What I've Learned Today

I have to admit, today I was a little Tweet-happy.  I couldn't help it.  I was a part of something so exciting I just needed to share my every thought with all of my many loyal followers.  Okay, well that is only partly true, but I did attend a workshop today at Main Street Project as a part of a Phone Justice Policy Day (post for this event will be on MSP's blog later).  As a Media Justice Intern at Main Street Project, I found myself at a roundtable with Secretary of State Mark Ritchie and staffers from the offices of Senator Klobuchar and Senator Franken, advocating phone/broadband justice and equality.  I was the youngest among some really smart media policy advocates and I was soaking up as much as I could. It was inspiring, informative and at 8 in the morning.  After a long, exhausting #mediajustice #mediajustice #mediajustice tweeting filled day, I found myself staring blankly at my pantry.  Hungry.

I vowed I would not spend one penny on food this week (other than a few groceries) in an effort to eat healthier and save money.  I grabbed my latest Bon Appétit (that provided lots for Easter brunch) and flipped to the cover recipe that claims to be the "simplest, silkiest sauce you'll ever make!"  The next thing I knew, I was eating Pasta al Pomodoro.  Of course I had to make some modifications; fettuccine instead of spaghetti, dried instead of fresh basil and I added spinach and a dash of honey goat cheese to the sauce.  I have to say, it might be one of the best pastas I've ever made at home, and I'm usually not a fan of tomato based pasta sauces.  I learned a lot from this recipe.  The article related to the recipe points out 8 easy techniques that are applicable to any variation of pasta to ensure a delicious, creamy pasta.  I learned it just takes some TLC and lots of salt to make a delicious at pasta at home.

5 Things I've Learned Today:

• Adding a lot of salt to pasta water really makes a huge difference.  I know we all like to lower the sodium when cooking at home, but it makes a huge difference in the end result.  The pasta itself is flavorful, and you can add less salt later on in the preparation.  The pasta should taste flavorful without a sauce and if you want to take this up with the Italians who swear by salty pasta water, be my guest.
• Tomato sauce at home is easy to make.  I just blended two cans of diced tomatoes and cooked with onions and garlic (see recipe).  Patience is key, and with enough time and care, the sauce will thicken and become as delicious if not more than sauce from a bottle.
• Mothering a sauce is therapeutic. Creating something from a recipe is extremely relaxing after a long day.  There is something immensely satisfying about reading a recipe that tells you if you simmer a sauce long enough, it will thicken, and then to do just that and see the desired result.
• Finishing a pasta sauce with pasta water and finishing the cooking of the pasta in the sauce, results in perfectly cooked pasta and a wonderful sauce consistency.  It is important to cook the sauce and pasta together as equal components; ensuring the sauce coats and cooks each individual noodle.  Not just two things that happen to end up on a plate together.
• If/when AT&T merges with Tmobile, it will control 80% of the market, creating an extremely powerful monopoly. Sigh...media injustice...At least I can always rely on Bon Appétit. #MediaJustice. Sorry I just had to get one more hashtag out.

A Saucy Easter

I call it that because it twas a day of sauces.  My mom made a béchamel and I tackled a hollandaise a la Eric Ripert.  My brother and sister-in-law were in town for the weekend and 24 eggs and 5 sticks of butter later, we had a delicious Easter brunch spread.

Separating egg yolks for the hollandaise

Brown sugar + bacon = candied bacon = irresistible

Can't have Easter without deviled eggs

Roasted asparagus w/parmesan

Asparagus w/ Hollandaise

Gravlax from Ikea (lol)

Bon Appétit walked me through an easy blender hollandaise

Spinach baked w/eggs, parmesan & béchamel sauce

We lazily made Crescent rolls but added a twist with shredded cheddar

Lemon pound cake w/sour cream

Hello? Spring...?

Can I call it Spring if there is still a lot of snow on the ground? I've already packed away my winter boots and winter jacket because hello, it's April.  Hi. Let me re-introduce myself.  My name is Lauren, and I love food. Where have I been? Somewhere between under a rock, at work or trying not to skip class. That sounds a lot worse then it really is.

So, what have I been up to? Let me break it down for you.

• I now realize why when I tell people I'm a Journalism major they always follow up with, "Oh, so you must like to write?" Lots of paper writing, if you didn't know.

• Birthdays.  A lot of birthdays in March.  Such a good excuse to go out and indulge.  Especially when they are 21st Birthdays. 

• Interning. I have been fortunate enough to get an internship through one of my classes working for an organization that advocates for media justice, Main Street Project.  My work with them thus far has been limited, but the few workshops and events I have been to have been really inspiring. They do a lot of work on building communities in Minneapolis and with a variety of media related issues like net neutrality, digital inclusion, racial justice and communication rights; among many others. Below is a photo from the latest People's Tech workshop I attended and it is a timeline that ties together social, political, economic, and media shifts and movements.  I wrote a blog post for their website you can see here. 

• A girls gotta eat! I have to admit, I haven't been eating/cooking nearly as well as I normally like to.  It just happens, what can I say. When there are so many easy and convenient places to get on the go, and your dishes aren't doing themselves, it becomes easy to slip into a routine of gyros from Soho Cafe and eggroll salads from Bun Mi.  My dad treated me one night to a dinner at Sea Change because he talked me into going with him to "A Talk with David Hyde Pearce" at the Guthrie. My response, "the brother from Frasier? Okay, three degree separation from a Housewife and dinner at James Beard Award winning chef's restaurant....I'm in." And what a meal it was.

