fauren

Teeny Little Super Guy

I took an extended lunch break yesterday to indulge in a quite pricey haircut. Since I was already in the market for a little buyer's remorse, I figured I might as well stop in at Sur la Table across the street and purchase something I have neither use nor space for.

Kitchen stores! The cheerful rainbows of dutch ovens, the quiet dignity of the brushed stainless toasters and coffee makers, the intrigue of all those esoteric devices you've only seen in use on Iron Chef... The only difference between them and Toys R Us is there's no coat you can tug on while whining, "But I waaaant iiiit."

That's probably for the best.

I wandered among the racks of goodies, slowly but surely resigning myself to the fact that the only way to get everything I ever wanted for my dream kitchen would be to marry for money. I had all but given up on finding some little gizmo I could justify bringing home with me on the subway... until I got to the coffee presses.

When my darling Bodum coffee press developed a crack a few weeks ago, I panicked. The bagel place and few bodegas I pass on my walk to work all have notoriously awful coffee (my roommate swears that a cup of iced coffee from the bagel place once yielded a taste identical to string beans), so on a trip to the Red Hook Fairway soon after, I bought the first coffee press I could find. Talk about buyer's remorse.

But all was remedied yesterday when I laid eyes on this teeny thing. The Bodum Chambord 12-ounce coffee press:

Come on... How cute is that?! My previous press had been perfect for two people, but since I'm more often just making coffee for one in the mornings, this little guy is going to be my new best friend.

(And on a side note, the above and other poor-quality photos found here at Fauren will soon be history, thanks to Tax Return Gift To Self '07, a.k.a. Enjoy Your Tuition Credit While It Lasts. Stay tuned for the prettiness!)

Can It.

The absence! The neglect! Oh, the humanity!

Hi friends. It’s been one heck of a summer. Between starting gainful, full-time employment and attending approximately 236 weddings, there was little time left for blogging. But food adventures abounded, and my next few entries will be dedicated to the ones worth sharing, if well after the fact.

Most recently was my first foray into canning, which was inspired by Barbara Kingsolver’s first book of non-fiction, Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life. Kingsolver, an author whose fiction I’ve always loved, documented a year in which her family moved from their home in Arizona for a more sustainable location – their family farm in Virginia. The work is inspiring; they raise almost all of the food they consume in a year on their own land, both consuming it fresh and preserving it to last them through the winter. They raise and harvest their own poultry, bake their own bread, and case their own sausage. And while it may not be feasible for us all to do exactly the same things, Kingsolver’s partner Steven Hopp and daughter Camille offer sidebars of wisdom about how to adapt the same principles for where and how we live, even in the city (fire escape gardens, anyone?).

When I reached the chapter about August and Kingsolver began talking about preserving peaches and tomatoes for the winter months, it got me thinking. While I was home in Massachusetts for a vacation at the end of the summer, my mother made and canned beach plum jelly from fruit we’d picked off the trees in the front yard. I loved the idea of making these little fruits, which I definitely would not find anywhere in Brooklyn, both transportable and longer-lasting. Just having that little jar in my Park Slope refrigerator reminds me of the trees growing out of the sandy soil of our front yard and of spending an hour in the sun with a giant bowl, plucking the dark purple fruit off the trees (and maybe snitching a few in the process).

Since September is really the last hurrah for a lot of wonderful fruits, I got to thinking about this canning stuff. At first it seemed too daunting to try at home (I just count my mother among the wizards whose success in the kitchen is unattainable by mere mortals), but the more I read about it, the more I realized you don’t need a water bath canner or a magnetic lid lifter. Sure, they help, but with a deep sauce pot, a good pair of tongs, and a couple other standard kitchen utensils, it’s not hard at all.

So a couple Sundays ago, when I realized I had some time on my hands and the farmers market up the block was still selling beautiful New Jersey tomatoes, I went and bought three bagsful and started in on some Family Secret Tomato Sauce. Much to my amazement, the sauce turned out great, my jars did not explode in the canning bath, and the next morning I had four beautiful, sealed jars of fresh tomato sauce to use at my leisure over the winter months.

