food + book + Frasier

Yes… I got another cookbook. This time it’s the Cafe Nervosa cookbook. Needless to say I got it because I’m a big fan of Frasier. I’ve always had a crush on Niles. He’s cute in so many ways. I suppose Fredrik kind of reminds me of Niles at times with his little spaz moments. They can be so annoying but so endearing.

The recipes in the book look pretty interesting. Cakes and muffins and sandwiches and quite a long list of drinks. Would be fun to get into the cooking.

Fredrik and I had tacos the other day for dinner. With him gone on tour, I’ve got a carton of sour cream. I just found a sour cream coffee cake in the book. I have only 1 egg. Think I’ll half the recipe and make a small cake. If it works out, I’ll bring it to my friend’s place tomorrow when I head over for coffee.

going AWOL

I started knitting using the Cabley Mitties pattern but after a few moments of “Whoa?!” I decided to just go off on my own, knitting by what makes sense to me. The mittens will still have a cable design. How it’s going to turn out will be a matter of “wait and see”. I just hope I can record what I did well enough to replicate it for the second mitten. Maybe I’ll just knit single mittens and just wear them mismatched.

I would’ve had at least 1 mitten today if I didn’t notice that the placement of the thumb hole is kinda sitting funny on the mitten.

See that bit of green? That’s where the thumb hole starts. See how it comes around to the front? That’s not supposed to happen.

So I’ve undone the mitten and hope to start again today.

Not bad for winging it.

candidates

So here are the 2 skeins of yarn that I have that have potential to become a pair of mittens.

I’m leaning towards Flamingo. Perhaps I’ll knit 2 pairs of mittens, a pair of each colour.

ready to knit

After waking up to a skein of my Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton next to my head and then finding another in the cats’ dry food bowl, I’ve decided that I’m ready to knit again. Ull’s been relocating my yarns. I think Milo’s got a hand in the relocating too.

Curse this inability to wear wool. So I’m gonna knit myself a pair of cotton mittens. I found a lovely pattern through Ravelry. Cabley Mitties they’re called. Here’s the designer’s site for those who don’t have a Ravelry account: http://allyc.wordpress.com/2007/12/23/mittie-pattern/

There are loads of wrist warmers that look delightful but I really don’t wear wrist warmers often enough to warrant having yet another pair of wrist warmers I don’t wear. I knitted myself a pair of Fetching wrist warmers a couple years ago using Blue Sky Alpacas Dyed Cotton, I think I’ve worn them only a handful of times. Perhaps it’s time to start wearing them more often.

my first risotto

The other night I decided to give risotto a try.

I’ve never made risotto before. I had my first risotto this year at our wedding potluck. Our friends Cesar and Ylva made a shrimp and peas risotto that was just awesome.

Not to toot my own horn but my first risotto was AWESOME.

I used Jamie Oliver’s instructions on making the base risotto. Followed it from his Cook with Jamie book. I used fish stock instead of chicken or vegetable stock. I was low on chicken bouillon and figured that fish aught to work. There’s peas, corn, leek and spinach in it. I didn’t use any cheese ’cause we have none.

http://www.jamieoliver.com/recipes/risotto/basic-risotto-recipe

You can add just about anything and about half a litre of stock to this basic risotto recipe.

I was also surprised by how easy it was.

It’s interesting how in North America, risotto is often thought of as “fancy” Italian. At least that’s the impression that I got. While in Italy, it’s considered as “fast food”.

The shrimp was just pan fried with some butter and loads of chopped garlic. Sometimes the best way to make something already delicious is to just make it as simple as possible.

I’m hoping that the forested area behind our future house will have loads of mushrooms. Fresh chanterelles would make and awesome mushroom risotto. I’m already drooling thinking about that.

something i’d like to do

Around Christmas time last year, we got a digital SLR. I’ve been using it from time to time but I know that I haven’t been using it to it’s full potential. I’m pretty sure it has to do with the fact that I don’t really know how to use it. I’d like to learn how to take better pictures. At the present moment, I’m just kind of pushing random buttons and when I get a good picture, it’s more of a fluke. Maybe when I have the time I can take some sort of class. We’ll see. I would really hate to see this camera go to waste.

oh yeah… london…

So I went to London on Sunday to see Fredrik’s band play. The show was fantastic. There were a few disappointments in my journey but for the most part, it was pretty good. May have something to do with being able to hang out with Fredrik.

I had planned to have dinner at Asakusa, a Japanese restaurant by the venue that served traditional and REAL Japanese food but they were closed on Sundays. I was actually surprised by the amount of shops closed on Sundays in London.

I ended up walking 1.2 MILES to Ikura for dinner. Their food was good but I was still disappointed because it was just a run of the mill Japanese restaurant. I was most disappointed because Ikura was a recommendation on Chow as an izakaya. I wanted izakaya food. I wanted chicken skins on a skewer and fish heads!

On the plane over to London, I made a list of things I wanted to eat while in London. The list included fish and chips, full English breakfast and fried chicken. I managed to eat it all despite my short visit (Fredrik and I flew home on Monday morning).

