Oh hai!

Hi KDP-ers (Mom), 

It's been a while....

So, heads up, I moved to Romania. You can read more about my travels here. 

Here in Bucharest, I live in an attic with a half kitchen, so for the past 4 months, I've made all meals with a microwave, toaster, coffee pot and water heater. 

Therefore for the past 4 months, I've eaten a lot of: popcorn, bread, hummus and raw vegetables. 

Just recently I figured out how to steam broccoli in the microwave. It's a whole new freakin' world. 

Microwave Steamed Broccoli

Take your puny, not sharp, trick knife and hack at the head of broccoli until it's in semi-smaller pieces. 

Put the broccoli trees into a too small bowl. 

Fill the bowl with the most water it'll fit without spilling. 

Put it in the microwave. Refill with the water your clumsy ass spilled. 

Put a plate on top of the broccoli bowl. 

Cook for 2 minutes. 

Turn all of the broccoli over, so the dried sides can sit in the water. 

Cook for another 2 minutes. 

Drain the water. Gently place some cut up cheese on top. You can half ass it even more and not melt it, as seen here. 

Bring on a new wave of KDP in 2014!

Watch Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations Romania episode for a better idea about Romanian food. (Side note- he pretty much hated the country, I'm having a better time). 

There is too much good music happening right now, but I'm currently in my "It's winter and I sort of miss home" phase and my constant "sit in a hammock, listen to country music, drink PBR and cry" mood, which together makes the completely radical playlist of a lot of sad (usually) guys, playing acoustic instruments, like:

David Wax Museum's Everything is Saved

Chris Thile's Bach: Sonatas and Partitas, Vol 1

Tom Brosseau's Grass Punks

Noam Pikelny's Noam Pikelny plays Kenny Baker plays Bill Monroe

Inside Lleywn Davis soundtrack (or the best reason to never date a musician) 

The Mipso Trio's Long Long Gone

and round it all up with 

Keaton Henson. 

And, in keeping with the Romanian culture, this: 

WAR ON CHRISTMAS

Happy Holiday's KDP fans (Mom, did I send you a card?)
I'm having a war on Christmas this year.
I'm working a lot and taking latkes (and drinking driedel) to an Orphan Christmas Party and avoiding all work parties like the plague. I believe that this is an acceptable response to not going home or being with family this year.
I'll see a movie (let's be honest, I'm seeing Les Miz ("The Mopes" in English), eat some Chinese food and sleep until January 2nd.

Only someone who either loved or eternally hated Christmas could do what Sufjan Steven's has done with his SECOND epic 5 volume Christmas box set.

And it is a fine line between love and hate. A very very fine line.

My latest cooking devotion has been to this book, An Everlasting Meal by Tamar Adler, who believes that the ends of meals inspire and feed the next one and that we don't make mistakes in the kitchen, we create an experiment. The book is about cooking with grace, trust and economically. Below are some of the pictures I've taken while following this principal.

The basic premise is that you should be using everything when cooking- the ends of bread, the rinds of cheese, the stems of kale and in a mixture of life advice and recipes, Tamar Adler seeks a world where people pay attention to what they eat, why they are eating and how their food is prepared.

I did this for like a week.

It was a good week though, a very full fridge week. 

The idea is that you buy all of your greens and fruit at the farmers market and cook it the day of, so that you have things to play with throughout the week that are already prepared. You spend a few hours slaving over a hot stove and in return, can take beet sandwiches to work! It's a fantastic idea and I wish I had more time to do this.

I came away from that week with stem/core pesto, roasted beets, the best omelet I've ever made, bean soup stock, roasted pine nuts, an appreciation for red wine vinegar and more awareness around how to love and care for the food we use to fuel ourselves. 

Plus, An Everlasting Meal has entire chapters devoted to how to treat your eggs (the ones from chickens), how to boil water, how to set a table, ideas for sauces, vinegars and the trust that you'll be okay, no matter what you do. 

Also, I made Hot Sauce!

Take 1 lb of stemmed fresh chilies and 2 Tbsp kosher salt. 

