Baby Birthin' Stew

Becca, of B's Bakery and Bistro fame, became the first friend to HAVE A BABY.

Everyone is growing up, buying houses, getting married and spawning.

I, on the other hand, have fit all of my belongings into two bags and moved across the world. I might get another tattoo too, on my face.

So, here we are, launched from the world of making drunk cornbread into making food for friends to freeze as they lose sleep for their poop monsters.

Becca requested something healthy and freezable. I was inspired to make something that looked like the baby poop that she'll be bathing in for the next 18 years.
Lilah (who is actually super cute and old now) also took a while to get here and apparently spicy things help pregnant ladies pop.

Therefore...

Moroccan Stew

You'll need:

Vegetable oil
1 onion- chopped
1 zucchini- chopped
1 yam- peeled and chopped
1 can of chickpeas- drained
4 cloves of garlic- minced
3 cups (or more) vegetable broth
1 tsp of each:  cinnamon, cumin, dried thyme and chili powder
1/4 c creamy peanut butter
1 c chunky salsa
2 cups of spinach- roughly chopped.

Thanks to George for the Haines grown zucchini

To do:
- Heat oil in a pan, add the spices, cook for about a minute, until fragrant. Add in the onion and garlic, cook for another minute or so. Throw the yam into the mix, cook for about a minute. Throw in the zucchini, cook for another minute.

-Add in the vegetable broth, salsa, peanut butter and salsa (if you want it to a stew, use less vegetable broth, for a soup, use more). Let simmer for 10-15 minutes, until the vegetables are tender.
- Throw the spinach in right before you're about to serve, just so it wilts a little bit.
- Serve over couscous

- have that baby.

*Reheats, freezes and doubles very easily.

Spotify thinks that I listen to too much bluegrass and is trying to get me to branch out, so it started playing The Belle Brigade.
Spotify robots +1
All other robots -1

A little bit pop, a little bit rock, a little bit country. "Losers" is pretty amazing and a good drink PBR, cry and dance it out jam. But my cold cold heart was first warmed by this gem:

They make me want to start a band with my brother, but would end, tragically, with audiences bleeding out through their ears. The Ingram-Wolf kids aren't musically gifted.

Solgrrrrr Hummus

Liz gained a Mister Sol Grr!

The wedding was a beautiful redneck shit show, in every way that you expect an open bar wedding in Juneau Alaska to be.

And in true Liz fashion, I was informed two days before that I was bringing the hummus.

For 300 people.

Now, to most people, this isn't a huge deal. You throw a bunch of chickpeas in a food processor with some tahini and let it do it's thing.
But I'm not actually most people. I'm on a mission to create the smoothest hummus possible, which means peeling
every
single
chickpea.

"But Hannah!" you cry, "That's just crazy talk!"

Well, yes. It is, but it's also true. Taking the tiny layer off of every cooked chickpea leaves you without clumps and without hummus farts. It's a win win.

For two days I became a hummus making factory.
This is my story.

Super Traditional, Super smooth hummus (perfected by Hannah)

You'll need:
1 lb dried chickpeas
2 or 3 lemons- juiced
1/4 c tahini
7 or 8 cloves of garlic- chopped
olive oil
paprika, salt and pepper

-soak the dried chickpeas over night
-Boil the chickpeas the next day, for about an hour, or until they are soft. Drain, rinse etc... SAVE THE WATER.
-Peel the chickpeas. The best technique for this is to pinch the rounded end with two fingers and let the skin pop off. It's satisfying for the first ten, then it gets tiring, then it gets boring, then you get tennis elbow.
-Put all of the chickpeas in the food processor. Process them until crumbly.

-Put the lemon juice, the garlic and tahini in the processor, while it's running, slowly add in the reserved water, 1 tbsp at the time, until it's smooth and dip-able. Season with salt and pepper.
-Put it in a bowl, pour olive oil on top and sprinkle with paprika.

-Get drunk at a wedding.


No music this week.... Well sort of, I'm super into:
Milk Carton Kids
Steve Gunn
Chris Thile's Bach album
so more of the same.

But on a completely different note, I'm spending the next 9 months in Bucharest Romania on a Fulbright Grant!
I'll continue to post here, probably at the same frequency as I already do. But you can track my adventures in Romania at this blog:
Romania plus Hannah equals Blog

I made a quiche in Harlem!

I moved (surprise Mom)!
This Alaskan went a little farther East and now lives in Harlem (right down the street from the Tenenbaum house. It's hipster heaven).

With an amazing kitchen and amazing roommates.

Maridee is not a vegan and grates cheese. 

Moving is the worst.
Being in a new place is better.
Cooking in a new kitchen is the best.
(but playing the "where did we unpack that" game kind of sucks).


