London is Well Fit: or British Love and Olympic Nosh

If there's anything I love more than the Olympics, it's the British - the film, the literature, the music, the humor, the boys, the curses, the accent, the tradition and history of the country.  My family has always had a great appreciation for all things English.  I was raised on The Clash and Elvis Costello and Nick Lowe and Van Morrison and The Black Adder and Mr. Bean and The Goods and Eddie Izzard and Monty Python and James Bond and Four Weddings and A Funeral and Pimm's Cups.  My love of British literature really blossomed in college, where I took not one, but three British Lit courses - I honestly could not get enough, especially contemporary authors like Nick Hornby and Neil Gaiman.

Me and the Big Guy - ignore the face, I hadn't slept.

My family are such Anglophiles that our first international vacation was to London and Wales to visit family.  Last year, my parents sent me on my first solo-vacation back to London for my birthday to visit a few friends who were studying abroad there.  I was thrilled to be heading to my favorite country (yeah, I said it), but I was worried about how I'd take to London - I'm not a big city girl, New York sends me into panic attacks.  However, I immediately fell in love.  Especially with the Underground.  One of my favorite memories of that trip was sitting on the train on my way to New Cross listening to The Clash on my iPod.  As I recall, I was smiling like an idiot, and might have scared some of the commuters sitting around me.

Part of what drew me to London and made me so at ease there was the fact that it doesn't seem like a city. New York is too big - the buildings are too tall and shiny, there too many people around me, there's too much going on, too much stimulus.  I find New York extremely overwhelming and  anxiety inducing.  London, on the other hand, is like a giant small town.  There are no skyscrapers, the buildings are all old and historic and beautiful.  The English respect and preservation of their past and history is so endearing and wonderful - as Eddie Izzard so perfectly puts it, "I come from Europe, where the history comes from.  You tear your history down, man.  Thirty years old let's smash it to the ground and put a car park here!"  Within London you have these little neighborhoods that feel so much like country villages that you forget you're in the city.  Cobblestone streets with shops and merchants that could have magically walked out of a Dicken's novel.  My favorite nook in the city was Borough Market.

Borough Market, located under London Bridge, is the city's oldest fruit and veg market with roots that date back to 1014.  Now a days, they have far more than fruit and veg - meat pies, pastries, cheeses, breads, meats, curries, ciders, mulled wine, basically everything and anything you could possibly want.  It's tiny, but there is a definite community and culture attached to the market.  The vendors are loud and boisterous, calling you over to try their goods.  The locals come to gossip over a big bowls of green Thai curry or to grab some fresh rabbit for dinner on their way home from work.  I went just to wander and to take everything in - the sounds, the smells, the colors.  Oh, and don't forget the tastes.  Rabot Estate chocolate shop was my go-to, mainly because of their chocolate enhanced menu.  A smoked salmon sandwich with chocolate creme fresh and nibs - I mean, does it get any better?  Though I have to say the banana, salted caramel, and cocoa nibs on toasted brioche was my favorite.  I may or may not have had a few dreams about that sandwich.

But I digress.  Moral of this long, rambling tirade is that I love the British and London and was terribly excited about the opening ceremonies of the Olympics tonight.  I decided that I wanted a celebrate with a London inspired meal.  I thought about the classic British fare - bangers and mash, meat pie, beans on toast, fish and chips - but wanted to find something a bit more traditional.  So, I do what us Confoy's do best: research.  In no time at all, I found two dishes that jumped out at me - ploughman's lunch and potted shrimp. The ploughman's lunch is a pub food that usually consists of bread, cheddar cheese, sliced ham, pickles, and apples laid out that are then assembled into sandwich form.  I took this idea and as per usual, put my own spin on it.  I kept the bread, cheese, and apples, but substituted the ham for smoked salmon and added some roasted garlic for good measure.  Potted shrimp was definitely the highlight of tonight's Olympic nosh - not only was it quick and easy, but it was ridiculously delicious.  It was a great addition to the spread we had, and most importantly, it was the perfect pair to my tall, cold Pimm's Cup.

