.the gpb kids.

I’m really enjoying all the fresh asparagus that’s been coming in our CSA boxes. Quickly sauteed with salt and pepper + a soft egg and melted cheddar on toasted sourdough.

Copied from Mike’s post at ThisMoment:

On Saturday Jules and I wanted to go on a hike so we drove north in search of a trailhead. We passed by one little lake that only had some fishermen and no signs of trails. Even though I thought Lake Berryessa would have more boat-happy people, we made our way over there.

As it turns out, we were the only ones in the parking lot. In fact, when we got there we didn’t see anyone on the lake at all. No boats, no people. So we decided to walk along the edge of the lake for a while. The water level looked low, but with the recent rains, some of the plants that had started to grow near the water line had become submerged. You can’t really tell from my photo, but there were bubbles forming on the leaves of the plants. Oxygen creation in action?

We continued to hike around and watch the water fowl. Eventually we made our way to a small hilltop overlooking the lake and I gave Jules her birthday present: a small blue bag from Tiffany & Co. I let her unwrap it until she got to the ring case and I promptly snatched it back. I sheepishly got on one knee, opened the ring case and blurted out “willyoumarryme?” at such a rate that Jules didn’t even hear what I said. But she assumed correctly and said yes. At that point I looked at the ring case and noticed I was holding it upside down. Why would the bigger half be on top? That doesn’t make any sense.

After she said yes I proceeded to try and put the ring on her finger. Failure! The ring was too small. So we had to pack it up for later.

After a little while we decided to leave the lake and check out a dam that we saw on the map. The dam itself ended up being fenced off but we got a pretty good view from the parking area. Apparently it has one of the largest spillways of any dam. They actually referred to it on the sign as the “glory hole.” Perhaps they didn’t know?

After the dam we returned back to Yountville to prepare for dinner at Ad Hoc!

This week, I got it in my head that I wanted to make cheesecake. I didn’t remember what recipe I used before, but this time, I followed Alton Brown’s Sour Cream Cheesecake recipe . The recipe calls for the use of a 9 inch cake pan. I had 4-4.5 inch springform pans. So what was I to do? Not only was I trying a new recipe, I was also attempting to modify it! And I don’t own an electric mixer. But chopsticks and spatulas have not failed me yet, so I was good to go.

While I stayed fairly true to ingredient amounts, I modified the oven time to account for my individual pans and reviewer comments on how the bake times were too short. I paced about nervously like a soccer mom with too much caffeine. I would turn on the oven lights every ten minutes or so, and violently shake the oven so I could see how much the cheesecake jiggled- much like what people do to the vending machines that refuse to relinquish their product. And the verdict always was: Still jiggly! Curses!

Back to more pacing for ten minutes before I would check again. Mike thought I was a bit loopy. The cheesecake was still very jiggly after 1.5 hours. I gave up and found that it set nicely after I turned off the oven. Whew. The end result turned out quite well.

AB Cheesecake Recipe, modified to produce four smaller cheesecakes:

Crust:
* 1 sleeve plus a few Honeymaid graham crackers
* 3/4 unsalted butter (3 oz) plus a lil
* 1 tablespoon sugar

Filling:
* 20 ounces cream cheese
* 1 1/4 cups sour cream
* 1 cup sugar
* 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
* 2 eggs
* 3 yolks
* 1/3 cup heavy cream

Directions

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. Line individual pans with foil, and brush with butter. Fill two large pyrex pans with hot hot water (boiling would be better, but I just turned the tap to the hottest possible setting because I’m lazy) and place in oven to preheat.

Combine crumbled graham crackers, melted butter, and 1 tablespoon of sugar. Press mixture into the bottom of each pan. Place remaining crumbs on foil and bake both the crust and the remaining mixture for 10 minutes. Cool. Reserve additional crumb mixture for sides.

Beat sour cream for 10 seconds. Add the cream cheese and cup of sugar and mix for 30 seconds or so. More if you have lumps.

In a separate container, combine vanilla, eggs/yolks and heavy cream in a small bowl. Slowly pour this mixture into the cream cheese mixture while stirring with a spatula. Once completely combined, pour into cooled crusts.

