Austin Eats

Bernt and I have been in Texas on a working vacation. After biding our time eating free breakfasts and dinners in San Antonio, we have finally arrived in Texas' culinary mecca. We stopped in a beautiful town named Wimberly to eat at a cozy little cafe named The Leaning Pear (http://www.leaningpear.com/). It was eerily familiar- the kind of place I might have run if I had decided to run a cafe. Simple, tasty menu. Cheerful surroundings. Good prices. Just perfect for today.




Delicious cremini mushroom soup

Liam loved the soup

BBLT with brie, applewood smoked bacon, lettuce, and tomatoes on grilled sourdough

Buttermilk and vanilla panna cotta with grapefruit and tangerine

Liam made off with the bread


Along the way to Austin from Wimberly, we ran across Driftwood Winery and tasted 6 different wines. Several were tasty, but we settled on a beautiful orange blossom muscat dessert wine as a gift for tomorrow night when we will have dinner with my college RA and his wife and 2 kids.

Once we arrived in Austin and checked into our hotel, we ventured out to see the Congress Bridge bats at dusk. Apparently 1.5 million bats migrate every year from Mexico to Austin, where they roost in the 16x1.5 inch ruts in the concrete under Congress Bridge. Unfortunately, they really don't arrive in Austin until mid-March with best viewing time in August when the babies start to fly. We hung around for a while but saw neither hide nor errant wing of those tiny bats. It must be incredible to stand under the hoards of bats 1.5 million strong heading out for the evening hunt. I already like them- they eat mosquitos!

In front of the Congress Ave. Bridge


We ate dinner at a place featured in Bon Appetit magazine called House Pizzeria (http://www.housepizzeria.com/). An unassuming little place, it used to be a KFC that is now transformed into a local pizza joint serving high quality organic food. We sat right by the jukebox and conveniently close to the bar. On tap were a bunch of tasty beers in addition to a raspberry lambic and Maine root beer (I met the owner of this company and his brother a few days ago at a food convention). We tried the Pecan Porter, (512) IPA, Big Oak Amber, and a tasty rye beer whose name I forget. One of our appetizers was roasted olives, which arrived sizzling in oil with garlic.

Starting with a spinach salad with crispy salami, shaved parmesan, and lemon wedges. Liam enjoyed the parmesan.


But he enjoyed the roll even more...


Pizza with broccoli rabe, homemade Italian sausage, and hot peppers


All in all, a gastronomically delicious day!

Lemon Coconut Bars

I made these delicious bars yesterday as a thank you give to the nurses and secretaries at my last clerkship location. They were a hit. I adapted a recipe I found on Epicurious to make them a little more user friendly.

Crust:
3/4 stick (6 tablespoons) cold butter
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup sweetened flaked coconut
1 cup flour

Filling:
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
juice from 1 large lemon
zest from 1 large lemon
1 teaspoon flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder

Powdered sugar to sprinkle on top

Blend crust ingredients in food processor until a crumbly dough forms. Press into a 8x8 inch pan lined with aluminum foil. Bake at 350 degrees F for 25 minutes until golden.

Whisk filling ingredients in a medium sized bowl. Pour over the crust and bake 30 more minutes at 350 degrees F until puffy. It should just spring back when you press down on it. Use the foil to lift it quickly out of the pan onto a cooling rack. Once cool, sift powdered sugar on top and cut into bars.

Enjoy!

Tom yum soup = warm belly

Hilde and Bernt enjoy my soup


My tom yum soup is a combination between tom ka gai (a coconut chicken soup) and tom yum (sour and spicy soup). I make mine chock full of vegetables and protein so that it resembles a stew.

Makes 6-8 servings

2 large chicken legs (thigh and drumstick included)
8 cups water (about 2 liters)
4 dried shiitake mushrooms plus a bunch of extra stems
2 inch piece fresh ginger, peeled and sliced thinly
1/2 pound shrimp, peel but save shells for broth
1 onion, sliced thinly
1 cup ground tomatoes
4 heaping tablespoons tom yum soup base
3 tablespoons fish sauce or more to taste
1 bag frozen mixed vegetables (I used "Italian mix" that was hanging around my freezer- beans, zucchini, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower)
1/2 cup coconut milk
2 tablespoons frozen cilantro pesto (or 2 big handfuls fresh cilantro aka coriander, minced)

Make broth by simmering chicken legs, water, shiitake stems, shrimp shells, and ginger for at least an hour or two on low heat. The chicken should be just about falling off the bone. I left the stove on for about 4 hours. Strain broth and save the chicken meat. Shred chicken and set aside.