Potted Shrimp
½ stick of butter
1 large scallion, whites and a little green thinly sliced
1 tsp cayenne pepper
1 tsp nutmeg
½ lb wild-caught shrimp, roughly chopped
salt and pepper to taste

+ In a medium skillet, melt 2 tablespoons butter over medium-high heat.  Once the butter is hot, add the scallions, cayenne and nutmeg.  Saute for a few moments until scallions are soft.
+ Add another tablespoon or two of butter and melt.  Add shrimp and saute, stirring occasionally.  Right before the shrimp are cooked, add the rest of the butter and cook until melted.  
+ Place shrimp and butter into a ramekin and refrigerate for two hours, or until solidified.  Serve cold on bread or toasts, preferably with a Pimm's Cup.

What A Week...

Sitting at Small World drinking my chai and reading my book (this week it's Brave New World), it struck me, out of the blue, that I haven't written in almost two weeks.  At first, I was a little angry with myself, but then I realized that the past week has been an absolute whirlwind, and forgave myself instantly.  I didn't realize how ridiculous the last few days have been, but in a good way - many incredibly good ways.  So grab a mug of chai, or cup of coffee, or glass of wine, and follow along with me as I relive this insane week.  Shall we start with last Friday?

Friday was spent at work and then out running around preparing for graduation (buying dress, shoes, and getting a much-needed manicure).  It also marked the birth of the latest member of the family, Helen Marie.  My Uncle Jeff "Hunky," supposed bachelor for life, married my Aunt Tonya three years ago, and had their first child Gabriel, or Baby Gabe as I shall call him for the rest of his life.  "Lenny" is their second child, and Gabe and Tonya's daughter Cloe were over the moon.  Baby Gabe is so excited to be a big brother, and not at all threatened by the little girl - not that you could be, I mean look at that those cheeks!  When I asked him if he was going to be a good big brother he told me, "Yes, I'm going to play with her and share all my toys."  I have no doubt that he is going to be an amazing big brother to that tiny, perfect baby girl.  We ended Friday night with bottle of pink bubbly popped in honor of the newest Jarive girl.  Congratulations again to Tonya, Hunk, Cloe, and Gabe!

The next morning was a very, very early one, but the excitement made waking up fairly easy.  On Saturday, May 12th, I, Claudia, officially graduated from Montclair State University.  The weather was sunny and gorgeous, though it got a little sweaty under those heavy black robes.  Even though it was hot, everyone was in high-spirits.  Beach balls were blown up and batted around the crowd, joining us all together, especially when the campus police took them away and deflated them smugly in front of us.  After the ceremony, two of my best friends and fellow English majors, and their families all went out to brunch at Toast, a small joint in town that's only open 7 to 3, and serves nothing but brunch - and God, do they do it well.  Red velvet pancakes, tofu scramble, homemade veggie burger, crab cakes benedict, Bella Nutella (nutella stuffed french toast topped with fresh strawberries and jam) and so much more.  Plus they have great vegetarian and vegan options.   After stuffing ourselves with late-morning deliciousness, we headed to the Iris Gardens for a photo-shoot, mimosas, and some hardcore bubble blowing.  It was a perfect day, and an even more perfect close to my collegiate life.

Unfortunately, I had to wake up early Mother's Day morning for work, so I wasn't able to prepare the extravagant breakfast in bed that I had been mentally planning all week.  Instead, I stopped at the store on the way home from work, picked up some orange tulips, and got home just in time to start cooking dinner.  My mom wanted something quick and easy that we could eat outside, so I whipped up a simple shrimp salad.  I used my classic base salad (the same one I use for Salmon Salad) topped with shrimp baked in a ginger-orange marinade.  I doctored up a store bought Mandarin orange ginger vinaigrette with fresh ginger, garlic, and some fresh orange zest and juice - a similar result can be made using orange marmalade, honey, ginger, garlic, and orange juice.  We paired dinner with Sunset Mimosas, a champagne cocktail created by my father and named by my mother - champagne, orange juice, a splash of tart cherry juice, garnished with fresh raspberries).  The fresh, sunny dinner was followed by a family catch to work in my mom's new softball glove.

