Alyssa's Hobby: Jewelry! (with a tutorial)

I've been making jewelry for as long as I can remember.  I sold Fimo pendants to my classmates in middle school, turned my college apartment into a jewelry shop for a day, and had a booth at The Christmas Connection (a huge gift show in Cleveland).  I put away my supplies when I got a full-time job after college, as there was just not enough time to play with beads.  But now that I've got a bit of free time on my hands, I decided to break out the pliers again.

So I started an Etsy shop!  I'm really excited to be making jewelry again.  It's incredibly satisfying to make something with your own hands, and have a finished product to be proud of when you're done.  I thought you guys might be interested in learning how to do the same, so here's a little tutorial on how to make a simple pair of drop earrings.

Carla was browsing my shop the other day and mentioned that she liked a pair with really beautiful faceted red agate and green jasper that I found in Taipei.  Let's make a pair for her.  The best part?  I'll be able to give them to her in just over a WEEK because she's coming to Tokyo to visit!  I'm beyond excited, and this will be a nice welcome gift for her.  But shhh, don't tell her ;)

How to Make Simple Drop Earrings

Alyssa's May Favorites

I don't know about you, but I'm SO EXCITED for the weather to be nice again.  I know it seems a bit early to talk about grilling, but I think May is the perfect month for it.  You might need to throw on a sweater if you're grilling too late, but at least you won't get sweaty from the combination of the hot sun and the grill's flames!  So this favorites post is all about outdoor entertaining.

1. Weber BabyQ Grill.  We have one of these in storage in San Francisco, and I miss it so much!  It has a cast iron grate that puts the most fantastic grill marks on burgers and a perfect sear on your steak.  It's small enough to take it with you to the park or beach, and it's perfect for small apartment fire escapes or balconies.  There's a range of fantastic accessories that go with it, like a folding rolling stand.  Photo from amazon.com

2. Le Creuset Grill Pan.  Since we didn't bring our BabyQ to Tokyo, we make do with a grill pan.  It's not the same, obviously, but it's very convenient.  If you want to be able to grill but don't have anywhere to do it (like most city folk!), then a grill pan is an adequate substitute.  The Le Creuset ones are a bit expensive, but the colors are so beautiful! Photo from amazon.com

3. Beverage dispenser.  They have gorgeous ones at Sur La Table, but this Target one is a bit more budget-friendly (and it's still glass).  I LOVE the built-in chalkboard label.  Acrylic ones are a little more practical, but I can't help but feel like they absorb scents.  Can you imagine how great these would look with sangria in them?  Even water with lemon slices or cucumber would be beautiful. And you could get festive! Strawberries and blueberries for Memorial Day? Photo from Target.com

4. Melamine plates and servingware.  Paper or plastic plates are boring and terrible for the environment.    Melamine is lightweight and won't break if a stiff breeze blows through your party.  Target always has a great selection of stylish melamine and acrylic plates, glasses and servewear.  I love, love, love this coral scalloped Threshold set.  Photo from Target.com

5. Grilled fruit.  While you've got the grill hot, you should satisfy your sweet tooth.  Grilling fruit is a great way to let the ripe summer flavors shine.  You just need a sprinkle of brown sugar or a brush of balsamic vinegar to enhance the fruit's natural sweetness.  Pineapple and peaches are my favorites, but nectarines, plums, mangos and figs are also grill-friendly.  For company, try kebabs or serving the grilled fruit over ice cream.  Yum!

Alyssa's Grilled Cheese Part Deux

As promised, here is another grilled cheese recipe for National Grilled Cheese Month!  It's not as life-changing as the Brie and fig jam grilled cheese that I posted earlier this week.  But this one is more of a classic grilled-cheese-and-tomato-soup combination, and makes a great meal.  It's melted mozzarella and creamy ricotta with a hint of buttery garlic.  Dip it into the rich, sweet tomato-basil soup and you've got a heavenly Italian twist on a traditional favorite.

The garlic butter makes this sandwich special, so don't leave it out if you need to cut corners.  But if you find it a little overwhelming to make everything from scratch, you could find a substitute something store-bought for the tomato soup and save yourself some time (and some dish-washing!).

