Smoked Salt & Pepper

I started this post about 5 years ago, when I was living in College Station and really into making sushi at home. At the time, there were not many good sushi restaurants in the area, and I was homesick for any and all kinds of ethnic food. There is just so much Lane's fried chicken tenders and delicious crinkle-cut fries or Sodalack's chicken-fried steak or McAllister's one girl can eat. So a few of my friends and I started rolling sushi at home. I'd done it once or twice before starting veterinary school, but hadn't busted out my bamboo mat very often. Because fresh fish was a bit hard to procure in College Station without being an angler or restauranteur myself, I stuck with smoked salmon. Also, as a beginner sushi-maker, cooked stuff is much less intimidating. And probably safer for everyone partaking. Hah. Sushi is pretty easy to make. As long as you can roll things (burrito, spring rolls, cigarettes, jelly rolls, etc.), you can probably ro...

Reid and I know some of the coolest people. Maybe I'm biased, but we think our friends are cool. One of our friends is named Josh Eilers and he has a Wagyu beef ranch in Austin. For those who aren't huge meat eaters, Wagyu beef is a very special, very expensive type of beef with insanely high intramuscular fat marbling. That's what makes beef really tender and flavorful. So Wagyu beef, which is a Japanese breed of cows, make really good and amazing steaks. Among other things. My son, John, is about 2 years-old. He is going through that, "the cow says..." phase of his development. We know dogs bark, and cats meow, and chickens...make chicken noises. And tigers ROAR!!!! As do dinosaurs. As do bears...etc. John's been to a few zoos. So we've seen some of these animals in real life, but besides our long car rides through the Texas state, we've never introduced John to a cow up close. And I want my son to know about food. And where food com...

Custom cookies or baked goods are a sure fire way to my heart. Hayley Cakes and Cookies were randomly introduced to me via Instagram and my Insta-savvy cousin, Yvi. Yvi lives in the Los Angeles area of California. How she stumbled upon Hayley Cakes beats me, but once she shared their instagram page I was sold. So since I was the designated 'local,' I had to peep into their store and buy some cookies. Ok, I bought a ton of cookies. Like a bucket-full. Or pants-load full (Dragons Love Tacos reference here for those who aren't in the know ;) ) I was like that's cute. and that one. and that one. ooo that one, too! They weren't for me, so they were guilt-free cookies. The first box I purchased were for Reid's grandmother, Mimi. Mimi, or Margaret Bolding, is amazing. She's like, this super-hero woman who has appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live ( no joke, check those commercial breaks) and can strike up a conversation with just about anyone. Mimi is one o...

Every year for Christmas, and sometimes for Thanksgiving (our family aren't huge turkey eaters), my mom makes her famous roast beef for my entire dad's side of the family.  It's something everyone has come to look forward to.  I think once she said she was going to make Osso Bucco or something else and I was like, No!!!!! you can't not make the roast beef!!!!  Many people have asked for the recipe and a few have tried to replicate, but no one in our family will be the roast beef queen like my mom is.  So, we definitely need to have this recipe here for prosperity. It's a relatively simple recipe but the key is to buy a really good quality piece of roast.  My mom says the key is to get certified black angus ribeye bone-in roast.  The best cut is between rib 6 and 12 so it's good to befriend your local butcher :)  Mom says it's pricey, maybe a little over $100 for a 6-8 lb roast, but that's what makes it so good. Mom's Famous Roast Beef For one 6-...

We celebrated Tet this year in Houston with my family and it was loads of fun and excitement for John.  I made red longevity noodles for the first time and looked with forlorn envy as everyone ate my aunt's bun bo hue, I skipped out on my mom's homemade banh tet,  and even bypassed my birthday cake.  Ok, it was only 1/3 of my birthday cake.  It was the 'February birthdays' birthday cake within my dad's family and I actually brought it so there was no surprise there.  All this sacrifice and withholding is due to my new resolution to try a month-long elimination diet trial. You heard right, I'm attempting Whole30! But Christine, you freaking love grains, alcohol, added sugar, legumes and dairy! Why yes, I do, but for the sake of my continued health, and to see if there is a nutrition-related link with Bell's Palsy (every holistic health person tells me this), I'm going to do some self-experimentation.  Let's see if cutting out sugar, grains, alcoho...

I took a road trip with my dog, Jake, to Marfa, TX a few weekends ago.  It was a much needed recharge/self-care retreat and good bonding time with my #1 buddy.  Jake is 13 years old, which is getting up there as far as lab mixes go.  I adopted him from the Austin Humane Society when I was in undergraduate and volunteering as a dog walker and dog trainer there.  He was so smart and picked up commands so quickly, I easily fell in love with him.  Jake moved with me to College Station and endured the tortures of being a vet student's pet (helping me with anatomy by letting me palpate his bones; allowing me to practice surgery when I volunteered him for a stomach tacking surgery called a gastropexy).  He was my first buddy before I met Reid.  In fact, I always have to remind Reid that if it hadn't been for Jake, we would never have started dated.  We had Jake in our wedding. He has welcomed a cat in our household.  Well, not so much as welc...

