Six Citrus Salad

I'm ready for summer. At UCSD, we're in the middle of week eight with three more to go. Most of my friends are done with school...one of the cons of the quarter system. Summer seems so close yet SO FAR at the same time. It's not that I don't like my classes; I really love learning about wildlife conservation, writing about California condors, and hearing lectures about cathedrals and castles that I've visited while studying abroad. It's just that I'm ready for something new... and a break from studying.

I have to be honest. I didn't make this salad over the weekend, in fact I didn't make this last week. This recipe and these pictures are from a month ago. We were visiting our friends and they wanted us to bring something green. I was at the produce market and saw how great the citrus looked and decided to make this salad.

The Ingredients

your favorite mixed greens

olive oil

salt and pepper

four lemons

one lime

two navel oranges

two cara cara oranges

two blood oranges

one grapefruit

1/2 cup feta

1/2 cup dried cranberries

3/4 cup sliced almonds or pine nuts

handful of blackberries

The Method

Toast the almonds in a pan on medium low heat to bring out their nutty flavor.

Make the dressing by juicing the lemons and lime; you'll get about 1 cup of juice.

Season with salt and freshly ground pepper and drizzle in olive oil to taste. I put into about 3/4 cup of the olive oil but if you prefer a less acidic dressing add more olive oil that's why I didn't specify an exact amoung. Whisk to combine.

The next step is to segment (technically supreme) the rest of the citrus. With a pairing knife, cut off the top and the bottom of the fruit, just the white pith. Place the orange on an end and carefully make vertical slices separating the fruit from the pith.

Be sure to make curved cuts with your blade to minimize fruit loss. Take the fully peeled fruit in your hands and make a cut on each side of the membrane to loosen the orange segment.

Have a bowl underneath as you cut to catch the segments. If you don't get the hang of it right away, don't worry you have six other fruits to practice on.

Having the different citrus fruits give you a variety of colors and flavors. The navel oranges are the classic oranges. The cara cara navels are pinkish in color and have a blackberry undertone. Blood oranges are one of my favorite fruits; they have a deep crimson color with raspberry-like flavors. To balance out the sweetness, the grapefruit gives a pleasant bitterness to match with the bitterness of the greens.

The last step is to assemble the salad as a whole. In a large bowl, loss the greens with just enough dressing to coat. Add three fourth of the feta, almonds, cranberries and citrus segments. Toss to combine and add the blackberries, and remaining feta, almonds, cranberries, and citrus on top of the salad. Crack some black pepper over to finish.

It was so fun to hang out with everyone. We played a version of charades with two teams. Each round, each team picks any word for any player on the opposite team to act out. Sounds really easy but let's just say words like agility, niche, and valor don't have hand motions. My friend, Andrew Ruiz, who is an amazing photographer struggled for a minute and a half on the world "eco-friendly."

This salad is a great connection between the late winter-spring citrus fruits and the start of summer berries. It kinda fits where I am now: its spring and I'm in school but mentally I'm in summer mode.

Recipe by Spencer Huey

Wonton

New and Old. Those words have been the theme of the past few weeks.

Thankfully last quarter ended a few weeks ago. This means no more 20 hours of work a week of biostats! This also means that we had spring break.

Instead of relaxing on the beach which most people do on spring break, I decided to go to Indiana. That's new. Why Indiana? One of my best friends, Bethany, goes to school out there in Indiana Wesleyan University. Chelsea (chocolate girl) flew from Nebraska and we had a great time catching up and hearing about what God was doing in each other's lives. It was such a needed time with old friends.

Spring quarter has officially started; I'm especially excited about two of my new classes that I'm taking this term. BIEB 176: Conservation and the Human predicament is a biology class that focuses on wildlife conservation. VIS 121B: Cities, Castles, and Cathedrals is an art history class that has a lecture on the city Canterbury, England (where I studied in the Fall).


