What's in a loaf?

Because baking is a science and science is not my forte, I always follow the directions. I know nothing about baking except sometimes it turns out and sometimes it doesn't. It never turns out when it's too cold in the house, or the water for the yeast too tepid. Nothing can be "almost" or "too" in baking, it's a science goshdarnit-- precise, logical, tried, tested, and true!

I learned this about two years ago when I returned to Los Angeles after a six-month stay in Taiwan, and decided that I couldn't live the same lifestyle I lived before. I wanted to start making everything myself. I wanted to be more aware of where things came from and what impact I was making on the environment, my body, and the people around me. I hung dry my clothes. I had great plans to make shampoo, candles, and bar soap. I discovered the joy of physical activity, connected to my need to be in nature, began noticing (and disliking) the noise of cars. Somewhere in this, it also meant I would have to learn to bake my own bread.

What I learned was an appreciation for fresh-baked breads, since I also learned baking was hard for me. It felt like once you measured, mixed, kneaded, waited, and baked, there was no turning back. At least with cooking you can add extra salt if too bland, cilantro or basil if too dull, or even scramble an egg and transform any unappetizing leftover into a hearty breakfast.

Two years later in NYC with no bar soap of my own creating, all I really know is when I feel the desire to bake, change is a'comin! And as the first day of autumn quickly approaches, I present my first bread of the season.

THIS IS whole wheat banana walnut coconut and carob bread, sugar-free. Sweetened with honey, enjoyed by my honey.

Look.

Look. My week in eats, all homemade. Some by me, some not (and made by Vinh).

THIS IS: 1) Lunch for one: Bok choi, tofu, julienned carrots, green onions and fresh cilantro cooked with quinoa cooked in homemade fish stock. 2) Vinh's Monday morning breakfast: Julienned carrots, green peppers, green beans, and jalapeno peppers; and red cabbage slaw with pepitos, garlic, green onions in sesame-soy sauce dressing. 3) 4PM Snack: Baguette; sliced heirloom tomatoes topped with cut basil and garlic in olive oil and balsamic vinegar; served with culatello biellese from Bedford Cheese Shop.

BFF, Breakfast Friends Forever

Breakfast for breakfast, breakfast for lunch, or breakfast for dinner, you are my best friend and my favorite meal.

Not only because I love any excuse to eat an egg, I think breakfast is the most well-rounded of all the meals. Let me count the ways.

1. Nutritionally, it's the most important. Without the Big B, what's going to provide you with energy for the rest of your long, arduous day?

2. Practically, it's my favorite meal to cook. It's easy. It simple. It never tastes bad.

3. Socially, it's a privilege to eat this meal with friends, family, or lover. Most of us are usually in a rush in the mornings, so to sit down and share this meal means two joyful things: 1) that you aren't late; and 2) that you aren't alone. It allows friends to reconvene hungover and post-partying, potential lovers to solidify the prior night fling, and families to act healthy and wholesome. Win, Win, and Win!

4. Emotionally, it is my comfort food. Some of my fondest memories of the short year and a half my mother, sister and I lived in New Jersey include the egg and cheese omelette my mom made for us every single morning. Breakfast = safety.

5. Morally, it teaches the virtue of patience. When else in the restaurant world do people willing oblige to hour long waits with such grace and good esteem?

6. Intellectually, it is the time I both ponder and answer all of life's burning questions. Like the chicken or the egg. This one is always easy over breakfast. (or should I say, over easy...)


THIS IS toasted Old Poland Bakery baguette; Garden of Eve eggs with chopped basil; thinly sliced red onions, heirloom tomatoes, and jalapeno peppers; and sliced apple. Just a lil Saturday afternoon brunch for zo + nance.

Simple & Satisfying

It's been a while since I've enjoyed cooking for myself. Up until the past few days, my home-cooked meals had been rather disappointing. But I guess that is the cycle of all things; without having the occasional lull, it would be difficult to appreciate the fun, the tasty, the juicy, the sweet, the luxurious, the comfortable, the simple. As I did Thursday lunch.

Sometimes I walk into the kitchen with total confidence and no agenda. My mind is clear and my stomach is patient. It's times like these that the only task is to create something sustaining and satisfying, if not the usual quick and easy.

