Dorothy, we are not in Kansas anymore

Can you imagine the emotional roller coaster of my last 24hours? For a week I'd been pumped to help Chef Alex cook at SELMA breakfast salon. What an opportunity for me?! On Thursday, about an hour before I was supposed to go to the restaurant to help him prep for 200 people hungry for Friday's breakfast, the weather started to concern me. 81 degrees on March 15. Thunder with no rain. Super dark skies. Typical storm pattern for a hot late summer afternoon-- only it's not summer.

I left the house keeping the children behind for ten minutes until Dad would get home, got about a mile away, and realized that no, this was not AT All typical. Doubled back to the house after calling Alex to apologize that I thought I indeed needed to stay home with the little ones. When I turned the car around and headed back home, I saw the beast: a tornado, an honest-to-goodness funnel cloud. Seemed really close to my house-- probably more like a mile away, based on where the current damage is. Forty miles per hour instantaneously doubled to eighty, so that I could get back to the house before the twister. If the ship was going down, or up as it might be, the captain was going up with it. Scrambled everyone into the back room; they were already in the basement because of the original severe thunderstorm warning.

The bottom line is that by some miracle we were spared. Some who live close to me were not so lucky. At this point officials are reporting that there are no injuries or fatalities (!), but that 60 houses were damaged or destroyed. Part of my afternoon today was spent bringing lunches to the volunteers cleaning up the disaster zone.

That being said, this tale was not supposed to be the blog post for today. Being Alex's sous-chef was.

I adore SELMA cafe, love the vibe, the food, Lisa and Jeff. Ann Arbor is lucky to have a couple like them. This is not my first post about the nationally renown "breakfast salon". For me being given the opportunity to cook with Alex, number one, is out of this world. A true honor for a nobody like me. But number two, to do it in that venue! Wow. Do you understand why I did not sleep last night? Adrenalin of tornado coming too close for comfort, and anticipation of such a morning.

It went wildly well, served breakfast to just under 200 hungry people. And ah, the chaos. Normal for a restaurant kitchen, I'm sure, but my kitchen tends to run a little bit quieter. Not much. I thrive on chaos like that of cooking at SELMA. I suppose that part of the reason it feels so right is that for just a few moments, the chaos inside my head matches the outside chaos. This definitely served as confirmation to follow my instinct into the world of cooking.

Alex's menu this morning:
1) Johnny cakes (made of heirloom cornmeal from Rhode Island) cheesy eggs with local ricotta, sausage patties from Cornman pigs.
Or
2) potato and squash latkes with eggs florentine, topped with roasted Cornman peppers and Parmesan. Also served with Cornman piggie.

Other regular options that Lisa always provides are: bread pudding with fruit, tacos sanchos, or vegan granola.

We're still without power so I apologize if this comes across as sloppy because I'm writing from my phone. But I just had to get my thoughts down before the buzz disappears. Will edit and add links later. After I find Toto.

Hipstamatic quickie

Up close and personal with Chef Alex's mincemeat pie from Saturday night's 'American meat' event dinner :: my mother would have adored this...

Detroit's alive #3

Yes, Detroit is largely in shambles, but there are glorious little pockets of life and food in Dtown proper, and of course, in bustling metro-Detroit.  Everytime I'm reading online reviews of food opportunities in the area, I keep stumbling on blogger's devoting their musings to food in Detroit.

Eat it Detroit! is a blog, new to me - with dozens of suggestions of restaurants in the larger metro Detroit area.  Check it out!

updates

listening to Lady Day 

Billie Holiday collection # 1

"When you're smiling"  

Sorry for the delay, ladies and gents. 

I've been reading and scanning food bits online, five minutes at a time when I get a chance.  Some weeks, there's more opportunity than others.  With a big mug of sweet & milky earl grey by my side, I'll update you.

