Cutie Patuties

Ok, everyone needs a bit of cheering, and what can be make you smile more than these kids (ok, maybe your own, but hello, send picture)?

Roast Chicken and Divine Brussel Sprouts and Furniture Rehab

So, it seems as though I'm totally obsessed with white furniture for my new place. This complete opposite of the green, pink and red haven that was my old place. Funnily enough, one of the ediors at Domino Magazine wrote about this very same experience in this month's issue (which I picked up because of the bright, happy, hot pink and green cover). She's going from what looks like a lot of purple to greige (gray-beige, which she said made her a bit sad... well, yeah). The couch, being a couch, is a main offender and it actually needs a lot of love. Now, I've looked at many couches online, in person, in magazines. I want a white slipcovered one...or a crazy pucci patterned one. Hmmmmmmmmm...

Anyway, in the midst of all the decorating drivel, last night, I discoverd THE most delish way to make brussel sprouts. First, you have to roast a chicken... Roast chicken rocks. It's easy, delicious and the leftovers can be used a million times over- sandwiches, quesadillas, soups, you name it. This is a great thing to do after work when you are tired.

Chicken and Brussel Sprouts

1 4 lb. chicken, preferably not fatty and not fed hormones
1 lemon, quartered
1 onion, quartered
herbes de provence or other herbs (thyme, rosemary, marjoram, any combo, fresh or dried)
brussel sprouts - a lb or so, trimmed and halved

Place the chicken in a 13" or so baking dish. Place the stuff in the bag (you know, from inside the chicken), around the chicken (obviously, take it out of the bag). Place herbs (and salt and pepper if you wish) in the chicken cavity, followed by quarters of lemon and onion and more herbs. Sprinke a few more herbs over the chicken and add salt and pepper if you are using it. Cover the baking dish with foil, making sure to seal it well. Bake at 300 for 20 mins per lb, or until nearly cooked. Carefully open the foil cover and discard most of the liquid- try to get out all the oily bits (you don't actually have to do this, but...). Throw the brussel sprouts around the chicken and stuff in the bag. Increase the temp to 350, cover the dish again, although not as tightly. Bake another 30 mins, then uncover and bake another 15. The chicken should be crispy outside and moist inside, and brussel sprouts should be meltingly soft and yummy.

Cars and Korean Buns

I hate being a stereotype, but sometimes I epitomize them. Take cars
for example. Last afternoon, while waiting for my Momofuku buns to
rise for the first time, I noticed that one of my tires was seriously
low. Possibly flat. I don't actually know the difference except for
flat is really bad and my AAA has been expired for a year. So I
googled, made calls. Nothing. So I walked to the neighborhood garage.
I had trouble formulating the question. At my normal garage, they are
accustomed to my human descriptions of my car's condition. It sounds
asthmatic. It feels as though it just ate a whole turkey for dinner.
The nice people at the garage said it was fine to drive the 4 blocks
in the morning. So here I am. Waiting for the verdict, with fauxmofuku
in the back seat.

Anyhoo, back to the buns. So two weeks ago, my baby brother, my sister
and I went to the famed Momofuku in NY. Oh, so, good. Turns out, the
recipe for their pork buns are online. I can totally do this, I
thought. So on Friday night, I began with the 12 hour or more brining
of the pork. The next morning, I baked it for 2 1/2 hours, then brown
for 30 mins. It was a disaster. Too salty. So I tried again on
Saturday night at around 11.30 with some tweaking. The meat was divine.

More later...

Sent from my iPhone

Clean Sheets aka New Sheets

We've all done it. Purchased in lieu of doing laundry - underwear,
towels, a shirt. I got some sheets, not because mine were dirty,
rather they are missing from the move.

So I found myself at the fancy Italian sheet store by magic. I've
purchased Italian sheets - in Italy and they're nothing like those in
this store. There was a sale.

"These will do you well," said the lovely shop woman, "just make sure
you don't use regular laundry detergent." Erm, waaaaaait, is this a
trick question? Apparently, for supremely sublime sheets, wash in
special linen detergent, dry until damp and finish drying on the line.

So today, I washed them and the rest if my laundry in aforementioned
special linen detergent and took them out while still damp. Apparently
it takes more than 2 hours for king size sheets to dry completely - especially
when you don't have a line to dry them on (please tell me WHO has a line?).
Which is why I now lie in damp sheets. That and the rather humid
weather is making for a rather moister than usual sleeping experience.