Monday marked my fathers forty-coughmumblecough-th birthday.  After I closed at the cafe and ran home to change, the family headed out to P.F. Chang's.  Now, I'm not usually a fan of chain-franchised restaurants, but P.F. Chang's is different - the quality of food, service, and atmosphere is unlike any chain I've been to.  While they have a sizable menu, I can't help but order the same thing every time I go - a Twisted Whiskey Sour and Singapore Street Noodles (a dish that I will be attempting to recreate at some point this summer).  Fortunately, service is family style, so I got to pick at my dad's double pan-fried noodles, my mom's Ma Po Tofu, and my brother's veggie dumplings. Our waiter even threw in a few free mini desserts since it was my dad's birthday - Thanks, Matt - my favorite being a tie between the triple chocolate mousse and carrot cake. Besides the delicious food (and copious leftovers), I don't think we've all laughed as hard as we did in quite a while.  You see, when you get all of us together, we tend to get...very silly, and quite loud.  Many times our waiters don't appreciate our playful, jokey manner, but Matt handled us beautifully - even joking back a bit.  At one point, as he was packing up our leftovers, he stopped and stared at us for a second, "Are you guys really a family?  Most families that come in here just sit in silence staring at each other."  Yes, Matt, we are a family.  And yes, we actually enjoy each other's company - well, most of the time.  Monday night reminded me why I like my family (yeah, "like".  I mean, everyone loves their family, you kind of have to right?  How many people really like their family?) and why they are my best friends.

I had Tuesday off, which was nice after a late night and two whiskeys.  It was a chilly, rainy morning, so I spent it cleaning the house for my dad's birthday.  I know that might not seem like a great gift (don't worry, I got him other things too), but having the dishwasher emptied, counters clean, dining and living room tidied mean that he doesn't have to worry about doing them and he can actually sit down and relax when he gets home from work.  Once the house was spick and span, I made a banana-almond-cashew-spinach-blueberry smoothie and headed out for some much needed yoga.  I've said it before, and I'll say it again: yoga has such an incredible effect on how I feel physically and mentally, I came home a wholly new person.  I've made Tuesday and Thursday honorary yoga nights, and this routine, the regular yoga practice, has already had a huge impact on me.  Not to mention that I've kept up with my diet change, and I'll be continuing with it - when something makes you feel good, why not do it?  You know what my favorite part of yoga is?  Walking to my car and the drive home afterwards.  Maybe its an endorphin high, or maybe its the fact that the anxiety is gone and my body is loose, but somehow the world looks different, I notice more, I enjoy more.  Tuesday night, walking through Princeton, I was overwhelmed by what a gorgeous evening it was. The morning rain storms created a beautiful night - the ground was still damp, the air rich and humid, fragrant of earth, leaves, and water.  The perfect night to be out, meandering through the crowds at a carnival, strolling around town and peeking in the windows of darkened shops, or quietly people watching as you walk down the boardwalk hand-in-hand with someone tall and warm.  The perfect night to pick at some funnel cake, sip on some iced tea, or lick an ice cream come.  The perfect night to sleep with your windows open, letting the gorgeous night air bring you sweet dreams - which is exactly what I did.

