Jong & Iffy devour EAT Mobile

Just purchased Eat Mobile Pre-tasting tickets for EAT Mobile in Portland this weekend. Our VIP pass will give us access 1 hour before the unwashed masses to taste food from 40 food carts with complimentary libations from Bear Flag Wine, Pabst, McSorley's and vitaminwater. Other perks include an Eat Mobile Survival Kit, including a printed scout book and an opportunity to meet the owners of the food cards. Really looking forward to this event as part of our Portland expedition.

Proceeds from the event go to Mercy Corps Northwest and takes place this Saturday under the Morrison Bridge.

808 Grinds
Artigiano
Aybla Grill
Brown Chicken Brown Cow
The Baowry
Bora Bora
Crème de la Crème
The Dump Truck
Eat This!
El Gallo Taqueria
Emame’s Ethiopian Cuisine
Eurodish
EuroTrash Food Cart
Fifty Licks Ice Cream
FlavourSpot
Fon-due-it
Garden State
Happy Grillmore
The Kettle Kitchen
Kim Jong Grillin’
KOi Fusion
Leroy’s Familiar Vittles
Nuevo Mexico
Oregon Ice Works
Over the Top Wild Game Burgers
PDX 671
Philippine Cuisine Food Cart
Pizza Contadino
Pyro Pizza
Robb’s Really Good Food
The Rolling Stoves Gimme Sandwich
Sawasdee Thai
Shut Up and Eat
Slice Brick Oven Pizza
SomTum Gai Yang
Tábor
Wet Hot Beef
Whiffies
Yogio
Vietnamese Banh Mi Sandwiches Food Cart

Ivy's Pandesal

I woke up with a huge craving for bread.... fresh bread. Straight out of the oven, hot and soft. But alas, I've never made bread before.... so I took the plunge and decided to try Pandesal - a sweet philipino bread. And of course, inspired by the sugar buns by Giovane. It wouldn't be an Ivy cooking experience if I stuck to the recipe.. so I had to deviate a little from the recipe and add a sweet twist... cinnamon sugar.

Ingredients:

2 cups warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)
2 teaspoons active dry yeast
2/3 cup white sugar
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups all-purpose flour - I used bread flour.

1 egg

cinnamon sugar

Directions:

I mixed some warm tap water in a small mixing bowl and add the yeast and 1 tablespoon of the sugar; stir to dissolve. Let stand until creamy, about 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the remaining sugar and the oil and mix until smooth. Add the salt, 1 cup of flour and the yeast mixture; stir well. Add the remaining 5 cups flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Now the original recipe calls for half the sugar and salt, but countless reviewers said it lacked in this department and highly recommended adding more sugar and salt. I followed their directions and have no regrets.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth, supple and elastic; about 10 minutes. Lightly oil a large mixing bowl, place the dough in it and turn to coat the dough with oil.

Cover with a damp towel or plastic wrap and let sit in a warm place until the dough has doubled in volume; about 1 hour. Our house is cold so I heated the oven to the lowest setting, then placed a damp tea towel under the metal mixing bowl, and another covering it, and let it rise in the oven. Don't be impatient. It really does take atleast 1 hour. It does not rise as quick as cinnamon buns or pizza dough.

Turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface. The dough is warm and soft like baby skin and feels great! Forming each piece a log with 2 inches in diameter. Using a knife or string, I cut the 1 inch sections, rounding them lightly in my hands before placing them on the cookie sheet. Pretty sure this isn't how you are SUPPOSED to do it but the end results were good looking so I'll likely do it again.

I recommend laying them in a pattern so that the finish product looks more professional. I left only .5 inches between each dough ball with the hope they'd crowd each other a bit. I would recommend letting them be even closer  for more squishiness. Crack open an egg and beat it with a brush and give them a quick egg wash before you bake. A required step imho tho it too is not included in the original recipe.

Sprinkle with Cinnamon sugar.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C).

Cover the rolls with a damp cloth and let rise until doubled in volume, about 30 minutes.

Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Voila! As they came out of the oven they were sweet hot yummy goodness. AMAZING with a cup of tea.

The 9 are covered in cinnamon sugar with a hint of vanilla paste from Maison Cote. Delicious but not neccessary as the buns were AMAZING even without the sugar. the 6 on the top right are just plain without cinnamon sugar, and were really great with honey ham and cheese. The buns had a soft fluffy brioche like quality. An easy recipe but very time consuming. 24 hours later, all buns are missing in action. 

Our next Project: Dress Form

Jenny and I are going to do this...

Eating at Arturos Mexican Food Cart today for Lunch

After consulting my new Vancouver Street Eats App... I decided to try the new Arturo Mexican To Go. If you love the danger (salmonella) and excitement (what is Xiao Long Bao? ) of street food, I highly suggest you download it. It's a nice relief from the fast food joints in the area.

Arturo is right by the Price Waterhouse Cooper Building on the corner of Howe and Burrard. Inside were 4 cooks ready to take the order, and Arturo himself, of course. The offerings are not many, but they are delicious enough to warrant repeated visits Burritos, Burrito Bowls, Quesdillas, Tacotino, Tortilla Soup. 

Looking forward to making this trip in the summer as it is only 2 blocks away from work and by the waterfront, so easy to get a nice place to sit after. You can sit by the Canada Place Pier, Jack Poole Plaza or Granville Plaza. All three have waterfront views and seating areas.

credit: I'm only here for the food

So I ordered the Chicken Burrito. The Chicken is described as such: Tinga Chicken: Shicken marinated with smoked jalapeno, roasted guajillo and fresh stewed tomatoes. The salsa is made fresh every day.

