THIS JUST IN: Lifehacker Coffee Shop

Hey, very cool round-up post from Lifehacker today with links to all the things you love to eat at your favorite coffee shop but are too lazy to get out of your pajamas to go get:

Lifehacker Cookbook: Homemade Coffee Shop Addictions (picture courtesy Lifehacker)

Foodie Weekend

Having company over for the weekend. Can't decide what to make. Would it be wrong to serve these for dinner?

Smores IceBox Candy Bars link and picture via Joy the Baker

How to get my two of my favorite foods together, shrimp and chips? How about this fabulous sounding (and looking) dip from an American master, Tom Douglas:

Shrimp Dip with Potato Chips via Yum Sugar

I've been eyeing this recipe for a week. Should I give it a spin or not?

Grilled Apple Salad with Cider Vinaigrette via Slashfood

Did you know Necco wafers have gone all natural? I'm not sure if that's better or worse in regard to you know, the fact that it's candy and all, but still. I'll tell myself that it means that I can eat Necco wafers for lunch 'cause they're full of beets:

Necco Wafers via Slashfood

Speaking junk food, just in case you can't get enough of me, I have a post on the OSU Student Health Services Blog today:

Twinkies really are like crack!

I'm not saying Twinkies are crack, I'm just sayin' to keep the Narcan handy when ingesting.

Regards for a most excellent Friday! ---IcedLatte

Kindle. Babies. Cookbooks.

Last summer, while I was studying for boards, I went to the beach. How else to make it bearable? I went with my dear friend, Dr. Fondant and her husband, who were pregnant. Dr. Fondant was also studying for boards. Every morning I'd drink a gallon of coffee, then head off to their condo overlooking the ocean to drink more coffee, look out the window, chat, and study. (We actually did study.)

Most evenings we had big communal happy summer meals. The kids would nibble, the adults would talk, the wine would flow (except for Dr. F), and we'd linger over dessert. Or rather, empty plates.

In the lovely house in which we stayed, there were two cookbooks. Cookbooks, I believe I've noted, are an addiction for me. I've inhaled quite a few. It takes something special now to get me interested. The two in the house were pretty nice, and had the bonus of being new, at least to me. When I wasn't studying, cooking, playing, swimming, touring, or sleeping, I browsed these cookbooks, leaning on the counter in the kitchen with a glass of wine; slouched on the sofa with coffee; leaning on an elbow at the table with a Moon Pie in my hand; or sipping an icy Diet Coke on the screened in back porch overlooking the marsh.

Fixated in my mind is a relaxing vacation--relaxing! studying for boards! miraculous--sun, sand, great food, dear friends, and the happy promise of a little baby. A bubble week of civilized epicurean romping. Besides visiting the pictures (which I still am editing) how to revisit?

I got an email this week about a Kindle and New York Times subscription for a mere $500. Tempting. I'm sorely tempted by the Kindle. I'm certain I'd have to buy a killer new bag to carry it and all my other gear in. Aha! A reason to shop.To have my library with me everywhere plus have the New York Times at my fingers . . . Wow. Five hundred dollars ain't nothin', though, and would I really, really love it?

Two other things arrived in the last week. First, the baby! Warm, snugly, handsome, sweet, and delicious. How are we swallowed whole by these small dear creatures? Second, one of the beach cookbooks, Eating Outdoors, by Lindy Wildsmith arrived in brown paper wrapper. I peeled it open and jumped into the pages, secured for a moment away from snotty, chaotic, busy, febrile, and laundry in a happy, languid, sunny, briny, shrimpy reverie. I trailed my fingers across the pages, photos, recipes and visited with my vacation, a happy little world. I sighed, closed the book, and came back to my present, bigger and fuller with a new little being to adore.

Can I do that with a Kindle?

I don't know. I leave you with the recipe for what is now almost always my first meal at the beach. It takes all of 20 minutes to make and plop on the table, perfect after you've driven for hours, unpacked groceries and kids and towels and flipflops. Add crusty bread, a bottle of wine, a salad if you have time, or fresh corn on the cob and it's a feast.

