FoodBuzz Festival 2011 in Review

Posted by Michelle on Nov 11, 2011 in Adventures, Featured | 12 comments

Whew! It’s been almost a whole week since I attended the FoodBuzz Festival in San Francisco! Since I live in the Bay Area, I figured I’d commute to the festival. On the upside, the festival’s venues were either accessible via transit or transportation was provided; on the downside, commuting was a major PITA, even with accessibility. Next time, I am totally making this a staycation for the family! The Hubs and The Little Empress can go buzz around Union Square while Mommy pigs out!

Friday was a fun day. Once I got on site and picked up my goodie bag, I got to meet and chat with some other bloggers. The food blog world is full of really fascinating people and I got to meet a bunch of them! FoodBuzz provided a shuttle bus to the reception at the Terra Gallery.Oh, there was so much good food to be had! The first part of the reception was hummus and hummus-based appetizers (sponsored by Sabra) along with a selection of local wines and beers. The second part of the reception was the dinner. Sadly, not many of my photos came out as well as I would have liked (even with color correction). But at least I have dessert?

FoodBuzzin’ around SF

Posted by Michelle on Nov 5, 2011 in Adventures, Personal | 3 comments

FoodBuzz Festival 2011

I just got back from the 3rd Annual FoodBuzz Festival in San Francisco! It’s still going on right now — according to the schedule, they should be in the middle of the big Gala dinner — but I’m so pooped from yesterday and today that I’ve just gone home. Posts coming up about the festival during the week but for now… sleep time! *zzzz*

So excited!

Posted by Michelle on Nov 3, 2011 in Adventures | 0 comments

I’m so excited!! I’ll be attending the 3rd annual FoodBuzz Festival this weekend in San Francisco! Yay for going to my very first blogging conference and it happens to be in my area… AND ABOUT FOOD!! I can’t wait! Expect lots of pictures and a recap starting on Sunday.

Breads of Panem: District 4

Posted by Michelle on Nov 3, 2011 in Breads of Panem, Featured | 2 comments

A few months back, my friend lent me The Hunger Games, the first novel in Suzanne Collins’ fantastic young adult trilogy. In a nutshell, The Hunger Games is set in a distant future, in a country called Panem, situated in what used to be known as North America. Years ago, there was a war between the Capitol and the 13 Districts of Panem, most of the Districts kept in poverty by the oppressive Capitol government. As punishment for the rebellion, very year, a boy and a girl between the ages of 12 and 18  in each District are selected through a lottery system to participate in the televised fight to the death. The trilogy The Hunger Games is the story of a girl named Katniss Everdeen who volunteered to become her District’s female Tribute when her younger sister’s name is pulled from the lottery.

I love dystopic science fiction and The Hunger Games really delivered a hell of a page turner. I literally could not put the books down! For a series called The Hunger Games, there’s a good amount of food described. And well, of course food always gets my attention so I figured I’d try my own hand at making some of it.

Breads of Panem

I decided to start a series featuring The Breads of Panem, featuring the different types of bread that are described throughout the story. Bread is symbolic throughout the story, from a form of sustenance to a symbol of the country itself. Each district has its own distinctive bread though not all the breads were described in detail. To lead off this series, I’ll start off with the bread that captured my imagination the most: District 4.

A salty, fish shaped loaf, tinted green with seaweed

Brown Butter Rum Chocolate Chip Cookies

Posted by Michelle on Oct 24, 2011 in Baking, Recipes | 1 comment

Brown Butter Rum Chocolate Chip Cookies

Yes, you read that correctly — browned butter rum. You see, I was going to make chocolate chip cookies from my favorite standby recipe — America’s Test Kitchen’s Chocolate Chip Cookies (subscription required for the ATK site; another adaptation here), in case you’re wondering — and I decided that I was going to be a bit rebellious.

