Eating Cake on the Rooftop

On at least three separate occasions I have been asked if I’m still doing Meals with Morri. The short answer is yes. The longer answer obviously has more to it than that. 

When I first started, I was cooking and posting and writing on the regular, and in doing so I learned how to cook and post and write. I met a lot of talented and amazing people along the way. Companies and publishers reached out to me to write reviews for their products and cookbook authors. I learned to be picky, and when to say no.

But with the evolution of Meals with Morri, particularly the person behind it (i.e., yours truly), I started to become very critical of my art. If it wasn’t something I thought people wouldn’t like, it wasn’t posted. If the photos I took were not good enough, the recipe itself would have to wait. This doesn’t particularly bother me, because I have really blossomed with the food I’ve made, and the stories I’ve written about them have refined. The problem I am facing now is the realization as to why I love to cook, and why Meals with Morri has been lacking in recipes per month recently.

My motivation in making food is just that: making food. Not for me, but to share with others. Eating the same food with other people is such an important ritual for me. It’s a sacred act of connecting with others at the table. I had experienced a similar revelation while I was in Malta. When I lived alone, I just made food. There was nothing more to it than insuring I was eating enough. But when CK and I visited each other or I made food for the office, suddenly the creative juices were flowing in overdrive. And perhaps the underlying reason is to validate my art, to see that Meals with Morri was doing something positive in person. But really, I’ve come to realize that, like my previous aspirations to be a chef, I really love it when people eat and enjoy the food I make for them. 

Living with my parents after over a year of not doing so has meant that what they eat and what I eat doesn’t mesh as often as it used to when it was my responsibility to make dinner for the family. There’s nothing wrong with this, of course, but not sharing food I make with other people has affected my motivation to create and share recipes online. I like there being a reason for my art, and I want to experience that shared moment in person, in real time. CK and our two dear friends H and J have risen to the challenge in helping me see that it's equally important for me to enjoy my art, and are more than willing to help give me ideas in what to make (thanks, guys).

Last night, I was invited to a friend’s birthday party, and although I wasn’t asked, I made a cake that I knew I’d be able to eat. It was a rooftop party, one that overlooked other Washington, D.C. apartments and offices, the Washington Monument blinking lazily far away. The already present cupcakes had been eaten, and to my surprise, my cake was used to sing to him “Happy Birthday” (which I unashamedly conspired with his girlfriend in making happen). The cake was said to be quite good, and only a few people knew that it was gluten free. 

Rooftop Carrot Cake with Honey Sweetened Cream Cheese Frosting

For the cake
120 g White rice flour*
1/2 tsp. Baking soda**
1 tsp. Cream of tartar**
1/4 tsp. sea salt
1 tsp. cinnamon
2 eggs
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
150 ml olive oil
200 g coconut sugar
5 Carrots, grated

Preheat the oven to 350°F, and grease (I used butter) and flour (I used the white rice flour) one 9-inch pan.
In a medium bowl, sift together the rice flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, sea salt and cinnamon.
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a larger bowl with a hand mixer), combine the eggs, olive oil, coconut sugar, and vanilla, and beat on medium-low speed until the mixture is slightly frothy.
Reduce the speed to low, and add the flour mixture in small increments, making sure to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula each time.
Stir in the grated carrots, mixing until combined, and pour the batter into the prepared baking pan.
Bake for 40 - 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean (for me, this was 50 minutes).
Let the cake cool in the pan for 10 minutes, and then turn out onto a parchment lined wire rack to cool completely.
Once cooled, decorate the cake with frosting and other toppings you may enjoy (such as unsweetened coconut shavings).

Makes 1 cake, or 12 slices.

For the frosting (courtesy of this recipe)
8 oz package or 240 g Cream cheese, softened
56 g Unsalted butter, softened
85 g Honey
Unsweetened coconut shavings, as topping (optional)

Whip the cream cheese in a standing mixer until soft, then add the butter and honey to blend.
Mix on medium speed until smooth and creamy.

Makes 12 – 18 servings.

* NOT to be confused with sweet rice flour. If you do, you’ll get a mochi-like consistency.

** The baking powder equivalent is 1 1/2 tsp.

Break

Friday was the start of my Break. For the first time in quite a while, I will have a month without work obligations. And with school over and done with, I feel like I can breathe.

