December 2009
9 posts
4 tags
Happy Holidays!
Hi everyone,
Happy holidays, and best wishes for the new year!
5 tags
Orchids and Poinsettia
It’s become a bit of a tradition to take pictures of my mom’s annual orchid blossoms around Christmas time, so here are some pictures of her orchids and poinsettia. The purple orchids (I forget their exact name) bloom every year and give off a sweet nectar smell that’s like perfume. My mom purchases the poinsettia every year from a local plant nursery. Enjoy!
5 tags
Traditional (Dairy-free) Challah
I made some traditional challah over the weekend. The recipe is from The Bread Bible, an informative and very detailed book on bread baking. It explains baking fundamentals and discusses many different bread types, from easy quick breads to the more complex artisan breads. This challah recipe is dairy free, so it was a bit drier than the challah I usually see in grocery stores. It also involved...
6 tags
Some more Spanish: Spinach Tortilla
I’d always wanted to make a Spanish style tortilla, so here goes:
The tortilla formed a nice, crisp brown crust that housed very tender spinach, onions, pine nuts, and spices. A yummy breakfast!
6 tags
Migas: Dabbling in Spanish Cooking
Ever since Ryan and I visited Cesar and met Chef Olivier Said, Ryan had been wanting to try recipes from the Cesar cookbook, so today he made us migas for dinner. Migas is a Spanish style comfort food featuring chiles, peppers, an assortment of spices, chorizo, bread, and a fried egg on top. I believe the dish originated with the shepherds who cooked simple food. We usually get our Spanish...
3 tags
Homemade oatmeal bread
Here are yet more food pictures. My camera lends itself extremely well to indoor photography, especially when supplemented with flash, so be warned that more food pictures will likely follow!
This past weekend, our very good friends Ross and Kristin hosted a Christmas party at their home and were kind enough to invite us. I brought over braised brussels sprouts with crispy bacon bits and Parmesan...
3 tags
mmm popovers
Ryan and I had a craving for fresh popovers to supplement our habanero chili, so here they are:
The popovers took about an hour to bake, but prep was super easy. Bread is one of my favorite food subjects: so much texture and color in the crust and crumb :)
6 tags
Spaghetti and meatballs w/ 2006 Navarro Navarrouge
On a whim, I decided to make some semolina pasta with my new pasta roller and spaghetti cutter. I paired it with a marinara sauce I made, with crimini and shiitake mushrooms. Additionally, I added some ground beef meatballs with herbs, breadcrumbs and cheese. The parmesan reggiano on top finished off the plate nicely. We had the spaghetti with a bottle of 2006 Navarro Navarrouge, a blended red...
4 tags
SmugMug Model Shoot
I attended a SmugMug model shoot this past Monday (Nov. 30), and it was packed with people. It was pretty much standing room only, and you could take pictures of the two models only if you were either very aggressive or waited forever in line. The models were very nice and professional about handling the glaring lights and hordes of photographers, and were very photogenic.
I love changing...