Purple Haze!!! - Amethyst August

This month’s meal was a purple haze… As with “June's Jungle Green”, “Amethyst August” offered an endless range of culinary possibilities. There are lots of lavender foods, from everyday fruits like grapes and plums to seasonal vegetables like purple asparagus or cauliflower. Instead of exploring the options with another potluck, I decided to give this month a theme beyond its  “Amethyst August” label. With hearty red cabbage and red wine on the mind, a German meal quickly became the obvious choice. 

Appetizer: Rye crostini with herbed cheese and purple heirloom tomatoes

1st Course: German potato pancakes (Kartoffelpuffer) made from purple potatoes and served with a chipotle mayo. Our dinner party devoured these crispy cakes like a hoard of purple people eaters. I served them alongside a red (purple) leaf salad with apples, oranges, walnuts, and a citrus vinaigrette.

2^nd Course: Venison sauerbraten with braised red cabbage. This hearty roast was soaked in a wine-vinegar marinade for 3 whole days, transforming the “already-plum-tinged” roast to a vibrant violet! In keeping with both the “german” and “amethyst” themes, the sauerbraten was served alongside red cabbage braised with bacon and apples.

Dessert: Homemade blueberry pie with vanilla ice cream. Need I say more…

Lastly - since my "German" theme didn't allow me to highlight the full potential of purple produce, I couldn't resist arranging the following centerpiece. 

In September, I promise a sinful array of scarlet foods. Until then, enjoy the end of your summer!!!

Back in Black for a Jet Black July!

It's July and I'm back in black! Jet black that is! Listen to this rockin' "black" playlist while perusing this month's update.

Despite my initial brain block, a brief search on google revealed a surprising number of black colored foods. From juicy fruits like blackberries and black figs, to exotic novelties like black garlic or even...this crazy black chicken!

http://julesfood.blogspot.com/2010/09/silky-chicken-or-black-chicken.html 

 http://julesfood.blogspot.com/2010/09/silky-chicken-or-black-chicken.html 

http://www.bravotv.com/top-chef/season-9/photos/rate-the-plate/fit-for-a-queen-or-just-plain-mean#image-111466

I tried to track down a black chicken. Really. I would’ve given it a try! It looked delish on Top Chef! But – God help me – I couldn’t even find one online. So, I took inspiration elsewhere. Like the sheen of a nori wrap and the shimmer of Tamari soy sauce. In the end, I ended up with a succulent, Asian-themed meal.

But first!! We started off with this surprise cocktail!

Black Sangria courtesy of my wonderful mother-in-law. She took the initiative to find a drink we could enjoy while cooking up the following Asian-themed smorgasbord.

Black Gulaman - a Filipino beverage containing Black Grass Jelly and a simple syrup.

Homemade California Rolls! My first go at making sushi, which was a super fun project shared with my brother-in-law and brand new sister-in-law (they’re still twitterpated newlyweds). Since the theme was “Jet Black”, we switched up the recipe and left the black nori on the outside of the roll. As much fun as they were to prepare, they were even better to eat!

Asian Styled Black Bean Soup – the picture does not do this justice. It was DELICIOUS! Especially with the addition of fresh ginger. I did not bother to puree it as the texture was already fab!

Black Sesame Crusted Salmon with Vegetable Stir Fry in a Spicy Orange Sauce.

Coconut and Cardamon flavored Black Sticky Rice with Grilled Pineapple. “Black Rice is also known as “forbidden rice”, and as the name might imply, consuming it without approval from the proper authorities [once had] life threatening consequences for those involved” (Quote from: http://www.blackrice.com/articles/1/)

In closing - I apologize that the images are so dark. It's the nature of trying to photograph primarily black colored foods.  Camera work aside, this meal was a joy to make and eat. With inspiration from both black colors and Asian flavors, it was also one of the more "cohesive" meals since starting this little experiment. Are my culinary skills actually improving through this crazy project? lol

See you next month!

A Jungle Green Potluck!

June is the start of summer. Which means, Saturday mornings strolling the farmer's market for fresh produce! As usual, the market has been full of beautiful, green veggies: leafy kale, snappy peas, sweet peppers, and crispy cucumbers. They all got me thinking about my meal for June (Jungle Green). Unlike what has happened with my more "exotic" color themes, there were SOOoo many green options that I couldn’t decide what to make. There’s everything from spinach dip to pesto pastas! Chicken marsala to mint macaroons! I wanted it all! So I decided to host a GREEN POTLUCK PARTY!


