Mix It Up!

Mix it Up: Foodportunity

On August 2nd I attended Keren Brown's Foodportunity event here in Seattle.  In her words, Foodportunity is "a networking event for food journalists, public relations professionals, restauranteurs, farmers, companies,and all food passionate people."  I recently did some work for local specialty food broker Murdock & White and they invited me to come down and check it out.  

If you work in the food industry then I think going to Foodportunity would be incredibly valuable.  But you don't have to work with food to attend -- all you have to do is love food and buy a ticket ($25 for the one I went to).  There you will find tens of local caterers, new restaurants, and other happy foodies sharing samples of their delicious wares and delightedly talking to you about what they do and why they do it.  What a great way to mix it up!

While Foodportunity is unique to the Pacific Northwest, there are tons of small industry events like this one all over the world.  I urge you to find a tiny convention -- be it for Legos, cupcakes, or romance novels -- and buy a ticket to attend!  Not only will you be supporting local people, but you'll also get to experience a world you might never have known about.  Mix it up, and find your foodportunity today!

(As usual, I'm not paid for anything I write about!  The photo above is of delicious gazpacho I had at the Taste booth at Foodportunity.)

Oaxaca Diaries: Itanoní

 

It's Alice Waters' favorite restaurant in Oaxaca, so I guess it stands to reason that I would enjoy it too!  Itatoní was a bit of an adventure to get to -- my parents and I didn't rent a car in Oaxaca so we braved the city bus system (at 4 pesos, 50 centavos bus fare was pretty easy on the pocketbook) and managed to get there with surprisingly little fuss.  

The waiter was very helpful, and we ended up with some insanely delicious food -- tetelas which are kind of like the Mexican samosa, and memelas which you can see in the above picture.  I also had orange/pineapple juice that was straight out of the fruits.  What a tasty opportunity to mix it up!

Recipe: Chocolate Butterscotch Brownies

 

My friend Mike had a birthday last week (Happy Birthday, Mike!), and when I asked him what he liked he gave me a pretty random laundry list of things that included chocolate and butterscotch.  This sparked a memory of a pan of brownies I made for a high school boyfriend years ago, so after hitting the internet I came up with the following recipe!  The best part is this recipe does not require a double boiler, electric mixer, or anything truly fancy.  If you are looking for very rich, sweet brownies, then mix it up and mix up a batch of these!

Chocolate Butterscotch Brownies

(Adapted from JoyofBaking.com)

5 oz semisweet chocolate, chopped (the finer you chop it, the easier it will be to melt.  You can use bittersweet as well!)

1/2 cup butter, cut into pieces (I used salted to contrast with the butterscotch, but many people prefer unsalted)

2 tablespoons cocoa powder

1 cup sugar (I don't like white sugar so I used Sugar in the Raw)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup butterscotch chips (yum!)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and place the rack in the center of the oven.  Butter an 8" square pan and lightly dust it with flour.  (I actually used a larger pan, and made it smaller with some foil as you can see from the picture.  They turned out just fine!)

Melt the chocolate and butter in a large stainless steel bowl placed over a saucepan of simmering water.  Remove from heat (use mitts!) and stir in the cocoa powder and sugar.  Next, whisk in the vanilla extract and the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.  Finally, stir in the flour, salt, and butterscotch chips.

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick (or fork, in my case) inserted into the center comes out with a little batter and a few moist clumps clinging to it.  This is because it will continue to cook after you remove it from the oven, so if you wait until the fork comes out clean you'll actually be overcooking your brownies.  Remove from oven and let cool.  Eat and enjoy!!

Mix It Up: Grocery Shop Somewhere New

 

One of the most insidious contributors to living in a rut is not just bad habits, but good habits.  You want to save time so you can have more with your family, friends, or yourself.  You want to save money so you can travel to different places.  So you go to the same grocery store every time where you know the layout, know the sales, and know the prices and selection are good.  There's nothing wrong with this for the most part!  But if you're anything like me, one day you'll look at your refrigerator/cupboard and say "Oh my gosh, I've been eating the same cereal for a year now!"

The downside of habits of any type is they remove the conscious thought from your activities.  And conscious thought is never a bad thing to spend a little time having.  When you review your habits regularly, you get to make conscious decisions about whether or not they still support you.  You get to make a powerful choice, and that's what mixing it up is all about!

Of course there are millions of habits you can review, but today, I'd like you to look at your grocery shopping habits.  Do you grab the same type of soup off the shelf every time because you know it's good and cheap?  Do you always go for the same brand of tofu or cut of meat?  If the answer is yes, there's an easy fix: shop at a different grocery store.  

In Seattle alone there are dozens of options, but even the smallest town should have a couple.  The advantage of mixing up your grocery shopping is that you will see foods you might never have thought of before simply because the layout is different.  You will be forced to pay attention to each aisle as you're looking for the essentials, so you may discover a new type of juice or bread that you would have overlooked every time at your usual store.  

