Made Alton Brown's fudge-y, rich, awesome brownies the other night:
(he calls them cocoa brownies)

oven at 300.

butter and flour an 8-inch pan.

whisk together 4 eggs until light yellow.
add 1 cup sifted sugar. add 1 cup sifted brown sugar (i used dark brown, which was hard to sift).
add 2 sticks melted butter, 1 1/4 cups sifted cocoa, 2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/2 cup sifted flour, pinch salt (he called for 1/2 teaspoon, i used a bit less).

mix all together, pour into pan, bake for 45 min until the center is no longer liquid. i had to cook mine for another 15 minutes or so. insert a toothpick into the center to be sure.


i don't crave sweets. I want salt all the time, but this really did the trick.
speaking of sweets, does anyone else feel slightly violated after watching nigella lawson cook?

here, i'll show you:



i thought about making this, but then couldn't care enough to get into my silky black pajamas.

The past few days have been difficult. The weather is not cooperating, and new guy has been out of town for a week. I need a pick me up. Last night I made risotto which was a bust because i decided to add in kale last minute, and well... it just tasted weird.

I DID use up the rest of the pie crust that I made for the quiche and made an apple galette via my new alice waters cook book.

here goes (in oversimplified directions):

take pie crust, rollout. refrigerate while cutting the apples.

slice around 2 large apples thinly. add 2 TB sugar to apples and (my fav, a little lemon juice).

arrange apple slices in an overlapping circle on the pie crust. fold over the edge so the apples are tucked in nicely.

beat and egg and brush over the exposed crust. Sprinkle sugar on entire tart and bake at 400 for 45 min.

tada! delicious.

Zucchini Quiche:


Crust (makes 2) from Alice Waters:

12 TB butter
2 cups flour
salt
1/2 cup ice water

cut butter into the salted flour, work together until crumbs start to form. add a little bit of water. work together into a ball. add more water if necessary. may not need all of it.

divide the dough into two balls, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. The other dough ball can be used for later or frozen.

Filling (adapted by me):

Sautee 2 pieces of diced bacon with 1 sprig of rosemary until it begins to brown.
Add 1/2 chopped onion.
cook until translucent.
slice 2 Zucchinis into thin rounds. add to onion/bacon mixture. Cook until almost soft.

Roll out one of the dough balls on a floured surface. Add to a pie dish. Trim any excess dough from the sides.
Place the Zucchini mixture into the raw crust and spread out evenly.

Add 1 1/2 cups grated gruyere on top.

Mix together 3 eggs, 1 1/4 cups cream or whole milk. dash of salt, pepper and nutmeg. pour egg mixture over the zucchini.

Bake for 35-40 minutes until golden at 375.
Let rest 5 minutes.

The bad thing about being a freelancer is that there are moments when i am temporarily unemployed. I feel that way because for the past two weeks i have only been working maybe three days a week. Technically i still have a job, but i suddenly have more time on my hands. The good thing about such time is that i can try out some new recipes.

With that said, i am officially in love with chef john from foodwishes. My favorite food blogger is still smitten kitchen, but chef john's incredibly easy to follow youtube videos really get to me.

Last night i made his vodka sauce recipe. I thought of taking some photos, but why not just watch his video?
I dunno if new guy actually loved this penne or if he was just being nice, but I loved it, so that's the most important thing.



Vodka sauce has always scared me a little bit because my mom refuses to eat or cook with cream. Therefore i have no previous experience cooking any kind of cream sauce unless mac and cheese counts. Then i saw on jersey shore that snooki made vodka sauce and i realized i could probably do it if she could.

mission accomplished. this was fucking awesome.

FOOD FAVORITES. WINTER EDITION

so I have many secret (or not so secret) internet obsessions: fashion blogs, youtube makeup tutorials and food videos on foodnetwork.com.

On most of the makeup tutorial sites, there are the makeup "haul videos" that for some reason are endlessly entertaining, and also the "monthly favorites". These are fun. These are pointless. so here goes a food version of my favorites:

1.Pinot Noir. I know! What a cliche, but honestly, i don't know what i would do without wine, let alone red wine, and as we all know pinot noir is king of reds. pinot noir is better than therapy on a cold dreary night.

2. Good crusty bread. A good loaf of bread can make any meal better. scrambled eggs on toast is boring. scrambled eggs on a hot crusty slice with olives is delish. roasted chicken with... crusty bread croutons? how about bread pudding?

3. Butter. Obviously this goes without saying.

4. Sharp Knives. Nothing bums me out more than trying to mince something with really dull knives.

5. Cheese. I will not include all of my favorites and make this an overarching topic because otherwise i would be here all day. I can say with total honesty that i have never tasted a cheese i didn't like. make it moldy, smelly, creamy, nutty, hard, soft. they are all perfection. I really do feel terrible for people who are lactose intolerant. There is nothing better than a piece of cheese, and while this wasn't planned, if you combine everything on this list, it would make for a pretty awesome saturday night.

who knew thomas jefferson was the founder of mac and cheese ?

because im in such a good mood, and not hung over for the first time in 3 days, i will now present my long over-due recipe for queso.

made this weekend with the ladies.
made more enjoyable while drinking beer and watching the craigslist killer.

