Happy Birthday!

Happy birthday to me.

Today is my birthday.

Another year older. But not much wiser.

But that just means I can have my cake & eat it too.

This is the cake I made for myself. I plan to take it to work & share it with my co-workers. It'll be like 3rd grade all over again. If I feel so-inclined, I might pick up a package of Ninja Turtle napkins and a "Happy 8th Birthday!!!!!" card at Party City, too.

Since I'm a professional now, I guess I can stop buying grocery store cakes and continue to make my own.

This cake is a 2-layer yellow cake. The icing is a buttercream-cream cheese hybrid. I had a piece for breakfast this morning. It tastes pretty good.

Classic Yellow Cake
(2 9-inch cake pans OR 1 9X13 pan)

8 eggs
1 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla extract
3 1/2 cups sifted cake flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
4 sticks butter, room temperature and cut into pieces

In a medium bowl or large measuring cup, lightly combine the eggs, milk, and vanilla extract.

In the bowl of your electric mixer combine the dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder and salt) and mix on low speed for about 30 seconds or until blended. Add the butter and Mix on low speed until the butter pieces are pea-sized. Gradually add the egg mixture, in 3 additions, beating about 30 seconds after each addition to incorporate. Increase the mixer speed to medium and beat for about 2 minutes to aerate. Scrape down the sides of the bowl.

Divide the batter and pour into the prepared pans, smoothing the surface with an offset spatula. (Pans will be about half full.) Bake 25 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean and the cake springs back when pressed lightly in center.

Leave the cake in the pan to cool for about 10 minutes. Next, invert the caks onto a wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Buttercream

2 cup confectioner's sugar
16 oz. cream cheese, softened
10 oz butter, cold, cut in pieces
2 tsp vanilla extract

Beat cream cheese in mixing bowl until smooth. Gradually sprinkle in confectioner's sugar until incorporated. Add in the butter and vanilla extract last, beating well until smooth.

Birthday cake from dinner with friends

Earth Day 2009

Even though Earth Day was on April 22, Winston-Salem celebrated it a bit early last Saturday at Wake Forest. I helped out at the Slow Food booth but not before I went around to check out what food was being offered.

Let me just say, local food rocks.

First, Meridian Restaurant served up the Egyptian national dish, kushari. A blend of rice, lentils, chickpeas and macaroni, this simple dish totally hit the spot. I love northern Africa and all of its cuisine that I've tried and kushari is no different. I've only been to Morrocco and Tunisia but Egypt is definitely on my "to-do" list (right after Singapore & the Maldives)

Bread from Grateful Bread (hahaha) in High Point.

These ladies were so willing to pose. And willing to give me (multiple) samples of fried cauliflower with tomato chutney. Thank you!

Deep-fried cauliflower. Mmmm.

Next, were pupusas from Du Mexique. I'd never heard of this restaurant before this day and I wish I had. My friend Lucy extolls the greatness of this place on her blog & she is right: they are purveyors of some fine, fine Mexican food.

I stood in awe watching this young lady pat, mold and griddle the pupusas. She was fast.

I ate wayy too much. And I got a little suntan in the process.

Maybe I should have been eating these...

It's Chili In Here

I've been obsessed with hot dogs lately. Those and cupcakes, but that's another post for another time.

While my creation is no Kernel Kustard remake or the sliced goodness from Skippy's, I've got some good things going on in my tiny Ardmore kitchen.



Nothing beats store-bought french fries slathered with shredded cheddar & homemade chili.

Hot Dog Chili

1 lb 93% lean ground beef

1 medium onion, finely diced
2 Tbsp Chili powder
1/2 cup ketchup
2 tsp Worcestershire Sauce
1 cup low-sodium beef stock

Add the onion & beef to a medium skillet or saucepan. Brown ground beef and cook until onions are translucentt. Add beef stock and the remaining ingredients. Cook and stir until reduced by 1/3 and thick.

Cole Slaw

"I don't know who Cole is, but I sure do like his slaw."

[Col, of course, is from the Irish word for cabbage.]

