Jul 09

Experiments with the New Equipment

So the induction range (with convection oven) and the new microwave are installed. Before we left for Portland, we didn’t have much time to play. I brought a cold home with me and called in sick on Wednesday, so both of us did a bit more experimenting. Here are our initial observations.

They're so shiny! That didn't last.

They’re so shiny! That didn’t last.

The stove heats water for my tea very quickly, in about half the time as our old electric burner. Our teakettle is rather lightweight, so it skitters around the burner if I’m only heating a small amount of water.

One of the best features of the oven is an extendable rack, which makes it easier to get a cookie sheet out.

The heavy induction pans work well (they don’t skitter around the burner). To keep food from sticking, you heat the pan wicked high before you add the oil/butter. I tried this with my morning omelet today and the butter nearly burned on contact. But the eggs didn’t stick.

Although there are no heating elements and burner pans to clean, the cooktop is pretty finicky. Only certain cleaners work. In addition, the black top shows lots of dust if you don’t use it for a long weekend.

While I was home sick on Wednesday, I tried my hand at making Syrian sesame bagels using the convection feature. This is a recipe from Bernard Clayton Jr.’s The Breads of France. I made them once many years ago, but haven’t since. For 24 mini-bagels, the recipe calls for 1 cup of butter. The dough comes together easily in the mixer and rose quickly, despite the large amount of fat. Unlike regular bagels, these do not get boiled prior to baking. Clayton recommended turning the oven temperature down 50° if using convection. I wound up leaving them in the oven a bit longer than the recipe indicated because they didn’t brown much. However, they came out well. Julian and my officemates enjoyed them.

Syrian sesame bagels, also known as ka'achei sumsum.

Syrian sesame bagels, also known as ka’achei sumsum.

More experiments to come, particularly with convection. The problem is that I don’t bake as much as I used to because so many of my friends have genuine wheat, gluten, or egg allergies. However, Julian is still in need of regular cobblers and other goodies.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/07/09/experiments-with-the-new-equipment/

Jul 09

More Portland

On Sunday we took the light rail up to the NW 23rd Avenue shopping district. There are shops of all sorts, including a cookware store called Kitchen Caboodle. We bought some non-metal utensils there to use on the new cookware for the induction range. Lunch was at Kornblatt’s Deli, which did a decent pastrami. I looked above the deli counter and saw two suspiciously familiar menus. They were from the Rascal House and Wolfie’s Delicatessen, two now-defunct places in Miami we used to frequent when visiting Julian’s parents. Memories of matzoh ball soup past…

We went back to the hotel and drove up to the Rose Gardens. We should have walked there from 23rd Avenue, but we didn’t realize how close we were. Julian had visited the gardens many years ago, and got a great photo of downtown Portland from the gardens. Unfortunately, pesky trees now blocked the view. He only brought his cell phone on this trip, which was most fortunate; otherwise we’d still be there.

After the Rose Gardens, we drove to Ikea. (Did I mention that Oregon has no sales tax?) We were afraid that the new induction range-compatible cookware he’d ordered wouldn’t arrive for a few weeks, so we bought a bare-bones set of pots and two larger stockpots. As it happened, there was a slip in our mailbox when we got home indicating that the cookware had arrived. Oh, well…

Dinner that night was at Paley’s Place. We bought the cookbook several years ago for its planked salmon recipe, which has been our standard main dish for guests. I had corn chowder and rabbit with hand-cut Russian noodles (Vitaly Paley is originally from Russia), while Julian had a green salad and duck with cherries. I had ice cream and sorbet for dessert, and Julian had the crème brûlée. A most pleasant repast.paleys

On the way back to Seattle, we were going to stop by Mount St. Helens. Neither of us had ever been there. Unfortunately, the volcano cam on the website showed nothing but fog. We wound up driving home and attending our friends’ July 4th cookout. It’s good to have options.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/07/09/more-portland/

Jul 09

About Last Week

“People have become educated, but have yet to become human.”

— Abdul Sattar Edhi

I saw this quote in a New York Times obituary for this gentleman, who was the Pakistani “Father Teresa.” It sums up my feelings this morning. Just when the horror of the Orlando shootings had dissipated slightly, we had two police shootings in Louisiana and Minnesota. Then came the massacre of five Dallas police officers at the end of a peaceful march. Last week’s events were captured on cell phone videos and streamed around the world. When will we learn?

When will we learn that “those people” (fill in the blank) have children, parents, and neighbors just as we do?

When will we learn that “those people” also have the same rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness?

When will we learn that violence only begets more and escalated violence, as it did on Thursday night?

