I have a new favorite kitchen toy:

It’s a Bialetti stovetop espresso maker. You put water & coffee in the bottom black part, milk in the glass part. Here is what it looks like before:

On the stove, it heats up and builds up pressure until a valve releases the coffee and shoots it into the milk, creating an awesome cappucino or latte at home. (It was on the latte setting in the photo) We got some fresh Caffe Umbria beans in the mail, so sipping the coffee reminds me of our espresso days in Seattle. It’s sooo good.

I’m obsessed with this thing. It’s got a steep learning curve as you can see by the overflowed milk in the first picture, so I keep wanting to make more coffee in order to practice.

I got it at a trip to the Williams-Sonoma outlet store. They were on clearance for $30 (orig $100). Unfortunately, we got home, opened the package and saw that there were grinds in the filter – someone had used it and returned it. Thanks for telling us! But I decided to try it anyway, treating as if it were a thrift store score. And now I like it so much it doesn’t matter.

Other gadgets I got at the outlet: handle cover for my newish cast iron skillet, mesh strainer, and a Microplane. I say this every time I buy another kitchen item: I’m really starting to run out of room for it all!

Could this be… the first week since the start of the semester that we don’t eat out?? I think it is really the first time I’ve got a week’s menu all planned out. It’s been a crazy semester.

Monday – frozen pizza, sauteed kale (it took me 3 hours to get home from work, so I was not in a good mood!)
Tuesday – goat cheese-stuffed chicken, sweet potatoes & kale
Wednesday – same
Thursday – tofu pot pie
Friday – same
Saturday & Sunday – squash lasagna, roasted brussel sprouts

And surprisingly, all of the stuff for this week came out to about $50 at Whole Foods.

fig & goat cheese tart

Originally uploaded by oh_hello

I’m still here.

This fig & goat cheese tart was made on a whim and looks totally fancy. The figs were on sale because they were getting soft, the pita bread had been in my cabinet for a little too long, and the goat cheese was leftover from making roasted beet salad. It’s a little burnt because I heard my Tweetdeck chiming with @replies and I stepped away from the broiler for a minute. Oops!

Many families and cultures have their own Sunday dinner traditions. For me, it’s either Sunday dim sum or pho, eaten in the early afternoon and leaving you stuffed the rest of the day. Then 8:00 rolls around, I’m sort-of hungry, and I haven’t touched a vegetable all day. On those evenings, I like to whip up something quick, light and green. Dinner salads, fruit & cheese plate, and bruschetta are popular choices.

Last Sunday, we had giant bowls of pho at my mom’s house around 3:00. Later on, I started to get hungry during our long drive home so we stopped at the grocery store because I knew the fridge was empty. I’m usually really lost unless I have a recipe on me, but I managed to pick up some ingredients for a tomato salad. Instead of the usual bruschetta, I got home and decided to try it as panzanella.

I knew what panzanella was, but the thought of soggy bread seemed strange to me. But lo and behold, it was actually really good! I made my own recipe, but it was really similar to this one. Also, I only had fresh bread, not stale, so I “express stale’d” it. Cut the bread into cubes, put it in the microwave for a minute, stir, microwave another minute and let it cool. Instant stale. There are other panzanella recipes where you actually dunk the bread into a bowl of water, squeeze the water out, and crumble the mushy bits over the salad – now that just icks me out.

It was yummy, fresh, and the soggy bread wasn’t as scary as I thought. I even had the leftover for lunch the next day and the bread wasn’t much soggier than it was the night before, which surprised me.

San Francisco – Rogue Pub

Originally uploaded by oh_hello

I never had a bloody mary before. I ordered it just to see what this Shark Week-themed drink was all about.

(subtitle: or, How I Might Have Hepatitis)

Hello class. I have three lessons to share with you today:

1)   When is it ever appropriate to ask a complete stranger for some of their food?? Unless you are homeless, or someone is holding a sign that says FREE FOOD FOR STRANGERS, the answer is NEVER.

2)   Walking across town with a pizza box is like wearing a sign that says PLEASE START A CONVERSATION WITH ME.

3)   Based on my lifelong research, I conclude that going out alone only turns out good approximately 20% of the time. The other 80%=having to talk to creepers.

For the first few weeks of living alone, I didn’t go out much but I’m finally started to try and venture out more. But yesterday I was reminded of why I don’t go out alone. Many times this summer, I’ve thought about sitting at a bar to have a drink, but then always chicken out at the last minute.  Yesterday I had some time to kill in between errands, so I went to this restaurant/bar where people also hang out with laptops. I sit at the bar and order a mojito. A man 4 seats away from me tells me that it looks good, and I politely smile and say yes it is. Then a few minutes later, three sips into my drink, he sneakily ambles over to me and starts talking to me, then picks up my drink and says “Can I try it? Can I try your drink” and then drinks it through the stirry straws as I fumble incredulously.