First, I decided that since the original ATK Chocolate Chip Cookie recipe called for melted butter, I’d go a step further and brown it. Because, you know, there’s nothing that browned butter can’t make better, right?  (Except for maybe my fondness of double negatives.)

And then I figured since I like salted caramel so very much, I’d say hell to the standard baking wisdom to use unsalted butter and use salted butter. (Also? That’s what I have on hand at the moment. You use what you’ve got.)

And as I was in the midst of everything I discovered that I was out of vanilla. And I know from previous experience that a chocolate chip cookie without vanilla extract is a poor, sad thing indeed. Even with browned butter. Thinking quickly, I grabbed the nearest substitute I could think of. Dark rum. Cruzan Black Strap rum, to be specific.

Now I’ll be the first to admit that I’m not much of a drinker so I can’t comment on how this rum stacks up to other rums — though here’s a review by someone who knows what they’re talking about better than I do — I do rather like Cruzan Black Strap because it has this awesome aroma of molasses. It’s pretty heavenly.

Then I figured that I’d throw all caution to the wind and make the batter in a saucepan rather than in a bowl or mixer. I figure I needed to brown the butter over the flame anyway, so what’s the harm in making it in a large saucepan? As it turns out, the saucepan held on to heat far better than I gave it credit for (oops) so when I stirred in my chocolate chips, there was still enough latent heat to begin melting the chips. Not all the way, mind you, but I did have to work a little quickly.

But it wasn’t a disaster! The half-melted chips made for an impressive (to me) swirl of chocolate in each cookie.

Everything came together to make this pretty pretty heavenly, grown up cookie. The cookie itself is slightly savory and nutty, thanks to the salted brown butter with these great deep caramel taste. The cookies got rave reviews from my testers — both The Hubs ™ and Rainbow Dash, our roommate.  This may very well replace my usual cookie recipe.

Grocery Coupons — October 21, 2011

Posted by Michelle on Oct 21, 2011 in Savings | 0 comments

Pinching pennies? Print some coupons!

Going grocery shopping this weekend? Here’s an updated list of coupons available for you to print out before heading over to the store!

Here’s a few examples of what’s available:

50¢ off when you buy ONE BOX any flavor/variety Nature Valley® Granola Thins GET COUPON

$1.00 off when you buy ONE box of POST GREAT GRAINS Cereal GET COUPON

Buy 1 Barilla Pasta AND Buy 1 Barilla Sauce, Save $1.00. Expires 11/2/2011. One time use only. GET COUPON

Complete list of this week’s coupons after the jump. ENJOY!

Steel cut oatmeal

Posted by Michelle on Oct 21, 2011 in Breakfast | 0 comments

Oatmeal with brown sugar

Growing up, I took for granted that oatmeal came prepackaged in little packets with sugar. This was the only way I knew them as they were a staple quick breakfast before Mom would pack my sister and I up to go scurrying out the door before school. As an adult, I discovered steel cut oatmeal and had an epiphany. THIS was what oat porridge was supposed to taste like. The beautiful, hearty oatmeal with a nutty, whole grain fullness made me change the way I think about oatmeal.

A good bowl of steel cut oatmeal with just a touch of brown sugar or maple syrup is one of my favorite ways to start the day. Oatmeal is especially forgiving of being made days before and reheated before service. Since The Hubs ™ can’t stand oatmeal and The Little Empress also doesn’t seem to care for it, I don’t cook a lot of it at a time. I usually boil up a cup of steel cut oats on Sunday evening to pack away for quick weekday morning breakfasts.

Or at least, that was my grand plan. More often than not, my steel cut oats never came out quite the way I wanted them. I almost always burned the bottom of the pot of oats, no matter how gentle my simmer was.

One day, I got wise and figured that I’d simply cook my steel cut oats in my crock pot as so many other people had done. I remember being particularly smug a few weeks ago as I placed oats and water with a dash of salt into my crockpot to simmer away until breakfast the next morning. The next morning, unfortunately, ended up being a Monday of Mondays. A quick peek at my oats showed them perfectly cooked at 6:00AM but by 9:30AM (when I was able to sit down and eat), they had turned into wallpaper paste.

