Earlier this week I got an awesome present from my work secret Santa. (Thank you mystery friend!) I don’t know what to call it, but they are a pack of stencils that you put over cupcakes or frothy coffee and then sprinkle some sugar over it and you get an image. And mine are all Star Wars related! They take a little finesse to use, but I think I made some nice designs. It’s a perfect present not only because it combines two things that I love, but also because the new Star Wars film, The Force Awakens, comes out on TOMORROW! I’m so excited! And for that reason (and inspired by this present) I’ve put together a Star Wars Gift Guide for Foodies. 

Star Wars foodie might seem like a niche market, but based on the vast array of products out there, I’m sure I’m not the only one. Today’s post is actually compiled of two lists. One is a list of 10 fun food related gifts for Star Wars fans and the other is 5 Star Wars foods you can easily make at home – no special molds or tools required. With all of this you can celebrate the new film and treat your Star Wars fan (or yourself) to some lovely Christmas gifts. So let’s get to it.

10 Foodie Gifts for Star Wars Fans

1. Star Wars Apron from Alexenia on Etsy, $53 – I got this for Christmas for last year and I love it! The print is a bright, cute, Star Wars comic. And I love that the cut is feminine and different. It’s not your usual boxy apron.

2. Death Star Ice Mold, from Amazon, $4 – I think I recommended this last year too, and I still believe it’s a cool present. This is inexpensive and perfect for a stocking stuffer. Also this big circular size is meant to be perfect for cocktails because the ice melts more slowly.

3. Millennium Falcon Cutting Board, from I Want One of Those, £19.99 – The fastest hunk of junk in the galaxy, now in your kitchen. With this cutting board, you can finish your prep work in less than 12 parsecs.

4. Star Wars Ugly Sweater Mug, from Amazon, $13 – Cute and seasonally festive this mug is a great gift. Your Star Wars fan can snuggle up at home in front of the TV with hot cocoa and enjoy the films.

5. R2D2 Measuring Cups and Spoons, from Think Geek, $19.99 –  I love this not only because it’s cute, but also because it’s so efficient. It has all the measuring cups and spoons you need and they all fit together for easy storage (and to make R2D2).

6. Star Wars Cook Book, from Barnes and Noble, $15 – Ok so the titles for the recipes are all cheesy puns and silly alliteration, but overall the book is fun. It’s great for the younger fan on your list, but I think adults would find it amusing too.

7. 8 Piece Star Wars Cookie Cutter Set, from Williams-Sonoma, $24 -Love these cookie cutters! You get a great mix of Republic and Imperial characters and ships. Also they are really easy to use and I’ve only ever had dough get stuck to the C3-PO cutter. The others work perfectly. See the Yoda cutter in action with these Green Tea & Lemon Shortbread Cookies.

8. Star Wars Planetary Glasses, from Think Geek, $49.99 – These glasses are a more subtle, grown up, and dare I say it – a beautiful way to let your nerd flag fly. Think Geek also has glasses with the real planets from our solar system in case reality is what you’re in to.

9. Storm Trooper Oven Mitt, from Think Geek, $14.99 – I think this is just fun and kind of bad ass. They also have a Darth Vader oven mitt too.

10. Light Saber Chop Sticks, from Amazon, $17 – Who wouldn’t want their own light sabers? And you couldn’t sometimes use help from the Force when picking up slippery sushi? I feel like this gift solves all your problems. Available in lots of colors so you can represent your favorite character.

5 Star Wars Foods (to celebrate the Force Awakens)

Ok and now for those who might want to celebrate the Force Awaken’s release, or who wants to do something nice for your Star Wars fan, I have a list of 5 Star Wars themed foods you can make. These recipes are great because you don’t need a cake mold of Darth Vader’s face or special cookie cutters. Your regular kitchen equipment should be just fine.

1. Storm Trooper Marshmallow Pops, from Catch my Party – So cool looking and all you need is three things: marshmallows, food coloring marker, and lollipop sticks. Easy!
2. Leia Cupcakes from Paintbrushes and Popsicles – Leia’s hair is iconic and so easy to recreate with food through cinnamon rolls or as we see on these cupcakes, with Oreos!
3. Chewbacca Hash Browns & Bacon, from Carrie Elle – I am in love with this Chewbacca breakfast. I find it perfectly elegant in design. All you’re doing is making regular breakfast and designing it in the best way ever. It’s awesome!
4. Yoda Apple, from Kitchen Fun with My 3 Sons – Small but powerful, this apple snack is just like Yoda! It’s great that it’s  healthy too.
5. BB-8 Quesadilla from Totally the Bomb – The last thing on my list today, and this really is from the new film. Already BB-8 has become pretty popular and now you can bring him to your home in quesadilla form. Ok, so you might need some piping skills but I think the effort would be worth it. This is so cute.

