Pie. And boys.

I am baking a pie.

I have never baked a two-crust pie before, and I have only attempted to make my own pie crust ONCE, and that was in... late 2000? 2001? That one was a disaster; I ran out of flour and used matzo meal to make up the difference. The pie was ok. The crust sucked.

This time, it's real crust (PLENTY of butter) and real pie. I was just kind of inspired; maybe it's the summer and all the fruit I've been eating, maybe it's the book I'm reading, maybe it's PMS and I just feel like baking. But I am baking a pie. It smells damn good right now, and I hope it doesn't explode all over itself.

It's a peach pie-- I love peaches, and I've had some excellent peaches this summer. I put some ginger and cinnamon in the filling so it will be nice and spicy. The crust is a very simple one I got on epicurious.com, and hopefully, it will work. I say hopefully-- I had a bitch of a time rolling the thing out, but that's mostly because I used a Grey Goose bottle from the freezer as a rolling pin.

I am nothing if not creative in a pinch. Call me MacGyver.

Anyway. The thing smells lovely. It's been a very nice day-- left work early (it was dead because most people took off for Labor Day already), shopped, ate lunch, made crust, made pie. Delicious.

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In other food news... I had a very nice date with a very nice young man, and most of the conversation revolved around food. He let me "take" him (he ended up paying) to a barbecue place uptown, and he liked it. (He's from South Africa and lives in London-- this is not food he's accustomed to.) It's so nice to talk to someone about something that's such a major interest. My cousin Bruce married a really awesome woman named Lesley, and she once told me that she would never have married a man who didn't share her interest in food (as Bruce did). Food for thought.

* * *

I have discovered okra. Not fried, though. I bought some gorgeous okra at the Greenmarket the other day and I'm finding reasons to saute it in everything. Yummy.

Strawberry Whole-Wheat Pancakes

Every once in a while, I like to make a complicated Sunday breakfast-- something different than eggs or toast or Irish oatmeal. Because I have some buttermilk in the fridge, I went for pancakes. And because I had a few lovely strawberries left, I added them to the pancakes (this is modified from a Gourmet recipe):

• 1/2 c flour (I used half whole-wheat and half all-purpose)
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 egg, lightly beaten (as in, beat it first, add half of the egg)
• 1/2 c buttermilk
• pinch salt
• 4-5 strawberries, roughly sliced/chopped
• Heat a griddle or non-stick frying pan over med-high heat. Add a little vegetable oil and wipe with a paper towel. When the pan is hot, make your pancakes!

These turned out surprisingly well. I didn't have syrup, but a little butter did just fine. They were excellent and fluffy. Yum! Next time, I might add a little brown sugar, but if you don't like things too sweet (which I don't), the perfectly ripe strawberries did the trick.

Food Impasse, with kale

It's been a while since I had an update; I think that's mostly because I haven't had any amazing meals lately and I haven't been home enough to cook all that much. I also haven't gone grocery shopping. Shopping can shape a whole week; I either have lovely treats to cook up in creative ways, or I rummage through my cupboards trying to create a meal. Luckily for me, I always have a few things on hand: frozen meat of some sort (raw chicken or beef, or several servings of my mom's brisket), quinoa and noodles, soy sauce. I can almost always throw something together.

The other night I made a really yummy kale dish. It wasn't anything spectacular, but it was very good:

• Slice half an onion
• Saute in a little bit of olive oil on medium heat
• Chop up some kale (stems too) and add to the onions
• Add water and a little lemon juice to the pan
• Cover
• Stir occasionally; add in red pepper flakes
• Cook to death
• When all the liquid is absorbed, uncover and add a little lemon juice, salt and pepper. Cook until onions are nicely caramelized.

But now, I'm out of kale. Bummer. So I made chicken and cauliflower and quinoa for dinner tonight. I put mint, rosemary and cumin in the quinoa, but it wasn't all that great, so I can't recommend it.

Cauliflower. Eesh. I have been eating some of the... gassiest foods lately, including some kimchi (straight from the container, eaten with chopsticks). As much as I love the cauliflower and the cabbage and the wasabi peas... they can be evil, evil things to eat. Fun.

Ethiopian at Ethiopian

Last night I went out for Ethiopian food. I really like Ethiopian food, but I rarely get to eat it because a) it's communal and b) it's kind of an "occasion" food. I ate it a few times when I lived in DC, at the wonderful Meskerem in Adams Morgan. The last time I had it, the restaurant I went to was only so-so; it was small, the service was iffy and the food was a little too sharp for my taste. Last night's, however, was YUMMY. I confess I didn't eat too much, because I went with a group of people and I was too busy flirting with the cute-but-awkward hedge fund manager who was sitting across from me. But it was good. We ordered a combination of dishes that were an excellent balance of spicy and sour, and we sopped it all up with spongy injera. We also tried Ethiopian honey wine, which is sweet but still drier than I expected-- very, very good. I recommend.

http://www.theethiopianrestaurant.com/

Next time I go, I'll have to pay more attention. I promise.

Fancy Pizza

Last night, I had some really, REALLY good pizza. The place is called Pala, and it's on Allen between Houston and Stanton. Great little spot, perfect size, and you can either get takeout or table service. My friend Gary and I opted for the table service, and he let me choose the pizza. I adore Gary. I opted, at the recommendation of the guy at the table next to us, for the Zucca-- pumpkin puree, pancetta, mozzarella di bufala and parsley-- and another pizza (forgot the name) with sausage, leeks, cheese and chili peppers.