Also, I started to volunteer in the Nieh Lab where they are studying honeybee and bumble bee behavior. The topic of bees is becoming increasingly popular in the media due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). CCD is a new phenomenon where bee workers across the globes are disappearing. Bees play a crucial role as pollinators for our fruits. So unless we want to eat rice, wheat, and corn for the rest of humanity's time on earth, we should help our six legged friends.


To balance out this new quarter, I decided to pull out an old recipe.

This recipe for wonton (Chinese dumplings) was created by my dad and me. When I was 3 years old, I was at a babysitter's house who made amazing Chinese food - my love of food comes partly from them. My dad would make huge batches of wonton and give them to my babysitter to cook for me for lunch. Apparently, my babysitter would ask me if they were too salty, needed more mushrooms, etc and my dad changed the recipe accordingly. What a great dad! So this recipe was created before I could even write. Every time I eat them, it brings me back to my childhood and reminds me of my dad. I've updated the recipe since and its still my favorite wonton recipe.


The Ingredients
Filling:
1lb ground pork
1/2 pound shrimp
10-12 dried shiitake mushrooms
1/4 cup water chesnuts
5 stalks green onions
3 tablespoons soy sauce
pinch of salt
2 teaspoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon sesame oil
The Makings of:
wonton wrappers
1 egg
chicken broth
green onions for garnish


The Method
Soak the mushrooms in warm water until soft and then dice. Peel and devein the shrimp. That black intestinal track is about as tasty as it sounds. Then chop the shrimp up. Mince the water chestnuts which can be found in cans in an Asian grocery store. Thinly slice the green onions.

In a large bowl, combine the ground pork, the shrimp, the mushrooms, the water chestnuts, and the green onions.

Then add the soy, salt, cornstarch, and sesame oil.

Mix to combine. Don't tell anyone but its easiest to use your hands. Let the mixture chill in the fridge for about 20 minutes. This lets all the flavors combine and makes it easier to work with. Ground meat doesn't make a great picture I know.

When the mixture is chilled, it's folding time! There are many ways to fold them, this is the way I learned. Crack the egg into a bowl and add some water to make an egg wash for folding. First, take a wrapper out and lay it with one of the corners pointing towards you.

Then put a teaspoon of filling in the middle and moisten the top two edges with the egg wash.

Then fold the bottom triangle up. Press out the air going from the center outwards and press the edges to seal tightly.

Then moisten one corn with the egg wash and tuck the other corner on top. Press firmly.

All Done! One down, many more to go.

Folding the wonton is easier than you think. It may take some practice but after a dozen or so, you'll be a wonton making machine. Another great idea is to invite friends over and have them help out or have your kids help out. I helped my dad when I was little. Lay the wonton on cookie trays and freeze them. Once frozen, place them in plastic bags for storage.

Now what did I do with all of these wonton? My favorite way to cook them is to boil them. Place them in boiling water and reduce the heat to medium low and cook for 5-6 min for fresh and 7-8min for frozen. Ladle some hot chicken broth over them and sprinkle some more green onions on top.

One of my favorite things about food is when it can bring back old memories. I hope you can make these wonton with your friends and family to create even more fun times. What are some of your favorite childhood eats?

Yorkshire Pudding

So I'm back in San Diego, California with its 80 degree weather in what's suppose to be the dead of winter. One of the perks of going to school down here. In many ways it's great to be home. I missed walking around in my rainbow flip flops and shorts. I missed pad see ew, carne asada burritos, dim sum and kalbi. Most importantly, I'm glad to be home because I get to spend time with my friends and family.

As great as it is to be back in California, I still miss Canterbury and England a ton. I miss the cobblestone streets, half timber houses and English countryside. I miss fish & chips, fry-ups and a proper Sunday roast. I REALLY miss my English friends and I can't wait to see them again. I'm working on a teleportation matchine, I'll let you know when it's up and ready.

Over the holidays, I wanted to make something quite English for our family meal. I decided on Yorkshire pudding, an essential for holiday roasts. Think of them as an English popover-something really tasty to soak up gravy with. Since I'm not English and could not come up on a recipe on my own, I used Jamie Oliver's recipe for huge Yorkshire puddings.

