itty bitty break

Given my convention hangover and my need to gear up for Going Local Week, I'm taking a mini-blogging vacation.

If you're craving food tidbits, I'd encourage you to navigate your way to these locales:

• The Minimalist takes on culinary lavendar at the NYTimes. With our lavendar-lined walkway, this recipe will definitely be included in next week's dinner plans.
• The Cupcake Show shows you how to make your own cheese. Another task to add to my cooking to-do list.
• Almost dried tomatoes at Confections of a Foodie Bride - a great way to deal with an overabundant supply of backyard tomatoes or to make good use of your farmer's market or CSA purchases.
• Beating my guy Ben to the punch, the Worth Your Attention folks reviewed Maxine's Chicken and Waffle. Haven't you always wanted to eat like an out-of-town guest of RZA? (RZA, by the way, is a vegetarian, but check out a snippet regarding the special bond he formed with Craig Ferguson's mom at a chicken and waffles joint below.)
  

big vegetarian cookbooks of choice

My friend Andy, who tends to be a curious guy, has a question that I've heard a few times before. As all who know me might guess, I have an answer. Hopefully, you might have one or two, as well.

Q: Can you recommend me a good vegetarian cookbook? I tend to like bigger, broader, and more comprehensive type cookbooks over the smaller, specific types. I was hoping you might have some insight on the better ones out there. - Andy

This is not my bookshelf. It is the bookshelf of chotda on flickr.
And isn't it lovely? (Some rights reserved.)

Hmmm, good question!
My recommendations for comprehensive vegetarian cookbooks:

• World Vegetarian by Madhur Jaffrey is a big, fat book full of recipes from around the world, paired up with Ms. Jaffrey's personal stories from her many culinary travels. I love this book because she provides methods for cooking a ridiculous assortment of vegetables, grains, eggs, fruit, dairy, etc. Who else is going to tell you how to cook kohlrabi greens - and tell you the best recipe for it, too? Bonus for cheapskates like me: copies of this regularly show up at Half Price Books.
  
• Veganomicon by Isa Chandra Moskowitz and Terry Hope Romero provides a strong collection of vegan recipes, as well as recipes that are safe for gluten-free and soy-free guests. Unlike many vegan cookbooks, it is comprehensive and includes both everyday and fancy foods.
  
• How to Cook Everything Vegetarian by Mark Bittman. Bittman writes good, straightforward recipes, both for the New York Times and in his Cookbooks. This book is no exception.
• Finally, though Vegetable Love by Barbara Kafka includes meat in many recipes, its comprehensive approach to plant-based eating allows homecooks to delve deeply into the essence of vegetarian cooking - enjoying the harvest and embracing the flavor of freshness.
  

My favorite mid-size and itty-bitty book lists will appear over the next few weeks.

But, in the meantime dear readers, please let us know which big vegetarian or mostly vegetarian books you might recommend.

are you ready for going local week?

Next week is the official Going Local Week, an attempt to get folks to eat one Indiana-grown food at each and every meal. I'm planning a little dinner party and excited to focus on Hoosier agricultural goods.

What do you have planned for Going Local Week?

More info:

apple bounty - favorite Indianapolis orchards

Good news for apple-lovers (like me): IndyStar is reporting that the apple harvest will likely rebound from last year's reduced numbers. And I'd like to know which local orchards you think are best for reveling in autumn's crisp apple goodness.

The Star mentions several local orchards, as well as their expectations for the upcoming apple season. But two of my favorites - Adrian and Lilly (on the grounds of Park Tudor) - aren't mentioned in the piece. I am really looking forward to cider this year, perhaps due to my cider slushie at the State Fair.

photo by Scott Bauer, paid with US tax dollars
for the Agricultural Research Service, USDA

If you have a favorite orchard, please share! Neither of the two listed above are you-picks, so I'd be especially excited to hear recommendations on that front.

roadside tomato stand

My enthusiasm for nearby produce outlets is well documented here at Middle West Meals. It should be no surprise that a big smile spread across my face as I drove to lunch today and saw this sign about three blocks away from my work.


Spying the adorable sign I pulled to the curb, selected two little red tomato beauties and left behind my cash. (Our full-size red tomatoes are playing hard-to-get in the garden this year.) With slices of fresh mozzarella, slivers of freshly plucked basil leaves and a drizzle of olive oil, I sliced one of the tomatoes and made a Caprese salad. And it was so good.

