watermelon margarita

I like a cocktail or two every now and then. D is an amateur mixer. He has come up with some good combinations, but, never wrote them down (I try not to say I told you so)...

I am a bit picky, and I have to know what goes in my drinks. I am not much of a fanatic to know every ingredient that goes into every "popular" cocktail, but, over the years, I have stuck with some favorites.

I love beer, not just any beer ... so, it is probably not a surprise that D & I are passionate home-brewers. A batch of imperial stout is aging in our basement as I write:)

Anyway, to cut a long story short, it was a long work week, an unusually warm Friday, and I had just come back from work, made dinner, then taken a long stroll to the park with my wee tot, so, I was aching for some restorative.

This watermelon margarita seemed like the perfect thing: "Amma's Juice" as my wee one likes to declare, and pretty close to the truth, actually; it has very little alcohol in it.

eggs, wyau , muttai, huevos...

Usually, "free-range" conjures up images of vast farm lands, fields, meadows where the animals roam free, do what they please, and possibly allow their human friends to share what they produce, like eggs, milk and so on.

Historically, the term "range" means, in addition to living outside and getting exercise, the animals are able to sustain themselves on the land on which they are living.

The more I read about de-beaking, confinement of hens, and termination of roosters who have no commercial value, the more terrible I feel about buying commercial eggs.

Birds raised in the United States for meat - mainly chickens and turkeys - may be sold as "range" if they have U.S. Department of Agriculture certified access to the outdoors. No other criteria, such as environmental quality, size of area, number of birds, or space per bird, are included in this term. [United Poultry Concerns (UPC)]

I don't eat meat, however I do cook chicken for D on and off. But I do cook eggs and eat eggs.

Of late, we have been getting our eggs from a colleague who raises a few hens and chickens. Just a handful. So, the egg supply is small. Maybe once a month we get a couple of dozen or so from this colleague, at a price slightly more expensive than supermarket, but, a price we are willing to pay, knowing that the hens are not mutilated or confined, and are fed good food.

Eventually, of course, they are probably going to be slaughtered and eaten. Such is the Cycle of Life. Food Chain. Whatever you want to call it.

However, the belief that free-range hens, when allowed to roam and peck at will, would produce tastier (and possibly healthier) eggs seems to have some validity: the farm fresh free range hen eggs I have cooked up seem to taste better to me than the commercial supermarket ones. They don't have the slightly unpleasant odor and after-taste that I call "eggy", despite D giving me a hard time about my coining of the term.

The eggs are not all the same size and same color either, which makes them very interesting. The eggs pictured above are anywhere from greenish gray, to brown to off-white, and varying in sizes.

While it is sadly, deplorably true that industrial poultry/meat production is not going to conform to any free-range standards, knowing the producer, and possibly remaining vegetarian can help make a difference...

pomplemousse

Over the last few years, I have become a big consumer of grapefruit.

The main attraction for me is the health benefits: low in sodium, high in potassium, high in pectin, high in beta carotene, high in lycopene, high in vitamin C among other things.

Plus, they provide enough bulk to aid bowel movement. (No, really, don't laugh: when on a good regimen of maintaining healthy weight, b.m. is quite important).

When i was little, i was introduced to grapefruit as orange's cousin, known locally as "bubbly-maas", which, i can only venture to guess, is an adaptation of the French word for grapefruit: pomplemousse.

Apparently the largest citrus fruit, the pummello (or pomelo) fruit pictured here is certainly a luxury for me at the price it is usually sold... but, i decided to splurge this time, knowing that one fruit would make a sumptuous meal for 2 adults and a toddler easily, with maybe a bite leftover for tomorrow's snack:)

Just for perspective, the little one next to the pummello in the picture is a regular grapefruit:-)

I had pummello for the first time in my life back in 2003. I love its mild flavor. But, I love its texture even more. There's a lot of white pith that need to be peeled away before getting to the good part, and it is worth the effort:-)

Dhatu-garbha

Last year, I accidentally came across Dagoba Dark Chocolate with Lavender and fell in love with it.