The Ingredients

1 cup milk
3/4 cup AP flour
3 eggs
pinch of salt
vegetable oil/ pan drippings/butter

The Method
Pre-heat the over to 450 degrees.

Whisk all the ingredients together in a bowl. Let it sit for 10 min; this will allow the flour particles to absorb the liquid which will give you better Yorkshire pudding.

Meanwhile, put a muffin tin in the oven to preheat in the oven for 10 min with just enough vegetable oil, butter, or drippings to cover the bottom of each pan.
Take the tray out and fill the muffin tins about a third of the way up. Quickly put the tray back into the oven and let them bake for about 15 min until golden brown and delicious.

Don't open the oven before they're done, they'll fall like a soufflé. Serve immediately with your roast, roast potatoes, vege, and gravy.

Once you start making these apart of family dinners, it will be hard to stop eating them.

Roast Parsnips and Carrots with Pancetta

I wanted to squeeze one more post before I left the amazing country of England. I'm snowed-in and our flight got cancelled yesterday so why not? I wanted something easy, flavorful and quite English. At Sainsbury, parsnips were on sale and I decided to go for them. I think that parsnips would scare most Americans away. I don't know why; these root vegetables are relatives of the carrot. They are white in colour, starchy and quite sweet. I rather like them and I reckon that they would make a great side to a very English, Sunday roast.

The Ingredients
5 carrots
5 parsnips
200 grams (7 oz.) cubed pancetta
1 tablespoon butter
salt


The Method

Preheat your oven to 220 C/ 425 F/ gas mark 7. Take your roots, peel and quarter them longways. This will allow even cooking and give you nice long spears. Par-cook your the vege in salted boiling water for about 5 minutes. Drain and set them on a rack to steam dry. Having them dry is important as it will allow them to get brown and crispy.
Meanwhile, take a pan and throw the pancetta in on medium heat for less than two minutes, just until the fat starts to turn translucent. This ensures that the pancetta will get crispy as well. Toss with the vege as well.
Align the vege on a lined baking sheet and place it in the oven.

Roast for about 25-30 until the vege starts to turn light brown. Because of their shape, the spears cook not completely at the same time. Honestly, I kinda like this; it gives you a variety of textures. The sweet vegetables go well with the crunchy, saltly pancetta. Try these for Christmas dinner or a Sunday roast.

Get your Sunday roast ready with roast potatos, gravy, brussels sprouts and my favourite, Yorkshire pudding. This will serve about 4-6.

Recipe by Spencer Huey

Athens, Greece: ancient history, tasty food, and helpful people

Rome, then England for two short days and then to Athens, Greece -another foodie friendly country to visit. We stayed in the capital of Athens for three days to see the major sites and get a taste of Greek culture. 

Parthenon on the Acropolis

We were especially excited for Greece because this term we were taking two Greek classes: gods, myths, and heroes (religion in Ancient Greece) and Greek art and architecture. After studying all these art pieces and buildings, we were finally going to get the chance to see them. Our hostel was right in the middle of all the sites. Located in Plaka, we were less than a 3 minute walk from the Acropolis, Roman and ancient Agoras on one side and the temple of Zeus Olympus on the other. Plaka is a safe and a fun area to stay in Athens, I highly recommend it.

Temple of Zeus Olympus

I also recommend eating as much Greek food as your stomach can handle. First start off with the € 2 gyros. The toasted pita is filled with spit-roasted meat, tomatoes, red onions, and tzatsiki sauce. We found good ones in Monastiraki square and near the Central Market.

Tasty Tasty Gyro

 Many of the restaurnants are touristy and try to lure you in with sweet Greek talk. Don't eat at them. Instead find our favorite taverna, Scholarhio, is located off the tourist path in Plaka on Tripodon 14.This is a MUST-EAT in Athens. It's a family style place where they bring you 18 traditional Greek dishes of the day you choose which ones you want. 

Talk about a decision.