Hope you all enjoyed these lists, and better yet I hope you enjoy the film tomorrow!

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My family and I went to Crete because my mom’s colleague Elias was getting married. We stayed at Bella Vista, a hotel in Stalida (Stalis) Crete owned by Elias’ parents. They were the most generous and hospitable hosts I’ve ever met. The hotel is up on a hill, about a ten minute walk from the beach. There is a pool, a family of semi-stray cats, and a gorgeous view. About thirty wedding guests stayed at the hotel and every night up to the wedding Elias’ parents cooked a giant feast. There was salad, bread, lamb, meatballs and much more. Sorry I didn’t take any pictures of the food.

We spent a lot of time lounging at the pool. We also took the walk over to the beach. Although technically not far, it was hilly and  very hot – which resulted in some amount of whining on the walk. One day at the beach Papa and I rode a banana boat. We had done it years and year ago when I was in middle school and I remember it being so much fun. If you’re not familiar you can see a picture of it here. Basically it’s a floppy raft pulled behind a motor boat and as the boat hits the waves, the banana boat bounces. It was fun – but also super scary. We were riding with two other tourists and I ended up in the very front of the boat. I was bouncing around like crazy and holding on in a crazy white-knuckle grip. When I got off and back to solid ground, my hands hurt and could barely uncurl. My mom said she could see my flying off the seat during the ride. As I said it was fun and scary. I’m glad we did it – but it was like a haunted house tour because it’s almost more fun to remember it after than to actually do it.

One of the days Elias’ parents organized an outing for the guests. We went to Knossos and the Heraklion Archaeological Museum. Knossos is an archaeological site of a palace that is tied to the myths of King Minos and the minotaur. I was so very excited to go there but we had the worst tour guide ever. She was wearing an orange beach sarong as a dress and matching orange jewelry. She spent 40 minutes of our hour tour talking by the entrance, and wouldn’t budge when Elias and his friend asked her to show us the sites. She also spent most of her tour complaining about how European excavators did everything wrong. They may have done it all wrong, but I wanted to learn about the people who lived here and she spoke little about that. It was really annoying and we didn’t see everything I would have liked. She almost convinced us not to go to the throne room too, but what we did see was pretty cool. I enjoyed picturing what the palace would have looked like whole and how gorgeous it would have been covered in frescoes.

After Knossos we went to a nearby restaurant and had an epic feast. There was of course salad, lamb, bread, and olive oil. But there were also snails, tomatoes on crusty bread, squash blossoms stuffed with meat, and beer. The group of about twenty of us sat at a big long table and they kept bringing out course after course. We’d finish a drink and a new one would appear. Since we were celebrating a wedding they brought us a traditional rice dish that is supposed to bring fertility. It mostly tasted like hot rice with chicken broth. It was an amazing meal and afterward we were stuffed. I apologize for my messy pictures but I was half way through gorging myself before I thought to take pictures.

Lunch completed, we went to the Archaeological Museum. Since our first tour guide was awful, Elias’ best man (who is a doctor not a tour guide) led us through the museum. He was awesome! So knowledgeable and enthusiastic. He knew so much about Crete and the history of the island. I took pictures of the giant intact storage pots and the frescoes from Knossos. The originals are at the museum and copies at actual Knossos. Also I took a picture of the snake goddess, which I had learned about in undergrad art history. Apparently early cultures on Crete were a matriarchal society and the bare chested woman holding snakes was a powerful symbol. Cool, right?

The wedding itself was the last Saturday we were there. The ceremony was outside a tiny chapel next to the water. The guests waited outside the chapel and the bride and groom were driven up separately in a beautiful convertible with the horn blaring their arrival. It was fun an exciting. They processed with their families toward the altar in front of the chapel and the guests all gathered around them. It was more casual than any wedding I’d been to before. People in the back of the crowd talked to each other quietly and walked around a little. At one point in the ceremony, the bride and groom are wearing crowns connected together. They walked around the altar and the guests threw rice from small bags at them. The bride had told me earlier that in total they had bought 30 pounds of rice to throw! There was rice everywhere and all night we could see rice in peoples’ hair.

