easter sunday

i dragged my slightly sick self out of bed to go to the hollywood farmers market.... went to the atm to deposit a check and get some cash which so happens to be the location of my city's sunday farmers market... well it was empty, so i automatically assumed the hollywood market was closed as well for easter or at least running on empty vendors... WHY?  finally, when i decide to go..

well, maybe next weekend, although next weekend, i plan on seeing thomas keller @ the festival of books, so i doubt i'll be able to make it...

and so today, im sitting @ home, i want to make coconut cupcakes, no cream cheese or buttermilk... i want to make molasses cookies, no ginger (what happened to my ground ginger?), tiramisu?  even worse.  everything i want to make, im lacking something... and so, i sit here... nothing to do..

who are u? julia child?

so i've always loved to cook, but i haven't been cooking a lot or not cooking that i want to do because i was in the biggest loser contest at work... so i think i'm making up for it these past couple weeks now that the competition is over, so my coworker asked, "what is going on with you?  who are you?  julia child?"  but its just im trying to make up for 3 months of non-cooking and baking...

i switched to the small csa box the last two weeks and there just isn't that much variety... the produce is still awesome, but the box is so much smaller.  i definitely don't have enough fruits to last me through the week, but i still go to the farmers market, so im okay with supplementing.

this week's box included carrots, sweet potatoes, zucchinis, gold nugget mandarins, strawberries, romaine, avocado, and broccoli.  i've never cooked sweet potatoes before and zucchini is fairly new to me.  and never cooked and fairly new to me is why i love the whole csa concept

i did make sweet potato oven fries last night when i made my favorite roast chicken, the zuni roast chicken, i've made the zuni roast chicken at least a hundred times, but this time, the skin on my chicken was amazing!  this is the first time im using a pasture raised chicken and not some commercial industrial raised bird... what a difference it made in my bird, it was always amazing, but i never had such amazing skin... it could also be experience.  although i did realize my fairly new silicone pot holders do not work well with a cast iron skillet in a 475` oven, i think the handle burns through the silicone a bit as i was having a bit of trouble or i've lost some muscle and can't manage to lift a cast iron skillet with a chicken out of the oven, but i'm thinking the handle was really hot so i was having some issues..

i ate all my oven baked sweet potato fries waiting for the chicken to finish, but that's okay.. the fries never made the plate, i ate right off the baking sheet...

i tried my hand at macarons, black sesame macarons to be exact, i ran into a few issues and i don't think it is picture worthy, but this is my journey, so maybe i'll be able to improve on them... 

i made my own almond meal, well i didn't want to overgrind so it got stuck in my piping bag tip since i only have a few tips and the tip i was using was a very small writing tip... i pulled off the tip eventually and just blobbed it down onto the parchment... can i add, i've rarely used a piping bag and this was my first time at making meringues... okay enough with the excuses... not exactly the prettiest little things, but hey, it was my first time

i had the most awesome texture of the cookie/meringue part... crispy on the outside that separated and gooey on the inside... the only issue was my filling was off and way too sweet, i even my coworker who grew up in europe try it and he agreed i got the texture right, my filling was too sweet... i think the cookie/meringue part is the hardest, so im super excited that the first time, i didn't do so bad

i will keep practicing and keep searching for some good macarons in the area so that i can do some research =)

love for ad hoc

i'm in love with thomas keller's ad hoc at home since the day it came out.  This one is for the home cook.  The recipes in french laundry just aren't recipes that i would make at home.  I don't own it, but I did check it out at the library a few years ago and it was more food porn than anything for me.  i should revisit it again... i also have not had a chance other than thumbing through bouchon at the bookstore, this is definitely a book i should look at soon.  anyways, i instantly fell in love with ad hoc at home and had to have it... i highly recommend this cookbook for anyone wanting to cook great tasting classic homestyle food thats sophisticated and laid back and not high maintenance (if that makes any sense at all). 

everyone raves about the buttermilk fried chicken, i have yet to try it, i need to do some planning for this fried chicken as you have to brine it... everytime i flip through this cookbook, i want to make the fried chicken; however, you have to brine it, and i need dinner now... i have tried several recipes from this book and actually want to cook the entire book, maybe that will be a future project... 

i had this awesome chicken breast that i picked up from the farmers market and needed something great... i flipped through a few books for ideas and decided to try my hand at the sauteed chicken breasts with tarragon last night and fell in love.. its basically sauteed chicken breast with curry and paprika in a tarragon butter sauce, curry and tarragon? really?  yes really, and its phenomenal.... the sauce was amazing and worked really nice with the chicken... the nutty flavor of the butter and the curry worked really well together, it was such a simple way to bring great flavor into something as simple as sauteed chicken breast.. i did have this fantastic piece of chicken breast.  i served it alongside a swiss chard with balsamic and a romaine lettuce with goat cheese that i dressed with some of the tarragon sauce as well.  the romaine and the swiss chard were part of my csa box and needed to be used up as they were showing signs of age

sauteed chicken breasts with tarragon

adapted from thomas keller's ad hoc at home

1 teaspoon smoked paprika

1 teaspoon curry powder

1 large chicken breast, skin on, split into two pieces

kosher salt

canola oil

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/4 cup dry white wine

1 cup chicken stock

3/4 tablespoon dried tarragon

freshly ground pepper

mix together smoked paprika and curry powder in a small bowl.  season the chicken breasts on both sides with the mixture.  cover and refrigerate for 2 hours or overnight. 