Ronald (and Hannah's) Fennel Quiche (Ronald apparently works at The Moosewood)

For the crust:
1 c all purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/3 c chilled butter
3 Tbsp ice water

For the filling:
2 Tbsp olive oil
1/2 onion- diced
1/2 tsp salt
1 c fennel- thinly sliced
1 c grape tomatoes- sliced.
1 c zucchini- diced
1 c yellow squash- diced
1 c mushrooms- sliced
1/4 c fresh basil- minced
1.4 c green onions
1/4 tsp black pepper- ground
4 eggs
1 1/2 c feta
1 c Jarlsberg- grated

Crusty:
- Put the flour, butter and salt in the food processor (buy one, if needed). Mix it until it's a fine course meal. Sprinkle the ice water over the mixture and lightly toss. Collect into ball.
- Turn the dough out onto a clean surface, shape into a disc (get super pissed when this takes 18 tries). Put it into the pie pan and pat out until it looks like it's a crust. Store in the fridge.

Filling:
-Preheat the oven to 375
-heat the oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Saute the onions and salt until the onions are brown (8-10 mins)
-Throw in the fennel and saute for another 3-5 minutes.
-Add the squash, zucchini, mushrooms, tomatoes and pepper to skillet. Cook for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and add in the basil and green onions. Set aside.

-In the (clean) food processor, puree the eggs and feta until it's a custard.
-Dump the vegetables in the crust. Dump the custard on top. Put the Jarlsberg on top of that. Be a bad ass and put tomatoes and basil on top. Finish with salt and pepper.

-Bake for about 50 minutes, until melty, golden and amazing.

Harlem Quiche is best paired with:

Ra Ra Riot's new album, Beta Love.
I did it because Spotify told me too.

Gone are the soaring and sad classical instruments of my college obsession. It's been replaced with electronic beats, synthesizers and laser sounds. Win win.
I'm going to guess that many early Ra Ra fans hate this album.
I like to think that they (and I) have aged from young melodrama to a more upbeat, slightly overproduced, optimistic outlook.

White Soul Train

Hannah and Tally TravelPHOTO Blog

Tally and I went on a trip.
We've been friends since 6th grade, but the only time we traveled together was for swim meets, 7th grade swim camp and 8th grade horse camp, so it was time to test our adult friendship.

Lessons learned:
Boston is super cold.
Don't take the Megabus during rush hour on a three day weekend Friday.
Just don't take the Megabus.
The "T" is super confusing.
When flying with Tally, get to the airport at least 3 hours before boarding, or she will freak out.
The second half of the Freedom Trail? Not really worth it.
Tally is a sport when I drag her to experimental theatre pieces that are naked.


Things we did:

Tally's first gay club

The outside at least.

Hungover trips to the science museum.

Lots of brewery tours.

Did you know that beer is super cheap in MA? 

Being super historical.

Tall people are not made for Mega Buses. 

Things we ate:

Free Cheese!

Super fancy cocktails

Tally's first pizza in the subway

Tally's reaction when I tried to teach her the art of folding pizza. 

Tally and Carly made cupcakes!

I made a mess.

Add caption

Eating a Boston Cream doughnut in Boston at the start of the Freedom Trail. It doesn't get more American than that. 

Isn't that @awpz from twitter? 

Pho + Sriracha = true love

Last night on the East Coast Indian food. 

And then I went to Juneau and Tally went to the Bahamas.
There will be a semi-Juneau post soon.

New on the DSSJ front:
Mayer Hawthrone's "retro soul".

Yes please. 

Pizza Dough, Wine and Body Paint

Make your own pizza parties are a regular occurrence here at KDP (see here).
I came across a new pizza dough recipe that claimed to be "no- knead, no-fuss".
That was kind of a lie.
To be fair, 4 glasses of wine tends to be my "this is too hard" threshold and that was greatly surpassed on this ladies night

No-Knead Pizza Dough from (Jim Lahey of Sullivan Street Bakery and pizza spot Co)
Makes six 10"-12" pizzas
Start at least 24 hours early!

7 1/2 c all purpose flour (plus more dough shaping)
4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp active dry yeast

-Whisk flour, salt and yeast in a medium bowl, with a wooden spoon.
-Add 3 cups of water, stir until well incorporated. Gently bring it together and form into a rough ball.
-Transfer to a large, clean bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature (I use the oven) for 18-24 hours.

-Transfer dough to a floured surface, break apart into 6 even portions. Working with 1 at a time, mold into a ball and set aside. Repeat with the 5 other balls. Let the dough rest, covered with plastic or a damp towel for about an hour.
-Working with 1 ball at a time (and lots of flour, it's really sticky), gently shape into a round 10"-12" disc with hands.
-Put things on the pizza. Be creative.

-If using a pizza stone- place the stone on the oven rack, preheat oven to 500 degrees F. When oven is ready, turn to broil. Place pizza round on the stone. Broil pizza, rotating halfway through, for 5-7 mins, until the bottom of the crust is crisp and the top is blistered.

-If using baking sheet- preheat oven to 500 degrees F. Put the pizza's on the baking sheet, bake for about 10 mins, until bottom is crisp and top is blistered. 

