I had a major popcorn craving the other day. I was in a big supermarket and couldn’t find regular popcorn- only microwave. In a HUGE store. That is a travesty because microwave popcorn has nothing on fresh-popped kernels from the stovetop. At any rate after hitting up a fancier store I bought some organic popcorn and set to work on handling that craving, and decided just to target all possible cravings in one go. Popcorn, check. Salt, check. Sugar, check.

I love things that are salty and sweet and I love popcorn and I love the way my Dad used to make caramel corn when I was a kid. All of those loves combined into this quick and easy combination. I have never liked caramel corn that was too sticky or crunchy so this method creates a palatable texture, takes less time, and uses 1 pot for everything.

Salty-Sweet Caramel Popcorn
Serves 2-4 for snacking.

Ingredients:

• 1-2 Tblsp oil
• 1/2 cup popcorn kernels
• 1/4 cup butter
• 2/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt

Method:

• Put oil and popcorn into a big pot and put a lid on. (If you have a pot with a clear glass lid, well that makes it a lot more fun.)
• Turn heat on medium high. Keep your hand on the lid. When you start hearing popping, hold the lid down and shake the pot on the stove.
• When popping is mostly done and gets slower, turn off the heat. Wait a minute or two before removing lid as corn will keep popping.
• Remove popcorn to bowl and set aside. In same pot, melt butter over medium heat.
• Add sugar and salt and mix with a whisk. Heat until it boils. It will separate at first then it will become lighter in color and a bit foamy.
• Turn off heat and pour popcorn into caramel, tossing to coat. Mix well and pour back into bowl.

This is one of my favorite posts from my previous blog… so I’m reposting it here while I’m on vacation! Enjoy!

I spent a long weekend in the Hamptons with my two very best girlfriends, Lori and Michelle, who sadly (for me) are two displaced California lasses who have decamped to New York City. The reason was ostensibly Lori’s bachelorette party, but it was really just an excuse to spend some quality time together.

I usually don’t make such fancy shmancy stuff, but this was an occasion that called for something special. Plus, I was excited for the opportunity to pick up some incredibly fresh local seafood and build a seasonal meal around it. This dish screams “springtime” and turned out fabulously well, if I do say so myself. And although it seems a little complicated, for me, at least- it was not so very much effort for such an impressive result. When I do buckle down and commit to a more complex or fussy meal, it is really exhilarating when it turns out well, because I sometimes fear that I’m losing my chichi cooking chops by tending almost always towards the simplest types of cooking. This was the first meal that I’ve cooked in quite some time that gave me that “yep, still got it” feeling.

I was loath to put up the recipe because I completely winged it, and don’t have exact measurements, but Lori and Michelle were really hoping to re-create the meal at home, so I’m summoning my best powers of memory and estimation to try and offer you a coherent recipe.

Seared Sea Scallops with Melted Ginger Leeks and Crispy Mushrooms
This is the amount I made for 3 people, but it could serve 2 or 4 if you just adjust the scallop amounts- the mushrooms and leeks will be an OK amount either way. I served it with asparagus risotto.

Ingredients:

• a couple Tblsp butter
• a couple Tblsp olive oil
• ½ pound oyster mushrooms, chopped finely
• 1 large or 2 small shallots, chopped finely
• ¾ cup white wine
• ½ cup heavy cream
• 2-inch piece of ginger, peel on, sliced
• 9 fresh large sea scallops, rinsed and dried well
• 2 medium-sized leeks, cut in thin slices
• salt and freshly ground pepper

Method:

