New Fruit!

It seems like whenever I'm in the mood to try something new all I have to do is hang out in the produce section at the grocery store.  Have you noticed that they keep bringing in new strange fruits and veggies?

Last year my biggest finds were pluots (a hybrid of a plum and apricot) and rambutan (a crazy fruit that looks like a sugar gum seed - a round ball covered in prickly spines) you split the spiny shell in half and there is a watery grape in the middle that tastes kind of like a pear.

This year my biggest discovery to date were champagne grapes......it never even occurred to me that one could buy champagne grapes, but there they were in $5 plastic boxes at Whole Foods.

They are about the size of small blueberries, and they taste like an extra sweet/extra flavorful grape.  We bought them to share with friends, but honestly they are so tiny that its a little difficult to pluck them off the stem, so they didn't share well...I bet if we would have cut them into small bundles so everyone could just take a bundle they would have like them better.

Have you been to a frozen yogurt shop where they have tiny little boba balls?  These grapes tasted just like that!  When you squish them they just burst with flavorful liquid.  Which now that I'm thinking of it, they would be great as an ice cream topping!

If you happen to see them in the store you should get them!  They're totally worth the mini splurge.

Seeking to Create an Heirloom

For years I have written in cookbooks, saved the links to all my favorite recipes online, and shoved random torn out pages from magazines into my desk....I've been lucky, I've lost very few recipes along the way.

One was an amazing five layer mint brownie I found online...it was famous in my friend circle, absolutely everyone loved it, but one day I discovered the website was taken down. From time to time I still click on the link hoping it will be there again, but alas it never is, and lets be honest, it never will be again.

Another recipe was one I cooked for a boyfriend ten years ago (good memory right?)...the right occasion came up, I remembered this recipe was a smashing success the last time I made it...but one problem, the recipe was in a magazine ten years ago. I searched online with no luck, dug through all my random stacks of paper, looked in all my folders...then luck hit, I actually found a shopping list for that recipe from ten years ago...searched the internet and was able to figure out which magazine printed it...and bam! still had the freaking magazine on my bookshelf.  (I promise I don't keep everything, but I was very grateful I kept this one)...however, fast forward another year or two...I don't have the slightest clue where that recipe went!

So I've decided, I want to get a three ring binder and print ALL of my most loved recipes on acid free paper and put them in one place.  So when I get tired of my most recent collection of recipes, I can flip through the book and be guaranteed to love any recipe out of that book.

I want this book to become an heirloom, so I want it to be a cool book.  I'd even be willing to pay for a leather bound three ring binder, if I could find one that looked right....but unfortunately I couldn't find ANYTHING....until I stumbled upon www.zazzle.com

Way back in the day I remember seeing this site. You or anyone else can create their own online store on Zazzle.  Your or they design tee-shirts, coffee mugs, THREE RING BINDERS....and if someone else finds it and likes it, they can buy it. Zazzle will custom make it and ship it to the buyer, and the "artist" gets a cut of the profits.

There are thousands of three ring binders. I'm overwhelmed by all the choices.  Do I stick with a classic?  Monogrammed?  Something wacky, and so ugly it's charming?   I've been looking for a couple days now and I've narrowed it down to eight choices, but I love them all, I'm not sure which would be my perfect heirloom book.

Here's what I've got so far:

I'm kind of leaning towards the middle row. Blair's favorite is the top right, which I love too, but I just don't know. Anyone out there got an opinion?

Could You Be a Vegetarian?

The older I get the harder it is to keep the pounds at bay.  I feel like I'm constantly exercising but it just isn't enough any more.  About a year or two ago I finally surrendered to the fact that food choices also have to play a role in fitness, so slowly but constantly I strive to eat better/healthier.

This year, I was pondering the vegetarian life style and I realized I don't even know enough vegetarian recipes to last a week.  What would you eat for seven days?  You shouldn't just lean on breads, but as much as I love fruits that can't be all one eats......so as an experiment I signed up for the vegetarian meal plan at www.fresh20.com

At the start of each week Fresh20 emails me a grocery list of 20 fresh ingredients (they use very few canned or processed foods) for five vegetarian meals.  I spend about $20-$30 on the ingredients, but the recipes are for a family of four, so really one weeks groceries last me about two weeks. I've been using their system for a few months now (not every week, but some) and it is so much fun, I'm discovering new foods, cooking with ingredients I've always loved but never cooked with before, and I feel like I'm eatting a much more well rounded diet than I ever had before!

