Gettin’ all Martha up in my parents’ kitchen

I’m more exhausted than usual after making a cake, because I made this particular cake at my parents’ house. Since I’m living with them, this is the first time I’ve baked anything in their abode, and I admit, I was having some serious moments–shock and awe–upon realising how unprepared my parents’ kitchen was for me.

It all started with these wild lemons my parents got from my Aunt Becky’s ranch. These warty-skinned wonders looked up at me from the basket my parents have them in, and they begged to be made into a tart. Well, I haven’t tried my amateur hand at tarts yet, so the lemons and I agreed upon a cake instead. I looked at the ingredients of an orange cake recipe I had (which I had altered to create this Glazed Orange Spice Cake), and determined the only things I needed to grab was some sour cream and powdered sugar.

So it was off to the nearby Oviedo Publix, which had a lovely NASCAR display, nicely flanked by cubes of Molson Ice or some other nasty equivalent. I picked up the missing ingredients, calling as I meandered the aisles to ask my father how many eggs we had (”We got five!”), then threaded my way past the soccer and lacrosse moms to the check-out aisle, whereupon I believe I creeped the manager bagging my groceries with my “Candy from Strangers” reusable shop bag I got from BlueQ.

Anyhoo, so I get back to my parents, and grab a couple of bumpy wild lemons to zest. However, there’s a problem: my parents do not own a zester. They neither own a grater. Wait, they *think* they own one of the two… so a search ensues. My mother discovers here angel food cake pan, along with a little hand juicer she bought at Publix, but no dice with the zester or a cheese grater. So, after a poor attempt to zest with a steak knife, I moved onto an apple peeler, which produced less than the 4 teaspoons of required zest in an uneven fashion. Oh well, no big deal, it’s good enough.

Then comes the time to measure the ingredients, and so ensues another hunt for measuring cups and spoons. After much, much digging, and some suggestions I outright refused, including what appeared to be the cup for cough syrup (”Well, that’s a teaspoon right there at the notch.”), Ma finally procures a set of measuring cups and a lone measuring spoon–1/2 teaspoon. Lucky for me, the recipe didn’t need anything measured in tablespoons, so I pressed on, considering the irony of the Bed, Bath & Beyond gift certificate I received this past Christmas, when maybe my parents should have picked up a set of measuring spoons with it instead. And a grater, or even more fancy, a microplane.

When it came time for the eggs, I opened up the fridge and, sure enough, there were five eggs. I only needed two, but there was, again, another problem: the eggs had a “Best before” date of January 25th. Folks, that was a month ago to the day.

So, I went back to Publix at around 8 pm, which is around the time most of the single men tend to do their Publix shopping, loading their carts and baskets with frozen foods and Molson Ice. I plunked in my basket eggs (”Best before March 30 ‘08″), measuring spoons and a grater.

After that, I didn’t run into any more problems, and the cake looks good. My ma’s been sticking her face in the cake since it’s been done, and I have to shoo her away, and I poured a lemon glaze over the top. I’ve got to say, it can be pretty exasperating baking and cooking in someone else’s kitchen. I remember the last time I had this much trouble, it was when I was baking biscuits at Mike George’s apartment. The poor man didn’t even have any knives, aside from his pocket knife that he offered, which I declined. I had to wait for Clark to come with a knife from his house so I could cut the dough into little squares for the biscuits.

To be fair, though, everyone’s kitchen is suited to them and how they make–or in some cases, just heat or reheat–food. My parents’ kitchen works for them for the most part, and that’s the important thing. I don’t plan on baking on a daily basis here, although I’m sure my mother would love it if I did.

So what does this wild lemon cake taste like? To be honest… I’m too tired to try it out right now. I took a photo on my digital camera of it post-glaze, and I’m about to cut it in half so that I can take a portion to my someone tomorrow. Of course, I have to relate my tale of guerrilla baking to him in order for there to be an understanding as to all that I went through to make this lemon cake.

I don’t think he reads my blog.

But, apparently, my Granny does! Hey, Granny!

Take-out Diary #1: Ethos

I’ve been wanting to try out Ethos, the sorta-new vegan place on Orange Ave near Antique Row and Lake Ivanhoe, since it was recommended to me by my friends Fran and Joe, as well as a random vegan guy who was at Redlight Redlight when I went there last (see Beer and Cupcakes entry). If vegetarian restaurants get me excited, vegan restaurants fascinate me, as I’m interested in seeing what one can make sans diary and eggs. I mean, I know it can be done, and can be done often, but I want to know if it can be done well.

So, en route to taking Hao to work today, we called up Ethos for take-out. We managed to park on the street with no problem, just as two young women were about to speed away on mopeds, and popped inside.

The interior of Ethos looks incredibly homey, with plenty of wood accents. The design could have just as well been suitable for a neighbourhood pub or even a solid, reliable apothecary. Vegan cookies and other pastries were in a glass case, looking mighty tempting as we waited for the woman doubling as a server and cashier to bring our food out from the back and ring us up. We first saw her carrying a large tray loaded with good-looking food as she headed out to an outside patio area I didn’t investigate while we were there. The wait to be rung up wasn’t long, as the food was ready and wrapped in eco-friendly take-away.

