Food for thought: TasteTV, the Indie Food Channel

Check out Laurie as she explores gourmet food purveyors and provisions in the San Francisco/Bay area and beyond! She has several spots in Chocolate Television and Pate TV. Click on the "food for thought" link to find her.

Food for thought: Cooking at Paula's: Indian food, TJ's and fresh apricots

Dear friends in the blogosphere,

I'm so sorry for the long silence. A lot, namely summer, has been going on. A few weeks ago, one would have found me cooking at lovely Paula's. It was fun, especially when using the literally hundreds of apricots from the trees in the yard.

Menu 1:

Island Salad with Chicken

chicken breast, 1/2 pound
curry paste, 2 tablespoons
buttermilk or yogurt, 1/2 cup
sea salt, to taste

any of the following ingredients:
sliced mango--frozen mango, thawed, works great
fresh green beans, boiled
frozen green peas, thawed
red, orange and/or yellow bell pepper
fresh spinach, washed and patted dry
packaged salad greens
red onion
apricot dressing


A young light red wine

Why not try mango lassi?

This has got to be the easiest mango lassi ever!

I use mango juice concentrate in the latino section of the international aisle. It's about $2.50 and is delicious with sugar, lime, fresh mint or mint tea bag and water (but I digress).

OK, so, use 1/4 bottle of mango concentrate ( maybe 4 ounces?)
4 large teaspoons honey thinned out with 4 teaspoons warm water
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
ice cubes to fill up the glass
ground cardamom, optional, sprinkled on top

Menu 2:
Bleu-cheesed kafta with tomatoes and flatbread
Kafta is like a well-spiced, fancy shaped Middle Eastern meatball
1 pound Lean ground beef (90+%)
fresh chopped parsley (a small handful)
1 egg
2 oz. bleu cheese
ground sea salt, to taste
ground black pepper, to taste
minced fresh garlic, 2 cloves

base
1/2 cup oats
1 cup flour
1/4 cup brown or organic sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1/3 cups walnuts

filling
1 package cream cheese
6 oz. sour cream
1/2 teaspoon orange extract
handful dried cranberries
1 egg
1/4 cup packed brown sugar or 1/3 cup organic sugar

Menu 3

Starters:
guacamole
apricot salsa
good chips
Cuban-style black beans

Main meal:
grilled chicken

curry
butter-browned basmati rice

apricot chutney

cooling tomato raita
sour cream

India Pale Ale

Frozen Peach Margaritas
1/3 container frozen limeade
1/3 bag (5 oz.) frozen peaches
6 oz. tequila
2 1/2 cups ice
1 cup fruit juice

apricot-mango sorbet
1 pound fresh apricots, pitted and quartered
8 oz frozen mango chunks
1/2 cup honey, thinned out with 1/4 cup water
Puree in a food processor. Let freeze overnight or 6 hours. Thaw a little, if necessary, then process again.


Mini menus:
stone salad

Not really stones so much as stone fruits--Apricots and avocados

5 apricots
1 avocado
washed salad greens
1/8 red onion, 1/2 shallot or 1 spring onion
gorgonzola
walnuts

homemade dressing:
apricot preserves
red wine vinegar
fresh ground black pepper
Bragg's Amino Acids or tamari or soy sauce to taste
dash good extra virgin olive oil--more if not using avocado

Scratch and sniff beneath the surface: Scent guide for the fellas

Hmmmm. Ahhhhhh. A good smelling man just walked by. Oooh, he's good looking, too. I happen to live with him! OK, so what is it that happens when a guy smells nice? I, for one, get distracted and start thinking about fragrance notes, but that's not what I'm talkin' about. If a man smells good enough, I start making plans!

So, what's on my list of favorite fragrances? Let's take a trip down memory lane....

Fahrenheit. A simple woodsy fragrance, with hawthorn and sandalwood. Watch out!

New West. It's zingy and fresh...and hard to find. But so nice!

Platinum Egoiste, Chanel. Oh, man. This smells so distinguished and sexy!!!! It's a Armani suit kinda smell. Classic fresh, with a lovely green, herbal twist.

