what’s for dinner | kimberly ah

Apr 21 2014

Easter Sunday & Roasted Grapes

Yesterday was Easter, but even better than that, it finally felt like real spring outside–warm enough to wear a dress and spend some time outside writing letters, and warm enough to sleep with the windows open. Bliss. Even my “anniversary tree” is budding and looking more spring-like. I’m excited to plant some flowers and plan a balcony party or two. We spent Easter evening at our neighbor-friend, Karen’s. We joined her family party, which included Karen’s ninety-nine year old grandmother (who didn’t look a day over seventy-five!)

I made an appetizer of roasted grapes and manchego cheese and like last week, it seemed like a hit. (It really is hard to tell if people are just being polite or if they truly love your cooking.) I love easy and unique recipes (much like my beloved ricotta) and this one is going to be a new go-to for happy hours and dinners around here. Also, I bet it would be tasty with the ricotta…

Roasted Grapes with Honey & Thyme

(adapted slightly from Right at Home)

1 pound seedless red grapes

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 tablespoon fresh thyme (stems removed)

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon pepper

1 tablespoon honey

Preheat oven to 400°F. Line a cookie sheet with foil and set aside.

Wash grapes and remove from stems. Dry the grapes on a tea towel to remove excess moisture and place in a large bowl. Add olive oil, thyme leaves, salt and pepper. Stir to coat.

Pour grapes onto cookie sheet and place in oven until skins pop (about fifteen minutes). There will be a little bit of grape juice in the pan.

Remove from oven and drizzle with honey.

Serve warm or at room temperature with manchego cheese and crackers.

Because I was serving the grapes with cheese and crackers, I used a slotted spoon to transfer them from the pan to the serving bowl. If you were serving the grapes with chicken or desserts, the juice would be a delicious addition. And while the original recipe called for two teaspoons of thyme, I think extra thyme is a welcomed flavor, especially with the manchego cheese.

Karen made her famous pimento cheese (along with a traditional Easter dinner) and made us feel like family. Thanks for a fun time, Karen!!

Tagged celebrations, food, forest park, holidays, homemaking

Mar 18 2014

2 Comments

adventures, what's for dinner

Empty Bowls

A couple of weeks ago, I attended Empty Bowls, a fundraiser hosted by Oak Park-River Forest High School and its Wheel Throwing Club. Empty Bowls raises money to help West Suburban PADS (a shelter program) and the local food pantry. For $15 you get a handmade bowl and some soup and bread. The bowls are made and donated by OPRF students and the soup is made and donated by local grocery stores and restaurants. The event feels very community-driven. My friend Karen goes every year and this year Jackie and I joined her. I’m only sad I didn’t know about it sooner. Many communities host Empty Bowls, so I highly recommend seeing if there’s one near you.

There were hundreds of bowls to choose from–big ones, little ones, well-made ones, imperfect ones, colorful ones, natural ones–it was seriously hard to choose. I think we each swapped out our choices at least once. Jackie ended up with a blue spotted bowl and Karen’s was a green ombre. My bowl (bottom center) is speckled white. It reminds me of a bird’s egg. Taking your bowl home serves “as a gentle reminder of the many empty bowls that need filling world wide.” (Quote taken from the Empty Bowls website.)

During the fundraiser, my bowl held a hearty portion of chicken noodle soup. Today it’s sitting on my desk reminding me that I have enough.

Tagged adventures, crafts, food, forest park

Feb 10 2014

2 Comments

celebrations, crafty adventures, Olympics, what's for dinner

Mini Olympics Party

On Friday night, I hosted a mini party for the Olympics Opening Ceremony. Even though it was a small party, I felt compelled to decorate just a little bit. (I find the decorations distract guests from my messy desk.) I searched Pinterest for some ideas and found this fun flag print-out. I trimmed out the flags of participating countries (they all weren’t represented, sadly) and pasted them around some baker’s twine. (Presley helped. She’s on Team USA.) I made two separate garlands and hung them up over the TV–front and center with the Olympic action–and right next to the official Adami Hasegawa Medal Count board. Naoto and I have a medal count competition–USA v Japan. For snacks, I made these cheese crackers and these salami crisps. The cheese crackers were delicious and couldn’t have been simpler. I made the dough early in the afternoon, rolled it into the log and kept it in the fridge. Then, right before the guests came, I sliced the crackers and popped them in the oven. My house smelled delicious and the crackers were amazing right out of the oven.

The sausage crisps were easy too. I used thinly sliced Trader Joe’s Chianti sausage and instead of Giada’s recommended basil, I used dill for topping…I love dill, and I felt like it was more “Russian”.

It was a fun way to welcome back the games and to gear up for two weeks of snow and ice (both on TV and outside…I don’t think our snow is going to melt until April.)

