Pear Walnut Salad

*Note: Walnuts are replaced with dried cranberries in this version. I prefer walnuts because it gives a nice balance between the savory and sweet flavors of the salad.*

Dressing:

½ cup oil

¼ cup sugar

3 Tbsp. vinegar

¼ tsp. Salt

Salad:

10 cups of mixed greens lettuce (i.e. romaine, spinach)

1 cup toasted walnuts, chopped

9 oz. crumbled blue cheese

3 pears peeled and sliced into approximately 1 inch flat squares

Directions:

1. Combine salad ingredients (walnuts can be toasted in a toaster oven).
2. Make dressing separately.
3. Mix dressing well (so the sugar is spread evenly throughout the dressing) and toss together with salad.
4. Keep chilled until ready to serve.

Green Bean and Bacon Salad

Great salad during the summer. I usually leave out the shallot and parsley... but I'm sure it's better with it.

Adapted from Tyler Florence's recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/tyler-florence/green-bean-and-bacon-salad-recipe/index.html

1 pound green beans, stems trimmed
1/4 pound thick-cut bacon, cut in 1/4-inch pieces
1 shallot, finely chopped
1/2 cup walnut halves and pieces, toasted
1 handful fresh flat-leaf parsley, leaves chopped
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1 tablespoon hot water
Pinch sugar
1 lemon, juiced
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1/3 cup extra-virgin olive oil

In a large pot of boiling salted water, blanch the green beans for 4 minutes, or until they are just crisp-tender. Drain the beans, transfer to a bowl of ice water to stop the cooking, and drain well. Put the green beans in a mixing bowl.

In a large skillet, cook the bacon over moderate heat, until crispy. Transfer the bacon with a slotted spoon to a plate lined with paper towels. Add the bacon to the green beans, along with the shallot, walnuts, and parsley.

In a jar, combine the mustard, water, sugar, and lemon juice; season with salt and pepper. Drizzle in the oil, put the cap on, and shake vigorously to emulsify. If planning to eat the salad right away, pour the dressing over the green bean salad and serve. If taking on a picnic, put the salad in a sealable plastic container and pack the dressing separately until ready to serve.

Chocolate & Caramel Tart

The first time I had this via a friend, I could not stop thinking about it.

Adapted from: http://cookingwithrockstars.com/recipes/chocolate-caramel-tart-sea-salt

Ingredients

Chocolate cookie crust

• 2 cups crushed chocolate cookies (i.e. chocolate Teddy Grahams)
• 3/4 cup melted butter

Caramel filling

• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 2/3 cup water
• 2/3 cup whipping cream
• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• Pinch of salt

Chocolate filling

• 3/4 cup whipping cream
• 6 ounces bittersweet (not unsweetened) or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

Instructions

Cookie crust

1. Preheat oven to 375°F.
2. Combine the cookie crumbs and butter in a medium bowl and mix well. Press the crumb and butter mixture firmly and evenly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie or tart pan. Bake for 8 minutes. Set aside and cool before filling.

Caramel filling

1. Stir the sugar and 1/3 cup water in a heavy medium saucepan over low heat until the sugar dissolves.
2. Increase the heat and boil until the syrup is an amber color – swirling the pan occasionally and brushing down the sides with a wet pastry brush – about 8 minutes. Remove from heat.
3. Add the cream, butter, vanilla and salt (the mixture will bubble up).
4. Return the pan to very low heat; stir until the caramel is smooth and the color deepens, about 5 minutes. Refrigerate the caramel uncovered until cold but not firm – about 20 minutes – before pouring into the crust to fill it a little more than halfway.

Chocolate filling

1. Bring the cream to boil in a heavy small saucepan. Add the chocolate and whisk together until smooth.
2. Fill the rest of the pie or tart crust with the chocolate filling. In the end, you want slightly more caramel than chocolate in the tart.

Refrigerate until firm, about 45 minutes.

Just before you serve the tart, sprinkle the top of it with a dusting of sea salt to taste."

My go-to Kimchi Fried Rice Recipe (Bokkeumbap)

14 meals to eat a week. I probably end up planning/cooking 9-10 of them. Going to start posting them up here to keep track and remind myself when I'm tired & hungry after work (not a good combo), and trying to scratch my brain for ideas. Sorry, I'll try to post photos once in awhile but I can't guarantee I won't gulf my food down first! First, one of my favorite comfort foods...

And trust me on the peanut butter. I tried it once and I will never go back.

Adapted from: http://koreancooking.xanga.com/396949194/item/

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups old kimchi

Approx. 1/4 cup of kimchi juice

2 cups of spam (about 1/2 can), diced

1/2 tablespoon of soy sauce

1 tablespoon of olive oil

1 tablespoon of "secret ingredient" - peanut butter

2 tablespoons of sesame oil

Approx. 3 small bowls of rice

1-2 eggs (optional)

Directions:

1. Put spam in heated pan over medium/medium high heat.
   
2. Add in olive oil.
3. When spam goes from light pink to a dark pink, add kimchi.
4. Add in peanut butter, soy sauce, and sesame oil. Mix in well with spam & kimchi.
5. Add in rice. If there isn't enough "sauce" to coat the rice, add in kimchi juice
6. Fry eggs sunny side, over-easy or well done (your choice) and place it on top of your yummy kimchi fried rice.

Adventures with Mr. Snail

Most people don't know this, but T's giftedness in the visual arts is also used to advance science. He does all kinds of complicated things with microscopes (sorta like really big cameras) and computers that I don't really understand, but look so beautiful regardless. Anyways, recently we found out that a photo he took at work was used in a PBS video (It's the first snail/slug crawling across the screen, celebrity style!) .




Or see here for the credits: http://podcast.com/episode/43480838/12879/

And then I found out another one of his photos was published here awhile ago.

Pretty cool, eh?

Dress Up

I'm convinced that we need more holidays to dress up in costumes! Had a great time being last-minute creative with some good friends this past weekend. Can you guess what we are?

1 Samuel 12:19-25

"And all the people said to Samuel, "Pray for your servants to the Lord your God, that we may not die, for we have added to all our sins this evil, to ask for ourselves a king.

And Samuel said to the people, "Do not be afraid; you have done all this evil. Yet do not turn aside from following the Lord, but serve the Lord with all your heart. And do not turn aside after empty things that cannot profit or deliver, for they are empty. For the Lord will not forsake his people, for his great name's sake, because it has pleased the Lord to make you a people for himself. Moreover, as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against the Lord by ceasing to pray for you, and I will instruct you in the good and the right way. Only fear the Lord and serve him faithfully with all your heart. For consider what great things he has done for you"...