This was no Domino's.

The Zucca was fantastic-- rich, creamy and perfect. The other one was good too, though not as strikingly delicious as the Zucca; I tasted too much black pepper, but not so much that it was inedible. We also had a few glasses of a Sardinian red I've never heard of, but it was lovely and dry. Overall, an excellent meal, especially after happy hour and a concert, which is what Gary and I had just come from. I highly recommend.

In Which I Introduce Myself. And My Bread.

There is a real, bonafide loaf of bread baking in my oven right now. I know this because I checked, and it's turning brown and it smells delicious. This is my first real loaf of bread-- I don't count the ones I turned out on a daily basis in the early '90s when we got the bread machine that looked like R2D2 and I was the only person in the house who could make a decent loaf of bread in it. Even back then, I guess I was already some kind of domestic goddess.

Tonight's loaf of bread comes courtesy of Heidi at 101 Cookbooks; I found her blog through a Google ad, and I love it. She posted this recipe for brown Irish bread, and since my latest obsession is "making my own ____", I figured this would be a good start. (The real truth is that I'm about to run out of bread and I am too freakin' lazy to go back to the store, even though I am now also out of garlic and milk-- the latter because I decided to make my own bread.) I varied the recipe slightly, mostly because I didn't have whole wheat flour; I used 3.5 cups of unbleached white flour and added some steel-cut oats and a handful of flaxseeds. I also didn't have buttermilk (are we sensing a trend yet?), so I used milk mixed with lemon juice. Hopefully it all worked-- we'll see in about 10 minutes.

But it smells HEAVENLY.

The amazing part was that the bread was in the oven and dinner was simmering, all before 7pm. I got home at about 6:25 or so; put on a pot of brown rice and started sauteeing vegetables. Tonight's dinner was a chicken tikka masala over brown rice-- I used tikka masala from a jar, which I don't usually do, but every once in a while I like the "authenticity" of a jar of Patak's sauce. I sauteed onions and mushrooms in some oil, then I wilted some baby spinach, added a chicken breast cutlet (cut into chunks), added some sauce and about a cup of water and simmered. While that was heating, I made the bread.

I also got flour on my black linen skirt, but no worries.

(Ooh! Bread is out of the oven. A knock on the bottom of the pan feels hollow, just like Heidi said it should. Yay!)

I had the tikka masala and rice with a side of a cucumber-yogurt salad that I make all summer long. I can't really call it a raita, but it's close:

• 2 Israeli cucumbers, peeled and chopped (I use my vegetable chopper)
• 1 7-oz. container of low-fat Greek yogurt (or drained low-fat yogurt)
• cumin, fresh mint, pepper, garlic, lemon juice, salt

Scoop yogurt into a container and stir until very smooth. Add cucumber; stir to
incorporate. Add other ingredients to taste and mix well. Chill for at least 2 hours-- the
longer the better!

Serve with crackers and hummus, as an accompaniment to curries or as an addition to a
green salad.

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So. This brings it all to me. I decided to start writing a food blog because I'm at one of those crossroads in my life. No, honestly. I started thinking about things I enjoy doing; I cook (and eat) often and kind of obssessively, so that's taken care of, but what I really miss is writing. So, I thought, why not incorporate the two? I have a personal journal/blog, and it's fine, but sometimes I'm overwhelmed by the minutiae of my life, so I figured I could get the writing thing taken care of if I write about something I think about on a regular basis.

Food.

I'm partly inspired by the aforementioned Heidi, and I hope she doesn't mind. I guess I'm also inspired by my 3,080th reading of Heartburn by Nora Ephron, which is my favorite book to read when I'm feeling blue; you could say that Heartburn is to me what mashed potatoes are to Rachel (the narrator). If Rachel were a real person-- or even a character in a novel-- these days, she would definitely have a blog, and it would definitely be about food. She might even throw in a recipe or two. She is a woman who uses food to fight the lonelies, she uses food to give herself focus, and she uses food as a structure around which she can tell a story. My kind of woman.

Besides the literary stuff... I go by Mitzi. It's a nickname, but I only answer to it when my grandfather uses it. I live in a very nice neighborhood in Queens, which is part of New York City, except Manhattanites roll your eyes when you remind them. I cook. A lot. More than any of my friends. Oddly, however, I have never cooked for my friends-- not a full, sit-down, well-researched and -crafted meal-- because a) I don't have a table (just a coffee table) and b) no one wants to shlep out to Queens just so I can cook for them.

Their loss.

In real life, I work in television, but it's not nearly as glamourous as it sounds. I am originally from Baltimore, home of the Steamed Crab in Old Bay, and I'm Jewish (but I do not keep Kosher; see the part about the steamed crab). The Judaism factors much more in my cooking than the Baltimore, because I have spent hours trying to replicate my family's stuffed cabbage, brisket and chicken soup recipes (I have been successful), and I also make treats for every Jewish holiday, so my co-workers get fresh latkes and homemade hamantaschen and chocolate-covered matzah. I live alone in a good-sized studio with a decently-sized apartment kitchen (all of the appliances are small-scale, but I do have some counter space). I grow herbs on my window sill. I take a great deal of pride in my living space, so I clean regularly. I don't have a boyfriend and I don't date much these days, so don't ask. I am a film buff. I like to read. I sing semi-professionally. I watch way too much TV.

And I cook. And I eat. And I pay attention when I do both of those things. I hope to share them all with you.