A little pre-Father's Day tribute

My dad is the best cook I know. Most of what he makes isn't fancy or particularly difficult; it's thoughtful, well-cooked food that always tastes good (and always comes out at the same time).

Tonight, while I was making dinner, I realized how much I've learned from watching him cook. The meal wasn't anything fancy - steamed green beans, rice, sauteed chicken thighs with a lemon-white wine-caper sauce - but I could tell that the things I was doing were skills I'd picked up from him: how to season the flour, how to get a nice crispy outside on the chicken, how to make the sauce. I didn't have a recipe, just an idea of what I wanted for dinner and how I was going to do it. That's something he told me a long time ago when I asked him how he had figured out how to make something: "I just thought of how I wanted it to taste and I made it." As an eight-year-old, I found that pretty amazing; as a 28-year-old, I still do. Hopefully, I'm getting to the point where I can do it too.

Hummus! I got the hummus!

Did you think I was gone? You thought wrong. May ended with a significant amount of time spent out of town (and, therefore, spent eating in restaurants). It would have been easy to rejoice...and yet, somehow, when I went grocery shopping on May 31, my basket was filled with pretty much the same things I'd been buying all month. I really enjoyed MIMM, and while MIMJ doesn't have the same melodious ring, it makes sense to keep up at least some of the habits I've acquired. I'm going to keep making bread (as long as my dad lets me keep the bread machine around). It turns out I love polenta. And even though I'm drinking a Diet Coke right now, I actually think that it might be the last one for a long time; it's delicious, but making me feel pretty jittery.

Last night, I made a salad for dinner that was mostly garbanzo beans (the most delightful of the beans, I think). I had a bunch left over, though, so I made hummus this morning before I left the house. My apologies for the vagueness of this recipe; the main quantity is "some".

Hummus
Some garbanzo beans (I used about a cup)
Some olive oil (I used around a third of a cup)
Some garlic (I used two cloves)
Some lemon juice (I used the amount from a whole lemon)
Some cumin (I used 1/2 teaspoon)
Salt and pepper to taste

Put all of the ingredients except for the olive oil in the food processor. Turn it on; while the machine is running, slowly add the olive oil in a thin stream. Stop and sample - when it tastes like hummus, you're done. The beauty of hummus is that you can add pretty much anything you like - roasted red peppers, chipotles, black beans, more garlic, eggplant, etc. etc. etc.

Day 2: A Full Stomach is a Happy Stomach

When I lived in St. Louis, Sunday was always pancake day. I'd get up and cook breakfast for me and Katie; she'd then go off to church, and I'd clean up (and maybe go back to bed). A beautiful morning like today's was the perfect time for a batch of chocolate chip pancakes. I usually rely on Bisquik, since it just requires adding eggs and milk to pre-made dry mix, but Mark Bittman's pancake recipe calls for just a couple more ingredients and takesonly a minute longer to make. Into the Cuisinart, flour and eggs and milk and sugar and baking powder and salt!

Let's pause for a second so I can wax rhapsodic about the food processor. It might be the best present I've ever received; for a long time, it was the only major kitchen appliance I owned, which meant I made everything from cookie dough to pureed carrots with it. Since it mixes evenly, it's absolutely ideal for things like pancake batter, and since it's so quick, I was done making the batter by the time my pan was hot enough to cook.

So back to breakfast. My dirty little secret? I like pancakes raw, because the batter is usually way better than the final product. (Hush now, naysayers - you know that you love cookie dough. Same idea.) This recipe yields a nice, slightly sweet pancake; next time, I'll sour milk and give them more of a buttermilk taste. But with a handful of chocolate chips tossed in and just a couple minutes on each side, I had perfect, half-cooked pancakes, just the way I like 'em:














Do they look super-tasty? That's because they WERE. Also, I have about eighty pounds of pancake batter left, so I know what I'm having for breakfast tomorrow!











I might have gone back to sleep - briefly.