Spicy Shrimp. Yummy and fun, fun, fun.

Another crazy day in Flu-ville

Image via Wikipedia

Oh, Ethel, bar the door. Cookies and scotch aren't going to get me through this flu season. It's OCTOBER, for crying out loud. There's no flowers in March to look forward to. No cherry blossoms. There's only more flu. February. It's MONTHS away, yet it seems like it's already here.

It's like a NEW DISEASE was discovered. "Flu? Flu? I HAVE THE FLU?????" No, wild dogs aren't going to consume your head. You are not being consumed by flames. For 99% of you, it's just the flu. You are going to feel like poop for days and then you will feel better. And next year you can say, "Dr. Latte, you were right. I should get a flu shot." I was once naive, too. But then I had the flu. In medical school. On call. On OB call. Did anybody send me home as I spewed evil juices all over pregnant ladies? Ah, medical education. Nothing like it.

Despite my recent permanent resident alien status in Flu-ville, I chanced upon a few decent recipes and food interludes. Here's one. For those nights when you think, Hmmm...Should I get Chinese take-out or just eat more potato chips at the counter, how about eating potato chips at the counter while you make your own Chinese? SKINNY Chinese?

From Slashfood, "Takeout Vegetable Fried Rice"

Not feeling like Chinese? How about Indian? Pakoras? From a blog in my very own Central Ohio backyard--Hungry Wolf--a most enchanting trip down Pakora Lane. Not a recipe. An Indian snack vignette:

Taste & Create, Pakoras

A bit of Central Ohio navel-gazing, but delicious, Navel-of-Venus gazing, also from Hungry Wolf, a locavore dinner with a most intriguing cast of characters. Now, blogging is Class A, 100% navel-gazing. For moi, the food blog, is a notebook I browse like a cookbook. What should I make? What sounds yummy? What is interesting but probably too much work? I put it on the blog. If I like whatever it is, if it survives my own kitchen test, I put it into a real-life notebook. Well, a file. I have a lot of recipe files.

But what is cool about navel gazing for me, anyway, is all this local stuff! Who knew there was a winery in Johnstown? I do now. That plus a whole lot more. It's so intriguing, it's so virtual, but I'll be converting my new virtual knowledge to calories soon at a wine or cheese shop, farmer's market, or bakery nearby:

Locavore Dinner at The Winery at Otter Creek.

Went out for sushi this weekend with some dear friends. Had my favorite, spicy tuna. Could it be that the magic is in:

Spicy Sriracha Mayonnaise?

Well, golly, I might have to find out and become quite addicted.

Meanwhile, back in Central Ohio, I mull over the Slow Food movement. Ha! I have a 20 minute Speed Racer food movement every evening in my slap-dashery to get food on the table for us all. There's nothing I love more than cooking for a day with nothing else to do, whipping up a some braised protein and a perfectly chopped vegetable fraggonarde (I made that up) while tippling a sipple of thistle but it just doesn't happen in my life, which is mostly neatly divided into 20 minute chunks. 2o minutes to get coffee and breakfast ready, check calendar; 20 minutes to get kids ready; 20 minutes to get me ready; 20 minutes to get to work; 20 minutes per appointment for nine hours; 20 minutes to get home; 2o minutes to make dinner, blah blah blah. Where does the all day braise fit into that exactly? I'm not sure, but I'm going to take, ah, 20 minutes and read about it in my own town:

Slow Food Columbus

And I'm going to check that website monthly (must add to-do item to reqall) so that I never miss another fabulous event. Unless I'm busy crazily cutting everything in my house into chunks 1/20th of original size.

When slow food fails to slowly ooze deliciously from my own two hands, though, I will enjoy it prepared by others. How about breakfast? Nick, at Breakfast with Nick conveniently published his favorite breakfast items, many (most?) practically in my back yard:

My Ideal Breakfast

And that, friends, is it for tonight. I have to go attend to my colleague, Dr. House. He needs my help. Some poor soul, sick with a dread fake disease, about to be examined and tested in an excruciatingly ridiculous but hilarious quest for diagnosis. Sure, most of the cases would be figured out in 5 seconds in a decent lab, and sure, the rest of the cases would never happen, but oh, the preposterous fun.