And Wednesday, Wednesday was the cherry on top of an incredible week.  Wednesday, I got a car; a car purchased by my mother at  eleven in the morning on a Princeton street corner.  I've always been a homebody, never that kid that needs to get away.  So when I was younger, I never yearned for a car, and for the freedom it represented.  Now that three of us have jobs and all semi-individual social lives, the car has become a bit of necessity.  However, I am starting to feel a need for some...space.  Being able to go out if a friend calls at the last minute without having to fight over the keys, or pick up an extra yoga class after work, or just being able to drive with the windows down while I sing out-loud to the music that I want to listen to.  And now, as of Wednesday, I have found that space - his name is Humphrey Bogart and he's red (my family has only ever owned red or silver cars, so he fits in perfectly).  He needs a little love, but being my brother and my first car, we don't mind at all.  Miraculously, my grandmother presented me with baby blue  fuzzy dice that she had bought when I was sixteen for when I got my license (which I did not get until I was twenty), but like any self-respecting grandmother, she saved them in the back of a closet and remembered exactly where they were for when I finally got my own car, six years later.  And let's be serous, no car is complete without fuzzy dice.

Overall, its been a wonderful week.  I didn't even realize how much so until I sat down to think about everything that's happened - momentous life events.  And then I think about how many more are to come, how this is just the beginning of summer, of a new phase in my life.  And God, I can't wait to get started.  But right now, I'm going to put my feet up, eat a plate of spaghetti with a basil-tomato-zucchini sauce, and watch a movie with my parents.

Karmic Curries

It's been two weeks and five days since I started working at Main Street, and I am loving every minute of it.  I know, I know, no one loves working, but I'm telling you, I love it.  Clearing dishes, making coffee, loading the dish washer, foaming milk, wrapping food, and especially waiting on customers.  While you get the occasional rude or overly needy patron, the majority are pleasant and fun to chat with.  We have a couple of every-day regulars who are ridiculously charming and make me smile every time I see them walk through the door.  And the people I work with make the slow dragging lulls go by so much faster.

Easter Baristas.

Okay, sorry, enough ranting about my love of being a barista.  The point of me bring up work was to segue into a narrative about how I decided on last night's dinner. And this segue is much more awkward than anticipated...

On our way home from work, my mother and I stopped at the grocery store to pick up eggs to dye for Easter, but neither of us could come up with anything we felt like having for dinner, so we decided on picking up sushi after the market.  We grabbed eggs and a few necessities and headed to the checkout.  My mom forgot her wallet in the car, so I held our place in line while she ran out to get it.  Of course, my gaze immediately went to the strategically placed magazines. While there were various celebrity dissolved marriages to pry into and best bikini bodies to glare at, a special Spring/Summer edition of Real Simple that was all "Easy, Delicious Home Cooking" caught my eye.  I was flipping through it, admiring the beautiful photos and mentally tagging recipes to look up later, when I saw it - what I wanted for dinner.  A vegetable and tofu curried soup.  The photo was what got me; it was warm and inviting, but with bright colors and a crispness that just screamed spring.

While I'd found what I wanted for dinner, not all the Confoy's are as keen on tofu as I am, so I needed to come up with something that the whole family would enjoy .  With a sigh, I resumed flipping pages, mentally tagging the tofu curry for another night.  But guess what was lying only a few pages away?  A recipe for curried shrimp and snow peas.  The best part?  The ingredients for both recipes were basically identical, the real difference being a very slight change in preparation methods.  I took that as a big karmic slap-in-the-face that tonight I must make curry. When I saw my mom heading down the registers I yelled, "I know what we have to make for dinner!  Go grab coconut milk and shrimp!"  We were quick and  efficient, and home eating curry faster than it would have taken to order and pick-up sushi.

I made a few changes to Real Simple's recipes, mainly due to missing or varying ingredients. Both recipes call for red curry paste, which isn't a pantry necessity, and which I didn't want to buy just for this one recipe.  I did however just buy a jar of  Ras El Hanout - a Moroccan spice blend - that I'd been meaning to give a try.  I also left out the green beans in tofu dish, because I thought with the peas they might be a little redundant.

Now, one ingredient that I normally leave out of my curries is coconut milk.  I'm not talking about the vegan milk-substitute made with coconuts (though I do use it along with the canned coconut milk in these recipes).  I'm talking about real coconut milk made from the meat of the coconut.  Why haven't I used it before?  Well, first off, it came in a can, and the idea of "milk in a can" just kind of turned me off.  And second, I didn't really think that it would make that much of a difference.  Oh, how wrong I was.  The coconut milk made these curries.  Seriously.  I've been plagued with curries that are too thin and soupy, or when I try to thicken them, become heavy and more of a gravy than a curry.  But the coconut milk is the perfect combination of liquid and creamy thickness that gives the curry the perfect consistency.  This week I am going to stock up on cans of coconut milk so I can make excellent curry whenever I want.

