After really digging in and getting writing again on my “non-running/non-food” blog and letting my writing and personality shine through on that blog, I realize that I have continually, but slow and surely removed a lot of my voice from this blog. That is of course the last thing I want to do. Part of what makes a food blog appealing is the personality behind it. Recipes are great, but in the end, we are flooded with good recipes at every turn. And heck, what am I trying to accomplish here anyways? I want to bring you amazing recipes that are applicable to your life and health and palate. Whether you are a runner, a foodie or a health nut, I want this to be your place.

Come to my table

Over time, I would like to completely overhaul the site and turn it into something bigger and better. I love to write, I love to cook, I love to share (evidently). And so, I am going to be trying out some things. Heck it’s my blog right? As professional and streamlined as I want it to be, is that what it is really all about. Hello, I am not food and wine magazine, though I would never balk at an opportunity to be (a part of them). That said, I need to proceed ever forward into the food writing expanse? Abyss? World? and see where my voice takes me. No use in trying to be someone I am not. I think my food speaks for itself (it says, “I am good, yum, eat me”) and I should also not be afraid of doing that for myself.

One of the things I am going to start doing is doing a weekly wrap up of all the fun things that crossed my plate that don’t fit anywhere else. Sometimes I make a fantastic something or other that doesn’t quite warrant free standing post, or I complete another of the 7X7 100 things to eat before you die in San Francisco (and want to comment!)- I am 15 in and they have for the most part been phenomenal.

So without further adieu….

This week on my plate and in my belly

Over the last weekend, I headed up to Ashland for Lithia Loop Marathon, the Trail Marathon National Championship. I think the trip was 1/2 going for the race and 1/2 going for the food at Morning Glory Restaurant. Both the Baker (crew extraordinaire for the weekend) and I had had numerous people recommend it to us and so it was my incentive for running the race as fast as possible and making it to the restaurant for breakfast. It was worth it, the food was great. There was housemade marionberry syrup, gingerbread waffles and a tandoori tofu scramble involved. And it was good.

I was back from Ashland by Saturday night and dinner was cobbled together out of the pantry (soup) and a stray sweet potato and onion, quick roasted. It was simple belly satisfying goodness. Sunday was a leisurely day for the most part. I hung out at my house until my sister was ready to run in the early afternoon and then we headed out to run my favorite loop in the North Bay on the Mt. Tam watershed. Yes, 15 miles the day after a marathon. We ran with joy and exuberance. It felt really good and made us super hungry. I hadn’t eaten lunch so by the time we got done, I was ready for my main motivation for that loop: going to Woodland Market in Ross for a “Devon Special” which is a Green Goddess sandwich but done on a spinach tortilla instead, replacing the cream cheese with hummus and occasionally (like Sunday) adding Turkey. It was good. My sister and I sat outside and shivered while downing our wraps and triple fisting beverages. It was late afternoon, so neither of us really were keen for another meal. Instead we decided to tuck into some treats and a trashy romantic comedy. There was wine and popcorn, followed by dessert (ha!) of one of my most clever discoveries/ combination to date: Maranatha Dark Chocolate Peanut Spread and Coconut Bliss Vanilla Island Ice Cream. And a persimmon on the side.

I really like Coconut Bliss’s Chocolate Peanut Butter ice cream, but it is a bit sweet for me and I prefer chocolate as a small taste instead of the base. That is the genius of this combination. I love vanilla ice cream and I want the dark chocolate peanut in their too.

Monday found me quite the excitable girl. I had been keen to make a fun buckwheat soba noodle dish on Sunday, but as I mentioned my day unfolded in a way that left little time for cooking. But Monday I was determined!

My sister and I headed into the city for a full day of painful apartment hunting, stopping off for lunch at Blue Barn for our favorite personalized salads. It was delicious and a nice counter point to the previous evening decadence. Next door to Blue Barn is Miette. Miette’s ginger snaps are #49 on the 100 Things to Eat and Drink in SF before you Die, so I figured, well, we are hear, might as well check one off the list. I went in, grabbed a $7.00 container of cookies and we dug in. Yummmmm. Crisp and gingery.

The cookies went splendid with our coffee. They were the type of good that satisfied each of us with just one slim cookie each. I still open the package repeatedly just to smell them. The fragrance reminds me of a fall day and provokes thoughts of Christmas time, snuggling by the fire of my childhood home.

By the time we were done, we were both famished and so we returned to the house where I began whipping up some Otsu with sweet potato and spinach (both were my addition to this great recipe from 101 Cookbooks). I used 100% Buckwheat noodles which sucked. They ended up clumping together in one sloppy ball. So much for presentation.

I also made Beef Short Ribs from Sage of the Coast in LA. It was a very satisfying meal indeed as my post-marathon appetite was truly rearing its ugly head. I felt like I was going to gnaw my arm off for most of the day.

After discussing possible dessert ideas for Thanksgiving on Wednesday, I decided to go home and test kitchen some of the Babycakes Ginger Snaps to see if I could make an “acceptable”, ok down right tasty treats for T-Day.

