Recipe Box: Peanut Brittle

Making peanut brittle for the first time can be very frustrating. My first try a few years ago took 3 batches before it even began to resemble brittle. My biggest mistake was under-cooking for fear of burning, resulting in a chewy, salty mess that never reached the deep caramel color and flavor brittle should have. If you're going to make brittle, go balls-out. Don't fear the brittle.


Shirley's Peanut Brittle - Makes a little over 1 lb


Ingredients

• Vegetable oil spray
• 4 oz unsalted butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp water
• 1/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• 2 tsp salt
• 10 oz dry roasted, lightly salted peanuts or mixed nuts (depending on the saltiness of the peanuts you get, adjust the added salt)

Method

1. Spray a large baking sheet lightly with oil. A silicone mat works, too.  Don't use a wax or paper liner of any kind. You need the surface to be about 10" x 15" with edges to help scrape extra peanuts off your spoon. Prepare all your ingredients now. There won't be time to measure later. Mix the salt and baking soda together in the same bowl and set aside with the rest of the ingredients.
2. Melt butter over very low heat in a large-bottomed, metal saucepan. Do not use a nonstick pan. Add sugar, corn syrup and water. Mix until all the sugar is wet.
3. Cook over high heat, stirring frequently with a whisk to prevent burning or boil-over. Once the mixture starts to bubble and rise, whisk constantly. Continue until mixture turns a deep golden brown, the color you expect the brittle to be.
4. Immediately remove from heat and whisk in baking soda/salt blend.
5. Switch to a wooden or metal spoon and fold in the peanuts. Work quickly, as the mixture will seize within 1-2 minutes. Pour onto the sheet pan or silicone mat and spread out as evenly as possible with the spoon.
6. Let the sheet pan of brittle cool completely, about half an hour to an hour, before breaking apart by hand or with a blunt object.

Clean up: Immediately drop empty saucepan, used spoon and whisk under screaming hot water. Continue running water over it until the hard brittle remnants melt away. Use a scrubbing sponge to help the process, just don't burn yourself. 


Happy cooking!

Holiday Food Gifts!

It's that time of year again! I've made my various lists and my friends are (hopefully) getting ready for some delicious holiday treats to arrive in their mailboxes!

A few years ago, we started the tradition of sending food to most of our Christmas gift list. Some people are notoriously difficult to shop for and some people just live far enough away that paying shipping seems like a HUGE waste of money. Besides, I refuse to pay shipping for anything. It's entirely too easy to find free shipping online these days to waste the $5-$6... Lord help you if you try to charge me upwards of $10! To be honest, though, our main reason to start the food gift tradition was that we were relatively poor college students. Food shows you care, while not causing a drastic hit to your wallet. If I buy a friend anything less than $20 I seem cheap, but if I make them something delicious, they'll know I care.

Here's the best part; After that first year we realized that people LOVED our food gifts. We got tons of thank-yous and even a request for more the next year, so it became a tradition. It shouldn't be surprising... I mean, who doesn't love delicious treats that magically arrive at your door?

Tips

A few key things I follow when choosing food gifts:

1. Don't pick anything too difficult. You'll be making several batches of these and if it takes you a week of baking in the evening, the first batch will be stale before you get them to the post office.
2. Choose a mix of items rather than just one and remember that there is only so much that fits in flat rate boxes. You only need to include a few of each treat. If you don't have to mail them, then you can include as much as you like in a gift bag, but it really isn't necessary.
3. Choose 2-3 simple items and one impressive item. Still stick to something simple, but not every piece has to have that "wow" factor. It just needs to be delicious. A phenomenal chocolate chip cookie beats some super-fancy layer cake with tons of decor any day. Another bonus is that if your impressive items turns out terribly wrong, you know you can fall back on more of the simple stuff!
4. People love classics. If it reminds you of childhood and home memories, your friends will feel the love in your cooking.
5. Choose things that SHIP WELL! No cakes. No cupcakes with frosting.

Ideas

Here are some of our favorite and most popular food gifts.

• Chocolate chip cookies
• Peanut brittle
• Biscotti (try a duo of flavors, I've made almond, cinnamon, pumpkin and chocolate)
• Polvorones (simple Puerto Rican butter cookie)

This year's selection will include:

• Peanut brittle (if I don't send this, there will be a riot)
• Lemon drop cookies dipped in white chocolate and nonpareils (sprinkles, why not?)
• Homemade peppermint marshmallows with crushed candy cane decoration

... assuming they all work out. Always have a backup plan!


Planning

You definitely don't want to jump head first into this without a plan. I start by making a list of everyone I'm doing food gifts for instead of other gifts. This usually includes anyone I have to ship to, anyone I have no clue what to buy for, sometimes coworkers, sometimes family even if I plan to buy them something else - it's nice to use bags of treats to fill out a gift bag in place of tissue paper.

After I make my list, I note who will be shipped and who I will hand the gift to. This tells me how many gift bags or flat rate boxes to buy.

Then, I list about how much of each item will fill the boxes. Multiply by number of people and there is my total of cookies/brittle/whatever I need to make.

The final and most important step is to get your recipes in order. How many batches do I need to have enough for everyone? Scale up your recipes to match and make your grocery list based on that.

It seems like a lot, but you'll be done in 15 minutes, I swear (assuming you followed my advice and didn't go with a crazy recipe). Oh, and don't worry about making a recipe you've never made before. Just make a smaller batch first and then adjust and go from there. Nothing is worse than the wasted effort on making a ton of something terrible. Just make a little of something terrible, then it's called a "learning experience" rather than a "massive failure."


Okay, people! I'm off to spread some butter under my eyes like a football player. Game on!


Happy cookies... I mean cooking!

Recipe Box: Potato Gratin with Mushrooms and Gruyere

Here is one my favorite find from Thanksgiving this year! I got it from the November 2010 issue of Bon Appetit, which is actually a very useful (and cheap!) magazine for foodies.

This recipe is a creamy, cheesy side with a deep rustic flavor from the baby bella (cremini) and shiitake mushrooms. Read about Brave New Kitchen's first time cooking Thanksgiving dinner (and special tips on this recipe) here!