Mix in a food processor until it's a puree. 

Put in a glass jar and let ferment for about 12 hours at room temp. Make sure that the top of the jar isn't tightly screwed on. 

Add in 1 1/2 c distilled white vinegar, loosely screw on the top. 

Let sit for at least 1 day and at most 2 weeks. Try it along the way to see if it's to your liking. 

Put the mixture in the food processor and blend until smooth. 

Strain it through a sieve and store in the fridge for up to 4 months. 

Well Spotify, you've done it again. You know more about the music that I'll like than I do. I'm continually in debt to your musical algorithm that introduces me to artists like Justin Townes Earle

The son of Steve Earle, he's embraced the soul in bluegrass and putting blues back in country music. Wrapped up in the sound are heartfelt and wrenching stories. I crave to hear him live,at a dive bar, preferably with a dance partner.
Only goal for the new year is to do just that.

Maybe the holidays away from Juneau makes me just a tad homesick (if you couldn't tell...), but I've been devouring bluegrass/Americana/blues music like it's my job. There are no problems with this, it's perfect Sunday listening.

Plus he kind of sounds like Elvis (if he "kicked a gospel choir in the butt" in this one and that makes me all a-twitter.

Polenta at the end of the world

Apparently I'm seeing into the end of the world and it's name is Hurricane Sandy.
Who knows if I'll actually make it to the real event, the wind from the 7th floor is very dramatic and the cabin fever is starting to get to me. I've watched all the Netflix, all the Hulu and done all of the cooking and cleaning that I can stand.

Some people buy canned soup in preparation.
And some people make:
polenta,
Brussel Sprouts,
fried rice,
banana bread,
and beets

If the world does in fact end tonight. I'm going out in culinary style.

Cheesy Polenta
8 c water
2 c polenta
salt and pepper to taste
4 oz cheddar cheese- grated
1/2 stick butter

-bring the water and salt to a boil.
-Pour in the polenta, stir with a wooden spoon until thick and gloppy (about 5 minutes).

-Remove from heat, stir in the cheese, pepper and butter.
-eat hot, then chill in the fridge and cut into rounds when cold.

Currently rocking out to (until the internet fails):
Andy Scott's "Luxury Problems" on NPR First Listen
This is a pretty ominous with this storm raging outside. I live on the top floor of a 7 story building, so things sound awful out there. This album could the be the soundtrack to a dystopian movie... and I'm not entirely convinced that this hurricane isn't either the start of the end of the world, or we're going to be thrown in 2084 or something.
Onto the music. For electronic, it's pretty low key, pretty laid back. The album feels deliberate, very complex and well thought out. This is described as "ocean floor dub" (rather than dub to dance to) and that fits it perfectly. The high voice wraps around the bass like a glove. It's pretty spectacular, but if you are expecting a more main stream sounded dub-step or electronica, this album isn't the way to go. It's a new take on the genre.

"Chikin" Salad

I'm sensing a trend in my posts. I blog about how much I miss a various meat product and then I try to recreate that with vegetables, tofu, seitan or tempeh. And also ignore the needling comments about how eating meat again would make everything much easier. 

Usually these experiments fail, but this "chicken" salad is a winner!

It should be noted though, the only reason why I like chicken and egg salad is because of the mayo, and this has that!

Winner Winner "chikin" dinner!

Tofu Salad (From The Moosewood)

1 cake firm tofu

1 tbsp olive oil

2 tsp Braggs Amino's

1 1/2 tsp fresh lemon juice

3 tbsp white miso

3 tbsp tahini

1/3 c mayo

2 tbsp Dijon Mustard

1 1/2 c carrots- peeled and grated

1 1/2c red bell pepper- dices

1 1/2 c celery- diced

1/3 c green onion- chopped

1 tbsp fresh dill

salt and pepper to taste

- Crumble the tofu (it helps if it's been frozen and then thawed). Heat oil in a skillet over medium high heat. Cook the tofu, stirring constantly, until dry, about 5 minutes. Stir in the soy sauce and lemon juice and cook for 1 minute. Remove from heat and let cool for 10 minutes. 