Soak shiitake mushroom caps in a little hot water for 10 minutes or so until rehydrated. Strain the liquid and add it to the broth. Slice mushrooms and add to broth. Add onion, tomatoes, tom yum base, and fish sauce. Simmer soup for a few minutes. Add frozen veggies (or whatever veggies you've got on hand). Simmer until they are heated through. Return chicken to the pot. Add coconut milk and cilantro. At the last minute, add shrimp and turn off heat. The shrimp will cook in 3-4 minutes.

Serve over brown or white steamed rice.




A little apprehensive...

This is how much Liam liked my soup. We mixed a little into his rice cereal.

After dinner drinks while watching the Olympics...




Banana-Pina-Colada

Makes 3 drinks
1 cup ice
3 shots spiced rum
4 chunks fresh pineapple
3 big tablespoons of coconut milk
dash milk
1/2 banana
3 tablespoons brown sugar

Give it a swirl in the blender. Decorate with fresh pineapple and freshly grated nutmeg.

Berger in Retrospect

While I was studying for my masters degree in the Science and Medicine of Athletic Performance, I came across an interesting article entitled "Berger in retrospect: the effect of varied weight training programmes on strength" (RN Carpinelli, Br J Sports Med 2002, 36: 319-324). For me, this cast doubt on the theory that strength is best achieved using multiple sets with multiple reps with regular frequency of workouts. It suggested that there is a threshold effect to weight-lifting, that if you somehow push past a certain threshold, your body will adapt and increase in performance capability.

Bernt and I did a little experiment on ourselves after reading that article. Over a period of 3 months, we did once weekly workouts that consisted of 10 different strength exercises. The goal was to lift as much weight as possible for a total of 8 repetitions. If we did not achieve 8 reps, we would continue using that weight until it was possible. If we did more reps, we would increase the weight on successive workouts. With a sample size of 2, we saw that we had significant increases in strength over the 3 months. By the end we were easily capable of lifting at least 50% more weight than we had started out with.

After a nearly 4 year hiatus, we have decided to give this program a try again. Now that we have Liam, time is even more precious. This regime is a time-efficient way to gain and maintain strength. We decided that if we could do this every week interspersed with at least 2 other short workouts we considered ourselves active enough.

We decided on the following exercises:
1. pull ups
2. squats
3. one-armed row
4. deadlift
5. triceps press
6. bench press
7. knees to elbows
8. 50 strokes on the rowing machine for distance

We have been doing this for 4 weeks now with great improvement. The unlikely challenging exercise is the 50 strokes on the rowing machine. It is an exhausting combination of power and endurance. Whew!

Rodger and Mole, Olé!

Our good friend Rodger came over for dinner tonight and brought the dinner with him. We were treated to a lovely mole negro, a specialty of Mexico. This kind, the "black sauce" is the most difficult to prepare, with several different types of chilies, nuts, and in this case, dark Belgian chocolate. It was earthy, rich, and complex. It also took him hours to prepare plus four hours on the stove simmering.

He also brought a pan de muerto, which is a sweet anise flavored bread baked specially for the Dia de los Muertos celebrated in Mexico on November 2.

To top it all off, we had sauteed bananas with my homemade cinnamon ice cream and a sauce Rodger had prepared using orange peel, agave syrup, and rum.

What a feast!



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My plate: roasted yam, salad with a spicy cilantro dressing, corn tortilla with rice, chicken, and mole negro.


Rodger gets the baby treatment


Liam forgoes ice cream for gnawing on a chair


My banana got a bit more than flambeed!

Cinnamon Ice Cream

2 cups cream
1 cup milk (I used 1%)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
3/4 cup sugar, divided into 1/2 cup and 1/4 cup
5 egg yolks
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Simmer cream, milk, salt, cinnamon and 1/2 cup sugar. Meanwhile, whisk 1/4 cup sugar and egg yolks until light and fluffy. Carefully whisk in a cup or two of the cream mixture (don't let it cook the eggs) and then pour it all back into the pan with the cream mixture and cook on low heat until thickened. Don't let it boil! Strain into a 1 quart ice cream freezer canister and stir in the vanilla. Cool down to room temperature, chill, and then freeze in an ice cream machine.