• Oh my, MIETTE. You taste as good as you look.  That's a rare compliment.  Typically fancy french-y kind of baking doesn't satisfy my taste buds as much as the eyeballs. But WOW.  Check out the photos she's posted on her FB page.  Amazing.  More Ann Arbor talent shines! If you're at the Kerrytown farmers market, or are a customer of Lunasa, please order from Miette.  You will not be sorry.  We've particularly enjoyed the brioche rolls and the chocolate ganache tart.   And stay tuned to her on FB, because a little birdie told me there's some exciting news in her (and our) future! 
• Need to know how to make Mozzarella?  John Loomis is your man (follow him on Twitter).  My daughter and I spent last Saturday afternoon with him at Zingerman's creamery.   Definitely worth it.  The products we went home with were amazing.  For dinner we thickly sliced our homemade mozzarella and put it on a Zing French baguette, spread black olive tapenade and drizzled with olive oil and sprinkled with sea salt.  Wow.  Even if you don't make your own mozzarella, buy some fresh this a.m. and make this sandwich for lunch.  
• Why care about being a locavore?  I know some cynics are wondering what the hype is all about.    
• Going to see AMERICAN MEAT tonight, so more about that later.  But I'm grossly excited to see this expose.  Me going to watch this is a little like the choir being in the front row at church, but I want to stay informed and be able to explain with evidence why this topic is important to me. 
• To that end I've joined a meat CSA called Bending Sickle Farm. I payed 5 months in advance when I picked up the first share in February.  Pork chops, ham hock (with quite a lot of meat on it), ground pork, goat stew meat (looking forward to a curry with this), leaf lard, and a slab bacon.  So far everything has tasted and looked great. If you're like me, it makes for happy eating to know your meat was treated well during it's life.
 

I've tried:
yogurt cake ~ Chocolate & Zucchini - a standard (almost bland) cake that is 'the first that every French child learns to bake'.  With raspberry coulis, lemon curd and whipped cream, it was enjoyable.  I didn't fall in love with this gateau, but i adore this delightful blog and cookbook. 

kinda classic coleslaw ~ Smitten Kitchen for fish fry night- 'not your mama's' because of the blue cheese.  Instead of celery seed I grated a celeriac root.  I prefer the celery a background note - not the harsh black seeds that stick in your teeth and get burped up for hours.

butterscotch pudding ~ David Lebowitz - a favorite oldie but goodie that can't seem to stay in this house for more than a day. 


Dinner last night: 
Bending sickle ground pork browned til crispy, with rosemary, crushed red pepper, and slivered garlic, sauteed broccoli raab, and pecorino romano served over boccatini. 


Looking forward to:
SEMBA beekeepers conference : next weekend
Cecelia Pastries class on Eclairs : March
Joel Salatin @ Michigan Theater : April
BaconFest Michigan : June
River Cottage !! Cheese Making Class : June

Instant Green onions

I saw this concept on pinterest a couple of weeks ago, and it absolutely works.



At some point when you have bought and used scallions, rubber band the white bottoms together, put in a bowl of water. I'm stabilizing mine with rocks to keep them upright.  In a few days nature will do its part to grow you new ones. Even if you're afraid if gardening, this couldn't be easier.

Mark Bittman scores again

If you are hosting happy hour and have 20 free minutes, I'd suggest banging these parmesan crackers out beforehand. So yummy.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Why I love babysitters

Babysitter=

Ninety solitary minutes before rehearsal(UMS CHORAL UNION)= 
Heavenlymetal
&
Zcobb salad at Zingerman's deli

& a good read

=deep breath

Location:Detroit St,Ann Arbor Charter Township,United States

ouch!

one normal sized egg. and one that must have hurt on the way out!@#%#!
it's of dr. seuss proportions

The Sugar House

listening to:

'Bistro Fada' & 'Si tu vois ma mere' from Midnight in Paris soundtrack

click here to open a new window

then go buy the whole soundtrack :)

I mentioned The Sugar House a few posts ago in the 'Detroit's alive' post, but that was before I experienced its glory.  Hard to say more than-Fabulous!  We went there last weekend, braving the "blizzard"  which turned out to be 2-3 inches.  Let's just say it's a good thing that we're 45 minutes away from the craft cocktail bar on Michigan Avenue in D-town  Otherwise it would become a habit more than a treat.

Here's the facebook status from Sugar House last week.  Keepin' it real-

The Sugar House

The Sugar House now opens at 5pm SEVEN DAYS A WEEK! We'll sleep when we're dead, damnit, you people need your drinks!

 ·  · Reshare · Saturday at 12:47pm · 

If you have a vimeo account, check out this short movie ad for The Sugar House.  If you don't have a vimeo account, time to get one...


