Beer Tasting at Home pt 1

On my way home from work in Silverlake, I always make sure and spend some of my hard-earned cash tips at Cap'n Cork Jr. Market at the corner of Hillhurst and Prospect. I've bought many a beer here, especially for lunch at Best Fish Taco in Ensenada down the block. A wonderful, friendly staff of guys, with a smorsgasbord selection of domestic brews, including a vast Belgian beer fridge.

Today I found...

Bruery / Elysian / Stone La Citrueille Céleste de Citracado
Check out the promo video from Stone's Youtube channel:
http://youtu.be/C0nBIXXH__w

Ruby Brown in color, hoppy, spicy and very lemony, with a low carbonation, and a lingering sweetness on the tongue from the pumpkin and yams.

It's a collaboration beer between Stone Brewing Co. in CA, Elysian Brewing in Seattle, and The Bruery of Orange County, CA. Much like its brother Cherry Chocolate Stout which I had a few weeks back, it is a special treat you should spend your extra dollars on. Now that's the spirit. Makes me want to get in the kitchen and start up my wort...

beerly yours,
felicious

granola bar desperation

It's been a while, dear foodies, and I am desperate to update, so much so that sitting at Starbucks I think is the best thing to mention. What did I get today? A grande decaf Americano. Special? Not so much. What was better? This KIND Fruit & Nut Delight Bar. Love em. Ten times better-tasting than anything Nature Valley can grind into a bar. A grownup's granola bar.

Sour Cream Cake with Ginger-Lime Glaze

Sour Cream Butter Cake

from The Everything Vegetarian Cookbook

by Jay Weinstein

Back in high school, somewhere during my super health-conscious phase, I went on a 4-month stint of vegetarianism. One night, at the end of a casual home dinner of baked chicken and vegetables, I spent too long staring at the empty carcass, and made too many personal associations with my own flesh and bones to continue eating animal flesh. It was all vim and vigor, with a pledge to do it for health reasons, and learn of slaughterhouse practices, and the amount of corn in our beef and poultry. That would mean I had to eat spinach and other green vegetables for iron, and eat the elusive garbanzo bean as a staple. At that point I could count the number of times I had eaten hummus on one hand.

So my Mom gave me The Everything Vegetarian Cookbook, and I must confess, after only sampling a recipe for salad, it has sat on the shelf all these years. It has a very friendly layout, like the Moosewood Cookbooks, with some health and cooking tips along the way.

But I was in the mood to bake a cake, and wasn't feeling fancy enough to do a Meringue pie, but wanted to make a cake other than my go-to dark chocolate and orange. I also wanted an excuse to have a tub of sour cream in my fridge.

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4 egg yolks

1/2 tsp vanilla

2/3 c sour cream

1 cup sugar

2 cups sifted cake flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp baking soda

6 oz (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9-inch cake pan, dust it with flour, and line the bottom with waxed paper. In a bowl, whisk together the yolks, ¼ of the sour cream, and the vanilla. In a large, separate bowl, mix the flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt; whisk vigorously to combine.

Add the butter and remaining sour cream to the flour mixture, and mix well until flour is completely moistened. Add the egg mixture to the flour mixture in 3 separate additions, mixing between each addition. Pour into prepared cake pan.

Bake in the middle of the oven until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, usually about 35 to 40 minutes. Start checking at 25 minutes, since oven temperatures and ingredient characteristics vary, and it might be done quicker. Cool 10 minutes, then take out of pan and cool completely on a wire rack.

To frost, cut laterally in half and frost both sections, then stack smooth sides, and refrigerate to set.

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Unfortunately I had to break the rules on this one. First of all, I used an 8-inch souffle dish because I took one look at my grody old cake pans and said "No cake deserves this pan." Secondly,as I am only now aware, I used 2 oz too much butter, (so a full 2 sticks instead of 1 1/2). I guess I was too happy to throw two sticks of butter into the bowl. The consistency of the batter looked more like a bread dough, and didn't taste very much like sour cream.

I increased the baking time by 20 minutes on top of the 35. Because the increased height of the souffle dish, and the amount of butter, my test knife wasn't coming out clean.

Despite the slightly crumbly crust, I was quite pleased. Now I have a pseud0-recipe for a good breakfast cake.