Mozzarella and Ricotta Garlic-Butter Grilled Cheese with Roasted Tomato-Basil Soup
serves 2

For the soup:
4 large tomatoes, each cut into 8 wedges
2 tablespoons of Balsamic Vinegar
3 tablespoons of olive oil
1 teaspoon salt
Sugar, if needed
4 large leaves of basil

For the butter:
2 tablespoons of salted butter (add a pinch of salt if you don't have salted butter)
1 clove of garlic, minced

For the sandwiches:
4 slices of 1/2 inch thick crusty Italian bread
Mozzarella (I sliced a ball of fresh mozzarella, but you could probably get a really nice stringy melted cheese with deli slices or a block of the mozzarella that has less moisture than the fresh stuff.  I just couldn't find any here!)
Ricotta

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.  Toss the tomato wedges with the balsamic, olive oil and salt.  Spread out on a sheet pan and roast for 30-45 minutes, until the tomatoes are soft and the juices start to concentrate.  Keep an eye on them though, because the juices can burn and then you're stuck without any tomato-y goodness.  It should look sort of like this:

Blend the roasted tomatoes with the basil leaves.  My puree was a little thick, so I added water until I got the viscosity that I wanted.  Transfer to a pot and keep warm on the stove.  Also, my tomatoes were pretty acidic, so I needed to add a little bit of sugar to make it sweeter (but I guess that's what you get when you use out-of-season tomatoes).

Make the garlic butter while the tomatoes are roasting.  Melt the butter over medium-low heat on your stovetop.  Add the minced garlic and cook until the garlic has mellowed, but before it starts browning.

Warm a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium heat.  We're toasting both sides of the bread to get more of that fantastic garlic butter into the sandwich.  Brush one side of the bread with garlic butter.  Toast the buttered side of the bread until golden brown.  Spread ricotta on half of the slices and place the mozzarella on the other halves (on the toasted sides).  Pair up the cheeses to make sandwiches.  Brush the outsides of the sandwiches with garlic butter and place back in the pan.  Toast until golden brown, then flip and toast the other side.

Serve with the soup, and enjoy!

Alyssa's Brie and Fig Jam Grilled Cheese

Holy crap, you guys.

Cancel your plans for the next few hours.  You need to get to the grocery store RIGHT NOW and make this.

Carla and I were really excited to learn that April is National Grilled Cheese Month, because we have spent many hours bonding over grilled cheese sandwiches.  I'm not exaggerating.  The closest restaurant to the office building where we met is a grilled cheese restaurant called The Melt.

I had way too many ideas, so I narrowed it down to 3 options and put it to a Facebook poll.  These were the options:
1. Brie, fig jam and arugula on French bread.
2. Mozzarella and ricotta on Italian bread with garlic/herb butter and tomato-basil soup.
3. Gruyere, caramelized onions and thyme on garlic-rubbed French bread.

I thought for sure that #2 or #3 would win, but the response was overwhelmingly in favor of #1.  And wow, am I glad my Facebook friends talked me into it.  I've mentioned before that I usually lean more toward savory than sweet, so THANK YOU for making me change it up!

To be honest, the arugula is not necessary.  It adds a nice peppery bite, and I would use it if I wanted to convince myself that this would make an appropriate lunch sandwich.  But if you don't care about "adult things" like eating vegetables, then you're not missing much by leaving it out.

Brie is fantastic when warm.  It's creamy and melty and just a little bit earthy.  Add sweet fig jam, crunchy toasted bread, nutty browned butter...and wow.  It's tastebud overload in a really, really good way.

Brie and Fig Brown-Butter Grilled Cheese

A wedge of your favorite Brie (spreads best at room temperature, so let it sit out for a little while if you have that kind of self-control)
Fig jam
Crusty French or Italian bread, sliced into 1/2 inch thick slices
2 tablespoons butter (don't skimp on the butter if you think you need more.  Come on, you're already eating Brie so you may as well go all-out at this point...!)
Arugula (optional)

Melt 1 tablespoon of butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet.  Let the butter brown on medium heat (but be careful not to let it burn!).
I strongly believe in toasting both sides of the bread, but you can skip this step if you don't share that philosophy: put all of your bread slices in the pan and coat one side with the butter.  Let them toast in the pan until golden brown.
Remove the bread and smear half of them with brie (on the toasted side).  Smear the other slices with fig jam (on the toasted side).  Add the arugula, if using.  Pair up the flavors to turn them into sandwiches.
Brown the other tablespoon of butter in the pan.  Toast the sandwiches on each side, making sure you coat them with butter so that they brown evenly.
Warning: eat this in a place where you don't mind if other people hear you moan.  It's that good.

I had so much fun making this that I think I'm just going to try all of the options I put up on Facebook!  I'll be sure to post the results if any of them are worth your time...

Carla's Honey Goat Cheese Cheesecake

Honey. YUM.

Despite my slight fear of bees and some weird hang-ups about honeycomb (It’s actual WAX! That people eat!), honey is a super spectacular sweet flavoring that I can’t get enough of.  Predictably, I love honey swirled into tea or on crunchy toast with butter.  Instead of thinking of it as an accent for this week’s theme (as I usually do), I decided to brainstorm a dish that would really be able to show off the unique attributes of honey.

Immediately, I thought of how delicious honey is alongside cheese and decided the perfect concept would be to create a type of cheesecake.  This would allow me to combine some of my favorite flavors together with the honey: goat cheese and pistachios.

