Dumplings Gone Wild

Last Saturday, it was just barely snowing and we decided to make us of our giant steamer for only the third time since we bought it more than two years ago. Dumpling Mania 2012 was on!

But first, a sale on kale (did that make you as happy as it just made me?) led us to the least appetizing-looking appetizer of all time: kale chips. We just laid the pieces out, sprinkled with olive oil and Mural of Flavor from Penzey's spices and toasted them at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.

They tasted about 10 million times better than they looked.

For the dumplings, Hubs and I used a simple recipe based on a few different dumpling recipes we found online.

1 pound of ground pork
1 1/2 tablespoons light soy sauce
1 teaspoon sesame oil
1 table spoon apple cider vinegar (because we realized too late we were out of rice wine vinegar)
2 cloves of garlic, minced

2 inches of ginger, smushed
NO hoisin sauce, though I was a big proponent of this
8 scallions, chopped

We mixed all that together and filled up dumpling wrappers. Into the steamer they went for about 15-20 minutes.

While they steamed, we got rolling on two sauces: a peanut butter chili sauce and soy-based sauce.

The peanut butter sauce was just 1 cup warmed peanut butter (use a double boiler!) and chili oil (3 table spoons). It made WAY more than we needed.

Our soy sauce was also simple, soy and scallions, with a little apple cider vinegar and sesame oil.

We also steamed a sweet potato, so we could feel just a smidge healthier about all this pork and salt.

It was delightful!

In general, Hubs and I aren't great Asian cooks, but we can do dumplings. It doesn't hurt that it's one of the all-time easiest dishes to make ever.

Pardon our less-than-chic dinner ware, the good old divided plate just made for the most utilitarian choice for our two dips. What can I say, we are not fancy folks.

Have you tried making dumplings at home? What the heck else should we be using this steamer for?

Cadbury-d alive

I'm not one of those ladies who love chocolate. I'm just not a sweet-tooth gal. I am more of a salt-tooth - I mean, even my wedding cake was savory. So the list of candies I love and adore is short. It is in fact, a list of one.

And that one - is Cadbury Eggs.

I wait all year for their first appearance and it takes every fiber of self-restraint I have to not live off these little goo-filled gems for the three months they are available.

True story: The spring I studied abroad in Ireland, I entered a Cadbury Egg eating contest at a pub - the first competitor to finish ten eggs won a keg's worth of beer. I was the lone female contestant, fighting for the title amid three dudes. When the bar tender started the clock, I quickly unwrapped the eggs and started chowing down (this had proven to be fastest in my various training sessions).

On egg number eight, I heard a crack. I kept eating, but there was a chunk of something hard and awful among the candy. It was a part of my tooth (not really, I had porcelain veneers put on, so it was a part of the facade that is my teeth, but this is what we call dramatic emphasis). This realization wasted precious time and I lost my lead. It was perhaps the most tragic moment of sport I have ever been a part of.

The first egg of 2011. Not the last. 

Fast forward to today, at lunch. I ran to the grocery store because with work being busy and the basement eating up all our free time, we hadn't been food shopping in two weeks (proof things are getting a little to Mother Hubbard-y up in here: Hubs ate a hamburger bun toasted for breakfast this morning). As I was darting around, getting milk, pasta and cereal - I spotted a familiar green and blue glimmer.

So, I bought one.

I waited an hour to eat it. That is a huge feat.

The first egg of the year deserves a quiet celebration and respect - not a quick gobble in the parking lot.

Another true story: I used to wake up earlier than my younger sisters on Easter just to swap out their Cadbury eggs for lesser candy. I always replaced the stolen eggs with those lame Reeses eggs or jelly beans, so it didn't seem too obvious.

Sorry, sisters.

I know Cadbury Eggs are one of the great polarizing issues of our times. What's your stance? Pro-egg? Anti-egg? Member of the fringe caramel egg party?

Clemen-tiny dancer

Before we begin, do you also get the words to Tiny Dancer and Private Dancer confused? I do and it's really awkward for a) the obvious reasons and b) because I'm pretty sure the only time I've ever heard Private Dancer, it was sung by that sweaty songtress, Mary Katherine Gallagher.



Not in this clip, though, because of all the wonders this ol' internet has brought us, not one of them is a clip of the Tina Turner SNL skit from 1997. Thanks for nuffin, World Wide Web.

Anyway.

All this to tell you that I'm currently averaging two clementines a day. We bought two crates of them and it's been glorious. A feast of mini citruses. No seeds. I'd never really had them before, but they called to me at the Hy-Vee. And now, here I am, scurvy-free and with a trash can full of peels. Living the good life.