4 cups shredded cabbage (red & green)
2 carrot, shredded
2/3 cup mayonnaise
2 Tbsp white vinegar
1/2 tsp sugar, or to taste
1/4 teaspoon salt, or to taste

Preparation:Toss cabbage in a large bowl with the carrots. In a bowl, whisk together the remaining ingredients. Pour the mixture over the cabbage and carrots and toss to coat thoroughly. Refrigerate until serving time.

Green Means 'Go'

Spring is here.


FINALLY.



I thought I was ready for it last year, I'm definitely ready this year. At the commencement of Spring last year, I'd just come back from a tour of Napa, Yosemite and Sequoia National Parks in California. I'd eaten amazing food and gotten a better sense of what I wanted to do with my culinary life. It's funny how a little getaway can rejuvenate your senses and center you, all at the same time.







This year, there has been no trip, but there has been a lot of reading, cooking looking and soul searching. I've always been an avid reader, but these days my shelves are filled with cookbooks instead of Golden Books.





You may or may not know, but I am a now a Board Member of my local Slow Food Chapter. I am privileged and slightly overwhelmed with the wealth of information that finds its way to my inbox each day. It takes me a few days to sort through the junk to get to the meat of which I am responsible: our Web Site and our blog. I'm still getting used to being a gatekeeper of so much information. And truth be told, HTML scares me a little. I keep that Dummies book at my bedside table.





So, my foray into becoming slow began last year during my Ice Cream, You Scream blogging event. I became hooked on the Farmers' Market and haven't been able to let go. My yearly findings came to a head when I was selected as part of Foodbuzz 24, 24, 24 for my Thanksgiving dinner. Being "slow" never tasted so good.





So my entire kitchen is slow. If it's not local, I have issue with how to incorporate exotic, unseasonal things into my cooking. The best I can do is look for a local company that sells such items and purchase from there.








So this brings me to what I've been waiting for all winter: a good, hearty salad.





I've been flush with greens from all over for weeks. I've got romaine, arugula, escarole, watercress, spinach, collards, turnips, beets, kale, chard and sorrel...just to name a few.





I've mixed them all in a plastic bin and grab a handful (or five) whenever I feel the need to make a salad. When the leaves start to look a little wilted, I'll just do what any good cook would do and cook them up.

Baby spinach, arugula & tatsoi with hard cooked egg, red onion, feta, bacon & sherry vinaigrette

Sherry Vinaigrette

This dressing is used on bitter greens, green beans, asparagus or on anything you'd like to put a walnut vinaigrette. Sherry vinegar with the addition of lemon juice in making a vinaigrette, is a great substitution for walnut oil. First, nut oils can be expensive. Second, yours truly is allergic. Remember the 3:1 ratio when it comes to making a vinaigrette into an emulsion and you can make any dressing with a little ingenuity.

1 shallot, minced (red onion will work, in a pinch)

squirt of mustard (1/4 tsp at most)

1 Tbsp sherry vinegar

1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice

1/4 cup vegetable oil

Salt & pepper to taste

Combine mustard, shallots and vinegar. Whisk in olive oil or stream in, using a blender or food processor. Use salt & pepper to season.

Chard, turnip greens, watercress, escarole, romaine & arugula with cumin & paprika

Mixed greens with cumin & paprika

adapted from Deborah Madison's Vegetarian Cooking For Everyone

Serves 6

12 cups mixed greens

4 large garlic cloves

1 cup chopped parsley

1 cup chopped cilantro

1 Tbsp olive oil

2 tsp paprika

2 tsp ground cumin

Discard any inedible parts of the greens, such as kale stems and tough ribs. Plunge the leaves into boiling salted water and cook until tender, 5 to 7 minutes. Drain, then chop into small pieces.
Pound the garlic with 1/2 teaspoon salt in a mortar until you have a rough paste, then work in the parsley and cilantro and pound them briefly to release their flavors. Add the paprika and cumin. (If you do not have a mortar and pestle, chop the garlic with the parsley and cilantro, then add the spices.)
Warm the oil in a wide skillet over medium heat with the garlic/herb mixture. As soon as it releases its flavor, when the oil has heated, add the greens. Cook, stirring frequently, until any extra moisture has evaporated. Serve.