Joop! Homme. Sweet, aromatic and gourmet. Another one like this is Pi from Givenchy.

Joop! Night flight. Goodness gracious! A fresh water scent. 100 times better than Cool Water.

Ralph Lauren Polo Sport. So nice out of the shower, so they say. Fresh!

Activist from the Body Shop, way back when. It had hay and citrus notes. Also have to give a shot out to Wood Musk oil, also from TBS. Oh man, they smelled so natural and fresh!

Cerruti Image. Ozone with some musk. Light, but not vapid. (Aromatic Fruity notes)

Kenzo Homme. Light and nuanced. Tres raffine! (Fresh Water notes)

M7. It smells like burning embers. So sexy for fall. (Wood Oriental notes)

Le Male, Jean-Paul Gaultier. African & African American men really take to this scent. On any given weekend, I smell it often (and almost always too strong!) (Aromatic Oriental notes)

Guys' favorites?
I hear many votes for Le Male by Jean-Paul Gaultier, Issey Miyake, Dunhill Desire, Rochas Man, Cool Water. Also, votes for Drakkar Noir & Versace Blue Jeans.

My least favorites?
Brut--blech. Overpowering lemon--I think there's a cologne by Balmain. Anything too strong and/or cheap smelling. I also don't like singular notes like lime or pine. Men's scents are usually on the strong side. If you're not sure, ask a trusted source at 8, 12 & 4 o'clock. Your scent should get more and more faint as the day wears on. If you're going to hit the streets after work, reapply in the evening.

Other tips:
Try applying the scent to skin while it's damp. Why not try wetting your arm, etc? I think it would smell better that way.

Take someone with you when you shop for a scent. If you want to attract women, for example, bring a woman (but not Mom!). Know what kinds of scent you like so that you don't smell too many. Do you like fresh citrus, fresh leafy green, or fresh watery? Do you like woodsy as in smoking wood, or wet mossy forest smells? Or is it more spices like vanilla and cinnamon and aromas like almond and coffee? Whatever your tastes, wait 15 minutes after spraying on your skin (a must) before deciding. Don't rub skin together; instead, dab to preserve scent.

Food for thought: Fruit salad

Fruit salad, how do I love thee? Let me count the ways...Summer salad with a rainbow of fruit flavors...Winter fruit salad with citrus, apples, pears, walnuts and concentrated orange juice sauce or as an appetizer with fruit vinegar.....Avocado, citrus and bananas with lime syrup....Papayas, mangoes and pineapple with mint and lime....Grapes and berries with liqueur or champagne. You get the picture. Oh, I almost forgot dates, oranges, coconut and slivered almonds with sweet yogurt.

My husband has domain over fruit salad chez nous. He wooed me with fruit salad and it made Sundays in Bamako grand affairs as I would (eventually) wake to the sight of pounds and pounds of fruit on the table. He also has the patience to peel, core and cut, while I prefer to flip, fry and flambe.

When I get in the kitchen to make a fruit salad, it is to make a quick, bold celebration of fruit. Great frozen fruit has helped me immensely. Last Saturday, I made a simple fruit salad that many appreciated. Here's how it went:

2 16-oz. packages frozen peaches, & 1 12- or 16-oz. package frozen mangoes, thawed 10 minutes (so get these out while you're doing the rest). I get the mangoes at Trader Joe's or Whole Foods, although Giant & Shopper's have them (for more $$$).

1 pint fresh blueberries, rinsed, preferably washed with veggie soap
2 or 3 pints fresh strawberries, rinsed/washed & quartered

Sauce:
1/3 cup frozen juice from concentrate (I used pine-orange-banana), thawed
1/3 cup pina colada mix, thawed from frozen or canned (or just double the juice concentrate)
1/2 tsp. Lemon extract
1/2 tsp. Vanilla extract

If you don't have any extract, use a fruit liqueur like Peach Schnapps.

