September 2009


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Guess Who’s Back, Back Again (Hint, It’s 80p)

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Hello loyal, patient Endless Simmer readers who come to this blog just for 80p.  It’s been a while, to say the least, since I have put fingers to keys.  Fear not though, my cooking prowess has not jumped by leaps and bounds in the past few months.  But I thought I would take a moment and write about this dish that I have made 3-4 times now.  Being an average cook, when I end up with something on a plate that looks like that, I just act like I’ve been there before and smile…then blog about it.

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in Fowl / Recipe 6 comments
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Miracle Berry Tripping: Live Blog

Good friend of the blog Sara is celebrating her birthday this evening, and she made the very wise decision to do so the miracle fruit way.

Long-time readers will remember I first starting blabbing about Miracle Fruit nearly two years ago: the gist is that these tiny African berries have the effect of numbing your tongue’s sensors so that everything sour tastes sweet. Sour cream becomes vanilla frosting, tequila tastes like candy, sour patch kids are just patch kids.

I wanted to try these things so badly that my older brother even bought me a miracle fruit tree for Christmas! Alas, it turns out Brooklyn winters are not quite the same as tropical African ones, and my miracle plant withered before bearing any fruit. But now we’re giving it another try. Sara has purchased 10 miracle berry tablets for her party, and we’re about to finally find out what all the fuss is about. Read on, if you dare.

PS – No, mom, they’re not drugs. I swear.

8:27 pm: The Feast

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Laura: It looks like someone got high and wanted all really healthy food.

Adam: You all are fucking gimmicky.

8:45pm: Sara breaks out the mBerries

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Looks kinda small. Hope we didn’t buy too much food.

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in Personal 15 comments
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Flowering Ideas

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When I was home for Rosh Hashana last weekend I climbed into DAD GANSIE’s garden and captured a bagful of tomaotes. Some green, some greenish red, some bursting red.

The cucumbers had long been pickled. The carrots weren’t ready to be plucked.

But I wanted more to take home.

And then all of a sudden, I started talking about my mom’s flowers. And how they looked delicious. I’ve seen edible flowers on menus before. I didn’t know much about them. Like all things in life, a quick google search showed me what flowers I could munch on. Luckily, marigolds fit into that category.

We performed some taste tests before I made my mom mine her entire plot. My mom, dad and I (my sister refused) each tried a bite. It was bitter, but not terrible. I went in for a second taste, this time with a petal dipped in salt. Like all things dipped in salt, it became much more enjoyable to eat.

With my mom hysterically laughing, clipping flowers from the backyard, I am now in possession of some seriously beautiful marigolds. Currently, the stems lay in water, in a proper vase, pretending they’ll wilt to their death right there. But my stomach knows better.

I will eat these little bursts of orange. Of course, I have no idea how to incorporate them into a meal. And I refuse to wuss out of this and toss them with greens.

Perhaps in a pasta salad with herbs and feta?
Baked into an egg dish?
Stirred into guacamole?

Ideas please!

in Personal 10 comments
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Hott Link: Cheese or Font?

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This website definitely gets filed under “So pissed I didn’t think of this first.”

The simple and surprisingly challenging game goes like so: the computer picks a random word from its database of 261 cheeses and fonts, and you have to guess whether the word in question is in fact a cheese or a font. It’s tough, because from Farnaz to Faricy and Calaveras to Cathelain, there are a surprising number of words that sound like they could really be either one.

OK, maybe not everyone else in the world is as mutually obsessed with food and writing as I am, but I thought it was pretty freaking hilarious.

Play Cheese or Font! and of course feel free to post your high scores here.

in Cheese 5 comments
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Guy Beat Me To It

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I was in Pasadena, MD last week with my friends Katie and Lory. Lory, a native Pasadenian, found us a classic Chesapeake Bay restaurant. And when I say classic Chesapeake, I only mean one thing: crabs. Maryland loves their crabs.

Unfortunately, after I snapped a few pictures, I realized I was beat. Guy Fieri already brought much deserved attention to Stoney Creek Inn. Noticing our paparazzi ways, the waitress asked us if we had heard of the place through Diners, Drive-ins and Dives. Ugh, no, I hadn’t. Not that I thought I was discovering the place, but man, I was embarrassed to know that Guy (or his assistants) and I shared the same taste. He’s such a douche!

But I won’t let that ruin it. Here’s some pics of the crab-infested food from this adorable restaurant right off the water.

Above you will notice the most heavenly appetizer. I’m a sucker for a soft pretzel, and not just a soft pretzel to share as an appetizer, but a soft pretzel as my entire meal. I perfected the practice in college with Rock Bottom’s TWO large soft pretzels with spicy cheese sauce.

Anyway, there was no doubt I could not order this. A soft pretzel, topped with crab meat and cheddar cheese, served warm and with a huge steak knife. I’m not usually a fan of fish with dairy, but this worked really well. Shit, anything and a soft pretzel will work well together.

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Here’s Lory with our awesome waitress, Donna (I think that was her name.) She rocked the cutest boat shoes. It was nice to see someone that actually has been on a boat wear these now trendy shoes. Lory ordered the thickest crab soup I’d ever seen. If I were a better writer I would bring on a kick ass metaphor to describe the thickness of the soup. I wanted to compare it to health care or something, but it just didn’t work. If I do think of one deserving of the soup, I’ll throw it in the comments. I’m also game for suggestions.

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in Celebs / Photos 6 comments
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Feed Us Back: Comments of the Week

apples and honey

JoeHoya does some research into why we eat apples and honey on rosh hashanah:

Found two sources that seem to offer similar explanations for both the apples and the honey:

http://www.aish.com/h/hh/rh/48959531.html
(From aish.com. Slogan: Your Life. Your Judaism.)

http://reformjudaismmag.org/Articles/index.cfm?id=1280
From Reform Judaism Magazine, the official voice of the Union for Reform Judaism).

Long story short: the apple was seen as a symbol of rare beauty (see the Song of Songs for a comparison to Israel) and affection by the Israelites at various points. The fruit is further praised and compared to Israel for its bold appearance before any protective leaves surround it (see aish.com for the reasoning).

Good to know. And happy Yom Kippur everyone (can you say happy Yom Kippur?) Anyway, let us know if it raises any further food questions.

– Jessica J shares her own ice cream micro-snack:

I do something similar. Spoonful of honey roasted PB, sprinkle a few chocolate chips over it, then dip the tip in Nutella. Lord have mercy.

And Erica has one as well:

I always thought a couple spoonfuls of vanilla ice cream in a cup of hot lipton tea was divine. then again, i’m kind of weird.

– Finally, thanks to everyone who has already sent in their photos for the smallest kitchens contest. Keep those entries coming — we’ll be posting the best next week.

(Photo: ForestForTrees)

in Contests / Desserts 1 comments
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