Potato Gratin with Mushrooms and Gruyere

Prep: 1 hour
Total: 2 hours
Feeds: 8 to 10

Ingredients:

1/4 cup olive oil
4 cups finely chopped leeks (white and pale green parts only, about 3 leeks, wash after chopping)
1 1/2 lb assorted mushrooms, cut into 1/2 inch cubes (such as cremini and shiitake)
2 garlic cloves, minced
3 lb yukon gold potatoes, peeled, cut into 1/8-inch-thick slices
2 cups heavy whipping cream
1 tsp or more of salt
1/2 tsp or more ground black pepper
1 cup coarsely grated Gruyere cheese

Method:

Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add leeks, saute until lightly browned, 10-12 minutes. Add mushrooms, sprinkle with salt and pepper, and saute until soft and liquid evaporates, 7-8 minutes. Add garlic, saute 1 minute until fragrant. Season with salt and pepper and set aside.  

[BNK reminder: Always taste for seasoning along the way. If one of your components doesn't taste good, how will your whole dish taste?]

DO AHEAD: All steps above can be done 4 hours in advance. Let stand at room temperature.

[BNK tip: Keep potatoes in a bowl of cool water so they don't turn brown.]

Preheat oven to 375 °F. Pat potato slices dry with kitchen towel. Combine cream, 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper in a large pot. Add potatoes. Bring to boil, then reduce heat to medium and simmer covered about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove lid. Simmer until cream is reduced by about half and potatoes are partially cooked, stirring often and watching closely to prevent burning, about 3 minutes. Season with salt and pepper.

Brush 13x9x2-inch (roughly) glass or ceramic baking dish with oil. Transfer half of potato mixture to dish, spreading out in an even layer. Spoon mushroom mixture over in even layer. Spoon remaining potato mixture over, spreading in an even layer. Sprinkle cheese on top. Cover with foil, tenting in the center to prevent cheeses from sticking to the foil. Bake 30 minutes. Uncover, bake another 20-25 minutes until potatoes are tender and top is brown. Let rest 10 minutes before serving.

[BNK notes: This recipe reheats well, so don't worry if you have fewer to feed than 8. It also hold its form pretty well, so you down have the sloppy-lasagna look going on.]

Happy cooking!

A Brave New Kitchen Thanksgiving!

Brave New Kitchen hosted its first Thanksgiving dinner this year! Let's get right to the meat of this post. Here was our menu. (General descriptions below, recipes for some dishes to be added later.)

• Smoked Turkey
• Mushroom and Gruyere Potato Gratin (Recipe!)
• Rustic Herb Stuffing
• Homemade Cranberry Sauce
• Chipotle Sweet Potatoes
• Roasted Asparagus
• Gravy
• Caesar Salad
• Dinner Rolls
• Sweet Potato Pie
• Classic Chex Mix for snacking
• Wine, Jim Beam Devil's Cut (this stuff is awesome) and plenty of beer for drinking

Wait! Before we start, step one of cooking a big feast is coffee. Lots of my favorite espresso: Cafe' Bustelo, made in my $2 Ikea brewer. My day started at 10 am with a cup of this.

Also, Chex Mix. Cooks need snacks, too!

Smoked Turkey - This turned out to be a GREAT idea. Smoked turkey is technically already cooked, so we only had to pop it in the oven for about 2 hours to heat it. The turkey turned out juicy, slightly pink from the smoke (not from undercooking) and had a deep, smokey flavor that went well with the spices on the outside. Some people may say this is cheating, but we wanted to focus our efforts on the sides and we got a good deal on the turkey anyway. This opened up the oven for cooking other items and we ended up having a relatively calm day cooking! If you're hosting your first Thanksgiving and don't want to have the traditional FREAK-OUT that comes along with doing all that cooking, going with a trustworthy, pre-cooked bird is the way to go. Don't worry, just don't blog about it and you'll still get all the credit!

[BNK Tip: choose dishes that can be prepped a few hours in advance, you'll need a break between all the cooking to have a drink, enjoy yourself and stay calm. The cooking process should be fun, especially since it comprises most of the day! Don't forget to schedule your oven time in advance so you don't end up with too many dishes needing to cook at the same time with different temperatures.]

Mushroom and Gruyere Potato Gratin - [Recipe here!] We chose dishes that had a "do-ahead" step. Both our gratin and our stuffing could have 75% of the prep done about 4-12 hours in advance, so we could wake up, clean a bit, make the first few steps of each dish, then go to lunch and resume cooking when it was time for everything to go in the oven. This recipe came from a Bon Appetit magazine. For the gratin, we started with 10 cups of mushrooms. This is what happens when you run out of space on your counter and have 10 cups of mushrooms to prep:

Since I had plenty of mushrooms, I used only the caps. The stems snap right off if you wiggle them. If you want to use the whole mushroom, though, go ahead. To keep track of the mushrooms in my bowl, for every cup I dropped in, I perched an unused mushroom stem on the edge of the bowl.

Now that I look at the photo above, 10 cups of mushrooms sure felt like a lot more than they look. Oh, and don't forget to use a dry measurement cup, not a cup for liquid measurements. You can see mine in the top of the image below. [BNK Tip: Go ahead and wash those mushrooms clean. Many cookbooks will tell you to lovingly brush the dirt off with a paper towel, but I have no patience for this and prefer dirt-free food. Just wash 'em! If you're worried about them soaking up the water and the flavor being altered, then watch Alton Brown's episode on mushrooms.You can sort of see the pool of water on the cutting board in the image below. If the water is on the cutting board, you know where it isn't? In the mushrooms.]

The mushrooms are sauteed with some leek and onion. You can tell the leek is ready when it starts to brown a tiny bit and turns a wilted, darker shade of green. Celery can be added if you're into that kind of thing. [BNK Tip: If you can't find leeks, dice yellow onion and rinse with water as a substitute. You're just looking for a mild onion flavor.]

[BNK Tip: When you slice the potatoes in advance, keep the slices submerged in a bowl of water to keep them from turning brown.]

After cooking some potato slices in cream and layering them with the mushroom-leek mixture and some gruyere, bake and you get this:

This dish was the biggest hit.

Rustic Herb Stuffing - Simple dish. Cube bread into a little tower:

Chop up some herbs; In our case we used parsley, sage and thyme from our thyme plant.

 Delicious herbs (and scallion) cook in delicious butter:

Add swiss chard to the pan. If you can't find it, substitute kale (like we did). You can see the kale when first added in the first image, then the second image shows it all cooked down in the pan. Use plenty of greens as they will wilt to almost nothing.

