Saturday Brunch: Square Cafe

Readers, I apologize. I finally tried out the Square Cafe in Regent Square today and utterly forgot to bring my camera. It's a shame, because both the cafe and the food were beautiful. If you haven't been there yet, seriously, check it out. The place just has a good vibe. Bright, clean design, funky and modern but very friendly, neat art on the walls. Cheerful, attentive staff. Amazing menu -- I wanted to try everything on it. (I ended up going for a plain old breakfast sandwich, which was nonetheless remarkable -- egg, bacon, and provolone on ciabatta.) It's not particularly cheap, as breakfast goes, but it's well worth it for a weekend brunch splurge. I never thought anywhere in Pittsburgh could compete with Pamela's for my breakfastly affections -- and it's got the added bonus of being conveniently close to my neighborhood in Swissvale! Then again, they don't have chocolate chip banana crepes... Pamela's? Square Cafe? There is room in my heart for you both.

Sage Butter Macaroni and Four Cheese (Food Network Recipe)

I regret that I was lax in the photographic documentation of this delicious Sage Butter Macaroni and Four Cheese recipe, but it is too good a recipe not to share anyway. I've made it three or four times now, varying slightly each time. I've never bothered including the mascarpone, and maybe that's some hideous culinary sin, but I think it turns out splendid without it. This most recent endeavor was conducted on a stricter budget (i.e. my mother was not in town buying the ingredients for me), so I had to scale back on the quality of cheese -- which is, of course, what makes or breaks this dish. We decided to settle on regular old Giant Eagle Swiss instead of the Gruyere, and went with a mid-range natural Cheddar. We also substituted Pecorino Romano for the Parmigiano-Reggiano, because my love for Romano borders on the obsessive. There's no getting around the sage, though -- it has to be fresh for this, or you may as well omit it altogether.

Perhaps it doesn't do it justice, but nevertheless, I give you... the mac n' cheese:


Hungry yet?

Samosa Night!

I am blessed to be living with my lovely and talented roommate, M. We make an excellent culinary team: I cook and she bakes, so between the two of us we are always supplied with home-cooked meals and desserts. The other day she decided to encroach on my territory by making some amazingly delicious samosas. (The link to the recipe we used does not apppear to be working, but a similar version can be found here.) I've documented the process via photos:

Sauteeing the onions.

The filling: onions, diced boiled potatoes, peas, ginger, green chili, coriander, cumin, and garam masala. (Did you know that coriander is the same thing as cilantro? Usually it refers to the seed of the plant, whereas cilantro connotes the leafy part. I just discovered this. Incidentally, I loathe cilantro. But coriander is okay. Go figure.)

The dough is just a mixture of flour, salt, oil, and water, which is then separated into balls and flattened into individual circles.


Stuffing the pastry.


Pinching it shut.


Deep frying it! (A note on this deep fryer: It was given to me by my mother, and I have no idea where she found it. It had never been used before this night. But it was made in 1978. What??)


Deep-fried Indian stuffed pastry goodness! (And they're even vegan!)


And finally, the lady of the hour:
Beautiful, a great cook, and SINGLE!

Stay tuned for more adventures in the Casa Kitchen -- and possibly more pictures of the unparalleled Miss M!

Welcome! Pull up a chair and grab a fork!

I'm a big fan of food. I like to think about it, talk about it, look at it, cook it, smell it, eat it. I am by no means an expert on the subject, but the neat thing about living creatures is that we all have to eat, so I at least feel pretty qualified to discourse about it. It's also one of the few things I think will keep my writerly interest for four months, and which might actually interest other people. Everyone likes food, right? So that's what this blog will be about. Food I make, food I eat, food I merely dream about because it is way outside my severely restricted budget.

This being the first post of the blog, I feel it's fitting to start with the first meal of the day. I like to get up early enough to make a proper breakfast in the morning. My usual fare is some concoction of eggs, peppers, onions, and cheese, either in omelet or scrambled form. Breakfast sausage is a common accompaniment. (Sorry vegetarians, but I love meat.)


I'll leave you with that for now. I have tentative plans involving mac n' cheese tonight, in which case I will post the recipe and results. Happy eating!