P.S. I really wanted to make these Olympic torch snacks.

P.P.S. For another Olympic party, go here.

Tagged celebrations, crafts, diy, food, Olympics

Dec 03 2013

3 Comments

celebrations, holidays, homemaking, Thanksgiving, vintage, what's for dinner

Our Thanksgiving 2013

It’s not too late to share our Thanksgiving, right?

Naoto and I hosted my parents for Thanksgiving dinner last Thursday afternoon. As usual, we had a grand time with them, cooking, eating, drinking and cleaning up the massive kitchen mess. And as it has been for the past seven years, Naoto did all of the cooking (except the cranberries!) and I did all of the cleaning and decorating. In honor of his Thanksgiving duties, I gave Naoto this apron that I bought from Nourishing Notes during Show of Hands. He rocked the apron with his pajamas all day long. (It was a very relaxed holiday.) Ever since I made the vintage ephemera Thanksgiving invitations, I had visions of incorporating some more ephemera into the table centerpiece. And, since I was using old paper, it only made sense to get vintage colors and vintage dishes into the mix. The wonderful thing was, other than the flowers, I had everything I needed right in my china cabinet and buffet. (It pays to be a dish hoarder sometimes.)I was excited to use my vintage Taylor Smith Taylor dishes. My mom and I found a whole set at a thrift store for $10 a few years ago and I bought them with the intent of using them for Thanksgiving. They were perfect for the table this year. (And thanks, Mom, for hand washing them after dinner!) Naoto’s turkey was perfect, the stuffing was amazing (in spite of a close call with an almost-forgotten egg) and, along with the cranberries, we enjoyed fluffy mashed potatoes and gravy, roasted cauliflower, Hawaiian rolls and a tasty caramel apple cheesecake that my mom made. There is a reason I look forward to this meal every year. (But man, am I ever ready for pizza after the long weekend of leftovers!)The chef was glad to have another successful year under his apron belt. Today I am (finally) putting away Thanksgiving for another year, and hopefully dipping into the Christmas decorations. We are hosting two small parties the next two weekends, so time to break out the Christmas spirit. It’s one of those years when retailers make you feel like you’re running behind…cheers to enjoying the season!

If you’d like to relive Thanksgiving 2012, go here.

Tagged celebrations, decorating, food, holidays, home, homemaking, parents, Thanksgiving, Trader Joe's, vintage

Oct 17 2013

2 Comments

adventures, Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, what's for dinner

Community Garden Pizza Night

I haven’t blogged about the garden lately…Naoto and I have become gardening slackers–I already regret not taking advantage of our mild, summer-like autumn, but once we came home from Japan, it was like we lost our garden mojo. Don’t get me wrong, we are still totally on board for gardening next year, we just lost the drive to continue poking around the garden for one last tomato and lima bean this year. But that hasn’t stopped us from hanging out with our fellow community gardeners at the garden events. We went to a barbecue at the garden at the end of September. It was fun relax in the garden and eat grilled foods and the garden-y dishes we all contributed. (Naoto and I brought this…it was a hit!)

Last weekend, we went to a grilled pizza event. We all loved the grilled pizzas from the progressive dinner so the garden held another event to teach everyone how to make them. Michelle and Andrew basically held a cooking show in (the other) Michelle’s dining room. They demonstrated how to make the crust and how to cook the pizza on the grill so it crisps while the cheese and other toppings cook evenly. (It is harder than it looks.) Naoto and I don’t have a grill–it’s against the rules to grill on our balcony–but we are hoping that some kind friends invite us over to try our hands at pizza grilling. In the meantime, we plan to perfect our crust and use our oven. The best part of the night (well, second to the pizza, I suppose) was when Michelle lit a fire and we turned up the music and had a sing-along to awesome old songs like Total Eclipse of the Heart and Faithfully and Oh Sherrie…there is nothing like a chilly night, a fire and classic rock ballads…I couldn’t have asked for a more perfect night. And with that, I’ve written 300 posts. Thanks, everyone, for reading and for commenting and for encouraging. It means a lot.

Tagged adventures, food, forest park, garden, gardening

Sep 25 2013

Conveyor Belt Sushi

Naoto wanted to take me to conveyor belt sushi during our stay in Japan. Conveniently, Sushi Daidokoya was just a block away from our hotel. (Seriously…it was the best hotel location.)

Conveyor belt sushi restaurants are kind of “fast-food” sushi, without the mystery meats and paper wrappings. They are just quick and cheap places for sushi. The restaurants have rotating conveyor belts of different offerings. The sushi chef is usually in the center of the belt slicing up different cuts of fish and making the sushi. He puts each serving on a little plate (about the size of a saucer) and then the customer chooses which kind of sushi she wants from the belt.

