Potato Vinaigrette and fried fish

Vinaigrettes are my favorite type of salad. I love the sour citrus taste in my mouth especially when I am eating greasy deep fried something or other. I made this on Saturday and was not going to post it because it took me 2 hours to make and I figured that most normal people would rather not spend 2 hours making anything, especially not during hot summer days. I can assure you that under normal circumstances this would probably have taken me 30-45 minutes. Had I not been listening to Car Talk, Wait, Wait don't Tell me, and This American Life while I was cooking I would of whipped this up in no time. It would of taken me 2 1/2 hours to finish this had my family not been starving. I REALLY wanted to hear the last 30 minutes of This American Life where they were interviewing the geeky girl who was switched at birth from her super rad biological family.

POTATO VINAIGRETTE (with a little something, something)

• 8 medium potatoes pealed and cubed
• 1/2 pound of green beens diced
• 3 beets sliced 1/4 inch
• 2 tomatoes cubed
• 2 tablespoons fresh chopped parsley
• 1/2 medium sized onion
• 2 tablespoons distilled white vinegar
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

1. cook the potatoes, beets, and green beans all in separate pans until tender
   
2. while the vegetables cook chop the onion in thin slices. I like to caramelize the onions because my husband is not that into raw onions. This is optional but adds a nice sweet taste.
3. cut the tomatoes and set aside
4. In a large bowl mix the potatoes, green beans and beets together. Let it cool down a bit before you add the tomatoes or else it makes the tomatoes soft.
5. Add the caramalized onions to the bowl along with the vinegar, olive oil and salt.
6. add the tomatoes and mix everything together
7. garnish with finely chopped parsley
8. serve warm or chilled, both ways work great.

FRIED FISH

People are usually terrified of making fried fish because (a) it's fried and (b) it stinks up your house BIG time.
If you can get past (a) then (b) can also be dealt with. On the burner next to the one where you are frying the fish have a pan with orange peels boiling with water the whole time you are frying. This totally helps diminsh the smell of fish

give[IT]away!!!

Almost two weeks after BlogHer I still have a bunch of swag that I picked up at the conference that is sitting downstairs in my living room desk to my husband's dismay. He thinks I'm unorganized and a semi-hoarder. I totally disagreed until yesterday when I was finaly going through my 2 bags of conference goodies and saw coupons for baby food, test kit that tellls you how much alcohol you have in you breast milk, plus a bunch of things that I, hummmm, don't need.

Here is what you get!

$19.99 T-Mobile Hotspot prepaid Wi-Fi card

4 coupons for free twin packs of HOMEMADE BABY food

1 milkscreen home test for alcohol in breast milk. 3 test strips.

1 Raggs DVD

1 TNT dvd of The Closer and Saving Grace

so do you want it? I'll even throw it all in a tote bag so that you can have a way to carry your new goodies. Just write me a comment with your e-mail address and I'll randomly select someone on Monday August 4th and contact the winner through e-mail!

I do weekly giveaways. Every Tuesday I have something new up, kitchen related, make sure to enter this week's giveaway of hand made bucket and burpies from another etsy shop here
and check back on Tuesdays for more giveaways!

U.S residents only unless you have a mailing address in the U.S. Thanks!

Bento adventure #2

Yesterday Enzo and I had a park date and I knew that we would end up strategically staying there till his nap time in the hopes that he would fall asleep in the car on the way home. I thought I had to take lunch but found out that I actually didn't because the city brings free lunches to the parks EVERYDAY in the summer. I'll leave that for a future post about why I want to live here forever but will never be able to afford it.

I got a cute Bento box from my friend who went to Japan earlier this summer to visit my sis-in-law who makes very cute Bentos herself.I made my first Bento a while back and wasn't set on doing it again. It seemed like a lot of time and energy trying to make food look like Japanese stationary. (btw that is not my Bento on the picture below in case you had any doubts of my poor bento making skills)
I then met Biggie from Lunch in a Box and am now fascinated once again about bentos. NOT time consuming bentos, that is. She even had a great post about using Brazilian food for bentos. Which I will have to try sometime next week when I have a bit more time to make salgadinhos (appetizers).


