YumSugar

Monday's Leftovers: Marinated Squid Salad

YumSugar — Mon, 10 Aug 2009 07:50:46 -0700

When it's sunny and warm outside, I often find myself wanting some good, old-fashioned shore food, like buttery lobster rolls and rich, meaty crab cakes. Since they're not the healthiest of weeknight options, I'm going to curb my seafood cravings with a tangy salad made by tossing together leftover calamari, dried tomatoes, and crisp vegetables. Add in a citrus-tinged tarragon vinaigrette, and transport yourself to the beach. Turn to a satisfying and healthy seafood alternative when you read more

Sunday BBQ: Grilled Squid With Ginger, Celery, and Apple Slaw

YumSugar — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 06:00:50 -0700

After eating my way through the tasting tents at SF Chefs. Food. Wine this weekend, I'm looking forward to sitting down to a dinner that's light and healthy, but still full of flavor. I'm going a bit off the beaten barbecue path: I'll throw some marinated calamari on the grill and serve it while it's still tender, warm, and freshly charred, with a bed of sweet-tart slaw.

If you've never cooked with squid before, don't be daunted. You can ask your fishmonger to clean it for you. Take a break from your standard meal tonight when you read more.

Grilled Squid With Ginger, Celery, & Apple Slaw
From Martha Stewart Living

Ingredients

Marinade
1 garlic clove, minced
3 tablespoons white or light miso paste
3 tablespoons sake
2 teaspoons mirin
1 tablespoon soy sauce
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
8 calamari (bodies only), rinsed and dried
Slaw:
2 teaspoons grated fresh ginger
1-1/2 teaspoons cider vinegar
Juice of 1 lime
1/2 teaspoon sugar
Coarse salt, to taste
3 tablespoons vegetable or canola oil
5 celery stalks, halved lengthwise and sliced diagonally into 2 1/2-inch pieces
1 tart apple, such as Granny Smith, peeled and cut into matchsticks
2 scallions, white and pale-green parts only, halved lengthwise and sliced into 2 1/2-inch matchsticks
3/4 cup sunflower sprouts
1 serrano chile, halved lengthwise, seeded, and thinly sliced crosswise
1 teaspoon black sesame seeds

Directions

Make the marinade: Cook garlic, miso, sake, mirin, soy sauce, and oyster sauce in a pan over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally, for 3 minutes. Transfer to a bowl. Let cool slightly.
Using a kitchen mallet, pound both sides of calamari a few times to tenderize. Insert a sharp knife into calamari, cut along seams, and then open like a book. Lightly score inner sides at 1/4-inch intervals. Add calamari to marinade, and let stand for 20 minutes.
Make the slaw: Whisk together ginger, vinegar, lime juice, sugar, and salt. Add oil in a slow, steady stream, whisking until emulsified.
Preheat grill to medium-high. (If you are using a charcoal grill, coals are ready when you can hold your hand 5 inches above grill for just 3 to 4 seconds.) Wrap 3 bricks or the bottom of a heavy skillet with heavy-duty foil. Remove calamari from marinade, and season scored sides with salt. Place calamari, scored sides down, on grill, and top with foil-lined weight. Grill until opaque, about 1 1/2 minutes. Cut into 3/4-inch-wide pieces.
Toss celery, apple, scallions, sprouts, and chile with 3 tablespoons dressing (reserve remaining dressing for another use). Arrange on a platter. Top with calamari, and sprinkle with sesame seeds.

Serves 4.

Print recipe with images | without images

Do You Cook Calamari at Home?

YumSugar — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:45:02 -0700

Do You Prefer the Rings or the Tentacles of Calamari?

YumSugar — Fri, 09 Jan 2009 11:45:12 -0800

On New Year's Day, my hungover friends and I were craving Spanish comfort food. We wound up going to one of the best tapas haunts in Chicago, Café Iberico. When this calamari dish came to the table, we got into a discussion about what part of the squid tasted better - the rings or the tentacles - and none of us could come to a consensus. What do you think?

