Sahar Eats

Dorm Cooking: Week 1

2009-09-06T12:18:00.000-07:00

This year of college is going to be pretty exciting for me, food-wise that is. Because I eat only halal (the Islamic almost-equivalent of Kosher) meats, I worked it out with the athletic department to help me get half of my flexi dollars (the money that can only be used for on-campus dining provided by Bon Appetit) in cash, for eating out at various halal restaurants in the city or for cooking.

This is a huge relief for me, seeing as the main expense for me last school year was food--usually dining out for meat that I could eat.

So I've been hard at work acquiring all the essentials for a movable kitchen that I can transport from my dorm to wherever there might be a stove and oven (usually the dorm kitchen or a friend's apartment). I've got a crate full of pots and pans, utensils, baking equipment, and knives. And a fridge full of tortillas, pita, roti, hummus, butter, soymilk, lettuce, cilantro, salsa, cheese, nectarines, eggs, yogurt cups, and some leftovers (so far, at least).

This week is the first week I've actually gotten to cook (or maybe, this is the first week that I planned out well enough, leaving enough time to cook), so it's been fun preparing a menu of a few meals that I can cook on one day and eat as is or modify for the rest of the week.

Yesterday I went downtown to Salama Halal Meat market on Geary and Jones and picked up a pound of ground beef and three chicken breasts. But I was in a for a little bit of surprise with the chicken: I had expected 3 half breasts, but got 3 full butterflied breasts, and more than that, these chickens must have been on some super steroids because they were absolutely HUGE! So I ended up with 6 huge half breasts that amounted to about 3 pounds of chicken.

I went over to my roommate's boyfriend's on-campus apartment to cook dinner, which I had decided to be chicken pita sandwiches. Sauteed half of the chicken sliced into tenders, with some pre-minced onion, shallot, and garlic mix I got from Trader Joe's (my favorite), with some garlic powder and dried basil. Of course, the stove just wouldn't get hot enough to brown the chicken, so I ended up having to finish them off under the broiler. Worked out well enough though, and I stuck a pita in the oven to warm while the meat was finishing off. Stuffed my pita with some chicken, a dollop of roasted garlic hummus, and some butter lettuce drizzled with balsamic vinegar, and I had myself a delicious meal. (Sorry no pic of this one!)

But I ended up with some leftover chicken to use for the rest of the week.

And today I got some more groceries to cook my ground beef with, and headed down to the communal dorm kitchen with my crate of supplies.

Sauteed that same garlic, onion, and shallot mix with my pound of ground beef, added some hot sauce and let it brown. (I'm still waiting on my parents to send me a package full of spices, so for now hot sauce has become my go-to condiment.)

On the side, I started heating a can of vegetarian chili over the stove, to which I added half of the ground meat mixture that I just made. Let that simmer for a half hour--yum!

Back to my other half of meat, I added a quarter cup of prepared Trader Joe's salsa and some more hot sauce and let the meat brown a bit more.

So here's my end product, from left to right:

1) Seasoned ground beef mix

2) Sauteed chicken tenders

3) Jazzed up Chili

And by this time it was around 11 o'clock....Brunch time!

So I whisked two eggs with some cilantro, onion/shallot/garlic mix, and hot sauce, scrambled that with some of my newly made chili and topped it off with shredded chees and salsa. Mmmmmm.

My meal plan for the week is then as follows:

1) Any combination of taco meat or chicken with tortillas, salsa, cheese, lettuce, and cilantro.

2) Any combination of chicken with hummus, lettuce, cilantro, pita or roti

3) Chili with cheese and cilantro. Or chili over eggs, or chili wrapped in a tortilla with eggs

AND this all is in addition to whatever food I may eat out at restaurants or bring back to school as take out.

Ahhh life is good. Food is good.

last week at the restaurant (and Washington)

2009-08-12T23:09:00.000-07:00

So as of today, I am one week away from San Francisco, where I attend college. This means that I have also started telling people (meaning our customers) at work that I am leaving soon, and that it will be 4 months before they see me again (or 4 months before they get to eat my delicious desserts again).

