A Special Cookie for a Special Person!

It is my friend Tam’s birthday today. Happy birthday Tam! Tam is a good friend of mine from Australia. Her and her husband, Cam (yes Tam and Cam….cute huh?) moved into the same Avalon apartment complex as TDH and myself in San Francisco almost three years and we became fast friends. Over the last three years we have become very close. She was a bridesmaid in my wedding and I am an “auntie” to her cute six month old daughter, Summer.

I wanted to make something special for Tam for her birthday but I did not have a ton of time (procrastination is an evil thing!) so I needed something that was easy and fast. Cookies are always really good, really easy to make, and can be made start to finish in an hour or less. So I figured a type of cookie is my best bet, but cookies are kind of boring! How can I turn my birthday treat to Tam from a boring cooking to something really special?

Well, the first valentines day I spend with TDH waaaaaaay back in the day when I was a wee little sophomore in college, TDH bought me this giant heart cookie decorated with frosting. It was such a sweet (get it….sweet….haha) gift and thinking about how to make a cookie special brought me back to that memory.

So I decided to make Tam a large cookie shaped and decorated. I used this chocolate chip cookie recipe from Cooking Stuff because it looked so gosh darn good and she has step by step photo directions! I spread my dough into one big blog on some parchment paper then cooked it for about 25 minutes at 325F.  I decided to shape the cookie as a map of Australia (I thought she would get a kick out of it!) so I printed out a map of Australia and used a small sharp knife to cut around my cookie blob to shape it. I had a lot of extra cookie blob left (I had meant to make half a batch but got a little excited and was halfway done with making the full batch when I realized what I was doing.), so I used up the rest by cutting out some cut little hearts, flowers, and bears. Attempting to decorate them was fun, although it made me realize I could use some practice! I used some tubes of writing frosting I bought from the grocery store in cute pastel colors because I know Tam likes cute little girly colors.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TAM!

Pasta with a Kick!

This is a Lambrusco Grasparossa di Castelvetro from Barbolini. Barbolini does not have a website (as far as I can tell) but you can easily search and buy this wine online if you cannot find it in your local wine shop.  This Italian wine is very unique and special. It is a luscious red wine…with… du du dunnnnnn….carbonation!

This wine is made from Grasparossa grapes grown on vineyards in the ancient “Giardini” road of Italy, where the special “white soils” are found. It is full of body, yet well rounded, and slightly sweet. The carbonation gives this sweet wine the extra body it needs to be perfectly paired with spicy foods.

I decided to pair this wine with a spicy dish that TDH whipped up for me one night as an experiment. I absolutely loved it and have made it again since then. This may look like your standard pasta with sausage and tomato sauce but it is not my friends! This little pasta dish has had chipotle peppers in adobo sauce chopped up and added to it. What you get is a very spicy and delicious pasta dish that has turned into one of my favorite weeknight meals! I have pasted my version of this recipe below. Enjoy!

Mr. Snowmug and Nancy’s Italian Wedding Soup

I have a thing with extremely large mugs. I love them. They are perfect for tea, I love filling them with my morning fruit, granola, and yogurt parfait, and I absolutely love eating soup out of them. This is one of my favorite mugs, it’s my Mr. Snowmug. I do not remember where I got him from but when filled with soup he always makes me feel very warm and toasty on a cold winter night.

This is Mr. Snowmug filled with one of my favorite soups. This is my mother-in-laws Italian wedding soup. Whenever we visit TDH’s parents down in Southern California I am always sent home with a large Tupperware container filled with her famous tomato sauce with meatballs or this Italian wedding soup. She makes it with ground beef meatballs and egg square pasta and although it is very tasty as is, I think it would be just as delicious with turkey or chicken meatballs and barley or some other slow cooking grain. Below is the recipe straight from the source. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do….especially in your very own extra large Mr. Snowmug!

Quick Asian Inspired Rice Bowl

Whew! It’s been quite a whirlwind weekend! Eddie and I went to dinner with our friends Ken and Cerina at Tres Agaves on Friday night and had some awesome (but slightly overpriced) Mexican food and super yummy margaritas. Everyone in San Francisco must go to this restaurant at least once just for the tequila selection! The tequila list is just crazy! They also have restaurants in Las Vegas and Roseville. On Saturday we went out with our with my friend Alina and her new boyfriend, Todd, to the Mission and ate at Aslam’s Rasoi for some really good Indian food (Although we still like Mehfil better!). Then, we went to a late showing of Watchmen, which was really good! Today we took a bike ride over the Golden Gate Bridge, down through Sausalito, and into Mill Valley to have brunch with Eddie’s friend Beth and her new boyfriend at the Dipsea Cafe .

Needless to say I’m exhausted and the last thing I wanted to do was spend all evening in the kitchen cooking dinner. So I whipped up this really quick Asian- inspired rice bowl and you can too! This meal serves two people.

