New York City!

On Friday, I am going on a plane to New York City! I am very excited to go even though I have been there before. I love the food in the city because of its many flavors, varieties and colors. I can't wait! I will keep posting about where I have eaten and will post pictures of the food I am eating.

Popping Popping Everywhere!

So, the other day, my dad went to a movie-themed party and he got me the coolest cookbook ever. The big question is, "what is it." Have you ever heard of a book which specializes in popcorn?! This book, Popcorn by Patrick Evans-Hylton has everything popcorn. Did you know that in ancient times, popcorn was popped by placing corn kernels in a bowl with sand, and then putting that over a fire and heating it up? This book is filled with compelling facts and recipes which, if I say so myself, look astonishing. On the other hand, pomegranate popcorn is not that appetizing to me. There are 60 recipes that will satisfy everybody! I think that popcorn is an amazing food and can be transformed into a winter food, a summer food, or an everyday food. Certainly, I never heard of putting lavender in popcorn (although that could be good!). I really advise you to check out this book!

Cookie Swap

This year, I decided that I wanted to have a cookie swap. I have never done it before, but I am going to go at it and observe the results. I think that it is going to be really fun because, I am going to have some girlfriends over and they are each going to bring a batch of cookies. I will probably have each guest bring a different cookie because we don't want a lot of repeats. I guarantee you at least half of the guests will offer to bring chocolate chip cookies. Oh well! They are going to come over and we will have a tea sort of lunch. You know, the typical cream cheese and cucumber sandwiches. Not that typical here, but in England that is really popular. After this of course the main idea comes along which is swapping! I will provide containers for everybody and they can pick and choose whatever is to their liking. There will still be time left, so we will play a lot of games and just have girl fun. I really love this idea and I think that if you are bored, then you should plan a cookie swap. These are my guidelines, but feel free to mess around with them for your party!

Guidelines-
1) All cookies are homemade.
2) No cookie mixes, no-bakes, or bars. (Brownies are acceptable)
3) Please bring approximately 2 dozen cookies.
4) Email a copy of your recipe to me.
5) RSVP to me as soon as you can along with what type of cookie you are bringing. (We don't want to have a lot of repeats, or any!)

I want to make a recipe book for everybody so that is why I asked everyone to email me their recipe! Hope this turns out good. Wish me luck! I will post again to keep you updated.

Nutballs

When you see the name Nut Balls, it may not sound that appetizing to you, but trust me they are! Nut Balls actually have many different names. Some people call them Mexican Wedding Cookies. Others, call them Russian Teacakes. You can call them whatever you want, but basically, they are soft and powdery cookies with pecans that melt in your mouth. They are a really simple dessert to make and I am sure you will love them! Here's the recipe...

Nut Balls

Ingredients

1/2 pound butter

10 tablespoons confectioner's sugar

2 cups flour

2 cups chopped pecans

4 teaspoons vanilla

2 teaspoons water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Cream the butter and sugar well - remember the butter must be soft ( take out of the fridge several hours before making). Mix in the flour and then mix in the rest of the ingredients. Roll the dough into balls that are slightly smaller than golf balls. Put them on a cookie sheet (that is either greased with butter or lined with parchment paper). Bake for 20-25 minutes. When they come out of the oven - and you must be careful about this because the cookies are very hot - roll them in a bowl of additional confectioner's sugar. I usually pick them up off the tray with a large spoon and then throw them gently in the bowl of confectioner's sugar. I toss them around with the spoon and all of the sugar sticks to the cookie. Yum!!!

If you make these for friends that come over, I can almost guarantee that they will go "nuts" over them!!!

Necessary Napkins

The other day, when our family friends, Jim and Jamie, came over, they brought us a gift of 6 hand picked, cotton napkins. You may wonder, what is so special about a gift of cotton napkins? Well I'll tell you. These incredibly colorful napkins came from a store in San Luis Obispo, called Picking Daisies which specializes in selling napkins. The store is small, but they have a large selection of napkins. In fact, there over 50 different designs to choose from. Some are plain and some are mind-blowing! They have everything from stripes to paisleys. Some are seasonal and some are everyday, all are 100% cotton (which my mother tells me is a real good thing because they don't have to be ironed). My personal favorite is a very colorful one which has paisleys of all sizes. This store is owned by three sisters, Ann, Kay, and Dede, who sew these napkins. It is very sweet and their merchandise makes you feel at home. They also sell some place mats and cards. I know most of you reading this don't live in San Luis Obispo but go ahead and check out their website called www.pickingdaisiesinslo.com These make a great gift and they are reasonably priced. On top of everything, these napkins are green because you can use them over and over again which is better than using paper napkins which you have to throw away! I love these and I think you will too.