Another year of feeding ourselves is behind us, and here we are, scraping the dried bits of dough off the kitchen counter, scrubbing the sheet pans that worked so hard, or replacing the 9-by-13-inch casserole dishes we forgot to retrieve at summer and fall potlucks. Anyone who cooks knows that it’s often a thankless job, yet one so necessary. But when there is creativity or inspiration... http://www.mystatesman.com/lif estyles/food--cooking/readers- instagram-posts-help-inspire- holiday-cold-weather-cooking/u cTNxQFqcWaDMEcG6LVkTN/ My photo was in the Austin-American Statesman newspaper! love, C

I made it back to my first Austin Food Blogger Alliance Happy Hour since having John and it was at Tyson's Tacos! One of my favs and I was able to make it because it's just down the street from work and home.  It was such a wonderful experience I thought I'd blog about it, even though I'm mostly just a recipe blogger. Tyson himself hung out with us and told us his story and the story of Tyson's Tacos.  Tyson and his family had run a restaurant in Mexico, but left when Mexico city was starting to get a little too dangerous.  He opened Tyson's which was a bit of a strange idea coming from Mexico as tacos aren't a restaurant food in Mexico, it's more of a drunken late night street food indulgence.  Another cool thing about Tyson's Tacos is that the menu is customer-driven.  Taco combinations are made after customers who are able to rack up enough of the reward points.  And he won't say no to a weird taco combination, even if he would never have th...

I hate to call these kitchen 'hacks' because I've had failed tries of using internet famous internet 'hacks'.  So these are just a few handy tips and tricks I've picked up over the years that I find handy and that actually work in streamlining cooking or kitchen organizing.  Some of these tips I picked up from my mom.  Some of them I picked up from roommates or friends.  Some of them I found on the internet and found useful. sharpen your knife before each time you use it I picked this up from an old roommate of mine.  He would sharpen (re-align) his knife before he used it every time.  It only takes half a minute, but makes a world of difference.  I mean, you get that stick thing sharpener in most knife blocks and sets anyway, so use it!  I try and do 10 alternating strokes on each side of the knife. Also, contrary to what most beginners think, a sharp knife is much safer to use than a dull knife. use the back of a spoon to peel ginger ...

I had a baby.  John.  On November 26,2016 at 3:01am weighing 6lbs 6 oz and 21" long. So there was a break from the blogging.  My next few posts are going to be back logged from when I started them or super late.  I may not have a post consistently again.  Or one that makes any sense. Sleep deprivation is tough... Almost as hard as quiting cheese and dairy because John may have a milk intolerance. My baby burrito

The other night Reid and I did something a little different for date night.  We attended a butchery class held by the Sustainable Food Center! It was a lot of fun.  I've been trying to get Reid to go to a cooking class with me and so I sent him a list of different classes around town.  If you are interested in a cooking class in Austin, I'd definitely recommend the following resources: The Sustainable Food Center  The SFC building is really nice! and the class was great! Class prices can range from free to $70/person depending on the class.  I think we paid about $40 each to take the butchery class.  They have an adjacent community/teaching garden on the east side.  Class topics range from bee keeping, gardening classes, knife skills, tamale making classes, etc! Kitchen Undergound   I want to try a class out here.  A few of my fellow AFBA bloggers teach classes with Kitchen Underground and they have a variety of interesting and unique c...

Right now I am sitting in the office of an oromaxillary surgeon waiting while my husband gets a wisdom tooth extracted.  The hubs will need to eat soft food for the next few days in order for his dental extraction site to heal well.  Knowing him, that will be tough.  This household is not known for it's love of soft food.  So I'm taking this time to brainstorm a potential list of foods/meals to make today. 1) Congee  or rice porridge: Probably the most quintessential sick food. 2) Smoothies won't be much of a change here since we usually start the morning with a smoothie 3)Kale soup: use up the last of my garden kale.  This will be great for the leftover leaves that got some insect bites/holes. Ingredients 1/2 c. kale, stems removed and roughly chopped 2 c. chicken stock 1/4 c. heavy cream 2 cloves minced garlic 1/4 c. chopped onions salt and pepper 1/4 tsp. red chili flakes, optional olive oil Directions Saute garlic and onions in a l...

Not sure who had more fun: Husband or Dog Last weekend we threw our annual crawfish boil.  Well, technically not annual since last year was rained out.  Luckily the storms paused for the day and we were able to power through over 100 lbs. of crawfish with the help of some of our friends.  I didn't take many pictures, but it was a good time.  Reid and I joked it was an adjustment going from lazy Saturdays hanging with our cat to partying outside for over 12 hours.  We started the boil around 1pm and finished the last of the beer around 1am. Every year we get a little better about time managment and our boil so this is what we did this year that really helped: Had 2 large boilers going.  It can take up to 2 hours for one of those huge pots of water to come to a boil so this helps ensure a steady stream of food Boiled sausage, potatoes, and corn first to flavor the water and kept them warm in a cooler.  Yea, "cooler sausage" sounds a bit s...