4 posts tagged “food”

Mango sikarni is so delicious and amazing.  It's a Nepalese dessert that I had at Namaste, and now I am trying to make my own delicious sikarni.

So far, this is the recipe:

• 2 lbs. plain yogurt
• 1/4 tsp. cardamom
• 3/4 tsp. cinnamon
• 1 mango
• 2.5 tbsp. sugar
• Raisins/almonds

Dump the yogurt into some cheesecloth and hang it in your fridge for several hours, with a bowl beneath to catch all the whey (or whatever it is).  I diced the mango but I think that a puree would work better, so puree the mango.  Add to the yogurt the cardamom, cinnamon, mango, raisins and sugar.  Stir.  Sprinkle with almonds when serving.

That's it!  It's delicious and also healthy.  It is thick and creamy and yet not full of fat.  Amazing!  Now I have a reason to start making yogurt again. 

NOM NOM NOM.

Okay, I've sort of turned into a foodie. 

Blood Orange in Half

I really like cooking, and I particularly love long, tedious recipes.  I like hunting for obscure ingredients.  I derive an absurd amount of pleasure from exotic produce...blood oranges, pomegranates, mangoes, etc.  I mean, seriously.  I could (and probably will) write at length about any of them.  The first essay I ever wrote, in fifth grade, was about pomegranates as the food of the gods.

I really love food. 

Last summer, I heard about CSAs, or community-supported agriculture.  CSAs are magical entities, wherein you give them some money and in return, they give you farm-fresh produce.  Some CSAs are organic, some are not.  Most of them are family-owned farms. 

Unfortunately, summertime is a little late to join a CSA, since they start in May and run through October.  They have limited shares and they sometimes sell out.  So, I researched a lot and tried to cajole Paul into joining one, and then gave up after realizing that there were very few options left to me so late in the season.

This year I jumped on the CSA train early.  I did the research and I have found the perfect solution:
 

Double Rabbit Farm. [Cue heavenly trumpets.]

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  Lemon cucumbers.
  They satisfy my foodie cravings for weird produce by supplying heirloom vegetables.  I didn't even know there were such things as lemon cucumbers until I looked at their site, but now I know I must have one.
  
  
• They encourage me to go to dance class because the pick-up site is a block from the studio and I can pick it up right after Saturday morning class (and trust me, on Saturday morning I need a lot of encouragement to make it to class).
  
  
• They totally, ridiculously satisfy my desire to eat better, and to eat food that is less damaging to the environment.  Food that wasn't carted across the country in big, stinky trucks.  Food provided by somebody who loves growing food.  There's a pretty good article in Time about it.
  
  
• 

  I didn't even know this was kohlrabi until I googled it.
  And ultimately, the food we'll be getting will be tasty, unusual and diverse.  I never buy kohlrabi because I have no idea what to do with it.  But if I have kohlrabi in the fridge, then I'm gonna be all over the web hunting kohlrabi recipes.  It's like freakin' foodie Christmas, every two weeks.
  

I don't love Minnesota, and I really don't love how long the winters are.  But I do love the intensity of the summers, and I am just bursting with excitement at all the delicious vegetables we'll be getting.  I know you're not supposed to count your purple carrots before they grow, but last night I definitely drifted off to sleep while visions of produce danced in my head.

Dancingveggies

Hello!

I started Vox Minneapolis because I'm sure there are plenty of savvy Minneapolitans on Vox, but I don't know where to find them.  I moved here from New Mexico five years ago, and even though it's not home, the city has grown on me.  A lot.

Here are five cool things in Minneapolis that I love, or that I want to check out.  Hopefully there's a little something here for everyone:

I have no idea why I'm so into zen all of a sudden.

1. The Minnesota Zen Center.  It seems like a remarkable place, and here it is tucked away on the edge of Uptown.
   
   
   
   
   
   
2. Lurid Thoughts and Lucid Visions, by Wicked Sister Dance Theater.  I don't know them that well, but I do know some of the performers, who are very very skilled.  It's at the Red Eye Theater and opens this Friday. 
   
   
3. The Bryant Lake Bowl Theater.  Easily my favorite venue in this town of thousands of theater seats.  Kristin Van Loon is the artistic director, and she sure knows how to pick 'em. Plus the food is great and you can have a beer. Plus you can bowl there. 
   
   
   

   Bender

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4. Surly Brewing Co. brews the beer that convinced me I really like beer.  Bender and Darkness are my favorites, but lots of people go mad for Furious. Technically not in Minneapolis, but their beer can be found all over the place.
   
   
   
   
   
5. Midtown Global Market.  I love it there.  United Noodle AND Holy Land in one magical place?  This place strikes unerringly at my little foodie heart.  I can get the best hummus in town, and lingonberry jam, and pretty little trinkets, and a pinata, and dance lessons, and fresh produce, all in one single trip.  It is painful in its beauty.

What are your top 5 recommendations in Minneapolis?