I got fish and chips from Crown Fish & Chips which wasn’t the best I’ve ever had but the fish was definitely fresh. Read my review at Tasty Fish & Chips.

After the show, I got some spicy fried chicken wings, chips and Ribena. Just the right kind of food for after a concert.

We had about 3 hours of waiting at Heathrow before our flight so we got breakfast at The Bridge Bar and Eating House. They apparently renovated the place since I was last there. I think I prefer the old cozy British pub atmosphere. Perhaps the next time they renovate it again, they’d name the place The Bridge Bar and Food Shack.

I got the Classic Full English Breakfast, 2 fried eggs, bacon, 1/2 tomato, mushroom and sausage. I forgot to take a picture of it before I started eating. Unfortunately it was only AFTER eating that we saw that the cafe across from the waiting hall that had baked beans in their breakfast. Perhaps that’s where I’ll get my full English breakfast next time in Heathrow.

Ever since Hong Kong, I’ve decided that I would buy food to bring on the plane. This is even more important when flying with SAS because they don’t even give complimentary nuts/pretzels and drink. I got myself a delicious Peking duck wrap from EAT. It could’ve gone without the mayo. It made me wish I had found out about it sooner. I could’ve eaten at least 4 of them while I was in London.

I’m hoping that Fredrik and I can go to London in the near future for a proper vacation. If I had a few more days to spend in England, I would’ve liked to add Jamaican food, a couple more helpings of fish and chips and Chinese food from Chinatown to my list.

soup for the sick

Fredrik is sick with the flu, so I made chicken noodle soup.

I used the whole chicken I had in the freezer. I defrosted it first in the fridge. Popped it in my cast aluminum pot with enough water to cover most of the chicken and some chopped celery, chopped onion and about 5 small carrots, chopped. Season with some black pepper corns, thyme and a couple bay leaves. Bring it down to a simmer when it comes to a boil.

I let it cook for at least 2 hours. The meat on the chicken should almost fall off the bone. Fish the chicken out and let it cool so you can pick and shred the meat without burning your fingers. I set mine out on the balcony in a covered bowl.

I reserved some of the shredded chicken ’cause I didn’t want to overload the soup with too much chicken. Chicken soup is about the soup. At least in my opinion.

I added a bit more than a cup of dried fusilli into the soup after it was brought back to a boil. I also added some more water since the pasta is dried.

I also decided to be a bit “adventurous” this time. I’ve read and heard that garlic is supposed to be good against colds and flu. Figured it wouldn’t hurt to add a few cloves of garlic. Well… a “few” ended up being about 6-7 cloves. Smashed them with the flat of the knife. It did turn out really good. It’s also REALLY garlicky.

The pasta continued to suck up the soup after it’s done cooking. The chicken soup ended up putting Chunky Soup’s chicken soup to shame.

This picture was taken before the pasta sucked up most of the soup.

We have enough soup to feed a small army. I’ve put away 2 large containers of soup into the freezer for later consumption. I’m thinking that I might turn 1 portion into a chicken chowder of sorts.

woo packages!

We came back from London this afternoon.

I came home to 2 pick up notices. My order from Amazon UK!

Sometime last week, I had a moment of weakness. I found out that Amazon UK was shipping not just books to Sweden and splurged a little. I probably shouldn’t have but I don’t regret it!

I got myself a copy of Martha Stewart’s Cookies, Cook with Jamie and Nigella Bites.

My favourite thing about Martha Stewart’s Cookies is the picture table of contents. There’s a picture of the cookie and the cookies are categorized by their characteristics. There’s not many cookie recipes missing from this book.

Cook with Jamie is super informative. I took a look at the book at Noel & Ryan’s. Thought it was great that he included things like tips on how to buy the best cut of meat. Sometimes grocery shopping can be a bit of a mystery. How do I know if the carrot I’m holding in my hand is the one I should be buying? I’m always worried that I picked the crappiest of the lot. Don’t ask.

Nigella Lawson is… well… I think she’s fabulous. I’ll admit that there have been more than 1 occasion where I watched her show to see her. She’s gorgeous in my eyes. The fact that she loves food and makes delicious foods just makes her even hotter. Her recipes are also pretty good. She makes food that I’m willing to eat. So far I’ve got 4 out of the 7 books she’s written. Hoping to get the rest of them at some point in time.

But the books are not all!

I got the Joseph Joseph nested bowl set!

It’s every bit as wonderful as I expected. I just LOVE it. It’s a wonderful addition to my kitchen. Think I’ll give it a test run sometime this week. Just need to decide on what I should make using it.

mmm fish and chips

There’s a girl living in Nova Scotia that I’ve been “conversing” with on Twitter. She writes about fish and chips at Tasty Fish & Chips.

I too am a big fan of fish and chips. The proper kind. Not the breaded kind you get in many places here in Sweden. Perhaps I can go on a fish and chips tour in Stockholm to find the best fish and chips establishment. I know for sure that I’m gonna try to get myself a helping of it this Sunday in London.

Well I’m gonna start contributing to Tasty Fish & Chips. Hopefully my writing will not disappoint.