I started with some rice that I had presoaked, something I do if I am thinking ahead and making whole grains. Over the past couple of years I've started to experiment with different grain mixes. Most recently I've been making short sweet brown rice, wild rice, and quinoa cooked with seaweed. For a while I added green lentils. Then I tried nuts, as inspired by Afghan and Indian cooking - cashews, pistachios, or walnuts, sometimes even pepitos and sunflower seeds.

THIS IS tuscan kale sauteed with ginger, sea salt, and white pepper; Garden of Eve egg cooked over-easy and topped with fresh homegrown Vietnamese coriander; purple eggplant cooked slowly and lovingly with red onions, jalapeno peppers, mustard seeds, white pepper, a dash of Braggs in a veggie (store-bought) broth, topped with fresh scallions; Served over a bed of 5 grain rice.

For the sick

Food can be so many things. It can be a way to satisfy your senses. To console yourself after a bad day. To celebrate a special occasion. To occupy you when you are anxious or stressed. To come together with friends and family. And for my boyfriend and me this week, to heal and comfort.

This week we were both struck with debilitating colds. I suppose most colds are, but when you are obligated to work 90 hours a week (as my boyfriend is), or to work and study 15 hours a day like I am, speedy recovery is essential.

But what is it that we actually crave when our appetite is diminished and energy lost? What are the foods that will help us get well but will also feel good to consume? Of course you can down a bottle of cold medicine, but where is the love in that?

Yesterday's gan mao yao was Vinh's Chicken noodle soup, Vietnamese style. There is something so nourishing and comforting about soup when you're sick, especially when it is prepared for you with the best of intentions, by the best of the chefs!

THIS IS chicken noodle soup with chicken, rice noodles, bean sprouts, bok choi, lime juice, andd touch of fish sauce, garlic, and chilis.

Floral Fever

My CSA share is in full swing! My farmers of Garden of Eve farm deliver local, organic vegetables, fruit, eggs, and flowers to McCarren Park in Williamsburg, Brooklyn every Saturday morning, where I pick up my share of tasty, beautiful bounty for the week. This week we got heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplant, basil, spinach, sweet corn, leeks, string beans, cayenne peppers and jalapeno peppers. Usually I go to an early morning yoga class but since I started my teacher training, I decided that I was going to save my weekends to do things I can't do during the rest of the week.

It has become my perfect Saturday morning ritual. Wake up, ride my bike to the park, pick up my vegetables, fruit, eggs, and flowers, and then come home to cook cook cook! I have no photos to post of my recent creations, but here is our flower share from last week.

(NYers, contact Just Food if you want to find a CSA in your neighborhood)

Ode to the Egg, My Shining Sun

Hard-boiled, soft-boiled, poached, fried, scrambled, over-easy, sunny side up, steamed, or baked, I love eggs in all its glorious forms. Eggs are the perfect food. The creamy, silky, runny, gooey yolk is so good, you could even say they're eggsellen.

But all eggs are not created equal.

Recently I stumbled upon a vendor at the Union Square Farmer's Market that sells Peruvian eggs. These yolks are not only bright with brilliance but are bursting with flavor. At $4 for a half dozen, they better be; I made the vendor promise they would be worth every penny. And they were! Every subsequent trip to the market I've made it my mission to obtain more Peruvian eggs, justifying my pricey purchase as a way to express gratitude to farmers committed to biodiversity.

The only other eggs that were better than this were from the Garden of Happiness community garden in the Bronx. There they have a chicken coop with two or three hens that produce the most delicious eggs I have ever tasted. Although the eggs were small in size, the yolk was grand and gorgeous. It was the thickest, brightest yolk I have ever seen. I close my eyes in delight just remembering those eggs, with yolks like the shining sun. And because of those six little eggs, my mission once I get a some outdoor space is to raise chickens for egg production. Yes it's legal here in NYC, and possibly better than having a dog. You can eat their eggs! (Learn all about raising chickens in The City Chickens guide from Just Food, the organization I currently work with and spent my AmeriCorps service with in their Community Supported Agriculture program.)

THIS IS my afternoon snack: a soft-boiled Peruvian egg served with fresh baked bread (which I dipped into the runny yolk). Below are Garden of Happiness eggs and the chickens in which these eggs came, and the coop in which the chickens dwell (notice Bronx housing projects in the background). Happy birds make tasty eggs.