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Jay Weinstein suggests serving it with homemade Butter-Cream Frosting, but I couldn't go that far. And since what I ended up making was more the consistency of pound cake, the glaze was the way to go.

Ginger-Lime Glaze

1/4 tsp fresh grated ginger

6 tbsp lime juice

6 tbsp water

1 1/4 c powdered sugar

To cut the pungency of the ginger, I decided to let it cook on low heat in 2 tbsp of lime juice and 2 tbsp water for about 15 minutes, stirring as I went until it reduced. Pour glaze evenly over top of the cake, and spread with a knife or spatula and allow to set. Slice and serve with a dollop of sour cream.

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Birthday cake: always delicious, especially after spicy Thai Food.

felicious

Barney's Gourmet Hamburgers

11660 San Vicente Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90049
Neighborhood: Brentwood


Saturday lunch, we concluded after a cup of coffee and a stroll that we were hungry for burgers. We sat outside. After perusing the large menu which includes Starters (Fried veggies, Sweet potato and regular fries, Onion Rings), Salads, and the Multitude of Meats to choose from.
Grilled Chicken, Ground Turkey, Beef, and a few Vegetarian options, C went for the Cajun Grilled Chicken and I for the Portabello Mushroom burger.

Grilled Chicken is light and clean, just dressed with lettuce, tomato, onion. Mushroom burger includes a whole roasted red pepper, tomato-pesto, swiss cheese and raw spinach leaves. Excellent! The mushroom was perfect, and I need to steal that tomato-pesto sauce. Exactly what I wanted. We split an order of steak fries with fresh minced garlic, and threw on lots of cracked pepper and Dijon mustard. On the tables are little metal caddies with napkins, forks, knives, ketchup, mustard and Salt and Pepper grinders from Trader Joes. I appreciate they don't try and hide the fact that they went to TJ's.

A vast menu, but unlike The Counter, they frown upon the build-your-own burger tactic. Classy.


a 2nd visit that will most likely turn into a 3rd

felicious

A Pound of Butter

As an homage to the impending holiday, I share with you a poem

http://www.poetryfoundation.org/archive/poem.html?id=185537


Butter

BY ELIZABETH ALEXANDER

My mother loves butter more than I do,
more than anyone. She pulls chunks off
the stick and eats it plain, explaining
cream spun around into butter! Growing up
we ate turkey cutlets sauteed in lemon
and butter, butter and cheese on green noodles,
butter melting in small pools in the hearts
of Yorkshire puddings, butter better
than gravy staining white rice yellow,
butter glazing corn in slipping squares,
butter the lava in white volcanoes
of hominy grits, butter softening
in a white bowl to be creamed with white
sugar, butter disappearing into
whipped sweet potatoes, with pineapple,
butter melted and curdy to pour
over pancakes, butter licked off the plate
with warm Alaga syrup. When I picture
the good old days I am grinning greasy
with my brother, having watched the tiger
chase his tail and turn to butter. We are
Mumbo and Jumbo’s children despite
historical revision, despite
our parent’s efforts, glowing from the inside
out, one hundred megawatts of butter.



“Butter” by Elizabeth Alexander. From Body of Life, published by Tia Chucha Press. Copyright 1996 Elizabeth Alexander. Used by permission of the author.

Source: Body of Life (Tia Chucha, 1996)

Happy Gobbling, felicious.

Dino's Chicken and Burgers

Okay, so I live in Koreatown and I admit I haven't sampled much (if any) Korean restaurants in the area. I had a roommate senior year who had spent some time in Korea, and she stored a jar of Kimchi in the fridge. The odor of fermented vegetables is very particular, and seems a good accompaniment to fishy-smelling fish. So that's out.

I have eaten Pho, and tacos and burritos from the truck around the corner from my apartment. Muy bueno! Last night I even drew up the nerve to order in Spanish. Un burrito de pollo y un horchata. Para llevar. Ay yi yi! They make a cool cilantro-avocado sauce. Pile on the fresh lime and munch on some peppery sliced radishes and you're good to go.

We found Dino's Chicken and Burgers.