I am decidedly partial to dark chocolate.

I will try milk chocolate if it has an interesting flavor infused... but, I could easily pass, no regrets.

Anyway, they had some kind of raffle at D's work. He won a box of goodies with Dagoba chocolate bars, trail mix, coffee mug and such. To think that he was this close to getting a 3-month membership to Curves as the prize... Oh Well :)

Turns out the Dagoba bars were milk chocolate and I was about to release my claim to any portion of it when I spied one of them saying "Chai" on the wrapper. Hm. How could I resist?

The Chai flavored milk chocolate is certainly different from any I have tried before. It has a pronounced spiciness with ginger standing out, and some subtler flavors that I am not able to place easily.

What does "Dagoba" mean? Here's what they say:

Dagoba is a Sanskrit word for temple. Along with wise ancient cultures, we regard chocolate as a sacred food and wanted to impart that in the name. This was not chosen for religious reasons, as we are nondenominational.

The official definition is: "The Hemispherical Dome: The main mass of a stupa consists of a solid, hemispherical dome which early Buddhist refer to as a garbha ('womb' or 'container.') The stupa as a whole is called the 'dhatu-garbha.' Dhatu is Sanskrit for element.

'Dagoba,' is the short form of dhatu-garbha and the most usual designation of the stupa in Sri Lanka. This section of a stupa is an allusion to primordial, creative waters. In all the major cosmologies, life arose from the archetypal waters, a female symbol of formless potential. The dome represents the womb which issues all manifested existence and signifies this creative matrix."

Dhatu garbha I understand. Dagoba, I don't. But, who cares? Their dark chocolate is simply divine.

I should try talking D into making a trip down to Ashland to visit the Dagoba factory. Now, if I could plan it around Ashland Shakespeare Festival...

Chai is a many-splendored thing...

I like a good cup of Chai.
Brewed perfectly to taste.
Black tea.
With spices.
Milk and Sugar.
Chai is a pick-me-up.
Made without much pomp and splendor.
Just a simple cup to wash the blues away...

no fish go fish

Around D's birthday, my parents-in-law have made this little tradition of treating D and all of us to a meal to celebrate his birthday. D gets to pick the restaurant, preferably one we haven't been to so it would be exciting to try.

This time, D picked No Fish Go Fish in Hawthorne District. We've driven by it umpteen times, but never really ventured in for a meal. It is pretty cozy - probably seats about 25 at a time comfortably, including at the bar.

D and I rarely dine out. So, it is quite a treat for us.

When we were newlywed, we were on a shoestring budget and couldn't afford to eat out.

And then, when we started getting by comfortably, D got used to my cooking (and pampering), so, if we did go out, it was for the special ambience and socializing.

Then, after our wee one arrived, it has been tough to eat out with Baby in tow...

No Fish Go Fish was a very satisfying and good experience overall.

The sandwiches are fish-shaped, really cute. One gets to pick what goes in them - like spinach and feta or even dessert sandwich with chocolate and such.

Seeing the fish shaped sandwich has renewed my interest in the Hello Kitty Waffle Iron I've been eyeing. To make cutesy waffles/paninis for the wee tot. At least, that is my excuse if I end up buying it.

The soups are wonderful. Each of us ordered a different meal so we could taste it all. And it was pretty good we didn't want to share!

Wee one and I shared an Asian Bowl, and D had the coconut chicken and rice soup. Both were wonderful. I might make them for dinner one of these days...

I don't usually like to take a picture of the food at restaurants, assuming I remember to take my digital camera along. Eager to chow down, I barely remember my manners :-) So, I have no pictures of the yummy food we had. Besides, it feels like such a violation of trust if I take a picture and post it...

In addition to the meal, D got a huge toaster oven and bunch of fun kitchen tools as birthday gift.

Thanks Dad & DP! We really appreciate it.

Dammi tanti Baci

Perugina Baci, I mean...

