Russian Lunch For Misha!

I finally found a bento box for Misha and had no bloody clue as what to throw in there. I'm mildly tempted to throw in a Nationality Tour for a theme. So, I decided to start with Russia. (That seems so much more random when I think about it.)

For starters, I was going to purchase these two sandwich cutters from Williams Sonoma; they're in the shape of a heart and dinosaur. I thought for Russia, heart would work better. (As his nickname is Russian--I call him Misha and Mishka, depending. Russia doesn't seem so random now, eh?)

So, I'd start with answering "What is a Russian Sandwich?" and got this article. Mmmm, бутерброд! (Buterbrod for people who can't read Cyrillic.) I then remembered our culture viewing in Russian class, and how for morning, everyone ate bread plus butter plus hard-boiled eggs/ham/caviar/fish/sausage/cheese. Misha doesn't like fish, and I don't think he'll eat their eggs either.

So, the sandwich? Can't have greenies. He's a carnivore, not an omnivore. (Weirdo.) So, the bread would be Russian black bread, provided by Smitten Kitchen. Then, I'd let him cheese taste Edam cheese, and if he'd like that, we'd move on. If not, some havarti, swiss, and gouda. Maybe some Tilsit cheese. (That's a mild joke, it's sometimes labelled as havarti.)

To stay in line with the бутерброд feeling, I'd say to add in some salami and sausage. So far, the only thing I could say for sure is this Kiev dry salami. Other than that, I'd love to taste test. Particularly that hunter sausage. D:

I would -love- to throw in some saurkraut as well. I love saurkraut, and frankly, that's quite Russian. (About west of Germany is when the love of pickling seems to stop.) I would probably mix it in with this recipe of Russian dressing from copykat:

1 1/2 C. Mayonnaise
1/2 C. sour cream
2/3 C. chili sauce (this is a condiment typically sold near cocktail sauce)
1 Tbsp. fresh lemon juice
2 Tbsp. minced dill pickle
1 Tbsp. minced green pepper
2 Tbsp. minced green onion
4 tsp. fine grated fresh horseradish or drained bottled horseradish
2 tsp. Worcestershire sauce
1/2 tsp. Tobasco
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
1/8 tsp. freshly ground pepper
1/2 tsp. paprika
1 Tbsp. minced parsley

Combine all ingredients in a food processor or blender. Blend until thoroughly mixed, but do not over blend. Refrigerate in a covered jar until serving time. Stir before using.

However that wouldn't fly from the Misha crowd-lines. (Frankly, once properly drained and mixed into a dressing, saurkraut is delicious. It's not messy and quite awesome.)

For the appetizer/side addition would probably be something like potato salad. And not that weak-ass stuff we get in America. Well chopped -good- potato salad. Or варе́ники (varenki), a variation of pierogi, or пельмени (pelmeni). This would probably beef-based.

For dessert? Blini, are obvious choices, as are some kasha fruit dishes, pirozhki, honey cake or honey mousse.

To drink, compot. Or if actually non-alcoholic (as seen by the American government), kvass. (I don't know what it tastes like exactly.)

-- As usual with these things, I get caught up and style more to my tastes...

Snackie Lunches

Misha doesn't eat many full meals a day. When he gets a job (with this economy, it's impossible to find one), I want to make him lunch, but they'd have to miniature. To me, this will be GREAT fun. Sort of like tiny bento-styled lunches that are cute, because it's also tiny, but also tasty! And it could just be a dessert style or not! So, here's a list of things I want to buy to help make the lunches. If I go to a one-day for Otakon, I'll search around then too.

Sandwich Cutters, 50-Piece Set
Dino Cutter, W&S
Heart Cutter, W&S
Veggie Cutter, Bento (These would be to not cut veggies, but other things, like to form designs and pretty stuff.)

Blue Bear Bento --It's... Sadly cutesy-happy. I think this would be HILARIOUS.

Yellow Cake with Chocolate Frosting and Raspberry Filling

I must say that this was absolutely delicious. Also, there's no great photos of it in the process of making. You get the beginning and end result. Whoops.



It was admittedly a box cake (Pillsbury Classic Yellow). The only 'problem' during the mixing was that we didn't have vegetable oil. My step-brother, a baker, said to use extra virgin olive oil. Which worked absolutely fine. Later on, my step-sister told me that she always uses butter, never oil, but that the traditional substitute for veggie oil is applesauce, and that it works wonderfully.



The frosting I used came from Smitten Kitchen's, however we had trouble with it being too thin. I would suggest that if you use her recipe and find that it's still thin, throw in about a cup of powdered sugar.



The raspberry filling was wonderful, although it was my step-sister who made it, not me. (I'm afraid of making sauce, although apparently not of making frosting--chocolate just seems more natural to work with.)

For some reason, over the night, half the bag of raspberries disappeared. I'm certain someone ate them, but are afraid of confessing. My dad had to go out and purchase more.

Also, I swear that the filling looks like some thing exploded in a goop of blood and gore and bone fragments. It just looks like meaty pulp. I find that mesmerizing. (Although I'm sure that now a bunch of people won't eat the cake anymore.)

(It was delicious, I swear.)



We ate the cake. That's what's left. Kiwii frosted it and cut strawberry slices in a sort of floral pattern. This was a group effort cake, obviously.

Heart-Shaped Red Velvet Whoopie Pies

The recipe was taken from tWtCC.



As you can see, I didn't mix the batter just enough (there's a small brown blob on the there). So, yea, everyone? Mix your batter more than I did. It looks like some of these hearts had myocardial infarctions.



Overall, we enjoyed them. The batter was very nice. I really liked the brown, but then I added the red.