Would You Rather Eat Fried Mozzarella or Calamari?

partysugar — Sun, 28 Sep 2008 01:30:22 -0700

Source

Reader Profile: Calamari Proves Geek is Chic On Guys Too

GeekSugar — Tue, 24 Jul 2007 09:00:11 -0700

While geeksugar may cater to girls we are in no way an exclusive club. In fact, one of our most prolific contributors and commentors is Calamari, a male graphic designer and illustrator who isn't bothered by our pinkness and isn't afraid to admit his geekiness. When Calamari isn't working, he's drawing, playing video games (he's a sucker for wii bowling and planet puzzle league DS right now), blogging, and trying to become better at photography. He also spends plenty of time sharing fun items like the cupcake speakers and his iGoogle page with us.

What is Calamari most excited for? Christmas. His fiancée instructed him not to buy an iPhone so she could get him one. Which, he notes, "makes me a very, very lucky guy. Christmas can't come fast enough this year!" For my interview with him, read more

Geeksugar: How did you learn about the site and when did you start reading?
Calamari: I have a few friends who are really into the sugar sites and they introduced me. I've been hooked for about six months now.

Geeksugar: Do you consider yourself to be a geek? If so, why?
Calamari: I'm a hopeless geek. I think I have geeky genes. But there's so much cool tech stuff happening right now, it's such a fun time to be a geek.

Geeksugar: How many hours are you online everyday?
Calamari: Around 12. I check e-mail first thing in the morning. Then about 8-10 hours at work. Then a few hours at night for fun.

Geeksugar: Name your top five favorite websites.
Calamari: I really depend on igoogle, google reader and del.icio.us to help me organize all the blogs and links that I'm interested in. My other favorite sites change pretty frequently, but right now I'm really into seeqpod.com and mojizu.com

Geeksugar: Your first computer was a ...
Calamari: My family had an apple II e when I was young. The first computer I had that was mine was a commodore amiga. I loved it but it didn't even have a hard drive. I remember swapping discs back and forth when I played games like Kings Quest.

Geeksugar: Top three gadgets you couldn't live without?
Calamari: My mac laptop, my two iPods (one for music, movies and photos and another for carrying around my designs and illustrations), and my Nintendo DS. I know that's four, but I'm going to cheat and count my two iPods as one gadget.

Geeksugar: You knew you were a geek when...
Calamari: In 4th or 5th grade I got a magazine that listed programs in BASIC code. I used to copy the code line by line into my computer at home to see what would happen. It was crazy because you had to make sure every character was exactly the same as in the magazine. Then when you were finished, it would do something like draw a simple flower cartoon on the screen...so anticlimactic.

Geeksugar: How many blogs are in your RSS reader?
Calamari: 134 (it's a messy mix of blogs, news, art and flickr feeds)

Geeksugar: What are some non-geeky things you do in your spare time?
Calamari: I love visiting new restaurants and cool stores in the San Francisco Bay Area (it's one of the greatest places in the world and I'm lucky to live here). And, when my schedule allows, I do volunteer work at the local animal shelter.

Geeksugar: Who do you think are the top 5 sexiest male geeks in the world?
Calamari: Masayori Oka, Jonathan Ive (Senior VP of Industrial Design at Apple), Pharrell Williams, Kevin Rose (co-founder of digg.com) and (although he may not be very sexy) John Hodgman.

Geeksugar: Who do you think are the top 5 sexiest female geeks in the world?
Calamari: My fiancée (she's the best), Geeksugar (of course), Cali Lewis (host of geekbrief.tv), Tamara Chuang (writes a gadget blog that I like), and Tina Fey.

Geeksugar: PC or Mac?
Calamari: Mac.

Geeksugar: Did you already get or are you going to get an iPhone?
Calamari: Sigh...not yet and I'm so jealous of all you guys that have one. My fiancée told me to wait until Christmas so she could buy me one, which I know makes me a very, very lucky guy. But my current phone just feels so woefully uncool now. Christmas can't come fast enough this year.

Geeksugar: Anything else about yourself?
Calamari: Nothing about me. But a big thanks to you and everyone at teamsugar for creating such a great community. It's always a cool place to go on the internet.

Diners Dissatisfied With Restaurants' Appetizer Offerings

partysugar — Wed, 27 May 2009 06:50:47 -0700

In this week's economic news, appetizers are the latest victim of poor sales. Over the past two years, consumers have spent significantly less on items from the left side of the menu - on dishes like appetizers, salads, and soups. However, the decline may have more to do with customer dissatisfaction than with the bad economy.

