Foodbuzz 24x24: Food Writing Workshop

posted on: Sunday, January 30, 2011


For lunch I'm having leftovers from yesterday's dinner.

I'm having my asparagus tart, the one that's really Martha's Stewart's Asparagus-Gruyere Tart but I like to claim as my own. It's a special tart I make for friends (I'll tell you more about that in a minute) and since yesterday I was going to have dinner with 12 new friends I figured I would make my special tart.

Every month Foodbuzz hosts an online event called 24x24 which showcases 24 meals in 24 hours. This month I was one of the featured publishers chosen to document a special meal, and yesterday's dinner sure was special. 

Last night my tummy and my soul were fed. As I stood around the table with 12 other women, in a house I had never been before, some shared stories about growing up in the 60s to women who are just now growing up, I felt right at home. Sharing food and sharing stories about food, true life stories, is the definition of nourishment in my world. 

Yesterday I was nourished by the hands and hearts of 12 strangers and it was delicious.

{guest post with the Mr.} Making Honey Nut Granola

posted on: Friday, January 28, 2011


This is my Mr.
He's a nice one.

He doesn't judge me for spending my afternoons with Enzo playing Angry Birds. He doesn't judge me for being unproductive when I should be productive, or cooking when Maria is asleep and I only have Enzo to take care of. He just lets me do my thing and when it's time for him to do his thing he does it beautifully, pulling Enzo away from addictive games and engaging him in granola making.



Beautiful granola making...
Here is the Mr. himself sharing his granola recipe with you.

Cookbook Report

posted on: Wednesday, January 26, 2011


Just last month NPR had a short piece called App-etizing: Cookbooks and Recipes go Mobile, which acknowledges the use of technology for getting recipes but also states, surprisingly, that good ol' fashioned cookbooks are alive and well. Lately I've been using my ipod touch in the kitchen, mostly to read your food blogs and make your recipes. My life has been made easier with my ipod touch, no doubt, but the more access I have to recipes online the more I crave cookbooks.

I have cookbooks on my nightstand, the living room bookcase, in the kids' room, in my tiny kitchen between the fridge and the sink, on my desk next to my computer, just not in the bathroom. Nope, not yet.

I devour cookbooks. I browse them for pretty pictures, for food styling, for tips -- they are my main source of cooking inspiration. Sunday nights, when the kids are asleep and I'm getting ready for the week I lay my cookbooks on my bed, spread them out like a down comforter and wrap myself in page after page of recipes I've seen a million times before. Then I make a weekly menu, and then I cook, and  write.

One of the greatest things that happened as a result of blogging is that my e-mail address somehow got on the "free cookbook" list and I've been so lucky to get a plethora of cookbooks to review, hug, and cherish. I might have mentioned a couple of these before but today I'm in the zone and I want to do a run through of some of the cookbooks I've received. 

Family Fondue Night

posted on: Monday, January 24, 2011


Fondue is spontaneous. It's messy and unorganized. It makes you react quickly so the cheese doesn't burn, so the chocolate doesn't get too hard, so the piece of crusty bread that's held by a skinny spear won't dissapear in the pool of melted goodness. Luckily, if that happens and you can't rescue the piece of bread for yourself there is always someone there to help -- fondue calls for good company. It's the ultimate sharing where in order for it to work there needs to be a consensus, often times unspoken and sometimes totally hashed out before hand, about who's turn will be first and how many of the spears can be in the pot at the same time. Fondue is messy, so incredibly messy, to the point where in the end eveyone is cleaning up each other's drops of chocolate on the table, or cheese off their chin, bread crumbs on the floor, and smashed fruit on the chairs.

Fondue is like my family
 no rhyme or reason
but delicious to the core.

