Scoville Sour

2.5 oz Hendrick's gin
1 oz lemon juice
1/2 oz honey simple syrup
1/2 oz maple syrup
1/4 tsp cayenne and espelette pepper mix

Now that I have a bottle of Hendrick's I've been making myself Scoville Sours.

I don't have any espelette pepper, so I used white pepper instead. I was told with white pepper the mix should be mostly cayenne, but that was too hot for me. I make my Sours with a half cayenne/half white pepper mix. If I get some espelette I imagine I'll have to readjust the cayenne amount.

The cayenne pepper goes well with the sweet and sour taste of the lemon, honey syrup, and maple syrup. I think the honey and maple give the drink's sweetness more depth than you'd get just using a simple syrup.

A note about the drink - it yields more than a four ounces. When making it, I either have to use a larger glass, or I end up sipping the cocktail from the glass before pouring out the last bit. Since it has cayenne pepper, hurriedly sipping the drink to make more room can be a little uncomfortable.

The cocktail used to be served at No. 9 Park, but when I was there for Restaurant Week I was told they no longer make them. What a pity!

(For those wondering, the honey syrup is one part honey, one part water, stirred over heat until the honey has completely mixed in.)

Fake subway maps

A few weeks ago I read about Transit Authority Figures' fake subway maps on Apartment Therapy. One of the maps is of Cape Cod, so I just had to order it! I received a nice note from the owners telling me the map should be shipping later this week. I'm debating whether to order the maps for Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket. It'd be nice to have a complete set, but my spending was a little out of control in March, so I want to rein things in for a bit.

Google Sync for Blackberries

I downloaded Google Sync for my Blackberry a few weeks ago. It's a handy app that synchronizes your calendar and address book with GMail and Google Calendar. For the most part, I like it. Since I do not use MS Outlook on my home PC, I didn't have a way to enter addresses and appointments on my desktop. Everything had to be entered on the Blackberry, which can get tedious if you want to edit multiple addresses, etc. Plus, since it's Google, I can update my calendar and contact list from any computer as long as I have access to the web.

You can have Google Sync run in the background on your Blackberry to regularly update Google every two hours or so. Or, you can choose to manually synchronize. I chose the automatic option since I am prone to forget to regularly update things.

You can also choose how far in advance you want the appointments to be synchronized. I chose to have it update appointments scheduled for the next 24 weeks, the maximum period. The minimum period is four weeks.

There are a few downsides, however. For starters, any dates you already have scheduled on your Blackberry will not be uploaded to your Google calendar. Only appointments you enter after installing Google Sync will be added to Google calendar. I find this slightly annoying because I have doctor's appointments for next year that I've entered in my Blackberry already.

Another drawback is that you cannot choose the automatic update interval. I would rather have it update every 3-4 hours instead of two. The reason for this is the third drawback: the automatic updates require a data transfer each time between your Google account and the Blackberry. This tends to drain the battery. Since using the app, I've noticed that I have to recharge my battery more often. It isn't a major problem, but it is a nuisance.

Easter Dinner 2009

For Easter I treated myself to a rack of lamb with spicy plum chutney (made by the Virginia Chutney Company). Because I really shouldn't eat an entire meal of meat I had sauteed cauliflower as a side.

To cook the lamb, I first scored the fat so the chutney could work its way into it while cooking. I then mixed some of the chutney with salt and garlic powder. My reasoning was that normally you'd rub salt onto the lamb, and since I didn't think the chutney didn't have any salt in it, I thought I had to add some. (It turns out it does have salt in it. Oops.) I was worried that if I added salt directly to the meat it would rub off when I spread the chutney on. I could be wrong in this. Anyway, after mixing the salt, garlic powder, and chutney, I spread it on the rack, covering the top part where the fat was, the sides, and the front (non-Frenched side). I cooked the lamb in the oven at 325 F for approximately 45 minutes.

For the cauliflower, I sliced two shallots and crushed a clove of garlic. I sauteed these on med-low with one tablespoon of butter and one tablespoon of canola oil (those not as health conscious could use two tablespoons of butter). Once the shallots were soft and on the verge of carmelizing, I added the chopped cauliflower florettes, pepper, salt, and red pepper flakes. I can't remember if I added garlic powder, however. I suppose it wouldn't have hurt ;) I sauteed the cauliflower for 20-30 minutes.