The reception afterward was gorgeous. It was at a resort that was so amazing because the rooms looked like little villas and were on winding streets. The reception was held in a huge hall right along the water. The buffet was enormous. There was one room of mains and one room of desserts. There was so many kinds of meat too – lamb, chicken, beef, rabbit, and fish. There was also more traditional fertility rice, like we had at lunch. In the dessert room there was baklava, six flavors of ice cream, cookies, cakes, and fruit. They had a dj, a band, and traditional Greek dancers. And there were shots. So many shots of raki and ouzo that just kept coming. There was lots of Greek dancing too. I was too shy, but my parents were brave enough to jump in and try it.

It was a great night and we spent the next day relaxing by the pool drinking lemon Fanta. The whole experience – wedding, pool, banana boat, and food – was absolutely incredible.  It was really tough leaving Crete – it’s just so flipping beautiful.

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But I’m getting ahead of myself. Last week I flew back to London, back to our cute little flat, and back to Ryan. It was wonderful to be back. Done with the move and done with long distance. Now, on to be an expat. The only draw back of my arrival was that the airline lost my luggage for just over 24 hours. I was grumpy about it, but at least I eventually got it back.

On the Thursday after I got back, Ryan took the day off and we went to the zoo. After living in DC, I was a little spoiled on free zoos, but the London Zoo is totally worth the money. It was awesome. We saw so many animals and they weren’t just lounging around they were walking and doing stuff. Exciting, right? We saw a komodo dragon, a tiger, giant tortoises, and a okapi – which I didn’t even know existed and has a butt like a zebra.

Then on Friday, my parents and my brother Eric arrived in London. We took one of those double-decker bus tours and it was really fun seeing so much of the city and learning random facts. Then, Monday, less than week back in London, and we were off to Greece.

My family! L to R, Papa, Eric, Ryan, Mama

We are lucky enough to have this family vacation in Greece because my mom was invited by a colleague to his wedding in Crete. Incredible, I know! But before the wedding, and before  Crete, we spent a few days in Athens. I have been wanting to go to Athens for about seven years – since I studied abroad in Rome, and fell in love with Classical art, architecture, history, and mythology.

Athens was AMAZING. First, to blow your minds, our hotel had a view of the acropolis. When Ryan pointed it out I was in disbelief. It was there? I was finally seeing it?! Later we went to the hotel’s roof bar and the view was even more breath taking at night (although my pictures didn’t come out well).

Anyway, day 1 in Athens and the five us make the sweaty hot trip up to the acropolis. I can’t explain how amazing the experience was. I loved seeing things I learned about over ten years ago in an art history lecture hall at the University of Maryland. I loved walking among stone and sculptures that have witnessed history. It was incredible to look out over a vast and built up city with this ancient history in the middle of it. And the Parthenon – wow. I was in awe of it. In awe of the building, the history, the city. It was great to imagine what it was like when people actually came to worship Athena. I can’t say anymore, just look at these sweet pictures.

I also insisted on seeing every single thing at the National Archaeological Museum. I was really impressed by that museum. Some of you might be reading this thinking, “archaeological museum, snooze-fest.” But I loved it. I know this blog is my platform for talking about food  (and I’ll get there I promise) but my training is in museums so let me chat on that for sec. Pieces of pottery and faded carvings can be a snooze-fest, I’ll admit. But this museum put the pieces together with reconstructed pieces to give a full picture of what the object was. I liked seeing real pieces put together with a reconstruction to create a full vase. And for faded carvings, they had color reproductions next to the original. It helped provide context and let me imagine a little better. And there were awesome maps and info graphics to put these objects into a historical context. Ok, I’ll stop. I know I’m dorking out on museums.

Ryan and I also went to the Agora to check out some more ruins. In case you don’t want to Google Agora, it was a commercial center in Athens. It was a place where people went for religion, shopping, art, and what have you. It was amazing to walk around among foundations of buildings and temples. The Agora museum had more pottery pieces and sculptures – but it also had 6th-4th century cooking equipment. See, I told you I’d get back to food. It’s cool that some of these objects look so similar. Below are pictures of a cheese grater, grill, casserole, oven, and spit.

And while we’re talking about food, let’s just say I AM IN HEAVEN. First, I love Greek salads. Greek salad is what I eat when Ryan is away for dinner, and that’s because he doesn’t like olives or feta cheese. I have been indulging to the utmost.  Also we have had delicious lamb and beef, bread, olive oil, tomatoes. In the pictures below there is mousaka, something like a falafel, tzatziki, stuffed lamb, Greek salad, potatoes, and other things I don’t know the name of. This was all from Xenois Zeus, a restaurant in Athens with a great roof-top view dining room.  And while less widely lauded, I’ve also had tons of Fanta Lemon, which is my favorite soda of all time. I’m hoping to find a cookbook and maybe sneak in few Greek recipes in after vacation. I’ll write more about Crete when I’m back in London!