Yesterday's bento was simple. No cutting out fruit leather into heart shapes like last time! This time I just made rice and used the rice molds that I already had . I make chicken with pineapple and used my new little animal skewers to keep it together. I also had carrots, banana, and orange on the top part of the bento. Enzo was totally into the rice and eating the chicken and pineapple from the skewers. Not so into the carrots and fruit. Maybe if I had skewers for that too he would like it. Next time I'm in San Francisco I need to go get some more skewers and maybe some other bento gadgets in case I decide to make him bentos when he's off to preschool in the fall.

Solving your kitchen problems one giveaway at a time!

GIVEAWAY: Bucket with Burpies
This is another giveaway that parents could use. If you have an infant you probably use burpies all the time. If you have a toddler you probably still use burpies to wipe off their hands, or clean their face, or put on their lap while they eat. At least that is what I do.

Cupcakes 4 Breakfast is another etsy shop with tons of cute stuff. She has the cutest aprons for little girls!

and decorated buckets

and of course a whole plethora of burpies to choose from.

Make sure to check out this shop and browse through the cute and useful products.

Come back to this post and leave a comment about what your favorite product from her store is by Tuesday August 5th to be entered in a drawing to win the bucket and burpies giveaway. A comment will be chosen at random! Good luck!!!

Lucky You!

The diaper pouch from last week's giveaway was a hit.
The winner is Baker Family  who said "I love all those bags. I could certainly use a diaper pouch in my kitchen (and in every room in the house, as well as my car). It is such a cute idea."

send me your home address by e-mail so we can get this off to you!

Mom-I-am! How to get the stinker to eat?!

If Sam-I-am is a parent then he's pretty amazing! I realized this weekend after reading "Green Eggs and Ham" for the 127th time to my son that Sam-I-am is the bomb/my new hero. Here I am slaving away in the kitchen making healthy things for him to eat (nothing as cool as green eggs and ham, of course) and he just doesn't want to eat them. Not here or there or anywhere. You've read the book, you know how Sam offers the dish to the sticker on a train, on a boat, in a house, with a mouse. Sam is persistent and most importantly totally good attitude. He knows that if the stinker just tried the dang thing he'd like it. I've been bending over backwards trying to get my own little stinker to eat and I am NOT as good attitude as Sam. If I'm successful it's only because

A) I bribe him
B) I convince him that ____ (fill in with current obsession, i.e. Thomas the Train, Elmo, dinosaurs) eats his food and that if Enzo ever wants to be a dinosaur then he too must eat his mashed potatoes and fish.
C) I make it a competition. This is my least favorite because I am not a competitive person but it totally works. I put food on a plate that is decorated with animals and I tell him that if he doesn't eat his food fast the animals on his plate will eat it first. He's all about competing with the two dimensional animal drawings. In the mind of a two year old this makes perfect sense, of course.

I know this is bad parenting. I never said I was a good parent but I do love my child and I want him to eat something other than rice cakes. If I don't get new ideas fast I'm totally going to turn into the evil version of Sam-I-Am. Instead of offering to feed him with a fox, I'm going to feed him TO a fox.

Any thoughts on how to get my 2 year old stinker to finally say...

I do so like
________ and ______!
Thank you!
Thank you,
Mom-I-am!

peach chesse cake

This cheese cake is a direct result from the nectarine tart that I fell in love with over at Smitten Kitchen. I also have to thank Dona Ana and her son Miguel from the Santa Cruz flee market for having the best fruit and vegetable stand in the , ok fine, my world. Today they were selling their juicy peaches for .50cents a pound. As soon as I got home I busted out my tub of cream cheese and got right to work.

PEACH CHEESE CAKE
(This recipe is my variation of the Smitten Kitchen tart recipe)

Crust

• 3 cups gingersnap cookies
• 6 tablespoons unsalted melted butter
  

Filling

• 12 ounces cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sour cream
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon grated lime peel
• 1 teaspoon lime juice
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
  

Topping

• 5 medium peaches, halved, pitted, cut into thin slices
• 1/4 cup golden plum jam, warmed
  

For crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.
2. Finely grind gingersnaps in processor.
3. Move to a large bowl and add butter
4. Mix with a wooden spoon until crumbs are evenly moistened.
5. Press mixture over bottom and up sides of 9-inch-diamenter pie pan.
6. Bake crust for 10 minutes
   

For filling:

1. Mix all 6 ingredients in medium bowl until smooth.
2. Spread filling in prepared crust.
3. Cover loosely and top with peaches
   

For topping:

1. Overlap peach slices atop filling in concentric circles.
2. Brush with warm jam.
3. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before serving.

