Hiking @ Bull Run

(frondy ones.)

Today, I went on a hike in northern Virginia (~ 45 miles from D.C.). Here is the trail map:

It was a purrfect day. There has been a lot of rain recently, so at first, we had some confusion as to whether our trail was indeed our trail, or whether it was a wee creek.

<-- puddle-hopping

As we climbed higher, though, the trail dried, and it was oh-so-lovely. Photos:

Dry trail


"Who's iiiiinnn there??"
(100 geeky pts. if you know the reference)


Where are the hobbits??

Up there? ...Frodo?

On the way back down the loop, we came across a sign:

Is educational! Apparently, the trail runs through the site of the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap, where a division under the Union's Brig. Gen. James Ricketts attempted (with little success) to stall the progression of Confederate troops marching toward Manassas to join Gen. Lee's army. The trench:

We also came upon a wee graveyard, where several members of the Chapman family were buried (the Chapman family owned a mill nearby, for which the above trench had originally been created, and owned the land upon which the Battle of Thoroughfare Gap was fought.)

To get to the trailhead, you park your car in a wee lot and then cross a set of railroad tracks. At the end of our hike, we were just leaving the trail, about to cross the tracks to go to the car, when I remarked to my hiking partner, "It would be funny if a very, very long train came by right now and we got stuck on this side of the tracks and had to wait til it went away to get to the car." Just as I said it, we heard... yes. Choo-choo. :D

It wasn't THAT long, though :)

Improvised "latkes"

I woke up today, and to my horror, NO BAGELS. I nom a(t least one) bagel EVERY. SINGLE. DAY. (Do not worry. I will find one, eventually, today...) This is usually at breakfast, but today, all we had to nom was:

woe.

I decided to make latkes. Here is what I used:

- 1 1/2 potatoes, peeled
- 1/2 small onion, minced finely
- 2 cloves garlic
- 1 1/2 tbsp. corn starch
- 1 tbsp. flour
- salt and pepper
- canola oil

Topping:
- 1 ripe tomato
- 2 tbsp. sour cream
- some fresh parsley
- drizzle of honey

First, you need to grate the potatoes. Like so:

<-- grate, grate

Then, put the grated taters on a clean dish towel (preferably not a terry cloth one, because they are too nubbly and stick to your taters. Use a smoother one if you have it around. You can also use a lot of paper towels folded over a few times. --cough-- If you want to kill trees.) Wring the water from the taters. Use your little muscles.

When your taters are dry, put them in a bowl and add the finely minced onion and garlic. Add the flour, corn starch, salt, and pepper, and mix everything thoroughly.

Heat a good 1/2-inch of oil in a skillet, on med-high to high heat, and when it is hot, use your hands to make lil tater patties. Drop the patties in and flatten out or shape with a spatula. Fry til golden and let drain on a paper towel. To keep them crispy, transfer them to a wire rack (Oh, and don't stack the latkes between paper towels, layer on layer - this only makes them mushy, sad, and not-crisp.)

For my topping, I combined diced, ripe tomato with some sour cream, honey, and a wee bit of parsley. The neat thing about latkes, though, is that you can experiment with all sorts of toppings. Bye!

For a rainy day

It rained today. Very damp and gray outside. Pastina and I decided we wanted some soup. I made a spinach congee, and it was very good and very easy. I found the recipe on the "Seasaltwithfood" blog, here. (Oh. And there is a surprise toward the end of this post. It has to do with scary pork. heh heh.)

Ingredients:
- 1 c. jasmine rice (2 c. cooked)
- 5 c. water
- 1 bunch spinach
- 4 cloves garlic, whole
- 2 1/2 c. water
- 2 tbsp. soy sauce
- 1 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 1 tbsp. sesame oil
- 1 tbsp. canola oil
- 2 eggs, lightly beaten
- 2 stalks scallion, chopped
- sea salt, to taste

First, cook the rice. Then, in a large pot, saute the garlic in a little canola oil until it is browned. Turn up the heat a little and add the oyster sauce and soy sauce. Add the spinach and saute ~1 minute.

Now, add the rice and water. Bring everything to a boil and then, lower the heat. Add the eggs and the sesame oil. Stir and let the congee cook until the eggs are cooked. Pour into a biiiiggg bowl and top with chopped scallions and...... (the surprise!).....

