We're famous! ...Sort of.

Yesterday A Tale of 2 Foodies was mentioned in an article published on the Chicago Tribune's website in reference to a post we did about The Hunger Games back in August.  With the movie coming out soon (March 23rd!!), people are getting excited about Hunger Games food, so the Chicken in Orange Cream Sauce got a little attention.

I know it's just a vague mention, but I am ridiculously excited about this!  It also makes me feel really guilty about not posting regularly to our dear foodie blog.  So I'm resolving, right now at nearly 2:30 a.m., to post here more often.  I'm going to research and cook a whole bunch so that we can give you new reading material very soon!  Perhaps Anna and I will even try out some more Hunger Games dishes.

While you wait for new posts, check out The Hunger Games Trailer (below), some other Hunger Games recipes (here) and Anna's most recent post on English Scones and Raspberry Jam.

English Scones and Raspberry Jam

So for Christmas, Mary and I were brainstorming some books or authors to do on the blog. One of the author's we thought of was good ol' Charles Dickens. I had a hard time finding food quotes among his works, they seem to drink a lot of alcohol though. I did find this one though in a short story of his called "Holiday Romance" I haven't been able to find that much information about it either, but it is a collection of four short stories, written through four different point of views (points of view?). Okay here's the quotation:

"THERE is a country, which I will show you when I get into maps, where the children have everything their own way. It is a most delightful country to live in. The grown-up people are obliged to obey the children, and are never allowed to sit up to supper, except on their birthdays. The children order them to make jam and jelly and marmalade, and tarts and pies and puddings, and all manner of pastry. If they say they won't, they are put in the corner till they do. They are sometimes allowed to have some; but when they have some, they generally have powders given them afterwards." -Charles Dickens

So today, we are making scones and freezer jam. I could make another post with some of the other foods they mentioned, but these ones tickled my fancy the most.

Raspberry Freezer Jam
http://allrecipes.com/howto/freezer-jam/
I hate to just direct you to a how-to page, but they spell everything out that you'd need to know for any type, they also have lots of hints on how to do it too.

The basic ratios for each packet of powdered pectin are:

3 cups mashed fruit
5 cups sugar, and
1 cup water in which to dissolve and boil the pectin.

The process itself is simple:

• Wash and stem the fruit (and peel it, if applicable).
• Place it in a wide-bottomed pan and crush with a potato masher to a smooth consistency, leaving some chunks of fruit if you like.
• Stir in the sugar and let the mixture sit for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• In the meantime, mix together the pectin and water in a small saucepan until the powder is dissolved; bring it to a boil over high heat, and let it boil for a full minute.
• Pour it into the fruit and stir for a couple of minutes.
• Pour the jam into your containers, leaving a half-inch of "headspace" at the top.
• Cover the containers and let them sit at room temperature for 24 hours.
• The jam should thicken significantly overnight, but the jelling process can take up to two weeks to complete. If it's too thick, stirring it will soften it up. If it's still too runny after two weeks, pour it into a saucepan and bring it to a boil. It will get thicker as it cools, and you can re-bottle as before.

It'll set up overnight and like it's named it will keep in the freezer or the fridge.

Why can't I untab?

Now, what you've all been waiting for scones!

English Scones

I made 16 little scones, but you can make 8 large scones if you'd like

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, frozen
• 1/2 cup craisins, dried cranberries
  
• 1/2 cup sour cream
• 1 large egg
• 1 heaping teaspoon of orange zest
  

1. Adjust oven rack to lower-middle position and preheat oven to 400 degrees.
2. Take your craisins, chop them up if you like, and soak them in water, we chose to soak ours in orange juice, just put in enough to cover them.
   
3. In a food processor, mix flour, 1/3 cup sugar, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Chop butter into smaller pieces and feed in through food processor into flour mixture.
4. Add sour cream mixture into flour mixture until large dough clumps form, they will look coarse. Add craisins, save the orange juice if that's what you used.
   
5. Pat dough into a plastic wrap lined cake pan and sprinkle with remaining 1 tsp. of sugar. Use a sharp knife to cut into 8 (or 16) triangles; place on a cookie sheet (preferably lined with parchment paper), about 1 inch apart. Bake until golden, about 15 to 17 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes and serve warm or at room temperature.
6. Orange juice glaze: Mix together 1/2 cup powdered sugar, 1/2 Tbsp orange juice, 1 pinch of orange zest (I believe that is about a 1/16th of a tsp). Mix together and drizzle on top of the scones.

pictures to come!

