C is for Cookie.... and Cookie is for Me

I just returned from an hour long run and have a little downtown before I head up to campus to support the Walkout. Therefore, it seemed like an excellent idea to write a post; especially considering it has been a month since I made my last one. It's not my fault I haven't written in a while... I just haven't cooked anything worth noting. Ok, so I guess that would be my fault. There's just so much going on that I really haven't had the time to cook something exciting. There have been small things... cucumber salsa tacos, heirloom tomato bruschetta, zucchini latkes, but the lack of camera availalbe and the lapse of time since I have made those has been a little too long.

However, I can talk about cookies... I can always talk about cookies. I am second cousins with the cookie monster.

I think the ultimate cookie is the chocolate chip cookie. It's a classic. No one ever becomes sick of a chocolate chip cookie. They're just so dang tasty. My favorite is when they are a bit crispy on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. And with dark chocolate! I also love a bit of cinnamon just to add a little spice.

A few weeks back I made a batch for my roommates that literally were gone within an hour of pulling them out of the oven. I can't blame their quick disappearence... they were good. And their aroma was so sweet that you couldn't escape from them inside our cozy apartment.

My favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe hands down is from Ghiradelli chocolate. However, this one I had to adapt seeing as I was missing a few ingredients. But what can I say? I'm a college student I have to learn to adapt!

Chocolate Chip Cookies

2 sticks softened butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 tsp almond extract
2 1/2 cups flour
1 tsp baking soda
pinch salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

Preheat oven to 350 F. Cream butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time and add almond extract. Combine remaining ingrediants in a seperate bowl and slowly add to creamed mixture. Plop mounds onto a baking sheet, bake for 8-10 minutes and enjoy!

Cooking hiatus

It's been a while.
I apologize.
Life's been pretty hectic lately.
In the way summer and college should be.

I'm taking a break from UCSB for the year and exploring the other options provided by the UC system. For the next four months, I will be living in Berkeley and attending CAL. It's a nice change from the beach and bike life in Santa Barbara. Berkeley is a lot bigger city with a lot more going on. That's not to say Santa Barbara isn't amazing... Berkeley is just exciting in a different way. It's the town versus city kind of excitement. Santa Barbara has the beaches and surfing (which I love) and Berkeley has the hustle and bustle of a city and a ton of really good, cheap food. Thus the reason I have not cooked much over the past month. Well, that and for the first two weeks my living situation was not exactly ideal to say the least (aka I had a sleeze of a housemate). But now everything has worked out. I have a beautiful apartment, which I share with 3 other students, across the street from campus and in the heart of town.

Heart of town... hmmm, good cheap food everywhere I look? Yes, that has been a problem. I have finally remembered that I am a broke college student and don't have the funds to eat out every night. Tonight was the first time I have cooked in a looong time. But who can resist Cheeseboard Pizza or delicious Thai food or burritos? And I finally have awesome public transportation... which means it's hard not to take BART into SF Mission district and eat at Del Fina and Bi-rite Creamery.

Ok, I admit it... Hi, my name's Caroline and I have an obsession with food.

Oakland Dim Sum

A couple months ago I mentioned to my brother's girlfriend, Cindy, that I had not had dim sum in what felt like forever. Therefore, because she's Chinese and speaks Mandarin and Shanghainese it only made sense for her to take me. Although we have been talking about going for two months, there never seemed to be a good time. I was either in Santa Barbara finishing spring quarter or my brother was abroad backpacking his way through Europe. Finally we found a day that worked for everyone: last Sunday.
Maybe it was the anticipated wait that made it so delicious... or maybe it was the fact that I tried things I would never have dreamed of eating when I was younger. Either way, Sunday turned out to be a wonderful meal.
There were five of us that made the trek to Oakland China Town. We went to Joy Luck Restaurant which is known for cheap, good food. It must be noted that people in Oakland China Town speak Cantonese which made ordering a bit more difficult. Luckily, both Cindy and our other friend were experienced enough in the art of dim sum that they were able to order everything for us.
We began the meal with a few recognizable treats including the infamous pork buns (my brother's favorite) and became more adventurous as the carts came by. Cindy ordered tripe and chicken's feet, both of which I had never had before. The funny thing is that three or four years ago the aforementioned items would have disgusted me. However, now I was just extremely curious. I took a chicken's foot, intrigued by the fact that it looked exactly like a live chicken's foot. And after a bit of difficulty with the chopsticks (I refused to use a fork) took a bit--- imagine that... it tasted just like chicken! And it was kind of fun to eat because you have to pick out all the little foot bones. I tried to get my brother to try but he refused; he said he was quite content with his pork buns.
After the chicken's foot, I decided it was time to try the tripe. Or maybe I did not know it was tripe and just wanted to try everything. It was off-white and cut into long strips with little bumps on them. The texture was sensational- crunchy but chewy and a bit rough. But it was delicious! It was cooked in ginger and tasted just like ginger.
Basically we stuffed ourselves on everything we could get our hands on. The only disappointing part of the entire day was that they ran out of egg custards and sesame buns by the time we finished the savory dishes.
O and the best thing about Joy Luck, is the 5 of us ordered over a dozen dishes, all left completely satisfied and only paid 6 dollars each! Perfect for broke college students!

