Can It: Shut-Your-Mouth-They're-So-Good Spicy Dills!

Quick! 

Before your local Farmer's Market stops loading the tables with those lovely little cukes!

Out of the box Garlic-Dill Sun Pickles

What you need:

At least a 32 oz  Mason  Jar

Small Cucumbers

Fresh Dill

Fresh Garlic

 Vinegar

Water

Kosher Salt

Peppercorns

Mustard Seeds

From Out of the box...

Ingredients:

• whole Kirby cucumbers  (or other pickling cucumbers)
• 2 cups distilled vinegar
• 5 cups water
• 1/2 cup Kosher Salt
• 1 bunch fresh dill
• 10 cloves garlic (more or less to your tastes)
• 2-4 jalapeno peppers, halved lengthwise
• 1 tsp mustard seeds
• 1 tbsp whole peppercorns

Directions:

• Wash cucumbers well and set aside.
• In a medium sized bowl, mix vinegar, salt and water together.
• Fill large glass jar with cucumbers, layering in dill, peppers and garlic.  Add peppercorns and mustard seeds.
• Pour vinegar mixture over cucumbers.
• Seal jar with lid, shake and place in the sun.
• Leave pickle jar outdoors in a sunny spot for 4-6 days.  Shake jar each day.
• Refrigerate finished pickles.

Adjustments I made

I could only fit 6 cucumbers and about 1 1/2 jalepenos. 

I took a short cut and used the pre-chopped fresh garlic that comes in a little sealed square packet and it was plenty.  I filled the jar with a mixture of the vinegar & water but didn't use anywhere near 7 cups so just play with it.  With all the spices being infused you won't notice if it's not exact.

So pretty right?!

It doesn't stay this way long.

The liquid gets super murky but don't let that throw you off.

If you read my I Mad, Crazy, Stupid, Love Meyer Lemons So Why Not Preserve Them? Genius! post then you know that food that sits on my counter looking delicious while I can't eat it is pure torture!

This got pretty bad folks.  I didn't realize how much I craved pickles until they were staring me in the face day after day.  It's especially hard when you need to handle them on a daily basis!  But shaking them up is important so stay strong. 

As shocking as it is that I continue to do this

I pulled one of my scanning the recipe rather than reading it faux pas...

About a month after sealing these beauties I lost it and went tearing through my recipe binder (more like wad of folded recipes clipped together and squeezed into every inch of my cookbook shelf).  Turns out they were supposed to pickle for 4 -6 days, NOT 4-6 WEEKS!  I immediately opened them not caring that it was only 9 in the morning.  

They were so spicy that my lips buzzed for several minutes but it was so worth it!  It's the kind of burn that as soon as it's gone you want more.  I am really glad I accidentally gave it the extra time to absorb the maximum amount of flavor.  

These are incredible on pulled pork sandwiches and bloody marys!

After the pickles are gone you can use the brine to pickle anything you want; sliced carrots & green beans, just make sure it's a hearty vegetable.

Pickles to the people!

Lemon & Blackberry (opposite of trifling) Trifle.

tri·fling  /ˈtrīf(ə)liNG/ 

Adjective: Unimportant or trivial.

Synonyms: trivial - petty - insignificant - piddling - paltry

This trifle is anything but trifling.  It's first to arrive, last to leave, life of the party trifle! It was one of my nearest and dearests' celebration of birth and she deserved something spectacular so I selected a dessert with a touch of elegance to it.  Like most epic events with our group of friends dessert was to follow a huge feast and massive amounts of wine so something light fit the bill. That very morning I had found this sparkling cut crystal salad serving set at Anna's Attic and knew it would be just right.  After a few minutes of soaping and polishing them up they were ready to be filled. It even came with a smaller bowl for extra berries and pretty little serving spoons! Initially I was going to use this incredibly lemony bunt cake I had just made the evening before but everything I read said the Frozen Sarah Lee Pound Cake was the way to go so I quickly ran to the nearest market, thankfully everywhere seems to carry these. Plus I didn't really want to give up that ring of gold glowing on my cake plate.  In hind sight chances are it would've been a soggy mess. I'm probably just telling myself that. You need to let it thaw for a bit, but by the time you've made the pudding and whipped the preserves it should be ready.  Here's what you need Sarah Lee frozen pound cake 2 packets of pudding A tub of cool whip A can of whipped cream Fresh berries A jar of seedless preserves A sprig of mint First cube this lady up into bite sized pieces. Line the bottom of your fancy bowl with the cake cubes and berries allowing room for the pudding and preserves to get through.  You want to make sure each scoop you serve has all the goodies but it doesn't need to be a work of art since it will soon be covered with the next layer. I mixed one packet of lemon pudding  with one packet of vanilla pudding, it was a really nice balance of sweet and tangy. Then spread on a layer of cool whip. Followed by a layer of seedless Blackberry preserves whipped into a sauce. Add more cake, sprinkle in fresh blackberries and just keep repeating the layers until you almost reach the top. Slide it in the fridge to let everything chill and meld together. Before serving you'll want to spruce it up. I topped this one with some whipped cream, berries and a fresh sprig of mint.  Chocolate curls would be nice if you created a chocolate raspberry trifle.  This served a pretty large group of heavily buzzed trifle eaters but I think next time I will make personal trifles with all the lovely, unique glassware I've accumulated over the years. Be fancy and have fun doing it!