PORK FLOSS!!! Mwhahaha! Isn't that gross?! Fluffy pork! - It's like pork cotton candy! --grin-- Pork floss, which is also called Pork Sung (closely related to Pork Fu) is actually quite delicious. It is dried, cooked pork. Do not be scared. It goes very well on top of congee, but you can also nom it on plain rice. You can find it at any Chinese grocery.

<-- look at that wad of pork floss in there! NOM!

Speaking of which...

Speaking of Julia Childs... Don't you think Susan Boyle looks like Julia Childs??

Julia.... and.... Susan!

Poor Susan Boyle... As you probably know, she was admitted to a mental health clinic in London (the same clinic that treated Pete Doherty for drug addiction in 2006, incidentally) following her break-down after the "Britain's Got Talent" finale last week. Apparently, she will be allowed special daily visits from Pebbles.

<-- Pebbles (source)

Susan's brother reports that Susan has received an invitation from the White House for July 4th and still hopes to sing for President Obama.

Oooh, and speaking of President Obama.... Have you heard of the Obama look-alike in Indonesia?? Ilham Anas, a photographer in Indonesia, has apparently become quite famous for his striking resemblance to Barack Obama. Story, from Reuters, here.

Photo source.

OMP (Oh My Pastina!)

I made something delectable today. Dee-lec-tah-ble!! At my first bite, I was spirited away to a moment akin to the very famous nom of Brioche Tart that made Julia Childs weep (It is true - a tart (a wee tart!) actually rendered Julia Childs so choked up that - well. I cannot explain. You should watch - click here, and then click the video segment "Creme Fraiche Custard Brioche Tart, Part 2."

Ok. Where was I. Ah, the delectable nom (Dee-lec!-- ok, ok, sorry).... A Custard Pear Pie! -- Pears, fresh and delicate, paired (har har) with the sweet creaminess of custard! And did I mention that it was super mario brothers easy, too?? Only took me 15 minutes to put together, and required few ingredients. Which brings me to.... Ingredients:

- 3 D'Anjou pears (how do you pronounce? Dee-An-joo? Dan-joo?)
- 1 pre-made, frozen pie crust (9-inch)
- 3/4 c. white sugar
- 1/4 butter
- 1/4 c. all-purpose flour
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 2 eggs, beaten

First, preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Press the pie pastry into a 9-inch pie plate and, what's-it-called, "ridge-ify"(?) the edges, -pinch, pinch-

Peel and cut the pears in half, and then take out the core with a knife (2 slanty cuts to make a "v" that pops the core out works well). Place the pears, cut side down, in the pie crust with the small ends pointing toward the center.

In a medium bowl, mix the softened butter and the sugar together until fairly smooth. Beat the eggs in one at a time until fluffy. Stir in the flour and vanilla. Pour this bowl of yummy over the pears.

Bake for about 50-55 minutes (the original recipe, found here, btw, on the Honey & Jam blog, said to bake 1 hour, but I got antsy and took it out at ~52 minutes). Cool before slicing and serving (I also cheated here - the original recipe says to wait until it is completely cool before you slice and nom, but someone - not me, it was probably my hamster - really wanted a piece BEFORE it was completely cool, and I, er - I mean, my hamster, LOVED it warm...)

"A dessert worth crying over!" (said in a Mrs. Doubtfire - I mean, Julia Childs - voice)

(click this pic! see the goodness!)

More critters!

My friend, Chris, just sent me a link to the "Wonderful World of Animals" blog, an "animal photo blog and more." I am partial to the "small animals" grouping (see some of the images below), but the whole blog is quite nice. You will like it, too, if you like critters.

"Here. Photo this one. Is cutest."


"I am a sugar glider, and you... YOU!... are getting very, very sleepy..."



(Ok. Maybe this one is a little obscene... Nice ears, though.)

Soup of failure

Perhaps I was overly cavalier, having just come off my great success with kalbi on the grill last weekend... I decided to try this recipe from "The Crepes of Wrath" blog, for crock pot Korean-style ribs. Pride do cometh before the fall.... um, -eth...

The recipe was easy. My hamster could have done it. I dumped the ingredients in before work, turned that puppy on low and headed out, dreaming of glorious ribs for dinner. When I came home, I had a charred yet gooey and oddly - even disturbingly - delicious-smelling pile of gunk in a pot.

I will not lie to you. I tried to eat it. I was sad and I was hungry. I had had a long day.

<-- NOT what they looked like.