pound chicken to 1/4 inch thick.

preheat oven to 200`.  season the chicken on both sides with salt  heat a large frying pan on medium high heat with oil.  add chicken and cook for 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until chicken is fully cooked.  transfer to a wire rack set on a half sheet pan and keep warm in the oven.  

melt 1 tablespoon butter over medium high heat.  add in the wine and reduce down by half.  add chicken stock, bring to a boil, and cook until slightly reduced and thickened, about 2 minutes.  stir in the tarragon and remaining 2 tablespoons butter.  add any juices that have accumulated on the half sheet pan (in my case, almost nothing).  season to taste with salt and pepper (i didn't add any salt as the chicken broth was just right). 

serve chicken and pour sauce over it.  

i did bring the the other half of the chicken breast into work for lunch today and it didn't taste nearly as good, probably because i poured the sauce over the chicken in my tupperware the night before, i think most of it was absorbed by the chicken; therefore, it wasn't as flavorful as it was for dinner, but still yummy.  i think the  swiss chard i brought for lunch absorbed some of the butter... the chicken needed more sauce, but my swiss chard was definitely nutty goodness.  

i did find out thomas keller will be at the festival of books in a few weeks at usc, sunday, may 1 at 12:30pm.  would it be silly of me to bring my book and see if he will sign it?  i know its not a book signing, but i missed the williams sonoma signing he did when the book was released, why?  because i was responsible and went to work; however, i did really want to go.  i also do want to go and see noelle carter, an LA Times food writer  talk about her favorite cookbooks... i'm excited because every year i think about going, i always wanted to go and see what its all about, but no one really excites me to push me to go, plus it was always a bit of a drive for me, and this year thomas keller will be there and its close to my house, its free, so yay!

i realize....

i am an awful blogger... i had great ambitions for this blog and i've failed... i've been extremely busy @ work and with life....

i was in a weight loss competition @ work, so my evenings have been a little tight, i started out at 130.9 lbs, lost 24.9% in 3 months and won 1st place GOO ME!, i paid $50 to enter, and won $800... everyone in the competition worked really hard and lost so much weight, congratulations to everyone... this started out as me trying to lose weight, then i shifted towards sustainable local eating and learning more about my community and informing myself about commercial produce and meat/poultry production which has been a great step in the right direction

i ended up doing 84 bikram classes in 88 days, i feel fantastic, and i am extremely proud of myself... i went to visit my family and so that's where i stopped and then i had a business trip...and life just got in the way... but i will begin fresh with no goal in mind, other than to do bikram yoga because i love it 

i joined a CSA as you know, i LOVE the stuff I have been getting and its been great... i did take pictures but won't back track, hopefully in the future there will be posts and pictures of the produce and what i made with it

i discovered the south pasadena farmers market recently... okay i knew about this market and have wanted to go forever... its thursday afternoon/evenings and it always slips my mind on the way home from work... its right there from my home and i can't believe it took me this long... i also regularly go to the atwater village farmers market; however, after talking to someone @ slow food la, they recommended i make the drive to the hollywood farmers market sunday mornings to meet my meat/poultry needs... i might head out that way tomorrow 

artisanal LA was awesome, its actually today and tomorrow...and i am so stuffed with sugar and goodies and managed to put a nice dent in my pocketbook but it was so worth it... i sat thru the farmers market seminar as well as the urban homesteading seminar and i wish i owned property or rented a single family home so that i can raise chickens!  yes chickens!  perhaps i can convince someone to raise chickens on their property... 

they had so many vendors and i am sooo excited i got took part of it... its a great experience and i can't wait for the next one... 

my bounty included candied bacon couch (trail) mix, goat cheese, blood orange vanilla jam, white peach balsamic vinegar, rosemary almond toffee, creme brulee/coffee/pistachio macarons, lemon meringue & caramel marshmallows, california olive oil, truffle salami, feta dill scallion planchita, another salami, olive oil, peanut butter & caramel s'more s'muffins

events like this make me want to quit my job and really get into this industry... doing what?  i don't know, but im talking the "eating" industry, whether manage farmers markets, planning for a small sustainable local company, start my own restaurant, kitchen supply store, whatever it may be... just this industry... don't get me wrong, i love my job, but i don't care for the industry i work in...it just doesn't interest me.. but at least i do love what i do...