The green mixture gets added to the bread, along with chicken stock, parmesan and eggs. The dish was good, but I think I'll add plenty of cheese and cube the bread smaller next time.

Homemade Cranberry Sauce - There really is no reason to buy cranberry sauce anymore. Homemade is simple and much more tart (which is delicious). Literally cook water, sugar and fresh cranberries until they look like sauce. You can Google the measurements.

Chipotle Sweet Potatoes - This is a recipe I've made before. Chipotle peppers are found canned in adobo sauce in the grocery. Just steam cubed sweet potato (2-4 of them) for about 20 minutes, add 1 chopped chipotle pepper and a tablespoon of the sauce from the can, some honey or agave nectar and salt to taste.

Roasted Asparagus - This is so easy. Buy asparagus, snap them in half by hand. The stalk will naturally break where the asparagus becomes woody and unappetizing. Discard the fatter bottom ends and keep the tips. Toss in olive oil, salt and pepper. Lay flat on a baking sheet and roast under the broiler on the high setting. Keep an eye on it and shake the pan every couple of minutes to rotate. Do this until they start to brown.

Gravy - We went with store-bought here only because smoked turkey won't really give off much juice.

Caesar Salad - You can buy a salad kit or just get some romaine, dressing and croutons. You can make your own croutons by cubing a loaf of bread, seasoning with olive oil (or melted butter), parmesan and Italian herbs, and baking in a 300 degree oven 10-15 minutes.

Dinner Rolls - We used store-bought to save oven space. My original plan was for homemade southern biscuits.

Sweet Potato Pie - Also store-bought. I'm not so good with pie crusts.

~ ~ ~

Looks like everyone had a great time and loved the food! Check back soon for more recipes!

Happy cooking!

"Forking Fantastic" - Loving Food, Loving People

I've just started reading through a cookbook/love story (love of food, that is) called Forking Fantastic. It was given to us as a wedding gift from a close friend. Disclaimer: when I say I just started reading it, I mean about 5 minutes ago. However, after only the first 2 paragraphs, I'm almost certain I will love this book.

Excerpt:
"What kind of food do you cook? When people find out we run an underground supper club, that's often the first question out of their mouths... If we're feeling polite, we say something vague about Southern and French or Middle Eastern and Indian. But the honest answer is simply: fucking fantastic food."

Forking Fantastic is written by two women who met in New York and started cooking because they loved it... and they were poor. They spend their Sundays going to farmer's markets and butchers, then invite friends and any strangers they'd like to bring into their home. It started with a group of five. Now, at any given supper they have 20 hungry people in their home. They love food and they love people. Recipes from their own culinary adventures pepper the book.

This is so much like my own upbringing - you feed people because you love them and that's how you show it. I happen to be Hispanic, but this is a common thread among so many cultures. Something I've learned in my adulthood is to love people in general, not just your family. I feel like I could really embrace the Key West motto, "One Human Family." Say hello to the part of me I affectionately call Hippie Shirley. Add this to the idea that food equals love and you've got a person who could live to make as many people as possible, even complete strangers, feel loved via full bellies.

On any random weeknight, I might just eat a bag of salad and an easy chicken dish, but if you add others to the mix I will gladly put some effort into making an awesome meal. If you bring people in during the cooking process instead of after the meal is on the table, it becomes a bonding experience. I say this as I eat a grilled cheese while hunched over my computer desk. In the mirror, I'm showing off a long dangling string of colby jack smothered in goat cheese.

For a long time now, I've been on this journey of self-discovery, trying to decide what to do with my time. Writing is a big one, obviously, but I also enjoy painting, archery, yoga and a few others. I'd like to take one of these interests and elevate it along with my writing. After all, I'll need something to write about. Starting this book, I feel like cooking and feeding people might be a great way to spend my time, leave a mark on others and have plenty of stories to tell. Most importantly, I love it.

One of my fondest memories living in Gainesville around all my college friends was making a shrimp boil. We invited as many people as wanted to come, cooked up a huge pot of shrimp, potatoes, sausage and corn, and covered a table in butcher paper. All the food and condiments spilled over the table and everyone ate up, no utensils needed. It was so casual, relaxed and unpretentious. It was both innocent and rowdy.

I would love to make more memories like that one. I will always remember it.

Flats and Fraud

The last couple of days have been an adventure. It started with a flat tire and ended in fraud.

Saturday afternoon found my husband and me driving through a rainstorm. It had been raining for about 48 hours, which is weather more akin to a tropical storm in Florida. Most of the time we can just drive in and out of the rain or wait five minutes for a break in the clouds.

Just down the street from our apartment, we started hearing a rhythmic thumping coming from the underside of the car. I always jump to the worst possible scenario, having spent just under 10 years driving a finicky old Dodge.

"Great," I think, "something screwed up my axle."

My husband tends to be the optimist in our relationship and says we probably just drove over something that attached itself to the undercarriage. We were both wrong.

It was pouring when we stopped the car. We ran upstairs with the groceries and figured we'd check when the rain stopped. The possibility of a flat had crossed our mind and we assumed it would be pretty damn obvious in a few hours if that were the case.

The next day, it was still pouring. It dropped to a light drizzle mid-morning and I was entirely too nervous, so we went downstairs to check the car.  He watched as I slowly rolled the car out of the lot and, lo and behold, a HUGE BOLT was stuck in the tire tread. I mean, this thing was thumb-thick. Luckily, there was a washer attached, which had kept the tire from deflating. It was in there good enough that the pressure held.

For some ungodly reason, I forget that spare tires exist. I decide to drive the car to the closest auto shop to get the tire repaired or replaced. My husband follows me in his car so we have transportation if my tire goes flat.

About 1-2 miles from the shop, I suddenly saw my husband's car rapidly shrink away in my rear view mirror. His car decided to die instead of mine. Long story short, the alternator had reached the end of its life. Not 30 seconds later, my tire blows. It was announced by a loud THUD and the clang of a nail flying out of the tread and hitting the wheel well.

I'm close enough to the mechanic that I flop the rest of the way into the lot. So, there we are, my husband stuck on the side of the road and me stuck at the auto shop, neither of us able to reach the other. He was stuck for about an hour until AAA could tow him to the shop where I was. We were stuck there another 2 hours until the tire could be replaced.

The next day we learn that the alternator for his car would cost about $500, which is exactly the blue book value of the car. We junked it.

