Christening my kitchen

Maybe I'm getting a little ahead of myself by writing this post, given that I haven't closed, or gotten approved by a bank or any of the above, but last night, over a fantastic dinner of Tilapia Filets on a bed of Eggplant and Tahini, a semi Greek salad and this awesome Fava bean salad with peppers, onions and parsley, I started thinking about the first meal I want to cook and serve there.

----Shoot forward a few months...----

I closed. I moved in. I have an awesome kitchen. Now...the first thing I cooked was, I believe, bok choy. Damnit and I didn't even cook it. Fella did. But it was good. Oh, and I have a cat. A FOOD LOVING cat. A "I'm in your fridge eating your foodz" cat. Of course he loves food. He's a cat. It's a little difficult cooking when he is around, because he waits around the kitchen hoping you'll drop something or you will miraculously go blind or just pretend that he isn't eating off the counter like he is NOT supposed to do. Think he listens? Heck no...but that makes sense because he is MY food loving cat.

THGIN RACSO

That's "OSCAR" night backwards. That's cause there was a dinner party of sorts on Oscar night that I forgot to post about. That's because I didn't host it, Julie and Eric did. That's because, well, it's a long story. But, in the grand tradition of making a dish for every movie nominated, that's just what I did. This year, there seemed to be a lot of international representation, with Babel and Letters to Iwo Jima. There were some surprise nominees, like Forrest Whitaker, and little Abigail Breslin, who's like 10, or something.

I prepared most of the food in Rohit's kitchen- not the best kitchen, but a kitchen nonetheless.

And this year's nominees are:

The Departed: Boston Baked Bean Gratin
Little Miss Sunshine: Sunshine Lemon Cheesecake
Letters to Iwo Jima: Chicken Teriyaki
The Queen: Poully Fume, a French white wine
Babel: Cous cous (yes, a cop out, but shut up)

Julie made brownies, which I nominated under Marie Antoinette- you know, "Let them eat brownies"? Whatever- it works.

It was a quiet group, there were only a few of us and it wasn't black tie this year since it was a terribly icky night (snowed/rained throughout) and there were technical difficulties. But I'm glad I carried the tradition on once again. Next year, black tie. Next year, my new apartment. And next year, no best-picture-from-a-box.

We go together- like Olive Oil and Chocolate

One of the best parts about scouring and surfing the web is stumbling across peoples' blogs, who I knew from an earlier life, who I haven't seen or talked to in years and years. One such person- who shall remain nameless- has a lovely blog, from which I sometimes steal recipes and food ideas, only for the safe quarters of my tummy or for entertaining my friends. I stole one such recipe from her last weekend, when I made Olive Oil Chocolate Mousse. I know- why would anyone make such a ghastly concoction? But there is a wonderful saying in the language that my family speaks- called kanna ruchi, which translates to "tasting with the ear. Basically, it means that you hear something, you think it sounds gross, and therefore you miss out on many a yummy thing because of it. I hate the idea that I, a foodie, has kanna ruchi, ever. I'll draw the line on a few things:

1. horse
2. dog
3. any other creature that I've ridden or kept as a pet, except bunny, because sometimes rabbit is just that good
4. any live creature, other than shellfish
5. insects
6. genitalia

Anyway, back to Olive Oil Chocolate Mousse: very simple to make, very simple to keep, very very simple to eat. I made two portions, one for me and one for my mommy, which we consumed after a late night out at a wine bar. I ate too much of mine and ended up feeling like I drank a straight vat of olive oil the next morning, but I soaked it up when I ate some bread. Yes, bread and olive oil are a good combination too. I used some of the really good Olive Oil that Rohit found at Fairway, but also used up what was in the canister by the stove, which I have a feeling wasn't nearly as good as the Spanish stuff that we pretty much inhale when it's spread on a plate.

I love the taste of salty and sweet together, which is precisely what this is. But it's funny because many people go on Olive Oil tastings, much like wine tastings so I am sure had I used all of the good Spanish stuff, the dessert would have tasted rather different.