My Little Garden

When I was little, my mom used to grow lots of vegetables in our yard. I remember going out back and picking corn, carrots, tomatoes, watermelon, squash, strawberries... I think you get the picture. The lush garden lasted for the early years of my childhood. But then, the trees grew and covered the area in shade, and the deer moved in. Between the lack of sunlight and the constant grazing of deer families, growing vegetables in the ground became a thing of the past.



When I returned home from college in late June, I decided I wanted to have my own garden. My mom and I thought it out and determined that we could buy planters and grow a couple small things on the brick patio. Our backyard is terraced and the deer stay up top or near the deck; they have yet to find the patio! Because I was getting a late start, a bought seedlings of zucchini, tomatoes, spinach, lettuce, parsley, basil, and seeds of carrots and beets. Well the zucchini has taken off like wildfire (although it's not ready to pick yet), and the carrots and beets have sprouted beautifully. But the best part thus far is the fact that I was able to make a salad last night with my spinach and my first tomato!



Though it was just a simple salad, the fact that the produce came from my garden made it that much better!
And the culprit escapes!

Fresh from British Columbia

I am sitting here waiting to go to a Giant's game (though I am an A's fan) and realized this is a perfect time to write a post. Plus it's been a little while since the last one and I am way overdue. But who can blame me? The California summer is so nice, it's hard for me to sit down at a computer and write when I should be outside hiking, running, swimming, or causing whatever mayhem is appropriate for the moment. I have been cooking a lot and baking a ton. Moving back into my parent's house for the summer means I become the "second mom" (that's how my mom puts it anyway). My mom works long hours so I become responsible for most dinners; not that I mind. The only problem is my family is full of fussy eaters. If you have ever seen the sketch by George Carlin about 'fussy eaters' apply that to my family x five and welcome to my household.

We usually don't eat fish in my house unless my mom and I decide we want to cook for ourselves but last night was a rare treat. My mom is away in Atlanta on business so dinner was just my dad, my sister, and me. I figured it was going to be another hamburger night until.... my dad brought home fresh fish! What is this madness? Sorry, I guess that only makes sense if you know my dad, but he's usually not a fan of fish. However, one of my dad's students (my dad's a flight instructor) went up to British Columbia on a fishing trip and caught some halibut (just for the 'hal-ib-ut') and salmon and decided to give some to my dad. We no complaints there. I greatly appreciated the fish, at least the halibut which we ate last night. I'll post something for the salmon in a few days if I remember because it will be tomorrow night's dinner.

But the halibut was so good. Not fishy just mild and subtle flavor and flaky and moist and scrumptious! And my dad and my sister both really enjoyed it! That's when you know it's a good fish.

Grilled Halibut with Salsa Verde and Nu Potatoes

Halibut
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons dry white wine
2 tablespoons lemon juice
1 tablespoon rosemary
16oz fresh wild halibut
sea salt and fresh ground pepper to taste.

Combine the first 4 ingrediants and mix. Add halibut and let it marinate for an hour, turning it over once. Just before grilling add sea salt and pepper to taste. Grill 4-5 minutes per side until flesh in opaque and flakey.

Salsa Verde
1/2 bunch Italian parsley finely chopped
1 tablespoon red onion finely chopped
handful fresh basil finely chopped
1 teaspoon fresh oregeno finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon capers
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 tablespoon white wine vinegar
salt and pepper to taste

Mix all ingrediants in a bowl. Simple as that. And spoon over prepared fish.

Nu potatoes

5 potatoes
tablespoon olive oil
tablespoon rosemary finely chopped
1/2 tablespoon white wine
sea salt and pepper to taste

Par boil potatoes until just about done. Let cool and then quarter. Mix olive oil, wine, rosemary, salt and pepper. Pour over potatoes and let marinade for 30 minutes. Finish on grill until there is a little char and the potato flesh is golden.

Summer Baking

I feel that I have been MIA lately, but no worries... I'm back! This past weekend was quite hectic. The annual softball tournament in my town meant my sister and I worked long days in a small snack shack wreaking of french fries and with an ever constant flood of rude softball fans. That's right, rude. There were a select few that were nice and appreciative of our gourmet snack bar food but you would be surprised at how nasty softball parents can be. Now, I'm sure you're wondering how a snack bar at a softball field can be gourmet right? I'm not going to lie, we sell all the basics- hot dogs, nachos, soft pretzels- but the owner is a top chef at his day job and his creativity spills over onto the snack bar. We have amazing salads including a goat cheese, candied walnut, and pear salad, and each day we had a special. Penne pasta with homemade bolognase or pesto sauce, fish/chicken/pork tacos, and tri-tip and steak sandwiches. YUM!

