gahdnin'

It officially is the season for weddings and water ice and box fans and thunderstorms and sunshine and green. Praise the Lamb we have made it out of that brutal winter to experience all of this beautiful, sweaty newness. (If I sound a bit disgruntled, it's because it is stinkin' hot here. Spring is a fickle mistress.)

But one can truly rejoice when she lives with a green-thumbed sister. Where I turned my passions, time, energy and blog reader toward food, Kelsey turned hers toward plants. And I get to be a witness.

This is the first in a miniseries about our urban farm.

Exhibit A: The patio in early spring, when the resilient weeds and vines reigned supreme.

This is the point when I insist that I have helped Kelsey a little bit, gotten my hands dirty enough to claim participation, but I give all credit to her as Master Gardener of Brewerytown.

Day 1: We took an outing to a super-hip nursery for some starters -- cucumbers, yellow squash, tomatoes, sweet basil, bell peppers, romaine lettuce. 

And we weeded.

And we marveled that the strawberries and mint from last summer were surviving and thriving, despite their environment. (Is it a wonder why mice favor our area...)

Kelsey started the new plants inside until the overnight temperatures were not so frosty. And a couple Saturdays later, we transplanted.

She added a bit of fairy dust (coffee grounds).

And as the vine threatens to encase the patio, these babies are shooting up. I'll update on the little miracles again soon.

With love.

black bean burgers (and my mama)

FIRST of all: Happy Mother's Day to my beautiful, powerful, incredibly supportive mama. And to all the rest of you mothers (and daughters and sons).

Thank you for convincing me that reading and writing are important and worthwhile. Thank you for helping me love my sisters and friends better. Thank you for forgiving me and cherishing me and challenging me. Thank you for teaching me to cook. Oh, and thanks for coming to Ireland with me. Let's do that again.

If you were in Philly this weekend, I would take you across the street to the new, possibly legal, water ice stand and we'd join the throngs of people throwing block parties. (I'm not usually invited, but you would be our in.) We could set up a grill alongside the rest, or I could whip us up some of these black bean (oven-baked) burgers beforehand. They're almost as good.

When I made these last week, I did so because it was a great excuse to use the panko bread crumbs in the pantry. I had most of the ingredients already...isn't that great when that happens? Special thanks to Rybread for the day-old ciabatta. Yum.

I like to paint an honest picture of life in our kitchen.
Please note that bananas are not included in this recipe.

If I had a food processor, I would have missed the fun of laboriously dicing the pepper, onion and garlic. Just like motherhood, it's a labor of love.

Mash the black beans and mix everything together with seasoning and an egg. Just like a mother, the egg binds everything together.

Then add those panko crumbs for some lovely texture. (I think I've exhausted the mother parallels of this recipe.)

To make this meal extra-warm weathery, and because I also inherited a fierce love of sweet potatoes from my mother, I baked some fries for awhile then added the burgers for the last 20 minutes.

And because I have wonderful friends who invite me to visit her in Spain, then gift me with high-quality Spanish olive oil, we had a very simply dressed, very tasty salad too.

I like to dip those fries in a curry/mustard concoction. I'd probably like most things dipped in curry mustard, though.

These are hearty (as in they're good for your heart...I couldn't resist) and spicy as you want them to be. I think you'd like them too, Mama.

Since you weren't here for this dinner, we spent some time afterward watching Eve 6 music videos.

But I promise dessert will be more exciting when you visit again. The water ice joint is always hopping.

Black Bean Burgers

via Tasty Kitchen

Makes 4

1 can (16 oz.) black beans

1/2 medium onion, chopped

3 cloves garlic, peeled and chopped

1 red bell pepper, stem and seeds removed, chopped

1 egg

1 t. cumin

1 t. onion powder

1 t. chili powder

1 T. Sriracha (or your fave hot sauce)

1/2 c. finely chopped cilantro (to my great chagrin, I totally forgot this part)

3/4 c. panko bread crumbs

2 T. canola oil

4 burger buns, kaiser or ciabatta rolls

Drain and rinse the black beans and mash with a fork.

Use a food process (or not) to chop the onion, garlic and pepper until very fine. Stir into the beans. In a corner of the bowl, combine the egg, cumin, onion powder, chili powder, Sriracha and cilantro. Combine that with the bean mixture.

Drain off any excess liquid and add the bread crumbs. Using your hands, form the mixture into four burger patties and coat them with extra panko crumbs, if you'd like.

Bake at 375 degrees for 20 minutes, flipping the burgers after 10. Serve on rolls, topped with lots of mustard or your own favorite burger toppings.

With extra love, for my Mama.

masala sweet potato scramble

Tomorrow is May Day (what?! how?!) and I'm feeling re-energized, re-inspired and re-motivated. This could be the result of having Monday off from work. It could be that Kelsey is back from her week of Kansas wedding planning and we can watch Parenthood again. It could be the Good Lord's undeserved mercy. It could be because the bike trail looks like this again (also see previous example):

To celebrate all this goodness, I bring you the latest in a series called: Combine Things that Taste Good to You and Call It Breakfast (or lunch/dinner/apps 'n' taps). As always, the trick is to be as daring as you can. The more random and unexpected the ingredients, the better.