Later!

Zucchini Crudo from Ruhlman

Image via Wikipedia

I love Michael Ruhlman's blog. It's always thoughtful and literate without being too intellectual for the little old simple likes of me. He lives in Ohio. So do I! The pictures on the blog are taken mostly by his wife, often in their kitchen. I like the puttering around the kitchen sensibility, except that he doesn't just putter. He's serious, and not just about food. I've had great recommendations from his blog about great writers: Reynolds Price, Frank Huyler among them.

He recently had a recipe for a raw zucchini salad recent which looked delightful, tasty, and not too hard. What DO you do with all that zucchini? Here's something besides zucchini bread to try:

Zucchini Crudo

Art thou in Central Ohio?

If thou art, consider any of the restaurants in Hungry Wolf's post:

Ethnic Columbus.

I had no idea I was within spitting distance of a Columbian tamale. How I love the internet.

Gourmet: Get 'em while the getting is good

From Slashfood, 25 must-download recipes from Gourmet Magazine to download before they disappear.

24 Must-download, web-only recipes from Gourmet online

Sign me up for frozen peanut butter pie with candies bacon, please. Oh my. Not so sure about Thai pig ear salad or duck fat doughnuts. But still.

My Brudda, Pork Master

My Brudda just bought a crockpot. He made a good soup. I might have mentioned that before. His wife suggested I post a list of my crockpot favorites. I'm not sure I have a list of crockpot favorites yet, aside from my coconut vegetable stew and PassUBy's Mac & Cheese, but I did come across this. Looked to be an intriguing list from A Year of Slow Cooking:

Slow Cooker Fall Favorites

Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad

Recipe and photo from 101 cookbooks. I'm not the world's biggest cabbage fan unless there's a reuben or brat attached, but this really strikes my fancy. Heidi does it again! Check it out at:

Tassajara Warm Red Cabbage Salad Recipe

Vodka Rosemary Lemonade Fizz

One can only dream on such a sunny, warm day as this, of sitting outside later and sipping a lovely cold cocktail, recipe via The Bitten Word:

Vodka Rosemary Lemonade Fizz

For Dr. Hops Greenthumbs

The New York Times has something especially for you.

A hop and a sip off to fresh ales

Save me from the freezer burn!

Some simple tips from Lifehacker today. I'm not so sure about storing a hard drive in there, but everything else seemed reasonable.

Don't give me freezer burn!

i got you babe

via the nytimes. beloved. beef.

visit.

Coconut Chicken

I'm on an Apartment Therapy/Kitchn Roll. My Brudda', the Pork Master (shout out to his GORGEOUS daughter who has pneumonia), made what he called the best chicken soup of his life in his crockpot this week. Threw pretty much everything in the pot including a whole chicken (Is that right, Pork Chop?) and veges, then let simmer for a day.

Well, the very instant pretty much I got his email about la soup I got a note from the Kitchn about a chicken roasted in coconut milk. The idea is based on a Jamie Oliver recipe for roasting chicken in regular milk, which I haven't attempted yet, but which is on my to-cook list.

Tomorrow I'm going to give this a whirl, only in the crockpot. Not because I've got crockpot crazy, but because I'm curious and thrifty. If I slow cook this with a lot of vegetables--potatoes, onions, sweet potato or butternut squash--not only will I have, I think, a splendid soup, but I'll have enough for Thai burritos with orange rice.

Stay tuned for more:

Coconut milk chicken

Thai burritos (A plug for my own recipe. Shameless.)

Malted Chocolate Milk--Gift Idea?

The holidays are coming, and it struck me that a nice jar of this mix would be a lovely gift, and by that I don't mean something shoved into the back of a cabinet. It actually looks fairly tasty. I will give it a try and post results.

This is two part post, by the way. Read the original at Apartment Therapy/Kitchn, then go to Alton Brown's recipe.