When we walked in, we were greeted by all of the restaurant staff (much like the izakaya experience, and really all dining establishments in Japan). We took our seats at the communal table surrounding the conveyor belt and Naoto filled up our tea mugs. There were hot water spigots at each seat, making it easy to help ourselves. A woman handed us a hot towel and then we were on our own to pick out what we wanted from the conveyor belt as delicious sushi offerings glided by.

We chose several things directly off of the belt. It was lunchtime so everything was freshly made and snagged up quickly. We didn’t see my favorite roll–the tekka roll (tuna and wasabi wrapped in rice and seaweed)–so Naoto special ordered it and the sushi chef passed it over the belt to me.

Here’s a little video of the view from our seat. Things move around pretty quickly so you have to be on your toes and know what you want!

At the end of the meal, the woman who gave us our towels came over and counted our plates. We ate twelve plates of sushi and our bill was less than $20. It was awesome.

Tagged adventures, food, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Sep 24 2013

5 Comments

adventures, cocktails, Japan 2013, My Love Affair with Tokyo, what's for dinner

Scenes from the Izakaya

Naoto & I spent several evenings in Japan with family and friends drinking and dining in izakayas. An izakaya is a Japanese pub. The style is similar to tapas where you order several small dishes and share. I am not a huge food sharer (once I ate Ethiopian food with a guy with a head cold…it scarred me for life!) but I am a huge fan of the izakaya. I love the casual atmosphere. I love when you walk in and every. single. server greets you, no matter where they are in the restaurant. (I always feel like Norm walking into Cheers!) I love the hot towel (oshibori). I love that Naoto can order some “safe” dishes for me, and some wild and “crazy” dishes for himself and the family. (See whole fish below…Naoto had the honor of eating the head.)Most izakaya menus are entirely in Japanese. The first time we went to Japan, Naoto tried to read the entire menu to me. That got annoying, (I’m sure for both of us) so on this trip, I just told him to order what he wanted, and to make sure there were a few things that I would enjoy. I mean, there was really no point in him telling me about the six-headed squid on the menu when I would never eat it.

So while Naoto was devouring his fish head, I could eat sushi and sashimi, chicken skewers, goma-ae (pictured below, spinach with miso sesame sauce…I love this!), and other vegetable dishes.When we had dinner with Naoto’s family, we sat at a long table in the main room of the izakaya. The other times, with Hisae and then with Naoto’s friends, we sat in a smaller, private rooms. In Japan, the servers are not constantly checking on you like they are (for the most part) here in America. If you need something, you just ring a bell (as we did in one of the establishments) or yell out, “Sumimasen!” (excuse me) and the server comes to take your order or clear your plates or bring your bill. (It’s a beautiful concept…American restaurants, let’s talk about adopting this.)Because I’m not a huge beer drinker, and because I wanted to avoid a Tokyo hangover at all cost, I mostly drank cocktails. Usually they consisted of some kind of house-made liqueur (yuzu or lychee or peach or plum) and soda water, or some secret concoction. We also drank sake (of course!) and shochu (not my favorite). When we met up with Naoto’s college friends (Jessica and Keiichi, along with their son Ethan) we ended our meal with zosui, a rice soup made with chicken stock and other vegetables. Ours was cooked at the table, which was awesome because we were all cold and wet from the downpour we walked through to get to the izakaya. (None of us had umbrellas, which is unheard of in Japan.) The zosui had chicken, scallions, mushrooms, tofu and cabbage…Jessica literally stuffed the pot with the vegetables and they cooked down into the delicious broth. It was so comforting! Many thanks to our friends and family who made our izakaya visits so much fun!

Tagged adventures, cocktails, food, I *heart* Japan, Japan

Aug 14 2013

1 Comment

Forest Park, Oak Park, gardening, what's for dinner

Tomatoes Are Red, Limas Are Green…

Are those not the most gorgeous tomatoes, You’ve ever seen? (Sorry…I cannot resist a cheery rhyme about vegetables.)

On Saturday, while I was baking a cake, Naoto was harvesting tomatoes. There were a LOT of bright red ones! And, while he was at the garden, he ran into Haig, a fellow gardener, who added to our tomato bounty.Needless to say, our neighbors got tomato deliveries and we made caprese salads and panzanella this week. (And, if you live close and would like a tomato or two…please don’t hesitate to ask!) On Saturday afternoon, we finally cooked up my lima bean harvest…what you see above is the tiny ramekin that held my lima snack… Yes, we steamed a giant pot of water for less than two dozen tiny beans! I would love to try to grow limas again next year because they are soooo good when they are fresh! Even Naoto (a self-described lima hater) enjoyed one!

