Tasty breakfast this morning…

A red pear, blueberries, dollop of greek yogurt, maple syrup, cinnamon, chia seeds, and maple almond spelt granola.

Mixed up…

Really good. I had this with a cup of Capital of Heaven Keemun tea from Teavana.  A smoky, dark, black tea with slight dried fruit flavors.

Speaking of tea, Jeff and I have both decided it’s time to take the next step in expanding our tea collection and knowledge. We have yet to have the opportunity to enjoy real quality tea direct from China, rather than the low-grade stuff available in the states that has had it’s flavor added.

And so, we have decided to purchase this pretty little lady…

She has ear jewelry!

She will be specifically for brewing pu-erh teas, a type of tea that is sometimes aged and even fermented resulting in a kind of damp and earthy flavor that I happen to really enjoy.

This is going to be my little personal project, to learn more in depth about pu-erh teas and try as many as I can to learn what I like. We’ll be ordering from Yunnan Sourcing, check em’ out if you like tea.

This is all part of a larger goal I just made for this year which is to figure out what some of my passions are and to indulge them more. I’ll write a post on exactly what I mean by this soon.

What is something you’re interested in that you would like to spend more time on?

January 22, 2011 Alayna Discussion 2 comments

I met up with Lee from In My Tummy the other night so that we could enjoy a few beers together and let our husbands get to know each other too. They both like really good beer, apparently, and that’s as good a reason as any to go drink some!

Aren’t they cute?

Some of these pictures are yoinked from her own account of the evening, check it out!

Anyway, on to the booze! We met at The Brick Store, which was crazy busy even for a Monday night.

I started off with an Allagash Curieux, an interesting beer that is aged in bourbon barrels, it actually retains a slight hint of bourbon flavor! I didn’t love it, there was something cloudy and waxy about it, still enjoyable though. Jeff had one of his usuals, Chimay Blue, which I love as well.

We we super hongry. I got a turkey sandwich with smashed avocado and a salad with basil dressing.

Jeff had the roast beef sandwich with more spicy mustard than is right for any one person!

I was eyeing Lee’s hummus plate.

After we were sufficiently fed we could move on to round two. I got the St. Bernardus Abt. 12 and Jeff switched to scotch.

There was a slight mix-up with our order and we ended up getting a free round in apology. It was super-nice of them to do that, but man we did not need those extra beers!

We had a great time talking about all kinds of stuff. A lot about blogging, of course, but much much more too.

It was a fun double date. I am always reminded that I should do this kind of stuff more often.

Thanks guys for a fun night!

January 19, 2011 Alayna Discussion 2 comments

You have got to know by now just how much I love miso, right?

This recipe is my absolute favorite way to enjoy miso, and one that I make about twice a month as it is so quick to put together and so richly delicious.

I start with a fillet of salmon placed on a baking sheet that has been lined with aluminum foil.

Next, I make the glaze. All you need are these two, miso and mirin…

Any miso is fine, I realize you may only be able to get your hands on shiro miso (aka: white or mellow miso.) I use this “red” variety because I’ve tried making the recipe with both and found this one to be less salty. As for mirin, if you can’t find it you can use either maple syrup or honey and a few drops of water to thin it out. I’ve tried it using both of those ingredients and it was still awesome.

So, put a dollop of miso in a bowl and add about a tablespoon or so of mirin.

I then microwave this for ten seconds, stir, then another 10 seconds and stir again. It’ll look about like this, don’t worry if yours is thicker or thinner than mine. It’ll be great, I promise.

Just pour it over the salmon and spread evenly over the surface and down the sides.

This gets baked at 400 degrees for exactly 20 minutes.

While that was baking, I got the rest of the meal ready. I had some sushi rice going in the rice cooker already so I just had to make something to go with it. I decided to smash up an avocado with seaweed flake, salt and toasted sesame.

And I even had time to have a little fun with my ring molds that I haven’t touched in forever. I used them to mold the rice into pretty little discs.

Out came the salmon. Don’t worry about the burned edges, it’s just because there is sugar in the mirin, the fish itself is fine. This is why you needed the foil.

And here it is, alongside the rice topped with mashed avocado and sliced scallions.

Seriously, one of my very favorite dinners.

And no, you don’t need to mold the rice into pretty shapes. I would have just plopped it on the plate too if I wasn’t planning on photographing it!

Miso-glazed salmon

Perfectly baked salmon topped with a glaze of salty miso and sweet mirin.

Prep Time: 5 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 25 minutes

Yield: 2 servings

Ingredients

• 1 skin-on salmon fillet
• approx. 2 tbsp. red miso paste
• approx. 2 tbsp. mirin

Cooking Directions

1. Lay salmon fillet on a baking sheet lined with aluminum foil, remove any pin bones.
2. In a small bowl, combine miso and mirin.
3. Microwave miso and mirin for 20 seconds then stir to combine.
4. Pour mixture over salmon and spread evenly with a butter knife.
5. Bake salmon at 400 degrees for approximately 20 minutes or until done.
6. Serve with rice, smashed avocado, and scallions if desired.

Hope you try it, I’m really proud of this one!

January 17, 2011 Alayna Discussion, Recipes 5 comments