Rolling-eyes, shaking-heads and tut-tutting notwithstanding, absolutely on an impulse, feeling very guilty about not getting anything significant to show my affection on Valentine's Day, I bought just a tiny box of Perugina Baci.

I love dark chocolate. And hazelnut.

And they say Do Unto Others...

So, I was feeling pretty happy with myself when I wrapped the said chocolates in dainty lilac organza to surprise D tomorrow...

But I couldn't wait till tomorrow. Valentine's Eve is just as good to share the love, I justified...

The first one I unwrapped to share with D said

Chez la femme tout est cœur, même la tête

in four different Romance languages. As if to emphasize the point.

It felt a little flat when I had D read it out loud to me:

"In women everything is heart, even the head."

And then he added helpfully: "It says here each serving has about 250 calories, more than half of it Fat calories."

D has this special knack to suck the helium out of my party balloon.

Happy Valentine's Day, All You Lovebirds!

I am sure Tomorrow is another day...

ketchup quest

Heinz, Hunt's, Store Brand, I have tried quite a spectrum of ketchup brands so far. I have been on a Ketchup Quest of sorts.

D made some pretty good ketchup last summer, using the tomatoes from our garden, some plain white vinegar, sugar, salt and a bouquet garni with his secret spices. He didn't can it and he made just small batches and we used them up. It was better than any of the store-bought corn syrup concoctions. But, I wanted a consistent, readily-available, affordable good ketchup.

I think I have found one: the other day, I wanted some ketchup with the scrambled eggs and just then remembered that we were completely out and started my tirade about how bad ketchup tastes most of the time and how just about all brands taste equally awful and that ketchup texture is slimy most of the time etc. when D quietly served up some ketchup for me magically out of a standard-looking ketchup bottle.

I didn't think twice about it and started eating, expecting to be disappointed anyway. Boy! What a difference! I liked the texture very much and the taste was pretty darn good - way better than other ketchup I had had till then - crisply fresh, not slimy, not too sweet, can taste the vinegar and spices more than the sweetness, plus it was a nice bright red, not a dull red. So, I was naturally curious.

D had bought this ketchup pictured above, just out of sheer disappointment with other popular brands we had tried. We hadn't tried this brand before and so he figured it was as good as any other and bought it.

Good Buy.

I think I have found at least one brand that more than meets my ketchup expectations. The ingredients list attests my view: organic tomato puree, organic sugar, organic white vinegar, salt, organic onion powder, organic spices.

Heinz ketchup ingredients: tomato concentrate, distilled vinegar, high fructose corn syrup, corn syrup, salt, spice, onion powder, natural flavoring

Pretty close match, but for the corn syrup part - i guess sugar makes a difference...

Now, some of my friends go crazy and look for exclusively organic products. I am not quite there, and don't see myself getting there in a hurry. And, just the fact that every ingredient is organic doesn't automatically make it superior-tasting in my book. But, this ketchup quest has reinforced my personal tastes: corn syrup, especially the hfcs, in foods is out for me. (Some studies show a direct relationship between increase in obesity and consumption of high fructose corn syrup).

Happy New Year!

I am usually not too stressed about January 1st as I sort of grew up celebrating New Year on Vishu per a different calendar that my family follows: the Malayalam/Tamil calendar.

This calendar is based on the sidereal year - i.e. the time taken for one revolution of the Earth around the sun - and is derived from an ancient form of solar calendar. My dad and mom know more about this than I do, so, I'll just leave it at that.

The Vishu, new year's day, usually falls in mid-April and the calendar consists of twelve months. Unlike the Gregorian calendar, the number of days in a given month can vary from year to year. Plus, some months may even have 32 days.

So, till mid-April, around Tax time, I don't have to stress about New Year resolutions! Yay!

D and I decided to take it easy today. We just played a game of Scrabble. He won. As usual. He always gets the X,J,V,Z,F and K. I am not sure how he manages that. Well, I am usually not terribly competitive when I play against him - I just play for fun.