After dropping Hao off, I took my dish, the “Healthy Trio,” to my parents’ place in Oviedo for a late lunch. The description for my trio on Ethos’ online menu is “Black and green olive tapenade, homemade hummus, and tomato-mango salsa served with toasted bread, tortilla chips, and fresh seasonal veggies.” On the whole, I was very satisfied with what I had ordered. The tomato-mango salsa tasted more of cilantro than anything else, which isn’t bad considering I love cilantro, but I had expected more of a mango flavour. This very slight disappointment was more than made up for by the bread; it appeared to have been homemade, and I couldn’t figure out if it had olive bits or perhaps some other flavouring, but it was gorgeous with the olive tapenade. Carrots and celery were provided for dipping, although I’m not very fond of the latter, along with blue corn chips, which were great with the tapenade and the salsa.

Later on in the evening, I spoke with Hao, and asked him how he liked his Peanut Pasta Salad: “Rotini pasta, broccoli, red and green peppers, onions, and Thai basil, tossed in a mild peanut sauce and garnished with cucumber.” He wasn’t as fond of it as I was with my meal; “It was too dry.” Perhaps if there was more peanut sauce to spread around, it would have hit the spot, but sadly, the Peanut Pasta Salad missed its mark with Hao.

Next time, I hope to be able to eat in the restaurant, as opposed to taking food out, but if the need strikes, I know at least one item on the menu that’ll satisfy, which gives me reasonable expectations for the rest of the menu.

Peanut Butter Cuppage

Over the weekend I made these dead-easy peanut butter cups from a recipe out of my new copy of Everyday Food, a publication from Martha Stewart Omnimedia. Although “Martha Stewart Omnimedia” sounds creepy ominous, Everyday Food is a great little mag, and I’ve been a subscriber for a year now, and recipes like Easy Peanut Butter Cups really make it pay off. If you want to attempt the recipe, keep about four extra ounces of chocolate on hand; I had trouble with the chocolate sticking to the microwavable bowls I was using, and so I wound up nuking up more chocolate to melt in order to scoop ‘em over the peanut butter. Also, my cups wound up a little mottled, but I liked the look a bit better than that of the conventional Reese’s cup. I skipped the peanuts on top, too.

PS: I went onto MarthaStewart.com to look for the chocolate peanut butter cup recipe above, and the front page had this little feature on cupcakes… and the photo/decoration of the cupcakes make them look like breasts with nipples! Okay, the big red dot is a little off in colour, but I guess you can be the judge. In any case, I have a new idea for decorating cupcakes.

Open Source Food–oh, so sexy!

If you’ve perused my linkies, you will find a link to Open Source Food, which has recently been revamped by its amusing and talented yongfook (watch it–that last link might not be work-safe). It looked good before, and it looks great now.

For those of you who don’t know, Open Source Food is an excellent way to share recipes with the rest of the internet community, by photographing your dish du jour (or drink du jour) and posting its recipe for all to see, vote and comment upon. I was a fervent user for a little while, until I lost access to a digital camera. I’ve been vowing to add more recipes, including one for a recipe-less Filipino sweet that I make by instinct. You think I’m joking, but it’s true; I need to measure out the sugar and all as opposed to my normal means of preparation, the ever-so-sophisticated “dump-and-taste” method.

The Big Beef Recall

My father told me about this, as I’ve been kind of out of it lately, but right now the United States is in the midst of the largest beef recall in this nation’s history.  143 million pounds of beef is being recalled from California company Westland/Hallmark, which has a plant in nearby Polk county.

Interestingly, there are some shoulder-shrugs, as much of the meat has already been eaten, per this BBC News article.  But still, “downer” cattle–cows that are visibly sick or ill and therefore unable to walk themselves to down the line to slaughter–are at a higher risk of BSE, aka mad cow disease.  Should one diseased animal get into the meat grinder, the meat from such an animal could infect an untold amount of processed and packaged foods consumed in homes, restaurants and school lunches.

If you are curious as to what exactly the video shows, you can watch it here (I’m having difficulty with the code… or with WordPress), although you have to know the video depicts very graphic scenes, including animals being shoved with forklifts, shocked with electrical prods and blasted with high-pressure water.  It is wrong on two counts: one for being inhumane, and another for being in your food.  I agree with Wayne Pacelle, president of the US Humane Society, who stated, “A recall of this staggering scale proves that it’s past time for Congress and the USDA to strengthen our laws for the sake of people and animals.”

Interestingly, the good folks at GOOD Magazine released their new March/April issue with a surprisingly apt feature on the American beef industry.  You can see a related video on their website: Happy Meal.

Things are better with kalamansi power

My mother made my father pick kalamansi from their tree last week. The kalamansi, also known as the calamondin, is an awesome little citrus plant that is well-used in the Philippines for an assortment of home and health care activities. It’s used in cooking, skin care and also used as a remedy for a sore throat and cold, hence why my father was plopping several of these little guys in a small Office Depot bag for me on Superbowl Sunday.

Since Hao has unfortunately caught a bit of my cold, I took a big handful of kalamansi and mixed it with hot water and a wee bit of sugar to make a drink for him. It was something similar that my mother made for me once when I was sick in the Philippines on a trip we took back in ‘04. I think it really helped me out back then, and Hao doesn’t seem to be as sick as I was days ago–thank goodness.

Granted, Hao and I have different immune systems, and it could be something totally different, but I think kalamansi helped a good deal with its tart punch of vitamin C.

So give it a go the next time you have the sniffles. Tell my ma you’re sick, and she’ll go get my pop to pluck some kalamansi for you. Just don’t make the mistake of just popping one in your mouth like this guy on YouTube.   If you want to taste the flavour of the kalamansi, but don’t want to be sick to try it out, the Burnt Lumpia blog has an awesome pictorial entry on making a Kalamansi Granita.  Go make some, and I’ll try it out and tell you how you did.