Will be Away for a Few days...

I will be away for a few days. I am going to San Francisco.
Any suggestions?

Art of the Table

Seattle foodies come together. The Art of the Table has a great restaurant concept,
communal dining.

The Weekend Supper Club
A dinner with guests sitting together. Every supper has a different theme. A great
way to meet other guests who like to eat while savoring a dinner composed of local ingredients.
48 dollars for a four course meal.

Sounds great, doesn't it?

Softest Salmon Ever

I am trying to eat more salmon. I need to get some omega 3. All this hype about omega 3 is scaring me. It's some guilt thing. The media makes me feel like I will croak if I don't eat omega 3. My hair will fall out, my teeth will drop like the coins on a Vegas slot machine and I will be an old woman in a rocking chair in the next 5 years. Okay, okay I am sucked in. I will eat some fish!

In a cooking class I attended at The Art Institute, we made poached salmon with a royal glacage sauce (a creamy sauce that took quite a long time to make) but tasted heavenly. We poached the salmon in Ziploc bags.
We stirred up a hot mix of liquids and then poured it into a bag with the fish. The fish was ready in 10 minutes.
Shocked at the simplicity of this, I bombarded the chef with questions. Are you sure it's okay to eat? What about salmonella? Don't you think we should leave it in longer? The chef calmed me down. No, there is no salmonella in salmon (how ironic!).

I decided to try the salmon in a bag technique at home. I thought I would try a different recipe, one that I found in an old issue of Food and Wine magazine. The salad was mediocre, but the salmon was unbelievable. It was flaky, tender and moist.

Poached Salmon Salad with Lettuce and Asparagus

Surprise, Surprise!

Yesterday my fiance told me to wear something nice because we are going to some party at work.
Okay, so I was dressed and ready to go and then he took me to this place and surprise! All my friends were there. A surprise engagement Party! My fiance knew because he had to give my friends the phone numbers but he
kept it a secret! I loved it!
The theme: Brown and Pink
The favors for the guests.... heart shaped cookie cutters.
Check out the lovely desserts!

Tortilla Recipe

One day in cooking class we were really hungry. I suggested that we make these tortillas. We used the tortilla press until we realized it was a waste of time. Rolling them by hand and stretching them with the tips of our fingers came out best. We looked for toppings. No salsa in sight. We found dark chocolate and some maple sauce. Perfect tortilla toppings!

I made these many times with my grade 4 students. They would do all the rolling and then we would go over the school materials while I would cook them in the hot pans.

Tortillas

4 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of salt
1 1/4 cups of warm water
1/4 a cup of olive oil



1. Mix all ingredients until you get a nice shiny dough.
2. Divide the dough into 15 pieces and form into balls. Let rest for 15 minutes.
3. Use your rolling pin to flatten them into thin pancakes.
4. Heat a frying pan on high heat. Do not add oil. (Use an old frying pan because it is hard to clean.) Stretch the tortilla with your hand if needed. Place on heat for about 1 minute on each side
or until you see little hole marks.

Perfect Salad Dressing Recipe

My cousin Maya, who is actually my cousin Roy's wife but I call her my cousin since we look more alike then Roy and I do, makes this dressing at every family meal. When the salad is placed on the table, it is only minutes before it disappears.
There is always the polite person who asks if anyone wants any before he/she finishes it, hoping deep down inside that everyone will say no so he/she could engulph the last lettuce leaf.
No need for anything except for lettuce and croutons(see previous post).
So here it is:

Maya's Magnificent Dressing


2 tablespoons of balsamic vingegar
1 teaspoon of mustard
2 tablespoons of sugar
1 lemon
2 garlic cloves
Half a cup of olive oil

I mix all ingredients except the oil. Then I drop the oil in, tablespoon at a time for an extra smooth consistency.
If you want, you can just mix all the ingredients in a container and shake.

Croutons, You'd Better Not Be Buying Them!

Last time I had a dinner party at my house. I made a salad with homemade croutons. My friend asked me if I made them myself. " Really, you made those from scratch?" Croutons are one of the easiest things to make. I can't understand why someone would buy fake Parmesan, preservative soaked, crusty old pieces of bread at the supermarket. Oh yeah and they are usually fried too! Making them at home literally takes 10 minutes. All you have to do is cut old bread into cubes, toss with olive oil, season and bake in the oven. The correct baking time varies. I usually put them in at 400 degrees for 10 minutes but some prefer to bake them at a lower heat for longer. Just keep checking, they burn easily. I have made my share of burnt to death croutons.
I like to season them with salt and pepper. Sometimes I make zaatar croutons. These taste great on Greek salads. You can find this spice at any spice store. I got mine at Market Spice. Other ideas for croutons can be parmesan, paprika or garlic powder. Just experiment.Any old bread is fine. The best croutons that I ever made were from a homemade Fucaccia bread that had dried out into a big hard block. Now I am crouton crazy. I buy an extra loaf of day old bread at the store which is usually half price and make the croutons while getting ready for bed. Keep in an air-tight container and hide from the snackers!