We went car shopping the next day. My husband needs a car to get to work and we end up looking for a car the worst possible way - in a rush. A used Ford won the day as we sat waiting for financing information. As we're dealing with percentages, I'm told my husband doesn't have the best credit.

"Wait," I say, "we just got a new car a few months ago and we both had stellar credit."

The person helping us proceeds to say my husband has a few late payments on a line of credit with a certain bank. Problem is, we've never used that bank! Ever!

Fraud.

Once we get home, my husband looks into it and learns that someone took out a line of credit in his name when he was fifteen!

The crazy thing is, regardless of how inconvenient and stressful the whole ordeal was, this all happened in the best way possible. It was better for my husband's car to die about a mile from a mechanic rather than on his 45-minute drive down rural roads to work. He pulled over in a safe area, just before reaching a large highway exit ramp that merged onto the road. If we hadn't gone to look for another car we wouldn't have found out about the credit fraud, which could have destroyed us in the long run, as all the horror stories go. If not for my flat tire, we never would have learned of this. It was one of those moments where you have to figure someone was looking out for you.

Basically, thank you for the bolt in my tire, my forgetfulness when it comes to spares and the dead alternator. They could have saved us from a much bigger problem. At first I hoped this stroke of bad luck wasn't karma-related. In hindsight I can see that if it was karma, I must have done some good.

Renewal and the Opening of Doors

This past month flew by. Work has been busy, but the stress has returned to manageable levels. Thankfully, we're in one of the small dips in the roller coaster. These usually only last about a week or two, but it's great when they come around. I've had a chance to catch up without having to work on a Sunday!

New happenings are on the move, too! First of all, BNK now has its own domain - BraveNewKitchen.com! I've also finally started getting ideas for what I plan to be my life's work. I've always wanted to publish and the ideas are starting to flow in. Can't get too far into it, but the process has started percolating in me and it's so exciting.

I'm started to open the door into the world of marketing, too. Sure, I used to be a Marketing Coordinator, but it was for an engineering firm. Our marketing consisted of sending proposals to solicit work. It had more in common with the sales department at my current job than the marketing department. I'm learning about search engine optimization (SEO), analytics, marketing plans, social media marketing (which I've already done on a personal level), etc. There is so much to learn, but my work family is keen on helping me through it. I'm just so happy to be learning again. More on that later.

In one of our work discussions about SEO, we decided to check the SEO score of our new website. Leads had been dropping and we wanted to know why. I didn't even know you could do this, but we went to a marketing company's site and checked it for free. It evaluates number of links on your site, readability, search engine results and other details that help or hurt your site and someone's ability to find it. We found some things to fix, but when we came across our readability score, I zoomed in. I wrote all the copy on that site except for 1-2 paragraphs. Now, I have never considered my writing out-of-reach, but the site scored my readability at "advanced/doctoral level." I was shocked! Apparently, you need a Ph.D. to understand what I'm trying to say! There is just no way. I mean, I use exclamation points for goodness' sake.

On the one hand, this may be a good thing because our target market would likely have advanced degrees. On the other hand, text should be approachable when you're trying to generate leads. I started thinking about it and realized one thing; the site we went to for this free score is a marketing company trying to get business. They would want us to think our site is the least reachable site on the internet. Don't get me wrong, but the info has to be taken with a grain of salt.

After some research, it turns out there are scales for readability accessible in Microsoft Word as you type and, of course, all over the internet. (I'm always interested to learn new features in word because I actually have a pretty advanced understanding of the program.) According to the Flesch-Kincaid scale, a senior in high school can understand the same text that marketing site deemed appropriate for those with doctoral degrees.

Going back to my earlier point...

To be honest, I am less concerned with the score my copy got and more excited that I learned new things. In general, I've felt like my mind became almost stagnant after graduating college. I was a gifted child, but I felt like that didn't translate into adulthood. I was still smart. I just didn't feel exceptional anymore. I was starting to feel average, for lack of a better word. Look, I'm still no genius, but at least I feel like I'm growing again. The more I learn, the better I get at learning. I'm a sponge again, sucking up every drop of information I can get my hands on. My mind is active, ideas are flowing and I feel my potential. I'm getting better at disciplining myself, staying efficient and making time to write.

I got a jump-start. I have the drive. Now I get to see how far I go.

The Working Writer

I arrived at the office expectant today. The past several months have been focused on crisis control and keeping a volatile and demanding client happy. The company basically depended on it. All of this anxiety was a far cry from my original purpose at this office - to write.

Being hired as a writer was a dream come true for me. It marked my first step to feeling validated as having talent. There have been so many projects and skills I've tried a hand at, excelled slightly and quickly let go for the next fleeting interest. Writing, however, has always been an arching theme in my life. It was the goal I had been afraid to set for myself, because failure at this one would really hurt.

It wasn't until I had spent a few months at this company working as writer, event coordinator, project manager and several other tasks as they came across my desk, that I finally made the decision. I was going to be a great writer some day. I even made the choice to tell a few people, all of whom were very supportive. Goals kept secret almost never come to fruition.

Shortly after that day, my career life exploded. I started working 50 to 60 hours a week, plenty of weekends and was attached to my Blackberry. I was presented with a new problem every day.Once we finally began to feel as if the world was settling, another meteor would hit. There was always an email to send, a phone call to make, a client to pacify, a meeting to have or a team to coordinate. Things were constantly changing. Nothing was stable. Nothing was calm. I hadn't written in months.

Today was supposed to be different. After a recent reorganization of the company many of us realized we weren't in the right place. Our skills were being applied to the wrong sectors. Talent was going to waste sitting in meetings. A new team was created; one that would focus on creativity, energetic planning and the future. Today was my first day being a writer again.

Most previous attempts at writing ended with crises, meetings and phone calls. I painstakingly blocked off my calendar, sent notices to coworkers of my absence at meetings and rushed to accomplish assignments early. I was merely waiting for some small amount of basic information to fuel my pen. Expectant, I opened the long-awaited email the moment it flashed across the bottom of my screen.

Inside were five prepared documents already attached and the note, "Let's use these."

They were months old and stale. They were too long. They held plenty of gold, but it was muddled by another writer's hand for me. They could have been the best, most expertly written documents in the history of the company, but I would not have been satisfied. This project was no longer mine. I was banished, again, to the problematic world of placating people. For me, this was a new kind of writer's block. I spent the rest of the day wallowing in emails about projects gone unfinished, as others were able to revisit the creative worlds they loved.