2 tb. butter (duh)
2 tb. flour
roughly 1 cup WHOLE MILK
1 1/2 cups SHARP cheddar
some salt and pepper
spicy salsa


melt the butter in a small pot.
stir in the flour, and whisk together until a blonde colored paste forms.
slowly whisk in the milk.
heat until thickened. should be able to coat the back of a spoon.

(this is a basic rue. for Yummy Mac and Cheese add a cup of cheddar, 1/2 cup gruyere, salt, pepper and nutmeg to taste. stir in cooked pasta, add to a baking dish, cover with breadcrumbs and bake for around 30 minutes until brown at 375).


for the Queso:

stir in the cheese, salt, pepper and salsa. turn off the heat. add more cheese and/or salsa to taste.
serve with chips.

nom nom nom...

get prepared for a long post regarding food, work and dating. yup.

(----->here, look, i took a picture of food)

I have been crazy busy with the new job, which is good, but too busy to even have a day off, so not good.
Waiting to find a balance.

Anyway, in news according to me: i poached my first egg today. I woke up really jonzing for a poached egg and felt uncertain about how it would turn out. frankly i just don't have the patience to start over if i mess up. i aint got no day!
As it turns out, the scene in julie and julia where they can't figure out poached eggs isn't as realistic as i expected. not to brag amy adams, but i got it on my first try.
it was heavenly, as all poached eggs are. They aren't greasy, they're silky, soft and perfect on buttered toast. i don't think i'll be able to go back.
in my triumphant mood, i thought i would get all food-bloggery and document my experience with shameless photos. until i realized that i don;t have a digital camera, and taking photos of eggs with film is beyond lame and narcissistic. I Love photography. i love food. i love people who blog about food so i can read their posts and get inspired to go cook things that i didn't think were possible (see above). I just don't think i have it in me to care. above i posted a picture of my mother making meatballs. look how italian we are.

in other news, i went on a date. remember the cute guy i met at grand central several months ago when i was in the depths of my breakup despair? well, on a night out with the co-workers, i for some reason told them about GC after a few beers, and they encouraged me to send him a message. i did, because i do stupid stuff like that all the time.
lo and behold he wanted to go get a movie. so i thought what the hell, i love movies, it will be in a public place and people will be around if he tries any funny business.
turns out GC is a really nice and normal guy. We both share a love of zach galifinakis (although what guy doesnt), a will to eat locally after watching food inc, and he ordered my fav. beer before i even opened my mouth. ahh, what sweet first date magic.
In all seriousness, i have seen dates in movies where you meet up and grab a beer before the movie and then share popcorn in the theatre, and then go out for coffee after and then walk around talking. i wasn't really aware that those dates are real. well, thats exactly what happened, and frankly, i walked away smiling.
Now goes into the dreaded "should i call?" phase. i guess im gonna try and keep it cool. does anyone do the three days rule anymore?

More to come i guess.
Happy thanksgiving y'all.

The thing about cooking:

I love the experimentation. I love trying 5 recipes before coming up with your personal best version for yourself. Sometimes its a disaster (like when i tried to make cheddar broccoli soup from memory and with no measurements), and sometimes you actually make something work (get prepared for an epic mac and cheese recipe coming soon).

Speaking of which, I love old school jamie oliver back when he was the naked chef. i honestly used to watch the food network back when the only iron chef on was the original from japan that played every friday night. ming tsai had a show, and so did mario batali. There was none of this cutting corners crap that has overrun the network. I love to browse recipes for things, but the difficult homemade versions are hard to find (minus tyler florence, who i dream will one day come and rescue me atop a white horse and feed me his ultimate brunch menu). I digress. let's watch some naked chef.


The Nekkid Chheff s01e02
Uploaded by bluecatsuzi. - News videos from around the world.

Yes, he is cooking for his sister's bachelorette party. what a babe.

Yeay this is gonna be a lighthearted post.

i've been working out almost everyday, eating not horribly, and i haven't been smoking at ALL! in celebration, let's talk about some of my favorite things.

yesterday, i went out to lunch with two of my homies from high school times. we went to one of my favorite comfort food places, penelope in murray hill. of course i had to get the mac and cheese (hey! it comes with a salade), and red velvet cake. i also have this pretty sick secret... sometimes i watch videos of people making mac and cheese on the food network site. watch Ina and tell me that doesn't just make your day.





Also, i have a new favorite t-shirt.. from the gap! it's light, it's flattering, it's amazing. this morning i lamented that i only had one, but i realized that i can go over there and buy a few more. When in doubt, having a few of the same perfect t-shirt can only mean options (or dirty laundry proof).

Lastly, it finally feels like summer, and my skin is surprisingly looking just a little bit golden (a rarity, believe me). i have been pondering some fake tan. i did it once a few years ago, and it actually looked really good. a bunch of people asked where i had gone on vacation. all those videos online of people telling you how to tan make me feel invincible!