Provisions by Food52

For our wedding this summer we received so many fun kitchen products, some essential and some simply decorative. I love them all dearly, but there always seems to be more out there!

I’ve recently discovered Food52 , which is basically a online food community. They have columns, recipes, contests and even a hotline where you can ask or answer food questions. Beautiful photos, decadent recipes and some awesome columns make it a must add to your feedly or whatever stand in you are using for Google Reader ( may it rest in peace).  I’ve found some of my favorite food blogs from here and continue coming back for more.

They’ve recently launched provisions, which is an online store for artisanal food products and artsy kitchen accessories. I’ve been pinning a lot to my secret Gift board as well as my “I Want” board…

Some favorites

There are some handy Collections where products are helpfully curated by project, such as The Coffee Collection, Tea Time, Linens, Eating Outdoors, Indie Food Mags and DIY Kombucha.

The Coffee Collection

I’d love to get my hands on some Lucky Peach and Chickpea subscriptions.

Then just loads of pretty products and tools.

Spice and Herb Salt Tower – $25

Espresso cups – $36

Limited Edition Sfoglini Summer Basil Radiators (2 pounds) – $24

Superior Servers – $30 – $55

Sagaform Oak Grater – $25

Peugeot “Paris” U’Select Pepper Mill – $42

Brooklyn Slate Cheese Board, Knife and Soapstone Pencil Set- $48

Tiffin 3-Tier Bento Lunch Pail- $25

The Classic, Tea Crafted for Cocktails $32

Medley + Noir Blooming Tea Set $28

There is also a superb pinterest board of similar products from other vendors. I think they have asked well known bloggers to contribute to it so there is a nice variety of unique things. Be sure to follow their instagram too. Pure eye candy.

You are what you eat

The facts in this Food Mythbusters video about fast food marketing to kids are alarming.

My Netflix queue has been filling up with food related documentaries lately. Now, most of them are slick and cool, highlighting crazy awesome chefs who do mind-boggling things with food. But I’m going to start challenging myself to actually learn while watching documentaries, and not just be entertained.  Putting myself through Food 101.

The very first foodish film that I remember being challenging and actually changing the way I think about what I eat was  Food, Inc.  It’s been a few years now so I don’t remember all the details it stated, but I do remember being shocked and outraged.

Shocked and outraged at the travesties, manipulation, and flagrant greed by the food and advertising industries. But I was also ashamed that I had been duped and remained ignorant for so long.

Always a fan of looking “behind the scenes”, this started me on a quest to learn more about the food we eat, why we eat it and what is in this “food” we eat. Cuz guys, often it isn’t even food. It is chemicals and wood pulp and dye  and carcinogens  and just absolute insanity. And the animals we eat, are horrifically tortured and pumped full of nonsense which makes its way into our bodies.

I’ve read a few books and articles that have enlightened me enough to change the way I eat. I’m become  kinda hippy-ish with my vegetarianism, green smoothies, quinoa, whole plant based foods and wheatgrass shots.  I love it.

Obviously food is an extremely personal decision and is, unfortunately, often dictated by outside factors such economic status or cultural norms. But I sincerely encourage you to educate yourself about what you and your family eat each and every day. I believe food and diet is an ENORMOUS factor in the state of our health today. Enormous.

How can you expect your body to act optimally if you feed it processed junk!? Logic people!

Books that were helpful to me:

The Kind Diet

Beauty Detox Solution

Eating Animals

In Defense of Food

Omnivore’s Dilemma

The China Study

The Food Revolution

I’m going to put these on my “To Watch” list:

16 TED talks that make you smarter about food

26 Films every food activist should know

What have you learned about food recently that outraged you? I’d love to know!

Spinning Plates

So I adore all things food obviously, but movies are another obsession of mine.

I’m very excited about this upcoming film as it follows such food centric yet very human stories.

One of the characters they follow is Grant Achatz,  who started Next and Alinea and recently survived tongue cancer. Can you just imagine? A chef getting tongue cancer. Just horrific. Read about it in his book “Life, On The Line”  or watch the movie Spinning Plates.

