A while back ago my friend Nurit adapted Tom’s coconut cream pie recipe for her blog. Since then, I’ve made her version of the pie no less than 5 times … THIS MONTH. It’s surprisingly easy to make – just coconut and some pantry items. And if you forgo the coconut infused pie crust for a store bought one (she didn’t, I did), it makes whipping it up easy as … PIE! Har! Har! Har!

Coconut Cream Pie

Modified from the recipe on Nurit Asnash’s blog “1 Family Friendly Food” who in turn modified Tom Douglas’ original recipe for Triple Coconut Cream Pie.

Pie shell
Git ‘er done quick & easy with one pre-baked Marie Callendar’s Deep Dish Pie Crust. Just follow the manufacturer’s direction, which basically calls for popping the pie shell out of the freezer and baking it until it’s golden brown.

Coconut Pastry Cream
2 cups whole milk
1 1/2 cups sweetened shredded coconut
2 teaspoons bourbon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, softened

Whipped Cream
1 1/2 cups heavy cream, chilled
1/3 cup sugar
1 teaspoon bourbon vanilla extract

Garnish
2 ounces unsweetened “chip” or large-shred coconut (about 1 1/2 cups) toasted in a 350°F for 7-8 minutes (I used Bob’s Red Mill brand)
Chunks of white chocolate (4 to 6 ounces, to make 2 ounces of curls)

Coconut Pastry Cream

Combine the vanilla, milk and coconut in a medium saucepan. Place the saucepan over medium-high heat and stir occasionally until the mixture almost comes to a boil.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, and flour until well combined. Temper the eggs (to keep them from scrambling) by pouring about 1/3 cup of the scalded milk into the egg mixture while whisking. Then add the warmed egg mixture to the saucepan of milk and coconut. Whisk over medium-high heat until the pastry cream thickens and begins to bubble. Keep whisking until the mixture is very thick, 4 to 5 minutes more.

Remove the saucepan from the heat. Add the butter and whisk until it melts. Transfer the pastry cream to a bowl and place it over a bowl of ice water (I actually did not do this – I put the custard in a tupperware container and popped it in the fridge). Stir occasionally until it is cool. Place a piece of plastic wrap directly on the surface of the pastry cream to prevent a crust from forming and refrigerate until completely cold. The pastry cream will thicken as it cools. When the pastry cream is cold, fill the prebaked pie shell with it, smoothing the surface.

Whipped Cream

In an electric mixer with the whisk, whip the heavy cream with the sugar and vanilla on medium speed. Gradually increase the speed to high and whip to peaks that are firm enough to hold their shape. Fill a pastry bag fitted with a star tip with the whipped cream and pipe it all over the surface of the pie, or spoon it over.

Garnish

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spread the coconut chips on a baking sheet and toast in the oven, watching carefully and stirring once or twice, since coconut burns easily, until lightly browned, 7 to 8 minutes.

Use a vegetable peeler to scrape about 2 ounces of the white chocolate into curls or follow the directions posted here on how to create the curls the old school way. Though, my curls really turn out looking like flakes.

Sprinkle the pie with coconut and chocolate.

Whhaaaa, you say? A post about bacon? A post about jam?

Is it a condiment? An entree? A dessert?

Yes to all of the above.

About a month ago, my friend Jonathan gave me a tin of this stuff. He does some work with the folks that make it and after cajoling him for about 3 weeks, he finally brought me some to try out.  He is a good person.

When you think of Bacon Jam, a whole bevy of ideas come to mind about what it is. Quite simply, it’s bacon that’s been rendered and then simmered for SIX HOURS with onion and spices.  The result is complete tastiness. If you don’t believe me, know that I am not the first one to write about the virtues Bacon Jam – just see Matt’s homage.

So much like Bubba from Forest Gump, I spent a day thinking about ways to prepare my first Bacon Jam dish. And because I am perpetually on a diet, I decided to enlist my friends Katharine and Haakon to join me on my first Bacon Jam tasting (a.k.a to keep me from eating the whole tin). At the end of the day we all decided what could be better than bacon on Bacon Jam action?

My only complaint was that we should have put more Bacon Jam on the sandwich.

Mmmm … mmmm …

And because I’m feeling all lovey dovey about all of you … I am doing a Bacon Jam giveaway. My first (but not last! more to come!) giveaway! Yay! I LOVE YOU MAN!

One randomly chosen BIME reader will have an 8 oz jar of Bacon Jam sent directly to your home so you too can experience Bacon nirvana. Just enter by leaving a comment (along with your name/email) on this post.

Comments will be closed on Sunday at midnight and the winner will be announced on Monday, July 27th.

If you can’t wait to try it, just order it here.

Sadly, I believe Skillet Street Food only ships domestically. That means if you are from Canada or Australia, as a good portion of you are, you get no bacon love this time. Sorry guys. xo.

PS. Skillet Street Food is not paying me to say this, nor are they sponsoring this giveaway. I would tell you if that were the case.

I mean, c’mon, everyone knows you turn gay from wearing pink (guys) or playing sports (girls). Where the hell has SHE been?

It’s been about 4 years since I bought my house in West Seattle and left Capitol Hill. My first apartment in the Emerald City (circa 1995) was located on the corner of Boylston & Roy, right down street from The Deluxe. I’ve lived in two other places on The Hill since then and (except for the bad relationships) I was happy as a pig in shit living up there. I now live in 1940′s tract housing – 800 sq ft house on 6000 sq. ft. lot (yes I know that my house could fit in your master bedroom suite). It’s a different kind of happiness.