I am not as good a writer as I should be. What I need is practice and the simple truth is that I feel drained by the time I leave the office. I had hoped to accomplish two goals at once - exercise my skills as a writer and further my career.

My career is blossoming. My dream is falling behind.

The Specialist

E and I were having a conversation the other day after watching one of the many traveling chef shows that feeds our obsession. It was probably No Reservations with Monsieur Bourdain or Bizarre Foods with Andrew Zimmern. Or maybe something else altogether.

We started thinking about all these wonderful countries we'd love to visit - France, Spain, Italy - and all their beautiful markets. What is it about America that makes us shun the idea of a dedicated butcher, produce vendor, cheese vendor and the like?  It seems almost rare about us as a country that we value one-stop-shopping over quality and mastery. Actually, this is even more visible in our one-stop-eating. Every restaurant is expected to satisfy every possible taste. You have to keep happy the guy who wants fish, the person who wants meat, the vegetarian, picky eaters, children, those who want white meat only and the pasta eaters all in one place. Why can't a place just serve one thing and be great at it? Why not go to a soup shop and know that what you're getting is just that - soup! However, it will be the best soup you've ever had.

Instead of cultivating specialists in food that transcend the normal boundaries of a certain cuisine because they know it inside and out, we end up being mediocre at a bunch of things. It's like I've said about myself, actually. I'm good at many things. I am not great at any one thing. I feel like I've settled.

Have we settled as a country?

I know there are plenty of places all over the U.S. that break this mold I'm talking about, but it has taken some time. A hundred years ago, we would have had all specialists. As the superstore took over, it's as if we became so excited that it was all we could think about. Every place had to offer everything. This has resulted in homogenized stores and restaurants. So many chains are all alike... because they're all trying to do the exact same thing, that "thing" being everything.

This is why we have Publix and no butcher and more Applebees/Friday's/Chili's chains instead of popular restaurants that do just one thing exceptionally well. I can name way more big-box and super stores than any specialty stores I visit on a daily basis (and I'm not talking about the liquor store).

How about you?

Farmer's markets, the "eat local" movement, the organic movement, etc. have really started to make a dent. I just feel like we would've been better off on a culinary basis if we had never gone down this road to begin with. I'm no idiot. I see the benefits of low-cost grocers that can demand high volume and thousands of product. I'm just wondering why there isn't a market with generational butchers and bakers. Where is the guy whose family has been making the best pasta for the past 100 years? Why doesn't he set up shop next to a woman who raises and butchers the best beef? Why do I only see these people once a week in a special farmer's market plenty of people have to drive an hour for if I'm lucky?

Even more troublesome is that I've started to see plenty of farmer's markets that feature huge booths that are obviously filled with a smorgasbord of grocery store product! Some don't even bother to remove the packaging. I feel cheated when I see it. Too many markets I've seen are just one fish or meat person selling protein that comes from the other side of the U.S., one of these pre-packaged produce stalls, and 3-4 craft tents. Where is the farmer?

Where is the expert in each community? Where is the specialist? Where is the master?

Hue Restaurant Downtown

On the corner of Central and Summerlin downtown sits Hue Restaurant. The windows and small patio are obvious enough, but the entrance is a drab tan door with a large stainless steel bar as the handle. A fabric overhang is marked 629 above the door. The square Hue sign hangs perpendicular to the wall above and to the left of the door, so if you're staring at it from directly across Central you may not know it's the right place. Hue is present while not obnoxiously announcing itself.

It's a different story when you enter the plain door. Hue's interior decor is a combination of severe modern decor with simple lighting and casual seating. I'm sure this last sentence told you I am no interior designer, but I don't really know how to describe it! I felt a little out of place at first, but I quickly became comfortable at the bar (of course). All of the servers we encountered were friendly and approachable enough that I settled in nicely.

To be entirely honest and save you some time, they have an elaborate menu but I think Hue bit off more than they could chew.  The food is fine, but you really expect more when you read the menu and see the prices. We started with the octopus ceviche that comes with watermelon radish. It was quite tasty and had a good amount of acidity, but very tough. Still, I was looking forward to the entree.

Now, I am one of those people that can never say no to duck on a menu. I ordered the duck breast with cranberry reduction, English peas and a butternut squash and amaretto risotto. The risotto was delicious, though it tasted nothing of amaretto. The duck was a little more cooked than I'd prefer, but flavorful nonetheless.

It seems consistency is a bit of an issue. We had a large party and multiple people ordered the roasted lamb. While some people loved their lamb, one person hated it enough to ask the server to take it away. One member of the party ordered the Angus burger with zucchini chips. The zucchini chips were fried twirls of zucchini and ended up pretty soggy. It's by far the cheapest entree on the menu at $12, but I get the impression we've had better burgers at half the price elsewhere.

I think every restaurant deserves a second chance, so we will see if my opinion changes after another visit.

I guess the takeaway here is that Hue is an impressive date place, but once no one cares about how much money you spent on the date anymore you're better off at one of the more amazing (and cheaper) Orlando locations. Go expensive if you like, but there are better places to do so than Hue.

903 Mills Market

Having heard many good things buzzing around about 903 Mills Market, I finally decided to give it a try today. This casual spot is nestled in among houses and narrow streets just south of Colonial town. Driving through the residential area, you'll likely think you are lost (we did). Until, suddenly, you round a tree-lined corner and the giant umbrellas over picnic tables come into view, surrounded by a wrought iron fence and what looked like bougainvillea bushes.

There isn't much space at all inside, but the atmosphere on the patio is great on a mild day. The umbrellas offer sufficient shade from the sun and the residential area is quiet.  The casual outdoor feel reminded me a little of the outdoor cafes and lunch spots in one of my favorite cities, Key West.

Their beer selection (all bottles) is decent. Nothing to get excited about, but you certainly won't be stuck drinking Bud here. For a lunch spot, the selection is refreshing. There were actually a couple of bottles I hadn't encountered before. I decided to try the Bison Honey Basil Ale. It was a light flavored beer with a very mild hint of basil, easy-drinking enough to ignore if you find the idea of adding traditional cooking herbs to beer an oddity.