Someone got Instagram...

-Whisk the miso, tahini, mayo and mustard in a bowl. Add carrots, bell peppers, celery, scallions, herbs and tofu. Let sit and get juicy for 15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper. 

-Try not to eat it all at once, it's supposed to last for a weeks worth of meals. 

Right before my Spotify (now it's just like Pandora..epic fail) trial ran out, I listened to Citizen Cope's newest album, One Lovely Day

I vividly remember my first (and only) Citizen Cope concert. It was at WWU, everyone was embracing the dreadlocks and expressing themselves through the hippy bump and grind. I couldn't dance (still can't), wasn't brave enough to dread my hair and remember being appalled and scandalized that people were smoking INSIDE! 

I wasn't much fun in college. 

So his new album shows that he has aged into the urban folk category. It's pure, updated Americana, a mesh of RnB, acoustic, blues and folk. It's a little slower, more laid back and more complex sounding than his earlier stuff. One Lovely Day now solidly rockets Citizen Cope into into the DSSJ category (ask Val what that means). 

It's a good summer album, it's perfect for grilling on a deck, rocking the day drunk and experimenting with your own hippy bump and grind. I may not have gotten better at dancing, but I've learned the art of not giving a damn. 

Not the best food blogger.

Welcome to the dark, seedy underbelly of the food blogging craze. 

Sometimes I don't eat homemade, vegetarian, healthy and highbrow meals. 

Sometimes I make myself string cheese and toast for dinner. 

Didn't even melt it. 

In other news, I'm in an intensive workshop and haven't had time to cook, much less post. 

But never fear! Things will happen soon. 

Gettin' creative with salad.

I eat a lot of salad, especially now that it's too hot to turn on the stove, I'm too busy and poor to make something new every night. 

So I mixed a couple of recipes from The Moosewood New Classics, threw in some left overs, got some beets and tomatoes to add color and voila! 

A curried tofu and corn salad that's worthy of any high class vegetarian/vegan restaurant. 

In other news, I'm in major lack of grill depression. I don't have the balls to put one on my fire escape, so if you have one in NY,  I will trade many, slightly charred, tasty things in exchange for a grill take over. 

Curried Tofu (from Moosewood New Classics)
1 packet firm tofu
1 tbsp olive oil
3 garlic cloves- pressed
1 c onion- minced
1 jalapeno- seeded and minced
2 tbsp curry paste
1 tsp turmeric
1 tsp cumin
1 tbsp braggs liquid aminos

-Press the tofu for 15 mins. Cut into bite sized pieces.
-Heat the oil in a skillet, saute the garlic, onions and jalapeno until the onions are golden, about 15 mins. Mix in the curry paste, turmeric, cumin and soy sauce.
-Add the tofu to the skillet and cook on low heat for 10 mins, stirring often, until heated through.

Curried Corn (adapted from Moosewood New Classics)
1 c shallots- chopped
1 jalapeno- seeded and chopped
3 garlic cloves- minced
2 tbsp olive oil
4 c frozen corn
1 tbsp curry powder

The actual recipe calls for coconut milk. I omitted it because I didn't want to the corn to be over saturated with liquid going into the salad (read- I didn't have any). 

-warm the oil in a sauce pan, add the shallots and jalapeno and saute for 3 mins. Stir in the curry powder and saute until the spices darken, about another 3 mins.
-stir in the corn. Saute until heated, add salt and pepper to taste.

To assemble curried tofu and corn salad (a Hannah original (patent pending))
1 c quinoa

3 bell peppers- chopped

grape tomatoes- sliced in half

4 beets- chopped

-Put everything in a big bowl. Mix around. 

-season with salt, pepper, sriracha and curry powder to taste. 

I've been on a major RadioLab kick. 

I spend most of my commute listening to podcasts, but I've run into the unfortunate problem that sometimes Ira Flatow's soothing voice and dense topics on Science Friday puts me to sleep and I get too distracted by the various MTA characters/subway drama to really commit to an episode of This American Life. And the TAL stories often make me cry, which can be mildly embarrassing and unwanted attention getting at 10am on a Wednesday. 

