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Website: http://ganbarucook.blogspot.com/

Location: Washington, DC

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Last bite on earth: My mom's Thanksgiving dinner

The Ten Most Recent Posts By Otabenga

From Talk

Pilsbury Bake-Off

Posted by Otabenga, April 11, 2008 at 4:17 PM

I heard the most interesting piece on NPR this morning. The winner of the 1998 Pilsbury Bake-Off has written a book about the experience. I've been kind of dismissive of the concept because of its "semi-homemadeness" (not that I'm a total Sandra Lee hater), but the woman in the piece was such a good interview, very self-deprecating and shocked that she'd won with her recipe for Salsa Couscous Chicken. Has anyone ever entered or considered entering this contest? I can't say that I'm much of a creator of recipes of my own, especially with pre-packaged ingredients, but she did bring her experience to life in a humorous way.

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=89530790

8 Comments

The Ten Most Recent Comments By Otabenga

From Required Eating

Photo of the Day: Ice Cream in Nice

Reminds of an ice cream shop I used to visit when I lived in Sendai, Japan. My favorite flavor was spinach, but carrot and of course tofu and green tea were just as popular back then.

Otabenga at 4:54PM on 04/29/08

From Required Eating

Cook the Book: Lidia's Italy

When I'm cooking to impress the main course varies by season. However the dessert is usually some seasonal ice cream with profiteroles. It's easy to make both components ahead of time and I usually end up freezing half the profiteroles for the next go round. Drizzled with a bit of chocolate sauce and served on a platter family style, everyone usually raves! Usually people start off taking just one or two but we always end up finishing the platter (three per person or so)!

Right now I've got a kick ass cane sugar sweetened chestnut ice cream that I need to finish off because strawberry season is coming! It's time to entertain again soon!

Otabenga at 3:58PM on 04/28/08

From Talk

Hot Cocoa, anyone?

Here are the links for Ina's recipe
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_29946,00.html
and Giada's recipe, which is actually a mocha:
http://www.foodnetwork.com/food/recipes/recipe/0,,FOOD_9936_30978,00.html

Otabenga at 5:19PM on 04/11/08

From Talk

Hot Cocoa, anyone?

I think I fell in love with hot cocoa sitting around the campfire when I was in boy scouts. I still love it with the mini marshmallows.

But my adult self loves to make it the Ina Garten way with some melted semisweet chocolate, like Valrhona. I've had it at chocolate shops in Philly and Washington, DC spiced with a little bit of cayenne or chipotle powder. I think Giada has a recipe for that one. May sound strange, but it is delicious.

Otabenga at 4:26PM on 04/11/08

From Talk

I must confess...I had a naughty dream about Mario Batali.

This is so timely! I had a dream this week that I was cooking with Julia and Jacques, as if they were my private tutors in my own kitchen. Everything was going great until they looked in my veggie drawer and found some nearly rotten greens that were oozing and dripping. They both sort of admonished me for not being totally prepared. I was so embarassed! But then we carried on and things went along smoothly...

Otabenga at 3:59PM on 04/11/08

From Talk

Is there decent food in Disney World?

There is decent food! I was there over Thanksgiving and had a great time at Epcot. The French Pavilion is of course wildly popular, but we didn't eat at its main restaurant this time. Morocco has an excellent restaurant and is less of a draw perhaps because it seems exotic to the Disney customers. You can also do a wine tasting and get decent pastries and coffee at the French section if the restaurant is filled up. The German pavilion also had a good mulled wine tasting which was delicious on a cool November night.

Otabenga at 5:12PM on 04/03/08

From Required Eating

The Microwave Oven: Do You Actually Cook With Yours?

o I reheat my oatmeal (which my partner cooks on the stovetop) almost every day in the microwave, often with a spoon in the bowl. (He eats about an hour ealier than I do while I am at the gym.) It NEVER sparks.
o Sometimes when trying to get the last bit of honey out of a container, I'll put it in the microwave and if there's a small bit of that metallic cover that's used as a seal left around the rim, it will surely spark.
o My mother's good china with the metal rim sparks for a few seconds and then stops.
o My own microwave has a metal rack in it that is always left in the microwave oven and never causes any sparks.
o My mother overcooked a baked potato in her microwave. She's not sure if it caught fire, but it certainly smoldered, smoked, and burnt out the oven.
o When people heard that nuking a sponge on high for two minutes would kill bacteria in the sponge, many didn't realize that the sponge had to be moist. The dry sponges caught fire.
o In college (more than 20 years ago) a friend reheated a hot dog on a foil lined plate and wrapped in a napkin. It caught fire.

