I must admit I’ve had a bit of a fantasy about trying morel mushrooms. They always seemed a bit too expensive, but the extra kick of knowing that these were picked locally was enough to get me to buy about 1/4 pound. These guys were picked by the crew of Foraged and Found, and I purchased them at the U District farmer’s market. I’ll make them the highlight of a sauce with steak for tomorrow night.

Here we have something that is even more exotic, at least in my humble opinion. Lady Fern fiddleheads:

I think the biggest challenge for me is trying to imagine what they taste like. Will they taste like asparagus with a strange texture? Will they taste like dirt? While I was in line I asked the woman behind me what she thought about them, and she cheerfully said “a small portion is more than enough.” I asked her what they taste like. “Very earthy.” To be honest, that reply made me a bit skeptical, but I’ll find out tomorrow for sure!

As for dinner last night, we made Moules au vin blanc. I spent part my honeymoon with Mike in Brussels, Belgium, and their moules, frites, and ale combos made our taste buds sing.

Since I have a preference for Belgian-style moules, I tried to fix them as I remember. I’ve also tasted both the Provencal and cream styles of bases, but this simple wine broth just makes me happy the way the others don’t.

2 pounds fresh mussels, cleaned!
2 cups white wine (used Charles Shaw Sauvignon Blanc)
2 sprigs fresh thyme
2 shallots
2 stalks celery
2 Tbsp unsalted butter

Sautee the shallots and celery in olive oil on medium-high heat under just tender, not brown. Add a bit of sea salt. Now add the white wine and thyme, and heat until boiling. Now, say hello to the mussels and tell them they’re been very good but it’s time to go, and pour them into your boiling wine broth. Cover pot with lid and cook approximately 7 minutes. Those little guys should all be open – remember to toss out any that don’t open up. Spoon out the mussels into a large bowl.  Melt the butter into the broth that’s still on the stove. Once the butter melts, pour all the broth over the mussels.

Oh! Surely it’s nice to have this with french fries, but we just bought some rustic olive bread and sliced it up. This was done specifically with the intention of sopping up the broth from the bottom of the pot once we got down far enough through the shells.

Smaller zucchini, sliced diagonally
Olive oil
salt and pepper
mozzarella cheese

Now, the lovely part of this side dish in in the arrangement of the zucchini slices. You can make a rosette, square, triangle – whatever.

Heat oven to 325.
Line a pan with aluminum foil.
Arrange zucchini in a pleasing arrangement no more than 1 slice thick.
Sprinkle cheese on top.
Bake platter for about 10 minutes. Cheese should melt, but not brown.
Raise temp to 415, bake until cheese gets light brown, about 10 more minutes.

No, that’s not Mark in the photo, just me with some grand old brown magic liquid.

It’s already been a week, but I went to see the first of the “Coffee: From the Grounds Up” lecture series one fine spring evening on the UW campus. Mark Pendergrast led the hour and a half long introduction, and was an all-around funny and well-spoken fellow from Vermont. Here are some of the more interesting facts I jotted down in my journal.

On Robusto vs. Arabica coffee plants: Robusto is cheaper to grow, can grow at lower altitudes, and is less disease-prone than Arabica. Unfortunately, in spite of all its merits as a vigorous species, robusto tastes pretty bad. Arabica is a plant opposite robusto in almost every way – more finicky about its growing requirements, but it tastes damn good.

Coffee blossoms smell like jasmine.

Why does coffee have caffeine? It’s supposed to act as a natural pesticide, to protect the plant from being consumed. That pesticide just happens to have the side of effect of making you feel almost invincible and happy after consuming it.

Ever notice those little buttons on the side of coffee bags? That’s to release CO2, otherwise the coffee bag may explode. Before that nifty invention, in the time of coffee cans, they had to let the coffee get a bit stale so that the can wouldn’t explode.

That’s it for now, until the next lecture or pretty food photo!

Image courtesy of Jordan at Hive-Mind

The past 3 days have been sunny and warm here in Seattle, the weather coaxing open cherry blossoms to open in pink and white petaled glory. And the score to the unfurling? A persistent and low buzz, little bees drunkenly hopping from blossom to blossom.

Honey is not just sweet. It’s amber-hued, magical in its longevity and touted as a medicine. I own a necklace made of amber and like to think of it more as honey droplets (lovely!) than as hardened pine resin (how prehistoric!).

Recently I went to my first Seattle Dorkbot, and the theme was “Geeking Out on Green”. The first two talks were each of interest on an artistic and technical level, but didn’t get me laughing and really thinking like the last presentation titled “Jordan Schwartz: Adventures in Earthly Technologies: Sundials and Beekeeping”.

Jordan’s talk mainly focused on beekeeping as a hobby, with the significant rewards of more honey than he can handle combined with a good deal of interest from local eateries. We were told that Molly Moon’s uses his honey for their honey-lavender ice cream flavor, and he mentioned a deal in the works with Thomas Douglas restaurants.

Opening up the idea of not just local food, but food from one zip code over from the heart of an urban downtown sounds delightful. Probably not very likely when it comes to crops of sustenance, but for honey, herbs, mushrooms, and edible flowers grown in the backyards of willing citizens – a much more likely proposition!

I found out last week that my Dad had appendicitis, after a day of clutching his stomach in pain. Now, with tonsillitis you get to eat ice cream after the offending tissue is removed from your throat. Not fun, but a decent consolation prize. But when you have your appendix taken out because it actually burst, you can’t eat anything for a few days.  I got a great amount of pleasure listening to my Dad describe the breakfast he got in the hospital the first morning he was allowed solid food, and how cheered he was about his french toast, grits, and coffee.

My Mom is outwardly very calm during the nerve-wracking situations. She’s an awesome baker, so when my sister requested her banana bread recipe, I asked if I could get included in the response.

In my family, whipped cream or ice cream (maybe both!) are always acceptable condiments for any dessert, and are always ready in waiting.

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 medium bananas, sliced thin
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup cold water
1/2 cup finely cut-up moist dates
1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

Stir together flour, soda and salt; set aside.
In small bowl beat bananas until almost smooth.
In large bowl cream butter and sugar.
Beat in eggs one at a time until light and fluffy.
Beat in vanilla and bananas.
Add flour mixture to banana mixture; beat just to blend well.
Add water; beat to blend.
Stir in dates and walnuts.
Turn into greased 9×5x3 in loaf pan.
Bake in 350*F oven for 65 to 70 min., or until pick inserted in center comes out clean.
Let cool in pan 5 min., then turn out onto wire rack to cool completely.

“Smacznego!”