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We’ve been walking a lot, but for some reason we cannot stop looking the wrong way when we cross the street. It doesn’t matter what the crosswalk says, it’s so hard for us not to look right. It’s a hard habit to break! I’m also having trouble finding the crosswalks. The sounds dumb, but let me tell you about it. When there’s  median in the road, the cross walk doesn’t go all the way across, instead the two halves are staggered. Why? I don’t get it. I feel like such an idiot standing in the median, all alone, trying to figure out where to cross next. Here’s a picture. I added arrows so you can see what I’m talking about.

I’ve also gotten in to two “cooking” shows. One is Come Dine With Me. Five people host dinner parties for the other four, at the end of the night each rates the other, then at the very end the winner gets money. There’s always drunkenness and weird dancing. It’s been really funny and I’m addicted. The other is called Dinner Date, and women create a menu that they would cook on a date. A man chooses 3 out of 5 menus. The women who made those three menus have to cook for the guy and at the end they rate him, and he picks his favorite date. I was watching yesterday and one of the women liked to drink and the narrator said she likes “a tipple and a topple.” Which means, you like to drink and then fall over. I died. The is some awesome slang. So hilarious.

But, let’s get on to the main event. The myth busting! As you might remember, at our going away party we received a mountain of treats that may or may not be available in London. So, I went to grocery store to check out what I really could find.

Peanut Butter

There is definitely peanut butter in London! I’ve been told, by people who’ve studied abroad in London, that the peanut butter doesn’t taste as good as it does at home. But, I haven’t tried it yet, so I’ll reserve judgement. For now I’m happy that peanut butter is available. There aren’t the brands that we have at home, but there were at least two shelves of peanut butter. If you need jelly there’s tons, about four times as many shelves of jelly as there are shelves of peanut butter.

Marshmallows & Fluff

There is definitely marshmallow fluff. Marshmallows took me a bit to find at first (because the store was out). I’ve seen them both at coffee shops and at the grocery store. What’s interesting is that the marshmallows are always pink and white! I don’t know why, but I thought it was interesting.

Twizzlers & Hershey products

As far as I can tell, there aren’t Twizzlers. But, I did find strawberry flavored licorice. Isn’t the packaging super cute? The only Hershey product I’ve seen are Kit Kats (and in mint, cookies and cream, and dark chocolate flavors!). But Ryan says in Europe, Kits Kats are licensed and made by Nestle. Who knew? Side note: the Kit Kats are delicious, Ryan and I bought mint and they were great.

Chocolate chips

This took me forever to find because the bag is so much smaller than what I expected! How the heck am I supposed to make chocolate chip cookies with such a dinky bag?! I have no idea. Maybe chocolate chip cookies aren’t that popular here…?

Boxed macaroni and cheese

As far as I can tell, this doesn’t exist. There is pre-made food, but no equivalent of Kraft boxed mac and cheese. No worries, because I can make this at home, and they have Lincolnshire Poacher here. Update: They have microwaveable macaroni and cheese. I found this out because on Dinner Date, the women who aren’t chosen get a “ready meal” at the end and I just saw two women get mac and cheese. The woman who is chosen gets taken out to a restaurant.

Graham crackers

I don’t think this exists either. There are tons of similar, lightly sweet flat cracker-cookies, but I didn’t see anything exactly the same.

Pancakes and syrup

Remember when I made lemon ricotta pancakes because I was told there are no pancakes in London? Well, there are definitely pancakes in London, just not the way we’re used to. Here are my pieces of evidence. First, Ryan and I were watching the TV show Idiot Abroad (which stars a British guy) and he says something about “Pancake Wednesdays,” which means that must be a thing and so British people have pancakes. Second, I saw a commercial for Warburton’s pancakes; and you can watch it here. I don’t know where to find it in the grocery, but obviously it exists.  Finally, the grocery store has all the ingredients you need, including maple syrup! So, I can definitely get pancakes. Now, as far as I can tell there’s no Aunt Jemima or Bisquick, but I’m pretty sure we can get over that because making them at home isn’t that hard.

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On Tuesday, Ryan and I had an appointment to set up a bank account. We arrive at the bank and the person we were supposed to meet was out sick. Also, part of the ceiling had collapsed so things were a mess. We had to reschedule. Sigh.

