urbanfoodie

*20-something, filipina american urbanite
(Minneapolis via NYC, SF, & the Chicagoland area)
*creator, consumer, and all-around enthusiast of food
Nov 23
“

That having been said, I think the notion of “I want to forget it as quickly as I can,” or “I’m simply not going to read it”—that, to me, well, I guess, that’s kind of lame. {Laughs.] We wouldn’t accept that attitude in other areas of life.
…

The goal is not to somehow be perfect—that’s silly, that’s naïve. The goal is to just recognize there are choices in front of us, and to try to make better ones.

”

Interview with Jonathan Safran Foer | The A.V. Club

Great interview - I really appreciate that JSF recognizes the inherent complexity of how we make personal choices about what we eat. His book sounds like an excellent first read of 2010.

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Nov 22

Feeding America, from MSU, is a searchable database of American cookbooks from the 18th to the early 20th centuries

fightwithknives:

Both the archives nerd and the food freak inside me are exploding like overheated soup in a microwave at the possibilities of this resource. Zoinks!

Via Martha & Tom, which uses the archive to explore the historical difference between “stuffing” and “dressing” to great effect.


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Potato-Leek Soup

Last month, I participated in a potluck night that brought together many loves - soup, community, and Thomas Keller. My contribution? Potato-leek soup, inspired by the abundance of leeks at the Farmer’s Market in the fall. The recipe? The Bouchon cookbook that doesn’t get enough love in this graduate student’s home.

Now, I love the way that potlucks bring people together around food, and I love to cook for people. But I also have to admit that my anxious-neurotic tendencies make it a somewhat stressful endeavor - so much so that I ended up making this potato-leek soup not once or twice, but three times! First time was a test run met with much success (pictured below). The second time was supposed to be for the main event, but then I left the soup unattended and scorched the cream in the soup.  I just couldn’t deal with the brown tinged product (and let’s face it, I have a food blog…people are going to have expectations).  So, I prepped a third batch (including a whole new batch the vegetable stock) that I cooked right before the event. Really, it’s not a difficult soup to make, but even with proper planning and prep, it is a multi-step process. Boy, did I learn from the experience.

Read More


soup | potato | leeks | Bouchon | Thomas Keller | potlucks | Comments (View)
Nov 20

Thomas Keller can come over and whip my potatoes any time.

“You see why Keller loves this so much. It all matters to him — the smells, the music, the storytelling, the flavors. And you understand that measurements — while important for a cook like me — are training wheels. “If it calls for a quarter cup of chopped parsley, do you really need to measure?” he says. “Does it matter if it’s an eighth of a cup?” After that, it becomes impossible to do something wrong. The way everything tastes will be the way it was supposed to taste.” (via Esquire.com)


Thomas Keller | to hell with | techniques | Comments (View)
Nov 19
Holy moly, food *porn! Check out Momofuku Week on Inuyaki.com where my friend, Arnold, is currently chronicling his cooking adventures from David Chang’s recent cookbook. *You may be familiar with the 1964 quote from (then) Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter’s attempt to define pornography…”I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced … [b]ut I know it when I see it . ” Yep, same thing goes for the food porn (or pron, if you’re so inclined).

Holy moly, food *porn! Check out Momofuku Week on Inuyaki.com where my friend, Arnold, is currently chronicling his cooking adventures from David Chang’s recent cookbook.

*You may be familiar with the 1964 quote from (then) Supreme Court Justice Stewart Potter’s attempt to define pornography…”I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced … [b]ut I know it when I see it . ” Yep, same thing goes for the food porn (or pron, if you’re so inclined).

food porn | pork | Momofuku | inuyaki.com | david chang | Comments (View)
Nov 18
Mark Bittman does it again with a list of 101 do-ahead Thanksgiving dishes (via NYTimes.com).

Mark Bittman does it again with a list of 101 do-ahead Thanksgiving dishes (via NYTimes.com).

mark bittman | Thanksgiving | side dishes | recipes | Comments (View)
Nov 16

xiao long bao (soup dumplings)

xiao long bao (soup dumplings)

pea shoots-not on the menu

pea shoots-not on the menu

.

.

When I visited San Fran last month, I made it my mission to eat good food that is hard to come by in Minnesota. I knew that I had to track down some xiao long bao (soup dumplings) before I left. We went to Shanghai Dumpling King in the Outer Richmond. It’s out-of-the-way location, tiny, divy interior, and no-frills service all made me very excited. This was going to be some legit Chinese food, yo.

In that first picture, do you see the glistening liquid inside the pouch? That’s soup! Inside a dumpling! Craziness, right?  Here’s a little infographic on how to safely eat them. We all split a couple orders of the deliciously porky dumplings (mmm, sticks to your lips!) and a couple of things that weren’t on the menu - sauteeed pea shoots and some ground beef sauce over noodles. Good stuff all around.

SF | chinese | soup | dumplings | Comments (View)
Nov 11

Barrio taco truck moved locations last minute, and I missed out :(


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Today, 11am-1pm! Barrio Taco Truck will have FREE carnitas tacos @ Summit/Cretin in St. Paul.


Tim McKee | barrio | tacos | street food | St. Paul | Comments (View)

On making your own yogurt

ericaaaaa:

I’ve been making my own yogurt off and on for almost two years now. The impetus grew out of the fact that I like yogurt, but mostly out of my hatred for accumulating those number five yogurt containers. (I do reuse them for freezing stocks, beans, and other storage, but the piles get big fast. Also, this was before you could bring them to Whole Foods.) I use a yogurt maker* that I got as a Christmas present, but it isn’t necessary. [See Heavy Table’s post on making a gallon of yogurt, to which I say, a GALLON? Are you crazy?]

The Good Things About Making Yogurt:

  • It’s cheaper. (I buy quarts of organic whole milk in a glass bottle, which makes me happy. They’re $2, and most organic yogurts cost about $5.
  • It solves that pesky container problem. (To a point, see below.)
  • It’s good! You can eat it with granola, or make biscuits, or use it as a replacement for sour cream! Or use it to make face masks!

The Bad Things About Making Yogurt:

  • To make yogurt, you need yogurt, which means you need to have an ever cycling supply of yogurt around constantly. And really, the yogurt you use as a starter shouldn’t be much more than about a week old, and you can only continue this yogurt cycle for so long before things start to get funky (in my experience). So that means unless you and whomever lives with you can eat a quart of yogurt every week, at some point you’ll need to get grocery store yogurt, which slightly lessens the container advantage.
  • Although it is technically easy, waiting around for milk to cool is a pain. Watched milk never cools, apparently.

By the way, yogurt sauce is good. Add it to vegetables and sandwiches and things that just need a little something.

Spicy Yogurt Sauce

  • 1/2 cup yogurt
  • small glove of minced garlic
  • lemon juice, salt, pepper, and crushed red pepper to taste

There you are. A lot of information if you ever thought about making your own yogurt. Also, * - that yogurt maker cost $15 when I got it - I don’t know why it’s only available for $150 now! Bottom line, if you have to spend more than $20 on a yogurt maker, you should really try making it without one first.


yogurt | DIY | condiments | Comments (View)
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