This is not to say you should spend a fortune trying new food!  The basics of grocery shopping should still hold for you -- don't shop hungry, go in with a list and a budget, and don't allow yourself too many impulse buys.  But you will also hopefully come home with a cart full of food that is slightly different from your usual fare.  For example, I'm having mango sticky rice from Trader Joe's for breakfast.  Yum!

You are what you eat, so the saying goes, and if you don't try shopping at new places, you'll be eating the same thing every day, every week, every year.  Mix it up, and go to a different grocery store today!

Recipe: Homemade Mac & Cheese

 

I don't eat Kraft anymore, but I still dive gleefully into a box of Annie's Peace Pasta or Trader Joe's brand mac & cheese.  It's so easy to make it at home though, that there's no reason not too.  Plus it makes enough that I always have tasty leftovers!

You will need:

2 Tablespoons butter

2 Tablespoons flour

2 Cups milk

2 Cups grated cheese (I've used everything from cheddar to gruyere)

1 lb pasta

Toppings of your choice, and seasonings to taste

A Pyrex baking dish or cast iron skillet

Cook the pasta according to the directions on the package.  You want it just shy of al dente; so perhaps a minute less cooking than indicated.  While it's cooking, make the sauce!

In a medium saucepan or skillet, melt together the butter and flour over medium heat.  Add the milk and stir frequently with a whisk over medium-low heat until it begins to thicken.  Add the cheese and stir until thoroughly melted; remove from heat.  Add salt and pepper to taste.

Drain the pasta.  Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  If you're using a cast iron skillet, just pour the pasta into the sauce!  If you're using a Pyrex dish, pour the pasta into that, and then pour the sauce over it, mixing thoroughly.  Top with extra cheese, Parmesan, breadcrumbs, or whatever else you like!  Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes, then enjoy!

(Photo by mollyali from Flickr.com's Creative Commons photostream.  Sorry I don't have a picture of actual mac & cheese…but it's not too hard to envision!)

Nature Watch: Hybrid Fruits

 

It's no secret that I love to mix it up in my life.  I find that it's always more fun when those around me are equally as adventurous -- it makes it easier to get up and go do something new if I have friends willing to do the same.  Sometimes, however, it can be very hard to convince others to mix it up, and I have to depend on myself.  When I am in that position, I like to surround myself with reminders about the joys of mixing it up.

One great and delicious reminder that I use is hybrid fruits.  Hybrids are crosses between two different species or subspecies of plants (or animals, for that matter).  They are often created on purpose to produce improvement in seeds, size, or flavor -- modern wheat, for example, is a hybrid of three wild grasses.  However, wheat (vital though it is) doesn't have quite the thrill factor that many of the hybrid fruits possess.  

Hybrid fruits are often deliciously exotic.  Some of my favorites include:

★Tangelo (tangerine + either pomelo or grapefruit), a deliciously sweet-tart citrus fruit

★Plumcot (plum + apricot), a smooth-skinned fruit that tastes like a perfect mashup of its forebears

★Limequat (lime + kumquat), tasting strongly of lime but able to be eaten whole

★Loganberry (blackberry + raspberry).  Berries!  Yum!

★Grāpple (apple + grape infusion), not a true hybrid, but rather apples treated with a grape liquid infusion.  Kind of weird, actually, but fun on a whim.

So the next time you are feeling like the only one mixing it up, grab a hybrid fruit and enjoy not only the health benefits, but also the knowledge that Nature herself mixes it up!

Mix It Up: Different Spices

 

Thanks to innumerable writers at the turn of the century, the strongest association many people have with exoticism is spices.  Would the fabulous cities encountered by Randolph Carter in Lovecraft's "The Dream Quest of Unknown Kadath" have been as mystical without "…the spice-fragrant wharves, where the galleon made fast in the dusk as the city's million lights began to twinkle out over the water."  I myself cannot imagine a marketplace in Egypt or Mexico without thinking of how it must smell -- cardamom, caraway, chilies, and other additives I've never even heard of.

Cooking new dishes is, of course, a fantastic way to mix it up, but it can sometimes be difficult to find the time to try an entirely new recipe -- especially if it contains many exotic ingredients or preparation methods.  So whenever I need a touch of something different, I turn to my spice cabinet (or if I'm feeling really brave, the local co-op with bulk spices) and try something new!

My most recent spice adventure has been cayenne pepper.  Usually it's used in hot sauces or soups, but I've been dumping it into everything from salads to scrambled eggs!  If my sinuses are clogged; they clear right up, and the kick from the cayenne makes every meal a little exotic.

So next time your meal feels a little bland, mix it up and try a new spice!  For extra credit, head to your local library or a reputable web site and find one that offers health benefits to you as well.  Bon voyage!

(Photo by Jayson Emery from Flickr.com's Creative Commons photostream)

Book Suggestion: My Bread

 

I have a secret:

I'm terrified of cooking.

