I've been to Zeytuna before, but this was my first time sitting on the cafe side, with service and a full menu. My friend Anthony and I thought the prices were quite reasonable considering the outdoor seating in such a location Zeytuna. It was a bright and sunny day, and the umbrellas over the cafe were red, creating a red hue in all my pictures.

I was surprised by the generous bread and olive offering. I guess it's because I didn't think of this as a real cafe because it's connected to a market, but it pretty much is. I had some focaccia which was a bit dry. Oh well.

I was out all yesterday afternoon, looking at apartments (yes, still looking), so dinner had to be simple. Luckily, we had this Braswell's Select Honey Habanero Grilling Sauce from Lon's birthday basket. It only took a few minutes to skewer up some pork kebabs, drenched in the grilling sauce, and stick them on the grill.

I bought a large amount of beautiful Dinosaur Eggs (or Pluots) and decided to try baking some. I figured I wouldn't find an exact recipe for these so I just took a plum torte recipe, adjusted, and hoped for the best. It's a little tart, very pretty, and almost too easy to make. Save this one for when you're in a time crunch.

Pluot Torte
~adapted from Marion Burros Plum Torte

• 3/4 cup and 1 tablespoon sugar
• 8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
• 1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 eggs
• pinch salt
• 3 large Dinosaur Eggs (Pluots), cut into chunks
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• vanilla ice cream (optional)

1. Arrange a rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F).
2. In an electric mixer, cream together 3/4 cup sugar and butter. Add flour, baking powder, eggs, and salt. Beat well.
3. Spread in a 9" ungreased springform pan. Place plums skin side down evenly across batter.


4. Mix cinnamon with the 1 tablespoon of sugar left. Sprinkle over the plums evenly.


5. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Let it cool for 10 minutes before eating. It can be served warm or room temperature, highly recommended with vanilla ice cream. Store it in the fridge in an airtight container.

Kasi and I stopped in at Tal Bagels Tal Bagels for coffee and a snack. We didn't have bagels though, after noticing this Cheese Pie. Remember the Spinach one I had in Greece?

Lon has made it clear to his family, never to buy him a present unless it's edible. He hates clutter and is particular about clothing. He generally just wants to prevent his family from wasting money on stuff he'll likely throw away. This year, his mom and brother put together a basket of interesting foods so we're kicking it off with two items:

Elsa's Story, Crisp Baked Crackers, Garlic Flavored

I happened to have tuna, string beans, and potatoes and I thought, perfect for a Nicoise. But, I wasn't excited. Nicoise is pretty boring. So here's my anti-Nicoise, still healthy, but a little Asian influence thrown in for fun. It's actually three different dishes assembled together to make a yummy dinner. Each is very easy on it's own. They key is to time it out for all three to be ready at once.


Yellowfin Un-Salad Nicoise
~ dinner for two

Marinated Tuna Steaks

• 2 (6 ounce, 1" thick) Yellowfin tuna steaks
• 1/2 cup California grapefruit vinegar (from Trader Joe's)
• 1 tablespoon
• 1 tablespoon thin strips of ginger
• salt and pepper to taste
  

1. Place tuna steaks in a container that is large enough for them not to overlap, but too much space is not good either.
2. Mix together grapefruit vinegar, olive oil, ginger, garlic.
and pour over tuna steaks. Refrigerate for two hours, turning over once.
3. Heat a small non-stick pan, sprayed with non-stick, over high heat. Season tuna steaks and sear for 2 minutes on each side.
4. Slice and serve.

Garlic Scallion Potatoes

• 12 ounces fingerling potatoes (any color), cut into bite sized chunks
• 7 clove garlics, minced, divided
• 2 teaspoons olive oil, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped scallion
• salt and pepper to taste

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Toss potatoes with 1 teaspoon olive oil and garlic. Season generously. Roast in the oven on a aluminum covered sheet pan for about 15 minutes. Turn potatoes, sprinkle scallions and the other teaspoon of olive oil. Bake for another 15 minutes. Potatoes are ready when fork tender.

