Goodbye, East Side. I Loved These Places…..

By Somer

In 12 days I leave the West coast to return to my beloved East coast.  I’ve lived here for 3 1/2 years.  I can’t say that I’m sad to be leaving.  I’m going home.  Things that I’ve seen and experienced here have not all been the enlightening and culturally diverse things that I expected when I first moved out here.  As a newcomer, it’s hard to find that charming, small-time, artistic subculture that one expects to find out here on the West coast.  There’s a lot of corporate glam, a lot of money, and a lot of need to be trendy.  These things I am not.

Eventually, though, we found those small places.  Those charming places owned by local joe’s who greet you as you walk in the door and wave to you as you leave.  Those charming places with menus sitting on the narrow but loving shoulders of only one or two people.  Those charming places that serve warmth and that one-of-a-kind spirit that makes them a million times more special than any pretentious restaurant that has the audacity to charge astronomical amounts of money for cocktails and even more for their cream-soaked mediocre food.

Today, I took my husband out to lunch and we visited a couple of our favorite places.  We went to the Santorini Greek Grill in downtown Kirkland (very close to the waterfront of Lake Washington).  This place is a teeny tiny little joint that stops you in the street as you walk by with the seductive scents of Greek meats.  Lamb for lunch?  Oh sure, why not!

The gyros, salads, Souvlaki, baklava, falafel, and service are all TERRIFIC.  I love this place.  The food is served up lightening fast and on real plates to boot!  Usually is itty bitty places like this, you get plastic forks and paper plates or baskets.  It helps to eat off of a plate with a metal fork.

In a small funky place like this, I was worried that the decor was going to be really kitschy and scary like off of My Big Fat Greek Wedding.  Luckily, it’s not like that at all.  All over the neutrally painted walls, framed photographs of different regions of Greece hang in a very cool and very West coast manner.  It’s lovely.

The one piece of kitsch was this hilarious tidbit right by the entrance/exit.

This restaurant is even featured in Zagat.  That means nothing to me, it’s just amusing that Zagat and I agree for once.

After our Greek lunch, we went a couple of doors down to the Seattle area’s best coffee shop.  No, it’s not Starbucks.  Out here, I’ve found that there are two very opinionated groups where Starbucks is concerned:  those who are proud of it and those who hate it for being a corporate crap shoot.  Now, I get Starbucks every once in a while simply because they are literally on every block in this area.  But if I had my choice, I would go to Cafe Ladro.  This place is what a Seattle coffee shop should be.  Small.  Friendly barista who doesn’t have a painted on fake smile.  Fair prices.  And in their goddamned iced chai lattes, there is more latte than ice…unlike how Starbucks serves them….assholes.

Sorry about that outburst.  But Cafe Ladro is a superior coffee shop.  It’s a small place, it’s mellow instead of that fake rushed sense that you get when in a Starbucks.  It’s a cool and industrial look that is oddly more soothing than that manufactured and fake look that Starbucks is trying to sell.  The coffee is BETTER.  The pastries are BETTER.  All of the drinks are BETTER.

Look at that understated logo.  It’s perfection.

The station was very simple.  In fact, I had a nice little conversation with the barista about the movie Zoolander as she filled our order.  Nice lady.

Some other East Side places that I loved while here:

Momoya Sushi and Sake House

Dick’s Hamburgers

L&L Hawaiian Barbecue (even though it’s a small chain)

Beth’s Cafe

I realize that we’ve barely chipped the iceberg and I have regrets about that, but our time here is up and I look forward to getting to know a new city.  But if you ever make your way out to this area, check these places out and have some great food without worrying about an offensively huge bill.

So Many Cookbooks, So Little Kitchen Space!

By Somer

I LOVE buying cookbooks.  I used to go to charity book sales and buy out their old cookbooks for less than a dollar.  I did this a lot.  Then I joined recipe sharing clubs and iVillages that would send packets of recipe cards every month.  I would get cookbooks as gifts from people who love me and know what I like.  A friend of mine and I would swap recipes via email every Wednesday.  I would print them out from Food Network and other internet recipes sharing sites.

After about 8 years of all of this activity, I ended up with a mountain of cookbooks, boxes upon boxes of recipe cards, and binders full of loose leaf paper upon which random recipes were printed or hand written.  It was a big mess and a terrible eye sore.

