Lists.

While my co-blogger is doing her part for the LA economy (at least supporting Trader Joes,) I ventured yesterday to two very different food meccas.

Uwajimaya - This is the mecca for Asian food in the Pacific Northwest. There are three stores, one in Beaverton, OR and the other two up in Seattle, WA and Bellevue, WA. Their selections are huge, but I suspect that a more discerning and knowledgeable shopper would have some complaints. Uwajimaya can be expensive, partially because some of the items just cost more, but also they can charge more because they are almost the only game in town. I took my friend SD for her maiden visit. She came with a list. I was like - list? I just wander around and fill my cart! No wonder I end up spending more than I should when I go there. I bought:
vermicelli rice noodles
Jasmine tea
pocky sticks (very important)
ponzu sauce
nori
ginger/honey tea packets
gummie candy (stocking stuffers)
fish sauce
a bottle of wasabi mayonnaise (gift for my brother)
a bottle of gamay (not Asian, but so, so good)

Then, I introduced the lovely SD to another favorite store of mine. The Dutch American Market and Import store. I discovered this place in college when I was cleaning house for a Dutch couple. They had all sorts of Dutch treats in their kitchen that I hadn't seen since my childhood. Bolletje, gouda, roggebrood. Since then, I trek out there a few times a year, but always near the holiday season so that I can stock up on chocolate and treats. Purchased:
chocolate letters (kids and cousins initials)
gouda
roggebrood
chocoladehagel (chocolate sprinkles)
gestampte muijes (literal translation is "stomped mice" - is actually powdered anise with sugar)
hopjes (coffee flavored hard candy)
seems like there was something else, but I cannot remember what

All in all, a very fun trip. We ate Lebanese food for lunch (oh how I love thee fresh-out-of-the-oven pita) and had a great americano at Barista.

Came home to take-and-bake pizza, which is actually pretty good!

Today is very, very wet and the first time it seems cold. Husband has prepared a veritable feast - green chili enchiladas and red chili posole and pork soup. Looking forward to it. Delivered the gouda and roggebrood to my Dutch grandfather. He rubbed his hands together with glee. I think that he was almost as happy as when I bring him cigarettes.

-S

woe is me

I think I have the flu. Or at least I am pretty sure I will spend this night fighting it off. Matzo ball soup is on the way, but where is MB solution to the flu? I am sure I remember him making an easy quick version of what I need, but I can't find it at nyt.com or in my cookbooks.
Probably because I really do have the flu and am delirious.

And now, for something completely different (and a week late):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bVnfyradCPY

Day 5 - this has to stop

I need to stop counting down, but that's not what I meant. It took me another 2 hours to get home from work today. This is what HAS to stop.

The other thing that must end is my addiction to the Beverly Hills Juice Club juices - they are bar none the best juices in LA, and when you order the smoothie with their banana-sunflower mush, it's a meal in a cup. A smooth, nutritious, tart yet sweet (esp if you mix the apple-mint juice with the banana mush) perfectly raw and healthy meal. But at $10 a pop, and probably a million calories, carbs and sugar, it must stop. Or maybe I can just ease off a little.

But I would definitely take MB there.

Day 4 - what's in YOUR shopping cart, Mr Bittman?

I went to Trader Joe's hungry. It was 5 pm, I had eaten crackers (from ikea) with a few slices of gouda, 1 apple and some sorry left-over pirate bootie smart puffs for lunch and I was RA-venous. I went with a short list : chicken, sliced almonds, red onions - the plan was to pan roast a chicken breast for dinner with a cucumber salad made with a lonely cucumber from the fridge.

Here is what I walked out of TJs with:

Eggplant hummus

pitta bread

eggplants

yellow peppers

onions

garlic

bananas

apple juice

loaf of sandwich bread

firm organic tofu

fresh cranberries

2 small ivy topiaries

babybel cheese ( one of which was consumed in situ)

banilla protein shake (also consumed before check out)

frozen alsatian tart

frozen mac n' cheese

12 mini mint ice-cream mouthfuls (I am eating one right now)

3 packs of spaghetti

2 packs of penne

1 chicken

1 bag of teeny weeny potatoes

vitamin C packets

agave syrup

3 pots of nonfat TJ fruit yoghurt

cornichons

basil

mache lettuce

green lettuce

organic dry roasted almonds

sweet&spicy pecans

(i should have just taken a picture of the receipt - damn!)

2 cartons of low sodium chicken stock

limes

milk

There were also whoppie pies on display, but I controlled myself, and I am glad I did, because hello mini mint frozen mouthfuls, and look here.