When will we learn that unfettered access to semi- or fully-automatic firearms was not the intent of the authors of the Second Amendment? (The 1789 equivalents were cannons, and I don’t think the Founding Fathers believed that every farmer on the frontier needed one.)

Dallas Police Chief David Brown is no stranger to losing fellow officers and family members to gun violence. He was quoted in this op-ed piece from the Dallas Morning News today:

“We’re not going to let a coward change our democracy,” Brown said. “Our city, our country [are] better than that.”

May it be so.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/07/09/about-last-week/

Jul 06

The Three P’s of Portland

We drove down to Portland for the July 4 weekend. Portland holds many attractions: A thriving food scene; access to Mount Hood, the Columbia River, and the coast; and no sales tax. On Saturday we hit three P’s: Powell’s, Penzey’s, and Pok Pok.

Powell’s is one of the largest independent bookstores in the country. It takes up a whole city block in downtown Portland, and has branches around the city and the suburb of Beaverton. The last two times we’ve visited Portland, I’ve chosen a hotel that was close to Powell’s. Naturally, I made a beeline for the cookbook section in the orange room. We showed admirable restraint: Three cookbooks between us, and a book on eating in Vietnam. My ultimate bucket list trip is to eat my way from Hanoi to Hue to Ho Chi Minh City and then hang a right turn up the Mekong River into Cambodia. Coincidentally, one of the cookbooks I bought contains recipes from a Cambodian sandwich shop in New York.

As we were walking back to the hotel from Powell’s, I noticed a familiar sign across the street: Penzey’s Spices. Their store in Seattle closed in January; since then, our spice shopping list has grown exponentially. We bought enough that we got three freebies: Turkish seasoning, chili powder, and cracked rosemary. According to the proprietor of the Portland shop, the Seattle store closed because the landlord jacked up the rent. This is a common problem for residents and businesses alike. (Note to Bill Penzey: There are several vacant storefronts in downtown Bothell, where the rent is not as high as in downtown Seattle. Check out our little hometown!)

Dinner was at the Thai restaurant Pok Pok. The owner and chef is an American, Andy Ricker, who has studied the cuisines of northern Thailand. The restaurant is not an architectural marvel; in fact, it’s more like an open-air restaurant in Chiang Mai. If you’re expecting gloppy coconut milk-based curries or pad Thai at Pok Pok, forget about it. Northern Thai cuisine is more salad- and grill-based. However, the signature dish of Pok Pok is its Vietnamese deep-fried chicken wings. These are a medley of fish sauce, sugar, and lots of garlic. After a bowl of wings, we had pork satays and a sausage/pork rind/vegetable plate. On the latter, Julian picked up what he thought was a half-moon of cantaloupe, only to discover that it was kabocha squash. Pok Pok does not take reservations. We got there shortly after 5 pm, and had to wait 45 minutes for a table. When we left, the wait was over 2 hours.

Pok Pok has branches in Los Angeles and New York, but not in Seattle (yet). Yo, Andy, show your neighbors to the north a little love!

Pok Pok. The line was at low tide at this time.

Pok Pok. The line was at low tide at this time.

The "interior" of Pok Pok. Notice the french fry lamps above the tables for colder evenings. (Yes, the restaurant is open to the elements.)

The “interior” of Pok Pok. Notice the french fry lamps above the tables for colder evenings. (Yes, the restaurant is open to the elements.)

More adventures in Portland to come.

 

 

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/07/06/the-three-ps-of-portland/

Jun 18

The Homeowner Begets

When one rents a home and an appliance breaks, the landlord will (one hopes) repair or replace the item. That’s it. When one owns a home and an appliance breaks, it can turn into a cascade of purchases I call the Homeowner Begets.

Two weeks ago our microwave oven/kitchen ventilation fan ceased to function. Because of its age, it was non-repairable. So we went to appliance stores looking for a replacement. As luck would have it, the microwave models were conveniently located above range models. We’d thought for years about getting a gas range, as gas is easier to control for cooking and Julian’s eyes can tell that the burner is on or off. However, our kitchen is a glorified galley. The refrigerator is less than two feet away from the range. The ventilation capacity of our home is doubtful. There is a ventilation pipe above the range, but we can’t figure out if/where it exhausts to the outside. Most of the vents on our roof are for plumbing. Induction ranges looked like a good option because they wouldn’t overheat the kitchen and would result in less carbon dioxide released by burning natural gas.

Wednesday afternoon Julian called me from an appliance store. “Should I pull the trigger on the microwave and induction range?” I swallowed hard and, in the immortal words of Kinky Friedman when he ran for Texas governor in 2010, “Why the hell not?”