I've made homemade pesto sauce, stuffed mushrooms, polenta (I didn't even know what a polenta was before the fresh20)...one week I made my own black bean veggie burgers...as I said, it's so much fun!

The only down side is that these meal plans are getting created each week by the fresh20 team, so while you have variety and excitement, you also have typo's and confusing instructions from time to time....It helps that I already know how to cook, so I can say "no way, that can't be right..."  We're all human, I can forgive the typos, it just makes me sad when I make a wrong meal, because normally I would write notes in my cookbook and make the meal right the next time, but with their system I don't know if I'd remember if I see the same recipe a second time...

Another issue I had to overcome: it seems like each week one out of the five meals is a little too adventurous for me. This week it was Ginger Bok Choy and Tofu.  I'll admit I don't even know what ginger bok choy and tofu would taste like, but it just doesn't sound good. In the past, I would buy the ingredients for the meal with the intention of 'expanding my horizons', but then come up with every excuse possible to not make that meal, leaving all those precious ingredients to spoil in my fridge...I've learned it is better to stick with my first impressions, if the meal doesn't sound good, don't buy the ingredients, and don't plan on making it.

I think the Fresh 20 system was worth every penny.  It would be an awesome gift for foodie, someone going vegetarian, or someone striving to cook at home every night.  

Pizza and Art in Westport

We went to the coolest pizza place in Westport today….it’s artsy, it’s foodie friendly, and green earth hippie…..

The place is called Open Fire Pizza (3951 Broadway, Kansas City MO 64111).  It’s kind of easy to miss but defiantly worth stopping for.

It looks like an artist and a cook/chef got together and created their dream place.  There are huge paintings all over the walls, a big open floor plan, with repurposed decorations.  (My favorite was they cut a bunch of pvc pipes all the same length, strung them parallel to each other and used them almost like a bamboo shade separating the tables with their home made ‘shades.’

They have event rooms, a hippie looking coffee shop, a small stage, real brick ovens, low cost art classes….the place is cool, real cool.

The pizza was great, they are sort of big enough to split, but cheap enough one could get their own. (I want to say a three topping pizza is $7).  It is a thin crusted pizza with really good pizza sauce.

The staff seemed laid back and super friendly….. but honestly, what we liked most was the interior design, it’s just crazy unique.  For instance I was so blown away by the painting in the bathroom I actually drug my boyfriend in to see it…then I took a picture, hahaha (see below).

We’re defiantly going back.  Here's their website if your interested: http://openfirepizza.com/

Pot Roast Gone Wrong

We've all seen it happen in the movies.  Girl invites everyone over for a huge turkey dinner, but girl forgets to turn the oven on and at the last minute the turkey, which is the main event, is discovered raw, cold, uncooked, chilling in the oven.

My mom did this a few times when I was a kid, but I had never done this before...seriously, 'forget' to turn on the oven, are you kidding me?

Go figure, for my thirtieth birthday I found myself making this very mistake....

When I was younger and I pictured myself as an adult, I pictured cooking a family style dinner for my friends once a week...we'd have a designated day that we would all gather around a home cooked meal, play games, drink wine, etc....

Now that I'm an adult I've come to terms with the fact that this would be a very expensive pastime, not to mention a huge logistical problem, trying to appease everyone's food likes and dislikes, and food allergies/odd diets would be a huge undertaking.  So instead I strive to do this only as my birthday celebration...

I like the challenge of cooking for a larger number of people, planning out the time that everything has to be done so that it is all ready at the right time, and inviting others to try some of the recipes that I've discovered.

This year I decided to go simple, just a simple pot roast with roasted with the classic potatoes, carrots, a couple types of bread, and strawberry lemonade smoothies...

Everything was going smoothly....I managed to make it to three grocery stores within the hour...got a 3.5 pound pot roast specially cut for me (three tresses to hold the darn thing together...and it barely fit in my dutch oven)...put it into the oven right on time....set an alarm to cut up the potatoes and carrots and add them to the oven an hour and a half before dinner...but when I went to add the veggies I discovered the oven was completely cool....I'd set the temperature but didn't turn the stupid thing on! To make matters worse, I had already set the dinner time a little late in the evening, so now, dinner wouldn't be ready until 10pm.