String Beans with Oyster Sauce

• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• 2 handfuls of string beans, picked
• 2 teaspoons oyster sauce
• 1 tablespoon water

Heat a small wok (or saute pan if you don't have a wok) with oil on high heat. Stir fry string beans for a few seconds. Add oyster sauce and continue to stir-fry. When you cannot see any more oil in the pan, add the water. (Be careful as the hot steam comes up.) Stir around a bit more and string beans should be done.

This is what happens when you think about food so much, your wires get crossed. I just picked up some strawberries from my local fruit guys and started thinking about a strawberry salad with poppy seed dressing. In the back of my mind, I had been thinking about mini-muffin tin, that hasn't been used in months. I had been trying not to use it, afraid I would bore you all with my mini obsession. Somehow Strawberry Poppy Muffins popped into my head and here you have it. They are super light, a teeny bit tangy, with a nice crunch, and dangerous; I think I could eat all 34 at once.

Strawberry Poppy Muffins
~makes 34 mini muffins

• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Trader Joe's 2% Greek Style Yogurt*
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoons grated lemon zest
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup chopped strawberries (lay them on a paper towel after chopping)
• 1/4 cup poppy seeds

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F for convection). Spray a mini muffin pan with non-stick spray.
2. Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium sized bowl.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together yogurt, sugar, eggs, oil, zest, and vanilla.
4. Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, just until combined . Fold the strawberries and poppy seeds in gently.
5. Fill the muffin tin and bake for about 14 minutes, until toothpick comes out clean. Let them cool in the tin for 5 minutes before removing to a cooling rack.

These cute little jars of Cata Gourmet honeys came in our Despana Basket. One was Heather Honey, which I didn't open yet, but we tried the Chestnut Honey with Walnuts and the Chestnut Honey with Hazelnuts.

This recipe has been swimming around in my head for a while, editing back and forth, with nothing written down. I finally let it materialize and I'm very happy with it. Even Mr. Soba-hater, Lon, gave me the thumbs up. It's really refreshing and perfect for summer so make sure to try it before fall comes around.


Soba with Spicy Tofu and Edamame

• 1 (15 ounces) package firm tofu
• 2 tablespoons Korean red pepper paste
• 2 tablespoons soy sauce
• 1 tablespoon mirin
• 1 tablespoon white vinegar
• 2 teaspoons sesame oil
• 1 teaspoon minced fresh ginger
• 7 ounces dry soba noodles, cooked, rinsed with cold water, and drained
• 1 cup frozen shelled edamame, blanched, drained, and cooled
• 1/4 cup chopped scallions

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F (275 degrees F for convection).
2. Drain the tofu and slice it in 8 equal pieces (the short way). Lay it on a plate. Place another plate on top, then something heavy on top. (Depending on the size of your plates, you may have to add another plate/layer, like I do.) Let it sit for 20 minutes, then drain the liquid. Let it sit for another 20 minutes and drain again.


3. Spread a thin layer of red pepper paste on each side of the tofu.


4. Bake for 1 hour on a cookie sheet covered in aluminum foil (sprayed with non-stick spray). When done, let it cool completely. Then, cut into 1/2" cubes.
5. While the tofu is baking, mix together soy sauce, mirin, vinegar, sesame oil, and ginger in a small bowl. Set aside.
6. In a large bowl, combine soba, edamame, tofu, and scallions. You can assemble ahead of time but dress and toss with dressing when ready to serve.

What were you doing yesterday (Saturday) at 6:15am? I hope sleeping... because the alternative is, well, um, not sleeping. And that's what we were doing. In fact, we were driving down to Coney Island, so Jessica could jump in the water with other Team in Training Triathalon Trainees (plus coaches, lifeguards, and others). Me and Ice (our dog) went with Jessica to cheer her on. Ice also joined in on half of the 45 minute run after the swim.

While Jessica was in the water, Ice played catch with me in the parking lot (dogs aren't allowed off leash on the boardwalk). I noticed a few interesting vending machines in that lot Stillwell Ave Boardwalk Entrance. One of them was a machine that purported to make "fresh grilled" hot dogs fast. And humorously, had a notice that the company Hot Nosh was open "24/6" (the one missing is Shabbas), but then below said "Any time. Anywhere." Anyway, my attention wasn't so much on the inconsistency as the idea of getting a vending machine grilled hot dog. But for $3? Eh, it just wasn't worth it, I passed. Jessica was pleased with that news.