Anyhoo, the more complex laundry is why I couldn't finish my momofuku
pork buns tonight. Maybe tomorrow.

Sent from my iPhone

Deco Dilemmas and Turkey-Veggie Loaf Recipe

So I’m totally digging my new digs. It’s bright, sunny and airy (in part because all the windows are open, which might explain the whole waking in the middle of the night half frozen thing). However, the furniture and other items that worked perfectly in the bijoux loft barn appendage. Ok, so my mom says it looked like a “mobile home,” which might mean an actual mobile home or some sort of Winnebago. To be fair, she’s never been in either, and her idea of camping is staying at a Holiday Inn.

So the bijoux barn appendage was very overstuffed and comfortable, but I think that phase is over. But how to decorate? Now I want sleek and modern and tidy looking, yet much sleek, modern, tidy looking furniture seems so not comfortable. Perusing various decorating sites, mostly Domino magazine’s, reveal that white, white, white is a good way to go…especially when one has some otherwise bright furniture like, oh, a fuchsia and red chair.

Rita Konig, a Domino blogger, gave a good bit of advice in {frolic!}:
When you are decorating a room, think about how you want to use it.
Huh. Imagine that. So basically, my living room should just have, aside from the tv/dvd/cable/phone set up, a giant mattresses, a million pillows, and some lovely trays to eat dinner on. But seriously, it is SUCH sage advice.

Meanwhile, I’m going to share with you this fantastic turkey-veggie loaf I concocted for dinner. Actually, it is a vegetable-filled version of something my dad picked up at Dean & Deluca. The vegetables inject flavor and moisture to the loaf.

Terrific Turkey-Veggie Loaf

1 package ground turkey (about 1.25 lbs)
1 small onion
1 small zucchini*
1 small carrot (or several mini carrots)*
a handful of breadcrumbs or other starch
1 egg or egg substitute
1 tbsp or so Herbs de Provence, Italian seasoning, curry-cumin-cinnamon, or other flavor combo
kosher salt and pepper to taste

Grate or puree the onions and veggies. If you are using a blender, do them in small batches, chunky is ok. Mix everything in a bowl. Bake in a bread loaf-sized pan at 350 degrees or until done. Serve with more veggies and brown rice or couscous.

*Just use whatever vegetables you have on hand- raw or slightly cooked. It should be about a cup of pureed vegetables per 1.25 lbs of turkey.

**For a more exotic variation, do a mixture of spices like cumin, cinnamon, coriander, etc… and then throw in some raisins or nuts. Substitute lamb for the turkey and serve with couscous.

***You can also make a sexier loaf by glazing the entire thing with apricot or mango jelly or chutney à la D&D.

It's Around the Corner

"Love is around the corner," or so say my horoscope, a fortune cookie, a tarot card (twice), and one of those Dove chocolate wrappers. Today again, I went online and my covert tarot card-a-day reading said, quite literally, "love is around the corner." Well, it was not lurking around the corner today, as far as I could tell. I did run into some really cute dogs and picked up delicious local plums at the farmer's market.

Walking around the neighborhood - because I did move in between posts - there are lots of single people windows. Don't ask. It's the same as being at the grocery store and knowing who is a deux or solo.

Meanwhile, there are projects. I LOVE a project. Preferably an almost instant gratification one. This week, I've gone through searching for the perfect mid-century Danish chair, hunting down a Danish chest (I'm second in line if the person who has it on hold does not claim it), looking for good bookshelves, finding the running path in the neighborhood, and finding the best cupcake recipe- only I can't actually eat them...but I must know. Also, washing a muffin tin more than once on any given month generally cures one of ever wanting to use it again. Thus far, I've not progressed on any of them but have ordered some books on half.com . They were a good value though, for fluffy fiction. OH! And I found a recipe (two actually) for the pork buns from Momofuku. Yuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmm...

So the cupcake recipe obsession was brought about by my brother and sister, although I suspect it was mainly my brother. He just moved to NY and, when the family visited, he had a list of bakeries to go to. We sampled cupcakes. We walked in the heat and pouring rain and sought refuge in the airconditioned, sweet-treat, pastelicious bakeries of Manhattan. However, none of them were like knock your socks off. In fact, they were kind of dry. I know, right? And we went to the legends, supposedly. So I want to know if there is a recipe out there that is better... am looking for taste testers.