I live alone when I am in LA, except for every second w-e when I am joined by one vegetarian and two children who prefer hot dogs, pizza or scrambled eggs (note: none of that was purchased today). Also I rarely eat frozen and pre-packaged food, I usually make my own hummus (did I buy that lonely eggplant to absolve myself of the tub of trader middle east eggplant mush?), and I cannot remember the last time I chose to add "sweet&spicy" pecans to anything.

The cucumber is still in the fridge, untouched. I ate so much eggplant hummus that by the time the chicken was done, I ate almost none of it. And now there's no room left in the fridge and Gala (the dog) has been doing all sorts of acrobatics trying to reach the chicken leftovers on the stove.

It might be interesting to find out what my co-blogger purchased at the supermarket (hi S - comments below!), what I am really dying to know is what MB buys at the supermarket when he shouldn't.

And anyone else - feel free to share in the comments. Please make me feel better about all that pasta I have to store somewhere and the 8 limes that are joining the other 7 in my fridge.

day 3

I drove 200 miles today - 70 miles to office hours and a lecture, 30 miles to pick up my dog, 100 miles in rush hour traffic. That last stretch took 2+ hours.

Brain = dead.

That is all.

Day 2 - I have managed to upload a logo; and other things

But since this is just an itty bitty amateur blog, we don't have a sidebar like the grown-up blogs. No matter, here is a logo!!!! It makes it all so official.

And now, for our first installment of "where I would take MB", the November edition:

"BURGERVILLE"

I scoffed at the ridiculousness of the name the first time I visited Oregon. It ranked a close second to 'Tacotime' as places I-won't-eat-at-based-on-their-name-alone-no-matter-how-much-the-locals-love-it.

I hope I am well on the way to becoming sort of a local, but I still will not eat at Tacotime. I mean, Tacotime? Plus, every Tacotime I have seen always has a mobile taco truck parked close by. And I will always prefer my tacos from a truck. But Burgerville, now that's a whole 'nother story.

How many burger franchises (Burgerville is a NW Oregon franchise) can boast a largely local list of providers, sustainability partners for everything from composting waste to recycling their cooking oil into biofuel, as well as seasonal items that are actually seasonal, and again, sourced locally? Once the strawberry season is over, there's no more berry lemonade. And if you like your pumpkin smoothie (I don't) better get it this month.

All that AND they make great burgers, with their 'burgerville spread' (which incidentally is not all that different from the In-n-Out spread) and Tillamook cheese, the best fast-food chicken strips (made with chicken, not chicken mush shaped into a nugget), 2 kinds of veggie burgers etc.

And no, they are not paying me. But if becoming an Oregonian requires allegiance to certain institutions (the Blazers, the Ducks, Keen shoes), consider me Oregonian in the Burgerville way.

And as an Oregonian, I would take MB for a burger and a shake at the Newberg Burgerville before catching a movie at the Drive-In (yes, we still have those here).

Day one: Pigs in Blankets - a taste test.

Did you know that MB does not have his own pigs-in-a-blanket recipe? neither does Ruth Reichl or Deborah Madison - although there may be a very good reason for both of them not to spend too much time reinventing this particular classic. The Silver Palate cookbook, nada (shocking considering it was all about the party menus), Moosewood - obviously not. Saveur Athentic American - zilch. The Splendid Table: Recipes from Emilia Romagna, the heartland of Northern Italian Food - just kidding, I didn't even bother looking in that one. The Joy of Cooking? You guessed it , it says to use store-bought frozen crescent dough.

But the domestic goddess came through! Nigella Lawson has the simplest scone dough recipe, to which she adds some grated cheddar. Wrap that around some lil' smokies and the results is a heaping amount of of pigs in blankets for children, adults and a couple of vampires at a really fun Halloween party at S' house. Nigella is always good for crowd pleasing easy recipes. She's good for that and a plunging neckline. (Btw, I just saw she's going to be on NPR's Morning Edition tomorrow!)

I made the Joy of Cooking pigs with Pillsbury Crescent dough, just for fun and because they make it so very easy. It literally takes 2 seconds to roll out the dough from it's cardboard tube.

The verdict: Nigella wins, hands down fershure. It does not take a discerning palate to tell the difference between flour+milk+ egg vs something that comes out of a cardboard tube and has "butter flavoring". The store bought stuff doesn't develop a crunch and the dough is, for want of a better word, weak. Nigella's dough is scrumptious and so easy (does that sound vaguely naughty?) and her pigs were good even eaten cold.

To the cheese haters (I am looking at you Dad): the cheddar is not necessary, but it does add the slightest hint of sharpness to the dough. If I didn't tell anyone there was cheese in the dough, they wouldn't know. I guess a dash of cayenne would work just as well and save some calories, but come on, it's sausages and dough. Pork+dough - cheddar = still a lot of calories per bite. Life is short, indulge.

To those of you tempted to go the Joy of Cooking road: don't. That would be a waste of calories.