• Put about 1 Tblsp olive oil and 1 Tblsp butter in a sauté pan and heat over medium high heat. Add mushrooms and season with a lot of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring occasionally, until small and dark brown and crispy. Remove to a plate and set aside.
• Return mushroom pan to medium high heat and add ½ cup wine. Cook until almost completely evaporated.
• Add cream and cook until bubbling. Turn off heat and add ginger. Set aside.
• Season scallops with salt and pepper on both sides.
• Put about 1 Tblsp butter and 1 Tblsp olive oil  in a sauté pan over high heat. When hot,  place scallops in pan, flat side down. Cook about 3 minutes per side, until nice and crispy brown on each side. Remove to plate. (Remember that the scallops will continue to cook a bit after removing from pan, so it’s better to err on the side of undercooking rather than overcooking.) Remove to a plate and set aside to rest.
• In a small pan, heat about 2 tsp olive oil and add shallots. Saute until soft but not brown.
• Add leeks and cook, stirring, about 2 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.  Add ¼ cup wine and cook until almost evaporated.
• Discard ginger pieces from cream. Pour cream over leeks. Cook about 2-3 minutes, until leeks are soft.
• To plate, pull out some leeks with tongs and make a bed on the plate. Place 3 scallops on top. Pour a little bit of the leek cream over the top of the scallops. Sprinkle with a handful of mushrooms.

On my last trip to Dublin, we went to a little wine store called The French Paradox- and they have some light food there as well for lunch, in a lovely setting.

It was a little on the pricey side for the food (somewhere in the neighborhood of 15 euros for a salad), but the wine flight was reasonable (9 euros for 3 pours) and involved 3 tasty wines, no duds.  Plus it’s in Ballsbridge. Say it a few times. It really rolls right off the tongue. Ballsbridge. Ballsbridge. Ballllllsssssbridge.

Do you know what the term “French Paradox” refers to? I did not, but luckily Ross educated me. I love that they used it as the name of a restaurant! From Wikipedia:

“The French paradox is the observation that the French suffer a relatively low incidence of coronary heart disease, despite having a diet relatively rich in saturated fats. The phenomenon was first noted by Irish physician Samuel Black in 1819. The term French paradox was coined by Dr. Serge Renaud, a scientist from Bordeaux University in France in 1992.”

Find more info on the wine store and restaurant at The French Paradox, and give it a go for lunch if you find yourself in Dublin!

Before I say anything else let me tell you that THIS WHOLE DINNER HAS UNDER 200 CALORIES and is VERY TASTY AND FULFILLING!!! OK, I’ll stop yelling at you now so you can look at the picture.

Now I have never been into dieting or counting calories, but from time to time, often around the start of swimsuit season, I begin to eye my middle section and think that it’s starting to look like Costco up in here with all these muffin tops. This extra unwanted pudge is most likely a result of my personal interpretation of the food pyramid, which, if I’m being honest, looks about like this:

From this pyramid you may deduce a few things. Such as: I am a food hedonist and I really don’t like to deny myself anything. I like to eat animals and gorge on starches. I loves me some wine and meat… and butter, heavy cream, and cheese are all vying for the role of “Karen’s BFF.” So, my goal is to change up my pyramid a bit while still maintaining my lust for life and all of its edible/drinkable wonders. This will mean reinforcing some good habits and rewiring some bad ones. I am aiming for a pyramid that’s more like this:

I’m also in love with this iPhone app called LoseIt! which lets you set calorie goals and then log all of your exercise and  food. It’s great at helping me figure out what some of my good and bad habits are! Tonight my goal was to eat something really tasty, filling, and low calorie, since I had totally crammed a huuuuge bagel with ginormous snowy peaks of cream cheese for breakfast, and I had a fair bit of wine last night (I’m going to let you interpret the phrase “a fair bit” however you wish…) I decided it would be fun to challenge myself tonight.

I wouldn’t have believed it was possible until I did it. But I am here to tell you: I am virtuous. I ate my veggies. I got my balance. My pyramid is turning a corner. I am still full, hours later. And I did it all for 190 calories. But don’t be afraid! I have sacrificed NO deliciousness for this meal. It’s the real deal: and I didn’t even have any wine or butter or bacon to go with it.