2575 W Pico Blvd

Los Angeles, A 90006
Neighborhood: South Los Angeles

American-sounding. Mexican-run. Highly rated.

For $5.50 you get half a chicken on a bed of French Fries, a side of coleslaw, and a few fresh flour tortillas. So juicy, so spicy, and the fries are completely soggy, but who gives a crap. There's a small white plastic fork in the box, but I'm convinced it's just for show. You'd be a fool not to piece the chicken directly from the bone. I had a regular Coke, perfectly syrupy sweet for lunch on a late summer day.

This place totally looks like a dump of a burger joint, built in dusty maroon tile and linoleum tables. While ordering I see the grill man, turning some 15 chickens at once, covered in their red sauce, sizzling. A guitarist walks in wearing a rasta beanie for a 5-minute serenade; a few Mexican folk songs for our lunchtime entertainment. He seems like a familiar face. My favorite part is throwing the trash into a aluminum door built into the wall. It is clandestine, out of the way, perhaps a huge room full of styrofoam, soggy fries and chicken bones. Charming in it's no-nonsense.

Delicious, cheap, and quick. I will go back, after other conquests in the effort to eat at new places in my neighborhood. Korean BBQ still looming.

felicious

Cheddar Beer Soup

You can make SOUP out of THOSE?

This past winter, I was the busiest I have ever been in my life, working full time and rehearsing 5 nights a week, and I had little time to eat and enjoy myself, much less sleep. C invites me over for a late night surprise dinner, and I arrive to Cheddar-Beer Soup. I had Beer and Cheese soup once before, in a pub-grub in Helena, MT, and back then I thought it was revolutionary. I was only then beginning to drink beer for taste. Like wine, cooking with beer is meant to enhance the food. And it's undeniable. Here's the link to the recipe we used.

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/Cheddar-Beer-Soup-

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We made it again a few weeks ago, only this time we used Dubliner Irish Cheddar with Whiskey, changed the chicken broth for beef broth, and had to settle for a Leffe ale, instead of Bass. (They were out. Stupid Ralphs.)

The recipe calls for dry mustard, and we thought there was a can of Colman's laying around, but it appeared there had been a mustard powder theft. (Suspect? Former roommate. Motives? Clear. Investigation? Concluded.) So, we used some grainy wet mustard instead. This would also work if you are making homemade mac and cheese as well.

As for the bacon garnish, well, why wouldn't you want extra bacon in your soup? Bacon enthusiasts at your service. Bacon appetizers? Great plan. We will cook more to eat more.

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Ingredients:

2 medium leeks (white and pale green parts only), cut into 1/4-inch dice (2 cups)

2 medium carrots, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)

2 celery ribs, cut into 1/4-inch dice (1 cup)

2 teaspoons finely chopped garlic

1 Turkish or 1/2 California bay leaf

1/2 stick (1/4 cup) unsalted butter

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

2 cups whole milk

1 3/4 cups reduced-sodium chicken broth (14 fl oz)

1 (12-oz) bottle ale such as Bass

1 tablespoon Worcestershire sauce

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1 lb extra-sharp Cheddar (preferably English; rind removed if necessary), grated (4 cups)

4 bacon slices (3 1/2 oz total), cooked and crumbled

Instructions:

Wash leeks in a bowl of cold water, agitating water, then lift out leeks and drain in a colander. Cook leeks, carrots, celery, garlic, and bay leaf in butter in a 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally,

until vegetables begin to soften, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to moderately low and sprinkle flour over vegetables, then cook, stirring occasionally, 3 minutes. Add milk, broth, and beer in a stream, whisking, then simmer, whisking occasionally, 5 minutes. Stir in Worcestershire sauce, mustard, salt, and pepper.

Add cheese by handfuls, stirring constantly, and cook until cheese is melted, 3 to 4 minutes (do not boil). Discard bay leaf.

Serve sprinkled with bacon.

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This soup is incredibly rich, and is perfect served with fresh bread and a bottle of beer (preferably the one

cooked with). Beer, cheese, and bread are practically cousins, much of their flavor from yeast and fermentation.

To lighten things up, I made a simple Spinach Salad. For dessert we had Balsamic Strawberries with Angel Food Cake.

Cook this soup. You will slip into a cheesy coma,

felicious