A dinner alone

Angel hair pasta with sautéed tomatoes, onions, black pepper crusted tempeh with a brown butter sage drizzle.

Being an introvert , I need at least a few hours a week by myself to recuperate and recharge.

“Alone in the Kitchen with an Eggplant” is a book of essays by various authors about their secret, solitary eating habits and rituals. The essays are mostly quirky, wise* or poetic and a few are a bit lame. But I loved learning about everyone’s routine when there was no one around to impress but themselves.

Some came up with the weirdest combination of ingredients while some ate asparagus for every meal all summer long.

Some people loathed every lonely meal while others relished each silent, restful moment.

Some ate mac and cheese straight out of the pot and others set an entire place setting and feasted on multiple courses of gourmet experiments.

Personally I look forward to the delicious luxury of eating a random meal that only the eater can appreciate, but if you are eating a meal alone, be sure not to feel lonely. Be adventurous, silly and brave.

Take yourself out to a restaurant that you never get to go to and don’t feel silly about eating all by your self. People watching is super entertaining, or bring a book to read or just simply be. It’s awesome. No one is judging you and if they are, who the hell cares?

If you are home and need to eat up the contents of your pantry because you are moving across the country in a few days, then by all means create the most absurd concoction you can imagine because it is just for you anyway. It could be brilliant, it could be a disaster or it could be just what you need.

What are your solitary eating habits?

*Nora Ephron and her potatoes

Tacos with Avocado Chickpea mash

Tacos are such a perfect dinner option for a vegetarian. You just need some solid corn tortillas, a good cheese and some spicy, flavorful fillings.

I love making spicy black bean tacos with goat cheese, roasted sweet potatoes and avocado. I also love crispy chickpeas and adding whatever spice I have on hand. Cumin, curry, oregano, red pepper flakes, etc all elevate chickpeas to a scrumptious level.

Going off of this Chickpea and Avocado Salad Sandwich , I created the above tacos. The fun thing about combining chickpeas and avocado is firstly, they are delicious and secondivly they can take on just about any combination of spices. Make it spicy with red pepper flakes, chili powder and some cumin. Make it Mediterranean with some garlic, lemon juice, oregano and maybe some basil. Add turmeric and curry to make it Indian. Etc, etc  and so on and so on.

I toasted my chickpeas with salt, pepper and olive oil with a dash of cumin and a healthy dose of Trader Joe’s Everyday Seasoning. I adore crispy chickpeas so I opted to toast them for about 5-8 minutes instead of using them straight out of the can. Mash them up with a couple of avocados and add a bunch of salt and whatever spices, herbs or oils you fancy. Pick out the cheese that works best with your chosen spice mixture, whether it be a nice sharp cheddar, creamy goat cheese or a nutty parmesan. I like to sprinkle the cheese on the tortilla and bake it in the oven just till it melts.

Top that cheesy tortilla with the mashed avocados and chickpeas, mixed greens and sriracha sauce. Maybe add some Nachos as a side?

Savory French Toast

Excuse the iphone photo. I was too hungry to get out the real camera

I know, this is the 2nd french toast post in as many weeks. We don’t even make it that often. It’s just, I had to share this game changer of an idea*.

Savory. French. Toast.

Why has french toast been locked into this “sweet” category with its toppings reduced to fruit, syrup, butter and whipped cream?

This eye opening concept of making french toast savory is absolutely genius.

It sounds like I’m being hyperbolic, but I’m not. At all.

So the above version is pretty simple. To make:

Use the bread you’d normally use for french toast and make up your egg mixture.

Add some salt, pepper, dried herbs and some cumin to the eggs mixture. Make your french toast. I like mine on the toastier side.

For the garlicky kale,  chop up a bunch of garlic, saute it with olive oil until it just begins to get brown and toast. It will smell amazing.

Add chopped up kale and some salt and pepper and saute till its crispyish, about 7 minutes. Don’t add too much oil or it will be soggy.

