Something Fishy

I've been really into looking at cookbooks and especially of lately, Middle Eastern cooking. I recently checked out 3 that looked fun and interesting! I've been looking through the pages and have instantly become inspired but what I see from the pictures and recipes alone. An extra dose of excitement is linked to the possibilities and what I will decide to cook!

So this past Wednesday, I made a fish dish. Since it is the Lenten season, and it was Ash Wednesday, fish was a likely option. I actually don't mind cooking with fish, I find it to be interesting and almost like a whole new realm that I haven't fully discovered yet. The Persian recipe called for sea bass, but I instead used Talipia, it's still good and soaks in the the flavors well.

I would rate this recipe as super simple. If you like fish or seafood and want something that is fairly quick and not a lot of steps, then this one is a go to! I didn't have a lemon but used a lime instead. Luckily I had some saffron strands and some pinches of sumac- what a great smell and flavor it has!:) I look forward to more seafood dishes in the future, as well as more delicious recipes from these inspiring cookbooks!

Fuchsia's Recipe and Making Things Interesting

I've been meaning to share a semi- recent dish that I made last weekend. I decided to make a Chinese dish since it's been a while and also since we're still celebrating the New Year of the Rooster. This cookbook that I checked out caught my eye because the author is fluent in Mandarin Chinese and has a cooking memoir about her experience with Chinese food, specifically the Sichuan province. Her cookbook has a lot to offer, with many interesting and exotic dishes that I had never heard of. Here is her book, if you're interested. I've been meaning to still read/finish it.

I made a dish that is pretty typical yet not so common, since the ingredients and steps have a turn of their own, yet make for a great and delicious meal at the end of it all!

For this recipe, there's ingredients for the main dish, the sauce and the marinade, however, it's all pretty easy and doesn't take too long. I think in all, it took me a little over an hour before we could eat. That day, my Mom and I went to lunch at Clementine's, and then explored Anthropolgie. It had been almost a year since visiting this cool and inspiring store, I needed all the inspiration I could get! Lol See this post about Anthro http://plummtree.blogspot.com/2016/11/anthropologie-and-anthropology.html, and this one for
Clementine's:) http://plummtree.blogspot.com/2016/09/clementines-inspiration-through-time.html

Last night, I made glazed meatloaf. It had a lot of flavor and spices in it, but I didn't take a picture of it since, I guess you already know what it looks like lol

On another note, I've been trying to create a schedule that makes my time more interesting, exciting and maybe even a little more random. Yesterday, I decided to wake up earlier than ever, even though I did sleep in a little, but regardless, I went on a quick and early run, eager and ready to start the day! Yesterday, I also went to a new coffee shop in the area, which I had heard about but never gave it a try. My experience there was pretty good, though, there were times when it was loud, and I didn't like my drink all that much, but it's okay- it was for the (new) experience and that's all that really mattered. This reminds me of a CD I listened to a year in a half ago that talked about how to become an interesting person...unfortunately it skipped so I couldn't listen to it anymore. A few years back, what I though that made for an interesting person was speaking lots of different languages and I wanted to be able t do the same. Of course, this is interesting but not the only way and surely not the only thing that will make for an interesting person.

On Valentine's Day, I was thinking about giving blood since there was a blood drive at school, but then I remembered that I've been out of the country and still need to wait a few more months if I want to donate. In a way, I was semi- relieved since I do not like the idea of a pricking my finger or a needle in my vein, but sometimes the thought is worse than actually doing it. I guess that's like a lot of things in life.

What are some things that you've been cooking lately, and or something you did that was new or out of your comfort zone?:)

This picture was taken about a month ago, at a favorite Chinese restaurant that my Mom and I share. Sweet and sour soup, I believe, and next time I will order my Mom's choice, and maybe even say a few words in Chinese! Till next time!