Beef with Burgundy Stew

Returning from a weekend in Lake Placid, I felt like making something warm, comforting, and most importantly, easy. This is a variation on the Beef Burgundy I usually make, since I didn't have any bacon or fresh brown mushrooms and did have some collard greens I wanted to use. I did have a large bone-in chuck roast from my grass-fed cow that I bought from Austin Brothers Farm in Belchertown, MA.

I read that, in order to tenderize the beef, it is vital to begin cooking slowly at low temperatures and then turn up the temperature nearer the end once the collagens, etc, have relaxed. I attempted this method, but found that the beef was just as tough over the first 1-2 hours as if you just cook over high heat the whole time. Next time, I'll just throw the whole pot in the oven for 3 hours and forget the simmering business.

Serves 8 people (or in this case 3 with lots of leftovers)

about 4 lbs (1750 grams) bone-in chuck roast
12 carrots (a few parsnips thrown in that were lying around)
3 yellow onions
4 cloves garlic
1.5 ounces dried oyster mushrooms (I would prefer porcini but didn't have them)
2 bay leaves, handful fresh herbs if you have (oregano, thyme, etc...I didn't)
1 bunch collard greens
2 cups water
1 bottle burgundy (or any other dry-ish red wine)
8 potatoes
salt and pepper
2 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup flour


Round up your ingredients


Get them ready to go: soak the dried mushrooms in hot water then rinse and drain, chop carrots and onions in to large chunks, slice beef into evenly sized and easy to brown pieces, coarsely chop garlic, peel and quarter potatoes and cover with cool water, rinse and coarsely chop collard greens


Heat up your dutch oven on medium-high heat (Le Creuset in my case, large heavy pot if you haven't got one). Add a little vegetable oil. Be careful, because the oil will spatter a bit. Brown the beef a few pieces at a time to give them room to breath. The goal is to get a nice caramelized surface on as much of the chunks as you can. I usually just try to brown the two largest surfaces, because the pan quickly starts burning and smoking. Set beef aside. Don't wash the pan!


To your beefy pan full of brown bits, add the onions and saute until softened. Add mushrooms and saute a few minutes. Add the carrots, garlic, herbs and beef. Cover with water and wine and simmer gently. Once this gets going, dump in the collard greens, cover and simmer for 1 hour until "tender" (my beef was as tender as a rubber band at this point). For the remaining 2 hours or so, bake uncovered in a 425F (about 220 C) oven, stirring every 20 minutes or so and topping off with wine, stock, or water as you see fit. 30-60 minutes before you are ready to eat, stir in the potatoes.


This is what my stew looked like after 3 hours of cooking. If you like a soupy gravy, leave it like this. Otherwise you can thicken it by making a roux, thinning this with the sauce, and mixing it all back in the pot.

Roux:
In a small saucepan heat the butter until melted. Whisk in the flour and cook over medium heat until thick. Slowly add some of the sauce by the ladleful until it makes a thick gravy. Stir this back into your stew pot for a luscious stew. Season to taste with salt and pepper.

I served my stew with a golden beet and feta salad:
4 golden beets, roasted, peeled, and sliced thin
1 ounce feta cheese, crumbled
1/2 lemon, squeezed over the top
drizzle olive oil

Beautiful winter day...and tuna salad

A fresh and delicious tuna salad

Hilde and I shared this along with 1 slice of wholewheat bread each:

2 large handfuls baby spinach
1- 6 ounce can tuna packed in water (I prefer in olive oil but had run out)
1/2 tomato in chunks
1/2 red onion, sliced thinly
4 inch cucumber chunk, sliced thin
1/2 can chickpeas
2 golden beets, roasted, peeled, and sliced thin
1 tablespoon capers
juice from 1/2 lemon plus zest
hearty drizzle olive oil



Babyfood: chickpeas and spinach

Handful canned chickpeas
Handful fresh baby spinach
Drizzle olive oil
Dash water

I blended all of these together into a pesto-like mixture in my Cuisinart hand blender small food processor attachment (I love that thing!)


