Dynamo Donuts

Lemon Thyme Donuts from the newly opened Dynamo Donuts in the Mission. I can't wait to try one.

Canned Sardines

I had my second sardine sandwich this week. Yum. I think I found a new canned protein friend.

I really liked canned fish when I was little, my sister reminded me the other day. I used to eat kippers straight from the can with a fork.

My first sardine sandwich was the result of a google search for sardine sandwich, and it came from this blog. It was one side sardines mixed with sauted mushrooms, onions, and garlic, and then a little olive oil, lemon juice, and salt and pepper. On the other side of the bread was melted cheese. I heated both sides in the oven.

The bread I was eating was too thick, the cheese wasn't strong enough, but the sardine mixture was delicious. I also tried to eat this sandwich with lettuce which was a big flop because the lettuce was wilting between the halves pathetically. I pulled out the lettuce and tried to eat as much sardine as possible.

My second sardine sandwich was much more of a success. I ate it on untoasted sourdough bread with lettuce and mustard. This can of sardines was packed in tomato sauce, which I've read is common for sardines that come from Mexico or if they are packed in Thailand. I still added some olive oil and lemon juice to the mix, which was a good call because the lemon seemed to balance the acid in the tomatoes to make a more mild flavor.

On the downside, these sardines were cheaper and more gritty than the previous can I purchased.

I was worried about the mercury content being high in sardines like tuna, but I read on the internet that the sardine's low status on the food chain makes it far less of a risky fish to eat. They contain less mercury because their lives are shorter, and they don't eat other fish who contain mercury like predatory fish such as tuna.

Also in terms of the food chain, sardines are incredibly sustainable. When you eat predators, you are eating a larger chunk out of the food chain, but since sardines are bottom feeders, they reproduce faster, and there are more of them to eat. Eating bottom feeders impacts bio-diversity less.

Cheap, low mercury levels, non-perishable, environmentally sustainble, high in omega-threes and delicious. Oh sardines, I think this the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

Congee

Pork and preserved egg congee with green onions topped with Chinese Donut from the Ming Wun-Tun Noodle House on 32nd and Noriega.



Side Order of Chinese donut.

4th of July Eats

White wine sangria with peaches, pears and strawberries, recipe from Scott's Food Blog.



A perfectly peeled hard-boiled egg for potato salad. I was very proud of myself.



The most addictive salt n pepper pistachios ever. Thank you Cost-co.



Our strawberries were ripe, maybe a little too ripe, but still good. The downside of being in season.

Little Baby Cherry Tomatoes

Two Meals

Quesadilla with sauteed onion, olive, and corn with salsa. Nicely plated.


Breadcrumb battered chicken breast with sauteed onions and garlic alongside spinach spaghetti with feta.

Adventures in Yeast

My attempt to make french bread last night was a hideous disaster, and a marvelous learning experience, producing completely inedible bread. You could beat someone with the results this morning.

Part 1: Yeasty Beginnings

I dissolved the dry active yeast in warm water. The package said that the water should be between 110 and 115 degrees. I didn't have a thermometer, so I guessed that should be below boiling (130-140? deg F) but hotter than the hot springs I sat in a few weeks ago (102 deg), so I figured I shouldn't be able to keep my finger in it for very long.

The yeast package said you heat water, dissolve yeast, let sit, and in 5 minutes, watch the yeast get bubbly. I may have seen a few bubbles, but my pot looked like miso soup. I read in a book later that a pinch of sugar often helps this process. Not sure of how many bubbles I should see I decided to keep going.

Part 2: Doughing What You Knead

I mixed the yeast into some bread flour and salt, then slowly mixed in the rest of the bread flour. While I made something of a mess on the counter, this is in my hypotheses, the only part of the baking that I got right. I got my dough ball out of the bowl, and kneaded the bread for about 10 minutes on the counter. Using the Test Kitchen instructions of pressing down with the heels of my hands and then turning and folding the dough, I got quite a rhythm down. This was the fun part. My dough ball even looked like the picture.



Part 3: A-Rising Discontent

Then it was time to put my happy little dough ball in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise, preferably in a warm place. I put it in the oven, but I found out later you're supposed to heat the oven to 200 deg and then turn off the oven, and then place said happy little dough ball in conducive rising chamber. My dough was hanging out in a drafty garage.