Asian Chopped Salad with Tuna and Mint

serves one.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 carrot, peeled and grated
• 1/2 cup alfalfa sprouts
• 5-7 mint leaves, chopped finely
• 1 1/2 cups spinach leaves, roughly chopped
• 2 scallions, chopped finely
• 1 three oz. can solid white albacore tuna in water, drained
• 1-2 tsp fresh lemon juice
• 1-2 tsp fresh grated ginger
• 1/2 tsp rice vinegar
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce
• 1 tsp vegetable oil
• salt and pepper

Method:

• Combine veggies, mint, and tuna in a bowl and toss.
• Mix together lemon juice, ginger, oils, vinegar, soy sauce, and salt and pepper to taste.
• Toss dressing with salad.
• Bask in the imagined glory of how thin your thighs would look if you ate like this every night!

The calorie breakdown, with the amounts in the recipe, in case you’re interested…

• 1/2 carrot: 13 calories
• 1/2 cup sprouts: 4 calories
• 5 mint leaves: 3 calories
• 1 1/2 cup spinach: 15 calories
• 2 scallions: 6 calories
• 3 oz. tuna: 80 calories
• 1 tsp. lemon juice: 4 calories
• 1 tsp ginger: 2 calories
• 1/2 tsp rice vinegar: 3 calories
• 1/2 tsp sesame oil: 20 calories
• 1 tsp vegetable oil: 40 calories
• 1/2 tsp soy sauce: 1 calorie
• GRAND TOTAL >>> 190 CALORIES!
  

Happy Father’s Day! Now get to work. All the best dads know how to make shadow puppets.

Trashball posted a super helpful shadow puppet guide on his site. Which is great for me- whenever I try to make shadow puppets, my nieces and nephew are always like “wow Karen, you REALLY suck at this.” Even the ones who can’t talk yet. But think how amazed they’ll be when I bust out that super sweet 2-handed teddy bear… oh yeah. I will regain status as coolest and most favorite aunt. AND THEN I SHALL RULE THE WORLD!!! (Not really.)

I go to Mexico quite often, and visit some interesting food and drink towns, so I thought I’d share some of my favorite food photos and experiences in brief. It’s a fair amount to consume, so to speak, so I’ll be breaking them down by city and sharing them one by one!

First up: the gorgeous colorful kaleidoscope that is the colonial town of Guanajuato. Guanajuato is one of my favorite places in Mexico, and as it’s centrally located, it’s easily reachable from many points.

This lovely burg in Central Mexico’s state of Leon was founded in the 1500s, and funded lavishly for hundreds of years by a massively prolific silver mine just outside of town. The town is built up two sides of a ravine, and the residents favor bright colors for their boxy houses, which are packed together on teeny-tiny streets. In fact, legend has it 2 young lovers who lived across from one another used to live on a street so narrow that they could kiss each other from their facing balconies.  For that reason, the street is famously known as Callejon del Beso- Kiss Alley. Auto traffic flows mainly through an incredible system of medieval-looking underground tunnels that were constructed in the early 1900s. The result is that traversing town, whether in a car or by foot, is a transporting experience.

Food Tour of Guanajuato, Mexico

Of course I bought this- handmade chocolate sold by an ancient man outside the Mercado Juarez. He said it was made by his 3 sons. Inside the paper, I found fragrant cakes of Mexican chocolate, rich with dark cocoa, cinnamon, and big crunchy granules of sugar. It cost about 30 cents for a stack of 5.

One morning, I spotted some guys hanging out by this old truck packed with hanging cow carcasses and a trash can near Mercado Embajadoras. Nice meat hook!

I love my Best Foods, but something about that giant hot jar of mayo made me think twice about that tasty-looking corn.

The signs on these delivery scooters for a Domino’s franchise have successfully managed to make me think of both explosions and lotion, neither of which is particularly tantalizing in relation to pizza.

