Daily Loaf

Wanderer of ages.

There was a time when I dragged my car across the country, life in back pocket, convinced the next great thing lay under one of those rocks out there.

My adventures took me far and wide, hemmed in only by this country’s borders and the limits of my own imagination.

At the ripe old age of twenty-two, I ended up in Berkeley, CA, home of everything both weird and ridiculously normal at the same time. Buddhism, yoga, homeless people having acid flashbacks in the now-decrepit and dangerous People’s Park, the crown jewels of San Francisco Bay Area wealth glittering with haunting illusion high in the Berkeley hills. The Ashby Flea Market, a hodge-podge of booths with knick-knacks for sale, set up every weekend at the local BART (or subway) station.

I looked forward to Sundays, when I’d get off work from my collectivist restaurant job in time to enjoy a delicious cassava pone sweet treat in the just setting sun.

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I get paid to decorate cakes. Or, rather, I get paid to teach other people how to decorate cakes.

A sweet deal, no pun intended. Helping others do what I love is a real hoot, and this summer’s class really churned out some nice ones.

Cake decorating is simple:

You need desire. You need drive. You must be able to focus. And your short term memory must be somewhat intact.

If you have all of the above, you’re good to go. Find yourself a book, a teacher, the necessary equipment, and get started. What you don’t already know, you’ll learn along the way.

You can start with this, the basic white cake recipe for the cakes we decorate in my class. Read the rest of this entry »

Berbere, Awaze, Mitmita. Spicy words denoting super-spicy flavor. Combine with beef for stove-top success. Host to an Addis native (Addis Ababa, capital city of culture-rich African nation, Ethiopia), I was recently schooled in the ways of preparing Ethiopian-style sauteed meat, or tibs.

Tibs is a fun and easy dish that capitalizes on the magnificence of berbere, a 20-ingredient spice blend, and onions, both found throughout Ethiopian cookery.

My love affair with Ethiopian food began in Berkeley, CA, host to numerous fabulous Ethiopian restaurants. When I moved back to my home state of Florida, I brought a little of that Ethiopian flavor with me, adapting traditional recipes and tastes to fit the “can’t quite take the heat” Gainesville populace. My friendship with Fitsame — my guest — came about as a result of a book I published, Ethiopian-inspired Cooking, a compendium of vegetarian recipes, as well as other publishing interests we both shared.

When she announced a trip to the States this year, I knew I was in for a traditional Ethiopian cooking treat. Yes, we made sourdough Injera flatbread from tef flour. Yes, we dipped into platters of lentils, shuro and potato salad. And yes, we practiced the tradition of feeding a guest three times (so as not to make an enemy, but a friend) by placing a small bit of rolled food into their mouth.

But it was with tibs that I received my proper Ethiopian cooking lesson.

ETHIOPIAN BEEF TIBS

Beef (about 1 pound, free range/organic steak if you can get it, any cut will do)
1 large onion
1 green bell pepper
Berbere spice blend (buy online, at local international grocer, or make a substitute with 1 tablespoon paprika, 1 tablespoon garlic powder, 1 tablespoon ginger powder, 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper, 1 teaspoon dry basil, 1 teaspoon oregano, 1 teaspoon cumin, 1/2 teaspoon cardamom, 1/2 teaspoon fenugreek, 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, and 1/4 teaspoon ground clove all mixed in a bowl together)

Cube beef into small cubes, about 1/2 inch square. Marinate meat for a few hours in awaze sauce (1 tablespoon berbere, 1 tablespoon vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon red wine). This is my modification — Fitsame cooked the beef dry in the pan, then added seasoning, but I think this would be a nice addition.

Saute onion, sliced or diced, in enough vegetable oil to cover; tradition is to use 1/2 cup of water, adding more as needed until onion is soft. Cook until softened, about 10 minutes.

Lower heat, add beef and thinly sliced or diced bell pepper, turning regularly, until cooked through, about another 10 minutes. If cooking dry beef, cook in separate pan first, then add to onions and bell pepper. If using marinated beef, go ahead and add to already sauteed onions with bell pepper.

Season again with 1 tablespoon berbere and a splash of red wine. Saute another 5 minutes until liquid from wine cooks out.

Garnish with some fresh sprigs of rosemary and a side dish of awaze sauce for dipping.

Ian Finn, former cafe manager, cookbook author, cooking instructor and food maverick, dishes up a whole lotta amazing recipes here.

She was a smokin’ hot babe. Er… dish.
Savory egg filling. Legs a mile long. A real hot potato.
Er … filled with potato.
And herbs, cheese. A melt in your mouth kind of beauty.
She got me fueled up for the day, and we had that long, slow burn that just sticks with you.
I never went hungry when she was around.
I’m not the jealous type, either. But when she was on my plate … I finished every last bite. No point in sharing a dish this good.
Quiche? Not for a real man. But frittata?
Well, I’m no sexpert, but Rome could give Paris a run for its money romance-wise. And this Italian dish? Frittata? Always the way I want to start my day… Read the rest of this entry »

Grandpa Schleifer cooked like a real man. Auto mechanic, Polish immigrant, World War II veteran, speaker of seven languages, John Wayne fan… he was a hard-boiled New Yorker, who brought a gentle touch to all of his tough-guy activities.

And man, could he cook. As a young boy, I always got excited when this strong-armed, tire-changing, don’t-mess-with-my-friends-or-family tough guy, put on his apron and announced that potato-nick, kugel, and beef brisket would be on the table shortly. I knew I would eat well that day.

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