So here we have our first Homeowner Begets:

The microwave/fan begets the purchase of the induction range;

The induction range only works with ferrous iron pots and pans, so the induction range will beget purchase of new kitchen ware;

The induction range is a drop-in (controls on the front), which will beget some molding/trim to block things from falling behind the range;

And while we’re at it, all of this will beget a backsplash behind the range that will be easier to clean than wallpaper.

Stay tuned for pictures and more Homeowner Begets.

 

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/06/18/the-homeowner-begets/

Jun 15

Cranberries in June

Last Saturday we had the usual get-together with our friends. The host family has three gluten-intolerant members, and one with an egg allergy. This required some ingenuity to figure out how to feed between the lines. Luckily, I looked in the freezer and found two bags of cranberries left over from the holidays. Since the main dish was Copper River salmon, a cranberry-orange relish sounded like a good idea.
You can always buy a can or jar of cranberry-orange relish, but making your own is insanely simple. All you do is grind the berries and an orange (with peel) in the food processor, add a little sugar, and chill. You can alter the amount of sugar to your taste, or use a substitute if you’re feeding folks who are watching their carb intake. You can add different flavors, spices, or a little booze. I did none of the above, since we had kids and non-drinkers in attendance.

The relish was a big hit, even in June. It cut through the richness of the salmon very well. Next December, buy a couple extra bags of cranberries and stash them in the freezer for a summer surprise.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/06/15/cranberries-in-june/

Jun 13

I Shouldn’t Have to Write This

Another day, another mass shooting with a military-style assault rifle. The shooting in Orlando was different in scale and target than the others. Forty-nine people in a gay nightclub were gunned down in a horrific three-hour siege. The police managed to drive an armored vehicle through the wall of the club and kill the gunman before more lives were lost.
How many more people have to die before Congress acts to limit access to these weapons? Will it take shootings in every district? As I said earlier, assault weapons are not for game hunting; their sole purpose is mass murder with minimal skills. Call or email your representatives. Remember that every congressional seat is up for grabs this November. VOTE. The forty-nine people who were killed on Sunday morning had their right to vote taken away by use of an assault rifle. Honor their memories by making sure that these weapons aren’t available to the next deranged person who wants to kill people.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/06/13/i-shouldnt-have-to-write-this/

May 28

Hail, Hail, Dystopia!

Some of my friends in the Friday Night Follies crew are fond of reading books and watching television series on dystopian futures. Fans of Game of Thrones are into dystopian pasts. What, the dystopian present isn’t bad enough???

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/05/28/hail-hail-dystopia/

May 26

Teriyaki

Teriyaki restaurants are the Seattle equivalent of fried chicken shacks in the South. They are ubiquitous in the region. The original Japanese method of teriyaki is to marinate meat in a sweet soy-based sauce, then grill or broil it. Hereabouts, the predominant method is to grill the marinated meat and pour more sauce over the top.

Most teriyaki restaurants are holes-in-the-wall in strip shopping centers. Don’t expect much in the way of atmosphere. You want ambiance, go to Canlis. The menus are limited in scope. You get beef, pork, or chicken teriyaki with one or two scoops of rice and lettuce with a mayonnaise-based dressing. Some restaurants go upscale and offer salmon teriyaki. You may also find a combo platter on the menu that includes gyoza (dumplings) or tempura. A few teriyaki restaurants may also offer sushi. I’m rather picky about where I eat raw fish, so I stick to fully-cooked items at these joints.

The ground zero of teriyaki in Seattle is University Way (aka The Ave), adjacent to the University of Washington. For a while it looked as if Thai noodle shops and pho restaurants were going to overrun the Ave, but teriyaki restaurants are holding their own. This should be no surprise: Teriyaki is cheap, fast, filling chow for starving students.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/05/26/teriyaki/

May 26

Weirdness on the Walk to Work

On nice days between April and November when I ride the bus to work, I walk the ten blocks from the bus stop to my office. It’s a pleasant walk through the Seattle University area, and a little exercise in the morning wakes me up. Today I saw two unusual items on my walk:
A local hot yoga gym was advertising a unique triathlon: Run, bike, hot yoga. It sounds odd and may be potentially hazardous to one’s health. While stretching is a good idea after aerobic exercise, doing so in a hot room doesn’t allow much sweat to evaporate. I hope they have IV poles and saline bags on hand to rehydrate people during this event.
Two dogs were on the Seattle U tennis courts with their owners. This gives mixed doubles a whole new meaning.

Permanent link to this article: http://ediblethoughts.com/2016/05/26/weirdness-on-the-walk-to-work/

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