Playing catch up...

Although I failed to take pictures of some recent triumphs - our housewarming barbecue, poached halibut with mango slaw and avocado mash, grilled chicken with grilled stone fruits to name a few - here are some recent edible adventures...

Eric wanted a poppy-seed cake for his birthday, so I adapted my old friend Teddy's apple cake and made this nectarine poppy seed cake, replacing apples and walnuts with nectarines and poppy seeds. the blackberries on top were picked from Eric and Ariel's backyard!

The birthday boy blowing out the candles. I was pleased enough with this new version of the old standard that I made it again for my snack day in my Curriculum and Instruction class...

In our unpacking days, Daniel chows down on sushi. This is not from the place we've since settled on as ours, but they did have these really strange seaweed salad rolls...

Another snack for class - these were blueberry, lime, coconut pound cake muffins. They went over quite nicely...


Not my favorite of recent green market based meals, but not bad. This was poached chicken with blackberry relish; a rocket, avocado and heirloom tomato salad; and at Daniel's request Israeli couscous. Nice colors I think.

The View from Mountain View

Yes, it's been an awfully long time since I last posted, and much has changed. There was an extended period of living out of a suitcase, followed by an even more extended period of unpacking said suitcases and getting set-up.

We're now more or less there, although my desk chair is still not built. (Ahem, Daniel...) I've eased my way back into cooking and baking. Some highlights to come in a subsequent post. And we're slowly beginning to explore the culinary offerings of the Peninsula region. So far, we have a favorite burrito place, some solid Thai, and a fix for our once a week sushi habit that is luckily within walking distance. I'll report more as we find it.

So a quick tour of the kitchen, and then I'll do a little catch up slide show in the next post.

Yep, that's a dish washer, folks. And we've got a garbage disposal too. Some of the few perks of living in the suburbs.

Our strange electric range. I miss my Brooklyn gas stove very much. I like the electric oven though...

A wider view. This floor is incredibly difficult to keep clean.

A sampling of the bounty from the Mountain View green market. The one really ENORMOUS perk of living out here.

Fast Food - Taqueria Patzcuaro

So today I'm starting a new feature. Fast Food. Quick write-ups about restaurants I visit that are deserving of mention, but maybe not a long post. Or else a way to mention a place that I happen upon without my camera in tow. Or, let's be honest, a way for me to discuss a restaurant when I don't have time for the whole shebang.

So our first entry - Denver's Taqueria Patzcuaro. Daniel, his very old friend Ben, and I went there for lunch on Friday. We usually stick to El Taco de Mexico when in Daniel's hometown (their chile relleno burrito is t-d-f), but this time we decided to be adventurous and followed Ben's recommendation to TaqPatz.

On my insistence, we all shared an order of Tacos Albanils, four tacos on homemade corn tortillas with slices of grilled steak, fried potatoes, onions, and jalapenos. With a bit of lime drizzled on top. So delicious. Good greasy, flavorful beef. And really thinly sliced pieces of lightly fried potatoes, thus combining the taco and the French fry. What could be better?

I had the Camaron de Mojo de Ajo - shrimp sauteed in olive oil, garlic, and lime juice, served with rice, lettuce, guacamole, and tortillas. I went for this because it had been recommended on some online forums and because my stomach was, as always, pushing me away from the legumes I so badly wanted. But the shrimp were delicious, really moist and perfectly cooked, if a bit greasy. The guac was rich and creamy and those corn tortillas were just right.

So there you have it. I'd go into what Daniel and Ben ate (chile relleno burrito and chicken fajitas respectively), but I'm trying (and not succeeding) to be FAST. Tomorrow is the first day of school, after all. (eeek).

Oh well. The next installment will be faster. My goal will be to get these entries down to 150 words. Let's see if I can do it...

The Bread Project - Challah French Toast

The Bread Project was back in full force last week with an old standby - challah, the bread that launched my desire to learn how bake leavened goodness in the first place.

