Amymcf Recommends

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 9 months ago

Had dinner in the wine bar here last night. Interesting (smoked pig tail, anyone?) menu featuring local, seasonal food, done very well. Everything we had was very good. Decent selection of wines by the glass. Comfortable, casual-but-nice, friendly atmosphere, and a waterfront view on a quiet back street. If I lived nearby, I'd go there often.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 9 months ago

Just bought this bottle for my homemade seltzer water, so I don't have to keep it in the ugly plastic bottle that came with the seltzer maker. It looks much nicer, it's not plastic, and it works well - the stopper keeps the bubbles fresh for a couple days. (Maybe longer, but that's the longest it's taken to finish a liter of water so far.)

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 9 months ago

I love seltzer but hate wasting all the bottles - and drinking out of plastic. I've had this a few weeks and it works well. Easy to use; bubbles last at least a couple days; the CO2 canister supposedly lasts for 60L and can be exchanged at Bed Bath & Beyond when empty. Uses a 1L (BPA-free) plastic bottle, but I transfer to a nice glass one with a stopper after charging.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 9 months ago

Just made this for lunch, and it was incredible. One of those things that is so simple, yet so good - a few perfect ingredients (real summer tomatoes, great bread, just a few other things), minimally processed. Loved the way the juices soaked into the bread while it sat. Perfect summer lunch.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 10 months ago

LOVE this photo. Totally cracks me up every time I look at it.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 10 months ago

Just-opened Flatiron outpost of Seattle store. Nice (though not huge) selection of American artisanal cheeses, including their own, some made in-house. Plus charcuterie and other things to eat with cheese. Nice space, friendly and helpful staff. There's also a cafe and an enoteca-like space downstairs - both look interesting. Oh, and the free sample of their mac-and-cheese was pretty darn good.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 10 months ago

The only ice cream recipe we use. (We skip the peach jam, with no apparent consequences.) Best vanilla ice cream I've ever had. It's also easy and versatile - we've used it as a starting point for improvising other flavors: chocolate, chocolate hazelnut, mint chocolate chip, strawberry, peach, banana, and coffee, also all amazing.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 10 months ago

This works extremely well, it's easy to use, and it's entirely self-contained - it has its own freezer. (Nice if your freezer is too small to hold ice cream maker parts.) And it turns out that, with a good recipe, homemade ice cream is waaaaaay better than anything you can buy. Even those lovingly-hand-made artisanal brands. Seriously.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 10 months ago

Our new favorite way to make roast chicken. Absolutely delicious. A bit more work than the traditional way, but faster, and the results more than justify the effort - perfectly done every time, with beautiful crispy skin. And it looks really impressive. Oh, and you don't need a brick - a heavy skillet works just fine.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 11 months ago

Made this recently and it was unbelievably good. I made it as a layer cake, though - 9" round pans instead of loaf pans, a shorter cooking time, with marzipan and chocolate ganache on each layer and ganache and sliced almonds around the side. It wasn't pretty (I'm no pastry chef) but oh my, was it good.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 11 months ago

I've made these (when they first came out in the magazine), and they're really really good. Not too cakey, not too crumbly; excellent blueberry flavor. This is my go-to blueberry muffin recipe now. Oh, and if you have good, real, in-season, local blueberries, you can skip the cooked blueberry "jam" part and they're still really good.

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 11 months ago

Amazingly good individual-sized chocolate soufflés (way better than what many restaurants pass off as a soufflé, in fact) - pre-made, frozen, ready to bake.They come 2 to a pack, in little ramekins. Pop them in the oven, and 20 minutes later, voilà. (Some may think they're a little small, but externally-imposed portion control is not necessarily a bad thing where chocolate soufflé is concerned.)

amymcf recommended this 1 year, 11 months ago

Works great; easy to install. Have had it on my porch for 3 seasons and it's worked flawlessly. It survived 2 New England winters outdoors, with a few very minor repairs. This year, I set it up, left the next day, came back 3 weeks later, and all the plants are thriving. In fact, they seem to be in better shape than when I was watering by hand.

amymcf recommended this 2 years ago

Not strictly necessary for making guacamole at home, but it works really well. And it's a nice decorative item in the kitchen. This one with a pig head is particularly cute -- www.surlatable.com/product/PRO-298539/Preseasoned-Pig-Mol...

amymcf recommended this 2 years ago

Not sure why, but this cracks me up every time.

amymcf recommended this 2 years ago

This looks like a tasty, simple way to turn store-bought ravioli into something really good. You could also up the veggie content with practically no added effort or time by tossing a package of pre-washed baby spinach into the sauce near the end, just until it wilts.

amymcf recommended this 2 years ago

Several of these look really intriguing. Like the various taco recipes, especially the fish tacos. And guacamole - yum! Easy to make, and so amazingly better than any guacamole you can get in a store, or even many restaurants.

amymcf recommended this 2 years ago

Wow. I've used good knives before, of the standard chef's knife variety, and this blows them away as far as I'm concerned. The narrower blade works so well it's a bit scary. Also, I'm short (5'3"), and it seems to me that the blade shape and size work much better for me than an 8" chef's knife. I just hope I don't cut my fingers off...

amymcf recommended this 2 years ago

A classic. Not just a book of recipes - a definitive book on the basics, philosophy, ingredients, and regions of Italian cuisine, in a very knowledgeable, interesting, opinionated voice. And there's a great, detailed section on making fresh pasta. I guess the best comparison would be to say it's like the Italian version of Julia Child's "Mastering the Art of French Cooking".

amymcf recommended this 2 years ago

A really delicious, simple, unfussy way to prepare baby artichokes. It's worth watching the video to see just how easy it is. This is good by itself, or over pasta (whole-wheat fusilli tonight, yum). It would also be good as a side with some sort of grilled meat, or just with some crusty bread and a glass of wine.