We're Hitched! Yo ho, yo ho, it's a Navy life for me.

After four months of not blogging, which I blame fully on wedding planning, I am back! As stressful as most people convey wedding planning, it was a joy for me. It was super-exciting to see what was in my mind's eye come to fruition, and all within my tight budget. I believe I found my true calling in life!

We had a fairy tale wedding in a country club in August. Our colors were navy blue and green apple. We had green hydrangea, green cymbidium orchids, jade roses, every kind of green flower imaginable, were incorporated into our flowers. Our bridesmaids dresses were navy blue. People blew bubbles after we were pronounced husband and wife. The food (AND CAKE!!) was amazing. Our DJ gave the whole night such great energy. It was by far the most beautiful and emotional day of my life. I'm so happy to have found my partner-in-crime!

I have been debating for some time as to whether or not I should make the fact that I am now a Navy Wife an integral part of my blog. Seeing as how I will face many a deployment as a Navy wife, it's a lifestyle that not all can handle (I'm still learning the extent to which military spouses sacrifice, having already had a missed birthday and that our 1 month anniversary will be apart) and I plan on using my blog as a happy distraction, an outlet for my creativity and to pass time while I wait for my husband's return! I do want to give a shout-out to all the strong women (and men) out there who are Navy spouses. It's not always rainbows and butterflies in Marriedland; deployments, underways and duty certainly don't make it easier. Hats off to spouses, because we serve too.

I have lots of ideas for things to do while he's away. Getting back into my hobbies now that the wedding festivities are over would be one genre to get me going. Of course, spotlighting different parts of San Diego will keep me out and about as well. Great ideas for blog entries are not in short supply.

With fall already here (my, my how time does fly!), I am drawn to fancy coffee drinks (hello Pumpkin Spice Latte), blankets and caramel apples. I remember for years, my family used to ring in Fall with a trip to the apple orchards in Yucaipa. The last few times we went, we ended up going too late in the year to pick the apples ourselves, but that didn't stop us from having a huge picnic and buying freshly baked apple pies from the dozens of quaint little country store-esque bakeries lining the way out of the orchards. I would love to get everybody together again to do that, it's been ages.

This past weekend I woke up craving some freshly baked goodness for breakfast. It was still summer, yes, but the air was cool and the clouds were letting us know that Fall is on her way. I remembered I had thrown some ripe bananas in the freezer a couple weeks ago with every intent to use them. So that I did. With our eating habits as, um, extravagant as they've been, I decided to make a lowfat and somewhat healthy rendition of banana bread. Here's what I came up with:

**LOWFAT BANANA BREAD**
1.5 c wheat flour
1.5 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1 egg
1 c mashed banana (I use frozen, just defrost the whole thing slightly and the peel comes right off, and it's already the right consistency too!)
1/2 c sugar
3 Tbls applesauce (I used no-sugar added applesauce NOT sugar-free, instead of oil, adds fiber and cuts out fat)
a pinch of citrus zest (for this last week's loaf I used lemon zest, but I think orange would be even better)
1/4 c chopped walnuts (I'm not a fan of walnuts, too strongly flavored in the banana bread, but that's just me)

Combine dry ingredients in a large bowl. In a medium bowl, stir in egg, sugar, banana, applesauce and zest. Add to the flour mixture until just combined, and if you'd like to add walnuts you may do so at this point.
Pour batter into a prepared (non-stick cooking spray) pan (you can use a loaf pan but I used a square pan as I have no more room to acquire a loaf pan, which also benefited me because it took less time to bake).
Bake at 350F until a wooden toothpick inserted at the center comes out clean. For the loaf pan it will be about 50 min, for the square pan I used, it took about half the time. Let cool before serving. Happy eats.

And Happy Fall!

Sugar and Spice...

Once again I have fallen of the blogging train. Yes, I am fully aware it has been almost a month since my last post. But good readers, I have a very good excuse. I got engaged a couple of weeks ago to the bf and it has been a whirlwind of visiting venues and wedding cakes and sugar plums and dancing fairies and rainbows and unicorns. Err, maybe not exactly like that but we've been busy planning the wedding of our dreams! Very exciting, very stressful, very unproductive for this little blog of mine.