Sugar House Detroit from The Work on Vimeo.

food is art.

what i'm listening to?

the new Ingrid Michaelson album released today, of course

Whether or not you like beets (quartered, roasted at 425 with generous kosher salt and olive oil for 45 min-how could you not?), you have to admit that food is art.   These photos are just quick hipstamatic shots, but the color on these is phenomenal.  Tonight they'll get mixed with pasta, baby swiss chard and a light goat cheese bechamel. 

chicago revisited

I know I've hit Chicago before on tLB, but this weekend has been a culinary adventure once again.  This city doesn't fail the stomach or tongue.  The waistline, yes.

Saturday's appetites were saved, by late hotel breakfasts and no lunch - for
Dinner: the Girl and the Goat.   Although I'm behind on this season's Top Chef, I watched religiously when Stephanie Izard was on.  If my memory serves me correctly, the producers did not spotlight her talents from the beginning.  So it felt like she came out of nowhere on the second half of that season to be the only woman victor to date.  But then, it's all about the editing and marketing, isn't it?

I'm always hesitant to laud a chef who is famous, just for their fame.  I don't like to be a conformist.  But when there is true genius, it's hard to hold out on the compliments.  Every dish we had at the Girl and the Goat was fabulous. Not a term I'd use lightly.  They were sauced well & seasoned well.  Each dish had a harmonious combination of flavors, temperatures, and textures.  Nothing was thrown in just to add components or be complicated.  Favorites were: fried oyster over a spoonful of egg salad topped with fried caper & the chickpea fritters.  So darn smooth inside, like velvety hummus, but shaped and cut like a cousin of fried polenta - but so so smooth. It sat on a bed of eggplant-fresh tomato caponata over a small slice of fresh mozzarella.  The adventurous among us tried a salad of fried duck tongue with arugula and citrus, which "unfortunately tasted very good" (according to the 12 year old).  She wanted to hate this.  Goat rillette empanadas, braised pork shank, sugo (goat ragu over papperdelle), kohlrabi salad, ham frites (ham powder on fries - yes), blue prawns over peanut spaghetti squash, roasted green beans with fish sauce viniagrette (I can still taste this one - a wonderful mouthful).  Clearly we ordered more food than we needed to, but when you're only in town a few times a year - serious decisions have to be made.

Lunch: Frank and Dawg's on Clybourn.   We all enjoyed this casual lunch spot - with not so casual dogs and sausages.  "Five star menu on a bun".  Take a minute to go to this link and look at the dawg options.  Unreal.  Everyone tried something different, and everything was so creative and well done.  Bayou Dog, Da Ringer, Peking Duck, and Roaring Buffalo were our choices.  What would you choose?

Dinner: Cafe Ba Ba DaReeba.  Classic tapas, authentically prepared.  We sampled almost everything (sensing a theme?)  I'll leave you with this.  Although my kids are good eaters - in general - they are still kids.  So while the 12 and 9 year old will eat anything, the 6 and 4 year olds are a little slower to warm up to things that look unusual.  In these sort of situations, where my goal is to get a wonderful meal for myself, I'll cater to them more than I would back at a restaurant in Ann Arbor, or certainly in my home kitchen.  So my little man enjoyed braised short rib, but didn't love the look of the empanada.  No prob - it meant more for the rest of the table.  As we were slowing down, starting to get that glazed look and worrying how many things are yet to come, the little guy wants more serrano ham.  And I'm wondering, should we order nine dollars worth of pork to keep this kid quiet?  Yes, yes we should.  He pounded it down, like a Man vs Food competition.  It made a mom proud.

leftovers

It just makes you cringe, doesn't it?  That's not what you want to hear when you walk in the door.

Truth be told, I'm not a fan of leftovers.  Of course if I make a whole tray of lasagna then I don't mind having it for two meals in a row.   But I'd much prefer to take the left over food and make something new with it.

Many food publications have "what to do with your turkey" issues, so it's nothing ingenious to advise making something new out of the basics.

I'm WAY behind on the Thanksgiving leftover bandwagon, but I made a fabulous curried turkey salad that I've been meaning to share.  I'm guessing that you don't have any thanksgiving turkey leftovers.  If you do, please throw them out.  Start from scratch.

CURRIED TURKEY SALAD
Roast a breast of turkey per instructions on the package.  Roughly chop four cups of turkey breast. Dice one apple (your favorite variety), two celery stalks and 6 scallions.  Grate one half of a red onion. (I use my box grater for onions on salads.) Mix together.