And I was absolutely enjoying how much dye I put it. To me, red velvet cake should be RED. This was also done during the end of January. I was unable to make anything on Valentine's Day, but I wanted to do these.

The problem, however, is that whoopie pie batter is CAKE, not cookie. I had some odd notion that I'd be able use cookie cutters. I also turned out to be wrong.



It was a pain. What I did was trace the outline of the heart by using the edge of the (now useless) cookie cutter with batter, then dolloped the batter on and formed it with spoons and knives. In the end, they turned out wonderfully, but just not as simple as I planned.



Which you can see them in the background. I always, always, use parchment paper. It is a GODSEND. No mess! No cleaning up the pans!



I did not use the frosting from tWtCC, but just normal whoopie pie filling. I'm so tired of cream cheese frosting. Our family NEVER uses any other frosting other than cream cheese. Let's just say that even though cream cheese is better with red velvet, I was glad not to use it. The only problem is that we found it way too sweet. Misha (my boyfriend) and my dad both thought that next time, less sugar!



This is the second time I've made whoopie pies, actually. I originally did so years ago (when I was like 14) and accidentally dumped loads of fake almond extract into the frosting. Which I stupidly never tasted until I assembled all the whoopie pies. The batter was delicious, however!

List of recipes/food I want to make

Mousse
Grilled Cheese
Porridge (Read One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich and they ate каша or kasha, which is Russian buckwheat porridge.)
Muffins (I'd like to try these.)
Chocolate Orange Sticks (blood oranges and normal.)
Russian black bread (From Smitten Kitchen.)
Chicken Pesto and Risotto (from Cook (almost) anything at least once.)
Falafel (From Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once: carrot falafel.)
Blue Cheese Scones (Taken from C(a)AALO.)
Tortillas (For Michael, so he can make tacos.)
Lobster (Do you know how much I miss lobster? We used to have it once every year. Maybe I should try prawns? I hate crabs. Should try eel and calamari as well!)
Lamb Stew (Just like my Latin teacher used to make for International Day.)
Chicken and Apricot (Latin class reminded me of one of the dishes someone served for a project.)
Spicy Chili (The red to emphasize spice.)
Veal Rolls (C(a)AALO)



This post from Cook (almost) Anything At Least Once made me think of an idea--dessert tasting platter. Small tarts, spoon-size creme brulee, mini cakes, chocolate orange sticks.

Chocolates and New

Originally this was to be about a cooking-oriented story I was writing. I didn't have time, so it sort of died. Therefore, the first few posts, which I'll do something with eventually, will continue to sit there, and instead, the purpose of this blog will be now about food in general.

GODIVA White Chocolates:



The box I bought was of white chocolate (Misha likes them). There were two of these. I didn't like them. They're Raspberry Cashew Caramel Clusters.



And, really? Maybe I don't like clusters. (Misha doesn't like nuts, especially whole, so he didn't eat them). I tried some of their other raspberry chocolates latter on, thinking I'd hate it, but I didn't. So, that's not the problem here. The second one I had was a lot better, but still. I don't like it.



The raspberry star was DELICIOUS. It was very tart, which I like. Most fruit chocolates I hate, because they're too sweet.

(I'll write more, but I haven't eaten them all yet. I don't want to eat them all at ONCE, so uh... I'll continue this post later.)

The Fifth One

I have found out exactly what happens during the College Years. There are the Four (three guys and a girl) who own the Club restaurants were all friends; this I knew already. However there was a fifth member of their group; an aspiring young lady. She is the backbone of their friendship. She was the one who brought their astounding talents together to attempt to create the greatest restaurant in, at least, the nation. They were working on a name, they liked the idea of Club M (she had this design for it, the colours, the layout, the uniforms). It would be this giant plethora of delicious food and great dining. Then, she died. This I knew already, that she has to, but I didn't know why or how. I figured as either an accident or a suicide. Something related to cooking in some way, specifically how she dies, but maybe not why. However, she has an idol, relatively like Jeremy Savarin, she was devoted to this man's work. He was one of the huge celebrity chefs hitting the top of the peak of great food. He was very busy and always had a lot new, innovative ideas. He was the one who got her into cooking and she was going to dedicate her restaurant to him. She wanted create something he would love. The dean at the culinary school she went to recognized her talents, and as a graduation was close (the Five were all in the same classes and year, they would graduate together), he convinced the chef to visit the school as a guest. She was a teacher's pet, essentially, but, in a way, she sort of earned her rights to this. On the day of the visit, she was going to have a personal dinner with the dean and her idol chef. After the dinner, she was to share her idol her ideas. She had left her book (of ideas) in the restaurant, and as a gentleman, her idol retrieved it for her. As he was crossing the street back from the restaurant, he gets hit by a car, and dies. It's an instantaneous death. In despair, as graduation gets closer and the thought of opening this restaurant with her friends and fellow co-workers draws nearer, she can't stand it. She believes she killed her idol, the man who was the sole reason she was even doing this. The day before graduation, she kills herself. (I do not know how yet.) Afterwards, the group cannot work together. The Fifth was their backbone, and without her, they are in need of a leader. In hatred to each other for what happened and in love for what their friend did, they attempt to create the perfect Club M. An obsession from an obsession. They wish to honor the death of their late friend, and want to create what she would have truly wanted. She had several idea logs, of various re-writes of Club M. She never knew which one she loved more but revolved around them all. One week, she'd work on one idea, then for the next month, another. Each one based on various influences from her friends and her idol. They each take one of the logs, the one based from each of them. (She had five logs, one for each of the Four and one for the idol chef--which was the one he was holding when he died, and therefore was 'unusable', as it was covered in blood and eventually destroyed before she killed herself.) They go their separate ways, and attack and sabotage each other as they try to fulfill their friends dream.