Cholesterol Equilibrium

I have a theory that if you eat oatmeal and bacon during the same meal, such as breakfast, the oatmeal will absorb/remove the fat derived from the bacon, thus rendering it a cholesterol neutral meal. Scientists, any thoughts?

Püffertjes and Cevapci: Best of Europe 2010 Trip

Amsterdam

Food-wise, we got off to a good start in Amsterdam: herring sandwiches, believe it or not.
I thought they would be slimy, sour, and disgusting, but they weren't. Really. I'm not joking.
They were fresh like the sea, and a wee bit salty, but not at all like the pucker-inducing specimens known as pickled herring. They're sold at little kiosks around town, are super cheap, and super tasty. I highly recommend them as a light lunch or afternoon snack.











The next Dutch delicacy we partook of was Püffertjes. They're little round puffy pancakes, sort of like unfilled Aebelskivers, topped with butter and powdered sugar. Simple. Super wonderful. Even more wonderful that I ate them at a cozy braun cafe. Mmm.








Another Amsterdam favorite is Jenever, which I bought a couple little bottles of to drink at home. I still haven't tried it yet, but Jenever is an ancestor to gin, and the method of imbibing is to fill a tiny little glass to the absolute brim with ice-cold Jenever, and then slurp it so it won't spill. I'm looking forward to trying it, but waiting for the right moment.

Now for the Balkans

Rick Steves didn't have the greatest opinion of Balkan cuisine, nor did Sanela, my Bosnian friend. We figured that maybe they were both just being overly critical. We were wrong.
Now don't get me wrong, there were definitely some tasty things there, it's just that the food you see in cookbooks is cooked mainly at home; restaurants that serve the more interesting fare are few and far between. If you aren't persistent, you'll end up eating mostly mediocre, overpriced pizza and pasta (I might as well quote our friend Rick directly here). So I'll only discuss the hits.

Food in Bosnia was inexpensive. Food in Croatia and Montenegro is expensive, although I suspect less so in big cities such as Split.
In Bosnia and Croatia, we drank beer and ate ice cream cones every day as a little refreshment. I liked that routine. Beer was cheaper than sparkling water, and an ice cream cone was only 75 cents in Bosnia, and a little more in Croatia. Everyone, locals and tourists alike, had a daily ice cream cone. The ice cream was lighter and fluffier, like gelato, but not quite as sweet.





The first place we went in Sarajevo was the Sarajevo Brewery. It's huge, yet cozy with dark wood paneling and brass fixtures, and has been around since 1864. We both ordered dark beers and shared the Bosnian plate, which showcased Bosnian cured meats and cheeses.
























































Later that night, Derek wanted a snack, and we discovered the wonder that is cevapcici. It's finger-sized skinless sausages stuffed in a focaccia-like bread (many people compare it to pita bread, but it's crustier and chewier than that), served with chopped onions and kajmak, a fermented clotted cream to smear on it. Oh. My. Gosh. It was so good! (After eating it on four other occasions, we didn't find it so revelatory any more.)









Bosnian bread comes in many varieties, and all were remarkably good, such as the ornate knot pictured at left. I used it to scoop up a cucumber and yogurt salad, which was just like my dad makes. Apparently cucumber yogurt salad is cross-cultural.












In Mostar, we had a light lunch of burek, a snake-shape of filo dough filled with either meat, cheese, or spinach and cheese, and coiled up into a knot. Highly recommended.










In Dubrovnik, we started encountering the overpriced pizza/pasta routine, but our first night there we had a very nice dinner at a place Rick Steves recommended. Octopus salad, I discovered, is delicious and not at all rubbery. We also had Mussels Buzzara (a garlicky breadcrumb sauce), a seafood risotto, all accompanied by a well-chilled local white wine called Posip, whose grapes are grown on Korcula, an island we visited on our trip.













We took a day-trip to Montenegro, and while driving up up UP into the mountains, we encountered a few of these little huts selling locally-produced products: cheese, prsut (Balkan proscuitto), honey, and grappa. We bought a little of each, and I even smuggled the cheese and prsut back into the U.S. Derek bought two different kinds of grappa, one, supposedly good for digestion, and the other good for your heart and cardiovascular system.


Another food highlight was the pastry in Korcula. Fancy cakes galore in beautiful bakeries! I ate a perfect slice of what appeared to be a common cake combo: creamy, ever-so-slightly chocolately filling sprinkled with walnuts. Apple strudel was also very common, and good, although both times I ate it, I noticed that they chopped the entire apple, including the seeds, into the filling, instead of coring it. Sorry, no photos of either.

So those were the food highlights of my trip to Amsterdam and the Balkans. Next post will feature a guest writer, the famous DEREK, narrating a tale of of a terrible, yet hilarious dinner in Dubrovnik. Think Balkan Basil Fawlty.

