After combining the dry and wet ingredients, kneading with the dough hook on the stand mixer, and gently shaping it into a loose round, it was ready for for the first rising. For the next hour or so, our Baby (affectionately-named ball-of-dough) kept us company wherever we went, basking in the swirling drafts from the space heater. At one point, Baby made a foray into the laundry room, where it sat atop the rumbling clothes dryer.

After what seemed like an interminable wait (had it really been only 2 hours?), Baby grew to be double its original size. At this point, we made it all pretty by giving it braids.

Challah
adapted from The Cheeseboard Collective Works
The recipe was halves and modified.

• 1 Tbsp active dry yeast
• ½ C warm water
• 2¼ C bread flour
• ¼ C sugar
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• ¼ C (½ stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes, at room temperature
• 3 eggs
• poppy seeds or sesame seeds (options)

Whisk the yeast into the warm water and let sit for 5 min.

Combine the butter with the dry ingredients in a stand mixer. Cut in the butter with the paddle attachment on low speed until the butter pieces are about the size of peas. Add the yeast slurry and 2 of the eggs. Mix until ingredients are combined. Switch to the dough hook attachment and knead the dough in the mixer on medium speed until the dough no longer has a rough texture. It will feel tacky and elastic but not sticky. This should take about 10 minutes.

Transfer the dough onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a loose round. Place the dough in a bowl and coat the dough in oil. Cover the dough loosely with plastic wrap and let it sit until it has doubled in size.

Transfer dough onto a lightly floured surface and divide into thirds. Shape each of the thirds into loose rounds. Cover with plastic wrap and let sit for 10 minutes.

Shape each of the loose rounds into 3-stranded braids. Cover the braids with plastic wrap and let rise until they have increased in size by a-third.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a small bowl, whisk the remaining egg. Brush the top and sides of each loaf with the egg wash. Sprinkle the poppy seeds or sesame seeds on top. Bake for 10 min.

Rotate the pan. Drop the oven temperature to 350 degrees and bake for another 10 min. The bread should appear toasty brown on top and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Transfer loaves to wire racks to cool.

And voilà!

(We liked the challah so much we made another batch, doubling the recipe above.)

1. Vegetarian lentils, recipe courtesy of Annie Somerville's Everyday Greens: Home Cooking from Greens, the Celebrated Vegetarian Restaurant
2. Salad of roasted red beets and oak-leaf lettuce
3. Sliced watermelon radish on lightly buttered Acme Italian loaf, sprinkled with fleur de sel

Ok. So I wasn't completely honest. There is a little fat from the light spread of butter in my open-faced sandwich. But if you can't see it, does it still count?

Made additional tiny marshmallow hearts to put into hot cocoa. (See photography of teeny tiny marshmallow hearts?!)

Made a batch of almond walnut chocolate butterscotch toffee, recipe adapted from David Lebovitz.
Made a batch of olalliberrie honey mini madeleines, recipe adapted from Claudia Fleming's The Last Course: The Desserts of Gramercy Tavern.

Polished off the above mentioned sweets with a nice cup of latte.

Now I am all sugared out!

My first trip to Japan was to Tsuruoka, the second largest city in the Yamagata Prefecture. The city is not as beautiful as Kyoto or as modern and hip as Tokyo, but looked downright industrial and a bit bleak from my hotel window. Appearances can be deceiving.

This city is where I learned that Japanese food is so much more than sushi, teriyaki (fill in the meat of your choice), and california rolls.

This is where I experienced my first kaiseki meal, unfiltered sake, okonomiyaki, izakaya, hamachi kama, ochazuke, raw Yamagata beef, and so much more (whose names and descriptions I forgot to write down as I was much too busy eating). For the first time, I could appreciate the importance of seasonal eating.
As it was early spring, I had the chance to enjoy fresh bamboo, the likes of which I'd never tasted before — the pureness of flavor and tenderness were indescribably amazing.

Like (most) good things, my trip came to an end all too quickly. What I brought back home aside from the pictures and the food memories, was a penchant for the quick and easy ochazuke. (The raw Yamagata beef was a no-go through airport customs, but I promise to report on the sake I imported later!) The bare bones of ochazuke is tea poured over rice. Additional toppings may include nori, salmon flakes, rice crackers, bonito, mitsuba, etc. The following recipe is how I like to make it! Feel free to tweak it, adding or subtracting, as you please.

