November 2011
2 posts
6 tags
Cleaning Out My Oven
Until last night I had never cleaned an oven before. Never. Growing up, I never had to; either we a self cleaning oven or was too young to even think about ovens and cleaning them.
Now I live in my own little apartment with its own little oven. When I moved in, the oven seemed like a cavernous little box; it has no light and no window so its always been dark. I didn’t dare look too close...
7 tags
Halloween Candy! (Homemade Edition)
I know, I know. Its November 1st (or 2nd depending on where you are, or later depending on when you are reading this). Halloween is over and I was too lazy to busy playing Minecraft yesterday to post my adventures in making Halloween candy. So I am posting about it today.
It all started over the summer; I came across a recipe for Homemade Butter Finger Candy and instantly fell in love. Only...
October 2011
2 posts
5 tags
How Cute: Mugs with Animals Inside
So, eventually I will get around to taking pictures of the Halloween candy I made and post it on here. Seriously. I will. Before Halloween, of 2011.
But until then, I found these seriously cute mugs that have animal figurines hiding inside of them. If I had more room in my kitchen cabinets, I’d go out and buy them.
I can’t even decide which one is the cutest, though I really like...
3 tags
Pumpkin Bread
What’s the best part of fall? Pumpkins. Pumpkin pie, pumpkin cookies, pumpkin bread, I love it all.
My mom has an affinity for pumpkins as well, something that must have rubbed off on me. My favorite kind of pie has always been pumpkin, I’d even ask for it at restaurants in the middle of spring. Sadly, pumpkin season comes only once a year. Once autumn hits with force, I leap into...
September 2011
2 posts
5 tags
My War With Food
I am at war with food.
For the vast majority of my life, food was never an issue. I was a high energy child who rarely slowed down to eat, and when I did I got just enough nutrients to keep me going. My metabolism was lightning fast and my body was skinny. I really never gave food much thought, except for when I had a delicious meal; like my grandmother’s dinners, or my uncle’s annual...
5 tags
Yogurt Marinated Chicken Breasts
I don’t cook, I bake. Baking makes me excited, it soothes me. Cooking stresses me out. Sadly, cooking needs to be done to eat dinner so that I can eat my delicious baked treats.
I usually get by with eating take out, heating up up a precooked frozen meal, or making mac and cheese, from a box. It’s not that I can’t cook, it’s that I’d rather not. Baking is precision,...
August 2011
1 post
2 tags
Oh Julia
I am big fan of Julia Child. I have Mastering the Art of French Cooking, Volumes 1 and 2 (Though I have to say they intimidate me a little). I read “My Life In Paris”, her memoir about living in France and Europe with her husband Paul. I grew up watching her on Saturday mornings on PBS, oh how I miss The French Chef. And of course, I’ve read and watched “Julie and...
July 2011
5 posts
4 tags
Brownies!
I love the smell of baking brownies. The smell of warm chocolate and sugar permeates my apartment, making me smile.
I have attempted to make brownies from scratch and they’ve never turned out great. Until the day that I can find/create the perfect homemade brownie recipe, boxed mix is my friend.
Tonight I made s’mores brownies, with a toasted marshmallow topping. Yum!
They are...
3 tags
Gojee, The Recipe Finder →
I am sure that I am late to the game in finding this website, but I am in love! It is visually beautiful and the recipes are drool worthy. Expect blog posts featuring recipes from here, that is if I can hold off eating these amazing looking dishes and treats long enough to take pictures of them.
3 tags
French Toast, The Lazy Weekend Way
When I was kid, I really disliked French toast. Mostly because I really didn’t like eggs and the way my mom used to make it was more egg-y than custard-y. That’s not to say there is anything wrong with that, it just wasn’t something I liked at the time. Over the years of watching cooking shows, I was exposed to different ways to make French toast. There was typically an emphasis...
3 tags
Does Anyone Remember These?!
Dunkaroos!!!
OK, so these aren’t gourmet by any standard, but as a kid I didn’t have great taste. I liked simple foods and sweets; lots and lots of sweets. Naturally, cookies that were dipped in frosting sounded like heaven to me. I loved these things. Sadly, they aren’t widely available anymore (though maybe that’s not so sad). You can buy them on Amazon.com though!
...
Where I Have Been For The Past Year
This is just sad. Its been nearly a year since I last posted on this blog. *Lowers head in shame*
A lot has happened in this past year. I graduated college, got my first “real” job, and decided that culinary school isn’t right for me, right now. Given the shear cost of tuition and the grueling life of a chef, culinary school no longer seemed practical to me.
I found my passion...
August 2010
1 post
Why hello again.