I don't know how long we'll be seeing these in stores, but if you've been sheltered in terms of fruit consumption like me, I implore you to try them.

Last winter, I did some citrus decorating and now that I have several dozen clementines scattered around the house in various bowls, I'm thinking I could do something a little more unique with them.

You know what would be cool? A wire wreath with little circles, made just for holding tiny clementines. When full, it'd look like a wreath made of just fresh clementines - kind of like those wreaths made of ornaments. That way, you wouldn't have to poke them to get them to stick and they'd be easy to grab off for a snack.

For the second time this year, I'm thinking I need a welder.

Other Napa adventures

Our two days in Napa were so relaxing. We scored a great deal on our hotel thanks to my sister's connections and so we got to hang out with swans on our way to breakfast each morning. Nothing starts the day off right more than swan-gazing.

We spent one day rolling around the valley in a bus with a few other folks (you know, they type that wears sweaters and knows everything about everything.) on a wine tasting tour. While we didn't stop at the ritziest places, they were indeed tasty and gorgeous and generous with their pours.

Black Stallion

Hagafen

At our lunch winery, V Sattui, we (predictably) got a loaf of bread, two cheeses, some salami and a bottle of Chardonnay for a little mid-day snack. No leftovers were had (predictably).

Our last stop of the day was Rubicon Winery, which was really pretty but plagued with a snot-tastic wait staff, who also knew everything about everything. I guess the educational system in California is like, really good.

We ended the tour at Chandon, where one of our tour mates got a little sloppy and hit on the poor tasting gal. He failed miserably and we enjoyed truffled popcorn and the show. So much for knowing everything about picking up ladies.

Of course, after a day of winery gallivanting, we needed a good dinner. Driving around downtown the day before, we saw that Moriomoto (of Iron Chef fame! Squeal!) had a restaurant here. We snagged reservations and fell in love.

We ordered a platter for two that included a nice combo of rolls and ngiri. It was all chef's choice, so we got adventurous with eel, roe and some new-to-us fish.

It was totally amazing and every single item on the platter was so fresh and bright, I couldn't even stand it.

We were stuffed afterward, but decided to order a dessert of a ginger cake, caramel sauce, chocolate cream and a banana milkshake. Oh holy heavens. It left me speechless and fat and even writing about it now makes me crave a little bit of the ginger cake and a healthy smear of smooth chocolate cream.

They even gave us a little anniversary shout out in chocolate! Of course, as soon as we left, my button popped off my jeans. No joke. I'm only telling you so that I am motivated to workout tonight.

The next day, we had to head out of town, but before we did, we had to hit up Bouchon Bakery in Yountville. We sampled a croissant and pistachio macaroon (the macaroon that made me get macaroons. Yes, this craze is justified.). Even the Diet Cokes we got were in fancy glass bottles. Oo la la. How very French.

I love Napa. I could live there. I could die there. They have flowers like this in November! What's not to love?

*We also stopped into Bottega for lunch, but it was highly disappointing. The food was great, but we were seated next to wholesale plate dealers peddling their wares to the chef and the waitress ignored us, making our little pit stop last well over two hours. 

Nom-a-versary

On our anniversary, we woke up super early (thanks to the Pacific time change and daylight savings time) and exchanged our paper presents. You already saw what Hubs got and he went all out, making me a sweet little desktop calendar all decked out in wedding colors as well as a super fancy purple pen with ink cartridges and interchangeable nibs and everything!

After a quick breakfast, we picked up our rental car and headed out of town, across the Golden Gate to Santa Rosa, about an hour and a half away. We were in town for one reason: a beer pilgrimage to Russian River Brewery, which has some of the best rated beers in the country. 

We both started with Pliney the Elder Double IPAs and ordered some pizza and a sample tray.

The pizza was good, but the beer was amazing! Some brews were a little much for us (they brew a few sour beers using wine yeast, which I guess you need to develop a taste for), but it was a great way to celebrate.

We also decided to start a little tradition of taking anniversary photos showing how many years we've been at this married gig. Here I am demonstrating year one:

After lunch, we finished the drive to Napa and arrived right before sunset.

Having paid homage to our simple-folk tastes with pizza and beer, we decided to get over the top classy for dinner by scoring a late reservation at Ad Hoc, owned by Thomas Keller, who also runs the French Laundry (where dinner is $250 a head and wine is probably just as much! Not for the cheap-at-heart).

