Black Bean Soup

I think soup gets a bad rap. When you think of fancy food, you usually don't think soup. Maybe it's because it's so easy to make; you just throw everything in a pot, let it cook, and you have a meal in a bowl. I bet people in the middle ages made soup a lot; just throw whatever junk you have in a pot, and it becomes edible.

Most places I eat, soup is reduced to a line on the menu. You've got French onion, which is rarely done right, and soup of the day, usually whatever leftovers they want to get rid of.

But soup doesn't have to be watery and bland! This bean-based soup was filling, full of flavors, and nice to look at! Plus is was soooo easy, the only "work" was cooking the bacon and chopping the onion and cilantro. I found it on the Food Network site; I didn't know who Dave Lieberman was, but over 250 ratings couldn't be bad. You can find it here, but I'm copying it for posterity.

Black Bean Soup

10 slices bacon, finely chopped
2 medium onions, chopped (about 2 1/2 cups)
6 garlic cloves, pressed
1 (14 1/2-ounce) can reduced-sodium chicken broth
1 1/2 cups canned chopped tomatoes
2 tablespoons ketchup
2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
1 tablespoon chili powder
4 (15 1/2-ounce) cans black beans, drained but not rinsed
Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
1 bunch cilantro
juice of 1/2 lime
Thinly sliced scallions, for garnish
Sour cream, for garnish
Grated cheddar, for garnish

Put the bacon into a large heavy pot and place it over medium heat. Cook until it starts to give up its fat, about 4 minutes. Stir in the onions and cook, stirring, until they start to turn translucent, about 4 minutes. Stir in the garlic and cook until you can smell it, about 1 minute. Add the broth, tomatoes, ketchup, Worcestershire, and chili powder. Stir in the beans, turn the heat to high and bring to a boil. Adjust the heat so the soup is bubbling gently and cook 10 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Meanwhile, pick off all the thick stems from the cilantro. Wash it and shake dry. Chop the cilantro coarsely and stir it into the soup when it has been simmering 10 minutes. cook until the soup is thickened, about 5 minutes. Stir in the lime juice. Serve with the garnishes.

I used turkey bacon, cause I like the flavor. I only needed one onion. I also got whole canned tomatoes and chopped them into big pieces. I loved the taste of cilantro in this. And if you're anything like me, you'll add sour cream and lots of cheddar cheese.

That's a Saranac Big Moose Ale, which is great. I had it from their 12 Beers of Winter sampler.

Oh yeah, and I fried a plantain and had it with vanilla chip ice cream for dessert. Yum.

Don't forget to click for bigger pictures...silly Blogger.

Spicy Corn Bread

Winter is the time for baking, and quick breads are one of the easiest things to bake. In the recipe (in this book), Mark Bittman says corn bread is one of the most important recipes he knows; kind of like the "Chopsticks" of cooking, in that everyone should know it, but it tastes better. Here's the recipe as I made it.

click for a close-up of the deliciousness

Corn Bread

1 1/4 c buttermilk, milk, or yogurt
2 Tbsp olive oil (he says you can also use bacon drippings, might try that next time!)
1 1/2 c medium-grind cornmeal
1/2 c AP flour (I used whole wheat)
1 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp sugar, plus more if you like it sweet
1 egg

Optional ingredients: I added chopped scallions and parsley, mostly for color, some grated cheddar cheese, 2 tsp of cumin and a little chili powder. I also sprinkled some sugar on top before sticking it in the oven. Do whatever you want!

Preheat oven to 375. Place olive oil in a medium ovenproof skillet or an 8-inch square baking pan over medium heat until nice and hot, about a minute, then kill the heat.
Combine the dry ingredients. Mix the egg into your liquid, and stir the liquid mixture into the dry. Combine until wet, adding more milk if needed. Pour this into your preheated oil pan/skillet, then put it in the oven for 30 minuted, or until the top is lightly browned and the sides pull away from the pan.

I was a little worried cause it didn't rise much, but it smelled so good baking, and tasted even better fresh out of the oven. This is really the kind of recipe you can memorize and prepare in less than ten minutes. I just eat  it warmed up with some butter, but it might be good with some kind of soup. I might just have to make one...

Samurai Champloo screen print

Man, I've been meaning to screen print for a long time, but honestly I have so many t-shirts that I really don't need any more. So instead of extending my man-boy status another few years, I decided to add a design to a hoodie I wear around the house.

The design is from Samurai Champloo. It's the clan symbol that appears on Jin's clothing. I figured it was normal enough that most people wouldn't realize it was anime-related, but anyone who's seen the show would recognize it. Does that make sense?

[fan art by *Brolo on deviantART]

After doing some online research, I found that using freezer paper would be a lot easier than regular screen printing. Screen printing involves creating a reusable stencil, and since I was only going to do this once, I only needed a one-time freezer paper stencil. Freezer paper, not to be confused with wax paper or parchment paper, is only waxy on one side. You cut your stencil out of the freezer paper, iron the waxy side onto your shirt, paint over the stencil, let it dry, and pull off the stencil. I used actual screen printing ink, so I had to heat set the designs with an iron once it was done. You can use fabric ink, which is easier to find in craft stores, but I don't think it stays on as long through washes.