RadioLab is the perfect medium, a mix of science and story, weird soundscapes that jolt one awake and make you stride that fine line between being intrigued and thinking too much. 

Plus, I'm in awe of the online community they are making through social media. 

And let's be honest, the only reason I listen to Science Friday is for the rare and priceless times when Ira F gets pissed off. 

Never buy pre-made food again.

A nutritionist recently told me that it was easy to make your own garden burgers, soy links, vege sausages etc... and I believed her.

Never going back.

Chipotle Black Bean and Millet Burgers
1 c millet
2 cans black beans
1 c frozen corn
1 red onion
4 garlic cloves
4 dried Serrano chilies- Put them in hot water for 15 mins, then de-seed
4 Tbsp chopped cilantro
2 eggs

-Cook the millet. (bring 3 c of water to boil, add millet and let simmer for 30 mins. Fluff with fork).
-In a food processor, combine red onion and garlic. Process until chopped.
-Put 2 Tbsp olive oil in a pan. Saute onions, garlic and corn for about 5 mins.
-Put black beans, cilantro, chilies in the food processor. Process until smooth.
-In a large bowl, mix onion stuff, black bean stuff and millet.
-Make patties with your hands (if you don't know what a hamburger patty looks like...I can't help you).
-To Freeze- put parchment paper on a baking sheet. Put the patties on it. Freeze until they're solid, then you can put the millet hockey pucks in a bag and cook later.

-To cook- fry up in a pan, broil at high, grill (if you have one).

Here's my only issue.
The draw of pre-made vegetable sausages etc... is just that. They are pre-made by someone else. I don't have the time to swear off convenience foods. But I'm going to pretend I do for a little while.
I fear this "make all my own food" experiment may begin to go too far. Too far and too tasty.

ALSO,
I feel the need to name my food processor. I'll make dinner for whoever comes up with the best one. All I've got right now is Ralph or Otis.


ALABAMA SHAKES!!!
Totally my jams. Completely and utterly.
They've got major soul, major grit, major sound, but with a raw, homemade quality.
Listen to this album, they are going to be huge from now on, meaning they won't ever be this un-produced again.
Their album "Boys and Girls" (released in April) inspires "Dirty Dancing" esque moves in my kitchen. It's like Swayze is back from the grave.

So organic you can still taste the dirt

Why eat fresh greens when you can cover them in oil and make them better!
The bok choy was an experiment... It kind of tasted like dirt, but that's my own fault for not washing it enough. Roasting it did get relieve some of the bitterness, but not all of it.

PS- I recently had fried kale at a restaurant. It was the best thing EVER.

Bok Choy and Kale Chips
1 bunch kale
several bunches baby bok choy
3 Tbsp olive oil
salt and pepper to taste
cumin, paprika to taste (or anything else you want).

- preheat oven to 375. Wash the greens, chop into bite size pieces (removing the kale stem).
- Mix greens with oil and whatever spices your little heart desires
- Bake for about 30 mins, until the greens are crunchy.

Note- eat it all. Right now. This doesn't store very well.


As some of you know, I finally figured out how to use Spotify. My music listening style has been forever changed. I can sample everything and no longer commit to buying (a huge plus for a major commitment-phob, and a intern/starving theater artist (10 bucks could feed me for 3 days)).

I recently listened to Of Monsters and Men's first album, "My Head is an Animal" because Spotify told me it was new (It was released on April 3rd).
They're from Iceland, which has a great musician track record (read Bjork).
I'm gaining trust in Spotify's recommendations. I really dig this. It's easy listening, (sometimes a little too) twee indie pop. It's pretty charming and hard not to fall in love.
I'm a sucker for joy filled call and responses and sing alongs. It's a good album to welcome the spring.

If Bjork is the Icelandic standard, you can see some the references in the music video.