Bananarama {Banana Pudding Ice Cream}

My short term goal is to have the ability to come up with the exact right flavor of ice cream to follow any meal and then go toe-to-toe with Barry Shalowitz.  I'm not quite there yet so for now my answer would always be the same...

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

but, I would also always be right.

For those of you robbed of this cinematic experience or are simply too young to remember the epic battle of brains versus buds in 1991's City Slickers I have inserted it below:

Scoopalicious is a great blog for beginners like me who have started to view everything through the eyes of an ice cream addict.  Honestly, on second one or two of visually taking in any ingredient my mind jumps right to "I wonder if I can freeze and churn that?"  SpiceDish is a regular contributor and that is where I found the recipe for this scoopercalifragilisticexpialidocious treat! 

Banana Pudding Ice Cream

Banana Pudding Ice Cream
1 cup whole milk
2 cups half and half
3 large egg yolks
3/4 cups of sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 bananas cut into slices and smashed
1 vanilla bean with seed scraped out
pinch of nutmeg
2 cups crushed vanilla wafers

Place the vanilla bean and seeds into a medium sauce pan. Warm the milk and half and half on medium heat don't let it boil. Beat the yolks with the sugar. Add the yolk mixture to ½ a cup of the cream mixture, then whisk the egg mixture and banana mush into the remaining cream.

Simmer the mixture until it thickens (to the point where it will coat the back of a spoon). Stir in the nutmeg and vanilla. Chill completely then freeze according to your ice-cream maker’s instructions. About five minutes before the ice cream is finished add the crushed wafers.

 

This little treat followed BBQ'd Crab and it was perfect.

Hip To Be Square!

This Saturday I was bumming around my local haunts on a search for vinyl when I came across this!

  

Need I say more?

Hit it Huey!

Sunday morning I burst out of bed, and ran down stairs to boil eggs.  A glimpse into my microwave "reminded" me that my sheep sleep mask was still a skewed on my forehead. {Although an eye mask is not crucial to the success of square egg making, it is quite comforting.}

Step #1

Chill egg cuber.

Step #2

Boil eggs.

A little trick: A wooden spoon prevents overflow.

 

Step #3

Cool eggs in cold water to make them easier to peel.  On the little instruction sheet they showed how you can beautify the top of the egg by decorating the lower plate.  I decided to try shredded cheese and thinly sliced vegetables & herbs (the asparagus tips were too heavy).

 Step #4

Place decorative edibles on bottom plate and spray cuber with non-stick cooking spray.

Step #5

Peel egg and gently drop medium/hard boiled egg into cuber.

 Step #6

Place top plate on egg and screw the lid down tightly.

Step #7

Wait.

 

Let it set a couple minutes (which I didn't have the patience for so they ended up more cubed than squared and my toppings didn't stick very well).

 Step #8

Plate, slice and serve.

I chose my "new" decopage plate I found at the same little shop.

If you are in such a rush to try square eggs that you don't have time to scan the pictures above and read the captions, trust me I understand! 

For you my friend I have attached a one minute square egg clip set to music.

 

  If you are the type of person that needs way more information, possibly even a mini documentary on the process, I've got you covered too.

Here is the link to knowledge via my new favorite site The Green Head 

(Just scroll down a third or so of the way and select the video tab.  I dare you not to mute it!)

Love Potion ~ Chili Infused Dark Chocolate Ice Cream

I'm not gonna sugar coat this, today was a little rough.  The beer promo at the local pizza spot last night is a blur of peanut shells, echos of "Whatcha thinkin' bout?" and a cover band sing-shout-along with the clink of glasses keeping beat.  My face hurts from laughing and my head hurts from everything else.  

...I'm pretty sure we signed up to start our own kick ball team.

[The camera was wisely stashed not too long after this shot!]

Needless to say tonight I was craving something salty, savory, spicy and sweet.  

The menu was decided...

Grilled Salt & Peppered Filet

A Big Red Wine

and Homemade Chocolate Ice Cream

I'm very new to the ice cream making world but I wasn't really up for thumbing through a bunch of recipes so I cut to the chase and googled exactly what I wanted, 
'The best chocolate ice cream ever'.

Immediately this came up...

The Best Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Ever ~ Angie McKaig

Angie, I adore you!