Some tips:

• I'd suggest modeling the shirt you're going to print on, then placing the stencil or printed design where you want it. Then mark where you're going to place the stencil on your shirt with safety pins or something. In my case, I would have like the designs on the front and sleeves to be up a couples of inches, and a bit smaller.
  
• Cutting out the design might be the hardest and most important part. Get a good exacto knife, a cutting mat or something thick to cut on, and be patient. You can always start over! 
• Take a few minutes to iron the stencil onto the shirt. Make sure every bit of paper is stuck to the fabric! 
• I heard a mini foam paint roller worked best, but I got little air bubbles in the paint when I used it. I ended up using a regular foam paint brush, which worked fine, but then again my design was really simple. 
• Only apply a single thin coat of paint! I thought it wouldn't be enough and applied a second coat, and the paint later cracked. This is probably different if you're doing actual screen printing.
• Things like this are 90 percent planning... but that might just be because I over prepare. The actual work probably took less than an hour. 

 Here's a close-up of the designs. The one on the left was two coats, the one on the right was one coat.

It's hard to tell, but the edges of the single-coat design are a lot crisper and cleaner. It almost looks like the paint on the left-hand design seeped through the borders of the stencil.

The following articles were really helpful, though they all say about the same thing.
Make T-Shirt Stencils from Freezer Paper
Freezer Paper - Who Knew!?
Stenciling Phoenix Wright: An Illustrated Guide!

Pumpkin Sandwich Cookies

Pumpkin cookies are really moist and cake-like. When I brought these to work, most people ate them plain, but the frosting I made really goes well with them.

I got a milk pumpkin, cut it up, gutted it, and baked it. Tip: make sure you oil the pan or something when baking, or else it'll burn where it's touching the pan! And of course, save the seeds, rinse em and bake em with oil for a tasty snack.




Once your pumpkin is cooked and the flesh is scooped out, it's time for cookies. I used Sherri's recipe, which turned out great. Here it is for posterity.

Iced Pumpkin Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup pumpkin puree
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups confectioners' sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 tablespoon melted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg, ground cloves, and salt; set aside.

In a medium bowl, cream together the 1/2 cup of butter and white sugar. Add pumpkin, egg, and 1 teaspoon vanilla to butter mixture, and beat until creamy. Mix in dry ingredients. Drop on cookie sheet by tablespoonfuls; flatten slightly.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven. Cool cookies, then drizzle glaze with fork.

To Make Glaze: Combine confectioners' sugar, milk, 1 tablespoon melted butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla. Add milk as needed, to achieve drizzling consistency.

Tip: a tablespoon of dough may not look like much, but it'll get bigger. Unless you want huge cookies, stick with the directions.

I didn't make the glaze, instead I made a cinnamon cream cheese frosting which was awesome.



These cookies were great, and I still have tons of pumpkin to use. I think I'll make muffins and pies with it next.

Banana Muffins

Instead of making another Super Chocolate Banana Bread, I decided to make banana muffins with the three mushy bananas I had.



Banana Muffins (from Betty Crocker)

1 1/4 c sugar
1 stick butter, softened
2 large eggs
1 1/2 c mashed very ripe bananas (3 medium)
1/2 c buttermilk
1 tsp vanilla
2 1/2 c AP flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 c nuts (optional)

What I did:

Preheat oven to 350. In a large bowl, stir sugar and butter until well-mixed [I don't have a mixer, so I melted the butter and they still came out fine]. Mix eggs in well. Stir in bananas, buttermilk, and vanilla until smooth. Stir in flour, baking soda and salt just until moistened. Stir in nuts [I used chocolate chips instead].
I used a 12-muffin pan and cupcake papers. I filled the papers halfway with batter, and baked them for 20 minutes, or until golden brown. It made about 18 muffins.

They came out pretty good. The only thing I noticed was that they were a little salty when they came out. There's nothing like the smell of banana muffins baking in the oven.

Radish Sandwich

I've been wanting a radish sandwich ever since I heard that one of my favorite authors, Ernest Hemingway, liked them (not sure if this is true since I haven't researched it). I never liked radishes when I was younger, but I thought, "there must be more to radishes. I'll give them another chance."

I'm glad I did. Radishes have a very unique taste, not quite bitter, but very sharp. The texture is great, too: very crisp and crunchy. I could munch on a bowl of radishes all day! And the color...that bright white with a bleeding red skin...

I wish I had taken pictures of the radishes, or even the sandwich, but this is all that was left.



radish sandwich:
-kaiser roll
-butter on bread
-sliced radishes
-salt and pepper, enough to taste

Mmmm... sit back and enjoy.

Langenscheidt Italian Pocket Dictionary

I just got a pocket dictionary for my Italian 101 class. I went to Borders and went through all the ones they had there. Factors included: price, size, features like pronunciation charts, inclusion of curse words, and of course, design.

It was down to three, this Langenscheidt, the Berlitz one, and another. The third was bigger and had less words, I think. The Berlitz had a nice design, but I really liked the simple yellow/blue/black contrast of the Langenscheidt. And also the Langenscheidt and Berlitz books were literally exactly the same. I'm not bothering to do the research, but I'm guessing they have the same source, for whatever reason.
I love this book; these pictures don't do it justice. In addition to teaching me Italian, it feels great. The pages are super thin, but I can still flip through them to find the right word. I also love the bendy, plastic covers, which make it more durable. It's perfect.