Red, pink, and another Rosé

We gave Atkins farm a visit a few days ago. What met our eyes the moment we walked in were srawberries on sale, and bright, blooming colors were just too hard to resist to plop a few into the cart. Despite my recent resolution to save money on unnecessary splurges(I mean, they do have frozen strawberries at the smoothie bar at Val) it would have been a tragedy for me to leave those fresh, fragrant, succulent strawberries behind(and its only frozen! a total different level from fresh). 
Somebody was still on a rage for a decent Rosé, so we took a chilled Oregon A-Z Rosé with us outside to enjoy the a bit windy, but spring-scented weather. More fresh and dry on the palate, it was a perfect match with the strawberries, apples, and a piece of brie at room temperature, creamy and oozing. The Wholefoods guy was right. When we asked for half the portion it was displayed, he swore that we would come back for the other half. There is no such thing as too much of this....

Jim's Burgerworks - juicy but unseasoned

We took a trip to Easthampton this week(to get my liquor ID! Hey, I'm twenty-one now? Why not). It was a struggle, as they wanted an additional identification for my signature and was not reluctant with the financial certificate I had. Only after a few 'asking my advisor' did the lady announced they would be sending my ID next week. 

The moment we walked out of the office with the crisp tingling of accomplishment spreading to the tip of our toes, we smelled.. burgers! Walking along the the forlorn hallway we were met with a large opening of a restaurant, the air filled with the grilling and sizzling meat. 

Quite random name, but we decided to give it a try, and ordered the simplest burger, coming with onions, tomatoes, lettuce and pickles. I insisted on ordering the meat medium.

According to the burger fanatic H, the burger's quality wasn't to bad. I took a bite, and it was pretty juicy, the bun and veggies balance just about right. But the problem was... There was no seasoning in the meat at all. While there were salt and pepper prepared at each table, there's a limit to one trying to add these condiments after the meat is cooked. More thought needed there. 
But the homemade ketchup, given when asked for, had a nice kick. The hot sauce wasn't too bad either. 


We finished off our trip with toasts of beer at another random pub we discovered at the other end of the corridor (I admit, we did explore this building from top to bottom). H got a honey pale ale which was way too watery, and I got a Porter Ale from Haverhill which was creamy and thick, guinness style but more flavorful! They didn't check my ID though, which I thought was amusing.

Memoirs of Granola

Granola will always have a special place in my heart. 

It all started on my grand Camino de Santiago, a pilgramage that began as a whim with me and my best friend D. On our first day, after tossing and turning in bed at the dark stone-floored room of an albergue (the pilgramage dormitories), we woke up at the peak of dawn, full of hope and anticipations-but most of all, hungry. 

Tiptoeing around the kitchen, we rummaged through the cupboards and shelves, searching for the so-called 'gratis' breakfast. It was only us and another fellow traveler, who seemed to have prepared his own meal and milk. 
The poor hungry, true pilgrims as we seemed, he took pity on us and reached into his bag, and motioned us to cup our hands. Naive and clueless, we did so and was met with golden rewards: one large handful of granola each. It was love at first bite (or crunch?).


So called 'museli' in Spain (in the US, museli is usually a dry, grainy cereal with no crunchiness or sweetness of granola), this granola became our daily snack. We would buy a pack and add this 500g sack to our already heavy luggage (6kg) because we loved it so much. After a one or two hour walk, sitting down, munching on granola, savoring the nuts and sharing another bar of chocolate would be our precious moments of the day. When we found a supermarket (a rare instance in the middle-of-nowhere countryside), we would scavenge the store for this precious snack. 


At college, my love for granola has continued. It is good that they only serve cereal at breakfast and lunch, or I would have been munching on granola all day. However, ever since Val(our sad school dining hall) changed their granola brand to nature valley granola which is too crunchy to the point that it gives strain to your teeth, I have been suffering from a granola deficit+dissatisfactory problem. 

Now comes the stage I try to make my own granola. My best granola was the Earlybird Granola that uses olive oil and has a salty crunch that is so addictive you can finish one bag in one instant. 
 
Therefore, when I saw the Olive Oil granola recipe in the NYT, I knew I had to try it out. Pistachios, pumpkin seeds,almonds,sunflower seeds oats, maple syrup, olive oil, and leftover dried apricots, I mixed them all together in one big bowl, sprinkled loads and loads of cinnamon and a little bit of cardamom (H disapproved, he didn't like the smell), spread it out on two baking sheets and popped it in the oven. 

The result was.......... unsatisfactory. It was a too oily (since I added more ingredients to the recipe, I thought I would need more oil.... but I guess it was too much oil..), and burnt (I thought the recipe called for 50 minutes, but it was actually 40. I never knew 10 minutes could make such a difference). I was devastated. All my ingredients, my anticipation, my effort only resulted in a huge bagful of oily, burnt granola. Oh well, my friends finished it off in a week though. Oh, what would hungry college students not eat! 