CK met me a few months before I started graduate school, and we began dating just after my first semester. It occurred to me that he didn’t know how Meals with Morri used to be, how often I used to be in the kitchen creating things. But with graduate school, working, and trying to be active, Meals with Morri went from being an eight or more posts a month phenomenon to maybe one or two.

But last night, after my walk from work, and a number of feral kitties demanding attention and petting along the way, we celebrated the best way we knew how: homemade food and a movie.

First attempt at cauliflower crust pizza, adapting from this recipe.

We ended up using coconut instead of almond, which changed the texture a bit, but still yummy.

Finishing graduate school has been a little anti-climactic for me. It brought a lot of nostalgia and fear of the unknown with it. It brought the realization of how exhausted and frustrated I was. It brought sadness that I really haven’t celebrated finishing, and missing the chance to walk with peers I actually knew because I was abroad. But being abroad also brought experience with how NGOs work, and also getting to spend over two months with a person I love. I was able to spend the summer doing what I set out to do; now it’s a matter of figuring out the next step (or three) of achieving my goals in finding a job and living with my man by 2015. A tall order, but hey, it’s worth it.

The other thing I noticed too was how my energy level and mental stamina increased significantly once I had turned in my last assignment of my last graduate course in early July. At the time, I was too tired to really think up of recipes, but I did completely change the Meals with Morri set-up. I created separate pages for recipe categories, and recreated the overall look of the site. At the moment, I’m working towards linking my creative outlet in recipe making and sharing to what I want to do with a career: combining the conflict analysis and resolution discipline with farmers’ rights and sustainability issues.

August will be the month of really learning how to use my camera to its peak potential, and really enjoying my break with CK in Rome. I have many ideas for future recipes, and what and how I want to continue sharing my as well as other people’s stories through food.

Living in the Mediterranean has been like a pleasant wake-up call to food quality and freshness. In the United States, things like mozzarella cheese and balsamic vinegar are ‘meh’ at best. I’ve seen artisanal mozzarella products sold at farmers markets, but it wasn’t until CK insisted I try one during his visit in December that really changed my mind about this cheese.

To be fair, they do sell the cheap-o kind in the markets, usually in plastic bags with whey for one euro each. And they’re okay. But the stuff you want to get is usually found in the cheese section, and by sight alone you can see how the quality differs. When I first tried it, I experienced something of cheese nirvana. The balls are typically slightly firm on the outside, but when you cut into them, the softness runs onto the cutting board like the yolk of a sunny side up egg. And the taste, goodness me, the taste of these things is not the mild, almost tasteless mozzarella I’ve been having for the majority of my life. Oh, no. This taste is more pungent, salty, with a sour, fermented finish. It melts in your mouth, and you can’t help but savor the work that went into making something of such high quality.

Enter balsamic vinegar. In the United States, what we think of balsamic vinegar is essentially wine vinegar with grape must and caramel coloring. It was my favorite growing up. But when CK took his parents and me to Eataly (a store that resembles the love-child of Whole Foods and Ikea), we were able to taste something a little closer to the real thing. I was blown away by how thick the vinegar was, how flavorful it was, and the depth of those flavors. It was rich and sweet, but not overtly or cloyingly so, and it is the most divine pairing to mozzarella. To be fair, the vinegar we tasted wasn’t what I’d call the Holy Grail of Balsamic Vinegar, but I found that it was just a step below it, and likely the best to find without going to Modena and searching for a finished batch of what ends up being a twelve-year aging process.

Nonetheless, both ingredients made undoubtedly a delicious Insalata Caprese for two, and it was nice to be so mindful and engaged in making what ended up being a wonderful lunch to celebrate break.

Insalata Caprese for Two

2 Large handfuls of Rocket (also known as Arugula)
2 Buffalo Mozzarella balls
1 Large tomato
16 Fresh Basil leaves
2 tsp. Balsamic vinegar*

On two large plates, place an equal amount of rocket in the center of both.
Slice the tomato in half, and into thin strips horizontally, to lie onto the rocket.**
Slice the mozzarella similarly, and place on top of the tomato.**
Add the basil leaves on top, followed by a light drizzle of balsamic vinegar.
Serve immediately, chilled, either as a dish to a multiple course meal, or by itself.

Makes 2 Servings.

*You really don’t need a lot of balsamic vinegar, just enough to splash a little flavoring here and there.
** I did mine a little more artfully. I used a circular biscuit cutter and layered the tomato, cheese, and basil in that to maintain shape.

September's Harvest, October's Delight