Arabic Food and Sumac:)

Middle Eastern food is something that is always fun, interesting and even a little difficult to put together. Tonight I decided to make Kefta (or Kafta), but it's a different version than what I made before. This recipe is more like a roll, with some filling inside that is already pre-cooked and the meat of the Kefta (both lamb and beef) cook altogether on very high in the oven.

This dish in all took about an hour in a half to cook. Like most Middle Eastern dished I've tried to concoct in the past, I notice a recurring pattern- there are a lot of steps, and or, each step is a process in a itself as well. I wouldn't say I'm always on the mood to cook a 'fancy' dish like this one tonight, however, when I am and when I do attempt to recreate the recipe, I always feel rewarded and good that I got a bit or even a lot out of my comfort zone and tried something different, and even fun. I usually am surprised at the strong flavors and smells from the exotic spices. Sumac, being one of these spices that is particularly strong. I've come across a few times now in dishes, yet never had it and didn't know what it was. My Mom recently purchased sumac at a cooking store, that was actually surprisingly cheaper and bigger than a grocery store. So now, I'm happy to say that I have sumac in my back pocket whenever I need it!

The end result looked something like a hamburger patty, but it tasted a little spicy with the help of the sumac, and a mix of lamb and beef. I happen to like the mix of lamb and beef, as well as just lamb by itself, but my sister begs to differ. I somehow always seem to be cooking recipes with lamb ?;)
I feel that this too will go in my recipe archive. Now the next thing I need to get a hold of is Tahini paste- which many recipes have also called for that I've seemed to notice and haven't included, yet.

Hope you'll give this one a try!: Till next time...

6 o'clock Lamb

I haven't been cooking too regularly but I didn't post an amazing recipe which I cooked when my sister and brother-in-law were here two weekends ago. I think I was just taking in the moment and too busy prepping things and making sure nothing burns, although I did burn myself a little. That recipe I will just have to put on here anyway, since I feel that it was a keeper. It was a salmon dish, although the original was with trout, but I guess now you know that I like to switch some ingredients around. Ha

This latest recipe was from my Jerusalem cookbook. It usually doesn't take me too long in order to find a recipe that I would like to concoct. So this time I made lamb, with eggs, and other spices and such that made the dish worth what it is. I didn't however, and perhaps even unfortunately use tahini or harissa paste, or sumac. When you're not living in an Arab country, somethings may be a little harder to find. But I still found this recipe to be really good and interesting, with all the flavors in unison. My family who tried it said the same:)

With this one, there were a good number of steps that I had to pay attention to. But luckily nothing was too crazy or should I say even very difficult. I seriously started making this dish at 6 pm and had it ready a little after 7:30 pm. Sundays, (which was the day I cooked it) can always be a bit hard. I love Sundays, and I love going to the library on Sundays up until the late afternoon. My Mom and I kept telling ourselves that we would leave the library to go to store at a descent time, yet we kept pushing it back at least 3 times. We were thoroughly engrossed in our reading and work, and the quiet, glowing ambiance of the library was another factor. After finding all that I would need at the store, except for those three ingredients I mentioned earlier, I was ready to start cooking, and cooking fast, for my Dad highly dislikes eating 'late' on a Sunday evening, but fortunately everything seemed to unravel nicely and there were no big hiccups in the process.

Eggs, lamb, and all other ingredients cooking swiftly

Add the cooked tomatoes, and the eggs are supposed to be a bit runny

Here's the cover of the cookbook again, as well as the same recipe:)

My sister isn't too fond of lamb, but I guess I surprised her with this one because she liked it better than before. I personally like the smell of ground lamb cooking, and with the ingredients in this recipe, it worked well with the lamb, and the eggs, tomatoes and everything else. I look forward to the other recipes I will try in this gem!

Holy Mackerel

I was so excited to cook something out of my new and inspiring cookbook. Flipping through the pages and learning about new dishes is always fun. This time, I decided to cook a recipe with fish in it. I'm not a huge seafood lover, then again I haven't tried most seafood, so maybe it's too early to tell. However, I do want to try more seafood that I haven't already checked off my list of scary looking, funny smelling and popular treats, some call that can easily be popped in your mouth. Hmm, sounds enticing.

