Bearfins in Rhode Island

no knead bread...the film!

No-Knead Bread from pixilated studios on Vimeo.

no knead

 

our friend jeff used to manage the restaurant that jim leahy of the now-famous no knead bread owned.  jeff and john are making a cooking video starting with this bread and this is john's first attempt at a loaf.  pretty impressive, no?

vegan pesto fun

tasty vegan pesto...  just leave out the cheese.  2 bunches fresh basil, 5 cloves roasted garlic, half a fresh squeezed lemon, pinenuts (1/4 cup maybe?), salt, olive oil, and a little bit of honey to counter the bitterness.  i put it over a whole wheat penne pasta.

also attempted the millenium cashew cream (meant to substitute for a heavy cream type thing).  it's just a quarter cup unsalted cashews and water food-processed to what you think is the right consistency.  it tasted close but the texture, despite extensive grinding, was still not creamy.  not sure what i need to do with that.  anyway, you can add all kinds of things to it to make for a creamy pasta sauce (lemon, capers, pepper ...or a spicier type situation like chipotle pepper, cayenne, etc).  the cub liked it and it's packed with calories so we were happy to feed it to the skinny little boy.

thrown together

napa cabbage asian salad with mint, cilantro, soy sauce, orange and lemon juice, cayenne and a touch of agave nectar. again, from millenium.

this would be after my on-the-couch therapy session #2 of the week. we are "in the shit" now as my good friend likes to call it.  which means it's not all funny patient anecdotes and ironic commentary about my odd ball habits.  it's transference and countertransference and me not trying to over-intellectualize the whole thing...a defense i'm trying to monitor. 

instead, i defend with cabbage salad.

feasting

have been attempting to get back on to the cooking train. this week, ordered from fresh direct a whole host of staples for our pantry and started going through the Millenium Cookbook that we've had sitting on our shelf for a while.  it's a beautiful but complicated vegan tome that requires many ingredients and even more steps but i've been taking it easy and attempting small things like dips and sauces.  so far, have done their tofu dip and an almond/caper/raisin orzo.  will do pesto tonight and possibly a cashew cream.  i had huge success with a vegan chocolate bread pudding on christmas morning that i found online...  just used some fabulous, crusty french baguettes john found at our local gourmet shop, very vanilla soy milk, salt, vanilla, a little bit of maple syrup and a half cup of brown sugar.  oh and the equivalent of 2 eggless eggs.  for the chocolate, i blended cocoa powder with enough warm water to make a paste and then combined all the wet ingredients. poured it all over the toasted chunks of bread and cooked for 25 minutes at 350.  holy good god it was amazing.

so onward with the cooking. tonight i'll be having kristin over for more culinary adventures.  i finally feel like i am back to being able to be creative in the kitchen. 

 

the millenium restaurant in san francisco

obento?

 

this is the #1 article today in the nyt on obento boxes.  adorableness and vegan friendly.  much work though.  well, maybe not much...but more than our hurried morning might handle. but maybe we'll try it.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/09/09/dining/09bento.html?em

and just look at these cute obento boxes, carriers and chopsticks!!!

 

 

birthday in new york

bears turned 35 today.

he made his own cake. i couldn't stop him.

happy birthday little bear.

christmas craft with lily

trader joes has a very cute gingerbread house available that made for hours of fun with john's adorable niece, lily.
the frosting wouldn't "go" unless she helped squeeze.
i'm actually working really hard here.
lily and uncle johnny putting the finishing touches on the house.
complete.

it's here

Easter brunch with Carda. Late entry egg dyeing.  Art education gossip.  Displaying of new maternity jeans. Lovely Sunday.

the bear is at it again

Productive day for a bear. He spent most of it working on a documentary he's been editing, taking a break only to make baked goods.  Today it was vanilla cake with chocolate frosting. Delicious.

I've had a bit of a rough time today having spoken too soon about the morning sickness. Hit me with a vengeance as I was trying to cook breakfast.  Yikes.  No art museum for us as I spent the day on the couch quelling nausea with ginger ale. I did hold down the cake.  It's magic.