Story of My Dinner: Episode 5

On Friday, December 2, 2011, I ate two tortellini named Giana Gorgonzola and Isabella Mozzarella (among others).  This is their story.

“Ahh, this is the life,” said Giana, leaning back and crossing her arms over her chest.  “I seriously don’t think I’ve ever been more relaxed.  We have to do this spa thing more often.”

“I don’t know,” said Isabella, propping herself up on her elbows to look at Giana. “This tomato sauce is kinda weird.”

“I’ve already told you,” Giana said impatiently, “it’s an excellent moisturizer.  Only the classiest places use it.”

“I guess I do feel pretty moist,” said Isabella.

Giana smiled.  “There you go.  Now will you relax?  That’s what we’re here for, isn’t it?”

Isabella squirmed a little from where she lay in the sauce.  “I would if I didn’t keep breathing in this white stuff.  What’d they call it?”

“Parmigiano,” Giana said with Italian gusto.  “It’s supposed to invigorate your soul.”

“What does that even mean?” Isabella asked.

“Don’t know.  Don’t care,” Giana said with a shrug.

“Where did the spa attendants go?” Isabella asked, looking around.  “Aren’t they supposed to be, you know, attending to us?”

Giana raised an eyebrow and sat up on one elbow.  “Girl, you need to chill out.  What’s your deal?”

“It’s just…” Isabella looked around one last time, and then leaned close to Giana with a lowered voice.  “It’s just that I can’t shake the feeling that some hungry grad student is about to swoop in with her cheap Wal-Mart fork and devour us in less than ten bites.”

Giana stared at Isabella unblinkingly for a moment.  Then, taking a deep breath, she said, “Izzy, you have been watching way too many horror movies.”

Isabella sighed.  “Yeah, I know.”

“A hungry grad student? Really?”  Giana shook her head in bewilderment.  “Where do you come up with this stuff?”

Isabella smiled sheepishly.  “Yeah, I guess that was a little random.”

“Tell me about—“

At that point I, the prophesied grad student, speared Giana with my cheap fork and popped her into my mouth.  She never saw it coming, so I think it was fairly painless.  I don’t know for sure if the parmesan cheese invigorated her soul, but it sure invigorated mine.  Whatever that means.

The End.

How to Make Tortellini:

1. Cook tortellini according to package instructions
2. Drain
3. Pour some Prego tomato sauce on your tortellini. (Yes, it must be Prego.  Do it or suffer the consequences.)
4. Pour some parmesan cheese on your tortellini
5. Reheat in microwave if needed
6. Partake, and await soul invigoration.  (Don’t worry, it will happen.)

Tomorrow is Episode 6.  Run and hide, future dinner.  Run and hide.  Because me and my Wally Mart fork are coming to getcha.  Beware!

*cue creepy music*

Story of My Dinner: Episode 4

Tacos for dinner!  I've been craving some for a while, and man did they hit the spot!

My ingredients: corn tortillas, grated sharp cheddar cheese, 1 chopped roma tomato, chopped olives, sour cream, chopped onions, ground beef (cooked with salt, pepper, garlic powder, cumin, lemon juice and chili powder) and a little Tapatío hot sauce.

And here's my story, in comic strip form.  The characters are meant to be tacos, in case you couldn't tell.

 Tomorrow is Episode 5.  Stay tuned!

Story of My Dinner: Episode 3

Tonight my class was canceled, so I celebrated by watching Netflix movies and eating fried rice.  I know, I should have been doing homework, but there's only a week left of classes, and I'm getting antsy for Christmas Break.  Besides, I LOVE fried rice, especially drowned in yummy soy sauce.  It's a must-have every time I go out for Chinese.  I love it so much that I invented a recipe for it when I was a young teenager and have since perfected  it (in my opinion).  I have it almost once a week.

Fried Rice
2 cups water
1 cup uncooked rice
1 large chicken breast, cut into bite-sized pieces
1 tbsp olive or sesame oil
soy sauce
ginger
pepper
garlic powder
2 carrots, diced and cooked
1/3 cup peas
2 eggs

1. Boil water, and add rice.  Cover, and turn down to low heat.  Cook rice for 20-25 minutes.
2. While the rice is cooking, pour oil into a frying pan, and then add chicken.  Stir the chicken in the oil to coat and add soy sauce (I like a lot of soy sauce, so I do about 2 tbsp here), as well as a dash of ginger, garlic powder, and pepper.  Turn onto medium-high heat and fry until chicken is cooked on the sides but not in the middle.  Fill pan with a quarter of an inch of water and continue to cook the chicken until the water almost completely boils off (5-10 minutes).  Check to make sure that the chicken is completely cooked.
3. Push the chicken to the side of the pan and crack eggs into the pan, scrambling with your spatula.  Add a little soy sauce to the eggs to flavor them.  When the eggs are cooked, add carrots, peas, rice (once it's cooked), and about a tablespoon of soy sauce.  Stir well.  Taste, and add more ginger, garlic, pepper, or soy sauce as desired.