The Babycakes version is not only gluten free, vegan, etc etc etc it is actually pretty healthy. It has coconut oil in it which is delicious and a “good fat” and adds some kick arse flavor too. These cookies turned out super flavorful, but I definitely need to make them smaller so that they can crisp up more. They needed more snap.

I am excited to hand them over for review to the critics and see what tweeks I need to make. But for now, I think the fact that I ate 5 after my bibimbap dinner (sans rice), shows that they were not in fact bad in any way. That or I was just really hungry. Probably both.

The rest of the week, well, it should be fun! I am trying two new restaurants today and tomorrow, then cooking on Saturday, so I really can’t complain. I will try and keep my camera close and my food even closer.

Herb Salad with toasted walnuts and goat cheese

On Halloween night when everyone else was heading out, I was tucking in for a very nice home alone. By choice, I had a date. A hot date with myself. It was a perfect Saturday night. Sunday night supper was already planned and out of my hands, so I decided to cook for myself and do a “cook the book” from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home. I love Jamie Oliver and his cooking style. He does uncomplicated but powerfully flavorful dishes. He uses the best ingredients, often grown in his own backyard (the “at home” part). Listening to my strong, nagging, unrelenting desire for warming foods, I picked grilled mushroom risotto. I decided to have accompany it with a Herb Salad with toasted walnuts and goat cheese, Peri-Peri Whole Roast Chicken (a page from my own cookbook), and some caramelized brussels sprouts.

Peri Peri Roast Chicken and Caramelized Brussels Sprouts

It was a really enjoyable menu. One I would gladly put in front of a guest or large group of guests. That said, it was nice to treat myself as well as I would treat others. I am currently big into reading food memoirs and a few of them specifically talk about the things we will cook for ourselves that we wouldn’t dare share with anyone else, the secret guilty pleasures eaten over the sink. While it is true that I nosh on my oddities when it is just me, I actually think I am the most adventurous when cooking for myself. When I know my audience is just me, I have no fear of failure. I am willing to dive in and go big, go out of my comfort zone and risk the whole thing going in the bin. And though that has never happened, I don’t cook for others usually with the same reckless abandon. It’s a curious thing to have such performance anxiety with something I do so often, am trained for and loved. Maybe its because of all those things that I want to impress people with what I can do and leave the experimenting for on myself. I am sure in time that will change. As I turn my little ship towards my culinary dreams and goals, I know I will need to relinquish that fear and self-doubt. Plus, it is unfounded, nights like Halloween remind me that I have got some great skills and I can cook things that have my exclaiming (out loud into an empty house), “good lord that is tasty!”. It was indeed a tasty reminder to have a little faith in myself. I am gaining a good deal of momentum in my own cooking and look forward to building on that through more original recipes, cook the book postings, sunday night suppers and restaurant reviews. And from there even more content and casting my net even further! Such a delicious journey I am on!

Grilled Mushroom Risotto

grilled mushroom risotto from Jamie Oliver’s Jamie at Home.

main courses | serves 4-6
A mushroom risotto can be taken in many different ways, depending on what kind of mushrooms you have and whether they are introduced at the very beginning of cooking or just added at the end, as I’m going to do here. The inspiration for this recipe came when I was in Japan and saw mushrooms being cooked completely dry on a barbecue or griddle pan. This way of cooking brings out a really fresh and nutty flavour in them; perfect for being dressed lightly with olive oil, salt and lemon juice or stirred into a risotto at the last minute before serving.

Heat your stock in a saucepan and keep it on a low simmer. Place the porcini mushrooms in a bowl and pour in just enough hot stock to cover. Leave for a couple of minutes until they’ve softened. Fish them out of the stock and chop them, reserving the soaking liquid.

In a large pan, heat a glug of olive oil and add the onion and celery. Slowly fry without colouring them for at least 10 minutes, then turn the heat up and add the rice. Give it a stir. Stir in the vermouth or wine – it’ll smell fantastic! Keep stirring until the liquid has cooked into the rice. Now pour the porcini soaking liquid through a sieve into the pan and add the chopped porcini, a good pinch of salt and your first ladle of hot stock. Turn the heat down to a simmer and keep adding ladlefuls of stock, stirring and massaging the starch out of the rice, allowing each ladleful to be absorbed before adding the next.

Carry on adding stock until the rice is soft but with a slight bite. This will take about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, get a dry griddle pan hot and grill the wild mushrooms until soft. If your pan isn’t big enough, do this in batches. Put them into a bowl and add the chopped herbs, a pinch of salt and the lemon juice. Using your hands, get stuck in and toss everything together – this is going to be incredible!

Take the risotto off the heat and check the seasoning carefully. Stir in the butter and the Parmesan. You want it to be creamy and oozy in texture, so add a bit more stock if you think it needs it. Put a lid on and leave the risotto to relax for about 3 minutes.

Take your risotto and add a little more seasoning or Parmesan if you like. Serve a good dollop of risotto topped with some grilled dressed mushrooms, a sprinkling of freshly grated Parmesan and a drizzle of extra virgin olive oil.