He goes back to his seat. Then he goes to the bathroom (for a very long time). During this time, the bartender makes a comment to me about how weird the guy is. I took the straws out of my drink, but I drank a couple more sips before I really freaked out. I started thinking “Can I catch hepatitis this way??? What if this is a new trick and he backwashed roophies into it???” I decide that I will not drink it anymore, that when I am passed out or have some messed up disease, I’m going to say to myself “Damn, I should’ve just spent another $10 on a new drink.” But I’m still still seriously thinking about whether it’s already too late.

A couple comes in and sits right next to him and I’m like OH THANK GOD. But then he tries to get my attention. “Hey! Hey! Honey! Baby! Baby! Hey!” and banging on the marble bartop. I keep ignoring him and start to get super annoyed. Not because I’m so offended by being called Honey or Baby, but because if I ignored you the first time I will not answer to other variations of it! I finally look over and he asks me something like “Are you lonely? Do you want me to come sit over there?” (His English is a little broken, and he also may be slurring a little?) And I tell him that “no, I’m fine. You don’t need to move.” But of course, he does it anyway. Luckily I have my bags and my knitting in the seat right next to me so he’s on the other side of that.

There are two men sitting on the other side of the bar, directly across from me. My new friend suddenly shouts over to tell them, “She is a nice lady! I CHOOSE HER. She is nice because she is knitting me a sweater!” I take this moment to look around at everyone else at the bar and make a horrified “help me” face. I’m also thinking, He’s foreign. What if he thinks he’s gonna marry me or something??  Wait, maybe I should marry him since I already have his hepatitis!! The guy orders another beer and says “And I will pay for my baby as well.” And then I shake my head vigorously, waving my arms and saying NO NO NO. Finally, the [hot] bartender says “Please, leave her alone. You need to move back over there.” And like a child disciplined by the teacher, he was made to move farther away from me.

Let me just add an aside: The first time in my life a stranger offers to buy me a drink at a bar, and he might literally be a crackhead.

But it didn’t end there! He then tries to pass me a note written on a napkin and I refuse to look at him/it until he walks back over and puts it in front of me. It says “You know I am JOKING right?” (emphasis his) And I just nod without saying anything, still not to making eye contact, and he goes back to sit down.

Now it’s been at least 45 minutes since the man drank my mojito, and I haven’t been able to drink it. (I ordered food, that’s why I didn’t just leave) I look around and see that the guy is now harassing a man on a laptop and kinda laugh that the dude actually tries to like, pick up the laptop to “see” something. Total invasion of space! So while he’s occupied, I whisper to the bartender, “Um, can you make a me a new mojito?” The bartender looks all confused, so I explain “uh… he drank out of it.” The bartender couldn’t believe it either, so he made me a new one. This one was much stronger! Ahhhh, at least I can drown my uncomfortable-ness in a drink, and pretend that my pizza is the most fascinating thing in the world.

Creepy guy orders another beer (and didn’t know what beer he was drinking), and the bartender gives it to him but says he won’t serve him anymore after that. He argued a little, drank the beer in about 3 minutes, shredded the receipt into confetti and stormed off. A fitting exit, I suppose.

Drama over, I pay my tab with a hefty tip and box up the rest of my pizza to go. On my walk home, I had at least six people ask me for some pizza, and none of them were homeless. Half were kids who said “Hey, can I get some pizza?” but then even the dudes working the booth at the subway station asked. I ignored him and kept walking, but as I walked away he was still saying “Hey! Hey! Let me get some pizza!” WHO DOES THAT???

I finally went to the Tactile Dinner performance that I talked about last week. The Tactile Dinner is a play that is part of the Fringe Festival, a theater festival of experimental, postmodern, anything-goes performances. It was less of a “dinner” and more of a play with audience participation.

I won’t say anything the deep intellectual meaning of this experimental art project, but I can say that as an amateur cook the it raised my curiosity about experiencing food without eating it.

I’m a little torn between giving everything away and sharing the experience with people who can’t go. Eh. I don’t have a lot of readers, so option 2 wins. Read on for the details:

First, they told us that while there would be food, there would not be any drinks served. We had the option of buying Capri Sun (the juicboxes) or water that came in juiceboxe packaging. One is a retro throwback, the other a little futuristic. Here is a picture of my er, waterbox:

Next, they started handing out the “tactilist garb.” I wasn’t very happy about this at first because it was reeeeally hot outside and not very cool in the hallway where we were waiting, and the jackets were made out of Tyvek envelope material. Sweaty! The jackets’ sleeves were each covered in some textured material such as feathers, mesh netting or velvet. Here I am trying to show off my bubble wrap sleeves:

You can see a guy wearing cork behind me. At one point during the meal, everyone was told to turn to their neighbors and feel up their sleeves.

Then the ushers seated everyone one by one, picking randomly. This means that I didn’t get to sit with the friends that I came with, so I had to make new friends.

There were two tv screens which broadcast the narrator, who gave us instructions on what/when/how to eat, plus one big screen in the back that rolled film. I couldn’t really see it because of where I was sitting. The waiters were the performers, and the stage was the entire room, so there was lots of twisting and turning around.

Course 1: “Polyrhythmic Salad. Lettuces with essences of grape dressed with musical rhythms and geometric gestures”

We were told to use one hand to eat the salad (no forks) at the same time using the other hand to crank the music box on the base. It was stressful because the voice kept yelling at us to EAT. CRANK. EAT. CRANK CRANK!  The bottom of the salad stand with the music box:

I like salad, but I am sorry to say that I couldn’t eat this one. I ate two leaves.