Sorry, my recipes are always kind of rough.  I never measure the ones I make up.  Also note that these aren't the only things I'll add to my fried rice -- this is just what I made tonight.  If I have spinach or green onions, I'll add those vegetables, or even broccoli.  It just depends on what I have on hand.

So for my story tonight, I thought long and hard about it.  I realize that my fried rice doesn't look that different from my Turkey and Rice I had on Monday.  I kept staring at it, trying to come up with something new, and all I could picture was this blob of rice coming alive and walking off the plate, like something off Better Off Dead (hilarious movie, btw).  Then I remembered another story about food coming alive, written/illustrated by a favorite writer of mine, Bill Waterson.

So yes, today I'm copping out and letting someone else tell my story.  But you can't really complain.  What's better than Calvin and Hobbes?  And it actually fits with this blog anyway, because it's literature (yes, I'm calling graphic novels literature), AND it's a fantastic allusion to my all-time favorite Shakespeare play, Hamlet.  Enjoy!

I love how the blob stabs itself with a fork.  :)

Come back tomorrow for another episode of Story of My Dinner!  Tomorrow I'll write my own story.  Maybe I'll even draw a comic strip.  What do you think?

Story of My Dinner: Episode 2

Today I had knock-off Cinnamon Toast Crunch for dinner.  Not as good as actual Cinnamon Toast Crunch, but still a treat.  

Yes, this is a typical dinner choice for me.  I may love to cook, but I also love to be lazy.  And I LOVE cereal.  Cereal provides me with about 40% of my annual sustenance, I’d say.  I’m not exaggerating.

This story is way less melodramatic than yesterday’s, and I think it’s actually pretty funny (but that may just be me).  Let me know what you think.

 PsychoCinna

Brannie and her husband, Toat, sat in the wading bowl on a hot summer’s day.  The pool was bustling with people, mostly children, who jostled into each other.  One young tike swam past and kicked Toat in the corner.

“Ow!” Toat groaned, wincing.  “That kid nearly popped my air pocket!”

“This is ridiculous,” Brannie complained in her high-and-mighty voice.  “We’re never coming to this bowl again.”

“Seriously!” said Toat.  “I have never seen this place so crowded.”

“And filled with floozies.  Did you see how thin that woman’s cinna-stripe was?  My mother never would have let me out of the house dressed like that.”

“Certainly not,” Toat agreed.

They fell into silence for a moment, Brannie glaring at those around her.

“What’s the point of coming to a pool if you can’t even touch the milk?” said Brannie.  “It’s so hot, Toat.  I can feel the sugar dust on my skin.”

Toat nodded. “I’ve got my bottom corner in, at least.”

Brannie peered over at Toat with a calculating eye. “Is the milk clearer over there?  Maybe I should scoot over.”

“I’m not sure that’s the best idea, sweetie,” Toat said uncertainly, peering around him.  “It’s pretty crowded.”

“Nonsense,” said Brannie.  She wriggled her way over to Toat, and ended up sliding on top of a toastman in leopard cinnaprint.  

“Hebbbeybbbbb,” the toastman said, his mouth partway in the water, where he was pinned by Brannie’s large squarish figure.

“Oh, hush,” Brannie told him.  She then sighed in contentment as she dipped two of her corners into the milk.  “This is almost worth it.

“Brannie, um, I think that toastman is drowning,” Toat said hesitantly. 

“He’ll be fine,” Brannie said without concern.

After a moment the toastman stopped struggling in the milk.  Toat looked at him nervously, waiting to see signs of life.  The toastman didn’t move.

Then there was the shrill tweet of a whistle and the silver lifespoon dove from her perch at the guardtower and in a quick dip scooped the toastman out of the milk and to safety.  The formerly drowning toastman began to stir as the lifespoon set him on the rim of the bowl.

“There, see?” Brannie said with a smile as she settled down into the milk that the toastman had previously occupied.  “Everyone got what they wanted.  I got the milk, the lifespoon got to go for a dip, and the toastman didn’t drown.  This day is going better than I’d thought.”

