me and my food

I met Molly Yeh! It was like a gateway into my new SF reality of events and opportunities at my doorstep. Gosh, she was just the cutest, most expressive storyteller. Can I just like.. be your best friend? I'm pretty sure her meet cute is my fantasy meet cute, and she made me so nostalgic for the idyllic Midwestern farm life I never actually lived. And her story about cookie salad reminded me of the Eriksens in How I Met Your Mother.

getting antsy

[incomplete] Top Chef dumpling challenge list

klopse - germany - veal, pork, capers, cream sauce, mashed potatoes

fufu - ghana -

mandu - korea - pork, tofu, shiitake, with kimchi

takoyaki - japan -

manti - kazakhstan - lamb, mint, dates, curry, cinnamon

szilvas gomboc - hungary - plum and cinnamon in potato pastry

pierogi - poland - veal, pork, gooseberry

potetball - norway -

momo - nepal - ground pork, chicken liver, cumin, garlic

korppkaka - sweden - potato dumpling with bacon, onion

siomay - indonesia - chicken, shrimp, peanut sauce, jicama

"Isn't our life one attempt to fill a void after another?" -Dan Barber

Couldn't have said it better myself, Chef Barber. 

I just got a little bit envious of everyone traipsing around the world while I tried to slowly claw out one of my eyeballs. So here I am in the Copenhagen airport, thanking all the gods that I made it after a stressful couple of hours of figuring out delays and connections (and one annoying chick in pink pants) - they should really just begin by calling the people with tight connections up first. This is after I left my wallet in my car at Ms DeJong's (and less important items at Kyle's and Nancy's). So at one point during my food research for travels, I thought about meat stuffed carbs. Like fried dough, every culture has their version. I'll be on the search for appelbollen, melboller, and korppkaka I suppose, but in the mean time, look how pretty beet flour makes dumpling skins.

They do not stay this way after boiling though - and this is why science exists... for stabilizing pretty colors in our foods.

Here's to hoping the rest of my trip is minimally bumpy and somewhat productive.

made for trottin'

Summer Fave #5: aerial skills 

Maybe you've heard I'm the definition of grace and poise.

Not sure where or how because I keep a low profile...and am most definitely not either of those adjectives.

Definitely not when I'm devouring a burger. Probably not when I'm taking down several slices of watermelon in summer. These stains on my tees? Yeah, that's from tomato sauce or chili oil or the time I thought I could eat hot pot while wearing white. Can't even claim to know how to eat a salad like a lady (okay, but in all seriousness, salads are not always easy to eat). 

But especially not when I'm gnawing away at one of my favorite weird treats in the world - braised pork trotters.

different kinds of freedom

Summer Fave #4: summer hours

I hate to admit that there are some perks of grad school because I like to adamantly maintain that it and shifty science and thesis writing is the worst form of human existence. And I'm only getting a Master's. Ask any fellow grad, and they'll say the same. But as I muscle through the last of chapter edits, I'm also realizing I just might miss this special brand of freedom.
Don't be confused.. I've definitely felt like a slave to soy and milk proteins for two years. And it's a little terrifying to think my emotions and mental stability have been governed by foams and emulsions for that time. Healthy human relationships? What's that? Don't judge me but my precious glass foam apparatus quickly became my most valuable possession (that isn't even really mine). The amount of times I had to lovingly soak and soap and rinse and dry that thing. And then the number times I wanted to smash it against the wall when data was misbehaving again...
Sorry, anyways, "freedom."

reflections

Summer Faves #1: later sunsets

What a killer view from up here. Lake Mendota on the left. Lake Monona on the right. And if you just disregard the ugly construction cranes, the country's prettiest Capitol straight ahead.

Coming at you from Jared's beloved balcony of his already-dearly-missed-by-all apartment.

By the by, this drink. Killer. Beer, grapefruit juice, Sprite, gin. Yum.

Where it began.

slow cook and steady

Where it began.

Last time I stumbled upon a Flavor Bender recipe, I amazed and wowed... myself. And Amy and Jules unless they were lying to my face.

So as soon as I came across this, I stopped trying to compile carnitas recipes. I figure it was going to be like going down the rabbit hole anyways.. like looking for perfect and simple cookie or bread recipe. One destination and a thousand million billion ways to get there.

white lasagna

It was about time the pasta sheets leftover from this time were used. So it was a good thing I had a random hodge podge of leftover stuff to stuff into a lasagna.

sumeshi + nori

Where it began.

the most common affliction

Where it began.

This is an oblong meat frisbee. This is a meat coaster for pasta pots. This is a center slice from the giant cured ham, and no extra seasoning is needed for whatever this goes into.

hot ham water

Where it began.

mash

Where it began.

Where it ended up.

ham party

Where it began.

slab of belly

Where it began.

Sharing a tiny freezer with three other people means that after stuffing my section full of chops, ribs, roast, feet, and grounds, the enormous slab of belly had to be used immediately. I know my little Uva is on the miniature side of the size scale, but that was not an insignificant portion of belly.

oink oink

Facts

Sow - mature, female pig

Gilt - immature, female pig

Boar - intact male pig

Barrow - castrated male pig

Cuts:
Boston butt - upper shoulder, moderately tough with good deal of connective tissue (the fatback is just above the butt)
Pork shoulder - or picnic shoulder
Pork loin - hogs are bred to have 17 ribs, the tenderloin is taken from the rear of the pork loin, baby-back ribs come from the upper ribcage area
Ham - back leg
Pork belly - also called pork side
Spareribs - from belly side of ribs where they join breastbone
Jowl - referred to as guanciale
Foot - high in collagen as good gelatin source

Part of the Suidae family, pigs were domesticated about 6000 years ago in China. Pigs are mainly fed corn (for energy) and soybeans (for protein and fat). It takes 3.5 pounds of feed to produce one pound on a pig. Iowa is the number one pork producer in the US. Pigs can outrun me with a seven-minute mile.