Purple potatoes in a tian!

It has been a day of good eats, starting with Tartine for breakfast this morning.

We were hungry again around 2pm and decided to clean out some of the stuff Garry had in his fridge.  He made panko-crusted tilapia and I made a modified veggie tian, based on Ina Garten's recipe that G and S used for Thanksgiving.  What I used:
  • Purple potatoes
  • 1 tomato
  • 1/2 white onion
  • 1 avocado
  • Plenty of olive oil
  • Salt & pepper
  • Chopped fresh thyme
  • Shredded mozzarella and grated parmesan
Sliced up all the veggies and layered/arranged them in a circular pattern in a pie dish.  Drizzed with olive oil, seasoned w/ salt and pepper, then topped with thyme.  Roasted, covered, for about 30 min at 400 degrees.  Took it out, sprinkled the cheeses, then put it back in, uncovered, for another 10 min.  Voila!

Had it with angel hair pasta in pesto.  Yum.

I want to give Lisa Hannigan a hug.

I finally downloaded Lisa Hannigan's debut album, Sea Sew off of Amazon MP3 and I really like it.  She has an achingly lovely voice and I think she's doing much better for herself since her musical breakup with Damien Rice.

I was just disappointed that the album version of "Sea Song" is so very different from the demo version she has on her MySpace page.  Sad.  Still, very enjoyable for a cold December night!

Figures =(

I have this cow-brown Kenneth Cole cropped, double-breasted leather aviator jacket with huge lapels that I bought on major sale two years ago ($150, down from $400).  Until today, I never wore it because I thought it would make me look like an assassin (all I need are spike-heeled boots and big sunglasses).  Or, at least, an aviator.

When I took it out of the garment bag this morning, cut off the tags and put it on over some regular clothes, though, I realized it looked fine.  Good, even.  So I was pretty happy about that as I went to work.

Then of course, at lunch, I somehow got hummus smeared onto the sleeve.  Now it's got these ugly stains and I don't know how to get rid of them without ruining the leather =( =( =(

Isn't it ironic?

Doing my part to help the economy: All I want for Christmas!

I've always had a practical approach to gifts, both giving and receiving, and there are few things that stress me out more than a useless gift, especially well-intentioned.  I appreciate the thought, but I literally don't know what to do with it.  

I hope I don't sound terribly crass and ungrateful; I'm not trying to be.  I just prefer to receive things that I will use (better yet if it is functional AND beautiful), or receive nothing material at all.  Of course, quality time, friendly notes and other immaterials are always welcomed.

That said, my definition of 'use' is pretty liberal.  Reading, listening, watching, or hanging something on my wall are all good uses in my opinion.  And so, here are some things I might buy myself or ask for this holiday season:
  • Kitchen stuff: A food processor, 7-9 cup that can handle dough, and two 12-cup madeleine baking pans
  • Music: Lisa Hannigan's debut, Sea Sew and Explosions in the Sky, The Earth is Not a Cold Dead Place
  • Two types of slow cooker cookbooks, one 'gourmet', and one that will teach me how to use the new slow-cooker I got.
  • Clothes: A pair of rockin' leather boots, rain boots (no, I never did buy them!), an exotic animal-skin accessory like the lizard card case or wide cuff below, a decent watch (haven't worn one for years b/c the $8 ones I bought on Canal St. in NYC kept breaking and/or getting lost), a unique coat I can wear every day, more modern/organic-looking gold jewelry
  • Things to keep me warm like the scarflette below, a pair of fingerless arm warmers, or a skirt in tartan plaid.
  • A Rosenthal 'Magic Flute' sugar bowl. I encountered one of these during our trip to French Laundry.  I am usually indifferent to china, but this was one of the most exquisite pieces I've ever held in my hands--it was inspiring.
  • Books: Cupid & Psyche by KY Craft (my favorite myth retold by a favorite illustrator), The Sacred Heart: An Atlas of the Body Seen Through Invasive Surgery by Max Aguilera-Hellweg, and the catalog of works by Tim Hawkinson, the contemporary artist whose exhibit at LACMA a couple years ago changed my life.
  • Movies: Penelope, Anne of Green Gables series, A Little Princess, Gossip Girl: Season 1, Shelley Duvall's Faerie Tale Theatre
  • A complete/basic and modern how-to book on sewing.
  • A trip to someplace warm and interesting.

One of my best friends and I have a very unromantic but effective gift-giving process--either just asking each other what the other wants, or finding each other's Amazon, eBay or etsy wish lists and buying off those.  One year I literally got her a hair dryer (a damned-good ionic one!). 

My early Christmas present to Garry?  A kickass Zojirushi rice cooker that makes perfect rice every time!  Unromantic you say?  What's not romantic about the fact that he uses it every day to make delicious food we can share together?

Alex Wong's latest project: The Paper Raincoat

This weekend I organized a bunch of coworkers to go take in the sultry sounds of Vienna Teng (more on her later).  We started the evening with delicious Nepalese food at Taste of the Himalayas , then off to the Palace of Fine Arts, and capped the night with dessert at Kowloon Tong Dessert Cafe (more on that later, too).

What I really wanted to talk about though, is The Paper Raincoat, the latest in a series of collaborations by the talented Alex Wong of The Animators, an Asian-American singer-songwriter-producer who can play an incredible number of instruments, from guitar to drums to glockenspiel.  Alex usually accompanies Vienna on tour, playing percussion and producing for her, but I'd never really seen him perform center stage.  He and his partner Amber made for a surprising treat of an opening act--you know how those are always hit or miss, but mostly miss?  Not so here. 

I like how they're kind of fun/whimsical, a living fantasy of sounds, and more upbeat and wonder-filled than neurotic and whiny.  Hats off to them for being optimistic in this day and age.

Purple Potato Pizza

CPK, eat your heart out.

Garry had a bag of Peruvian purple potatoes in his crisper for the last couple of weeks and I've been eyeing them with purple mashed potatoes in mind.  Today we were going to do a chicken stir-fry with mushrooms and bean sprouts, but I looked at the contents of his fridge and realized we had all the makings of a fantaaaaastic pizza.  

The first time I saw potato pizza on a menu, I was skeptical, but Pizza Antica changed my mind.  The starch-on-starch may sound redundant, but it's fantastic in texture and flavor.  You can't just use any old potato though--a nice rich one like a Yukon Gold or these purple potatoes works best.

Ingredients
  • TJ's herb pizza dough.  Next time we may try whole wheat instead.
  • TJ's pesto (soo good!)
  • Barely grilled chicken breast, cut into cubes (it doesn't need to be cooked all the way through because it'll keep cooking when you bake the pizza and you don't want it to get tough)
  • 3 purple potatoes, sliced and zapped in the microwave for 1 min.
  • Sliced crimini mushrooms, toasted in the toaster oven to get rid of the juices
  • A bit of thinly sliced white onions
  • Mozzarella cheese

We're slowly learning that when it comes to pizza, one had best exercise restraint.  Usually we're tempted to load a zillion toppings on our pizza, and while hearty and tasty, it sometimes gets soggy and just comes off as kind of...crass.  We're not quite where we need to be in terms of pizza-minimalism, but today was a step in the right direction: every ingredient was necessary, and the whole was a lot greater than the sum of all parts.  The only thing I might have added is a drizzle of truffle oil.

Needless to say, you can't get a pizza like this anywhere, but if you could, it would probably cost like $25 (with the generous amt of toppings involved).  Plus I like how, as Garry quipped, it's "shaped like Oregon."