Okay, so this story also reveals that I’m a bit disturbed.  But hey, at least it’s not melodramatic, right? And I don't really need to post the recipe for this, do I?

Tune in tomorrow for Episode 3.  Maybe I’ll get better at this as the week progresses. Thanks for reading!

Story of My Dinner: Episode 1

A friend of mine recently got me into a youtube channel called rhettandlink.  It’s a pair of best friends (Rhett and Link) who write random songs and do random sketches, film them, and post them on youtube.  And sometimes they even get paid for it.  For instance, a few years back Alkasetzer paid them to take a “Great American Road Trip,” where they drove all over the country trying different foods while being as wacky as possible.

One episode in this series was a little different.  It was about a photographer who posed food in different ways to tell a story.   Here is the episode:

I was really struck by this idea that food has a story to tell.  So I decided to blog about it!

The purpose of this blog is to cook food that we’ve read about in stories.  But I wanted to change things up a little.  I decided to write the story of my food.  Every day this week I’ll be posting a story I made up about a food I ate that day.  They’ll be pretty short stories, more like flash fiction.  I’ll also post the recipe, in case you’re interested.  Sounds fun, right?  Maybe I’ll do it more after this week, if it’s still fun come Sunday.  I'm calling it "Story of My Dinner."

First Food: Turkey and Rice

Disclaimer: It's kinda late, and I'm kinda tired, and I'm in a weird mood.  I also wrote this story in less than 10 minutes.  So please don't judge me.

Rice to the Occasion

Peawee struggled to raise himself from the mulch of gooey rice that had enveloped him.  The thick substance was as firm as cement, yet he continued to struggle.  He didn’t know how long it had been since the devastating tidal wave of cooked grain had washed over his family’s home.  A minute?  An hour?  Days?  All he remembered was the crushing blow as the wave plowed over him, and the searing heat as he struggled to free himself from it.  Now that things had settled, he only wanted to find his beloved.  Had she drowned in the wave?  Had she been crushed by turkey debris?  He shuddered at the thought.

            In the stillness of the wasteland that was once his home, he heard a muffled cry.  It had to be her!  She was alive!  With renewed determination, he wriggled to free himself.

            “Sweetpea!” he cried when he was finally free enough to call out.  “Sweatpea, I’m coming!”

            Unfortunately, from his stranded position, Peawee did not see the barbaric carrot lying in wait below, watching.  As Peawee freed himself, the carrot pounced, and Peawee was flattened into a casserolic oblivion.

Okay, as I was writing that, I was thinking, “I’m such a weirdo!  And so random!  And possibly slightly disturbed...”  But this is all I could come up with after a 4 hour night class.  I’ll try to come up with something less wacky tomorrow.  Depends on what I eat, I suppose.

As for the food I was writing about, I made it from Thanksgiving leftovers.  I know I didn’t make it sound very appetizing in my story (or look very appetizing in the picture), but it’s actually really good!  It’s the same idea as chicken noodle soup, only with turkey and rice.  I just cooked the rice for a really long time until it absorbed all the broth.

In order to make this, I boiled my leftover turkey carcass for 1 hour, and then deboned the meat and strained the broth.  I ended up with about 10 cups of broth and 3 cups of shredded turkey meat.

Turkey and Rice

10 cups turkey broth

2 tbsp chicken bouillon

2 cups rice

3 carrots, chopped

¼ cup chopped onion

¾ cup frozen peas

Oregano

Basil

Pepper

Put broth in a large pot with bouillon on high heat.  When it comes to a boil, add rice and carrots, then cover and lower heat.  Allow to cook for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, place chopped onion in a small frying pan and submerse in water.  Cover and boil for 10-15 minutes, until onions are clear and tender.  When they are cooked, pour onions and any remaining water into the rice pot and stir.

When the 20 minutes are up, add the peas and turkey, as well as your desired amount of spices (I used about ¼ tsp of each).  Add more bouillon if it is not salty or flavorful enough, and more water if you want more broth.  Cook on medium low to desired consistency -- If you want broth, cook less.  If you want more of a casserole substance with really soft, sticky rice (which is what I did), cook longer.

In case you couldn't tell, this makes a TON of rice.  I froze about half of it into individual servings, so now if I ever don't feel like cooking dinner, I can thaw out one of the bags and voila!  A balanced meal.

Okay, that's that.  Join me tomorrow for Story of My Dinner: Episode 2!