Make quick caramelized red onions by chopping them in nice big chunks and cooking them in a bit of olive oil on high until they begin to brown. Then add a dash of sugar, lower the heat a bit and cook some more. Add about a tablespoon of water to let all the caramely sweet stuff on the bottom of the pan meld back into the onions where it belongs.

Finally make a nice, over easy fried egg. Please keep the yolk runny! It will act as the “sauce” for your breakfast.

Plate your french toast, toss on the crispy kale, caramelized onions, spread on a couple dollops of goat cheese and top with your egg.

I challenge you to make a more exquisitely satisfying breakfast.

 

*Credit goes to the spouse who had a hand in the invention when told we needed to make breakfast with what we had in the house.

European Eats

After not setting foot in Budapest for about 5 years, my family and I were lucky enough to travel there for Christmas last year.*  We spent some time in Budapest, Vienna, Slovenia, Venice and the fiance and I stopped in Dublin for New Years Eve on the way back to Chi-town. Kakaos Csiga (chocolate snail) is definitely my most missed Hungarian food. We’d buy them while waiting for the school bus. They’d be warm and flaky, getting oozing chocolate all over our fingers and powdered sugar on our lips. Our favorite “Gyro guy” remembered us all these years later! As a family we’d go there almost every Friday night during the summer. I’d get the falafel sandwich but steal the caramelized onions from my Dad’s shish kebab and add tons of tahini and tzatziki. It was every bit as delicious as I remembered it. Just gaze upon that monster meringue! I found it in little Venice bakery and carried it around carefully all day until we finally sat down for coffee. This pretty espresso was in an Italian gas station. If you have never had the distinct pleasure of being in an Italian gas station, let me tell you it is a magical place. Part grocery store, part cafe, part mini mall and part wifi hotspot. Their espresso drinks are pulled perfectly with many variations. Just don’t attempt to purchase a bottle of limoncello after 10:00 pm. They will refuse and laugh as you try to persuade them to please sell it to you so you can bring it home to America. Excuse the horrible Iphone photo. We visited Greystones, Ireland to let my fiance show me around where he spent a semester of college. Very quaint and pretty. Before embarking on a 3 hour hike that about bruised my feet black and blue, we stopped for fish and chips and the above fried goat cheese salad at a local pub. Absolutely outstanding coffee at 3rd Floor Espresso.  We tasted the same coffee in 3 variations,  an espresso shot, espresso with steamed milk and filtered. After suffering a bit of upset stomach after a gross airport sandwich, we were in desperate need of something hearty but also light. The barista at 3fE sent us to a french cafe/bakery where we lunched on french onion soup which warmed our cold, tired bones. Soup is so soul enriching isn’t it? Oh gosh this meal. This meal made me literally shed tears of gratefulness. It was a hippie, vegetarian place and after eating out for over a week my body was in desperate need of nutrients. At Cornucopia in Dublin, we ordered a mixed plate where we picked from an array of funky salads and sides. I also had a marvelous parsnip ginger soup into which I dipped a savory cheesy biscuit.

I still think about that soup sometimes…

Before we flew out, we had coffee at 3fE one last time.

*This post is quite overdue since my European trip was last Christmas, but whatever. It allows me to reminisce over a magical trip.

Gilmore Girls

The only time I ever remembering my Dad swearing was when he watched about 2 minutes of a Gilmore Girls episode, which apparently caused such mental stress and anguish, he exclaimed “How can you watch this shit!?” as we stared at him, wide-eyed and shocked.

My sisters and I protested strongly and defended our beloved show until he threw his hands up in disgust and stalked out.

I think the sheer volume of words and the almost violent shifts in conversation topics stressed his manly brain to a breaking point.

There are many elements in the show that the viewers need to suspend belief for, like any TV show,  but one in particular stands out.

The ladies Gilmore and their highly atrocious eating habits.