Although it was a little expensive (€ 14, that's a lot for travelling students), you get to taste a huge variety of Greek dishes. 

Bekri Mezedes (Pork stewed in wine), Hortes (Wild greens with lemon, Tiropita (Cheese pies) and Keftedes (Meatballs)

For two of us, we got to choose 5 of the 18 with drinks, bread, and dessert. We were beyond stuffed. Great deal in my mind.

Moussaka

There is a great bakery located on Athnias 39, on the way to the central market. The name was impossible for me to say or write down. All the cookies were made with olive oil and were a perfect snack. I really like the chocolate chip made with olive oil and the cookie with cognac, raisins, and orange zest.

After the cookies, head to the Central Market. It's a large, chaotic place full of very fresh and inexpensive products.

They have stall after stall of meat, mostly lamb.

I had a blast in Athens, it was the perfect way to end our trips around Europe. After England, Greece was my favorite country overall. The people are ridiculously kind. The food is tasty and the city is clean. I can't wait to come back and do some island hopping. Be sure to check for strike days for public transportation, free days (mostly Sundays during the winter) and student discounts (There are a ton!).


We leave Canterbury in two days and were heading back to California. It's surreal that I'm finally leaving. I feel like it went by in the blink of an eye but at the same time the initial flight into London feels like years ago. It's been such a good trip and I'm going to miss my friends here so much. We started saying good bye to them, I hope to see them really really soon. Canterbury is such a great place, definitely my favorite place in Europe. It's full of great history, the best people, and good food. It's what you would imagine an English town to be. If you're ever in England, swing by Canterbury and explore my favourite city. 

Rome: the pope, piazzas and pizzas

I just returned from a five day trip to Rome, Orvieto and Tivoli. 

We had a reading week for one of my courses which means I go travelling instead of studying. To be honest with you, many of the restaurants in central Rome are touristy and serve average Italian food. I was disappointed at first, I mean, it's Italy right? To get the really great places to eat, I suggest some research is in order. Here are some of my favorite places to eat in Rome:


Trattoria de Valentino
Via Cavour, 293
(Near the Coliseum)
The pastas here are inexpensive and are quite tasty. I had the lasagna and it was one of the best I had ever had.


'Gusto
Piazza Augusto Imperatore, 9
(Near Piazza del Popolo)
They have a great pizzeria. I got the pizza Romana with mozarella, black olives, capers, anchovies and oregano. 'Gusto also has a lunch buffet where you pay by the weight of the food. It was also tempting.
website

Volpetti
Via Mormorata, 47
(Near Testaccio)
This was a deli with every kind of Italian cheese and meat. Right around the corner, they sell prepared food. I suggest the arancini (fried rice, ragu and cheese balls)
website


00100 Pizza
Via Giovanni Branca, 88
(Near Testaccio)
My favorite Pizza al taglio (by the slice/weight) in Rome. It's named after the kind of flour they use plus Rome's postcode. Try the potato and sausage pizza, it will leave you wanting a whole kilo of the pizza. Also try the trapezinni which is kinda like a hot sandwich but WAY better.

Biscottificio Innocenti
Via Della Luce, 21
(In Trastevere) 
Hole-in-the-wall cookie shop. The baker was so nice; she gave me a few for free even though I bought just over a euro's worth. I got nocciola(hazelnut) cookies, marzipan cookies, and jam cookies. They were the perfect snack after walking Rome all day.

Sant'Eustachio
Piazza Sant'Eustachio, 82
(Near the Pantheon)
This place is world famous for their espresso. I'm not a huge fan of coffee in general but I was quite surprised that I liked it so much. The New York Times said "When the need for a real espresso becomes overpowering, buy a ticket to Rome, tell the taxi driver to head straight for the Sant’Eustachio cafe. The espresso will be perfect. A little expensive, but surely worth the trouble."
There is so much precision with espresso with the grinding, pressure, and getting the frothy foam just right. It was a little pricey - about 1.40 euro for a few sips of a pick-me-up, but I think its worth a visit.
website

Gelato in Rome is legendary. Although its December, we ate gelato at least once a day. We did have some Italians give us weird looks but seriously, when else are we going to have the world's best gelato. There are two famous places for gelato in Rome. 