I then had an appointment to see an apartment. The place was very close to the tube station and in a cute development, but in a very residential place, and we wanted something a little more urban. I get to the place and the owner shows me around. Some parts were really nice, and some parts were not. There was black gunk on the bathroom floors! It must have shown in my face because the owner asked me twice why I didn’t like it. Awkward.

Next, I went to a department store to buy some underwear. (Sorry for the intimate detail) The sizing is all different and I’m holding things up and Googling size conversions to see what might work.

Finally, I went to a coffee shop. I had a huge pile of coins in my purse and I was trying to figure out if I had enough to pay (because I don’t know the coins by heart yet) and then I spilled everything all over the floor. So embarrassing! Ryan and I had just read an article that said only Americans help other people in distress. And maybe that’s true, because no one offered to help me clean up my scattered coins. I took my coffee and pastry and slunk to a hidden seat in the back of the cafe.

But, the day turned around and Ryan and I explored a new neighborhood and had a great dinner at a small Turkish restaurant.

Since then, I’ve had some really great wins too. I went to the Globe Theatre! I love Shakespeare. Ten years ago, I visited London and didn’t see the Globe and I’ve regretted it ever since. I decided to walk there and I’m so glad I did! It was sunny, I walked along the Thames and took pictures of the skyline. The theatre itself was pretty impressive and I loved learning the history. I loved picturing what it would have been like in Shakespeare’s day, and I hope I can convince someone to see a show with me there.

I then got lunch and ate outside along the Thames. Only a few weeks ago I was in DC surrounded by snow, and here I am now eating lunch outside.

Ryan and I also have successfully set up a bank account, done some laundry, and gone to the grocery store.

In general I love going to the grocery store, and it has been especially fun seeing the new and different things here in London. Grocery shopping and cooking has really helped this place feel like home. There’s so much here I don’t know how to do, but shopping and cooking feels like an adventure I do know about, and is something I can do well.

They have all kinds of cool stuff in the grocery store. Their cheese section is huge! Seriously, there are about 4 different sections for cheese. There’s also a huge section for beans. The portion sizes are way smaller than we’re used to. The family sized juice is about the size of regular juice. The eggs aren’t refrigerated. But what I really thought was cool was that the cartons tell you the breed of chicken. I also saw quail and duck eggs, which I’ve never seen before. I will definitely need to figure out how to use those. There’s also beet juice! I need to try that, although I’m a bit afraid. Also, I saw brown sugar, which is totally normal. But, it was advertised as “treacly.” I didn’t know what that meant, so I had to look  it up. Finally the milk jugs look different and so do Starbucks to-go drinks.

Also, next time I go to the store I’m going to do a “myth busters” edition, where I’ll hunt down all the things people said we couldn’t find here in London. Stay tuned!

Anyway, I didn’t go crazy shopping in the store. Ryan and I are in temporary housing so I don’t want to make things that need a lot of ingredients. I need recipes that are low maintenance, can be made exclusively on the stove, and fairly healthy. A stir fry seemed perfect.

This is really an improv dish, so use the vegetables you like and trust your instincts. Use more veggies if you like. Cook until it looks good to you. Do what feels right. This is a super easy dish, quick, and great for people not wanting to do a ton of work.

Ingredients:

1 cup uncooked rice

1 large carrot

1 1/2 cup broccoli florets

½ cup peas

4 (or more) white mushrooms

1 pound chicken breast, cut into chunks

About 2 tbsp of concentrated chicken stock (you could also use regular chicken stock, I just bought the small concentrated packets from the store)

olive oil

salt & pepper, to taste

Directions:

1. Put 1 cup of rice and 2 cups of water in a medium sauce pan. Heat on high until the water comes to a boil. Turn the heat to low, cover the pot, and let simmer for about 20 minutes, or until the water is absorbed.

2. On medium high, heat a little oil in a sauce pan. Add the carrots and broccoli. Season with salt and pepper if you like. Add 1/2 the chicken stock concentrate. Also add about 1 tbsp of water to help make the stock saucy. Cook the vegetables for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally but not constantly. It might take longer than 10 minutes, but you want the vegetables to be easily chewable with a little bit of crunch.

3. Remove from pan, add a splash of olive oil, then add the mushrooms and peas. You’re doing this in steps so everything can cook evenly and the vegetables that need longer get longer. Cook for about 5+ minutes. You want the peas to be soft and mushrooms to be soft and a bit smaller and wilted.