Joanne Weir, Someone I Admire

I am very fortunate to say that I am developing a relationship with an

amazing chef, Joanne Weir, who is not only a best-selling author, but has

had her own cooking show on PBS. Based in San Francisco, Joanne has

followers from everywhere, and I am one of them. For a school project, I

chose Joanne as someone who I admire and am inspired by. Here is my school

report...

Joanne Weir has a very compelling story to tell. She has led a very interesting life because she is a famous chef. She was inspired as a chef in many different ways. First off, she is a fourth generation chef. Her mom always loved to cook. She planned the menus at a private school. Her grandpa owned a beautiful big dairy farm called the Bryant Farm in the Berkshires. Her great grandma was the bread winner for the family since her husband had died at sea in a sailing accident. She had to feed the family so she went to work at restaurant at the turn of the century called Pilgrim’s Pantry.

Joanne’s fondest memory in the kitchen was when she was baking oatmeal raisin cookies with her mother. Instead of adding a teaspoon of baking soda, she put in a cup. Wow! As you can imagine, those cookies did not turn out as they were supposed to.

Over the years, Joanne has had cooking shows and has authored many cookbooks. She teaches a lot of cooking classes and has food tours. May I mention, she also has a fantastic blog -http://joanneweir.blogspot.com/.

In Joanne’s free time she likes to do a lot of things. She likes to hang out and cook for friends. She also likes to work on her blog, take photos, and watch movies. Along with that, she enjoys spending time in San Francisco. Most of all, she loves to travel! She has visited so many places it is hard to keep track of them all.

Now, Joanne Weir is a newlywed to Joe Ehrlich. They went on their honeymoon to Greece and it was beautiful. She lives in San Francisco with no pets.

If Joanne could have anything she wanted for dinner, it would be pretty tough to choose, but if she had to, she could do it. As an appetizer, she would have a delectable ravioli with ricotta, tomato, and basil as the filling. For the main course she would have spit roasted lamb with salsa verde. The side dishes would be potatoes with olive oil and rosemary along with string beans. For dessert there would be almond cake with roasted peaches inside and swiss buttercream.That’s the same cake she had when she got married!

Brownie Mania!

I love some good brownies every once in a while. So, when my Uncle Andrew called and asked me for a delicious brownie recipe, I thought of one of my mom's simple, yummy recipe's with chocolate chunks and pecans. Yesterday, my mom and I made them in the middle of the day and boy was there a lot of whisking. My arm was happy when we had finished. Have you ever felt like that? This recipe makes a chocolatey, dense square of wonder. I think my mom found it a long time ago on the back of a Nestle chocolate chip bag. It has since evolved and we now use, my favorite, Trader Joe's dark chocolate and fresh pecans. It is a straightfoward recipe that you can make all by hand. The only thing you may need is an adult's help with melting the butter.

Ingredients

3/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/3 cup butter

3/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons water

12 ounces dark chocolate (broken into pieces), divided in half

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts)

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.

First, mix the flour and baking soda together. Set that aside. Next, in a pot, combine the butter, sugar, and water. Mix that until all of the chunks of butter are melted and it just starts to boil. Turn the stove off and add half of the chocolate (6 ounces) to the mixture. Stir until all of the chocolate pieces have melted. Then, add the vanilla. That should turn into a thick chocolate mixture. Pour this mixture into a bowl and whisk the eggs in, one at a time, beating well after each egg. Then mix the dry ingredients in slowly; stir in remaining chocolate and nuts. Mix well! Pour that into a 9-inch buttered baking pan. Bake for 30-35 minutes. Be especially careful not to overbake as brownies will become dried out. Enjoy!!!!!