Today it was particularly fun because this is the first time we played since our wee tot started recognizing some letters of the alphabet.

There she was sitting on her dad's lap and blurting out 'OO','A', 'SSS' and such, it was pretty cute. Not that it helped me much in taking advantage of the information she was passing along with such flourish...

Oh, and, we have tons of berries we picked over summer from local farms, frozen and waiting to be enjoyed in winter. So, we decided to make Strawberry Ice Cream at home with the Ice Cream/Sorbet/Yogurt maker my brother gifted us for Christmas.

Very simple wholesome recipe, but, we substituted heavy cream with half-and-half, and whole milk with 2%, and cut back on the sugar a bit, added a lot of strawberries. This sort of compromised the texture, but not the taste. Yummmm!

The little one couldn't have enough of it even after two helpings in her little baby bowl! Even though it is sort of "healthy" ice cream, we had to say "Bye Bye Ice Cream" as that sort of gets through to her these days: no more ice cream; it is gone for a while and won't be back until Amma (c'est moi) says so :-)

The Takahashi:Japanese Folk Restaurant

In my earlier post, the first time I visited The Takahashi, I couldn't stop raving about it.

Although the passion has mellowed a bit, I still can't seem to stop raving about it - just a tad.

The exterior so belies the interior that had I been the person I was, say, 10 years ago, I would've turned up my nose and walked away with a sneer and missed a wonderful food experience.

D sort of tries to keep me rooted, and I've changed a lot over the years. I easily lost the snooty elitist attitude. I feel I am a completely different and Free person now. Maybe Life does that to you. Or maybe Age does that to you. Not sure.

We've taken our wee tot there a few times and she seems to enjoy their soba with tofu and chicken don (well, chicken substituted with tofu) and their cabbage salad and their miso soup. She loves to hold on to the chopsticks. She tries to "eat" her miso soup with chopsticks: dip the chopsticks in the soup and suck on it!

The menu is sort of standard. Lots of Tempura. Lots of Sushi. They willingly substitute meat with tofu. It is not guaranteed vegetarian or vegan - but I have stopped worrying about it much. I still can't handle sea food... I am working on it.

Hopefully I will expand my palate and start enjoying sea food next year. Nah! I doubt it. It is more in the head than in the taste buds that I have a problem with certain foods/meats... That's OK.

FuBonn Supermarket

Every time I am shopping at FuBonn supermarket, I tell myself that I will go straight home and write about it.

It is probably almost a year since I first visited this wonderful asian market, and I realized I must at least mention it now... as I just got back from FuBonn supermarket shopping for supplies for Spring Rolls I made for appetizer tonight.

We live not too far from FuBonn Shopping Center; we've driven by when it was just beginning construction and were quite eager for it to open. When it opened, as expected, there were barely a couple of stores, the primary attraction being the FuBonn supermarket. There are quite a few stores now.

Unfortunately, as it so happened, the last several dozen times I've shopped there, I go armed with my list, pick up the stuff I need, and rush back home. I haven't had the chance to explore all the new stores there. Even the FuBonn supermarket has undiscovered treasures for me.

Hopefully, when I am there the next time with my shopping list, circumstances will so arrange themselves to allow me to shop around leisurely and I'll get to visit all the other stores...

my accidental GI experiment

I've been interested in Glycemic Index (GI) since I first found out about gestational diabetes when expecting my wee one to arrive.

On and off I dabbled with low GI foods, but, not enough to notice anything dramatically different. Like, I switched to basmati rice or brown rice, started eating more oats, reduced the intake of processed breakfast cereals etc., but, not very dutifully or consistently. (I do so love toasted oats and corn flakes).

But, yesterday, I think I might have hit upon something of a revelation of sorts.