After driving to my office to pick up tutoring stuff I'd forgotten (awesome, self), I stopped at Whole Foods to pick up the components for the grand tofu-making experiment, and decided salmon would make a good lunch. I started rice as soon as I got home, and prepped the fillet with olive oil, salt, and pepper. It needed only about seven minutes under the broiler to be perfect; that over rice with a healthy squeeze of lemon made for a simple but satisfying lunch.

I might have fallen asleep one more time.

This afternoon and evening were devoted to prep. Dinner was out - I had made reservations ages ago for tonight at Eva, and went with three awesome friends from work. (Seriously, if you live in Los Angeles, make plans to go for their Sunday night dinner. The food is amazing, and there is all the wine you can drink. ALL OF IT.) Before I left, I started a loaf of sandwich bread in the bread machine, which meant I was greeted by the smell of fresh bread when I got back home tonight. In a few minutes, I'll go prep tomorrow night's dinner. But my biggest accomplishment of the evening was making mayonnaise.

Making mayonnaise from scratch is like magic. I've watched my dad do it for years, and it never ceases to amaze me - things are liquid, and then suddenly, seemingly instantaneously, it's a solid. Or...a jiggly solid. I laid out all my ingredients before I left, because everything has to be at room temperature, and held my breath as I sloooooowly added olive oil to the egg and acid and - voila! Beautiful, tart, slightly green (because of the oil, nothing else) mounds of mayonnaise are now chilling in my fridge, ready for tomorrow's sandwich.

So now it's off to prep tomorrow night's dinner, and then toddle off to bed. If a full stomach is a happy stomach, this has been a great day indeed.

Pancakes (from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything)
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 or 2 eggs (I used one, and it was just fine)
1 1/2 to 2 cups milk (I used 1 3/4)
2 tablespoons melted and cooled butter (optional), plus unmelted butter for cooking, or oil (I didn't use butter, but I'm sure it would make things extra delicious)

1. Preheat a griddle or large skillet over medium-low heat while you make the batter.
2. Mix everything together. The recipe says that you should do dry ingredients first, then beat the eggs into the milk, then add the butter, and THEN add all of this to the dry ingredients. Nah. Put everything in the food processor, or a bowl and beat it with a whisk; don't worry if there are a few lumps.
3. If the batter is too thick for your liking, add more milk.
4. Pour batter into the hot pan. Usually, the first batch requires higher heat than subsequent batches. If desired, add chocolate chips, blueberries, slices of banana - or all three! Let each side cook for two to four minutes; flip when pancakes are cooked on the bottom, since they won't hold together until they're ready.

Mayonnaise (from How to Cook Everything)
1 egg or egg yolk
Dash cayenne
1/2 teaspoon dry mustard
Salt and pepper to taste
2 tablespoons fresh-squeezed lemon juice
1 cup extra-virgin olive oil
Note: make sure the egg (and lemon, if applicable) are taken out of the refrigerator long before you plan to make the mayonnaise. Everything has to be at room temperature for this to work. An egg can absolutely be unrefrigerated for several hours with no problem.

1. Combine the egg, cayenne, mustard, salt, pepper, lemon juice, and 1/4 cup of the oil in the container of a blender or food processor; turn on the machine and, with the machine running, add the oil in a thin, steady stream.
2. After you've added about half the oil, the mixture will thicken; you can then begin adding the oil a bit faster. Watch the magic happen. You can add up to 1 1/2 cups of oil and still have a pleasant, yellow (or pale yellow, if you included the egg white) mayonnaise. Serve or store in the refrigerator for up to a week.

Whatcha Wanna Know?

"But...wait," someone inevitably asks. "What about beer?"

When I initially thought of Made It Myself May (which has to get acronymed - MIMM!), it was pretty straightforward. Everything I cooked for myself for the entire month would have to be stuff I made from scratch. Ever the carb-lover, my mind immediately went to recipes for bread and pasta. And then...it went to everything else. Canned beans or dried? Frozen vegetables or only fresh? How do I make tofu? And dear lord, what about Coke Zero?

