It is time to regroup, folks. Be Coolinary is taking a brief hiatus to make some essential changes to the blog and web design in order to ramp up and be far more coolinary for years to come. In the meantime, eat food, drink drinks, and be cool.
there’s been a casualty (at My Kitchen)
It’s true. It has been a while since I have posted anything here. Fifteen days in fact. I think that might be a new record. My sincerest apologies to my three readers. The truth is that I have just been too busy eating…
It’s funny what you might find rummaging through your childhood bedroom…
In addition to a drawer full of troll dolls, you might find a funny photo or two. I am guessing this gem is from the mid-1990s. My braces, CYO basketball sweatshirt, and horrible haircut suggest my pal Jenny (left) and I are in the midst of some truly awkward adolescent times. I am going to say we are in fifth grade just because we look far too accomplished and confident for two piddly fourth graders and it doesn’t appear that the oppression of being sixth grade underdogs in a sea of seventh and eight grade tormentors has destroyed our souls yet. My old boombox (a hand-me-down from my sisters) is on the kitchen counter and it appears we thought the top of said boombox was a great place to set some drying pasta that we had just made. We were probably listening to En Vogue, Counting Crows, or the Eurythmics (we both thought Annie Lennox was the coolest). I imagine that this photo has conveniently neglected to capture the huge mess we most surely left in the kitchen. I think I might actually remember this day, making pasta from scratch with Jenny. I think I remember this one task taking us the entire day, or what felt like the entire day, or maybe everything felt like that when you were young. But perhaps the funniest part about this picture is that I definitely don’t remember eating the pasta, if it was any good, or if my family felt brave and partook in my homemade contribution to dinner that night. Obviously modeling with the pasta was more important to me than eating it at the time…
I recently made pasta from scratch and even without Jenny or Annie Lennox’s help, it did not take me all day. With the aid of a food processor, I actually made it for dinner after work and was still able to watch a movie and go to bed at a reasonable hour.
However, this time around I forwent posing with it, can recall eating it, and can assure you that it tasted delicious. And my kitchen was only somewhat of a mess afterwards.
I went to Mexico last week! My pal Jen got married in Tulum so clearly I had to attend and celebrate her nuptials. I was traveling with other awesome Seattle friends and we had a great time swimming, exploring Mayan ruins, trying to speak Spanish without sounding like a bunch of gringos, and most importantly: eating. So. Much. Eating. We ate tacos, sopes, quesadillas, tortas, aqua frescas, salbutes, helados, conchinita pibil, camarones, flan, galletas, tamales, mole, totopos con salsa y guacamole, and many other delicious Mexican things. Here are some photos of our Mexican culinary adventures or aventuras culinario Mexicana.
raw sugar cane at the super market
fresh chayote
so many chilies!
chicharrones (fried pig skin)
Bimbo white bread with Leo Messi on the packaging
what the heck is bubu lubu?
they also sell motor bikes at the super market…
prune flavored drinkable yogurt—it was actually really tasty!
this restaurant was our favorite—so cheap and so good!
tacos de pollo y asada—this whole plate was about $4
we cooked up desayuno con chorizo, papas, huevos, queso, y tortillas
sustenance for a full day of swimming, beach lounging, and Mayan exploration
an adorable chef on the streets of Tulum
paletas!
another breakfast on the beach
teresa cooked us dinner in our beach villa
heating up tortillas on the griddle
teresa finishing up some fajitas on our last night
It was such a great time and I can’t wait to go back! ¡Hasta leugo amigos!
Last week my roommate and I went on a fall excursion to Arata Pumpkin Farm and Bob’s Pumpkin Patch in Half Moon Bay.
We rented a Zipcar and drove 50 minutes out of town, through the thick Pacifica fog to apprehend a few pumpkins to carve whilst sipping apple cider and watching Twin Peaks on Netflix.
It was a successful mission as we both arrived home, our arms tired and full of fall goodies.
I was most excited about this guy: my hand-selected hubbard pumpkin.