San Crispino
Via della Panetteri, 42 (Near the Trevi Fountain) OR
Piazza della Maddalena, 3 (Near Pantheon)
They offered flavours like pignoli (pine nut), basilico (basil) and a few kinds of meringue flavours along with the classics. Their gelato was packed flavour and had the perfect creaminess.

Giolitti's
Via Degli Uffici di Vicario, 40
(Near the Pantheon)
This is classic gelato from Italy. This is a MUST eat.

Rome was such a great city full of history, culture and amazing food in the right spots. Next trip, I would definitely encourage a day trip to Orvieto which is about an hour and half outside of Rome.

I hope that on your next trip to Rome, you include these tasty places in your itinerary and share more food friendly places with me. 

Bremen, Germany: the best wurst, Knipp, and the Town Musicians

This past weekend, we traveled to Bremen, Germany to visit our friend, Felix. His family let us stay in his house and his mom even gave us an insider's tour of the city. The city is in the countryside of Northern Germany. The town has a blend of old historic sites with new modern buildings. I posted about the trip on my travel blog.

His mom showed us their favorite places to get the best wurst (sausage). The bratwurst was perfectly cooked and steaming hot. The sausage was really meaty and full of herbs. This was a great starter to German food.

For lunch we went to a restaurant called Friesenhof. I ordered the FriesenJager Schnitzel which was a breaded pork cutlet, and salt pork fried potatoes. The meat was still juicy and went well with the creamy mushroom sauce.

My friend, Kevin, order the Bermer Knipp which is a local dish with sausages. It is made of ground pork from the belly, head, and rind mixed with barley, and spices. The sausage is then smoked, sliced and fried on both sides to get a golden brown and delicious crust. The knipp was laid upon a mound of fried potatoes and there were gerkins to add acidity to the overall dish. Without the grains in the sausage, the flavor would have been to rich. This dish tasted very similar to haggis.

These dishes were both tasty and we were overwhelmed with food. Sadly, we couldn't even finish our plates - we thought that Americans have huge portions. We also got Beck's beer which is made in the town of Bremen. Let's just say I'm not a huge beer fan.

Then we saw the Town Musicians Statue which comes from a story written by the Brothers Grim.

In the tale, a Donkey, a Dog, a Cat and a Rooster are getting old and are retired from their work on a farm. They realize that they will soon be killed by the farmer and they decide to run away and becomes musicians. What else would these animals be? During the night, they make their way to Bremen and see a cottage with thieves inside.  They hop on eachothers' backs and play music in hopes of getting the thieves approval and perhaps a meal. The music is so "great" that it scares the robbers and they run from the house. The animals rush inside and enjoy a meal together as free animals. Later, one of the robbers return so see what that has taken over their house. The animals act quickly: the Cat scratches the thief's face with her claws, the Dog bites his leg, the Donkey kicks him in the gut and the Rooster crows and chases him out the door. The robber retells his story to his fellow evil doers. He tells them of the witch that scratched him (the Cat), the ogre with the knife (the Dog), the giant who clubbed him (the Donkey) and the finally the dragon who chased him away and screamed from the rooftop (the Rooster). The robbers decide to never return and like good fairy tales, the animals live happily ever after.

After walking around the city, we decided to get a pretzel from the local bakery. It had that chewy outside, bready inside and the amount of salt crystals was perfect.

I forgot to mention that I started a new tradition - every time I visit a city in Europe, I find a kitchen supply store and buy a cooking utensil. In Paris, I bought a whisk and in Germany, I bought a silicon mixing spoon from Henckels. Henckels? Why didn't I buy I knife? I couldn't really bring it on the plane and we didn't have time for me to ship it home. I will find a knife somewhere. Anyways, I really enjoyed my time in the countryside of Germany and I hope that one day you can visit too.