5.21.2010

Photographic Lunch at Cardinale


New Argentinian/Italian/American place around the block from my apartment. Pretty decent empanadas, $1 on Mondays.

5.18.2010

forgetting my food films on ink. beef hearts and zombie chickens

Zombies + Fried Chicken = "Poultrygeist: Night of the Chicken Dead"

Les Blank Cooks Beef Hearts and Guinea Pigs (Probably) for Cinefamily Screening

No guinea pigs, but Joe and I prep'd the beef heart for Les Blank. I don't know if he actually cooked them himself, but they turned out unexpectedly well. A lot like lamb kabob really and, as you can see, so much cheaper.


Recipe from the Washington Post


INGREDIENTS:
3 tablespoons corn oil
1 tablespoon ground achiote (annatto seed)
1/2 fresh or canned aji amarillo pepper, minced (1 to 2 tablespoons)
1/2 cup water
2 teaspoons salt
2 teaspoons ground cumin
5 medium cloves garlic, minced
6 pounds beef heart, cleaned and cut into 1 1/2-inch-by-2-inch rectangular pieces*

DIRECTIONS:
Place the oil in a small heatproof container; microwave on HIGH for 10 to 20 seconds. Add the achiote, stirring to form a paste. Transfer to a large resealable plastic food storage bag.

Combine the aji amarillo and water in a mini food processor**; pulse to form a pastelike puree. Add to the bag, along with the salt, cumin, pepper, garlic and vinegar; mix well.

Add the pieces of beef heart; seal the bag, pressing as much air out of it as possible. Massage the marinade into the meat. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours and preferably overnight.

When ready to cook, soak several 12-inch-long bamboo skewers in water for 30 minutes, or have ready metal skewers.
Prepare the grill for direct heat. Lightly coat the grill rack with oil and place it on the grill.

Push 4 or 5 pieces of seasoned meat close together, end to end, on each skewer, reserving the marinade. Grill for 3 to 4 minutes (for medium-rare), turning the skewers as needed and using the marinade to brush the meat.

NOTES:
*The butcher can clean the heart for you. At Jons, which was pretty much the only place we could find hearts without at least a days notice, they were already cleaned and packed in cellophane.
**We didn't have a food processor so we just chopped as finely as possible. All combining was done by Joe with his bare hands. Further note, you might want to wear gloves. Also, don't touch your eyes.

double coconut

At the Conservatory of Flowers, San Francisco.

5.14.2010

Jacque's hush puppies



Made with Hush Puppy Mix with onions from Hyman's Seafood in San Francisco. Essentially just corn meal, wheat flower, salt, sugar, milk, and eggs. And phosphate!

DIRECTIONS:
Add one can of beer plus 1/2 large onion, finely chopped. Add 3/4 cups sugar and 2 tbs. honey. Add water. Mix to thickness sufficient to drop from a spoon into 350 degree hot oil. Cook to a golden brown.

*For best results, refrigerate for 1-2 hours then stir air out of mix before dropping hushpuppies into hot oil.

NOTES: Since Jacque, like most people, doesn't keep a thermometer in her kitchen, she just ran a few testpuppies through until they seemed to come out right. Joe was happy to eat the testers.

5.11.2010

Aaron's Sake Fest Photos

Remember when we went to that somewhat comical Speakeasy party where that drunk girl got on stage and showed her butt and Aaron took pictures?? Well, the organizer hired Aaron to photograph another of his events: the 2010 Sake Fest.





The complete album's on their facebook page, but you have to be friends with them to view. Hopefully this will convince Aaron to put them on his Flickr page.
A letter from the Weekly's editor to my editor:

Colleagues,

Amy Scattergood's food blog is one of three finalists for best food blog in the nation in 2009, the Association of Food Journalists has announced.

And that's for a blog that began halfway through the year.

Congratulations to Amy and her team.

The other two finalists are food blogs at the Washington Post and the Milwaukie Journal Sentinal. The winners will be announced in Sante Fe on Sept. 2.

Drex


I've been out of touch and unsure that this was something I wanted to be doing. There were too many things and they were all neglected. They fell apart and away. Maybe it's all because I was unsure. Because I was terrified really, about the inevitability of a Future and Choices. I know that's probably it.

I spent last week on the set of an infomercial. Being stuck in a room for 10 hours a day for five days was awful, but also strangely wonderful. My time away from there, even at the Academy, has become somehow more my own. I'm still unsure, but I'm drawing and learning to bind books. I want to rebind the Moderate Revolt book and take it to APE. I'm thankful for these small goals. But I also want to write something and see it printed. I do.