 oz - fresh spinach rinsed, dried (tear it up into bite-size pieces)
• 16 oz - strawberries cleaned, hulled and sliced (you could use more than 16 oz)
• 1/4 cup - almonds, sliced (I’d use 1/3 cup… and toast them if I had time)

Dessert? Great conversation (oh, and fresh whipped cream, fruit, over cake).

Cook Douglass through a new lens

...A330 to be exact. I took my new camera for a test drive! It was an unexpectedly temperate winter day. And though the landscape looked relatively dry, the ground was secretly soaking up the water from the two huge winter storms just a few weeks prior. We saw some rose bushes in the most unexpected places--random balls of snow-- It was a pretty sweet afternoon, sputtered with suspicion and surprises.

(click)

Potato and Roasted Leek Soup

School can get busy sometimes (and by sometimes, I mean all the time :), and a good way to make sure you're eating well--or eating at all! is to cook once for the whole week. Especially if you are on a budget (which I assume most grad students are), cooking your own food is probably less expensive and probably healthier (unless you're eating vegetables in butter soup or baking cookies with shortening--then not so much). This soup recipe is originally from the New England Soup Factory Cookbook by Druker and Silverstein. I picked it up one day at the Tattered Cover last year and I am just now using it for the second time. It's a pretty fantastic cookbook! Especially since it seems to be themed around New England (oh, how convenient, that I am in NJ). It also throws in some recipes for sandwiches and salads.

On Tuesday night, Ben and I made a potato leek soup with the following:

• 7 lbs - leeks (white and pale green parts only) sliced into 1/4" rounds
• 8 tbsp - salted butter, melted, divided
• Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
• 4 whole cloves - garlic, peeled
• 6-8 Yukon Gold potatoes - peeled and diced
• 8 cups - chicken broth
• 1 tsp - ground bay leaves
• 1 tsp - celery salt
• 1 tsp - crushed red pepper flakes
• 1 tbsp - Worcestershire sauce (L&P)
• 1/2 tsp - ground nutmeg
• 1.5 cups - light cream
• snipped fresh chives, for garnish

I'll let you figure out how to make it...get the recipe if you want but from my experience, here are some

Lessons learned:

- definitely wash them leeks good---I get a good mineral-y crunch from time to time (whoops). Mom suggested cutting the leeks at their roots and holding them by the dark, leafy green end to get all the sand that collects at the bottom of the leeks. DO THIS.

- get rid of any of the tough parts of the leeks. DO only used the white/pale green parts of the leeks for this recipe, and if you want to keep the dark green parts, you can slice then thinner (long ways) and used them in another dish, sauteed with stuff...or toss 'em in scrambled eggs.

- we used russet potatoes; they worked just fine. And by fine, they were great.

- I only have unsalted butter. I think using salted is a good idea. Usually I don't like using much S&P (which is why my butter is unsalted), but in this, it'll be good. It won't be too salty at all, IMO.

- we didn't have all the spices---still was super yum

This was the perfect soup for the season! It lasted for a whole week, and tasted pretty darn hearty and delicious on day 6. Throughout the week, I mixed it up w/ either some pasta or one day, Paul made some fresh bread which was O-so-good, dipped into the soup.

(and as a general rule of thumb, I'll organic ingredients when I can...or just when my wallet is feeling extra generous that day :D

that's my new, lil' basil plant in the back--winn

Caprese Redux

I know this could be odd, but I had some of that egg filling from when I made deviled eggs...and topped some caprese with it. I won't do that next time (you really can't make caprese better than it already is in its incredible simplicity)....but I thought I'd give it a shot :P

I will say, fresh basil makes worlds of difference!