Everything was closed when we got there, but around 10am, when we were getting ready to leave, some stores were opening, most importantly the well known Nathan's Original Hot Dog stand Nathan's Original. It was early in the day, but how often do I get down to Coney Island? I had to have one, it had been years. I ran in and found half her training team in there! Health? Pshha.. Anyway, the line moved quickly, and I ordered a "Regular Hot Dog" (which is the simplest thing they have), and found it was........ $3.00!!! Jeez. I should've given that vending machine a shot!


It was a decent tasting hot dog, the meat was mediocre, while the casing was good and crisp, bursting with each bite. However, the bun, while grilled, was way too big for the skinny hot dog. It was roughly the size of three pencils taped together. I felt like I could eat 59.5 of these in 12 minutes! It is WAY not worth the money, even for history.

I also ordered Cheese Fries for Jessica (she loves cheese fries). But it didn't occur to me that they would use the crappy "cheeze" sauce, which is basically oil and yellow #5, Jessica is allergic to food coloring. She ate some anyway, and in the end it didn't matter. We both felt the fries were mushy and wet from cheese. There wasn't a hint of crispness that one hopes for in a french fry. These were more of baked potato wedges with cheese. The up-side was that they weren't at all greasy, as expected.


While the hot dog was way over-priced, the fries were a good price for the huge order. Across the street from Nathan's was a Chicago-based hot dog stand. We will be heading back to Coney Island in two weeks for more training, Jessica for more swimming, and me for more eating. Hopefully the Chicago stand will be open.

If you love FoodMayhem, you can show your support by donating to Jessica's Team in Training page! She is doing the Westchester Triathlon on September 21st to raise money for the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. Thanks for your support!

This dinner was all about simplicity. Every preparation was easy and the highlight is the ingredients. When you're using really good meat, ultra fresh vegetables, and super vinegars, oils, etc. you don't need to get fancy. Let the ingredients do all the work.

Ready for the easiest recipe ever?

Mustard Thick-Cut Chops

• 2 thick-cut (1 1/2" thick) boneless chops
• 5 tablespoons whole grain mustard
• salt and pepper to taste
  

Preheat your grill. Rub the mustard all over the two chops and season. Lay on grill for 12 minutes at the hottest point on the grill (rotating 90 degrees after 6 minutes for grill marks). Turn it over and grill on a less hot area for another 6 minutes (rotating 90 degrees after 3 minutes for grill marks). Cooking times will vary per grill.


Easy huh? I sauteed some green beans and sliced white mushrooms with garlic and olive oil. You don't need a recipe for that right?

For the Bruschetta, fresh produce is key. The quality of the balsamic vinegar and the olive oil will also be the difference between a good Bruschetta and one you want for the next four days in a row. Trust me. It can really brighten your day.

Colorful Bruschetta

• 3/4 cup chopped grape tomato
• 1/2 cup chopped fire roasted yellow peppers
• 1 tablespoon capers
• 1 clove garlic minced
• 1 teaspoon balsamic vinegar (aged at least 12 years)
• 1 teaspoon olive oil

Toss all the ingredients together in a medium sized bowl. Serve with toasted Ciabatta or Baguette slices.


Roasted Fingerlings with Manchego Walnut Pesto

I didn't write down the exact recipe for this one (brain lapse) but here's the recipe for the pesto (makes a lot more than you will use for the potatoes). Just toss potatoes with a generous amount of pesto to coat all the pieces and roast in the oven, roughly 40 minutes at 375 degrees F.

Manchego Walnut Pesto

• 3 cups fresh basil
• 1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts, toasted
• 6 cloves garlic, halved
• 1/4 cup grated Manchego
• 1 cup olive oil
• salt and pepper to taste

Put the basil, walnuts, garlic, and Manchego in the food processor and pulse a few times. Then turn the processor on while pouring the oil in a steady stream. Season to taste. Store in your fridge for up to two weeks and you can freeze for months.

It's Friday so I decided to make myself a treat. OK, fine, I make dessert close to daily but who's counting? (Actually, our scale is and he's telling me to stop it asap.) Not feeling creative today, so I just pulled out my trusty Perfect Cakes book, by Nick Malgieri and made his Blueberry Crumb Cake. He says it's one of his favorites and that sells it for me.