4. Remove mushrooms and peas from pan. Add a flick of olive oil and add the chicken. Season with salt and pepper. Cook until the chicken is all the way cooked through. This could take as little as 5 minutes, but close to 10 minutes depending on thickness of the meat.

5. When the chicken is all the way cooked through, add all the vegetables back in. Add the rest of the chicken stock and another tablespoon of water. Stir to get everything coated. Taste it and adjust seasonings as necessary.

6. Serve the stir fry on top of the rice. Eat and enjoy!

Messy level: 2 spoons. The messiest part is just switching out everything between the pans. You could do everything in multiple pans if you wanted, but I only have 2 burners, and that would be super messy. Mostly, this is a super clean dish.

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My mom and Ryan’s mom organized a going away party for us this weekend. It was wonderful to be surrounded by many of our family and friends. I felt so loved and was really touched that people made the trip out to send us off. And I liked having so many different groups of people together. I felt warm and fuzzy, but I also got a bit weepy. With so many people supporting and encouraging us, what can’t we accomplish, even if we are far away? But, being far away… I will miss so many things and so many people. So I cried a bit. But not too much.

The party itself was lovely. My mom got us the most BEAUTIFUL cake. She ordered it from Samantha of Sweet Eats Cakes. My family is a little obsessed with her. Samantha made Ryan and my wedding cake, and in total, to this day, she’s made us five cakes. We love Samantha because her pricing is affordable, she is so flexible and easy to contact, and most importantly her cake is so delicious. Each slice of incredibly moist cake has four layers, which means tons of cake and more space for frosting. She makes great fruit purees and a chocolate ganache. What blows my mind is her butter cream! The frosting is light in texture but so deeply infused with flavor. Oh man, Ryan and I will miss her cakes.  Below is my Sweet Eats Cakes photo collage. 

Our going away party cake had three tiers. The bottom tier was decorated to look like Hershey, Ryan’s home town. The second tier was Baltimore, my home town. And the third tier was London, our future home town. The cake was so intricate with recognizable buildings from each city’s skyline. Even better, each tier was a different flavor! There was chocolate and hazelnut, yellow cake with oreo butter cream, and yellow cake with lemon butter cream and raspberry puree.  I made sure to eat all three flavors.

Ryan and I also walked away from the party with a great haul of gifts to remind us of home and get us ready for London. We got Nationals and Ravens gear, cookbooks, and guidebooks. We also got a ton of snack food. A picture of our snack mountain is below. Did you know there’s no peanut butter in London? Or marshmallows? Or graham crackers? That’s according to the internet, so I don’t know for sure. But I have a hard time believing that the country of London lives without smores. How could that be?

I’m not sure, but I’ll be sure to scour the grocery stores and once I’m there and let you know. And so the countdown begins. 5 days for Ryan, and a little less than 2 weeks for me. England here we come!

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I love all kind of books, not just food books. I like biographies, historical fiction, and fantasy books aimed at adolescents (like Harry Potter and the Hunger Games). But, food writing can be such great fun. Food writing transports me to new places, gives me inspiration for future posts, and pushes me to try something new at restaurants. Food stories make me feel hungry, excited, and eager to jump in the kitchen.

So, for fellow readers out there, I want to share with you 5 food-related books that have had an impact on me. Also, I want to actually, physically, share a book with one of you, through the first-ever cooking is messy giveaway! I’m giving away one copy of Jacques Pepin’s book Essential Pepin. This book is huge with tons of recipes and clear instructions. My favorite part is that it comes with a DVD where Jacques Pepin shows you a variety of techniques, like flipping an omelet and killing a lobster. He’s awesome, adorable, has a great French accent, and is fun to watch. I love this book, and I’m giving it away only because I have two copies. If you want a peak inside, two recipes I’ve made from the book are french onion soup and steak in a spicy soy sauce.

Anyway, to enter for the book all you have to do is write a comment and share with me the title of a book you love. It can be any kind of book, not just a cookbook or food memoir. Unfortunately, this giveaway is open to just to those in the U.S. I will mail the cookbook via US Postal service.  The winner will be selected on January 29, randomly using random.org. I will contact the winner via email and the winner will have 48 hours to respond before another winner is chosen in their place. If only one person enters, then yay, you win!

Full disclosure: some links in this post will be affiliate links. That means if you were to make a purchase, I would get a small percentage of the sales price. I’m recommending these books though because I love them!