Of course, I did not give up. As the end of this semester was approaching, I mustered up my courage, scraped up all my leftover ingredients from my first batch and charged to ** kitchen this weekend with H. This time, I decreased the oil and sugar and also added cranberries (credit to val), chopped up almonds, hempseeds (val), steel-cut oats, wheat germ (val) mixed it up, only to discover the baking pans at Drew had disappeared. Alas! What to do with a big bowl full of pre-baked granola and no sheets to make it on! But we were not discouraged. We set our mission to steal the baking sheets at * kitchen, justifying ourselves that the * people were nasty rascals who 1) only liked to utilize their kitchen to party (always chips and mixers in the fridge) 2) acted like owning a kitchen was some sort of new college-breed royalty always suspicious of anybody (more so to Asians is one of our guesses) who dared to step into their precious kitchen. So be it! Mission was easily accomplished without even a pinch of guilt. 

Success was mine! The smell in the kitchen was so good all of the passing people curiously poked around the oven, asking what was this amazing aroma. The oats were crisp, salty, chewy, not oily at all and just fantastic. I really liked the crunches coming from the baked almonds and slight nuttiness coming from the hempseeds and steel-cut oats, and a little bit or sour and sweetness coming from raisins and craisins. And with the granola baked just the right amount of time, I could taste the fragrant olive oil and the sweet and salty combination working perfectly. It's all about balance these days. The foods are not just strictly divided into the sweet or savory category, but now integration is the key. I think this was one of my best accomplishments in the kitchen. We proudly marched home with our tupperware full of sweet, warm, golden granola, leaving the people at ** drooling.



I happily munch on these every morning on ricotta cheese, blueberries and more cinnamon. No such thing as too much cinnamon! Ah... my glorious triumph over granola!


*The baking sheets are still in H's car. I will return it when I feel like it. 

잠깐 반짝 - a peek of spring

 

Spring is the time of Rosé, and of course that is why probably H was had a sudden crave for some when he saw the delightful array of Rosé wines on shelves of Wholefood wine corner. Of course, we had to go through the process of which Rosé would be ourfirst pick of the season. First, have to go read all of their labels, their logos, their names, their region ('I'm sure French Rosés are light!') and then ask the clerk (who himself, did not seem to have a clue what he was talking about - oh, I miss good old Amanda who had her own distinct style of wines!) then going through each and every one of them skepticism and trying to prevent with our feeble experience from wasting the few pennies leaving our pockets. In the end, the most popular-according to the clueless clerk- Rosé from Province, France was our choice. 

To color-code our spring picnic meal, a creamy avocado and grapefruit salad with tripleberry jam mayo was chosen for our appetizer (of course we could not ignore the fact that there was one lonely grapefruit waiting for us in the fridge, new meals are all about old leftovers :)) with the simple artichoke dip. And we can absolutely not go without our daily bread, oh so nicely accomodated by Hungry Ghost Bread from Northampton, our new friend recently excavated nearby our middle-of-nowhere Amherst. A simple French sourdough - it was warm right out of the oven, and you could smell it through paper bag it was tucked into (H and I immediately had to tear a bite off, cannot resist! Yum, our mouths and car seats were gradually covered with white flour that had covered the rustic bread, but it was oh-so-worth-it! We had to refrain ourselves from finishing before we even started cooking the meal.)

Aha, but today's highlight was not the Rosé (which was a little bit sweet for my taste, H enjoyed it), nor the avocado-grapefruit combo (this salad absolutely needs no effort- the fanstastic ingredients make it all.), nor the bread (but it came as very close second), but the clams. 

Yes, yes, yes! These little morsels were the true homerun of the day, credit to H. After a brief shower, these presents of the sea were popped into the oven. After thirty minutes or so, the tray was brimming with clam juice and wide open clams, showing their yellow flesh inside. A little hot sauce, melted butter, clinking glasses filled with pale Rosés (yes, roses!) made us just sigh with happiness. We devoured them all! 

What happened to the brimming clam juice? We soaked our crusty bread into it, the clam juice giving a slight saltiness and moist to the bite. We were so full after finishing a full loaf of bread with this full three course meal, and only the bread crumbs and empty clam shells could speak of our sheer satisfaction. 

* the artichoke dip could definitely be improved though. Parmesan cheese, a slight squeeze of lemon juice, got everything in there, but don't know exactly what was missing. I thought cheese and brown crusty cheese, and more cheese could just not be unsatisfactory, but will experiment more in the future! 

* oh, and the hunt for a perfect Rosé will continue! Spring is yet to come (literally - it started raining later in the afternoon and is continuing till today, which is three days after this wonderful day).

A Hungry Cookie Starts

A Hungry Cookie starts. 

What I eat, what I cook, what I  bake, who I meet and what I think, short pieces of how my cookie crumbles and on. 

Maybe, maybe this might be the 'thing' I have been looking for and what my life really needed. An experiment for myself and my friends, recipes and ingredients about my life recorded in the modern form is going to start today!


I remember writing diaries everyday in elementary school to get the prize given at the end of the year, doodling about the weather to adorning my title of my day. This can be my college version, now not out of obligation but necessary or desire, which one it might be. 


Let it begin!