Sunday brunch at Be'Wiched means delicious egg sandwiches.

Seared scallops over a ratatouille with lardo (yeah, lardo) from Sea Change

Potato pancake and a berry, walnut spinach salad

•  And of course, always trying to fit in laughs and naps throughout the days.

Green & Yellow

MENU:

• Sriracha honey wings with blue cheese dip from Pizza Luce (the best)
• Dad's wings
• Cheese straws
• Mock-a-mole and Velveeta cheese dip with tortilla chips
• Hummus/veggies
• Prosciutto/phyllo wrapped asparagus
• Green and gold Amaretto cheesecake

It was quite possibly one of the greatest days of my life.  Now, I say this for a variety of reasons.  The day began with my company party at the restaurant.  It was a typical company party (not that I'd know, seeing as it was my first ever) filled with prizes, decent food and awkward small talk.  My co-worker/roommate/friend and I went for the slight chance of winning the coveted top prize- an iPad- or possible any of the "$50+ valued prizes".  The iPad was a nogo but I left with some restaurant gift cards (including to my own work) and a nice bottle of wine.  I deemed the event as worth waking up earlier than I like to on a Sunday.  But what was really on my mind was the rest of the day filled with food prep for the Super Bowl, the game itself and the new episode of Glee on after.

Now, if we have ever had the chance of meeting, you would be aware that two things I am pretty passionate about are food, and the Green Bay Packers.  Even though I was born and raised in Minneapolis, my whole family is from Wisconsin.  I've always felt I had the best of both worlds; city experiences with smaller town morals.  And most importantly, a die hard passion for the green and gold.  Being a Packer fan is not really something one chooses.  I was born into it and never knew anything different.  Thank God.

Somehow the Packers wound up in the Super Bowl.  I couldn't believe it.  The second they beat the Bears I went into Super Bowl planning mode.  "What should we eat? Should we go back to Wisconsin? Should we have people over? Who should we have over? Are the Packers actually going to the Super Bowl?????"  It was surreal.  I slept in Packer pajamas every night the week before, thought about menu planning every day and had dreams each night related to the Super Bowl.  Needless to say, I was excited.  By my dad's daily text of "Who's ready?" I knew my family was just as excited.

So we settled on food that would result in the least amount of time in the kitchen during the game.  Most of the food we could easily prep or completely make the day and night before.  We needed food that could be eaten with one hand so the other was available for plenty of high-five-ing.  My dad always makes these delicious sweet wings with soy sauce and Sprite, oddly enough.  Because of my Mom's kidney condition we wanted a menu that yielded the most flavors with the least potassium.  I liked Bethenny Frankel's version of guacamole with peas because it offered more fiber and less potassium filled avocado.  I also decided to make a homemade hummus with tahini because chickpeas are low in potassium.  Our Super Bowl "party" was only six people, so we did not want to overdo it.

The food was amazing, and the game somehow topped it.  We had family and friends over, and I had one of the most memorable football experiences in my life.  Every play, pass, punt, kick, slight motion of the players resulted with me on the edge of my seat, gripping my chair and holding my breath.  Words cannot describe the feeling of watching your favorite team win the highest award possible.

For me, football does not exist without food and family.  The food was easy, flavorful, football-friendly, spicy and the perfect complement to an amazing day.  The day was only made better by a new episode of Glee.  What more could a girl ask for?

What's a Super Bowl party without a Super Bowl cookie?

Mom and I assembling asparagus

Such a great party snack.  Goes like this: ham or prosciutto wrapped around asparagus, then rolled in phyllo dough with shredded parmesan.  Bake on 350 for 12-15 minutes and voila.

Crispy, salty, crunchy

Baked cheese straws made with extra-sharp Wisconsin cheese

 These were not the greatest success. Tip: Don't overdo it on the red pepper flakes and DON'T overcook, even for a minute.  Resulted in kind of a bitter taste.

 

My wings: de-lish

Dad's wings

Green and gold Amaretto cheesecake

*Title refers to Lil Wayne's Packer anthem Green & Yellow.  If you didn't know, now ya do.

Sorry, but I love fried food

I'm not sure if it's something worth apologizing for, but I feel there is a certain snobiness related to fried food that only people who "love" food have.   Like the way people look at me when I get more excited over the onion rings at my work than the $45 dollar steak.  I feel the only way I'll ever have any success in the realm of food writing is if I stop trying to be someone I'm not and start to be completely and utterly honest, for better or for worse...and I'm going to start here. I love food fried. Preferably if its in the form of a ring of onion, cheese, potato, chicken or even tempura (the list could go on).  I don't know if there is a better way to greet someone then when my Aunt welcomed my mother and I into her home after a flight to San Francisco with a ready deep frying machine, a plate of soft cheeses and hard cheeses, a couple of spears to use as our deep frying tools, and a couple bottles of champagne.

That's not to say all fried food is good, of course, because there's something blasphemous about soggy or overly greasy food that makes ingredients unrecognizable.  It might even be a worse crime when the item being fried is completely lost behind layers and layers of batter. It's also not to say I don't fully enjoy completely fresh and non-fried foods, of course.  Onions, asparagus, cheese, chicken potatoes; they all have plenty integrity on their own, but I doubt they mind a little 375° oil bath.   I don't care however sophisticated a palate I may one day attain, there will always be a very important place in my heart for the golden, crunchy, crispy food that can only be made once dropped in extremely hot oil.  That is, to assume I still have a working heart after a life of loving fried food.


So bring on the calories, bring on the criticism.  I'm sorry, but I love fried food. And admit it, you do too.