A Few Of My Favorites: Kitchen Edition

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I spend a lot of time in the kitchen, and use a fair number of tools to pull off 30-minute dinners, all day bake-a-thons, breakfasts on the run and celebratory shin-digs.

These made the cut:

  1. Capresso Infinity Conical Burr Grinder, Stainless Steel. Because, coffee first. Grind it fresh people, it’s soooo much better. A burr grinder allows you to adjust the coarseness of the grind for your preferred brewing technique. Size DOES matter.

  2. Global MinoSharp 3 Knife Sharpener in Grey/Black. I like my coffee black, and my Wusthof knives SHARP. It’s not totally foolproof but it’s what the knife sharpening guy at Sur la Table uses...

  3. Pampered Chef Silicone Oven Mitts. Hands down (heehee) the best oven mitts out there. Donate your “hot pads” to Goodwill. These are all you need.

  4. Pampered Chef Large Bar Pan. Okay, I have never been a PC dealer but I can seriously give testimony to these stoneware pans. I love baking on them--roasted vegetables, cookies, salmon, you name it. You only wash with hot water, seasoning it over time like cast iron.

  5. Le Creuset Signature Flame Oval French Oven. Like a little black dress, you can rely on this sexy beast for any occasion--braise your beef and caramelize your shallots, simmer your stew and roast your bird. C’est nécessité!

What are some of YOUR favorite things?

7/100

Blood Orange Beet Bowl

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bloodoranges I got super lucky this week and landed a small stash of blood oranges from a neighbor. This happened to coincide with a craving for roasted beets, which I had already planned to make. Tired of my usual beet-goatcheese-pepita-oliveoil salad, I decided to merge these two heartbreakers into one bloody beet bowl. This is how it went down...

IN ADVANCE: I roasted the beets coated in a bit of olive oil and salt in a 350 oven for nearly an hour. This is sketchy, because I was cooking other things at the same time, on and off. It's an art. Not a science. Once out and cooled I slipped their dirty skins off. That sounds mildly sexual. Oh well. Then I cut them into 1" chunks a tossed them into a jar in the fridge for later.

NEXT: I prepped two small blood oranges by cutting the peel off with a serrated knife. I usually take the tiny pith core out too. I cut these into bite sized chunks.

beetorangebowl

AND THEN: I combined the orange pieces with 3/4 to 1 cup of the beets in a bowl, and grated (~ 2 teaspoons to 1 Tablespoon of) fresh ginger root right on top. Then a drizzle of honey, and a sprinkle of salt to bring out the full flavors.

Done! I think you could still safely add goat cheese, if you so desire. Or perhaps go super savory and do garlic instead of honey, and toss in some finely sliced red onion or shallots...

BEETPLATE

Beets produce the most perfect shade of magenta ever.

PS >>>>>>---------> Forgive my iPhonography, I was documenting on the fly!

Mahalo Mondays: Grateful for a Holiday

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ImageI'm not going to lie and tell you I watched the President's second inauguration this morning. Or that I took time to educate my boys on the historical impact of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (though the day is not over, and I still have an opportunity during tonight's "Table Topics"). Let me tell you that I spent a portion of this day being totally self indulgent. Yes, today was a FREE DAY as we call it in our house, and Free Days are golden. Now Saturday and Sunday are Free Days, of course, but these bonus weekday holidays are more like platinum. Usually we don't have sports scheduled at this time. No doctor or dentist appointments, no mandatory family gatherings, and in theory, we've already done our chores. In theory. Last night the boys slept over at my parents, giving me a head start on this freebie by going to a movie with my girlfriend (Silver Linings Playbook). This morning, the Mister took off for work, and left me in bed, dozey and crampy. I laid around a bit, made coffee, got a bowl of dried cereal and hopped back into bed with both to promptly watch three episodes of The Mindy Project on my iPad. SIDE NOTE: Do you not LOVE Mindy Kaling? This show is like Sex and the City meets Mary Tyler Moore meets The Office with a hint of Grey's Anatomy. Just enough clever, quirky, smart, sexy, charming. FUNNY.

Got out of bed after 9AM (SHOCK! AWE!) and got my running duds on just in time for the boys to come home. Off to basketball (them) and a run (me). Later we went the thrift store, grocery shopping and treated ourselves to frozen yogurt and coffee (me, not them). I ignored a bunch of could do, should do, need to do chores, and sat down to write this up. Me blogging, them iTouching.

Indulgent yes, irresponsible, not really. The joy of being lazy is so rich, and so worth it.