As for the food, we tried the Grateful Bread sandwich, the 903 Club and the Tomazza side salad. The Grateful Bread is billed as "Thanksgiving in your hand," and it definitely tastes like it. They absolutely stuff wheat bread with about 100 layers of roasted turkey, cranberry mayo and blue cheese stuffing. The blue cheese flavor isn't very strong, thankfully. The sandwich itself really does taste like a big plate of thanksgiving dinner. It is gigantic, so you'll feel just as full afterward. The 903 Club is simple but mouthwatering. Ham, turkey, bacon and swiss on sourdough just can't go wrong. All of the sandwiches are a generous size, but they also offer a pick 2 option if you only want half a sandwich and some salad. Some of our companions had the salads and they looked great. I absolutely adored the Tomazza salad. It was a small side cup of mozzarella and cherry tomatoes drizzled with olive oil and seasoned with plenty of herbs. It was delicious!

Service was friendly and efficient. You order your sandwich at the counter inside and they bring your order outside to you within 10 minutes or so (just enough time to chat a bit and start enjoying your beer). The prices at 903 Mills are remarkable, considering how huge their sandwiches are. I think the most expensive sandwich on the menu was still only $7. While I might not go on a scorching hot day, I will definitely be going back to 903 Mills.

The Easiest Way to Host a Casual Dinner

Ever been to a shrimp boil? Crawfish boil? Any kind of boil, really? If you plan to host a dinner party and you aren't caught up in silverware placement and proper napkin folding, a shrimp boil is the best way to go. A shrimp boil allows for easy cooking that won't take you away from your guests for long and (here's the best part) cleanup could not be simpler.

For a proper shrimp or crawfish boil, you'll need:

• Enough butcher paper to cover your entire table(s)
• Plenty of shrimp or crawfish
• Any type of potatoes, cut into eighths if large
• Andouille or kielbasa sausage, or substitute your favorite flavorful sausage here
• Corn on the cob, cut into halves
• Shrimp boil seasoning (it already comes in oil form to drip into the water)
• Lemons
• Large pot for boiling
• a steamer basket is helpful to pull all the food out of the pot, but not necessary
• Lots of moist towelettes!

Basically, you want all pieces to be a size you can easily handle with your bare hands. Yep, bare hands. No utensils here. The wonderful thing about a shrimp boil is that you lay out enough butcher paper to cover your table and just dump all the food directly on it after cooking! Everyone sits around, squeezes whatever condiments they like directly onto the butcher paper, tosses their shells and trash onto the table, and eats with their hands. Such a casual form of eating eliminates all pretenses. Guests feel free to relax, laugh, be loud and enjoy themselves. One of the most successful dinner parties I've ever thrown was a shrimp boil with about a dozen friends. Best part: when all is done, just wrap up all the butcher paper with the trash inside and toss! No more cleanup!

Drop everything into your seasoned pot according to cooking time. Generally, I add everything except the shrimp/crawfish to the post and let is cook together and soak up as much flavor from the seasonings as possible. When the potatoes are cooked through after about 20 minutes, add your shrimp/crawfish and cook another 5-10 minutes for shrimp or 10-15 for crawfish. Squeeze lemon over the top or add to the boil itself.

It's also easy to make a shrimp boil for just two people. So, I've made this for weeknight dinners at home, as well. Honestly, who doesn't have fun playing with their food? Food tends to taste better when eaten with your hands, anyway.

Shirley In Charge

I think I've been staring at this stark, white text box for about 20 minutes now. I keep thinking, "I can write, I can write, I can write." Yet, my fingers fail to dance across the keyboard. Hell, they won't even take a walk over the keys. This? This is me, clumsily tripping over the keyboard. I thought to write about my job, but I prefer to keep my business life off the internet... or at least untraceable to myself. I suppose if I am careful enough, it might not be so risky to try.

I stopped writing in this blog for months, about 2 posts ago. My job had dramatically shifted from Writer to Event Coordinator to Project Lead. As if the jump weren't death-defying enough, I entered the latter capacity for a major client, acting as technical liaison. Three harrowing weeks later, I became Project Lead on a second endeavor. The most surprising part of this is that I've apparently done an amazing job in just the past month. The team I coordinate has been singing my praises and I recently learned that my boss has done the same, which I heard from secondary sources, meaning he isn't just being kind to me in person. Granted, he isn't the type of boss to be gentle with someone if they don't deserve it, but I've also been told by past coworkers that being mad at me would be "like being mad at a puppy" - a useful quality to have, I suppose.

I have gone from being a regular employee in my life to being a career powerhouse. While I may not have the technical knowledge to engage in intelligent discussions with my teams about the proper way to complete a task, I am very detail-oriented and possess strong organizational skills. I'm able to track their schedules, funnel tasks as needed and I keep lesser tasks from falling through the cracks.

Without getting into any more detail about the job itself, I do want to say that I've discovered Shirley, the Careerwoman; Shirley, the Project Lead; and Shirley, In Charge, if you will. All one and the same.

I like her.

I find myself learning more and more about... myself. Strengths, flaws, habits, all of it. We are all changing creatures and self-discovery, though it has a beginning, never ends.

My passion for food is beginning to lie more in learning about it than teaching about it. I have a great curiosity for technique and innovation in cooking, but I am on a path of discovery.  Hence, the shift in this blog's focus. There are plenty of recipe blogs out there and they do an amazing job. I'm sure I will still post about recipes and techniques as we go. There are plenty of other cooking resources that are more knowledgeable than I in that respect, but what I am here to share is more organic than lessons and steps. I want to share my experiences. I want my readers to grow with me, explore with me and occasionally just let loose.

I want to exercise my writing muscles.

Most importantly, I am learning that wanting and wishing is all good, but none of it matters until we DO. If I want to be a better writer, I need to write more. If I want to be a great Project Lead, I need to be confident about it rather than apologetic.

I need to act like the thing I want to be would act. I am the epitome of "fake it 'til you make it," but the faking portion is much shorter than you'd think. Soon enough, you believe it and become it, whatever "it" happens to be. It takes work and opportunity. Find windows where there are no doors. When even a slight chance to accomplish a goal comes along, grab it before you start second-guessing yourself. There will be plenty of time for second guesses later, as I most certainly took advantage of for the first three weeks of my new position.

Enough self-help. This is not what I am about. In fact, when all else fails, just have fun with your life. You may only get one. Don't. Regret. A thing.

Damn. I should really make a bucket list and ride this "I am the master of ANYTHING!" wave.

