eat make read

So the title is a bit of a mouthful, but boy oh boy are these cookies delicious. I saw them on smitten kitten earlier this week and couldn’t get them off my mind. I mean, white chocolate aannnd salt? Sounds like heaven.

I mixed and poured and mixed some more until all the ingredients had been incorporated. I scooped them onto a baking sheet and then sprinkled a little sea salt on top of each one. I put them in the oven for the required time and when I pulled them out I was a little bummed to see that they had spread and flattened more than I had expected. But, I rolled with the punches and transfered them to the cooling racks.

I’m happy to say that even though they’re not the prettiest cookies, it’s what’s inside that counts… and they taste great. In fact, the flatness works in their favor by making them nice and crispy with a rich buttery flavor. Every once in a while you come upon a chunk of chocolate or a sprinkle of salt and it’s pretty great. I think next time I may cut back the butter by a few tablespoons, but other than that, they are probably the best oatmeal cookie out there.

Do you remember shrinky dinks? I definitely have fond memories of some smurf shrinky dinks. If you’re not familiar with them, a shrinky dink is a thin, flexible plastic material that you can color on, after which you cut it out and stick it in the oven for a few minutes and incredibly, it turns into a hard, shrunken piece of plastic. Basically, they’re awesome.

I saw this post by Nicole over at Making It Lovely awhile ago and have been eager to try my hand at modern day shrinky dinks, meaning I can design something on my laptop and print it on my inkjet. She made a super cute dog tag and well, since we’re getting our pup this weekend (!!!) I couldn’t resist. I found my shrinky dinks at Cog & Pearl in brooklyn, but you can order them online at Readymade. Following Nicole’s instructions, I made my tag about twice the size I wanted and about half the color saturation. I simply cut it out and punched a hole with a paper punch and popped it in the oven.

Let’s just say my tag has a bit more “character” than hers… meaning it’s a bit lumpy and squished.. but still pretty dang cute. Plus I have 3 3/4 more sheets to play with, so Maude will be one stylish lady. The color isn’t coming out quite right in the photo, but it’s a nice moss green (rather than gray green) and as an added bonus these shrinkies are double-sided, so our info is on the back side. Now I need to think up some other projects that can be shrunk…

Have a fantastic weekend! I’ll be back next week with a snuggly little friend… yay!

I just finished “The United States of Arugula” by David Kamp. You know how some books just suck you in and you read 20 pages and don’t even realize it, and then there are other books where it feels like a struggle to get through 1 page? This book kind if sits right in the middle of those two types. It’s rich with information about the food world from the beginning of supermarkets to the branding of chefs. There are lots of interesting tidbits about chefs and food writers and how they shaped the way we think about food and what we eat. Sometimes I felt like it delved a bit too far into some concepts and it started to get a little boring. I think when a book has so much to tell you, it’s easier to take in smaller bits of information. With that said, I’d recommend this book to someone who’s interested in the food world.

Next up,”Animal, Vegetable, Miracle” by Barbara Kingslover. Oh boy I can’t wait!

Biscuits are one of those comfort foods that I will never tire of. I have a trusty recipe that I almost always use, but I had some leftover buttermilk in the fridge so I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to try something new. I found this recipe on epicurious and cut it in half, which still made too many, but the great thing about biscuits is that you can freeze them and then pop them in the oven the next time you want them. The recipe was pretty simple, just a little mixing and a quick drop on the baking sheet and they were ready to bake.

Can I just say that these blew the socks of my usual recipe? They were so awesomely fantastic! They were super moist and held together just long enough to get to your mouth and then they crumbled into a buttery tumble of goodness. Add a little honey on top and you just might have the perfect biscuit. Yum yum yum.

the kitchn had a nice post about a foodie walking tour of bleeker street. I’ve definitely indulged in a few of the destinations, but it looks like I should make another trip down there. I’m especially excited about the cannolis… I can’t remember that last time I had one and I think I need to change that.

Aaron and I decided to visit the mexican restaurant Bonita, in Fort Greene last weekend. We’d been there once before for brunch and left pretty happy, so we thought we’d give dinner a try. We arrived around 7:30 and were quickly seated. We both ordered margaritas and started out with some guacamole and chips. The hostess read us a list of the nightly specials and we decided to try the roast turkey tacos with mole. The margaritas arrived and were nice and tasty. We were served a hearty portion of guacamole, but it was missing a little something. Don’t get me wrong, we ate it, but it just needed a little punch of flavor.

Our entree came and just as the hostess told us, it was more than enough for two people to share except for one thing. Unfortunately it was only served with 3 tortillas, but there was enough meat to make 6 or 7 tacos. When we asked for more tortillas the charged us extra. Boo. But beyond that, they were really tasty. The turkey was very flavorful and the mole was excellent. It wasn’t super chocolately or thick, like some moles we’ve had. It was the perfect consistency and had a nice complex flavor.

It’s not our favorite mexican restaurant, but it’s definitely a place we’ll put in our rotation of restaurants to mix things up a bit.

My mouth is watering reading about this chili salt recipe. It sounds like an amazing flavor/texture combination. I can just imagine it on a juicy mango. yum yum yum!

I’ve got a bit of a sweet tooth and I usually cure it by baking something, but this weekend I searched all my favorite sources for a new cookie recipe and nothing sounded good. Then I found my mom’s caramel corn recipe and it sounded like just the right thing. I’m always looking to add a little twist on the traditional, so I added a little cayenne pepper to the caramel and yum in my tum, it turned out pretty good. I must admit, I ended up burning it a little bit, but luckily the recipe is big enough that I was able to rescue some of it. Next time I’ll watch it a little closer and I’ll definitely add the cayenne for a little kick.

Caramel Corn with a kick

1/2 cup popcorn
1 cup brown sugar
1 stick butter
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon almond extract

Preheat oven to 300Ëš
1
Pop popcorn and lay out on baking sheet lined with parchment paper
2
Bring brown sugar, butter, corn syrup and salt to a boil and heat for 5 minutes.
3
Add baking soda and almond extract and remove from heat.
4
Pour caramel evenly over popcorn and bake for 30 minutes, checking it every 10 minutes and stirring.

Just when you thought I couldn’t possibly use rhubarb in another recipe… I found a way to bring it into happy hour. I saw a link for a rhubarbarita on thekitchn and I had to do a double take. Could it possibly be? A rhubarb margarita… I just couldn’t resist. It takes a little more time than some of the other cocktails I’ve made, but I must say it’s got a fantastic result.

The recipe calls for you to combine the rhubarb with simple syrup, so the final result ends up being a little more sweet than I expected. But I kind of loved it… Aaron did too, especially after the past few happy hours when the mixing has been a little off. We both felt like this cocktail was right on target.

Cheers! Have a great weekend!

The new bon appetit web site made it’s debut this week. I haven’t spent a ton of time exploring, but it features the top 100 recipes with nice big pictures, which always perks my attention. Click here to check it out….