Archive for July, 2009

If you ever find yourself  somewhere in between Los Gatos, Campbell, and San Jose you should stop by Lou’s Cafe for some coffee.  And of course a bite to eat!

My wife and I have managed to go about once every other week (more like every week lately!) when both our schedules afford us a midweek day off together.  I love the coffee and old-timey diner feel (and the food) and Steph loves the French Toast and Belgian Waffles, not both at the same time though.

Breakfast is probably going to run you about 6.50 to 10.00 dollars, but you’ll probably eat two times off of one plate so financially that is a good deal.  I always have to get the rest of my plate to go…Coffee is good!

I included some pics of the Banana Nutella French Toast ( the plate is almost to busy to see whats going on), Eldorado Potatoes (which is like home-style fried potatoes with blackened chicken, avocado, Monterrey jack cheese…), and the Coffee Cake which is the size of a small child’s head!

[click to see bigger]

[Warning: this post will be longer than my usual ones, but it will include links, list, and pictures to help the small kitchen with small budget get equipped for maximum food.]

At the end of May there was a question posted at SeriousEats.com (of which I am a member) which garnered up to 64 comments:

What does a young foodie/recent grad need in his kitchen?

After reading several of the comments I also commented, but I believe it will be helpful to anyone with a small kitchen, small budget, or both combined.  Most of you know that I post a lot of my food ‘try-outs’ and dinners on facebook or twitter but now I will show you my humble (small) kitchen I work out of at home…

Now you see that most of you would be hard pressed to send me a picture of your kitchen that is smaller than mine…but I make it work.

First we will review my answer to the above question as I responded on the site – add suggestions and pictures to help visualize how this would work for anyone. (of course if you are extremely messy and uncoordinated then there may not be a ‘happy’ medium for you and your kitchen)

A few thoughts:

The knife (as one person said) may be a more personal purchase, but maybe not if you spend more money on it than he would!

*Good forged metal well-known and trusted brand knives can be found at Marshall’s, Ross, and TJ Max in the ‘kitchen’ section at great reductions…knife sets are a waste of money unless its a chef’s, paring, serrated/bread knife set. You don’t need 7 to 14 knives.  These three do most of the jobs you are going to do in your home kitchen with some exceptions.  Kitchen Aid, Cuisinart, Chicago Cutlery also have good starting knives at Target and Wal-Mart.  Most in the 30$ or less range.

Cast Iron skillet (as somebody suggested) would usually be a good recommendation, but being in an apartment with a small kitchen, those things tend to smoke to much…and its not about controlling the heat. Its about ’seasoned’ cast iron heating up and smoking.

But consider this, I bought 2 twelve inch COMMERCIAL non-stick pans from Sam’s Club (because at that time they came in two AND Sam’s has a commercial restaurant supply section now – BUT NOT COSTCO DARN IT!) pretty cheap and they are made from thick aluminum under the non-stick coating…2 years later they still have the coating. I pulled the rubber handles (good for oven temps up to about 350) off and threw them away, cook on top, finish in oven. Works wonderful. Heavy duty, lighter, and less smokey than cast iron.

Someone suggest getting a mini-processor from Cuisinart, but I say get the kitchenaid mini processor (3 cups model) not the cuisenart. The reason being is because the ‘catch’ for making the motor work is a long piece of plastic protruding down from the lid, prone to breaking off! Kitchenaid, not so much small ‘catch’ on both sides of lid that doesn’t protrude past the lip much, even if you manage to drop the lid on the floor and break one, you can still swivel the lid to the other.

*BUT now you can order thru amazon.com or go to target and get an oster blender with 3 cup processor attachment…here is a picture of what that looks like.  The one at target is cheaper than mine because its sold as a combo and my blender is the more expensive one. AGAIN, if you already own a Hamilton or some kind of Oster blender you can order the processor unit seperately on Amazon.com.  Why is this important?  Because it doesn’t create another electric appliance that needs a plug/outlet. AND saves space.

As someone mentioned, electric hot water kettle. Starts things that need hot or boiled water much quicker.  The one pictured is about $20 at Target.

Is he a serious tea or coffee drinker? Bodum (french press) goes good with that electric water kettle. $16 Target or Wal-Mart.

Small microwave as already said. $30 to $50 depends on how good a sale you find!  Good for melting things, heating things, mostly good for leftovers & quick fixes!

Coffee been grinder for grinding spices or coffee $15. (I have 2, one for coffee, one for spices)

I buy bar towels in bulk from Sam’s or Costco’s, there just like the ones in commercial kitchens I use…and there cheap. $10 for 20 bundle? (approximate)

Immersion blender, as already said. This thing should be a must. Its terrific. $15 at some Longs Drugs or $19 on Amazon.com with 4 star rating or higher.  Procter-Silex.