We have so many regulars that know my family and me, and the responses I've received from telling people that I'm leaving for 4 months have been flattering. From getting wished a hearty good luck, to extra big tips for "those fun times in San Francisco!" or emotional hugs, I still have four more days at the restaurant and I think if I keep getting this kind of response, I may not want to leave home.

The relationships that I've built as a waitress are unique from my others: They are all with older people, people from as young as 35 to those as old as in their 90's. But the fact remains that they are all much older than I, and their wisdom guides me much of the time.

My family does not have much of an extended family in the US. They all reside in England or Pakistan or India, so almost as if to compensate, the restaurant atmosphere kicks in and those customers become my extended family. They inquire about my accomplishments at college or in athletics or of my artwork, my brother's well-being on tour in Iraq, my parent's health. And you would think that this must be just in politeness...but in a family run restaurant, genuine connections to customers can be made. In fact, most if not all of our family friends in Washington are our customers. With customers, we swap stories, advice, and love so freely in a such way that I have never been able to experience in any other part of my life. To feel such love, to feel that complete strangers can become family within the span of one meal....it is really powerful.

Tonight, I had to say good-bye to my "golf ladies." They are 5 well-to-do women who come in every Wednesday night after their weekly golfing social hour for dinner, usually right before closing. They always have 2 glasses of wine each, and lately I've been able to persuade them to buy some of my desserts (now they take one home for each of their husbands, who apparently love them. I have yet to meet their husbands). Unlike some of my other customers, who I have known for almost all of my life as they have been regulars from the very beginnings of our restaurant business in Washington, these particular ladies I have only gotten to know since May. I cannot explain clearly how I felt when saying goodbye to them.... like after one of them, Diana, affectionately told me how much it meant to them to have me wait on them these last couple months, or after another of them, Margaret, left me her phone number so that I would call her letting her know when I was back in December....all of them wishing me the best of luck with school, nearly bringing me to tears with their warmth and love.

I could honestly count about 10 different "Grandma's" that I have, or "Grandpa's," or "Aunts" or "Uncles," all of whom are also known as our regular customers, people who simply support our business, but also truly support our family. These people have all made such an impact on my life, just through the simplicity of waitressing.

I honestly wouldn't trade this experience, the experience of growing up and maturing in a restaurant, for anything.

love of desserts or desserts for love?

2009-07-24T10:06:00.000-07:00

After yesterday at work, I felt like this topic finally deserved a mention.

At the restaurant, I make all of the desserts. I do it because I absolutely love baking (and at the restaurant, there's no need for me to do dishes when we pay a dishwasher), and there is huge satisfaction in it for me to serve our customers beautiful desserts that I made and to be able to receive such raving reviews on the spot.

And while all my reviews have been positive (although I do know that even though my desserts are excellent all the time, none of my customers are going to tell me that it was bad if I told them I made them myself), some reviews have been just extra hilarious.

They all seem to connect my amazing cooking abilities with love.

One lady, a middle aged woman, tried my plum tart. Plums arranged over an almond frangipane in a tart shell, glazed with thinned orange marmalade and dusted with confectioner's sugar.

She told me that if she had the recipe for that plum tart, that her boyfriend (of 15 years) would finally ask her to marry him.

Another couple had the chocolate ganache tart. A rich milk chocolate ganache poured into a tart shell made of an almond cookie-like crust, topped with a dollop of whipped cream and drizzled with chocolate syrup.

The gentleman told me that "if the boys knew you could cook like this, your dad would be a very busy man chasing them away."

And then last night, a couple had the blueberry pie. A slice of pie absolutely bursting with plump blueberries enveloped by my signature flakiest pie crust, finished with the necessary scoop of french vanilla ice cream and dusted with confectioner's sugar.

The lady kept going on about how she needed to introduce me to her nephews, because boy could I cook well!

I suppose it's some relief, to know that if all else fails personality wise about me in my search for love, that my fabulous cooking skills will kick in and sweep any man I could possible want into my waiting arms.

