fudge pops: IKEA pt. 1

IKEA is a dangerous place.  You step inside and are immediately overcome by emotions such as wonder, envy, and covetousness.  Or, you just stand there, overwhelmed by the enormity of the place.  The danger I refer to, however, is not that of getting lost or confused, but of picking up too many random semi-useful small items.

You see, IKEA is of course primarily known for its furniture - clean lines, modern aesthetics, affordable price points, equally at home in space-saving studios and large houses.  That's one way I know IKEA; I mean, it's pretty much my childhood, because half the furniture in my house is from IKEA.  But I also know IKEA as the place with the best Swedish meatballs, coffee, and $1 breakfasts and a view of the Newark Liberty International Airport (IKEA Elizabeth); the awesome play place that I tried to cheat to get into (they have a height requirement and I may have cried when I passed the height requirement); and one of the most fascinating catalogs (no link because you need to see it in paper form.)  Growing up, I went there periodically with my family, and while I'm sure my parents always had some agenda, I just thought it was the coolest place ever!

I recently went to IKEA Schaumburg on my first alone visit, as a real adult.  Well, I was really tagging along with a friend who needed furniture for her new apartment, so I guess I haven't really grown up yet after all!  And so I encountered IKEA as a dangerous place.

I didn't need furniture so I wandered around admiring the model spaces they have laid out; the 200 sq. ft. apartments and the crazy color-coordinated closets (seriously, even all the clothes in the closets are in the same color scheme . . . )  We got to the kitchen section and I lost it.  The gist of it is that I picked up a bunch of semi-useful items I didn't really need.  Here is numero uno and what I did with it!

Popsicle molds!  So I made fudge pops, naturally.  Fudge pops are just as much a part of my childhood as IKEA is.  That makes sense, right?  Fudge pops + IKEA = my childhood.  My dad is a math instructor so that must be right.

 Here it is in its frozen form.  I guess you can't see through it . . . but there is fudgey goodness in there.  (Yes, that's Piano Adventures in the background . . . yay for multi-tasking!)

To remove it from its encasing, dip it in lukewarm water . . . or run it under the lukewarm tap.  I didn't use hot water because I was afraid it would melt things too quickly.

Voila!  Homemade fudge pops.  The air bubbles just add to the not-store-bought quality, y'know?  You might think 2 oz. is tiny, compared the gargantuan ice cream treats you can get today, but with the real chocolate and everything, these are rich enough that 2 oz. is just right.

fudge pops

makes 6 2-oz. pops

ingredients:

1 cup milk

1/4 cup heavy cream

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 tbsp cornstarch

pinch of salt

1 large egg yolk

1/2 tsp. vanilla extract

1 oz. bittersweet chocolate, chopped

directions:

1. Combine milk, heavy cream, sugar, cocoa, cornstarch, salt, and egg yolk in small saucepan.  Heat over medium-high heat for about 8 minutes, whisking constantly.

2. Remove from heat and add vanilla and chocolate.

3. Transfer mixture to a bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and cool completely.  Put it in an ice bath to speed things up.

4. Once completely cool, fill molds and freeze for at least 4 hours.  They can stay yummy for quite a while - I finished mine in about 8 days.  

Thanks for reading!

cheers,

Serfy

{This is Part 1 of IKEA is a Dangerous Place.}

limed

There are so many puns and cheesy jokes I could pull out of this post, but I'll try to refrain.  :)

For the past two weeks, my local grocery store has been stocking limes 20 for $1!  Is that a steal or what???  When you can get limes for 5 cents each, obviously you need to make limeade!  A friend suggested I should make margaritas instead, but after researching how expensive tequila and triple sec (or Cointreau if that floats your boat) are, I nixed that idea.  Not to mention it's not fun to drink by yourself . . .

I use a manual juicer, because 1. that's all we have in this house, and 2. the pulp is so tightly compacted that you'd need to dig in with your fingers even if you were using an electric juicer.  To the lime juice I add a simple syrup, which I then store in a recycled Trader Joe's salsa jar in the fridge.

This is eight limes juiced + the simple syrup.

Then, I simply combine lime concentrate, water, and ice when I want to have some limeade.

Voila!

Here's a version from last week where I added fresh mint.

limeade

ingredients:

8 limes

4 tbsp. sugar (adjust to taste)

1/4 cup hot water

cold water 

ice

directions:

1. juice limes.

2. combine sugar and hot water to make simple syrup.

3. add simple syrup to lime juice and store in refrigerator.

to enjoy limeade:

1. combine 8 tbsp. lime concentrate with water and ice, to taste.

2. (optional) add fresh mint or basil for a little extra kick.

Thanks for reading.

cheers,

Serfy

cumin tilapia with simple salsa

Cooking for one person, i.e., yourself, can be a bit of a drag.  First of all, there's the problem of portion.  For example, the minimum amount of rice my rice cooker can make is one cup, which is too much rice for me for one meal.  I always end up with leftovers.  In fact, my m.o. is to cook every two or three days and eat leftovers between cooking days.  However, I can never get out of my head my mom's voice saying, "It's not healthy to eat leftovers all the time!"  Not to mention I get easily bored with food, so eating the same thing four meals in a row is basically the worst.

For the past few meals I've been eating potato salad because for some reason I decided to buy a 5 lb. bag of potatoes.  I don't know what possessed me at the grocery store.  Maybe they were on sale . . . also I think that potatoes last forever so I can take my time eating them.  In any case, tonight I wanted to eat something more than just potato salad, so I dug out some frozen tilapia fillets.  My usual quick way to cook them involves seasoning with garlic powder, black pepper, salt, and maybe some oregano and other dried herbs.  Today, to spice things up and as a nod to my new favorite mini-series (cf. previous post!!  Listening to the soundtrack right now and it's bringing back so. many. feels.  ahhhh I wanna re-watch all 765 minutes of it !!!!!), I added a Moroccan twist.

cumin tilapia with simple salsa

ingredients

note: all measurements are very approximate as I usually don't measure things when I cook, only when I bake

1 frozen tilapia fillet

salt and pepper to taste

1/2 tsp. coriander

1/2 tsp. cumin

1 tbsp. olive oil

some tomatoes (I used four cherry tomatoes because that's all I had)

a bunch of cilantro (I used . . . a bunch)

directions

1. sprinkle and lightly rub salt, pepper, coriander, and cumin on both sides of the tilapia

2. chop tomatoes and cilantro.  mix and let sit.

3. heat the olive oil in a nonstick pan

4. put tilapia in the pan and cook each side for 3-5 min. until cooked through (i.e. you can easily fork through it)

5. garnish with salsa and enjoy!