• ½ cup leftover rice (I prefer short-grain white rice)
• ½ cup chicken broth
• 1 cup houji-cha
• ½ lb raw salmon filet, skin-on
• furikake
• salt
• wasabi
• chopped green onions

Rinse the salmon under cold water. Pat dry and salt liberally on both sides. Allow to rest for 1 hour (to extract the water content and concentrate flavors). Preheat the toaster oven to 400°F. Rinse off the salt and pat dry once again. Skewer the salmon and arrange it on a rack so that air can circulate freely around the fish. Bake until done (which takes about 8 min in my toaster oven). The salmon should look moist but not raw in the middle. Allow to cool until manageable to the touch. Flake about 2 oz of cooked salmon per serving.

Brew a pot of houji-cha. I use about 1 Tbsp of tea leaves to about 1½ cup of hot water and steep for about 4~5 min. Heat up the ½ cup of chicken broth and combine it with 1 cup of tea. Typically ochazuke does not include broth but I like to add it in for a richer taste.

Heat the rice in the microwave. Sprinkle furikake onto the rice. Add the salmon flakes. Put a pea-size bead of wasabi in the bowl. Pour the tea-broth mixture over the rice and salmon until just submerged. Stir the ochazuke so that the wasabi dissolved completely.

Lastly, my favorite step &mdash EAT & ENJOY!

It's once again that time of the year for merriment, good will towards man, family togetherness, and the exchange of presents as tokens of our appreciation and love. Given the current economic situation, it's not a surprise to find everyone's finances a little tighter this year, making finding those perfect presents for everyone on your list a bit more difficult. To help you on your quest, here is a list of less than $25 food-inspired items that are sure to make great gifts!

1. Cheers! in your Coffee Cup

I saw these tree mugs over at MollaSpace and thought what a cute way to capture the holiday in a cup. If tree mug isn't quite what you are looking for, they also have a star mug and a heart mug.

2. Lend a Helping Hand

Chances are, if you are reading this blog, you are blessed with a comfortable home, and enough food to eat. The unfortunate truth is that not everyone is so blessed. The recession has hit the charities especially hard with the demand for assistance going up but the in-coming donations going down. Making a monetary donation no matter how big or small in the name of your friends and family to charities such as Feeding America formerly America's Second Harvest, Meals on Wheels, or a charity of your choice is not only a gift for your loved ones but a gift to someone in need.

3. Be a Mushroom Farmer

Most people have heard of potato farmers, tomato farmers, corn farmer but MUSHROOM farmer?! Um... Not so much. Lucky for us, the nice people at Far West Fungi have made it possible to have a shiitake and a tree oyster mini-farm right in the comfort of our own home.

4. Gettin' your hands dirty

Thanks to Martha for her pictorial inspiration! (See the pretty pictures?) Sometimes a homemade gift is the way to go. If you are good with your hands (pls keep it clean...), and don't mind spending some time in the kitchen, a batch of marshmallows would make a lovely heartfelt gift. And if you are feeling particularly gung-ho afterwards, you can farther package it onto a 'smores kit or a hot chocolate kit.

5. Fashion Statement: The Lean, Mean Aubergine Shopping Machine!

In the last couple of years, we've seen a drastic rise in environmental awareness and consumer initiative and activism to conserve the environment. One cheap and easy way to your part is to buy and reuse canvas totes instead of using the paper or plastic bags provided by the supermarkets. These canvas totes from R. Nichols are the triple whammy -- strong cuteness factor, a sturdy shopping accessory, and saves the environment!

6. The gift that keeps on giving

In terms of making sound investments, may I interest you in a nice pomegranate tree? It will never ask to borrow the car or forget to take out the garbge. With a bit of loving care, the lucky recipient of the pomegranate tree will be rewarded yearly with dazzling red fruits. And if you are really nice, perhaps they will give you some!

In 2006, POM Wonderful announced that they developed a concentrated form of pomegranate antixodants known as POMx. By combining POMx with coffee, each bottle contains*:

1. great coffee flavor (cafe au lait or chocolate)
2. a stimulating dose of 157mg of caffeine
3. enough POMx to equal the antioxidant power of an 8 oz. daily dose of POM Wonderful 100% Pomegranate Juice

Their competitors could conceivably be able to lay claims to points 1 and 2, but point 3 inarguably can only be claimed by POMx iced coffee. So, yes, conceptually POMx iced coffees are a great idea! It provides an additional desirable and useful benefit that its competitors can't provide, thus making them stand out. However, I am not jumping out of my seat to buy one.