Ad Hoc has a different menu each night based on what's fresh and available. Because it was a superfancyfuntime, we also got the wine pairings. It was delicious, simple food (we had a smoked salmon salad, marrow, short ribs, a cheese course and the best apple crisp ever created) and the service was informative and attentive without being all uptight.

Best wedding anniversary we've ever had. 

Sauceless; a tale of loose meat

Several months ago, I relayed to you, my readers, the long and sordid history of my experience with loose meat sandwiches. This past weekend, after years of avoiding the Iowa loose meat mecca, Maid Rite, I gave in and decided it was time to try the native cuisine. Of course, I hauled my Chicago suburbanite Hubs along with me.

Like a kid at Christmas, Hubs unwrapped his Cheese-Rite (that's loose meat with a slice of Kraft!).

Many, many things disturbed me at Maid Rite:

• One item on the menu was the Carb-Rite Cup. That's a cup of loose meat and loose meat only. Maybe a pickle.
• You get a spoon with your burger. You know, to spoon up the meat particles that escape from the burger.
• The fries were incredibly good, which means I might return to Maid-Rite, but only for fries.
• After you finish your burger, your table is strewn with beef litter. Tiny reminders of the loose meat that was.

My First Loose Meat Sandwich. This belongs in a scrap book.

My first bite of a loose meat sandwich went down like this: I got a slice of pickle in that bite and it was covered in meatlets. Almost as if the pickle had been breaded in beef bits. It was not awesome. Not. At. All. I gag just remembering it.

Me and my spoon of beef crumbles.

Can you defend loose meat? Is it legal to bring my own can of Manwhich to Maid Rite?

I'll just assume you're cheap like me

I'm well known among my people as a Frugal Franny (no one has ever called me that, but who doesn't love alliterations?). I have a little plastic coupon organizer and will attend basically any function that promises free food. I cruise the city streets looking for empty parking spaces with non-expired meters. I take compliments terribly because I'll always tell people how much I paid for the shoes they like or a new bag. Don't get me wrong, we're comfortably inhabiting the Yuppie side of the scale, but saving a few bucks just ices my cake.

The point here is that I just scored an awesome deal and I wanted to share it. Restaurant.com is new to me (since the rest of the world hasn't caught on to how bodacious Des Moines is, we get stuff like that a little later), but oh, wow. There's a deal right now, where you can get an extra 80% off! Just type in "clearance" as a coupon code when you check out.

I nabbed $50 to my favorite swanky restaurant, Lucca, for $4. Yeah. Four hundred pennies. Sure, we have to spend $100, but that little $4 spend is about to become one fancypants bottle of wine!

So, go forth, my little cheapskates, and getcha some! You can even print out your gift certificate and go out on the town tonight.

Happy weekend!

*Not paid for this little PSA. Just one cheap gal, spreading the l-o-v-e.

FGTs FTW

Fried green tomatoes for the win, y'all!

Our brandywine tomatoes are gorgeous this year. We slice 'em.

Bread them with an egg wash and panko and fry 'em up in a pan.

When they are good and crisp, we plop on some thick mozzerella.

Add a little smoked paprika.

And die of happiness.

Sweet corn and old dudes

Have you ever been to a sweet corn feed? I think it's an Iowa thing, but maybe other corn-crazed states have them, too. Anyway, I'm here to tell you - sweet corn feeds are AMAZING. If you like sweet corn and old people and cheap dinners, that is.

Couldn't tear myself away from the brat to take a picture.

For years, I've been baffled by the sweet corn feed. I imagined lines of people, shuffling through dimly lit cafeterias with trays filled with sweet corn and the constant hum of hundreds of pale people munching corn on the cob. It terrified me. All that chewing and spit and corn bits in the teeth of strangers? No thank you.

Somewhere along the way, I realized how delicious sweet corn was and that it really wasn't something to fear. I'm sure I could find a quiet corner at a sweet corn feed to quietly enjoy a few cobs. Surely, there had to be a place for people like me in the sweet corn feed arena.

Last week, Hubs and I hit our first sweet corn feed, hosted by the Izaak Walton league. While we did have to wait in line, nothing else from my original vision was there. First, I was shocked that there was more than just corn to eat. There were polish sausages, garden tomatoes, potato salad and watermelon, in addition to butter-drenched corn. Plus, the crowd wasn't pale or overly loud chewers. They were friendly folks, with lots of old dudes saying hi to each other and doing that handshake/pat on the shoulder thing old men do so well. The food was good, the people were friendly and I didn't hear a single person crunching (other than myself, which seriously I wish someone would invent a silencer so I couldn't hear that, too. I've got sensitive ears, people. Like delicate flowers, they are.).

Old men in action!