You would think that after working all day on my feet serving other people, I would have had enough of food. But, no, I'm unstoppable. It's like the energizer bunny, I just keep going and going and going. And going and going and going. Or maybe it was just the night before Father's day and I had yet to get my dad a present. The nice thing about moving back home is having my mom to help in situations like this. That day, she had gone to the farmer's market and bought me rhubarb and strawberries. So come 9pm Saturday night, I made a strawberry rhubarb pie. This is why I love early summer. There is so much amazing produce available. The pie was a great success. I used a recipe I found on the food network website and made a few tweaks to the crust and filling. It's aroma was so tantalizing I wanted to eat it all that night!

On Father's day my sister and I had to work until five. At which point it was still beautiful and warm out (Summer solstice remember?) and we decided we needed to go somewhere special for dinner. Having a pilot for a dad makes things convenient. We flew to Half Moon Bay, a place we used to go when I was a baby but hadn't been to in more than a decade. Half Moon Bay is the site of Mavericks and more importantly the site of my first solid food as a baby- fried clams! Go figure right? So dinner was great... we enjoyed it on the deck of the restaurant overlooking the harbor. And the flight was gorgeous. The air was smooth as silk and the sky was cloudless. The route we took was just off the coast of San Francisco and on the way back, we could see all the lights from the planes in the SFO holding pattern. It basically doubled the amount of "stars" in the sky.

Finally, at ten that night we returned home to enjoy the pie! So good, especially with Straus vanilla bean ice cream.

Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Crust
2 1/2 cups all purpose flour (add an additional 1/4 cup if needed)
3 teaspoons granulated sugar
1/2 cup shortening
1/4 cup room temperature butter
pinch sea salt
2 teaspoons lemon zest
2 tablespoons lemon juice
3 tablespoons ice water (plus more if needed)

Mix flour, sugar, shortening, butter, salt, and lemon zest until resembles coarse crumbs. Add lemon juice and just enough water to firm a firm dough. Separate into two disks and chill.

Filling

4 cups fresh chopped red rhubarb
4 cups fresh chopped de-stemmed strawberries
1 3/4 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons minute tapioca
1 tablespoon all purpose flour
1 teaspoon lemon zest
1 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon cinnamon
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Mix the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, tapioca, flour, lemon juice, and lemon zest. Roll out 1 pastry disk and place in 9in pie dish. Pour filling in and have it mounded in the center. Roll out second pastry disk and place over filling. Crimp edges and cut slits in the crust. Brush crust with an egg wash. Cover edges with foil and bake for 15 minutes at 425. Reduce heat to 375, take the foil off the edges and bake for 45-50 minutes. Let cool and enjoy!!!

If you give a mouse a cookie...

You know that story I'm talking about. "If you give a mouse a cookie, he'll ask for a glass a milk..." and it goes on and on and on. Well, I feel like that is a good allusion to my family when they come in contact with sweets. Or rather, if you give my family cookies, they'll eat the whole plate. But that's a good thing right? It shows my baking is appreciated. My dad's a funny one though. It has to be the traditional recipes used. The recipes that he grew up with, that his mother made. So anytime you make something and it's different than Grandma's he'll tell you. "You know when my mother makes this...." or my other favorite is I'll be in the kitchen making one thing and he'll come in and say "You know I like ___". Well then make it yourself dad!

At this point I think it is necessary for me to point out that I really love my dad. And I rant about him in the most deeply loving way. And I understand why he compares everything to my grandma's baking; she is a phenomenal cook/baker. Seriously, everything she makes is amazing. Even foods I normally don't like a delicious... but this could also be due to the fact she swears by the theory that a stick of butter solves any cooking disaster.

These past few weeks have been hectic. It has consisted of studying, writing 28 page reports, and driving from Santa Barbara to Petaluma for numerous graduations. My brother graduated from UC Berkeley and my sister graduated from high school (note that she is attending UC Santa Barbara in the fall!). So I made the 6 hour trek up from Santa Barbara and my grandma hopped on the 6 hour flight out from New York to stay with us for three weeks in order to see both graduations. Along with the two graduations came two graduation parties which meant lots of baking for Grandma and me. We made numerous types of cookies, brownies, and a bread pudding with all the excess rolls left from the party. Grandma has the best snickerdoodle recipe which I will post at a later time when I have it in front of me. The other favorite I made was chocolate chip cookies! I have had the Ghiradelli's chocolate chip cookie recipe memorized since I was ten years old. But I decided to change it up a little bit this past weekend and replace the granulated sugar with honey and add nutmeg and cinnamon. The cookies were gone very quickly!

Honey nutmeg chocolate chip cookies

1 stick of unsalted butter at room temperature
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg at room temperature

1 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
3/4 tsp baking soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp nutmeg

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 F

Cream butter and add sugar and honey until well combined. Add the vanilla and a beaten egg. When well combined (make sure not to overmix). Combine all dry ingrediants in a seperate bowl and add 1/3 of the dry ingrediants at a time. Stir in the chocolate chips. Bake for 9-10 minutes and enjoy!