Overall, it was satisfying meal. I was worried that it would be too hot, since both the chutney and the cauliflower have red pepper flakes. But, this wasn't the case, and both provided enough sweetness to make me happy (I have a sweet tooth). However, I think others might have found adding red pepper flakes, onions, and garlic to the cauliflower may have been unnecessary. I had thought about just sauteeing the cauliflower with nothing but butter, canola oil, and salt and pepper to let the natural flavor come through more. Then again, cauliflower has a subtle flavor, so maybe not. I think next time I make a rack of lamb I'll pull it out a little sooner. As it was, it was a nice pink, but I prefer my lamb to be closer to red - I like my meat as close to rare as possible while still being cooked. This is easy to do with a single chop, but with an entire rack it's harder to pull off since you need to keep in long enough for the center to cook.

(If you don't want to go to the Virginia Chutney Company's website, the spicy plum chutney has plums [duh], white sugar, brown sugar, apples, vinegar, raisins, carmelized onions and ginger, mustard seed, salt, and red pepper.)

Whole Foods Market: A Fine Purveyor of Food Crack

Food crack: noun. Exceptionally high quality and good tasting food that elicits an "I must have this food NOW" reaction in humans that can be called addictive. Regular consumption of food crack is likely to deplete one's cash reserves.

I went to Whole Foods today to buy some lamb for tomorrow's dinner. My sole purpose was to buy lamb. However, because it was Whole Foods, and they had samples, I ended up buying more.

The first hit was in the produce section where, as usual, free samples of cheese and jam spreads to go with the cheese were available. Today the culinary money trap was robusto cheese with spice plum chutney. It was GOOD. Initially I resisted the temptation to buy some, but the longer I spent in the store the more I thought about it. I ended up circling back to the produce section to grab some of the cheese and a jar of the chutney. My rationalization was that I would use to the chutney with the lamb. My plan is to spread the chutney on the lamb and roast it. I have no plan for the cheese other than to eat it with the chutney in the next few weeks. Bad for my heart, but good for my bones.

The second hit was the Tonnino tuna in garlic and olive oil. When I was in Whole Foods a month or so ago a woman was giving free samples and explaining the product. She said it's high quality tuna, and very flavorful, and goes well with pasta (or "pah-ster;" she was British) and doesn't need mayonaisse. I was tempted then to buy a jar, but I had already had a bunch of items in my basket so I didn't get any. Today, I remembered the tuna and told myself it'd make a tasty lunch to take to work. So I bought a jar. Which was around $8. And very small.

I did resist other goodies there - the beautiful looking cooked shrimp, the intriguing shrimp salad, and the fresh looking tuna sushi rolls. Oddly, I'm never tempted by the chocolates at Whole Foods. That is probably a good thing.

I used to envy a friend who lived within walking distance of a Whole Foods. And, to some extent, I still do. However, the fact that any Whole Foods is at least a 20 minute drive from me is probably a good thing for my financial well-being.

Ladytron @ House of Blues, 4/8/09

Wednesday night I went to the Ladytron concert at the House of Blues. They were double-billed with The Faint.

The show was great! Ladytron opened with "Black Cat," which was a strong choice. On some songs, such as "High Rise," the vocals were overpowered by the instruments. Other than that, the band sounded great. The light show was fabulous, although an epileptic's nightmare (lots of flashing and strobe). I ended up liking "Soft Power" and "Seventeen" better live than recorded.

The last song, of course, was "Destroy Everything You Touch." Once again, the vocals were too low, but unlike "High Rise," they weren't completely drowned out and seemed to get stronger. Maybe one of the sound crew adjusted the volume. Also, at the end, a bubble machine in the ceiling turned on! It was a little strange, but when the strobe lights kicked in it was a cool effect.

Speaking of odd touches, right before Ladytron came on ELO's "Livin Thing" was playing over the sound system. I don't know if the band picked what songs to play during the set up or if House of Blues picked songs, but it seemed a little weird....

Happy "I'm Still Employed Day"

To celebrate surviving the first quarter without being laid off I went out and made a few purchase I've been putting off. I trekked to Marty's Liquors in Newton and bought some Hendrick's gin, Vya extra dry vermouth, and a bottle of Ararat Akhtamar 10 year brandy.

Now I can have fun playing around with the Hendrick's and seeing how it differs from the Plymouth in cocktails. I'm also going to look into cucumber cocktails, just in time for the spring and summer :)

Eating healthy, eating less?

After spending too much money on Restaurant Week, and eating foie gras two nights in a row last week, I decided this week I should brown bag my lunch, as well as eat healthier food. Since work is still keeping me busy, I knew I'd be more likely to succeed if I made putting together lunch easy. So I went to Sevan Bakery in Watertown and bought some sauteed chickpeas and Armenian potato salad. I also stopped by Arax Market, also in Watertown, and bought some nivik*, made with chickpeas and swiss chard (a quick search on the internet suggests nivik is usually made with spinach). I then picked up a head of Boston lettuce at Stop & Shop for sandwiches.