Grandma's Snack Mix

Sometimes when I come home from school, I am super hungry. Either I didn't have enough time to eat lunch, or I just ran around a lot in P.E. and worked up an appetite. Either way, I like my snacks. So, this one, that I guess I've been eating since I was a kid, is really easy. And, it tastes good!

Ingredients

1/2 cup walnuts

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup chocolate chips*

Mix all of the ingredients in a small bowl. Put equal amounts in a few cups (for indoor snacking) or bags (for outdoor snacking), and, snack away. It's a treat for everyone and you don't ever have to actually cook anything!

*It's especially good when you take a bar of dark chocolate (Trader Joe's has lots of good ones) and break it up into small pieces.

Bizarro Flavors of Ice Cream

Have you ever heard of broccoli ice cream? Well it exists. While it may seem weird and gross, there are other strange flavors that exist as well, that are even less appealing. Let' s start with corn. Corn is a regular vegetable which we often eat but, I don't think that anyone often eats corn ice cream! Crab ice cream is a Japanese concoction which is possibly the worst thing I have ever heard of! Ice cream and crab? Don't go. I think Chocolate ice cream is divine but add garlic and phew, not a good blend! Imagine if they had cactus ice cream! You know what, stop imagining! They actually have cactus ice cream. Now that is ridiculous. Flowers are wonderful in gardens, but not in ice cream. That is why I gasp at the absurdity of tulip ice cream! I find it simply amusing that someone has invented onion ice cream. I love the flavor of onions but its just not what I dream of when I am craving a cold, creamy ice cream cone on a hot summer day. Somehow people have managed to create soy sauce ice cream. That must have a very strong flavor to it! Even though I find these weird, different strokes for different folks! What is the weirdest ice cream flavor you have ever tried?

Healthy Lunch Ideas

I know that when I get packed peanut butter and jelly on whole wheat bread for lunch every day I am not satisfied. I like more exciting lunches like egg salad and watercress on a challah roll or chicken salad in a pita pocket. That is why I am going to give you a couple of lunch ideas.

1. I love italian food and so when this is what I have for lunch I am ecstatic.

4 bocconcini balls (mozzarella balls)

4 cherry tomatoes

1 piece of french bread

sliced cucumber

trail mix

Put the first two ingredients in a container, drizzle some olive oil on and then sprinkle with salt and pepper.

This is one of my favorites because you get to assemble and make your own lunch at school!

2. This is also an easy, but interesting lunch!

Turkey sandwich with lettuce, avocado, black pepper, and tomatoes

1 tangerine

Homemade tortilla chips*

Pecans and chocolate chips

*Preheat 350 degrees. Take 6 tortillas (flour or corn) and brush them lightly with olive oil. Sprinkle a little bit of salt on them too. Put them in the oven for 5 minutes. If they don't look ready give them another 5 minutes.

3. Really simple + really good = Fantastic

1 pita cut into quarters

4 tablespoons of hummus

1 bell pepper cut into slices

Apples and honey

Chocolate chunks with cashews and pretzels

These are some of my favorite recipes for lunch. You can improvise with these too!

Have you ever heard of a Mangosteen?

I am back from my trip and had a great time! The answers to the jumbles in the previous entry are, crumble, ricotta, and muffins. Now, back to my title question - Have you ever heard of a Mangosteen? Recently, while I was watching an episode of Chopped, one of my favorite shows to watch on the Food Network, the Mangosteen appeared as one of the assigned ingredients. In case you don't know, Chopped is a show that selects four contestants who have some sort of culinary talent to compete against each other by creating a meal using different assigned ingredients. One of those ingredients is typically unusual. This episode, it happened to be the Mangosteen. And no, it is not related to the Mango. The Mangosteen is a purple fruit, the size of a small apple, with a white inside. It is both sweet and tart. Instead of peeling Mangosteens, you crack them open, kind of like a coconut. Mangosteens are mainly grown in Southeast Asia (you are most likely to find them here in an Asian market). The only place that the Mangosteen is grown in the US is Hawaii. Believe it or not it is illegal for you to have a Mangosteen tree anywhere else in the US. Apparently, Mangosteen rinds can be used to cure bladder infections if you put them in tea. The rind has also been used as a cream for skin rashes.