Waffles--Throwback Edition

A couple of years ago, I posted a recipe for oatmeal waffles, which I quite enjoyed and thought was an unusual (and healthy-ish!) version of the this homey breakfast treat. I made them again last weekend, but added a little vanilla to the batter, and topped them with stewed peaches and Brown Cow Maple Cream Top yogurt (my favorite). We gobbled them down before I thought of taking a photo, but here's a recipe for the stewed peaches, courtesy of The Good Housekeeping Illustrated Cookbook:

Stewed Peaches
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
4 whole cloves (I didn't have any, so I just sprinkled in a little ground cloves)
1 1/2 pounds peaches, chopped into chunks

1. In a saucepan over medium heat, heat sugar, water, and cloves to boiling.
2. Add peaches; return to boiling. Reduce heat to low; cover and simmer 10 minutes or until tender.

Best waffle combination I had in ages!

Drink Like a Caribeño

I recently finished reading a great example of travel writing, called An Embarrassment of Mangoes: A Caribbean Interlude by Ann Vanderhoof. In it, the author and her husband give up their high pressure Toronto publishing jobs for two years of travel through the Caribbean on a sail boat. At the end of each chapter, Vanderhoof throws in a few recipes that she concocted or learned during that period of her travels. Being in the Caribbean, those naturally included a few rum-based cocktail recipes. Let me tell you, the week we had 90+ degree temperatures here in Portland, I made those cocktails with alacrity and frequency. They were just perfect!

Here are her recipes:

Rum and Coconut Water à la Receta (the name of Vanderhoof's sailboat)

2 ounces white rum
4 ounces (approx.) coconut water
1 tablespoon (approx.) sweetened condensed milk (or to taste)
Whole nutmeg

Shake or stir the rum, coconut water, and milk with ice. Taste, and add more milk if you want the drink a bit sweeter. Liberally grate nutmeg on top.

Makes 1 drink.


Port of Spain "Stress Cooler"
Served at the Afterwork Stress Cooler (a.k.a big outdoor party with live music and lots to drink) in Port of Spain, Trinidad.

6 ounces white rum
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 1/2 teaspoons cocoa powder
1 ounce golden syrup
6 ounces evaporated milk
1-2 ounces sweetened condensed milk (approx.)
Freshly grated nutmeg

1. Combine a couple of tablespoons of the rum with the espresso and cocoa powders and stir until smooth.
2. Add the rest of the rum, the syrup, and the evaporated milk. Sweeten to taste with condensed milk.
3. Serve over ice, with freshly grated nutmeg on top.

Makes 3 drinks.

My notes:
1. I substituted spiced dark rum for the white rum in these recipes because it's what I had, and I really like spiced rum. I thought it worked beautifully. I recommend Sailor Jerry's or The Kraken Black Rum.
2. For "golden syrup" in the Stress Cooler recipe, I used agave syrup. I find that it works great in place of ordinary simple syrup in mixed drinks.

ENJOY!

Grenadine and Joel Palmer House (aka Mushroompalooza)

Yikes! I haven't posted since May. Maybe not much cooking going on, but that's probably not true. Well, here's the latest: tomorrow night I'm going to The Joel Palmer House in Dayton, Oregon (wine country), a very expensive, mushroom-centered restaurant. Apparently, it's Derek's parents' favorite place to go each time they visit Oregon for the annual International Pinot Festival, and they invited us to join them this year. To quote the website, it has an "internationally-inspired menu of wild mushroom dishes paired with fine wine in a...historic Oregon wine country home." Sounds good to me.
I'm also thinking about making my own grenadine a la Jeffrey Morgenthaler. But now I realize that pomegranate season is actually in winter, so it might be best to wait until then. But we'll see.

Finally, my garden is slow. Three tomato bushes, but only one tomato among them, and it's tiny and green. Blossoms on the pumpkin vine, and plenty of basil, but that's pretty much it. Patience, Laura, patience.

Tarte Aux Fraises

This is the first recipe I've attempted from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child, and it is a definite success!
Sugar cookie-like crust, layer of red-currant glaze, cognac-spiked creme patisserie, and fresh strawberries--for my mom's birthday. I hope she likes it (but I'm not worried :))!

Ethiopian Food

I tried out Ethiopian food for the first time Friday, and it was good! We went to Dalo's Kitchen on N. Vancouver, which has been around for several years. The outside looks kind of strange: only one window on a huge building that's sort of in need of fresh paint. But the inside is nicely decorated, and the food is wonderful.
We ordered a lamb stew in berbere sauce, sauteed spinach, and a cabbage salad with fried potatoes in it. No silverware, just injere bread to scoop everything up with. The lamb stew was super great, and seemed similar to Indian food [in my opinion]. I've heard many reviewers complain about injere bread, saying it's like Styrofoam, but I don't understand why. It's like a huge pancake with a faintly sour flavor. Soft and tender, and not at all like Styrofoam. Really good, actually. The food was spicy, but not running-nose hot. The price was very inexpensive too: one entree, two sides, and three beverages (they brew two different kinds of beer there--one dark and chocolaty, and the other from honey like Meade with some spice in it I couldn't quite place) all for $30.00. I want to go back there, and I want to get the leftovers next time :). Derek got them this time. I didn't really know what to expect from Ethiopian food, but it definitely exceeded what expectations I did have.

Dalo's Kithchen
4134 N Vancouver Avenue
Portland, OR 97217-2900
Phone: (503) 808-9604