An Otherworldly Experience @ The Ravenous Pig

Two nights ago, I had the opportunity to eat dinner at The Ravenous Pig, here in my home base of Orlando, Florida.

I was worried the atmosphere would be a little too upscale for me. While I love extravagant food, I hate the stuffy feeling at many high-end restaurants. I want to enjoy my meal with my elbows on the table, dammit! The Ravenous Pig has done a surprising job of blending both upscale food and service, with a remarkably comfortable atmosphere. I wouldn't call it casual, as the restaurant is packed with well-dressed patrons ready for a night on the town, but there are a few people in shorts and I doubt they feel out of place. There are three rooms, seamlessly separated by partial walls. It feels like one cohesive restaurant, while keeping dining areas to a homey size. There are good things to be said for wide open restaurants, but I prefer to feel safely coddled by my table. Brick and dark woods comprise the decor of this American Gastropub; the hard elements broken up by strategically placed light curtains. Really, I think, one of the best designed restaurants I've visited in Orlando yet.

Enough of that. I'm here for the food. Everything on the menu looks amazing, but two dishes spring to my eyes immediately. I order the crispy Mangalitsa pork belly appetizer and the duck breast for dinner.

I've never had crispy pork belly and I've heard entirely too many good things about it to pass it up the first time I meet those three elusive words on a menu. Mangalitsa is a breed of pig known for having fat that is more unsaturated than normal pig fat, creating a lighter and cleaner flavor. Pork belly at the Ravenous Pig is served on a lemon-dill aioli with cucumber relish. It doesn't sound like the kind of accompaniment I expect on a pork dish, but it was genius. The tangy lemon, dill and cucumber cut through the richness of the pork belly, creating a quite light and balanced combination. The belly itself is crispy on top and the fat is sinfully extravagant. It's tough not to feel bad for eating a giant hunk of fat, but it is so much more than that. It is perfect.

I'm eager for my entree now. The pork belly was seductive and I need more.

When my duck breast arrives, I'm not certain what to think. It's a colorful melange of components. The duck sits atop a polenta cake made of organic heirloom grains. There are bright green fava beans, warm apple slices, a salad of what looks like cabbage, microgreens and smoked local honey. The duck itself has rendered its fat and the skin is crisp on top. It is a gorgeous shade of pink.

I start with a tentative taste of the polenta cake. I don't know what it is about this polenta, but it has soaked in some smoky duck fat and honey. The result is a lovely, sweet yet earthy flavor. It's so good, I would bathe in this polenta if given the chance.

All of the pieces to this puzzle seem odd to throw together, but when I take my first complete bite - a little bit of everything on a single forkful - it all makes sense. There is a beautiful symphony of flavors in my mouth. The skies open up and angels sing and hundreds of ducklings fly down to thank me for eating them.

At this moment, I am certain I could die happy.


Get it on @ The Ravenous Pig

Repurposing

This blog is going to start being a little more personal. I'll continue posting useful information, but since it's a little tough to keep that up with my current job, which is both wonderful and challenging, I'll be posting some non-cooking related posts as well. Honestly, it's a blog. I plan to have fun with it and I hope you do, too!

Recipe: Walnut & Rosemary "Fried" Chicken

If you're the type of person that makes new year's resolutions (not me), I'm going to bet it has something to do with eating healthier. Maybe you just think it's a good idea regardless of what time of the year it happens to be. Either way, here is a delicious recipe I started using from Cooking Light a year or so ago. It sounds fancy, tastes delicious and won't immediately thicken your butt. Yay!

The way this chicken dish is treated results in a juicy breast with a crunchy exterior without much effort! It resembles an upscale fried chicken dish, but has the benefits of being baked.

This yields 4 servings and takes about 30 minutes from start to finish. Cooking Light estimates calories to be 287 per serving. Have it with a side of veggies or salad. Don't fret, you won't be left unsatisfied after tasting this chicken.

Ingredients:

1/4 cup low-fat buttermilk
2 Tablespoons Dijon mustard
4 chicken cutlets or 2 breasts, butterflied so they aren't so thick
1/3 cup panko (Japanese breadcrumbs, much crunchier than traditional)
1/3 cup finely chopped walnuts
2 Tablespoons grated Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese (use Parmesan if you don't have this available)
1 teaspoon fresh rosemary, minced
Salt & Pepper
Cooking spray

Method:

Preheat oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit

Combine buttermilk and mustard in a shallow dish, stirred with a whisk. Add chicken to this mixture, turn to coat and let it soak while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.

Heat a small skillet over medium-high heat. Add panko and toss/stir to toast (this step is worth the effort). Keep an eye on it so it doesn't burn. It just needs to turn light brown or golden.

Combine panko, nuts, cheese, rosemary, salt and pepper in another shallow dish, mix together. Remove chicken from buttermilk and thoroughly coat in the panko-nut mixture. Pat as much on there as you can because some of it will fall off as it cooks.

Place a wire rack on a cookie sheet or baking sheet. I usually use a metal cooling rack. A grill pan may work, too, if you have it. Just make sure it is oven-safe and not coated in non-stick stuff. If you can't finagle a wire rack-sheet contraption, just use a pan. This means the underside of your chicken may get soggy, though. Should still taste great.

Spray the rack with cooking spray. Put the chicken on the rack - this helps with keeping everything toasty. Spray the top of the chicken with cooking spray, too. We want a lovely medium brown color on this crunchy coating!

Bake for about 13 minutes or until chicken is cooked through.


Feel free to adjust rosemary, nuts, etc. according to your preference. I try not to be too picky about measurements in this recipe.

Happy cooking!

Instructional: The Value of Making your own Chicken Stock

First of all, I would like to apologize for the hiatus. I started a new job and that creates some difficulty in the too-lazy-to-post department. However, I really want to make this website a great resource for novice cooks, so I'm back on that horse!

Moving right along...

Making your own chicken stock from scratch may sound like an unnecessary undertaking, but it really is much simpler than you think. It takes some time, but not much skill or work. Now, here at Brave New Kitchen, we are certainly not stock snobs. I won't tell you that it is blasphemy to use premade stock out of a box or can. I use that stuff all the time. It is a great time saver when you will be adding plenty of other flavors and ingredients to the dish.

However, when you are making something like chicken soup or anything that will take most of its flavor from the stock, it's worth taking the extra time to make it at home. It will have a much broader depth of flavor than the one-note liquid from a box. Plus, you will have more control over the flavor profile of the end product.