Alton Brown's Malted Cocoa Mix

The world needs fewer opinions and more thoughtful expertise

Clear-headed, sensible thinking from Cook's Magazine's Christopher Kimball, today at the NYTimes. He writes about the demise of Gourmet; the sentiment is apt for journalism, punditry, book-writing, name it, really.

Gourmet to all that.

Muenster Cheese Souffle

Recovering from cheese-induced swoon. Image via Wikipedia

From a beloved reader--Dr. GreenThumbs Hops--a recipe to induce a swoon and thud on the floor. Read it near your chaise wearing a hoop skirt and corset so as to swoon unharmed and prettily in a most Victorian fashion. Who can resist a recipe that comes with the description:

Sometimes this souffle will appear "runny" or uncooked inside-this is only because of the cheese cubes, if they are not small enough. This dish can sometimes be a mess to serve, but it is always a joy to eat.

Dr. Greenthumbs Hops has a most wonderful palate. I believe her when she says it is a "joy to eat". Dr. Hops suggests serving it with wine and a light salad to feed two adults (or four as a side).

Muenster Cheese Souffle

1 1/4 c whole milk
1 1/2 TBSP butter
3 TBSP flour
1/4 tsp cumin

Panko
3 large eggs, separated
1 cup (4 oz.) 1/3" Muenster cheese, rind removed

Bring milk to simmer in small saucepan; remove from heat. Melt butter in heavy saucepan over med. heat. Whisk in flour; cook roux 2 minutes, whisking constantly (do not brown). Gradually whisk in warm milk. Cook until sauce is smooth and thick enough to drop from whisk in thin ribbon, whisking constantly (6-8 minutes). Remove from heat. Mix in cumin and season generously with salt and pepper; transfer to medium bowl and let cool for 10 minutes. This can be made ahead- let stand 2 hours or chill 1 day. Bring to room temp before using.

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Butter a souffle dish and coat inside with panko. Whisk egg yolks into souffle base 1 at a time. Stir in cheese cubes. Beat egg whites and pinch of salt in another bowl until stiff but not dry. Folk egg whites into souffle base in 3 additions. Transfer to prepared dish.

Bake souffle until puffed and brown on top, and firm but jiggly to touch, about 30 minutes. Spoon onto 4 plates. Serve with salad and enjoy with copious amounts of white wine. A Sancerre or a white Burgundy are my picks.

Thanks to Dr. Greenthumb Hops. Her recipes are always lovely, and have assumed special places in my files and heart!

Blinded Snickers Video

From a reader, a rather hilariously bizzare video. Ever wonder how to make a Snickers bar at home? God help me, I should never have all the ingredients to do this in one place or I would make a Snickers bar at home every single night. It's the Top Secret Recipes guy, who blindfolds himself and puts duct tape around the blindfold just to prove that it's so incredibly easy to make a Snickers that you could do it without vision. All I have to say about that is that I want his refrigerator.

Make your own Snickers video via Wimp

How Locro can you go?

From the Boston Globe, a recipe for Locro, a pretty amazing sounding stew from Argentina. I'm thinking this might be a most excellent crockpot recipe, with a few adaptations here and there. I'll let you know how it turns out. In the meantime if you're interested, check out the recipe from the Globe:

Locro

From Slashfood, ah, Dulce de leche. Included was a recipe to make it yourself; I tend to buy it already done for me. It's fabulous. Towards the end off the post is a brief list off things to do with the golden goodness:

Dulce De Leche - An Easy Dessert Enhancer

The thought of the sweetness reminded me of a recipe I clipped ages ago from Saveur for a Ducle de Leche Cake. Strangely, I had just pulled it out this past week. I'd caressed it a few times and toyed with making it. Presto, Slashfood sends a related link to Google Reader. I think it's kizmet.

Dulce de Leche Cake

I asked Lord Google about Dulce de Leche. He suggested this, and oh, Lord, it looks fabulous:

Dulce de Leche Flan, recipe and image via No Special Effects

It's late and I'm tired

and I haven't eaten a thing but junk food and coffee all day long. So imagine how I'm swooning over the following:

Migas in the morning, courtesy of homesick Texan

Pumpkin Pancakes via Joy the Baker and Pancake Maker

Quiche Lorraine via Smitten Kitchen. I mean, she has a NEWBORN! What is she doing with leeks?