I didn’t think it was possible, but I truly miss being in the hustle and bustle of apartment living. I never fully appreciated things like walking out your front door to coffee and movies and food. I moved away because (a) I really thought having a yard was kismet (b) I thought that was the “next step” and (c) there was no possible way that a single mother could afford to buy anything but a run down studio apartment in a 4 story walk up. If you don’t believe me, just look here. I am not sorry I bought a house, but every time I am up there, it’s like coming home.

So there we were, having a bit of a ‘staycation’ of sorts. In the four years since I’ve lived there, the neighborhood has changed dramatically. The Pike/Pine district is now replete with frock shops and chic restaurants. As of last Friday, there are not one, not two, but THREE gourmet ice cream shops within a 3 block radius. From my vantage point this weekend, I could walk one block and get ice cream. Then walk another block, get some more ice cream. And then if that wasn’t good enough, I could replenish the calories I just expended by getting more ice cream at the third ice cream parlor. That’s city living!

My favorite part of the whole weekend was getting to hang out with Paige at bit more than usual. I was pretty much offline all weekend because I was out exploring and eating. And eating and exploring. I decided to throw caution to the wind and went all out by eating the entire neighborhood up. I kinda regret it because I think I gained 5 lbs (I am afraid to look at the scale).

I was not sorry about eating this:

Poached eggs. Tomato. Cheddar cheese. BACON. Bread. Deliciousness.

Okay, maybe a little sorry.

But not much.

My sweet daughter Paige is currently on a 5 day backpacking/camp trip with 15 other classmates and 3 adults. Mind you, this is not a normal “car camping” trip. This is a “carry everything you need to survive on your back for 5 DAYS” camping trip. I am just dying to hear all about how it went and curious too see what condition she is in after all of this. One thing that I know for sure … she is going to stink to high heaven when she gets home.

Anyway, one of the reasons that we were so busy last weekend was because Paige and I were doing some last minute shopping for her big trip. I should have known better than to do these types of errands on the weekend, but alas, I definitely paid for my procrastination.

Here are a few things I learned when shopping on Saturday – take heed:

1. Going to COSTCO on a Saturday is my version of hell.
2. There is no such thing as a 30 minute trip to the mall. It takes 30 minutes to park and get inside the mall.
3. Gilly Hicks is the worst store ever created. I almost strangled the girl that said, “Welcome to the Gilly Hicks the sassy young sister of Abercombie and Fitch!” DIE GILLY, DIE.
4. Being with your daughter while she tries on bikinis is not for the faint of heart.
5. Panda Express is should not have “gourmet Chinese food” as a tag line. Panda Express should not even be called Chinese food at all.
6. Eating Red Mango frozen yogurt makes most things tolerable. Small pomegranate with honey – a mere 150 calories and completely delicious.

Because we were disoriented by going to the mall and Target and Costco all in one day, we decided to go to the Oh Boy! Oberto! Factory Outlet to get Paige some beef jerky (instead of the grocery store like normal people). After going to Gilly Hicks, driving 5 miles out of my way across town to get a bag of beef jerky seemed like the most reasonable thing in the whole world. Who doesn’t want to HAVE FUN????

Most cities have attractions like the Liberty Bell, Smithsonian, Times Square, Washington Monument … Seattle has the Space Needle and a jerky outlet.

Clearly, we are not the only ones who think that going to the factory outlet store for jerky is amusing. I should have asked for one of those hats!

And behold the WALL OF DRIED BEEF:

Oh I love my daughter. When I look at this picture I am thinking that she probably shouldn’t have gotten the spicy jerky, given that she has to go dig a hole and poop in the woods on her trip.

Let us now bow our heads in prayer for her and hope that she rations her tissue well.

Saturday night. Paramount Theater. Three chairs. Three microphones. Two side tables. Two buckets filled with Heineken. Anthony Bourdain. Mario Batali. Luke Burbank, moderator. A crowd of adoring fans. A conversation about food.

Who would have thought that listening to two guys talk about themselves for 2 hours would be so entertaining. I mean, I talk about food and/or myself all fucking day and it bores people to tears. Sometimes I walk into a room and all of the sudden everyone needs to go to the bathroom or walk their dog or get a root canal. Who knew that there are people out there that PAY MONEY to hear other people TALK. ABOUT THEMSELVES EVEN! And the best thing is is that there’s no schtick. It’s just talking up on stage sorta like you would around the dinner table. Clearly, I took a wrong turn in my career path at some point. THIS IS WHY MY PARENTS IMMIGRATED TO AMERICA.

My favorite Batali comeback of the evening was when Bourdain chided Batali for travelling around Spain with a certain someone who doesn’t eat pork. Batali shot back:

“It just means there’s more for me.”

My favorite quote (as best I can recite) from Bourdain was:

“I’ve travelled all around the world. I’ve eaten brains, entrails and all sorts of unsavory things. The scariest thing that I’ve ever eaten was a Chicken McNugget.”

So maybe I am a groupie. Some people have Brad Pitt. Other people like McDreamy or McSteamy. For me, it’s Anthony Bourdain. At 52, he is just plain sexy. It was sadly apparent that I wasn’t the only one who felt that way. During the last 30 minutes of the discussion, there was a Q&A session with the audience. For the most part it went something like this:

• Where are you drinking tonight?
• If you want, I can show you around Seattle!
• Where are you going after the show?
• Where are you going to eat?
• Do you want to hang out and drink?
• I LOVE YOU MAN.
• You are hot!

The best audience interaction was when this young twentysomething girl sauntered up to the microphone and said in her most sultry twentysomething way:

Girl: “Mario, I think you are wonderful, you taught my mother how to cook. I am so grateful. Anthony, you are sooooooooooooo incredibly sexy.”

Anthony (to Mario): “Ha! You get cooking! I get sexy!”

You gotta love that.