Liam was not a huge fan of the chickpea-spinach combo, unfortunately. We'll try again another time...


We played peekaboo with Liam. It was great until the 5th time when I said "boo!" and he jumped, grimaced, and started crying! This picture was taken post cry when he was curious again.

Rainbows for dinner

Rainbow salad

3 big handfuls baby spinach
2 golden beets, roasted, peeled, and sliced thinly
1/2 tomato in thin wedges
2 inches cucumber, sliced
2 ounces feta cheese, in small cubes
1 inch (about 1 ounce) salami, sliced thinly
handful walnuts, toasted
3 slices wheat bread, diced, and toasted with olive oil to make croutons
1/2 lemon squeezed over the top
drizzle olive oil
salt and pepper to taste




Winter veggies with goat cheese

1 butternut squash, peeled, seeded, and sliced (save the seeds!)
2 medium sized rutabagas, peeled and sliced
drizzle olive oil
1 tablespoon Italian spice mix
salt and pepper to taste
4 ounces herbed goat cheese
toasted squash seeds

Arrange squash and rutabagas in a large baking pan. Toss with oil, spices, salt and pepper. Bake at 425 degrees F for 1 hour or until squash can be pierced easily with a fork. Slice the goat cheese over the top and sprinkle on roasted squash seeds. Return to oven for 5-10 minutes until cheese gets melty.


Dinner




Liam eats dinner, too


He even tries to lick the bowl!

Ode to golden beets

I love golden beets. They look like little sunrises. Today we ate them roasted, peeled, and sliced thinly tossed with toasted sunflower seeds, red onion, spring mix greens, and avocado. They were dressed with a honey-lemon-olive oil vinaigrette. Yum. I wish I had a picture.

I also made a delicious chocolate gelato enriched with a ton of cocoa powder. It was a little chalky but oh so chocolately. The recipe is adapted from the Barefoot Contessa but I used 1% milk instead of whole and it turned out fine.


Luscious Chocolate Gelato

2 1/4 cups lowfat milk
1/3 cup cream
1/2 cup sugar + 1/4 cup sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
2 (about 60 grams) dark chocolate chips
4 egg yolks from extra large eggs
2 tablespoons chocolate liquor (I used Godiva)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract (made from soaking whole vanilla pods in vodka)
generous pinch salt

In a saucepan, heat the milk, cream, and 1/2 cup sugar until just simmering. Whisk in cocoa and chocolate until smooth. Remove from heat.
In another bowl, whisk the egg yolks and 1/4 cup sugar heartily until the mixture is light yellow and fluffy. I suppose you could use an kitchen or hand mixer but muscle power works as well. I tried doing it left-handed but that didn't really cut it. Pour about half of the hot chocolate mixture into the eggs and blend quickly before the eggs curdle. Pour it all back in the saucepan and stir vigorously over medium-low heat until thickened but not boiling. I never have a thermometer so play this by ear. Then strain the whole mixture into a large measuring cup (at least 4 cup otherwise you'll overflow) and stir in the liquor, extract, and salt. Cool as long as you have patience for, then pour into a 1 quart ice-cream maker. You can eat the soft-serve right away or freeze it until it is firm. Delish!



Still snuffly sinusy and sick.

Good night,
Teri

Yucky cold today

Ugh, my last day of family medicine out the door because of a silly stuffy sore-throated coughy cold. NeilMed sinus rinses are the closest I can come to using decongestants, but they do the trick at least for a little while. Hilde is making dinner tonight: chicken filets with spinach creme fraiche sauce, roasted potato boats, and baked tomatoes with pesto. I'm sure it will be delicious, if I could only taste what I am eating.

--Teri

3...2...1...Takeoff!

Welcome to the inaugural Live Love Eat blog.

I have never considered starting a blog because I could not hold myself to one theme. I always thought that blogs were for people who had too much time on their hands. After compulsively reading a few blogs myself (written by people I have never met), it is time to make one of my own for family, friends, and even people I don't know who are interested in living a good life.

To me, a good life means having strong relationships, staying active, being open to the world, and eating delicious homemade cooking. So, from now on, live, love, eat and enjoy!

--Teri


Standing on a frozen lake near my house