Course 2: Aural Sensations. No actual food, just watched the performers do some moves.

Course 3: Aerofood.
This was cool. Waiters wheeled out carts full of mylar balloons and asked each person if they wanted “meat” (silver balloon) or “vegetarian” (gold). Talking TV told us to take the clothespin off the balloon, give it a gentle squeeze, and inhale. The meat balloons smelled just like roast beef, while the vegetarian balloons was supposed to smell like mushrooms. I say “supposed to” because it was a pleasant earthy smell, like perfume someone would wear, whereas the other one smelled like actual food. My neighbors and I swapped so everyone got to smell both.

Course 4: Magic Food. “Mysterious, magically flavored balls served on specially-crafted tactile platters.”
The magic balls, we found out later, were made by some scientific process that creates sugar crystals wrapped around non-water-soluble flavor components. Some were salty, some were fruity but most of them tasted like dried out minty toothpaste. I was very glad I had the water.

Course 5: Visual Nutrients. No real food here either. More crazy moves from the performers.

Course 6: “Totalrice. Chilled arborio rice prepared with rice beer, rice wine, wrapped in rice paper. Garnished with a trio of powders: tomato, rosemary and parmesan.”
The rice paper was very papery. I thought it would be like the rice paper used for Vietnamese summer rolls, but it wasn’t at all. (It says “Manga! Eat me” on it.) Without speaking, the waiter gestured us to take a bite, dip it in the powders, and eat.

Course 7: Tactile Vegetable Garden
TV dude told us to link arms with our neighbors and eat the vegetables by sticking our faces in the plates. This was pretty difficult for the ladies with long hair, but no one got too messy. It was one small bite each of tomato, spinach, broccoli, and maybe purple cauliflower? At the same time, the waiters went around spritzing fresh scented stuff close to our faces.

“Digestivo. Your choice of coffee or tea.”
The waiters asked you if you wanted coffee or tea, then spritzed the appropriate liquid in front of you. As we found out later during the Q&A, these probably weren’t actual coffee or tea, but specially crafted perfume that replicated the smells. They were actually quite nice and refreshing!

It ended with film clips of messages from the Futurist movement and some performing, then a quick Q&A with the director. In the end, my friends were glad that I had found something so unique to do (I hope they weren’t just being polite). Despite the fact that everyone felt clueless the entire time, afterwards I think people felt like they had fun. I know I laughed the whole time.

A bonus was that our buttons, which we needed to get into the play, got us 50% off pitchers of sangria at a nearby tapas restaurant so we did some food in the end.

The new half-season of No Reservations starts tonight, and I don’t have a TV to watch it I wonder if they’ll put it on Hulu. Tony kicks it the season by going to Chile.

Latin food is my new obsession, and I’ve already used past episodes to guide my food journey. My first intro to the world of rice and beans was Puerto Rican food, which I ate a lot I was working in non-profit in a PR community. Then I moved to Providence and craved it all year long. I finally started branching out and trying other types of latin food that Rhode Island had to offer and wasn’t disappointed. I ate Peruvian for the first time two weeks ago (wasn’t too excited by it), and the other day I had Salvadoran tamales, another thing I missed from my non-profit days. Anyway, my motto “WWABE – What Would Anthony Bourdain Eat” hasn’t failed me in picking adventurous things to eat.

Unfortunately, the new San Francisco episode airs the day after I get back from San Fran.

I like to do weird things. Check out this absolutely insane-sounding dinner/performance that I’m going to this weekend:

You are cordially invited to celebrate the passé-ist glory of Futurist degustation: a tactile seven-course meal of gastronomic revolution. Those without suitable tactilist garb will be loaned one upon entry.

That didn’t quite give me enough information, so I looked into what the heck tactile dinner parties were like. They’re based on The Futuristic Cookbook, written in 1931, by F.T. Marinetti. Here’s an exerpt from the book’s instructions for a tactile dinner party:

Polyrhythmic salad: the waiters approach the tables carrying for each guest a box with a crank on the left side and a china bowl. In the bowl, undressed lettuce leaves, dates, and grapes. Without the help of cutler, each diner uses his right hand to feed himself from the bowl while he turns the crank with his left. The box thus emits musical rhythms: and the waiters dance slowly with grand geometrical gestures in front of the table until the food has been eaten.

I’ve only been able to read articles written about the book, but it’s amazing how similar the food sounds to what I would consider today’s futuristic and modernist foods (French Laundry and Alinea most obvs). And it was written in 1932! Futuristic then, still futuristic 70+ years later.

If it sparks your interest, read some more passages from the original book.

Anyway, I’m excited to be witness to this crazyness and I even convinced two of my classmates to go with me. I’m not sure how much they’ll be into it, but they’re generally adventurous and it’ll make a good story to tell our friends back at Brown.

This was breakfast on Sunday. Much better than my bean & cheese burrito breakfast today.

Peregrine espresso

Originally uploaded by oh_hello