And now, here’s my list of books I love…

Mariel’s 5 Books to Read:

 A Year in Provence by Peter Mayle. This is an excellent memoir about Mayle and his wife’s move to a small home in Provence. I read this when I was on my gap-year between high school and college and I felt transported. I hadn’t traveled much yet, I couldn’t legally drink wine, and I wasn’t much of an adventurous eater – but I wanted to be and do all of those things. I fell in love with the idea of immersing yourself in a new culture through food. The book is not just about food, but the way Mayle describes his meals and wine makes France came alive in decadent and absorbing detail.

  Animal, Vegetable, Miracle: A Year of Food Life by Barbara Kingsolver. I’m crazy about this book and I recommend it to everyone. Kingsolver and her family spend a year striving to live locally and eat with the seasons. Her husband and oldest daughter also contribute chapters to the book. What I love about the book is that it really got me thinking about how I could incorporate local and seasonal food into my diet. I can’t commit myself to being 100% sustainable, but this book helped me think about what I could do and why it is important.  Also I love the recipes! Zucchini chocolate chip cookies! Eggs over chard! And the mozzarella I made  was inspired by her recipe. Most importantly, if you’re not interested in eating locally and seasonally don’t worry – this book has a great narrative and can be pretty funny (there’s a great story about how the family tries to force their turkeys to mate).

  Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer. I’ll be honest, if you’re not interested in where your food comes from, then this is not the book for you. Foer became a father and asked himself if eating meat was the best choice for his family. He goes on a quest to see what’s going on with our food production. I enjoyed that he talked to all different types of people from large meat producers to renegade activists who try to free baby poultry. Also, it was just fascinating learning about all the different types of food industry people and to compare their very different and strong-held beliefs. The book didn’t turn  me into a vegan, but it stuck with me and it has changed some of my grocery shopping habits.

The Art of Eating In by Cathy Erway. In New York, where there are tons of amazing restaurants and Erway decided to go a year without them. I read this when I first moved to New York and was a poor grad student so I liked the idea that I could create delicious meals at home. I also loved how it wasn’t just about home cooking. She explored the non-restaurant food scene which is more elaborate, secretive, and cool than I would have thought. Super clubs? Cook-off competitions? Who knew?! It makes the food scene feel exciting and complex. She also has a great blog, noteatingoutinny.com.

  Heat by Bill Buford. Buford thrusts himself in the restaurant world, taking on every job he’s allowed to at Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo. The work is challenging, overwhelming, and seemingly exhilarating. Buford paints a “work hard, play hard” picture for what life is like at Babbo. What’s awesome is the Buford gets so engrossed in the Italian cooking and culture at Babbo that he briefly moves to Tuscany and becomes a butcher’s apprentice. The story is crazy, fast-paced, and a delight.

Don’t forgot, share a book title in the comments and you could win the giveaway.

All book cover pictures in the list are from goodreads.com

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And then, I was on my way to work listening to the America’s Test Kitchen podcast and it got me to curious about how to cook the best tasting pasta.  They were talking about salting pasta and they asserted that salting pasta makes a huge difference in taste. Could it really be that serious? They said that it especially made a difference when you put sauce on your pasta. They said if you tested it at home, you’d definitely be able to tell the difference.

Could I really tell the difference? I had to know. Ryan didn’t think salt vs no-salt would make much of a difference. I thought we could tell the difference without sauce, but once the sauce was on I didn’t think we’d know the difference. And so, with our hypotheses set we were ready to test.

The Experiment:

1. In two large pots I boiled 10 cups of water (2 and a half quarts).

2. I measured out 10 ounces of pasta and split that in half (the amount is a bit random but it’s about what we had in the house).

3. When the first pot came to a rolling boil I added 5 ounces of pasta.

4. When the second pot of pasta came to a boil I added 1 tbsp of salt and then I added the pasta. If your eyes are popping out of your head at 1 tbsp of salt, don’t worry it doesn’t all get absorbed into the pasta. As well, after doing a lot of research experts say pasta water should taste “like the sea” and that a good ratio is 1 tbsp to every 2 quarts of water. Once you drop in that salt, taste the water. I definitely tastes like the sea.

5. I cooked the pasta for 9 minutes until it was al dente.

6. I drained the non-salt pasta first, then drained the salted pasta.

7. I tasted the non-salt pasta plain, then salt pasta plain, then non-salt with sauce, then salt pasta with sauce.

8. After I tasted I made a sample for Ryan, who did not know which pasta was which before tasting. The first one he tried was salted pasta, and he knew it immediately. He then sort of sampled back and forth and tried all four combinations of pasta.