Looking down into the food stalls and lunch counters in Mercado Juarez from the 2nd floor.

A fabulous torta de carnitas (pork sandwich) with spicy red and green sauces, for less than a buck each from one of those very stalls.

Obligatory Mexican market photo of a ginormous pile of dried chilies.

My brother-in-law loved this squash blossom/huitlacoche/homemade cheese concoction he got from a street vendor at the Pípila, but it was a bit too overpowering for me.

This is an official street sign, the likes of which normally point you to geographical or tourist locations- but this one is pointing out the different types of local food you can get at Mercado de Gavira.

Drinking is serious business in Mexico: for my money, you’ve gotta go with a shot of Herradura Reposado (for sipping, no shooting!) with sangrita (to chase each sip) and a Modelo Especial (in between.)

This guy was selling tamales from a bucket at 1 AM (35 cents for 2.) We got one because we were intrigued by “dulce” - sweet tamales. It was a tamale with pineapple goo inside. Not bad, but I’ll stick with savory. I should have tried acelgas (chard.)

We happened upon a minor league baseball game in an amazing stadium embedded right into the middle of town, and ate lots of salty roasted pistachios and pumpkin seeds, with cheap beers of course, while enjoying the action.

The stadium itself is nestled in a pocket of houses right in town, with the back walls comprised of rough-hewn rock.

Your choice for tickets: sun or shade. Guess which one is cheaper?

To visit Guanajuato: Del Bajio airport in Silao/Leon is about a 30 minute drive from Guanajuato. Mexicana, Aeromexico, Continental, American Eagle, and Delta all fly into Del Bajio from the U.S. The town is centrally located and can also be easily reached by bus from Mexico City, Guadalajara, San Miguel de Allende, Queretaro, and many other places.

This is a great and easy appetizer- but since I don’t really like breakfast food and I had some very ripe heirloom tomatoes staring at me as I prepared my cup of tea, I ate this for breakfast today. At 9 AM. DELICIOUS. I’m weird like that. I justified it by telling myself that since it was on toast and toast is a breakfast food it was OK. But you will probably want to make this later on in the day, at which time it would be more socially acceptable. Like, before dinner would be good.

Heirloom tomatoes are in season, and they are worth highlighting whatever chance you get! I never liked tomatoes until my mid-20s, when I tasted an heirloom tomato, at which point I realized I was just a huge tomato snob who didn’t like mealy, flavorless supermarket varieties- only the very best. Luckily the trend has caught on, and you can now get heirloom tomatoes in many major supermarkets, as well as fancy stores like Whole Foods, or, of course, a farmers’ market. Since the tomatoes are so good, they need hardly any embellishment- just a few accoutrements to bring out their bursting flavor and candy sweetness.

I’m not giving specific amounts in this recipe, because I figure you might want to make a lot or a little, and this isn’t rocket science, it’s like, a piece of toast with some stuff on it. So I have complete confidence that if I give you the general concept, you will be able to figure out how to do it in a way that works for you.

Crispy Toasts With Fresh Ricotta and Heirloom Tomatoes

Ingredients:

• crusty bread or baguette, sliced (I used country sourdough)
• fresh ricotta cheese (I used Bellwether Farms Jersey Ricotta)
• heirloom tomatoes, chopped (I used 2 colors so it would be prettier and tastier)
• good quality extra-virgin olive oil (I used Stonehouse)
• coarse salt (I used cyprus black salt from Whole Foods because it looks cool)

Method:

• Toast the bread. If you’re just making a few, you can just use the toaster, but if you’re making a lot, lay the bread out on a pan in a single layer and toast both sides in the oven.
• If necessary, cut toasts into smaller finger-food-sized pieces.
• Spread each toast with a layer of the ricotta. Top with chopped tomatoes.
• Drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle salt on top. Serve immediately.
• You could add chopped herbs if desired, but if the tomatoes are at their peak there is no need.