Next time around, I plan to have on hand some of the balsamic reduction that Renee at Feed Me/Drink Me wrote about recently.

recipe: plum syrup

At the Friday Strangelove outing, I dispensed healthy servings of plum simple syrup with a citrus-flavored fizzy water and optional adult additions for the crowd. Flavored syrups provide a lovely opportunity to put your personal stamp on time-honored beverages. You can add a hint of ginger, mint or basil to lemonade, or flavor your iced teas with verbena, cardamom or thyme.

But on Friday, I wanted the mellow, late-summer delight of plums. So, I mixed up some sugar and water and sliced up some plums. The bonus of this syrup recipe is that you end up with big, sweet slices of plums to stir into your drinks or save for a special cook's treat.

Recipe: Plum Syrup
Makes more than enough for four drinks

2/3 cup sugar
3/4 cup water
4 plums, any color or mix of colors, pitted and cut into eight slices each

Combine the sugar and water in a saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring. Place plum slices in a heat-proof bowl. Pour syrup over the plums. Let steep and chill.

Pretty simple, eh? For a simple drink, add a little sparkling mineral water or lightly flavored water and/or the chilled, clear potent potable of your choice. You can also add the plum syrup to a delicately flavored iced tea.

Blog Indiana 2008 - that was lovely.

Blog Indiana 2008, a fabulous conference of mighty Hoosier bloggers, is officially over. After two days of learning and connecting, I'm a bit tired. This first-ever conference, organized by Noah Coffey and Shawn Plew, provided the perfect excuse to hobnob with other bloggers and finally meet some of my favorite online voices. I'm already excited about next year.

So, here's my public shout-out to some awesome conversationalists:

• Susan from indieats.com - a gracious, charming and awesome lady who may have changed my life by sharing the joy that is the butter dish with me;
  
• Casey from Moosh In Indy whose hair is even more bouncy in real life;
  
• Stacy from Squirrel Chatter and Confessions of a Design Junky, who I actually supervised in a previous life and who is even more adorable and accomplished than she was back in the day; and
  
• Renee from Feed Me/Drink Me - a great lunch companion today and a great presenter and panelist, too.
• All the rest of you that I just talked to in passing - you're awesome and...
  

If I missed you, apologies, but information from Scott Abel's session filled my brain to capacity. If you ever have a chance to see Scott speak, take advantage of the opportunity. He's a quick, capable and thoroughly knowledgeable presenter.

Abysinnia - delicious as always

My lovely lady friends and I headed out, via convertible, to Abyssinia on Thursday night. We arrived at Abyssinia's 38th Street location with tousled hair and hungry bellies. After eating and then a nice, long post-dinner linger, we left, full of goodness and spice.

Sadly, my picture here is too dark.
But something's better than nothing, right?

We started the evening with sambusas, delightful little fried packages containing a spicy lentil filling. For the main meal, we shared a platter with collard greens, chickpea split peas, potatoes and carrots, cabbage, and a bonus spicy lentil dish that the kind Abyssinia folks added. The food is served on top of injera, a thin spongy bread that acts not only as the primary starch for the meal, but also as the utensil. The food is served on one platter and everyone shares, with extra injera on the side.

Each dish balanced the special nature of the primary ingredient and the delightful Ethiopian spicing. The group's favorite seemed to be the bonus lentils, which were brick-red and moderately spicy. The potato dish and the cabbage both provided a nice balance to the heat of the other dishes, while the collard greens' luscious texture elevated the often-maligned vegetable.

As has always been my experience at Abyssinia, the service was gracious and amenable. Certainly, other restaurants may have more demonstrative service staff; at Abyssinia, the staff is quiet but clearly interested in ensuring that customers enjoy their meals. They answer questions and provide guidance in ordering, with an apparent focus on sharing culture. And they are definitely sharing that culture at a highly reasonable rate. Before tip, our total was under $50 for four of us. For such a special dining experience, I would happily pay much more!

The good folks over at Worth Your Attention wholeheartedly endorse Abyssinia, too. They've even suggested that visits to this lovely little place should be mandatory for all Indianapolis-dwellers. You won't see any arguments from me!

the IMA, Dr. Strangelove & corn soup with tomato and basil

Friday night, we rallied a small group of Kubrick admirers for a trip to the IMA Summer Nights screening of Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb. The weather was perfect. The film was great. And, miraculously, the crowd was relatively small.