Part 4: Shape n' Rise

After hanging out in the oven for an hour and a half, my dough ball was bigger but definitely not double in size. I read that you are supposed to poke it with your finger and the dough should refill the indent at a moderate pace. My dough filled in, but slowly. Hope did not seem lost. I shaped the bread into a loaf and let it sit to rise again. 40 minutes later, no change. This was evidence that the yeast definitely wasn't working. At this point, I was tired, and I knew my bread was fucked. I decided to cook it anyway.

Part 5: Heating

Yes folks, I broke the pan. How do you break a pan? I'm not sure, but it definitely happened. I didn't think my bread was that heavy, or my oven that hot, but the baking stone cracked in half after 15 minutes of cooking.



Finished Product:

While my bread resembled a loaf shape, and had some nice golden brown spots on it, the interior bread was so dense that butter slid right off when I had a sample piece. It was heavy, leaden, and completely unrisen. My yeast was oppressed, not given the right conditions to grow. Surprisingly, although the texture was all wrong, my hot sample was relatively good tasting. This morning, it wouldn't have even made good croûtons. It reminded me of when you bake flour and water to build a replica of the Alamo for a fourth grade history project.





Regardless, I was kind of proud of my bread bat.

Borscht

What a big fucking mess. I had beet juice everywhere. It spilled over the pot, sprayed out from the grater. I kept finding little red renegade pieces of beet on the kitchen floor. Both of my hands have a tinge of magenta all over the palms. No pictures of the mess, but hopefully pictures of the meal to follow.

Batting Zero

Sometimes it's really hard to stay on the horse . . .

Pasta Fagiole

My attempt at making pasta fagiole.

The successful doctoring of leftover tomato soup

I took a recipe from Epicurious.com that contained a good number of the leftover ingredients that were left in my fridge.

My ingredient list

1/2 box creamy tomato soup
1 cup chicken broth
1 can water (2 cups)
1 can stewed tomatoes (with juice, undrained)

5 celery stalks, chopped
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 carrots, chopped
2 garlic cloves, crushed

1 tsp sugar
1/4 tsp black pepper
1 tsp salt
1 pinch oregano
1 pinch saffron
1/4 tsp red pepper flakes

Approximately 1/2 cup white rice.

I sauteed the vegetables with the red pepper flakes and garlic until they were softened and started to brown. In went the tomato soup, stewed tomatoes (with juice) water, broth, and remaining spices. That simmered for 20 minutes, and then I put in the rice, and let it simmer for 20 more minutes.

What resulted was a tasty tomato, rice and veggie stew. The red pepper flakes and saffron added a nice heat. Would have been better with bread and meat, but it was definitely a successful salvage of leftovers!

Beautiful Breakfast Quiche

My sister made this beautiful quiche for breakfast. Yum.

Kitties

Today, I really wanted to get a kitty. These are the three I wanted to bring home today. Their names are Natasha, Bubba, and Kaely. Natasha is 9 years old, and I love her smushed face. Bubba was listed as an all around good natured gentlemen, and Kaely is half manx and has no tail! I love nubbie kitties.

Black Opal Raspberry Licorice

Oh my god. This is some good licorice. Soft, ultra-sweet, with a face puckering artificial strawberry taste. I'm really crazy about the size and texture of each piece, thick and chewy without being sticky.

Koolickles

I am not really a fan of dill pickles, even the fresh ones from the deli. I sort of like them on sandwiches, and I like sweet relish, but when I heard about the phenomenon of Koolickes, pickles soaked in kool-aid, I immediately wanted to try one. Apparently it's a really popular thing in the South. People sell them in liquor stores.

it's cold at work. brrr.

The cuties have fallen

Dicator Cuties

Freelines

nice lyrics i heard on the radio today

The old already know the reason
So do the sad hotels
That too much is for a short while
And is still not enough
And is only once
Protect me in evil
Everywhere protect
The grace of your heart.

Still protect
The grace of my heart
Now and for when
Still protect
The grace of my heart
Now and for when
Of you beside me