Tuesday, March 18, 2008

Choose Your Own Adventure: A Photoessay

'Tis time for another photoessay. I am totally short on time and cannot write a proper post at the moment. I also have a massive backlog of photos of the things I eat (I take pictures of close to everything that passes my lips, much to my very patient friends' chagrin) that never sees the light of day. That's just not right. And while my cooking has slowed down as of late, it has not stopped entirely.

So here is the theme for the current photoessay: Homemade Adventure. You tell me which picture speaks to you the most. Not necessarily the prettiest picture or the best composed plating, but what you would want to eat most. Tell me what makes your stomach grumble and that shall be the subject of my next post, provided I don't blow an aneurysm in the next week from dissertation stress. Stranger things have happened.

Help me out. Make the decision for me - tell me what to post about! Please vote by leaving a comment with the name of the dish/picture. Vote with your stomach, less with your eyes (I really do suck at taking good pictures).




Mark Bittman's short ribs, braised with red wine and coffee; lemon risotto, and the supervisor's honey and vinegar glazed carrots.



Breakfast tacos: scrambled eggs with chorizo and avocado, in home made tortillas (a Battling Brunches entry).


Baked cod, breaded with homemade buttered bread crumbs and smoked paprika, with balsamic drizzled avocado (an American Test Kitchens test recipe! They send you a recipe, you test it and tell them what you think. It's neat to be a part of the "test" in Test Kitchens, even if in a small part).

Yellow tomatoes with fresh basil, balsamic, and good olive oil. Simple and summery. (Guess now you know how long that picture has been the depths of my hard drive).

Blini - this one is a bit of a cheat. My grandmother actually made these Russian-style crepes, stuffed with ground beef, onions, and other secret grandmother ingredients that make this wonderful, delicious, and near impossible to replicate. If the blini are selected for the next post, I will beg her for the recipe and try to write it up, although please don't expect the product to taste nearly as good as these did. It's not possible, because you are not my grandmother. (Hi Lina!)

No-knead bread - no work, all the pay-off. It really does taste like it's straight from a bakery. Spread with pepper-blueberry preserves.

Breakfast the morning after - samosa insides fried as potato cakes and fried eggs. Part of the post New Years recovery program. I highly recommend it.

Irish soda bread with pecans and raisins. No kneading, no waiting, slightly sweet and super dense.

Quinoa salad, courtesy of Amanda at What We're Eating, with a thyme and lime vinaigrette.

14 comments:

Anonymous said...

Take no offense, but I'd have to go for the heirloom tomatoes--yum!

Naveen said...

I'll have to go for the breakfast tacos (brief wave of homesickness for the southwestern United States).

Anonymous said...

wait a minute, I thought you're spending all your time in front of your laptop dissertation-writing!!!

For the photoessay, I'll say the same:

blini rocks!

mehdi

Unknown said...

i can write no more. i must have the short ribs now.
everything looks delicious!
blini would be great too in case you're looking for a majority :P

JC said...

I'm going with the breakfast tacos. The combination of flavors there is perfect, and the homemade tortillas are the icing on the cake.

AishaJ said...

It's got to be the Blinis, I think you're up for a Grandma's recipe challenge :)

Anna said...

D'oh! It was all clear until Aisha's vote! Guess I will wait (ahem, procrastinate) a little longer before deciding on what to write about. Maybe there will be a tie breaker somewhere!

Anonymous said...

Oooh you know I have to vote for the breakfast tacos!

Anonymous said...

i'll gladly push it over the top in favor of the tacos. i'm never one to turn down anything that involves avocados and tortillas. and, as i'm starting the dissertation struggle myself (thanks for study company like you!), i'll need distractions such as that tortilla recipe to get me through. mmmmm. i can already tell what i'll be having on saturday morning - if i'm that coherent :)

Anonymous said...

i'm being lame and needing to add a p.s. - if you do post re: tacos, can you include where you all got the chorizo? always looking for further tasty cured meat combinations :)

Anonymous said...

Blinis please!!!! Anything Grandma makes rocks.

Nitasha said...

ohhh those ribs look outstanding. also the blinis - yum!

Anna said...

We are in a dead heat, yet again. Four votes for the blini and four for the breakfast tacos. Here's what Imma gonna do. Seeing as how these days I hardly have time to go to the bathroom, much less blog, I am going to go with the tacos for now and write up the blini later. How does that sound? I am not sure why I am asking, since it's my blog, my breakfast tacos, and I am decreeing over here. Tacos it is, blini to follow soon(ish). Voting is now officially closed! Thank you one and all for making the decision for me.

rev joe said...

This is paintergirl

BLINI BLINI BLINI