Hoot, hoot!!

Someone once told me a silly owl joke. It goes...

-Knock, knock

-Who's there?

-Owl

-Owl who?

-Owl be seeing you!

I couldn't stop giggling while making them

Too cute for words.

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Chimichurri casero,

One of my favorite restaurants in the city is Izakaya Ten; is a small Japanese drinking and tapas place. Given that I have the Asian glow, whenever I drink, I get beet red and I can't drink much- but that's because I'm just a light weight, nothing to do with race. This place has re-introduced me to sake and it must be the fact that it's a rice wine that I can enjoy it more than other spirits. For last new year's eve, they had a 6 jar sampler tasting special.

These were so cute and we had such a great time that we decided to bring the jars home, and we would find a crafty thing to do with them. 

So what better container to put the fresh herbs that my good friend Kevo brought us from his community garden in Philly?

This is the closest thing to a garden i'll ever have in our fifth floor walk up apartment.

We were trying to think how to get the most out of it, so I decided to make some home made chimichurri.

I used:
-Chopped parsley
-Chopped oregano
-Chopped cilantro
-Red pepper flakes
-Chili powder
-Cayenne pepper powder
-Veggie oil
-Vinegar
-Salt and pepper

I used my very scientific method of eyeballing and tasting to come out with the right consistency and flavor.

I used the mini food processor which was key to making it in less than 30 minutes.

The packaging process. I used a skewer to push the herbs down the baby funnel.

... And the final product. I read up online and it suggested to let it sit outside for about a week. I can't wait to pour some of this on a good piece of meat. Argh argh!!

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Maine and grilled pizza

My previous entry was about all the goodies we ate in Maine and one of the best meals was a grilled pizza. I took too many pictures to only have to pick one, so I wanted to make a separate entry for this heavenly delight.

I am pretty much obsessed with the show Good Eats with Alton Brown. I'm always amazed at how much he knows about food, history of food and his props for explaining all this. A couple of weeks before the trip, I watched an episode about grilled pizza and it instantly made it into my "Things I have to cook in Maine" list. During the show, he also mentioned an alternative option for those who live in NYC in fifth floor walk-ups (which is my exact location) but that one wasn't as much fun as the one on the grill.

As far as the recipe goes, I modified his version a bit, making a whole wheat dough and a spelt dough, but having seen the technique was really helpful. Unfortunately this year's house did not come with an electric mixer, so  I made the dough the good old fashioned way - con el sudor en la frente!

This is the dough that I had to knead for about 30 minutes by hand and then let sit for a total of an hour and 45 minutes. Perfect for kayaking.

For the toppings, we pretty much sauteed veggies we had in the fridge - and also the chorizo we got at the farmer's market.

The total dough was enough for 3 whole wheat pizzas and 2 spelt pizzas. The spelt one was definitely harder to roll out. This one was pizza #1 with grilled tomatos, chorizo and cheese. Yum.

Pizza #2. Whole wheat dough with kale, mushrooms and goat cheese. 

Pizza #3- Spelt dough with broccoli, kale, walnuts and cheese.

Pizza #4- Chorizo part deux... and remembered we had fresh basil! 

Unfortunately, one of the spelt doughs fell apart, we were able to save it, but it wasn't pretty and we were busy feasting. It's hard to take pictures when your hands are a bit greasy.

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