Here's the recipe. And don't do kanna ruchi:

2 large eggs, separated
3 ounces baker's chocolate- I think I used a little more and I used 90% of Lindt chocholate
10 tsp sugar
6 tsp olive oil- I recommend using a really good extra virgin one

1. Melt chocolate with the olive oil in a double boiler
2. Beat egg yolks with 7 tsp sugar until light. Temper the egg mixture with a TB of hot chocolate & olive oil, mixing thoroughly, then add in the rest, mixing constantly
3. Beat egg whites until soft peaks form. Add remaining sugar, whisking until stiff
5. Fold whites into chocolate mixture thoroughly but try not to totally deflate it.
6. Distribute into small little ramekins (this should make 2 servings) and refrigerate.
7. Even if you want more, try not to eat all of it in one sitting- it's really rich!

Restaurant madness

There has been a considerable amount of eating out this year already. And it's only April. You ask how I gained back all that flub since the marathon? Well, restaurants, among many other reasons, most of them including chocolate and wine, are to blame. Here is a sampling of the restaurants I ate at. I'll only comment on the ones that are "worth it."

In no particular order:
- Lure
- Tabla x
- Morimoto
- Telepan
- Varietal
- Iron Chef House
- Sushi D
- Ici
- June
- Sushi A Go Go
- Alta
- Elmo
- Brgr
- 44 1/2

Gnocchi

I know, I've already posted about Gnocchi. But Rohit and I made it together one night, which turned out to be a little bit of work for a lot of pay off. Firstly, the recipe we used was perfect, leaving us supremely satisfied, rather than disgustingly overstuffed and unhappy. Secondly, it was a group effort, we both had our hands in there, rolling out gnocchi and plopping it in the boiling water, so we really felt like we accomplished it together. And using his tiny little bachelor food processor was most of the fun, because honestly, between you and me, it's just a coffee grinder or nut grinder, but we managed to make a decent amount of pesto in it, so there.

Happy New Year (again) but Kinda Late

This year's New Year's function was set back kinda late. I was in India until pretty far into January, so the festivities weren't held until January 26. I know, kinda late, but it's never too late to have a lot of red wine, and Spanish tapas. Last year's theme was Italian feast and this one was Spanish Tapas. Yummo. Of course I had to hold it on the coldest night of the year, when our beautiful brownstone, as charming as it is, still does not have double paned windows and there are drafts and cracks everywhere- bottom line, the house was FRIGID.

Rohit- the latest and greatest fella in my life (which sounds so flip, but this blog isn't about hurting feelings, it's about talking about FOOD, darn it!) helped me prepare all of the wonderful dishes that we created for the evening. My cousin Shweta was put to work creating the seafood paella, which turned out to be a fantastic feast. She cooked a ton of rice, we chopped in tons of chorizo and lots of mini scallops, the rice turned yellow like it was supposed to from all the saffron and it was so yummy and comforting.

The tapas we made were:
- Spanish meatballs
- Ajillo mushrooms
- Red onion and orange salad
- Spanish omelette

Rohit was in charge of a lot of it because he is very calm, cool and manages to make everything "work" perfectly, like getting the omelette to slide perfectly out of the cast iron pan and onto a plate where we covered it up and served it cold.

I made a flourless chocolate and orange cake, which was a complete hit, especially when certain somebodies ate it with the sharpest knife we own looking like a big man. There was a lot of wine, a lot of wine. Lots of bubbly, too, since you have to have that. Freixenet is the best vino- cheep and cheerful, but not cheap tasting. It's a great party wine.

Rohit also brought lots of wonderful Spanish cheeses from the wonderful Fairway and cold cuts, like serrano ham and proscuitto, even though that's Italian (ssh, don't tell- we won't!) It was a fun evening, but it was a different vibe than last year, when everyone was feeling warm, fuzzy and slightly tipsy. This year, I felt like people wanted to eat and bolt, except for the fun people who stayed until the very end- amigos, you know who you are. I wonder what the theme will be next year- in my new apartment!!!