My parents are tremendous cooks.  One of my dearest friends, Drew, cooks for a living.  I have spent years joking "I don't cook, but I clean -- one out of two isn't bad!"  I tried to pass it off as funny, but truthfully I have always been anxious about the process.  People I know will grab ten ingredients off their refrigerator shelves, and…POW!  Instant amazing whatever-it-is.  If I write a paragraph and it doesn't come out right; I can fix it, but if food turns out bad there's no going back.  That has always intimidated me immensely, so for a long time I ate very simply or ate out.  

Recently, however, I have been emerging from my cooking anxiety.  A desire to mix it up and learn new things combined with the need to save money and maybe just a smidgen of wanting to prove myself set the stage perfectly for when Sylvia gave me this book (and the pot I needed to make it work) as a gift.  

Sylvia didn't just pick this out of thin air -- her mom has been making the family's bread at home with Jim Lahey's method for quite a while.  The beauty of Jim's recipe is that you literally touch the dough for five minutes.  Total!  The rest is just rising and baking, so it's incredibly easy.  You can make it around almost any schedule.  My Bread completely takes the fear and secrecy out of bread making, and puts it gently within the reach of even the most trepidatious cook.

I made the first, most basic recipe within days of getting this book.  Delicious, right out of the gate.  I tried another one; no problem.  Another recipe, and this time I added ingredients that the book didn't even call for!  Still awesome.  

Jim Lahey's My Bread is perfect for anyone who wants to make all kinds of breads at home, from wheat to white to baguette.  It's filled with gorgeous pictures that not only show the finished product, but also the step-by-step process for each new recipe.  If a recipe calls for a tool you might not have; it shows a picture of that too, so you know what to look for.  Easy as…well, bread!  So if you want to mix it up and try baking delicious home made bread, My Bread is a great place to start!  If you have any cookbooks that you love, post them in the comments section -- I'm always looking for ways to expand my repertoire… 

(As always, I have no affiliation with the author or his publishing company.  Also, I have decided to start calling posts of this type suggestions rather than reviews…since a review implies a possibility for a less than positive experience, and I really only want to suggest things that I love and think others will too!)

Mix It Up: Liquid Vitamins

 

Since the Egyptians discovered that they could cure night blindness (caused by Vitamin A deficiency) by feeding the patient liver, proper intake of vitamins has been recognized to be part of a healthy diet.  Unfortunately, many modern diets are extremely processed or refined, and so most people need to amplify their meals with some kind of multivitamin supplement. 

For literally years I tried to be good and take my vitamins every day, and I managed perhaps one a week at most.  It was incredibly frustrating because until recently I worked every day with a lot of children, and my immune system was starting to show signs of strain.  In 2009 I had the flu for a week or more three times within a six month period!  Yet I still continued to stubbornly try to take supplements in a way that was clearly not working for me.

About three months ago, my mom mentioned that my grandmother was taking liquid vitamins, and asked if I wanted to try them.  To make a long story short, I now pour a small packet in my orange juice every day.  I haven't missed more than a day yet, and I feel fantastic!

I am definitely not a doctor, and I urge you to consult yours to figure out what vitamins and supplements your body needs.  Many companies will claim that liquid vitamins are WAY better for you than pills, but the truth is that research shows that what really makes the difference is quality.  A high quality vitamin of either type is better than a low quality one.  What I am advocating, however, is mixing it up!  Albert Einstein popularly defined insanity as "doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results."  So if you aren't having any luck with your daily multivitamins, mix it up and try liquid!  It may be just what the doctor ordered.

(The photo above is of the brand of vitamins I use; however I am not affiliated with them in any way; nor am I qualified to prescribe or recommend particular dietary supplements!  Please talk to your primary care physician about your needs.)

Recipe: Ginger Tomato and Tofu

 

When I run low on food in the house, I tend to try to use up every last scrap before I have to go to the store again.  This recipe was created at one of those times, and based on one of my favorite meals at Wild Ginger in downtown Seattle.  It takes about fifteen minutes plus the rice prep time, and serves one (although you can easily multiply the portions to feed more!).

1 cup rice, uncooked

2 tablespoons Seasoned Wok Oil

8 oz Firm Tofu (half of a typical container)

1/5 - 1/4 of a sweet white Onion, chopped

1 Tomato (I like heirloom for this because of their firmness, but any will do), cut into sixteenths

Soy Sauce, Salt, Pepper, and Ginger Powder to taste

Prepare the rice according the directions on the package.

While the rice is cooking, slice the tofu into approximately 1/2" cubes.  Heat the oil in a frying pan over medium-high heat, and stir fry the tofu until it begins to turn a light golden brown on all sides.  Add the onion and saute until it begins to caramelize.  Add the tomato chunks and saute just until they begin to break down, about two minutes.

Put the cooked rice in a bowl, top with the tofu mixture, and add condiments to taste, mixing thoroughly.  Enjoy!