As the quarantine restlessness set in, which I’m sure many of you can relate to, I starting baking everything I could think of to keep me busy. In another attempt to keep myself busy, I’ve decided to start shipping out my baked goods to anyone interested.
This past weekend, I was given the pleasure of cooking with a family friend, Nathan Simons, who is professional chef, and attended the Culinary Institute in New York. He and his wife, Audrey Simons, prepared a series of dishes for us to cook together, that would allow me to learn different styles of food, and different techniques. I was able to learn about different foods I had never heard of, new techniques, their life as chefs, and great recipes that I am going to share. Overall, it was my ideal day.
Inspired by one of my favorite local cafes: "First Watch", I created my adapted breakfast burrito. This burrito is geared towards clean and healthy eating. It is high in protein, fiber, good fats, and green vegetables.
Every year my family does Christmas Eve at my grandparents. The whole family gets together and we eat amazing food and open presents. Its something to look forward to every year! This year we moved this to the 27th, leaving my family to handle Christmas Eve festivities on our own. The first thing that sprung to mind was what are we gonna cook?
As I have said before, I am usually very busy. I like being productive...most of the time. I spent a lot of my time at my amazing job. A couple of months ago I switched from my job at a retirement home to a cafe called Breakaway in Pittsboro. I was not at all happy at my previous job. I seriously dreaded going into work. This is very different from the way I feel about working at Breakaway.
Oddly, I tried pecan pie for the first time this Thanksgiving. We have always had it, but I never gave it a try because why would you have pie with nuts in it ("healthy choice" in my eyes), when you could have ice cream and cake? However, this year, under the influence of my grandma, I tried it. And I loved it. She introduced me to an amazing maple bourbon pecan pie recipe from Clinton Street Bakery.
Sweet potato casserole is a big favorite among my family. This recipe comes from Food and Wine from November of 1998. A lot of the recipes I will share on this blog will not be that of my own, but I think it is really important to not only find amazing recipes, but to “revive” lost ones.
Everyone has their own traditions for thanksgiving. This year I asked around eager to learn about people’s different traditions. It was quite fascinating. I was happy to make the connection that what everyone had in common was unity.
Yesterday was a good day. My dad and I basically cooked, and watched Chef's Table all day. We had some surprisingly great outcomes. My favorite of the bunch was a black grape, rosemary sweet focaccia.
My focus still remains on bread. After working with the basic no-knead recipe from Jim Lahey's my bread, I was eager to move on to more complex recipes.
Bread is a staple in all communities and cultures, in endless forms. My sudden interest in bread started when my boss mentioned some amazing book that he owned, written by some super successful chef. So I figured I might as well see what all the fuss was about.
Alright I did it. At least I think I did. I have been wanting to start this blog for a matter of weeks. My trial ran out, so that was the first sign that I was slacking off. I don't get a lot of time to myself, these days, which may be surprising since I am 17. Yeah, I'm a teenager, all I should have is time, right? Wrong. At least not me...