Cicero - de Finibus Bonorum et Malorum

Ever wonder where "lorem ipsum" came from? Well H. Rackham (no, Wolverines, it's not our Horace Rackham--though coincidentally, they are contemporaries...must have been a popular name)

figured it out for us in 1914. Here's an excerpt:

[The Extremes of Good and Evil]
Cicero, 45 BC

Section 1.10.32
"Sed ut perspiciatis unde omnis iste natus error sit voluptatem accusantium doloremque laudantium, totam rem aperiam, eaque ipsa quae ab illo inventore veritatis et quasi architecto beatae vitae dicta sunt explicabo. Nemo enim ipsam voluptatem quia voluptas sit aspernatur aut odit aut fugit, sed quia consequuntur magni dolores eos qui ratione voluptatem sequi nesciunt. Neque porro quisquam est, qui dolorem ipsum quia dolor sit amet, consectetur, adipisci velit, sed quia non numquam eius modi tempora incidunt ut labore et dolore magnam aliquam quaerat voluptatem. Ut enim ad minima veniam, quis nostrum exercitationem ullam corporis suscipit laboriosam, nisi ut aliquid ex ea commodi consequatur? Quis autem vel eum iure reprehenderit qui in ea voluptate velit esse quam nihil molestiae consequatur, vel illum qui dolorem eum fugiat quo voluptas nulla pariatur?"
Section 1.10.33
"At vero eos et accusamus et iusto odio dignissimos ducimus qui blanditiis praesentium voluptatum deleniti atque corrupti quos dolores et quas molestias excepturi sint occaecati cupiditate non provident, similique sunt in culpa qui officia deserunt mollitia animi, id est laborum et dolorum fuga. Et harum quidem rerum facilis est et expedita distinctio. Nam libero tempore, cum soluta nobis est eligendi optio cumque nihil impedit quo minus id quod maxime placeat facere possimus, omnis voluptas assumenda est, omnis dolor repellendus. Temporibus autem quibusdam et aut officiis debitis aut rerum necessitatibus saepe eveniet ut et voluptates repudiandae sint et molestiae non recusandae. Itaque earum rerum hic tenetur a sapiente delectus, ut aut reiciendis voluptatibus maiores alias consequatur aut perferendis doloribus asperiores repellat."

[Harris Rackham translation, 1914]

Section 1.10.32
"But I must explain to you how all this mistaken idea of denouncing pleasure and praising pain was born and I will give you a complete account of the system, and expound the actual teachings of the great explorer of the truth, the master-builder of human happiness. No one rejects, dislikes, or avoids pleasure itself, because it is pleasure, but because those who do not know how to pursue pleasure rationally encounter consequences that are extremely painful. Nor again is there anyone who loves or pursues or desires to obtain pain of itself, because it is pain, but because occasionally circumstances occur in which toil and pain can procure him some great pleasure. To take a trivial example, which of us ever undertakes laborious physical exercise, except to obtain some advantage from it? But who has any right to find fault with a man who chooses to enjoy a pleasure that has no annoying consequences, or one who avoids a pain that produces no resultant pleasure?"

Section 1.10.33

"On the other hand, we denounce with righteous indignation and dislike men who are so beguiled and demoralized by the charms of pleasure of the moment, so blinded by desire, that they cannot foresee the pain and trouble that are bound to ensue; and equal blame belongs to those who fail in their duty through weakness of will, which is the same as saying through shrinking from toil and pain. These cases are perfectly simple and easy to distinguish. In a free hour, when our power of choice is untrammelled and when nothing prevents our being able to do what we like best, every pleasure is to be welcomed and every pain avoided. But in certain circumstances and owing to the claims of duty or the obligations of business it will frequently occur that pleasures have to be repudiated and annoyances accepted. The wise man therefore always holds in these matters to this principle of selection: he rejects pleasures to secure other greater pleasures, or else he endures pains to avoid worse pains."

Escanaba MI, 2008

Photo Potatoes

From the NYT: "Oven Fries"!

[andrew scrivani]

I like the colors and lighting in this photo...It also looks incredibly scrumptious for the typical "rabbit food" diet. :)