The IMA Summer Nights film series represents the best that Indianapolis summers have to offer. On the beautiful grounds of our great art museum, you can watch a movie in an amphitheater surrounded by trees. Movies are $8 per person for non-members and just $3 for museum members.

For me, the experience is not just about the setting and the movies. Unsurprisingly, it's very much about the food. In addition to beverages, our little crew brought along a lovely curry, a pasta salad (with squash!), and a beet salad. I brought a big sandwich, a plum-vodka cocktail, and a pretty little corn soup. Below, you can find the corn soup recipe, which tastes like summer in a bowl to me.

For the picnic, we served the soup in metal mugs.

Recipe: Corn Soup with Tomato & Basil
serves 2 big bowls or 4 little bowls
or 7 teensy servings for a picnic appetizer

2 ears of corn, kernels removed & cobs reserved
1 3/4 cups of milk
1/4 cup of half and half
1 sprig of fresh thyme
1 Tablespoon olive oil
1 small onion, chopped
2 garlic cloves, minced
1 stalk of celery, chopped
1 medium carrot, chopped
1 small red potato, diced finely
1 cup of water
1 bay leaf

1 cup chopped tomatoes (cherry, grape, or small tomatoes) - I used a combination of red cherry and small yellow tomatoes from our garden.
1/4 cup basil cut in a chiffonade

Combine the milk, half and half, and corn cobs in a pot. Bring to a boil, reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes. Meanwhile, heat another pot over medium to medium-high heat. Add the oil and onion, and saute until translucent but not browned. Add the garlic, cook one minute. Add the celery, carrot, and potato. Cook until the vegetables are tender.

Add the water, the milk and corn cob mixture, the bay leaf, and half of the corn kernels to the vegetable mixture. Simmer for 5 minutes. Remove the cobs, bay leaf, and thyme sprig and puree the soup. Cook the remaining corn separately on the stovetop (1-2 minutes in boiling water) or in the microwave (1 minute combined with water to cover). Add the corn into the soup.

Ladle the soup into individual containers and top with fresh tomato and basil.

go to the fair!

Hey there, dear reader. I have a question for you:
Have you been to the fair yet?

Because if you haven't, then you haven't enjoyed any of the foods below in the ideal environment.

carmel apples

apple cider slushie


the other white meat


king taters - the most ridiculous potato chip ever

But if you have gone already, as I'm pretty sure all Indianapolis readers have, what was your favorite fair food of 2008?

hibiscus-ginger iced tea

Last night, a small group of friends went out to eat. It was delicious - more on that later.

We all met up at my house, which was convenient for me, before driving on 38th street with the top down to fill ourselves up with injera and yummy bites of Ethiopian food. But first, we shared a little drink: hibiscus-ginger iced tea. The recipe, slightly adapted from Martha, is below.


Hibiscus-Ginger Iced Tea
serves 6

4 cups of water
2/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 Tablespoons of peeled, thinly sliced ginger root
4 heaping Tablespoons of dried hibiscus flowers or 5 hibiscus tea bags
Juice of 3 lemons (or more, to taste)
Agave nectar, in case you want more sweetness

Combine the water, sugar and ginger root. Bring to a boil and stir until the sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat. Add the flowers or tea bags. Let steep for 5 minutes. Pour through a fine-mesh strainer. Combine with the lemon juice and chill. Taste and add more lemon or agave nectar to suit your taste. (Warning: I like a slightly less sweetened chilly drink than many and my adaptation reflects that preference.)

I served it with good, chilled vodka on the side, in case anyone wanted a little spike. (Thanks, Richard, for that nice bottle.)

all the better to keep your recipes by

Check out these adorable recipe cards from etsy seller winifredStudios.



She will customize them for you, by request, if you wanted a big batch or to use them for a wedding shower. They make me want to break out the KitchenAid and make a cake, like the chocolate peanut butter one at Smitten Kitchen.

state fair love links

Since I'm still waiting on my mama-la to upload pictures from Saturday's fair trip and because I'm antsy to head over there this evening, I'd like to encourage you to check out some other people's Indiana State Fair posts.

Nora has gone state fair crazy, which is the best kind of crazy. Check out these pictures, as well as Nora's always awesome writing, at Chez Pez.

Moosh in Indy also has some really beautiful pictures from her state fair outings.

