White People Will Eat It

Ashika:

Barfi (pronounced burfee) means fudge in Hindi. It's generally made with powdered milk, condensed milk, sugar, ghee and spices. It's this thick, sweet, delicious treat that is cut into squares, just like fudge. It's one of my favorite things in the whole wide world. Sangeeta and I talked about making barfi since neither of us have ever made it. Unfortunately, our recent cooking date had to be canceled because she wasn't feeling very well. My mom was all jazzed about this and she sounded let down enough that I decided I would try it out on my own. 

I have this Indian cook book that I mentioned in my post, Bitchin' Homemade Curry, it's called, Classic Indian Cooking by Julie Sahni. This book has a lot of basic, classic Indian recipes. I wanted to try her barfi recipe since it was so different from what I had ever had. 

The recipe was really basic:

1 lb blanched Almonds, processed into a fine powder 

3/4 cup sugar 

2 cups milk 

2 tablespoons ghee

Yes. I bought a pound of almonds, I blanched them and peeled the skins off the god damn things. A WHOLE POUND.  Luckily, my mother was home. We threw on an Indian movie and peeled away. I'm so happy she was there. It would have taken me forever. By the way, if you don't know how to blanch something it's really easy. I put all the almonds in a big bowl, covered them just to the top with boiling water and let them sit for exactly 1 minute. If you leave it any longer you risk having soft almonds. Drain the almonds and then run with cold water to cool them down. The skins will slip off pretty easily.

Make sure you keep the almonds dry as you are peeling them. I put them in layered paper towels. Once I was done peeling I let them sit for a bit so they could dry out completely. Then I took the almonds to the food processor. Now, it says to turn them into a fine powder. I was afraid of having almond butter in the end so I didn't get them almonds too fine. I believe this is where things went wrong. 

The second step is to boil the milk. The recipe says to boil it on high for ten minutes while stirring constantly. This was a pain in my ass. The milk just wanted to over boil. Also, stirring anything for minutes will test your upper arm strength and patience. This took more like 20 minutes and I'm not really sure I got the milk consistency correct. I added the sugar and ghee and then turned down the heat and let the sugar dissolve for about ten minutes. Finally, I added my one pound of blanched, ground almonds. You have to remember to continue stirring so that everything blends well and it doesn't turn into a giant lump. 

I turned out the barfi onto a sheet of 8"x8" wax paper that I placed on a cookie sheet. I worked quickly with another piece of wax paper and a towel (because this shit is hot) to get it all evenly pressed out on the paper. 

Once it cooled this is what I ended up with....

It didn't taste bad. It all was eaten.....by white people. My mom and I both agreed it wasn't bad but it wasn't the barfi that we love. So, we split it up and took it to work to feed to the white people. 

Atlantic Crossing

Ashika: 

I've worked two blocks from this place for nearly three years and this is the first damn time I've eaten there. Mainly because it scared me. When you walk by it appears to be an established Seattle bar. During the World Cup that place is a MAD HOUSE. I always just imagine weird drunk people in there all the time. Also, they are notorious for having some of the best chalkboard signs outside on the sidewalk. So, naturally I thought the place was a dive. IT'S THE TOTAL OPPOSITE. 

This is my favorite. 

A friend suggested this place for lunch and since I had successfully avoided it for so long I thought it was time to check it out. I went online to see if they offered the usual bar food, http://www.theatlanticcrossing.com and they do but it's WAY better. 

It took us both a good amount of time to decide what we wanted. Everything literally sounds delicious. Since I have been avoiding bread I thought today was a good day to cheat. I ordered the Chicken Bacon Pesto sandwich with curly fries (you get to pick a side of your choice) . IT WAS SO DELICIOUS! Toasted bread with melted cheese, pesto, giant chicken breasts and bacon. I could only get down one half of this sandwich. I devoured the curly fries. Those things didn't have a chance. I ended up eating the other half of that sandwich a couple hours later because it was so good. 

I have to find another lunch date so I can go here again. Food is always so much better with company! 

Chicken Bacon Pesto Melt with curly fries

ACHTUNG BITCHES!!

Ashika:

Yesterday was my cousin's 33rd birthday. Since we are 6 months apart his birthdays always reminds me early in the year that I'm getting old as shit. Like Sangeeta and I, we grew up together. But we are much closer because we actually lived in the same house together for a while as kids. He's the brother I never, ever wanted. Actually, I'm glad he wasn't my brother because I feel like I would have murdered him in his sleep a long time ago. I'm glad I get to enjoy him as my cousin. I love my cousin. Happy Birthday Justin! 

(Justin and I long ago. He's the white one.) 

Justin enjoys his German heritage by drinking copious amounts of booze on his birthday, as every German should. Last night he invited all of us out to Feierabend in South Lake Union. Feierabend is a pretty neat pub/restaurant that serves very traditional German beer and food. I've been there a couple times before and I had a hell of a time trying to read their beer menu. Everything was in German with no description. Ordering became tricky because I ended up asking the server a million questions. It's a small place with limited seating so add in the volume of the place and it sucked. 

This time I had a different experience. The place felt better organized. The beer menu is now this little book with clear description and prices. It appears they also expanded their drink menu to include ciders. My insides have declared a war against beer so my new drinking buddy is cider. I can't do any cider. It has to be good cider. Like Crispin, a lovely English cider that tastes like heaven. I was in luck! 

I was really excited to see my buddy at the bar. 

I was the first one to arrive so I decided to get started on trying out their food. I ordered, GurkenSalat, German cucumber salad with fresh dill and sour cream dressing.

I love me some cucumbers, sour cream and dill. I thought this was going to be a delicious, no-fail salad. I was wrong. This shit was gross. It was watery and had no flavor at all. I tried my best to just eat it but I couldn't do it. When my lovely server, Tom, swung by again I explain to him that I felt bad but I couldn't consume the salad. You know what that badass told me? "Fuck it. What else do you want?" I didn't have anything in mind yet so he suggested the beet salad. 

Roter RubenSalat mit Kase und Nuessen

This was much better, marinated red beets, topped with feta cheese and toasted candied walnuts. This was refreshing and delicious. The only complaint I have is their portion size. I feel like they should offer their salads in side portions. I didn't end up finishing because I was ready to eat something different. I was ready for the classic bratwurst and sauerkraut dish. 

Bratwurst Teller mit Sauerkraut

When this arrived at the table my cousins shouted, "Holy shit that's a lot of vinegar!". It took a second to register and then I saw it. Yes. Yes it was. I was thankful I took my prescription of antacid medicine because it's strength was about to get tested. In front of me lay, grilled bratwurst on top of a bed of sauerkraut with a side of landbrot (German bread) and a German pickle. That yellow/orange lattice design is TWO mustard's. The only thing I consumed on the plate was the bratwurst and the sauerkraut. I took a small bite of the bread. It tasted like any other bread so I ignored it the rest of the time. And after eating all that kraut and mustard I was getting any where near that fucking pickle.

This was okay. For me personally it left a lot to be desired. The bratwurst tasted a little gamey. I'm not sure why since it's supposed to be a mixture of pork and beef. There was WAY too much mustard and not enough sauerkraut. The kraut wasn't anything to write home about either. 

I'm not writing Feierabend off completely. I would go back there for the atmosphere, cider and to try something else off the menu. I'm not sure I would give it a third chance though. 

http://www.feierabendseattle.com/