Swamp thing smoothie

My 25th birthday is tomorrow and I still eat cereal for breakfast every.single.day. About a year ago I switched from skim milk to unflavored almond milk but I still eat fairly sugary crap for breakfast = no bueno. With some gentle guidance from Renai and Val I recently undertook one of those damn hippie cleanses from The Herbalist, no I don't wanna talk about it, yes it was traumatic, yes I cheated on like day 5, no I don't need you to judge me. ANYway I did learn something from this cleanse and that was the way of the breakfast smoothie. I jammed out with the breakfast smoothie throughout the whole 10 day (5 if you paid attention about my cheating) cleanse. Just this week I decided to have a smoothie instead of cereal for allllll of my weekday breakfasts. A big change for this adult child but that's just how awesome the breakfast smoothie really is! You really can't argue with getting some of your 5 fruits and veggies a day first thing in the morning and I stay full until lunch so that's a lot win-win in your mason jar!

Did you know that your average blender blade attachment thingy fits perfectly on your average mason jar? Cuz I didn't until Pinterest told me. It's true, I'll wait while you go try it on for size....done? Ok. Now how effing cool is that anyway? It cuts the amount of dishes needed to make and enjoy a smoothie by half! Half! Math! So what I do is prep most of my smoothie at night before I go to bed and it goes something like this:

Breakfast Smoothie:

- half of a peeled orange, chopped up

- half of an average carrot, chopped up

- some kale or chard if I have any, it really adds that nice green color to your brekafast

- a handful of hand-picked, frozen, wild Alaskan blueberries (what you don't have those? store bought will do)

-small portions of any other random fruit you have laying around, I normally toss in an apple slice or a couple strawberries, and 1/2 a cucumber is a super refreshing addition. We get a Full Circle Farms box every other week so I almost never buy fruit or veg from the store and end up just using whatever random stuff I have before it goes bad.

1. At this point I just put the blade thingy on it and stick it in my fridge

2. My roomie wakes up right when I leave so I wait until just before I leave to toss in the rest of the ingredients and blend it up cuz I'm nice and I want him to have a good day/ not hate me for waking him up before his alarm. Love me some not-cranky Joel Ion!

Second half of ingredients:

-a teaspoon of chia seeds

-probably about 1/4 cup of soy or almond milk

-6-8 ice cubes

3. blend like the dickens. My blender is rad but the little thing is just a blender, I know fancier folks have those vita mix thingies, and more power to them but kitchen redundancy and whatnot so I make-do with my 2nd hand blender. I make a royal racket blending because I don't like my smoothie to be really liquiddy, I prefer a more gelatinous mixture (thanks chia seeds) so it's just harder to grind down at first, turns out great.

4. put a lid on it and you're done! I like to drink mine at work straight out of the jar, it really grosses my boss out, he's the one that calls it a swamp thing.

Listening to: The sweet sound of my blender when I make my brekkie and my favesies playlist on Spotify when I'm sipping on it at my desk.

combine with latte from The Rookery and you're good to go!

Starving Theatre Artist Option 2

I'm expanding my diet!

Roasted Chickpeas

2 cans cooked chickpeas
4 Tbsp olive oil
Salt and Pepper to taste

options- curry powder, basil, garlic, cayenne pepper, red pepper flakes, ginger... The possibilities are endless. You could have a different chickpea flavor every night (believe me, I've been there).

-Preheat oven to 425. Spread foil on a baking sheet.
-Dry chickpeas with a paper towel to dry them. Mix with olive oil and whatever spices you want in a bowl. Spread on the baking sheet.
-Bake for 30-40 mins until brown and crunchy. Keep an eye on them in the last 10 mins to avoid burning.

I'm currently listening to the original Broadway cast recording of ONCE, based on the movie that I haven't seen yet. It's on NPR first listen.
Already crying.
I'm going to try to see the show next week.

Come on, there's a musical theatre geek in all of us.

"Fried" Rice with Tofu

Dear KDP Fans (Mom),
I'm sorry I haven't posted in a month.
It's not a good excuse, but I was in Alaska, working on THE BLUE BEAR with Perseverance Theatre in Anchorage.
Being on tour meant that I ate out a lot.
Eating out in Alaska for a vegetarian is surprisingly difficult.
I pretty much lived off oatmeal, rice and beans, potatoes and soup.
So really it wasn't that much different from my poor intern in NY diet.