It is a wonderful light cake, perfect for a breakfast or brunch, only mildly sweet and the blueberries are left to their natural flavors. I'm sure I'll be making these again.

We got this bar of Valor Dark Chocolate (70%) with Toffee in our Despana Basket, but if you see it anywhere, buy it!

70% dark chocolate is my favorite way to eat chocolate but I'm not a huge fan of toffee so I wasn't expecting to love it so much. The balance is perfect though, only adding a hint of flavor and a little bit of crunch, leaving it as mostly pure chocolate goodness. Lon loves it too, describing it as a gourmet Nestle Crunch.

I was planning on chopping it up and baking some cookies but now I can't do it. I need to eat it as is and savor every bite.

Can you believe it's been 3 weeks since the last visit to Sushi Yasuda. How ever did I live through that? I don't know, but we did made sure to make reservations for next week on our way out. I wonder if Chef Tomura has gotten more popular because of our blog because it has gotten harder to get reservations with him.

Well, distance makes the heart grow fonder, and as Lon, Sara, and I sat there enjoying the sushi, we oo'd and aah'd over and over again. Everything was fresh and delicious. We did get two new pieces. First, scorpian fish. I'm sorry I forgot my camera but it looks just like any other white fish, but has a better texture than most, a bit more firm, yet no problem to bite through. We finally got Coho Salmon, which was so flavorful and melts into your mouth. Yum! Oh, and a bright, almost electric orange color.

If you haven't tried Sushi Yasuda yet, you are totally missing out!

Not only was our Despana Basket an amazing assortment, there was a generous portion of each item, enough for us to really experiment with. I was sitting here trying to figure out what else I could make with all these great ingredients and I decided on savory muffins: Chorizo Manchego Olive Corn Muffins.

Chorizo Manchego Olive Corn Muffins
~makes 24

• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 can (15 oz) cream style corn
• 1/4 cup chopped pimiento stuffed green olives
• 1/2 cup chopped chorizo
• 1 cup shredded Manchego
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1 cup yellow cornmeal
• 4 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees F for convection) and line muffin tin with papers.
2. In a large bowl, beat together butter and sugar. Add one egg at a time, beating after each addition.
3. Mix in cream-style corn, olives, chorizo, and Manchego.
4. In a seperate bowl, stir together flour, cornmeal, baking powder, and salt. Stir the dry mixture into the wet mixture until even.
5. Spoon into 24 muffin cups, roughly 4/5 full. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out dry.


While they were baking, I sat around nervously like someone waiting for a newborn. Would these babies be soft with a nice crumb? Would the flavors work together? Yes! Yes! It was awesome! Lon and I are each guilty of eating two around midnight, last night. =/

I saw Haw Flakes in a Chinese market on Monday and I was instantly brought back to childhood. These were the candies I ate and shared with friends, while playing jump rope and tag in the school yard. I'd often have a little package or two stuck in my pockets, sometimes melting into a gooey mess during hot summer days. How could I have forgotten about Haw Flakes?


Looking at it now, it's funny, I had no idea what Haw was (fruit of Chinese Hawthorn) bit I still loved these candies. The dry little discs might seem weird, like dehydrated fruit roll-ups, punched out into circles, that almost look like cardboard. If you just give it a shot, they'll start to melt into your tongue, giving off more and more flavor, kind of like tangy berries. If you bite them, they tend to stick between your teeth. I love it, maybe more for nostalgic reasons. Sadly, I can't really eat them anymore (because I'm allergic to artificial food coloring) and Lon wasn't thrilled with it, but I still recommend trying them.

While babysitting our adorable niece, Sabrina, we ordered pizza from Arturo's Pizza Arturo's Pizza, not to be confused with the more famous one on Houston Street. Bearing no resemblance, this large pie, half plain, half sausage was mediocre at best, a tad too salty, but only $16.

We wandered in to OK 218 OK 218 for lunch today, and I didn't realize it was that restaurant till we got inside. I had never been inside before but my friend Lily brought food from them, over to our apt before. It was OK before and still OK now, nothing super but some good Chinese standbys for dirt cheap prices. I had the classic lunch of Three Roast Meats Over Rice. The Soy Sauce Chicken was average. The Roast Pork was too lean and not caramelized at the edges enough. The Roast Duck was quite good. The main highlight is still that this plate was under $5.