Please use the bold section titles I've created. otherwise, this is a massive post to read through in one go. Another warning: This post contains gratuitous use of the word carcass. Do not be afraid. Carcass. Get used to it. Caaarcaaass. See... everything will be all right.

Stock vs. Broth
First, lets go over the difference between stock and broth. Basically, a stock is made from bones and connective tissue cooking in liquid. Chicken feet are commonly used to make traditional stock. A broth is a liquid in which meat has been cooked. Both are flavorful, but a stock has true body to it. (Thanks to the legendary Alton Brown for this quick summary, Good Eats 2: The Middle Years.)

Due to the gelatinous materials in bones and joints, a stock may even thicken and become similar to jello when cooled. Think of what gelatin was made from - the collagen in animal bones such as horses, pigs and cows. Home cooks will almost never need to make a true stock - that's mainly for restaurants and commercial use and frequently takes three days to make properly. We can, however, make what I call "Stock +." We are making stock, but there will be meat cooking in there along with the bones and other tissues. No chicken feet (unless you really want them).

If you make these stock recipes with a raw chicken, you will create white stock, which is a more plain and clean stock in flavor. If you use a cooked chicken (my preference), the resulting stock is called brown stock and has more of a deep, roasted flavor.

An Easy Way to Make Chicken Stock, or "Stock +"

I usually make stock and, consequently, chicken soup after buying a rotisserie chicken from the store. Any time you cook or eat a whole chicken, freeze the leftover carcass with whatever meat is still attached in a large, freezer safe zip-top bag. Squeeze out as much air as possible to prevent freezer burn. You can also just make chicken stock a day or two later and omit the need to freeze the chicken. Don't leave cooked chicken in the refrigerator longer than 3-4 days. Frozen, the cooked chicken will be safe to eat for about 4 months. Scroll to the end of this post for a chicken soup recipe using your homemade stock.

Ingredients:
Leftover chicken carcass (bones, meat, connective tissue, skin, whatever is on there)
2 bay leaves
4-5 fresh thyme sprigs (can be omitted if you don't have any on hand)
Fresh parsley bunch
1 stalk celery, chopped (optional, I don't use it)
Water
3 carrots, peeled and cut into 2-inch pieces
1 large yellow onion, peeled and quartered
1/2 tablespoon whole peppercorns (if you don't have whole, omit and just season the stock after it is made)

Method:
Be sure to rinse the chicken first to remove any extra seasonings. Drop everything into a large stock pot. Don't dice any ingredients too small. You want everything in large pieces for easy straining later. No need to take apart the chicken pieces, either. Add enough water to just cover the ingredients. Bring to a boil. Once it starts to boil, drop the heat to low and make sure the stock is just simmering. Simmer 6-8 hours, uncovered. Add more water if the ingredients start to show above the water line. You want everything to stay just barely covered by water.

Afterward, strain everything into another pot. Discard all solid ingredients except the chicken carcass - set that aside to cool. Bacteria are attracted to stock, so bring the temperature down as quickly as possible by putting the now-strained pot of stock in a sink with ice water along the bottom. Once it is mostly cooled (it doesn't have to be cold), cover it and put in the fridge to keep. You can transfer the cooled stock into tupperware if you prefer. Don't put hot stock in the fridge or it will ruin everything else you have in there by increasing the temperature in the fridge!

Shred the chicken off the carcass and put it in a sealed container in the fridge for later use - chicken soup, chicken sandwiches, chicken on a salad, etc. Throw out the bones and skin since those have given up all of their flavor.

After refrigeration, you will find that fat congeals at the stock's surface. You can skim this fat off to make your stock a bit healthier. It won't alter the flavor much. Season the stock when you use it. That way, you can add salt and pepper according to the application.


1-Hour Stock
Short on time or just don't want to be confined to your home for 6-8 hours? Then, here is a 1-hour stock recipe adapted from Mark Bittman's book, How to Cook Everything: The Basics.

Ingredients:
1 whole 3-4 lb chicken, rinsed and patted dry
1 cup roughly chopped onion, no need to peel
1 cup chopped carrot
1/2 cup roughly chopped celery
1 sprig fresh thyme
1 bay leaf
Fresh parsley springs
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 quarts water

Method:
If raw, cut the chicken into pieces to speed up the cooking process. Combine all ingredients into a stock pot. Bring to a boil, then partially cover and lower to a simmer (just a few bubbles breaking the surface). Cook until the chicken is done, about 30-40 minutes. Cooked chicken has an internal temperature of 180 degrees Fahrenheit. Strain liquid, pressing on the meat and vegetables to draw out as much liquid as possible. Taste and add salt as needed. Let cool, then refrigerate and skim any fat that hardens. Freeze if you won't use it within 4 days. You can keep the cooked chicken for later use.


What Can I Do With My Stock?
The obvious choice here is chicken soup, any variety (of which there are probably hundreds, if not thousands). You can also use it to make risotto, gravy, pot pie, any other type of soup, sauces, in rice instead of water, couscous, stuffing and for basting roasts.

Simple Chicken Soup Recipe
Ingredients:
Homemade stock
Cooked rice or noodles
Vegetables of your choosing (onion, carrot, potato, etc.)
Parsley, thyme or other herbs of your choosing
Cooked chicken
Salt & Pepper to taste

Basically, drop everything into the stock according to how long they take to cook (so potatoes would go in first, for example). Bring to a boil, then simmer until all ingredients are cooked and hot. Season to taste.

Cook your rice before adding it to the stock or it will absorb most of the liquid, leaving you with something more closely resembling stew. The same is true if you are using noodles. They won't absorb the stock, but boiling the stock for such a long time to cook the noodles may evaporate all that lovingly extracted liquid.

Variations: You can add cilantro, jalapeno, diced avocado, a squeeze of lime juice and tortilla strips to make a Mexican-style chicken soup. Use ginger, soba noodles, diced red bell pepper, snow peas, lime juice and scallion for an Asian-style chicken soup. Use cilantro, lime, a dash of fish sauce, lemongrass, ginger, cumin and a seeded Thai chile for a Thai-style chicken soup. The possibilities are endless, so just do some Googling and I'm sure you'll find some great inspiration.


Happy cooking! Don't forget to follow us on Twitter @BraveNewKitchen.