But I stopped after two noms. This is what I think I did wrong: I cut the recipe down because I wanted only one or two servings. This is not a good idea when you have a big-ass crock pot. All the ingredients spread out and there was not enough liquid for the meat to stew in. (Hmph. I need either a smaller crock pot... or a family, I suppose.)

Anyway, meanwhile, in a fit of grouchy petulance, I had decided to make some soup using whatever I had around. This amounted to:

- a few cups of organic vegetable stock
- a shallot, sliced
- a few cloves of garlic, minced
- a nugget of fresh ginger the size of, hm... my pinky toe, I'd say
- some dried white beans
- oyster sauce
- soy sauce
- yellow baby carrots, sliced
- a tin of water chestnuts
- some fresh chives
- some fresh basil
- a scallion, sliced

I sauteed the garlic and ginger in a bit of olive oil, then added the shallot and the whites of the scallion. Then, I added the carrots and water chestnuts and very quickly sauteed everything.

Then, still very grumpy, I added everything to a pot of boiling vegetable stock plus a couple cups of water. I added the dried white beans (about 1 cup) and a couple tablespoons of oyster sauce and soy sauce. I brought it all to a boil for a few minutes, then covered it and let it simmer.

A couple hours passed. These were mostly taken up by laundry and, humiliatingly, scrubbing the charred stuff out of my crock pot. I went back to my soup after a bit and felt sad ("IS NOT RIBS!")... I tasted it and... the broth was delicious! But, it was still lacking. A little bland. A little not-rib-like.

And then I had an idea - which was to shred whatever good meat I had retrieved from the failed ribs (still sitting, spurned, on a plate of sadness on the table) into the soup! Cue the music! I even added a not-too-charred-looking bone for flavor -- the result was.....

NOMMmmm nom nom nom nom!

The take-away here? --- If at first you don't succeed, fail, fail again (and then combine your failures!)

A new hedgie

A friend adopted a cute lil hedgie:



Welcome, Mr. Hedgehog! (or, um, Thor.)
(I am told the deliberation over names has yet to wrap up...)

I never thought I would say this...

... but I like cooking things. It is fun. And interesting. In my quest to acquire cooking skillz, I have already injured myself twice in a manner that has involved bandages and/or short-term scarring - once when I caught on fire by accident and another time when I was zesting with too much abandon and zested some of my pinky off. Anyway. Yesterday, it was kim-bap that had me braving mortal danger.

First, I drove into the suburbs (mmm... lawns...) to find an Asian foods store (oddly rare in D.C. proper) Look at my spoils (See the lovely smoked eel???) :

Then I came home and got down to kim-bap making. Kim-bap is a Korean picnic food that looks like a California roll ("kim," meaning dried seaweed sheets and "bap," meaning white rice).

Ingredients:
- dried, roasted seaweed sheets
- 2 c. white rice, cooked and cooled to room temperature

- Fillings, such as:
--- fried egg, cut into long strips
--- nova lox
--- pickled daikon, cut into long strips (That's that bright yellow stuff next to the carrots in the pic. Packaged, it looks like the scariest giant pickle you have ever seen.)
--- cucumber, peeled, de-seeded, and cut into long strips
--- shredded carrot
--- crabstick
--- spam, cut into long strips (I am not kidding. Korean moms love spam.)
--- leftover beef or pork
--- smoked eel (unagi) (Delicious!)

- sesame oil
- soy sauce for dipping, if you want

You will also need bamboo sushi-rolling mats.

<-- ingredients

First, place a sheet of dried seaweed on the bamboo mat and spread a thin layer of cooked rice, leaving a wee margin all the way around. Then, place whatever fillings you want in a strip across one end.

Now, you are ready to roll. Literally. This is sort of hard to explain. You fold over the end with the fillings along it (I prefer rolling from the bottom up), tucking the fillings in and use the mat to roll the seaweed sheet up tightly, squeezing as you go. (Video instructions here).

When you are all rolled up, use your fingers to brush a wee bit of sesame oil over the outside of the roll. Cut with a very sharp knife.

Kalbi!

Hi. I made kalbi for a bbq at a friend's house last night. It was so good that a person I have never seen before in my life declared that he would pay me to make more. At least two other people were seen licking their (paper) plates. I followed the recipe on The Cooking of Joy blog, here.