My point with all these examples is that people can always misuse appliances and defy safety instructions, sometimes causing fire sometimes causing no damage whatsoever. We all know that safety precautions that come with appliances are oversimplified and that through normal use of a product many of these precautions might never be necessary. Manufacturers (seeking to limit liability?) overcompensate giving blanket, un-nuanced precautions because they're trying to impress upon people, "Hey, don't be stupid!"

I think telling folks not to use metal in the microwave to avoid fires is like telling people to eat a low fat diet to lose weight. Some metals are OK in the microwave and do not cause sparks. Some fats (omega-3s, monounsaturated fats, even some naturally occuring cis-trans fats) are desirable in the diet and we need more of these. Certainly advising people to never use metal in a microwave means no sparks and presumably no fires. But my mother proved that overcooking even a potato (not even foil wrapped) can ruin a microwave.

Otabenga at 3:32PM on 04/02/08

From Required Eating

Amanda Hesser Is Indeed Leaving the New York Times

Say it isn't so! Actually her monthly contribution to the magazine has been inconsistent (updating classic Times recipes from generations ago) as far as I'm concerned, but I just liked knowing she was there as an editor. I have such an affection for her book, The Cook and the Gardener. It was the first cookbook I ever saw that was organized seasonally, and it changed the way I shop and cook. She was always a bit pedantic, but I was glad to have her "looking over my shoulder" as she explained how to can, make jams, and roll out pate brisee! In fact I just served some spicey hot green beans from her book the other night and my guests raved! She also re-introduced me to vegetables from my youth--such as Brussel sprouts--in new and infinitely more palatable ways and I have in turn spread the word about how delicious such veggies can be when properly prepared. I loved the book from her columns, Cooking for Mr. Latte and have tried many of its recipes as well. Though I have never met her, she has been so influential in my "culinary point of view." I will look forward to reading her in The Times when available.

Otabenga at 2:23PM on 04/02/08

From Talk

Is there life without a microwave?

I talked about this topic last night with my partner over dinner (the grilled sweet potatoes with chili powder started in the microwave were delicious, thank you!). He recalled not really missing the nuker those years that we didn't have one. And certainly anything done in a microwave can be cooked or reheated in the oven or on the stovetop, but we both agree that it's just a helpful tool, like the food processor or my stand mixer (neither of which he ever uses). I use these tools to make pie crust, pasta dough, biscuits, coleslaw, etc., all of which could easily be made by hand, but I guess because I've invested in these tools, I'd just as soon use them. Plus there are so many other things that such kitchen tools can be used for, like sanitizing a sponge in the microwave or making mashed taters in the stand mixer. It's all good!

Otabenga at 7:56AM on 04/02/08

From Talk

Is there life without a microwave?

It's funny. We were renting an apartment years ago that had the microwave over the stove. When it died we just did without it, never requesting a replacement from the landlord and I don't recall it being a hardship. When we later bought a place the kitchen of course had a brand spanking new stainless steel microwave over the stove.

We use that baby multiple times a day from breakfast to dinner and I honestly don't know how I was without one for those years way back when. I know I did it and it wasn't a big deal, but I use mine constantly nowadays. We still cook our hot cereal on the stovetop everyday out of habit from those years, but while the cereal is cooking, we make eggs and reheat coffee (do folks actually "make" coffee?) in the microwave. I often defrost something for dinner and I can't imagine roasting spaghetti squash in the oven when cooking a half squash only takes 6 or 7 minutes in the microwave. I keep frozen cubes of homemade stock in a freezer bag and usually melt these in a coffee mug with some water so that I don't have to add "ice" to something cooking on the stove. Tonight I'm planning to grill sweet potato slices, but I will surely start them in the microwave before putting them on the grill. And all these celebrity chefs who eschew the microwave for melting chocolate in a double boiler seems crazy to me! I guess I don't cook many things in the microwave from start to finish, but if the stove is crowded, I certainly don't mind making fresh broccoli or asparagus in the microwave. Plus there is less cleanup as you can usually serve right from the cooking dish. I know that I could do without one, but I just find it too helpful and convenient.

Otabenga at 4:51PM on 04/01/08