Creamy Potato and Leek Soup

I actually only had potato and leek soup for the first time a few years ago. My cousin Caroline and I were in Aberdeen, Scotland. Having been beaten down by the exchange rate the past week, soup du jour was the only thing we felt comfortable affording most of the time when eating out in the U.K.

After a long day, and an even longer search for an affordable dinner, we finally made reservations at a little Italian place tucked away from the strip that had soup du jour. To put things into perspective, soup du jour was usually around three or four pounds stirling (approximately $6.00-$8.00 USD). Anything else on the menu would be closer to ten pounds stirling (approximately $20.00 USD), usually more. Now you understand why soup was so very satisfying.

So, about an hour into our wait for a table, we were fully irritated with everything. We had had a long day, with a few mishaps, a few disappointments, a few irritations. It was late, we were hungry, and we were very annoyed at the lack of restaurants in such a busy part of town. Especially because the only one we had found was making us wait another hour for a table. An older couple who was also waiting began to chat with us, insisting on buying us both a drink. They were charming, and I don't know if it was the company or the alcohol that began to cheer us up. Not soon after, we were called to our table, where I of course ordered the soup du jour - which was potato and leek soup. We ate quickly, given that it was well past 10:00 pm, and thanked the couple on our way out for turning our evening around. Not the best story, but, one I still remember fondly. This is the story of my first time eating potato and leek soup... fondly remembered, because of the friendly couple who saved our moods that evening.

The following is the recipe I created specifically to recreate the soup I had that night in Aberdeen. I like this recipe because it's simple, cheap, and fast. It doesn't get much better than that.


Creamy Potato and Leek Soup

2 Russet potatoes
1 leek
1 can chicken stock
1/2 c. whipping cream
1 c. milk
1 t salt

optional but recommended: 1/2 c. grated white cheese of choice (parmesan, cheddar, etc.)

Peel and cube the potatoes. Rough chop the light green and white parts of the leek. In a large saucepan, combine the potatoes, leek, and stock. Bring to a boil, and simmer until the potatoes are soft, approximately 30 minutes. Using a whisk, stir the soup to break apart the potatoes. It's okay if the soup is a little chunky, but it shouldn't look like mashed potatoes.

Stir in the cream, milk, and salt. Continue to simmer for another 10 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the grated cheese. Done!

Yields: approx. two large servings



Notes: I recommend you make only what you need, because the leftovers don't keep very well. They taste okay, but the starch absorbs most of the liquid and the next day you'll have soupy mashed potatoes instead of actual soup.

Santa Monica

Welcome to Santa Monica! Famous for its shopping, dining, and of course, homeless people! According to my friend, a local transplant and fellow Bay Area native, people in Santa Monica think they're better than the city of Los Angeles. She says they don't consider themselves a part of L.A. and she has been corrected more than once that in fact, this isn't Los Angeles.... this is Santa Monica. Little do they know that everyone else thinks they're still in L.A., albeit a slightly nicer part.

Yes, Santa Monica is nicer than downtown L.A., this is true. The weather is also more comfortable, and I myself was very surprised at the fact that I was actually cold as night fell. It was a pleasant change from the sweltering heat of The Valley. Here is how the city compares: Santa Monica: better than North Hollywood, worse than Beverly Hills.

We'll consider it somewhere in the middle. I did enjoy their famous promenade, which was pretty much an outdoor mall. But who doesn't appreciate a good outdoor mall?

There's only one thing that really made this place more superior than your standard outdoor mall, and that is fantastic street musicians. The gentleman pictured here was a phenomenal guitarist, and I actually regret not purchasing his CD.

And while Larissa kept busy shopping for a massage pillow thing...








I kept busy with a foot squeeze machine. I guess if you wanted to have a little respect for the inventors, you might call it a mechanical massager... or something... but really, it was a foot squeeze machine.

After two hours, and $35.00 well spent, we decided to take advantage of the many sushi restaurants Santa Monica has to offer with half-off happy hour. The boyfriend met us at a popular sushi joint, which was so popular we opted for take-out instead. The sushi was great, and you can't beat 32 pieces for $15.00... plus free miso soup and edamame, for two. If you're not going to go to Santa Monica for the shopping and the cold, I recommend you at least go for the sushi. Totally worth it.

Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread

Focaccia bread is a flat bread I think originating from somewhere in the Mediterranean. My inclination is to claim Italy is the wizard behind this creation, but it could have been some crazy Cretan or something. Nevertheless, I still regard this particular delicacy as being Italian, no matter where it really came from.

It is more or less a leavened dough of few ingredients that is dimpled, smothered in olive oil, and massaged with spices or other flavorful additives. It is, more or less, delicious.

Ever since my KitchenAid stand mixer came into my life, a very well-deserved anniversary present she was, making breads and doughs has become easier than ever. But, because I assume that most people do not own one of these delightful machines, I will write the recipe for the general population instead. Keep in mind this recipe is time consuming. The work itself isn't hard, but you have to wait around for a while for the dough to rise. Approximate time, from start to finish, will be at least three hours. But it's not like anyone has anything better to do than make fresh bread, right?


Rosemary Garlic Focaccia Bread

1 envelope active dry yeast
1/2 c. tepid water
4 c. all-purpose flour
3 tsp salt
3 tbsp garlic; minced
2 tbsp fresh rosemary; chopped
EXTRA VIRGIN olive oil


1. Dissolve the yeast in a bowl with the tepid water. Let the yeast sit for about 10 minutes, then stir to dissolve.

2. Meanwhile, mix together the flour and 2 tsp of the salt in a large mixing bowl. Add the yeast water to the flour, and start mixing. You're going to have to add more tepid water to the mixture, until a smooth dough forms.

I think I added nearly 1.5 cups to mine. It's a bitch, and this is the point when I give my stand mixer a little kiss for doing the work for me. Here's what a smooth dough looks like:

3. Add about 2 tbsp of the minced garlic, and 1 tbsp of the rosemary to the dough. Knead the dough on a floured surface at least 10 or so minutes, until it is smooth and elastic and the herbs are pretty evenly distributed:

4. Put the dough back in the bowl, if it's clean enough, and cover with plastic. Let it rise in a warm place until doubled in volume. Two hours is a reasonable expectation. It should look like this:

5. At this point, it's time to get a cookie sheet out. Grease that thing up right with some olive oil, and slap the dough on there. Roll it out until it's about an even inch or so thick - the shape doesn't matter, so don't attempt a perfect rectangle. Let it rise another 30 minutes.

6. Slather the top in olive oil, spread around the remaining garlic and rosemary, and sprinkle on the remaining salt. The dough will collapse some, but take care not to compress it too much. With your finger tips, gently dimple the dough so it looks like this:

7. Now it's ready for baking! Preheat the oven to 450 degrees F, and bake until it's golden brown on the top, approximately 25-30 minutes. Voila!

Beautiful.

Please note that you MUST let the dough rise properly. I tried to rush things before and ended up with a broken heart and a giant bread stick that even the dog could barely chew. If there is just too much damn bread in the end, it's okay - it freezes well!

Laurel Canyon Dog Park

This is the closest dog park to our house, so we decided to take Darwin here last Friday. I have heard it is a pretty big dog park, but I must have overestimated its size in my head because it was smaller than I thought it would be. Really though, it was a pretty big dog park, with a lot of dogs. There were entire brigades of dog walkers there, herding packs of 30+ dogs! Who does that?? Do dogs ever get left behind? How can you possibly keep track of that many dogs when they aren't really yours? These people are serious professionals, and I was a little intimidated by their dog wrangling skills.

One thing I appreciated about this park that was noticeably different from my experience with San Francisco dog parks, was the lack of idiots and their aggressive mutts. I think during the hour and a half we were there, I may have seen one wussy dog fight. And not one crazy homeless drug addict with a ratty mongrel anywhere in sight! Maybe if we were closer to Santa Monica.


My worthless opinion aside, Darwin seemed to enjoy himself, despite the fact that he refused to stray too far from Michael's side. I do resent the fact that MY dog has taken more to my boyfriend in recent weeks. I maintain that it's because Michael lets Darwin jump up on him.

It was freakin' hot, but some dogs learned to cope.

Not Darwin though, who at this point in time is not a big fan of the water. He was perfectly content sitting next to Michael or occasionally running after a ball.



It all seemed pretty normal until Michael pointed out that one of the gentlemen across the park was a pretty big-name actor, although I haven't personally seen any of his movies. Shortly after, a woman approached the area we were sitting in. Her dog came up to me, and as I quickly fell in love with his sweetness, I hear the woman tell her friend that the dog I was petting was owned by an actress. Her friend says, "a known actress?" Her response was a chuckle before she says "oh yeah." As I sat there, petting some famous person's dog, looking at another famous actor with his dog and tall, tanned, blond girlfriend, I was reminded that I am indeed in Los Angeles now.