Going Away!

Hi! Tomorrow I am going to Jackson Hole,Wyoming with my family for a week. We are going horseback riding, swimming, and doing lots of other fun activities! We are going to eat great food too (of course)! If I don't write a blog for those couple of days it means that I am really busy having fun! To keep you busy I have posted 3 food related word jumbles for you to work on!



rmebucl
tacrtio
fisfmun

Cashew Q&A

Did you ever wonder why you never see cashews sold in their shell? Well, recently, while I was reading one of my favorite trivia books, Amazing... But False!, by David Diefendorf, I learned why. Interestingly, cashews are the seeds that grow on the tip of the cashew apple which grows on trees in places like Brazil and India. The cashew seed is grown with a coating on the outside called cardol, which is an irritating and pungent oil. Because of this, humans can not remove the coating, so it has to be done by machines. After that, to be certain that there is no more cardol left, the cashews are roasted. If you would like to know more about cashews, check out this cool website, http://www.thenutfactory.com/kitchen/facts/facts-cashews.html.

Bananarama Bread Recipe

Here is a recipe for a sweet and decadent treat that includes bananas. Can you guess what it is? Yep. It's banana bread. I love this recipe because beginner chefs can make it mostly all by themselves. The only thing that requires help from a grown up is melting some butter and putting the bread in the oven (taking it out too). This recipe doesn't take a lot of time either. Actually, most recipes for "bread" use yeast but banana bread uses a different leavening agent. A leavening agent is a gas that causes dough to rise. Banana bread uses baking soda as its leavening agent. As a result, it is a quick bread and is baked as soon as the batter is mixed. By the way, national Banana Bread Day is February 23.


Bananarama Bread

3 bananas (ripe ones are the best)
1/4 cup or 4 tablespoons of melted butter
1 cup sugar
1 egg, beaten
1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 cup chocolate chips ( don't overdo or it'll taste too sweet)
1/2 cup walnut pieces (optional)


In addition to the ingredients listed above, here's what you will need to begin...

Measuring cups; 1 cup, 1/2 cup, 1/4 cup, 1 teaspoon

Mixing bowls; 1 large bowl, 2 medium sized bowls, 1 small bowl

1 masher

1 loaf pan


Let's make it easy, directions:

1. Have an adult preheat the oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Butter a loaf pan.

2. Take one of your medium sized bowls and mash the bananas in it until the bananas are mushy.

3. Put your dry ingredients (flour and baking soda) into another one of the medium sized bowls and mix together.

4. In the small bowl, beat the egg with a fork.

5. In your large bowl, stir the melted butter, the sugar and the egg together.

6. Pour the mashed bananas, and the dry ingredients into the butter, sugar and egg mixture. Incorporate it all together. Be careful not to overmix.

7. Add the chocolate chips and walnuts.

8. Finally, pour your mixture into the buttered loaf pan. If the bowl is too heavy for you to lift then use a measuring cup to scoop the batter out and into the loaf pan.

9. Bake for 55-60 minutes. Stick a toothpick into the center of the bread and if it comes out clean (no batter sticking to it), then your banana bread is ready!

Voila! You have successfully made banana bread.

My Beloved Daisy

In my last entry I mentioned my dog and how she would eat the pastry shell if given the chance. My dog's name is Daisy and she is a Labradoodle! She is the biggest food lover I know! We can call her the family vacuum cleaner because she will eat anything that falls on the floor. Some of her favorite things to eat include chicken, turkey dogs, parmesean cheese, Reggiano of course, and eggs, any style. I HEART DAISY!!!

Julia Child's Apple Tart

Remember how I told you that my mom and I were stepping up to the challenge of making one Julia Child Recipe from Mastering the Art of French Cooking? I am happy to report that we did it! We were going to a friend's house for a barbeque and we asked if we could bring the dessert. The hostess said yes and we set out to make the Apple Tart on page 635 - Tarte Aux Pommes.