I put in an extra step of soaking the quartered strawberries in 2 Tbsp.balsamic vinegar and 3 heaping Tbsp. organic sugar, then adding berries and juice at the end. Optional, by all means. But also delicious!


Combine partially thawed & the rinsed fruit in a large bowl. You may want to leave out the blueberries or any delicate berry until after everything's been mixed.

In a separate container, combine sauce ingredients & mix until blended. Pour over fruit. Add delicate fruit, if previously omitted. Let stand one hour for flavors to meld & fruit to thaw. If it's really hot, serve fruit partially frozen. Enjoy this delicious easy & fast salad!

Scratch and sniff beneath the surface: Make a gentle, refreshing face & body mist from grocery store ingredients!

Don't you ever wonder how something, the same thing, can cost $1 somewhere and $11 somewhere else? Immediately Evian water in an aerosol Well, I'm not too scared to experiment and figure out how to have fun and stretch a dollar in the process.

So, I wanted to do some detective work to find products that are sold as food products but that could double as beauty products. I favor pure stuff, like "real" vs. "imitation" vanilla extract. It will cost more but not much. Besides, do you want imitation cake--or real cake?

I recommend an Asian grocery store like Hahn Ah Reum, a small store like"India Spice Market" or a "We are in a diverse neighborhood" Giant, like the one across from PG Plaza. I shopped at the "diverse" Giant.

Here are my favorite double duty products:

Note:

If you spend a lot of time in the sun, don't use (or use very little) lemon extract. It makes the skin more sensitive in the sun. Some extracts, especially vanilla extract, usually has corn syrup, so don't add too much, or the bugs may be on you!

Vanilla extract- $3.50 for 1 oz.

Almond Extract- a little expensive, but it has a wonderful cherryish aroma (and you don't need a lot), $4.80 for 1 oz.

Orange blossom water $3 for 11 oz.

Rosewater, $2 for 7 oz.

Lemon Extract, $3 for 1 oz. This is actually 80% alcohol and oil of lemon.

Surabhi cocunut oil, from India. It's sold ina blue plastic bottle and smells like toasted coconut. Divine! Use it with a vanilla/musk fragrance, as a hot oil treatment, or as a beach bum oil.


Refreshing face and body mist:

This is a fragrance I imagine is from a souk (a market stall) somewhere in Arabia.


Use a spray bottle for maximum freshness. It is super-light and would be great as a face mist (try it to set your make-up!), as an outside wedding/graduation long drive freshener, etc. If you want a strong face toner/astringent, add more lemon extract. Or try to find peppermint extract & add a few drops. If you use any product with Retinol or are in the sun, add more almond and/or vanilla extracts ad take out lemon extract.

To decide how much to make, first look at your containers. Then divvy up the quantity by 12. So, if you were measuring with teaspoons, vanilla would have one teaspoon and rose water would have 3 teaspoons, for a total of 12 teaspoons.

1/12 vanilla extract
1/12 almond extract
1/12 lemon extract
3/12 rose water
6/12 orange blossom water

Combine all of these in a spray mist container, preferably dark glass.

Ahhh, enjoy!

Previous comment from "Summa summa summertime"
About extracts...

They usually contain 35% alcohol or have a glycerin base. They are water soluble, meaning fats/oils will not dissolve in them. So, when you add oil, you are going to have a concoction that looks like Italian salad dressing with oil on top & extract on the bottom. Try a thick lotion as a base. I'm just guessing & haven't tried it yet. This should work for both glycerin-based and alcohol-based extracts. Try mixing in a separate container, since you don't want to ruin a whole bottle of lotion.

Can you apply extracts directly on the skin? If you have some extract at home, try it. Otherwise, if you have vodka at home, try that on your skin. It should be fine for pulse points, but, over time, it runs the risk of drying out the skin. Vodka is about the same percentage of alcohol as extracts.

