The last week has been kind of amazing for this little blog. Lots of good things happening that make me excited for what Thyme Bombe has become and where it’s going. Let’s start at the beginning…

On Thursday I hooked up with Laura, Carol, and Carol’s sister Anne to see Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen at her book signing at a local Atlanta bar. We had a great time listening to Deb’s entertaining stories about transitioning to blogging as a career and her long struggle to make a cookbook she could be proud of.

During the Q&A session, I asked Deb what she had learned about the publishing process that surprised her and was delighted to hear that her answer very nearly matched my own! She also struggled to meet deadlines and vastly underestimated how much time and effort it would take to make a product she was proud of. For her, she explained, making something excellent was much more important than making something on time. While I haven’t had the chance to delve into her cookbook yet, it’s clear that she’s put an incredible amount of work into it and I really respect that she took the time to make it perfect.

So speaking of cookbooks…I received my very first royalty payment for The Japanese Pantry! It’s really not much, but it feels so so good. I plan on hosting a giveaway for a signed copy soon, so if you haven’t gotten yours yet you may have a chance to win it!

And that leads me to some more exciting news… Several weeks ago when I announced the release of my book on my blog Facebook page, it caught the attention of a local photographer! Jimi of Jimi Filo Photography offered to do a collaboration with me so that he could take pictures of me cooking food for his photo blog that I could also use in a post. He and his wife set up at my house Saturday morning and snapped away in the dining room as I prepared 2 recipes for the blog – cold soba with hot duck soup for dipping and matcha bars with strawberry jam filling. I snapped a few pics too while I was waiting for things to cook.

Hopefully Jimi will have his images ready in a week or two so I can share them with you all, along with the recipes for the delicious food I made. Seriously, those matcha bars were incredible.

Last bit of awesome news is that I had not one, but two, recipes accepted to Tastespotting this past week! This may not seem like such a big thing, but this news comes after submitting content to them for nearly 3 years and being rejected every time, so to have 2 recipes in a week finally accepted is just indescribable. I was floating all day when I found out. I’ve worked very hard to improve my photography skills over the last year, so having my work validated by such a notoriously picky site feels really good.

So that was my week!

What’s the best thing that happened to you in the last week?

March 5, 2013 Alayna Discussion 9 comments

I have had so many potatoes this winter that I’m ready to just chuck the rest of them out the window. But until thin little spring asparagus starts peeking up out of the dirt and tomatoes swell up with sun on the vine, I’ve had to make do by reinvigorating some of my winter staple foods, potatoes especially.

This big baked sweet potato dripping with salty homemade miso butter really hit the spot.

Have you ever made a compound butter before? You know, flavored butter? Maybe an herb butter or a honey butter or one of those fancy jam butters for spreading on a scone? Well if you haven’t, you should start with this one. Making compound butters is incredibly easy, but makes for a really impressive result. Seriously, you just mix room temperature butter with your flavoring of choice, wrap it up, and then let it firm back up in the fridge or freezer. Honestly, it’s so easy that it’d make a for a fun project to do with kids. Kids love butter, right?

Compound butter is one of those things that as soon as you make it for the first time you wonder why you’ve never made it before. It’s just so darn simple! This miso butter added the perfect touch of saltiness to the creamy sweet potato. I ended up eating the whole thing for lunch right after photographing it. Luckily this recipe makes enough miso butter to use several times. Try melting some over a juicy seared steak or roasted pork tenderloin. OMG, I bet it would be really good on sweet corn bread.

Baked sweet potatoes with miso butter

Sweet and salty combine as homemade miso butter melts over a hot just-baked sweet potato.

Cook Time: 1 hour

Ingredients

• 2 medium sweet potatoes
• half a stick of unsalted butter (room temperature)
• 1 tbsp. + 1 tsp. red miso paste

Cooking Directions

1. Wrap each potato individually in aluminum foil and bake directly on the rack at 400 degrees for one hour.
2. Stir together room temperature butter and miso paste until well combined.
3. Transfer butter mixture onto a sheet of wax paper and roll up into a log. Twist ends to close.
4. Refrigerate for 4 hours or freeze for 1 hour before use.
5. To use, slice off a pat of butter and allow to melt directly over just-baked sweet potato.