A Lesson in Zucchini Horticulture

Given that my mom is a horticulturist/botanist/florist extraordinaire (among other things) and I myself love to cook, my exposure to her expertise inevitably led me to cultivating my own edibles. So, after we moved, one of the boyfriend's first projects he decided to undertake was building me some wood planter boxes for our patio:

Shortly before, we had made a trip to the local nursery to start building our "crop." In addition to many other things, we... or he, rather (it was all a graduation present), purchased some zucchini plants. I've always wanted to try cooking with zucchini blossoms, and I've been forced to cultivate my own since I can never seem to find zucchini blossoms anywhere... despite the internet telling me they are so easily attainable.

So far, good fortune has graced us with flourishing zucchini plants, with blossoms just begging to be eaten. The problem is, most fruits/vegetables actually come from the center of the flower. The plant blossoms, the pedals of the flower die, and the center is left to grow into a fruit or vegetable or whatever. Therefore, if you pick the flower, you won't get the thing you wanted that it was supposed to be... which begs the question: if I pick a zucchini blossom, does that prevent it from turning into a zucchini? I at once consulted the internet, who told me that a zucchini plant produces two kinds of blossoms: male and female.

"What the hell?" I thought. "Male and female?"

With further reading it seemed that the MALE blossoms are for eating because the FEMALE blossoms turn into zucchinis. This led me to my second question: what the hell is the difference?

This! The female "flowers" actually look like a baby zucchini, which you can see at the very base of the plant. Whereas the male flowers actually look like... well, flowers. This means that the past week, I have watched bright orange delicious flowers wilt right before my very eyes, afraid to touch them because of the possibility that they may be baby zucchinis. I shake my head at the thought of how many blossoms were wasted.






You see this? This is a little boy I could have eaten.






I suppose the good news is, since I have made the distinction between male and female, edible and non-edible... it is now time to develop a recipe for zucchini blossoms.

"Fucking Perfect" Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

A bold title, I know. After writing, editing, and finally baking this recipe, I asked my roommate Dale what he thought of them. Before he responded, I said that I thought they were alright. Not as good as I was hoping. His response was, "what are you talking about? These are fucking perfect." Hence the title. These cookies are some strange hybrid of oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies. They don't contain enough oatmeal to be considered oatmeal cookies, and they don't contain enough flour to be considered chocolate chip cookies. But you know what? I like oats. Okay? I like to add oats to cookies for no good reason, and I don't think that makes me a bad person.

For people who are not accustomed to baking, cookies are a good way to start. They are usually simple to make and, unless you're an idiot, they're hard to screw up too much. And if you just so happen to be an idiot and one batch doesn't turn out very good, chances are (depending on your own personal level of idiocy) you can modify the dough so that the second batch turns out a little better.

As I was concocting this recipe, I came upon what I presumed to be my end result. "They don't look that amazing" was my thought. I tasted the batter, and again thought "it doesn't taste THAT amazing." Before I knew it, my stand mixer attachment was bone dry. This brings me to an important cookie baking tip, if any of you should be so bold as to come up with your own recipes or simply modify existing ones: if the batter is delicious before you bake it, it will also be delicious after you bake it. Simple, right?

I think what made the batter so delicious in this case were my not-so-secret favorite cookie ingredients: cream, honey, and cinnamon. I guess if you didn't have any, you could omit the honey. But what kind of self respecting person doesn't keep honey in the house, I ask you?

So! Having said all that, behold:

"Fucking Perfect" Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies

1 c. butter; softened
1 c. light brown sugar
1/2 c. white sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla
1 tsp salt
3 tbsp honey
3 tbsp whipping cream
1.5 tsp cinnamon
2 c. flour
2 c. oats
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 bag semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Mix together the butter, sugars, eggs, vanilla, salt, honey, whipping cream, and cinnamon in a large bowl. In another bowl, mix together the flour, oats, and baking powder. Incorporate the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and mix until combined.

Place spoonfuls of dough about 3 inches apart on a greased baking sheet, and bake for approximately 20 mins or until the cookies are browning around the edges.

Yields: about 4 dozen cookies