At Whole Foods, Trader Joe's and other specialty food stores they sell vanilla and other extracts in a glycerin base. They are generally high quality. The only problem with putting them directly on the skin could be bees chasing you! These are great for the skin and would be divine as a body scrub. (Mix the extract with vegetable oil and sea salt.) Or do a lotion, as stated above.I don't have brand recommendations, but the best vanilla, scentwise, is bourbon vanilla. For a first go-round, buy the supermarket brand of the pure extracts. They must say "pure" on the box. For value, try Trader Joe's.

Food for thought: Browned butter in the real world- a recipe for Raspberry Financiers

RASPBERRY FINANCIERS

2 whole eggs
2 egg whites
6 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons honey
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup confectioner's sugar
1 pinch salt
¾ cup brown butter*, warm
2 - 3 half pints fresh or frozen raspberries

Preheat oven to 350.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the eggs through honey. Set on a pot of simmering water and whisk constantly until the mixture is warm (if you don't whisk constantly, you'll end up with scrambled eggs).

Remove bowl from heat and gently whisk in the flour, sugar and salt. Gradually mix in the warm butter (butter should be the same temperature as the egg mixture).

At this point, you can either fold in the raspberries (if you do this, I suggest using frozen berries so they don't fall apart) and divide the batter between two 9-inch cake pans, OR you can pipe the batter into Madeleine molds or mini muffin tins, then press a few raspberries into the batter.

Bake until the financiers are golden brown, puffed and firm to the touch; about 15 minutes for the mini muffin tins/Madeleine molds, and about 30 - 40 minutes for the cake pans.

*Approximately ¾ lb (12 oz.) unsalted butter will yield ¾ cup brown butter.
Lovely Laurie has sent forth this heavenly recipe for raspberry financiers.
A necessary ingredient in this recipe is browned butter. Ay, papi, you gotta have brown butter!
Don't use margarine and wonder why your stuff doesn't taste real! Click here to find out how to brown butter (better late than never.)

And Laurie asks us to bear in mind that this restaurant recipe has been drastically reduced, so it may need extra tweaking. Thanks for sharing! Check out where Miss L. was turning out fantissimal desserts: http://www.absinthe.com/

For those too lazy to click, you will not be denied the dessert menu...



Desserts
Apple Tarte tatin 7.50
with vanilla ice cream
Calvados - LeMorton Reserve, non-vintage, Domfrontais 2 oz shot 8.

Steamed Meyer-lemon pudding 7.75
with huckleberry compote
Botrytized Semillon/Sauvignon Blanc - Raymond-Lafon Sauternes, France 2001 2.5 oz glass 15.00

Lavender Crème Brûlée 7.50
with shortbread cookies
Botrytized Chenin Blanc - Chateau de la Soucherie, Coteaux du Layon, France 2001 2.5 oz glass 9.00

Scharffen Berger Chocolate Pot de Crème 7.50
with crème chantilly
Mourvedre de Dulce - Candella Bellum ‘El Remate', Yecla D.O., Spain 2003 2.5 oz glass 10.50

Sorbet Trio 7.25
Tangelo, strawberry, and rhubarb sorbets with almond cookies
Franz Karl Schmitt, Riesling Kabinett,
Niersteiner Oelberg, Rheinhessen, Germany 2002
3 oz glass 4.50

Cookie and Confectionery Plate 7.75
Raspberry-mango pâte de fruit , candied citrus, crispy hazelnut chocolate, coconut macaroon, pistachio-almond nougat, strawberry financier, and almond blueberry cookie


Desserts by Executive Pastry Chef Murielle Roux

Scratch and sniff beneath the surface: Beauty is skin deep, but chemicals go deeper

We've all heard people say, "You are what you eat." So how come people don't say, "You are what you bathe in"?

Of course, looking fly and feeling fabulous are great. Here comes the caveat: as long as they don't cause more harm than good. PLEASE look at the Environmental Working Group's profiles for tested beauty products and their index of concern by clicking on the title link. Fellas, this means you, too. Unless you don't bathe, brush teeth, scent or moisturize. But then, if you did none of those things, your index of concern would be higher hygiene-wise!

The more we choose wisely, the more we influence what others dictate can go on and in our bodies. Be a fly and fabulous vigilante!