As any casual viewer knows, Lorelai and Rory eat constantly. And I don’t remember many vegetables crossing their plates either, which is sad since Sookie always seemed to have such gorgeous produce.

Check out this infographic the Huff Post created of a Gilmore Girl’s average caloric intake, almost 4,000 calories!

 

Let’s eat and drink Portland

“The dream of the 90’s is alive in Portland”

Now I’m going to be singing that all day…

But really, it’s the dream of eating and drinking that is alive in Portland. This past April we visited family in Lincoln City, OR and spent just a few short, scrumptious hours in Portland.

I think we were there for about 4 hours and ordered food and/or drinks at 4 different places… Priorities people!

We are moving to Seattle, WA at the end of September and I’m super excited to revisit some of these places on our roadtrip! We will definitely be taking weekend food excursions to Portland.  Like, all of the time.

Voodoo Doughnuts

Some crazy ass doughnuts are created here. There is always a line around the block and it’s cash only so be prepared. I had such a hard time deciding, so I ordered the Voodoo Dozen, where they choose for you.

Clyde Common

Did you know Happy Hours are illegal in Illinois? Absurd right? Check it out here.

Yeah, it’s dumb.

In Portland, however Happy Hours are legal and plenty. (Cue Happy Food Dance). We went to Clyde Common to try some happy hour specials. Monday through Friday from 3 – 6 pm they have a small cocktail and snack menu on the cheap.

The place was pretty, light , chill and the cocktails were boozy. You must order the ancho chili popcorn.

Stumptown Coffee Roasters

Grab a coffee or a bottle of cold brew here to go with those Voodoo Donuts. Then keep the bottle cause it is pretty.

Tasty n Sons.

We have a ritual when visiting a new city. Visit the best coffee place in town ( prior research is required for this) and get chatty with the baristas. They know what is up in their town.

The barista at Stumptown led us to Tasty n Sons, for which I will be eternally indebted. The menu is just item after item of almost stressfully delicious sounding plates of mouthwatering combinations.  Order many of them and you try not to cry when there is some leftover and your stomach is literally too full for any more. ( I still get made fun of for this)

I sincerely apologize for the complete lack of food pictures. We devoured all the dishes before I could even remember to take out my phone. True story. Guess I’ll just have to revisit.

Antique Taco

Chicago has a ton of taco places. Each place I’ve visited creates them a bit differently but mostly they follow the same basic format:

2 or 3 corn tacos with a meat, fish or veggie and topped with funky sauces and re-purposed ingredients in varyingly odd combinations, ie: Hibiscus tortillas, coconut custard, rhubarb chutney, pistachio salsa, pineapple puree, mango aioli etc.

My hands down favorite place for tacos in the city is Antique Taco.

Created by Rick and Ashley Ortiz, Antique Taco serves simple, light, delectably made tacos and a hellsyeah! kale taco salad. Their decor is shabby chic with pretty antique details for sale scattered about and hardy wooden farm tables to sit at. Rick is passionate about his menu while Ashley is amazing at presentation,  creating a beautiful, calming atmosphere.

For my wedding last month, I knew I wanted the meal to be delicious. None of this “Chicken or Beef” 3 course nonsense either. Being vegetarians, my husband and I knew we had to find the perfect meal for our guests where they wouldn’t even miss the meat. Thank God Antique Taco caters a taco bar! Just what I was looking for? At my favorite taco place? Can you believe it?! It’s a sign!!

We had a tasting and Rick went above and beyond what we could have wished for in a reception meal. I’m a slightly difficult vegetarian, not liking mushrooms , which was the only vegetarian taco option Antique Taco has at the restaurant. However, Rick had gone to the market that morning and invented 2 types of tacos for us. Not only 2 types but a variation with each type just to make sure we were completely happy with our tacos. Uh Rick, I  was happy after just the description… see for yourself:

photo by T & C Photographie

When  you are next in Wicker Park and feel peckish, stop by Antique Taco . My favorite is the Antique Taco Salad or the Corn off the Cob Salad.

To. Die. For.