Add one cup mayonnaise, 1/2 cup plain greek yogurt, and 1/4 cup dijon mustard. (or this Moroccan mustard, if you were lucky enough to snag a jar before Zingerman's sold out)  Mix to combine.  Add one tablespoon of your favorite curry powder.  I used a sweet blend.  (Pantry low on spices?  Check out Penzey's)  Season with salt and pepper.  Taste.  If you want it spicier, add more curry or hot sauce.

Mix sauce with turkey mixture.  Top with 1/2 cup sliced almonds.  Serve on lettuce or on tandoori naan. 

kelly's popcorn

I stopped buying microwave popcorn once I heard about this development a few years ago.  The biggest danger exists to those working in factories creating the magical bags o' popcorn, but why take the risk? Right? (I realize that I'm revealing my true hippie self in this declaration. --- as if you didn't already know, after everything that you've read on tLB)

In addition to the health concerns about the process, I don't really like the chemically smell and taste. So I ask you these important questions.  What's it about, if it's not about taste?  And why butter flavor when you can use real butter?

I used to only make it on the stove which is a whole production because it requires babysitting the pot.  (not easily done during a commercial or restroom break)

BUT :: Kelly reminded me of this.  You can POP corn in a plain lunch bag?!!  I can hardly call it a recipe, but here's the lowdown.

Put 1/4 cup of popcorn kernels in a brown lunch bag.  Fold over the top two or three times.  Run microwave for three minutes - or until you hear the kernels popping every two or three seconds.  If you're in the mood to make it decadent, pour a couple tablespoons of melted butter over the top.

The best part is that you won't feel guilty in the morning.  Unless you also drank that bottle of cabernet...

pumpkin on the brain

what's playing in the kitchen? 

besides Handel's Messiah?... which is stuck on repeat on my mental turntable

She & Him - Holiday

Zooey Deschanel's voice can put anyone in the mood

Spiced PUMPKIN BREAD -A favorite in my house 

Farmer Johns favorite pumpkin bread

Paula Deen's always good for something with cream cheese - (a hit at Christmas advent)

Pumpkin Cheesecake
drizzled with  
Nigella Lawson's sticky toffee sauce 
and cinnamon whipped cream

Spiced Pumpkin cream cheese

8 oz. cream cheese, softened

1/4 cup brown sugar

2 tablespoons pure maple syrup

1/2 cup canned pumpkin

1 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/8 teaspoon cloves 

1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

1. In a small bowl, beat softened cream cheese, sugar, and syrup til creamy.

2. Add pumpkin, spices and vanilla and beat til smooth.

3. Refrigerate for at least an hour.

Pumpkin lattes anyone?

PUMPKIN SYRUP 

Boil:  

• one cup Pumpkin Puree
• one cup Granulated Sugar
• 1 cup Water
• 2 teaspoons Ground Cinnamon
• ½ teaspoons Ground Nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoons Ground Cloves
• one teaspoon vanilla

It will be delicious as is.  OR strain out spices through a coffee filter for syrup with a smoother texture.  Otherwise pour into a bottle, and keep refrigerated. Add to coffee or pour over ice cream. 

Pumpkin soup baked in a pumpkin

(you can find many different recipes for this online, including from Julia Child. Or this one from Ruth Riehl)

Here's my version.

Empty out one small pumpkin - 4-5 pound size.  Cut top off and keep it whole like a lid.  Scrape out the membrane and seeds.  Fill 1/2 way to the top with half and half.  Add 4 oz fresh goat cheese to cream and 1/2-1 cup grated asiago (or use any other grated hard cheese that you like). Add one finely grated garlic clove and freshly grated 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg into the cream.  Add one teaspoon thyme.  Season with salt and pepper. Top with cleaned lid of pumpkin.  Place on a foil lined baking sheet. Bake at 350degrees for 45 minutes. 

Try Roasting some for a salad:

Spiced Pumpkin Lentil & Goat Cheese Salad

Detroit lives!

Underground Detroit

local goodies
Treat dreams

fancy libations
THE SUGAR HOUSE

a southeast michigan restaurant gets national press:
in Clarkston,  Union Woodshop
I have not yet eaten at this establishment, but I get excited when I see Michigan companies in national publications.