I cooked two cups of brown Korean rice in my rice cooker. While that was cooking away I minced up some garlic (about 4 small cloves) and ginger (about a half inch chunk). Then I sliced up three small chili peppers and placed the garlic, ginger, chili peppers in a pan along with a hefty pour of sake (about 1/2 cup)  and a few splashes of soy sauce (about 1 tablespoon). This all got heated to a boil over medium heat and then I tossed in a head of baby bok choy, sliced in half lengthwise, broccoli rabe, and some firm tofu sliced into matchsticks. Do not stir! Simply cover the pan, reduce the heat to low, and let simmer and steam for about 15 minutes.

When the rice is done, dish out into bowls, top with 1/2 bok choy, half the broccoli rabe, half the tofu, and some of the leftover broth (make sure you get some of that yummy garlic, ginger, and the chilies too!)

Then top this with some Teriyaki sauce and sesame seeds and Wa-La! Dinner is ready!

Bring on the Color! Part 2

Unfortunately, I do not have a picture to go with this recipe. This is especially unfortunate because, in my opinion, beet risotto is one of the most shocking and beautiful dishes. Slow cooking the beets with the grain turns the entire dish bright red. Fortunately, I am not the first person to make risotto with beets and there are plenty of picture out there on other blogs. Here are some of them:

Roasted Beet Risotto by Coconut and Lime

Beetroot Risotto by An Edible Symphony

Creamy Beetroot Risotto by Domestic Goddess in Training

For my beetroot risotto, I decided to use barley instead of risotto. I am on a mission to try new grains and barley is one of them. I like the crunch of barley and thought it would go well with this dish. TDH was not a fan of the barley and it did take much longer to cook, so unless you love barley and are willing to spend the extra time, I would stick with risotto, some other rice, or a slightly quicker cooking grain. I used chicken stock for the liquid, and for the cheese I decided to use a mixture of plain yogurt, goat cheese, and herbs, it went heavenly with the beets. In my opinion, this dish is a winner and I can’t wait to make it again!

Individual Blueberry Chocolate Cobblers

week is the Black Muscat dessert wine we had with the dessert I made for Valentine’s Day. I have never been a huge fan of dessert wines. They have always been way too sweet to me, to the point where my mouth would pucker every time I would take a sip.However, I have slowly come to appreciate a good dessert wine, especially when paired with the right dessert. Here is my story:

TDH and I have these friends, Liz and Vee, whom we love dearly and whom we always have so much fun going out to dinner with. Unfortunately, they are always super busy so we only get to see them every six months or so. But when we do get to see them we usually go all out and go to some fancy place and drink loads of wine. About a year ago, Liz and Vee took us to the cute little Italian place on California Street in Palo Alto named Spalti. We drank and ate for hours, ordering several bottles of nice wine. At the end of the meal as we were enjoying our dessert the waitress brought us each a glass of sparkling white dessert wine. I took a sip to try to be polite knowing I wouldn’t like it very much and I was blown away. It was the most delicious thing I have ever tasted!

I was fairly convinced that it was a one time deal, my actually liking a dessert wine. Maybe it was the fizz or the fact that it was white instead of red, I don’t know. I never really bothered finding out either as I really haven’t drank much dessert wine since that night.

Well, the other weekend during our trip to Dry Creek Valley we stopped at the Ferarri Carano Winery and sampled some of their dessert wines. They had a white and a red. On my list of all the wines they had available for tasting I put one star next to the white dessert wine, it was too sweet for me. But the Black Muscat dessert wine got two stars. They gave us these chocolate covered grapes to have with the red dessert wine and they really brought out the taste for me. That wine was amazing with those chocolate covered blueberries. It brought me back to the wonderful dinner we had a year ago with our good friends and made me realize maybe I should give dessert wines a second shot.

So for my second Wine With Dinner Thursday event I am featuring a 2006 Rosenblum Black Muscat, Gallagher Reserve. The description on the site says “This fine Black Muscat dessert wine is handcrafted from select plantings of Black Hamburg Muscat grapes. The rich bouquet of exotic berries and spices is very effusive. Flavors of ripe berries, creamy cherries and hints of chocolate are long on the palate.” 

The blueberry chocolate cobbler I made for our Valentine’s Day dessert pairs perfectly with a wine like this. The recipe is below and makes enough for two small individual cobblers.

Enjoy!

Bring on the Color! Part 1

MmmmmMmmmmMmmmm I love me some beets! I love the vibrant color, I love the texture, I love the slight sweetness, and I love how colorful and yummy beets make almost any salad. Now that you know my feelings towards beets you might be surprised to find out that I never really eat them anymore! Well, until recently that is. I was thinking about why that is today and I realized beets are most commonly seen in canned form (at least here in the bay area) and I don’t really buy canned food anymore. I have noticed that they sell fresh beets at the local supermarket but I always try to always buy vegetables that are on sale, and beets are never on sale! Hence the reason I never eat beets anymore! Well,  a month ago I signed up to get a bag of fresh veggies from local farmers and guess what vegetable is a frequent guest in my weekly bag? BEETS! I don’t know how I lived without them for so long! They are so good. And I don’t think I will be able to live long without them anymore. Today I will give you one of my two favorite recipes for beets. This colorful roasted beet salad is super easy to make, extremely healthy, and so so so good!

Stay tuned for my other favorite beet recipe:  Beet Red  BarleyRissotto! Say that fast ten times!