I made a slightly more wicked version... 

nothing goes with a peppery slab of meat and a bold red wine like chili infused dark chocolate.

The result was a chilled chewy chocolate ganache with some heat on the back end.

This love potion prompted me to run around the house cheering and talking nonsense...I may have even hugged myself.  

This is powerful stuff!  The effects take instantly so be aware of your surroundings.
 

Below you will find Angie's angel with a touch of my devil.

The Best Dark Chocolate Ice Cream Ever *

2 cup heavy cream

4 heaping tbsp good cocoa (I use Valhrona)  {I thought I had cooking cocoa but I didn't so I used a little tin of vanilla cocoa I had from the holidays.}

6 1/2 ounces good dark chocolate 62% or more (I use Callebaut chips, but you could use chopped chocolate too)  {2 Lindt Excellence Chili Dark Chocolate Bars}

1 cup milk

5 egg yolks

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 to 1/2 tsp salt  {If you didn't know this already chocolate & sea salt is something of the gods!}

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

There's a lot going on here, it helps have everything out so grab your medium pot, two medium sized glass bowls, measuring cups, plastic wrap, strainer, whisk, spatula and yolk separator.

In a medium pot heat 1 cup of heavy cream with cocoa; whisk well to ensure the cocoa gets integrated properly. When cream is bubbling at the edges, remove from heat and add dark chocolate. Wait 30 seconds then give it a good stir until it's all incorporated.

Add remaining cup of cream to pot, stir to combine, then pour the contents into a medium sized non-metal bowl, scraping out the pot as well as you can, and place a strainer over the bowl.

Place the pot back on the stove, and add the cup of milk, 1/2 cup of sugar and your salt. I prefer more salt (1/2 tsp.) because I think it makes the chocolate taste amazing, but if it's your first go and you are not yet a devotee of salt-to-chocolate ratios, try the 1/4 tsp and then tweak your second batch to taste.

Heat the milk and sugar gently on the stove while you get your egg yolks ready.

Whisk the egg yolks together and then grab the pot from the stove. SLOWLY drizzle warm milk into the egg yolks, whisking the entire time (this is called tempering) until everything's all combined.

Tempering

Then dump the liquid back into the pot. Stir constantly (so you don't cook the eggs) with a wooden or other heat-safe spoon or spatula over medium heat until the eggs thicken a bit, into a custard. You'll know it's done when you can hold up the spoon and run your finger through the egg-milk mixture and the line you drew with your finger stays there. (Like this.) {If you are printing this out LOOK at this link first!  I did not and had to do this step twice when I went too far taking custard to oatmeal!}

If this doesn't look right, it's because it's not...

Do over....

Yolks round two...

Pour custard through the strainer into the bowl.

It takes two...really it does, unless you are a professional juggler.

Now that's more like it!

Add vanilla extract and stir to combine the chocolatey goodness. Place a piece of plastic wrap over the bowl, literally touching the entire surface of the ice cream base. (This means you won't get any nasty "skin" on top of the liquid.)

Refrigerate for at least 6 hours  then prepare according to your ice cream maker's instructions.

Once you've got it into your final container, freeze again for at least 6 hours - trust me this stuff tastes WAY better cold, cold, cold. Remove from the freezer 10-15 minutes before eating so it has time to soften a bit before serving.  {This may surprise some of you but I couldn't wait so it only chilled through dinner and the first ten minutes of Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows, therefore it was more like soft serve ~but who doesn't love soft serve?!  After dodging the spinning arm of my little red iced dream maker with a long spoon a time or TEN, we wiped the chocolate from our faces and cartoned it up.  The rest of the night in the freezer will give it just the right consistency.}

Grrrrooooan, just look at that!

Makes many small servings - like fine truffles, this ice cream works best in small doses. Rich, chocolatey, creamy yummy decadence and if you'll excuse me, I must go get myself another bowl. :)

* chocolate quality matters here. Get the best dark chocolate you can get your hands on and make sure it's something you actually like to eat on its own.

The next morning...

I woke up and jumped on my laptop knowing my first responsibility was to share this average Jane's love potion when I was handed a cup of Starbuck's Sumatra sweetened with Chili Dark Chocolate Ice Cream!  

Trust me, it works...I love everything right now!

This stuff is bananas!

Literally, it's bananas.

I was talking to a young lady in passing a while back and some how we got to talking about sweet treats or bananas or who knows what but she told me about this little trick.

You freeze a banana.

 Throw it in a processor.

And it comes out like banana ice cream.

You want to freeze a slightly browned banana(s) with the peel on.

 

I know it's pretty unappealing but the inside stayed white and I'm not sure it would if you froze a peeled banana.  It was solid as a rock after being in there for a few days.  You can see the frost on it.

You need a sharp knife to cut through the peel.  It breaks off in pieces.