My favorite cook

My all time favorite cook is my Vóvó Aurea (grandma). Today is her birthday and I couldn't let the day go by without honoring her. She makes simple recipes bursting with flavor. Growing up I loved being in her kitchen watching her cook and move around from one end of the kitchen where she has her favorite stove to the other end of the kitchen where she has another stove. She is repulsed by microwave and anything plastic. She had the tin cups and plates before anyone else thought they were cool/green.

When I was in middle school I would have lunch with her everyday and this is when I finally stopped stuffing myself and actually started asking some questions about how she prepared such delicious meals. My favorite memories of her include food. For example, she would take me to church every Sunday and pack me a snack of white bread and mayonnaises (love it) and mint candy. For a long time I thought the whole meaning of church was to get special snacks. Her joy in life consists of feeding people, especially her family.

Unfortunately/fortunately this love for cooking skipped a generation (that's my mom in the background washing dishes. She never cooks. ever! only cleans, cleans, cleans) and that's me watching Vó Aurea make guava shortbread. If I feel extra festive I might make some today in her honor.
If by some miracle my grandma ever goes on line and figures out how to check my blog I want her to know that my love for food and all things related is a direct result of her always answering my questions.
Te amo vó Aurea, e feliz Aniversario!

brigadeiros

I was looking over pictures of Enzo's birthday party and came upon this specific picture that made my mouth water. Have you ever had brigadeiros? They are Brazilian truffles served at parties. They are usually rolled up into little balls and covered in chocolate sprinkles and then placed in mini cup cake shaped holders that are the size of a quarter. It's easy to make but a little labor intensive to roll and cover in sprinkles. I am usually lazy and make a batch and just eat it right out of the pan. I also use it as a cake topper, kind of like frosting but stickier.

BRIGADEIRO

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk
• 1 tablespoon unsalted butter
• 3 tablespoon powder semi-sweet chocolate
  
• chocolate sprinkles

1. put all ingredients except sprinkles in a small sauce pan.
2. heat over medium-low heat.
3. stir constantly until it is thick and you can see the bottom of the pan when you stir
4. remove from heat and pour the brigadeiro on a plate unless you are using it for a cake
   
5. If using it to top a cake pour the brigadeiro right away on and spread evenly. Cover it with chocolate sprinkles
   
6. If rolling it up then make sure the brigadeiro has had time to cool down.
   
7. spread butter on your hands so as to prevent brigadeiros from sticking to them when you roll them up
8. place sprinkles in a bowl
   
9. Spoon the brigadeiro off the plate and roll it in your hands shaping it into the size of gum balls.
   
10. place the brigadeiros in the bowl with sprinkles and roll them until it is completely covered.
11. place the sprinkled covered brigadeiros in a cookie sheet and return them to the fridge until you are ready to serve.
    

sugar and spice cookies

I spend the morning at the homeland security office taking my citizenship test and I passed! I am now ready to celebrate my one step closer to being a citizen by playing outside and stuffing my face with the best American food ever, COOKIES!

SUGAR AND SPICE COOKIES

• 1/2 cup vegetable shortening
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 tablespoons honey
• 1 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• a pinch of salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger

1. preheat over to 375*
2. grease the cookie sheets
   
3. cream shortening and sugar together in a large bowl
4. add the egg to the creamed mixture
5. add the honey and stir everything together. set the bowl aside
6. sift the flour, baking soda, the salt and the three spices into a bowl
7. pour the sifted ingredients into the molasses mixture stir until all the flour is mixed in
8. scoop out a spoon full of batter and then push the bater onto the cookie sheet (these cookies spread out so leave plenty of room around each cookie)
9. bake for 10 minutes
   
10. cool cookies on a wire rack
    

Solving Your Kitchen Problems One Giveaway at a Time!