Rather hilarious, I think.

daytrip eatings

2009-07-11T10:25:00.000-07:00

For the drive to the Gorge to see Coldplay today, my packed snacks include:

Antioxidant Trail Mix from Trader Joe's. It is the best trail mix ever, seriously.
Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds
Mission Tortilla Chips (very salty, these)
An apple (Gala)
A few Dove chocolates (the 63% dark is my favorite)
Lots of bottled water

Pretty healthy but still tasty, I think.

6th of July?

2009-07-06T22:32:00.000-07:00

The restaurant was open all day for the 4th of July, so my family didn't get to have our July 4th BBQ celebration and whatnot (though I did get to go out for fireworks and other exploding things after work, despite being so dead from a long day).

So my mom decides that instead we should have our 4th BBQ today, Monday the 6th, just with my parents and me. Good idea, I say, because the weather had been fabulous all week, anywhere from 70-90. But of course, I think my family jinxes the weather for barbecues... Today was stormy...a warm storm, but rainy and super windy nonetheless.

However, a little bad weather has never threatened my family's cooking courage, and lo and behold, we had a perfectly BBQ grilled dinner (overlooking the fact that I stood over the fire with an umbrella and the other fact that cedar leaves and pine cones were being blown into the grill by huge gusts of wind that rattled the house).

The menu tonight:

A couple well seasoned rib eyes, some rosemary marinated chicken skewers with a delicious plum sauce for dipping, grilled purple potatos, mini mild peppers, and portabella mushrooms, and for dessert, grilled fresh pineapple spears topped with my fabulous balsamic reduction.

I guess a late 4th of July BBQ is better than none after all. :)

just a comment

2009-06-24T21:31:00.001-07:00

Tonight we hosted a wedding rehearsal dinner. Big events like these are always fun, and it's touching to think that maybe we'll be part of the memory of someone's wedding week. It definitely makes me try even harder to make their dining experience the best it could possibly be.

annoying customer #1

2009-06-11T00:35:00.000-07:00

I just have to comment on the sheer nerve of this lady at the restaurant tonight.

She came in with her granddaughter, and I gave them perfect service (as I always do). I gave her the bill and went in the back to get other stuff for another table. She walks up to the host desk and waits, for hm, probably a good 4 minutes for my mom to cash her out while my mom was chatting with another customer. Her bill was $20.93, and she gave my mom $21. Then walked out the restaurant with her 7 cents, leaving no tip at all on the table for me.

And it wasn't like she forgot. My mom says that the last time she has come in, she was with a bigger party and their bill was $82...to which she left the waitress a meager $2 tip. WTF!?!?! Seriously.

I really just couldn't believe that she WAITED there for 5 minutes to get her 7 fucking cents before leaving.

These kind of people drive me crazy.

Especially since I do not work for an hourly wage. I work at my parent's restaurant because I like doing so, and because I am obliged to do so. I don't get paid. I work ONLY for tips.

Grrrrrrrrrr.

eating tonight: fresh take on spaghetti + blueberry balsamic shortcake

2009-06-09T18:43:00.000-07:00

When I came home from San Francisco for summer, I opened the fridge and found it to be an abandoned fixture with a gallon of milk, butter, and little more. However in the two weeks since, I'm happy to note that our fridge is brimming with fresh ingredients and lots of leftovers!

So I opened the fridge tonight to make dinner for my parents before they came home, and found the following ingredients for my use:

Sun-dried tomatoes
Half an onion
Leftover barbequed chicken breast
Heavy whipping cream
Blueberries
Pillsbury "Grands" biscuit ready-to-bakes

And so I decided to make spaghetti with a tomato chicken sauce, and a blueberry shortcake for dessert.

For the pasta, I boiled half a bag of spaghetti with a hefty pinch of salt until (unfortunately) over cooked just because my poor jaw is still not ready for heavy duty chewing due to my wisdom teeth extraction.