Thai Curry Vegetable and Tofu Soup
1½ cups vegetable broth

½ 14 oz can coconut milk

½ cup non-dairy coconut milk

2 tbs Ras El Hanout, or other curry powder

2 tsp fresh grated ginger

1 pint sized container of shiitake mushrooms, stems removed and caps thinly sliced

1 cup snow peas

1 carrot, sliced into thin coins

14 oz extra-firm tofu, drained and cubed

2 tbs fresh lime juice

¼ cup fresh basil leaves, sliced

salt and lime zest to taste

+ In a large sauce pan, whisk the broth, coconut milk, non-dairy milk, curry, ginger, and a pinch of salt.  Bring to boil.

+ Add the mushrooms and carrots and simmer until the carrots are tender.  Then add the peas and tofu, and simmer until the peas become a bright green.

+ Stir in the lime juice, zest, and basil.  Serve hot over rice or on its own.

Curry Shrimp and Snow Peas

½ 14 oz can coconut milk

½ cup non-dairy coconut milk

2 tbs Ras El Hanout, or other curry powder
1 lb large shrimp, peeled and deveined
3 tbs fresh lime juice
1 cup snow peas
½ cup bean sprouts
¼ cup fresh basil leaves, sliced
salt and lime zest to taste

+ In a large sauce pan, whisk coconut milk, non-dairy milk, curry, and salt.  Bring to a boil.
+ Add the shrimp, and reduce heat to simmer.  Cook until the shrimp is done, bright pink and curled.
+ While the shrimp is cooking, toss the peas, sprouts, basil and 1 tbs lime juice in a medium bowl.  Season with salt and pepper.
+ When the shrimp is done, stir in the remaining lime juice and zest.  Serve the shrimp curry over rice with the pea mixture on top.
Note: In both cases the liquid will begin to bubble up, so watch it it make sure it doesn't overflow.  Once the vegetable are added, the liquid will settle.

Like the dread&butter Facebook page to see behind the scenes and extra food photos!

Working Girl Dinner

Let me start off by apologizing for disappearing for a week - I am sorry. However, a very big part of me isn't sorry since my lack of updating is due to my recent employment. Yes, that's right, I am no longer an unemployed post-graduate.  I am officially employed. And I have to say, so far, I'm absolutely loving it.  Not only am I working as a barista - the breakfast bartender, making your life better one drink at a time - but I'm working with some truly amazing people.  They were incredibly welcoming to a newbie who asks far too many questions, and I feel like I've been there for much longer than a week.  I think I've settled in very nicely, though my milk foaming could use a little work.

Only downfall to my recent employment?  A job kind of takes away of a lot of the idle time around the house that I've been using as prep and cooking time.  Not to mention the fact that when I get home all I want to do is crash on the couch and have others serve me.  That being said, I really miss cooking.  That's why, today after work, I stopped at the grocery store and picked up a few quick items to add to things I already had in the house for dinner.  At home we had a of bag baby scallops in the freezer, a quart of cherry tomatoes, a bunch of scallions, fresh basil, and elephant garlic.  You heard me right, elephant garlic.  My two favorite things in the entire world combined by a genius to make one amazing thing.  This garlic dwarfs a normal clove, and cuts like an apple.  It's crisp and fragrant, but makes your eyes water like the worst onion - my whole face was hurting actually.  While the garlic is bigger, the flavor is more mild and less aggressive than regular garlic.  But I digress...

So at the store, I grabbed some ingredients to fill in the blanks and then sort of threw things together.  You know how much I love throw-together dinners, and they turn out to be the perfect meals for working girls with a small budget and even less time.

