FOOD ON THE FOOD

Book Signing: My Berlin Kitchen

Luisa Weiss, blogger and creator of The Wednesday Chef, wrote a pretty little memoir called My Berlin Kitchen. It's about finding her place in the world after an upbringing defined by movement between Europe (Berlin, Italy) and the U.S. (Boston, New York). And, yeah, okay, it's also a love story. But I think we all know how I feel about love around here. Yuck!

I particularly enjoyed reading her descriptions of German holiday traditions, from roasted goose to doughnuts with a little, um, surprise! The recipes featured in the book are lovely and span the globe. I've already made her German yeasted plum cake, spicy Mexican meatballs, and Italian tomato bread soup, the latter of which is a completely amazing way to treat the last of this summer's fantastic tomatoes.

Fans of the book and blog will want to head down to the Harvard Book Store at 7 p.m. on Tuesday, October 2, where Luisa will be speaking and signing books.

A Feast for Bros

I'm too busy crumpling up my manuscript pages and flinging them in disgust to write a proper post, so here's something else. It's an actual e-mail exchange between Husband and one of his good friends, both of whom I'm quite sure have played their share of Dungeons & Dragons at one point or another.

For fans of George R.R. Martin, I offer you this:

8/30/12

R,

This is no jape. I saw your smallclothes, chased in gold and dagged with crimson velvet, upon a gelded destrier as he was eating a feast fit for the Merling King: river trout roasted in almond milk, stuffed with figs.  He was on his way to the Street of Silk.

Ser C


8/31/12

Ser,

As usual you are playing the fool, and you are undoubtedly festooned in the motley common to that of a court jester.  Will you not caper about like a softheaded numbwit for our amusement?

On the morrow I shall be dining on garlic-rubbed garron, spitted and roasted, with much grease popping in the fire. You, ser, shall be supping on a thin soup of carrot and onion, with nary a rasher of bacon to be found at the board.

I expect you'll be sotted in a Fleabottom brothel as usual, your manhood festering with pus and foul odors.

Lord R

Wow, Lord R is quite the charmer! I wonder who his lucky lady is?

Cool Shopping Bag

$15 at Russo's in Watertown, MA

Coleslaw: Deconstructing My Pulled Pork Sandwich

Now that you have my recipe for pulled pork, let's sliiiide that bun over and talk about the coleslaw. Because you're probably getting lots of cabbage in your CSA shares right about now. You know you are!

Husband loves coleslaw, specifically my coleslaw. It's one of the reasons he keeps me around. For my part, I put up with him because of his tremendous dishwashing skills and the fact that he eats my coleslaw. That's not something every guy likes, you know? Coleslaw and piles of dirty dishes? My prince!

Coleslaw (print-friendly version)

In reality, I eyeball all the measurements, and it comes out slightly differently each time but always good.

1 pound cabbage, red or green, cored, shredded
1 carrot, peeled, grated
1/2 small onion, finely chopped
1/2 cup mayo
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
Kosher salt
Lots and lots of freshly ground black pepper

Set the shredded cabbage in a colander set over a plate, and sprinkle it all over with about 1 teaspoon of kosher salt. Let it sit for an hour or two to wilt. The cabbage will become increasingly wet as it releases its liquid. I like to gently squeeze it dry a bit with a towel as I transfer it to a bowl, fistful by fistful. Having the veggies not be sopping wet helps the dressing cling better instead of sliding off into the bottom of the bowl. Squeeze the shredded carrot over the sink and then add to the cabbage.

In a small bowl, whisk the mayo with the vinegar. Add lots of black pepper, but hold off on the salt for now. You may not need much or any. Toss the vegetables with the dressing. Taste for seasoning and add more salt and pepper if necessary. Let chill in the refrigerator. Stir again just before serving.

Local Ingredients:
Cabbage, carrots: Waltham Fields Community Farm, Waltham, MA

Tuesday Tease: Scones

To everyone who volunteered to test a recipe in this final push to finish my book, thanks so much for coming to my tea party* **! I'll be in touch this week.

*Not to be confused with the Boston Tea Party, wherein you throw all of my desserts overboard into the harbor in the middle of the night.

**Not to be confused with the Tea Party political movement wherein you eat dessert and then throw immigrants out of the country in the middle of the night.

Just Another Day at the Office

My book deadline is 10/1. I still have umpteen recipes to develop and all kinds of shit to write over the next three weeks.

It's not brain surgery—I know that. Nobody's going to DIE if my cookbook doesn't come out awesome(ly?). Except maybe the copyeditor. And my pride. But it does need to get done or I don't get paid and it doesn't get published. You can't have a fantastic first half of the book and then all blank pages for the rest. Sooner or later, your editor is going to catch on no matter how many well-crafted diversions you create:

Editor: Can you send me your final manuscript file again? There's no text.

Me: Oh, crap! Did I send the wrong file? Here you go...

Editor: It's still a blank document.

Me: That's weird. When I open it, I see 103 neatly typed pages complete with recipes. What do you see?

Editor: One. Blank. Page.

Me: What version of Word do you have again?

Editor: The same version I had three months ago. Do we have to go through this every time?

Me: Maybe you should check to make sure your text color is set to black and not white?

Editor: ...

Soooooo, if anyone can test a recipe in the next two weeks, I would be immensely grateful!

Origami Danish

Turns out 3x3-inch sticky notes are a great way to practice folding Danish pastry shapes before you try it out on time-sensitive doughs. (Just don't get too carried away or you'll end up with a mouthful of paper cuts!)