Damn.

A disappointed forum post later and someone suggested that I try cooking my oatmeal in a rice cooker. What a brilliant idea!! I have one of those fancy-pants Japanese rice cookers that can do everything but have your child and huzzah, it had a porridge setting! I was advised to use the porridge setting and a 1:3 ratio of oats to water.

Crossing my fingers next Monday morning, I put everything into the rice cooker, selected Porridge and pressed Start amidst our usual chaos.

About an hour and a half later, The Little Empress was safely at school and I was digging in to a delicious, perfectly cooked bowl of steel cut oatmeal. YUM!

Menu Plan Monday – October 17, 2011

Posted by Michelle on Oct 17, 2011 in Menu Plan | 2 comments

Menu Plan Monday - Hosted by OrgJunkie

This Week in Meals…

My grocery bill is still getting the hang of having three adults here full time to feed. On top of it all, The Little Empress seems to have (finally!!) discovered that food and in particular, protein, is indeed wonderful. Oh, my poor grocery bill. Time to start hitting those coupons a bit more heavily, I think!

Breakfasts & Lunch

We’re going light on the brekkies this week — we’re mostly looking at cereal in the morning, maybe some

Dinner

I went on a little Costco binge last week which resulted in a nice bit of meat — including bacon, ground beef and chicken — to fill the freezer. I still need to find a way to stretch it out some more but I think we’ll be okay.

• Monday – Omurice オムライス (chicken rice wrapped in an egg omelette)

• Tuesday – Panfried salted mackerel with steamed rice

• Wednesday – Grilled teriyaki chicken thighs

• Thursday – Hawai’ian style Loco Moco

• Friday - Homemade pizzas

• Saturday – Japanese style chicken curry rice

• Sunday – Leftover buffet

Have a great week!

This post is part of the Menu Plan Monday roundup at OrgJunkie.

Grocery Coupons – October 14, 2011

Posted by Michelle on Oct 14, 2011 in Coupons | 0 comments

Pinching pennies? Print some coupons!

Going grocery shopping this weekend? Here’s an updated list of coupons available for you to print out before heading over to the store!

Here’s a few examples of what’s available:

• 50¢ off when you buy TWO CUPS any flavor Yoplait® Greek yogurt
• $1.00 OFF 2 On any Minute® Rice Product with the purchase of any ONE (1) Mrs. Dash® Seasoning Blend
• PB Rolled Pie Crusts Save $.50
  Save $0.50 when you buy TWO packages of Pillsbury Rolled Refrigerated Pie Crusts.
• Sara Lee Iron Kids Save $.50
  Save $.50 on any one package of Sara Lee Iron Kids White Bread.

Complete coupon listing after the jump Happy shopping!

Yakisoba Dogs

Posted by Michelle on Oct 11, 2011 in Entree, Recipes | 0 comments

Yakisoba Dog

I’m a sucker for fusion food. So when I heard about Vancouver’s Japadog, I was instantly envious. If you’ve never heard of Japadog, please, let me enlighten you

(Or rather, let me embed a clip of  No Reservations in which Anthony Bourdain enlightens you on the awesomeness that is Japadog.)

So now we’re all on the same page: hot dog + Japanese toppings = awesomeness. And I wanted to try it for myself but alas, I am not such a superstar that I can just randomly board a plane to Vancouver to try one of these beauties.

My original plan was to recreate the mouthwatering and ever so popular terimayo dog but decided instead to go with sort of tribute dog in the form of a yakisoba topped dog. Because, well, carbs are absolutely delicious and panfried noodles as a hot dog topping couldn’t possibly be a bad thing, right?

So here’s my take on a Japadog-esque yakisoba dog, topped with yakisoba, okonomiyaki sauce, mayo, bonito flakes and aonori. It went over really well with my friends as part of a hot dog bar.