Ingredients (for 8-12 ppl):
- 6 lbs. flanken cut beef short ribs (I did not have quite that much, though)
- 1 kiwi
- 1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
- 1 red apple, peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
- 1 pear (preferably Asian pear), peeled, cored, and roughly chopped
- 1/2 cup peeled garlic gloves
- 1 cup ajimirin sauce (or rice wine)
- 1/2 can of 7-Up (oh. hm. I just realized that I used the whole can...)
- 1 cup soy sauce
- 1 cup sugar

You will also need:
- 2 cups white rice
- Korean spicy red bean paste (I brought Chinese red chili paste, though, and it was fine)
- many rinsed and dried romaine lettuce leaves

Take the kiwi and use a spoon to remove the fruit from the skin. Put the kiwi fruit in a blender and puree it with the chopped onion, apple, pear, garlic, mirin (or rice wine) and 7-Up. Measure out 3 cups of this mixture into a bowl and add the soy sauce and sugar.

Arrange the ribs in a bowl or baking dish and pour the mixture over them so they are all coated evenly. Marinate for 24 hours. Grill and nom! You just take a lettuce leaf, put a spoonful of rice in the center, cut off a chunk of meat and put it on top of the rice along with a bit of red chili or red bean past. Roll up the lettuce leaf, and enjoy!

Happy birthday, Chester

Chester, contemplating his pup years

Today marks the 14th anniversary of the birth of Chester, the world renowned philosopher, philanthropist, and shih tzu of letters. There never lived as dignified nor revered a shih tzu as Sir Chesterton (as was his popular nickname), and this writer, for one, is certain the world shall never again produce as sage a philosopher. At the time of his death in August of 2008, Chester had served several administrations (he served as special counsel to then Presidential candidate Barack Obama, for instance), had held countless professorships worldwide, and was the author of at least a dozen philosophical treatises as well as one best-selling children's book.

While achieving much during his all-too brief lifetime, Chester never forgot his humble beginnings nor the ordinary people who populated his small-town past. He was born to Aiesha and Snorky Runinsnot of Kirkwood, New York - the eldest of a litter of nine. The very last of his siblings to be adopted, Chester was known to have mused quite movingly over his feelings of unwantedness as a pup. His mother was widowed shortly after Chester's adoption, due to an unfortunate snorting bout that took her mate's life while she was traveling the Caribbean. In his writings, Chester has expounded on the existential shock that a parent's death represents, a subject that he also has taken up in his Broadway play, "A pup alone." Many have speculated that Chester's loss in his puppyhood lay behind his later decision never to marry or raise a family. He has, however, deeply touched the lives of many and remains an enduring part of the greater family of learning, culture, and the arts. On this day, the anniversary of his birth, we salute a great and noble shih tzu - Chester, to you!

A Tale of the Ugly Dumplings

I decided to make mandu, Korean dumplings. They turned out very ugly but very scrumptious.

Ingredients:
- 1 1/2 lbs. ground pork
- 2 tbsp. light soy sauce
- 2 tbsp. oyster sauce
- 2 tsp. sesame oil
- 2 big cloves of garlic, minced
- a carrot, shredded or finely minced
- a few scallions, chopped
- some fresh chives, chopped
- a shallot, minced
- fresh ginger, shredded or minced
- vegetable oil for frying
- won-ton wrappers

First, turn on some nice music, preferably something calming. You are going to be spending some time doing this.

Ok, then, heat your wok, add a little bit of oil, then the ginger, some of the minced garlic, and the shallots. Saute your carrots, about 2 minutes (just to soften them). (Look! I found YELLOW (!!!) carrots at Whole Foods!)

Dump the garlicky carrots into the ground pork. Add soy sauce, oyster sauce (omg, that is pungent), sesame oil, the rest of the garlic, soy sauce, chives, and chopped scallions. Mix this up and let it marinate (I believe I let mine marinate for 45 minutes.)

Then, you fill your lazy-person, pre-made won-ton wraps up. Put a little meat in the center of the wrap, and press the edges together. Some people are very good at this and can do all sorts of fancy shapes and folds. Good for them. (Harumph.) I can assure you that your dumplings will be yummy no matter what they look like.

Heat wok, add a generous amount of oil, and when the oil is hot, fry your dumplings. Drain on a paper towel, and enjoy! (I also dropped some of mine into a boiling pot of mild-brothed soup, along with a handful of spinach - see first pic).

For a dipping sauce, I combined some light soy sauce, a tiny bit of chili oil, rice vinegar, and a drop or two of sesame oil. Topped it with toasted sesame seeds and chopped scallions.

NOM NOM NOM NOM NOMMMMMMM!