Spring Salad with Mango and Blueberries

Yesterday was the first really beautiful day this spring in Seattle. The sun was out, the tide was low, and it hit 66 degrees. It seemed like the whole city came out in full force: dudes were walking around shirtless, small children were donning their swimming suits and splashing in the sound while wishing the Coleman Pool was open for the season, and ladies in short shorts were littering the rocky beaches. I spent the majority of the day laden with 3 cameras, traipsing around the beaches on Vashon Island and hanging out with my best friend from childhood. I even got a little bit of a sunburn on my cheeks. Go figure.

Dinner today was inspired by the glorious weather yesterday. I went outside of my comfort zone and went for the "this isn't local or seasonal by any means, but I want summer!" approach and made an huge salad on baby greens, spinach, mango and blueberries, and topped it with a ginger lemon dressing.

Spring Salad with Mango and Blueberries

Shared Plates

Quite a lot has happened in the last few weeks, and as I sit here not-so-patiently waiting for the last of this horrid cold that has consumed my life the last four days to pass, I can finally take a few minutes to reflect on the rapid fire of the last few weeks. Christmas came and went, compacted into 4 days of seeing mine and my wife's family. Managed to see a few friends before I got sick and resigned to hiding in bed, saw a few movies starring Jeff Bridges (True Grit = Cohen brothers brilliance; Tron = old school fun reinvented), broke down and got a 35mm Holga Camera (Yes, I went to Urban Outfitters. Yes, I swore the whole time I was in the store. I may have even managed to bark "I used to be able to get a Holga 120 for $15 before these assholes started carrying them!" at the display of the brilliant Japanese plastic creations), did some laundry, took a few baths, visited the Picasso exhibit at SAM and somehow didn't end up cooking anything new and exciting.

Seriously, somehow, the only thing I have cooked in the last 2 weeks was some stir-fry and some vanilla bean cupcakes with tart cherry filling (ok, those were pretty good...) I did, however, share a few meals with friends, discussed molecular gastronomy, the roles food plays in community and history, read more of the Alice B. Toklas Cookbook (which, in fact, predates Julia Child's french cookbook for Americans, and has more pre-war recipes), received and promptly started reading "As Always, Julia: the Letters of Julia Child and Avis DeVoto" which is a truly amazing record of the development of one of the most monumental cookbooks and characters in U.S. history. I dined at a few "acclaimed" northwest restaurants and have a few ideas for some upcoming dinner menus, and shared a wonderful meal of rice, lentils, beets and onions, and beet greens with a few good friends. K, who made the wonderful meal, and I get to talking food and bore everyone else to tears, so we devised a plan to have a food date in the city every two weeks. In a way, that's a new years resolution, and one that I won't mind sticking with.

Lemon scented rice. Beets and Onions. Beet Greens

Vegan Lemon Bars

This Lemon bar is a little creamier in texture than I can remember lemon bars being... but that's likely because I always liked the filling more than the crust, and also because I liked lemon curd more than lemon bars... so I've tweaked and combined techniques and come up with a lemon bar that reflects those tastes. the end result is a light creamy yellow sweet treat that bites the back of your cheeks with tang. Yum!

Filling: 

2 cups instant mashed potato flakes (make sure not flavored, not even butter)
2 cups vanilla soymilk
Zest and juice of 4 lemons
4 tablespoons margarine
2 cups granulated sugar
1/4 cup powdered sugar (or, if your like me and are making fudge at the same time, 3 oz. ricemello crème)
1 cup water
3 Tbs. agar agar flakes

Crust: 

2 sticks margarine (room temp)
2 cups flour
1 cup powdered sugar
Combine and stir potato flakes and soymilk in a large microwave bowl. Heat for about 1 minute until starch absorbs liquid. Stir in the margarine, letting it melt with the residual heat. Mix in the lemon juice and sugar and microwave for 45-1 min. It should still be lumpy. Throw in a blender or food processor with lemon zest and powdered sugar (or ricemellow crème) until smooth and creamy. Refrigerate for 4 hours (or overnight)
Mix the margarine, flour and powdered sugar together with your hands until smooth. Grease 9x13 pan and press dough into the bottom. Bake at 350 degrees for 10-15 minutes until edges slightly brown.
Soak agar flakes in water for 15 minutes in heavy saucepan. Bring to boil and dissolve agar agar. Turn off heat and mix in lemon mixture until completely combined. Pour lemon mixture over crust in pan and refrigerate for a few hours until firm,
Sprinkle powdered sugar on top, cut and serve.