Pumpkin Sunday

I've decided that on Sundays, I will post pics of my cat, Pumpkin. Just because.

This pic is in honor of my wonderful girlfriend, Jane, who is currently in NYC for a month working on the Dr Oz show.

Happy Pumpkin Sunday!

"But I wants to go to NYC too..."

-JK

Los Angeles Retrospective

I figured I did a cat post and an "eating-in" post, so it's now time for an "eating-out" post. Here follows pics of places I ate while home for the holidays in the city of angels. They will be accompanied by haikus, because I'm a freakin' haiku master.

Rubio's Mexican Grill

Fried, flaky, moist fish,

in burritos and tacos:

My favorite fast food.

Take a Bao

Fluffy bao, bao, baos!

Filled with hoisin steak, you are

Fancy food court snacks!

Father's Office

Crappy iPhone pics

Don't convey the wonder of

LA's best burger

Rivera

Truly beautiful

presentations of high class

Mexican cuisine

Roscoe's Chicken & Waffles

An unlikely pair

that harmonizes with a

symphonic beauty

Blockheads Shaving Co.

Delicious and light,

This has the potential to

be the Next Big Thing

Din Tai Fung

Delicate dumplings

Housing hot, savory soup

Worth the hour long wait.

-JK

a bunny for your hunny!

There is a tantalizing recipe in Diana Henry's cookbook Plenty that has captivated my imagination for over a year now.  It features rabbit in mustard and tarragon cream sauce stewed to perfection in a cast iron pot.  Though my early experiences with rabbit were of betrayal and horror (being tricked into eating it by parents after making it clear I would not eat my zodiac animal), I became enamored with this heartwarming, exotic dish.  Would it taste like chicken?  Like duck?  I waited until the weather had cooled enough to warrant such effort, and finally made it on a snowy December evening.

I went to Cleveland's West Side Market to purchase the rabbit.  At a meat stand in the far right corner of the market, I asked how many rabbits would be 3.5 lbs.  The girl at the counter snippely told me each rabbit was about 2 lbs and that I'd have to buy whole rabbits.  As I waited for her to chop two rabbits into pieces, shoppers behind me kept gasping at the sign for rabbits and exclaimning "I could NEVER eat rabbit, just out of principle."  I wanted to turn around and yell at them, yes, I am a monster, but decided instead to leave them to their unadventurous lives.
 

Browning the rabbits smelled like a mixture of chicken and birthday cake.  It was a strange aroma that was comforting but still a little different.  After the sauce thickened, the rabbit ended up being as delicious as I had imagined.  Try it some time!  And as for leftovers, I ended up de-boning the pieces and making a faux rillette style dish to accompany charcuterie.  Enjoy!

Diana Henry's Rabbit with mustard and tarragon:

Step 1: Preparing and browning the rabbit:

Season 3 - 4 lbs rabbit parts (about 2 rabbits) with salt and pepper and brown in 2 tbsp unsalted butter.  Remove.

Step 2: Preparing the sauce:

In the same pain, cook 1 finely chopped onion until soft, add 2 cups stock (I used beef), simmer, and return the rabbit.  Simmer for 20 minutes covered and 20 minutes uncovered.

Step 3: Finishing the sauce:

Remove the rabbit, leaving the stock and onions in the pan.  Add .5 cup heavy cream (which is apparently the same thing as whipping cream!) and reduce the liquid by half.  Then add 4 tsp Dijon mustard, good squeeze of lemon juice, and leaves from 4 tarragon sprigs.  After this has reduced a bit, return the rabbit to the sauce and add in leaves from 4 more sprigs of tarragon.  Serve hot!

Leftover Step: Making Faux Rillettes:

Remove meat from rabbit.  Sauté in non-stick pan for a minute to brown, then deglaze pan with a touch of red wine and add a quarter cup of stock and quarter cup of milk.  Add salt, additional tarragon if you still have it, and boil down to desired consistency.  Delicious on rice crackers!

- Jane

Huevos Rancheros

This morning, Jane and I found ourselves in the new year wondering an eternal question: What should we do for brunch?

After perusing the brunch options in Cleveland, we ultimately decided, let's MAKE brunch! Riveting stuff, I know.