As it turns out, my analytical friends and family were thinking along the same lines. Here are some of the questions I've been asked the most, as well as some of the ponderings I've been having.

Really, why are you doing this?
Honestly, I like a challenge. I think this is a good opportunity for me to be more self-disciplined, and I hope it gives me something interesting to think and talk about. There's a lot going on right now related to food and its origins - the push for healthier food in schools, the sudden burst of community farms and gardens, the First Lady's attempts to curb childhood obesity - and I'm interested in that. I also think this will help me establish some good habits that I hope I continue after the month is over.

Then did you plant a vegetable garden? Did you start pickling and canning things two months ago? Are you keeping chickens and cows in the backyard?
It's MADE It Myself May, not GREW It Myself May. While I'm definitely working hard to rely on fresh ingredients and things that aren't pre-processed, I also have a full-time job. I'm very lucky to work just a few blocks from a huge farmers' market, and Dara (my roommate/best friend) recently started a subscription to Farm Fresh to You, which means we get a box full of delicious, locally grown produce dropped on our doorstep every two weeks. (Please don't steal it.) I'm looking for milk and meat that don't have things added to them. And while my dad is angling for me to adopt a bunch of chickens, I'm pretty sure my landlord would frown on livestock.

Uh-oh. Does this mean no restaurants?
Absolutely not. Restaurants are still a-okay - within reason. I definitely can't afford to eat out every night, and doing so would sort of negate the whole purpose of this endeavor. So the occasional dinner out is fine, but every meal in a row? Nope. Additionally, certain items are off-limits. A cup of coffee from Starbucks is fine, but a sugar-free soy caramel macchiato? Delicious, and my favorite, but since I suspect it's full of the kinds of things I'm trying to avoid, I'm going to have to go without for the month.
But there is one restaurant I have to completely forbid myself from going to. I have to confess an absolute and abiding love for McNuggets and McDonald's french fries. They're salty and greasy and hot and crunchy - and run completely counter to everything I'm trying to do this month. It's over, McDonald's, but I promise it's not you, it's me. (Actually, it's a little bit you.)

If you come over to my house to eat, are you going to be all weird and picky?
Not even in the slightest - at least, no weirder than usual. This is my own challenge, but it doesn't extend outside of what I'm cooking for myself. I would love to come over to your house, and I'll even bring cupcakes for dessert.

So. What about ________?
The most important question, and the one I really have been asked most frequently. Everyone wants to know the "rules" of MIMM, and what happens if I break them. The easiest answer is that there really aren't any rules - because I'm making this up as I go along. It's easier for me to list the things that I won't make myself than the things that I will, because that list is significantly shorter.

• Ironically, while this all started with yogurt, I'm not going to be making most dairy and dairy-esque products myself. I'll buy soy milk and margarine. I don't have a dairy farm, and I'm not exactly set up to make cheese or butter. Plus, I don't want to accidentally poison myself. However, so many of you have pointed out that it's easy to make yogurt from scratch (usually by saying, "But I've made yogurt before!") that I'll at least make an attempt. I would like to point out, though, that my mom told me that she used to make her own yogurt - and then said that that's probably how she got salmonella. Awesome.
  
• I'm not going to be milling my own spices or flour, or mining my own salt.
  
• Dara and I don't want to battle swarms of bees on our ways to our cars in the morning, so a backyard apiary - and homegrown honey - are out.

But here's what I will be making: everything else. Pickles; tofu (millions of Japanese people can't be wrong!); mayonnaise; ketchup; mustard; bread; pasta, crackers;peanut butter; applesauce; frozen yogurt; fruit juice. I've decided that shelled nuts are fine, and that I'll be using only dried beans, not canned. Frozen veggies are only for an absolute emergency; there's no reason to let all that great produce go to waste. Any broth I want to cook with, I'll make myself, and canned tomatoes - probably the most frequently used product in my kitchen - are out. And finally, though it kills me to do it, I'm going to eliminate soda. I'm not calling it a challenge for nothing.

But seriously. What about beer?
Are you kidding? Beer and wine are in in in. I think I'm going to need them.