A few friends ended up canceling last minute and I ran out of time to make one planned dish. So the meal was missing some the "main dishes" we had planned. Namely - latino made enchiladas verdes and guacamole, as well as my version of mean green pizza! Those issues aside, we still had PLENTY of food. The scrumptious spread included:

Green punch

Green eggs and ham (spinach deviled eggs with cheddar and bacon)

Green fruit salad (kiwi, starfruit, green apple, green grapes, and avocado with a lime/mint syrup)

Pistachio fluff salad

7 layer salad

Green tea kimbap (Korean sushi rolls)

Broccoli salad

Diced honeydew

And now....the full spread together :)

As this was a potluck, I did not personally prepare all the food. So I apologize there are not the usual "recipe links" for the featured dishes. If something looks interesting, you can comment and I'll come up with a recipe for you. 


While we have "green on the mind". Also check out the the following: 
1. My favorite green song :) Love you, Kermit!
2. The following "green" haiku

A SaGE Haiku

Cannot stand alone

Must unite blue and yellow

Portrays hope and growth     

By Miriam Lind (Embracing Optimism)

May = Marvelous Magenta and Pretty Pink!

Well…it’s happened. I’ve actually put my money where my mouth is. As promised for my "May Magenta month", I’ve tracked down an elusive - DRAGONFRUIT.

Since I knew I’d have trouble locating this treat in Eastern Iowa, I started hunting during a recent vacation in Philalephia. While perusing the windows in Chinatown, I was hit with a pungent smell of mingled spices and fish brine. It could only be – an Asian market. I walked inside with fingers crossed. Sure enough, cradled in a brown box on the floor just to right of the front door…I saw…this…

My jaw dropped! Leave it those “Philly foodies” to share their brotherly love! I picked out two fruits and went to pay. “Do you know if these are red or white dragonfruits?” My heart skipped before the clerk had even finished the word: “Red”. Proceed with singing, happy dance, and other forms of a Miriam WIG OUT! Here’s what the beautiful fruit looked like when cut. 

So what did I do with this long awaited delicacy? Check out my full May Magenta menu below.

Raspberry cocktail with raspberry puree, limocello, whiskey, and mint

Pickled “pink” eggs, beets, and onions

 Spring greens with red onion, radish, raspberries, crumbled queso, and a blush wine vinaigrette

 Summery beet borscht 

Seared tuna with a watermelon-radish slaw [note – I forgot to add cheese for this pic but it was a fabulous additional when actually eaten! I used crumbled queso rather than the recommended feta. I also left out the black beans to stick with my “pink” theme]

And last…but not least! Dragonfruit lychee sorbet with a cashew crumble and fresh mint

In keeping with tradition, I also browsed google for music featuring magenta and other forms of pink. To my great delight, there is an abundance of related material out there! Everthing from the psychedelic  hits of Pink Floyd to the crisp guitar and vocals of a progressive Welsh band name “Magenta”. But I’ll leave you with my top pick: “Pink” by Aerosmith.

Happy eating and see you in June!

Quarterly Review: Ash April Lesson Learned

There’s a fine line between creative and crazy.

This rainbow food movement has been my baby for 4 months. Like many new mothers, I embarked on this journey quite unprepared. I am not a trained chef. I am not an experienced baker. I wouldn’t even claim to be an especially good cook. I am, however, in love with food.

The sizzle of searing steak.

The aroma of baking bread.

The crunch of crisp caramel.

The taste of pumpkin pie.

Food is one of the most satisfying sensory experiences known to man. This fascination is what first sparked my idea for a color-themed food blog. But take heed. When relationships are rooted in infatuation, logic and reason are not considered. The thought of a color-themed culinary project was so enthralling that I never stopped to consider the feasibility (or basic appeal) of certain color schemes. Colors like…..grey.

Ash April…it even sounds sad. I wouldn’t call the month’s meal a colossal fail. It’s just terribly unappealing to eat plates of all grey food. Especially when you live in landlocked Iowa and don't have access to the best grey foods - oysters, sardines, tuna, or any other fresh seafood! What’s ironic is that my food flavors were actually quite delicious! Especially the earl-grey chocolate cake! But for a project like this that’s literally based on the notion of “eating with your eyes first”, grey is anticlimactic. 