Point is - get your buns to a sweet corn feed this summer. I'll be out in Adel next weekend at the shucking party for their sweet corn festival. Should be a good time!

The bounty I came home with - 16 ears for $4!

Found food

The other night, Hubs was wandering toward the back of our yard, pondering this ugly clump of bushes we've been meaning to tear out and replace with something that's a little prettier. That's when we realized that they weren't just weeds - they were raspberry bushes!

See them at the back of the yard? Waaaay back there?

Since we're just now discovering this little bounty, there weren't many left. Birds, bunnies and other jerkfaces have stripped the poor thing. We'll be keeping a closer eye on it and cleaning it up a bit so we can enjoy the yumminess a little more next year.

We've also got a nice apple tree back there. Last year, all the mini-apples dropped off around this time, but they look lovely this year! Here's to hoping we will be knee deep in apples come fall.

Pause button

I've spent the past few nights staying up late to catch up on the blogs that amassed in my Google reader while I was off dozing in Mexico and playing in the dirt. These late night reading sessions confirmed two things:

1. I have an odd compulsion to read every single post (yes, all 798) that I missed. What if something interesting happened? Clearly, blogs are the Days of our Lives to my modern housewife.
2. I must bake soon. Or can fruits. Or fry something - anything. Or pickle veggies. All this outdoorsy work has left even pioneering souls like Hubs and I, who make our own cheese and breads, to be reduced to night after night of Jack's frozen pizza (which ain't too bad if you are armed with a bottle or three of habenero hot sauce, but not really up to snuff for daily chow). And if we have no time to eat decently, you know we have no time to socialize. If our friends weren't eagerly helping us raise our property value create an outdoor party spot for all to enjoy, we'd never see them.

Combined, these two compulsions have led me to start a mental (now typed) list of things I want to do when regular life can start again in our humble abode.

• First and foremost, we have to have a party. To break the deck in, to see if the alleged 35-burger count our new grill advertised is correct, to show off our hard work, to make nice with neighbors who so kindly didn't complain or throw trash at our house when we were jackhammering at 7 a.m. on a Saturday, and to reacquaint ourselves with the friends we very nearly forgot we had.
• Hubs got me an ice cream maker for my 25th birthday and I think I've only managed to make three batches of ice cream in the two years since. As always, I can count on Pioneer Woman to get my cooking/freezing sensibilities rip-roaring to go.
• I must grill some squash. With six or seven plants, I know we are about to be over-run with the stuff.
• Brianne wrote about two awesome summer-in-Des-Moines things I can't wait to try. One, I was already hip to - the movies at the Art Center. I picture Hubs and I on a blanket with some of his amazing crusty, homemade bread, a jug of homebrew and some snappy little veggies and cheese, enjoying Pretty in Pink. Yes, please.
• The other, I was so not hip to but love. Moon floats at Gray's Lake? Is a jug of homebrew allowed on the open seas? Even if not, it sounds lovely.
• I never make the pancakes. Hubs does that. But, couldn't a gal slip this recipe under her husband's pillow and hope for the best? When I'm not behind the mixer, I like to be a cooking muse, even if it's not very subtle.
• Eggplant tacos a la Sam on our fancy pantsy new grill? Hells yes.
• Again with this Pioneer Woman inspiration. Well, I'm sorry, but she never disappoints and chocolate malt cookies sound heavenly.
• I'd also like to do some laundry and wash my floors. It's sick that I'm actually listing that as something I'm looking forward to, but I'm telling you - crazy DIY projects will do that do you. Be careful.
• Even worse, I'd like to start the hunt for a new dining room light, which sounds small but can easily become a time-suck of wandering stores, both in-person and online. Sigh. This is an ugly cycle.

Farm fresh

Last night, I picked up our very first CSA share! CSAs (community supported agriculture) are rad little farms that sell shares and you get a variety of farm-fresh veggies every week. I've been wanted to get a share for the past few years, but never had the cash to spare (they can be a couple hundred dollars for the summer).

We used the Homestead, which is a small farm in Pleasant Hill, Iowa that operates a CSA and trains and supports autistic adults. I thought it was pretty cool that we could get local, fresh veggies delivered to our neighborhood weekly by a program that is also helping the community. Talk about multi-tasking!

Anyway, here's our bounty!

We're splitting a share with our neighbor, so this is technically half a share, but you can see it's plenty to keep us busy for a week. I was hoping for some asparagus to pickle (a la Diana at A Little Bit of Spain in Iowa) but oh well!

We started with a yummy spinach pizza. 

Can't wait to see what we get next week!