Either that or a mighty big glitch in my system:

I like the breads at Great Harvest Bread Co., and have tried a few on and off. One of breads i like is the Dakota Bread - has a bunch of grains and seeds and such. Tastes good. I've had it for dinner once in a while... But, I have a few reservations about it - like, it goes dry after the first day of bringing it home, and it is hard to consume the whole loaf in a day as it is quite a dense sort of bread.

Anyway, yesterday, I had a fairly thick slice of Dakota bread for breakfast for the first time, and some coffee as usual (decaf). And to my surprise I did not feel hungry for the rest of the day till dinner time! I did have a few cups of herbal tea. Also had a cup of Hot Chocolate. But, that's it for the whole day. I wasn't famished like I usually am by the time I get home from work. I took my time to cook a simple meal to sup on.

Random Anomaly? I hope not...

I do think the Low GI Eating Habits might be a possible solution to explore in the long run for me.

Of course, wanting variety, and not always in the mood for breakfast while rushing out the door to get to work, I did not try the trick again today.

Note to self: Maybe sometime next week try to eat a slice of Dakota bread every morning to test this theory.

hwyl, gardd

Garden 2006

Finally, after a good 6 months, our vegetable and herb garden is laid to rest. All the plants are dug up, soil tilled a little, and a lot of compost piled up in the compost bin.

It was a good run this year - better than I expected. We just used compost, no pesticides, no fertilizers on the vegetable garden. We even thought about introducing some praying mantis and ladybugs in our garden to keep aphids and such in check. But, luckily this year, we didn't need to. All the plants survived fine, and yielded well.

Planting a bunch of peas first helped prep the bed for herb garden later. Also, thanks to the good prep work over late last winter and early spring, tilling and checking the soil composition and adding recommended natural items to balance the soil, the garden stayed quite healthy.

We had quite a few varieties of veggies and herbs and about 90% of them did well:

• Eggplants: calliopes, ichiban, black beauty, kamo
• Tomatoes: about 14 plants in all - some cherry, some grape, some super sweet, some purple, some yellow, some regular roma
• Chilies: superchilies (green turns red), balloon chilies (sort of shaped like a flower or a bell), serranos, thai chilies
• Capsicum (Bell Peppers): a couple of varieties, some turned yellow to red, others remained green
• Peas: a ton of peas early on, which prepared the bed for planting herbs mid-season
• cucumbers, zuccini, pumpkins
  
• Squash: butternut, sweetmeat, crookneck, summer squash
• Herbs: mint, cilantro, chives, lavender, shiso, rosemary
• Greens: tons of mesclun salad greens and spinach
• Onions: red
• Potatoes: regular, red and purple

It was a lot of fun to just look in the back yard and plan a simple menu all summer - like mint and spinach rice, baby eggplant curry, eggplant and tofu, smoked eggplant pachadi, sambal terong, mint chutney, green tomato dal, and plenty of salads.

I managed to stew a bunch of tomatoes and can them. Also, made some marinara sauce and canned them for this winter. It was quite a bit of an effort, but, I managed to make some Tomato Thokku (an Indian side, aka achar) and can them as well. Tomato Thokku mixed in with some cream cheese makes a great sandwich spread.

Hmmm.. What else? Oh, ya, the currant bush did well - my wee tot loved running to the backyard and picking the ripe currants and snacking on them. The blueberries and raspberries didn't yield much, but they are brand new, and we figured it will take a couple of years before we start seeing more.

And, of course, Rhubarb, how could I forget? We made a few pies with them, and I decided to get creative and made rhubarb sambar (unfortunately, no picture of it), which turned out surprisingly good.

Well, that's it I guess...

It has gotten pretty cold and wet here in the Pacific Northwest.

As my husband says, Hwyl tan flwydd nesa, gardd, or something like that...

The Takahashi

Passing by this unassuming restaurant every day, and noticing that most evenings its parking lot is bulging with customer parking, my curiosity kept mounting.

Finally, last Saturday evening, my husband and I walked by this restaurant to 'check it out': maybe go in and order something if we felt up to it; else, nothing lost, we could just walk back home and have dinner at home... after all the restaurant is about 5 mins walk from home.