According to a study performed by Technomic Inc, 58 percent of diners are "not satisfied with the appetizers available at restaurants" and 70 percent believe "salad offerings could be improved." Another large percentage want to see more ethnic soup offerings. To jump start sales of starters, the consulting firm is encouraging restaurateurs and chefs to rev up creativity and value by offering dishes that feature unique ingredients and can't be made at home.

Since appetizers are my favorite thing to eat, I have to agree with the study's findings. With fried calamari, sliders, and goat cheese salad appearing on virtually every menu, there does seem to be a lack of originality. How do you feel about the matter? Have you stopped ordering from the left side of the menu when you dine out?

Source

Would You Eat Fried Mealworms?

partysugar — Tue, 09 Dec 2008 05:30:29 -0800

A couple of weekends ago, I attended a deep-fry party at my favorite bar in San Francisco, 15 Romolo. The fiesta was celebrating the inauguration of their new deep fryer and everyone was asked to bring an ingredient to fry. There was a delicious assortment of crispy goodness including Snickers, game hens, cheesecake, bacon (my contribution!), arancini, and crab cakes.There was also a selection of more outlandish items like fried durian, oranges, squab, and mealworms. Typically used for fishing bait, mealworms are the larvae of a beetle. They are perfectly OK to consume, so being an adventurous eater, I popped a few in my mouth. They tasted earthy, with a chewy texture similar to calamari. If you had been attending the party, do you think you could have stomached them?

Must-Read: Cooking With All Things Trader Joe's

YumSugar — Mon, 08 Dec 2008 11:15:20 -0800

Trader Joe's is one of those love it or hate it topics. Personally, I am in love with it. So earlier this year, when I spotted this book in a Borders window, I literally ran inside to look at it.

Cooking With All Things Trader Joe's ($24.95) is not the official cookbook of Trader Joe's grocery stores - in fact, it has no affiliation with the supermarket chain. Rather, it was written by two devotees who wanted to create a recipe collection in which all ingredients could be found at Trader Joe's. To hear more about it, read more.

Pros:

Recipes are approachable for the beginner cook.
Recipes often make creative use of ingredients.
Each recipe is given an entire spread, including a full page picture.
The authors suggest wines (from Trader Joe's, naturally) that would pair well with recipes.
Hardcover cookbook is durable, looks nice on the shelf, and would make a nice gift.

Cons:

The recipes only call for Trader Joe's ingredients, many of which are unavailable elsewhere. This cookbook would be useless for anyone without a nearby Trader Joe's.
Ingredients could be phased out at any time. (For that reason, the cookbook makes plenty of suggestions for substitutions.)
Some dishes sound short on taste - I'll pass on the Dairy-Free Creamy Cashew Smoothie.

Recipes: The recipes are methodically organized. Some of my favorites:

Appealing Appetizers: Spicy Tropical Shrimp Boats
Soups, Salads, & Light Meals: Black Bean and Ricotta-Stuffed Portabellas, Le French Lentil Soup
Main Meals: Calamari Brodetto, Saag Paneer Lasagna
On the Side: Oven-Roasted Vegetables With Rosemary
Delicious Desserts: Saffron Ice Cream
Drinks: Sangria
Begin With Breakfast: Breakfast Crepes
Bachelor Quickies (heat-and-serve meals): Elegant Rack of Lamb with Vegetables and Apple Tart

Imagery: The images, which have not been edited in any way, are lush and enticing.

Overall Rating: Because this cookbook offers impressive-sounding, attractive dishes for minimal work, this book would be great for getting a beginner into the kitchen. If you're a Trader Joe's fan, you'll love this book. If you aren't, or don't have one near you, don't bother.

Play Mad Libs Online!

GeekSugar — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 11:00:59 -0700

I had nearly forgotten my extreme fondness for Mad Libs, which was cultivated during field tips in my early childhood, and then calamari alerted me to the fact that you can play them online!

In case you missed out, Mad Libs is a word game where one player prompts another for a list of words to substitute for blanks in a story, what results is a hilarious, and often nonsensical, story that is best read aloud.

If you want to play online there's an official site with three options and a non-official site, which is user generated and has 155 to choose. Both are hilarious, geeky and another great way to waste a couple of hours at the office.

To quote calamari: This is awesome, I'm totally 9 years old again.