When we decided to make the cross-country move from Washington to Pennsylvania, we started purging a lot of our unnecessary items.  One night while resting at my kitchen table after one such purge, my eye was drawn to the messy disaster that I called my “recipe collection” and I came to the resolve that something had to be done about that disorganized dump.  As I started thumbing through my various cookbooks, it occured to me that I would realistically only use a fraction of the recipes in each culinary tome.

“Why do I keep these big bulky books when I would only use a few of these recipes?”

I realized that I asked myself the same question many years ago when it came down to cd’s vs. mp3’s.  I chose to go digital.  Why not go digital with my recipes?  My main personal computer is a laptop and it’s usually sitting in my kitchen anyhow..why not take the time to take the recipes from my cookbooks, put them all in a .doc and keep it on my computer?

I’m doing that right now.  It’s been a long and tedious process.  I really didn’t realize that I had that many recipes lying around.  At the beginning of this process, I caught myself only writing out the recipes for desserts.  When I cook meals, I am more likely to throw things together rather than use a recipe.

“But what about SmellMyPlate?”  I asked myself.  “I need dinner recipes to prepare and share on my website!”  Well that more than tripled the original number of recipes I had picked out.  I’m at about 400 recipes right now and I’m still not seeing an end in sight.  This process is making me more organized and getting rid of some terrible clutter, but it’s been a lot of time and work.

I was uncertain about my comfort levels of having all of my recipes digitized, so I went to my local department store, and bought about 6 cute and matching 3-ring binders and some page protectors so that I can print out all of the recipes and sort them out by Appetizers, Side Dishes, Main Dishes, Beverages, Desserts, and Party Dishes.  This way I can still have recipes in paper form and they will be organized and tidy.

I see so many kitchens with piles of cookbooks and loose leaf paper recipes stuffed into corners.  I used to be the owner of one of those kitchens and it drove me absolutely batty.  I’m sure that this isn’t an original idea, but I’m so happy to be getting some recipe organization going on in my life!

Banana Pancakes Smothered in Peanut Butter

By Somer

I woke up this morning with every intention of making lentils for dinner.  However, as the day wore on I began craving banana pancakes.  It’s only August and already I am wishing for Mardi Gras so I can celebrate Pancake Day again!  I put the lentils back in my pantry, went to the store and bought bananas and prepared to make banana pancakes.  And yes, I smothered them in peanut butter.

Bananas and peanut butter are a naturally perfect pairing.  Who didn’t eat peanut butter and banana sandwiches as a child?  I do something special for the peanut butter for my pancakes.  If you’ve ever been lucky enough to make it to Amish Country in Pennsylvania and try their homemade peanut butter, you will notice that the taste is different.  There is honey in their peanut butter….quite a bit.  It’s DELICIOUS.  When I make pancakes for my brother (who always wants peanut butter on them), I have to whip up a small serving of honey-peanut butter.  While I don’t usually like it on my regular weekend pancakes, it’s perfect on banana pancakes.

Banana Pancakes

The Illustrated Encyclopedia of American Cooking (1986)

2 to 3 ripe bananas

1-1/2 cups buttermilk

2 eggs

2 Tblsp. sugar

2 cups self-rising flour

¼ tsp. baking soda

2 Tblsp. melted butter

Mash bananas.

Add buttermilk, eggs and sugar; blend well.  Add flour and soda; beat thoroughly.  Add melted butter.

Pour onto greased hot griddle, cook on both sides until brown.  Serve with butter and powdered sugar (or peanut butter!)  YIELD:  8-10 servings

This is a very thick pancake batter.  Don’t be alarmed if the pancakes look dark.  Because of the bananas and their high sugar content, there will be a darker-than-normal-color to these pancakes and the edges might get a little crispy.  It’s fine….and delicious.

If you do not have self rising flour, never fear!  Simply add 1 tsp. baking powder per cup of AP flour and you’ll have proper levening action.

For the peanut butter spread, simply put 1 cup of your favorite smooth peanut butter and add 2 Tblsp. honey and mix.  The honey not only adds amazing flavor, but it also things out the peanut butter a little and makes it less gooey.

Thank the Pennsylvania Amish for that amazing flavor.  Go visit them if you have the means and buy some of their food!

There’s no need for powdered sugar or maple syrup.  The peanut butter and honey are all the topping these pancakes need.  I do hope you try this.  It’s so damned good that I’m thinking of going back for seconds just after writing this!  Enjoy!