One by one as people arrived I broke the bad news "I'm so sorry, should we go out to eat or wait out the 3.5 slab of meat in the oven?"  They chose to wait it out (thank goodness...what would I do with all that food otherwise....we ate dessert first, played a game or two then delved into dinner....

However being that dinner was two hours later than I intended, I was a little short on food.....Everyone seemed happy with the meal, but there were no left overs which means everyone was probably a little ravenous and a little bit more of everything would have been better. C'est la vie.... I guess you can't win them all. 

Free for All at the Grocery Store

So last week I got a gift card to a organic grocery store, and I was hoping it would be a fun free for all.  Throwing anything and everything in the cart without a care, but instead I was a penny pincher.

This week I unexpectedly had my moment.  Everyone knows you should never shop at the grocery store when you are tired and hungry...I was tired and hungry and shopping at Whole Foods.  We found bing cherries, and bought them even though we already have sweet cherries in the fridge...but they were so beautiful, and they were bings (the BEST type of cherry that's only around for a small season).  Then we started  scooping out anything and everything from the self serve bins - dried mangoes (that taste kind of like fruit roll ups), cherry vanilla granola, unsalted cashews....

And candy, when your tired and hungry candy is a must.  We bought two different brands of peanut butter cups, some caramel cups....and THE BEST lemon pound cake from the bakery....

It was madness I tell you...but so much fun.  Blair would sheepishly say "I kind of want to try that," and I'd say "then get it, throw it in...I'll split it with you..."  Which was fun and all until I discovered that we spent almost $80 on random junk food.  NEVER go grocery shopping when your tired and hungry!  (Unless your prepared for the consequences.)

Kombucha

On our shopping spree at Natural Grocers we bought some locally made berry flavored kombucha.  I wanted to like it soooo bad since it's locally made, obscure, and bubbly (I seem to love anything bubbly), but I've got to say - not my cup of tea. It's got a strong vinegar taste, that's not bad, but not necessarily good either.

I will admit, I had no clue what kombucha was when I tried it.  The bottle we bought had no label what so ever, just a paper tag on the top of the bottle indicating what was inside. After scouring the internet, I think my hopes were misaligned with reality.

Kombucha is basically/fermented moldy tea. It looks like it originated in China, and according to wikipedia there are loose references to it being referred to as the "beverage with magical powers enabling people to live forever" all the way back in 206 BC....had I known that, I would have expected a sour stinky drink.

So why would someone want to drink a bubbly moldy tea that tastes like vinegar? According to wikipedia this stuff has hundreds of healing powers/health benefits.  Kombucha will:
- Detoxify the body and energize the mind
- Add in cancer recovery
- Increase energy
- Sharpen eyesight
- Aid in joint recovery
- Improve skins elasticity
- Aid in digestion
- Help keep foods like rice and pasta from "sticking" when eating

But, there is no research backing any of these claims, so buyer beware.


I also found it intriguing that just ten days ago Whole Foods pulled kombucha off their shelves because it may be an alcoholic drink.  They ferment the tea just like alcohol, and I guess .5% alcohol content is allowed as non-alcoholic, but they are suspecting the tea continued to ferment while it was shipping to the stores, meaning it could be up to 3% alcohol content, at which case it needs to be marketed and sold as alcohol.  (In Kansas this will be a big deal because they have all kinds of crazy laws about selling liquor - it can only be sold between 6am and midnight, if it's over 3.2% it can't be sold in a gas station or grocery store, etc.)  


According to articles on the net Whole Foods is currently in the process of testing all of their kombucha brands, but that was days ago, and I swear I was at Whole Foods just yesterday and saw a kombucha section in the refrigerated section...but I was unable to find any official statement from Whole Foods on the mater.  Maybe they were wrong and tried to remove all evidence of the questioning?  Who knows?

Regardless of the matter, bubbly fermented tea that is suppose to make me live forever, and may or may not get me buzzed sounds awesome.  (I just wish I liked the taste!)

If your interested in trying it, Whole Foods and Natrual Grocers both sell a brew that is made here in Kansas City "Local Bucha."  http://www.localbucha.com/Home.aspx  and I read that the BadSeed farmers market has some for sale too (I think I'm going to try their farm brew next).  Also note, according to Local Bucha's website, some batches are more acidic than others, and some are more bubbly than others, so maybe I'd like a milder batch?  The search will continue.