 You want to chop roughly but don't handle it too much, 

it thaws quickly.

 

I assume it would have gotten smoother but I really liked the idea of it being more like Dippin' Dots.

I added a tiny square of dark chocolate.  

This is so healthy that I can't help but think of ways to fatten it up...

white chocolate would create a nice creamy flavor, you could add a splash of vanilla or even a teaspoon of peanut butter. 

 

Dinner and a show

Tuesday was one of those days when I felt particularly lucky to live only minutes from the culturally rich city of San Francisco.  To the rest of the world it was just another Tuesday night but to the sold out crowd at The Fillmore it was Dita Von Teese Tuesday. 

No fog! Summer in the City is a tricky thing.  I find myself
holding my breath through the tunnel, not for nostalgic
reasons but in hopes of sunshine and clear skies.

After stealthily snagging a park we wandered a bit looking for a place where we could unwind from the day and amp up for the night.  SF is covered in intimate little spots that each have a personality all it's own, making it easy just to go whichever way the wind blows and stop where you land.

We came across a queue of ladies waiting outside a restaurant that was just opening it's doors for dinner service.  It's been ridiculously windy lately so we literally stumbled into State Bird Provisions and I couldn't be happier that we did.  A long bar down the front of the open kitchen leads you to a 12ish tabled dining area, we were welcomed by everyone we passed as if we were regulars. The decor of peg boards adorned with string art and a mosh posh of colorful felt shapes is simple and sweet. 

What I love most about this place is their short list of palate pleasing small plates supplemented by carts of unlisted creations that roll by DIM SUM STYLE!  This is right up my alley since my eyes are almost always bigger than my stomach!  Like most, I want to try a bit of everything and State Bird Provisions get it!  The way it works is the back of the menu, which is banded to a woodblock, has a scorecard.  The cost is on the cart and a hash mark is placed beside that price column when an item is eagerly accepted.  It's easy to keep track of where you are at if you are on a budget.


Look at all the glorious dishes that went into our bellies! 

oysters on the halfshell
tuna tartare & quinoa with bonito-rosemary
duck liver mousse with almond biscuit

 guinea hen dumplings with aromatic broth 

 whipped smoked trout with peas & mint
smoked duck fingerling potato salad

kimchi-pork belly with tofu and mussels

CA state bird with provisions {Quail on a bed of tart onions}

cumin lamb with scallions, date & snap peas

chocolate-lemon verbena ‘ice cream” sandwich with roasted coconut & cherries 

We actually passed quite a bit, so as you can see there is a lot to choose from.


This was a date night so I am sorry to say that due to my constant need to photograph everything that makes me want to squeal with delight, painfully delaying that much anticipated first bite, I was politely (but strictly) banned from my phone. Apparently food photo ops aren't fun for everybody. Wanting nothing more than to be present in the moment, I willingly obliged.  

...although she did allow for some leeway as she often does. ;)
 So feast your eyes on this!

A delicious 21st Amendment Extra Pale Ale 'Bitter American'

kimchi-pork belly with tofu and mussels

 It was so hard to just choose one dessert but when lemon and chocolate are listed everything else becomes a blur of letters and numbers.

chocolate-lemon verbena ‘ice cream” sandwich

 

 

 

The rest of the evening went undocumented for previously stated reasons but click below for a taste.  

Dita Von Teese Burlesque: Strip Strip Hooray! Tour 2012 Promo

 

There are some truly stunning and steamy video clips of her shows on youtube.  

If you have a chance to see her live show take it.  Not 5 minutes in the door I wished I had bought tickets for both nights.  She sold out her two San Francisco shows faster than any other on her tour which shows how much we adore our 'Queen of Burlesque' on the Left Coast. The tweets from Dita and her camp that followed showed mutual admiration.  She is one classy lady.

There were all states of dress from men in sequin bunny suits and 3 foot purple mohawks to smart 3 piece suits with bowler caps and waxed mustaches. Classical evening gowns filled the balconies accessorized with fur wraps, long gloves, strings of pearls, topped with feathered & laced hats. Lovely ladies in classic pinup style fruit printed summer dresses with bright red lipstick and lined stockings leaned up against the bar.  And it wouldn't be a burlesque show without plenty of lingerie, some worn more conservatively than others, but all added to the energy of the evening.  My shimmery corset under a blazer with wedges and skinny jeans fit the scene perfectly.


Dita Performed with jaw dropping acts such as Dirty Martini, Catherine D'Lish, Selene Luna, Lada, Monsieur Romeo, and Perle Noire.  There was something for everybody...it was magnificent!


The Fillmore hands out posters of the event as they bid you goodnight, leaving you with a memento of your experience.  If you are lucky visions will be burned into your memory.

I am madly in love with my Dita Von Teese Fillmore poster!