I had hoped to take a photo for you, but I basically ravished the burrito like a zombie at brains, so I found this photo on I'm only here for the food.

credit: I'm only here for the food

Everything tastes real, and fresh, homey almost. For $7 its not too bad for the area either. I'd come back... next time for the Sirloin Beef, Slow simmered with chipotle and original mexican ingredients.

This week's Goal: Learn to make Cassoulet

I'll serve this with my lovely aged cheddar and green onion buttery scones. Don will eat it but Jong won't. Too many beans.

Cassoulet

This chicken and sausage cassoulet recipe is a modern update on the classic white bean cassoulet from Toulouse. This version evokes particularly complex and developed flavors by cooking certain ingredients separately, and then together. The result is an irresistible, hearty stew.

Prep Time: 25 minutes
Cook Time: 4 hours
Total Time: 4 hours, 25 minutes

Ingredients:
* 1 pounds dried white beans, soaked, sorted, and rinsed
* 1 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper
* 1 pound lardons (bacon strips)/regular bacon
* 2 large white onions, peeled, halved, and cut into
* 1 pound bulk pork sausage
* 1 1/2 pounds boneless chicken breast, cut into 1-inch pieces
* 1 pound chicken legs
* 2 pounds tomatoes, seeded and chopped
* 1 cup dry white wine
* 1 quart chicken stock
* 1 bouquet garni (There is no generic recipe for bouquet garni, but most recipes include parsley, thyme and bay leaf. Depending on the recipe, the bouquet garni may include basil, burnet, chervil, rosemary, peppercorns, savory and tarragon. Sometimes vegetables such as carrot, celery (leaves or stem), celeriac, leek, onion and parsley root are also included in the bouquet.)
* 3 cloves garlic, chopped
* 1 tablespoon tomato paste
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 1/4 teaspoon black pepper
* 2 carrots, peeled and cut crosswise into 1/4-inch slices
* 1/2 cup bread crumbs
* 1 teaspoon finely chopped fresh parsley
* 1/2 teaspoon finely chopped fresh thyme
* 4 teaspoons melted butter

Preparation:
Place the beans in a large saucepan and cover them with cold water. Bring the beans to a gentle simmer over medium heat. Cover and cook them until they begin to turn tender, about 1 hour and 15 minutes. Add 1 teaspoon salt and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper to the beans and cook until the liquid has absorbed, about 25 additional minutes. Remove the beans from the heat, drain and discard any additional liquid, and set the beans aside.

In a large skillet over medium-high heat, cook the lardons for 5 minutes, until they turn brown. Transfer them to a plate. Add the onions to the pan and sauté them for 10 minutes, until they turn light golden brown. Transfer them to the plate with the lardons. Brown the sausage and transfer it to a bowl.

Preheat the oven to 350F. Drain all but 4 tablespoons of the fat from the skillet. Add the chicken breast pieces to the fat and brown them over medium-high heat. Transfer the chicken to the bowl with the sausage. Brown the chicken legs in the skillet and transfer them to the bowl.

Combine the lardoons/bacon, onions, sausage, chicken pieces and legs, tomatoes, wine, chicken stock, bouquet garni, garlic, tomato paste, 3/4 teaspoon salt, and 1/4 teaspoon ground black pepper in a large casserole dish. Cover with a lid or foil, and bake the casserole for 25 minutes. Add the carrots to the casserole, cover, and bake for an additional 20 minutes.

Add the reserved white beans to the hot casserole and gently stir the mixture. In a small bowl, toss the bread crumbs, parsley, and thyme with the melted butter. Sprinkle the seasoned bread crumbs over the casserole and bake it, uncovered, for 1 hour. Discard the bouquet garni and serve the cassoulet hot.

This chicken and sausage cassoulet recipe makes 12 large servings.

(May sub chicken for Duck or Lamb)

The best thing on Glee is the Warblers

I've become O-B-S-E-S-S-E-D- with Darren Criss and the Warblers. Their infectious harmonies and sychronized dance moves are a lethal dose of ZOMG. I haven't been this crazed since I read Twilight and joined Team Jacob. It's disturbing and I hate myself a little for it....

It began as a slow simmer, I was first introduced to the Warblers and Darren Criss as I was steaming up the car windows with Jenny Lee. It's not what you think. We were parked outside her condo, huddled around my iPhone to catch up on our Glee Season 2, piping the sound through my  Mini Coopers speakers.



Since then, they've never failed to disappoint. It's built to a fevered pitch from their rendition of Bills Bills Bills.



I can't get enough.. and it seems I won't have to. Announced yesterday Darren Criss and the Warblers will be putting out their own Glee album with songs they've performed on the show, and unreleased content. Sign. Me. Up.

The Warblers are voiced by the real-life Tufts University a capella group called The Beelzebubs

Here is their version of Bills from 2009. Isn't it interesting that the Version they voiced on Glee has almost 2 million views and their version only has 38k views? That's the power of branding.



A fan filming the performance at one of their shows: Worth a watch, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59z_bXKuv9E

It's true, they aren't as slick, well clothed or as choreographed as the Warblers but they certainly have charisma. I love how genuine they are.

More Naptime Macro...

More naptime photos...  Here's Minka with her newfound big sister patience as she settles in to nap with the baby pup who can't seem to settle down. 

Scratch the dot for maximum happiness.

We're best friends now and we sleep with our feet touching like best buddies.