You know what else is random? I now have a bunch of friends that went to the University of Delaware. How 'bout that.

For me, culinary creativity and courage comes most easily when I have very few ingredients to work with. If you keep some key things (like sweet potatoes) on hand at all times, it is easy to scrounge up the rest. Here is what I pulled from the fridge this morning:

Why not eat leftover masala chickpeas for breakfast, I ask you? This stuff is the bee's knees.

Now go forth with boldness. Tonight, black bean burgers. Look out! 

(Disclaimer: All images in this post were lovingly edited in Instagram, which is a bit inconsistent with color but arguably the laziest? cleverest way to turn camera phone pics into photography.)

With love.

Shameless St. Patrick's Day brownies

I won't further bemoan my recent lack of downtime, because I have been busy with some really fun things. I also won't deny that I miss cooking and writing, nor will I apologize for publishing a post that is now more than a month outdated. It may break some blogging etiquette to jump around chronologically, but I'm here to throw convention out the window. These boozy brownies were delicious. And who says you need a holiday to bake with beer, anyway?

My fondness for St. Patrick's Day (and Guinness) is due in large part to the six weeks I spent in Ireland in 2007. That's where I first tried the creamy stout and fell in love with everything Irish.

As I walked down the block to pick up a bottle from the enclosed-glass corner store, I reminisced about sharing a pint with my mama when she joined me in Galway. I would love to know what that 21-year-old pixie-headed version of me would think of this urban life I'm living. I bet she thought I'd live in Ireland by now.

When I returned home with that ubiquitous black bag, I opened the bottle and measured out one cup, then poured the rest into a couple pint glasses to toast the holiday with Kels, while the reserved cup reduced by half on the stove.

The other ingredients are pretty standard for fudgy brownies: chocolate, butter, eggs, vanilla, sugar, flour. The Bon Appetit recipe calls for a good bit of salt, which is a lovely touch. You know how I feel about salted chocolate.

Lindsey was in town that weekend, all those many moons ago. (Kelsey wasn't engaged yet! KU was still playing in the tournament! Grandma and Grandpa had yet to see Philly! I hadn't heard my new favorite song 1,000 times!)

My sisters whisked the eggs, sugar and vanilla together, then I added melted chocolate and the Guinness concentrate.

These babies baked for more than an hour before they weren't a jiggly mess. The reviews on the recipe said it might take longer if you don't let the beer reduce enough. It's quite possible that was my problem -- I don't claim to be the most detail-oriented baker. I will say, the long-awaited results were worth it.

Especially with the decadent stout/chocolate/butter glaze. Do I even need to say that?

To add some credibility to the meal, we first ate some refreshing pasta primavera from our trip to South Philly's Italian Market.

Then we indulged in this chocolaty, slightly salty, delightfully stouty dessert. Don't feel bad about baking these in late April. Sláinte!

Guinness Brownies
From Bon Appetit

1 c. stout (such as Guinness)
16 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped, divided
1 c. plus 2 T. unsalted butter
1 1/2 c. sugar
3 large eggs
1 t. vanilla extract
3/4 c. all-purpose flour
1 1/2 t. kosher salt, divided

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x9-inch baking pan with foil and coat generously with non-stick spray.

Bring stout to a boil and cook until reduced to 1/2 cup, about 12-15 minutes. Let cool. Reserve 1/4 cup.

Melt 12 ounces chocolate and 1 cup butter (in the microwave or a double-boiler) until smooth. 

Whisk eggs, vanilla and sugar in a large bowl to blend. Gradually whisk in chocolate and 1/4 cup reduced stout. Fold in the flour and 1 1/4 teaspoon salt. Pour batter into prepared pan.

Bake brownies until surface begins to crack and toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 45-60 minutes (depending on how well you followed directions about reducing the stout). Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool for at least 20 minutes. Remove from pan using the foil.

For the glaze, melt remaining 4 ounces of chocolate and combine with 1/4 cup reduced stout, 2 tablespoons butter and 1/4 teaspoon salt; whisk until blended, then pour over brownies. Let stand at room temperature until glaze is set, about 40 minutes, or use your better judgment and eat immediately.


With love.

Of Montreal

As much as I like this little blog of mine, quality time with visitors (and sleep) will always win out. I'm not sure if it was encouragement or justification I felt listening to this wonderful TED Talk last night, in which Susan says that 'solitude is a vital ingredient in creativity.' All I'm saying is there is probably a correlation between more guests and less writing. So I am using this period of solitude as my parents, grandparents and Linds fly out, and Ken flies in, to post a photographic retrospective of the last time he was here, about a month ago, when we drove to Montreal, Quebec.

We convinced customs that we weren't fugitives in Kelsey's VW Rabbit.

We marveled that we could drive nine hours and end up in this lovely French city.

We took many photos.

We ate crepes and dumplings and poutine and everything bagels.

We hiked up a treacherously icy slope to get a better view. And then slid back down.

We visited this Biosphere, without really knowing why it's there.

We drove home in time for dinner...cheesesteaks.

With love.