Lower oven temperature to 275 degrees F. Place cheesecakes into the preheated water baths in the oven for 1.5 hours. Open the oven door for a little bit (10 seconds). Turn the oven off, close door and leave cheesecake to set for one more hour. Remove the cheesecake from the water bath and place in the refrigerator to completely cool. ( I admit that Mike and I ate one right away. It was 11pm, and we wanted cheesecake! )

When ready to serve, take the remaining graham cracker mixture and press into the sides of the cake.

The snack (well, mini lunch, really) that I tend to make most often involves slices of bread, fruit, and cheese. While the cheese and fruit are highly variable, the bread is not substitutable. Whole Grains Bakery makes a dark russian rye bread that is full of pumpernickel and just the right amount of caraway seed. This bread toasts nicely, and each bite is earthy and flavorful. MmMMMmmm… pumpernickel…

and now it is all in my belly. Mwahahah… okay, mike had some too.. that thief…

I’ve been slacking on improving my chinese, but I’m determined to get back to that. Today, mike showed me that my macbook had a built in ability to type chinese. Woot. I’ll have to show it to my parents. In the mean time, I used my trusty resources to piece together what Mike’s name means. I used it to figure out the cantonese pronunciation as well, since he always pronounces it in mandarin. Cuz I’m biased like that. I’m pretty happy that I finally got around to figuring out how to pronounce his name though… hehe.. now I can use his chinese name when I’m mad. Right? Right?

The characters in parantheses signify verb, adjective and noun forms, respectively. Cantonese pronunciation is bracketed; mandarin pronunciation is not.  So Mike is a vibrating honor filled person? Or maybe he restores honor and glory? Hmmm.. what a bright and shiny name.

I’ve had mortars and pestles (m&p) on the brain lately. Probably because I’ve been using them in lab lately. So Coors (yes, the beer company) also makes great ceramic products for laboratory use. The only types of m&p that I’ve used in both academic and industrial laboratory settings have been Coors ceramic mortars. I settled on a marble one for my kitchen years ago because it’s not readily available at your local kitchen store. At least not the one that I wanted. While m&p come in wood, stone, marble, and steel flavors as well, I feel that the ceramic non porous finish is best. It’s durable, non reactive, nonporous (aka stain resistant), and easily sterilizible. I’ve been making do with a marble one these past few years, but soon! I found the 275 ml size that I want being offered on Amazon. Sometimes I feel like they sell everything. Yay Amazon.

Oh, and what do I use it for? Mainly to crush pistachios to mix in with my vanilla ice cream. I guess I crush spices occasionally too. But mainly pistachios. It’s the best way to eat vanilla ice cream. Heavy on the pistachios please. Pre-m&p days, I would smash my pistachios on a cutting board with a hammer. Not so good for the neighbors, and with occasionally explosive results.

courtesy of Sigma Aldrich

Well, at least it’s easier cooking without any meat. Mmmm pancakes.

So mike has too much time on his hands, and wants to see if he can be a “vegetarian”. Who eats eggs. And dairy. And all seafood (do duck legs count as seafood? They do spend some time in the water, after all… just kidding. Really). Behehhe… And recently, he said that this challenge was just too easy. I mean, it’s soooo easy being a vegetarian. Who also eats eggs. And dairy. And seafood. So I think maybe he should try being an actual vegetarian, and see how hard that is ~_^ Yeah? Yeah?

Okay, so Lindsay pointed out that I’m really a pescetarian because I eat seafood. I wonder if there are any pescetarians out there who believe killing land animals is worse than killing water animals. Hmmm… Okay, on to today’s meals.

Breakfast
“Everything” bagel with cream cheese. Toasted, of course.

Lunch
A “veggie deluxe” Mediterranean wrap of some kind. Had eggplant and spinach in it and it was spicy. My brother ordered the lamb and beef one but ended up with some kind of mysterious spongy meat that could not be identified.

Dinner
When Jules is away, Mike is lazy. So I had another bagel with cream cheese while I watched Kingdom of Heaven. I also ate ~5 more raisin oatmeal cookies with milk. So good.

Posting a little late this time. Yesterday was the first time I had to pick meat out of my meal. We went to Westfield for lunch and I went straight to Coriandor, a Thai food place. I was looking for red pumpkin curry but was only greeted with red, yellow and green chicken curry. Big disappointment. Also, what is with food joints not stringing snap peas??

Had sushi for dinner with Jules, Zach and pops. Not much to say there. Fishes are yummy.