mozzarella sticks

surprisingly easy.
1. chop up mozzarella.
2. dip in batter (1 egg; 1/4 C milk; 1/2 C flour, salt & pepper, oregano).
3. dip in bread crumbs.

4. fry.

5. eat!


these really have that diy look to them, yes?

humphry slocombe

another ice cream shop enters the fray. humphrey slocome specializes in the weird and wonderful: malted dulce de leche (coats-the-mouth creamy, toothache-sweet and delicious), mcevoy olive oil (tastes like it should, and reminds me of otto in nyc, but would be better with actual olive oil drizzled over the top, and some crispy sea salt as punctuation), salt & peppa, balsamic caramel, coconut sherbet, blue bottle vietnamese coffee, milk chocolate passionfruit, secret breakfast (bourbon and cornflakes, from what i can tell) ... yum. plus it's right near philz.

superbowl pizza

normally i make lazier pizza dough. this is because (at least so far) i seem to prefer the flavor of dough that has mellowed out in the refrigerator for a day or two. martha stewart's baking handbook has a good recipe (i even give it extra time after the first rise to chill out); i also really like this one at 101 cookbooks and (for sourdough) the one from mike at sourdough home. but, we had just returned from the phoenix open at 1:00, and had folks coming over for sports and snacks at about 3:00, so i used this quick and easy dough recipe from epicurious. total bonus that it's apparently the dough recipe from pizzeria bianco in phoenix, which i desperately wanted to try during our visit there, but nixed as we couldn't stomach a four-hour wait. i mean, think of all the better things i could be doing with four hours in phoenix?

ingredients
for the dough; makes 4 pizzas:
2 packages active dry yeast
2 C warm water (nice hot tub temperature)
2 t salt
about 5 C unbleached all-purpose flour

for the sauce:
whole peeled tomatoes
oregano
olive oil
salt

for the toppings:
pepperoni
torn basil leaves
mozzarella
parmesan
or whatever!

directions
mix together yeast, 2 T flour, 1/2 C warm water and let stand about 10 mins in an unheated oven until creamy/frothy.
stir together salt and 3 C flour. add yeast mix and the rest of the warm water, then stir in another C flour.
knead until smooth.
here, you're supposed to divide the dough into balls, put balls in separate bowls, cover w/ plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about 1 1/4 hours. i put the balls on a cutting board until they doubled in bulk, then scraped the dough off and put in the fridge until i had time to make the pies. and they turned out just fine.
heat oven as high as it will go. my ancient 1920's style oven gets up past 600, but that's the only nice thing i can say about it.
stretch out dough into the shape of a pizza crust.
put crust on preheated, olive oil'd pan (i broke my pizza stone a couple of months ago).
top with sauce and toppings.
cook for about 10 minutes.

katy's smokehouse

ok, let me set the scene:










trinidad is about 300 miles north of san francisco, where the redwoods meet the pacific. it's gorgeous.

it's also, according to the proprietors of the unbelievably awesome katy's smokehouse, where about 80% of California's luscious dungeness crab are caught. the ones we get in san francisco, they explained, are overrated, particularly those cooked, then rewarmed specimens at fishermen's wharf. (i did not admit to them that i've always loved sucking down a hot buttered crab at the wharf.) so, we got four crabs, cracked 'em, and ate them with lemon butter.
i practically fainted with joy.

tacos in cabo!

check out these delicious tacos!
the one on the left is an al pastor taco on a corn tortilla. the one on the right is a gringa -- al pastor with juicy pineapples and onions and crisped melted cheese. my arrachera taco is on the far right, hiding from hungry eyes.

i don't know what this place is called ... but if you're in san jose del cabo, just drive on the main road, past the mega store to your right, and turn right at the big sign marked "centro." keep going until you hit the tacos on your left.

we found this place last thanksgiving. a carload of gringos, roaming aimlessly into the city (we were there for a wedding, so no one was really plugged in to the scene), on the hunt for some legit (read: authentic) snacking. and maybe some beers and some trouble. i remember that we stopped in front of a hamburguesa stand and viviana asked directions to a taqueria. the hamburguesos said there no taquerias in the area. uh-huh, sure. this place was just a few blocks down.

moqueca

since i've never had moqueca, it was pretty unlikely that i would be able to tell whether this tasted "right." although i've definitely been venezuelan in a past life, i don't know whether i've ever lived in bahia (i guess the best way to figure that out is to go there and see if it feels familiar ... plane ticket please!), and its been so long since tom has been there that he didn't really quite remember what it tasted like either.

so.

i don't know whether it was moqueca, but it was pretty good!

ingredients

about 2 lbs red snapper (although they say any white fish will do)

1 lime

1 small tomato roughly chopped, 2 medium tomatoes sliced into thin rounds

2 bell peppers (1 green and 1 red) sliced into thin rounds

a lot of roughly chopped fresh cilantro leaves

1 small onion roughly chopped, 1 large onion sliced into thin rounds

2 garlic cloves

1/4 cup olive oil

1/4 cup dende oil (thanks diana!)

1 C coconut milk (i used light coconut milk. mistake, mistake. it's just coconut milk mixed with water, and i never would have added a bunch of silly water to the moqueca ... it made it a lot more like a soup and less like a stew. next time i won't let health interfere with consistency. )

pickled jalapeños thinly chopped
salt to taste.

directions

cut fish into 2-inch pieces.

in the food processor: 1 small tomato, 1 small onion, 1/3 C chopped cilantro, 1 t salt, 2 garlic cloves. mix w/ juice of 1 lime.

cover fish with this mix and marinate in the refrigerator for about an hour.

layer 1/2 of the bell peppers, tomatoes and onions & cilantro in a large saute pan.
cover layers w/ fish and marinade.
layer the other 1/2 of bell peppers, tomatoes, onions & cilantro on top of the fish. add jalapenos.

drizzle with olive oil and dende oil.

add coconut milk and salt, and more lime.

stir, cover and cook on low heat for about 20 minutes.

heidrun sparkling mead

like drinking springtime,

but this bloom is out of stock.

please make more, heidrun!

http://www.heidrunmeadery.com/