And in a very useful "Cooking the Blog" post, Wednesday Chef cooks from the NYTimes and has a thing or two to say about it:

Melissa Clark's Coconut Barley Pilaf

Whatever the outcome, it looks fabulous. Head on over and see for yourselves.

Oh, one last thing. Joy has something to say about buttermilk:

The best buttermilk substitutions

Migas and pumpkin pancakes are definitely on IcedLatte's table this weekend.

Ah, the Happy Meal

The experience with a 5 year old lovingly rendered in the NYTimes this week. My kids often get Happy Meals for lunch on Saturday. They get plain burgers, apple dippers, and milk. What they really want is the toy. Most often they eat the bun, ditch the pickle, nibble the burger, and finish the apples. Kids.

Cooking with Dexter: Happy Meal Me

However, I'm completely grossed out by ground beef now thanks to the Sunday NYTimes frightening article about beef processing. It takes a lot to gross me out, too. I'm so completely offended by the "It's not my fault, must be the wholesaler/supplier/feedlot, blah blah blah." Belly up to the bar. You're going to get sued anyway, wholesaler/supplier/feedlot.

E coli Path shows Flaws in Beef Inspection

First the water supply. Now this. I guess I'll stick to candy corn and Diet Coke.

What if I used bacon?

Taking a leaf from a Top Chef improvisation substituting bacon for pork belly, how about if I made this with slab bacon--which I conveniently have arriving along with the rest of a cryovac'ed pig--instead of pork belly.

Chashu via norecipe

Almost oil-free miso all-purpose dressing

Image via Wikipedia

My latest. Tossed blanched haricots verts and snap peas in it. Delicious. This would work for a whole variety of salads, noodles, chicken, fish, most especially tuna. It is adapted from a Crescent Dragonwagon recipe from way back.

More Miso!

2 inches fresh gingerroot, peeled, finely chopped
1/4 cup white miso paste
1/4 cup rice wine vinegar (seasoned or not works)
1/4 cup mirin (or sweet sherry)
2 T tamari soy sauce
2 T honey
2 T tahini
pinch cayenne pepper
1 T sesame oil

Tricky instructions: mix everything together and serve. Think you can handle it? This makes a lot: enough for a salad and then some.

Brown Bag Lunches at Cafe NYTimes

Monsieur Bittman asked readers of his NYTimes food blog to give him a hand and post ideas for interesting brown bag lunches. There are nearly 300 comments. Interesting read, full of good ideas:

Some Help, Please

Just when you thought you were free of eggplant!

You weren't! Mark Bittman has a recipe for roasted vegetables, Thai style. It looks remarkably like my crockpot ThaiThai vegetable stew, which I cribbed almost completely from a PassUBy KYSO recipe, only I'm lazy and she's not so I throw my stuff in the crockpot. I don't use peanut butter 'cause nuts make Little Latte get very hive-y.

I might try this. Or I might stick with the crockpot version of PassUBy's recipe.

Roasted Vegetables, Thai Style

Oh, God no. Not more eggplant.

Oh, yeah, baby. And from a new mother! I remember when I was a new mother, wandering around my house, scratching my head. It all looked so terribly familiar. So utterly strange, though, to have another warm mouth to feed. And with stuff from me! (That still wigs me out a little.) I felt like I'd had a really good day if I showered.

But Deb, at Smitten Kitchen, is not only hauling her little love bug all over town, but she's posting gorgeous eggplant recipes. STUFFED eggplants, not just "slice it up, throw it on the bbq, mash it with some olive oil and slap it on some pita." I feel quite unnerved by her.

BUT I no longer have to 1. Carry a diaper bag, 2. Worry about running out of diapers, and 3. Buckle 50% of my kids into carseats. I can just jump in the car with a purse, mentally check where a potty at the grocery will be, and help Little Macchiato snap her belt in place while I run to the store to get the ingredients for this:

Lebanese-style stuffed eggplant