We're excited to be featured today on "Cool in Your Code". Being a geek, I first thought their site named had to do with software, but found out it was all about local info per ZIP "code" in NYC. Which makes their name acronym quite clever...

Thanks CiNYC!

Lon's mom and brother got us 10 ounce mini trifle dishes. So instead of throwing yogurt and fruit in a bowl, like I've been doing most mornings, I decided to make a Breakfast Trifle. Why spend the extra time and effort? Because treating yourself to something special makes you feel good. It's like wearing sexy underwear, even if no one will see it. Secondly, it looks like a dessert. Not only is that fun, but mental satisfaction allows most people to eat less. Yet, the Breakfast Trifle can be as healthy as you want it to be.

My Breakfast Trifle

• 1/2 cup chopped strawberries, divided
• scant 1 cup Trader Joe's 2% Greek Style Plan Yogurt, divided
• 1/2 cup chopped cherries, divided
• 2 rounded tablespoons of Honey Bunches of Oats

I put 1/4 cup of chopped strawberries on the bottom, then 1/3 of the yogurt, then 1/4 cup of chopped cherries, another 1/3 of the yogurt, then Honey Bunches of Oats, the last of the yogurt, topped with the rest of the strawberries and cherries.

When I make shopping trips out to Queens, my mom always does me the favor of driving me and my load back to my apartment. Since she's making the drive to the city, I figure it's a good opportunity for her to have dinner at our place. Conveniently, my dad and brother can come after work and join us. The only problem is that these are meals that we have to whip up very quickly. We usually arrive, unpack, and have dinner within 30 minutes.

I usually don't write about these meals because I don't have time to write any recipes and this night was no different, but you don't need a recipe. That's how easy this meal was. So when you need a quick, yet satisfying, almost glorious meal, here's what you need: steaks, onions, mushrooms, parsley, bread, salad ingredients of your choice. (I'm assuming you have basics like butter, salt, and pepper.) This makes you a Steakhouse-like meal in no time for way less money.

Buy whatever kind of steak you like. Tonight, I wanted Ribeye Steaks. Look at the marbling! We threw them on our grill but you can do it with a pan, broiler, or whichever way you like your steak.

While first learning to cook, I burnt food on a fairly regular basis. And I've heard from many home cooks that they still run into the occasional burnt food crisis. It can happen to the best of us -- all it requires is a bit of heat and taking your eye off the pan for a bit too long. As I've become more practiced, burning food has become almost a non-issue. But it almost happened this morning, and I saved my dish in the last moments. So I thought I'd jot a few notes down not so much about avoiding burning food (although I'll say a few words on that), but rather about how to undo almost-burnt food.

"Almost" is the key word up there. Once food is truly burnt, the only place it belongs is in the compost heap. So what's the difference between burnt and almost burnt? 30 seconds. (drum rap-a-tap here). Foods have sugars, and when you apply heat to the sugars they brown via the Maillard reaction, a process I covered in detail in my Treatise on Grilling. This reaction occurs when the moisture is gone from the surface. The more the reaction occurs (typically due to a continuing heat source), the more moisture is draw out from the food. The result is dry, burnt food. Yuck!

As the reaction occurs a good amount of the sugars in the food deposit themselves upon the heating surface, this is known in the food industry as fond. And to the untrained eye it may look like burnt garbage, but if treated correctly it is the basis for the most wonderful sauces. And fond is what will save your dish! (Hence my mentioning it)

Now for a quick pause on saving your burnt dish, to talk about avoiding burning food. The best way to save your dish from burning, is to avoid burning altogether! It's not very hard. Here are five quick tips that will help you avoid burning:

1. Keep an eye on your food! Don't walk away from a hot pot.
   
2. Use the right amount of heat. Rarely do you need to crank your burners to "high" (of course, it depends on your burner strength). On our stove top, medium-high is about the highest I go, unless for boiling water, searing, or stir frying.
3. Use the right sized pan. Just as over-filling a small pan will cause your food to under-cook (not enough surface area and heat distribution), under-filling a large pan will cause your food to over-cook (too much heat distribution). Most foods should be cooked in a pan that is sized such that the food evenly covers the surface of the pan in one layer. If the food is stacked up, it's over-filled; if there is lots of pan surface showing, the pan is under-filled.
4. Use good pots and pans. Non-stick pans are helpful, but they can more easily lead to burnt food that can not be un-done. While the technique described below can work in non-stick, it won't work nearly as well. Our "go to" pan is a stainless steel that replaced a stain-full steel pan. We only own two non-sticks (one pan for eggs and one pot for sauces). We recommend Kitchen Aid, All Clad, and Le Creuset.
   
