Random snapshots from the Hungry Dog

Once again, this blog is dwindling in all ways (number of posts, quality of posts, clever insights, readership, comments) but with a few moments to spare on this lovely sunny Saturday (60 degrees in February!) I thought I'd jot a few random things down for you.

Espresso-Chocolate Shortbreads

These are pretty much ridiculous. I have made them twice in the last few weeks, given away a bunch, eaten even more of them, and thought of them nearly non-stop. They are super buttery, barely sweet, and laced with smokey espresso and hunks of bittersweet chocolate. I. Love. Them.

Also, as with so many Dorie Greenspan recipes, she gives up this fantastic method so brilliant I feel like a moron for not thinking of it myself. Here is it: make the dough. Dump it into a large ziploc bag (but don't seal). Using a rolling pin, roll out the dough so it forms an even layer and fills up the bag. Chill for a few hours. Then, cut the plastic away, cut out the cookies, and ta-da! Easy as...shortbread.

The best thing to do would be to buy Dorie's book but in the meantime you can also find the recipe here.

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Happy belated birthday, pretty lady! In early February, we squeezed in a quick getaway to Sonoma where we toasted my mother's 75th birthday at the stunning Gloria Ferrer vineyard.

We stayed here, ate here, and drank wine here, here, and here. Great weather, food, and company. Not a bad way to mark a milestone!

I didn't take any food photos except for this one of my simple breakfast at the hotel cafe the morning we left:

Lox, cream cheese, baby arugula, capers, and red onion on a soft little brioche. I had to peel off nearly all the onions (too many for the morning), but other than that it was perfect.

 ***

 Channeling Cheryl Tiegs

Me, circa 1979. Where to start?

For one thing, what's with the pose? For another, you may not be able to tell, but that is a jumpsuit, not a dress. Finally, yes, it is paired with a white turtleneck. Ah, the 70's!

Happy weekend to you all!

Ina's lemon bars (by way of Smitten Kitchen)

Don't you love it when someone else does the work for you?

Take these lemon bars, based on an Ina Garten recipe, no doubt delicious in its original form, but tweaked to perfection by the inimitable Deb at Smitten Kitchen. She always gets it right, doesn't she? I don't read many of the superblogs, like the Pioneer Woman or Orangette, but I do sometimes look at Smitten Kitchen. While she may not need me as a reader, I need her expertise now and then--and her thoughtful revisions to recipes.

For Ina's lemon bars, she reduced the sugar and came up with proportions that evened out the lemon-to-crust ratio. I split the recipe in half and baked it in an eight-inch glass pan. I had to bake the crust a bit longer than the recipe said, about 22 minutes. Once the lemony layer (I used Deb's thinner version) was spread over the baked crust, the bars went in for an additional 25 minutes. You can find the recipe and variations here.

These were the perfect combination of sweet and tangy, held up by a buttery, crumbly (but not too crumbly) shortbread crust. I used meyer lemons, of which I happen to be inordinately fond. But plain lemons would be more than fine. 

These just might give your old stand-by lemon bar recipe a run for its money.

Lidia's chicken, plus a really good day

Friends with recipes: Besides stealing from other people's blogs, I like to borrow recipes from friends. They accumulate in my email with a special green label and then, sadly, are often forgotten about. Nevertheless, there are some good ones in there: chocolate chip banana bread from Julie; Gina's lasagne; and Thomas Keller's Moules au Safron by way of Nicole. I've even hounded my friends for their parents' recipes: the file contains Neal's mother's plum cake and Liz's mother's chicken tagine. (Incidentally, Neal and Liz are married and I think that entree and dessert would be a nice combination for a dinner party, to which they should invite me.)

I did get around to one from the folder a few weeks ago--Lidia's pan roasted chicken with olives and pine nuts, another from Liz, who is probably reading this thinking, I gotta get some new friends that don't talk about me on their nerdy blogs.

Anyhow, to the point. The chicken is the point, and the chicken was delicious! Whenever you've got pan-roasted anything with white wine and garlic, you know you're going to be happy. The fact that the recipe calls for those lovely, briny, bright green Castelvetrano olives was a total bonus. 

One thing, though: the recipe needs more of a sauce, an opinion voiced by even the sauce-averse husband. In fairness to Liz, she did tell me this at the outset, but I decided to make the recipe as printed the first time around. Next time, I would definitely sauce it up with more wine and some chicken broth.

In any case, the chicken emerged from the pan sticky and flavorful. The pine nuts were crunchy and unexpected and perfect with the olives. The husband noted the recipe could stand a little bacon; he has a point, but then again, most things could.

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Fried egg Tuesday: Though I claim to be largely non-fussy in the food department, I am rather finicky when it comes to breakfast. I have two things every morning: coffee and grapefruit juice, both of which I am basically addicted to. When it comes to the eating part, mostly I just want bread or other baked goods. I force a yogurt down once in awhile, which is improved by the husband's homemade granola but which I find otherwise gag-worthy, no matter the flavor or type. Can't get on board with oatmeal. So, it's usually toast.

One day this last week, I popped the toast in the toaster. Business as usual. But then I started feeling froggy. Hell, I'm going to have a fried egg, I decided.

As a recent convert to eggs, I don't have much of a track record with cooking them, particularly fried, but I decided to give it a go. Since we don't have a non-stick skillet I knew there could be issues with getting the egg out of the pan, so I added a few drops of canola oil to the melting butter. And wouldn't you know, that was just the trick. Sunny-side up, please!

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No complaints: Today I am hopelessly in love with San Francisco. It's January, blue skies, and 60 degrees. To take advantage of the good weather, we piled in the car with Soph and headed to the Presidio, where we took a bit of a walk, winding up at this nice little vista.

I'm not saying this is a great picture, or even a good picture--you know my forte is unleashing the macro setting on something I'm about to eat. About panoramic views I am clueless. But, I like this one. You've got two  major San Francisco icons--Alcatraz, and the domed top of the Palace of Fine Arts,  constructed in 1915 for the Panama-Pacific Exposition and now home to the Exploratorium. And then there's the Pacific Ocean. Any view that includes the ocean is a winner.

After our walk, we hit up Hukilau, where we scored an outdoor table and ate Ahi poke, teriyaki short ribs, and mac salad, washed down with some cold Hawaiian beers. It only occurs to me now, hours later, that I could have taken a photo of lunch, but at the time, I wasn't thinking about it. Sometimes it's good to forget about what you should be doing and just be.

These kinds of days are my favorite--nowhere to get to, enjoying being in the sun, close to the ocean, and with my little pack. Throw in a good lunch and I'm in heaven. What about you, what constitutes your favorite day?