Here’s what the meal involved:

Crispy Lavash Cracker Bread with a Black Fig, Black Olive, and Goat Cheese Tapenade (Note - I used pine nuts rather than the listed walnuts). 

Roasted Lentil and Eggplant Soup with crispy sage and sour cream.

Grilled Whole Trout with lemon and herbs (fresh caught that morning by my beloved husband!)

Squid Ink Pasta with shrimp and cream sauce. Squid ink is a very popular ingredient in Mediterranean cuisine (especially Spain and Italy). I'll never forget tasting it for the first time at a local restaurant in the Cinque Terre. The briny tang felt like a whiff of fresh sea - salty and complex but still mild and delicious. The link above is very close to what I ended up making for my grey month; though I was forced to use shrimp since I do not have access to quality scallops, crab, or other fresh seafood. Below are pictures of the pasta being made, as well as the finished product.

Earl Grey Chocolate Cake with "Grey" Cream Cheese Frosting.

In addition to this grey-themed meal, I did find one new culinary delight this month. Black Sesame Gelato! I stumbled across this amazing creation after attending Easter service at the National Cathedral in Washington DC (http://dolcezzagelato.com/). My friends and I were window shopping after the memorable service when we spotted the alluring store front: "Churros, Coffee, Gelato..."! The ads had us drooling so pathetically that the gracious shop attendant opened more than a half an hour early just to serve us. Since we were then the only people buying gelato at 10:30 am on Easter Sunday, we had the shop to ourselves and were able to taste a variety of gelatos. With "grey" on my mind, I couldn't resist trying the black sesame gelato. The toasted flavor sang through, creating a smokey finish that was distinctly "sesame seed" while still reminiscent of creamy peanut butter cups.

Before closing, let me share a final "grey" though. Below is a poem I wrote last year. It's an ironic parallel to this month's meal: interesting and thought-provoking, but still melancholy. For a multisensory experience, read the poem while listening to Counting Crows, "Colorblind" and Dave Matthews', "Grey Streets".  

RIDING THE LINE

I live in the grey zone

Always somewhere between black and white

Dwelling in a world of “maybe”

Never steering too near the box

Avoiding labels like

         Close-minded, Intolerant, Arrogant

Grey used to feel ideal

Like assuming a chameleon’s coat

Acknowledging all arguments

Considering every angel

Striving to always be

         Perceptive, Unpretentious, Respectful

But shifting gets shifty

Neutral hues neither shimmer nor shine

Unlike it’s silver stepsister

Grey reflects very little light

Captures little sunshine

         Colorless, Discouraging, Ominous

So should I linger here?

Riding the peaks between black and white?

In this wave of ambivalence

I fear a foreboding flat-line

Life with no legacy

         Ambiguous, Anonymous, Aged

By Miriam Lind (Discerning My Destiny)

P.S. If you liked this poem, check out the one I recently added to my "Mocha Madness" post!

March = Mocha Madness!

This month’s food was “Bad Bad (Leroy) Brown!!"

You may be confused by this intro. “Wasn’t March supposed to be ‘Magenta’?” Well – yes. Originally, this month was supposed to be a vibrant display of all pink foods. But in researching this fun food color, I got my heart set on an exotic beauty - a tropic delicacy called dragonfruit. 

© Ian Maguire UF/IFAS/TREC

http://trec.ifas.ufl.edu/tfphotos/012304.htm

I searched countless stores this month in hopes of finding this elusive delight. Knowing it's popularity across Eastern Asia, I even stopped at three markets in Chicago's Chinatown. No dragonfruits were available. Such a disappointment. But when I set my sights on something, there's no looking back! I will not give up hope! Sometime this year, I will find and try this intriguing fruit. 

In the meantime, I decided to swap my "Magenta - March" and "Mocha - May" themes. So March ended up being focused on a variety of rich, brown foods. 

Here’s what the meal involved:

Cocktails: Choice between a variety of Nick's home brews or a homemade root beer! The picture highlight's one of Nick's more recent beers - a dopplebock. 

  
Bread: Spent grain bread using the leftovers from Nick's latest brew batch!

Appetizer: Wild rice pilaf with wilted spinach. Note - I made this more in the style of a rice stuffing by removing the currants and adding bacon, celery, and crisp apples. 

