Ginger & Toasted Sesame

Resources

Baked Eggs with Soy Sauce Mushrooms

2 · · 2 Comments

Baked Eggs with Soy Sauce Mushrooms | Ginger & Toasted Sesame

The first time you cook for someone can be a bit nerve wracking. You hope what you make is to their taste and that it turns out well. You don’t want to make anything too complicated as it presents more opportunities for error but you also don’t want to make anything too simple because you want to impress. The choices are endless and if you’re as indecisive as I am (if you ever dine with me, take away my menu the first time I declare I know what I want) it can be an endless cycle of choosing and doubting. Choosing what to cook for someone I have over is so hard for me! Sometimes I plan weeks in advance so that I can properly prepare and maybe even practice once or twice. I know to some people this seems ridiculous- if someone is over shouldn’t they just appreciate and at least pretend to enjoy what you make for them? Yes, maybe. But I want a guest to think on the meal later and I would like to create a memory with them- I know, so dramatic.

…

Read On →

Jessica’s Bensonhurst Cheese Ball

0 · · 9 Comments

Bensonhurst Cheese Ball

Hello stranger! It’s been a while since you’ve seen anything on here… and I could list several excuses as to why I’ve neglected this blog but it all boils down to the fact that I’ve been very distracted and a little lazy. Since my last post (over two months ago!?) a lot has happened. I’ve moved into my own place! Yes, this 29 year old lives on her own again (they don’t call us the boomerang generation for nothing). I think 9 months at home was a sufficient amount of family bonding time after 5 years abroad. Moving has been a bit of a long, drawn out process though since the only thing I saved from my last apartment in the US was a few boxes of cookware. After going through my boxes of kitchen stuff I must say that early 20s Sonja had an impressive collection of gadgets. I found a blowtorch. Who has that in storage? Anyway, I have a few of the essentials, such as a bed and a sofa but with these depressing blank white walls, I still feel like a bit of a squatter.

…

Read On →

Cardamom Shortbread with Dark Chocolate Drizzle

1 · · 9 Comments

Cardamom Shortbread with Dark Chocolate Drizzle | Ginger & Toasted Sesame

My office life is not conducive to healthy eating. For the past month we’ve been preparing for the holidays which includes multiple tastings with potential caterers to provide food for our holiday party and gift basket after gift basket full of sugar loaded treats from other companies we work with. It might sound as though it could be delightful, but after the tenth gift basket of stale cookies and strangely colored cheese “food” with tasteless crackers, you get holiday food fatigue.

…

Read On →

2014 Eat Local Calendar Giveaway

0 · · 18 Comments

Calendar-2

I really love hand drawn illustrations of food so when I first came across this beautiful calendar on the internet I knew I had to have it. I promptly ordered it a few months ago and it’s been sitting in my room waiting to be hung on my wall. If you flip through the calendar, you see colorful and detailed drawings of fruits and vegetables and each month has its own unique illustration. The artist who draws these calendars, Maria Schoettler, has created a new calendar every year for the past few years. She also has other food related illustrations on her site, so be sure to check out her shop. She is based in California so her calendar reflects the seasonality of produce there, but despite the fact that I live in the Mid-Atlantic region on the opposite side of the country I think her calendar serves as an important reminder to eat as seasonally and locally as possible, not only for the personal health benefit of eating fresh produce at its prime, but also supporting local businesses and the environmental benefit of eating food that hasn’t traveled halfway across the world.

…

Read On →

Butternut Squash Gratin with Sage and Shallots

0 · · 8 Comments

Butternut Squash Gratin | Ginger & Toasted Sesame

The weekend before Thanksgiving, I went to a local farmers market with my dad. I had lured him into going there with me by buying our family some delicious buffalo sausages from a local Virginia farm on my previous visit for dinner. He’s a huge fan of buffalo meat and he wanted to check out all that they had to offer. This lead to a bit of a buffalo meat shopping spree, which involved the purchase of various cuts to use in soups, stews and braises. We will even attempt to smoke a buffalo brisket for Christmas this year. Besides the delicious meat we procured, we browsed the various produce vendors and stumbled across an almost freakishly large squash. It was labeled as a type of heirloom pumpkin but it looked just like a butternut squash. It’s neck was at least four times longer than an average butternut squash, and it curved into a hook-like loop. When we had it weighed at the time of purchase, it was nearly 9 pounds! Before I cut it up for the gratin dish, my brother wore it around his neck like a yoke and walked about the kitchen. I regret that I didn’t take a photograph of it, because it was truly a marvel. 

…

Read On →