English Muffins

Having a sourdough starter is great because it forces you to attend to it and use it on a regular basis. I now regularly make sourdough blueberry muffins, which come together really quickly. The funny thing about sourdough is, in most of the recipes I use there is absolutely no sour taste. The bread is usually sweet, in fact. I have read that getting a sourdough to actually taste sour requires some practice. E had wistfully mentioned English muffins a few times recently.. because I use SPUD, buy in bulk in a food co-op and use other diverse sources for groceries, I make it to a mainstream grocery store about once a month. A few things are massively cheaper, and there is no where else to get decent cottage cheese. Even though I'm pretty sure it has gelatin in it, and I know it has guar gum in it.. what can you do. I tried live culture cottage cheese once; never again.. It was too funky for me.
Anyhoo. English muffins are another thing only found at the MSGS.. but after seeing Nicole's post I was inspired. How hard could it be? This answer is: not at all, if you've made buns or bread before. And they are very good with butter and Bunny Honey. Bunny Honey is produced in the Peace Country (terroir honey!) and the tetra pak container is genius. Very environmentally friendly (almost no packaging) and no sticky lid to contend with.
I used a recipe at The Fresh Loaf for the muffins.

Chigae

This will only be exciting to fellow Korean food o philes.. Kimchi Chamchi Chigae from scratch! Translation: Kimchi stew with tuna, but I used wild salmon instead. It worked alright, although salmon is stronger tasting than tuna so I don't know if I'd do it again. It came forward a bit more than I would have liked. But wow, the face-burny deliciousness of kimchi stew really did it for me the other day. Perfect for when the winter blehs take hold. Any cold that is thinking about getting in your head will flee.

I used this recipe and the kimchi I made myself a few weeks ago. I'm also flipping through a new book, Wild Fermentation, and have lots of ideas for the season ahead. I'm definitely going to try my hand at injera after watching my Ethiopian friend make it at home. It's really tricky to make flat bread at home that is chewy instead of crispy.. but injera is wonderfully soft and holds together well when used like roti to eat lentil stews etc. Like a crepe, essentially, but the dough is fermented for two days ahead of time.

My favorite Korean food blog is One Fork, One Spoon. Makes me homesick for my other home.

New toy

Here's a pic taken on my new iPhone. I can admit it.. this new toy makes me very happy. Mostly because I can use the GPS when I get lost.. and to find the phone when I lose it.

The first thing I did was download the free Monterey Bay Aquarium Seafood Watch App. Looking forward to seeing what other foodie apps come in handy.

I also look forward to using it to take food pics. Here's the first; at my favorite coffee shop, Beano. I try to like the coffee at other shi shi spots in town, but nothing compares, really. They are also firmly in first place because they have sandwiches full of Janice Beaton cheese, toasted Wayne's bagels with peanut butter and banana slices, and hot chocolate made with shaved Bernard Callebaut chocolate and ginger. AND scenes like this.