And so, the Honey Goat Cheese Cheesecake was born:

Honey Goat Cheese Cheesecake

Make in an 8x8 pan for 16 square sized pieces

For the Crust:

-          ½ cup pistachio meat (I was able to buy a small bag of the unshelled goods for only $5 at my Trader Joe’s)

-          1 cup graham cracker crumbs

-          2 tbsp sugar

-          6 tbsp butter (plus an extra pat to butter your pan)

For the Filling:

-          8 oz  cream cheese

-          10 oz goat cheese

-          1 tsp vanilla extract

-          1/3 cup honey

-          1 egg

For the Pistachio Dust

-          ¼ cup pistachio meat

-          1 tbsp sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. 

Pulse the pistachio meat in a food processor to mimic the texture of the graham crackers.  A few larger chunks are, of course, just fine (and likely even desirable.)   Melt your butter on the stove and let it cool.

Combine the ground pistachio meat, graham cracker crumbs and sugar in a bowl.

Once your butter is cool, add to the dry mixture and combine.  After properly buttering your pan, spread the crust mixture into the bottom of the pan.

Throw the pan in the oven for 8-12 minutes to set the crust and give it a nice toasty-brown look.  Set it out to cool.

Begin your filling by combining your cream cheese and goat cheese in a mixer.  Whip until just mixed.

 

Add the vanilla extract, honey and the beaten egg.  (Depending on your sweet tolerance, the 1/3 cup of honey may not be enough.  I wanted to get the honey flavor without too much sugar in order to be able to detect the goat cheese, so I loved it as is.  If you have a small taste of the filling and find it not sweet enough, consider adding a tbsp of sugar instead of more honey.  Since honey is sweeter than sugar, it’s easy to overdo it.)

(PS- If you’re not using a real vanilla extract (imitation extract is, sadly, in rampant use), may I suggest upgrading? My local TJ Maxx, Home Goods or Marshall’s often has versions for a great price and it really does make a difference.)

Pour the mixture over your crust.  Bake (at the same temperature of 350 degrees) for 35-45 minutes.  My oven required a full 45 minutes to set properly in a glass pan- what you’re looking for is a very slight jiggle in the center of the pan.  Once complete, cool the pan on a rack until it is able to be refrigerated.  Allow to refrigerate for AT LEAST two hours (and I ALWAYS prefer overnight for the best flavor and texture).

To create the pistachio dust to top off the cake, candy the nuts on your stove.  Add the nuts and sugar over medium heat.  As the sugar melts, stir to coat your nuts.  Once all the nuts are coated, set them aside and allow them to cool.  After they’re cool and crunchy again, pulse in the food processor before sprinkling over your completed cake.

The Verdict:

This slightly sweet cheesecake picks up some great tang from the goat cheese and a really amazing pistachio crunch from the crust.  A must-try (in my humble opinion).

Alyssa's Honey-Glazed Salmon

Our recipe theme this week is honey.  My first thought was to do a fun dessert, maybe a honey-thyme ice cream.  But I know Carla is going to show you a fancy sweet treat, and I'm not even going to try to compete with it!  So I decided to incorporate honey into a savory dish instead.  When given the choice between salty or sweet, I go with salty any day (see Carla's popcorn post vs. mine! Can you tell who has the sweet tooth?).

Salmon is a really affordable protein option in Japan, and I love eating it as a healthy lunch.  I usually incorporate Asian flavors, making a marinade of miso, soy and ginger.  But after playing around with honey glazes this week, I am definitely adding this into my rotation.  The honey makes a thick, sticky sauce that caramelizes under the broiler.  These blackened bits may look like a mistake, but they're actually the best part of the fish!  I added a little cayenne pepper for a touch of heat, and some soy sauce to cut through the honey's sweetness with a bit of saltiness.  This is such an easy recipe, and you probably have all of the glaze ingredients in your kitchen already!

Honey-glazed Salmon
serves 1

2 salmon fillets or 1 steak (depending on their size and how hungry you are!)
1/4 c honey
1 teaspoon soy sauce
1/4-1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper (depending on how spicy you want it)

Preheat your broiler. Line a pan with tinfoil and coat with nonstick spray.  Place the salmon skin-side down on the tray (if using fillets).
Whisk together the honey, soy sauce and pepper.  Brush the glaze liberally over the salmon.
Broil for 3 minutes.  Flip salmon, brush with more sauce and return to the broiler for 3 more minutes.
Brush again with glaze and return to the broiler until done.  My fillets were fairly thin so they only took 6 minutes (and I like my salmon cooked on the medium side, rather than well-done).  You may need a few more minutes, especially if you're using steaks.  The edges should caramelize, so don't be afraid if it turns black in some spots!
Remove from the broiler and brush again with sauce.  I liked the glaze so much that I ended up just pouring it over the salmon!

Enjoy!