GIVEAWAY: AbbaDabba diaper pouch
Is it just me or do you have diapers and wipes in your kitchen cabinets? If I'm in the kitchen and my kiddie needs a diaper change I can't really be bothered to change him anywhere else. Down he goes on the kitchen floor and I just change him right there and then. Don't worry I DO wash my hands every single time!

I found this diaper pouche on the AbbaDabba shop and decided that it would be a great thing to have in my kitchen. This way I can just hang it from a cabinet knob or have it tucked away in a drawer along with my kitchen towels. This way I won't be embarrassed if someone comes over and find loose diapers in my kitchen (hehehe).

AND... if you are one of those people who would NEVER have diapers in your kitchen you can use the pouch for something else like holding recipe cards, or your wooden spoons, or....

To enter the giveaway visit the AbbaDabba shop and drool over all her cute bags.



Come back to my blog and leave a comment by Tuesday July 29. A comment will be chosen at random. Good luck!

Lucky You!

and the winner from last week's giveaway is... number 5!
Bunny B. who said "Oh, sorry... there were too many HOT hotholders, I couldn't just choose one. But, my fave hotholder would be Larson On A Picnic HotHolder. :)"
send me your address via e-mail so I can have Mountain Ash Design send you your HotHolder.

Party at Macy's

I usually have no pity for large corporations but on Saturday I almost had a heart attack at the most schizophrenic party I've ever been to in my life, worrying sick about Macy's well being! The closing reception of BlogHer was at Macy's department store, the 7 floor one on union square San Francisco where all the shoppers are tourists that look like they just popped out of the most recent GQ magazine. Not my kind of place at all.

They crammed hundreds of women in the bag department gave us food, a lot of alcohol (was I the only one there that didn't drink?) and then rushed us up to the shoe department, where the same thing happened, then to the lingerie and last but not least, when everyone was pretty much drunk, to the furniture department where women with vodka and greasy Hor de Vours were sitting on beds with beautiful white linen. Macy's, ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?
Mr. Macy I know you were thinking the way corporations think in your stereotypical way. Women like to shop, BlogHer is all about women why don't we have a party for them at Macy's where they can get drunk and shop all they want. Well let me tell you a couple things Mr. Macy, no one shopped. However I did see someone wipe their nasty little greasy fingers after stuffing another one of these
on this!
Mr. Macy you should know better! Cocktail parties and department stores don't mix!

Food in China Town

I spend the evening walking around China Town and taking pictures with Shuna Lydon from the food blog eggbeater and Andrea from superhero journal and Jen from shutter sisters and some other lovely ladies. Keep in mind that these are like, the professional bloggers/photographers and I'm like, NOT! I tagged along and they were so nice to me and even gave me great tips on how to use my cheap point shoot camera. If I was hanging out with profess guys I so would not have gotten the same attention. PLUS... you can always convince a group of women to stop and get food. Always!

Here are some of my shots.









Can you please contact my husband and convince him that I need a nice camera like the ones that the girls are holding in the first picture so that I can get better pictures. Maybe you'll have better success.

Can you please...

Can you please tell me why you read my blog?

I am super duper curious!

I am also curious to know what you would like to see on this blog.

thanks.
xoxo Damaris

Baked Sweet Pork Ribs

My local supermarket had a sale on Pork Ribs and I went and bought a ridiculous amount that of course would not fit in my crock pot so I had to make it in the oven. Luckily it worked great and luckily I had guests to help us finish it off. I was also thrilled to finally use the Bulgogi Marinade that my friend Mariko had sent me for my Birthday.


BAKED SWEET PORK RIBS

• 2 pounds pork shoulder ribs
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 up water
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• 1/2 chopped onion
• 1 cup Bulgogi Marinade

1. preheat oven to 350*
   
2. Spread the sugar in the bottom of a medium sized skillet. Pour 1/4 cup of the water and the lime juice. Let it sit for a minute. Then heat over medium heat until the sugar begins to liquefy. Reduce the heat to medium low and let the caramel boil until it turns red.
3. Add the rest of the water, chopped onion and Bulgogi Marinade and let simmer for an additional 2 minutes.
4. Place the pork ribs in a medium sized glass casserole pan
5. Pour the sauce from the skilled on top of the pork ribs
6. back at 350* for 1 and 1/2 hours.