I decided to no longer neglect my blog when a friend of mine asked for an easy cookie recipe to share with friends. I have a few recipes that I think are really good, and when he said he was looking for oatmeal or chocolate chip cookes I thought of a recipe that was given to me by my grandmother. My grandfather's favorite cookies are oatmeal. Not just oatmeal cookies, BURNT oatmeal cookies. He can't get enough of them. Or maybe he likes 'em burnt just so he doesn't have to share....When my grandma decided to change it up and use a different recipe (not sure where it came from), I asked her to leave some normal ones for us to try. They were fantastic!! I couldn't get enough. The cool thing with these is you can mix in pretty much any kind of "whatever" you want to throw in there. (See suggestions at the bottom) So we'll call them "Everything Cookies". Yes, it's kind of a lot of ingredients, but you throw it all together in three parts, anyone can handle it, I promise! It always helps when you have a willing party to measure everything out for you, too. (And someone to do the dishes!)

As for beer pairing, these would be PHENOMENAL with a stout, I would highly recommend Samuel Smith's Oatmeal Stout. I don't think I could recommend a better pairing. I know it's only 7am, but if you put a pint of Samuel Smith's Oatmeal stout and a plate of these cookies in front of me right now, I simply would not be able to stop myself!! Without further ado, the recipe:

"Everything Cookies"
(NOTE: 1T = 1 Tablespoon, 1t = 1 teaspoon!)
*"Wet" ingredients*
1/2 c vegetable shortening (like Crisco)                     1/2 c butter, room temperature
1 c sugar                                                                  1 c brown sugar
1 T vanilla                                                                2 eggs
*Cream these 6 ingredients together until pale in color

*Dry ingredients*
1 t baking soda                                                        1/2 t baking powder
1/2 t salt                                                                  2 c flour
*Mix the next 4 ingredients in a bowl separate from the mixture above. Gradually add to the "wet" mixture above until combined.

1 c coconut (optional)                                              2 c crispy rice cereal
2 c oatmeal                                                              2 c chocolate chips (optional)
Mix in the cereal and oatmeal. The coconut and chocolate chips are optional.

Using a spoon sized amount of dough, place on a slightly greased cookie sheet (hello cooking spray, you are my friend). Bake in a 350 degree oven for 8-10 minutes. Happy eating!

***Mix-in Suggestions***
Raisins
Dried fruit (I like apples particularly)
A dash of cinnamon and nutmeg or apple pie spice to make a more traditional oatmeal cookie
Nuts
White chocolate
Orange or lemon zest

OR you could add a glaze (which I haven't done but I think it would be awesome):
Maple
Maple cinnamon
Vanilla... The possibilities are endless!

Beer and Dessert Pairing

Gentle readers, my apologies for not posting sooner, I've been getting over a bug that knocked me flat on my bum. But, alas, the fever and chills have subsided, and I am once again well. This past Friday was finally the night of the beer and dessert pairing!

One of the home brews we tasted on Friday

My friend had 6 beers ready for tasting, which meant I really had my work cut out for me!! The majority of his beers (descriptions are in the previous beer post) were expected to have nutty, bready, or caramel undertones. So to match these I made candied almonds and caramel pecan shortbread. I knew the candied almonds would work with any of those beers. They were not too sweet and I had toasted the almonds to give them the depth of roasting that I thought would cut through the taste of the beer. The caramel pecan shortbread I thought would work well with the beers that had bready flavor. I had hoped the caramel and roasted pecans would bring out some of the character of the beers that maybe would not have been as pronounced otherwise.

A couple of the home brews on tap

My bigger fears lay within the lighter beers which were being sampled. For these I thought chocolate covered candied oranges would complement the citrus notes in the beers and the thin layer of chocolate would contrast with the beers. I started these a month ago--I sliced oranges from my parents' tree in the backyard and let them soak in super-saturated sugar syrup for about 30 days, then dried them out and coated them with chocolate. I have made these before and I like to offer them at Christmas, so it was a treat getting to eat one in the spring!