I was planning on some really nutritious, high fiber lunches.

Yesterday for lunch I had a peanut butter sandwich made with wheat bread, Welch's grape jelly, and organic peanut butter. In addition, I had a cup each of the nivik and Armenian potato salad. Today I went with a cheese sandwich (provolone, Boston lettuce, and mayo), one cup of the nivik, and some dates for dessert.

What I've noticed both days is that I am NOT feeling hungry by 3 or 4 in the afternoon like I usually do. Thus, I didn't go to the vending machine or the little convenience store in our building to buy a bag of chips. Today, I did start to feel hungry around 5, so I gave in and got some chips. However, my point is that by eating these healthier foods I may be feeling full longer, which is a good thing. In fact, tonight when I got home around 7 I didn't feel the urge to immediately eat something. In fact, I just had a small bowl of the sauteed chickpeas, and that's all I needed, at least for now.

So I guess those nutrition experts who say that eating healthier will make you feel fuller and help eliminate those late afternoon food cravings are right...

*I normally avoid cooked spinach, kale, swiss chard, or any cooked leafy greens like the plague. I hate the bitter taste and the wilty, slimy texture. However, I'd had nivik a few months ago at a friend's place and noticed that because of the other ingredients in the appetizer I didn't taste the spinach. So I looked specifically for this knowing it was a good way to get myself to eat one of those ever healthy cooked leafy greens.

Good-bye, Lorne.

Andy Hallett, the actor who played Lorne on Angel has died:

http://www.eonline.com/uberblog/watch_with_kristin/b106789_angel_star_andy_hallett_dies_of_heart.html

Stop & Shop's salmon pinwheels

Stop & Shop sells salmon pinwheels - salmon fillets rolled up with a bread and (fake) crabmeat stuffing. They come packaged in pairs. I've been buying them every other week or so. To prepare, I just sprinkle some garlic powder and pepper, place a pat of butter on top, then bake in the toaster oven according to the instructions (I think it's 16-18 minutes at 375 degrees). The butter melts and makes the bottom nice and crispy. And the fact that it's salmon means the meal is mostly healthy. I'm sure there there are perservatives and whatnot in the stuffing.

Orzo and Armenian sauteed chickpeas

I've been busier than usual at work, and I haven't been able to get home at a normal hour. The result is that I'm hungry and want something quick. Fortunately, I've been doing some of my food shopping at Sevan Bakery in Watertown. In addition to lahmajoun, Sevan has sauteed chickpeas that are totally KILLER! It's (obviously) chickpeas with tomatoes, onions, garlic, sesame seeds, and either olives of very strongly flavored olive oil, and a heavenly blend of spices. I could eat it all day. To stretch out my weekly supply of this scrumptious dish, I hit upon the idea of mixing the chickpeas with orzo. I cook a half cup of orzo (I use Barilla) and mix it with a helping of the chickpeas. I think half and half works - erring on the side of more chickpeas is a good thing, especially since that is the only item flavoring the dish. It makes a quick, healthy, and tasty dinner.

Now if I could only figure out how they make those chickpeas... They soooooo freaking good!!!!!!

Metal ice cube trays

I have three metal ice cube trays from my grandparents. Because they're retro I thought they were cool and wanted to keep them. I've been using the trays even though I have an ice maker in my freezer. It can take a while for the ice maker to fill the bin since it makes 6 cubes at a time, so I just use the trays to fill the bin faster.

One thing I noticed is you don't want to fill the trays all the way up. The ice will freeze over the dividers making it harder to release the cubes. And you'll want to use a towel or pot holder when handling the tray - the metal gets COLD! (This also means that metal trays make cubes faster because the metal transfer the heat from the water more quickly than plastic or silicone.)

I've never seen metal ice cube trays in stores, but since you can find just about everything and anything on the internet I did a Google search and found these sites where you can buy them:

http://berktree.com/aluminumicecubetray.aspx
http://www.thekitchenstore.com/alicecutr.html
http://www.homebrands.com/079-040054.html
http://www.ikitchen.com/079-409163.html?CS_003=740477&CS_010=079-409163
http://www.shop.com/Aluminum_Ice_Cube_Tray-8908519-p!.shtml
http://www.thetickletrunk.com/products.php?id=204&name=Ice_cube_trays [Coming Soon]

The prices vary from around $7 to $16.

Yankee Bibimbap

For lack of a better name, I call this dish Yankee Bibimbap. I figure I'm the American who created it, the food is based on a Korean recipe, and it's a rice dish in a bowl, so that's the best name I came up with. I'm sure Korean food purists would quibble, especially since the egg is optional. In fact, I've made this only once with the egg. I'm not sure why I don't put the egg in. Maybe it's because I didn't notice enough of a flavor change, or maybe it's because there's already a lot of food in the pot that I don't see the need to add more.