Oh, before you go, I wanted to point out to anyone who hasn’t heard that I’ve finally made a Facebook page for my blog. Soooo behind the times, I know. Anyway, follow me for updates and discussion!

While we’re on it, you can also follow me on Pinterest, Twitter, or subscribe to my RSS feed if you haven’t already. Linky, linky, linky.

Tell me your dream compound butter flavor and how you would use it.

February 27, 2013 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 12 comments

Ok, I need a break from talking about the book for a while. I’m sure you guys are ready for something new too. 😉

Who’s ready for spring?!! I don’t know about you guys but I am counting down the days until short sleeves, sunny walks, and refreshing warm-weather fruits. I’m craving berries. Every time I go to the farmer’s market and pass the table packed with those little green plastic cartons overflowing with plump red strawberries, I have to force myself to keep walking and not fall for their ruse. It is not berry season. Those strawberries will be watery and sour and unsatisfying.

Right now I’m combatting this need for refreshing fruit flavors with the last of winter’s citrus. I just annihilated an entire red grapefruit with lunch, sliced into wedges like an orange, making little smiles of rind as I chomp down on each one. I never eat grapefruit like that for some reason. I always see grapefruit served so preciously, either sliced into thin naked supremes on top of a fragile salad, or as I’ve chosen to serve it in the recipe I’m sharing with you today – broiled with a sugary crust, each shining bite precisely carved out with a sharp little spoon.

But you guys know I can’t just broil a grapefruit and be done with it, right? I’ve gotta find a way to insert one of my favorite asian flavors in there somehow. This is a common springboard for me as far as recipe creation goes – I take an already delicious food and make it marvelous with a fun new flavor.

This time, I’ve used spicy grated ginger to balance with the sweet sugar and bitter grapefruit. I debated for a long time wether or not to feature ginger as one of the highlighted ingredients in The Japanese Pantry, and ultimately decided to let it play a supporting role instead. It certainly shines in this recipe though.

I loved the smell of the ginger sugar as I was making this. The fresh wetness of the grated ginger soaked right into the sugar, lightly dissolving it into the texture of wet sand. It makes a grainy slushing sound as it mixes together, like the sound of walking through melting snow.

I ended up broiling this in a toaster oven. I tried it once before in a regular oven and the fruit was too far from the heating element, it just kind of melted rather than caramelizing. This time though, the toaster oven crisped the topping up nicely and just barely browned the edges. I love how the fruit blisters in the heat and bulges up out of the rind. The ginger flavor was definitely present but not at all overpowering.

I must confess though, that even with this typically “precious” presentation, it was not eaten daintily. I hacked it up with my blunt little spoon before turning it inside out and biting the rest off in big chunks until only a ragged pithy peel was left. It definitely satisfied my desire for summery flavors. I see myself having this bright little breakfast weekly until my beloved berries are finally ready.

Broiled grapefruit with ginger sugar

Gingery sugar encrusts juicy bitter grapefruit for a sweet and lightly spicy treat.

Prep Time: 3 minutes

Cook Time: 12 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

Ingredients

• 1 medium red grapefruit
• 2 tbsp. white sugar
• 1 tsp. freshly grated ginger

Cooking Directions

1. Slice grapefruit in half, remove any large seeds, and place cut side up on a heat safe dish or tray lined with aluminum foil.
2. In a small bowl, mix together ginger and sugar until it is the texture of wet sand.
3. Top each grapefruit half with half of the sugar mixture and pat with the back of a spoon to spread it out to the edges.
4. Toast in a toaster oven for 12 minutes or until bubbly and lightly browned. (The toast setting on my toaster oven only goes up to 6 minutes, so I just left it in for 2 cycles.)

Are there any spring and summer foods you’re desperately craving?

February 22, 2013 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 6 comments