Entrée: French style pot roast with homemade wheat noodles.

Dessert: Triple chocolate mousse cake.

After Dinner Drinks: Nutty irishman (Toasting  KU's Men's Basketball team!! While we may not have won the nationals, we had a great showing across the season! Rock Chalk! Go Jayhawks!)

So, while I switched from Magenta to Mocha a bit last minute, I can honestly say that Bad Bad Brown turned out So So Good!

Before closing  - let me share one of my all time favorite poems. It's an appropriately themed composition by my high-school friend, Jennifer Bulmash.

brown

when you are a kindergartenbaby,

happy-eyed and

your marker-free fingers are still smelling of dish soap and

there are bubbles in the in-betweens of your hands

from being washed and

they ask

what is your favorite color?

you do not take lightly such a question. 

you ponder over your crayons

like you are picking the color your skin will be

from this moment on.  and when you emerge with

purple [like cake icing and sweet] they smile at your choice but

ask why not blue or green or brown? and

it takes some thought to decide why

blue or

green are

not your favorites but you can

answer right away about brown, because

no one picks brown. it does not

fly or twist or grow or sing

but

there are days, like these,

when I think –

if I had

kindergarten to do all over again, I would

stop when I reached brown,

amidst the greenandblueandpurple, and

I would secretly smile.  I think I would know about the way

brown eyes are different from brown crayons, and

such dizzying brown eyes [like yours]

make a girl feel

the need for reevaluation of

her favorite color.  because

oh,

how brown

            is,

                        allofasudden, ly

                                    breathtaking.

Next month is going to be a challenge! My "Ash" or "Grey" meal!! Stay tuned for something....interesting :)

White Night! (February - Floral White)

True to form, I waited until the last weekend of February to prepare this month’s meal. I didn’t use to be this big of a procrastinator! Honest! J

So…February was WHITE NIGHT! Although not exactly a bright flash of color, white was a delicious theme. In literature and advertising, it often symbolizes innocence and perfection. When it came to this month’s food, white was a guilty pleasure! A high-cal, flavor-full smorgasbord! I was careful to include some vegetables, but honestly, that took some creativity. Plus, the meal would have been just as delicious without them. Here’s what was involved.

Appetizer: Charcuterie plate featuring 4 cheeses, 2 meats, and baby dill pickles (all available online through Zingermans!) Cheeses were: 1. Antique Gruyère, 2. Comté, from Fort St. Antoine, 3. Bridgewater (a soft “pepper” cheese), and 4. Raw Milk Stichelton. Meats were: 1. Crespone Salami and 2. La Quercia prosciutto

Pasta: Homemade Gnocchi with a gorgonzola cream sauce. I actually used recipes from www.cooksillustrated.com but that site is only available through a subscription. The above recipes seem like great alternatives.

Entrée: Roast chicken with a fresh white salad. Again, I used www.cooksillustrated.com for the chicken but you can search online for a recipe you like. The white salad was adapted from this: http://www.everydayhealth.com/health-recipe/red--white-salad.aspx. My version included white cabbage, celery, fennel, peeled radish, and peeled apple with a mustard vinaigrette.

Dessert: Pavlova! This Australian favorite is essentially a meringue cake. I topped mine with lemon flavored whipped cream, strawberry-rhubarb compote, and fresh kiwi!

Drinks: Nick’s homemade Riesling paired nicely throughout dinner. We capped off the evening with a round of “White Russians”.

Now before I let you go…I’ve gotten quite a few comments from friends about how fun but silly this little food experiment is. Touché. Truth is…I’m just a grown up geek... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9qYF9DZPdw

Please tell your food (or music) lovin’ friends about this little project! I’d love to have a few more followers!

See you in March!

P.S. After posting this, I remembered an old poem I wrote ... Ironically, it's both "white" and "dinner" themed : )

A Napkin’s Niche

1

A white dove

Gracefully floating in the air

As the careless litter bug zooms past

2

A quick kleenex

For the runny noses of small children

Too excited about their deformed snowman

To run for the fancy Puffs

3

Laying next to the bloodstained soldiers

The only survivor after Sloppy Joe’s War

Trusty sword by his side

4

Last minute love messages

Scribbled by the hand of a teenage boy

Too shy to express his love in person

5

Best friend to the vain school girl

Praying the boys won’t see

She’s only a size A