I tried a new recipe this time as I was doing the baking at 10,000 feet in Keystone, CO and needed to make adjustments for the altitude. But even with a recipe tested in mile high Denver, the two loaves still cooked a full twenty minutes faster than the 45 minutes the Denver recipe called for. Luckily, the nose knows when something in the oven is in danger of burning. In the end, the loaves stuck a bit to the pans, and I lost some of the bottoms, making them pretty fragile. But they served their purpose for Friday night dinner, and even did double duty in Steve Berson's famous challah French toast for Father's Day brunch on Sunday...


Mmmm. It was delicious. The brunch also featured...

Turkey sausage (casing free) and...


A lovely fruit salad (notice that the bananas are on the side, respecting my extreme banana fear.)

The three handsome Berson men celebrating Father's Day in the fine Colorado sun. Good company. Good eats. No complaints. (notice Daniel's Madras shorts!)

Where the Buffalo Roam...

When I was a kid I thought the old song went "Oh give me a home, where the buffalo roam, and the deer and the envelope play..."

So clearly, I am probably not a cowgirl at heart. But that didn't stop Daniel and me from attending a real live rodeo last week while we were staying in Keystone in the Rocky Mountains. This being a mountain resort town, the rodeo itself was probably not the most impressive display of cowboy-manship ever (the participants had a lot of trouble roping the tiniest bulls I've ever seen) However, I think we did manage to get a taste of what rodeo life is all about.

And of course I mean "taste" literally. I had some lovely grilled corn on the cob with good crunchy charred bits. But in an unusual turn of events, I wasn't that hungry, so I relied on Daniel to do the real sampling.

For his first round, he went for a meat and two. He gobbled up this amazing barbecue turkey sandwich complete with white barbecue sauce and cole slaw. I had a wee bite and it was very good despite the mayonnaise-based sauce.


For his sides, he went for a hearty looking, southern style mac and cheese and some delicious looking grilled cornbread.


Sated, we headed into the rodeo to watch several events, including something called mutton bustin' in which children under the age of four "ride" large sheep, bucking bronco style. The toddler who stays on the longest wins.


The winner in this round clung to the sheep for a full five seconds. Again revealing my city slicker nature, I was horrified.

Having worked up an appetite comforting his appalled girlfriend, Daniel went back for another round, taking advantage of the presence of non-porcine ribs.

In honor of Willie Randolph

Okay, it's not about food, but at least there's a hot dog in the picture...

Woke up this morning to the news that the Mets had classlessly fired Willie Randolph on the road, late at night. This picture is from the first game I saw at Shea with Willie at the helm. We sat in the bleachers, we ate hot dogs, the Mets won. It was a happier time.

Willie, you deserved better.

The Polish Palate

Okay, if I don't finish up talking about Poland I'm going to go crazy. So here's one final post on our trip. Fine writing and good organization be damned...


In Krakow, one of our favorite places was this student hangout, where for very cheap, you got to choose either four or six salads and/or hot dishes from a buffet (plus you got unlimited bread! Just like the Olive Garden!). Some of the salads were too mayonaisey for my taste, but the discerning palate could find some good options. Although most Poles seemed to go for the four combo plate, Daniel and I always went for six each. We are greedy Americans after all...


There was a soup festival in Krakow, which of course we missed. As has been mentioned, I love soup, so I was sad to miss the festivities, but I did snag one these handsome posters for our new kitchen.


My breakfast the morning after a bad migraine forced me to subsist on salty sticks alone.


Daniel's big old plate of herring.


My big old plate of kasha.


A big old plate of pig lard. I am not a wimp. I tried it. Then I spit it out in my napkin.


Daniel's enormous zakoplanki. Basically a French bread pizza. Very popular with the Krakow drunken hipster. Daniel chose one covered in corn, cheese, and red barbecue sauce. Daniel soon himself was covered in corn, cheese, and red barbecue sauce.

The best lamb consumed in Poland.

{This picture won't load. I'm impatient, so I'll try to add it again later. But the gist is it's Daniel with a big lamb bone...}
He who consumed the lamb.


This bonkers contraption is full to the brim with sauerkraut. There is so much sauerkraut that this man must stand on a chair to stir it.


Just a couple of Poles out for a walk in the country side. Dziękuję Poland!