If blessings had a flavor they would taste like an excellent little brownie

posted on: Wednesday, January 19, 2011


perfectly named the No Brainer Brownie. Last week I received two packages. One was a beautiful wooden crate full of So Delicious Coconut Milk beverage. I receive a lot of products from PR companies, nothing has been as well packaged and presented as this; I was amazed and have since been converted to drinking coconut milk on a daily basis. The second box was not from a PR firm, but was equally packaged with care. My friend's mother, Akemi, sent me an unexpected gift of Japanese treats and high quality chocolates from Oregon, along with a recipe for a No Brainer Brownie.

The package came at the exact moment when I needed it most. I had just started feeling better from my nasty cold and could finally swallow food. I welcomed the surprise and dove right into that recipe and the contents in the box. A No Brainer Brownie was exactly what my body had been craving both emotionally and physically.

I've been feeling overwhelmed even though things couldn't be easier. Both of my kids are in daycare 4 hours a day and I'm not even TAing. Still, I don't remember feeling this overwhelmed last quarter when  Baby Maria was home all the time, and I worked 40 hours a week. If you do the math the end result would be that I'm crazy. The more things I do the less exhausted I feel?! It makes no sense! Maybe it's just getting myself into a new routine or maybe it's because the more time I have, the more I think and thinking can be a real drag, I guess. My nights have been restless. Can I blame the little earthquakes we've been having? No, I can't. I haven't even felt them, but my mind feels like a natural disaster. It wakes me up when I should be asleep with ideas and endless to-do lists.

Brazilian Breakfast

posted on: Friday, January 14, 2011

at 2:02pm 
on a wet afternoon that made the whole day feel like it was a sin to be out of bed.
The early afternoon was the magical moment where time was still, all was well, and I could finally eat.
Normally, I breeze through breakfast sipping on a cup of herbal tea and taking big bites of toast to get it out of the way. Breakfast is just so that I don't feel like a beast when I'm trying to get the kids ready for school. As soon as the sugar hits my bloodstream I'm golden, and herbal tea and toast nails that perfectly.
But if you haven't eaten anything by 2:02pm you're full on hungry.
Toast and herbal tea will still be consumed but why don't we throw some good ol' sausage and eggs on top of that toast and call it a meal?!

Sausage and eggs together is a breakfast classic. I don't know who came up with it, what culture started it, or if someone even had to come up with it, because it's so obvious how well they compliment each other no one really should take credit for the genius behind a well prepared breakfast with sausage and eggs.

Brazilians, eat sausage and eggs but slightly different than Americans.
For one thing, we're all about the sauce. Food needs to be wet, dripping down your chin.
First you make the sausage, you season it just so. The juices from the sausages, tomatoes, onions, and parsley, mix together into a prime brothy sauce. You separate the sausage mixture from the broth leaving a welcoming pool for your eggs. Then crack -- the eggs are poached in the bubbly broth.

Food Blogger Camp 2011

posted on: Tuesday, January 11, 2011

About 40 Food bloggers who went to Food Blogger Camp are posting tweets and pictures, blog posts and facebook updates about our trip with messages to new friends and inside jokes, revealing how fabulous and luxurious our rooms, food, and maid service were and how being home can be so blech! Then there are the thousands of food bloggers who did not get to go and are reading these tweets and are probably gleaning from our posts a mixture of lessons learned with a touch of potential resentment, things like this have a way of creating unnecessary cliques.

I'm going to be honest with you, I wish you had been there.

I want to share my experience with you--but the thought of getting a comment saying, "I'm so jealous you went" makes me sad. If you start to get an inkling of such feelings I advise you to walk away from the computer, get the tallest and biggest jar that you have and empty out the coins from your wallet into it and start saving, also save your vacation days, so we can go together next year.

We can be roomies.


That above is Diane from White on Rice Couple, an extraordinary food and travel photographer who was one of the camp leaders. Next to her, with the camera, is Rosa Vu from the blog saVUryandsweet who like myself is, you know, just another food blogger. I wanted to show you this picture because that connection right there happened constantly, over and over and over again, so that by the end of the trip I don't think Rosa or any of us felt like just another blogger, we felt listened to and respected and filled with hope and excitement for our food blogs.