So hello Tumblr, I have missed you. I feel horrible for letting my blog come to a complete halt. However, I needed my time away to make some decisions. Between my last blog post and this one, a lot of events happened. I moved in an apartment in the Outer Sunset with my boyfriend, went to summer school and spent some time contemplating my culinary future. I am happy to say that everything is well...
March 2010
1 post
4 tags
Tomato Soup From "Joy of Cooking"
For the holidays last year my mother gave me “Joy of Cooking” by lrma S. Rombauer. I have been pouring over the book ever since looking for new recipes to try. I am amazed by the variety and depth of the recipes and techniques in the book.
I came across a recipe for Tomato Soup that seemed easy yet delicious. I had never made soup before so I figured I’d try something simple...
February 2010
1 post
My inspirations
Every chef has people who inspire them and many chefs share the same inspirations. People like James Beard and Julia Child who made great culinary strides have been long admired by chefs everywhere. I am sure I share many of the same culinary inspirations as other aspiring chefs out there.
First and foremost is Julia Child. I have been reading her memoir, My Life In France and have fallen in love...
January 2010
1 post
Filo Wrapped Brie
As a hors dourves for Christmas I made filo wrapped Brie. Brie, for those who do not know is a lovely French cheese with a white rind surrounding the softer creamy center. Baked Brie can be made with puff pastry or in my case filo dough.
I took five sheets of filo dough and brushed butter in between each layer. I then set the Brie on the dough, put cranberry sauce on top of the cheese and wrapped...
December 2009
3 posts
3 tags
Latkes!
As a Jew, Hanukkah is one of my favorite holidays. One of my favorite foods of Hanukkah is latkes, delicious fried potato pancakes. They are more like hash brown cakes than pancakes. They are crispy and fried to a golden perfection and traditionally served with sour cream and applesauce.
I have made latkes a few times and never quite needed to adhere to a particular recipe. However I have found a...
“If music be the food of love, play on”
– Shakespeare
4 tags
Secret Ingredient: Saffron
There are so many unique ingredients out there that most people are unfamiliar with. If you are like me, you come across an unusual ingredient in a recipe and think “I don’t know what that is, I think maybe I’ve heard of it before, it’ll probably be hard to find, or it is probably expensive” and omit it from the recipe. Knowing that I will be entering cooking school...
November 2009
7 posts
5 tags
Thanksgiving Dinner
So this year I was in charge of making the turkey and it turned out great! It was very flavorful and moist and made our Thanksgiving meal perfect. I used the recipe from the last post, the Lemon Garlic Herb Turkey and I highly recommend it for next Thanksgiving, or anytime you want turkey! It was not hard to put together and it doesn’t need a whole lot of attention while it is roasting. Just...
Preparing for Thanksgiving
Tomorrow is Thanksgiving, one of my favorite holidays and I am excited to prepare my family’s Thanksgiving meal. I have been in charge of cooking a turkey for the past 3 years and this year i will be roasting my fourth turkey. I have used the same recipe for my last 3 turkeys and will use the same one this since it had always given me a moist, flavorful turkey. Below is the recipe I always...
7 tags
Food and the environment
I just recently watched Food, Inc. and I was amazed at how food is processed in this country and where our food comes from. The movie is a documentary that dives into the food industry exposing factory farming and corn production. It also follows people in the food industry, food activists, and citizens who are affected by the food industry. Eric Schlosser, the author of Fast Food Nation is...
5 tags
How to make crepes in a tiny college kitchen
One of my favorite foods are crepes. I have had them in Paris and have not really encountered them outside of France until I moved to San Francisco. This city has tons of crepe places and I’ve discovered two places that I now go to quite often. First is Genki in the Inner Richmond district, a half crepe place, half Japanese market. Their crepes are crispy and filled with everything from...
4 tags
Ninki Sushi
I have discovered a wonderful sushi place in my new hometown of San Francisco, CA. I have fallen in love with sushi over the past few years and have gone to many sushi places. I’ve been to fabulous ones, horrible ones and some that were much too overpriced for mediocre sushi.
Luckily, I’ve found Ninki Sushi on Taraval St between 24th and 25th Aves in the Sunset district of San...
3 tags
Working Class Foodies
I just recently discovered an amazing podcast that inspired me to start this blog. I have been a fan of podcasts for a while and it only seemed natural that I’d fall in love with a food related one. The website is Hungry Nation and the show is called Working Class Foodies. It is a brother-sister team from New York City who find fresh ingredients from their local farmer’s market and...
2 tags
Welcome
Hello, my name is Sarah Mitroff and welcome to my blog The Petite Gourmet.
I have been told if I ever want to get a job as a food writer I need to blog. I need to start writing about the one consistent thing that I have been passionate about for the past 16 years. So that’s what I have set out to do, write about food, recipes, ingredients, restaurants and the media surrounding food. I am not a...