There are tips on home canning all over the web, so I'd suggest just typing that phrase into your search engine. I definitely plan on using this newfound knowledge again soon; with green tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, and green beans filling tables at the farmers markets these days, I’m planning on taking a stab at homemade pickles. In the meantime, I’ll continue to stare fondly at my marinara every time I go to the pantry cupboard.

38 Reasons It Would Be Wrong Not to Cook More in 2007

Well, 2006 went out with a whimper here at Fauren, but happy belated holidays, everyone.

My last entry marked the beginning of finals period, which carried me right through to my trip home for the holidays.  My parents somehow live with dial-up internet access (I really don't know how they do it), so it's taken me until now to catch up.

Christmas break was a wonderful end to a stressful couple of weeks.  I baked apple pie with my best friend, made Christmas eve dinner for my family, and picked up a healthy handful of kitchen gadgets.  Behold my mediocre Photoshop skills:

I'm a geek for cooking utensils.  The spoils:

01. Crate and Barrel cookbook stand
02. The New England Clam Shack Cookbook
03. Fox Run Craftsmen salad bowl
04. Two Fox Run Craftsmen serving bowls
05. Crate and Barrel Chop and Scoop cutting board
06. KitchenArt adjustable teaspoon and tablespoon measures
07. Culinary Tech mini spatula and spoon
08. Mario Batali garlic slicer
09. Joyce Chen "My Handy Little Knife"
10. Orka all-silicone spatula
11. Zyliss can opener
12. Best Standard french whip and 8-inch mini-whip
13. Dexter Russell pancake turner
14. Chef'n Tongo tongs
15. Joyce Chen unlimited seafood scissors
16. OXO 2-cup liquid measuring cup
17. La Tourangelle grapeseed oil
18. La Tourangelle roasted almond oil
19. Stonewall Kitchen peach salsa
20. Schokinag Moroccan spice drinking chocolate
21. Stonewall Kitchen country ketchup
22. Ateco mini-spatula
23. Mario Batali flexible turner
24. Microplane grater/zester
25. Chicago Metallic GourmetWare 12-cup mini-popover pan
26. Mario Batali 5-piece measuring prep bowl set
27. Morton & Bassett bay leaves
28. Trader Joe's lemon pepper
29. Blaze balsamic glaze
30. Sahale Snacks Ksar blend
31. Pinch Plus Garam Masala, Curry, and Turmeric
32. Mas Portell saffron
33. More Than Gourmet Demi-Glace Gold and Jus de Poulet Lié Gold
34. Pan scraper
35. Chef'n palm peeler
36. Chef'n palm brush

Not pictured: An Oggi microtorch and Cuisinox egg wedger.  I can't wait to put all these to use in the new year.

So I hadn't exactly planned to make Christmas Eve dinner for my family, but when my mom unexpectedly headed out that afternoon to collect my Grammie for a visit, suddenly I was in charge.  The meal -- standing rib roast, roasted butternut squash and green beans in sherry butter, and wild rice Yorkshire pudding -- came together pretty well, but I am positive that's got less to do with me and more to do with my mom's amazing kitchen.  Even my decent-for-Brooklyn kitchen leaves a lot to be desired, and being able to cook in a place with plenty of counter space, an oven with an accurate temperature, and pots with matching lids made it just a little bit harder to come back to the city and attempt to find storage for all those new toys.

But anyway, on to limited storage space but lots of yummy food in 2007 and a resolution to blog better and often.  Happy new year.

All I Want For Christmas

The New York Times just informed me that Ten Speed Press has released the Chez Panisse 35th Anniversary 2007 engagement calendar.  A worthwhile cause -- $10 from each sale at Kitchen Art and Letters (1435 Lexington Avenue, New York) will be donated to the Edible Schoolyard program -- and pretty pictures?  I'm sold.

I've also been organizing my wishlist over at Amazon for the last couple of days, not that I expect anyone aside from my mom to buy things off it.  It's just that if I don't get myself organized, I'll never remember what I need for my kitchen.  So, I'm curious as to what people's essential kitchen items are.  Any of the three of you feel like sharing?  At the top of my unnecessary-but-awesome list right now are a cooking torch and an egg wedger.