We started with the pastry shell and that was pretty difficult! We found it tricky to roll out the chilled dough. When we removed the dough from the refrigerator, it was cold and hard, so it was somewhat difficult to roll out. It warmed up, and it began to roll out nicely. But, then, it started to get soft and sticky (yes, we sprinkled it with flour) and it stuck to the counter, making it extremely tricky to pick up, in one piece. ( this is when I started thinking about how I prefer to make fruit cobblers). Eventually, we finished rolling the dough, and somehow we managed to wrangle it into the tart pan (I don't know how we did it, but it was a miracle! Thankfully, it didn't fall onto the floor and end up in our dog's belly). We had our moments with it, and it had its moments with us, but, in the end we thought that our shell looked pretty nice and decent.


Our next step was to peel and cut the apples for the tart. After that, we made an apricot applesauce, by cooking the apples in a pot with other ingredients, including apricot preserves, sugar and some orange zest. It didn't take a long time and I found this to be the easiest part - we didn't have to mess with it to get it into the pan, like we did with the pastry shell.

Eventually, it came time for us to incorporate everything together. First we layered the applesauce on top of the partially baked tart shell. Then, we took the apple slices and carefully placed them, so that they overlapped in the form of three rings. We put it in the oven and we waited.


While that was baking we decided that if we didn't like the way it came out we would have to make another simple dessert since we were responsible for bringing dessert to our friends' house and we wanted it to taste good. We found a recipe for chocolate biscotti on David Liebovitz's blog and made that. But, that's another story!


Finally, it was time for the tart to come out! We took it out and OMG it looked beautiful!!!!!! Overall, I thought that it was a little too bland.

Julie and Julia

Last week, I saw the movie Julie and Julia with my mom, brother, and our good friend Charlotte. It is about well known chef, Julia Child and a woman named Julie Powell, who worshiped Julia. Julie challenged herself to make all 524 recipes in Julia Child's Mastering The Art Of French Cooking, within one year, and write a blog about her experiences. I don't know if you have ever actually seen a copy of the book - I have because my mom has one and let me tell you this is no easy task! It was a great movie overall. It was very entertaining and the characters were compelling. There were comical moments in the movie mixed with lots of cooking and scenes filled with mouth-watering food! What could be better? I was so inspired by the movie that I have challenged myself to make one recipe from Mastering The Art Of French Cooking and fortunately, my mom has agreed to help me! I decided on an Apple Tart or Tarte Aux Pommes as it is called in the book. Once we've made it I will tell you how it turns out!

p.s. If you decide to see this movie with your parents, here are 3 interesting facts about Julia that you might want to know before you go!

1. She was a famous chef, cookbook author and had her own television cooking shows.
2. She was always moving from place to place. Among the places she lived were California (where she was born), New York City, Washington D.C., Sri Lanka, China, France and Massachusetts.
3. Her cookbook, Mastering the Art of French Cooking, was first published in 1961 with 734 pages. It was a best-seller.

Super Silly Summer Smoothie Recipe!

I am a girl that loves fruit. I also love smoothies! So, when you put them together you get a fruit smoothie. My favorite thing to do is think up combinations for different fruit smoothies. One of my favorites is a banana and peach smoothie! I like my smoothies thick and creamy so it helps if you use frozen fruit. If you don’t like them thick then add more liquid because that creates a thinner base. Something fun that I like to do is to come home from camp and my mom and I will make a smoothie. Before my brother’s baseball games he sometimes will have a smoothie with protein powder in it.
Here is a recipe for a thick and creamy banana-peach smoothie!

Super Silly Summer Smoothie

Ingredients

½ cup yogurt (1 container)
3/4 cup of orange juice
1 banana
½ cup frozen peaches
2 ice cubes

Directions

Put everything in the blender and blend it all together. Give it a good 30 seconds and then pour into two glasses. Plop a straw into each glass and drink up!

Joanne Weir and Stella

On Saturday afternoon, I met with my mom's friend, renowned chef, Joanne Weir. We sat at a table outside of Pete's Coffee on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. We talked endlessly about cooking, recipes, restaurants and pretty much anything else you can think of that is associated with food. That's when she gave me the brilliant idea of starting my own blog. Here I plan to share recipes, techniques, restaurant reviews, and even food games! Follow me.