Cuisinart CPB-300 Blender and Chopping System Giveaway

posted on: Sunday, January 9, 2011

Cuisinart has a new product in the house and it's fabulous. Let's hear it for the Compact Portable Blending and Chopping System. This new product is reasonably priced at less than $70, which I think is awesome with a capital A. Simple to use as a traditional blender, and simple to use as a chopping system but my favorite thing about the CPB-300 is the to-go cups. Make your drinks right in one of the to-go cups and save time cleaning up - yes please!

Energy Muffins

posted on: Thursday, January 6, 2011


Energy Muffins is the best name I could come up with for an otherwise long version of carrot date oat nut muffins. Energy Muffins because I ate one and I felt completely satisfied and ready for the next big thing. Energy Muffins because it took us a whacking 4 hours to make. They came out of the oven right when dinner should have come out of the oven, so naturally I called them dinner. We paired it with freshly squeezed tangerine juice, the tangerine slices fell on the ground one two many times compliment of my newest sous chef Maria -the baby.

Lovely Mariko, from The Little Foodie, gave us a citrus juicer for Christmas. It's been Baby Maria's favorite toy since the day it arrived. Enzo's favorite toy when he was her age was a little vacuum cleaner that made the noise but didn't pick up any dirt. He carried it around and would "vacuum" the entire living room over and over and over again. I hated that toy. It made my busy life angry. Why did it not work as a real vacuum? Was Fisher Price worried I would be exploiting my 1 year old?  Because the truth of the matter is that I would have, of course. Little toddlers are eager to explore the world, imitate what you do, and do it! Baby Maria saw me making orange juice, pulled her chair next to me and decided she wanted to give it a try. As soon as the citrus makes contact with the top it starts spinning so even my one year old can make juice, and she does. So the lesson here is that if you need to get another plastic something or other for a 1 year old make it useful, give them a kitchen appliance.

With that being said let me make myself useful as a food blogger and give you a recipe already. Note: it took us 4 hours to make because I let Enzo do all the chopping and cutting and shredding, mixing and whisking and measuring.

Enzo makes me muffins Baby maria makes me tangerine juice.
I could get used to this lifestyle really fast.

Energy Muffins - yield 12 muffins
(printable version)

2 cups flour
1/2 cup shredded carrots
2 large eggs
8 dates (cut into smal pieces)
1 cup rolled oats
1 cup plain non-fat yogurt
1/2 cup butter
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
1/3 cup chopped pecans
1/3 cup chopped almonds
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  1. Pre heat the oven to 350*
  2. line the muffin tin with cupcake liners
  3. Melt the butter in a medium sized bowl and whisk in the eggs and yogurt.
  4. In another bowl mix the flour, oats, sugar, nuts, cinnamon, dates and baking powder.
  5. Add the butter, egg, and yogurt to the flour mixture and fold until well incorporated
  6. Add the shredded carrots and mix.
  7. Pour the batter evenly into each liner. It will be very full, don't worry.
  8. Bake for 20 minutes. Serve warm and Enjoy.
Here are some more breakfast recipes I want to try

day numero uno of food blogger camp 2011

posted on: Wednesday, January 5, 2011


I'm not very organized.
I'm not organized at All.
Why is that silly Easter cup with glitter on my desk? And why did I forget to pack toothpaste and elastic bands to put my hair up?

At the end of the rainbow you'll find Ted's Bakery

posted on: Tuesday, January 4, 2011


Ted's Bakery in the North Shore of Oahu is famous for their chocolate-haupia pie, a rich chocolate pie with coconut custard on top. It's a good pie as far as store bought pies are concerned. If you go to Hawaii you need to have a slice but before you do make sure you have a Ted's Bakery Burger first.