Previously, I associated POM Wonderful with words like natural, healthy, pure, unadulterated, superior, and other notions of wholesome goodness. My initial reaction on learning the wonderful pomegranate juice maker was making coffee drinks was 'SERIOUSLY?!". When I learned that the POMx in POMx iced coffee was a pomegranate antioxidants concentrate extracted from pomegranates, my positive association was changed to its polar opposite, with chemical, manipulated, and man-made connotations.

So yes, as silly as it sounds, my whole hang-up with POMx iced coffees is my perceived change in the brand image of POM Wonderful. Given that POMx iced coffees are currently only available in NYC and Whole Foods Markets along the East Coast, and that no news has been released on when it will arrive on the West Coast, I'm sure I will have plenty of time to see how POM plays out their marketing strategy.

and for something a little lighter....

Chopped red leaf lettuce with goat cheese and pomegranate salad

(Yes, I was getting ready for Christmas...)

Alright. I don't have a high -OH tolerance (my chem side's showing through), which makes me a cheap date. The only people I can drink under the table are those with aldehyde dehydrogenase deficiency. But while browsing the beer aisle (for those interesting beer bottle labels), I couldn't help but buy the Lagunitas Cappucino Stout. It had 4 critical points of desirability: cute dog on a very cool label, locally produced, cappuccino flavors, and that very witty spoof of Pslam 23.

So while the tasty cappucino stout hasn't converted me into an ardent beer enthusiast, I do appreciate the wonderful coffee flavor with hints of chocolate and nuttiness and in no way, shape, or form timid. Mellowing out leisurely at home with my bottle of Lagunitas Cappucino Stout is a much preferred way to spend Black Friday.

It is approximately 2am. A and I are wide awake in the kitchen. In front of us is a bag of large jet-puffed marshmallows, honey graham crackers, and big handful of Michael Cluizel 70% Tamarina chocolate. We were on a quest to make the best s'mores possible with the ingredients on hand. Our goal is to create a delectable mouthful of equal parts bittersweet chocolate and gooey marshmallow, encased in an ethereal toasted caramel shell, which once breached will allow the silky interior to melt into the textural complement of the buttery, flaky biscuit on which the entire euphoric bite sits.

To achieve our goal would require the following questions to be answered:

1. Should the s'more be open-faced or sandwiched between 2 graham crackers?
2. How much chocolate should we use?
3. What is the optimal number and arrangement of marshmallows?
4. How long should we toast for?

It is through many s'more trials and errors that we come up with our version of the s'more BKM (best known method), answering the questions set out above.

1. At the risk of shocking the traditionalist, we must confess that we prefer the open-face s'more over the s'more sandwich. The addition of a second cracker causes the melty marshmallow to squish out more with each increasing bite into the s'more sandwich, until you were only left with a chocolate graham cracker sandwich and marshmallowy fingers. In a word - Messy.
2. I prefer 7g but A prefers 11g. The key here is to make sure the chocolate is not in big, thick blocks or it will not melt completely before the marshmallow forms its toasty outer shell.
3. 2 marshmallows per s'more. Cutting each marshmallow in half lengthwise, opening it up and arranging the cut sides down on the chocolate bed allows for more even distribution.
4. Ideally, we would give you the exact time but unfortunately, we ran into a wee bit of a problem. We had used the toaster oven and put it on broil. The timing depends on how close the marshmallow sits to the heat source. For us, it was approximately 2 minutes, give or take a few seconds. Just be sure to keep an eye on the marshmallow or you may end up with flaming (or even worse, charred) s'more instead of the perfectly toasty s'more desired.

So a quick rundown... Place 7 ~ 11g (or more) of chocolate in a thin layer per square of graham cracker. Top off with 2 halved large jet-puffed marshmallows. Toast the s'more until the marshmallow turns caramelly brown. Enjoy and Eat!

Stay tuned for BKM 2.0 where we will look into incorporating cinnamon, nutmeg, and cocoa powder. :)