My pasta roller still comes in handy for (duh) pasta, and also: pita bread, rolling thin tortillas, flat bread…etc. $30 for most brands.  This one $22 Amazon.com 4 stars (our of 5).

If your going to spend some money, then buy a nice kitchen cart with storage underneath…then you can roll a ‘chopping’ island around to use and store these small appliances underneath when not in use.

OK, I’ll stop here…I cook professionally as well as not letting my small kitchen in my apartment keep me from cooking extensive and ‘fine dining’ meals at home.  This list is not made to be comprehensive of all things needed, but a help.  Just like using 3 knives in the kitchen pots & pans need not be in 20 piece sets…good cutting board, tongs, whisk, grater…

I’d be happy to answer any questions you have about my suggestions, stuff your currently using, or your own recommendations for this list!

This is an easy experiment I think you will like.  If you have a certain favorite pickle or pickled vegetable that you buy at the store then after eating all the contents inside the jar save the ‘pickling’ juice or liquid.

You can then experiment buy adding more cucumber or other vegetable back to the liquid and give it a good 5 to 7 days back in the refrigerator before trying/eating your newest pickled treat.

Additional things you can do:

1. add more herb/spices or a hot pepper or two
2. use a ’shot’ of a different kind of vinegar to enhance the taste; cider, wine, balsamic, rice, seasoned vinegar.  But be prepared to except that it may just make it taste worse!
3. add some MORE garlic or shallots (or other vegetable) to increase a certain taste you like
4. add a sugar (honey, brown, cane…) of some  sort to make it a bit more sweet

I can’t guarantee doing all of this will make it taste better, that’s up to you to figure out.  Usually we (my wife and I) only refill the jar twice after the original purchase, water does come out of the new ingredient(s) so the concentration of pickling gets diluted.  It also works better when the cucumbers are cut or sliced.

Just thought I might give you a new idea to play around with without getting to scientific about it!  And yes this is the cheater version of the already easy Refrigerator Pickles.

[picture by saltyseadog]

Just this past week I carved 2 watermelons for a July 4th BBQ at Church.  One of the ladies that knows my wife figured out that I know how to do these kinds of things and emailed me to see would I be willing to do them with the churches logo, and the summer nights logo they use.  I said sure.

It had been over a year since I last carved one.  There’s not much high demand for carved watermelons in Monrovia Liberia,  West Africa (where I was all of last year).  So as you can imagine I was a bit rusty…but things still seemed to go well.  The pictures in this post were taken by one of there photographers then posted on facebook at Westgate Church.

Here is a link of an old Christian Chef article that I wrote about watermelon carving. –> Watermelon Carving

Not much has changed since I wrote that article.  I bought some ’special’ fruit carving tools from a site but I have since packed them back in their bag and are currently still collecting dust.  It took to much force to make them cut or work correctly which is not conducive to ANY precision graphics and work you may want to do on a fruit.

Moving on…Click on pictures to see them bigger and see more IN the picture.

Most of you know by now (if you follow me on facebook, twitter, or this site) when I get a craving I usually try to indulge in it, go for it,  or ‘do it’ the next time I get a chance.  For example:  One day last week I had Butterfinger Ice Cream for breakfast.  Its just that simple.

The newest craving I had that came on real strong was something I first learned about years ago (like when I was 16) when I worked at A&W Rootbeer or Restaurant (as ours was called A&W Family Restaurant).  But first I want you to know it was not one of those new modern A&W restaurants.  It was the old one.  Women working the ‘car hops’, a fireplace in the center of the dining area, little league/softball/baseball pictures hung everywhere from their sponsorship.  And we still made the Rootbeer syrup before linking it in with the CO2(soda machine for carbonation).  Yeah, ‘back in the day’.

A good friend of mine from high school was working there told me I needed to try one of his favorite hot-dog combinations.  You melted American cheese on top of a hot-dog in a bun, then add chopped onion, pickles, ketchup and mayo, then top it with coleslaw (the white coleslaw, not that ketchup or vinegar coleslaw).  I thought he was crazy, but the flavor combination really surprised me.  I loved it!

Slaw-dogs with cheese, onion, pickle, mayo, & ketchup.  For some reason that struck me yesterday and I really wanted to have it, so I did.  I bought the ingredients at the store (much cheaper) with a bag of Kettle Sour Cream and Onion potato chips.  Kettle chips are the greatest, all flavors are good…Crispy, thick and crunchy.  And for dessert I finished off with Caramel Caribou ice cream.  Delicious.

I know, your probably wondering whats wrong with me and why didn’t I eat BBQ?  Why not make your own rules?  July 4th can still be a day of celebration no matter what you eat or how you enjoy it (even if its your birthday)!

[photo by jetalone]