And over at String, you can see another account of the state fair, complete with the amazing potato chips. Check these out:

Mr. Dan's Tenderloin

Ben's Official Tenderloin Tour continues with Mr. Dan's.
If you'd like to, check out Stop 1: Mug n Bun or Stop 2: Boogie Burger

Mr. Dan's was recommended to us a while ago by a very good friend who we miss very much. This was definitely a special stop on the tour. The dogs and burgers have all been hyped, and they all looked good. The skinny fries, which we did order, had a light dusting of a spice blend on them - more dusting would have been good, but these are skinny fries done right. And the fruit punch was a fun little nutrition-less drink to wash down the grease.


We have to give this place lots of love for their simple but charming old-school color scheme and packaging. The only negative aspect - no fish sandwich, and certainly no veggie burger, so no way for the meat-shy to fully embrace this special little Indianapolis spot. But on to the ratings...

Ben's Tenderloin Tour Official Report
Tasting notes
Like Mug n Bun, tomato and lettuce are an up-charge here. But also like Mug n Bun, the price is more than reasonable for these cooked-to-order goods. The retro logo wrapper definitely added to the overall experience.

Categorical Ratings
Breading (1-5): 3 - Again, these are not fresh-prepared, but the breading was well-cooked and produced a crisp but not overdone coating.
Pork (1-5): 4 - Juicy, thick, good.
Bun (1-5): 3 - Not bad, but not extraordinary.
Overall (1-5): 3 - This is a budget place, so their super-inexpensive loin (under $4 even after adding a little extra for lettuce and tomato) is a good deal for a good, though not mind-blowing, tenderloin.


Heads up(s): This place only takes cash. They're open 24 hours a day, except Sundays, when they shut down beginning at 5 am. Also, like the beloved Red Key, they don't take kindly to cussing.

spinach-walnut pasta & simple tomato-cucumber salad

Given the tenderloin tour and our State Fair visits, the time has come to dine on freshness rather than friedness. Though pasta is not necessarily a grand step in this fresh direction, our Sunday brunch was at least one step. And it was so quick and easy that I wanted to share this simple, yummy summer meal with you.

First up, the simple salad - a recipe so simple that there is no need for an ingredient list or list of steps: Chop a small cucumber or half a large one, as well as one red and one yellow tomato. Slice 10 to 12 medium-size basil leaves into ribbons. Add a drizzle of olive oil, a splash of balsamic vinegar, and salt, to taste. Stir it all up. Serves 2-3, multiply, modify, and alter to fit your palate, produce supply, or whims.

Second up...
Recipe: spinach-walnut pasta with Neufchatel cheese
Serves 4

350-400 grams dried pasta, ideally a chunky shape that will catch the sauce.
3-4 big handfuls of baby spinach
1/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped
3-4 ounces of Neufchatel cheese (based on how saucy you'd like it to be)
Salt, pepper, and freshly grated nutmeg, to taste

Bring water to boil in a large pot. Add pasta, cook until al dente, reserving 1/2 cup of pasta water. Put the spinach in the bottom of a colander. Meanwhile, toast the walnuts over medium heat in a pan and set aside. With the baby spinach in the bottom of your colander, drain the pasta. The spinach should wilt quickly. Stir the pasta and spinach together to prevent the spinach from clumping.

Over low heat, combine the Neufchatel cheese and half of the reserved pasta water, thinning it out to make a sauce. Grate a little nutmeg, and add salt and pepper to taste. Add more water, if necessary. Stir in the pasta and spinach, taste again and adjust seasoning to taste.

my first 2008 State Fair visit

On Friday, my coworker and I spent the day at the Indiana State Fair to pass out resources to families. Good work, yes. And also a great time to kick off my annual State Fair food binge.

The run-down, clockwise from the upper left corner: hot buttered corn - so good!; my coworker's funnel cake - well executed; a cream horn and ice tea - the horn's filling was a bit too meringue-y for me; and a lemon shake-up - a fair stand-by that, avoiding the often fatal shake-up flaw, had the perfect balance of tart, sweet, and refreshing.

I also went to the fair on Saturday with my extended family, so more pictures will follow.

NY Times & French Vegetarians

This article from the New York Times offers four very interesting and seemingly awesome recipes from a French vegetarian restaurant called La Zucca Magica. The chef's perspectives: he believes in using "too much" garlic and in heaping helpings of oil and cheese. That reminds me of my friend Becky, who makes the most perfectly rich food I have ever had and who happens to prepare it all vegetarian-style.