I liked this dough, despite the planning ahead. It's very soft and doughy and had I had more patience, I might have rolled it out to the correct size, shape and thickness. These pizza's ended up being blobs of dough/bread with yummy stuff on top. Which is a first world problem. 

The Best Part

For this party, we had:

Peanut Sauce, Pesto, Tomato Sauce and Olive Oil

Onions, Black Olives, Green Olives, Mushrooms, Basil, Oregano, Sprouts, Carrots, Cilantro, Peanuts, Tomatoes, Sundried Tomatoes, Artichoke Hearts and Spinach

Mozzarella, Parmesan and Feta

Dessert Pizza- fruit and goat cheese

And about 10 bottles of wine (hence the progressively bad photos, the overcrowded kitchen and the pizza triangles). 

Note: pizza toppings also make excellent hungover omelets for the next morning. 

I have vague memories of listening to Vertical Horizon and playing 10 fingers, neither of which are terribly blog worthy (sorry VH, you bring up too many awkward and emo flashbacks to 14 year old me). 

So I'm currently listening to Goyte's 2011 album, "Making Mirrors" 

I kind of love it, it's widely ranged and versatile. I go into the album expecting atmospheric, emotional easy listening, but am constantly side swiped by the 80s pop ballads. The album takes you on a journey and isn't 45 minutes of the same sound, which I find refreshing every once in a while. 

This is great. especially when you compare it to the following, from the same album:

Let's be honest here, sometimes the best break up songs don't send one running for the hammock, a PBR and Vic Chesnutt, Bon Iver and co. Sometimes you have to dance it out a little. 

Plus, I'm a little jealous of whoever had to do the body paint for the video. 

Happy Birthday KDP!

Kitchen Dance Party is one year old. 

To celebrate, we made you a present. 

Subtitled: 

Ode to cookie butter;

Trader Joes should come to Juneau; 

We don't know how to use a webcam, or edit videos;

We secretly desire to become Youtube sensations. 

Moral of the story, KDP video blogs are only going to be a special occasion event.
Here are some pics from the day (especially of the camera shy Liz and Mags)

Matzo Brei

Yes, it looks like cat vomit.

(serves 2)

You'll need:
2 sheets of matzo (or 14, depending on how you roll)
2 eggs (or 8, see above)
salt
pepper
2 tbsp vegetable oil

-Break the matzo into 1/2 inch pieces. Put in a bowl. Rinse under hot tap water for 30 seconds. Drain.
-Whisk eggs in another bowl. Mix matzo and eggs, season with salt and pepper. -
-heat oil in a skillet. Put batter in skillet, either in one fell swoop or in smaller pancake style discs.
-Fry into golden.

Cookie Butter

Tasty things to make them taste like something:

applesauce
yogurt
cookie butter
peanut butter
pesto
sriracha
fruit
cinnamon
nutmeg
syrup
jam
peanut sauce

Music Land: I just posted about this, but we legit spent the weekend listening to Of Monsters and Men. See my previous post.

Sorry, I had to learn my way around iMovie (let's be honest, Mag's did the majority of it). 

But video blog easter egg- There might be some David Bowie love in KDP's future. 

How to Be Succesful at Your Office (Without Really Trying)

Hey y’all.

Today’s the day that Mags gets all semi-homemade in this bish.

Everyone who works in an office knows the quickest way to your co-workers' hearts is by providing an eating opportunity. If it’s your birthday, it’s your lucky day. Everyone will appreciate you more because they know you are the underlying reason behind their 3:00 piece of carrot cake.

But what if you’re the one responsible for the cake? This is a ridiculously easy recipe for when you forgot to bake something the night before and you’re getting sick of Costco apple pie. (Note: this is impossible.) It’s hard to describe what is so great about this cake (it's definitely not its given name, that's for sure); it’s easy, gooey, and amazingly tasty (especially under some vanilla ice cream.)

I was too slow to get a picture of the finished product.

This is all you need.

Dump Cake (from one of my favorite co-workers, Michelle.)

1 box yellow cake mix
1 stick butter (1/2 cup) (melted)
1 21oz can cherry pie filling
1 21oz can crushed pineapple
chopped walnuts (as many as you want)

Preheat the oven to 350°.

Spray the bottom of a 9”x13” glass baking pan. Pour in cherry pie filling and pineapple and mix until evenly distributed in the pan. Sprinkle cake mix over the fruit and, well, poke it with a plastic spoon until just a little bit of the fruit starts to show through the powder. This shouldn’t be completely combined, there will still be a lot of dry powder on the top of the cake. Drizzle the butter evenly over the top and sprinkle with the chopped walnuts.

Michelle demonstrates the poking procedure.

Bake 45 minutes or until the top is golden brown and bubbly.

Let cool for a few minutes or you will suffer a molten-cherry related incident.

Serve with ice cream, trust me.

TUNES:

I’m probably a little late to the table but, YOU GUYS. Listen to this!