This is a quick post.
I should be writing summer residency applications.

So here is some "fried" rice.
And an introduction to my newest addition to the condiment shelf- Braggs Liquid Aminos.
Almost as good as sriracha.
Almost).




Tofu Marinade
4 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Amino's
2 Tbsp Peanut Sauce
2 Tbsp Tahini
12 oz extra firm tofu
1 tbsp olive oil

- Press the tofu block (place it on paper towels, put paper towels and a weight on top, let sit for 15 mins (To press out some of the water, so the marinade can take it's place)).
- Mix the ingredients in a jar.
- Cut the tofu into bite sized piece, place in marinade. Let marinate in the fridge for at least 12 hours (the longer the better).
- heat olive oil over medium- high in a non-stick pan. Place the tofu in it, with the extra marinade. Cook for about 10 minutes, until both sides are browned.

"Fried" Rice

4 c cooked brown rice
1 onion- chopped
2 Tbsp fresh ginger- minced
4 cloves garlic- minced
1 bushel fresh spinach
2 c snow peas
1/2 c corn kernels
1/2 c edamame beans- shelled
3 Tbsp Braggs Liquid Aminos (you could use soy sauce, but where's the fun in that?)
1/2 tbsp red pepper flakes




- heat 1 tbsp olive oil over medium high heat, in a wok. Cook onions for 5 minutes. Add in ginger and garlic, cook for 4 mins.
- Throw spinach and snow peas into the wok, saute for 5 mins, until the spinach is wilted. Add in the corn and beans, cook for 4 minutes.
-Throw in the rice, red pepper flakes, Braggs Liquid Aminos and 1/4 c water. Mix everything over medium high heat for about 5 minutes.

Music Land:

Leonard Cohen's newest album, OLD IDEAS. 

I like it. Cohen has always been in my "drink PBR, sit in a hammock and cry" mix. You can't get anything better than that raspy deep voice. 

but he's almost happy in this album. It's a bit off putting. 

Nothing beats this:

Also, albums that are dropping this spring that I'm so excited I could pee:

Andrew Bird (!!!!)

Alabama Shakes

Carolina Chocolate Drops

and many, many more. 

Cookie Butter

Yeah, I know. Two posts from Mags in the same month. Try to keep your pants on.

I was re-reading my soup post, and I realized I forgot to include the amazing dessert I made afterwards because I was feeling sorry for myself.

While scrolling through ye olde FoodGawker, I noticed that all the bloggers were losing their shit over something called Biscoff spread. Now, I live in Alaska. I gave up hope long ago of being able to find new, trendy ingredients in our local Fred Meyer; it just doesn’t happen. So, IMAGINE MY SURPRISE when I walked into my neighborhood grocery store and right there, next to the Nutella, was a little glass jar of Biscoff.

YOU GUYS, Biscoff spread is peanut butter except instead of peanuts they use CRUSHED UP COOKIES. I shit you not. It is now possible to spread cookies on your morning English muffin.


I decided to make cake. 

Biscoff Mug Cake

4 Tbs self-rising flour (if you don’t have self-rising flour, you can use regular flour and ¼ tsp baking powder)

3 Tbs sugar

1 egg

3 Tbs Bischoff spread

3 Tbs milk

3 Tbs oil

1 tsp vanilla

Put all of the ingredients in a mug and stir until combined. I used a fork.

Microwave for 2 ½ to 3 minutes. This is the hard part. After two minutes, risk the brain cancer and keep an eye on it. You might have to stop and start it a couple times towards the end so it doesn’t overflow.  You can tell when it’s done if it looks like cake when you take a forkful of it. (The surface may still look shiny, but the rest of it is done.)

Let it cool, or you will destroy your mouth.

So tasty I forgot to take a picture of it.

 Then cue up last week’s “Downton Abbey” and dig in! 

Tunes:

You now have my permission to lose your pants. I know I did.