Cheesecake and Virginia

[Beth]: There is nothing like a deadline to get one to post.  In this case, the deadline is an airplane flight to Virginia.  We are so very excited to be headed to DC, Richmond, and Charlottesville for about a week.  The original purpose of the trip is a college friend's wedding at UVA.  And once we committed to that trip, we decided to make our first return to Virginia in over a year a real, true vacation.  We definitely DO promise to blog about that trip upon our return.

In the remaining 2.3 minutes I have, I will share some of my latest culinary adventures.  On Sunday, we made chili, along with some sour cream cornbread in our new cast iron skillet. By the way, the skillet is my new best friend.  We are still working on the non-stick aspect of the seasoning, but it is getting there.  And it makes cooking scrambled (or fried) eggs for breakfast a lot more fun.  Then on Monday I made a Tuscan cheese tortellini stew in the crock pot.  I can't decide which is a better friend: the skillet or crock pot.  Hmmmm....  And least, but definitely the best: a cheesecake.  I made it for the first time, and I think it turned out really tasty.  Check it out:

Virginia, here we come!!

When your CSA gives you cucumbers...

[Beth]: Make pickles!  Which is what we did yesterday.  I have a strong feeling that this blog may very soon feel like it has turned into a food blog.  I have been baking up a storm in the past few weeks, but more about that in a bit.

Like I said, we recently got a large batch of cucumbers from our CSA.  We use them in salads, but it was clear that we couldn't finish these before they went bad.  As it happened, we also got a bunch of dill.  So, cucumbers + dill = pickles.  At least we hope so.  I bought some Ball jars at the store, and we got everything ready.  After sterilizing the jars, we loaded them with dill, peppercorns, garlic, and the cucumbers.  To that we poured in some brine (simply water, vinegar, and salt), and then boiled the jars for 15 minutes.  As they cooled, we got to hear the jars "popping" as the sealing process occurred.  Supposedly that means we did it right.  We should find out in a week or so!

For some reason, I have gotten on a baking streak lately.  Well, actually, I know the reason: I am back in the job hunt and need something besides looking at boring job boards to occupy my days.  I am splitting my time between cross-stitching and baking.  That combo suddenly makes me feel like a 1940's housewife.  And I embrace that.  :-)  My first endeavor was cinnamon raisin bread, utilizing our bread maker.  Although we have had it for two years and used it a fair number of times, I still feel like bread is hit-or-miss in it.  The loaf turned out pretty well, although most of the raisins did fall to the bottom half of the loaf.  (Btw, I sadly have no pictures of my baking - must remember to take some in the future!).  Second, peanut butter brownies.  I got the recipe from a gigantic cookie cookbook from my mother-in-law.  It has about 500 recipes, all of which make me wish I could eat dessert for every meal.  These brownies took a bit of time and labor, but were well worth the effort.  Jared and his coworkers will attest to this.  The base is basic brownie batter, but with the addition of chocolate chips; then comes a peanut butter and cream cheese fluffiness on top.  Finally, some more brownie batter on top, and the mix swirled together a bit.  So heavenly!  If any readers are motivated enough to email me, I will send you the recipe.  And third, this past Friday I made banana nut bread, again using the bread maker.  I LOVE banana nut bread, but Jared isn't a fan.  This was supposed to be another concoction that I made, we sampled, and then Jared took to work to pawn off on his coworkers.  Well, that did not happen.  We ended up eating the entire loaf between Friday and tonight - and Jared doesn't even like banana nut bread!

I am debating what to try next: cookies? more bread? pie?  I am sort of intrigued about the idea of making a cheesecake.  I hear it's challenging, and besides we don't have a spring-form pan.  So maybe in the future.  But check back soon to hear how the pickles turned out!

Memorial Day Weekend

[Jared]: Beth and I have been enjoying our nice, long weekend in San Diego. My weekend actually began early since the company computer servers were shut down early on Friday in preparation for the weekend relocation to the new office. Our weekend has been relatively low key and relaxed, but as always - delicious.

Saturday night I rocked out a rotisserie chicken on the grill. This time I used some BBQ 3000 rub from Penzeys, then finished it with a little Kassebaum family barbecue sauce.  It was quite tasty.

While the chicken was on the grill, I spent the rest of the evening with a rather ambitious undertaking.  Several years ago, I was enjoying some late night drinks and appetizers at one of my favorite restaurants in Charlottesville when I successfully convinced my waitress to share with me the chef's recipe for curry corn chowder (a soup I had on every visit).  At this point the kitchen was closed and the chef had gone home, and I'm quite certain it was this fact alone which allowed the waitress to comply.  In fact, she brought out the entire restaurant cookbook - I couldn't believe it.  I wrote things down as fast as I could, sure that any moment I would be interrupted and told that I couldn't have the recipe after all.  Thankfully I escaped with a delicious recipe.

And yet, one problem remained.  The recipe was in bulk quantities.  As in, 5 pounds potatoes, 10 pounds corn, 1 carton cream, etc.  As a result, I never attempted to make the soup, until this weekend.  I finally decided to go for it.  I used the ratios of the ingredients to get as close as I could and just improvised the rest.  After about four hours, I'd say the experiment was a resounding success:

If anyone wants me to post my version of the recipe, just ask and I would be glad to. I wouldn't call it a healthy soup, but it is pretty darn good and was worth the effort.

Last night we made our first visit to 30th on 30th.  On the 30th of each month, a bunch of restaurants and bars on and near 30th Street offer specials, such as a feature appetizer for $2. This makes it easy to go on a restaurant crawl and check out all the amazing places on the 30th Street corridor. Beth and I made four stops last night and had a great time. We also discovered a few new places in North Park that we're excited to return to.

Adventures in Grilling (Episode 1)

[Jared]: I recently (finally) became the owner of a grill. Our apartment community in Richmond didn't allow grills of any type. Thankfully our new place in San Diego does not hold such restrictions. Even so, it took me nearly 8 months to see the dream fulfilled - mostly due to monies (or lack thereof). About a month or so ago, after much research and debate, I pulled the trigger on a Weber Summit S-470. This thing is a rock star. Four main burners, a fifth for use as a sear station, a sixth beneath a built in smoke box, an infrared rear-mounted rotisserie, and a side burner. I'd wager that since the grill arrived Beth and I have enjoyed roughly 80% of our dinners from the grill. I'm still getting adjusted to this particular grill and I have a long list of recipes and meats and grilling methods that I am anxious to try. This week though, it was finally time to have my first go at using the rotisserie. I will admit that I made a few simple mistakes, such as not tying the bird tightly enough or enough times. As a result the sliced lemons and garlic fell out of the cavity half way through cooking. Beyond that though, my biggest mistake was merely trying to do my first rotisserie on a weeknight instead of a weekend. Beth and I didn't get to eat until about 9pm. That said, we ate very well. :-)



Rotisserie chicken: Salt, garlic, lemons in the cavity. Outside rubbed with salt, pepper, butter, and Penzey's Herbes de Provence [rosemary, cracked fennel, thyme, savory, basil, tarragon, dill weed, Turkish oregano, lavender, chervil, and marjoram]. (I should point out that I love love love Penzey's Spices. Rest assured you'll be hearing more about them.)