Its skin is greyish-green with pronounced ridges, its flesh bright canary yellow, and they can vary in shape from round and squat to tear drop-shaped. I was told along with the sugar pie pumpkin the hubbard was a good pumpkin to cook so I bought it. Then, I cooked the flesh, roasted the seeds, and turned most of it into pumpkin soup for dinner. But the tastiest thing I did with my hubbard was turn it into this dessert…
That is ginger pumpkin bread my friends! And even after I cooked all of that pumpkininny stuff, I still had more pumpkin meat leftover, which means I will be eating pumpkin soup, roasted pumpkin, and pumpkin bread again very soon. But more importantly, as a fan of David Cross and Bob Odenkirk, cooking with pumpkin might forever remind me of Josh Fenderman and Freddie P Cheesewinkle’s pumpkin pizza…
Yesterday I came to a disappointing realization: it’s the middle of apple season and I no longer live in Washington State. Just when I thought I had finally become one of them, I upped and moved south to The Golden State. All is not lost however as California certainly has its own apple harvest, I just feel way less special eating California apples. Somethings—like Nirvana and Frasier—are just better enjoyed in their home state.
One day, as I was going about my business trying to assimilate to California life (What is this giant, flaming ball in the sky? What are flip flops again?), I came across a cute young lady named Jolie Devoto manning her family’s farm stand at my local farmers market. She represents Devoto Gardens in Sebastopol and with stacks of empty boxes behind her, had already sold a ridiculous quantity of apples that morning. We chatted a bit, or mostly I told her how impressive her apple offerings were and she gave me a run down of her family’s operation. Devoto Gardens is a certified organic, dry apple farm that “collects trees like stamps” making for quite an extensive offering of heirloom and antique apple varieties. There were only three kinds left by the time I got there (winesap, sierra beauty, and mutsu) so I bought a few of each and headed home to enjoy them.
A year ago I would’ve just eaten each apple fresh, maybe for dessert after a brown-bag lunch at work. But, unfortunately, now that I am almost thirty, apparently this is where I start falling apart. Just earlier this year I have developed an allergy to fresh apples that makes eating them a bit risky (same with celery, peaches, cherries, and cabbage). The allergy is a bit complicated, but basically I have learned through trial and error (now with an Epi-Pen handy, of course) that cooked apples are not a problem and fresh apples can be a big problem. Even though this is a bit of a bummer after getting to eat apples without issue for 29 years, I can’t be that upset seeing as how there are still plenty of delicious apple dishes to be savored despite this stupid allergy: apple pie, apple galettes, apple butter, dried apples, baked apples, and, yes, even my parent’s favorite, no-fun dessert, microwaved apples. But most importantly, apple tart tatin is still perfectly safe to eat, giving me good reason to whip one up with my bounty of fresh California apples.
I know there was a presidential debate tonight and the Oakland A’s won the AL West Championship a few hours ago, but let’s get to some real news shall we?
I knew Trader Joe’s was too good to be true. TJ’s recalls their own brand of peanut butter.
Attention friends in Kentucky! Don’t go to this restaurant!
Attention baby-stroller-havers in Berlin! You can’t go to this cafe!
Finally, a glass accessory for hipsters! They will go swimmingly with my skinny jeans.
Shocker: Guy Fieri’s Time’s Square restaurant blows, but this review certainly doesn’t.
I still think Canadian’s are awesome: Cheese smugglers caught smuggling cheese!
Canadians are awesome and British people are jerks: Some Brits stand accused of eating too much at an all you can eat buffet and some other Brit uses the word muck.
OMG! What I would pay to be a tasty morsel on his dinner plate, AMIRITE LADIES?! Justin Timberlake to play a restaurant critic in upcoming film. SQUEAL!
Speaking of movies… someone made a not so good one about people who carve things out of butter.
Sorry my blog has nothing to do with ManBQue-ing. Actually, I am not sorry at all.
Sad news everyone: summer is over and as of Saturday fall has officially begun. I am at peace with this bittersweet transition as along with tomatoes, swimming, and blueberries, I also adore crisp mornings, leaves changing, and, most importantly, all the food and flavors that compliment the fall season. Of course there are the obvious perks like Halloween candy and Thanksgiving dinner, as well as tasty beverages like pumpkin beer and hot apple cider. And, there are also more humble, Pilgrim-approved things to be enjoyed like pears, cranberries, butternut squash, chanterelle mushrooms, and quince. However, I think my latest autumnal obsession is DIY caramel corn.
What do you get when you combine the last of the season’s nectarines,
with some equally as seasonally-waning raspberries,
and some old-fashioned rolled oats?
