In the Kitchen: Stock & Soup

I made my own vegetable stock today, something I've always meant to do but never bothered...It was remarkably easy. I forgot that since you're not eating the veggies and herbs in there, they can be roughly chopped and all that. Totally casual, stock. I used leeks, carrots, celery and some celery root and thyme. I wanted to use fresh thyme, but I couldn't find it at the farmer's market yesterday, so I just used some dried thyme that I had.
After simmering it all for about three hours, I strained it and put most of the stock into the freezer for future use. I also reserved some for the roasted cauliflower soup that I made.

The cauliflower soup was easy too. I just chopped the cauliflower up and cooked it for about 10 minutes with butter, onion and one leek. When it was starting to get soft, I added in two cups of milk and two cups of my homemade veggie stock. I also added in some spices: ground coriander, nutmeg (a tiny bit goes a long way), a hint of curry, paprika and turmeric, and some sea salt and ground pepper.

When it had simmered for about 30 minutes, I pureed it in the blender in batches. I also toasted some slivered almonds to use as a garnish for when I serve the soup tonight. I had a spoonful and it was delicious! Can't wait to eat more!!

In the Kitchen: Apple & Plum Pie

So, as I mentioned, I've never baked before. But I absolutely *love* the Smitten Kitchen blog, and I read it every week. This pie recipe was featured on the blog last week, and I just decided to make it since I had all the apples and it was easy to pick up late-season plums at the farmer's market yesterday.
I diligently followed all the directions...and it came out looking very similar to the one on Smitten Kitchen! I am so excited. I'm waiting a couple of hours to eat it with Idriss, but I can't wait. Hopefully this is the first baking venture of many!

I'm not going to list out all the steps - I just wanted to show you how it looked at each stage. Go to Smitten Kitchen for the recipe.

Sunday in the Kitchen

Not sure why, but I was struck by an urge to cook all afternoon today. My husband can tell you that this feeling is not only rare, but it might actually be the first time I've done it in my life. We made out like bandits at the farmer's market yesterday, and I don't know, inspiration just struck me.

I wanted to make stock to use in soups, since I don't like the pre-made ones and soups taste so much better with good stock. I wanted to make a good soup. And, I wanted to make a pie. I've never made a pie before. In fact, I'm terrible at baking, and although we own a cute yellow Kitchenaid, I've never actually used it until today.

I'm going to post each cooking project separately. Yay cooking! Stock is in the freezer as I type :)

East Bay Explorer: Lakes

Yesterday Idriss and I meandered up to Lake Temescal for the first time. It's a small lake in the middle of the Oakland Hills, well, almost at the top of the hills.


It doesn't take long to stroll around it and take in the scenery, and it's super close to us. Two big pluses. The minus: the nearby freeway noise echos through the valley, which you can't see in these pictures but was a little annoying to me.

This morning, I took a walk at Lake Merritt, which is almost in downtown Oakland.


It's a more urban setting, but it's about 4 miles around, making for great exercise. I saw a really cool heron there, too. I think I will start running here. What else? Other East Bay park recommendations?

Vintage Yellow Tile

We have lovely, original pale yellow tiles in our bathroom. It's a small room but it has a big window and what it lacks in modern conveniences, it makes up for in charm. I got the shower curtain on clearance at Anthropologie and the little black wire baskets for just a few dollars each at Ikea. They were perfect because there is no room for storage on the floor, so they hold some essentials that didn't fit in the medicine cabinet. Sometimes the cheapest and simplest solutions really are the best!

Vignettes

My apartment really still needs a lot of work. I've had a busy summer and haven't spent too much time on it, but here are a couple little vignettes I have together so far.

Saturday Snapshots

Sweet little hedgehog etching came as a surprise wedding gift from my dear old friend Stacy and her family. Farmer's market flowers from Idriss. Bartleby lapping up the sun. Lovey (and lovely) card I gave to Idriss a while back.

Feeling Happy-Go-Lucky

The tail end of dusk. The air is heavy with the heat of Indian summer and the scent of overripe jasmine. Crickets. I wouldn't want to change this moment for any other.

Scenes from a Civilized Existence

Or so it seems...it's been almost two months since the move and it still feels like everything isn't quite settled. Despite my unsettled impressions, I found some evidence of settled-ness on my camera. From the top: afternoon tea break with my husband one weekend, some roses from Whole Foods and some ripe, delicious figs. (Figs are in the farmer's markets right now. Get some!)

Feeling Happy-Go-Lucky

I went running tonight which means I've stuck to my new exercise program for a week. What is this challenging program, you ask? Oh, well, it's quite simple: if I didn't exercise yesterday, I need to exercise today. And it's been great to get back into this routine after the madness of my summer and moving and all that. It helps that it is mild and not windy over here...I don't have the same excuses I did in San Francisco. I'm feeling better every time I run. Yay!

East Bay Explorer: Berkeley Hill

We took a 2.5 hour walk up in the Berkeley Hills this weekend. The area is famous for its distinctive architecture - many classic Northern Californian architects built here in early in the 1900s. It is such an incredibly lush and beautiful neighborhood to explore in - giant hills, incredible vistas and houses, old trees and small parks dotting many of the blocks. Just a relaxing, lovely place. Have I mentioned I love living in the East Bay? The whole time I was peering into these gorgeous houses and Idriss kept running away - he was terrified I would be spotted. Speaking of, can you believe the little work-shed, above? I want one!

Do you have any favorite East Bay walks you'd like to recommend? Please do!

P.S. Alice Waters lives up here - right near Indian Rock Park - anyone know where?

East Bay Explorer: Jack London Square

I think I mentioned I moved to Oakland, right? Well, for those of you not in Northern California, Oakland is in the East Bay (in relation to San Francisco) along with Berkeley. After almost 8 years in SF, it's been super exciting to start to really explore a new city, and I am just loving it. So I'll have "East Bay Explorer" columns quite a bit, I hope, as we get to know Oakland better.

Jack London Square is on the water (SF Bay) and it's an old industrial area that has been somewhat revitalized with new restaurants and such. Blue Bottle Coffee has their roastery here and I've already been several times. There are all sorts of industrial kitchens (Miette) and old food stalls that I believe are still in use. I snapped these pictures of the neighborhood when a storm was coming on (in September??? WHAT???) so you can see the fog we deal with in these parts.