Jane was already set on making gluten-free pancakes (see below). The strawberries, by the way, were totally my idea.

I knew I had to contribute something too... but what? I looked to the occasion of the new year for inspiration:

New Year... 2012... Mayan Apocalypse... Mexico... Huevos Rancheros!

Yea, so that's the story. Here's the recipe:

Ingredients (for 2):

4 tortillas (corn tortillas if gluten-free!)

~4 tbs vegetable oil

1 can refried beans

2 eggs

Salsa

Guacamole

Shredded Cheese

Steps:

1) Heat oil in pan.

I said 4 tbs, but use whatever amount it takes to make a nice thin layer of oil on the bottom of the pan.

2) Fry tortillas, one at a time, in oil. Dry on paper towels.

Meanwhile, heat refried beans.

3) Smother each fried tortilla with refried beans.

4) Stacking time!(from bottom to top):

Tortilla, bean, salsa, cheese, tortilla, bean, cheese, salsa, guac

4A) Optional step:

Before adding top layer of salsa and guac, stick mixture in microwave and heat for 1.5 min to melt cheese.

5) Fry eggs. Top each ranchero with un huevo.

(I just reused the oil I used to fry to tortillas. Make sure the oil is extra hot before sliding in the eggs. You want a little crispiness on the whites with a runny yolk)

Happy 2012!

-JK

Please Allow Me to Introduce Myself...

Hello.

My name is Juewon, and I will be a co-blogger on tastybuttons.

Here are my first thoughts:

1) This is my first blog (excluding xanga), so please be gentle.

2) I was asked to contribute to this blog by my tastybutton, Jane.

I will by typing in Courier because it's old timey, and Jane likes it. Jane will continue typing in Helvetica because she got to pick first.

3) Jane and I met in medical school. We have a cat together named Pumpkin. Apparently this was not enough of an overt sign of commitment, hence I am now writing in this blog.

4) I have a rough outline of what my contributions to the blogosphere will be:

I) Food

A) Eating in

1) Recipes!

B) Eating out

2) Some clever scoring system?

II) Musings

A) Opinions

1) I have them

III) Cat Pictures

A) It IS the internet, after all.

5) I plan to assail you with my cutting wit and incisive humor. Feel free to respond in kind in the comments section.

So with that, I wish you all a happy 2012, and please enjoy this newer, edgier, sexier version of tastybuttons.

Here is a cat using an iPad.

-JK

nye

New Year's Eve! After much deliberation and phone-calling, we decided to head over to Luxe in Lakewood. 8 of us spent the night at a beautifully decorated table eating corn dogs, fries, fried brussel sprouts, and arugula pizza. I had the shrimp and grits, which were tasty, but the grits weren't very creamy. The shrimp, however, were cooked well and the accompanying vegetables were very satisfying in taste and texture.

Juewon's review: "I've had better meals at Luxe in the past. The corn dogs were good but nothing spectacular, and the arugula pizza focused on the olive topping rather than the arugula itself. More arugula and some type of dressing would have elevated the dish. Beignets were not airy enough. With that said, I've had spectacular meals in the past at Luxe and would definitely want to go again. I was sad they were out of the quail. I do think they did a wonderful job decorating and the service was top notch."

For New Year's Day, I was craving pastries and pancakes and was sad there were no gluten-free options in any restaurants in Cleveland. Thankfully, Whole Foods was open today so we headed over to get ingredients! Here are New Years Day Pancakes made Two Ways!

1. Dry ingredients: Mix 1 cup buckwheat flour, 1 cup gluten-free (or regular) all-purpose flour, 1.5 tsp baking powder, .5 tsp baking soda, 2 tbsp sugar, and a dash of cinnamon.

2. Wet ingredients: Beat two eggs, add 2 cups milk, 2 tbsp melted butter, and 1 tbsp water.

3. Combine ingredients, whisk for as long as you can to aerate, and scoop 1/2 cup batter to buttered pan to cook.

4. To dress up, add chocolate chips to batter (left photo) or strawberry topping (right photo). "Strawberry topping made by slicing fresh strawberries and heated gently with a few drops of vanilla extract and a 1 smidgeon of brown sugar." - J1 does not go by tablespoons.

Happy New Year!

- Jane