This recipe in particular was something different and required mackerel. I do not know a whole lot about fish, or mackerel but something new is always exciting to try, right?:) I went on board to go to the grocery store with my Mom...(this is a goal of mine, to become more familiar with the grocery store) And if you're going to cook or bake, you kinda need to know where things are.

When I saw this tree a few weeks ago, I was like holy mackerel! Love this color. Now it's all bare:/

We had to ask the 'fish guy' who works in the seafood section if they carry mackerel. The first thing he said was holy mackerel, and the next thing he said was that no, they didn't carry it. He asked what I was making, and I told him a Jerusalem dish, and I could tell that his mouth began to water, yet I couldn't tell him the name of the dish- but now I can tell you! Pan fried mackerel with golden beet and orange salsa. Instead of getting mackerel and probably searching for a while at an Asian or specialty market, we went for sardines. They also didn't carry golden beets, only the red kind, we went for the red.

Making the salsa

I was unfamiliar with beets until now. They do tend to stain your hands and anything else they touch a little, but I thin it would be cool to use them for dying a t-shirt or something. In the end, the sardines worked out well, and were pretty oily, similar to the consistency of mackerel. I really, really liked making this dish and enjoyed even more eating it. There was so much flavor, and the salty, tender sardines with the sweet and sour tang of the fruit in the salsa was a delight.

Maybe now after cooking this dish, I will become more eager and perhaps more ambitious to cook up more fish /seafood recipes. Note, my big brother got me this cookbook for Christmas, and he's vegetarian so I think it's a win win and now I finally have a vegetarian dish under my belt:)

Sardines!

Persian Twist

I've been meaning to cook a Persian dish, and for a while had no luck in finding a cookbook from this region. With a little more scoping, something came up, and I found the same recipe that I had had at a Persian restaurant just 3 weeks ago, with my sister and brother in law. I was excited to make this recipe, yet I've learned a few things about the cooking process. Always read the whole recipe before starting, and once I did this I realized that I had the wrong kind of lamb. Lamb shoulder instead of ground lamb. Oh well. So the recipe made a turn of its own, and I created a kind of lamb chops with rice. It wasn't what I wanted initially but it turned out alright in the end.

The delicious Persian meal

With great company:)

Hopefully in the future, I can cook more Persian meals, and maybe try this one again, with the right ingredients;) Now, I'll need to figure out what I'll be baking this holiday season! Till next time...

Welcome to the World of Baking

Baking has been on my thoughts recently. With a new season of the the Great American Baking Show, my Mom baking Christmas cookies and seeing more and more ideas on what to bake during the holidays in magazines such as Bon Appetit and Living; I seem to grow closer and closer to the mysterious and colorful world of baking.

I remember when my Grandpa was still alive, or Bebop as we would call him, he asked me what kind of cooking I liked to do. I was only in High School at the time and wasn't familar with much in the kitchen. I would even go further and say that my heart wasn't there, yet nor my knowledge. I was really only interested in eating what was made in the kitchen, for eating sake. When Bebop asked me this, I wasn't sure what to reply, and knew that he was quite the cook and really enjoyed cooking and eating expensive and high quality food. Then and still now, I like to eat sweets and desserts; I'm a sweet tooth by nature. So my reply was desserts, although I never really delved into baking then either. From his bookshelf, he pulled out a cookbook that was inspired and influenced by a restaurant. I had never heard of it, and thanked him yet wasn't sure how I would use it. To this day, my Mom still has this cookbook, since I gave it to her and she was familar of it from her childhood.

When I think back to this moment, I wish I could talk about cooking and baking with him, now that I've become more and more interested in it, as well as comfortable. The kitchen is no longer a foreign  place, but one that stirs up inspiration and creativity, using my whole being- my mind, atttention, imagination and all of my senses to make it right.