In any case, I'll be making that risotto-stuffed chard very soon, hopefully for a few guests at the table.

obsessed with bun at Saigon

Some people have a summer song, a song that they listen to repeatedly and loudly throughout the warm months. These are the songs that, when playing on their iPod shuffle, will remind them of good summer times for years to come. Me? Not so much. I'm way too sonically shifty to pick a song that will work for a whole season. And, anyway, I'd rather pick a food.

This summer, my food of choice is bun, a delicious Vietnamese combination of chilled rice noodles, crisp lettuce, salty clear sauce, savory hot protein, and crunchy veggies. Traditionally, pork products occupy the protein space in this dish, but at my favorite bun seller, Saigon, you can order the bun with grilled tofu. Check it out in this fuzzy picture:

Saigon serves bun in unassuming and not necessarily matching Corning bowls - some even with little Halloween cats on them (love it!). They remind me of my childhood, an appropriate medium for this comfort food.

As the omnivorous half of this bun-obsessed couple, Ben usually gets some combination of grilled chicken or pork and/or a fried spring roll, as below:

Strict vegetarians be warned: that awesome sauce on the side has fish sauce in it. Ask your server for some rice-wine vinegar, spike it with some of the tabletop sriracha and maybe a little soy sauce, and use that as a fish-free topping.

Saigon is closed on Tuesdays, so that's one less day that I obsess about getting my summer dish of 08.

Boogie Burger Tenderloin

Ben's Official Tenderloin Tour continues with Stop 2: Boogie Burger in Broad Ripple.
If you'd like to, check out Stop 1: Mug n Bun!

When your husband has worked in Broad Ripple for well over twice as long as you've known him, lunch dates tend to occur within a three-block radius of Westfield Boulevard and Guilford Avenue. We regularly visit Boogie Burger for two primary reasons: delicious meaty and veggie burgers, offered up with a wide range of toppings (I like the Inferno style - super-hot), and the garlic fries. But on special occasions, like the Official Tenderloin Tour, we venture away from these staples. Though he's given a thumbs-up to their chicken and fish sandwiches, Ben hadn't tried the tenderloin yet, so try he did.

(Note: Ben's employer has done a little bit of marketing work for Boogie Burger.)

Ben's Tenderloin Tour Official Report
Tasting notes
Boogie Burger offers lettuce, tomato, onion and mayo with each sandwich. To keep the tastings consistent, Ben did not include the onion.

Categorical Ratings
Breading (1-5): 3 - Though these tenderloins are not breaded on site, the breading was nicely crisped. Note: 3 is the absolute best rating a prepared-off-site loin can receive.
Pork (1-5): 4 - Thick, but perhaps a teensy (this is my word, not Ben's) bit dry.
Bun (1-5): 4 - Sesame seed - grilled and yummy.
Overall (1-5): 3.5 - Not-on-site preparation definitely brought this score down. However, these folks know how to fry up good eats, so this tenderloin is still recommended.

But, but, but: No review of Boogie Burger is complete without a mention of their freakishly delicious garlic fries. Nicely cooked, thick fries are covered with freshly chopped garlic and parsley after they emerge from the fryer. And they are delicious! Their onion rings are also tasty. Though I've never had the gumption, after eating their full-size veggie or black bean burger and splitting the mound of potato-garlic awesomeness, their shakes are supposed to be glorious. They even have malts, which are my absolute favorite. I need to get on sampling one of those very soon.

ch-ch-changes

My friend Amy is kind of awesome both as a friend and as a designer.

See that nifty new banner across the top of my page? That's her work, and I'm loving it! (Feeder readers might want to click on through to the other side here.)

Award by Something's Hiding in Here (via etsy)

Aren't awesome, talented & generous friends the best?

what Urban Indy said: local food love

Group question: What are your favorite local restaurants?

The context for this question:
Urban Indy has a great post up with the goal to reinvigorate local restaurant love. And feed me/drink me sparked a conversation about chains. The impetus of these similarly focused posts is the cover story from this month's Indianapolis Monthly, Chain Reaction, which seems to embrace our community's outsize commitment to chain food.

I'm going to piggyback on Urban Indy's post, but with a twist. I share a lot about what I think. But I want to know what you think.

true love print from etsy seller cherrycrew

So, please do share: What are the local restaurants that you adore and that we all need to know about?