We were there right at opening time; they don't really take reservations, and from what I have seen, seating might be an issue especially on Saturdays.

Gawd. What a pleasant surprise it was! The exterior and entrance definitely belies the nice ambience inside: there is seating at the bar, as well as at the tables. Japanese knick-knacks, toys and art work are fairly tastefully arranged all over. Plus, each table has an orgami art instruction and paper so we have something to do while we wait for the food. Our table had the warrior helmet.

And the food was unbelievable!

I am not particularly fond of sushi or sea food. Hence, I find my choices are limited when I go to japanese restaurants - primary reason why I love to cook.

But, The Takahashi here in SE Holgate seems to specialize in Tempura and they had enough and more on the menu for me to choose from. We wanted to order the King's Dinner on the last page of the menu, but, not knowing the portions and the quality of food we decided to try a few items from the menu at a time.

Here's what we ordered with some slight, and as we found out, quite misplaced skepticism:
Tempura: kabocha, eggplant, shiitake, tofu (need i say more?) served with sweet chili sauce and miso-soy sauce
Meal: miso soup, cucumber salad, cabbage salad, potato "stew", chicken don - rice with vegetables and chicken teriyaki, chicken skewers.

Each was, to me, 'as it should be':
Miso soup was just right, just hold the bowl in your hands and drink up.
cucumber salad had the right balance of flavors, anything more, it would have been cloying.
cabbage salad was smokey - quite a surprise - just seared cabbage, not mushy, quite crunchy - not raw, with some seared onions.
potato stew was more of a clear soup with floating potato chunks and peas - but it was perfectly spiced
rice with vegetables was just the thing - usually, i end up adding soy sauce or chili sauce to chomp the rice down, but, this time, i didn't need any condiments - everything they had put in before serving it to me was spot on.
and, i gathered from my husband's silent and focused munching with a contented look that the chicken teriyaki and skewers couldn't have been better.

And the prices are quite nominal.

I know I am already planning to go back at least once a week, if not more.

Moral of the story: Don't judge a book by its cover. Or, topically, Don't judge a restaurant by its exterior. Well, actually, more like ' Don't judge The Takahashi by its exterior'.

Summary:

• go early, seating might be a problem
• quite kid friendly, nice to go with family
• good food, plenty on the menu even for vegetarians
• nice ambience, nominal price
• lots of sushi, tempura with shrimp and what-not, for non-vegetarians

life's little luxuries

Sitting on my favorite rocking chair, holding a hot cup of perfectly brewed tea, the cozy lap quilt I made draped over me, an interesting book handy in case i feel the need for it, and absolute peace in the house but for the contented purr of my kitty... WAKE UP!!!

Yes, indeed. That was just a dream.

Life is just too hectic these days.

Nevertheless, a perfectly brewed cup of tea is one of life's little luxuries i'll always cherish.

When I am looking for a pick-me-up it has to be Oolong or Black tea with milk and sugar . But, when I want to just kick back, fondle the tea cup and take my time, I like White and Green teas straight-up brewed just-so.

What prompted this post, you ask?

Well, it was something I read here yesterday and the fact that I am longing for a day all to myself, where i am sitting on my favorite rocking chair, holding a hot cup of freshly brewed tea, the cozy lap quilt I made draped over me, an interesting book handy in case i feel the need for it, and absolute peace in the house but for the contented purr of my kitty. For real.

mire of sweetness

It was a hundred degree day. The kind of day that makes me want to lay back, maybe read a book and eat cool, simple foods; like cold potato salad, cole slaw, maybe some soy dogs and wash it all down with crisp, wheat beer.

But, it being so hot, I did not want to cook, so, I went to the nearest grocery store and got me a small tub of "Classic" Potato salad from their Deli section.

I was all set. Until, that is, I started reading the ingredients list on the tub of my potato salad.

Corn Syrup. High Fructose Corn Syrup.

In my potato salad?

Is nothing sacred anymore?