The idea of baking perhaps seems harder or even more delicate compared with cooking. Cooking is tough and straight to the chase, whereas baking can be dainty and precise, rich and sweet all in one. This is something that is new to me, but I want to give it a try! My goal before 2016 is over: to bake three things. They will most likely be holiday/Christmas inspired. I have three weeks, lets see what I bake!

Spices and Flavors for the Chicken

I made a Pakistani dish, according to Mary Knoll International Cookbook. This dish seems to have many variations to it, since I've made a similar recipe but the Indian version. The recipe is Chicken Curry, and upon seeing this recipe, I immediately knew that I wanted to cook it. That's the thing about me, even looking for a recipe to cook (or bake) has to inspire me in some way! I think I also have to be in the mood to cook as well.

This recipe was fairly easy, and the ingredients were not too crazy or unfamilar, except I wasn't sure what a cheesecloth was, so just used the ingredients separately for that. I think it turned out similar to what it was supposed to, hopefully :) I really like chicken dishes where there are lots of flavors and spices- I find that the Middle Eastern and Asian recipes have the most of those.

 My next recipe will be something new for me, and I've been looking for these kind of recipes from this certain country for quite sometime, and finally found a cookbook, which made me stretch my arms to reach this beauty. I am excited to cook and share it here on Plum Tree, so stay tuned for that next week! 

It called for yogurt to be mixed in with the chicken and the spices and other main ingredients.This part reminded me of one of my favorite recipes- Syrian Meatballs, which I still have not made and put on PT, but I want to do that soon! I made white rice to go on the side for this dish, which worked well, as most chicken and meat dishes do. Enjoying the late Fall rain on this cozy Saturday! So many things I want to do and capture my melancholy, creative soul once again;) Till next time...

Full of Noodles

Noodles, noodles, noodles. I came to realize that I enjoy cooking with noodles, and that I want to keep going with this interest of mine. This funny and quirky allure of noodles reminds me of the book I read this past Summer, On the Noodle Road. Like I mentioned before in my Summer Books post, that the author traveling and becoming knowledable about throughout the regions of Asia, Central Asia and to the boot heel of Italy. This book inspired me, within the art of cooking as well as traveling, and learning about the various and eclectic cultures in these geographical locations of the world.

Now for the recipe, which is something that is easy and simple along with no sweat or tears, except maybe the onions that are optional for this dish.

Here are noodles, cucumbers, mushrooms, onions, and chicken.

Easy, breezy directions.  Directions with 1,2,3 always makes you feel better!

This stir fry dish is always a go to, and doesn't make you feel too bad because it's still cooking, and a process. There will be many more times when I cook this go to recipe, and other noodle recipes to come!

Not Just Plain Quiche

The quiche I made for a Thanksgiving appetizer turned out well. It was so nice to cook on a cloudy, Fall day and contributing something to the special pre-dinner. I've had quiche so many times, but never once made it myself. There are variations to it, but all with the neccessary ingredients to make it taste and look like quiche:)

Just before going into the oven

Sometimes holidays such as Thanksgiving can bring nostalgia. Remebering Thanksgivings past, the memories, the company, the laughs and the happenings, all bound together. This year was new and refreshing, with a sense of calm, and comfort- making all the difference because I wasn't part of the hosting crew, and could enjoy all the hard work my sister and husband did in making a very special and thoughtful Thanksgiving meal.

I loved this recipe, not only because it was my first time trying it, but also because it had a variety of parts to it that made it more enjoyable to create. Mixing all of the ingredients together was fun, and seeing the texture come together was interesting, and making the dough in order for it to have a crust was a little time consuming, but also relaxing at the same time. I'm not used to rolling dough, and using flour and having it cling to my hands and clothes like it were sticky candy. I do want to get better at baking. I feel that I've become so comfortable with cooking, it's almost like there's no need to learn how to bake. But that's not true, I don't want to believe it either. I'm always up for an enticing challenge, and growing more comfortable in my skin which can feel like it has limits, but inside it denies that boxy category.