For the sauce, I softened some sliced onions over medium heat in olive oil, adding in my sun dried tomatoes and chopped leftover chicken, along with salt, pepper, and a pasta seasoning blend from Trader Joes. In my food processor, I blended a can of roma tomatoes until smooth and added about a 1/2 cup to my sauce, along with another 1/2 cup of olive oil. Then let this sit and worked on my dessert!

Stuck the biscuits in the oven as per package directions, but sprinkled Splenda (my parents are watching their sugar) on top of half of them for my dessert shortcakes.

For my blueberry topping, I heated about 2 cups of fresh blueberries with 3 tablespoons of Splenda with 1/2 cup of water until bubbling. Then, I added my secret ingredient, a couple tablespoons of quality balsamic vinegar, along with a little cornstarch mixed with water to thicken the sauce. I find that balsamic vinegar paired with berries is just heavenly, and so I added it to my shortcake topping.

Whipped up my heavy whipping cream with some more tablespoons of Splenda and a teaspoon of vanilla for my whipped topping, yum.

Assembled my spaghetti with sauce and a little cheese I found on top, and added in a biscuit (non-sugared!) for the main course. Then cut my biscuits in half, scooped some blueberry sauce inside, layered it with some whipped cream and the other biscuit half, and then topped it off with more whipped cream, blueberry sauce, and a few fresh blueberries for the perfect summer dessert.

Last, that wine-looking drink there by the pasta actually isn't wine, but rather is a Cabernet grape juice by a company called First Blush. Really interesting stuff, you should definitely try it!

So all in all, a really simple and delicious summer meal that I made in less than an hour.

Cheers.

bad service in bad times

2009-06-07T22:39:00.000-07:00

It's a Sunday night and my parents decided to pick me up from home from the couch on which I had been laying for the past 14 hours with ice on my face to take me out to dinner. We find our way to the Everett Marina where we pick an old favorite Italian place, Lombardi 's, to eat our dinner. It was about 8:30pm when we got there and apparently the place closed at 9:00pm.

From the moment we got there, we weren't wanted. The waitstaff was all too aware that closing time was nigh. From not being given their signature roasted garlic with bread until asked (at the time our dinners arrived) to having my dad's wine not delivered, to not having proper table settings, to not checking back with us, to taking forever to get our check, to the overall rude vibes from our waitress...the service was a nightmare. The waitress wanted us out from the beginning, and apparently was hoping that bad service would make us leave sooner.

I was very disappointed, mostly because as a waitress in my parent's restaurant, I know that with bad times, it becomes even more essential to have excellent service: people simply aren't going to be willing to pay a lot of money for food in an economic recession if they feel like their patronage is not appreciated. And by that, the service should always be excellent. Especially when with times as bad as they are for restaurants, any business you can manage to get, you should hold onto (even if we did come in a half hour before closing time, our $70 + return business is still very valuable).

As for the food, it was satisfactory, but combined with the fact that they were nearly running us out the door, the whole dining experience just became ruined. I won't be returning, which is a shame because I have had quite a few good experiences at Lombardi's. But hey, if I'm not going to be appreciated, why should I return?

le premier poste

2009-06-07T00:16:00.000-07:00

I thought I should start off my brand new food blog by explaining that for the past three days, I have had nothing to eat but applesauce, chocolate pudding, jello, roasted pepper soup, and a mango smoothie. Of course I don't aim to make my wisdom teeth (4 of them!) extraction the main purpose of this blog, but I thought it almost appropriate that only AFTER the suffering through so many meals of texture-less (and for the most part, bland) foods, I should want to start a food blog, rather than anytime before this week, seeing as I have been interested in food nearly all of my 19 years.

You see, since as far back as I can remember (which brings me to about my 5th birthday) my family has been involved in the restaurant industry. My parents have owned two restaurants in my lifetime, with my dad involved with many others before my birth. That being said, my interest in food has never wavered but rather seems to be elevating ever since I moved away from home and away from the industry lifestyle that I have so gotten used to.

And so I cut the ribbon and present to you, my audience, this blog entitled "Sahar Eats" with the intention of bringing to you a hopefully unique food inspired story from a San Francisco college girl who loves to cook, critique, but most of all, eat.

Cheers.