5. Add volatiles at the end. Herbs, nuts, and other foods with volatile oils (low smoke points) should be added at the end of your cooking process. Once those types of foods start to burn, there is no going back.
   

Let's further define "almost burnt" -- it's when your browning has advanced so that almost everything in the dish is brown and when your food is just not done cooking. In other words, it's getting close to burnt, but you've got a few more minutes (or more) of cooking to do, to get your food to the right temperature.

Now, here's the part you've been waiting for... ideas for how to save your dishes.

The first step is to reduce the heat a bit. You need to slow down the cooking process and cook for a longer period of time. This is where science kicks in. Without going into details, the basis for the trick is to take advantage of the heating curve and thermodynamics of food. It helps to understand how heat and time affect the tenderness and flavor of food, which one learns with experience. But, there is a great research article (warning: PDF) from 1993 by the American Society of Animal Science on the palatability of muscle, it is very closely related to this topic.

Ok, so we've lowered the heat being applied. Now we need to add moisture, which can also help lower the temperature and pause the Maillard reaction. Depending on what you're cooking you can use different liquids. Potential choices include wine (dry is better in this case, you've already got enough sugar in the pan), vinegar (keep it dry, balsamic is too sweet), stock (chicken, beef, vegetable are all fine), heck, even water can be your savior. Using something right out of the fridge is preferable, but room temperature is ok.

Next, use a non-abrasive tool (like a wooden spatula, or plastic spoon) to scrape all the fond (burnt bits) off the bottom of your pan. Try to break up any big bits. The goal is to get the fond to dissolve into the newly added liquid. You've basically built up a sauce.

You should have a wetter, cooler pan. Now we're going to take things a step further, we're going to change cooking technique. If you almost burnt your food, it was probably because you were focusing on direct heat (searing, frying, sauteing, etc.). You've got to try to more evenly distribute the heat by adding indirect heat (convection and steaming). That means: put a lid on it! The lid will cause heated air to circulate around the enclosed area; and it will cause the new liquid's steam to stay near your food. The nice thing about steam (uh oh, more thermodynamics here) is that it stays at high temperature, while requiring about half the heat energy of boiling water. That means the lowered heat source's energy will expend 66% of it's energy cooking your food and 33% keeping the steam super hot.

After a few minutes, check your food again. It's time to taste. Adding the liquid likely altered the seasoning and you're very likely going to need to add some salt and other seasonings.

Whew, that was more than I meant to write, but I hope it helps and saves some of your future dishes! Let's review...

First, try to avoid burning by:

• Keeping an eye on your food;
  
• Not over-heating;
• Using the right-sized pan;
  
• Using a good-quality, stainless steel pan; and,
• Adding low-smoke point foods at the end of cooking.

If your food is almost burnt:

1. Lower the heat source (reduce your burner).
   
2. Add liquid (wine, vinegar, stock, water, etc.).
3. Scrape the fond off the pan and dissolve into liquid.
4. Cover the pan.
5. Taste and re-season.

Good luck out there!

Mexicana Mama Centro Mexicana Mama Centro opened up a few blocks from us, and became a last minute resort for dinner when our plans changed. We grabbed one of the three little tables outside and enjoyed the perfect weather this evening, starting with a Salsa Piquin (the salsa of the day) with tortilla chips. We do think it's a little cheap for a Mexican restaurant to charge for chips and salsa but we would pay the $4.50 for this salsa again. It was like a Mexican spiced Vodka Sauce, a little sweet, tomato-y and creamy. Interestingly, there's no dairy in it but the nice emulsification was deceiving.

We got two cans of Oro Verde (green olives) in our Despana Basket, one stuffed with pimiento and one stuffed with almond.