Elephant vs. Regular Garlic Clove

A Sort-of Scampi
1 quart cherry tomatoes, halved
1 bunch scallions, chopped
4 tbs fresh basil, chopped
2 cloves elephant garlic
1 cup dry quinoa
2 cups vegetable broth
1 head of broccoli, cut into florets
½ yellow onion
⅓ cup white wine (Cupcake Sauvignon Blanc)
1 lemon, zest
1 bag frozen baby scallops
½ lb wild-caught shrimp
olive oil
salt and pepper to taste



+ Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a medium bowl, toss tomatoes, scallions, basil, and garlic in a splash of olive oil.  Season generously with salt and pepper.  Pour the tomatoes into a deep baking dish (scraping the olive oil and seasoning from the bowl with a spatula).  Bake tomatoes for about an hour, or until shriveled and juicy.
+ In a medium pot, bring quinoa and vegetable broth to a boil.  Reduce to a simmer and add broccoli.  Simmer uncovered until the liquid is absorbed and the grains have split.
+ In a large sauce pan, saute onions in olive oil until translucent.  Add the garlic and cook until just beginning to brown.
+ Mix the shrimp and scallops with zest, a little olive oil, salt and pepper in a medium bowl.
+  Add the shrimp and scallops to the pan, then add the wine.  Then cover and cook until shrimp is curled and pink, and the scallops turn white.
+ Serve with a scoop of shrimp and seafood over a bed of quinoa topped with the roasted tomatoes.

Classy Dinner Party Tomato Shrimp Pasta

In my family, birthdays are a big deal.  Actually, that's an understatement.  Birthdays are a HUGE deal.  Birthdays are everything.  And they don't just last one day, oh, no no.  They last a whole week.  That's right.  A seven days of celebrating and honoring of the birthday boy or girl.  Most of the time this means they get to choose meals or what we watch on television, but really its just an excuse to guilt people into doing whatever you want and pop a bottle of sparkling every night for a week.

Slaving over a hot stove.

This year to kick off my birthday week, I trained up to my alma mater for a little dinner party with the college gang.  I spent most of last week trying to decide what to make; I mean, I wanted something easy that would serve ten people, but that would look gourmet and fancy enough for a classy dinner party.  After a lot of web-surfing and soul-searching, I decided on a tomato sauce with shrimp over spaghetti - tomato sauces are probably the easiest thing to make, and what's more posh than shrimp, really now?  This recipe was perfect, because I was able to get it prepped and on the stove in about 15 minutes, before the bulk of people arrived, and then just let it stew and the flavors develop while we had cocktails and appetizers.  By the time we were ready to sit down, the sauce was done and we were all fairly toasted.  It was the perfect dinner party dish.




Tomato Shrimp Pasta
2 tbs olive oil
1 large yellow onion, chopped
3 cloves garlic, minced
1 small sweet potato, cubed
1 tbs basil
1 tbs oregano
2 tsp red pepper flakes
½ cup red wine
1 large can diced tomatoes
1 small can tomato sauce
2 pints cherry tomatoes
2 lbs spagehtti
1 large bag of cooked frozen shrimp
salt and pepper to taste




+ In a large sauce pan, saute the onions and garlic in oil until the onions become translucent.  Add the sweet potato until the onions and potato just start to brown.
+ Add the herbs and red pepper and mix until well combined.
+ Add wine to deglaze the pan, then add the diced tomatoes, tomato sauce, and one pint of cherry tomatoes.  Give a good stir.  Season to taste.
+ Cover and cook for as long as desired, at least 30 minutes.  Put water on to boil.
+ Once the water is boiled, add the pasta.  Stir the sauce, add the last pint of cherry tomatoes and shrimp, and season to taste.  When the pasta is done cooking, the shrimp should be heated through and the cherry tomatoes soft but whole.
+ Strain the pasta and return to pot.  Spoon a small amount of sauce into the pasta and stir until evenly covered.  Serve in large bowl with remaining sauce poured over the top.