The Korean recipe that inspired this dish is Hobakseon, or Stuffed Zucchini, from Korean Home Cooking by Soon Young Chung. The first and last time I made hobakseon I learned that it's very difficult to stuff hot zucchinis. But I liked the way the beef tasted, so I took that part and combined it with an older dish I made up years earlier - beef sauteed with onions, garlic, kidney beans, corn, rice, and jerk sauce. Only I left out the jerk sauce, replaced the kidney beans with black beans, and added yangnyum gochujang - seasoned chili paste.

Aside from the high sodium, this dish is pretty healthy, especially if you use lean ground beef.

Beef/Veggie/Rice mix:

0.25 lb ground beef
some chopped mushrooms, approx. 4-7
1 can black beans
1 can corn (I like to use shoepeg or white corn as it's sweeter)
1 chopped green pepper (or red or yellow)
1 slice zucchini (optional)
1 egg (optional)
4 tsp finely chopped onions (I use shallots)
2 tsp crushed garlic (approximately 4-6 cloves)
2 tsp toasted ground sesame seeds
2 Tbl light soy sauce
1 Tbl sugar
2 tsp sesame oil
ground black pepper to taste
1-2 Tbl cooking oil (canola, olive, sunflower, whatever you use to saute)
2-3 C cooked rice (approximate - I just cook the smallest set of rice according to the package)

Combine beef, mushrooms, onions, garlic, sesame seeds, sugar, soy sauce, and sesame oil in a bowl. Mix well, cover and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.

Heat cooking oil in a deep frying pan. Add chopped pepper and zucchinis. Saute until lightly cooked. Add beef mixture. Cook until beef is just done. Add black beans and corn. Stir until beans and corn are cooked. Add rice and mix together. If you want, add egg and stir it in so it scrambles and cooks in the mix.

Serve in a bowl with chili paste on the side.

***
Yangnyum Gochujang - Seasoned Chili Paste:

This recipe is from Eating Korean by Cecilia Hae-Jin Lee and makes 1/2 cup, although I always seem to end up with a whole cup.

4 Tbl Korean chili paste (gochujang, or gojujang)
2 minced garlic cloves
2 Tbl sesame oil
1 Tbl soy sauce (I like to use Tamari soy sauce - it's saltier but has more depth than regular soy sauce)
2 tsp sugar or Korean malt syrup (mool yut)
2 tsp toasted sesame seeds (optional)
1 chopped green onion (optional - I use a shallot instead)

Combine all ingredients until they are well mixed. Stored in a covered container in the refrigerator. It will last for over a week.

***
To eat the Yankee Bibimbap, mix in the chili paste to taste. If you are unaccustomed to Korean food, or spicy food in general, you should go light and add more as you wish. A friend of mine who had eaten Korean food before added too much chili paste the first time she ate this. She "misjudged the heat."

The dish has a salty-sweet taste because of the soy sauce and sugar, which sets off the sweetness in the corn. The chili paste gives it a smoky heat that I think goes well with the beans. As you might guess, you can substitute any of the ingredients for something else. Don't like black beans? Try kidney beans. Don't like green peppers? Use something else. The last time I made this I went vegetarian. Instead of beef I just used a whole package of mushrooms.

The recipe makes a good bit of food. I haven't figured out how many servings come out of it, but it will usually give me half week of lunches and dinners. And this is one of those dishes that tastes better the next day.

My new favorite kick ass song

I thought my new favorite kick ass song was Franz Ferdinand's cover of Blondie's "Call Me" on the War Child compilation CD. It has been displaced by "Cherry Lips" by the Archie Bronson Outfit. Seriously, this song just burns it up.

(I got "Cherry Lips" off iTunes, which had playlists from Battlestar Galactica stars. The song was on Jamie Bamber's playlist.)

Tour Filter - A tool for the clueless music lover

I love music, and I like going to concerts, but I am cursed with a seeming inability to know who's giving a concert. Thus, I have missed out shows by Morrissey, Peter Gabriel, Pet Shop Boys, etc. I am reliant on others to clue me in. The last concert I went to was Feist, and only because a friend asked if I wanted to go. Otherwise, I would have been utterly clueless she was playing at the Bank of America Pavillion, never mind that she was even on tour.

Luckily, a friend told me about Tour Filter, which lets you know when your favorite artists are playing in your town. I just set up my account, and already I see that Morrissey is playing in Boston on the 29th. I was unaware of that. So maybe now I'll actually catch some shows instead of hearing about them lat minute when it's too late to get tickets or make plans to go.