December Cook Off Winner

posted on: Monday, January 3, 2011



Christian had a birthday. It rained all day and there were zero minus zero waves, a total bummer. He got some Havana Alfajores from our Argentine friend, Matias, which he loved and I'm coveting. He got one of those geeky hand held GPS from me which he hated. We had a yummy dinner with friends and sang happy Birthday using Annie's Mint Chocolate Chunk Cookies.

Matsumoto Shave Ice and a Giveaway

posted on: Sunday, January 2, 2011



Shave Ice is the flavah of Hawaii. Every place has their special food, the one you must try when you visit. I know, I know, shave ice is pretty ghetto with it's chemically engineered unnatural flavors.  

Enzo, what flavor do you want?
"I'll take the blue, purple, and red, actually make it a rainbow"

Most people ask for the rainbow.


with sweetened condensed milk on top, of course.
YUM!

The first time I had Shave Ice at Matsumoto I totally didn't get it. There was traffic getting to the store in Haleiwa, bad parking, the line was long, and I ended up with a bad brain freeze and a subsequent headache because I went all out and ordered a large which in Hawaiian term means you're-ridiculous-if you-even-try-to-eat-all-this-by-yourself. Failure.

Now I go back over and over again because Matsumoto Shave Ice brain freeze is what it's all about. Along with the traffic through the North Shore so that you can check out the waves and the Japanese tourists, the long line so you mingle with strangers or more Japanese tourists, the sticky flavors and the ice that melts way too fast and drips down your legs giving you the perfect excuse to jump in the ocean.

I love Matsumoto Shave Ice. I also love that they have a website. The picture on top that shows the outside of the store is a lie, don't believe them for a second. There is always a long line outside the store I promise. The middle picture, that has the poster boards with the different flavors, is true. It looks exactly like that, with old flavors crossed out in black sharpie. It's awesome.


I wish I could give you a Matsumoto Rainbow  flavored Shave Ice but really you need to go to Hawaii and experience it for yourself. I did pick up a bag for you though. I thought of getting a t-shirt or a hoodie but how am I supposed to guess your size?! Impossible. So a Matsumoto Shave Ice tote bag will have to do.




  
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Giveaway closes: Midnight PST Friday January 7th. The winner will be contacted via e-mail and announced next Saturday.

post-edit: Comment 23 was randomly selected. Congratulations to Kimmie from Full Circle. I hope you enjoy the bag but most importantly I hope you get inspired to visit Hawaii one day!

hello again

posted on: Saturday, January 1, 2011


New Year's Day is my favorite Holiday.
In Brazil we jump 7 waves and hope for good luck.
We wear all white and eat good food.
Kids go around to the adults and say bom principio "good beginnings" and are given coins in exchange.
Most adults are crazy drunk or on a bad hang over on New Year's day so if you're a smart kid you can often make out like a bandit.

January 1st is also the day a certain person was born. 
He was a preemie and looked like a baby frog, barely surviving.
Now, I think it's safe to say that he's full on thriving.


Christian Tobler Palmer
I am ridiculously in love with you.
Please live until you're 109.
Happy Birthday.
xoxo, me.

If today is not your birthday then you get a Happy New Year instead.
Happy New Year.
Happy

n   e   w

y
e
a
r

Pop! Crackle! BANG! Bazoooom!


May 2011 be filled with pure excitement.
Health, incredible health.
Success, however you decide to define it for yourself.
Friendship.
Charity.
Tickle torture induced laughter
and love.
An incredible amount of love where you thrive, thrive, and then when you think you can't you realize that you can and you thrive a little bit more.

I am bursting at the seams with excitement for 2011. I  am going to allow myself to believe that all things are possible and then I'm going to make them possible. With Christian by my side and two radical kids to raise could I allow myself to think any less?!

I can't!
I won't!
Two Thousand Eleven, I love you already.

Happy New Year.
xoxo
Da

 

P.S. In case you need a New Year's resolution jumping off Waimea should go top on your list!
The pics are from our last trip and the vid is from devinsupertramp found via my cool friend Mark Lee, who helped shoot the images from the water. Cool stuff.
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