Conclusions: 

We could definitely taste the different between salted and un-salted pasta when it was plain. Although plain pasta tastes fine ordinarily, when compared right next to the salted pasta, it tasted bland.

Ryan and I were most surprised about the difference the pastas took on when we tasted them with sauce. Ryan simply said that the salted pasta “made the sauce taste better.” I agreed. I found that with salted pasta, the sauce tasted more complex and interesting. So, America’s Test Kitchen was completely right!  They said that adding salt to the water is the only chance you have to season pasta. I never thought of it like that, but it does make sense, and as I tasted it does make a difference. I’ll be sure to salt my pasta water from now on!

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These pretzels are billowy soft, buttery, with just a touch of salt. They really taste like the pretzels you get at the mall (in the good, indulgent sort of way). What’s great is that this recipe doesn’t take too long (as far as making bread goes), the technique isn’t too difficult, and you’ll already have practically all the ingredients you need in your kitchen.

So here’s the final recipe in my pretzel series. This recipe is easy to double, but as written here you’ll be able to make six 3-4″ soft pretzels. I’ve adapted this recipe from the one here on allrecipes.com.

Ingredients:

2 tsp active dry yeast

1/2 tsp white sugar

5 oz water (5/8 cup of water) – should be warm at about 100°

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 cup white sugar

3/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 tsp vegetable oil

1/4 cup baking soda

2 cups hot water

1 tbsp butter

kosher salt (for sprinkling)

Directions:

1. Make sure your 5oz of water is warm. I turned the faucet on high heat and then used a cooking thermometer to check the temperature. Microwave it hotter if you need to.

2. Dissolve the yeast and 1/2 tsp of sugar in the warm water. Let sit for 10  minutes. It will start to look kind of creamy and it will smell strongly of bread.

3. In a large bowl, mix the flour, 1/4 cup of sugar and salt.

4. Create a hole in the middle of your flour mixture. Pour in the vegetable oil and the dissolved yeast. Mix until it forms into a dough. If the dough is too dry add a few tsps of water to help it mix together.

5. Knead the dough for 7-8 minutes. You can do this by hand, but I recommend an electric mixer with a dough hook.

6. Lightly butter a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with butter. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 1 hour.

7. Preheat oven to 425°. In a shallow bowl, dissolve baking soda in hot water. (I turned the faucet as hot as I could and used that to dissolve the baking soda) Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or grease it with cooking spray.

8. When the dough risen, put it on a lightly floured work surface. Divide the dough into six pieces. Roll each piece into  18″-24″ rope.

9. Take the two ends of your rope and bring them to the middle and cross them. (It will look like an upside-down awareness ribbon)

10. Twist the ends one more time.

11. Fold the twist over and press it onto the bottom circle part, so you get the traditional pretzel shape.

12. Dip the pretzel into the baking soda water. Place on the baking sheet.

13. Bake for 8 minutes, or until golden brown.

14. Melt the butter. Brush it on to of the baked pretzels. Sprinkle the salt to your liking.

15. Let cool enough so they’re easy to handle, but so they’re still warm to taste. EAT THEM.

Messy Level: When I’ve done this in the past I’ve made an epic mess with the pretzel prep and baking soda dip. What I did this time to alleviate the mess was set up an organized system. I had the floured work surface, then immediately to the right the baking soda water, then immediately to the right of that the baking pan, and then after that a kitchen towel. That way I wasn’t dripping baking soda everywhere and I had a place to wipe my hands as soon as I finished each pretzel. I’m going to give this a two spoon rating.

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Throughout the store there are jugs of oil and vinegar, and next to them there are small tasting cups and pieces of crusty baguette bread for dipping. I tried a basil olive oil that made me feel like I was sitting outside at a cafe in Rome eating a caprese salad. I tried a blood orange oil that had a nice tangy citrus accent. And I tried a thick syrupy dark chocolate balsamic that tasted like a decadent and sinful dessert. I held myself back though, and just bought a delicious smelling rosemary olive oil that I knew I could use often. I also bought a jar of caramelized garlic because the man from the store raved about it and I like garlic.

And then I also bought the chocolate pasta because I just had to know what it tasted like. There was more practical flavored pasta, like mushroom, sweet potato, and lemon basil – but those will have to wait for another time. I bought the chocolate pasta.

But what do I do with it? My first thought is to make a dessert take on spaghetti and meatballs. I could make some kind of fruit cookie-ball thing and then make a fruit sauce to go on top. But there’s so many other options – berries, Irish cream, whipped cream, nutella….

What would you do with it?

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