Pretty soon, I'll need to start making a (long) list of 2017 goals and challenges and ideas that I want to leap forward to do and create. And I think baking will be one of those items ready to make the mark. Of course, the race to finish my reading list/goal is still in the air, as well as a Winter chill and holiday cheer.The start of something new is about to come underway, It's coming quickly, but softly. It's not plain, or bland, but with lots of exotic and rich flavor. I'm excited for a new season to begin, a new year, and new ideas, goals, dreams and people. I hope you're excited as well, and join in with me!

November Reflections

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday, for many reasons. It is a time for reflection, to give thanks to God and to others and a day to enjoy family, right before the rush of the holidays come into view. I think it's also a nice time to reflect on this year alone, and all that there is to be thankful for. I have fond memories of past Thanksgivings, getting together with family and having lots of people over at the house. But this year will be a little bit different. My sister and her husband are hosting at their place, and it will be a smaller and more intimate celebration and feast. Personally, that is more of my style. It can be easier to reflect and voice what and who you're thankful for. I remember last year, with all of the people we had- equal to three different tables, we had namecards and a question per card to make it easier for conversation. I remember my question was about cooking memoirs and why I like to read them so much. Some things haven't changed. Ha

This year, my goal for Fall was to contribute something for Thanksgiving dinner. I will be cooking an appetizer, Quiche. I think quiche is always great for almost any occassion, and a nice way to start out a hearty and delicious meal. I feel that this Thanksgiving has a different feel to it, perhaps a more reflective and melancholy tone, due to the happenings and challenges of this year. I think trials and challenges are another thing to be thankful for this year, a blessing in diguise.

Last year's dinner table. Elisabeth and I were conversing in a few languages at once - Italian, Chinese, Russian and Spanish. We should recreate it again soon!:)

I'm looking forward to putting my quiche together, reading a good book (getting closer to my goal for this Autumn), and going on a nice, Fall walk, and later sharing a nice and warm meal with the people I love most. In a way, it's weird to think that another Thanksgiving is here, and another liturgical year ending, and a new one soon beginning. The feeling in the air is slowly changing, a brisk, chilly air is coming in, and all things Fall are becoming more of the past. Winter and all things Happy Holidays and Seasons Greetings (which I particulary am not a fan of) are part of the hustle and bustle of the holiday cheer, and all that glitters. I'm just trying to enjoy the Thanksgiving season, and take it all in- the memories, the food, the company and the love. Happy Thanksgiving!

Turkish Recipe and Remainings of the Year

This weekend I made time to make a Turkish dish. This was a recipe and cookbook that I've been interested in for a while. I really liked the pages and the layout of it, and making the two recipes that I chose was also enjoyable as well.

Thus was a different type of beef, one that I hadn't cooked before. I also never used shallots, as the recipe called for. Personally, I didn't like cutting them, but in some ways they were easier than regualr onions.

The side dish, was fairly simple- with eggs, tomatoes and green peppers. I liked cooking this one since it was cool seeing the transfomration of it all. I wasn't too sure on how it was supposed to look at the end, but I think it turned out well!

The final product.

I feel that this scrambled eggs recipe can go along with many other dishes, I just picked it becasue I wanted to try it, not neccesssarily because it was meant to go with the beef dish. 

What a busy, yet enjoyable and hard laughing weekend! Spent with friends and familar faces as well as some new ones. An early thanksgiving dinner shared together, and a fun night of swing and gelato eating. Reflecting back on this weekend, also makes me delve back into this year as well and thinking and remembering all that happened. Today marks the end of the year of mercy and this week also is the end of this liturgical year. Wow, so much change happening at once, yet also so much to be thankful for. I'm looking forward to contributing some dishes this Thanksgiving, and also to just have a break from a busy and sometimes hectic schedule. Cheers to this year, and everything around just corner!

Raining Sunday. Had to caprture this goregeous golden sky!