Monday, March 28, 2011

Curried Sweet Potato Fries with Yogurt-Hummus Dipping Sauce

If we've met, and talked about food/cooking for about two seconds, then you probably know that I love Joy the Baker. I love her blog, her writing style, her food styling, and almost every single recipe she's ever posted. Many of the recipes you see on this site are from her. This is one of them!

The Fries:

1 Sweet Potato
1 Egg white
1 Tablespoon Olive Oil
Turmeric
Cumin
Curry
Ginger

Preheat your oven/toaster oven to 400 degrees. Get out a cookie sheet that will fit in said oven. 

Peel the sweet potato and slice it down the middle, width-wise. Keep slicing until you have fry-sized spears and put them in a bowl. 

Whisk the egg white, olive oil and spices and pour over the fries. Toss to coat with the mixture. Place them on the baking sheet in one layer and bake for roughly 30 minutes. 

Dipping Sauce

1 cup greek yogurt
3/4 cup hummus 
cumin
lemon juice
salt
olive oil

While the fries are baking mix all this nonsense together and put it in a pretty bowl.

Serve the fries right out of the oven. Yum!


Friday, March 25, 2011

If I could do anything right now

I would play with a baby elephant in Thailand.


Wouldn't you?

Reblogged from Fug Girls: Potential Oscar Looks from NYFW

I'm so behind on reading the Fug Girls. Problem is, you can't see the full post in GReader. And my friends, if it doesn't exist in GReader it doesn't exist. Below, my favorites from their picks for Oscar fashion.

Renee Zellweger. Carolina Herrera. Love. 
Nicole Kidman. With red hair, if you please.
More Carolina delight. I could see a lot of people
in this. Nicole Kidman, Anne Hathaway...
better be sans sleeves though.
Chic on the runway, frump on the red carpet.

Hailey Steinfeld, sans aucun doute.
It's a little bridal, but it's also a little ballerina
and a little tea party. I like.  

Their pick for Natalie Portman. Dead on, right?
Anne Hathaway. I wish. Hated her actual picks.


Melissa Leo, again I wish. Ooh, or Helen  Mirren,

I know, pink and sparkly and I love it!
I could see Anne Hathaway in it. 

Blog Lovin'

A few weeks ago I got tuned into a new blog called "Kendi Everyday" that I now love! She's a J.Crew fan, which explains why I covet almost everything she wears. Her looks are vintage and fashion-forward at the same time. Check her out! Today's awesomeness: color-blocking.

3.25.11b

New Curtains

As many readers know, I live in a one bedroom "with sunroom," which means my bedroom is a little glass box with sliding doors and limited heating/cooling. Actually, there's unlimited cooling in the winter and plenty of heating in the summer, but that's besides the point. I really like my room, it might be small but it's bright and I have enough room for my stuff. Also, the apartment closet is huge. In square footage it might be about the same as my room, and it has built in shelving. Along with the washer/dryer unit, it is the very best part about the apartment. BUT, I digress. The point here is curtains. Glass doors, and curtains.

Without curtains, my room is something like living in one of those cages in a go-go club. Fortunately there are built in blinds on the exterior window, but the interior glass wall is living room-adjacent. The ceiling is cement, and there is a mental ventilation system behind one wall. This makes curtain installation tricky, to say the least. My dedicated friend/handyman D.S. labored for several evenings trying to get some curtains up. He finally did, by installing a wire, but having to arrange and rearrange two layers of curtains just to get some privacy to change in the morning/evening was getting cumbersome, to say the least. SO. While in California, my mother and I shopped (it's what we do best) in Ikea, and came up with an excellent solution. Panels. Panels! A little tape, some cutting and some patience, and after two hours here is what I have:


Friends, I can't lie. Half of the panels fell down overnight...also, they're getting stuck when I open and close the doors. I know, I'm working on it. Perhaps some double-sided foam strips? Still, once it's up and running I'll be a seriously happy camper. Only one set of doors to open and close! Easily obtained privacy! Some color in the living room! This is the stuff of dreams, let me tell you...

Thursday, March 24, 2011

Spring Frittata

Euuugh long time no blog. I just got back from a trip back home to California where I ate SO MUCH FOOD. My mother's birthday, bless her, was accompanied by Champagne (daily...), oysters, foie gras, filet mignon, miniature red velvet cakes (courtesy Yours Truly), shoe and bag shopping, and general horsing around. Oh, and a potato and asparagus frittata so delicious that I forgot to take a picture. Here's what you do:

Ingredients
2 Potatoes, thinly sliced (very thin. Like, really super thin)
1 Onion, sliced thin
2 Shallots, chopped
8 Eggs laid by chickens that live in your backyard and eat fancy market lettuce and apples every day of their cursed, avian lives.
1/2 Tub of Cowgirl Creamery Fromage Blanc with fresh herbs (looooololol. j/k, any old soft cheese will work well - goat particularly)
1 Bunch of Asparagus, chopped
1 Bunch of Green Onions, chopped
Salt and Pepper

Fresh baguettes, French press coffee with fresh steamed milk, strawberries grown in free trade soil that have been serenaded daily, Odwalla tangerine juice and Roederer mimosas. Also, fresh baked pastries. Oh god, I love California.

Preheat the oven to 350. You're going to need two skillets, and they need to be oven proof (use cast-iron, I freaking love cast-iron). Melt a bit of butter in a skillet and sautee your onions. After a couple of minutes, add the sliced shallots. When they start to get transparent and smell good, add your sliced potatoes and let them sit, spread them out, let them sit, rearrange them, etc, for a couple of minutes. Then cover them and put the whole skillet in the oven for 15 to 20 minutes, until the potatoes are tender (but not totally soft).

While the potatoes are in the oven, whisk your eggs, salt and pepper and add the cheese, mixing it in as thoroughly as possible. Don't worry if it's a little chunky, you just want the cheese to be evenly distributed. Coat the cast iron skillet with a bit of butter. When the potatoes and onions are done, take them out of the oven and transfer them to the cast iron pan. Move things around to be sure everything is evenly distributed. Sprinkle the chopped asparagus over everything, pour the egg/cheese stuff, sprinkle the green onions and finally give the whole shebang a sprinkle of salt and pepper. Cover and place in the oven for a half an hour, remove the cover and bake for another 10 minutes. Eat it while it's hot!

Friday, March 4, 2011

Egg Flower Soup

Last night I got home from work late. My stomach was raging, as was everything else. I got clipped by a biker on the way home! While walking on the sidewalk. Infuriating.

This is what I made for dinner to recover:

Egg Flower Soup


- 4 cups chicken stock
- 2 eggs, whisked
-Garlic Salt, crushed pepper flakes and ginger to taste

In a medium pot, bring your chicken stock to a boil. While it's heating, add garlic salt, crushed red peppers and ground ginger. I keep ginger root frozen in the fridge so I grated some in the soup as well. After the stock has come to a boil bring it back down to a simmer and, in a light and steady stream, pour the whisked eggs into the middle of the pot while stirring in a circular motion, slowly and steadily. Keep stirring slowly for a couple of minutes to make sure it's all cooked. Pour in a bowl and slurp, thanking whatever powers that may be for pajamas, indoor heating and grey's anatomy on netflix instant watch.