The one that made me MOST nervous was a brew with spruce and honey. My friend mentioned that it was not expected to have a sweet finish. And the spruce, wow. I initially went to honey, pine nuts, gin? I had absolutely no clue what would complement, cut or contrast a beer with spruce. Or honey, for that matter. What did I make, you ask?? Baklava. Not just ordinary baklava. I chopped almonds and added a touch of cinnamon. I layered the delicate phyllo dough generously with butter, filled it with the almonds and cinnamon, and baked it for an hour and some change. The super-saturated sugar syrup that was used to make the oranges was used in this recipe. I boiled it down til it thickened up, then cooled it and stirred in some honey. I poured it over the freshly baked baklava and let each layer soak up the orange and honey-laced syrup.

When the bf and I arrived after walking a couple of blocks in the San Diego drizzle, desserts in hand, the group had already begun tasting. What was next? The honey and spruce beer. "Which one goes with this one??" they asked. "Baklava," was my reply. I had my reservations about this pairing, but now was as good a time as any to bring out the desserts and laissez les bons temps rouler! As I tasted the beer and then took a bite of the baklava, it was not what I expected. The reaction around the room echoed my sentiments. The small studio with over a dozen people immediately fell silent as we all relished in the flavor of the beer and the after-effects of the orange and honey dancing on the tongue, complementing this beer PERFECTLY. Everyone in the room was reveling in the beer and baklava. At the risk of sounding over-the-top and perhaps a tad cheesy, it was more than just beer and dessert. It was an experience. The pairing I was afraid of most turned out to be the best pairing of the evening.

Desserts (in the background)

We tried the rest of the beers, which went well with the nutty and sweet combinations. We chatted about work, about beer brewing, about life. We listened to music and some people danced. It was lots of fun. We didn't stay long, it had been a long day for both me and the bf. But I was very inspired by the fact that it not only was possible to pair Beer AND Sugar, that it was amazing! You can be sure that I'm ready and willing to do it again soon!!

NOTE: A quick "Thank you!" to my co-worker Mike C. for the pics.

Spherification, Gelification and Foams, oh my!!

Several years ago I was watching a show on Food Network about foods of the future. It was burned into my mind that day... A chef wanted people to "taste light", so he melted sugar and blew it by hand into the shape of a lightbulb. He "served" it with orange oil, which was spritzed into the air as patrons broke the delicate sugar bulb and dissolved it on their tongues.

Another chef wanted to reinvent the peanut butter and jelly sandwich. He made a sphere of peanut butter and froze it in liquid nitrogen. At this point, he liquified the jelly and dipped the frozen peanut butter into the jelly to coat completely. The peanut butter was still so cold that it froze the coating of jelly. He added several more layers of the jelly before setting it aside.  He wanted to get the essense of bread without the same texture, so he made a "soup" out of the bread and plated that first. He then added the pb&j sphere to the plate, and by then the jelly had melted and made a gelatinous shell around the peanut butter.

Why all the effort? And how is this all done? The culinary community a terribly competitive world, so it makes sense that chefs are looking for ways to set themselves apart from others.

More like a prolonged chemistry experiment, molecular gastronomy uses such chemicals as calcium lactate gluconate, xanthan and sodium alginate. Chefs rely on the "cooking" properties of mixing said chemicals in a water bath and work their "cooking" magic on the ingredients, creating spheres with a gummy outer shell and a liquid interior or turning liquids into solid spheres such as spherical yogurt or spherical "olives" made from olive juice. As this is considered fine dining, the portions are small, usually served on Chinese soup spoons. These recipes can take over 24hrs, it can be time-consuming to set up the water bath.

Photo credit: http://www.molecularrecipes.com/spherification/
Visit site to view recipes!

Molecular gastronomy completely challenges how we view food. I found a recipe for "ice cream", only it's served hot. As it cools, it begins to melt. It's more like a custard or pudding from what I read, but it's called ice cream because as it comes closer to room temperature, it melts, just as ice cream would.

So when I saw a preview for a show on Syfy for a show called Marcel's Quantum Kitchen, which was ALL about a chef who does special events tailored around a molecular gastronomy menu, I was thrilled! It's a total chemistry experiment, and it's so inspiring to see people use their imaginations (and science) to turn our traditional notions of food on its bum. It's on in FIVE minutes. Can't wait!