Field Trip!

To Jamie's Italian (aka THE Jamie Oliver's restaurant)! We went for a walk along the Thames & decided to pop 'round Jamie's in Kingston - it was closed, but that did not deter my excitement...

...which, unfortunately, is not too evident in the photo. Anyhow, will return with the recipes & culinary tales soon!

PS http://www.jamieoliver.com/italian/kingston

You know...

...you've been spending too much time pest(h)ering when you start dreaming about Jamie Oliver. Especially when it involves coming home to finding your mom and Jamie eating a bowl of cereal together in bed. They then ask you to go fetch them some peanut butter & pumpkin toast (?!?!?). You find your dad in the kitchen sulking, telling you he was the one who got them their cereal. You wake up.

True story. Perhaps having your friend's copy of "Cook with Jamie" on your bedside table is not such a good idea...

A Little Unrelated, A Whole Lotta Christmas

Sorry for the little hiatus, was busy getting ready to leave! I'm now in the UK, hoorah!

Anyhow, seeing as I was saving every penny (well, nearly) for my exchange, Christmas this year was DIY. What did I do? Give a little holiday cheer to my friends & fam... with Bailey's! I found the following recipe online: Homemade Bailey's Irish Cream-You'll Never Buy it Again. After making & tasting it (along with the fact that I made it for 1/3 of the store price), I will never buy it again! Here is some photographic proof:

Another great thing about homemade Bailey's is the fact that you get to buy the cheapest whiskey & it still tastes great!

So, hopefully everyone enjoyed it as much as my wallet did! Sorry for the lack of Jamie, he will return soon! (with travel stories to boot)

Roasting...

...Is what I did to those potatoes, parsnips and carrots. If I'm going to be a seriously aspiring Brit, Sunday Dinner should have been a traditional roast. However, I had neither the confidence nor the time to roast a beef or suckling pig. Instead, I made 'Salmon baked in a foil parcel with green beans and pesto,' sans les haricots.

Notes & Alterations:

• I omitted those green beans - one should have enough veg with the roasted potatoes, parsnips & carrots...yes?
• The salmon recipe was miraculously multiplied to serve six - no fish or loaves of bread included.
• Picking rosemary from my mom's garden in sock-feet(my fault) on a rainy Vancouver evening was an enjoyable escapade.
• I did not fluff my potatoes sufficiently.

All in all, cooking for the fam was not as scarring the second time round. In other news, my new favourite fall drink...

Pumpkin ale!

The Brooklyn Post Road is the tastiest one I've had so far... in fact, I've taken to drinking it on the beach. In October (when this picture was taken). Another good accompaniment for pumpkin ale is Bananagrams.

A Family-Sized Dinner: Broccoli & Pesto Tagliatelle with an Everyday Green Chopped Salad

Shortly after receiving Jamie's Food Revolution, I offered to cook dinner every Sunday for my family of six. It was a way to cook my way through the book without breaking the bank (my parents, being ever so grateful, offered to pay for the ingredients in exchange for a dinner they didn't have to cook). Attempt #1 was Broccoli & Pesto Tagliatelle with an Everyday Chopped Green Salad.

Result:

Notes:

1) Never EVER agree to cook a meal that you are stressed about for a horde of people. Having five (six including my grandma) people coming in and out of the kitchen telling you what they think of your meal choice, ingredients, and/or culinary skills is fairly stressful (i.e. "Ewww, why would you put potato in that?!" or "Honey, you're making a mess. Are you sure you don't want some help?") ...needless to say, after this meal I quickly resolved to cook pour ma famille ONCE A MONTH.

2) In order to include some protein in the meal, I added prawns to the pasta. This turned out well.

3) My brother is a seventeen-year old boy, aka a savage beast with five stomachs. A recipe meant to serve six or seven just doesn't cut it. So I added some baguette as a cheap, effortless side.

Pest(h)ering

You may be rather confused (amused?) by the title of this blog...I thought an explanation was in order:

1) I, Esther, have developed a nickname - Pester. I'm not quite sure who was the first person who used it AND if it was simply because Pester rhymes Esther or due to the fact that I am a bit of a pest....actually, I'm pretty sure it's because I know how to pester...it's something I do extremely well.

2) Over the past summer, I developed an interest in (love of?) baking and cooking...at first it was because many of my friends had left me for exotic locales and I needed something to fill my time with. However, it soon became a hobby of mine. I began to enjoy it more and more. (Additionally, I am a poor student whose wallet has benefitted from bringing tasty lunches to school and work instead of caving into the temptation of campus food.)

The point of this is... by the time my birthday rolled around (September, aka the end of summer), my new homemaking skills had become infamous. Thus, my dear friend Julz(of Can't Stop, Craft Till We Drop) gave me the BEST birthday present: Jamie's Food Revolution!

1+2 = Pest(h)ering Jamie - the blog where Esther pesters Jamie! (aka cooks through "Jamie's Food Revolution" with style and grace)

Note: I am leaving for Scotland on exchange for seven months in exactly thirty-two days (EXCITED!). Disclaimer: this blog may soon contain travel updates while I continue to cook with Jamie abroad!