That’s about all of the harvest for now…still waiting to see if we will have a cucumber or a watermelon…in the meantime, it’s all tomatoes all the time! No complaints here!

Tagged food, forest park, garden, gardening

Aug 08 2013

2 Comments

adventures, cocktails, what's for dinner

K&N and the Girl & the Goat

Naoto has been wanting to eat at Stephanie Izard’s Girl & the Goat for years. Our neighbors have eaten there a few times and have raved about it so much. Naoto has been trying to get us a reservation for awhile now…he was especially anxious to eat there after we ate at Little Goat and had such a delicious experience.

Last Friday, we were able to go after one of his co-workers offered up her reservation to us. (Thanks, Missy!) So at five o’clock on a Friday night, we sat down to a dining adventure at the Goat. My favorite part was the cocktails. Don’t get me wrong–the food was AMAZING–but my cocktail, the Foghorn, was the scene-stealer (pictured above with Naoto’s boring beer). The Foghorn is, according to the menu, “SanFrancisco’s answer to the Manhattan”. It is made with gin, sweet vermouth, maraschino liqueur and orange bitters, garnished with an orange peel. So simple, but when it’s the right mix of quality ingredients and good proportions, simple can be so good! It was sweet, but not too sweet and no one ingredient overpowered the others–a perfect drink in my book. I also enjoyed the Charlie Ross cocktail (gin, sugar and bitters)…so tasty!

The menu at Girl & the Goat is separated into three parts: veggies, fish and meat. It is a small-plate restaurant, where you order several things and share a few bites of each thing. I like this style of restaurant, because if something is underwhelming, it’s good to know something new and different will be showing up at the table soon. But, at Girl & the Goat, nothing was underwhelming.

We ordered six dishes (pictured in order below): Squash Blossom Rangoon (crab and yogurt inside a lightly fried squash blossom), Kona Kompachi Crudo (raw fish with aioli and pork), Bristol Bay Sockeye Salmon (salmon with a peach panzanelle salad), Roasted Cauliflower (pure heaven, with pine nuts), Sweet Corn Goat Cheese Wontons (goat cheese wontons served with tiny heirloom tomatoes, sweet corn and popcorn!) and Wood Oven Roasted Pig Face (pork cheek served with a fried egg and potatoes). Every dish was really creative and interesting, but my favorite was probably the most simple–the cauliflower. Naoto and I roast cauliflower pretty often around here, and it’s pretty delicious, but it’s nothing like this. I can’t stop thinking that they must really have a secret to making it so good… I’m glad Naoto let me eat most of the cauliflower, and because of his generosity, I only had a bite of the pig face. He was crazy excited to eat Girl & the Goat’s most popular dish. Of course, we had to get coffee and dessert. Naoto got the Miso-Butterscotch Budino (a creamy miso and butterscotch pudding with cashews, pineapple and bacon toffee on top). After this dessert, and the other miso dessert at the Little Goat Diner, I’m convinced that Naoto has the utmost respect for Stephanie Izard and her skills with this Japanese ingredient. I ordered the Goat Cheese Bavarois (brown sugar cake topped with blueberries, caramel krispies and goat cheese). I would tell you that the creamy goat cheese was the best part of this dessert, but then I’d be leaving out how amazing the brown sugar cake was, and the blueberries, and the caramelized krispie gems…What I liked best about Girl & the Goat was that it’s a casual restaurant…no white tablecloths or pretentious servers…it’s just incredibly creative food in a comfortable atmosphere. We definitely want to go back again…the menu changes all the time, so it would be fun to go back in another season to see what’s new. And to get another Foghorn.

Tagged adventures, cocktails, coffee, food, summer

Jun 24 2013

1 Comment

homemaking, Jell-O, Those Were the Days, what's for dinner

Knox On-Camera Recipes

Knowing my love for all things vintage & gelatin, my friend Karen snagged this book from her grandmother’s collection (don’t worry–we gave it back!) It is the Knox On-Camera Recipes Gel-Cookery Guide. Printed in 1960, the guide is a print-version of TV demonstrations and (according to the introduction) “gives you a new look at the many rewarding uses of Unflavored Gelatin(e).”

Basically, the recipe book takes delicious dishes–like gazpacho, spinach salad, Waldorf salad, deviled eggs…and gelatin-izes them…which creates beautiful and yes, slightly weird, molded presentations (as seen below).

While I am super-interested in trying to make a savory gelatin dish just for the nostalgia of it all, the thought of molded avocado and tuna kind of makes my stomach turn. Part of me thinks that there’s a reason Jello survived in its sweet form…and maybe we should just leave savory gelatin in the past.